414 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
largest town in the San Joaquin basin southward of Stockton. 
It has now the trade of a radius of nearly a hundred miles, 
and having a central situation will no doubt maintain its rela- 
tive importance. The town was overflowed with water sev- 
eral feet deep by the great freshet of January, 1862. 
§ 287. Red Blufi—Red. Bluff, at the head of navigation 
on the Sacramento River, one hundred and seventy-five miles 
above Sacramento City, is a place of about one thousand in- 
habitants. It is the point at which the merchandise is landed 
from the Sacramento steamers for Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity 
counties, with an aggregate population of 17,114. Sometimes 
the river is so low that the boats cannot reach Red Bluff, but 
this is a rare event. There have been attempts to remove ob- 
structions above Red Bluff so that the head of navigation 
should be at Cottonwood, but these attempts have hitherto 
been vain. 
§ 288. Martinez.—Martinez is situated on the southern side 
of the Straits of Carquinez, in a little valley. The population 
is about six hundred. It is a quiet, pleasant village, where 
trade is dull and life slow. It is connected with the world by 
a steam ferry-boat, running to Benicia. It would probably be 
a much more prosperous place if the title to the land on which 
it is situated were clear, but it is claimed under three grants, 
all of which have been confirmed, and nobody knows which 
one will take it. The town has a peculiar climate, with the 
same cool temperature as at Benicia, very much like that of 
San Francisco, but fogs are rare, and the winds are broken by 
hills. It is a climate similar to that of Oakland, without the 
wind, and is therefore very favorable to fruit. The sea-breeze 
pouring through the Straits of Carquinez, keeps off the frost, 
and some unexplained cause throws all the fog over to the 
northern side of the strait, thus giving the fruit on the south- 
ern shore an abundance of sunshine. The town was founded 
about the time the gold was discovered. 
§ 289. Pacheco.—The town of Pacheco, or Pachecoville, is 
one of the newest in the state, having been founded late in 
