Sonoma County History

GEOLOGY AND MINEROLOGY.

The county of Sonoma has never been honored with a geological survey. It is pretty evenly divided between valley and mountain. The valleys having formerly been submerged with the waters of the ocean, were left upon their subsidence with a soil of adobe, but have since received a coat of sedimentary deposit of alluvium. The soil of the eastern part of Sonoma Valley rests upon a hard pan of secondary formation. The sandy loam comprising the country lying between Petaluma and the coast is modern alluvium. The redwood forests adjacent to the coast, belong to the second epoch of the tertiary period - the miocene of Mr. Lyell. The soil of the Russian River valley largely formed through glacial influence, belongs to the secondary period. The mountains are volcanic. Trap, or basalt is the leading rock, although porphyry, sienite, granite, slate, and especially carbonate, or magnesium limestone are found. The mountain range of basalt dividing the Petaluma and Sonoma valleys was poured out of the crater of St. Helena and rolling onward, a mighty river of molten lava, cooled and hardened where we now find it. The streets of San Francisco are largely paved with this rock. In quarrying it small caverns are revealed most beautifully lined, and crystallized with carbonate of lime. Notwithstanding that Sonoma is classed as an agricultural county, its mineral resources are varied, and in the near future will be a source of great profit.

COAL, of not by any means a superior quality, has been found near the surface on Sonoma mountain not more than five miles from Petaluma. Practical experience has upset many scientific theories. Science taught that the native deposit of gold was exclusively in quartz. The miner reveals some of the richest leads in slate rock. Science formerly taught that the coal deposit was exclusively in the carboniferous formation. The same authority now teaches that it may be found in any geological strata. It is true that all the coal thus far found belongs to the tertiary, or secondary formation - lignite or brown coal - yet competent observers are sanguine in the belief that when sufficient depth shall have been reached coal of good quality and in reasonable abundance will be found.

PETROLEUM, - a sister product, is also known to exist in this county. It is a question whether oil wells will ever prove as productive in California as they are in Pennsylvania, for the reason that the horizontal wheels of the paleozoic age confines the oil beneath the surface in the latter State, while the tertiary rocks of California, turned up on edge, allow it to be forced to the surface by dydrostatic pressure, and capillary attraction, and thus wasted. Hence large quantities of oil on the surface is an unfavorable indication for well-boring.

It is for this reason, and not because oil in quantities does not exist, that the oil business has not a promising out-look on the Pacific coast.

QUICKSILVER. - Quicksilver, principally in the form of cinnabar, exists in this county in large quantities. During the quicksilver excitement of four or five years ago many rich deposits were developed, and worked until the immense quantities of the article found in every section of the State reduced its price below the cost of extraction, which necessarily compelled a discontinuance of operations.

The composition of cinnabar being 81 3/4 grains of quicksilver and 19 1/3 grains of sulphur to the hundred, implies the existence of an abundance of the latter article also in the county. When quicksilver exists where there is no sulphur it must needs be in its native form. In the Rattlesnake mine, above Cloverdale, is the only place that it is found in this county, otherwise than in the form of cinnabar. In that mine the pure globules are interspersed through soft tulcose rock.

BORAX. - Borate of soda has been found, but not in paying quantities.

KAOLIN. - This article is found in this county, but Kaolin being decomposed feldspar, and the pure atmosphere of California not possessing the power of decomposing and disintegrating that article from its native rocks like the murky air of England, the quantity is correspondingly small. So rapidly does the atmosphere of England decompose Feldspar, that granite, or sienite, exposed to the air, becomes honey-combed in a few years. The reader is aware that fine porcelain ware is made of finely pulverized quartz crystals, kaolin, and the ashes of ferns - the fern ashes containing enough alkali, in the form of bicarbonate of potassa - to produce the requisite effervescent action, in union with the silisic acid of the quartz, to develope the beautiful finish of that elegant ware. The kaolin for the immense quantity of porcelain ware manufactured in England is gathered in Cornwall, where it is decomposed and disintegrated from the granite quarries.

RED AND YELLOW UMBER (terra de sienna), as well as other ochreous coloring earths of a superior quality, and in great abundance, are found in this county. No better material for paints exists upon the earth.

PETRIFACTIONS are found in this county - and, in fact, everywhere on the coast - under circumstances which upset the accepted theory that petrification can only occur by saturating the wood in thermal waters. Petrifaction takes place on the surface of the earth - necessarily beyond the reach or influence of thermal waters. The large amount of silex in the soil may account for this in some instances, as there are many cases in which an excess of that element causes wood to petrify instead of carbonize, even in the carboniferous formation. Still the proposition holds that petrifactions are found under circumstances which would seem to imply that atmospheric conditions must have something to do with their transformation.

