Page 109 - 1915, Springs of CA.

HOT SPRINGS. 103

Springs 10, 20, and 22 (analyses 1, 2, and 3) yield waters practically
identical in character; that is, they give primary saline waters in
which primary alkalinity is rather prominent. The lithium, ammo-
nium, nitrate, bromide, iodide, and metaborate determinations in the
analyses are of interest1. The waters of springs 24, 28, and 30 (anal-
yses 4, 5, and 6) are characterized by primary salinity and second-
ary alkalinity of about equal prominence. The relatively high pro-
portion of magnesium in these three cold springs is noteworthy.
The barren area along Sulphur Creek apparently consists of a con-
glomerate containing fragments of sandstone, and several of the
springs issue from fissures in it. The main country rock of the local-
ity is, however, serpentine. This material extends eastward nearly a
mile to an area of shales and sandstones along Bear Valley, and west-
ward about three-fourths of a mile from the Wilbur Hotel to an
area of shales along Sulphur Creek. A belt of sandstone 100 yards
wide is apparently included in the serpentine between springs 10 and
22, and small patches of sandstone that also appear to be inclusions
in the serpentine were noted. The locality is one in which intense
geologic action has taken place and there has been much secondary
mineralization of the rocks.1 The thermal character of the water is
evidently closely related to the geologic structure, and its mineral
character to the close association of serpentine (a magnesia-bearing
rock), with marine sediments which probably furnish the saline and
sulphur constituents.
JONES HOT SPRINGS (COLUSA 11).
Jones Hot Springs are near Sulphur Creek and about three-fourths
mile west of Wilbur Hot Springs (Colusa 9, p. 99). The resort that has
been built up at the place in recent years is patronized during the
summer by many people who use the water. Accommodations for
guests are supplied by a hotel and several cottages and by camping
grounds near by.
The principal yield is from a well that was bored near the creek at
a place where gas formerly issued. Hot, sulphureted, salty water
was obtained, which rises under considerable artesian pressure in a
concrete tower to a height of about 12 feet, whence it flows to a
bathhouse near the hotel. Gas intermittently rises with the water and
causes it to spurt above the top of the tower. This characteristic
has led to the well being named Fountain of Life.
The well is near the western border of a serpentine area; but its
water probably comes mainly from sedimentary rocks, for siliceous
shales are exposed across the creek, a short distance north of it, in
the workings of a quicksilver mine.
1 Fairbanks, H. W., Some remarkable hot springs and associated mineral deposits in Colusa County,
Cal.: Science, vol. 23, pp. 120-121,1894.