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University of California. 



[Vol. 3. 



precipices. This robs the "Klamath Canon" of the grand scen- 

 ery to which its depth entitles it. To one standing in the valley 

 its walls have the appearance of two high, steep, uneven-crested 

 mountain ranges, whose bases nearly adjoin. At the level of the 

 floor of the Sherwood Valley, altitude 4,000 feet, the width of 

 the canon is from five to eight miles where trenched into the 

 Bragdon slates, and from three to five miles where cut in igneous 

 rocks. The width of the bottom of the canon is from 100 to 300 

 feet in the igneous areas, and from 500 feet to one mile in the 

 Bragdon areas. Although high precipices do not occur, slopes 

 exceeding 45° are not uncommon. At Shelton Butte, opposite 

 the mouth of Bluff Creek, the canon wall rises very steeply from 

 the river's edge to near the summit of one of the most prominent 

 peaks of that region. 



The Orleans Basin is simply an abnormally wide portion of 

 the Klamath Canon. It is due to the comparative softness of 

 the Bragdon slates, the main belt of which the river crosses 

 obliquely for seven miles. Above and below the basin the river 

 flows in exceedingly narrow, rocky gorges, but within the basin 

 there is a valley floor from two to fifteen times as wide as the 

 river, and the slopes above this floor are beautifully terraced 

 to a height of 850 feet above the stream. Long, narrow slate 

 ridges extend far out into the basin and naturally separate it 

 into three divisions, which it will lie convenient to refer to as 

 the Upper, Middle, and Lower basins. 



The Upper Basin, lying above the Redneck Rock, is about 

 three miles long and one-half to three-fourths of a mile wide, 

 although above the 850-foot terrace level, it is fully a mile and 

 a half wide. The river enters it at the northeastern end from 

 an exceedingly narrow gorge (which it has been following for 

 several miles) and passes through it in a serpentine course, leav- 

 ing extensive terrace remnants on the inner sides of the curves. 

 The south side of the basin, between the Reece ranch and Pearch 

 Creek, has immense landslides, composed largely of serpentine 

 debris. This strip of territory is exceedingly irregular in topo- 

 graphy, but back of it there is apparently a remnant of the high- 

 est terrace. The 675-foot terrace is well represented north of the 

 southwestern portion of this basin, but otherwise the terrace 



