That leaves you a lot of latitude for exploring what interests you, pun intended! Heck, the ideas generated by this revelation could start sprouting like mushrooms after our recent rains. Which reminds me …

Today we are highlighting the work of Christopher Campbell, a student in the GIS program at Santa Monica College. In the link below, Christopher delves into the where and the why in California of the elusive wild morel mushroom. The story that unfolds in his text, maps, and photos is as interesting as it is informative. He shows us that we can systematically explore and understand any natural wonder of interest to us, provided we employ sound scientific reasoning as well as basic geographic concepts and principles.

Morels by Christopher Campbell

So, the moral of this story is that whatever you find fascinating — in the Golden State or elsewhere — the science of geography and the tools of GIS can be your guides to securing a deeper understanding of that which sparked your curiosity.

If you are interested in learning GIS at Santa Monica College, please check out their offerings in Geography Program in the Earth Sciences Department.

** Rediscovering the Golden State: California Geography welcomes submissions of California-themed projects from students and faculty from any CA institution of higher education to be highlighted on our web site. This includes, but is not limited to, articles, papers, maps and presentations– GIS or otherwise).

Even if you are working/ studying outside CA, we’ll consider your contributions too, provided the content has a clear and unambiguous connection to California geography.

For more information: info@rediscoveringthegoldenstate.com

The post The “Morel” of the Story … first appeared on Rediscovering the Golden State.

Several years ago, before taking some students up there for field studies, an exceptional colleague (geologist Cara Thompson) asked me about the geology around Jamestown. Her question got me a little carried away. This sometimes happens when I find some time to wander into the amazing world of natural history and landscape mysteries. So, I will share this edited response by starting with my own observations based on my experiences up there. Here is a summary of the outcrops and geologic history of that region as I oversimplify it from the Central Valley up the Sierra Nevada slopes. If this discussion becomes too much geologic detail for beginners, you might start by viewing the images and consulting Chapters 2 and 3 of our book to build your foundation; if you are looking for more detail, check out the references listed at the end of this discussion.   

Sedimentary rocks that underlie the Central Valley have been down-warped, dipping toward the valley, and are often seen outcropping on its edges. However, these outcrops are far more common and dramatic along the west side of the Valley. For your trip, as you travel uphill from the Valley into the Sierra Nevada foothills metamorphic belt, you will notice those headstone-like outcrops rising above the grasslands and oak woodlands. They are often called tombstone or gravestone rocks and when you look at our photos, you can see why.

Metamorphic rocks in this region date back to the Mesozoic subduction zone when rocks from the Pacific Ocean floor were dragged toward the east and plastered against the continent, representing the original sources of the gold. These minerals would then be melted and incorporated into the edge of Mesozoic subduction zone magma chambers. Rich in valuable gold, silver, and other metallic ores, this remaining melt was finally squeezed through cooling cracks, joints, and fractures into the “veins” that would be the last to solidify and contain the gold along these contact zones. These vein-like intrusions can be seen throughout the area in both the metamorphic rocks and along the edges of the granitic batholiths that are mostly farther inland and upstream.

Now, here’s the key to the most interesting geologic features around Jamestown. Before the current Sierra Nevada Mountains were uplifted so high, the headwaters of their drainage basins extended much farther east into the Basin and Range. These gold-bearing outcrops were weathered and eroded west and deposited into ancient streams and rivers all the way to the Central Valley. These Tertiary deposits (with the gold) were then covered with lava flows from volcanic eruptions that also flowed west, following the path of those ancient streams and rivers. Dating shows that some of these rocks were still being deposited as recently as 9-10 million years ago, showing that today’s Sierra Nevada have been uplifted more than six thousand feet higher in that short time.

Differential weathering and erosion since has scoured the softer sediments that weren’t covered by lava flows in the stream beds and left the lava flows sticking up as the highest features in that area, creating their famous inverted stream canyons. Miners figured out that the lava capped those Tertiary gold-rich deposits and would dig through them (either by removing the lava stones and using them for building materials, or tunneling under the lava layers) to access the Tertiary gold deposits. What an interesting story of geologic history and human interaction!

You find this inverted topography in other Sierra Nevada stream canyons and hillsides such as north of Sacramento. Around what is now Oroville and Chico, the extensive Lovejoy Basalts erupted and flowed across the landscape during the mid-Miocene (more than 14 million years ago), evidently during a period of reversed polarity. We share an image in our photo essay here. This tough tableland erodes more slowly, mainly as chunks of the resistant volcanic rock finally break off after being undermined by the older but weaker sedimentary deposits below them. The tablelands remain standing above today’s surrounding landscapes. Look for the many “table” mountains labelled on your maps.   

Moving even farther east and higher, the Sierra Nevada Batholith dominates with all those granitic rocks that crystalized from the Mesozoic magma chamber within the subduction zone. Though there are several different dates, I usually use about 100 million years as a round-off figure to describe when they cooled and crystallized. These granites were more recently uplifted , causing overlying rocks to be eroded away and are now exposed so the Ice Age glaciers could scour them. Even farther up and east are those even older Paleozoic roof pendants, but we are now roaming beyond your Mother Lode field excursion.    

