Geology and Ground 

Water Features of the

Smith River Plain 

Del Norte County 

California

By WILLIAM BACK

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1254

Prepared in cooperation with the 

StQte of California Department of 

Public ff^orks, Division of ffiater 

Resources

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1957
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

FRED A. SEATON, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Thomas B. Nolan, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office 

Washington 25, D. C.
CONTENTS

Page

Abstract.. __________ __ - 1

Introduction_______ __ __ 2

Location and extent of area______ _ _ __ ______ 2

Purpose and scope of the work__ 2

Previous investigations._________ _ _ ___ _______ 3

Methods and procedures.____ ______ ____ ___ 4

Well-numbering system______ __ _ _____ 6

Acknowledgments. ___ __ _ __ _ _______ 6

Geography__________ __ 7

1 Economic development- ___ __ ____ ____ ______ ____ 7

Climate.____________________ ______________ 8

Physiography and drainage._____ ______________________ 8

Discharge of the Smith River. _ __ _ ____ 12

Geology-__________ __ . __ 14

Ground water_____________ _ _ _____ _ _______ 14

Summary of stratigraphy ______ _________________ 16

Geologic formations and their water-bearing properties..--_________ 18

Rocks of the Jurassic system_____________________ 18

Character. _____________________________ 18

Age and correlation_________________________ 18

Water-bearing properties._______________________ 20

Tertiary system_____________________________________ 20

Pliocene series__________________________ 20

St. George formation_____ ______________ 20

Quaternary system______ _______________ 24

Pleistocene series______________________ 24

Battery formation.,____________________ 24

River-terrace deposits__________________ 30

Recent series______________ _ _____________ 31

Flood-plain deposits____________________________ 31

Alluvial-fan deposits.____________________ 33

Dune sand___________________________ 33

Structure__________________________________ 34

Geologic history and geomorphology________________________ 35

Ground water____________._______________________ 37

General hydrologic principles_______________________________ 37

Water table and movement of ground water._______________ 39

Fluctuations of water table__________________________ 40

Ground-water storage.__________________________________ 43

Use of water_________________________________________ 45

Quality of water____________________________________ 48

Expression and illustration of chemical analyses.__________________ 48

Chemical quality of surface water_______________________________ 52

m
IV CONTENTS

Quality of water Continued Page

Relation of character of water to geology________-________________ 54

Jurassic rocks_____________________________________________ 55

Battery formation._______________________________ 55

River-terrace deposits_________________________ 56

Flood-plain deposits___________________________________ 56

Dune sand___________________________________ 56

Records __________________ ________________ 57

Literature cited.___________________________________________ 73

Index._________________________________________________________ 75

ILLUSTRATIONS

[Plates 5-7 in pocket]

Base 

PLATE 1. A. Refraction seismic equipment layout and explosion. B. St.

George formation along Pebble Beach______________ Facing 10

2. A. Surface of marine terrace. B. Ancient sea stack of Jurassic

rocks. C. Escarpment of Fort Dick terrace.-______ Facing 11

3. Aerial view showing outcrops and fossiliferous locality of the 

St. George formation and measured section and fossiliferous 

locality of the Battery formation_..________________ Facing 32

4. A. Continental gravels of the Battery (?) formation. B. Gravel

facies of the Battery formation along sea cliff _______ Facing 33

5. Geologic map and sections of the Smith River plain area, showing locations of selected wells and water-level profiles of 1953.

6. Map of the Smith River plain area, 1953, showing water-level 

contours.

7. Map showing the chemical composition of selected waters. 

FIGUBE 1. Map of California, showing the location of the Smith River

plain___________________________ __ ________ 3

2. Diagram showing 40-acre subdivisions of a standard section- 6

3. Normal monthly temperature and maximum, normal, and

minimum monthly precipitation near Crescent City_____ 9

4. Annual discharge of the Smith River and annual precipitation

near Crescent City____-________-----_-----------_--__ 13

5. Geographical distribution of precipitation in the Smith River

drainage basin _______________________________________ 14

6. Grain-size analyses of two samples from the St. George formation-.-.-__________-___-__--__-_---_----_---_--_-- 25

7. Grain-size analyses of two samples from the Battery formation_______-________-_-___-__-____-______-__--____ 27

8. Hydrographs of three wells in the Smith River plain._______ 41

9. Map of the Smith River plain area, showing ground-water

storage umts_____________---_----_-_--------------__- 44

10. Water-analysis diagram-_--_--__--_---_---_--------_--_- 50

11. Relation of specific conductance to the sum of the principal

ionized constituents_________________________________ 51

12. Relation of specific conductance of Smith River water to

discharge,_ ____-_____-___--____--___-__--_--___-----_ 53
GEOLOGY AND GROUND-WATER FEATURES OF THE 

SMITH RIVER PLAIN, DEL NORTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

By WILLIAM BACK

ABSTRACT

Smith River plain, in the Klamath Mountains physiographic province of 

California, borders the Pacific Ocean in the northwest part of Del Norte County, 

400 miles northwest of San Francisco. The area of investigation, 20 miles long, 

comprises about 110 square miles. Agriculture, mining, logging and lumbering, 

and commercial fishing are the principal industries in the county.

Cool summers and mild winters characterize the climate of the plain. Normal 

annual precipitation is about 75 inches. Precipitation is heaviest during the 

five coldest months, from November through March.

Smith River plain is a broad, subrectangular emerged marine terrace of low 

relief at the base of a range of rugged mountains. The surface of the plain is 

underlain by marine-terrace deposits, alluvial fill, and sand dunes.

The area is drained principally by the Smith River and its tributaries from a 

small watershed, 613 square miles, that has the exceptionally high annual runoff 

of about 2,600,000 acre-feet, or 80 inches. Lakes Earl and Talawa, shallow 

brackish-water lakes in the west-central part of the plain, form a collection basin 

for runoff from several minor streams.

Rocks that crop out in the area range in age from Jurassic to Recent. Jurassic 

arkose, graywackes, chert, and serpentine and other intrusives underlie the plain 

and form the mountains to the east. Overlying these rocks, in a small area around 

Crescent City, is the marine St. George formation of Pliocene age, composed of 

350 to 400 feet of sand and clay. Marine sand and clay of the Battery formation 

of Pleistocene age overlies the St. George formation and overlaps onto the Jurassic 

rocks. Locally, the Jurassic rocks are directly overlain by unconsolidated riverterrace deposits or Recent flood-plain deposits.

The Battery formation, which averages about 35 feet thick, is the aquifer for 

most of the domestic water supplies on the Smith River plain. Most of the 

ground water for irrigation is from wells that penetrate Recent flood-plain deposits, 

although a few irrigation wells obtain water from river-terrace deposits.

Recent flood-plain deposits have the highest water-yielding capacity. The 

coefficient of permeability for these deposits ranges from 5,000 to 20,000 gallons 

per day (gpd) per square foot. The coefficient of permeability of the terrace 

deposits of the Smith River is 1,000 to 2,000 gpd per square foot, and the terrace 

deposits of Rowdy Creek are even more permeable. The coefficient of permeability for the Battery formation is about 500 gpd per square foot.

Recent sand dunes along the coast constitute a catchment area for storage and 

recharge of ground water. These deposits are a potential source of water for 

water-deficient Crescent City.

The Jurassic rocks and the St. George formation generally do not bear water. 

Coefficients of permeability of two samples from the coarser facies of the St. 

George formation were 2.6 and 13.7 gpd per square foot.

Wells are shallow few exceed a total depth of 35 feet. Depths to water

1
2 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

commonly range from 5 to 25 feet below the land surface. Seasonal fluctuation 

probably averages 5 feet. The total annual pumpage of ground water on the 

Smith River plain is about 2,400 acre-feet, of which some 1,700 acre-feet is used 

for irrigation. The gross ground-water storage in the Smith River plain, from 

10 feet to 35 feet below the land surface, is about 100,000 acre-feet.

Both surface water and ground water in this area are of low mineral content 

and are generally of excellent quality for all uses. The only natural detriment 

is the high content of iron in some areas. There is no evidence of sea-water 

encroachment into this coastal basin.

INTRODUCTION

LOCATION AND EXTENT OF AREA

The Smith Kiver plain borders the Pacific Ocean in the northwest 

part of Del Norte County, Calif., 400 miles northwest of San Francisco 

(fig. 1). Comprising about 110 square miles, the area has a northsouth length of 20 miles and a general east-west width of 5 miles; 

it lies between 41°40' and 42°00' north latitude, and between 124°00' 

and 124°15' west longitude. The area is shown on the United States 

Geological Survey's topographic maps of the Klamath (formerly 

Requa) and the Crescent City (formerly Point St. George) quadrangles, 15-minute series, scale 1:62,500.

United States Highways 101 and 199 make the area readily accessible from Eureka, 85 miles to the south, from Oregon coastal towns 

to the north, and from Grants Pass, Oreg., 90 miles to the northeast.

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE WORE

The Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Division of Water 

Resources of the State of California Department of Public Works, 

made a reconnaissance investigation of the Smith River plain, the 

major ground-water basin in Del Norte County, as a part of a cooperative program for reappraisal of the State's ground-water resources. The investigation was designed to determine the geologic 

features of ground-water occurrence, quantity, and movement; the 

location and extent of the ground-water areas; and the influence of 

hydrologic and geologic factors on the chemical quality of the ground 

water.

The report summarizes the basic data of 213 wells, including waterlevel measurements, estimates of pumpage, drillers' logs, and chemical 

analyses. A geologic map of the area shows the distribution of the 

geologic formations.

This investigation was made under the general supervision of A. N. 

Sayre, chief of the Ground Water Branch, Water Resources Division, 

United States Geological Survey, and J. F. Poland, district geologist 

in charge of the ground-water investigations of the Geological Survey 

in California. The project was under the direct supervision of A. R. 

Leonard, geologist, Ground Water Branch.
INTRODUCTION

LIST OF AREAS

14 Mendota-Huron area

15 Cuyama Valley (1110-B)

16 Santa Maria Valley area (1000)

17 San Antonio area

18 Santa Ynez River basin (1107)

19 South-coast basins (1108)

20 Cachuma project

21 Desert observation-well program

22 San Diego Indian Reservations

23 Torrance-Santa Monica area

24 Los Angeles River and Rio Hondo

25 Long Beach-Santa Ana area (1136)

26 Chino Basin

27 San Bernardiri

28 Redlands-Beaumont

1 Smith River plain

2 Scott Valley

3 Shasta Valley

4 Butte Valley

5 Eureka area

6 Mendocino County-Russi

7 Lower Lake-Middletown

8 Santa Rosa Valley area 

Petaluma Valley

9 Napa and Sonoma Valleys

10 Sacramento Valley

11 Sutter-Yuba area

12 Solano County

13 San Joaqu

(Numbers

Investigation in progress 

nvestigation completed

Number refers to list of areas

FIGUEE l. Map of California, showing the location of the Smith River plain. 

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS

The first description of the physiography and general geology of the 

area was prepared by Diller in 1902. A very brief report on the economic geology of Del Norte County was written by Hershey (1911), 

based upon a reconnaissance made in 1907. Mineral resources of the 

mountain region not covered in this report have been described by 

several writers. Maxson (1933) described the mineral deposits of 

Del Norte and Siskiyou Counties, primarily with regard to geological 

setting and genesis. In 1952 Salem Rice included the Cresent City 

(formerly Point St. George) quadrangle in the reconnaissance study 

that he made of northwestern California. His report is to be published by the Division of Mines, State of California Department of
4 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Natural Resources, as a guidebook of the Redwood Highway. McCullough, 1 Division of Water Resources of the State of California 

Department of Public Works, prepared an unpublished report for the 

Regional Water Pollution Control Board, based on a week of field 

work in May 1952.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

During a total of 3 months of field work between July and December 

1953, 213 wells were located. These wells are described in the Records 

section of this report. Water levels in the wells were measured whereever possible. Wells were plotted on preliminary copies of the maps 

of the Crescent City (formerly Point St. George) and Klamath (formerly 

Requa) quadrangles, scale 1:40,000.

Wells were located by means of an odometer to within 0.10 mile, 

shorter distances were estimated, and wells were then plotted in reference to the culture shown on the map. Aerial photographs were 

used for some locations. Locations are accurate to within about 100 

feet. All water-level measurements were made from a fixed measuring point at the top of each well, using a steel tape graduated to 

hundredths of a foot, and are accurate to about 0.10 foot. The altitude of each measuring point was estimated by use of an aneroid 

barometer. A few field tests indicated that the error of the .aneroid 

measurements was less than 2 feet; therefore, the error in relative 

altitudes of any two measuring points probably is not greater than 

4 feet.

Drillers' logs of 89 wells (not included in this report) were obtained 

from the Division of Water Resources; the well locations reported by 

drillers were checked in the field.

Irrigated acreage was obtained by totaling the irrigated acreage reported by each farmer. Several farmers also furnished data on their 

annual use of water per acre. By assuming uniform irrigating practices for other farms, an estimate was made of the amount of water 

used for irrigation in 1953.

The yield of each irrigation well under operating conditions was 

estimated by determining the number and size of sprinklers, assuming 

an average pressure, and correcting with published data for friction 

losses in pipes and sprinklers. By dividing the yield (gallons per 

minute, gpm) by the measured drawdown (dd), a rough approximation 

was made of the specific capacity, in gallons per minute per foot of 

drawdown.

The "yield factor," expressed simply as a number, was estimated by 

dividing the specific capacity by the saturated thickness of material

' McCullough, C. A., 1952, Ground-water conditions, Smith River plain, Del Norte County: Calif. 

Dept. Public Works, Div. Water Resources, unpub. rept.
INTRODUCTION 5

(total depth of well minus depth to water) and multiplying by 100.2 

From this, a crude estimate of the field coefficient of permeability, in 

Meinzer units (p. 15), can be obtained by multiplying the yield 

factor by some figure between 15 and 20. (See p. 16.) In formulas:

a £ * Specific capacity

v i j £ x Specific capacity . ., nn Yield factor=^T . , *V. , XI00 Saturated thickness

Ground-water storage beneath the Smith River plain was estimated 

by computing the total footage of each of five types of sediment, 

applying a specific-yield figure 3 for each type (p. 43), and calculating 

storage for each of five lithologically distinct subareas, which were 

delineated by a peg model. The peg model was constructed by indicating the lithology with a color symbol on quarter-inch dowels. 

Lithology was based on reports by well drillers. At locations representing the wells, the colored pegs were stuck into holes in a plywood 

table on which a map of the area had been glued. The color symbols 

grouped the material according to its hydrologic properties pegs of 

similar color represented logs of wells drilled into material of similar 

water-yielding properties.

Two permeability tests and four grain-size analyses were made in 

the laboratory of the Geological Survey at Lincoln, Nebr. The 

permeability tests were made of samples from the St. George formation, Pliocene age, by using a permeameter. The grain-size analyses 

were made of two samples from the St. George formation and two 

samples from the Battery formation of Pleistocene age.

Technicians of the Division of Water Resources, using a portable 

refraction seismograph (pi. 1,4), estimated the thickness of alluvium 

and depth to bedrock at 2 selected localities and the thickness of 

Pleistocene sediments, Pliocene sediments, and depth to bedrock at 

3 other localities.

The geology was mapped in the field on base maps at a scale of 

1:40,000, supplemented by aerial photographs of the United States 

Department of Agriculture, which were at a scale of 1:20,000.

Hydrographs of two wells were drawn from records obtained from 

recording gages for the period July to December 1953. Another 

hydrograph was drawn from weekly measurements made by E. C. 

Johnson, a local resident, in his own well.

2 Poland, J. F., Sinnott, Alien, and others, 1945, Withdrawals of ground water from the Long BeachSanta Ana area, California, 1932-41: U. S. Geol. Survey open-file rept.

* The specific yield is the ratio of the quantity of water that will drain by gravity from a saturated waterbearing material to the total volume of the material.
6 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Most of the 36 ground-water analyses in the table on page 66 

were of samples collected during the field season and analyzed at the 

laboratory of the Geological Survey at Sacramento, Calif. The other 

analyses were furnished by the Division of Water Resources.

Samples of Smith River water have been collected monthly by the 

Division of Water Resources and analyzed in part by it and in part 

by the Geological Survey. Chemical analyses of 36 samples of surface water are included in this report.

All precipitation and temperature records were obtained from 

published records of the United States Weather Bureau.

WELL-NUMBERING SYSTEM

The well-numbering system used in California by the Geological 

Survey and the Division of Water Resources shows the location of 

wells (or other features) according to the rectangular system for the 

subdivision of public land. For example, in the number 16/1W-17A1, 

assigned to a well 2 miles north of Crescent City, the part of the 

number preceding the slash indicates the township (T. 16 N.); the 

number between the slash and hyphen indicates the range (R. 1 W.); 

the digit between the hyphen and the letter indicates the section 

(sec. 17); and the letter following the section number indicates the 

40-acre subdivision of the section, as shown in figure 2.

D

E

M

N

C

F

L

0

B

G

K

P

A

H

J

R

FIGURE 2. Diagram showing 40-acre subdivisions 

of a standard section.

Within each 40-acre tract the wells are numbered serially, as 

indicated by the final digit of the number. Thus, well 16/1W-17A1 is 

the first well to be inventoried in the NE%NE% sec. 17. Inasmuch 

as all the Smith River plain lies north of the Humboldt base line, 

the township letter designation (N) can be omitted, and the foregoing abbreviation of the number is adequate.

AC KNO WLED GMENTS

Appreciation is expressed to the many persons who cooperated and 

assisted in the collection of field data used in the preparation of this 

report. The State of California Department of Public Works, Division of Water Resources, helped in many ways. Nearly all the 

drillers' logs and past water-level records used in this report are from 

the files of the Division of Water Resources. The seismograph survey
GEOGRAPHY . 7

was made by R. E. Slyfield, W. D. Fuqua, and D. M. Hill, under the 

supervision of E. C. Marliave, all of the Division of Water Resources.

Records of test-hole borings for bridges over Rowdy Creek and the 

Smith River were made available by the Division of Highways of 

the Department of Public Works.

Salem Rice, geologist of the Division of Mines of the State of 

California Department of Natural Resources, furnished information 

about the Jurassic rocks hi the vicinity of the Smith River plain.

L. G. Hertlein, California Academy of Sciences, identified marine 

invertebrate fossils and gave valuable assistance in the interpretation 

of the stratigraphy of the Smith River plain.

The cooperation of the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, 

road commissioner, and county chamber of commerce facilitated 

this work. Assistance given by Joseph Creisler, sanitarian of the 

Humboldt-Del Norte County Department of Public Health, is greatly 

appreciated.

C. H. Pyles, district manager of the California-Oregon Power Co., 

furnished information on irrigation installations that was most helpful. Personnel of the Crescent City Water Co. and Smith River 

Water Co. made available the records of water yield and use. P.T. 

Starr and Douglas Purdue, well drillers, and the management of 

Olson Drilling Co. permitted the use of their well logs.

Wholehearted cooperation and support were given by the residents 

of the area. Miss Emma Gwerder, E. C. Johnson, Edward Berquist, 

and Frank Patton made weekly water-level measurements in their 

wells during the period of investigation.

GEOGRAPHY

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Crescent City, population 1,706 (1950 census), is the county seat 

of Del Norte County. The population of the county is 8,078, of 

whom nearly 7,000 live on the Smith River plain. The only other 

towns hi the area are Fort Dick, population 500, 8 miles north of 

Crescent City on U. S. Highway 101, and Smith River, population 

400, 12 miles north of Crescent City and also on Highway 101.

According to a 1953 report of the county chamber of commerce, 

the chief economic activities are agriculture, mining, logging, lumbering, commercial fishing, and maintenance of recreational facilities. 

Agricultural income is derived mainly from dairy products and livestock, and to a minor extent from flower culture. About 2,200 acres 

of pasture land is irrigated.

The chief ores mined hi Del Norte County are those of chromium, 

copper, manganese, and mercury. Fir and redwood lumber and ply-
8 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

wood veneer are the main products of the logging and lumbering 

industries. Commercial fishermen obtain most of their income from 

the catch and sale of crab, salmon, and sole.

Tourists are attracted by recreational facilities that provide for 

hiking or driving through the many miles of redwood trees (Sequoia 

sempervirens) and the profusion of wildflowers, including rhododendrons and azaleas that grow to heights of 20 to 30 feet. Among other 

attractions are camping, picnicking, and swimming in Jedediah Smith 

State Park, located in a grove of redwoods on the banks of the Smith 

River; fishing for trout, steelhead, and salmon in the streams; and 

fishing in the surf and open sea.

