* 

 212 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



The Buenaventura River has a valley about twenty miles 

 long, with an average width of a quarter of a mile. There are 

 numerous little valleys in Ventura County, all well adapted to 

 the cultivation of sub-tropical fruits. Artesian water is found 

 near the mouth of the Buenaventura River. 



The Santa Barbara plain, at the southern base of the Santa 

 Inez mountains, has some of the finest orchards of sub-tropical 

 fruits in the State. 



The Santa Inez River has a valley about thirty miles long 

 and two wide, but has no considerable town or extensive cul- 

 tivation ; and the same remarks apply to the Cuyama River, 

 which lies to the north of it. Both of them reach the sea 

 through canons, the widest parts of their valleys being back 

 ten or fifteen miles from the ocean. 



The Salinas valley, the largest of all the coast valleys, is 

 ninety miles long, and from eight to fourteen wide. Three 

 terraces are distinctly traceable on each side of the river. The 

 first and lowest is about four miles wide, with a sort of a rich, 

 sandy loam ; the second rises with an abrupt edge, is eleven 

 feet higher, has about two miles of width on each side, and 

 has a coarser, poorer soil ; the third terrace is less regular in 

 height and width, and has a coarse, gravelly soil, scarcely fit 

 for cultivation. This terraced formation, with its variations 

 in richness of soil, is a strongly-marked feature of many 

 valleys in the State. The southern or upper part of the valley 

 is very dry, and the cultivation is confined almost entirely to 

 the lower or northern part of it, within convenient reach of 

 steam communication. 



The Pajaro valley has two branches, one coming from the 

 southward, the other from the northward, and both rich. In 

 the northern branch, about ten miles south of the town of 

 Gilroy, is a plain of about ten thousand acres of rich swamp 

 that needs draining. 



The San Lorenzo, flowing southward into Monterey Bay, is 

 the first stream to which we have come with a considerable 



