392 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



REPORT ON THE TOPOGRAPHY, BOTANY, AND CLIMATOLOGY 



OF SURPRISE AND GOOSE LAKE VALLEYS, MODOC COUNTY. 



Bv George M. Kober, M.D., U.S.A., Fort Bidwell, Modoc County, and published in the 



State Board of Health's Report for 1886. 



In my description of the topography of this section, 1 shall confine myself 

 to two important valleys of Modoc County, geographically known as Sur- 

 prise and Goose Lake Valleys. 



Surprise Valley is situated on the eastern slope of the Warner Mountains, 

 extending almost north and south, about sixty miles in length, and from 

 six to eight miles in width. A high divide on the north separates this 

 valley from Warner Valley, Oregon; on the west from Goose Lake Valley: 

 on the south a long canon connects it with the sagebrush plains of Nevada, 

 and on the east a lower range of mountains separates it from Coleman 

 and Long Valleys, in Nevada. It is a monoelinal valley, of moderately 

 inclined beds of plutonic outflow. The strata dip towards the Sierra 

 Nevadas, westward; the elevation of the valley above the sea level is four 

 thousand six hundred and eighty feet. The Warner Mountains, like the 

 great Sierra Nevadas, of which they are doubtless a portion, have a slate 

 base, and superimposed are strata of quartz. Sandstone also abounds 

 near the surface, and forms the greater portion of the lower range of hills. 

 The average elevation of these mountains is about six thousand feet, 

 although some of the peaks, as Mount Bidwell, attain the respectable 

 height of nearly eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and remain 

 snow-clad until the middle of July. 



Surprise Valley is destitute of timber, but the numerous ravines and 

 canons traversing the mountains contain fine forests of pine and cedar. 

 The soil is composed of disintegrated basalt, sand, and clay, and is very 

 fertile. Below this soil is found a bed of gravel of variable depth. Most 

 of the wells are sunk through a deposit of gravel, from fifteen to thirty feet 

 in depth, when "hard pan" is reached, which may be a clay bank or a 

 peculiar sandstone formation. 



The valley contains three lakes, of about equal size, known as the 

 Upper, Middle, and Lower Lakes, their combined area being about one 

 hundred square miles. These lakes have no outlet, and desiccation has 

 concentrated the salts in all of them. The water is intensely alkaline to 

 the taste. They are shallow for a considerable distance from the shores, 

 and receive their water supply from the numerous streams of the Warner 

 Mountains. The Middle and Lower Lakes have been known to dry up 

 completely during several dry seasons, revealing a deposit of fine alkaline 

 mud, which, when desiccated, looks white; and in the distance the former 

 lake bed presents the appearance of a beautiful sheet of water. The water, 

 doubtless, contains a large percentage of magnesia, sodium, soda, chlorine, 

 sulphuric acid, and carbonate of lime. It is needless to observe that the 

 lakes are not habitable by fishes, their only animal population being Crus- 

 tacea and the larvse of insects. 



The east side of the valley affords but very few water channels, as the 

 eruptive hills or table lands are rather low, and do not condense much 

 snow and moisture. Owing to this fact, and the comparative absence of 



