GopyiightN^, 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
THE ^ ' '^ 
 
 40 
 
 ReSOUI^CES of pALIFOI\^NIA; 
 
 COMPRISING THE 
 
 SOCIETY, CLIMATE, SALUBRITY, SCENERY, 
 
 COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 
 
 OF THE STATE. 
 
 JOHN S. HITTELL.! 
 
 SIXTH EDITIOK, REWRITTEN. 
 
 T-q'St 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: 
 A. ROMAN & COMPANY. 
 
 NEW YORK : W. J. WIDDLETON. 
 1874. 
 
Edtered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
 seventy-four, 
 
 By a. ROMAN & CO. 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 
 BACON i COMPAN 
 
 "NTERS, SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
•Preface to the jSixth Edition. 
 
 I write the resotirces of a State, which, though young in years, small 
 in population, and remote from the chief centers of civilization, is yet 
 knoAvn to the furthest comers of the earth, and during the last twenty- 
 four years has had an influence upon the course of human life and 
 the prosperity and trade of nations, more powerful than that exerted 
 during the same period by kingdoms whose subjects are numbered by 
 millions, whose history dates back through thousands of years, and 
 whose present stock of wealth began to acciimulate before our continent 
 was discovered, or our language was formed. I write of a land of 
 wonders. I write of California, which has astonished the world by 
 many marvelous facts in her history, and by the singular forms assumed 
 by nature within her limits ; by the great migration that suddenly 
 built up the first large Caucasian community on the shores of the 
 North Pacific ; by her vast yield of gold, amounting to $1,000,000,000, 
 preceptibly affecting the markets of labor and money in all the leading 
 nations of Christendom ; by the rapid development of her commerce ; 
 by the swift settlement of her remote districts ; by the prompt organiza- 
 tion of her government ; by the liberality with which the mines were 
 thrown o^ien and made free to all comers ; by the rush of adventurers 
 of every color and of every tongue ; by the high rates of her interest 
 and wages ; by the vast extent of her gold-fields, and the facility 
 with which they could be worked ; by the auriferous rivers in which 
 fortunes could be made in a week ; by pliocene streams richer than 
 those of the present era ; by beds of lava, which, filling up the 
 beds of pliocene rivers, were left, after the erosion of the banks and 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 adjacent plains, to stand as mountains, marking the position of great 
 treasures beneath ; by nuggets, each worth a fortune ; by the peculiar 
 nature of her mining industry ; by new and strange inventions ; by the 
 washing down of mountains ; by filling the rivers of the Sacramento 
 basin with thick mud throughout the year ; by six thousand miles of 
 mining ditches ; by aqueducts less durable, but scarcely less wonderful, 
 than those of ancient Rome ; by quicksilver mines surpassing those of 
 Spain ; by great deposits of sulphur and asphaltum ; by lakes of borax ; 
 by mud volcanoes, geysers, and natural bridges ; by a valley of roman- 
 tic and sublime beauty, shut in by walls nearly perpendicular and more 
 than three-quarters of a mile high, with half a dozen great cascades, in 
 one of which the water at two leaps falls more than the third of a mile ; 
 by a climate the most conducive to health, and the most favorable to 
 mental and physical exertion — so equable on the middle coast that ice 
 is never seen and thin summer clothing never worn, and that January 
 differs in average temperature only eight degrees of Fahrenheit from 
 July ; by a singular botany, including the most splendid known group 
 of coniferous trees, of which half a dozen species grow to be more than 
 two hundred and fifty feet high, and one species has reached a height of 
 four hundred and fifty feet, and a diameter of forty feet in the trunk ; 
 by a peculiar zoology, composed chiefly of animals found only on this 
 Coast, and including the largest bird north of the Equator, and the 
 largest and most formidable quadruped of the continent ; by the im- 
 portation in early years of all articles of food, and then by the speedy 
 development of agriculture, until her wheat and wine have gone to the 
 furthest cities in search of buyers, and until her markets are unrivaled 
 in the variety and magnificence of home-grown fruits ; by the largest 
 crops of grain, and the largest specimens of fruits and vegetables on 
 record ; by a society where for years there was not one woman to a score 
 of men, and where all the men were in the bloom of manhood ; by the 
 first settlement of Chinamen among white men ; by the rapid fluctua- 
 tions of trade ; by the accumulation of wealth in the hands of men, most 
 of whom came to the country poor ; by the practice, universal in early 
 years, of going armed ; by the multitude of deadly affrays ; by extra- 
 constitutional courts, which sometimes punished villains with immcdi- 
 
PREFACE, V 
 
 ate execution, and sometimes proceeded with a gravity and slow modera- 
 tion that might become the most august tribunals ; and by the estab- 
 lishment of what may be considered as a new nationality, with mental, 
 literary, physical, and social characteristics differing from those of other 
 portions of the American Union, although not aspiring in any way to 
 political separation. 
 
 I am so much attached to Califoraia, that I could not live contentedly 
 elsewhere ; and I imagine that neither the earth, the sky, nor the people 
 of any other country, equal that of this State. I confess that I am an 
 enthusiast in her behalf and if I fail to do justice to her merits it will 
 not be for lack of affection. Neither will it be for any lack of attention 
 or industry. During the last twenty years, I have assiduously collected 
 every thing within my reach relative to the industry, resources, natural 
 history, and population of the State. I have looked through the news- 
 papers published between Crescent City and San Diego, and have ex- 
 amined all the books written about the country, Spanish, French, and 
 German, as well as English. I have been in the extreme north, and 
 the extreme south ; I have gone to both extremities by land and sea ; 
 I have traveled through her great interior valley, from Shasta to Tejon ; 
 I am intimately acquamted with her most fertile valleys and her most 
 productive gold-iields ; I know sonaethiug of her mining and agriculture 
 by experience and practice ; and finally, I have endeavored to compress 
 into this book all the important attainable facts. 
 
 I write of California while she is still youthful, and full of marvels ; 
 while her population is still unsettled ; while her business is still fluctu- 
 ating, her wages high, her gold abundant, and her birth still fresh in the 
 memory of men and women who have scarcely reached their majority ; 
 and I write of her while she still offers a wide field for the adventurous, 
 the enterprising, and the young, who have life before them, and wish to 
 commence it where they may have a free career, in full sight of great 
 rewards for success, and with few chances of failure. 
 
 Some passages of this sixth, as well as of previous editions, were origi- 
 nally written for other publications, and though they first appeared 
 anonymoiisly, are still mine. 
 
 I add as appropriate to this place, and as indicative of the feelings 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 common among the old Califomians towards the State of their adoption, 
 the following address, which I delivered before the Society of California 
 Pioneers, at their nineteenth celebration of the admission of the State 
 into the Union, on the 9th of September, 1869. 
 
 I congratulate you upon meeting again at this, our nineteenth annual 
 assemblage, to commemorate the organiiiation of our State, and the 
 formation of the nucleus of the American Empire on the Pacific, to 
 revive the recollection of the impressive scenes witnessed in the early 
 days of pioneer life, and, if possible, to give additional stimulus to our 
 affection for California, our chosen home, to which we are bound by a 
 multitude of cherished memories, by soul-stirring associations which no 
 other land could have supplied to us. The ideas called up to-day belong, 
 however, not exclusively to the anniversary of the admission of our 
 State into the Union, and its attendant incidents. In this celebration 
 we cannot overlook the facts that in this year fall the centennial anni- 
 versaries of the first white settlement of California, the discovery and 
 naming of the Bay of San Francisco, and the first appearance of white 
 men on the site of our city. And this year has witnessed an event of 
 world-wide interest and of especial importance to us — the completion of 
 the Pacific Railroad — forming a grand climax for the close of the first 
 century of Californian civilization, that began with one of the lowest and 
 ends with one of the highest phases of human society. We seem to 
 have leaped at one bound from the bottom to the top of the ladder of 
 progress. 
 
