372 Transactions of the 



there it is no uncommon thing to find bones and timber at a depth of 

 seventy-five or one hundred feet. One man took up most of the skele- 

 ton of a deer, juui another found chunks and coals lying around as 

 though a camp fire had just been extinguished. Very good water can 

 be had by digging almost all over the valley, but in many districts the 

 surface water is strongly impregnated with alkali; but bored wells are 

 both cheaper and better, and are now in general use. In the alkali dis- 

 tricts even, very good water is had by boring down sixty or seventy feet 

 and putting down piping to keep out the surface water. There are 

 springs of water all tlirough the foothills, but manj^ settlers there get 

 the water they use from wells. Stony creek, and two or three other 

 smaller streams, offer opportunities for water-power, but at present these 

 places are out of the line of trade, and have not been utilized. 



CHARACTER OF THE SOIL. 



To fully appreciate the fertility of the soil of the Sacramento Valley, 

 one must have seen it in its wild state, as we saw it in eighteen hundred 

 and fifty. All along the river, the timber lands were covered with pea 

 vine ten or twelve feet high, the open land with wild oats from four to 

 seven feet high, varied with an occasional patch of clover, so matted and 

 thick that one could scarcely travel through it. The soil, as we have 

 said, was made by the sediment of the river, in which there is a great 

 deal of vegetable matter. The soil of the plains is more varied in char- 

 acter. The creeks that we have mentioned as rising in the low hills and 

 running out into the plains, have each formed a ridge and runs above 

 the land on each side. Thus a person traveling parallel with the river 

 would encounter a succession of rises and depressions. These vary from 

 five to perhaps twenty feet. in height. Generally along and near these 

 creeks the sod is of a rich sandy loam. Between these, the lower land 

 is general ly composed more of clay, and is colder and harder. In fact, 

 sometimes basins have been formed by these creeks, throwing up ridges 

 to run upon, so that the water could not run off freely, and it caused 

 the land to become close and packed, and the water drawing all the 

 alkaline matter from the land, and then evaporating, caused the land to 

 become crusted with alkali, and to become entirely unproductive. This 

 occurs, however, only in spots, and fifty square miles would perhaps 

 have embraced it all at any time, but the alkali spots are now fast dis- 

 appearing. When we get within about fifteen miles of the northern line 

 of the county, we meet with more or less red rolling land, upon which 

 bunch grass grew in a wild state, and which was classed as too poor for 

 cultivation until the last two or three years, but it is now considered 

 very fine wlusat land. Much of the soil of the low hills is good, and 

 produces grass for cattle and sheep ranges. The valleys in the hills are 

 all fine agricultural land. The price of the river land ranges from ten 

 to forty dollars per acre; of the plain land, from five to twenty-five dol- 

 lars per acre. 



CLIMATE. 



The average Summer heat — taking the hottest part of each day — is 

 about ninety degrees of Fahrenheit. The average temperature in Win- 

 ter is about sixty degrees. The extreme heat is about one hundred and 

 fifteen degrees, the extreme cold thirty-two degrees above zero. It is 

 very seldom that ice is formed, and never over half an inch in thick- 

 ness. Snow has fallen twice since eighteen hundred and forty-nine, to 



