State Agricultural Society. 



355 



PLACES. 



Summit 



Cisco 



Emigrant Gap. 



Al ta i 



Colfax 



Auburn 



Eocklin 



Chico 



Marysville 



Sacramento .... 



Stockton 



Modesto 



M 



3 

 o 



r- 



3" 



34.50 



33.00 



31.50 



28.00 



31.00 



17.50 



10.00 



17.75 



6.75 



8.50 



4.75 



2.25 



In the rapid decrease of the rainfall which is observed as we descend 

 from the Summit to Modesto, there are two decided interruptions; one 

 at Alta, and the other at Chico. As a general rule, the higher the moun- 

 tains against which the rainclouds are blown from the ocean, the more 

 rain is precipitated on their western slope, while on the eastern side, in 

 the short distance between the Summit and Reno, at an elevation of four 

 thousand five hundred and twenty-five feet, where the rainfall was one foot 

 two and a quarter inches, we find a much more abrupt decrease, amount- 

 ing to about thirty-two inches. The difference of eleven inches between 

 Chico and Marysville, at the same elevation, in the same large open valley, 

 only forty-five miles apart, and about the same distance from the ocean, 

 is very remarkable, and can only be accounted for by the relative posi- 

 tion of the Buttes to the latter place. It will be noticed that from 

 Eocklin to Alta, on the'foothills, sufficient rain for all agricultural pur- 

 poses fell this year (eighteen hundred and seventy), which was a }'ear 

 of comparative drought. The farmers of the valleys were dried out 

 then, while in many places they were almost drowned out by the floods 

 of this } r ear. From these drawbacks, as well as from that of frost, the 

 foothills are almost free. Crops, particularly grapes, are always cer- 

 tain, let the rainfall be ever so short elsewhere. 



We are indebted to Chief Engineer Montague, of the Central Pacific 

 Railroad, for the following additional statistics, published in the San Fran- 

 cisco Bulletin, of the rainfall at the various stations of the Central Pacific, 

 California Pacific, San Francisco and Xorth Pacific, California and Oregon, 

 and San Joacpiin Valley (branch Central Pacific) Railroads, in the years 

 eighteen hundred and seventy and eighteen hundred and seventy-one. 

 These statistics will be found of great value to stock raisers and agri- 

 culturists, indicating as they do the localities where moisture is scarce 

 or plenty. 



