SALMON-HATCHING ESTABLISHMENT, M v CLOUD KIVER, CAL 465 



an occasional present of salmon. The grapes in magnificent bunches 

 ■were especially delicious. 



Ak-Siu, our Chinaman, was a good cook, he made excellent bread, 

 and always succeeded in giving us a very palatable meal. 



The weather was of course pleasant till the end of the dry-season. 

 Once we bad a shower in the air, as it migbt be called, for it really did 

 not wet the ground, and on a few days there were clouds in the sky; 

 but with these exceptions the days were perfectly cloudless. 



This summer was an unusually cool one, and there were but very few 

 occasions when the weather was uncomfortably hot, although on one 

 day the thermometer rose to 157° in the sand near the house; and we 

 actually cooked an egg in the heated sand. 



The nights were very cold, as is usual in this mountain region, the 

 difference between the temperature at 3 p. in. and 7 a. m. of the same 

 day usually being as much as 40°, and sometimes 50°; e.g., July 9, July 

 20, September 3, as will be seen by the table of temperatures. (See p. .) 



The heat of the sun in the middle of the day was, of course, severe, 

 and extremely so on the exceptionally hot days. The wonder is that the 

 young men from New England were able to endure it as they did. 



The rainy season came on about the middle of October, two or three 

 weeks earlier than was expected. From that time till our camp broke 

 up, in the latter part of November, it rained, with an occasionally pleas- 

 ant day now and then almost all the time. One morning early it 

 snowed, though no snow remained on the ground ; one of the rains was 

 terrific. 



It did not seem possible that the clouds could pour down such a 

 deluge of water in so short a time. The rain fell in sheets and columns. 

 The dry gulches about the camp became, in ten minutes, river channels, 

 which would float a boat. The McCloud rose six inches in half an 

 hour, and became apparently as turbid as the Sacramento. The gutters 

 to the roof overflowed; the water poured down the chimney, and extin- 

 guished the fires ; the swollen current of the river snapped the bridge 

 in two in the middle, and carried one of the 20-ton stone piers a rod 

 down the stream. It was literally a deluge while it lasted; then suddenly 

 it stopped raining, the clouds vanished, the sun came out, and as lovely 

 a day followed as ever was seen. 



Two wind storms visited the McCloud Valley while we were there. 

 The first lifted the large tent like a feather, and brought it to the ground 

 with a collapse as sudden as it was unexpected to those working inside. 

 The second was equally severe, and would have done the same mischief, 

 had we not taken the precaution to wire the tent down with coarse iron 

 wires. 



Our quarters were tolerably comfortable. They consisted of a one- 

 story building 24 feet by 26 feet, containing six rooms. They were the 

 bunk-room, 12 feet square, containing 8 bunks, a fire-place, and nothing 

 else; a store-room, 6 feet by 8 feet, where the supplies were kept, with 



the bunk for the Chinese cook ; a front room, 12 feet by 14 feet, with: 

 30 F 