CLIMATE

Following Koppen's system, Trewartha (1937) classified the climate 

of the Smith River plain as being of the marine west-coast subdivision 

of the humid mesothermal type. According to Trewartha, this mild 

marine climate is characteristic of regions on the western or windward 

sides of middle-latitude continents, poleward from about 40°, where 

the onshore westerly winds have a strong marine influence. This type 

of climate is characterized by mild summers and, considering the 

high latitude, abnormally mild winters. The coldest month is January 

(fig. 3), with an average temperature of 46° F. During the three 

summer months of June, July, and August, the average temperatures 

are from 57° to 60° F. The growing season (last killing frost to first 

killing frost) averages about 230 days.

The normal annual precipitation recorded at a weather station 

8 miles northeast of Crescent City at an altitude of 125 feet is 75.80 

inches. Precipitation is heaviest in the five coldest months, from 

November through March. The maximum, minimum, and normal 

rainfall for each month, based on 63 years of record, are shown in 

figure 3. The minimum recorded seasonal precipitation (for the climatological year from July 1 to June 30) was 34.52 inches, in 1923-24, and 

the maximum was 109.59 inches, in 1885-86. The precipitation is 

much greater in the uplands to the north and east, as shown by the 

average annual runoff of 80 inches from the basin of the Smith River.

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE

The Smith River plain, or the Crescent City platform, as it was 

called by Maxson (1933), is a broad, subrectangular emerged marine 

terrace, bordered on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean and on 

the north and east by the Klamath Mountains. Smith River plain, 

the name given this ground-water basin by the State Division of 

Water Resources (fig. 1), is in the Klamath Mountains physiographic 

province of California. On the east and north the low relief of the
MONTHLY PRECIPITATION, IN INCHES

o

B B>

M B

** 3 9"g 

a

I

H
10 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

plain gives way abruptly to the high relief of rugged mountains of 

moderate altitude (2,500 feet), which rise steeply to the Siskiyou 

Divide at 6,000 feet.

Smith River plain is drained by the Smith River and its tributaries 

and by Robinson, Jordan, and Elk Creeks. The major tributary of 

the Smith River north of the main stream is Rowdy Creek, which is 

joined at the town of Smith River by Dominie Creek and which joins 

the Smith River about 3 river miles upstream from its mouth.

Robinson Creek (not shown on map) flows on the Fort Dick terrace 

near the contact of the Battery formation for nearly its entire course; 

it drains into Lake Earl. Jordan Creek flows northwestward from the 

mountains to drain into the southeastern part of Lake Earl. A low, 

hardly perceptible, divide separates the drainage area of Elk Creek 

from the Jordan Creek drainage area. Elk Creek flows southwestward 

and drains into the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City.

The platform, varying from almost flat to undulating, has a relief 

of 75 feet (pi. 2A). One major exception is the series of steep alluvial 

fans, adjoining the mountain front, which reaches altitudes exceeding

100 feet above the plain. The fans are nearly continuous along the 

mountain front from east of Crescent City to the Oregon State line. 

Inasmuch as the fans form at the mouths of minor streams, an integrated drainage pattern has not developed on them.

Along the coast from Crescent City to approximately a mile northeast of Point St. George, a sea cliff rises to about 50 feet above the 

narrow, pebbly beach. Both south of this reach and north to the 

Smith River the beach is wider and sandy, with no sea cliff. South 

of Crescent City the sandy beach ends abruptly against the steep 

scarp of the mountainous headland. North of the Smith River the 

shoreline is marked by a sea cliff that is also about 50 feet high. This 

sea cliff continues to about three-fourths of a mile north of the State 

line, in Oregon, where it gives way to the flood plain of the Winchuck 

River.

The most striking physiographic features of the marine-terrace deposits are the many elongate sand ridges that were formed in Pleistocene time. Each ridge is about 500 feet wide at the base and rises 

about 30 or 40 feet above the plain. These ridges, which strike 

northwest, are generally parallel to one another and to the coastline 

southwest of Crescent City. They are best exposed hi the road cuts 

along Highway 199 northeastward from the junction with Highway

101 to the flood plain of Jordan Creek. The road cuts are crescentshaped escarpments rising approximately 20 to 30 feet above the 

highway. At many places the interridge areas are swampy and lie 

about 30 feet below the road. To the west, on Highway 101, the 

ridges are not so prominent, but they occur nearly as far north as
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1254 PLATE 1

A. REFRACTION SEISMIC EQUIPMENT LAYOUT AND EXPLOSION

B. ST. GEORGE FORMATION ALONG PEBBLE BEACH
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1254 PLATE 2

A. SURFACE OF MARINE TERRACE

B. ANCIENT SEA STACK OF JURASSIC ROCKS

C. ESCARPMENT OF FORT DICK TERRACE
GEOGRAPHY 11

Fort Dick, where the marine terrace is terminated by the river terrace. East of Crescent City the ridges are readily visible from the 

rolling county road that traverses Elk Valley.

Sand dunes form a narrow strip, averaging about a mile wide, along 

the coast from Point St. George to the mouth of Smith River. The 

surface is undulating, and the highest dunes rise as much as 60 feet 

above the interdune areas. The more stable dunes are covered with 

spruce trees, and interdune areas are covered with native grasses. 

Several large, rapidly moving sand dunes (pi. 3) are encroaching on 

the runways of the County Airport and on office buildings of the 

Paragon Plywood Corp. in 16/1W-18 (built since the photograph in 

pi. 3 was taken). The high permeability of the dunes permits infiltration of almost all the precipitation, thereby preventing any surface 

runoff. Consequently, no integrated drainage pattern has developed 

in the dune area.

In the west-central part of the plain are two shallow, brackishwater lakes. Lake Talawa, IK miles long and half a mile wide, joins 

larger Lake Earl, 3 miles long and more than a mile wide, by a dredged 

channel through a narrow sand ridge. This channel, 10 feet deep, is 

reported to be the deepest part of the lakes. The lake shores are 

covered with a dense growth of marsh grasses. To the southwest, 

east of the airport, is a smaller lake, Dead Lake.

Lake Earl is a collection basin for drainage from Jordan Creek and 

several minor streams from the southeast and for Robinson Creek 

and Talawa Slough from the north and northeast. From the west, 

seeps and springs drain from the sand-dune area into the lakes. During floods the Smith River overflows its channel and discharges through 

Talawa Slough to Lake Earl. The topographic gradient between 

Lake Earl and the Smith River is very low, and residents report that 

at times the hydraulic gradient is reversed, so that water flows from 

Lake Earl to the Smith River. Attempts have been made to drain 

flood waters from the two lakes by dredging a channel through the 

low sand ridge between the western extremity of Lake Talawa and 

the sea; however, the channel was soon filled with sediment deposited 

by onshore currents and waves.

The Smith River has formed terraces along its course as far east as 

the junction of South Fork and the main stream. This easternmost 

terrace segment in the mountain area, locally called Hiouchi Valley, 

is the location of Jedediah Smith State Park. The largest terrace 

along the Smith River is the one on which the town of Fort Dick is 

situated, and hence is referred to in this report as the Fort Dick terrace. This terrace is separated, except locally, from the flood plain 

by a 20-foot escarpment (pi. 2£7). The terrace extends westward from 

Highway 101 for some 2 miles and extends southeastward about 2
12 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OP THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

miles, where it ends against the mountain. North of the river a remnant of the Fort Dick terrace is partly covered by Recent alluvial 

fans. Terraces extend about a mile on either side of Rowdy Creek. 

The oldest and highest is at approximately the same altitude as the 

Fort Dick terrace and may correspond to it. The town of Smith 

River is built on the northernmost remnant of this terrace. North of 

the terrace alluvial fans border and overlie the flood plain of the 

Smith River.

The flood plain of the Smith River is a few feet wide in Hiouchi 

Valley and about a mile wide near Fort Dick. In the lower reaches 

the flood plain widens to some 4 miles and merges with the flood plain 

of Rowdy Creek near the tidal mouth of Smith River. To the southwest the flood plain joins the lacustrine plain of Lake Earl (included 

in the area mapped as Qfu on pi. 5).

Jurassic rocks occur on the Smith River plain as small outliers surrounded by the more recent sediments (pi. 2J5). These masses of 

rock range in size from a few feet to several hundred feet at their 

bases. A few rise to nearly 200 feet above the plain, but others are 

barely visible above the soil. These outliers are inferred to be remnants of sea stacks that formed offshore during Pleistocene time.

DISCHARGE OF THE SMITH RIVER

Since October 1931, the Geological Survey has maintained a recording gage on the Smith River, a mile downstream from the junction 

with South Fork. The average annual runoff from the 613-squaremile drainage basin for the period from October 1931 to December 

1952 is about 2,600,000 acre-feet, or nearly 80 inches per year.

Figure 4 shows the yearly runoff, reported by the Geological 

Survey, plotted with the precipitation recorded by the U. S. Weather 

Bureau at the weather station 8 miles northeast of Crescent City. 

The plotted discharge figures are for the water year, October 1 to 

September 30' the plotted precipitation figures are for the climatological year, July 1 to June 30. In general, the two graphs show a 

rather good correlation. However, during 1941-42, 1945-46, and 

1949-50 precipitation decreased from the previous year, but surface 

runoff increased. This apparent anomaly can probably be explained 

by noting that this area is susceptible to storms with heavy precipitation in short periods of time; consequently, there is a rapid runoff 

of large amounts of water which might otherwise be absorbed into 

the ground. Therefore, even with an annual decrease in total precipitation, the storm-frequency pattern of rainfall could result in an 

abnormally high stream runoff. Also, the precipitation recorded at 

the weather station near Crescent City is not representative of the 

precipitation throughout the Smith River drainage basin.
GEOGRAPHY 13

FIOURE 4. Annual discharge of the Smith River and annual precipitation near Crescent City.

The general distribution of precipitation in the drainage basin is 

shown in figure 5. Normal annual precipitation increases inland, 

with increase in altitude, from about 50 inches on the plain at CrescentCity (altitude less than 50 feet) to about 75 inches at the weather 

station (altitude 125 feet) 8 miles northeast of Crescent City, and as

403764 57 2 
14 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

EXPLANATION 

 75 

Line of equal precipitation Drainage divide 

in inches

0 10 Miles

FIGURE 5. Geographical distribution of precipitation in the Smith Kiver drainage basin.

much as 110 inches along the crest of Siskiyou Mountain (5,000 to 

6,400 feet). The precipitation on the basin probably averages more 

than 90 inches.

GEOLOGY

GROUND WATER

The quantity and quality of water in any ground-water basin are 

dependent upon the amount of precipitation and the geology of the 

basin. A geologic study of a basin is concerned primarily with the 

extent, thickness, and permeability of aquifers or potential aquifers, 

including the location and physiography of their outcrop areas, and 

the way in which these factors control the occurrence, quantity, and 

quality of the ground water. The extent of formations is determined 

by geologic mapping. The lithologic character is determined by the 

examination^of outcrops and the records of wells. Average thickness
GEOLOGY 15

and probable extent of the formations on the Smith River plain were 

determined by areal mapping, interpretations of logs from wells and 

test holes, and geophysical interpretation of five seismic probes.

The permeability of a rock is its capacity to transmit water under 

pressure (Meinzer, 1923a, p. 28). Approximate permeability of any 

formation can be determined or estimated by several laboratory or 

field methods. The coefficient of permeability, expressed in Meinzer 

units, is determined in the laboratory by measuring the number of 

gallons of water that will flow in 1 day through an undisturbed 

sample, 1 foot square, under a hydraulic gradient of 100 percent (loss 

of head of 1 foot per foot of travel) at a temperature of 60° F. The 

coefficient of permeability may be expressed also as the number 

of gallons of water a day that will percolate through a section of 

water-bearing material, 1 mile wide and 1 foot thick, for each foot 

per mile of hydraulic gradient.

The quantity and rate of movement of ground water are dependent, 

in part, upon the permeability of the rocks, which is primarily controlled by the size and degree of interconnection of voids, or interstices, 

in the rocks in the zone of saturation. In unconfined aquifers, the 

top of the zone of saturation is the water table, represented by the 

level at which water stands in an unpumped well. In fragmental 

rocks, the size of interstices through which ground water moves is 

dependent upon the size, shape, and degree of sorting of the individual 

grains forming the sediments. The size and degree of sorting may 

be determined by means of grain-size analyses of representative 

samples of the aquifer. Grain-size analysis of granular material 

consists of separating into groups the grains of different sizes and 

determining the percentage by weight that each group constitutes. 

Therefore, a grain-size analysis gives some indication of the permeability of a sediment.

Although determining the permeability of rocks in the field requires 

controlled pumping tests, it is possible to determine properties that 

are in large part controlled by the permeability of the rocks. The 

yield and specific capacity of a well are generally controlled by the 

permeability and thickness of the material penetrated in the well. 

The specific capacity is the ratio of the yield of a well to the drawdown. Drawdown is the difference between pumping water level and 

standing water level. Specific capacity is generally expressed as 

gallons per minute (gpm) per foot of drawdown. All other factors 

being equal, a well penetrating a permeable rock will have a higher 

yield and higher specific capacity than a well penetrating a rock of 

low permeability.

A number designating the specific capacity per foot of saturated 

material tapped is called the yield factor.4 This factor is a rough 

comparative index of the permeability of the sediments inasmuch as

«See footnote 2, p. 5.
16 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

it is a unit value, independent of the thickness of the section 

penetrated. In order that the yield factor may be expressed hi whole 

numbers, the quotient, derived from dividing the specific capacity 

by the saturated thickness, is multiplied by 100. In practice, it has 

been found that an approximate permeability, expressed in Meinzer 

units, may be estimated by multiplying the yield factor by 15 to 20, 

depending on the size and method of construction of the w@H> and 

conditions of ground-water occurrence.

Another indication of the relative permeability is the slope of the 

water table, which is controlled in part by the permeability of the 

materials saturated. Consequently, the spacing of the contours on a 

water-level map is indicative of the permeability of the aquifer, if the 

thickness is known to be essentially constant. Darcy's law of laminar 

flow expresses this concept by the equation:

Q=PIA

in which Q is the quantity of water discharged in a unit of time; P is 

a coefficient of permeability for the material; / is the hydraulic 

gradient; and A is the cross-sectional area of the material through 

which water percolates (Wenzel, 1942, p. 3-7). Hence, if P decreases, 

and A and Q remain constant, / must increase in proportion to the 

decrease in P, in order that the same amount of water may be transmitted. Therefore, the water-table gradient is very flat hi a highly 

permeable gravel, and it becomes quite steep hi a poorly sorted, silty 

sand of low permeability. On plate 6, an area of high permeability is. 

indicated in the downstream section of the Smith River flood plain, 

and an area of low permeability is indicated at the foot of the mountains east of the plain.

The slope of the water table also will steepen if the aquifer becomes 

thinner and the same amount of water is to be transmitted. From 

Darcy's law, if A (cross-sectional area) decreases, and P remains 

constant, I must increase in proportion to the decrease of P in order 

for Q to remain constant.

SUMMARY OF STRATIGRAPHY

The rocks that are exposed hi the area discussed in this report 

range in age from Jurassic to Recent. The oldest are Jurassic arkose, 

graywacke, chert, glaucophane schist, and serpentine. Overlying 

these rocks, in a small area around Crescent City, are beds of Pliocene 

sand and clay (St. George formation), which in turn are overlain \>y 

Pleistocene sand and clay (Battery formation). Throughout the rest 

of the platform, the Jurassic rocks are directly overlain by poorly 

consolidated sand and clay of the Battery formation, unconsolidated 

river-terrace deposits, or Recent alluvium. Recent eolian deposits 

border the coast.

The lateral extent of the geologic units and the stratigraphic relations are shown on plate 5. A general description of the geologic 

units and then- water-bearing properties is given in the following chart.
JURASSIC

TERTIARY

QUATERNARY

K'SQg.

-

Alluvium

<©

Oa

Q, ° 

 cS' ?1

IIs*^

&* CP 

\l

p v* 

w w* 

gs

rine a sand,ilt, lenticu very rous, 

stone. y 

probably

mp ont

It

P 2 

o c& 

N

SPg§ 

sg. 

ye

go

d d

l|rt

jit* %& 

o|i.fl

g*CO c* 

ris-a

H. SB^O 

&sll

g;p.pg 

»|§'I 

r SS2,£

s

Yield mo

w di

ped by

l wells.

Most extensiv 10 6togpm less tha ably 

M, £> 

23

«-

II

erall mm nges 

ry p

ver ly yissib ea

III"

SoBo-

!sI

o i 

AOOT03O
18 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS AND THEIR WATER-BEARING 

PROPERTIES

ROCKS OF THE JURASSIC SYSTEM

CHARACTER

Arkose, chert, and schist of late Jurassic age are exposed in the 

Smith River plain area. Intrusive into these rocks are ultrabasic 

rocks altered to serpentine, which are considered to be part of this 

system. Jurassic rocks form the mountains that bound the plain 

on the east and north, constitute the bedrock which underlies the 

semiconsolidated and unconsolidated Cenozoic sediments of the plain, 

and protrude through the younger sediments as scattered irregular rock 

masses rising above the general level of the plain (pi. 25).

The Jurassic rocks are principally thick, massive arkosic sandstones 

containing abundant shale fragments. In most exposures bedding is 

obscure, fractures are common, and the arkose is weathered light 

brown. Along the coast the section consists principally of blue arkose 

that weathers gray and contains less shale fragments than the characteristic brown arkose. This coastal section contains an assemblage 

of diverse rock types, such as conglomerate, chert, greenstone, black 

shale, and graywacke.

In general, the Jurassic rocks are slightly metamorphosed and 

resistant to erosion. They have been eroded to form a series of sea 

stacks, shown on plate 5 as rock islands a short distance off the coast 

south of Crescent City, near Point St. George, and north of Smith 

River. Scattered across the plain are small outcrops of arkose of 

Jurassic age, which stand as resistant masses as much as 200 feet above 

the general level of the plain. These masses have the shape and 

appearance of sea stacks and are interpreted as having been so formed 

when the Pleistocene sea covered the Smith River plain. The easternmost of these ancient stacks are at the foot of the steep mountain 

front that forms the eastern edge of the plain. Rocks of the same 

lithologic character form this mountain front and extend for almost 

3 miles eastward.

East of the arkose, a band of metamorphosed rocks about a quarter 

to half a mile wide (pi. 5} separates the arkose from a wider band of 

serpentine, representing an ultrabasic intrusive. Salem Rice (oral 

communication, December 1953) described the metamorphosed rocks 

as metasediments, largely phyllites and semischists. Both the schist 

and serpentine form linear outcrop patterns across the Hiouchi Valley 

area and, according to Rice, extend for several miles north and south 

of the Smith River.

AGE AND CORRELATION

In a report for the Division of Mines on the geology of Del Norte 

County, Maxson (1933) divided the Jurassic rocks into the Galice
GEOLOGY 19

formation, Dothan,formation, "Serpentine," and Siskiyou granodiorite. Inasmuch as Maxson's Galice formation and Siskiyou granodiorite occur in the eastern part of the county and do not crop out in the 

area of investigation, this paper is concerned only with Maxson's 

Dothan formation and "Serpentine."

The Dothan was named by Diller (1907, p. 407-411) from a locality 

in southern Oregon about 65 miles northeast of this area. Diller 

assigned the Dothan to the Jurassic period, on the basis of the pelecypod Aucetta erringtoni. He indicated (p. 412) that the Dothan contrasted strongly with the Knoxville and suggested (p. 420) that it may 

correlate with the Franciscan. Diller stated that the Dothan was 

overlain by the Galice, but he suggested that the beds were overturned and the Dothan actually was younger than the Galice (p. 410- 

11). Butler and Mitchell (1916, p. 2) traced the Dothan to near the 

southwestern corner of Oregon, and Maxson's use of the name was 

apparently in deference to their work.

In southwestern Oregon, Louderback (1905, p. 522-550) described a 

series of sandstones containing shale, conglomerate, and chert, associated with greenstone, serpentine, and schist. He named these rocks 

the Dillard series and stated that they were identical in lithology and 

character with the Franciscan of the California Coast Kanges (p. 

548-549). In the same area, he named the Myrtle group and described sedimentary rocks as belonging to this group which overlies 

unconformably the Dillard (of Diller, 1907) and contains the Knoxville fossil Aucetta.