 The first era of California, that of Indian dominion and savage life, 
 extends from an unknown and remote antiquity to 1769. In an epoch 
 that belongs not to history or tradition, but to geology, while the Sac- 
 ramento Basin was a great lake, while the higher parts of the Sierra 
 Nevada were covered with glaciers, and still earlier, while numerous 
 volcanoes were pouring out their lavas to form the northern portion of 
 the Sierra, men lived upon its slopes, as their bones, their mortars, their 
 pestles, their spear-heads and arrow-heads, then deposited in deep beds 
 of gravel, and of late brought to light, bear witness. We have no con- 
 chiflive evidence that the Diggers found here by the first Spanish ex- 
 plorers, more than three hundred years ago, had been preceded by a dif- 
 
 • 
 
 i 
 
PREFACE. TU 
 
 ferent race. The tradition that the Aztecs came from this Coast, and the 
 theory that the North American Indians are descendants of Asiatics, 
 are not sustained by any trvLstworthy proof. The aborigines were not 
 able to adapt themselves to high civilization, and they are not repre- 
 sented among us to-day. They have left no art, no custom, no monu- 
 ment, (except a few mounds, the accumulation of *hells, bones, coral, 
 and ashes, around their rancherias) no original thought, no recollection 
 of a noble deed, no tongue, only a few proper names, (such as Sonoma, 
 Napa, Petaluma, Suisun, Tuolumne, Mokelumne, etc.) to remind us 
 of their existence. 
 
 The second era, that of Spanish dominion and ascetic ideas, lasted 
 fifty-three years, beginning on the nth of April, 1769, when the brig 
 San Antonio arrived at San Diego with the first party of white men 
 who came to make a permanent settlement in what was then Upper or 
 New California, and is now simply California. This settlement was 
 under the control of Franciscan friars, whose purpose was to convert 
 the Indians. Some soldiers accompanied the missionaries to protect 
 their persons and property, and soon a white lay population began to 
 grow up ; but the dominant interest was that of the friars, and most of 
 the inhabitants recognizing Spanish authority were Indian converts. 
 
 The Franciscans held that the chief virtues of life were chastity, 
 celibacy, poverty, and abject humility, and the chief duties were fre- 
 quent recitation of prayers, the mortification of the flesh, the sacrifice 
 of the passions, and the renunciation of all social pleasures and secular 
 interests for the sake of beatitude in a future existence. Twenty-one 
 missions were founded, none more than thirty miles from the ocean ; 
 the first and most southern at San IKego, in 1769, the last and most 
 northern at Sonoma, in 1823. 
 
 In July, 1769, a party under the supervision of friar Juan Crespi 
 started by land to examine the coast northward. After journeying for 
 three months among savages who showed no hostility, in October he dis- 
 covered and named our bay, reached the site of our city, and here turned 
 back. Seven years later the Mission of San Francisco was established. 
 Seven years hence — in 1876 — we shall celebrate the centennial anni- 
 
VUl PREFACE. 
 
 versary of the -white settleraeut of San Francisco, and also the centen- 
 nial anniversary of the independent existence of our nation. 
 
 The Missions were in their best condition in 1814, (after -which they 
 "were injured by the stoppage of pay and other consequences of the Mexi- 
 can Revolution) but they continued to increase in population and prop- 
 erty until 1826, -when they had 24,611 Indian neophytes, 215,000 head 
 of neat cattle, 135,000 sheep, and 16,000 horses, and harvested 75,000 
 bushels of grain. The fi-iars of the ascetic era have all disappeared. 
 Of their converts only a fe-w hundred remain, and those, -with rare ex- 
 ceptions, no longer occupy their old homes. Most of the MLssions have 
 served as centers round -which to-wns have been built. Some of the 
 adobe churches still stand as monuments of the indiistry of the neo- 
 phytes, guided by friar architects. The oldest building of our city, 
 erected more than half a century since, though lately renovated, is the 
 church at the Mission, dedicated to St. Francis, the founder of the 
 Franciscan Order, the preeminent hero of asceticism, whose name has 
 been adopted by the San Franciscans, but whose practice is not followed 
 by them, as the taste, the fashion, the beauty, the wealth, the luxury 
 represented by this auditory, may testify. 
 
 The third era, that of Mexican dominion and pastoral life, lasted 
 twenty-four years, beginning on the 9th of April, 1822, when the inde- 
 pendence of Mexico from Spain was formally proclaimed and fu'st offi- 
 cially recognized at Monterey, the capital of the territory. The white 
 population increased slowly. The Mexicans were not a colonizing peo- 
 ple. The journey from Sonora by land was long and beset by many hard- 
 ships and dangers. The advantages of California were not generally 
 kno-wn or appreciated. Most of the men who became prominent under 
 Mexican dominion were officers or soldiers, or the sons of soldiers, sent 
 out to protect the Missions. IMost of the early immigrants came at the 
 request and with the assistance of the Government. On the 29th of 
 November, 1777, the first to-mi was established at San Jose by a party 
 of fourteen families, which had started from Sonora two years before ; 
 and on the 4th of November, 17S1, the pueblo of Los Angeles was 
 founded by another party. The rancheros and town people never 
 agreed very well with the fi'iars, who became subordinate in influence 
 
PKEPACE. IX 
 
 to the military and civil authorities soon, after the Mexican flag was 
 hoisted. The Indians ceased to obey their teachers, neglected their 
 work, and plundered the Mission property. In 1835 the Missions were 
 secularized — that is, orders were issued that part of the herds and agri- 
 cultural implements should be distributed among the neophytes and 
 rancheros, and the remainder should be disposed of for the benefit of 
 the public treasury ; but most of the property was soon in the possession 
 of the chieftains and their friends. In 1842 only 4,500 Indians remained 
 at the Missions, some of which had been deserted by the fiuars. 
 
 The Mexican Californians lived an idle, easy life. Their only income 
 was derived from the hides and tallow of their neat cattle, which throve 
 on the wild grass in the open country. They had no work and little 
 worry. They were happy ; they did not know any better. They had 
 few excitements, and many of them had no anxieties. Most of them, 
 and some of the old American residents, have regretted the change 
 which has since taken place. From various miseries of life, common 
 elsewhere, they were exempt. They had no lawyers, doctors, tax- 
 gatherers, or newspapers ; no steamboats, railroads, stage coaches, post- 
 offices, regular mails, or stove-pipe hats. Bedsteads, chairs, tables, 
 wooden floors, and kid gloves, were rarities. They were a large, active, 
 hardy, long-lived race, who made up by their fecundity for the failtire 
 of the friars to contribute to the population of the territory. It was 
 fashionable in those days to have large families. Ignacio Vallejo had 
 twelve children ; Joaquin Carrillo, (of Santa Barbara) twelve ; Jose 
 Noriega, ten ; Jose Argiiello, thirteen ; Jos6 Maria Pico, nine ; Fran- 
 cisco Sepiilveda, eleven ; Jose Maria Ortega, eleven ; and Juan Bandini, 
 ten. These were all the founders of the large families of their respect- 
 ive names, and in most cases the progenitors of all of their name in the 
 State. In the second generation there was no decline. Nasario Berrey- 
 esa had eleven children ; Jose Sepiilveda, twelve ; Guadalupe Vallejo, 
 twelve ; Josefa Vallejo, eleven ; Feliciano Soberanes, ten ; and Jos6 
 Antonio Castro, twenty-five. An old lady, named Juana Cota, died some 
 years ago, leaving five hundred living descendants at the time of her- 
 death. There have been wonderful changes in California. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 As the children nearly all married, and the white families were not 
 very numerous, (there were only seven hundred ranches or country 
 estates in 1846) it happened that nearly everybody was the relative of 
 everybody else by blood or naarriage, and where these two bonds failed, 
 the spiritual relation of godfather or godmother supplied the deficiency. 
 All were cousins or compadres (co-fathers). They were all one large 
 family, not only willing but glad to entertain their relatives, and glad 
 to be entertained. Time with them was not money ; knowledge was 
 not power. Leisure, horses, beef, and beans — the essentials in those 
 days for making long journeys — were abundant, and so their life was 
 a succession of paseos and _^estas— riding and feasting. 
 
