*** Source: Thompson, Robert A., Historical and descriptive sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1877, 122 pgs. Notice: This data is donated to the Public Domain by TAG, 2004, and may be copied freely by anyone to anywhere. *** ---page 33--- The live-oak grows abundantly in this county; it has little commercial value, except for fuel. The black-oak is found on all the hill-lands in the county, and is the best wood we have for fuel. The burr-oak is the largest and most common of the oaks. It is this tree, with its long pendant branches, that gives to California scenery its peculiar charm. They grow in clusters, and long may they stand to adorn the landscape. A clump of this variety of oaks may be seen in the Plaza of Santa Rosa. MINES AND MINING INTEREST. As early as 1852 there were reported discoveries of gold on Russian river. One of the Kelseys led a prospecting party as far as Eel river. This party discovered and named Eden valley, and Round valley, in Mendocino county, then a part of Sonoma. They, too, first crossed and gave the name Sanhedrin to the grand mountain which overlooks all the beautiful valleys of Mendocino. They met with no great success, and returned, but some members of the party still live in that part of Mendocino county, then first seen by white men. In 1854 reports of gold discoveries on Russian river were revived, but soon died out. After the discovery and occupation of Geyser springs, the abundant indica- tions of cinnabar in the neighborhood attracted attention. The price of quick- silver at the time was low,--fifty cents a pound; the cost of reduction was great, and the Almaden mine was producing a supply adequate to the demand. For these reasons no especial attention was paid to the indications of mercury everywhere visible on the surface near the Geysers. In 1859 Colonel A. C. Godwin, then the owner of the Geyser springs, organ- ized a mining district, located a number of claims himself, and a number of others were also taken up. These claims were afterwards consolidated into one or two companies, and some work was done on them. The low price of quicksilver, the scarcity of labor, and lack of skill in manipulating the ore, led to loss, and finally put a stop to all work on the mines. In 1861 Colonel Godwin, who had given the enterprise most of its life, sold his interest in the springs and mines, and returned to the East. The stock of the consolidated companies went to zero, and the mines were sold at sheriff’s sale to satisfy the demand of creditors. Professor Whitney, with a corps of scientists, came along soon afterwards, and, with his "no vein theory" in coast range, extinguished the last spark of life in mining enterprises in Sonoma, for the time. From 1861 to 1872 no work was done on the quicksilver mines. In the latter part of 1871, and early in 1872, a lively interest in the mines revived,-- quicksilver having advanced to one dollar a pound. Claims in the old district were re-located, roads were built, a mining town sprung up, and at least five hundred men were at work in the district. A lawsuit was commenced between the old and new locaters, which brought to the county-seat of Santa Rosa a number of the most distinguished mining lawyers of the Pacific coast, and learned and eloquent arguments were made, which engaged the court for a prolonged session, creating for the time more excitement than was ever before witnessed in any case in the courts of Sonoma. *** end ***