Taliaferro (1942, p. 88-89) considered the Franciscan of the north 

Coast Kanges to extend into Oregon, to be equivalent in part to the 

Dillard (of Diller, 1907), and to be younger than, and overlap, the 

Dothan and Galice. He based this conclusion, in part, on the relatively unmetamorphosed character of the Franciscan compared to 

the older rocks.

Wells, Hotz, and Cater (1949) mapped rocks of Jurassic age in the 

Kerby quadrangle in southwestern Oregon and, concerning their age, 

state (p. 9) 

The writers think it best to follow the conclusion of Diller, namely that the 

Dothan is younger than the Galice, and is equivalent in age to the Franciscan 

group of the California Coast Ranges. The lithologic similarity of the Dothan 

and Franciscan can be attested to by the writers.

In a recent report on the Gasquet quadrangle, which is south of 

the Kerby quadrangle and several miles east of the Smith River plain, 

Cater and Wells (1953, pi. 11) extended the Dothan of the Kerby 

quadrangle about half a mile into California. This outcrop is about 

12 miles northeast of the town of Smith River and is separated from 

the Smith River plain by a belt of intensively folded and faulted in-
20 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

trusive and metamorphic rocks, which. Cater and Wells assign in 

part to the Galice.

As described by Cater and Wells, the Dothan formation has a 

marked lithologic similarity to the Jurassic rocks of the Smith River 

plain and to rocks that have been classified as Franciscan farther south 

in the California Coast Ranges. Cater and Wells do not discuss the 

age relations of the Dothan and Franciscan, but agree (p. 85) with 

Taliaferro that the Dothan is older than the Galice.

Because of the lack of agreement concerning the classification of 

the Jurassic rocks in this area, they are not assigned formational 

status in this report. The various workers (Diller, Maxson, Taliaferro, and Cater and Wells) agree that these rocks are of Late Jurassic 

age and similar lithologically. No fossils have been found in these 

rocks, and a detailed study of their stratigraphy is beyond the scope 

of this report.

WATER-BEARING PROPERTIES

Rocks of the Jurassic age are dense and crystalline and contain no 

appreciable amount of interstitial water. Some water is contained 

in the joints and other fractures in the formation, and along the 

mountain front many small springs flow from these openings.

The one well completed in the Jurassic rocks, 17/1W-14C1, at the 

Redwood Union School, is 215 feet deep, produces 5 gpm and has a 

reported drawdown of more than 150 feet.

Several unproductive wells have been drilled into the Jurassic rocks. 

Wells 16/1W-27C2 (total depth 500 feet) and 17/1W-11B2 (total 

depth 325 feet) are examples. The owner of the latter reported that 

he drilled three other dry holes on the same property.

TERTIARY SYSTEM

PLIOCENE SERIES 

ST. GEORGE FORMATION

Character. The marine sand and shale exposed in the sea cliff at 

Point St. George was named the St. George formation by Maxson in 

1933. These beds consist principally of massive, poorly bedded 

siltstone and shale containing discontinuous irregular lenses and thin 

beds of sand and scattered pebbles and carbonized wood fragments. 

In fresh exposures most beds of the formation are characteristically a 

dull gray blue, although locally they contain lenses of sand of lighter 

color or they may be stained violet. Weathered exposures may be 

rust colored or have brown-mottled iron staining. At Pebble Beach 

the lowest beds exposed at low tide are massive sandy clay, locally 

highly fossiliferous, that have a well-developed joint system (pi. IB). 

In that area beds of the St. George formation strike N. 50° W. and 

dip about 12° NE.
GEOLOGY 21

The thickness of the St. George was not determined, but the thickness of exposed strata near Point St. George is about 75 feet, and the 

maximum thickness is estimated to be about. 400 feet. In test well 

16/1W-21D1, drilled for the Crescent City Water Co., 213 feet of the 

St. George formation was penetrated without reaching the base. 

The refraction seismograph survey indicated the thickness along the 

south side of Jordan Creek to be 125 feet and at Washington Boulevard, 225 feet.

Rocks of the St. George formation were examined in 1901 by Dall 

(in Diller, 1902, p. 34-35), who correlated them in part with the 

Miocene "Empire Beds" of Cape Blanco, Oreg. Beds of similar 

lithology that cropped out under the wharf at Crescent City were 

considered by him to be Pliocene and were named "Crescent City 

beds." Dall described the "Crescent City beds" as "Soft bluish sandstone containing pebbles and worn fragments of carbonized wood 

* * * a few invertebrates occur sparsely." Although the outcrop of 

the "Crescent City beds" no longer remains above the sand and water, 

the lithology described by Dall is very similar to that of rocks in the 

southernmost outcrop of the St. George formation on Pebble Beach. 

In this report the "Crescent City beds" are considered to be a facies 

of the St. George formation.

The St. George formation crops out for about \% miles south from 

Point St. George along Pebble Beach and for a short distance to the 

north of Point St. George. Salem Rice reported (oral communication, 

December 1953) that at low tide the Pliocene sands crop out for a few 

hundred feet on the low sandy beach 1^ miles south of Crescent City.

Although no outcrops are visible on Fort Dick Beach (17/1W-17), 

many fossiliferous slabs as large as 2 feet by 2 feet and approximately 

2 inches thick, of apparently the same formation, occur on the beach. 

For several miles to the north and south from this locality, the beach 

is very sandy and there are no outcrops. Several individuals who 

collect the float for ornamental stone reported that the slabs are larger 

and more abundant on the landward side of the first low sand dune. 

An explanation for the occurrence of these slabs is that during storms 

and high tides waves waft the light fossiliferous siltstone (specific 

gravity 1.77) onto the beach from a submarine outcrop.

Hertlein (written communication, October 29, 1953) identified the 

following fossils from the fossiliferous siltstone float on Fort Dick 

Beach: Panomya ampla Dall, Siliqua patula nuttalii Conrad, Yoldia 

strigata Dall, and Polinices sp. Hertlein states 

This assemblage of fossils, as well as their preservation, is similar to others occurring in the Pliocene in northern California. In connection with this locality, one 

might take into consideration the fact that an extinct species of sand dollar,
22 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Anorthoscutum cf. A. oregonense quaylei Grant and Hertlein, has been found in 

similar float material in the same area. That echinoid is known to occur in. the 

upper Wildcat formation [Wildcat series of Lawson, 1894] in northern California.

The major lithologic feature of the St. George formation is the pronounced facies change in the outcrop along Pebble Beach. At the 

southernmost exposure (loc. 1, pi. 3), 5 feet of massive blue sandstone 

contains a haphazard scattering of pebbles and rounded fragments 

of carbonized wood. The sandstone includes a few thin bright-violet 

lenses of coarser, frosted quartz sand and red and black silt particles. 

The main part of the formation is a fine- to medium-grained clean 

bluish-gray quartz sand. (See grain-size analyses, fig. 6.) The exposure is weathered to a smooth, rounded surface with a brown-mottled 

iron stain.

Toward locality 2 the sandstone gradually loses all wood fragments 

and pebbles and changes to a very dense, fine-grained siltstone with 

minor jointing. Two small fossils found at this locality were identified 

by Hertlein as of Cardium cf. C. corbis Martyn. In reference to these 

fossils, Hertlein (written communication, October 29, 1953) states:

This species has been recorded as occurring from upper Miocene to Recent. The 

present specimens are incomplete and poorly preserved, but their general appearance suggests a Pliocene age for the beds from which they came.

At locality 3 the formation is principally well-jointed clay stone, 

containing some wood fragments at the base. The clay contains a 

few 1- to 2-inch concretions.

At locality 4 the massive blue sandstone reappears and contains 

scattered pebbles. A resistant brown sandstone lens 100 feet long, 

of medium-grained, rounded quartz, overlies the blue sandstone.

About 15 feet of well-cemented blue sandstone is exposed at locality 

5. At this place the sandstone is broadly crossbedded.

The formation is a massive well-jointed blue clay stone at locality 6. 

The two sets of joints intersect at angles of approximately 120° and 

60° (pi. 15). The clay stone breaks with a conchoidal fracture and 

shows spheroidal weathering.

Approximately 40 feet of the St. George formation is exposed at 

locality 7; it has about the same lithology as at locality 6. This 

extremely fossiliferous exposure contains the following assemblage: 

Cardium corbis Martyn, tOn/ptomya sp., Macoma nasuta, Conrad, 

Protothaca cf. P. staleyi Gabb (juvenile), tSaxidomus sp., Solen cf. 

S. sicarius Gould, lOcenebra sp. (cast). Hertlein, who made the 

identifications, reported that the fossils from this locality are identical 

with others found in the Pliocene in the same area.

At locality 8 the lithology is very similar to that at the southernmost outcrop (loc. 1). The sand is a little whiter and contains a lens
GEOLOGY 23

of clay and a lens of purple and black sand. Pebbles and rounded 

fragments of carbonized wood are abundant. The weathered surface 

is mottled with brown iron stains.

The Pliocene sands and clays exposed along Pebble Beach probably 

represent deposition of sediment in a bay or lagoon. At the northern 

and1 southern outcrops, the presence of coarser sediments, containing 

pebbles and fragments of carbonized driftwood, suggests that these 

deposits are littoral facies. The clays and silts, which contain many 

fossils, may be the deposits from the" slightly deeper part of the 

Pliocene bay that is represented on Pebble Beach. Sediments 

exposed along Pebble Beach, however, are all relatively near-shore 

deposits, the major part of the bay probably having lain seaward 

from the present shoreline.

Water-bearing properties, Although the hydrologic properties of 

the St. George formation have not been tested throughly, the fineness 

of grain of the sediments and lenticular character of the deposits 

seem highly unfavorable for the development of a deep water supply 

near Crescent City. On the basis of bailer tests, the Olson Drilling 

Ccf. recommended abandonment of the two test holes (16/1W-17P1 

and 21D1) that were drilled into the St. George for the Crescent 

City Water Co. The following log of test hole 16/1W-21D1, drilled 

in 1953, illustrates the lithologic character of the St. George formation. 

Altitude is 25 feet. The lithologic terms are as given by the driller; 

the geologic correlations are by the writer.

T> .. - ,. /Tl, . , x Thickness Depth Battery formation (Pleistocene): (feet) (feet)

Top soil________________________________ 2 2

Sand____________________________________ 34 36

Gravel, pea, shells.______________________ 1 37

St. George formation (Pliocene):

Gray clay__ ______________________________ 1 38

Blue clay________________________________ 22 60

Blue sand___ ____________________________ _ 190 250

Two representative samples of the coarser facies of the St. George 

formation show coefficients of permeability of 2.6 and 13.7 Meinzer 

units, respectively. By inspection of the results of the grain-size 

analyses of these two samples, one (A in fig. 6) is classified as a poorly 

sorted silty fine to medium sand, and the other (B in fig. 6) as a silty 

fine sand. However, inasmuch as the base of the Pliocene sediments 

is nowhere exposed in the area, the lowest part of the formation may 

possibly be coarser. However, even if coarser deposits occur at 

the base, recharge would be through the upper fine-grained sediments 

because the basal part does not crop out. Some water may percolate 

through the formation along the locally numerous joint planes (pi. IB), 

but the amount of recharge by this process probably would be small.
24 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

QUATERNARY SYSTEM

PLEISTOCENE SERIES 

BATTERY FORMATION

Character. The Battery formation was named by Maxson (1933), 

presumably from the section of silty clay alternating with fine- to 

medium-grained quartz sand exposed at Battery Point, southwest of 

Crescent City. Maxson defines the formation as "A thin marineterrace capping of unconsolidated sands exposed over the southern 

portion of the Crescent City platform." He also says, "Much of the 

surface of the Crescent City platform has been reworked by wind." 

With the Battery, Maxson also mapped Recent sand dunes along the 

coast. These dunes are mapped separately in this report.

The Battery formation, as considered in this report, includes 

related continental deposits consisting of contemporaneous stream 

gravels and elongate sand ridges. These ridges may not be of aqueous 

origin, but they are composed of reworked marine sediments and 

therefore are closely related to the Battery formation.

Where the Pliocene sediments remain, the Battery formation 

overlies them with a slight unconformity. In the rest of its area 

of outcrop, the Battery overlies the Do than rocks of Jurassic age with 

an angular uncomformity.

The best exposures of the Battery formation are along Pebble 

Beach. However, the vertical section can be observed in many 

streambanks and road cuts. The Battery immediately underlies the 

surface in the southern two-thirds of the area. Recent sand dunes 

and Lake Earl conceal the western limit, and along the mountains 

Recent alluvial fans cover the eastern margin. The northern limit 

of the main exposure is the contact with deposits of the Fort Dick 

terrace.

Hertlein identified the following fossils that were collected from the 

Battery at a locality on Pebble Beach (pi. 3): Macoma inquinata 

Deshayes, Saxidomus giganteus Deshayes, Spisula sp., and Balanus 

sp. In reference to these fossils he states: "The two species definitely 

identified live in the waters in this region at the present time. The 

general appearance of the fossils suggests a Pleistocene age."

Regarding the age of the Battery, Maxson (1933, p. 136) writes: 

"A fossiliferous lens contains a small fauna whose general aspect is 

that of the upper San Pedro stage." The San Pedro is generally 

considered to be lower Pleistocene.

The Pleistocene age of the Battery formation seems to be well 

established, but its position within the Pleistocene is not clearly 

indicated. The horizontal attitude, low degree of induration, and 

Recent aspect of the fauna identified by Hertlein suggest a late Pleistocene age for these deposits.
.004

.01 .02 .04 .0625 .1 .125 

PARTICLE SIZE, IN MILLIMETERS

Size groups (percent by weight)

Sample

A

B

Clay size

5.0

4.3

Silt size

13.8

15.1

Very fine

10.0

16.0

FIGURE 6. Grain-size analyses of two samples from the St. George for
26 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Where present, the Battery ranges in thickness from about 28 to 66 

feet. A 28-foot section of the Battery was measured on Pebble 

Beach (pi. 3). In the Pebble Beach area a zone of gravel in a matrix 

of sand and sticky clay makes up the lower few feet. Most wells in the 

Battery formation are not drilled through the formation but are completed in the lower part, at a depth of about 35 feet. Test holes 

16/1W-21D1 and 35P1, drilled by the Crescent City Water Co., 

encountered the top of the basal gravel zone at depths of 36 and 25 

feet, respectively. The seismic probe made along Washington 

Boulevard (pi. 6) indicated a possible thickness of 66 feet for the 

Battery. The thickness could not be estimated from the data, obtained from the seismic probe along Jordan Creek. In the exposures 

along Pebble Beach the Battery consists principally of lenticular, 

poorly stratified beds of silty sand alternating with thin clay layers. 

There the section is composed of about one-third clay and two-thirds 

sand. The sand is generally buff, blue, or gray but weathers yellow to 

give a rusty appearance to the entire exposure.

The following section, measured on Pebble Beach at 16/1W-19Q, is 

representative of the formation.

T, ,, £ ,. Thickness Battery formation: (feet)

Soil, dark-brown; contains shell fragments._______________________ 1.4

Sand, buff, quartz, and rounded black minerals, rather well sorted, 

medium-grained; appears to have microcrossbedding. (Near the 

base of this bed, about 50 ft north, is a 6-in. violet clay layer 

banded at top and bottom by 1}_ in. of iron oxide)____________ 1. 8

Clay, white; contains a 6-in. lens of poorly sorted well-cemented sand- 2. 2 

Clay, bluish-gray, hard, minor jointing; many organic fragments

decomposed to iron oxide_________________________________ 3. 7

Sand, buff to gray, fine- to medium-grained; fine and better sorted

toward the top_____________________ ___ ___ 4. 0

(Section continued 20 ft south)

Clay, brown from iron oxide, very sticky____________ _______ . 1

Sand, blue, fine to coarse, larger grains predominantly well-rounded 

quartz; contains small amount of clay and silt and some plant 

fragments; one 1-in. layer of iron oxide, otherwise iron free. 

(Mechanical analysis, A in fig. 7)____________---______------- 7. 6

Clay, blue, sticky; contains decomposed plant fragments. ___ __ _ . 4 

Sand, buff, fine to medium grains of rounded and frosted quartz; contains small amount of coarse sand, silt, clay, and irregular streaks 

of iron oxide. (Mechanical analysis, B in fig. 7) _______________ 1.8

(Section continued 100 ft northwest)

Sand; lower 2 ft contains large pebbles and shale fragments. ________ 5. 0

Total exposed thickness of Battery formation,______________ 28. 0

Jurassic rocks:

Chert, white to buff_________________________... 2. 0 

Shale, bluish-black, fissile, soft, weathers friable to sticky. To base of

sea cliff above rocky beach-___-____--__---_------_-_-------- 8. 0
3

o

M

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CJ M 

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size Clay 

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=*

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Medium

I

coarse Very ]

Sand size 1 

.2255 1.0 2.( .06251125 .002014 .001402 

SIZE INMILLIMETERS PARTICLE , 

Size bygroups (percent weight)

FINER PERCENT 

«-tou>*.oi»-"JOoige 

aooooo&oSoo

Jl

1

I

|y

i

l\

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 v

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H
28 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

In the sea cliff north of the mouth of Smith River, 20 feet of stratified 

indurated marine sand, containing abundant pebbles in layers and 

stringers (pi. 4.B), overlies the bedrock of Jurassic age. The sand is 

overlain by about 3 feet of poorly stratified yellow sandy clay containing lenses of gravel.

Drillers' logs of wells near the intersection of Elk Valley Road and 

Highway 199 report several feet of "clean river gravel." The peg 

model shows that this gravel forms a rather continuous layer roughly 

parallel to Jordan Creek and from about a mile south of the creek 

extends around the northeastern shoreline of Lake Earl. Although 

this gravel is continental in origin, it interfingers and is interbedded 

with the marine deposits of the Battery; therefore it is included in 

that formation in this report.

The following log of well 16/lW-SPl, drilled by Peter T. Starr, Jr., 

in 1951 for Ray Miller, illustrates the character of the Battery formation in that area.

Thickness Depth 

Battery formation: (feet) (feet)

Top soil__________________________________ 3 3

Yellow clay ________________________________ 13 16

Sand, gravel__________________________________________ 12 28

An estimated minimum thickness of 60 feet of continental gravels 

(pi. 4-4), exposed along Highway 199 in 16/lW-l, are tentatively 

correlated with the Pleistocene gravels along Jordan Creek and are 

included in the Battery formation. The gravels are poorly sorted, 

ranging in size from granules to 4-inch cobbles. They are cetnented 

with a matrix of sandy clay. Several lenses of sticky blue clay contain many carbonized fragments of wood and abundant rather wellpreserved leaves.

The lenticular nature of the deposits and the abundant plant 

material indicate that the sediments were deposited near shore, 

possibly in a lagoon.

Water-bearing properties. The marine-terrace deposits of the 

Battery formation are the principal source of ground water in the 

Crescent City area and in most other parts of the plain. In general, 

wells in these deposits yield water sufficient for 1- or 2-family dwellings. The Patterson Water Co., at the north edge of Crescent City, 

supplies water for 10 families from 1 well. The Crescent City Water 

Co. has 2 wells for its main supply of water in winter. In the summer
GEOLOGY 29

these wells are used only as emergency standby supply, because they 

can be pumped dry in a few hours.

Properties of wells tapping the Battery formation are given in the 

table on page 30. The largest yield reported for any well that derives 

its water from the marine-terrace deposits was 50 gpm. Of 13 wells 

for which information was available, the yields ranged from 8 to 50 

gpm and averaged about 20 gpm. Drawdown ranged from 2 to 10 

feet and averaged about 5 feet. The reported specific capacity for 

these wells ranged from 1.3 to 12 gpm per foot of drawdown and averaged about 4. Capacity and drawdown figures are reported from 

drillers' logs and probably do not represent stabilized conditions; 

therefore, the higher reported values may not represent sustained 

yields.

The log of well 16/1W-3N1, which reported a specific capacity of 

10 gpm per foot of drawdown, showed sand and gravel in the bottom 

of the hole, presumably gravel of the Pleistocene channel of Jordan 

Creek.

Coefficients of permeability for the Battery formation, based on the 

data given in the table on page 30, were found to average about 500 

gpd per square foot. The yield factor, and consequently the permeability reported, may be higher than the actual values, owing to the 

possible inaccuracies of the assumptions involved in the system of 

estimating yield factor and permeability. ,(See p. 16.)