Here is an excerpt from a field guide written by another exceptional colleague (Matt Ebiner) at El Camino College, where he mentions Jamestown:

1. “We leave Columbia and drive back 8 miles to Jamestown. Along the way we pass a long flat-topped ridge known as a table mountain.  This is basalt rock which flowed as lava down an ancient river valley, but through erosion of the surrounding hills (with softer rock) has resulted in a sort of topographical inversion (ridge where there previously was a valley).  The basalt cap kept a vast amount of ancient stream gravels in place, providing miners with more potentially rich pickings.
2. Past Jamestown we go south on Hwy 49 to Hwy 108 where we head towards Oakdale. We go south (left) on LaGrange Road (J59) and slowly lose elevation as we leave the Sierra foothills and approach the flat San Joaquin Valley.  There are fewer trees as the oak woodland becomes thinner and the grassland more expansive.  There is increasing agriculture with grape vines, beehives (the white boxes on the right side of the road), cattle ranches (notice the portable ramps for loading cattle when they are ready to go to the slaughterhouse.”

Below is an excerpt from what was an on-line BLM publication focused mainly on areas north of Jamestown; it also cited some other publications that might be helpful, but it might take some surfing to find it today:

ROADSIDE GEOLOGY AND MINING HISTORY OF THE MOTHER LODE 2008 PART 3: GRASS VALLEY TO WALKER BASIN PLUMAS COPPER BELT  by Gregg Wilkerson and David Lawler; U.S. Bureau of Land Management Far West Geoscience Foundation, Buena Vista

“The Smartville, Slate Creek, Lake Combie, Feather River, Shoo Fly and Calaveras Complexes are tectono-stratigraphic units of similar (but not identical) age. They are separate terrane blocks representing material from different parts of the ancestral Pacific Ocean which subducted and accreted to the North American Craton from Triassic to Miocene time. The Big Bend-Wolf Creek Fault Zone merges into the Bear Valley Fault south of Auburn. The Melones continues southward through the mining districts of Greenville, Garden Valley, Placerville, Plymouth, Amador, Sutter Creek, Jackson, Carson Hill, Jamestown, Coulterville and Mariposa.”

Here are some field guides (available through 2018) that will help with specifics:

• table mountain volcanics around Jamestown
• field guide and summary that includes around Jamestown
• geology field guide of the aforementioned region
• general landmarks and points of interest around Jamestown

Books and Research Articles:

• Allgood, G.M., 1990, Geology and operations at the Jamestown mine, Sonora Mining Corporation, California, in Landefeld, L.A., and Snow, G.G., eds., Guide to Yosemite and the Mother Lode gold belt: Geology, tectonics, and the evolution of hydrothermal fluids in the Sierra Nevada of California: Pacific Section, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Guidebook 68, p.147-154.
• Allgood, G.M., 1990, The Jamestown mine–Its history, geology and operations: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., Preprint Number 90-400, 8 p.
• Alt, David, and Donald W. Hyndman. 2000. Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company
• Dohms, P.H., R.D. Hoagland and G.M. Allgood, 1984, Geology of the Jamestown mine area, Mother Lode gold belt, Tuolumne County, California: Unpublished report and fieldtrip handout, 6 p., maps and sections, scales 1:1,200, 1:600.
• Harden, Deborah R. 2004, California Geology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2^nd e.
• Haydock-West, M.D., 1988?, Mineralogy and petrogenesis of dikes associated with the Mother Lode gold-quartz vein, Harvard mine, Jamestown, California: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, unpublished senior thesis, 42 p.

The following images serve as an introductory field guide to illustrate many of the rock formations discussed in our article.

The post Geologic History in Sierra Nevada Gold Country first appeared on Rediscovering the Golden State.

We start with the bus ride east from Elk Grove along Hwy 50 past Folsom and more distant exurbs and deeper into the foothills past El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park. We turn at Shingle Springs Rd. toward Four Corners and Gold Hill. This will land us just a few miles from Marshall’s pivotal 1848 gold discovery that would drive one of the last nails into the coffin of Native American cultures in this region.

The Nisenan people lived here for thousands of years among the understory of grasslands that blanketed rich soils and a peppering of gray pine, oak, and shrubs that become denser clusters on the moist, shadier, north-facing slopes and riparian habitats and then blend into the forests of the loftier Sierra Nevada just to the east. Typical of California’s Native Americans beyond the Colorado River Valley, the Nisenan people didn’t practice agriculture. But they worked with nature by using fire and other ecosystem manipulations that resulted in more successful hunting and gathering.

During the 1850s, the landscape was quickly transformed to orchards and vineyards that served the Gold Rush. By 1869, owner Charles Graner sold his Gold Hill Ranch to people who had fled turmoil in the Aizu Wakamatsu province. This would become the first Japanese settlement in North America and, eventually, the gravesite of the first Japanese woman to be buried in the Golden State.

