354 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



only in remembrance; but while names do not change, conditions do. Were 

 Deer Creek, which derives its name from the vast herds of these animals, 

 to be rechristened, doubtless it would receive the appellation of " Peach 

 Tree Creek." Taking the hint from the free bounty which nature offered 

 in her wild and aboriginal condition, the settlers planted small orchards 

 and vineyards of many varieties, around which there grew, as from a 

 nucleus, the present fruit and wine industry, which is only outlined in the 

 " Sentinel." Peter Lassen made a journey to Los Angeles and returned on 

 horseback, in order to bring a few hundred grape.cuttings. The grafts for 

 the first orchards were brought from Missouri. It is from such small 

 events that the business has assumed its present proportions. As there 

 are nearly two thousand acres devoted alone to the peach, although other 

 fruits are cultivated, it leads the lists of drupaceous fruits, by all odds. 



The present resources of this section of the great, but, with the equitable 

 temperature, admirable system of irrigation, variety and productiveness of 

 soil, facilities for transportation of products to the parched south or frozen 

 north, there is no reason why this locality should not take and hold the 

 front rank as a fruit and wine producing locality in northern California, 

 as it has in Tehama County. There is scarcely a kind or variety known in 

 the catalogue, that will not flourish in this locality. The orchards of 

 which we speak are situated on either side of Deer Creek, and, where a 

 few years ago there were waving fields of wheat and barley, there are now 

 long avenues of fruit trees. For growing fruits, it is considered by those 

 known to the facts, that this section is unsurpassed. 



Vegetation is two weeks earlier here than on Butte Creek, twenty-four 

 miles south of here. The same variety of fruit which came from trees 

 propagated in the same nurseries are from ten to twenty days earlier here 

 than in the Santa Clara Valley. Here apricots are frequently ripe enough 

 to ship by the fifteenth of June, while in the bay counties they are not 

 sufficiently matured until the first or second week in July. The Briggs 

 Red May is a real May peach, and the Amsden June comes very nearly 

 being Amsden May. The same can be said of the earlier varieties of 

 grapes. Deer Creek is to this upper part of the State what Vaca Valley is 

 to the bay counties. This is owing to the peculiar physical conditions of 

 the country. As to quality, all the pitted fruits cannot be excelled any- 

 where in the State, or even in the famous fruit regions along the Ohio and 

 Tennessee Rivers. Their fine flavor and luscious vinousness is remarked 

 by every one who, for the first time, tastes the fruit. This makes them 

 eagerly sought after by the dealers, for canning purposes, but it is rather 

 far to ship to the city for that purpose. 



The cherry is quite prolific ; plums and prunes also receive some atten- 

 tion; almonds are a sure crop, and are destined to come into more promi- 

 nent notice ; nectarines may be classed with peaches, in a general way, for 

 whatever may be said of the peach, the same can as truthfully be said of 

 the nectarine; walnuts, both English and California, fruit early and regu- 

 lar, but the trunks of the former are retarded by the hot sun ; oranges and 

 olives will grow here nicely, but they are not raised for profit, although we 

 think the latter will be grown extensively in a few years. 



The leading varieties of the peach are what are known as the Craw- 

 ford — both the early and the late— but some kinds of peach, which have 

 been planted for local demand, could be found almost any time from the 

 middle of May till the last week in November — a season of six months. 

 To a Californian there is nothing surprising about such a statement, but to 

 our eastern friends, that are cracking hickory nuts — and jokes — that were 

 gathered after the windfalls of September, and are drinking hard cider 



