and overflowed lands in this county, situated about the margins of Suisun bay and along the banks of the San Joaquin river, much of it being reclaimable. Portions of it, brought under cultivation, have been found to produce good crops of grain, fruit, and vegetables, without irrigation. There is a sweep of this tule land in the north-east corner of the county, of upwards of 75,000 acres subject to overflow during wet seasons, which, if protected by a levee, would become one of the most valuable agricultural sections of the county. Mountains and hills cover about 250,000 acres, including Monte Diablo, which contains the most important coal-mines in the State.

San Ramon, the finest valley in the county, is a continuation of Amador valley, described in the topography of Alameda county. It is equally fertile throughout, and extends quite across the county under different names; the upper portion extending a distance of ten miles, where it unites with the Amador valley, is called San Ramon valley, and the lower portion, through which Pacheco creek runs, is called Pacheco valley. On the east side of this lower valley, and opening into it, is the Diablo valley, extending to the base of Monte Diablo. On the west is Taylor valley, through which passes the road from Oakland to Martinez. There are numerous smaller valleys on both sides of these larger ones, all connected by wagon roads, and many of them fertile and well cultivated. The average crops, for several years past, in most of these valleys, have been thirty bushels of wheat, or fifty bushels of barley to the acre.

The Hambre, or Hungry valley, at the mouth of which the town of Martinez, the county seat, is located, is separated from the main valley system by a range of low hills-a portion of the Monte Diablo rangewhich afford excellent pasturage for cattle and sheep. The county, in 1867, contained 27,000 sheep, 11,000 cattle, and 8,000 horses.

The subordinate group of elevations, which lies to the west of Martinez, is known as the Contra Costa hills, which extend through this and the adjoining counties of Alameda and Santa Cruz, being separated from the main Monte Diablo range by a chain of beautiful valleys nearly sixty miles in length.

The principal streams in this county are the San Pablo and San Ramon creeks, the former rising in the Contra Costa hills and emptying into San Pablo bay, the latter rising in the Monte Diablo range, near Livermore's pass, and emptying into Suisun bay, about five miles southeast from Martinez. When this creek reaches the tules it becomes a tide water stream, navigable at high tide for schooners drawing six feet of water. The town of Pacheco was founded, near the head of

navigation, in 1858, and has since become the most important shipping port and business centre in the county. The place contains large stores, granaries, churches and schools, and about six hundred inhabittants, who do a thriving business with the numerous rural communities scattered throughout the adjoining valleys; 700,000 bushels of wheat, besides other products, were shipped from this place in 1867.

The population of this county and the value of property in it, have greatly increased since 1860, in consequence of the settlement of land titles-nearly the entire county having been previously claimed by Mexican grant holders-a number of different parties sometimes advancing claims to the same tract of land. This conflict of ownership prevented settlers, for many years, making improvements ; but since the adjustment of these land questions, the population and wealth of the county have increased rapidly. In 1860 it contained 5,328 inhabitants, and the value of all the property in it was assessed at $600,000. At the close of 1867, it contained about 10,000 inhabitants, nearly three thousand of whom were children under fifteen years of age-less than two hundred Mexicans and Spaniards; and the value of its real and personal property exceeded $4,000,000.

On the northwestern corner of this county, at the mouth of San Pablo creek, is the original San Pablo bay, the name of which has since been applied to the great central division of the bay of San Francisco, which was formerly called the bay of Sonoma. The level lands in this section of the county produce heavy crops of grain and fruit.

Contra Costa county at present contains but little timber, except oak. At one time there was a fine forest of redwood in the mountains, a few miles east of the bay of San Francisco, but its proximity to the city caused its early conversion into lumber, much also being split into rails for fencing purposes. At present, only a few trees in spots difficult of access, are left standing. The redwood being tenacious of life, it is not an easy matter to kill or eradicate its roots, wherefore, there is a possibility of this forest renewing itself in process of time, if protected from the wood cutter's depredations. On the hills that skirt the base of Monte Diablo grow a few scattered pines of an inferior species, worth but little for lumber. At present there is not a saw mill in the county-a fact that sufficiently indicates how completely it has been stripped of what valuable timber it once may have contained.

The climate of this county, influenced by the position and height of its mountains, is subject to great variations. Monte Diablo, a prominent landmark in this part of the State, 3,381 feet high, is the principal agent in producing these atmospheric changes. This mountain is

supposed to have been at one time a volcano, a presumption strengthened by the double cone forming its summit when viewed from the east, caused by the breaking away of the rim of its crater on that side. It is situated in the northern part of the county, and has a length of eight or ten by a breadth of five or six miles. It is somewhat crescentshaped, the concavity opening to the northeast, and forms a barrier to the winds coming from both the interior and the sea, which sometimes blow with great violence about its base, while the atmosphere higher up its sides is but little disturbed and even quite calm at its summit. It is a grand and singular sight to see from its top, where all is clear and tranquil, the clouds rolling in stormy commotion far below. These atmospheric phenomena are most strikingly manifested after mid-day, in the fall of the year. For several hours in the afternoon, the dry and heated air from the interior sweeps up the mountain with a strong current. About three o'clock the moist air from the ocean begins to reach it, and the two currents meeting, form fleecy clouds which hang around its base and fill its lower valleys, condensing, as the night comes on, into heavy and refreshing dews.

