State Agricultural Society. 393 



of the railroad, of which a description appears elsewhere. Midway 

 between Healdsburg and Cloverdale, on the line of the road, is the 

 Town of Geyserville. 



SANTA ROSA VALLEY. 



From Eussian Eiver, southward, the plains of Santa Eosa rise grad- 

 ually for sixteen miles. There is just slope, enough to turn the water 

 back to the river. The plains are about twelve miles square, in the 

 center of the county. Two large streams flow from the mountains on 

 the east across the plains into a series of lakes on the west, which are 

 drained into Eussian Eiver. Clusters of oaks grow on the plain, not 

 close enough to impede cultivation, giving a pleasing effect to the land- 

 scape. Besides the staple products, all seed and stone fruits, such as 

 apples, pears, plums, prunes, cherries, and peaches, grow in the great- 

 est perfection. On the thin lands, aud on the foothills, the grape finds 

 a natural home, producing this season as much as ten tons to the acre 

 in some instances. The average yield is about four tons to the acre, 

 worth at the wine factories twenty dollars per ton. On the eastern 

 slope of the valley, near the foothills, the Town of Santa Eosa is beau- 

 tifully situated. . It is built along the banks of the creek of the same 

 name, around a public square, in the center of which there is a grove of 

 native oaks. A writer in the Country Gentleman, now a resident of the 

 place, said elegantly of this square: " That it was like the title page to a 

 good book — an index of the surrounding country." Bennett Valley, the 

 Guilucos, and the Eincon, are valleys near the Town of Santa Eosa, each 

 peopled by a thriving and industrious farming poi^ulation. The sur- 

 rounding scenery is beautified by the tall peaks of the Mayacamas 

 range on the east, the boldest of which are St. Helena and the Guilucos 

 Mountains, by the Sonoma Mountain on the southeast, and by the 

 immediate Coast Eange on the west, fringed with its growth of red- 

 woods, through which the sea breeze sifts and comes hitherward shorn 

 of its harshness. 



PETALUMA VALLEY 



Lies south of Santa Eosa, from which it is separated by a scarcely per- 

 ceptible watershed. , An arm of the bay divides this valley. At the 

 head of navigation on this estuary the Town of Petaluma is situated. 

 The valley is about fifteen miles long, with an average width of seven 

 to eight miles. All the cereals are produced and fruits grow in great 

 abundance. Prior to the building of the railroad the products of the 

 county were hauled to Petaluma and shipped from there by steamers 

 and sailing vessels to San Francisco. There are many finely improved 

 farms and good farmers in the Valley of Petaluma, and its accessibility 

 to San Francisco by water, the distance being not over fifty miles, 

 insures cheap freights for its produce. The town is a center of consid- 

 erable manufacturing enterprise. As fine wagons are made here as in 

 any part of the United States. It has tanneries, a foundry, and other 

 factories. The people are enterprising and have at command capital 

 which they are ready and willing to spend in the improvement of roads, 

 and for such other purposes as will advance the interests of the place. 

 Petaluma is the exporting point for much of the Bodega produce, and 

 of a number of surrounding valleys. 



