Broad, shallow and muddy, bordered by level reaches of tule lands, so low that a few feet rise in the river overflows thousands of acres, and makes the river sometimes nearly six miles wide. A necessity, resulting from this overflow, is the San Joaquin Bridge, which not only spans the permanent bed of the roily stream, but extends several miles across the low tule lands, whose submergence would otherwise completely stop all travel, except by swimming, wading, boating or flying.
Seven miles from Lathrop, we come to
Banta's,
A small freight and passenger station, whence tri-weekly stages connect for Hill's Ferry, forty miles.
Five miles further, through a fine agricultural country, brings us to
Ellis,
A small village clustered round the usual saloons and restaurants; whence six miles more and we reach
Midway,
Whose name will never be true till either San Francisco or Sacramento moves six miles nearer the other.
Seven and a half miles further, we suddenly plunge into a well-cut tunnel, about six hundred feet long, whose chief peculiarity is that we enter it in one county and leave it in another. It receives us in San Joaquin county, carries us under the boundary, and ushers us into Alameda county. Just after coming out from the tunnel, we whirl by the little flag station Altamont, whence we begin to enter upon the down grade, and roll through the