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Show 196 Sulpha re ted hydrogen trace. Potassium trace. Lithium trace. Carbonic acid in excess. 125.37 THE THERMAL SPRING OF BENTON, MONO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. A few rods west of the small mining settlement of Benton issues a hot stream of considerable size, from the fissures of the granite. This rock is overlaid by volcanic tnfa. The basin has 3 to 4 feet in diameter, and a depth of half a foot, and the water cornea np with such force and quantity that I think a yield of 200 gallons per minute is not an overestimate. From the good- sized creek thus formed, a ditch carries the water to the town, where it is used for drinking and household purposes, as it is almost tasteless. That, however, some mineral matter must exist in solution, may be inferred from the fact that the rocks near the spring show white incrustations and efflorescences. No medical use is made of the spring; its temperature is 138° F., but it is said that variations np to five degrees have been noticed. It contains in one hundred thousand parts but 26 Darts mineral matter, consisting of sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, sodium chloride, with traces of potassium and calcium salts. MINERAL SPRING OF LYTTLE CREEK CANON, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. The Lyttle Creek Cafion is situated on the eastern slopes of the San Antonio Peak in the San Bernardino Mountain range, and runs parallel with the road across the Cajon Pass for some distance. Three miles above the mouth of the cafion we have another side cafion, which comes in from the west. In it is situated a spring, with a large basin of about 25 square feet, but with a very moderate flow. The taste is very faint, the odor slightly after sulphureted hydrogen ; bubbles of carbonic acid are continually rising from the bottom. The temperature was found to be 92° F., that of the air being 94° F. ( June 30,2 p. m.) While the cafion is filled with trees and shrubbery, there are but few patches of arable area. Besides the few men engaged in the hydraulic- mining works in the vicinity, only two men, living like solitary hermits, inhabit the cafion. In one hundred thousand parts of water are contained 56.8 parts solid material, consisting chiefly of sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, sodium chloride, with traces of calcium carbonate and silicic acid. SPRING OF THE DOS PALM8 OASIS, COAHUILA VALLEY, DRY LAKE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. Where the road from Ehrenberg, Ariz., to San Bernardino, Cal., enters the Big Dry Lake, a small oasis exists, prominent by two palm- trees that grow here in a wild state. The spring that furnishes the water for the pond at which these palms are growing, is but a few yards distant from the hut of the single inhabitant of this oasis. As far as the water of this oasis spreads, the salt grass- Bryzopyrum spioatum- grows abundantly, but farther on nothing is seen but barren clay, covered with salt efflorescences. The whole basin was a great lake until quite a recent period. The spring of Dos Palms has a disagreeable, brackish taste, a temperature of 82c F., and is odorless. In one hundred thousand parts of water are contained parts- Sodium chloride 230.8 Calcium sulphate .' 32.6 Magnesium sulphate 31.0 Calcium carbonate traces. Manganese traces. Phosphoric acid traces. Silicic acid tr2a9c4e. s4. WATER FROM THE SALINE FLATS OF THE MOHAVE RIVER OR SODA LAKE, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. These names are given to a flat basin 14 miles long and 4 to 5 miles wide, and surrounded by chiefly volcanic ranges. The bottom is composed of clay, devoid of vegetation, but covered with patches of saline efflorescences. Here the Mohave River rises for the last time in its remarkable course, which is repeatedly a subterranean one, and forms here but a small rill of water. While this river in its upper course has no saline taste of any consequence, it has acquired here a disagreeable taste of Glauber salts; still it is the only water that may be drank in that whole region. While it has no smell in the fresh state, the sample |