3S6 Observations on the Physical Geography 



north, the Cowlitz enters : so that the whole Willammet depres- 

 sion of the surface is 200 miles long. South of the Elk moun- 

 tains, the transverse ranges have given rise to small east and 

 west streams, the Umpqua and Clammat. But beyond the Shasty 



mountains in that direction, we open on the magnificent valley 



of the Sacramento, which is one with that of the San Joaquin, 

 the two rivers flowing in opposite directions from the extremities 

 of the long basin, and joining their waters near its center, to flow 

 together into Francisco Bay. The valley is 450 miles long ; its 

 alluvial country ten to sixty miles ; and the tributaries embrace a 

 breadth of sixty to one hundred. The river receives its princi- 

 pal head waters from the eastward through a break in the Cas- 

 cade range near the Shasty peak. Just before leaving the Shasty 

 mountains on onr overland excursion, this stream was seen uni- 

 ting its more copious waters with those of the tributary (De- 

 struction river) followed down by our party. 



Among the coast mountains themselves, and the minor fea- 

 tures of the country, there is a marked correspondence to this 

 north-and-south system. Near Astoria, Young's creek flows from 



the south, and is thirty miles or more long. The southern 

 arm of the Bay of Francisco lies between ridges of the Coast 

 range, which are two to five thousand feet high, and the same 

 valley extends to the latitude of Monterey. Here, another shore 

 ridge commences, and the valley of the Buenaventura, partly a 

 continuation of the preceding, stretches on south for 150 miles. 

 The overlapping ends of the shore ridges just north and south of 

 Monterey are worthy of note. The Bay of San Diego has a simi- 

 lar parallelism with the coast in its longer diameter. The streams 

 north of Francisco conform to the same system. The gulf of 

 California, moreover, is nothing but a great trough between north- 

 and-south ranges of heights, though bounded by a comparatively 

 low country on the east. 



This character of the country has a vast influence upon its 

 agricultural resources. Not only have the waters been compelled 

 to collect into large rivers, the most favorable for navigation, but by 

 this arrangement they have been retained long on the land to fer- 

 tilize its surface. The beds of the streams instead of having a 

 rapid descent in these hilly regions, and in place of containing a 

 torrent that should waste in the sea the debris of the mountains, 

 are gentle in inclination along their lengthened course ; the wa- 

 ters spread wide their floods, and distribute their alluvium over a 

 large surface, giving great extent to the fertile bottom lands. 

 The contrast is at once seen if the region of the Sacramento and 

 Joaquin is compared with the Shasty and Umpqua districts far- 

 ther north, where the rivers are small and run in rapids the great- 

 er part of their course, and their flats are contracted though in- 

 cluding some good land. 