The two factors that most critically control the validity of the 

final results are the observed specific capacity and the reported 

saturated thickness. Because of the common irrigation practice of 

shutting down the pump to move sprinklers every 4 hours, it was 

impossible to measure the pumping level at any well after it had 

been pumping longer than 4 hours; Therefore, the pumping level 

may still have been declining at the time reported, and the measured 

drawdown would be too small, thereby increasing the reported specific 

capacity of the well.

The yield factor, as reported, would also be too high if the well 

penetrates the aquifer only partly, so that a large part of the water 

entering the well is derived from beneath the bottom of the well. 

Therefore, if the saturated thickness, as reported, is too small, it 

follows that the yield factor and estimated permeability will be too 

large.

403764 57-
30 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATEK OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN 

Properties of wells in the Battery formation

Well no. on pi. 5

16/1W-3N1 - - -------

17H1. 

18F1 ___ - . . - . .

16/2W-24A1-.- . 

16/1W-20E1 ___ - - - 

20H1 ------

20H3 ---------- - - - - - -

20P1

21F1 .-- _ . _

27B2 __ -_ _ - -

28G1-.. 

17/1W-27Q1 ___ ._- _

18/1W-17B1 .............................

Yield 

(gpm)

30<y\

10

8

10

30

10

25

15

30

20

15

10

20

Drawdown 

(feet)

3

4

5

6

3

8

2

4

10

6

6

5

4

5

Specie 

cap«J}«y 

(gpm per 

foot of 

drawdown)

10

12

2

1.3

3.3

3.7

5

6.2

1.5

5

3.3

3

2.5

4.5

Saturated 

thickness 

(feet)

28

13

10

13

9

20

13

10

15

1,2

I*

12

5

13

Yield 

factor i

36

92

20

10

36

18

38

62

10

42

28

25

50

36

Yield factor= Specific capacity 

Saturated thickness X 100

RIVER-TERRACE DEPOSITS

Character. River-terrace deposits are older (Pleistocene) alluvium 

in a raised position with respect to Recent flood plains. In general, the 

terrace deposits consist of sand and gravel mixed with clay. Drillers' 

logs indicate that finer material is more prevalent in thes upper pfa¥t 

and that cobbles several inches in diameter are common in the lower 

part. The terrace deposits that are shown on the map (pi. 5) are of 

late Pleistocene age, and in most places they directly overlie the bedrock of Jurassic age. The inferred relations of the terrace deposits to 

the Battery formation, alluvium, and rocks of Jurassic age are shown 

on plate 5.

The log of well 17/1W-14F1, drilled by Peter T. Starr, Jr., in 1953, 

illustrates the character and thickness of the deposits underlying the 

Fort Dick terrace.

Terrace deposits:

Gravelly soil-_____________

Sand, gravel, and boulders. 

Jurassic rocks:

Solid rock___.____________

Blue shale_______________.

Thickness Depth

(feet) (feet)

13 13

17 30

34

40

Terrace deposits lie on both sides of the Smith River upstream from 

where Highway 101 crosses the Smith River. The Fort Dick terrace 

is the largest on the plain and covers 5 to 6 square miles. North of 

the Smith River is a narrow strip of terrace deposits which have been 

deposited in part by the Smith River and in part by Rowdy Creek. 

These northern deposits are overlain in places by Recent alluvial fans.

A topographic break marks the contact of all the terrace deposits 

with the younger sediments, with the exception of the western margin
G10LOGT

of the Fort Dick terrace. Along that contact the escarpment is very 

subdued, probably because of the erosion and alluviation by floodwaters of tne Smitli River and'Bake Earl. In that area, the windblown 

deposits from the dunes, a short distance west, are a ready source of 

sediment for redistribution by the floodwaters.

The log of well 16/1E-9N1 in Hiouchi Valley shows the thickness of 

the terrace deposits to be at least 50 feet. Logs of several wells near 

Fort Dick indicate a thickness of about 40 feet.

Water-bearing properties. In general, the river-terrace deposits are 

permeable enough to yield sufficient water for domestic wells. However, the well drilled for the Redwood Union School (17/lW-14Cl)r 

thrb'ug*b the entire "thickness -of ^O^et of'sediment, was not reliable 

during early fall. Three successful irrigation wells have been developed 

in the river-terrace deposits. These wells have yields estimated at 

140, 200, and 400 gpm.

The following table shows the properties of a few selected wells on 

which it was possible to obtain information regarding the water-bearing 

characteristics of the terrace deposits.

Properties of wetts in the river-terrace deposits

Well no. on pi. 5

Fort Dick terrace:

17/1W- 9J1 (irrig.). ....... . . ... 

14F1 . ..... . -.. ...

14L2- -

15E2 (irrig.)..... . ......

15M1- ._.___- ...-

Rowdy Creek terrace:

18/lW-35Cl(irrig.)... - .-. 

Hiouchi Valley terrace:

16/1E-8K1... -. . .-..

Yield

(gpm)

200

50

20

400

30

140

15

122

Drawdown

. <feet)

12

3

4

7

2.26

2

4.6

Specific

capacity

(gpm per

foot of

'drawdown)

17

17

5

57

I K

61

7.5

26

Saturated

thickness

(feet)

21

15

36

10

15

11

18

Yield

factor !

81

113

158

i in

407

68

163

The coefficients of permeability of the terrace deposits of the Smith 

River are probably 1,000 to 2,000 gpd per square foot. Available 

information indicates that the terrace deposits of Rowdy Creek are 

more permeable than those of the Smith River and are probably about 

as permeable as the less permeable facies of the Recent flood-plain 

deposits that is, about 6,000 gpd per square foot.

RECENT SERIES 

FLOOD-PLAIN DEPOSITS

Character. The flood-plain .deposits, mapped as Qfu and Qfy on 

plate o, form and underlie the present flood plains of Smith River, its 

major tributaries, and Jordan, Lopez, and Gilbert Creeks. With the
32 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER @# THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

mapping scale used, it was not possible to show the alluvium along the 

smallest streams. In the mountain area the Smith River flood plain 

is less than a quarter of a mile wide, but on the platform the flood 

plain ranges in width from half a mile to several miles.

Except in the stream channels, the flood-plain deposits are exposed 

only locally, but their lithology is known from the drillers' logs of wells 

for these deposits. They consist largely of sand and gravel intermixed 

in places with silt. As in the terrace deposits, boulders and cobbles 

are probably common in the flood-plain deposits mapped as Qfu. 

Thej are observed to be common in the river-channel deposits (Qfy).

The following log of well 17/1W-3C1, drilled by Stair & Purdue in 

March 1953, illustrates the lithologic character of the flood-plain 

deposits. Altitude of the well was 15 feet, and depth to water at the 

time of drilling was 3 feet.

T> 4. a j i j -± Thickness Depth Kecent flood-plain deposits: (feet) (feet)

Soil._______________.__.________._____ 2 2

Sand___________________________________ 3 5

River gravel___________________________________ 20 25

Seismic probe 2, upstream from the bridge whei;e Highway 101 

crosses the Smith River (pi. 5), indicated that the surface of the Jurassic rocks slopes about 2 degrees toward the northeast; the thickness of 

alluvium was shown to be about 42 feet on the southwest end and 60 

feet on the northeast end of the line of penetration.

Seismic probe 3, near the mouth of the Smith River, indicated a 

1-degree slope to the east on the Jurassic rocks; the thickness of 

alluvium was shown to be about 65 feet on the west end and 95 feet 

on the east end of the line of penetration.

Along small tributary streams the thickness of the alluvium ranges 

from a featheredge to some 50 feet.

Water-bearing properties. The flood-plain deposits are the most 

productive aquifers in the area of investigation. Yields of irrigation 

wells that penetrate these deposits range from 200 gpm to more than 

500 gpm. The following table shows the properties of a few selected 

wells on which it was possible to obtain information regarding, the 

water-bearing characteristics of the flood-plain deposits.

Properties of wells in the flood-plain deposits

Well no. on pi. 5

18/1W-26P1 - __ ..... _ ._........_.

34M1 . ._ . ... --.- -..._-

35K1 _ ..... _ -,_ _ _ ..........

17/1W- 3C1 ___ ........ _ ....... _ ....

Yield

(gpm)

180

525

240

420

Drawdown

(feet)

1.12

1.50

2.73

3.44

2.2

Specific

capacity

(gpm per

foot of

drawdown)

160

350

88

123

180

Saturated

thickness

(feet)

14

14

24

18

17

Yield

factor i

1,140

2,500

370

680

1,170

Yield factor* Specific capacity 

Saturated thicknessX100
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1254 PLATE 3

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PEBBLE BEACH AREA, SHOWING OUTCROPS (1-8) AND 

FOSSILIFEROUS LOCALITY (7) OF THE ST. GEORGE FORMATION AND MEASURED SECTION AND FOSSIL LOCALITY OF THE BATTERY FORMATION
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1254 PLATE 4

A. CONTINENTAL GRAVELS OF THE BATTERY(?) FORMATION

B. GRAVEL FACIES OF THE BATTERY FORMATION ALONG SEA CLIFF
GEOLOGY 33

the properties of these wells are representative of tnost 

weBs drilled into the flood-plain deposits, the values are relative and 

sfeo*ald be used only to compare water-bearing characteristics of the 

several aquifers in the Smith River plain. However, the coefficients 

of permeability for the flood-plain deposits are very high, probably 

in the range of 5,000 to 20,000 Meinzer units but possibly higher.

It would appear from these estimates that properly constructed 

large-diameter wells could produce yields in excess of 1,000 gpm.

ALLUVIAI/-FAN DEPOSITS

Recent alluvial-fan deposits form a narrow strip, almost continuous, 

along the mountain front. In general, these deposits consist of 

poorly sorted fragments of the Jurassic sandstone embedded in a very 

weathered silty to clayey matrix. Individual fans from small streams 

draining the mountain front have coalesced so that the typical fan 

shape is no longer apparent. The surface of the fans has a steep slope 

(pi. 5) compared with the nearly flat surfaces of the adjoining marine 

and stream terraces.

In the northern and southern parts of the Crescent City platform 

alluvial fans overlie marine-terrace deposits of the Battery formation. 

From the Smith River to a short distance north of Rowdy Creek the 

fans overlie river-terrace deposits. From this area north to the 

marine terrace the fans have been deposited directly onto the flood 

plain of Smith River and its local tributaries.

Although several domestic wells produce water from the alluvial 

fans, at many localities these deposits are poorly sorted and contain 

such a high proportion of fine material that they do not yield water of 

sufficient quantity for domestic use.

Associated with the alluvial fans are several landslides, mapped as 

Ql on plate 5.

DUNE SAND

The eolian sand deposits form a pronounced topographic feature 

adjacent to the ocean along the west edge of the Smith River plain. 

The sand dunes cover an area more than 10 miles long and about 1 

mile wide, from Point St. George north to the mouth of the Smith 

River.

Although the total thickness of the eolian deposits is unknown, the 

ridges are locally 60 to 70 feet above the surfaces of the marine terrace 

and alluvium. Where they border the sea, they stand as much as 60 

feet above sea level.

The sand composing the ridges is gray, fine- to medium-grained, 

angular to subrounded, and predominantly quartz but containing 

abundant ferromagnesian minerals. The near-surface material in the 

interdune area is poorly sorted but is generally finer grained.
34 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

The loose, unconsolidated dune sand is so susceptible to wind erosion 

that it is unsuitable for cultivation, and consequently no irrigation 

wells have been developed in this area. However, several dairy herds 

graze on the native grasses that surround Lake Earl and grow in the 

interridge areas.

Surface drainage is poor, and a large part of the precipitation that 

falls on the dune area infiltrates the ground and becomes recharge, 

moving eventually to the adjoinging Battery formation and alluvium. 

The water table crops out locally in pools that occupy some of the 

interdune depressions.

Water-bearing properties. The dune sand is moderately permeable 

and contains water of good quality; however, only a few dozen stock 

and domestic wells are now used in the area. Hydrologic properties 

should be investigated further to determine the feasibility of developing large water supplies.

STRUCTURE

The major structural feature of the area is the Del Norte fault, 

along which the Smith Kiver plain has been dropped from the adjacent mountains. According to Maxson (1933, pi. IV), this fault 

lies near the base of the mountain escarpment and separates the 

Jurassic rocks from the plain. In the mountains the complexly 

folded Jurassic rocks strike in general toward the northwest. The 

surface beds on the plain are practically undisturbed and are underlain by Pliocene rocks which dip gently northeastward.

According to Maxson (1933, pi. IV), the strike of the Del Norte 

fault south of Kowdy Creek is nearly north, but north of Kowdy Creek 

the strike curves northwestward along the base of the hills and is due 

west at the mouth of the Smith River. If Maxson's mapping of this 

fault is correct, then the narrow band of the Battery formation north 

of the Smith River represents sediments deposited on a wave-cut 

terrace carved directly in the mountain headland and formed independently of the main part of the Smith River plain. However, the 

similarity of the bedrock surface and the superficial deposits in the 

two parts of the area suggest that they might .have originated contemporaneously under identical conditions. The area north of the 

Smith River, like the main part of the plain, probably is faulted down 

from the adjacent mountains. That area is apparently offsat to the 

west along a cross fault that generally follows the westward-striking 

trace of Maxson's Del Norte fault. The valley of Rowdy Creek and 

its south fork follows the zone of weakness of this cross fault. Mapping of the Rowdy Creek drainage area in more detail than was possible for this report may reveal more evidence indicating the presence 

of such a fault.
GEOLOGY 35

Near Point St. George, Dall (in Diller, 1902, p. 35) observed dips 

as much as 20° N. in the St. George formation and concluded that 

they were initial dips. He suggested that the beds of the St. George 

were deposited as a broad arch over the irregularly eroded surface of 

the Jurassic rocks. The author, however, observed a strike of N. 50° 

W. and dip of 12° NE. in those beds along Pebble Beach and agrees 

with Maxson (1933, p. 137) that this dip is the result of structural 

movement. Tilting of these beds by the structural movement that 

dropped the Smith River plain seems to be logical and consistent with 

the structural history of the area. Thus, the beds of the St. George 

were tilted gently northeastward by downward movement of the 

Crescent City block, with respect to the adjacent mountain front, 

prior to the deposition of the overlying Batterjr formation, which is 

undisturbed. This tilting indicates that movement along the Del 

Norte fault occurred during one or more intervals before and after 

deposition of the St. George formation. The first lateral movement 

along the Rowdy Creek cross fault probably occurred before deposition 

of the St. George.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY AND GEOMOBPHOLOGY

After the deposition of Jurassic rocks, the area was uplifted and 

probably remained above sea level during the Cretaceous period and 

the early part of Tertiary time. During Miocene time the area 

evidently was covered by the sea, or at least the sea extended eastward 

from the area, because a few hills east of the Crescent City platform 

are capped by marine sand and clay of probable Miocene age the 

"Wymer beds," as they were named by Diller (1902, p. 32). The 

total area submerged by the Miocene sea is unknown, but the widespread occurrence of marine rocks in California suggests that it was 

probably very extensive. Absence of Miocene rocks on the platform 

may be explained by inferring that the platform area was an island 

composed of Jurassic rocks or that the Miocene sediments were later 

eroded from the platform area.

During the period from about the middle of the Miocene to the 

part of the Pliocene preceding deposition of the St. George formation, 

the Crescent City platform was dropped by faulting. The gradual 

movement along the Del Norte fault and the hypothetical Rowdy 

Creek cross fault caused the platform to be lowered somewhat below 

sea level. At that time the Jurassic rocks were eroded and sculptured 

by the ocean, forming a wave-cut terrace marked by the prominent 

sea stacks that remain today as small outcrops of Jurassic rocks 

protruding through the Pleistocene and Recent sediments.

During the Pliocene epoch the ocean covered at least the southern 

two-thirds of the platform, and deposits of the St. George formation
36 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

accummulated in a bedrock trough. The ancestral Smith River 

was probably a major source of sediment as it flowed through the 

low gap, now elevated and crossed by U. S. Highway 199. Later, 

the newly deposited Pliocene beds were eroded and possibly were 

completely removed from areas they once covered. During the 

geologically active middle Pleistocene time, structural movement 

tilted the Pliocene beds slightly landward. The late Pleistocene sea 

spread over the platform area and formed a wave-cut terrace, on which 

the Battery formation was deposited. At that time the Smith River 

was still flowing through the saddle now crossed by Highway 199; 

the mouth of the river was near the present intersection of Highway 

199 and the Elk Valley Road. As the Pleistocene sea retreated, 

the river extended its course across the platform and flowed in the 

ancestral channel now occupied by Jordan Creek.

Lake Earl was at the mouth of Smith River at the end of the Pleistocene and during early Recent time. According to Davis (1933, 

p. 231), Lakes Earl and Talawa are lakelike bays "enclosed by a 

long, wave-built, smoothly beached sand reef" which swings southwestward to the low, rocky headland of Point St. George. The 

two lakes are separated by a narrow strip of sand, which may be 

an older reef of somewhat sharper curvature than the outer reef.

Prominent elongate sand ridges on the marine-terrace surface of 

the Battery formation probably originated near the shore as the 

Pleistocene sea withdrew from the Smith River plain. These ridges 

might have been formed by ocean waves and currents, or they may 

be transverse dunes formed of sand blown from successive beaches 

of a withdrawing sea. Emery (1950, p. 219) described similar ridges 

in San Diego County, Calif., and concluded that they were of eolian 

origin.

These ridges are about 500 feet wide at the base, 30 or 40 feet 

high, nearly symmetrical in cross section, and trend northwestward 

parallel to the coastline at Pebble Beach. The material forming the 

ridges is subrounded to subangular quartz sand. Thin horizontal clay 

layers occur in the upper part and some material of finer grain is distributed throughout the sand. Cursory examination of road cuts along 

Highway 199 seemed to indicate parallel bedding in these deposits, 

but broad crossbedding was visible after a heavy rain had removed 

loose debris from the cuts.

The elongate character of these ridges, their symmetry, and their 

parallelism with the present shoreline suggest that they were deposited 

by wave action. The broad crossbedding and frosted sand grains, 

however, indicate an eolian origin. The sand grains are subangular 

because, like the Recent dunes, their source was probably a nearby 

beach and they were not transported far enough to become well
GROUND WATER 37,

rounded. The clay layers and the finer material dispersed through 

the sand were probably derived from the weathering of clay-forming 

feldspars and concentrated in lenticular beds by soil-forming processes. Similar fine-grained material and thin clayey zones were 

observed in cuts in the Recent dunes. The occurrence of swampy 

undrained interridge areas is more consistent with an eolian than an 

aqueous origin for these ridges.

An eolian origin for these ridges, as postulated by Emery for the 

ridges in San Diego County, seems to be the more logical explanation.

During early Recent time the Smith River was pirated or deflected 

toward the north, where it debouched from the mountainous area at 

the present location. The Crescent City platform was lower in 

relation to sea level than it is now; the surfaces now represented by 

the Fort Dick and equivalent terraces were the flood plain of Smith 

River.

Perhaps part of the Battery formation was eroded by the river 

immediately prior to the deposition of these terrace deposits. The 

terraces in Hiouchi Valley, about 150 feet above the present river 

channel, may indicate that the river gradient was far steeper than it 

is now. The escarpments of these terraces also suggest at least 

three periods of sea-level lowering in relation to the land surface 

since the deposition of the deposits now forming the highest terrace. 

Fort Dick terrace is the youngest terrace of the Smith River. Since 

the deposition of these latest terrace deposits, the sea level has lowered 

and the sediment load of the Smith River is now being deposited on 

the present flood plain at an altitude lower than the Fort Dick terrace.

GROUND WATER 

GENERAL HYDROLOGIC PRINCIPLES

"Subsurface water" is the term used to designate all water that 

exists below the land surface (Meinzer, 1923b, p. 17-32). Ground 

water is the part of subsurface water that is in the zone of saturation.

Except for minor amounts of water from magmatic solutions 

(juvenile or primary water), the source of ground water is precipitation. However, only a fraction of the total precipitation that falls 

on a given area infiltrates to become part of the giound-water body. 

A part of the remainder of the precipitation returns to the atmosphere 

by evaporation, and by transpiration through the leaves of plants 

that is, by processes collectively called evapotranspiration. The 

water that is neither absorbed into the soil and underlying formations 

nor evaporated at the point of precipitation becomes direct surface 

runoff. This runoff, in the form of sheet wash and streamflow, 

continues to flow downslope on the surface until it either evaporates,
38 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

seeps downward to become subsurface water, collects in basins, or 

flows to the ocean.

The term "hydrologic cycle" is used to describe this movement of 

water from the atmosphere to the land, to the oceans, and^again 

back to the atmosphere.

