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A Tour of the Motherlode Country

by Ray Sumner and Eugene Pearson * A GIS project from the GIS & Enviornmental Science Institute at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

Tour Map of the geology of the Motherlode:
Shown in red is the route taken by the participants of TORCH Institute held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. The map was produced with ArcView software as a GIS project. The map was constructed in layers or themes which include counties, streets, roads, rivers, and points of interest. The map when viewed with ArcView has embedded links which allows the student presenter to click the map and shown scenes from the trip itself. In the browser view it is not interactive. The story board that follows is inteactive and shows what the presenter could show the audience.To see full sized map, click the mape or enlarge.

University of the Pacific The UOP was established in 1851 as Californiaís first chartered university. The main campus in Stockton spreads over 170 acres along the Calaveras River. Nine of UOP's schools and colleges are located on the Stockton campus. Nearly 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled there. Famous alumni include actors and sports figures.	Rancho Seco Nuclear Station This 938 MW station operated commercially from 1975 to 1989. SMUD operates a photovoltaic plant adjacent to this station.	Open Pit Clay Mine Commercial mining of clays for ceramics and sands for glass of the of the Ione Formation began in 1864. Rainwater collects in the abandoned pits.
Benchmark In front of the Copperopolis store is the USGS benchmark, or survey marker. The elevation is 975 feet.		Lignite Mine Lignite occurs in lens-shaped bodies in the lower members of the Ione Formation. The lignite contains montan wax, which has many commercial uses. The only other commercial operation producing montan wax is in Germany. The American Lignite Products company, ALPCO, was founded in 1947. Associated with ALPCO is a cogeneration plant.
Copperopolis Tailings The copper ore resulted from sulfide replacement in a sheared and faulted melange belt. The slate contains pyrite and chalcosite, as well as chalcopyrite, galena, pyrrhotite, sphalerite and bornite, as well as native gold and silver. The mines were in full production during the Civil War. These tailings come from the south shaft of the Keystone-Union Mine.	Slope Failure The steelpy dipping slates and shales of the Mariposa Formation exposed in the cut behind these stores had to be stabilized with bolts, concrete amd wire, and both surface and internal drainage systems were installed to dewater the site.	Kennedy Tailings Wheel The Kennedy Mine opened in 1856. The mill had 100 stamps, and at one time the vertical shaft of 5,912 feet was the deepest mine in the United States. In 1913, the Kennedy Company had to reduce downstream pollution on Jackson Creek. They constructed an elaborate plant, flumes and wheel system to transport milling sludge up and over the hill to an impoundment basin. Operation ceased in 1942. There were two pairs of wooden wheels, but this is the only survivor.

Scenes From Other Field Trips
The Participants	Studying Hayward's Faults!
Chert Formation on Mount Diablo	Credits: * Tripbased on a paper by J. Curtis Kramer, Eugene F. Pearson and Dale McNeal This Project was produced at the TORCH Institute in Stockton, California. July 1998 Director - Dick Filson The animated compass was made by Mike Kent of 2nd Westphal Scout Troop