CONTENTS 
No. 1. 
REPORT UPON THE GEOLOGY OF THE ROUTE. 
BY" J. S. NEWBERRY, M. D., 
GEOLOGIST AND BOTANIST OF THE EXPEDITION. 
CHAPTER I. 
Geology of the vicinity of San Francisco. 
General features given by parallel axes of elevation.—Bay of San Francisco occupying a synclinal trough.—General trend 
of ranges northwest and southeast.—Coast mountains give outline and direction to the coast.—Local geology.—San Fran¬ 
cisco range.—Golden gate cut through it.-—Centre trap and serpentine.—Physical characters of the serpentine.—Chemical 
analysis.—Sandstones and shales.—Fitness of the sandstone for architectural purposes.—It contains few fossils.—Scutella 
interlineata.—Jasper.—Drifting sands.—Alluvial deposits.—Geology of San Pablo bay.—Sandstones and shales of San 
Francisco group.—Sandstones fossiliferous.—Pecten bed.—Other fossil shells.—Tufas and marls forming series of great 
thickness.—Upper beds very modern and of volcanic origin.—Beds of recent oyster shells.—Changes of level.—Probable 
communication once existing between San Pablo bay and the ocean.—Straits of Carquines.—Benicia.—Sandstones and 
shales.—Laminae of gypsum.—Bidge of jasper northwest of Benicia.—Warm sulphur spring.—Soil.—Geology of Mount 
Diablo.—Suisun bay.—Calcareous tufa.—Trap hills.—San Francisco sandstone forming hills near Vacaville. 
CHAPTER II. 
Geology of the Sacramento valley. 
General features.—Structure of coast mountains.—Trap, limestone, and granite.—Auriferous slates.—Structure of Sierra 
Nevada—Older than Coast mountains.—Metamorphic limestone.—Auriferous rocks.—Placer gold deposits.—Alluvial plain.— 
Local geology.—Vacaville to Chico creek.—Gravelly plains.—Alluvial soil and terraces of Putos and Cache creeks.—Banks 
of the Sacramento.—Red color of Yuba river.—Want of stone at Marysville.—Sacramento buttes.—Chico creek fossiliferous 
sandstone.—Interesting mingling v>f fossils.—Strata probably cretaceous.—Trap hills.—Stream absorbed by the plain.— 
Volcanic phenomena.—Lava streams.—Crater.—Obsidian.—Fort Reading.—Trap hills.—Tufaceous conglomerate.—Creta- 
c eous rocks near Shasta city.—Ammonites Batesii.—Carboniferous limestone.—Fossils. 
CHAPTER III. 
Geology of the Western range, Sierra Nevada. 
Relations of Western range of Sierra Nevada to Mount Shasta and Sierra Nevada of California.—General geological rela¬ 
tions of Mount Shasta.—Coast line once formed by Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains.—Successive stages in the elevation 
of the continent.—Continuity of the Coast mountains.—Transverse chains.—Lines of fracture divergent from Mount Pitt 
and Mount Shasta.—Carboniferous limestones of Mount Shasta perhaps continuous with limestones of Sierra Nevada.—Local 
geology.—Trap plateaus about Fort Reading.—Coal near McCumber’s flat.—Recent volcanic rocks around base of Lassen’s 
butte.—Lassen’s butte a volcanic cone.— Lava plains on Canoe creek.—Chimneys.—Subterranean galleries.—Trap 
plateaus at mouth of Canoe creek.—Infusorial marls on banks of Pit river.—Beds of rounded stones underlying marls.— 
Trap forming walls of lower canon of Pit river.—Mountain of metamorphic slate. 
