262 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOBNIA 



gravel in the river channels, and by levees which 

 gave way after having at first restrained and held 

 back the accumulating waters. These exaggerating 

 conditions did not, however, greatly influence the 

 general result, the main effect having been caused 

 by the rare combination of flood factors indicated 

 above. It is a pity that but few people meet and 

 enjoy storms so noble as this in their homes in the 

 mountains, for, spending themselves in the open 

 levels of the plains, they are likely to be remem 

 bered more by the bridges and houses they carry 

 away than by their beauty or the thousand bless 

 ings they bring to the fields and gardens of Nature. 



On the morning of the flood, January 19th, all 

 the Feather and Yuba landscapes were covered 

 with running water, muddy torrents filled every 

 gulch and ravine, and the sky was thick with 

 rain. The pines had long been sleeping in sun 

 shine ; they were now awake, roaring and waving 

 with the beating storm, and the winds sweeping 

 along the curves of hill and dale, streaming through 

 the woods, surging and gurgling on the tops of 

 rocky ridges, made the wildest of wild storm melody. 



It was easy to see that only a small part of the 

 rain reached the ground in the form of drops. 

 Most of it was thrashed into dusty spray like that 

 into which small waterfalls are divided when they 

 dash on shelving rocks. Never have I seen water 

 coming from the sky in denser or more passionate 

 streams. The wind chased the spray forward in 

 choking drifts, and compelled me again and again 

 to seek shelter in the dell copses and back of large 

 trees to rest and catch my breath. Wherever I 



