STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 39 



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erosive action, the eastern half, unlike the western half of the valley, has 

 no rich alluvial deposits, and the sod is strongly impregnated with alka- 

 line salts towards the lake, while the higher portions are composed of a 

 mixture of sand and clay, which supports a more or less luxuriant growth 

 of artemisia (sagebrush). 



The town of Fort Bidwell is located about eight miles from the southern 

 boundary of Oregon, and the same distance from Nevada, in latitude 42° 

 10' north, longitude 43° 12' west. The site is at least two miles north of 

 the upper lake, on a gravelly slope which gradually ascends towards the 

 foothills. A beautiful mountain stream drains the locality. This stream 

 near its terminus, however, becomes sluggish, and in the course of time has 

 deposited an immense amount of debris, and thus formed a peninsula, 

 which extends for a mile and a half into the lake. The character of this 

 land is essentially a " swamp," covered with typha latifolia. Numerous 

 small ponds and "sloughs are also observed. With this exception, the lower 

 lands on the north and west side of the lake are natural meadows, and 

 yield an excellent quality of grass. Some families live in these meadows, 

 their wells being only from five to eight feet in depth. The higher lands 

 are well adapted for agriculture, and in some localities require artificial 

 moisture. Numerous fruit trees, consisting of apples, plums, pears, and 

 peaches, have been successfully cultivated and yield fine crops in the order 

 named. 



The town of Lake City is situated on the foothills, near the southwestern 

 end of the upper lake; Cedarville at the mouth of a beautiful canon west 

 of the middle lake, and Eagleville near a canon west of the lower lake. In 

 these and other localities, the mountain streams have washed immense 

 deposits into the lake, and thereby formed deltas of variable extent, accord- 

 ing to the erosive power of the streams. Numerous farms are scattered 

 throughout the valley, but more especially along the western half of the 

 valley. The combined population of the valley is about three thousand. 

 The scenery, notwithstanding the shallow shores of the lakes, presents 

 many elements of beauty, combining, as it does, mountain and water 

 scenery with a clear atmosphere and a good sprinkling of verdure. No 

 wonder that the early pioneers of California, in their overland travel 

 across the sagebrush plains of Nevada, upon their emergence through " '49 

 Canon," were suddenly impressed with its beauty, and named it " Surprise 

 Valley." 



Goose Lake Valley is located on the western slope of the Warner Moun- 

 tains, and is about fifty-five miles in length, and twelve miles in width; 

 elevation above the level of the sea, four thousand eight hundred feet. The 

 valley extends nearly north and south, and is bounded on the east by the 

 Warner Mountains, already described; on the west by eruptive hills of no 

 great elevation, which, sixty miles further west, are known as the "lava 

 beds," and former stronghold of the Modoc Indians. To the north, the 

 vallev is cut off by the watershed of the Chewaucan, and to the south by 

 that "of the Pitt River. It contains a fine sheet of water, known as Goose 

 Lake, which is thirty miles in length, and about ten miles in width. The 

 lake is shallow for a long distance from its northern, southern, and eastern 

 shores, and has no outlet, but a slight elevation would connect it with the 

 watershed of the Pitt River in the south. It receives its water supply from 

 numerous mountain streams, notably from the Warner Range on the east, 

 which maintain it in a more or less fresh condition. The water is slightly 

 alkaline to the taste, but the lake abounds in fishes and water birds. The 

 lakes of Oregon, Nevada, and California diminish in alkalinity as we 

 approach the Sierra Nevadas. Goose Lake has never been known to dry 



