370 Transactions of tiie 



absolute "summit" being west of Clear Lake. The mountain ranges 

 run north and south. About twenty miles north of t lie south boundary, 

 however, there is a kind of divide separating the waters of Cache Creek, 

 running south, from those of Stony Creek, running north. These creeks 

 enter the Sacramento Valley about seventy-five miles apart, and no creek 

 enters it from the mountains between them, but these creeks gather up 

 the waters of the mountains, run in opposite directions, and finally turn 

 abruptly to the east and run out into the valley. The country between 

 these waters and the plains is covered with low hills, in which creeks 

 have their rise, which run east to the plains and empty into the " trough" 

 mentioned below. None of these creeks, however, run more than a mile 

 or so in the plains, except during a rain storm, or for a short time after 

 heavy rains. Stony Creek, after running north about fortymiles to the 

 extreme northern end of the county, turns east into the valley, and takes 

 a course a few degrees south of east, to the Sacramento .River. No 

 creek empties directly into the river between Stony Creek and the bay. 



THE SACRAMENTO RIVER 



Eunning almost due south, forms the eastern boundary of the county 

 for eighteen miles, then runs through the county twenty four miles, in 

 a straight line, and again forms the eastern boundary. The general 

 course of the river, from the upper to the lower end of the county, is a 

 little east of south, making twelve miles of easting in the sixty miles of 

 southing. Stony Creek enters the river seven miles below the north 

 boundary, and about six miles below that the natural overflow of the 

 river bank runs back from the river into a trough, and from that point 

 to its mouth the river runs on a ridge like the Mississippi. The land 

 falls gradual!}* back from the river for three or four miles, and then very 

 gradually rises to the foothills. It is the same on both sides, except 

 that on the east side, Butte Creek — a living stream, and the eastern 

 boundary of the county — runs down the bottom of the trough, until at 

 the lower end of that portion of the county, on the east side of the river, it 

 loses itself in the tule. The average width of the land overflowed by 

 the sloughs putting out from the river, and by the creeks that come 

 down from the foothills, was given, prior to any leveeing of the river, 

 about two miles for about twenty-five miles from the bead of the trough, 

 when the trough became straighter and wider, and a tule was formed. 



THE RIVER IS NAVIGABLE 



All the year round to the upper end of the county. It has not been 

 affected here by the work of the miners in the mountains, and has not, 

 like the Feather, the Yuba, the American, and other rivers, filled up 

 since the inauguration of hydraulic mining, but its waters are perfectly 

 clear, except when swollen by rains. Up to tho Town of Colusa — 

 twenty-two miles above the southern line — steamers tow barges carry- 

 ing as much as 



SEVEN HUNDRED TONS. 



Above that point, three hundred tons is considered a fair load. This 

 being the case, freights can never be more than two or three dollars a 

 ton, on heav}- articles of produce, from the Town of Colusa to the bay. 

 From the river to the bottom of the trough above mentioned is called 

 "river lands," and from there to the foothills "plain lands." The soil 



