Page 721 - calmining1890

SOLANO COUNTY. 671

orked so as to show a face from twenty to twenty-five feet in height.
'he mass of the country rock, though nowhere visible in the immediate
neighborhood, is probably sandstone; but the bottom of the deposit
f aragonite has not yet been reached. Much of the upper portion of
t is more or less cavernous, and full of vuggs, which occasionally contain
'mall stalactitic forms. A great deal of it, however, is laminated in
xtremely thin layers, which are sometimes not thicker than a sheet of
>asteboard, and the lamina? being of different colors, this makes it very
liandsome when polished. It can also be got out here in large pieces,
though there is a good deal of waste. The counter in the office of the
Id " Chronicle " building, at the corner of Bush and Kearny Streets, is
aid to be made of it, as well as some mantel-pieces in both the Palace
nd the Baldwin Hotels. The delicate laminae are often wavy, thus
dding much to its beauty. Other portions of the rock are of a some-
jvhat translucent, milk}^ white, which is also handsome when polished.
[This is the largest deposit of this beautiful, ornamental stone at present
nown to the writer to exist within the State.
One small spring yet remains at the southern edge of the deposit, dis-
charging a very little water, which is extremely salt and supersaturated
;vith carbonic acid, and which still continues to slowly form a little
leposit of aragonite. The knoll has been a good deal shattered, and is
traversed in various directions by large cracks, which have probably
oeen produced by earthquakes at some time in the past.