Page 6 - 1915, Springs of CA.

6 SPRINGS OF CALIFORNIA.

in northwestern California is very heavy, an annual average of close
to 100 inches being recorded at a few stations in Mendocino and Del
Norte counties.
The iirmensity of the area of the State has made the collection of
the field data required for the report a task of considerable magnitude,
though its diversity has added greatly to the interest of the work. In
the original plan it was estimated that two years of field studies
would prove sufficient. Mr. Waring succeeded in visiting the more
important localities during this period, although some of his exami-
nations were, of necessity, rather cursory. In midsummer, 1910,
after the completion of the field work and the assembling of the greater
portion of his data in manuscript form he was called by the Govern-
ment of Brazil to take charge of general water-supply investigations
in the northeastern arid portion of that South American republic.
The task of reviewing, editing, and supplementing in some respects,
the results of his studies was thus unavoidably left to others. This
task was rendered light by the systematic form in which Mr. Waring's
material was left.
It was a matter of regret to Mr. Waring, as it has been to those
associated with him, that the financial limitations which controlled
his work made it impracticable to procure the large number of new
analyses which are particularly important in a paper of this type, in
which waters of unusual chemical characteristics are discussed. Such
analyses as are available have been assembled from all possible
sources and combined with those which were prepared especially in
connection with this investigation. The result, although it is in
some respects unsatisfactory, furnishes a basis for a general view of
the characteristics of the spring waters and serves to permit, their
classification in a general way. Mr. Herman Stabler has reviewed
the chemical data and rearranged and interpreted the available
analyses.
It is hoped that the report, setting forth as it does the results of
impartial observations upon one of the important present and more
important prospective resources of the State, will prove of value to
its citizens as well as to its visitors, and that the assembled material
will not be without interest to physicians, chemists, geologists, and
teachers who may have especial need for the information contained
in the volume.