190 ABUNDANCE OF FISIL 



prairies ; now, rugged superfices of naked rock ; then, beautiful valleys 

 arrayed iii all the loveliness of perennial verdure, and profuse in vegetation 

 of extraordinary growth, intermixed with wild-flowers of unrivalled hues 

 and lavish fragrance, till lie finally reaches his destination. 



The Sacramento and its tributaries water the greater part of Western 

 California. 



This river is formed by the confluence of two large streams which rise 

 in the Cascade Mountains, properly termed the North and South Forks ; 

 the former heading near lat. 41^ 43' north, long. 114"^ 51' w^est. (The South 

 Fork is the stream defining the waggon route from the U. States, via South 

 Pass.) 



The Sacramento, measured by its windings, is about eight hundred and 

 fifty miles in length. It receives many important auxiliaries above the 

 junction of its tv/o forks, which greatly increase the volume and depth of 

 its waters. From its mouth it is said to aiford a good stage of navigation 

 for crafts of tolerable burthen, as high up as three hundred miles, — tide 

 water setting back for one hundred and fifty miles. 



Three other rivers,- flowing from the southeast, have their discharge in 

 the Bay of San Francisco. These streams are severally called the Rio del 

 Plumas, American Fork, and Tulare. 



The former derives its name from the great abundance of water-fowls 

 which congregate upon it at all seasons of the year, so numerous and 

 tame that the natives not unfrequently kill large quantities of them with 

 clubs or stones as they fly through the air. 



The del Plumas is said to be navigable, for boats of a light draught, till 

 within a hundred miles of its head, — its whole length is about two hundred 

 and fifty miles. The American Fork, or the Rio de los Americanos, is a 

 clear and beautiful stream about one hundred and fifty miles long, emptying 

 into the Sacramento Bay below the del Plumas, and between it and the 

 Tulare. Owing to frequent rapids, however, its navigation is destroyed. 



The Tulare is said to be four hundred miles long, and navigable for one 

 half that distance. It is represented as watering one of the most interest- 

 ing sections of Western California, and hence is considered next in impor- 

 tance to tlie Sacramento. This stream affords some of the finest localities 

 for settlements found in the whole country. 



Below the Bay of San Francisco several other small streams find their 

 way into the Pacific, but none of them are navigable to any great extent. 

 The principal of these empty as follows : into the Bay of Monterey, into 

 the Ocean near Point del Esteros, Point Arguello, St. Barbara Channel, 

 San Pedro Bay, and opposite the island of St. Clement. 



Above tlie Bay of San Francisco, Russian river is discharged into Bodega 

 Bay ; further on. Smith's river empties into Trinidad Bay ; and two other 

 small streams find their discharge near Point St. George, a few miles below 

 the boundary line between Oregon and California. 



Smith's river is the largest stream either above or below the Bay 

 of San Francisco, and is about two hundred miles in length, though un- 

 navigable. 



All these various rivers and their affluents are stored with innumerable 

 supplies of delicious fish, the principal of which are salmon and salmon- 

 trout. The Ocean too aflfords an exhaustless quantity of the piscatorial 



