4 SOILS OF THE SUTTER BASIN. 



In figure 1 is reproduced upon a small scale a portion of the soil 

 map covering the part of the area in which the basin occurs. Upon 

 this is indicated the location and extent of the types mentioned as 

 drawn in the original survey and also as delineated in the revised 

 survey^ the soil boundaries as originally drawn where departing 

 from those as recognized in the revised survey being indicated by 

 dotted lines. 



Of these the only soil type involved to any important extent in the 

 more detailed study undertaken in the revision of this portion of the 

 area is that which has been recognized as the Sacramento clay. 



Concerning this type, it has in the report upon the Marysville area 

 been described in the following words: 



The Sacramento clay consists either of 6 feet or more of black clay or of IS 

 inches of a light-brown silt loam overlying the clay. * * * Where the 

 Sacramento clay is a clay throughout, the surface cracks badly upon drying, 

 the cracks often being from IS inches to 2 feet in depth. 



Occupying as it does the lowest parts of the area, the drainage of this type 

 is very poor. The entire area is overflowed continuously for several months 

 in each year, and portions are never free from standing water. During the 

 periods of high water in the rivers the water flows into the basins through 

 natural openings along the banks, and here it remains until the flow of the 

 streams decreases in the late summer. Then the water finds its way into the 

 streams through the same channels by which it entered. 



With regard to the utilization of the type for agricultural pur- 

 poses the following further statements are made: 



Excepting for a small patch of beans near Verona there was not a single acre 

 of the Sacramento clay under cultivation this year (UK)!)). The crop referred 

 to was practically a failure. Consequently there is no data on which to form 

 a judgment of the probable fertility of the type when reclaimed from overflow. 



Some doubt was, however, expressed as to whether the soil could be 

 effectively drained and cultivated, even if protected from overflow 

 and were pumping plants of adequate capacity for removal of excess 

 surface and subsoil waters installed. This doubt arose from the 

 compact structure and high silt and clay content evident in the field 

 and substantiated by the results of mechanical analysis of typical 

 samples. It must be borne in mind that the statement embodied in 

 the original report as to the value of this soil type for agriculture 

 was based on the existing conditions, and that although a fleeting 

 reference was made to possible drainage and resulting conditions 

 such a possibility received no serious study, and the statement must 

 be interpreted on that basis. 



The water-logged and nonaerated condition of the soil as observed 



in the field under the unfavorable conditions occurring at that time 



greatly intensified the conditions of poor physical structure and 



rendered it doubly difficult to judge of the adaptability of the soil 



[Cir. 79.] 