The climate in the northwestern portion of this county is sometimes quite cool, and frosts are frequent, but, where sheltered, fruits of all descriptions grow luxuriantly. Dr. John Strentzel, a Pole, one of the pioneer settlers in the county, has a fine orchard of about forty acres in the Cañada de Hambre, two miles from the town of Martinez, in which oranges are grown in the open air.

Juan B. Alvarado, who was governor of California from 1836 to 1842, when it was Mexican territory, cultivated an orchard in this vicinity, the apples and pears from which, for several years after California became a State, produced him a larger revenue than did the office of governor.

Dr. John Marsh, was one of the earliest American settlers in this county, and, in 1840, purchased a tract of land now known as the New York ranch, located about thirty miles from Martinez. The history of this eccentric man is replete with interest. Educated a physician, and possessed of ample means, on the death of his wife he left his early home and only child in the State of Wisconsin, and coming to California, took up his residence in a cañada at the base of Monte Diablo, now known as Marsh's cañon. Here, living in rude independence, after the manner of the country, he became the owner of immense herds of cattle, which, with his landed possessions, made him rich under the new order of things inaugurated by the discovery of gold in California. In the meantime, his son, who had grown up to manhood, having

heard from returned Californians that there was a Dr. Marsh living in that country, and suspecting that it might be his father, left his home at Petersburg, Illinois, and came out to this State, arriving at San Francisco in March, 1856. Having ascertained the residence of the person whom he was in search of, he at once proceeded to the place and found that he was indeed his long absent parent, with whom he took up his abode, remaining with him until the time of his death, which occurred in the autumn of the same year. Dr. Marsh, while on his way to San Francisco, was waylaid and murdered, it being supposed that he had a large sum of money on his person. The murderer, after escaping for more than ten years, was finally apprehended and convicted of the crime.

This county was not generally settled until 1850, there not being a town in it the origin of which dates prior to the discovery of gold, in 1848. One of the first American families settling within its borders was that of Elam Brown, who built a house in Taylor valley, in 1847, near the spot where he now resides.

Martinez, the county seat, is situated in a valley on the south shore of the straits of Carquinez, opposite the town of Benicia. The straits at this point are about three miles wide and eight long, lying between gently-swelling hills, cultivated to their summits. The town contains several fine public and private buildings, with a number of churches, many of the dwellings being surrounded by orchards and gardens. It is the center of a considerable trade, has good wharves for the shipment of produce, and is connected with Benicia by a steamboat ferry.

The coal mines in this county, to the development of which it owes much of its present prosperity, are located about six miles south from the San Joaquin river. A nearly level plain extends from the river (where there is an average depth of thirty feet of water,) to the foothills of the mountains, and within a mile of the Black Diamond company's tunnels, at Nortonville. These tunnels enter on the northeast side of the mountain, and follow a number of seams to the west. Only two of these seams are worked at present-the Black Diamond and Clark the former averaging four feet, and the latter about three feet in thickness. Both lie at an angle of thirty degrees, and dip nearly north. These mines, although, as above explained, within five miles of navigable water, are located among the peaks and deep cañons of such a rugged country that the difficulties and expense attending the transportation of so bulky an article as coal impeded their development until February, 1866, when the Pittsburg railroad was completed. In the construction of this road, only five and a half miles in length, from

the mines to the wharf at Pittsburg Landing, many obstacles were encountered. To the plain, from the mines, a distance of a mile and a half, the road has the unusual gradient of two hundred and seventyfour feet to a mile, that of the balance being from forty to one hundred and sixty feet to the mile. The rugged character of the country may be inferred from the fact that to complete the first mile and a half of this road eight large trestle bridges had to be built, the largest being three hundred and four feet long by sixty feet high. A tunnel, three hundred feet in length, was required to be cut through a steep rocky ridge-a number of deep cuts were excavated, and heavy culverts constructed. When the road was completed, it was found necessary to have locomotives of a peculiar pattern, to overcome the difficulties of ascending and descending such steep grades. Accordingly, a style of engine was invented and made at San Francisco, weighing seventeen tons, and supplied with three pairs of thirty-six inch driving wheels, and complex, powerful brakes. The friction of these locomotives, when descending the incline in front of a train of loaded cars is, of course, great, but, thus far, no serious accident has occurred. This road, which cost $145,000, has a capacity to transport over it three thousand tons of coal daily. The Pittsburg, Union and Eureka companies all send their coal over it.

The Black Diamond company have built a railroad which terminates at New York, a town six miles west of Pittsburg landing. The arrangements made by this company to convey their coal from the mine to the vessels at the wharf afford another good illustration of engineering skill-the mouth of the main adit of the mine being nearly five hundred feet above the level of the plain. To avoid the steep grade that would be necessary were a railroad employed, a massive incline has been constructed, nearly nine hundred feet in length, at an angle of fifteen degrees, which connects with the railroad at the lower end. By means of a thick wire rope passing over an iron cylinder, nine feet in diameter, the loaded cars descending pull up the empty ones. This road, since first built, has undergone material alterations, involving a heavy outlay of money. The arrangements at the wharves of both roads are similar, and vessels of five hundred tons burthen are loaded in a few hours by means of shutes passing from the cars. These mines give employment to upwards of one thousand men.

Prior to the construction of the railroads mentioned, Antioch, a small town on the San Joaquin river, was the shipping point of all the coal mines. Owing to its many natural advantages, it continues to grow, notwithstanding the loss of that trade. At this place are located