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[[underlined]] June 30. [[/underlined]] Remained in camp a day to work Sierra Valley. Find it is a big, flat bottomed old lake bed 10 or 15 miles across & surrounded with lava ridges on the E. & N. with a few small cones & craters in its edges.  An indistinct shoreline about 75 feet above the bottom shows on the bare sage brush covered east side.  Forest covered ridges surround the valley, 1000 to 2000 feet above its bottom.  The whole valley is meadow & much bog is cut & stock wintered.  It is largely a dairy region.  All the land is fenced & good ranches are numerous.

The valley is straight Transition with Artemisia tridentata & Kenzia, Wyethia, & Balsamorhiza as its most characteristic plants outside of the marshes.  Pinus ponderosa & Libocedrus come down to edge of marshes on W. side, but the east side is mainly sage covered ridges with scattered Juniperus occidentalis up the first slope 500 to 1000 feet.  Barometer reads 5300 in valley.

[[underlined]] Sierraville [[/underlined]] is 28 miles from Truckee with good wool & daily stage.