hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

662 MINING AND MINING STOCKS.
duction, and the crude oil is conveyed for 63 miles in
iron pipes to a shipping point on the coast, whence it
is taken to Alameda to be refined. There were 8,000,-
000 gallons manufactured in 1884 and a larger amount
since.
Asphaltum, formed by the evaporation of the volatile
part of petroleum, is very plentiful in Santa Cruz,
Los Angeles, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San
Luis Obispo counties. It is called bitumen and tar
when found in a half fluid condition, and is used, mixed
with sand, in making asphalt pavements in San Francisco.
As might be expected, from the presence of
the substances above named, natural gas is sometimes
discovered in boring artesian wells, but it has not yet
been much used for lighting or heating purposes.
Mineral soap—for which no better name has been
suggested, possessing, as it does, the cleansing qualities
of manufactured soaps—was discovered as early
as 1849, and re-discovered in 1855 at Table mountain,
two miles from Grass valley in Nevada county, the
vein being fifteen feet thick. It is of a grayish color,
somewhat rough to the touch, as if composed of sand
compacted with some oil, is easily mined, and a really
good article of soap, so far as its cleansing qualities
are concerned. It has been found also in Sonoma,
Santa Bdrbara, and Ventura counties. Mineral paint
is found in Contra Costa and Sonoma counties, and is
an article of commerce. Limestone is not abundant
on the Pacific coast, but is found in Contra Costa,
Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo counties. A coarse
marble belt extends along the west side of the Sierra
Nevada, from Mariposa to Butte, a distance of 160
miles. Gypsum is found in San Benito, San Luis
Obispo, and Alameda counties; alabaster in San Luis
Obispo county ; lead in Monterey county ; manganeseblack
oxide—in Napa, Marin, and Alameda counties;
plumbago in Tuolumne and Sonoma counties. The last
named was discovered in Tuolumne county in 1853 by
F. & and H. S. Macomber, who left it undeveloped