156 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



up from common wells, for which purpose windmills are ex- 

 tensively used, and thus most of the water used for irrigation 

 is obtained. A large part of the valley, especially of that near 

 the rivers, is subject to overflow ; and about once in five years 

 a flood comes, sweeping away houses, fences, and cattle, de- 

 stroying gardens, and covering the earth with a thick clay, 

 which, instead of enriching the soil, is far poorer than the an- 

 cient deposits of sandy loam, made before the miners had com- 

 menced to tear down the mountains for their golden treasures. 

 In these times of flood, so much of the valley is covered with 

 water, that it looks like a great lake, and the pilots of the river 

 steamers know the channel only by the rows of trees along the 

 banks, for the banks themselves are completely hidden from 

 sight. The flood rarely comes earlier than January or later 

 than March. 



The bottom-lands along the Feather River are considered 

 richer than those near the banks of the Sacramento. Tribu- 

 tary to Sacramento valley on the western side is Cache Creek 

 valley, about twenty miles long by five wide ; and connected 

 with it is Clear Lake valley, a basin nearly circular in shape, 

 and twenty miles across, surrounded by mountains. The lake 

 is about one thousand feet above the sea. South of Cache 

 Creek, and also tributary to the Sacramento valley, is Putah 

 Creek, which drains Berreyesa valley, twenty miles long by 

 two wide. These little valleys have very rich land ; and being 

 shut in by near mountains, the soil is much moister than out 

 in the open plain. The nearer to the coast and the farther 

 north, the greater the moisture as a general rule ; and it may 

 almost be said that the value of the land depends upon the 

 moisture. 



In the northwestern corner of the Sacramento Basin, along 

 the banks of Cottonwood Creek, there are some beautiful, 

 moist, and fertile little vales. The Sacramento valley has very 

 few trees, save along the banks of the streams and stream- 

 beds, where oaks, sycamores, laurels, willows, buckeyes, birch, 

 and wild grape, are the principal growth, marking in summer 



