GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGIONS EXAMINED. 
35 
ROGUE RIVER VALLEY. 
Eogue river rises in the Cascade Range, near Mount Pitt, and flows westward to the Pacific 
ocean, receiving on the way numerous small tributaries from the Umpqua and Siskiyou 
mountains. Some of these streams flow through fertile valleys, separated from each other by 
high and forest-clad hills. Others, especially those near the coast, are sunk in immense 
canons. Most of the rich land lies near the California and Oregon trail. Gold digging is 
profitable in many places. Hornblende and granitic rocks predominate, hut Table Rock, and 
other hills in the vicinity, are basaltic. Jacksonville is at present the only town in the valley, 
although there are many scattered dwellings. 
SISKIYOU MOUNTAINS. 
Very little is accurately known about this chain, although it has been much explored by 
gold seekers. It is a high and heavily timbered dividing ridge between the waters of Rogue 
and Klamath rivers, and its general direction is east and west. The prevailing rock is a hard 
kind of conglomerate sandstone. Near the summit, elevated about 2,400 feet above the base, 
we found the soil to he an adhesive clay, which, when wet, renders travelling very laborious. 
There are several pack trails across the chain, hut no reliable information concerning them 
could he obtained. 
KLAMATH RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 
Klamath river, as already stated, rises in the great plateau east of the Cascade Range. 
After flowing through Klamath marsh, and upper and lower Klamath lakes, it breaks through 
the mountains, near Shasta Butte, and folio wing the southern base of the Siskiyou chain, dis¬ 
charges itself into the Pacific. Through the greater part of its course, it flows either through 
sterile table lands, or immense canons. Gold is found in many places upon its hanks. My 
party, while returning to Fort Reading, passed through the valleys of Shasta, Scott’s and 
Trinity rivers, three of its most important tributaries. These will he described in the order in 
which they were examined. 
Shasta valley is an undulating region, about 25 miles in length and 15 in breadth, which 
extends from the base of Shasta Butte, in a northwesterly direction, to Klamath river. A 
small stream, named from the Butte, traverses it. This valley is sterile, compared with most 
of those already described, but the thick growth of bunch grass renders it a fine grazing 
country. It is for its gold, however, that it is chiefly valuable. This metal is found in large 
quantities ; but mining is difficult on account of the scanty supply of water. To remedy this 
deficiency, the miners are now digging a ditch from a point near the source of Shasta river, 
along the base of the hills which bound the valley on the southwest, to the river again near 
where it discharges itself into the Klamath. This ditch, which is called the Yreka canal, will 
he, when completed, between 30 and 40 miles in length. It derives its name from the great 
depot of the northern mines, which is situated in so rich a portion of the valley that gold is 
dug in the very streets of the city. 
Scott’s river flows nearly parallel to Shasta river, being only about 18 miles further to the west. 
The character of its valley, however, is widely different. Gold digging is not generally profitable 
in it, although some rich mining claims have been discovered ; especially at Scott’s Bar near the 
mouth of the stream. Most of the land is very productive, and a large portion of the valley is 
