72 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



with perhaps other gases. No fresh lava has issued from the crater. 

 The dust and fragments blo^ai out hy the explosive action of the hot 

 gases are derived from the older solid lava through which these gases 

 have burst their way. The opportunity to observe a vigorous vol- 

 canic eruption in safety from a raihoad train is itself a rare one, and 

 the obstacles to a nearer approach need daunt no one who is willing 

 to travel by stage and put up with simple accommodations. Drakes- 

 bad may be reached by automobile not only from the west by way 

 of Red Bluff but also from the east by way of Westwood^ on the 

 Southern Pacific, or Keddie, on the Western Pacific. 



Tuscan Springs, a health resort 9 miles northeast of Red Bluff, 

 may be reached by daily stage. The springs, which are hot, rise in a 

 small area of Upper Cretaceous shales (Chico) surrounded by a large 

 mass of volcanic tuflF tlu'own out from the volcanoes of the Lassen 

 Peak region. 



At Proberta the railroad approaches the top of the bluff which 

 limits the flood plain of the Sacramento on the west. The route 



continues along the bluff to Gerber. The 

 Plains, about 12 imles wide, lie to the righ 



Seattle 740 miles, Tr% t , ji i pm * ii Pi-i • -i . > 



Kimball 



may 



from 



Gerber will soon succeed Red Bluff as the division point for this 

 portion of the route. Here tlie train descends into the river bot- 



toms and, passing through green alfalfa fields, crosses 

 Elder Creek before enterinir Tehama. On Elder 



Seattle 741 miles. 



Creek, about 20 miles 



a famous section of Cretaceous rocks 29,000 feet in thickness. This 



gr^at body of Cretaceous strata is incHned eastward, extending 



beneath the later formations that fill the Sacramento A^allev on 



the cast and lapping up against the Coast Range, which is made up 



mainly of older rocks on the west. The tilted Cretaceous rocks are 



beveled by erosion, and their edges form a broad terrace or plain 



along the western border of the Sacramento Valley at the foot of the 

 Coast Range. 



The town of Tehama is about half a mile east of the railroad station 

 and is the oldest settlement in the county. The soil hereabouts is 



rich, but the countiy is occasionally overflowed. A 

 Tehama. wagon bridge crosses the river to the sreen hri^nvted 



e»"^^""* "*'o 



Elevation 223 feet. alfalfa fields of the new colony of Los Molinos 



Population 221. . _ •/ 



Seattle 744 miles. , ^ 



the beautiful oaks characteristic of valley* scenery 

 in California. Tehama is on the Lifpr i^l1ii\niir>i Knf i^^^^^a ;+ +1*1^ 



(mo-lee^nos) . Here 



ascends 



Marys ville 



