Historic Engravings from near Nortonville and
Black Diamond Landing, California

NO. 27.  DIABLO VALLEY AND STRAITS OF CARQUINEZ.
From "Vischer's Pictorial California," published April 1870.

The following is the original text that accompanied the engraving:

This view (in a northerly direction) is taken from an elevation of about 1,700 feet above the level of the sea, a peak in the northern declivities of Mount Diablo Range, about two and one-half miles from the town of Clayton, the site of which is indicated by the shaded portion of the rolling calcareous ridges occupying the middle ground of our picture. Clayton, the largest town created by the coal mining interest, stands at the head of Diablo Valley at the foot of Mount Zion, on a plateau studded with oak groves; and although only founded since 1862, is closely settled and surrounded by fine orchards, vineyards and gardens, the largest vineyard of 30,000 vines being that of Mr. Clayton, an enterprising citizen after whom the town is named. But the chief element of this place is the vicinity of the coal mines.

The Mount Diablo coal range commences about two miles south from Clayton, and its northern extremity, well defined by the characteristic stratification of its layers, occupies the right side of our foreground, just beyond the small ravine opposite the wagon returning from the Coal District, in the direction towards Clayton — while the left corner is occupied by the declivities of the hill, which we have chosen for our stand point, bearing the stunted growth of scrub oak peculiar to this region, m o r e visible at the border of the ravine.

The chief interest of this sketch lies in the opening of Diablo Valley, with Clayton, on a plateau, at its head; Pacheco at the foot of the descending ridges to the left, and Martinez (the county seat of Contra Costa) close to the Bay.

The portion of the Bay here visible are the Straits of Carquinez, between San Pablo and Suisun Bay. showing Martinez on the near, and Benicia with its shipyard on the opposite shore, with the mountain ranges north of the Bay of San Francisco rising in amphitheatre, and showing several culminating peaks of which Mount St. Helena, in the far distance, is the most prominent.

This landscape, though unaided by striking outlines or any forcible effects, is a highly graphic exponent of the characteristics of Mount Diablo scenery; the grand feature of which, Mount Diablo range, is the subject of our next number, while a third view, reserved for another portion of our work (see addition from the material of the Review of California's Progress,) represents the western declivities, Suisun Bay, the Diamond coal ledge with the semi-circle of chalky mounds, the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin and the corresponding plains, with a distant glimpse of the Sierra Nevada.