 But the social good feeling did not prevent political troubles. The 
 Supreme Government at Mexico sent out carpet-bag Governors, who 
 were expelled. Los Angeles and Monterey, the North and the South, 
 contended for the Territorial Capital. The personal interests, the am- 
 bitions, of the Picos, Carrillos, Noriegas, Castros, Alvarados, and Val- 
 lejos, for the honors and profits of civil and military office, led to con- 
 tests in which soldiers were frequently called out ; but the revolutions 
 were not very bloody, for only one man was killed in them previous to 
 
 1845, and he by accident. And yet they were brave, as they proved in 
 the battle of San Pascual, when Gen. Kearney narrowly escaped destruc- 
 tion. From 1835 to 1846 these political troubles continued to increase 
 in seriousness, and many of the leading men, having appealed in vain 
 to Mexico for aid, were discussing the question whether they should not 
 solicit the protection of England or the United States — the predominant 
 influence being decidedly in favor of the latter — when the discussion 
 was suddenly arrested by the conquest. 
 
 The American commercial era of California began on the 7th of July, 
 
 1846, when the Stars and Stripes were permanently hoisted at Monte- 
 rey. An adventurous Boston boy — a mozo Bostones, as the old Spanish 
 record calls him — took up his residence at Santa Barbara in 1 794, and 
 John Gilroy, a Scotch sailor, near death, was allowed to come ashore at 
 Monterey in 1814; but with those exceptions Anglo-Saxons did not 
 begin to establish themselves in California until after the overthrow of 
 the Spanish authority opened the ports to foreign vessels, and the land 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 to foreign settlers. Whalers and smugglers, mostly American, had for 
 years been familiar with the coast. Boston merchants, engaged in buy- 
 ing hides and tallow, and selling cheap calico and trinkets, soon made 
 their appearance, and they were followed by others of different occupa- 
 tions. Abel Stearns, Alfred Robinson, Henry Melius, W. D. M. How- 
 ard, T. O. Larkin, Wm. Dana, D. A. Hill, Henry D. Fitch, David 
 Spence, and W. E. P. Hartnell, arrived by sea before 1840. In 1825, 
 thirty trappers under Jedediah Smith crossed the Sierra Nevada, about 
 latitude thirty-nine degrees, and were the first white men to reach Cali- 
 fornia overland from the Mississippi Valley. They all went back, but 
 the information which they circulated induced two other parties of 
 trappers to come in 1827, one of which entered the State at Fort Yuma, 
 and thus the middle and southern trans-continental trails were opened. 
 Among those who came with trapper parties were Yount, Wolf skill, 
 Workman, Sparks, Leese, and Graham. In 1839, Sutter came by sea 
 and established his fort, subsequently an important center for American 
 influence. Workman, after his first trip with the trappers, returned to 
 New Mexico, where he had lived, and induced a considerable party of 
 his friends and neighbors to come to this Coast. The largest migration 
 from the valley of the Rio Grande came in 1841, and included the Vaca 
 and PeHa families. In that same year, Joseph Chiles, of Missouri, came 
 to California, and in 1842, went back with information that here people 
 could live without work, and cattle without shelter or cultivated food ; 
 that fertile land could be got by the league for nothing ; that it would 
 be very valuable as soon as it should be covered by the American flag, 
 and that annexation was inevitable and not far distant. His statements 
 had much influence. The next year a party, including Bid well and 
 Reading, came; in 1844, another; in 1845, another, including Hensley 
 and Snyder. Those who came overland, by their numbers and skill 
 with the rifle, got the preponderance north of San Pablo Bay ; the com- 
 mercial immigrants settled on the southern coast, and there obtained a 
 powerfiil influence by superior education, ability, and marriage into the 
 leading families. Anglo-Saxon husbands were married to five Carrillos 
 of Santa Barbara, three Carrillos of Santa Rosa, four Noriegas, four 
 Bandinis, three Ortegas of Santa Barbara, two Vallejos, and one Sobera- 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 nes. Some of them were English, but they were all glad of the change 
 of government, and they induced the great majority of the Californians 
 to submit qviietly -when the Stars and Stripes -were hoisted. There 
 was some resistance, but it was almost hopeless fi-om the first. The 
 American Cabinet had determined to own California, and indeed there 
 is good reason to believe that, but for the expectation of getting this 
 country, they would not have taken up arms when they did. Soon 
 after the first encounter — on the Rio Grande — orders were issued to 
 recruit a regiment of men in New York to serve in California, with the 
 understanding that they should remain here as citizens after the war. 
 Those only were to be received who would be suitable settlers for a new 
 country. On the 29th of September, 1846, they sailed ; on the 6th of 
 March, of the next year, the first vessel arrived in our bay. They had 
 little military duty to perform, but many of them have since become 
 prominent men. 
 
 The gold discovery was made on the 19th of January, 1848, a month be- 
 fore the treaty of Guadulupe Hidalgo was signed, and five months and 
 a half before peace was finally proclaimed and the American title to Cali- 
 fornia acknowledged by Mexico. In June the whole ten-itory was ex- 
 cited, and on the 20th of September the first public notice of the dis- 
 coveiy printed in the Atlantic States, so far as I can learn, apijeared in 
 the Baltimore Sun, attracting little attention. Letters of army officers 
 and small shipments of dust began to an-ive in November, followed soon 
 by fuller and more favorable accounts, and in January the States were 
 in a fever. It was then that most of us determuied to seek our fortunes 
 in the distant El Dorado, in a land almost iinknown to geogi-aphy, on an 
 ocean almost unknown to commerce. Those near the Atlantic started 
 to double Cajje Horn ; those in the Mississippi Valley to cross the Kocky 
 and the Snowy mountains. It was a bold adventure to go to a remote 
 country of which we knew little, to engage in a business of which we 
 inew nothing. IMost of us, after getting our outfits, had no money left 
 to bring us back, or support us in case of adversity. The amount of 
 gold which had arrived from the mines was small, and the statements 
 that there were rich claims for all who might come, were not justified 
 by the knowledge of that time, though they were proved to be correct 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 by subsequent discoveries. But the excitement was up, and we were not 
 disposed to be critical or skeptical. The start was accompanied by the 
 warnings of the old men, the tears of the women, and the envious and 
 congratulatory remarks of our associates who wanted to come and could 
 not. It was an impressive occasion, full of bright hopes and dark fore- 
 bodings for many who remained, as well as for all who came. 
 