ARGENTIFEROUS GALENA exists in the northern part of the county, and in the near future will become a paying industry.

COPPER, - Some rich deposits of copper - principally in the form of red oxide - have also been discovered in the northern section of the county.

IRON. - Iron is found nearly everywhere, but the most valuable yet unearthed are the chromic iron ores in the mountains near Cloverdale, where the rock formation is mainly serpentine. Some of these ores have been in the process of extraction for several years with profit to the owners. A small amount of hematite iron was found near Santa Rosa. Magnetic and Titanic iron is found in more or less abundance as is usual in all volcanic rocks.

PISOLITES, OOLITES, and OBSIDIAN are among the products found in attestation of the volcanic period.

BOILING SPRINGS exist in several localities, the most noted, and remarkable of which are the Geysers. These springs are among the most wonderful and magnificent displays of nature in the world. Notwithstanding that the springs are located within close proximity of each other, the chemical properties differ much. We have not at hand a chemical analysis of these waters, but chloride of sodium (table salt), borate of sodium (borax), carbonate of sodium, sulphur, iron, and sulphate of sodium predominate. There is a trace of silica in all of them we believe. Litton springs and Mark West are well known places of resort for pleasure-seekers and invalids.

Imperfect skeletons of several mastedons have been found protruding from the banks of Petaluma creek; a short distance above the town of Petaluma, where the floods had exposed them to view; and one tusk found - and now in a cabinet in the latter city - is ten inches in length. They were perhaps mired down while seeking water. Their discovery was merely accidental, paleontological research never having received any more attention in the county than its kindred sciences.

BLOODSTONE and AGATE are the only valuable varieties of the quartz family, so far as we know, that have been found in this county.

SULPHATE OF LIME (Gypsum) is found, but in comparatively small quantities to that of the carbonate, or magnesian lime.

The annexed remarks on the climate and rainfall of Sonoma County are reproduced from Mr. R. A. Thompson's valuable work already alluded to :

CLIMATOGRAPHY - "The climate of the county of Sonoma differs in many respects from that of other portions of the State. First, in this: the average rainfall is about one-quarter more than at San Francisco, fifty miles south. We have never, since the American settlement of the county, lost a crop from drouth, though other parts of the State have suffered severely. This is particularly due to the fact that our coast line is thirty-five miles west of a due north line from San Francisco. As the coast trends to the northward and westward, the annual rainfall increases. South of San Francisco the coast trends to the south and east, and the reverse rule holds good - the rainfall is lighter until, as in Lower California, it rarely rains at all.

"The season of rain in this section may be said to commence in October and end in May, though it sometimes rains in June. It is rare that it rains longer than two or three days at a time, and the intervals between rains varies from a few days to a month or six weeks. Old Californians consider the Winter the most pleasant part of the year. As soon as the rain commences in October, the grass grows, and by the middle of November the hills and pastures are green. So soon as the ground is in condition to plough, after the first rains, the farmers sow their grain. December is usually a stormy month, with now and then a fall of snow in the surrounding hills, but it is rare that the snow falls in the valleys, and never lies on the ground. The thermometer seldom goes as low as thirty-seven degrees above zero; occasionally there is a thin coat of ice over the pools of standing water. December is usually the month of heaviest rainfall. In January we begin to recognize an indescribable feeling of Spring in the air; the almond trees blossom and the robins come. During this month grass and early-sown grain grow rapidly. If the early season has not been favorable for seeding, grain may be sown in January, February, or March, and it will produce well. In this county it is often sown as late as the middle of April, producing a fair crop. As a rule, the bulk of the planting is done either in the Fall, or in January, February, and the first half of March.

"February is a growing month, and is one of the most pleasant in the year. It is like the month of May in the Eastern States. The peach and cherry trees bloom this month. March is a stormy month; we are liable to have either heavy southeast storms or a dry north wind.

"April, as in the East, is often all smiles and tears, sunshine alternating with showers. Nature pushes her work in April, and vegetation grows astonishingly. The turning-point of the crop comes in the long, warm days of this month; the rainy season is about over, and from that time until it matures the crop is sustained by the sea fogs, which set in about the first of May. In June the grain matures, and by the middle of July is ready for the harvest.

