SHASTA BOUTE SEATTLE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 



79 



possible under present conditions, though the camps of several 

 duck-shooting clubs are situated among the sloughs. The railroad 

 has encountered much difficulty in maintaining its grade across this 

 soft ground. Certain spots have been continually sinking ever since 

 the first construction of the road, and it is seldom, even now, that 

 in gomg over this part of the route the traveler does not see work 

 trains and grading crews busily engaged in filling and raising some 

 sunken portion of the track. (See PL XXIV, A.) ^lud ridges have 

 risen along the tracks on both sides, and their broken and lumpy sur- 

 faces indicate a slow flowing mass of mud squeezed out by the weight 

 and vibration of passing trains. It is said that as much as 30,000 car- 

 loads of coarse gravel ballast have been dumped into one of these spots. 



marshes the railroad 



fine 



chffs 



here close in upon Carquinez Strait. Some 

 taceous and Tertiary sandstones and shales r ^ 

 and road cuts around Army Point. 



Near Benicia, on the left, is a United States arsenal and signal 



station. 



Benicia. 



Elevation 6 feet. 

 Population 2,360. 



Seattle 921 miles. 



ia (named by Gen. Vallejo after his wife) is a manu- 

 facturing town with deep-water frontage. It con- 

 tains, besides the arsenal, tanneries and other com- 



establishments. Southeast of Benicia, across 

 it. ift thfi town of Martinez, near which John 



mercial 



Muir, California's great naturalist 



yeare. 



town 



Mountain Conner Co., which mines 



fumes areutihzcd in makin 



tilizer. 



which in turn is used in trea 

 company^s mine near Montpeli 



run 



carried across Carquinez Strait to Port Costa, a distance of a mile. 

 Tlie geologic section from Benicia and Port Costa to the vicini 

 of Berkeley and Oakland is particularly interestmg, as in it a 

 represented many of the characteristic sedimentary formations 

 the Coast Range. The stratigraphic section is quite different fro 



foothilli 



ferry terminus 



Port Costa. 



Elevation 11 feet. 

 Seattle 92tj miles. 



shipping point, particularly for gram, wmcn comes 

 from the interior vaUey ^ and is here loaded mto ocean- 

 going vessels. A long line of galvanized-iron gram 

 warehouses may be seen on the water front. 



* Agriculture in California had its be- 

 ginning in wheat raising, and wheat was 

 long the State's greatest crop. Its pro- 

 duction stf^afinv inrTf^n.qpd. until about 



steam 



000,000 



and other farm 



gram 



_. — ^ ^ 



of the valley led to the utilization oi 



nary size and efficiency. Recently, how- 

 ever, fruit growing has become a more 

 important industry than grain farm- 



Califorma 



leads all the other States. 