Ground-water recharge is the addition of water to the groundwater reservoir and may take place in several ways. Ground water 

in the Smith River plain is derived from direct infiltration of precipitation, subsurface inflow of water that fell as precipitation on the 

mountains or in the dune area, and infiltration of runoff in the lower 

reaches of the Smith River and other permeable stream channels.

The three principal factors controlling the proportion of precipitation that becomes recharge are depth to the water table, permeability 

of material underlying the land surface, and topography.

In the Smith River plain, the relief and the depth to water are 

generally consistent throughout the area; therefore, the permeability 

of the sediments is the critical factor that determines the favorable 

places of recharge from precipitation. In general, the upper beds of 

the Battery formation are rather impermeable and permit only a 

small amount of infiltration. Terrace deposits are somewhat better 

for infiltration. Permeable sand dunes and flood-plain deposits are 

the most favorable recharge areas. The hydrograph of well 16/lW17K1 (fig. 8), in the Battery formation, shows no change in rate of 

downward trend following the late summer rains; however, the hydrograph of well 17/1W-15M2, in terrace deposits, shows an almost 

immediate rise in water level after the August rains.

Ground-water discharge, the withdrawal of water from the groundwater body, may occur in several ways. In the area covered by this 

report, natural discharge is primarily through springs and seeps that 

discharge into the ocean or into effluent streams draining into Lakes 

Earl and Talawa or the ocean, or it is by evaporation and transpiration. Springs and seeps discharge ground water from the lower part 

of the Battery formation in the sea cliffs along Pebble Beach and 

north of the Smith River. Other springs are along the eastern edge 

of the sand dunes at the south end of Lake Earl. Many of the numerous springs along the mountain front are developed for domestic 

water supplies. The flow of Elk and Jordan Creeks is sustained by 

ground-water discharge along their courses (pi. 6).

Artificial discharge in this area takes place by pumping from wells. 

When a well is not pumped, equilibrium exists between the head of 

water in the well and the head of water in the aquifer outside the 

well. When water is withdrawn from the well, the head inside the 

well is reduced and a difference in head is created for some distance 

from the well. In the process of establishing hydraulic equilibrium,
GROUND WATER 39

the water table develops a cone of depression. The apex of the1 cone 

is at the water level in the well during pumping, the height is, equal 

to the'drawdown, and the base is the original water surface; The 

area affected by a pumped well (area of influence) is controlled largely 

by the rate of pumping and rate of recharge. A higher pumping rate 

in a well produces a greater drawdown, and thereby increases the 

depth and diameter of the cone and the area of influence. The local 

rate of recharge is controlled primarily by the permeability of the 

water-yielding beds tapped by the well.

WATER TABLE AND MOVEMENT OF GROUND WATER

The lateral movement of ground water is shown by contour maps 

of the water table. Ground water moves from points of higher to 

points of lower head; therefore, contours, or lines connecting points 

'of-'equal>altitude on the water surface, may indicate the areas of recharge (water-table highs) and areas of discharge (water-table lows).

Plate 6 shows water-level contours for the ground-water body of 

the Smith River plain. The general north-south alinement of contours along the mountain front indicates that the predominant direction of movement is from the alluvial fans toward the most extensive 

aquifers, the Battery formation and the river terraces. The alluvialfan deposits have a low permeability, and most of the recharge in that 

area is probably by infiltration in the channels of the small streams.,

About \% miles north of Crescent City on Highway 101 is a groundwater divide. North of this divide water flows to Lake Earl; south 

of the divide water either discharges by seepage along the sea cliff 

south and west of Crescent City or is drained to the ocean by Elk 

Creek. Therefore, the water that is recharged to the ground-water 

body in the headwaters area of Elk Creek discharges in part to Lake 

Earl and in part as surface water in the lower reaches of Elk Creek, 

thence to the ocean.

Although few water-level measurements have been made in the 

sand-dune area northwest of Crescent City, projected contours indicate that recharge is entirely from precipitation on that area and that 

the ground water moves from the higher dunes outward in all directions: to Myers Creek drainage (northwest of Crescent City, not 

shown on base map), to Lakes Earl and Talawa, and directly to 

the ocean.

Along the Smith River the shape of the 20-foot contour, which 

crosses the river about three-fourths of a mile upstream from Highway 101, indicates that from this point to approximately the point 

of the crossing of the 10-foot contour the river gains ground water. 

And also upstream from this crossing the river is probably gaining. 

The shape of the 10-foot contour indicates that the river is gaining
40 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

ground water on its north bank and losing water to the ground on its 

south bank. The bend of the 5-foot contour in the downstream direction shows that the river is losing water to the ground on both sides 

in sees. 33 and 34, T. 18 N., R. 1 W. Underflow moves through the 

swampy marshes to Talawa Slough.

North of the Smith River the control is poor, but the contours indicate that recharge is from the mountain front and discharge is either 

to the Smith River or to the tidal area near the mouth.

Cross sections A-A' and B-B' (pi. 5) show the relation of the 

water body to the land surface. These cross sections indicate that 

the river is gaining ground water because of its entrenchment below 

the water table.

On the Smith River plain the depth to water below land surface 

ranges from zero to slightly more than 30 feet. Within any local 

area of the Battery formation the topography is the factor controlling 

depth to water. Under the many ridges and swells of the undulating 

surface the water is farther below land surface than in the draws and 

swales between the topographically high areas.

The deepest water levels are generally found along the mountain 

front and near the Smith River (pi. 6). The water levels along the 

mountains are deep because the land surface slopes more steeply than 

the water table. The depth to water adjacent to the river is as great 

as 20 feet because of the entrenchment of the stream and the discharge 

of ground water into the river. From about the north quarter-section 

corner of 17/lW-ll, the river, in effect, has the same influence as a 

battery of wells along the river channel in lowering the water levels 

in wells adjacent to this reach.

FLUCTUATIONS OF WATER TABLE

Fluctuation of water levels is due to several causes. Among the 

reasons for fluctuations noted on recorder charts from this area are 

daily variation of barometric pressure, which causes a small change; 

infiltration of irrigation water; infiltration of rain either near the 

well or up the water-table gradient from the well; pumping from wells; 

and natural discharge.

Recording gages were installed on two wells during the 1953 field 

season. One record obtained is from July 21 to December 3; the other 

is from July 25 to September 18, ending at that time because of well 

failure. E. C. Johnson, resident of the area, furnished weekly waterlevel measurements on his well for this period. Hydrographs of these 

wells, daily cumulative rainfall, and daily discharge of the Smith River 

are plotted in figure 8.

The record for well 16/1W-2J1 shows that the downward trend of 

water levels ceased shortly after the 2.31-inch rain on August 25.
DEPTH TO WATER BELOW LAND SURFACE, IN FEET

WELL 17/1W-15M2

WELLS 16/-1W^2J1 AND 17K1

FLOW OF SMITH RIVER , IN THOUSANDS OF CUBIC FEET PER SECOND
42 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Also, the hydrograph for recorder well 17/1W-15M2 shows a slight 

rise in water level at the same time.

Well 16/1W-17K1 is on a ground-water divide (pi. 6) which underlies the local drainage divide. The hydrograph of this well, shown in 

figure 8, is a plot of the daily high-water level for the period of record. 

This hydrograph shows the downward trend of water levels in the 

vicinity from July to November 10. During the last 10 days of record 

the water level rose to within less than a foot of the late July water 

level. The summer and fall water-level decline, recorded in this well, 

is due to the flattening of the ground-water mound by natural discharge northward to Lake Earl and southeastward to Elk Creek 

drainage and also to depletion of water in storage by pumping for 

local use. The 2.31-inch rain in late August did not affect this record, 

probably because the amount of precipitation was not sufficient to 

infiltrate to the zone of saturation; instead the water was held as soil 

moisture or left the area as surface flow. The recovery beginning on 

November 20 was primarily the result of precipitation entering the 

aquifer in an area of higher permeability, very likely at some distance 

from the well, and thence percolating underground to the well. 

Undoubtedly some precipitation infiltrated directly to the water 

body in the vicinity of the well.

In well 16/1W-2J1, the rapid rise in water level in response to 

rainfall, beginning about August 10, evidently was due to the geological location on an alluvial fan at the mouth of the ancestral Smith 

River. Starting with the first rain in August, the water level rose 

throughout the period of record, and it must have continued to rise 

until withdrawal exceeded replenishment.

The hydrograph of well 17/1W-15M2 shows a downward trend, 

resulting from irrigation pumping from well 17/1W-15E2 and natural 

outflow from the deposits underlying the Fort Dick terrace into the 

river alluvium to the northwest. The change in slope of the hydrograph on July 28 resulted from the shutdown of irrigation pumping 

because of a broken pump. Local rainfall on August 26 caused pumping to stop again, permitting the cone of depression around the 

pumped well to refill. This water-level recovery and the contemporaneous recharge from the rainfall filtering through the relatively 

permeable gravel of the river terrace is reflected by the rise in water 

level shown in figure 8. On approximately September 6 irrigation 

pumping started again, and the water level continued its downward 

trend. The record ended abruptly when a gopher dumped the dirt 

from its burrow down the well, sinking the recorder float and filling 

the well.

Cross section B-B' (pi. 5) shows the position of the water table for 

July and for September 18, 1953. During this period the average
GROUND WATER ,.,.:, 43

decline of the water table in the Battery formation and deposits of 

the Fort Dick terrace was about 6 feet. In the alluvium and the 

deposits underlying terraces along Rowdy Creek, the decline in water 

levels averaged about 4 feet. Because by July water levels have declined from the spring high and are not yet at their lowest by September, the seasonal fluctuation is somewhat greater than is represented by the 4 to 6 feet of fluctuation shown.

GROUND-WATER STORAGE

In order to estimate the underground storage capacity of any 

ground-water reservoir, it is necessary to know the areal extent of the 

aquifer, the thickness of the deposits saturated with fresh water, and 

the specific yield of the sediments. The specific yield of a rock 

saturated with water is the ratio of the volume of water it will yield by 

gravity to its own volume.

On the Smith River plain, ground-water storage was computed for 

the interval from 10 feet to 35 feet below the land surface. The 10- 

foot upper limit was chosen because it most nearly approaches an 

average depth to water. Average depth of wells is about 35 feet, and 

data were insufficient to compute storage to a greater depth.

The area of investigation was divided into 5 separate storage units 

(fig. 9). Each unit, as selected, has a relatively consistent lithology 

throughout and differs from other units in the water-yielding properties of its sediments. The areas occupied by Lakes Earl and Talawa 

and the tidal mouth of the Smith River were excluded from the 

storage units.

The lithologic subdivisions were made on the basis of information 

obtained from the areal geologic mapping and inspection of the peg 

model.

Specific yields assigned to deposits on the Smith River plain were 

modified from specific-yield values used in a report on the Sacramento 

Valley (Poland, Davis, Olmsted, and Kunkel, 1951). The following 

table shows the specific yields, in percent, used to estimate groundwater storage for the Smith River plain.

Specific-yield values for the various lithologic materials used in estimating groundwater storage on the Smith River plain

Specific

yield 

(percent)

Class 1: Gravel; boulders; sand and gravel_____-__-______--_--_--_--- 25

Class 2: Dune sand______________________________________________ 15

Class 3: Sand; clay and sand; fine sand________-_-___-_---__-__----_- 10

Class 4: Clay and gravel; sandy clay______________-.________----_-__ 5

Class 5: Clay; blue shale____-________________-__-_--_----'-----_--_- 1
44 GEOLOGY AND GROUND *WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Number refers to storage 

unit as denned in text

FIGURE 9. Map of the Smith River plain area, showing ground-water storage units.
USE OF WATER 45

For each unit shown in figure 9, the drillers' logs were examined and 

the thickness of each class of material between 10 and 35 feet below 

the land surface was totaled. The total thickness for each ctess^was 

divided by the total thickness for all classes to determine the percentage represented by each class. Each percentage was multiplied 

by the specific-yield value for that class; then these products were 

totaled and divided by 100 to determine the average specific yield for 

the sediments in that storage unit.

In storage unit 1, for example, well logs reported a total of 275 feet 

of class 3 material, 109 feet of class 4, and 75 feet of class 5, for a total 

of 459 feet of material between 10 and 35 feet below the land surface. 

Classes 3, 4, and 5, therefore, made up, respectively, 60.0, 23.7, and 

16.3 percent of the total footage. The products obtained by multiplying these percentages by the assigned specific-yield values are 600, 

118, and 16. The sum of these three products divided by 100 

equals 7.3 percent, the estimated average specific yield of sediments from 10 to 35 feet below the land surface in unit 1. Unit 1 

comprises an area of 9,260 acres. By multiplying this acreage 

by the 25-foot thickness, a total of 231,500 acre-feet of sediment is obtained. This quantity of sediment multiplied by the 

average specific yield of 7.3 percent equals 16,900 the estimated 

number of acre-feet of ground water stored in unit 1. The following 

table shows results of similar computations for all units in the area. 

The ground-water storage in the Smith River plain between depths of 

10 and 35 feet is about 100,000 acre-feet.

Areas, average specific yield of sediments, and estimated ground-water storage for 

storage units shown in figure 9

Storage 

unit

]

2

3

4

5

Geomorphlc unit

TVTariTiA terranp.

Rand dunp-s .

Total --.. .-. - 

Area 

(acres)

9,260

6,430

6,450

3,300

5,630

31, 070

Average 

specific 

yield 

(percent)

7.3

11.3

15

11.7

21.6

Groundwater 

storage 

(acre-feet)

16,900

18,200

24,200

9,650

30,400

99,350

USE OF WATER

The total use of water on the Smith River plain in 1953 was about 

4,800 acre-feet. Probably half of this amount was derived from wells 

and the other half from diversion from the Smith River and other 

streams of the area. Irrigation supplies required the largest amounts 

of both surface water and ground water. Each source contributed 

about 1,700 acre-feet. Water used for municipal purposes was about

403764 57 4
46 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

200 acre-feet from ground water and 150 acre-feet from surface water. 

Almost all domestic and stock requirements, some 500 acre-feet, were 

supplied from ground water. The industries used surface sources for 

oiost of their water requirements.

Irrigation. Irrigation on the Smith River plain, which is primarily 

for pasture, has developed principally since 1947. Rotating sprinklers 

are used for irrigation, and the area of irrigation is generally confined to 

the flood plains and terraces of the Smith River and Rowdy Creek. 

Of the 41 irrigation pumps operating in the area in 1953, 23 pumped 

ground water: the other 18 pumped surface water, either directly from 

the perennial streams or from seeps or spring-fed sloughs.

The amount of pasture irrigated per well, as reported by the owner 

of each irrigation well, ranged from 7 acres to 100 acres and averaged 

about 50 acres. The total acreage irrigated by ground water was 

approximately 1,100, and about the same total acreage was irrigated 

by surface water.

The general practice seems to be to irrigate for 10 to 15 hours a day 

from the last week in June to the last week in September. Most 

farmers try to irrigate their entire fields 2 or 3 times a year. Nine 

farmers supplied information sufficient to estimate the amount of 

water used annually per acre of land. The computations based,on 

these data showed the amount of water in acre-inches, used on each 

acre for the entire season, to be 6, 8, 11, 12, 20, 24, 25, 30, and 33, the 

median being 20 inches and the average 18 inches. Therefore, about 

\% acre-feet per acre per season for the entire area is probably a reasonable figure. Thus the total pumpage of ground water for the 1,100 

acres irrigated is about 1,700 acre-feet per year.

Municipal supplies. The municipal supplies of both Crescent City 

and the town of Smith River are furnished by privately owned water 

companies.

Crescent City is served primarily by surface water in the summer 

and ground water in the winter. During the summer Crescent City's 

ground-water source is not dependable, and during the winter the 

surface water has a brown discoloration impractical to remove. , This 

discoloration is presumably from organic debris of the heavily vegetated slopes of the watershed. The total annual use of water is about 

300 acre-feet; some two-thirds of this amount, or 200 acre-feet, is 

ground water. The peak use for a summer day was reported to be 

1,300,000 gallons.

The four sources of supply are the Griffin well, Tower well, Myers 

Creek, and a tributary of Elk Creek. The Griffin well, 24 feet deep 

and 8 feet in diameter, is equipped with a 2-inch centrifugal pump 

powered by a 5-horsepower electric motor. Production is about 50
USE OF WATER 47

gpm, and the well is used 8 hours a day in the summer and 24 hours 

a day in the winter. The Tower well, 22 feet in diameter and 32 feet 

deep, is used only as emergency standby in summer but is pumped 

continuously in winter. During the summer the average flow of the 

tributary of Elk Creek is reported to be about 625 gpm and the flow 

of Myers Creek to be 350 gpm, all of which is diverted into two separate 

pumps. The water is chlorinated and pumped through filter tanks.

The town of Smith River obtains its water supply from a reservoir 

made by a small dam on Dominie Creek, a tributary of Rowdy Creek. 

The water moves by gravity flow through an 8-mile line from a 96,000- 

gallon filter basin to a distribution system composed primarily of 

2-inch .pipe^. The amount of surface water used is about ,50 acre-feet 

a year.

Domestic and stock supplies. Domestic wells supply water to homes 

for household use and for irrigation of lawns and gardens. Stock wells 

supply water for livestock. Most of the 213 wells on which information was obtained for this investigation, however, are used for both 

domestic and stock supplies. Wells developed for these supplies are 

constructed by rotary or cable-tool drilling, by driving sand points, or 

by digging with pick and shovel. These wells are generally equipped 

with electric motors, ranging from X to 1 horsepower. Most of the 

wells in the sand-dune area are driven sand points equipped with hand 

lift-pumps.

In the alluvial-fan deposits along the mountain front, many unsuccessful attempts have been made to obtain domestic water supplies 

from wells. As alternatives, many springs piped into houses furnish 

adequate water supplies. Some residents use gravity flow to pipe 

the spring water to catchment basins, from which they pump the 

water into pressure systems to serve the houses.

In the reaches of the Smith River upstream from the mountain 

escarpment, many residents obtain their water supplies from the 

river. They pump water into pressure tanks by mounting the electric motors and pumps above flood level and laying pipes to the 

river bed. They do not treat the water. The maximum late-summer 

lift involved in the arrangement ranges from 50 to 175 feet.

The estimated annual pumpage of ground water for domestic use 

in the Smith River plain is about 500 acre-feet.

Industrial. Only a very small part of the water used for industrial 

purposes is ground water. The major industrial use of water is to 

fill the sawmill log ponds, which are used to float the logs in order 

to maneuver and sort them. Inasmuch as most of the mills are near 

Crescent City, they are on the marine terrace. Owing to the low 

yield of wells in the Battery formation, the mills have been situated
48 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

so as to obtain surface water from the many small streams and 

sloughs. Several mills have made unsuccessful attempts to drill wells 

of sufficient yield to supply the log ponds. Most mills have wette to 

supply water for drinking and other uses that require minor quantities. 

Yields of these wells are comparable with those of domestic wells.

QUALITY OF WATER

The quality of water in any area is determined largely by the 

geology and climate. In general, rainfall, by exerting a diluting effect, 

controls the degree of concentration of mineral constituents. The 

kind and relative proportion of each constituent are controlled by the 

types of minerals composing the rocks and soils with which the water 

comes in contact. Water direct from the atmosphere contains only 

small amounts of minerals, principally dissolved gases and a little 

dust. Consequently, water from perennial streams, particularly in 

regions of high rainfall, is generally less concentrated than ground 

water. The greater the distance water moves underground, and the 

longer it stays underground, the greater is the opportunity to dissolve 

minerals from the rocks.

Being in an area of extremely high rainfall, both the stream waters 

and ground waters on the Smith River plain are of low mineral concentration and are excellent for irrigation and domestic use. The 

only natural detrimental feature of the water is the high con tent ^of 

iron, found locally. Several wells in and around Crescent City have 

a high nitrate content. This may indicate sewage contamination, 

for nitrate is commonly an end product of the decomposition of organic 

matter. The chloride content of water contaminated by sewage also 

is somewhat higher than that of uncontaminated water from the same 

aquifer.

One of the notable contrasts between the ground water of this area 

and the water of most of California is the low pH values, generally 

ranging from 6.0 to 7.2. These low pH values are presumably d<ae 

to the presence of carbonic acid from the atmosphere and vegetaAkm 

and organic acids from vegetation.

