Shasta, situated in the southwestern part of the county, at the junction of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of mountains, reaches an altitude of fourteen thousand four hundred and forty feet.

The Klamath, Pitt and Scott's rivers are the only large streams flowing through the county. The former has its source in the Lower Klamath lake, situated partly in California and partly in Oregon, issuing from the southwestern side of which, near its middle, it flows in a westerly course until it enters Del Norte county. Scott river rises in the Scott range of mountains, runs northerly and joins the Klamath, near the western border of the county. Pitt river issues, a large stream, from the south end of Goose lake, runs southwesterly through Shasta county, until it unites with the Sacramento, forming the principal branch of that river. A large scope of country lying near the central and northern part of this county is without any surface drainage to the ocean, the water being collected in lakes, ponds and lagoons, whence it escapes by evaporation or subterranean channels.

The principal agricultural lands in the county are located in Scott, Shasta and Surprise valleys, the former two lying in its western, and the latter in its extreme northeastern part. There are many other valleys of small size containing a little good land, besides a limited quantity on some of the table lands found in the northern and eastern sections of the county-these latter also affording a considerable amount of pasturage. Scott's valley, forty miles long and seven miles wide, lying between the Trinity and Salmon mountains, which reach a height of six thousand feet, contains a large body of excellent land, nearly all of which is under cultivation. Grain, fruits and vegetables of nearly every description, are grown here without trouble, and generally yield well. The average yield of the wheat harvest of 1867 was twenty-five bushels per acre, some fields turning out as high as forty-five bushels to the acre. There are eight grist mills in the valley and its connecting branches, which, during the year 1867, manufactured seventy thousand barrels of flour. The product of these mills was greatly esteemed for its excellence, owing to the superior quality of the grain. Owing to the elevation of this county, nearly three thousand feet above the level of the sea, the harvests are late, the grain not being reaped until August or September. Frosts are frequent during the spring, and even in the summer months. The weather in the summer is warm, with cool nights; in the winter, often severe, especially on the mountains, where the snow falls to a great depth. Snow also lies to the depth of a foot or two, often for several weeks, in most of the valleys, rendering the use of snow shoes and sleighs a general necessity. The mountain,

river and valley derive their name from a hunter and prospector named Scott, who first entered the latter in the spring of 1849.

Surprise valley, lying in the extreme northeastern corner of the county, and partly in the State of Nevada, is about sixty miles long and fifteen wide. It is one of the most beautiful and fertile of all the valleys lying in the high Sierra, being skirted on two sides with lofty, timbered mountains, and containing large tracts of fertile land, watered by numerous springs and streams, and covered with a luxuriant growth of wild clover and other grasses. On the east side of this valley are three beautiful lakes, extending in a chain nearly its whole length and covering more than one half of its surface. The upper or most northern of these lakes is sixteen miles long and five wide; the central one is twenty miles long by about three miles wide, and the southern and lowest fifteen miles long and three miles wide. Neither of these lakes have any outlet, though each receives the waters of a number of streams flowing from the mountains on the west. They contain no fish, though trout are found in the mountain streams running into them. At certain seasons of the year the whole valley swarms with ducks, geese, cranes, pelicans, and other wild fowl. All the land suitable for farming lies on the west side of these lakes, consisting of a strip of rich black loam, from two to six miles wide, gently sloping to their borders. Where not under cultivation, this land is matted with wild pea vines, grass and clover, so rank that it is often difficult to ride through it. This valley is said to have been known to Californians since 1852, but derives its name from the surprise its discovery caused a party from the State of Nevada, who came upon it while in pursuit of a band of maurading Indians, in the spring of 1861. It was supposed to be within the limits of that State until the establishment of the boundary a few years since showed it to lie mostly in California. This valley was first settled in 1866, when a small company entered it and located a number of land claims. Since then other settlers have gone there-the population now amounting to three or four hundred. At Fort Bidwell, situated on a handsome eminence at the north end of the valley, overlooking a large portion of it, a small garrison of soldiers is stationed, to protect the inhabitants against the Indians in the vicinity, who have always been troublesome. A grist mill and saw mill have been erected in the valley, for the accomodation of the settlers. Several thousand acres of land have been enclosed, and part of it placed under cultivation-the cereals here yielding remarkably well. A market for the products of the farmer is found in the Owyhee and Humboldt minesthe former distant about two hundred miles, in an easterly, and the

latter one hundred and thirty miles, in a southeasterly direction. The garrison at the fort, while it shall remain, will also take a portion of these products, and the Black Rock mines, lying fifty miles south, will create a further opening for them, should the lodes there prove valuable. There is also a good prospect that both quartz and placer mines will yet be found at no great distance to the north of this point, in Oregon.

Fort Bidwell, erected in 1865, occupies a commanding site at the north end of the valley. Willow creek, a large stream of pure water, flows by it, and situated a few rods above the post, is a large boiling spring, the waters of which, besides being useful for bathing purposes, could be advantageously employed for irrigation. The mountain ravines and slopes, lying two or three miles west of the main road leading through the valley, are timbered with pine, fir and cedar, affording fuel and all needed material for fencing and lumber. The climate here is similar to that of the other elevated valleys of California-the days warm, with cool nights, in the summer-the winters cold, with deep snow on the mountains, and but little in the valleys; the weather throughout the rest of the year being generally dry, and the temperature delightful.

