278 Fred Wilbur Powell
of three other mighty rivers — ^the Colorado, the Rio Del Norte, and the Columbia. Its tributaries flow also from the range of mountains which flank the valley of the Colorado. It empties into the bay of San Francisco, and is navigable for vessels of small burden to its first fork, about eigh^ miles from its mouth. The branches which unite at that point are both rapid mountain streams; too rapid for easy navigation, but admirably adapted to float down to the waters of the Pacific the valuable timber which covers the mountains where they rise. The Sacrament, in the rainy season, rises fifteen or twenty feet, overflows its banks, assumes the appearance of a succession of lakes, and fertilizes with its alluvion im- mense tracts of champagne country. Of its numerous branches, and their countless tributary rivers and rivulets, I need not here make mention.
I crossed the rapids of the Scarament at what was said U> be its lowest ford, in latitude 39 deg. 35 min. Several of our horses were borne away by the torrent. The width of the river at that point exceeded 100 yards, and its depth varied from two to four feet. The streams west of this crossii^ place are said to be full of rapids. The western branch of the river is nearly equal in size to the eastern ; but its tribu- taries are, however, less copious.
It may be advisable to say something more of the aspect of this territory.
The Snowy mountains (Sierras Nevadas, as Vasquez named them in 1540), extending from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific, are drained by the largest rivers of North America, From these mountains a spur of rugged hills extends south- wardly, between the principal branches of the Sacrament, to that fork of the river of which I have spoken. These hills are manifestly of volcanic origin, and they might well be named the "Volcanic ridge." They abound in basaltic and vitrified stones, scoria, and many other products of volcanic action. Along their base stretches [51] a beautiful chain of prairies, for 70 or 80 miles, watered by numerous streams and rivulets.