Most of the waters are of the magnesium bicarbonate type. The 

bicarbonate ion is derived in part from carbon dioxide gas from the 

atmosphere dissolved in rain water. However, in general, the largest 

amount is from the carbon dioxide gas released by decomposition of 

vegetative matter. The principal source of the magnesium is the 

ferromagnesian minerals of the Jurassic rocks, especially serpentine.

Chemical analyses of waters are quantitatively expressed as parts 

per million (ppm), equivalents per million (epm), and percentage of
. . QUALITY OF WATER 49

reacting value. The chemical analyses of ground water of the Smith 

River plain area are given in the table on p. 66 and the surface-water 

analyses in the table on page 70. One part per million equals one 

part, by weight, of the constituent to one million parts by weight of 

water. The unit "equivalent per million" is defined as one equivalent 

weight of an ion or compound in one million weights of solution. The 

equivalent weight of an element or a compound is that quantity that 

will exactly react with another element or compound. The third, 

and in some ways most useful, method of expressing the chemical 

analyses is the percentage reacting value of the cations (basic ions) 

and anions (acidic ions). This value is the ratio of the equivalents 

per million of the individual cation or anion to the sum of the 

equivalents per million of the cations or anions, respectively.

In plate 7, circular diagrams representing chemical analyses have 

been superimposed on the geologic base map. The area of each circle 

is proportionate to the concentration, expressed in total parts per 

million of cations and anions. Each separate wedge represents the 

percentage reacting value of each constituent, the cations being on 

the left side and the anions on the right side.

The water-analysis diagram (fig. 10) used in this report was 

developed by Piper (1945) and has been used extensively in geochemical studies. The diagram contains three fields for plotting: (1) a 

diamond-shaped field; with (2) a triangular field on the lower left in 

which percentage reacting values of the cations are plotted; and (3) 

a triangular field on the lower right in which percentage reacting 

values of the anions are plotted. Therefore, a point in each of the 

two triangles indicates the relative percentages of the several dissolved 

constituents. The central diamond-shaped field is used to show the 

overall chemical character of the water by a third single-point plotting, 

which is at the intersection of lines projected from the plottings of 

cations and anions.

Analyses of ground and surface waters in the Smith River plain 

have been plotted in figure 10. In general, this diagram shows a 

grouping of the water samples from each formation, illustrating the 

influence of geology on the chemical character of the water. The 

relation of geology to water quality is discussed in the sections that 

follow. Waters from Lake Earl and the Pacific Ocean plot near the 

right margin, in the area characteristic of brines and sea water.

The specific conductance furnishes an approximation of the total 

mineral content, although it does not give any indication of the 

relative quantities of the different constituents in solution. The 

relation of specific conductance to the sum of the determined ionized 

constituents (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate, 

bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, and fluoride) is shown in figure 11.
Ca 

CATIONS

2322172^2815 

PERCENTAGE REACTING VALUES ANIONS

FIOURE 10. Water-analysis diagram.
QUALITY OF WATER 51

400

350

50 100 150 200 

SUM OF PRINCIPAL IONIZED CONSTITUENTS, IN PARTS PER MILLION

FIOURE 11. Relation of specific conductance to the sum of the principal ionized constituents.
52 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

The mean curve is shown on the plot of 34 analyses of ground water. 

The sum of the ionized constituents as used on the illustration is 

less than the sum of dissolved solids (table on p. 66) because it does 

not include silica, iron, and other minor constituents.

For most ground water beneath the Smith River plain, the curve 

shown in figure 11 can be used with reasonably accurate results to 

estimate the sum of principal ionized constituents from the measured 

specific conductance. The curve can be expressed approximately 

by the formula:

where $=sum of ionized constituents in parts per million; 7O<106= 

specific conductance in micromhos at 25° C.

CHEMICAL QUALITY OF SURFACE WATER,

Surface water of this area has a far greater range in total concentration than the ground water. Smith River water often contains 

less than 50 ppm of dissolved solids, and Lake Earl water contains 

in excess of 6,800 ppm (pi. 7 and table on p. 70).

The water sample from Lake Earl was collected at the eastern 

shoreline. Presumably the deepest part of the lake may have water 

of higher concentration. Therefore, the analysis probably represents 

the least concentrated water present in the lake at the time of collection. During periods when floodwater enters the lake, the concentration of dissolved solids may be appreciably less.

Lake Earl contains sodium chloride water of nearly the same relative percentage of constituents as sea water, but of less concentration; 

consequently, in figure 10 it plots at nearly the same point as sea water.

The change in quality of Smith River water compared to the variation in the amount of discharge is shown in figure 12. The flow 

plotted for the river was measured at the time of collection of the 

monthly water samples. During periods of low flow the water is 

slightly more concentrated than during high flow. In 1953 the 

specific conductance ranged from about 80 micromhos during winter 

flows to nearly 140 micromhos during the summer low flow of less 

than 400 cfs.

Analyses represented by the bar diagrams in the top part of figure 12 

indicate that during both high flow (analysis for January) and low 

flow (analysis for August) the water of the Smith River is of the 

magnesium bicarbonate type and of low concentration. As would 

be expected, the Smith River water groups with the water from 

Recent alluvium in figure 10.
FLOW, IN THOUSANDS OF CUBIC FEET PER SECOND 

o 5 S § g 

SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE , IN MICROMHOS AT 25°C
54 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN 

RELATION OF CHARACTER OF WATER TO GEOLOGY

In general, types of water and the concentration of dissolved solids 

relate to the geologic formations in which the water occurs or through 

which it has moved. Inasmuch as the aquifers beneath the Smith 

River plain are shallow, the water types are practically coexistent 

with the areal distribution of the formations, and the differences in 

the quality of water are not due to vertical change in the quality of 

water in any one formation. Therefore, the analyses represented on 

the geochemical map (pi. 7) indicate the concentration and kind of 

soluble minerals in the waters of each aquifer throughout its penetrated thickness at that particular location.

Waters north of the Smith River are distinctly different from the 

waters immediately south of the river, particularly in concentration 

and calcium-magnesium ratio (pi. 7). These northern waters from 

the Rowdy Creek drainage have very low concentrations and a relatively high calcium-magnesium ratio. The explanation of this difference is that drainage from Rowdy Creek does not come in contact 

with a serpentine exposure (Salem Rice, oral communication, December 1953). The sheared and fractured serpentine is relatively 

soluble to slightly acid waters, and magnesium is readily taken into 

solution.

The three analyses available for waters from the drainage basin of 

Rowdy Creek, irrespective of their aquifers, show a marked similarity 

to one another and to waters from the Battery formation (fig. 10). 

A minor difference is that these northern waters have a higher percentage of calcium. One analysis, 17/1W-27F1, is for water from the 

flood-plain deposits; another, 17/1W-35G1, is for water from the 

terrace deposits; and the third, 17/1W-36D1, is for water from the 

landslide and alluvial-fan deposits.

The water-analysis diagram (fig. 10) shows the general similarities 

and differences of the waters from one aquifer to another. Analyses 

are grouped in figure 10 as waters from flood-plain deposits, riverterrace deposits, dune-sand deposits, and the Battery formation 

(marine-terrace deposits). Analyses of waters from alluvial fans show 

a diversity of waters. Also, the analyses from wells in the flood-plain 

and terrace deposits at Rowdy Creek show a marked difference from 

the analyses of water from the flood-plain and terrace deposits of the 

Smith River.

Except for about half of the analyses from the Battery formation, 

all waters plot in the left quadrant of the diagram, which indicates 

that carbonate hardness exceeds 50 percent; that is, the chemical 

properties of the water are dominated by the alkaline earths (calcium,
- - - - QUALITY OF WATER 55

magnesium) and anions of weak acids in this area, the bicarbonate 

ion.

Five of the remaining analyses for the Battery formation (wells 

15/1W-2D1, 16/2W-13E1-2, 16/1W-9H1, 15C1, 20Q1) plot in that 

part of the diamond-shaped diagram in which no one cation-anion 

pair exceeds 50 percent; that is, the percentage reacting values of 

sodium, magnesium, and calcium are nearly equal to one another, 

and no one anion exceeds 50 percent.

Two analyses (index nos. 11 and 13) plot in the portion of the 

diagram which indicates that noncarbonate alkali exceeds 50 percent; 

that is, the chemical properties are dominated by the alkali metal 

sodium and anions of strong acids here, the chloride and nitrate ions. 

The high chloride and nitrate content in these two wells possibly 

results from contamination by surface seepage.

Figure 10 shows that, of the four geologic classifications of water, 

the waters of the flood-plain deposit have the highest percentage 

reacting values of calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate. The percentage reacting values of calcium and magnesium together in the 

flood-plain waters range from 88 to 98 percent. These values decrease 

through the river-terrace waters (82 to 90 percent) and sand-dune 

waters (70 to 84 percent) to the lowest value for waters of the Battery 

formation (48 to 72 percent). Ranges overlap for percentage reacting 

value of bicarbonate for the four subdivisions of the geologic classification, but the units are in the same order. Flood-plain analyses have 

the highest proportion of bicarbonate, 82 to 94 percent; river-terrace 

analyses, 74 to 90 percent; sand-dune analyses, 68 to 76 percent; and 

the Battery formation, 30 to 72 percent.

JURASSIC BOCKS

The only well on the Smith River plain that obtains water from the 

consolidated Jurassic rocks is well 17/1W-14C1, at the Redwood 

Union School. Water from this well, moderately hard, is of the 

magnesium bicarbonate type; it has a dissolved-solid concentration 

of 175 ppm, relatively high for the Smith River plain area.

BATTERY FORMATION

The fine-grained marine deposits of the Battery formation have the 

most diverse water types of all the aquifers on the Smith River coastal 

plain. Bicarbonate water of low concentration is the most common, 

magnesium and sodium being the predominant cations. One analysis 

(16/1W-26E1) shows bicarbonate water of high calcium content, and 

several analyses show nearly equal amounts of the cations. Sodium 

chloride water is not uncommon in the Battery formation.
56 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

In general, the waters of higher concentration of dissolved solids in 

the Battery formation are near the sand dunes or alluvial Jans. 

Waters near the center of the marine terrace tend to have the lowest 

concentration of dissolved solids of any waters on the Smith River 

plain. The relatively higher concentrations near the dunes and fans 

are probably due to the freshness of the fragments of minerals in these 

deposits, which are weathering now. Soluble minerals of the marineterrace deposits were dissolved and removed at an early time, and 

only the more stable weathered products now remain. The low 

concentration of dissolved solids in the water, therefore, is due to 

dilution by precipitation and lack of addition of mineral matter. 

Waters range in hardness from soft to moderately hard.

RIVER-TERRACE DEPOSITS

The three analyses of water from terrace deposits of the 'Smith 

River (pi. 7), 16/1E-9K1, 17/1W-14F1, and 15E1, show a magnesium 

bicarbonate water low in sodium. Water from the Fort Dick terrace 

is soft to slightly hard. Water in the terrace deposits in Hiouchi 

Valley is moderately hard.

FLOOD-PLAIN DEPOSITS

Waters from the flood-plain deposits south of the Smith River are 

of the bicarbonate type and have the highest percentage of magnesium 

of any water on the Smith River plain. These waters are slightly to 

moderately hard. The water of the highest concentration of dissolved 

solids is in the reaches farthest downstream (pi. 7). This water has 

been in contact with the sediments for a longer period of time, and 

has taken into solution a greater amount of minerals. Wells 17/1W4L1 and L2 are also being recharged by mineralized water from the 

dune area immediately to the west. Iron content in the water from 

these two wells is high, 6.5 and 9.7 ppm, respectively. Sodium 

content of the water in the flood-plain deposits is very low, owing to 

the flushing and diluting action of the large amounts of Smith River 

water that recharge this area and remove the cyclic salts from these 

very permeable sediments.

DUNE SAND

All four analyses of water from the sand-dune area (pi. 7) are 

nearly identical to one another in percentages of the constituents. 

However, water from the northern well (17/1W-20P1) and the 

southern well (16/1W-7F1) contains more than twice as much dissolved solids as water from wells 17/1W-32M1 and 16/1W-5L1. 

Water from the four wells has been in contact with the same kind 

of minerals in the dune sediments. A possible explanation for the
RECORDS 57

different concentrations of dissolved solids may be that the wind 

blows unweathered minerals from the beach to the recharge area 

of wells 17/1W-20P1 and 16/1W-7F1, thereby furnishing a constant 

source of soluble minerals to these two wells. Also, salt spray is 

carried inland and deposited in the soil, forming an additional source 

of mineral matter. Lake Talawa, on the windward side of wells 

32M1 and 5Ll (pi. 7), may prevent any new minerals or salt spray 

from being deposited in the recharge area of these two wells.

Water of higher dissolved-solids concentration in the sand dunes is 

of ibe- calcium magnesium bicarbonate type and is moderately hard. 

Water of lower concentration of dissolved solids is of magnesium 

bicarbonate type and is soft.

RECORDS

The first of the following tables (p. 58) contains descriptive data 

on the water wells that were located and identified in the field. Included are most irrigation, industrial, and public-supply wells, and 

also many domestic and stock wells for which logs, chemical analyses, 

or water-level measurements were available.

The second table (p. 64) contains water-level measurements for 

selected wells in the Smith River plain area.

The third table (p. 66) contains analyses of ground water from 

wells in the Smith River plain. Water samples dated prior to July 

1953 were collected by the Division of Water Resources, State of 

California Department of Public Works; all others were collected by 

the Geological Survey. The chemical analyses were made by the 

Geological Survey.

Analyses are listed by aquifers and are arranged in geographical 

order on the basis of the well-numbering system. Most of these 

analyses are shown diagrammatically in plate 7, and all are plotted 

on the water-analysis diagram, figure 10.

The fourth table (p. 70) contains chemical analyses of surface 

waiter on the Smith River plain. These data consist of one analysis 

o£Lake Earl water; one analysis of water from the unnamed tributary 

of Elk Creek, from which Crescent City obtains part of its water 

supply; and analyses from the Smith River.

Smith River analyses, arranged chronologically, are the results for 

samples collected at the Geological Survey gaging station by personnel 

of the Division of Water Resources in connection with the State 

monthly stream-sampling program.

All surface water samples included in this table were collected by 

the Division of Water Resources. The complete analyses were made 

by the Geological Survey; the partial analyses were made by the 

Division of Water Resources.
Records of wells

Well no.: t See p. 6 for description of well-numbering system.

Depth of %Bll: Depth was obtained from the weU owner or the driller's log.

Type of w$ll: D, dug', P, percussion or cable tooll'R, rotary; Sp, sand point; A, auger.

Stratigrapjlic unit: The symbols in this column are the same as those used on the geologic map, plate 5, and the

the w^l obtains all or most of its water.

Measurinf .point: Tc, top of casing; Tec, top of concrete curb; Tb, top of boards; Tp, top of pipe; Tcr, top of concre

Type of pump: J, jet; L, lift; T, turbine; P, pitcher; W, windmill; C, centrifugal. 

Use: D, domestic; I, irrigation; S, stock, T, test Sole; PS, public supply; Ind., industrial supply; U, unused well; A

Other data available: O, chemical analysis; L, driller's log; W, miscellaneous water-level measurements. All are in 

Discharge, drawdown: The discharge, in gallons per minute, and the drawdown, in feet, are listed as reported by t

Well no.

15/lW- 2D1

16/2W-13E1 

13E2 

24 A 1 

16/1W- IDl 

2D1 

2J1 

2J2 

2K1 

2M1 

2Q1 

2R1 

3B1 

3Q1 

3H1 

3N1 

3N2 

16/1W- 3N3 

3P1 

4J1 

5L1 

7A1 

7F1 

8M1

Owner or user

do . -

J. H. Hill....... ...... ......

Redwood View Court.. ....

J. Little. - -... .......

Ocean Drive-in Theater. ...

W. O. Gilcrest- -------

Lawrence Cadra _ ...... 

Wm. Stewart _ .,-,.-, . 

 o 

ft

§ 

>«

1951

1952 

1952 

1915 

1§53.

1952

1952 

1952

%

1952 

19.51 

195S 

195S 

195& 

1951 

1951. 

1910 

195?, 

O14 

1951

Altitude atlahd-surface 

datum (feet)

23

56 

.54 

45 

160 

54 

127 

131 

69 

55 

100 

116 

32 

33 

45 

. 24 

27 

25 

32 

15 

, 13 

' 33

""u

Depth of well (feet)

30

30 

30 

31 

56 

20 

36 

43

32 

30 

35 

28 

34 

37 

30 

28 

32 

30 

28 

12 

10 

15

 O a>

§|?

S JS

 bC °

"3 s.S

*s -

 3J§5 

1°

111 

EH

P,12 .

D,4 

D,4 

P,6 

P,6 

D,7 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,8 

D,4 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,8 

P,8 

D.2.5 

D,4 

D,4 

P,8

Stratigrapllic unit 

(pl. 6)

Qb, Qfu

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qaf 

Qb 

Qaf 

Qaf 

Qb 

Qb 

Qaf 

Qaf 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb

 

Qb

Measuring pointand distance above or

below ( )land-surface datum (feet)

TcO.O

Tcc.O 

Tcc.O

Tb.O

Tc.O 

Tcl.O 

Tc.O

Tb .6 

Tb.5

Tc.O 

Tcc.O

TcO.O 

Tc.O 

Tcr 3.0 

Tb.O 

Tcc.O 

Tcl.O

Wate

 d

O

t*

S

a&03 

ft

July 17,19

Sept. 3,19

July 27,19

July 6, 19

 -do-..

.... .do..- 

July 19,19

May 27,19

July 2, 19

July 18,19

July is, 19

... ..do....

..... do....

Dec. 2, 19

June 1, 19
8Q1 

9G1 

9H1

9N1 

10B1 

10D1 

10L1 

10R1 

11B1 

11B2 

W-11B3 

11F1 

11F2 

11Q1 

1102 

11O3 

11K1 

15C1 

16J1 

16R1 

17A1 

17A2 

1701 

17H1 

17J1 

17K1 

17P1 

W-J7Q1 

18F1 

20E1 

20H1 

20H2 

20H3

20J1 

20P1 

20Q1 

21 Dl

21E1 

21 E2

21 Fl 

21 Kl 

21M1

22J1 

See footn

F. K. Scholl ---------

Lyle Riddle .. .

do

J. Pozzi-.- ______ --. ...

L. L. Early... .............

Arthur Kelly 

R. A. Elledge-.-- ------

W. H. McCarger. -.. .-.

Orescent City Water Co. 

Meadows Plymouth 

-Agency.

Crescent City Water Co... .

do

R. H. Hichens-.. ... ....

Moore.... -__._-. . . ..

Harold Nelson ____ ......

otes at end of table.

1953 

1953 

C)

1952

1924 

1888 

1953 

1951 

1951 

1952 

1952 

1952 

1952 

1951 

1952 

194Q 

1952

1951 

1952 

1952 

1953 

1953 

1944

1952 

1952 

1952 

1952 

1951

1952

1953

1953

1952 

1952

1950

29 

26 

32

36. 

38

34 

44 

4§ 

99 

83

ao

75 

7,5

83 

81 

39 

44 

3JL

37

as

.50 

44 

41 

48

54 

50 

32 

40 

37

50

36 

29

28 

20 

19

58

32

25

20 

18 

.20 

23 

21 

30 

30 

, 30 

20 

35 

23 

13 

27 

20

21 

20 

40 

36 

40 

40 

60 

30 

35 

39 

42 

28 

30

24 

30 

30 

250

31 

30

35

70

32

A, 6 

P,6 

D,4

P,6 

D.2.5 

D,4 

D,6 

D,4

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,8 

P,8 

D,4 

P,6 

D,5 

D,5 

D,5 

D,4 

P,6 

P,12 

P,6 

P,6

'""TD'S"'"

P,S 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6

D,8 

P,6 

D,20

A,5 

P,6

P,6 

P 

D,4

D,5

Qb 

Qb 

Qb

Tb .0

Tc2.0

Tc.O 

Tb.O 

Tb.O 

Tb 1.0

Tbl.O 

Tc2.0 

Tc.O

Tec 0. 0 

Tc.O

Tb.O 

Tcl.O 

Tb.O

Tec 1.0

Tcr 3. 0 

Tcr 2. 0

Tcc.O

Tcl.O

Tec 1.0

Tc.O

Tcl.O

Tc.O 

Tc.O

Tc.O

Ls.O

Tcr.O 

Tb.O

Aug. 25,19

July 26,19

July 25,19

May 27,19

July 2, 1

June 1, 1

Aug. 25,1

July 18,19

__ do.-.

July 2, 1

July 4, 1

July 18,1

July 4, 1

July 19,19

.....do....

