surgeons' reports CALIFORNIA MIDDLE DISTRICT. 495 



hay. Wild flowers are very abuudaut, and of great variety. Tlie grass and herbage begin to 

 grow after the first rains, and continue green until alter the coiuineucenient of the dry season, 

 when all vegetation begins to put on the sere and yellow leaf of autumn. Indeed, there are but 

 two distinct seasons of the year in Ciilifornia, and they are s[»ring and autunui. 



The mistletoe and Bpxnish moss grow abundantly upon the oak in various localities. In many 

 places the Spanish moss is very abundant, and hangs in long, lacelike festoons from the branches 

 of the trees, giving a peculiar beauty to the groves and natural scenery. 



Among the indigenous animals may be classed the grizzly, black, and cinnamon bears, the 

 gray wolf, the coyote, the California lion, the panther, wihl cat, badger, raccoon, mountain cat, 

 squirrel, rabbit, hare, monntain-sheep, antelope, deer, elk, beaver, otter, skunk, and many other 

 smaller quadrupeds; also vultures, eagles, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, magpies, crows, ravens, 

 blackbirds, robins, doves, humming-birds, quails, grouse, road-runners, linnets, goldtinches, orioles, 

 bee-birds, blue-jays, larks, and a great number of aquatic birds, both waders and swimmers, includ- 

 ing swans, geese, ducks, snipe, cranes, pelicans, &c. 



Reptiles are but few. There are several kinds of snakes ; the rattlesnake is the only one that 

 I know of which is poisonous, and it is seldom seen: There are several varieties of frog and lizard, 

 and in many places the latter is quite numerous. 



The waters of California abound with a great variety of fish. Fisheries have been established 

 at nuiny jioints on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Kivers, and large quantities of salmon are 

 caught and cured for market. Sturgeon is abundant and very large, but is not much used for food. 

 In the mountains, the watercourses and lakes abound with spotted and salmon trout, which are 

 much used for food ; they are obtained in large quantities from Lakes Tahoe and Donner. These 

 two beautiful lakes are situated in the summit-range of the Sierra Nevada, having an altitude of 

 six thousand one hundred and seven feet above the level of the sea, and lie near the great thor- 

 oughfares of travel between this State and the State of Nevada. 



The geography of the several counties of the district may be more minutely described as 

 follows : 



Sacramento County has an area of about nine hundred square miles, and is bounded on the 

 north by Placer and Sutter Counties, and on the west by the Sacramento liiver, on the south by 

 San Joaquin and Mokelumne Ilivers and Dry Creek, and on the east by El Dorado County ; it is 

 intersected by the American River. The soil of this county is generally fertile, and is extensively 

 cultivated. Sacramento City is the county-seat and the ca|)ital of the State, and, as a center of 

 commerce, possesses great advantages. It is accessible for steamers and sailing-vessels of large 

 size at all seasons of the yeai". 



These advantages have made this place the principal entrepot from which supplies are for 

 warded to the great miniug regions in the north and interior of the State, and, latterly to a great 

 extent, to the mining regions of the State of Nevada. This city has two railroads penetrating to 

 the eastward, through the mining sections of the interior. 



The people of this county are engaged in agriculture, trade, manufacturing, and mining. The 

 first settlement was made in the year A. D. 1839, by John A. Sutter, a Swiss by birth. He obtained 

 from the Mexican government a grant of eleven square leagues of land, and under that title the 

 site of Sacramento City and two leagues of the surrounding country is now held. In the year 1841 

 he built at this place some adobe buildings, and surrounded them with a wall about sixteen feet in 

 height, as a fortification against the attacks of hostile Indians. This was the only place for several 

 years where white men had any permanent foot hold in the great Sacramento Valley. The popula- 

 tion of this county is 24,145, and there were enrolled in it 7,025 men subject to military service. 



San Joaquin County has an area of about one thousand six hundred square miles, and is bounded 

 on the north by the Mokelumne River and Dry Creek, on the west by the San Joaquin River, on 

 the south by Stanislaus River, and on the east by Calaveras County; it is intersected by the Moke- 

 lumne and Calaveras Rivers. This county is exceedingly fertile, and is extensively cultivated. The 

 Western Pacific Railroad will intersect it, and will connect Stockton, its county-seat, with San 

 Francisco and Sacramento. 



Stockton is situated about four miles to the eastward of the San Joaquin River, upon a naviga- 

 ble tidewater slough, and has a population of about six thousand. The town is supplied with 



