52 noble’s pass. 
and perfectly practicable section of the pass, and encamped near McCumber’s mill, 8.72 miles 
below. 
In the early part of the day the road was very much obstructed by loose stones, but for the 
last fifteen miles it was very fine. Many of the pines were from four to six feet in diameter, 
and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. Several mills are in successful opera¬ 
tion in the vicinity, and others are being built. Day’s march, 23 miles. 
July 12.—For two and a quarter miles this morning—passing through Shingletown—the 
descent was scarcely perceptible ; but the country there becomes more broken, and formidable 
hollows and ravines extend from the road north to Bear creek—which before lay considerably 
to the north of the line of descent—rendering the winding of a road in that direction quite 
impossible. The country also became more broken to the south, towards Battle creek, leaving 
comparatively a narrow ridge upon which to effect a descent to the foot of the mountains. The 
distance between the streams themselves is about 4.25 miles at this point, and is not only broken 
by the large hollows referred to, but the remaining portion of it, 1.25 miles wide, the most ✓ 
favorable line and greatest width which we could discover for the construction of a railway on 
this part of the descent, falls off rapidly and is very broken, and intersected by broad and deep 
ravines, especially outside of the narrow ridge followed by the present wagon road. This narrow 
ridge continues for four miles, but the descent is still rapid for seven miles further, and the 
country broken into narrow ridges descending to the west, yet there is much greater room for 
increasing the distance and overcoming the descent. The country is here no longer a forest, 
but a broken and open oak prairie, dry and parched at this season of the year, but very soft 
and miry during the rainy season. Forty miles below the summit we were passing the lowest 
foot-hills of the mountains, and were fairly in the open valley of the Sacramento river. The 
heat increased with our descent, the thermometer standing, in the shade at 3 o’clock p. m., 
at 106° Fahrenheit. We continued on, however, and encamped, after a march of 23.72 miles, 
at Fort Beading, on the west side of Cow creek, a mile and a half above its junction with the 
Sacramento. 
Table of approximate average grades , in descending by a very direct 
line from the western summit of Noble’s Pass of the Sierra Nevada 
to the Sacramento river. 
In the preceding table and the profile of Noble’s Pass, accompanying this report, for the first 
five miles from the summit I have given the longest line of descent which can be obtained (the 
