414 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



largest town in the San Joaquin basin southward of Stockton. 

 It has now the trade of a radius of nearly a hundred miles, 

 and having a central situation will no doubt maintain its rela- 

 tive importance. The town was overflowed Avith water sev- 

 eral feet deep by the great freshet of January, 1862. 



§ 287. Red Bluff. — Red Bluff, at the head of navigation 

 on the Sacramento River, one hundred and seventy-five miles 

 above Sacramento City, is a place of about one thousand in- 

 habitants. It is the point at which the merchandise is landed 

 from the Sacramento steamers for Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity 

 counties, with an aggregate population of 17,114. Sometimes 

 the river is so low that the boats cannot reach Red Bluff, but 

 this is a rare event. There have been attempts to remove ob- 

 structions above Red Bluff so that the head of navigation 

 should be at Cottonwood, but these attempts have hitherto 

 been vain. 



§ 288. Martinez. — Martinez is situated on the southern side 

 of the Straits of Carquinez, in a little valley. The population 

 is about six hundred. It is a quiet, pleasant village, where 

 trade is dull and life slow. It is connected with the world by 

 a steam ferry-boat, running to Benicia. It would probably be 

 a much more pros23erous place if the title to the land on which 

 it is situated Avere clear, but it is claimed under three grants, 

 all of which have been confirmed, and nobody knows which 

 one will take it. The town has a peculiar climate, with the 

 same cool temperature as at Benicia, very much like that of 

 San Francisco, but fogs are rare, and the winds arc broken by 

 hills. It is a climate similar to that of Oakland, without the 

 wind, and is therefore very favorable to fruit. The sea-breeze 

 pouring through the Straits of Carquinez, keeps off the frost, 

 and some unexplained cause throws all the fog over to the 

 northern side of the strait, thus giving the fruit on the south- 

 ern shore an abundance of sunshine. The town was founded 

 about the time the gold was discovered. 



§ 289. Pacheco. — The town of Pacheco, or Pachecoville, is 

 one of the newest in the state, having been founded late in 



