SOCIETY. 83 



to the westward, thus cutting off the main trade, and laying 

 the foundation of a rival town at Goshen. The town was 

 overflowed in the flood of 1862, and the water was two feet 

 deep in the main street. 



57. Suisun. Suisun, a village of about sixty houses, is on 

 the western bank of 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, and 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 en- 

 closures 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 two men who laid off the town. The 

 place owed its importance to its advantages as the shipping 

 point of the valley ; but the construction of the California 

 Pacific Pailroaa has cut off much of its trade, and its pros- 

 perity has been declining for several years. The population, 

 in 1870, was 462. The town is one mile from dry land, on the 

 edge whereof, immediately north of Suisun, lies Fairfield, 

 which is the county seat, and has three hundred and twenty- 

 nine inhabitants. 



58. Yreka. Treka is situated at an elevation of fifteen 

 hundred feet above the sea, in the valley of Shasta River, 

 about twenty miles northwest from Mount Shasta. It is a 

 mining town, being situated in a rich district, and founded 

 on pay-dirt. The place is surrounded by high mountains, 

 the Siskiyou ridge on the north, the Sierra Nevada on the 



