Page 282 - 1915, Springs of CA.

262 SPRINGS OF CALIFORNIA.
Sulphur and White Sulphur springs, from, the tint of the water in
then* basins, rise about 8 yards apart, at the base of an earth and
gravel bank beside the creek, yield respectively about 1 gallon and
4 gallons a minute, and have deposited small amounts of sulphur
along their overflow channels.
About 225 yards downstream from the Blue Sulphur and White
Sulphur springs two other strongly sulphureted springs issue from
crevices in a light-colored siliceous rock that seems to form a ledge
about 50 feet wide, which trends northeastward and crosses the creek
at a small angle. One of these springs is the most important of the
group and yields about half a gallon a minute of clear cold water that
has a pronounced greenish-yellow tint and tastes strongly of hydro-
gen sulphide. The other spring, 3 or 4 yards farther north, yields
perhaps 1 gallon a minute of water that is also strongly sulphureted
but is colorless. The mixed water of the two springs, named Nipicuro
by the new owner but formerly known as Deadshot, has been con-
ducted by a small trough into a wooden tank and heated in tubs for
bathing. During 1909 small amounts were bottled and used experi-
mentally in the treatment of diseases of the blood, preparatory to
putting it on the market as a medicinal water.
Mr. F. M. Eaton has suggested that the yellow color of the principal
spring may be due to the presence of polysulphides, and it seems
probable that they are alkaline sulphides like those that have been
determined in the waters of Blue Lick Springs, Ky.1 The following
analyses of the waters have been made. The sample of Nipicuro
analyzed by Mr. Dinsmore was collected from the tank into which
both springs discharge and during the summer, when there was
probably very little dilution by surface water. The sample analyzed
by Mr. Eaton was collected from the first-described spring of the two
forming Nipicuro, in November, during a stormy period, but at a time
when the ground was partly frozen, so that there was little surface
water in evidence. The difference shown by these two analyses is
not greater than would be expected in such highly mineralized water,
considering the different proportions of surface water that may have
diluted the springs, and especially the fact that they were not col-
lected at the same point. It seems probable that the carbonate
reported in the three Dinsmore analyses represents alkalinity due to
sulphide as well as carbonate. All of the analyses indicate secondary
saline waters with differing proportions of primary salinity and
secondary alkalinity. The differences in concentration are consider-
able.

1 Matson, G. C., Water resoiirces of the blue-grass region, Kentucky, with a chapter on the quality of
the waters by Chase Palmer: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 233, p. 209,1909.