July 6, 1

July 4, 1

do

 do 

July 2, 1

July 23,1

July 20,1

.... .do 

July 28,1

July 2, 1

July 21,1

July 28,1

May 26,1

July 28,1

.....do .

July 21,1

May 1,1

July 29,1

July 6, 1
Records of wells Continued

Well no.

16/1W-22Q1 

23D1 

26D1

26E1

26L1 

26M1 

26M2 

26M3 

26M4 

26N1 

26N2

26P1 

27A1 

27B1

27B2 

16/1W-27C1 

27C2 

28G1 

29H1

34G1

35P1

16/1E- 4M1 

8B1 

8H1 

9K1 

10N1 

17/1W- 1M1 

1P1 

2G1

Owner or user

H. O. Keikland _ ... .

O. E. Holloway.. _ ... _ _

Crescent City Water Co. 

H. D. McClane.. 

C. V. Burtis . . 

Tracy Smith.. ... .._

C. E. Gable . 

O. T. Bevis __ ............

Castle Mills -

.. do...... ...... _ -.. 

Ralph E. White. 

Crescent City Water Co ....

Jedediah Smith State Park. 

H. B. Wilkinson. ......

Charles Selig ____ __

Evo Mello _ .. ............

Year completed

1935

1947 

1952 

1951 

1953 

1953

1952 

1953

1953

19S3

1953

1951

1951 

1952

1952

1953 

1952 

1952

Altitude ofland-surface _ datum (feet)

39 

62 

63

40

123 

59 

60

23 

31

44 

54 

38

40 

31

31 

15

8

"i§5~ 

150

Depth of well(feet)

22

""I?" 

18

52 

35 

39 

20 

20

18 

16

26 

45 

27

36

500 

24

18

40

40 

34 

30 

47 

30 

60 

50 

50

Type of welland 

diameter (dug wells, 

feet; other,inchs)

D,5 

D,6 

D,5

D,4

P,6 

P,6 

P,6

D,4 

D,6

P,6 

P,8 

D,4

P,6 

D,4 

B,12 

P,6 

D,4

D,4

P,6 

R,12 

P,6 

P,6 

A,4 

P,12 

P,8 

P.12

Stratigraphufunit 

(pl. 5)

Qb 

Qb 

Qb

Qb

Qaf 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qaf

Qaf 

Qb 

Qb

Qb 

Qb 

Qb,Tsg(?)Ju 

Qb 

Qb

Qb

Qb,Ju 

Qt 

Qt 

Qt

Qaf,Qt 

Qaf 

Qfu

Measuring pointand distance aboverbelow ( )land-surface datum(feet)

TbO.O 

Tb2.0 

Tb.O

Tcrl.O

Tcc.O 

Tb.O

Tcr.O 

Tcr .5

Tc.O

Tb.O

Tc.O 

Tcr 0.0

Tcc.O 

Tcr 1.0

Tbl.O

Tcr.O

Tc.O 

Ls

Tc.O

Wat

Date measured

May 26, 1

July 6, 1

Apr. 30,19

July 5, 1

May 26,19

July 28,19

July 21,19

July 28,19

May 26,19

July 28,19

July 21,19

July 5, 1

 do 

July 21,19

July 28,19

 do 

May 26,19

July 28,19

May 26,19

July 17,19

July 26,19

June 16,19

July 30,19

- -do 

July 20,19
2L1 

2L2

17/1W- 2M1 

2P1

2R1

3C1 

3E1

3J1 

4L1 

4L2 

9B1

901 

9H1 

9H2 

9J1

9K1 

1001 

11A1

17/1W-11B1 

11B2 

11E1 

11F1

11Q1 

11J1 

11L1

12O1 

12P1 

13B1 

13Q1 

13R1 

14O1 

14F1

14F2

17/1W-14J1 

14L1 

14L2

U. L. Rich...- -- -

L. A. Ulrich .........

 ..do 

-...do -. ..........

-- do..---. ._--.-.. -

. do 

Pressly Tryon.._- ... ...

O. E. McNutt .. ....

..... do... 

Redwood School.. ___ 

Walt Klndel .............

Fort; Dick Community 

Church.

Stapleton.. ___ ... __ ...

