Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-02-01
'6+ G6+eolouE,y u,,'s OF California.

Geology Of California. 3
We cannot ascertain how many
hundreds of thousands or millions Of
years have passed away since Cali
fornia arose from the deep, butin geo
logical eras the countryis new.IS The
chief means of determining the, age
Of rocks is by the fossils which they
contain. The earth has had various
kinds of animals at various epochs,i
each epoch having higher fauna
than the one which preceded it,
The fishes lived before there were
any reptiles; the reptiles lived before
there were any birds ); the birds lived
before there were any mammals"
and the mammalian brutes had exs
listed long before man appeared.-7
Each Of the later epochs had its pc
euliar forms Of animal life; and it is
by an examination of the remains OF
these animals, that the age Of sedi.o
mentary rocks are determined!-a
These remains may be 30 small that
the naked eye cannot distinguish
them; and Professor Brewer has nu-|
merous specimens which cannot be
investigated without the microscope
None Of the large Saurians-those
wonderful lizards as large as whales
have yet beenfound here; but our
hills and mountains contain the bones
Of the mastadon, the elephant, the
rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the
horse, the camel, the whale aud an
animal resembling the tapir. These
all lived once in California. Oyster
shells fifteen inches long are found
hear Corral Hollow, and amonites
abound in Shasta county-some Of
them a foot and half in diameter.
Our climate must have been tropical
In the era of this extinct fauna; our
valleys were great swamps; our
mountains were covered with a luxu-
rance of vegetation which now ex-s
elusively belongs to the equatorial
regions, Man lived at the same time;
man in the lowest stages of savage,
ism, when the highest operation of
his skill was to make an arrowhead
Or spear-head offlint or obsidian. sr.
The oretaceous formation, which
contains all our valuable coal and
quicksilver, extends the entire length
of the American coast, from San Die
20 to Belingham Bay. About two
hundred and ffty-fve fossils, Of
which 96 per cent. are ofnew species,
have been found in this formation.--
The fossils found in the Jurassic
gold bearing rocks of the Sierra have
not yet been worked up. aas .a.H. E'f
From Mount Shasta to Mount
San Jacinto, all the high peaks ofthe
Sierra are in a straight line. North
Of thirty-eight degrees the peaks are
From the summit Of Las
sen's Peak, thirty craters of extinct
VOLCANOES are visible, The evidence
of their activity is found in body Of
lava that covers ten thousand square.
miles, which with shape. something
like a pear, extends from the vicinity
of OrGo1vilie to Mount Shasta, which
it surrounds, Appearances indicate
that the top Of Mount Shasta for,
twelve thousand feet from the sum
NIT downward is lava. The plateau
Of the Sierra Nevada or high table
land in Plumas, aud the eastern, part
Of Shasta county, is covered with la
va, which bpries the gold so deep
that tho miners can reach it only ina
few places where the, streams cut
it to the slate beneath. The,
auriferous slate is very narrow in the,
southern part of the Sierra Nevada;
but it widens out regularly as it ap-
proaches North, and the richest dig
gings have been fonnd near the edge
af the great bed Of lava, which hides,
millions Of gold from the
miner. g FsaaiaH 'i5 q 'aa1' E'a' "
South Of latitude thirty eight de-
grees there are no VOLCANOES, active or
extinct in the Sierra Nevada; and
the highest points rise but one thouo thou
sand feet above the general level Of
the range, la,, while at the North the
neaks + rise IS from three thousand to
eeiobt thousand feet above the sur
rounding mountains, al e. lrqga 1s, 5as