STONE ON THE SACRAMENTO SALMON. 177 



slopes of the mountains, stretching away from Shasta Butte easterly and 

 southeasterly to\Yard the sources of Pit Elver. Its principal source is 

 an immense spring, which bursts out from the southeastern flank of Mount 

 Shasta, and at once forms a river from its own supply. This spring is 

 fed by the melting snows of Shasta, and accounts for the unusual cold- 

 ness and clearness of the McCloud River. The McCloud receives, near 

 its source, a tributary about fifteen miles in length, coming from the 

 northeast, but there are no other considerable streams emptying into it 

 below, and it is said to have this peculiarity, that it is almost as large 

 near its source as it is at its mouth. Through all its course it flows 

 rapidly through a deep rocky canon of the wildest scenery. The rocks 

 and mountains rise up abruptly from its banks, in many places to the 

 height of several thousand feet, and for ten or twenty miles near the 

 middle of the river's course are inaccessible. On this account the river 

 has never been surveyed throughout its whole course, aud the river chan- 

 nel, as laid down on the maps, is wholly conjectural, for a considerable 

 extent. 



The McCloud Eiver, near its mouth, where the salmon-breeding works 

 are placed, averages about GO yards in width, although in places it flows 

 through gulches not over 30 feet wide, and in other places spreads out 

 to a width of nearly a hundred yards. The temperature of the water is 

 here, in September, 480-49° at sunrise, and 53°-54o at sunset. It is sin- 

 gularly uniform in its temperature, and does not vary two degrees from 

 these figures throughout October aud November. The bed of the river 

 is here rocky, gravelly and sandy, as it is throughout its whole course. 

 The water is as clear as crystal and always rapid. The river begins to 

 rise in December, and swells to a maximum height of 15 feet above the 

 midsummer level. It is another iieculiarity of this river, (and it can 

 hardly be said of any other river in California,) that it has been aban- 

 doned to the Indians. The miner's pick and shovel have upturned the 

 banks of other rivers, or the farms of white men have stretched along 

 their waters, but, for some reason or other, the civilized races have very 

 singularly left the McCloud River to its aboriginal inhabitants. The 

 consequence is, that the McCloud River presents an instance of what is 

 becoming extremely rare, at least in the more accessible portions of the 

 country, namely, a region which is just as it was before the white man 

 found it, and a race of aborigines, whose simple habits have not been 

 corrupted by the aggressive influence of communication with the whites. 



13. — THE M'CLOUD RIYER INDIANS. 



The Indians themselves are a good-featured, hardy, but indolent race. I 

 found them always pleasant, genial, and sociable, though, like other Indi- 

 ans, very sensitive when their pride was wounded. They at first adopted 

 the plan of ordering all white men out of their country, aud were tlie 

 last of the California Indians to yield to the encroachments of civiliza- 

 tion. Even now they are not slow to say to the white stranger, "These 

 S. Mis. 74 12 



