SOCIETY. 413 



plains to Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Ilealdsburg, Sonoma, Napa, 

 Fairfield, Marysville, Sacramento, Stockton, Amador Valley, 

 Oakland, San Jose, etc. 



Sixthly. — She has a climate similar to that of San Francisco, 

 where ice never forms and smnmer clothes are never worn — 

 precisely that degree of constant coolness most favorable to 

 continuous labor, both mental and physical. 



Seventhly. — She has the U. S. Navy- Yard on Mare Island 

 at her doors, and must supply the laborers to do the work 

 there. This navy-yard must always be of great importance, 

 and the government works alone will build up a considerable 

 town. Puget Sound is the only other point on the America* 

 coast of the Pacific where a navy-yard can be established, and 

 a long time may pass before one will be required there. 



Eighthly. — There is a possibility that the difficulties in the 

 navigation of the Sacramento River, below Sacramento City, 

 will make it necessary to connect that place and the valley 

 north of it with the deep water, by a railroad to Yallejo. 



It is estimated that forty thousand tons of dirt are carried 

 down into the Sacramento River every day from the mines, 

 and the effect to fill up the bed of the river is proved by past 

 experience. The time must come when goods must be carried 

 from the bay to the central and northern mines by land, and 

 the sooner the preparations are made for this approaching 

 change, the better. That land shipment, when commenced, 

 must go through Vallejo. 



Ninthly. — In San Francisco great damage is done to the 

 wharves by the shipworm ; in Vallejo the water is so fresh 

 that wharves and boats are secure against that scourge. 



§ 286. Visalia. — Visalia is situated in the " Four Creek 

 country,'* about fifteen miles northeastward from Tulare Lake. 

 The " Four Creek country" is formed by Cahuilla Creek, which, 

 after leaving the Sierra Nevada, spreads out into a number of 

 channels, and these again subdivide, and moistening a consider- 

 able district of rich soil, render it very productive. Visalia 

 has a population of one thousand five hundred, and is the 



