312 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



the ranch. But Indian ponies are not draft horses 

 and generally the Indians would load on more 

 melons than the ponies could pull up the hill. 

 Then ensued laughter and shouts, pushing and 

 whipping of horses until they took off a portion 

 of the load. It was a great festival for the In- 

 dians and a countryside joke among the ranchmen 

 but the farmer made a profit even at two dol- 

 lars a load. 



Land values in the Sacramento Valley are not 

 quite so high as in the Santa Clara and San Joaquin 

 Valleys. The San Joaquin is the hottest of the 

 three in summer and Santa Clara the coolest, 

 hence the latter is the most desirable as a residen- 

 tial district besides being much nearer to the City 

 by the Golden Gate. The San Joaquin is the home 

 of the vine and wine and the seedless raisins; of 

 melons and beans and peaches; of table grapes 

 and a score of other edibles which are sent East 

 throughout the summer and fall by train loads in 

 double sections. We sometimes wonder at the 

 fruit appetites of our remote eastern relatives. 



The San Joaquin river and its tributaries take 

 their rise in the Sierras, run northwesterly and 

 finally mingle their waters with those of the 

 Sacramento in Suisun Bay, a broad, shallow sheet 