 Of the unorganized army of 20,000 men who, in May, 1849, broke 
 camp at various points on the banks of the Missouri River between Coun- 
 cil Bluffs and Independence, to march to the land of gold, I was one. A 
 few had pack animals or miile teams, but most had oxen — three yoke and 
 three men to a wagon, in which we had provisions for a year, as there was 
 then no stock in the mines, and we knew not when we should find a 
 supply. All were armed for defense. As for the men, we were the 
 flower of the West: nearly all young, active,' healthy, many well edu- 
 cated, all full of hope and enthusiasm. In our ignorance of the nature 
 of auriferous deposits we expected, unless exceptionally unfortunate, to 
 strike places where we should dig up two or three hundred pounds of 
 gold in a day without difficulty. In visions by day and in dreams by 
 night, we saw oiirselves in the possession of treasures more splendid than 
 those that dazzled the eyes of Aladdin. We compared ourselves to the 
 Argonauts, to the army of Alexander starting to conquer Persia, to the 
 Crusaders. Our enthusiasm was maintained by our numbers. The road, 
 as far as we could see by day from the highest mountains, was lined with 
 men and wagons ; at night the camp-fires gleamed like the lights of a city 
 set on a hill. Our brightest anticipations suffered no diminution as we 
 advanced on our journey ; vexatious and tiresome as many of the days 
 were, we never forgot, we never doubted, the reward that was to com- 
 pensate us. The long march of two thousand miles, (for we were 
 nearly all afoot, and there were no seats in the wagons) the fording and 
 ferrying of cold and swift rivers, the repeated preparation for Indian 
 attacks of which false alarms were spread, the tedious guarding of the 
 cattle at night, the long inarches over the desert, the oppressive heat and 
 the still more oppressive dust of the alkaline plains, the toilsome ascent 
 of the mountains, which seemed so steep that we doubted whether our 
 oxen could climb up — all these were borne, if not cheerfully, yet 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 without regret that we had ventured upon them. I can mention but I 
 cannot describe the anxiety of finding that a desert which we expected 
 to cross in forty miles was much longer, and on being told by a man 
 who met us that he had been thirty miles further and found no sign of 
 grass or water. Our oxen were already exhausted, and such a distance 
 was impracticable. Nobody that we knew had been over the road, nor 
 had we any guides. We went on, however, and found two families — 
 men, women, and children — in tears, their oxen all dead, themselves 
 helpless. We still pressed on, and the next morning we and the unfor- 
 tunate families were in camp at an oasis, and fiddling and dancing fol- 
 lowed the suffering. Neither can I describe the delight with which we 
 looked down from the summit of the Sierra Nevada over the distant 
 valley of the Sacramento, dim and golden in the rays of the setting sun. 
 We had come to dig for gold, and nearly all who came by land went 
 to mining. Though we did not make so much as we had hoped, we 
 still found the placers wonderfully rich. It was no uncommon event 
 for a man alone to take out five hundred dollars in a day, or for two or 
 three, if working together, to divide the dust at the end of the week by 
 measuring it with tin cups. But we were never satisfied. Others were 
 getting more : we were not making enough. We went prospecting far 
 out into the districts occupied by hostile Indians ; we found diggings 
 that would at last make millionaires of us ; but in the midst of our re- 
 joicings we ran out of provisions, and had to live for days on grass and 
 acoms, picked from the holes in trees where they had been placed by 
 woodpeckers. We had to meet the savages in battle ; and more danger- 
 ous than that, we had to swim the large mountain torrents in full flood 
 height. For months we slept under no shelter and saw no house. And 
 worst of all, our diggings, which we had gone so far and risked so much 
 to find, at last deceived us. They were not so rich as we imagined ; the 
 water gave oiit, and we were not numerous enough to keep up a guard 
 at all points against the Indians. All these things I went through in 
 person, and my experience was, perhaps, not so eventful as that of most 
 pioneer miners. The expenses, the time spent in traveling and prospect- 
 ing, and the lack of all the luxuries and many of the comforts of life, 
 made many of us think it was cheaper to get gold in any other way 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 than by digging for it in the placers. "We abandoned the mines. Our 
 bright dreams of becoming millionaires by washing the sands of the 
 Sierra Nevada were all dissipated. Nor have we, as a class, made large 
 fortunes in other pursuits, and of those who have, not a few have lost 
 them again. But when we look back at the interval of twenty years, 
 we do not regret that we became pioneers. We had demanded of Cali- 
 fornia that she should fill the purses of every one with gold. She re- 
 fused that demand to many, but she gave to all a cherished home, a 
 sunny and genial sky, a fertile soil, a delightful landscajje, a clime 
 suited to the development of every energy, the companionship of the 
 most intelligent and enterprising people, and a site suited for a great 
 city and for the concentration of the comra.erce of a wealthy coast. She 
 gave us the greatest relative abundance of gold known in the world. 
 She compressed, within a few years, the progress that elsewhere would 
 have required a century. Our business has been unparalleled in its 
 activity. Our lives have been a rapid succession of strong sensations. 
 Great wealth has hovered about us all, within reach of all, and if many 
 of us did not know the precise moment for grasping it, still we have for 
 years been interested in the chase ; and perhaps the active excitement of 
 pursuit has given us more pleasure than we covJd have enjoyed in posses- 
 sion. Many of us have gone back to the Eastern States, intending to 
 make homes there, but found the attempt a complete failure. Life was 
 a dull and commonplace routine ; once accustomed to the whirl of Cali- 
 fomian speculation and the cordiality of Californian society, we could 
 not live without them. 
 
 For a long time we could not think or speak of this as home. We had 
 started with the expectation — the promise — of soon retui-ning. When 
 we first saw the brown mountains and the bare plains of California in 
 the fall of 1S49, it did not occur to us that we should ever want to live 
 here. There was nothing here to reward ambition save gold. Our 
 mothers, sisters, sweethearts, wives, remained in "the States,'' and for 
 years we longed to get back to them. And they, deprived by unjust 
 and oppressive social rules of an equal chance in the race of life, hoped 
 that we would come to give them our companionship and assistance. 
 The affections of a million families throughout the civUized world were 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 fixed upon California by such bonds. The sorrow caused by these sepa- 
 rations — the disappointments that resulted from many causes — were 
 great. One of those who looked in vain for the return of her Califor- 
 nian, [Mrs. Akers] wrote these pathetic lines : 
 
 ' Why don't he come ? He said the leaves then springing 
 
 At his return should still be fresh and green ; 
 How oft they've sprung and faded without bringing 
 
 His truant footsteps to his hearth again ! 
 At first, there came soft oft-recurring token. 
 
 As if to save his memory by the sign ; 
 ■Wliat need ? Can they forget, who bow heart-broken 
 
 At Memory's shrine ? 
 
 " Why don't he come? Not all the glittering treasures 
 
 That freight the navies through the Golden Gate 
 Can buy me back my heart's once healthful measures, 
 
 Or check the current of my hastening fate — 
 Dispel the gloom in which I am benighted — 
 
 Restore the lost, I live but to deplore — 
 Eevive again my hopes all dashed and blighted — 
 
 For evermore. 
 
 " Why don't he come ? Like traveler belated, 
 
 Perhaps he stays and slumbers by the way : 
 Where was he faring when with greed unsated 
 
 Death claimed the weary wanderer as his prey ? 
 Did I but know, to seek his nameless ashes 
 
 My soul would garner all its wasting fires, 
 Like the spent taper which a moment flashes 
 
 And then expires." 
 
 None of the great battles in the late war broke so many heart-strings 
 and caused such wide-spread pain, as did the Calif omian gold migration ; 
 but on the other hand, scores of thousands of families which would have 
 otherwise suffered the privations of life-long poverty, were placed in 
 comparative comfort by the remittances of their friends in the mines ; 
 and that the general influence of California on society ha.s been highly 
 beneficial, there is no room to doubt. 
 
 The sudden rise of the gold production to sixty million dollars ; the 
 excitement aboiit Kern River, Eraser River, Washoe, and White Pine ; 
 
PREFACE. Xvii 
 
 the Vigilance Committee ; the great fires and floods ; the development 
 of our agriculture and horticulture to surpassing excellence in some 
 branches ; the introduction of the Panama and river steamers ; the con- 
 striiction of the Panama Railroad ; the establishment of the pony ex- 
 press, overland stage line, the trans-continental telegraph, and the trans- 
 Pacific steam line ; and last of all, the completion of the Pacific Railroad 
 — all these have made epochs in our lives. In the consciousness and 
 memory of every pioneer, however slight his importance may be for 
 others, the history of the State since he arrived here is an important 
 part of his personal history. Some of us can hardly look at a prominent 
 land-mark, between Shasta and San Bernardino, without recollectino- 
 that it is associated with some interesting incident of his personal ex- 
 perience. 
 
 In San Prancisco, the chief port, the metropolis, the main pleasure 
 resort, the center of wealth and luxury on our Coast, life could not be 
 dull. Existence received a zest from the powerfully tonic effect of the 
 climate, impelling all to the open air every day, the excitements of fre- 
 quent public demonstrations, the stimulus of an extraordinary throng 
 of business, the composite character of the population representing every 
 leading nation in a small space, and the all-prevailing influence of an 
 enterprising daily press that gave expression and intensity to every 
 phase of an excitable public feeling. The building of long wharves, the 
 cutting down of high hills, the filling of the coves, the construction of 
 a site as well as of the city to occupy it, were wonders that never lost 
 their interest. For years our only communication with the Atlantic 
 States and Europe was by semi-monthly steamers, which in large in- 
 stallments and at relatively long intervals brought us all our news and 
 our immigrants, and carried away our gold and our Californians going 
 to visit Eastern friends. The proportion of the arrivals and the depart- 
 ures to the population, and of the treasure shipment to the business, 
 was so great, that steamer day was a shock that was felt throughout the 
 State. Nearly everything we consumed, save the cereals, fresh fruits, 
 fresh meats, and coarse furniture, was imported from the North At- 
 lantic, from which we were five months distant ; that is, we could not 
 
 obtain goods until five months after we ordered them from here. The 
 B 
 
XVlll PREFACE. 
 
 smallness of our stocks and our distance from all large markets offered 
 facilities for forestalling, and gave to mercantile business a speculative 
 character, the influence of which was felt in all classes of society. The 
 abundance of money, the rapid growth of the city, the wonderful pro- 
 ductiveness of the Washoe silver mines, and the success of forestalling 
 speculations, made many fine fortunes and stimulated everybody to 
 aspire after wealth. The Latin poet longed for a life of ease, with 
 dignity ; the Califomian longs for a life of speculation, with success. 
 Whatever else may be said of the Pioneers, they will not be accu.sed of 
 rusting out. 
 
