56 



IRON. 



A short dislance to the north of the town of Weaverville are small veins of 

 magnetic iron ore. It is seldom found in veins exceeding one or two inches in 

 thickness; but from its position and other attendant characters, it is fairly pre 

 sumable that this will prove an extensive bed of this ore. Our reason for this 

 supposition is based on the fact, that what appears to be its equivalent, was 

 found on the opposite side of the basin, on the south bank of Brown's Creek, 

 and at the distance of four miles from the point at which it was first discovered. 

 The distribution of the metals in this and other Counties that were visited 

 during the past year, will be noticed more in detail when making out the tables 

 illustrative of that portion of our subject. 



STRUCTURE OF THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 



A farther examination of this valley during the past year has placed us in 

 possession of additional information in relation to the peculiarities of its struc 

 ture, and as this part of the State promises in a few years hence to become the 

 theatre of extensive operations in agriculture, it becomes an interesting and 

 important point to ascertain what may be the probabilities of obtaining a supply 

 of water to conduct those pursuits successfully on so large a scale. The portion 

 of the plains of this valley to which I would call your attention in this particu 

 lar, is that which lies to the north of the County of Sutter, and the extreme 

 lines of the valley section towards the Pitt River, which stream may be consid 

 ered as constituting the northern terminus of those plains. 



It is found that this plain carries an ascending grade of about four and one- 

 half feet per mile from a point opposite to to the town of Marysville to the 

 entrance of the canon leading from the plains to the town of Shasta, the air 

 line distance inclusive, being that one hundred and five miles, giving us as the 

 altitude at the entrance to the canon, a rise of five hundred and twenty feet 

 above the line at which the observations were commenced, and five hundred and 

 ninety-six feet above tide level. 



In this part of the Sacramento Yalley there are ten streams flowing, which 

 carry water throughout the year in the hilly districts forming its boundaries; 

 but the greater portion of the waters flowing at these higher points are lost 

 upon the surface almost as soon as their streams reach the alluvial covering of 

 the plains beyond the lower hills, with the exception of the freshet season. 

 The larger streams, the Sacramento and Feather Rivers, furnish the principal 

 channel for the escape of those waters, which, rising to the east of the slate 

 and conglomerate ridges, discharge themselves into the ocean. 



In order to form an approximate idea of the probable amount of waters 

 which pass beneath the alluvial coverings of the plains, it may be stated with 

 safety that it exceeds the quantity flowing in the Feather River, below the con 

 fluence of the Yuba. This estimate is founded on the known fact that the trib 

 utaries which furnish the waters flowing in the Sacramento, during the summer 

 months, are neither as numerous nor as large as the streams which sink before 

 uniting their waters with that stream during the same period, and which are 

 also direct tributaries to the upper portion of that river during the rainy 

 season. 



