36 



acter having taken place several successive times iu years past, and recent]}'. 

 It has changed its course a distance of three or four miles! It is now pro 

 ducing the same effects upon the high terrace to the southeast of the City, as 

 it has already done farther to the northwest. 



SOILS AND PRODUCTIONS OF LOS ANGELES 



The soil and productive capacities of these plains will now be considered; for 

 in these alone consist the present and prospective value of these lands. Refer 

 ring back to the rocks composing the mountain chain, which forms the northern 

 borders of these valleys, we can readily infer what would be the constituents and 

 general features presented in the coverings of the plains. The diagram exhib 

 its two distant terraces, the lower one occupying a little more than one-third of 

 the transverse extent of the plain, the upper terrace holding a much greater 

 inclination from the borders towards the centre, and the whole having an aver 

 age grade of about 13 feet per mile from datum to the level of the City. On 

 examining the hills either at San Pedro or between the City and the mountains, 

 we shall find most distinct outlines of other terraces rising above the levels of 

 these plains, to the number of two or three, beyond which this characteristic is 

 not clearly defined. 



These terraces play an important part in modifying the characters of the soils 

 upon the plains adjacent, and as a consequence affect the productive capacities 

 of the lands as far as their direct influence extends. A peculiar and striking 

 feature found in the soils of these plains is, that even to the base of the moun 

 tains or their foot-hills the components of the earth are found as finely commin 

 uted as at any point near the centre, or upon the lower alluvial bottom in the 

 vicinity of the settlement known as Banningville. 



Along the northern base of the low mountains of San Pedro the same fea 

 tures occur, and as far toward either extremity of the plains as an opportunity 

 offered for an examination, this peculiarity presented itself. From the great 

 preponderance of the primitive rocks (and those mostly granite,) in the moun 

 tains, and from which the soils of these plains have been derived, we should 

 a priori have been led to suppose that a coarse, harsh and almost worthless 

 range of country lying at their base would have been found, but quite the reverse 

 of this is true, and a soil both soft and mellow covering these plains is found in its 

 stead. It is very doubtful if a soil more fertile, and capable of greater produc 

 tion, is to be found anywhere along our Pacific coast south of the Isthmus of 

 Darien, independent of the influences of climate. The depth to which this soil 

 extends below the surface ranges from 18 inches to six feet the average depth 

 is about 3 feet; the color is usually of a dark grayish brown when dry, and on 

 close examination it is found to contain a great quantity of decomposed vegeta 

 ble matter, consisting of the dead roots and stalks of its indigenous productions. 

 In many places it would remind a person of some of the rich moulds formed in 

 small quantities in the ravines of hills producing luxuriant vegetation. On the 

 lower bottoms this soil is mixed with a fine micaceous sand which renders those 

 districts highly fertile. It is upon these lands that the major part of the exten- 

 five grape crops of this County are produced; and a mere inspection of the ground 

 alone, when free from moisture and unconnected with the crops it is capable of 

 producing would be very apt to be considered unproductive and worthless. On 

 these lower bottoms and beneath the soil there is found a bed of stiff blue clay ; 

 (T. Diagram) when the waters are turned off from this earth, and the sun is 

 permitted to dry the surface, a white efflorescence is often observable over con- 