 Nor will it be said of them that the passion which drove them to 
 incur the dangers, the privations, and the toils of adventure in an un- 
 settled and almost unknown country, was sordid. They risked their 
 lives and exerted all their energies for gold, but with no miserly feeling. 
 They spent their money as fast as they made it, too many even faster. 
 Not parsimony, but extravagance, distinguishes the State. Yet it is not 
 a base extravagance. Our community is highly intelligent ; our pleas- 
 ures are intellectual and refined. Our numerous charities, our munifi- 
 cent contributions to the Sanitary Fund, our free schools, our public 
 libraries, our frequent concerts, the liberal patronage of the theaters, 
 this elegant temple of the drama [the California Theater] in which we 
 have to-day assembled, suggest the dominant feelings and tastes of San 
 Francisco. Great men have made their preferred home among us, and 
 found here their most appreciative friends. It was among us that Baker 
 and Starr King reached their highest flights of oratory. They were 
 with us in life, they remain with us in death. Grant, Sherman, and 
 Sheridan spent many of their best years in our State, and were here 
 prepared for the responsible service to be performed after leaving us. 
 Halleck and Yale have contributed works of permanent value to our 
 legal literature ; Dwindle, Randolph, and Tuthill have shown eminent 
 ability in their historical labors. Our poetry, our humorous writings, 
 our pictures, have done credit to us at home and abroad, though but 
 beginnings. 
 
 The companions of Cortez in his conquest of the Aztec Empire — even 
 the poorest and most ignorant of them — were distinguished and pointed 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 out as coiupn'stadorea as long as they lived ; and it appears to me that 
 we pioneers accomplished a •work, different in many respects from that 
 of Cortez, but not altogether unlike in the spirit in which it was under- 
 taken and the importance which it assumed. We did not subdue and 
 plunder the great empire, but we founded a new one, which already, in 
 twenty years, occupies a more important place in commerce and industry 
 than Mexico, with three centuries of ciTilization and eight millions of 
 people. The exploits of the Mexican conquistadores did not find an ap- 
 propriate and immortal record till Prescott wrote in our own time ; the 
 adventures and labors of the Califomian pioneers may go as long before 
 they are told in a history that will charm men to the remotest age. If 
 I were a poet and felt myself capable of maintaining the epic flight, I 
 think I could find in the great Califomian gold discovery and its results, 
 a subject more congenial to the taste of this age, richer in impressive 
 suggestions, in strange and romantic incidents, and generally in the 
 material for a great poem, than the conrpiest of Troy or Jerusalem, the 
 adventures of Ulysses or Eneas. 
 
 Much we have seen, more we shall see. Our State is the Italy of the 
 New World, possessing a dower of beauty not inferior to that of the 
 Latin Peninsula ; but, unlike that, not destined to be fatal in its at- 
 traction. The descendants of the Goth, the Vandal, and the Hun, who 
 crushed the ancient civilization of Italy under their fierce barbarism, 
 of the German, the Frank, and the Spaniard, whose favorite battle-fields 
 for centuries were the plains of Lombardy and Naples, will come not to 
 contend with us in arms, but to compete with us in arts. We shall 
 gain victories and celebrate triumphs more numerous and more glorious 
 than those of Republican and Imperial Rome, but our triumphs will be 
 those of good will — the triumphs of the architect, the road builder, the 
 engineer, the inventor, the farmer, the miner, the scientist, the author, 
 the painter, the musician, the orator. They will be celebrated not by 
 processions, with generals riding in gilded cars, dragging captive kings 
 in chains, but by intellectual gatherings, art exhibitions, and industrial 
 fairs. The highest civilization will make one of its chief centers here. 
 The coast valleys from Mendocino to San Diego, on account of the mild- 
 ness and equability of their climate, surpassing even that of Naples, will 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 be the favorite place of residence for many thousands from abroad. 
 They Avill fill the land with wealth, luxury, and art. California will 
 occupy in the hemisphere of the Pacific, as a focus of intellectual cul- 
 ture, a position similar to that long held by Attica in the basin of the 
 Mediterranean. Looking confidently forward to such a result, hoping 
 to see much of it accomplished in our own tinxe, let us endeavor to lay a 
 broad, solid, and generous foundation for the political, industrial, and 
 educational greatness of our State ; let us be proud that we have taken 
 part in a work which has contributed much and will contribute more to 
 stimulate commerce and to extend civilization ; and, as a consequence, 
 to enrich and benefit mankind : a work which will be forever prominent 
 in the history of humanity. 
 
 J. S. H. 
 San Francisco, August ist, 1863. 
 
NDEX OF Chapters. 
 
 CHAPTERS. SECTIONS. PAGES. 
 
 I. TOFOGKAPHY ito 17 I to I3 
 
 IT. Society i8 to 6i 14 to 85 
 
 III. Cl.lMATR 62 to 85 86to U3 
 
 IV. SAy.mjurrY 86 to 100 114 to 139 
 
 V. ScENEUY loi to 118 140 to 161 
 
 VI. Commerce 119 to 132 162 to 181 
 
 VII. Manufact'UREs 133 to 147 182 to 207 
 
 VIII. Agriculture 148 to 215 208 to 295 
 
 IX. Mining 2 16 to 258 296 to 333 
 
 X. Geology 259 to 279 334 to 352 
 
 XT. Botany 280 to 299 353 to 374 
 
 XII. Zoology 300 to 346 375 to 419 
 
 XIIT. Law 347*0355 420 to 426 
 
 XIV. TopoGRAPnicAL Names 35^*0363 427 to 436 
 
 XV. Conclusion 364 to 366 437 to 443 
 
NDEX OF JSeCTIONS. 
 
 Topography — Chap. I. 
 
 8ec. Page. 
 
 1 . General Remarks i 
 
 2. Area i 
 
 3. The Coast Range 
 
 4. Coast Rivers 3 
 
 5. Coast Lakes 5 
 
 6. Capes 
 
 7. Islands 5 
 
 8. Bays and Harbors 6 
 
 9. Tule Land 6 
 
 10. Sierra Nevada 6 
 
 1 1 . Rivers of the Sierra 7 
 
 1 2 . Lakes of the Sierra 8 
 
 13. Klamath Basin 9 
 
 14. Enclosed American Basin 9 
 
 15. Colorado Desert 1 1 
 
 16. Counties 12 
 
 17. Maps 12 
 
 Society — Chap. n. 
 
 18. Population 14 
 
 19. Nationalities 15 
 
 20. Occupations and Sexes .. 15 
 
 2 1 . Other Classes 16 
 
 22. Decline of Mining Coun- 
 
 ties 17 
 
 23. Cosmopolitanism 18 
 
 24. State Pride 19 
 
 25. Hospitality 20 
 
 26. Luxurious Living 21 
 
 27. Social Etpiality 21 
 
 28. Physical Characteristics . 24 
 
 29. Publicity of Life 27 
 
 30. Education 28 
 
 31 . Literature 29 
 
 32. Art 29 
 
 Sec. Page. 
 
