SOIL SURVEY OF THE RED BLUFF AREA, CALIFORNIA. 



43 



present no use is made of it except as pasture. Irrigation water can 

 be developed for it by pumping from the stream bed along which it 

 lies. It would be better, however, to use this water in the develop- 

 ment of the better t^'pes of the same series which possess equal 

 advantages of proximity to pumping sites. 



At some distant date when water for irrigation becomes sufficiently 

 abundant to justify a copious application to this soil it may be ex- 

 pected to return fair yields of alfalfa and various fruits, except on 

 the sandy or gravelly unproductive spots. As a whole it does not 

 justify an average tax for water rights, but fortunately its area is 

 limited. 



The following table gives the results of a mechanical analysis of 

 the soil of this type : 



Mechanical analysis of Elder gravelly fine sandy loam. 



ELDER SILT LOAM. 



The Elder silt loam consists of a smooth-textured very friable silt 

 loam, ranging in color from grayish to dark gray, and having a 

 depth of 6 feet or more. This material is underlain by coarse al- 

 luvium. The few variations from this typical structure are found 

 i^rincipally at points of contact with the silty clay loam and gravelly 

 fine sandy loam of the same series, gradual transitions from type to 

 type being the rule. A similar variation occurs at the section where 

 the alluvial materials of Elder and Thomas Creeks approach the 

 flood plains of the Sacramento. In exceptional cases the surface 

 carries a few, rounded cobbles. 



The most representative body of this type lies around Richfield, 

 as the rather broad alluvial bottom of Thomas Creek. This body, 

 together with others along the same creek and some of smaller area 

 along Elder Creek, comprises most of the type. They are all con- 

 fined to the west side. The surface is level and without minor ir- 

 regularities to decrease the value of the type for farming. It is only 

 slightly marked b}^ shallow remnants of winding waterways, formerly 

 overflow channels or the courses of minor drainage ways. The type 

 is well drained, being suificiently elevated to escape overflow and 

 possessing no underground features to arrest the jDcrcolation of 

 surface water. It is usually separated from the major streams by 

 strips of Elder gravelly fine sandy loam, and where it reaches the 



