STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 357 



SHASTA COUNTY. 



Shasta County, situated at and comprising the head of the Sacramento 

 Valley, is one of the largest and most sparsely settled counties of the State. 

 Since the days of '49 and '50, it has been famous for the richness of its 

 placer mines, and the amount of wealth in gold taken from its streams, 

 gulches, and flats is inestimable. With the decline of its placers, the great 

 resources of its mineral wealth in numerous and extensive deposits of pre- 

 cious metals in ledges and lodes began to attract the attention and are now 

 rapidly engaging the devotion of capital and industry. Notable among later 

 discoveries is Iron Mountain, which in reality is a mountain of silver, gold, 

 and copper-bearing ore, situated seven miles north from the town of Shasta, 

 the county seat. The estimates of the value of the Iron Mountain Mine, 

 made by mining experts and by cautious and by careful assayists, are 

 simply fabulous. 



A WORD TO HOME-SEEKERS. 



With an area as large as that of some of the smaller States, the resources 

 of the county are not comprised in its mineral deposits. Although for the 

 greater part mountainous, it has thousands of acres of valley and bottom 

 lands, a large portion of which is under prosperous and thrifty cultivation. 

 Some of the best and largest tracts of such lands are, of course, occupied, 

 but there are many ample parcels in various nooks and mountain valleys, 

 that need only a fair outlay of time and labor, by men of proper energy 

 and thrift, to transform them into homes that should content and make 

 happy the proudest of mankind. Here, as elsewhere over the world, homes 

 are not made in a season or a year, but patience, energy, and industry are 

 offered no surer reward, go where they may. 



There is no better climate, more healthful, pleasant, or picturesque sec- 

 tion, and yet in its infancy in comparison with the thickly settled portions 

 of the State. It has territory and means of support for ten times its present 

 population. 



The California and Oregon Railroad, recently extended through the 

 county, makes accessible a section delightful for summer resort, and offers 

 primal inducements to tourists and sportsmen. The territory traversed by 

 the railroad, up the winding Sacramento, almost to its source, is grand in 

 rugged scenery, delightful in summer — under the white dome of Mount 

 Shasta — a land of evergreen hills, glistening peaks, little valleys, and tum- 

 bling, ice-cold trout streams. 



Reed's Railroad Camp, Upper Sacramento River. 



The following interesting rain data from Reed's Camp; on the Upper 

 Sacramento River, shows that heavy annual rainfalls are a very usual 

 occurrence at that point, according to the observations made by L. Aulten- 

 reith. The table extends from January, 1880, to December, 1884, and 

 shows the averages by months, years, and seasons. From 1882 to 1884, the 

 record was kept at Dog Creek, near Reed's Camp: 