"The season in Sonoma county begins a month sooner, and ends six weeks later than in Southern California. This is one of the greatest of its advantages over the other parts of the State, and has given the farmers of this section a good crop every year, while dissastrous failures have elsewhere occurred. Corn is planted in April, after the rains have ceased, and a good crop is often raised without a drop of rain having fallen upon it; by good crop, we mean, on the best bottom lands, from eighty to a hundred bushels to the acre.

"We have mentioned the fog which sets in about the first of May. This phenomenon, of almost daily occurrence, from May to the middle of August, is an important factor in the growth of the crops along the sea-coast and on the bay of San Francisco. About the first of May the trade winds set in from the northwest. The Spanish galleons, bound from Manilla to Acapulco - three hundred years ago - steered for Cape Mendocino, where they would encounter the northwest trade, and run before it, with swelling sails, to their beautiful harbor Acapulco. To these winds the farmers of Sonoma, of our own time, are indebted for their never-failing crop. After a drying north wind in the Spring, which has parched the earth and twisted the blades of the growing grain, the trade sets in, and, as if by magic, the scene changes, the shriveled blades unfold, and absorb life at every pore from the moisture-laden breeze.

"When the trade winds set in, a fog-bank forms every day off the land, caused, perhaps, by the meeting of a cold and warm strata of air. In the afternoon this fog comes inland with the breeze, which commences about noon every day. It is not an unhealthful fog; on the contrary, the most healthful season of the year is when the trade wins prevail. The fog spreads through the county late in the afternoon, continues through the night, and disappears about sun-rise. This mild process of irrigation is repeated nearly every day during the season. The farmer estimates that three heavy fogs are equal to a light rain.

"The growing season is from six weeks to two months longer on the coast than in the interior; the grass keeps green, and this accounts for the productiveness of the dairy cows on the coast, and also for the fact that the wool of this section is very superior in length of staple, strength of fibre and in color, to that grown in the interior of the State.

"Our crops have been more often injured by too much than by too little rain. In the dry years, 1863-4 and 1864-5, enormous crops were raised in this county, while in the greater part of the State there was an absolute failure of crops and grass.

"Sonoma county is exempt from malarial disorders. There are no extremes of heat and cold, and nothing like Winter. It is probable that more roses and flowers bloom in the Santa Rosa valley, in December, than in all the hot-houses of New England. The climate is all that the most fastidious could ask. There are no troublesome insects that prey upon vegetation or humanity. As an evidence of the evenness of the temperature, we will state, in conclusion of this subject, that the same clothing may be worn here all the year round, and is not too light for Winter nor too heavy for Summer."

THE THERMAL BELT. - There is a warm strata of air in the hills, a few hundred feet above the valleys. This semi-tropical belt varies; in some locations it is very marked, and in others it is much less so. At night, during the frosty seasons, the cold air settles in the valleys and the warm air rises. At day-light a severe frost may be seen in the valleys, heaviest along the water courses, while in the warm belt, a few hundred feet above, - in some cases not more than sixty - the most delicate flowers and shrubs are untouched. The soil on the hills has often great depth, and is admirably adapted to fruit culture. Like the valleys, the lands are covered only by scattered groves of trees, little of it too steep for easy cultivation. It is exactly suited for semi-tropical fruit culture; here oranges, lemons, limes, English walnuts, almond and pomegranate trees grow well, and yield a certain crop. There are thousands of acres of this kind of land in Sonoma County, which can be bought at from fifteen to twenty dollars per acre. We know orchards where the fruits most sensitive to frost have never yet been injured; where the geranium, the fuchsia and heliotrope will grow out of doors, and blossom in the Winter months. Semi-tropical fruits are grown in the valleys, but, excepting the almond and English Walnut, not with as much certainty as in the warm belt. The value of the hill lands of Sonoma county is not yet appreciated - least of all by those who have been longest here.

WATER COURSES. - The valleys having their front on San Pablo bay have each an estuary leading inland and navigable for craft of considerable size, the one leading into the Sonoma valley is called Sonoma Creek, and that into the great central valley is known by the name of Petaluma Creek, the latter being navigable for eighteen miles inland. Of the other streams there are: -

Russian River. - This is the largest stream in Sonoma, but is not navigable. It enters the county on the north, and after taking a southeasterly course for about thirty miles, turns sharply to the west and flows into the Pacific Ocean.

Mark West Creek. - This rivulet rises in a lofty spur of the Mayacmas range between Napa and Sonoma valleys, and after flowing west across the plains, empties itself into Russian River.

Santa Rosa Creek. - Has its source in the same mountain, flows across the Santa Rosa valley, and having run parallel with Mark West creek for four miles falls into a series of lakes, which, in high water, overflow into the Russian River.

