ficulty. The Klamath River flows
southwest for 120 miles until it flanks the Siskiyous. It there meets
the Trinity, which flows northwest. The combined rivers take the
direction of the Trinity, but the name of the Klamath prevails. It
enters the ocean about thirty miles south of the Oregon line. The whole
region is extremely mountainous. The course of the river is tortuous,
winding among the mountains.

The water-flow shows the general trend of the ranges; but most of the
rivers have numerous forks, indicating transverse ridges. From an
aeroplane the mountains of northern California would suggest an immense
drove of sleeping razor-backed hogs nestling against one another to keep
warm, most of their snouts pointed northwest.

Less than one-fourth of the land is tillable, and not more than a
quarter of that is level. Yet it is a beautiful, interesting and
valuable country, largely diversified, with valuable forests, fine
mountain ranges, gently rolling hills, rich river bottoms, and, on the
upper Trinity, gold-bearing bars.

Mendocino (in Humboldt County) was given its significant name about
1543. When Heceta and Bodega in 1775 were searching the coast for
harbors, they anchored under the lee of the next northerly headland.
After the pious manner of the time, having left San Blas on Trinity
Sunday, they named their haven Trinidad. Their arrival was six days
before the battle of Bunker Hill.

It is about forty-five miles from Cape Mendocino to Trinidad. The bold,
mountainous hills, though they often reach the ocean, are somewhat
depressed between these points. Halfway between them lies Humboldt Bay,
a capacious harbor with a tidal area of twenty-eight miles. It is the
best and almost the only harbor from San Francisco to Puget Sound. It is
fourteen miles long, in shape like an elongated human ear. It eluded
discovery with even greater success than San Francisco Bay, and the
story of its final settlement is striking and romantic.

Neither Cabrillo nor Heceta nor Drake makes mention of it. In 1792
Vancouver followed the coast searchingly, but when he anchored in what
he called the "nook" of Trinidad he was entirely ignorant of a near-by
harbor. We must bear in mind that Spain had but the slightest
acquaintance with the empire she claimed. The occasional visits of
navigators did not extend her knowledge of the great domain. It is
nevertheless surprising that in the long course of the passage of the
galleons to and from