Big Valley. - Otherwise known as the
valley of the Estero Americano, an estuary leading from the sea about seven
miles, lies along a small stream falling into it. The prosperous towns of
Bloomfield and Valley Ford are situated in the valley, while it is crossed
by the narrow-gauge line of the North Pacific Coast Railroad. The principal
products are potatoes, butter, and cheese, but cereals are also grown in
considerable quantities. One hundred thousand sacks of potatoes are raised
annually in the valley, and in the country north and south of it there are
at least eight thousand milch-cows, producing during the season, a daily
average of one pound of butter each.
Dry Creek Valley. - Lies to the north of Healdsburg and west of the
Russian River, is about sixteen miles long, and two broad, and is
without a peer in the production of wheat, corn, and staple products,
while the hill land on its border produces all kinds of fruit, being
especially adapted to grape culture.
Green Valley. - This beautiful
valley is on a creek of the same name which flows north into the
Russian River, and lies west of the Santa Rosa plain. It is twelve miles
long by three wide, and is adapted to the growth of fruit, and all the
staple crops; the specialty in fruit culture being apples, pears, plums,
prunes, peaches, cherries, table and raisin grapes. The finest orchards
of the county are situated in Green Valley.
Guilicos Valley. - This is in
fact the upper part of Sonoma valley, proper, and is one of the most
picturesque places in the whole State of California. It was originally
granted to the wife of Don Juan Wilson, a famous sea-captain on this
coast during the Mexican regime. He married into of the native
Californian families, and though an Englishman by birth, became a
Mexican citizen, and was granted the Guilicos valley. In 1850 it became
the property of William Hood, a Scotchman, who subdivided it and sold
the greater part. Mr. Hood, however, retains his charming homestead at
the foot of the Guilicos mountain, one of the most favored farms on the
coast.
Knight's Valley. - Has a
position on the extreme eastern boundary of Sonoma County, lying at the
foot of St. Helena mountain, and includes about thirteen thousand acres.
It is characterized by the most beautiful scenery, and though sparsely
settled, still it contains much valuable agricultural land and
hill-pasture for sheep, wheat culture and stock raising being its
principal enterprise.
Besides these there are the still smaller
valleys of Rincon, near Santa Rosa, Rural and Alpine, on Mark West
creek, and Blucher valley, west of the Santa Rosa plain, all of which
possess the most splendid soil and are capable of producing in extreme
plenty all of the staple crops.
The following able remarks on the geology
of Sonoma county have been most courteously supplied us by Doctor
Carpenter of Petaluma, an accomplished scientist and eminent physician
of that city.