Page 731 - calmining1890

STANISLAUS COUNTY. 681

Prospect work has also been carried on in what is known as the Deer
|
ark, in T. 5 S., R. 5 E., M. D. M. The Grayson Mine, which is near the
liminit, was located in 1876, and several shafts and tunnels were run
ipon the claim.
GOLD.

L Some placer mining is still being carried on upon the Stanislaus
: liver, near Knight's Ferry, in the alluvial deposits which skirt Table
Jountain upon the southwest, principally by Chinese. Several parties
re also working on Goat Island during such times as they can obtain
rater from Little John Creek. On the Tuolumne some work is being
lllone by the La Grange Ditch and Hydraulic Mining Company. This
Lompany, about twenty years ago, purchased the title to all the gold-
bearing lands between La Grange and Patricksville, including French
pm.
COAL.
f Several veins of coal have, from time to time, been discovered in the
'southwestern portion of Stanislaus County, notably on Ensalada Creek,
In Sec. 12, T. 6 S., R. 7 E., M. D. M.; also in Ingram Canon, near Sec. 12,
IF. 5 S., R. 6 E., M. D. M. A tunnel thirty feet long was run upon
oroppings of the coal which was discovered upon the ranch of R. B.
Smith.
A vein of coal two feet in thickness, and several smaller veins of a
few inches, were reported as being passed through in boring a well on
•the ranch of David Hoges, about thirteen miles northwest of Newman,
as hereinafter mentioned under the head of shallow wells. It is also
said croppings of coal measures similar to those in the vicinity of lone,
in Amador, occur in the foothills upon the eastern side of the county.

NATURAL GAS.

A small quantity of inflammable gas rises from a well which was
bored to a depth of one thousand and seventy feet at the County Hos-
pital, about one mile from Modesto.

OCHRE.

A deposit of both red and yellew ochre is being worked about one
quarter of a mile to the northeast of Knight's Ferry. A stratum of clay
: about four feet in thickness is here exposed, which is more or less
impregnated with oxide of iron, forming a clayey ochre. Overlying the
> ochre is a stratum of oxide of iron, which varies from a few inches to a
I foot or more in thickness, the iron oxide being overlaid by sandstone.
i The upper portion of the clayey stratum yielding the ochre is white,
but within a few inches it becomes stained with oxide of iron and forms
: an ochre which increases in depth of color towards the bottom of the
! stratum, where it becomes arenaceous and of a bluish cast.
This deposit has been worked upon the property of Louis Vozle, on
the north side of Stanislaus River, by P. Anderson, for about three years,
-during which time about one thousand tons have been shipped to San
Francisco.
This deposit of ochre crops out in many places on both sides of the