SOCIETY. 415 



1858. It is built at the head of navigation of the Pacheco 

 Slough, and is the shipping port of Pacheco, San Ramon, Di- 

 ablo and Taylor valleys. The distance to Martinez is four 

 miles, further than farmers like to haul their grain, when they 

 can avoid it. To bring the shipping point nearer to them, 

 Pacheco was built. The distance from Pacheco to the bay, in 

 a straight line through the tule land, is about four miles; the 

 distance by the slough is six miles. The slough is bare at low 

 water ; at high water it is navigable for sloops and schooners 

 drawing six feet. In 1859 Pacheco shipped 180,000 sacks of 

 grain. The population is about six hundred. 



§ 290. Suisun. — Suisun, a village of about sixty houses, is 

 on the western bank of the Suisun Slough in Solano county, 

 about ten miles in a direct line from Suisun Bay and sixteen 

 miles by the slough. The place was commenced on a little 

 island, a couple of hundred yards in diameter, and no part of 

 it more than a foot above the highest tide. It is surrounded 

 by tules, or salt-water rushes, growing on land overflowed at 

 every high tide and bare at low tide. Two roads lead from 

 the dry land of the valley to the city — one of them a plank- 

 road, now in a very dilapidated condition. Most of the streets 

 are subject to overflow by spring tides, and the marks of the 

 water can be seen upon them even when dry. A few lots have 

 been raised above high tide by bringing earth from other 

 places, and enclosures are made by digging ditches, in which 

 the water is never more than two feet below the surface. The 

 island, being in the tule, was not included in the Suisun grant, 

 and it was claimed, in 1853, by tw^o men w^ho laid off" the town, 

 and who are now in litigation with each other about the un- 

 sold land. The place owes its importance to its advantages 

 as the shipping point of the valley. The Suisun Slough is 

 said to be the best slough in the state ; that means, that it is 

 wider and deeper than the sloughs through which vessels 

 reach Stockton, Sonoma, Napa, San Antonio, Petaluma, Pa- 

 checo, and Alviso. Vessels drawing nine feet of water can 

 enter the slough. The town is sixty-five miles from San Fran- 



