Plumas County 



I^H ana 



TRAVERSED throughout its entire extent by the great plateau of the 

 northern Sierras, Plumas is typically a California mountain county. 

 The perpetually white dome of Lassen Peak rises over its north- 

 western extremity, and thence southward and eastward its territory 

 includes an endless succession of splendid ranges, surmounted by 

 such final heights as Sugar Loaf and Keddie. Between these mountain 

 masses lie the fertile valleys which give their waters to the Feather River 

 system. Here the heavily forested mountain slopes give place to bottom 

 lands of deep alluvial soil, where one day additional thousands of Califor- 

 nians will be happily engaged in stock-raising and general agriculture. 

 The principal valleys of the county open to the southwest, and its western 

 border fronts upon the lowering foothill lands that descend through Butte 

 and Tehama counties to the bottoms of the Sacramento. 



In company with other mountain counties of California, Plumas has 

 an abundant rainfall, the annual average being abount forty inches. A 

 part of this water supply is ponded in the Round Valley reservoir, which has 

 an extent of about one thousand acres, and furnishes water for the mining 

 and irrigating of its vicinity. 



Varied agriculture has large possibilities in Plumas County. It is par 

 excellence an apple region, although this excellent product is at present 

 raised for home consumption alone; and peaches, pears, plums, prunes, 

 and nectarines do well in many parts. Strawberries, blackberries, raspber- 

 ries, gooseberries, and currants are prolific, and of a quality unsurpassed. 



The county raises its own poultry and eggs, and sends some of these 

 products across its borders. A most excellent article in mountain dairy 

 butter is also produced. 



As in Switzerland, Norway, and other Alpine lands, large numbers of 

 cattle and sheep migrate with the seasons, ranging each summer in the 

 highlands, where abundant and succulent feed is found, and descending 

 to the valleys in the autumn. 



The timber supply of Plumas has been barely touched as yet. Its 

 canyons are clothed with virgin and far-reaching forests of sugar and yel- 

 low pine of great size and value, together with equally available stands of 

 fir, spruce, and cedar. 



Mining is among the considerable industries of this country. Large 

 enterprises in both quartz and hydraulic mining are carried on. Important 

 showings in copper also have been made. The latter subject is engaging 

 the attention of capitalists, and much prospecting has been done. Among 

 other minerals known to exist in large quantities in the county are iron, 

 marble, and asbestos. These great mineral resources now lie as a certain 

 promise for the future, when the necessary capital shall have been direct- 

 ed to their development. 



With its magnificent topography of canyon, cascade, and upland mead- 

 ow, Plumas County is the camper's paradise. Plenty of deer, and hundreds 

 of miles of trout-streams that can never be "fished out." Here, in the 

 mighty solitude of first-growth timber, by the ford of some stream crystal 

 clear, the man and his beast may make their common camp, and realize 

 in its fullness the rich life of the mountain wilds. For those who prefer 

 to temper the wilderness with a touch of human society, there are the sum- 

 mer resorts along the Feather River and its tributaries. These watercourses 

 are the goal of hundreds of vacationists during the summer, and Big 

 Meadows is one of the famous resorts of California for the disciples of old 

 Isaak Walton, while game in fur and feather offer equal inducements for 

 the man with gun and dog. 



Plumas measures about fifty miles on the meridian, and half as much 

 again from east to west. The county has an area of 2,361 square miles, 

 and Quincy is the county seat. 