 33. Religion 30 
 
 34. Deeds of Blood 32 
 
 35. Dialect 35 
 
 36. Californianisms 35 
 
 37. Spanish Californians . . . . 39 
 
 38. Chinese 40 
 
 39. Indians' 48 
 
 40. Mining Towns 5^ 
 
 41. Inland Ports 57 
 
 42. Railroad Towns 57 
 
 43. San Francisco 5^ 
 
 44. Sacramento 64 
 
 45. Oakland 67 
 
 46. San Jose and Santa Clara 69 
 
 47. Stockton "JO 
 
 48. Vallejo and Carquinez.. 71 
 
 49. Los Angeles 74 
 
 50. San Diego 78 
 
 5 1 . Anaheim 79 
 
 52. Santa Barbara 80 
 
 53. Petaluma 80 
 
 54. Grass Valley 81 
 
 55. Marysville 81 
 
 56. Visalia 82 
 
 57. Suisun 83 
 
 58. Yreka 83 
 
 59. Napa 84 
 
 60. Crescent City 84 
 
 61. Humboldt Bay Town.s . . 85 
 
 Climate — Chap. IH. 
 
 63. Main Features 86 
 
 63. Many Climates 87 
 
 64. Sea Breeze 87 
 
 65. Middle Coast 88 
 
 66. San Francisco 90 
 
 67. Hot Days 92 
 
INDEX OF SECTIONS. 
 
 Sec. 
 68. 
 69. 
 70. 
 
 71. 
 72. 
 
 73- 
 74. 
 75- 
 76. 
 
 77- 
 78. 
 
 79- 
 80 
 81. 
 82. 
 
 '83- 
 84. 
 85. 
 
 86. 
 87. 
 
 90. 
 91. 
 92. 
 
 93- 
 94. 
 
 95- 
 96. 
 
 97- 
 
 98. 
 
 99. 
 
 100. 
 
 lOI. 
 
 102. 
 103. 
 104. 
 105. 
 106. 
 107. 
 108. 
 109. 
 no. 
 til. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Sunrise and Noon 94 
 
 Cold Days 94 
 
 San Francisco Fogs 95 
 
 January and July 96 
 
 Monthly Means 98 
 
 Clear Days 99 
 
 Sirocco 99 
 
 Interior Basins loi 
 
 Rain 102 
 
 Railroad Rain Table. . . . 103 
 State Rains for Twenty- 
 three Years 104 
 
 Monthly Table, 1849-73. io6| 
 
 Drought and Flood 109 
 
 Dryness of Air 109, 
 
 Length of Days ill 
 
 Thunder Storms in' 
 
 Hail 112 
 
 Sand Storms 112 
 
 Salubkity — CiiAi'. IV. 
 
 Healthy Growth 114 
 
 Infant Mortality 116 
 
 Malaria 119 
 
 Consumption 120 
 
 State Mortality Table ... 123 
 
 Prevalent Diseases 125 
 
 Mineral Waters 125 
 
 Health Resorts 128 
 
 San Rafael and St. Helena 129 
 
 Santa Birrbara 130 
 
 San Diego 131 
 
 Klamath Valley 133 
 
 Earthquakes 133 
 
 Their Frequency 135 
 
 List of Earthquakes 136 
 
 SCENEKY— ClIAP. V. 
 
 Introduatory 140 
 
 Yosemite 140 
 
 Opinions of Tourists.... 141 
 
 The Leading Features.. 142 
 
 Cascades of Rockets 145 
 
 Vegetation, etc 146 
 
 Formation of the Valley . 146 
 
 Hetchhetchy 147 
 
 Big Tree Groves 147 
 
 Mountain Peaks 149 
 
 San Francisco and Vicin- 
 ity 153 
 
 Sec. Page. 
 
 1 12. Geysers 155 
 
 113. Petriiied Forest 156 
 
 1 14. Waterfalls 157 
 
 1 1 5. Natural Bridges 1 58 
 
 116. Caves 158 
 
 117. Mirage 1 59 
 
 1 18^. Mud Volcanoes 160 
 
 Commerce — Chap. VI. 
 
 1 19. Situation 162 
 
 120. Volume of Business 163 
 
 121. Shipping 1 64 
 
 122. Currency 164 
 
 123. Wealth of the State 165 
 
 124. Mining Stocks 166 
 
 125. Large Estates 169 
 
 126. Railroads 170 
 
 127. Railroad Terminus 173 
 
 128. Ocean Steamers 174 
 
 129. Telegraphs 175 
 
 130. Harbors 176 
 
 131. Navigable Streams 179 
 
 132. Passes 180 
 
 Mantfactukes — Chap. VII. 
 
 133. Coar.se Work 182 
 
 134. Obstacles 183 
 
 135. Statistics 184 
 
 136. Wages 185 
 
 137. Navy Yard 187 
 
 1 38. Lumbering 1 89 
 
 139. Cod Fishery 190 
 
 140. Salmon Fishery [93 
 
 141. Various Sea Fish 195 
 
 142. Hunting 198 
 
 143. House-building 201 
 
 144. Turpentine, etc 202 
 
 145. Silk. 204 
 
 146. Sulphur and Salt 204 
 
 147. Beet Sugar 206 
 
 Agkicui^tuiie — Chap. VHL 
 
 148. Statistics 208 
 
 149. Colorado Desert Valleys. 209 
 
 150. Valleys of the Enclosed 
 
 Basin 209 
 
 151. Coast V^alleys 210 
 
 152. San Francisco Basin 213 
 
INDEX OF SECTIONS. 
 
 XXVll 
 
 Sec. Page. 
 
 153. Sacramento-San Joaquin 
 
 Valley 215 
 
 154. Farming Advantages 215 
 
 155. Disadvantages 217 
 
 156. Droughts 218 
 
 157. Fences 219 
 
 158. Varieties of Wlieat 221 
 
 1 59. Quality 222 
 
 160. • Yield 226 
 
 161. Cost 228 
 
 162. Barley 229 
 
 163. Oats 231 
 
 164. Maize 232 
 
 165. Potatoes 232 
 
 166. Hay 233 
 
 167. Hops 234 
 
 168. Tobacco 235 
 
 169. Cotton 237 
 
 170. Kitchen Vegetables 237 
 
 171. Fruit 239 
 
 1 72. Abundance of Fruit 242 
 
 173. Grapes 242 
 
 174. Large Vines and Vine- 
 
 yards 243 
 
 1 75. Varieties 244 
 
 176. Advantages 247 
 
 177. Vine-planting 248 
 
 178. Wine Yield 250 
 
 179. Wine-making 251 
 
 180. Fermentation 252 
 
 181. Kinds of Wine 254 
 
 182. Defects of our Wine 255 
 
 183. Sparkling California 257 
 
 184. Apples 258 
 
 185. Peaches 260 
 
 1 86. Pears 260 
 
 187. Apricots and Plums 261 
 
 188. Olives 261 
 
 189. Oranges 262 
 
 190. Berries 263 
 
 191. Ornamental Gardens 264 
 
 192. Arboriculture ■ 266 
 
 193. Pests of the Farmer 266 
 
 194. Irrigation 268 
 
 195. Reclamation 271 
 
 196. Products of our Herds . . 272 
 
 197. Sheep 272 
 
 198. Neat Cattle 276 
 
 199. Spanish Cattle 276 
 
 200. Rodeos 27S 
 
 201. Brands 281 
 
 202. Early Maturity 282 
 
 Sec. 
 
 03- 
 
 04. 
 205. 
 206. 
 
 07. 
 
 08. 
 209. 
 
 10. 
 211. 
 
 212. 
 
 13- 
 
 14. 
 215. 
 
 216. 
 
 17- 
 218. 
 219. 
 220. 
 221. 
 222. 
 223. 
 224. 
 225. 
 226. 
 227. 
 228. 
 229. 
 230. 
 231. 
 232. 
 
 233- 
 234- 
 235- 
 236. 
 
 237- 
 238. 
 
 239- 
 
 240. 
 241. 
 
 242. 
 
 243- 
 244. 
 
 245- 
 
 246. 
 247. 
 248. 
 249. 
 250. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Corral and Reata 283 
 
 Occasional Starvation . . . 284 
 
 Fine Blood 284 
 
 Pasture 285 
 
 Butter 285 
 
 Cheese 286 
 
 Horses 287 
 
 Mules 289 
 
 Svk^ine 290 
 
 Angora Goats 290 
 
 Poultry 291 
 
 Bees 291 
 
 Sericulture 294 
 
 Mining — Chap. IX. 
 
