You will not find a great variety of crops, for wheat and barley are the staple products of this valley; and though the farms here are in general of 640 acres or less, there are not wanting some of those immense estates for which California is famous; and a single farmer in this valley is said to have raised on his own land last year one-twentieth of the entire wheat crop of the State.
Northwest of Marysville the plain is broken by a singularly lovely range of mountains, the Buttes.

They rise abruptly from the plain, and their peaks reach from two to three thousand feet high.

It is an extremely pretty miniature mountain range, having its peaks, passes, and canons--all the features of the Sierra--and it is well worth a visit.

Butte is a word applied to such isolated mountains, which do not form part of a chain, and which are not uncommon west of the Mississippi.

Shasta is called a butte; Lassen's Peaks are buttes; and the traveler across the continent hears the word frequently applied to mountain.