Sonoma Creek. - Rises in the same range of mountains, and flows southerly through Sonoma valley into San Pablo bay.

Sulphur Creek.- Has its birth in the Mayacmas range and passing the Geysers, flows in a northerly direction until it joins the Russian River above Cloverdale.

Valhalla River. - Spelt on the map Gualala, has its origin in the western border of the county, flows due north, parallel with the coast , just inside a range of hills which rise up from the shore of the ocean and after a straight north course for nearly twenty-five miles, it turns, and forming the line on the coast between Mendocino and Sonoma counties, falls into the great Pacific. Mr. Thompson says: "There was never a stream so well named; great red-wood trees shade its limpid waters, the favorite haunt of the salmon and the trout; the hills are full of game - deer, elk, and bear - and if ever there was a place where the bear roasted every morning became whole at night, it was true, figuratively speaking, of our Sonoma Valhalla, - for the camp on its margin was never without its haunch of venison or creel or trout. May the fellow who tortured the name by trying to Peruvianize it, never taste the joys of the real Valhalla!"

TIMBER - Redwood. - Over most of the agricultural counties of the State Sonoma, has one marked advantage, that is the immense source of wealth in its timber. Commencing at Humboldt the great redwood timber-belt reaches down the coast for one hundred and fifty miles, terminating within the limits of Sonoma; from the Valhalla to the mouth of the Russian River is one continuous line of timber going back from the ocean for eight miles. The reader will observe by reference to the county chart that Russian River turns around the town of Healdsburg, and flowing west, after leaving the valley, enters the timber region. Fed as it is by the rich alluvial soil, on either bank of the stream, and watered by the annual overflow of its waters, the trees grow to a prodigious size, and are not to be surpassed anywhere on the Pacific coast. They grow, in some cases, to a height of over three hundred and fifty feet, have a diameter if fifteen feet; a single tree has been known to produce sixty-five thousand feet of lumber worth at least one thousand dollars; the wood in the standing tree is valued at two dollars per thousand feet; one hundred and fifty thousand feet to the acre; six million feet on a forty-acre tract, is an average of good land. On the margin of the streams the finest timber would produce in the vicinity of eight hundred thousand feet to the acre, and the yield runs downward from that figure to twenty-five thousand feet to the acre.

The redwood is a creature of the fog. As has been said above, during the summer months the trade winds set in along the northern shore of this county and dense fog banks arise some miles from the coast; this is driven inland later in the day; the great mass becomes sundered, and detached flakes, each chasing the other, are driven into the hollows, and among the trees, where they all accumulate, leaving the valley enveloped in dripping mist. The foliage of the redwood possesses the peculiar power of condensing this mist and converting it into rain; the roots which sustain the mighty bole - often one hundred and fifty feet in height without lateral branches - are in this wise nourished during the long summer months when no rain falls. The fog wraps these forests in its fleecy mantle during the night; in the morning with the rising of the sun it disappears.

It will thus be seen that the redwood belongs essentially to the foggy coast regions. South of San Francisco the supply has been cut out, and as it grows nowhere else, neither north nor south, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties may be said to have a monopoly of this wood, the first in commercial importance on the Pacific Coast. Oregon has it not; in Puget Sound with her endless forests, it is wanting; while, it is not to be found on either slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Redwood is a close grained timber, splits true, and is like Eastern cedar in the lightness of its color. It works beautifully, and has the merit of retaining its shape without warp or shrinkage, while its durability is unquestioned.

Hardwoods. - To be found among the redwoods, are the California laurel, a beautiful evergreen, the timber of which takes a high polish, and is extensively used as veneer; leaves and wood have a strong aromatic odor. The madrona is another striking tree of the California forests. The bark, which is of a bright red color, peels off at regular intervals, and exposes underneath the new growth of a bright pea-green tint; its wood is hard and employed principally for the manufacture of shoe-lasts, wooden stirrups and other articles.

The Oaks. - The Chestnut Oak is abundant in the redwood forests of Sonoma. The bark is rich in tannin; the trees are stripped and large quantities of the bark are shipped for tanning purposes.

The Live Oak also grows in large quantities in Sonoma but has little value except for fuel.

The Black Oak is found on all the hill lands in the county, and is the best wood obtainable for fuel.

The Burr Oak is the largest and most common of the oaks. It is this tree with its long, drooping, wide-spread branches that gives such a charm to Californian scenery. They grow in clusters and are especially graceful.