 Mining Products 296 
 
 Nvimber of Gold Miners. 296 
 Profit of Gold Mining.. 298 
 
 Gold Yield 299 
 
 Gold Mines 299 
 
 Placers 300 
 
 Ditches 302 
 
 Flumes 303 
 
 Iron Pipe 304 
 
 Expensive Construction . 305 
 Measurement of Water . . 306 
 
 Cleaning Up 307 
 
 Riffle-bars 308 
 
 Double Sluices 308 
 
 Rock Sluices 308 
 
 Hydraulic Washing .... 309 
 
 Ground Sluices 312 
 
 Cradle 313 
 
 Sluice 313 
 
 Pan 314 
 
 Dry Washing 315 
 
 Puddling Box 315 
 
 Tunnel Claims 316 
 
 Shafts 317 
 
 River Mining 317 
 
 Beach Mining 317 
 
 Placer Prospecting 319 
 
 Quartz Mining 320 
 
 Prospecting for Quartz . . 320 
 Quartz Mining as a Busi- 
 ness 322 
 
 Rich Mines 323 
 
 Extraction 325 
 
 Pulverization 326 
 
 Arrastra 326 
 
 Amalgamation 327 
 
XXVlll 
 
 INDEX OF SECTIONS. 
 
 Sec. Tage. 
 
 251. Concentration. 327 
 
 252. Chlorination 327 
 
 253. Quiuksilvt-T 328 
 
 254. Silver 330 
 
 255. Sulphiir 332 
 
 256. Borax 332 
 
 257. Hydraulic Cement 332 
 
 258. Coal 333 
 
 GeOI<OGY — ClIAP. X. 
 
 259. Plutonic and Secondary. 334 
 
 260. Tertiary 334 
 
 261. Volcanic 335 
 
 262. Extinct Volcanoes 336 
 
 263. Gold-bearing Rocks 336 
 
 264. Placers 337 
 
 265. Dead Rivers 338 
 
 266. Dead Blue River 338 
 
 267. Fineness of Gold 341 
 
 268. Silver 342 
 
 269. Qnick.silver 342 
 
 270. Platina 342 
 
 271. Other Metals 343 
 
 272. Limestone 343 
 
 273- Coal 343 
 
 274. Asphaltum . 344 
 
 275. Miscellaneous Minerals . . 345 
 
 276. Water 347 
 
 277. Artesian Wells 347 
 
 278. Palieontology 349 
 
 279. Post-Pliocene Man 350 
 
 Botany — Chap. XI. 
 
 280. Fauna and Flora 353 
 
 281. Bijr Tree 354 
 
 282. Redwood 355 
 
 283. Pines 356 
 
 284. Firs 359 
 
 285. Cedar and Cyprus 360 
 
 286. Nutmeg 361 
 
 287. Laurel 361 
 
 288. Madrona 361 
 
 289. Manzanita 362 
 
 290. Oaks 362 
 
 291. Sycamore, etc 364 
 
 292. Poison Oak 365 
 
 293. Varioiis Plants. . 367 
 
 294. Nutritious Herbage 368 
 
 295. Flowers 370 
 
 .''EC. * Pagb. 
 
 296. Desert Vegetation 372 
 
 297. Swamp Vegetation 373 
 
 298. Marine Vegetation 373 
 
 299. Alpine Vegetation 373 
 
 Zoology — Chap. XH. 
 
 300. General List 375 
 
 301. Bears 375 
 
 302. Felines 378 
 
 303. Canines 379 
 
 304. Badgers, etc 381 
 
 305. Sijuirrels 382 
 
 306. Spermophiles 384 
 
 307. Gophers 386 
 
 308. Rats 387 
 
 309. Deer 387 
 
 310. Hare 390 
 
 311. Sea-Lions 391 
 
 312. Otter, etc 392 
 
 313. Vultures 394 
 
 314. Eagles 396 
 
 315. Owls 396 
 
 316. Roadrunners 397 
 
 3 1 7. Woodpeckers 398 
 
 318. Humming-Birds 399 
 
 319. Fly-Catchers 400 
 
 320. Singers 400 
 
 321. Scratchers 401 
 
 322. Waders 404 
 
 323. Swimmers 405 
 
 324. Fishes 407 
 
 325. Salmon 407 
 
 326. Halibut 409 
 
 327. Turbot 409 
 
 328. Sole 409 
 
 329. Mackerel 410 
 
 330. Rock-FLsh 410 
 
 331. Sturgeon 410 
 
 332. Jew-Fish 411 
 
 333. Sun-Fish 41 1 
 
 334. Green-Fish 411 
 
 335. Sea-Bass 412 
 
 336. Sheepshead 412 
 
 337. Smelt 412 
 
 338. Anchovy 412 
 
 339. Sardine and Herring 413 
 
 340. Viviparoiis Fishes 413 
 
 341. Flying-Fish 413 
 
 342. Fresh-Water Fishes 414 
 
 343. Reptiles 414 
 
INDEX OP SECTIONS. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Sec. Tace. 
 
 344. Honey -Dew Aphis 417 
 
 345. Shell-Fish 417 
 
 346. Shipworm 418 
 
 Law— Chap. XIII. 
 
 347. Constitution 420 
 
 348. Marriage 421 
 
 349. luheritanoe 422 
 
 350. Conveyance of Land .... 422 
 
 351. Tenure of Land 423 
 
 352. Separate Property 424 
 
 353. Mining Claims 424 
 
 354. Titles to Mines 425 
 
 355. Laws favorable to Debtors 425 
 
 ToroGKAPmcAT, Names — Chap. 
 XIV. 
 
 Sec. Page. 
 
 356. New Names 427 
 
 357. Sacred Spanish Nnmes. . . 427 
 
 358. Profane Spanish Names. . 429 
 
 359. Indian Names 431 
 
 360. American Namns 431 
 
 361. Etymology of California 434 
 
 362. Pronunciation of Names. 434 
 
 363. Erroneous Spelling 436 
 
 CONCT.USION— ^ClIAP. XV. 
 
 364. General Summary 437 
 
 365. Slow Growth 442 
 
 366. The Future 442 
 
IJe^oiifde,^ of Caliiofr^ik. 
 
ReSOUI^CES of pALIFORJN^IA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 § 1. General Remarks. — California has a peculiar topo- 
 graphy. No other country comprises within so small a space 
 such various, so many, and such strongly-mai'ked natural di- 
 visions, isolated volcanic peaks, vast domes of granite, steep 
 and rugged mountain ridges, fertile and beautiful valleys, 
 bare deserts, sjjacious bays, magnificent rivers, unparalleled 
 waterfalls, picturesque lakes, extensive marshes, broad prairies, 
 and dense forests — all these are hers. 
 
 § 2. Area. — The reports of the Federal Land Office, pub- 
 lished at Washington, say the area of the State is 188,981 
 square miles ; but J. H. Wildes, chief draughtsman in the 
 office of the Federal Surveyor-General of California, a more 
 trustworthy authority, says the nearest approximation that 
 can now be made is 155,000 square miles, or 99,200,000 acres. 
 
 The State extends from latitude 32° 31' 59"— that is the 
 position of the monument marking the southw^estern corner of 
 the State, on the boundary of Lower California — to 42°. The 
 coast line is 1,097 miles long. In general shape, California is 
 a long parallelogram, 800 miles in length by 190 in width. 
 1 
 
Z RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The first topographical division of the State may be into the 
 Coast and Interior districts, separated from each other by the 
 main ridge of the Coast Mountains, which runs the whole 
 length of the State, nearly parallel with the ocean, and about 
 fifty miles from it. The Coast district may be subdivided 
 into the Coast Mountains and the Coast Valleys. The Inter- 
 ior district may be subdivided into the Sierra Nevada^ the 
 Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin, the Klamath Basin, the 
 Enclosed American Basin, and tlie Colorado Desert. 
 