1953

1950

1o^n

1953

1952

1952

1949

1952

1950

1952

1945 

Old

IQKft

1940

1952

1953

1950 

Old

1953

1951

1952

29

26

26

31

15

20

24

12

12

12

12

15

15

17

13

27

34

34

34

"~~32~

33

Q1

00

140

41

44

52

~~~45~

45 

74

50

45

30

27

54

25

25

33

19

21

30

22

31

13

50

36

33

327

16

30

30

35

40

215 

36

40

20

17

D,4

D,5

P,6 

P,8

D,6

P,12

P.12

P,8

D,2

P.12

P,8

P,6

P,6

D,3

P,12

P,12

D,3

P,8

P,8

P,6

P,6

D,20 by 30 D

P,6

D,4

P,6P

D,4

D,5

P,6

P,6

P,6

D,4

P,6

D,4 

P,6

P,12

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu 

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu 

Qfu

Qt

Qfu

Qt

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu.ju

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qaf

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Qfu

Ju,Qt

Qt

Qt

Qb

Qt

tb.O 

Tb2.0

Tc 3.0 

Tb .0

Tc2.0 

Tc .0

Tcr 2. 0 

Tc .0 

Tc .0

Tc .0

Tc3.0

Tc .0

Tcr 1. 0 

Tc .0 

Tc .0

Tc 0

Tb .0

Tc .0

Tcr 1. 0 

Tec .0

Tbl.O 

Tb .0 

Tc .0 

Tc .0

Tbl.O

Tc 0.0 

Tc .0

Sept. 19,1

_---.do...._

July 7, 

May 28,1

July 3, 

Sept 19,1

Sept 18,1

July 8, 

June 1, 1

Aug. 25,1

July 7, 1

July 8, 1

.-..do. 

May 28, 

July 30,1

July 7, 1

July 8, 1

Sept. 17, 

July 8, 1

July 20,1

July 3, 1

July 3, 1

July 23,1

Sept. 19, 

July 17,1

July 3, 1

July 2, 1

Sept. 19, 1

July 27,1

Nov. 28, 1

July 27,1

May 28, 1

July 23,1

Sept. 19, 

July 6, 1

May 28,1

See footnotes at end of table.
Records of wells Continued

Well no.

17/1W-14L3

15E1 

15E2

15K1 

15M1 

15M2 

1601 

16Q1 

16L1 

17Q1 

20P1 

21B1 

21H1 

17/1W-22E1 

22E2 

22E3 

22E4 

22Q1 

23A1 

23J1 

23N1 

24B1 

24J1 

26R1 

27E1 

27F1 

27Q1 

27Q2 

32M1 

3401

17/1W-34D1 

34J1 

34K1 

34K2 

34K3

34K4 

35F1

Owner or user

 do 

W. A. Mitehell ..

H. A. Kortie-- 

 do 

L T WVioolor

Frackers

F. Q. Riley - ....... ... ..

 -.do.--.-..--------

Year completed

1953 

1941

1952 

1952

1951 

Old 

Old 

1920

1948 

1951 

1952 

1952 

1951 

1950 

1945

1951 

1953 

1953 

1950

1946 

1945 

1953 

1953 

1874

1952 

1952 

1952 

1951

1953

Altitude ofland-surface 

datum (feet)

50

20 

19

26 

21 

21 

14 

11 

10 

17

12 

19 

50 

35 

35 

35 

56 

109 

121 

75 

68 

65 

140 

51 

39 

55 

55 

15 

37

31 

30 

28 

30

30 

67

Depth of well(feet)

37

18 

50

20 

23 

30 

21 

11 

12

18

18 

50 

40 

40 

45 

18 

25 

13 

25 

20 

22 

24 

28 

19 

28 

25 

12 

25

10 

24 

24 

24 

22

25

Type of welland 

diameter (dug wells, 

feet; other, inches)

P,6

D,4 

D,6 

P,12 

D,5 

P,6 

P,6 

D,4 

D,3 

D,4 

D3

D,4 

D,5 

D,4 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

D,7 

P,6 

D,4 

P,6 

D,5 

P,6 

D,4 

D,5 

D.16 

P,6 

P,6 

D,5 

D,5

D.50 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6

P,8 

D,5

_o 

"o^

I

Qt

Qt 

Qt

Qt 

Qt 

Qt

Qfu 

Qfu 

Qd 

Qd

Qfu 

Qb 

Qb

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb

Qaf 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qb 

Qd 

Qb

Qb

Qb 

Qb

Qb 

Qb

Measuring pointand distance above or

below ( )land-surface dtum(feet)

Tc .0

Tb 1.0 

Tc 12.0

Tc .0

Tc .0 

Tb .0 

Tb .0 

Tb 1.0 

Tb.O

Tb .0 

Tcc.0 

Tb 1.0

Tb 2.0 

Tb 2.0 

Tb .0 

Tc .0 

Tb .0

Tec 2. 0 

Tb .0 

Tb .0 

Tc .0 

Tc .0 

Tb .0 

Tb 1.0

Tc.O 

Tc.O 

Tc.O 

Tc.O

Tec 1,0

Wat

 a

&

I

July 2, 1

Sept. 19, 1

July 2, 1

 .do 

Sept. 18, 1

July 2, 1

July 25,1

July 8, 1

July 7, 1

July 2, 1

July 8, 1

July 7, 1

. .do -

July 2, 1

July 29,1

July 6, 1

- do 

July 29,1

July 27,1

July 1

July 27,1

July 7, 1

 ...do.. .

July 21,1

Sept. 21, 1

July 18,1

May 27, 1

July 23,1

July 22,1

. .do....

May 28, 1

July 23,1

July 27.1
35N1 

36M1 

17/1E-31R1 

18/1W- 801 

8Q1 

8R1 

16N1 

17B1 

17R1 

21D1 

18/1W-22C1 

?2Q1 

22R1 

23N1 

?6B1 

i,6Dl

26E1 

26L1 

26L2 

26P1 

26R1 

26R2 

27B1 

27F1

27F2 

27P1

18/1W-28F1 

32J1

34C1 

34M1

34M2 

34P1 

35A1 

35B1 

35C1

35E1 

35O1 

35K1 

35K2 

35M1 

35Q1 

18/1W-36D1

19/1W-32Q] 

32Q2

T. Haun. _________________

Tom Peacock . _ _ .

W. L. Wood ward .

R. E. Erickson. _______

Wm. Reeves-.... .

O. M.Bobst---.--. . .

Walter Richards ........ .

M. J. Sierka.... .

Bruno Brado...... .

C.E.Hixson... ....... . .

Valley View Court- . . __ 

Tod Westbrook...- . 

Wm. Owens

Del Norte Creamery - ... _ 

Arnold Samuelson

Maris Dairy..... 

.-.-do. _ . __ .. .

.....do--... 

Merlin Ooodlin. 

H. D. Strackbein

Tod Westbrook. .

--do........

Robert Sarina...

Westbrook....

M. C. Johnson..

Robert Sarina..

Jepson-Tedson

Jepson . .

Jepson-Tedson

Irwin Mclndoe 

.---do... ......

Fred Haight... .. 

Doyle T. Oarvin...

IrwinMcIndoe--.

M orris Jergensen 

Wm. Mclndoe 

-.-.do-....

R. L. Moore 

A. W. Pembsrton

Paul Bowen_.

----do.--...

1952

1952

1946 

1943 

1952

1952 

1952 

1937 

1953

1953 

1949

1946 

1950 

1952

1925

1951 

1946

1946

1951 

1949 

1947

1952 

1946 

1946 

1850 

1947

1950

1953

55 

190 

60 

60 

52 

112

""76 

18 

25 

150 

36 

75 

67 

60

38 

93 

93

22 

14

50

8 

18

18

60 

~~47~

27 

69 

40 

41

"16" 

100

132

92

20

"16 

54 

19 

39 

30 

40 

26 

23 

13 

43 

35 

56 

38 

38

38 

20 

35 

28 

41 

30 

23 

35

12 

13

30

28 

28

27 

32 

60 

55 

37

36 

50 

38 

23 

40

"50" 

30 

55

P,8 

D,5 

P,8 

P,0 

D.4 

P,6 

P,6 

P,6 

P,8 

P,8 

D,5 

P,8 

P

P,f> 

P,8 

P,8

P,K 

D,4 

P,12 

P,12 

P,8 

P,« 

P.14 

D,3 

P,8 

D,20 by 40 

D,30

P,lt 

D,» 

SP 

P,10 

D,(i 

P,12 

P,10 

P,12 

P.12

P,12

P,12 

P,12 

P,12 

D,5 

P.12 

D,4 

P,8

P,6 

P,6

Qb 

Qfa

Qfa 

Qfu 

Qaf,Qfu 

Qaf

Qfuju 

Qt

Qt,Qaf

Qfu 

Qfu

Qfu 

Qd

Qfu 

Qfu

Qfu 

Qfu 

Qt.Qaf

Qfu 

t

Qfu 

Qfu 

Qaf.Ql

Qaf 

Qaf

Tb.O

Tcc.O 

Tcc.O 

Tcl.O

Tb .0

Tcr 1.0 

Tc.O

Tc.O

Tb.O 

Tb -7.0

Tcl.O

Tec 1.0

Ls .0 

Ls 0.

Tb3.0 

Ls.O

Tc.O 

Tc6.0

Tc.O

Tc.O

Tc.O 

Tc.O 

Tp.O 

Tce.O

Tcc.O 

Tec 0.0

Tc.O 

Tc.O

-.-.do...

Sept. 1952 

July 24,19

..-..do.-.

 -do..- 

 -do--

 ..do.-.

May 28, 19

May 28, 19

July 23,19

Sept. 29, 19

. do.-. 

May 28, 19

May 28, 19

July 9, 19

May 28, 19

July 9, 19

July 7, 19

July 3, 19

Sept. 18, 19

July 29,19

Sept. 18, 19

July 9, 19

Sept. 17, 19

July 9, 19

Sept. 18, 19

May 28, 19

July 23,19

July 22,19

July 30,19

2 Measurement furnished by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation.

' Completed before 1947.

* Being siphoned at time of measurement.
64 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATER OF THE SMITH RIVER PLAIN

Water-level measurements for selected wells in the Smith River plain area

[Depths to water below land-surface datum are in feet. Measurements for 1955 were furnished by the 

U. S. Bureau of Reclamation]

Date measured Depth Date measured Depth Date measured Depth

Well 16/1W-2 Jl

195S 

July6 .

July 30 

A |ijy Q

Aug. 23. - 

Sept. 20 -

Oct. 4 

Oct. 11 . 

17.71

16.70

18.28

18.5

18.37

18.33

18.04

18.10

19.26

18.03

17.60

195S Continued

Oct. 18 ... - -

Nov. 7 

Nov. 29 .

T)Af> 1^1

Dec. 27... 

17.05

16.74

16.56

16.16

15.27

14.96

14.69

14.70

15.0

15.14

1954

Jan. 23 ____ ___ ..

Jan. 31 ________ ...

Feb. 7-- 

Feb. 14-..- -

May 30 _ _ . _ __

1955

15.2

14.7

14.5

14. 3J

14. 7t

14.7

17. 4£

16.8

19.7

Well 16/1W-17K1

195S 

July 20 

Aug. 15 

16.46

16.74

17.07

17.31

17.60

17.98

18.24

18.52

18.76

18.%

19.20

195S Continued 

Sept 20

Sept. 30 -

Oct. 10- 

Oct. 15 

Oct. 20 

Oct. 25. 

19.39

19.59

19.80

20.02

20 23

20.37

20.51

20.61

20.75

20.89

21.00

21.15

1953 Continued

Nov. 20 ... ....

Nov. 21 

Nov. 25 - __ --

Nov. 30-- __ -. 

1964

May 31-.. _ ------- 

1966

Aug. 25-- -. _ -

21.23

21.21

19.40

17.91

17.03

17.2

15.2

20.0

Well 16/1W-20H1

195S 

July 2 -- ..

July 30 

Aug. 14 

1962 

May 26 ... 

1953

July 28 _-_ 

July 30 . ... - 

Aug. 27 ...

1963 

July 30 ....

Aug. 11 

3.56

5.65

6.6

1 

11.7

12.95

10.34

14.0

26.4

99 %

19BS Continued

1954

Well 16/1W-22QI

195S Continued

Sept. 9... ___ . _ 

Oct. 7 ... ... 

Oct. 14 

Oct. 29..... 

Well 16/1E-10NI

195S Continued

6.5

7

I

14.1

12.1

15.5

17.8

16.0

15.0

14.4

1966

195S Continued

Nov. 12 .... . ....

1964

May 28. ... 

Aug. 20- ..... 

1955

1954 

May 25 ___ - _____

3.9

9.0

14.8

12.6

10.0

10.8

15.8

22.0
RECORDS

Water-level measurements for selected wells in the Smith River plain area Continued

[Depths to water below land-surface datum are in feet. Measurements for 1955 were furnished by the 

U. S. Bureau of Reclamation]

Date measured Depth Date measured Depth Date measured Depth

Well 17/1W-15M2

195S 

July 25- - - -

July 30 _-_.. 

Aug. 10 - 

A ncr IP;

13.30

13.98

14.28

14.55

14.78

195S Continued 

Aug. 25 

Sept. 5 __ ______

Sept. 10.. - _ -------

Sept. 15 

14.90

14.88

15.00

15.16

15.43

/05&-Continued 

Sept. 18-. _ 

1955

15.55

11.3

15 4

Well 18/1W-26P1

195% 

May 28. -- 

1953 

July 23-. .- . --

8.5

10.50

1953 Continued 

Sept. 20.. __ . __ 

1954

12.84

13.35

1955

9.1
t* O3 **» Oi O5 -<J 

 & m-^, .OS OS OS OS 

H- 75 S h^ h^ 7^ H^ 

3 N 3 3 3 3 

«o £,L ^ i ,L ^ 

2 g§ g 5 8 £ 

j f . J" i i (0 

«H DO <;< b. 

f * t 1 p, 

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S

Cn i i i 111-4

OS OS OS OS OS OS 

to ^a *-*-*- ca 

§ 8 P ^ 3 § 

OS tD Cn CO OS 00 

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i i i i i * 

° . . . . ' 

Q CO O l-> i 

CO CO <1 ( 

P M ,0- P M «P ^P ^P 

OCO<I tO~3 t9CO>t» OH'tO CDCO)^ OOCOfO00^-4 ocoS ~jcn~J rf^cn^ ooco wolco 

O t~* O O O O 

(35C»(35 f*^^ tOWrf' COH-JO OOCnp OOOIp 

)->GOCO GO^rf^ COOiCO W-Jrf^ i^OOCO OSOOCO 

O *-* O O O O 

C*3*^ 1^ *^ C*3 i^*^ C*3 i^*^ 

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p O p p O p p O 00 OH- viocc op pop op 

toorf- cacao ocoi-> oco>-> cow -a wen -a 

O H- O O O O 

^.. . W Q,. . W ,^. Q,. 

pos P° *co OCJ ^ ^°S ^""oa j^-4 

coSi -joioi -a£jrf^ coot co wSjS rf*S£ca 

O Oj|O O j ] O ; ] O j j 

O p _ 9 0 p p 

°°|H ^§5(0 >*» 01 0 ? 40 r 1 ^g!- CCpJO 

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O * * O O O O 

c^ a Soo g^ 6 ^topo SJ2.H- 8Sg^ 

rf^CD^ 2 COCK COi JO CO»GO COOH- -JCOC 

i i it! i i ° i i 

-° ^^ 0 to- P 

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31 O bO CO CD 00 KOl^-4 CC CC 00 

i P 

O 

lO. « CO >-> CO CO 

O> Cn tD 01 OS OO 

CO *. to *. CO *. 

OS CO OS l-» H- (O 

formation Battery 

^

1 

f

*- 

Q

02

§ 

i

1

1

00

O

g

3

!

o

s

m' 

Sto 

H* OO OS 

!&^

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too to 

.-L

p

f 00 

f"SSS

OOCOCn

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p 

to en 

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p 

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1 j 

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cnccco

§

to Cn

Rocks ofJurassic age

10 fig. in no. Index 

3 

£ 

g

0

S= 

ff 

" 3 g

E

a

(°F) Temperature 

HP

conductance Specific 

26°C) at (micromhos 

determined of Sum 

constituents

Silica 

)2 (Si0

Iron

(re)

Calcium 

(Ca)

Magnesium 

(Mg)

Sodium 

(Na)

Potassium 

(K)

Bicarbonate 

)3 (HC0

Carbonate 

(OOi)

Sulfate 

(804)

Chloride 

(Cl)

Fluoride

(F)

Nitrate

)3 (N0

Parts million per (upper equivalents number), (middle 

of totaland valuefor indicated numbr) , percent reacting (lowernumber) 

cations andnions

Boron 

(B)

calcium as Hardness 

(CaCOa) carbonate 

sodium Percent 

water Chemicallanalyses'of ground 

are in otherwise as [Analyses partser million, except indicated]

O.KV OMI10HO 3Hi ELLIWS H3AIH 

99
8

9

10

lOa

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

16/lW-lsFl

16/1W-20Q1 -

16/1W-21M1...

16/1W-21M1...

16/1W-22Q1 .

16/1W-2SD1...

16/1W-26D1....

16/1W-20E1 .

16/1W-26N1....

17AW-34C1....

16AE-»K1

(Hiouchi

Valley).

17AW-14F1

(Fort

Dick).

Aug. 27,1953

Apr. 30,1953

May 1, 1953

Aug. 20,1954

May 26, 1952

Aug. 27,1953

Apr. 30,1953

do .

.. do ... ..

May 27,1952

Aug. 28, 1953

May 28, 1952

63

......

57

59

---_._

?0

6.8

7.3

7.2

6.8

7.1

6.6

7.2

8.1

6.9

7.6

7.2

251

232

149

161

109

72.4

154

255

216

103

201

136

1??

135

91

103

64

38

101

147

139

70

99

on

19

14

20

8,6

10

12

15

16

24

23

.3

.5

.27

.3

.4

0.05

7.6

0.379

1.0

8.0 

0.399

18.6

7.8

0.389

26.0

7.3

0.864

23.2

4.8

0.240

24.6

3.4

0.170

23.9

4.0 

0.200

13.2

31

1.547

58.5

17

0.848

37.0

4.8

0.240

23.3

Terrace

5.1

0.254

11.5

9.6

ft 479

81. 8

14

1.151

48.6

12 

0.987

46.0

6.7

0.551

37.3

8.2

0.676

43.0

2.9

0.238

24.4

il

0.837

47.4

6.4 

0.526

34.7

6.7

0.551

20.8

5.5

0.452

19.7

5.8

0.477

46.4

deposit

22

1.809

82.2

9.5

0 781

51.0

19

0.826

34.9

17 

0.739

34.4

12

0.522

35.3

12

0.522

33.2

11

0.478

49.0

4.5

0.196

27.6

18 

0.783

51.7

12

0.522

19.7

22

0.957

41.8

6.0

0.261

25.4

8

3.2

0.139

6.3

6.0

0.261

17.0

0.4

0.010

0.0

0.8 

0.020

0.93

0.7

0.018

1.2

0.4

0.010

0.64

0.8

0.020

2.0

0.3

0.008

1.1

0.2 

0.005

.33

1.0

0.026

.98

1.3

0.033

1.4

2.0

0.051

5.0

0

0.4

0.010

0.65

79

1.295

52.2

61 

1.000

4ft K

56

0.918

61.4

56

0.918

56.0

22

0.361

36.0

32

0.524

68.0

30 

0.492

31.8

2 081

79.6

1.704

72.0

42

0.688

65.7

120

1.967

88.8

76

1 246

83.2

' Sulfate estimated by difference, approximate only, and includes the equivalent amount of anions, which was no
of (NorthSmithlUver).

c

-^

C 

£O 

SI

CO?

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OS~

c

coc

c 

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Cn«

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p > 

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^"* oo 

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COOICO !tl 

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p - 5 

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Oi O i i O i i O 

p p p ~ o 

tOOl-' OOO OOO -1&JO 

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1 i 

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to

<a\ co ~i So 

I

CO

p p 

to' * t O *Q CO £h 

o ^ o 

' <J * b5 

f"§^ sf° s P

tO ~J tO OS rf^ 00 

« ~P 0 to

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p !* p 

os oo co to 

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co coo co to to 

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Cn to 

OS CO 

H-t tO 

10 flg. in no. Index 

1§

d

&ro

w

a

(°F) Temperature 

PH

conductance Specific 

25°C) at (micromhos 

determined of Sum 

constituents

Silica 

(SiOj)

Iron 

(Fe)

Calcium 

(Ca)

Magnesium 

(Mg)

Sodium 

(Na)

Potassium 

(K)

Bicarbonate 

)3 (HC0

Carbonate 

)3 (C0

Sulfate 

(SOi)

Chloride 

(Cl)

Fluoride 

(F)

Nitrate 

(NOi)

Parts million (middle number), equivalents per (upper 

value andoftotal forindicated (lower percent reacting number) number), 

anions cations and

Boron 

(B)

calcium as Hardness 

)3 (CaCO carbonate 

sodium Percent 

ss

1

o

o

I

C

JLoo'ioao QKV QMIOHO aaxv^i. jo HHJL HJDIMS 
w

Wa

18/1W34M2....

18/1W-34M2....

.....do. 

Aug. 20, 1954

56

55.5

7.2

8.0

332

341

160

212 38

0 11

0.549 

15.0

8.9

0.444

11.6

36

2.961 

80.6

39

3.236

R4 4

3.4

0.148 

4.0

3.2

0.139

3.6

0.5

0.013 

0.35

0.5

0.013

0.34

208

3.409 

92.9

216

3.540

on 7

Alluvial-fan deposits

28

29

16/1W-2J1......

17/1W-26R1....

July 30,1953

Aug. 27,1953

A Q

7.0

268

208

148

121

9.0

3.0

10

0.499

17.8

26

1.297

55.9

14

1.151

41.2

7.3

0.600

25.8

26

1.131

40.5

9.4

0.409

17.6

0.5

0.013

0.46

0.6

0.015

0.6

114

2.196

78.0

123

2.016

85.2

Landslide

30 18/1W-36D1. _ 6.6 5&4 43 9.6 4.8

0.240

39.2

1.7

0.140

22.9

5.0

0.217

35.4

0.6

0.015

2.5

21

0.344

54.8

Dune sand

31

32

33

34

16/1W-5L1. .

16/1W-7F1 

17/1W-20P1....

17/1W-32M1...

Aug. 27,1953

Sept. 28, 1953

July 98,1953

A HIT 97 10*^3

6.7

7.6

7.5

6.7

126

282

282

117

61

146

132

59

0.20

.02

.47

6.0

0.299 

25.1

22

1.098

37.5

22

1.098

Ifi 4

6.8

0.339

28.5

6.8

0.559 

46.8

14

1.151

39.3

16

1.316

43.6

a n

0.658

55.4

6.3

0.274 

23.0

15

.652

22.3

12

0.522

17.3

4.1

0.178

15.0

2.4

0.061 

5.1

1.1

0.028

0.96

3.2

0.082

2.7

n i

0.013

1.1

52

0.852 

70.8

128

2.098

72.7

126

2.065

RS 4

KK

0.901

75.2

i Sulfate estimated by difference, approximate only, and includes the equivalent amount of anions, which was no

? Probably includes some nitrate,
*o « C £ > * 

." % 

to to * jo to to 

en en O* Oi Oi Oi 

O> J». *. CO 

O * p M 

O K* l& OO 

§ i i i 

^ s 

°° g£ 

1 i 

tO 00 £ 00 00 § 

SO pD pO SO 

V V 

74 po po po 

oo o o o 

US CO * GO 

> * M O to 

»

p

p

§

 

CO

is

o

See

o

o

0 0 

o

o

o

§

8 3 

i oo 

o 

o 

io

0

p Eo 

*. to 

71 71 

^ * 

3 § 

»

k

o

o

is

So,

tObO

(C

*.

o

s

gNtoo

p => 

en " ?| 

o

oo

Cn 

*.

to

o

to CO 

i

Smith River

3

Cn

s

5

B

i

p

oto

p

o

a^tO~)

p

si

o

o

o

o

o

-ICO

o

s

s

IS

Unnamed ElktoCreek tributary 

 c 

r*

en

I

I

CO

en

I

CO

"to

10 Ssi

oo

£ s

o

C>cn 

o en 

Sw

|P

Sto

'^

(O

M

Lake Earl

sample Date 

height Gage 

(cfs) Discharge 

(°F) Temperature 

oxygen Dissolved 

PH

conductance Specific 

C) 25° at (micromhos 

determined of Sum 

constituents

)2 (SiO Silica 

(Fe) Iron 

Calcium(Ca)

Magnesium 

(Mg)

(Na) Sodium 

Potassium 

(K)

Bicarbonate 

(HCOa)

Carbonate 

(OOi)

(SOO Sulfate 

Chloride(Cl)

(F) Fluoride 

Nitrate 

(NOO

million million Partsand flowerper (upper nmber)equivalents per 

cations andnions for indicated number) 

(B) Boron 

calcium as Hardness 

(CaCOs) carbonate 

sodium Percent 

water Chemical surface analyses of

in otherwise ares perexcept [Analyses parts million, indicated]

QZ ioonoao QNV ao HHI, HJ.ITVS HHAIH JSHVM 
RECORDS 71

CN

*

S °°

0

1<=

4

c 

co 1c

oc

g

w

c

5

1O

c

c

i

a

1C

CO

a 

a

g i>

c

S

«3 

 ^

1.

2 C

o

5

"

CO CS 

CO *

 S

o

o

oio co

o

oio

o

o

^< -"frH Cfl 

V9 ^< C4 CC

O C

o

0

ss

o

o

CO

 o

cc

O CO

o

g 8

s

O O5

o

S

ec 

CO

O IN

0

s s

OS CO

co ce

rH O

O !

CC *"! 00

O COO

o o

coo

0

o !

1

C^ rH CO C1

c5o

o

0

00 COo'

2

1C

IN

28 i

i-4 iH 00

* t *

^

ws o S c£

rf o o o

o o o

§

ocp co-ii oot- «^ ii5 «^ 10 -v oc

O 0 O O

O 0 j

Ot~ Of- OOJC

c5 o o

00 1* CO OO Cfl CJ 

IOT(< eoS l^S 

O 0 O

 * S T(J IN CO rH

o o o

I

!

ioiooorHn<iN-*oo

CO 00 00 OO 

rH rH O Os'

rH CO 

IN IN IN CO' r-i

s s S 1O S 3

1 § i-T t-T

38 S

co"

§

0 ^ 

ob

CO

a>

1co"

oo at

oo t^

o 

o

10

g

OS

Tjl

sCO

>o IN-*

IN IN

38 S

CO CO

a

s

CO

rH

S £5

CO *

«eT

&

o

s

5

r-I

8 S3

.» ^ c5

o O a>

O fc fi

10 »i 10 e*

O g fi
Chemical analyses of surface water Continued

B

$

CS

0

I

fl

IS

If o

t

IS

 a

.52 

ft

F

« 

| 

CS

fe

ft

1!

S

o 

 o

OJ

.3 

ft B

r^ C3

d w

8£

il

11

«

gs

CD S

 w £

aCQ

0

03

a

CQ

O

Parts per million (upper number) a

number) for indicated 

O

CS

O

a

s

§§

CS

a

?,

|

13 

0 

CQ

a

s

38

o 

PH

IS

H-a

rt~

§0

rgO

S

Smith River Continued

Apr. 9, 1953

May 7.1953

June 11, 1953

July 8, 1953

Aug. 6, 1953

Sept. 17, 1953

Oct. 8, 1953

Nov. 8, 1953

Dec. 9, 1953

Jan. 7, 1954

Feb. 4, 1954

8.18

10.26

9.59

6.12

4.84

4.19

4.15

6.61

15.57

11.65

13.2

2,760

5,620

4,310

1,210

556

400

300

1,400

14,900

47

50

55

67

65

66

57

52

52

47

45

12.6

12.1

12.5

10.2

9.8

8.6

10.2

11.5

12.5

12.8

12.4

7.4

7.3

7.5

7.3

7.5

7.9

8.0

7.5

7.7

7.5

7.7

84 1

75.3

94.3

91.4

118

136

133

118

80.9

81.3

72.3

51

79

13

13

0

0

4.4

0.220

4.2

7.5

0.374

7.4 

0.369

7.0

0.349

4.4

0.220

4.4

0.220

4.0

0 200

7.3

0.600

6.2 

0.510

9.8

0.806

11 

0.905

11

0.905

6.6

0.543

7.0

0.576

5.6

0.461

2

n

0.087

1.7 

0.074

2.4

0.104

2.8

2.8

0.122

1.8

0.078

1.5

0.065

1.8

0.078

0.1

0.2

0.005

0.2 

0.005

0.2

0.005

0.2

0.005

0.3

0.008

0.2

0.005

50

0.819

43

0.705

50

0.819

52

0.852

67

1.098

76 

1.246

75

1.229

54

0.885

47

0.770

49

0.803

42

0.688
LITERATURE CITED 73

LITERATURE CITED

Butler, G. M., and Mitchell, G. J., 1916, Preliminary survey of the geology and

mineral resources of Curry County, Oreg.: Oreg. Bur. Mines, Min. Res.

Oreg., no. 2. 

Cater, F. W., Jr., and Wells, F. G., 1953, Geology and mineral resources of the

Gasquet quadrangle, California-Oregon: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 995-C,

p. 79-132. 

Da vis, W. M., 1933, The lakes of California: Calif. Jour. Mines and Geology,

v. 29, no. 2, p. 175-236. 

Diller, J. S., 1902, Topographic development of the Klamath Mountains: U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 196.

 1907, The Mesozoic sediments of southwestern Oregon: Am. Jour. Sci.,

4th ser., v. 23, p. 402-421. 

Emery, K. O., 1950, Ironstone concretions and beach ridges of San Diego County,

Calif.: Calif. Jour. Mines and Geology, v. 46, no. 2, p. 213-221. 

Hershey, O. H., 1911, Del Norte County geology: Mining and Sci. Press, v. 102,

p. 468.

Jenkins, Olaf, 1938, Geologic map of California: Calif. Div. Mines. 

Lawson, A. C., 1894, The geomorphogeny of the coast of northern California:

Calif. Univ., Dept. Geol. Sci., Bull. 1, p. 255-263. 

Louderback, G. D., 1905, The Mesozoic of southwestern Oregon: Jour. Geology,

v. 13, p. 514-555. 

Maxson, J. H., 1933, Economic geology of portions of Del Norte and Siskiyou

Counties, northwesternmost California: Calif. Jour. Mines and Geology,

v. 29, nos. 1 and 2, p. 123-160. 

Meinzer, O. E., 1923a, The occurrence of ground water in the United States,

with a discussion of principles: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 489.

 1923b, Outline of ground-water hydrology, with definitions: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Water-Supply Paper 494.

1936, Movements of ground water: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists

Bull., v. 20, no. 6, p. 704-725.

Piper, A. M., 1945, A graphic procedure in the geochemical interpretation of 

water-analyses: Am. Geophys. Union Trans. 25th Ann. Mtg. pt. 6, 1944, 

p. 914-923, discussion, p. 924-928.

Poland, J. F., Davis, G. H., Olmsted, F. H., and Kunkel, Fred, 1951, Groundwater storage capacity of the Sacramento Valley, Calif.: Calif. Dept. Public 

Works, Water Res. Div. Bull. 1, p. 618-632.

Taliaferro, N. L., 1942, Geologic history and correlation of the Jurassic of southwestern Oregon and California: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 53, no. 1, 

p. 71-112.

Trewartha, G. T., 1937, An introduction to weather and climate: New York, 

McGraw-Hill Book Co., 373 p.

Wells, F. G., Hotz, P. E., and Cater, F. W., Jr., 1949, Preliminary description 

of the geology of the Kerby quadrangle, Oregon: Oreg. Dept. Geology and 

Min. Industries Bull. 40, 23 p.

Wenzel, L. K., 1942, Methods for determining permeability of water-bearing 

materials, with special reference to discharging-well methods: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Water-Supply Paper 887.
INDEX

Page 

Acknowledgments . - __ 6-7

Agriculture ________ - _ . ________ 7 

Alluvial-fan deposits, description ____ . __ 33 

Anorthosctttum. ............. ... ... ... ... . .... 22

Aucetta, erringtoni... ..... ... .... ____ .- . . 19

......... _____________ 24

Battery formation, age, description.. 24-28, pis. 4, 5 

chemical character of water _____ .. 54, 55-56 

fossil assemblage- __ .-.. _ ... 24, pi. 3 

measured section ____________ 26, pi. 3 

stratigraphic relation. _ _ __ ___ __ 16-17 

water-bearing properties. ___ .. _ . __ 28-30

California Dept. of Public Works, Div. of 

Water Resources, contributions to 

investigation ---... __ .. 5,6-7 

Cardium corbis ...... .. ... .... ... , .... .......... 22

C]imate.......... ............................ 8

Cryptomya, sp _ .. . _ _---. ________ ._ 22

Darcy's law ____ . _____________ 16

Del Norte fault....- .-..-.-.-..-----..-.--.-. 34-35

Dillard series, correlation ____________ 19

Dothan formation, correlation _________ 19

Drainage- _ ..__ _ . _ ... 8-12

Drawdown, definition ____ _ ____ . . 15

Dune sand, chemical character of water in.- - 56-57

description __________________ 33-34

water-bearing properties ________ -. 34

Earl, Lake, chemical character of waterdescription_.. ___________.

Faults, relation to structure of area_____. 34-35 

Flood-plain deposits, chemical character of

water in . ______ 56

description__________________ 31-32

water-bearing properties______._.. 32-33

Franciscan group, correlation_______ 19,20

Oalice formation, age____..________ 19,20

Geomorphology..________________ 35-37

Ground water, chemical quality, general___ 54-55

discharge _ .______..............

movement_______.___ ...____ 39-40 

principles of occurrence__..-._____ 37-39 

recharge--________--.___.---

relation of chemical character to geology. - 54-55 

relation to geology.______.______ 14-16 

storage-_.._. ....._......... 43-45

water table, description____--_ 39-40, pi. 6 

fluctuations__...___._____ 40-41

Page 

Hertlein, L. G., quoted.... .......... 21-22,22,24

History, geologic- . -.- -. 35-37"

Industry--___ _ ---- 7-8

Investigation, present, methods.--- 4-6

purpose and scope....--.- 2

previous__ .. 3-4

Jurassic rocks, character.-.-. , 18 

chemical character of water in 55 

correlation_.-._ . .. 18-20 

stratigraphic relation . 16-17 

water-bearing properties 20

Literature cited. 

Location and extent of area.

Macoma inquinata.....................

nasuta,....... __ .......

Meinzer unit, method of determining.

Ocenebra sp.

73

2

24

22

15

22

Panomya ampla.......... - 21

Permeability, definition____.___ 15 

Physiography...--...-. ---- . .. 8-12

Polinices sp____._.. _ 21 

Precipitation, amount, distribution 13-14 

Protothaca.-........................ . ....... 2Z

Quality of water, chemical analyses, expression__ . .. 48-52* 

ground water... 54-55 

surface water 52, pl.7 

general description.- . 4&

Records, explanation of data 57 

Rice, Salem 3,18, 21, pi. 5

River-terrace deposits, chemical character of

water in .. . 56 

description..--.---. ----_ .... 30-31

water-bearing properties . 31

St. George formation, description.. 20-23, pis. IB, 3

fossil assemblage - 21-22-

stratigraphic relation 16-17

water-bearing properties 23

Sand ridges, Pleistocene- 10,36

Saxidomus giganteus 24

sp __- - . . 22

Seismograph survey 5, 6, 21, pi. 1A 

"Serpentine," as used by Maxon 19 

Siliqua patula nwttalii ----------....... 21

Siskiyou granodiorite 19 

Smith River, chemical character of water 52-53

75
76 INDEX

Page

Smith River drainage basin, discharge.__.- 12-14 

Solen sp..._ . ________ 22 

Specific capacity, definition__________ 15-16 

Specific yield, definition____________ 5 

values for ____. ___ 43 

Spisula sp____ . _________ 24 

Stratigraphy, summary.. . 16-17 

Structure. . ...___.___ 34-35 

Surface water, chemical quality..._____ 52

Talawa, Lake, description. 11

Page

Use of water, domestic and stock supplies 47 

industrial...---___-- -_ . 47-48 

irrigation 46 

municipal supplies 46-47 

summary_ 45-46

Well-numbering system. 6

Yield factor, definition____-_ ____ 15-16

determination of. 4

Yoldia strigata. 21

o