The 272-acre Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony name properly reflects the Japanese crops and agricultural traditions that were introduced here. Only a couple of years later, drought, water pollution form the gold fields, and dwindling financial support killed the dream. And though the farm was sold to the Veerkamp family in 1873, the farm may have been the first clue that in less than 30 years, by 1900, Japanese Americans would be producing more than 10% of the state’s agricultural products and would become major players in California farm production through the 1900s.

The Veerkamp family (during 140 years of ownership) set the stage for the farm we see today, as they mixed crops and animals until it evolved into a dairy farm that would eventually face new struggles. By 2010, the American River Conservancy gathered the necessary resources ($3.2 million) to purchase this land with its celebrated history and its potential to educate people about the importance of cultural history, sustainable agriculture, and resource conservation.

On April 27, 2018, Melissa Tregilgas and her husband and three kids gave us a tour of the roughly 95 acres of this 272-acre ARC property. Melissa tells us that she and her husband were interested in foods and how they were grown and they wanted to share the farming experience with their kids. They didn’t take to growing vegetables. But they became interested in animal agriculture. They started learning about animal welfare on a Maryland dairy farm, noting how their dairy cows’ relationships to farmers were very different from commercial agriculture.                   

One calf is born each year to the Jersey breed of cows grazing here. Jersey cows are particularly versatile and docile, can adapt to many different environments, and they produce a lot of milk. The females live for about ten productive years. The bulls become too aggressive and destructive after only 2-3 years, when they must be slaughtered. There is plenty to graze on here until late summer, when Jersey diets must be supplemented with expensive alfalfa hay. Electric fences are gentle reminders that train the cows’ wandering ways on this animal-care oriented farm that includes sheep. Hands-on experiences unveil details about animal health and safety, such as how rattlesnake bites are only dangerous if the animal is bitten on the face.

Grazing here is carefully managed and controlled to increase productivity and fertility, as plants are allowed to “rest” following each graze. You will notice plants such as popcorn flower, fiddleneck, vetch, nonnative rye, nonnative brome, and others resembling wild oats competing for light and nutrients in this crowded grassland below the scattered stately oaks. Dung beetles play important roles by burying balls of cow dung deep into the soil for their egg nutrition that also enriches the soil, one of the reasons bug-killing chemicals are not used here. Carbon is returned by healthy grazing that can stimulate carbon sequestration cycles, decrease soil compaction, and encourage diversity. The Free Hand Farm family has formed personal relationships with local families looking for healthy, nutritious milk, eggs, and other organics produced by farmers taking the long-term view, though these sustainable practices and foods may have higher costs in the short term. The farmers and families are rewarded with more peaceful lives connected to the land in a bucolic landscape quite foreign to most city folk. 

The Bear and The Bee Farm that extends across the street includes experiments with organic produce and a native plant nursery. Produce from there and the milk, lamb, wool, and egg products from the Free Hand Farm we have just toured contribute to mortgage payments and necessary maintenance of the property. The American River Conservancy continues exploring better ways of interpreting the cultural history and providing public access for years and generations into the future. Since a lot of hard work is required to run these farms (try getting up before sunrise every day to herd and milk the cows), you are required to schedule a tour if you want to see this place. ARC, reaching out to find more participants and contributors, listed this number for more information: 530-621-1224.

Wakamatsu Farm is one more example of how thousands of small family farmers throughout the Golden State are encouraging sustainable practices quite different from some of the largest commercial farms in the world. They have all earned our attention in this most diverse and productive agricultural state. And to think that at this site, it all evolved from those first Native Americans, the Gold Rush, and the first Japanese settlers.

It is fitting that we ended our accompanying images with a photo of Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar. She wrote about her experiences in the Owens Valley Japanese internment camp (a national historic site) on the other side of the Sierra Nevada, more than 70 years after the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony days. By 2018, Jeanne Wakatsuki was still sharing her own experiences and perspectives more than 70 years after Manzanar, and nearly 150 years after that first Japanese settlement in gold country.       

 The late, great California Librarian and historian, Dr. Kevin Starr, wrote the following essay (click the first link below) just before the American River Conservancy acquired the Wakamatsu Farm land. Here, he makes insightful connections between Japanese and California history, the evolution of agriculture in our state, and valuable lessons that can guide us into the future. Note how he appreciates the power of place in his “Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony at Gold Hill”

You might want to continue your journey with these other sources that shed light on this place in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a landscape rich in cultural and agricultural traditions and historical lessons:

• Wakamatsu Farm News
• Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony (Nol. 815 California Historical Landmark
• Wakamatsu Farm: America’s First Japanese Settlement
• History of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony

Japanese History and Sustainable Farming in the Sierra Nevada Foothills

Fresh Milk

Grave of Oki Ito

Stately Oaks

Happy Cows

 

Oh Poop!

Grasslands

Milking

Free Hand Farm

Free Hand Farm

Graner House

Rural Scenes

Woodlands

Jeanne Wakatsuki

The post Japanese History and Sustainable Farms in the Sierra Nevada Foothills first appeared on Rediscovering the Golden State.