Bulletin . old surfacecuts much resemble those of a placer mine with its tailingspiles of boulders, except that over it all is a pulverulent, whitepowdery material, the result of the continuing decomposition of therocks by the solfataric vapors and waters still present. The glare is 3—aS540 m CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU. almost blinding- on a sunny day. The rounded boulders due to concen-tric decomposition, as described by Becker^ can be plainly seen (seePhoto No. 11). The evidences of solfataric activity are numerous andstriking-. Iron rails, nails, cables, etc., are sulphurized and oxidiz
Bulletin . old surfacecuts much resemble those of a placer mine with its tailingspiles of boulders, except that over it all is a pulverulent, whitepowdery material, the result of the continuing decomposition of therocks by the solfataric vapors and waters still present. The glare is 3—aS540 m CALIFORNIA STATE MINING BUREAU. almost blinding- on a sunny day. The rounded boulders due to concen-tric decomposition, as described by Becker^ can be plainly seen (seePhoto No. 11). The evidences of solfataric activity are numerous andstriking-. Iron rails, nails, cables, etc., are sulphurized and is blackened and rotted. There are abundant sulphur crystalsin crevices and flour sulphur around vents where vapors are the mouth of an abandoned shaft, now caved, near the eastern edgeof the surface workings (either the Hermann shaft or Hermann airshaft—^see Plate IX, reprinted from Bulletin 27, p. 62j, hot, moist,sulphurous gases are still escaping, and under a noticeable Photo No. 12. Hot springs in bottom of Western Cut, Sulphur Bank Mine. The odor of sulphur dioxide is very strong, so that it was ditficult tobreathe while placing a thermometer in one of the openings to observethe temperature. It showed 108° F.—this being at the ^ recorded temperatures up to 176° P. at a depth of 300 rocks about the opening and protruding sticks of timber are heav-ily coated with a deposit of flour sulphur. There is a .sound as of aroaring furnace from below. How any one could breathe in such anatmosphere, much less work, is a matter for wonderment. There wasa dead rat lying at one of the openings. At the upper end of \ho Becker, G. Geolog^^ of the quicksilver deposits of the Pacific Slope : U. S. G. S.,Mon. XIII. p. 256, cit., p. PLATE IX. Sulphur Bank M/ne.
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