Page 234 - 1915, Springs of CA.

216 SPRINGS OF CALIFORNIA.

HELMS SODA SPRINGS (MONTEREY 8).
Hekns Soda Springs are about 3 miles east of Banes Soda Springs.
Their water is strongly carbonated, but the flow is slight, and they
have not formed a notable deposit such as is formed at the springs
farther west.
GARRETSON SODA SPRINGS (SISBTTOU 1).
Near the northeastern border of the State there are a few car-
bonated springs along the branches of Beaver Creek, in a region
that is composed mainly of altered rocks. Of these, the best known
are Garretson Soda Springs, which lie on the northern side of the
canyon of West Fork of Beaver Creek, about 500 feet above the
stream. The place has been a camping resort for a number of
years, and as many as 225 people have been there at one time. In
1909, however, it was reached by 9 miles of trail from the terminus
of the wagon road, and few camping accommodations were provided.
There are two carbonated springs on the property. The principal
one issues from crevices in mica schist on the side of a ravine 50
yards above Mr. Garretson's cabin. It yields perhaps 1 gallon a
minute of cold carbonated water and has been protected by a
spring house, beside which there are minor seepages of carbonated
water. Other carbonated seepages rise beneath the floor of the
spring house and yield nearly as much as the main drinking spring.
Considerable iron stains the overflow channel.
The second spring is two-fifths of a mile westward and 50 yards
from the bank of a creek that is tributary to the West Fork. The
water rises in a board-curbed pool beneath a shed roof. It is about
as strongly carbonated as the main spring and has nearly the same
flow and temperature. Besides its use for drinking, water from
this spring has been conducted in a wooden trough to a small tank
30 yards away and heated for bathing. The water deposits iron at
the spring and also seems to contain considerable calcium, for it
deposits lime carbonate in the trough and in the heating tank. The
spring is locally designated the "salt spring," perhaps on account
of its distinctly alkaline taste. Like the other spring, it issues
from mica schist, which, however, is here covered with loamy soil.
The schist, which is apparently associated with the sedimentary
rocks of the region, is mineralized to some extent and has been pros-
pected at a number of places. Half a mile northwest of the second
of the Garretson springs two tunnels have been driven about 40
feet into the canyon side on quartz veins. In one of them there is a
salt that seems to consist mainly of iron sulphate, associated with
pyrite. Quantities of this material have been collected by campers
and used for preparing solutions for bathing wounds and even as an