Page 741 - calmining1890

SUTTER COUNTY. 691

SUTTER COUNTY.

Bj^ E. B. Preston, E.M., Assistant in the Field.

Noted as one of the finest grain counties in the State, in the confluence
>f the Sacramento and Feather Rivers, it has but little to show in the line
of minerals or metals. With the exception of the Buttes, known as the
Marysville Buttes, which is an eruptive ridge with several peaks, the
rest of the county is entirely Quaternary.

MARYSVILLE BUTTES.

The mass forming this ridge is a trachyte, and has a general trend of
northeast and southwest, and an elevation of about two thousand seven
hundred feet. On the northeast it slopes ofT very gradually to the level
of the valley. It is about ten miles from Marysville, in a northwesterly
direction, and extends for a length of eight miles and a width of six
miles, inclosing some level lands suitable for farms. At the foot of the
ridge facing (east) towards Marysville is the little village of Sutter City.
The Buttes have three prominent peaks, known as North, South, and
East Butte, which show a peculiarity that was observed by the writer
on Lassen Butte and the peaks on the Warner Range, viz.: that the
axis of the peaks stand at right angles with the axis of the ridges to
which they belong. Facing to the south, the flank of the mountain
contains a large deposit of clay, very plastic and, in some strata, very
white, but the greater proportion is more or less discolored with carbon.
This clay overlies a deposit of carbon, for which good coal qualities are
claimed. A shaft one hundred and fifty feet deep was sunk in Sec. 29,
T. 16 N., R. 1 E., to explore the extent and quality of the coal, and in
the course of sinking they passed through five feet of this plastic clay,
which, but for its carbonaceous discoloration, would make a first class
article. Overlying the clay, higher up on the flank of the mountain, is
regular river wash. The upheaval of the Buttes has evidently involved
a part of the former river bed. The quality of the coal could not be
examined into, the shaft being full of water, but that very fact would
seem to pronounce against it, as otherwise it would find sale in Sutter
City, and would repay for keeping at work on it. The croppings of the
coal were largely mixed with clay.
On the slope of the Buttes, facing to the north, is a mineral spring,
and out of the ravines facing that way parties are stated to have washed
out several thousand dollars in gold during the rainy season.
The following townships and sections are covered by the Buttes : T.
16 N., R. 2 E., and T. 16 N., R. 1 E.; Sees. 29, 30, 19, 20, 18, 17, 7, 8, and
Sees. 27, 26, 25, 22, 23, 24, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10. Gas wells have also
been sunk in the neighborhood of the Buttes, and some small amount of
gas obtained, presumably marsh gas. In the opinion of some investi-
gators, these Buttes are held to be a continuation of the Buttes near
Oroville, they claiming that the connecting parts have been eroded ; but
to the writer they appear to be an independent upheaval — an island of
the former inland lake.