Goose lake, thirty miles long and ten wide, is situated eight miles west of Surprise valley—a low range of mountains lying between them. The valley of this lake contains a large body of fine timber and between thirty and forty thousand acres of excellent farming and grazing lands, but it is without settlers; its remoteness, the hostile character of the surrounding Indians, and the absence of rich mineral deposits, having thus far detered the whites from locating in it.

Pitt river, carrying a heavy body of water, debouches from the south end of Goose lake, and, pursuing a southerly course, flows for fifteen miles through a desolate plateau covered with large boulders and masses of blackened lava, known as the "Devil's Garden," at the end of which it rushes, roaring and foaming, through a deep defile, named, from its wild and rugged aspect, "the Devil's cañon." Emerging from this gorge, it meanders quietly through Spring valley, so called because of a deep pool of hot water situated on its banks, which, agitated by the chemical action going on in its subterranean chambers, throws up a volume of water as large as a hogshead to a height of ten feet, which falls back into a large circular basin with the noise of a mountain cascade. The country adjacent to Pitt river, and, with few exceptions, the immediate valley of the stream itself, is for the most part an arid, barren and timberless region. There is, however, some

good land along the river, in the southern part of the county, where also the juniper and cedar attain a size making them serviceable for fuel.

Fall river, a large stream having its source in a group of immense springs at the eastern base of Mount Shasta, flows through a fissurelike channel, pursuing a singularly devious course for a distance of sixty miles, when it empties into Pitt river.

Mount Shasta, in its isolation the grandest peak, and for a long time supposed the loftiest mountain in the State, is situated in the southwesterly part of this county. It reaches an altitude of fourteen thousand four hundred and forty feet, its apparent height being somewhat diminished by the general elevation of the country and the many lofty peaks and ranges that surround it. For four or five thousand feet below its summit it is covered with snow at all seasons of the yearthis being the only mountain in the State that remains snow-clad for any considerable distance below its summit throughout the entire year, Lassen's Peak, the Downieville Buttes, and all the other more lofty points in the State losing their snow late in the summer, except where it has drifted into deep ravines or lies under the shadow of cliffs on their northern slopes. The base of this mountain is covered, except on the north, to the height of between seven and eight thousand feet, with heavy forests of sugar and pitch pine. On its northern slope, owing to the poverty of the soil, the only trees found consist of a growth of stunted cedar and oak. Scattered through the higher parts of this heavy timber belt occur patches of chaparral, which, being indicative of a barren soil, are locally known as the "Devil's acres." Up to an altitude of seven thousand feet, the trees are of the usual dimensions; at eight thousand feet, forest trees disappear entirely, a few stunted and hardy shrubs struggling for existence up to the height of about nine thousand feet, between which and the line of perpetual snow, scarcely a moss or lichen is to be seen. Above the latter point, and reaching to an altitude of twelve thousand feet, the only sign of life met with is a low form of vegetable of a vermillion color, which, generated in and staining the snow, causes this belt to be known as the "red snow." Above the fields of this most primitive vegetation, the cone of the mountain lifts itself-a glittering pavilion of untarnished snow. The best season for ascending the mountain is in the month of July or August. Earlier than July the snow is not sufficiently gone-while, towards the end of the summer, the fires, common in the forests, fill the air with smoke, interfering with and often completely destroying the view. The ascent is made from the west side, and until a height

of twelve thousand feet is reached is attended with no other difficulty than that always incident to the attenuated condition of the atmosphere at similar elevations. Above twelve thousand feet the ascent becomes more steep and laborious, the slope of the mountain inclining at an angle varying from thirty to forty-five degrees. Three days are required to make the journey with comfort and satisfaction. The first night is spent near the line of perpetual snow; the next day is consumed in going to the top of the mountain and returning to the spot left in the morning, where the second night is passed-the balance of the descent being made the following day. A good supply of blankets is required, as the temperature at this night-camp generally falls to the freezing point before morning. At an elevation of thirteen thousand two hundred and forty feet, a rudely circular, and nearly level space occurs, evidently the bottom of an ancient crater, one side of which having been broken away, a portion of its rim still remains, forming the summit of the mountain, which lifts itself one thousand two hundred and four feet above. On this level area are a number of orifices from which steam and sulphurous gases constantly escape-the feeble action of this solfatara being the only surviving manifestation of those stupendous forces that piled up the masses that form this extinct volcano. The thermometer, at midday, in summer, generally stands below the freezing point on the summit of the mountain. The air about its top is cold, even in the warmest weather, and is almost always in brisk circulation, the summit being frequently swept by strong gales that keep exposed portions of its sides denuded of snow. The outline of this mountain, from whatever side viewed, presents a nearly regular cone, the symmetry of which is somewhat marred, when observed from the southwest, by the interposition of the side cone, not two thousand feet lower than the main mountain, from which it stands wholly separated. No one has ever been on its top, it being steeper and more difficult of ascent than Shasta itself. The sky outline of the latter has a general inclination of about twenty-eight degrees on one side and of thirty-one degrees on the other, while the westerly slope of this side-cone inclines at about thirty-six degrees. While, as stated, certain exposed and rocky portions of the main mountain are denuded of snow, these bare spots disappear when viewed from a distance, the whole surface above the snow line seeming an unbroken sheet of white, distinctly separated from the dark belt of forest below. The entire mass of the mountain is of volcanic origin, the base consisting of trachitic lava and the more elevated portions of basaltic rock, there being but little scoria, ashes or other loose material to be seen, except near the summit, where there