San Joaquin County CA Archives History - Books .....Varieties Of Soil 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kellie Crnkovich markkell95@aol.com December 16, 2005, 2:24 pm Book Title: History Of San Joaquin County, California The soil of the county as classified by Mackie is divided into ten different classes which may be condensed for all practical use to adobe or clay loam, sandy loam, gravelly soil and peat or tule land. The clay loam comprises a belt of land in the center of the county about eight miles in width and sixteen miles in length. It begins at Stockton and ends just beyond Linden. Some persons called it the black land, because of its dark brown and black color. Mackie in describing it says, "The soil is of a close compact structure, polishingly highly upon the soil auger, is exceedingly tenacious and of a stiff, putty-like consistency when wet, checking at the surface in large blocks, by deep surface cracks upon exposure.'' In other words, the soil in summer time unless irrigated becomes very dry and cracks open into irregular blocks a foot or two in depth and a couple of inches wide. In winter the soil becomes solid by be¬ing wet, holds water and is exceedingly adhes¬ive. The ground contracts in summer and swells in winter, thus making it difficult to keep level streets or sidewalks. The soil is very fertile, although somewhat difficult to cultivate. On this belt grew the oak trees and it produces heavy crops of wheat, barley, hay and vegetables. The sandy loam lies upon the north and south side of the adobe belt. On the north it extends from the Calaveras River to the county line, and on the south from French Camp to Stanislaus County. For over thirty years it was considered of little value ex¬cept for pasture land. Irrigation, however, has produced wonderful results. In the Lodi sec¬tion grapes were planted and the land produces bountifully, with no irrigation but the rains. The gravel or San Joaquin loam, as Lapham calls it, lies in the eastern part of the county. In describing it he says, "It forms the upland of the lower or first foothill slopes and extends to the margins of the nearly level plains below. These slopes or rolling hills are treeless and de¬void of rock outcrop save the occasional ap¬pearance of the underlying hardpan." This section of the county comprises some 5,000 acres. Nature's last production is the western part of the county, the peat or tule land. Berk¬eley, you remember, said "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way; The first four acts already past, The fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last." And William H. Rhoads, the young Stockton pioneer, in a poem read at the fair of 1859 affirmed the Berkeley poem when he said in his closing lines, "Where then in Eden; Ah, why should I tell What every eye and besom knows so well? Why name the land all other lands have blest And traced for ages to the distant west? Why seek in vain the historic page For Eden's Garden and the Golden Age? Here, brothers, here, no further let us roam, Here is the Garden, Eden is our home." Additional Comments: HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY By George H. Tinkham Chapter I HISTORIC RECORD CO LOS ANGELES, CA 1923 File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/sanjoaquin/history/1923/historyo/varietie246ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 3.7 Kb