 Of the 155,000 square miles in the State, there are, at my 
 estimate, 42,000 in the mountains and valleys of the Coast, 
 40,000 in the Sierra Nevada, 30,000 in the low land of the 
 Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin, 20,000 in the Enclosed Amer- 
 ican Basin, 15,000 in the Colorado Desert, and 8,000 in the 
 Klamath Basin. In tlie 42,000 square miles of the Coast 
 slope, 16,000 may be put down as valley and 26,000 as moun- 
 tain. The term " Basin," as used here, means the entire area 
 with a common drainage. Thus, the San Joaquin Basin is the 
 region between summits of the Sierra Xevada and the Coast 
 Range, south of latitude 38° 20' ; the Sacramento-San Joaquin 
 Basin is all between tlie summits of those mountains, from 
 Tejon to Mount Shasta. 
 
 § 3. The Coast Range. — The Coast Range, though not so 
 liigh or so wide as the Sierra Nevada, may be considered the 
 main orographical feature of California, because it alone ex- 
 tends through tlie whole lengtli of the State. Its height is 
 from two thousand to six thousand feet ; its width from twenty 
 to forty miles. It is composed of a multitude of ridges, of 
 Avhich the Diablo Ridge is the main stem, while all the 
 others are branches springing out to the westward. We find 
 on the map, that in latitude 34" 20' the Santa Susanna 
 Ridge branches oiF and runs southwestward ; in 34" 30' the 
 Santa Inez Ridge starts and runs westward ; in 34° 40' the 
 Santa Barbara Ridge turns Avest northwest ; the Santa Lucia 
 Ridge separates from the main trunk in 35°, with a north- 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 6 
 
 westward direction ; the Gabilan Ridge lias its origin in 
 36° 10', and its course is nortli northwest ; the Contra Costa 
 Ridge appears in 37° 10', and is pai-allel with the Gabilan. 
 Tliese ridges and their intervening valleys make up the entire 
 slope between the summit of the Coast Range and the ocean, 
 from 34^* 20' to 38° 30', beyond which line the regularity of 
 the formation ceases, and the valleys are small and crooked. 
 The Contra Costa Ridge forms the eastern boundary of the 
 Alameda plain, and separates Napa from Sonoma Valley. 
 The Gabilan Ridge, named after a prominent peak, the Gabi- 
 lan, in Monterey County, forms the backbone of San Mateo, 
 San Francisco, and Marin Counties, and separates the Santa 
 Clara from the Salinas Valleys. The valleys south of the Sa- 
 linas are the Cuyama, Santa Inez, and the Saticoy (or Santa 
 Clara of the South). The principal peaks of the Coast Range, 
 including San Bernardino, are in the Diablo Ridge. 
 
 § 4. Coast Hivers. — The rivers of the Coast Mountains 
 have necessarily but a short course. Those south of the bay 
 of San Francisco are the San Lorenzo, Pajaro, Salinas, Cu- 
 yama, Santa Inez, Saticoy (or Santa Clara), Los Angeles, San 
 Gabriel, Santa Ana, Santa Margarita, San Luis Rey, San 
 Dieguito, and San Diego. Some of these are large sti-eams in 
 wet winters ; but, in the drought of autumn, all those south 
 of the Salinas are swallowed up in the sands before reaching 
 the ocean. Most of tliem are constant streams to within ten 
 or fifteen miles of their mouths. The Santa Ana, the largest 
 river on the southern coast, rises in Mount San Bernardino, 
 and is in its nieanderings nearly one hundred miles long ; yet 
 only in very wet seasons, once in six or eight years, succeeds 
 in getting to the sea. The San Gabriel River sinks before 
 reaching Monte, in Los Angeles County, and, after passing 
 three miles under ground, rises again. The inteiwening space, 
 where there is no river, is very moist, sandy ground, through 
 which the water spreads and soaks. 
 
 W. H. Emory, in his report as member of the Mexican 
 Boundary Commission, writes thus : 
 
4 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 " The point at whicli water ceases to flow is quite variable ; 
 its more usual upward limit being marked at or near the pas- 
 sage of the stream from the first rocky ranges into the tertiary 
 formation. The point, however, as before stated, is by no 
 means a fixed one : thus, durino; the night it extends farther 
 downward than in daytime ; in cloudy weather, for the same 
 I'eason, its course is more prolonged than under a clear sky. 
 In the stream-beds themselves, however dry, water is gener- 
 ally found a short distance below the surface. 
 
 " Tlie descent of these streams in the rainy season may be 
 either a gradual ])rocess in the progressive saturation of their 
 sandy beds, or, the saturation being accomplished by previous 
 showers, tlie ii*ruption may be sudden. A fine example of this 
 sudden appearance was observed in the San Diego River, in 
 December, 1849 ; wlien, after a rainy night, by which its sandy 
 bed was completely saturated, tlie upper stream suddenly ap- 
 peared in the form of a foaming body of water, moving on- 
 ward at the rate of a fast walk, ciirling round the river-bends, 
 absorbing the pools, and soon tilling its bed with a brimming, 
 swift current. An instance of the more gradual descent was 
 seen in the follo^\ang season, (December, 1850) when, from 
 the absence of local rain, its downward progress was slow and 
 interru])ted." 
 
 The only navigable stream south of San Francisco Bay is 
 the Salinas, and that but for small vessels, and near its month. 
 
 North of San Francisco the main streams rising in the Coast 
 Mountains are the Russian, Eel,- Elk, iNfad, and Smith Rivers, 
 all permanent, but none navigable. 
 
 The rivers north of the Golden Gate are sometimes closed 
 up with sand thrown across their mouths by storms from the 
 south, and these barriers may remain for days, the waters 
 meantime finding their way through by percolation. The 
 Klamath, tlie largest of these streams, has occasionally been 
 accessible for vessels of deep draft, but as the sands frequently 
 shift their position, the idea of obtaining a permanent or con- 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 6 
 
 venient harbor there has been abandoned, at least for the 
 present generation. 
 
 § 5. Coast Lakes. — The only large lake in the Coast dis- 
 trict is Clear Lake, eighty miles northward from San Fran- 
 cisco. It is twenty miles long, and varies in breadth from 
 two to ten miles. Surrounded by a small valley of fertile 
 land, it lies in a deep basin bounded by high mountains, with 
 an outlet to the eastward, where its surplus waters are carried 
 off by Cache Creek to tlie Sacramento. The water of Clear 
 Lake is limpid ; the vegetation on its banks abundant and vig- 
 orous ; the scenery beautiful and romantic. In Amador Val- 
 ley, twenty-live miles eastward from San Francisco, there is a 
 small lake, covering a couple of hundred acres, and Soap 
 lake, of about equal size, in Pajaro Valley. Lake EUzabeth, 
 fort3^-five miles northward from Los Angeles, and Alamo Lake, 
 in San Diego County, occasionally di'y up, and then, after wet 
 winters, reappear. 
 
 § 6. Caj^es. — California has two capes : Cape Mendocino, 
 in 40° 25'; and Point Arguello, in 34° 25', The former is 
 reputed to be the stormiest place oi^ our coast ; the latter is 
 the southern limit of the frequent cold fogs and cool sum- 
 mers. Near Point Arguello, but less prominent, is Point Con- 
 ception, which, however, is frequently mentioned as the main 
 cape at the bend of the State. 
 
 § 7. Islands. — About forty miles westward from San Fran- 
 cisco ai'e the Farallones, seven little islands of bare rock, the 
 largest with an extent of a couple of acres, and of no signifi- 
 cance save as a danger to shipping, and as a point where a 
 large lightliouse is maintained. All the other islands of Cali- 
 fornia are between 32° 50' and 34'^ 10', the farthest one being 
 about sixty miles from the mainland. They are named Santa 
 Cruz, Santa Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Rosa, San Nico- 
 las, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara. They are all hilly, rocky, 
 barren, and of little value, Santa Cruz, the largest and best 
 of them, has good water and a Heyv trees. It is twenty-one 
 
6 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 miles long, with an average width of about three miles. All 
 these islands appear to be paaks of submerged mountain- 
 ridges. Between them and the mainland lies- the Santa Bai'- 
 bara Channel. 
 
 § 8. Bays and Hurbors. — Cilifornia has four land-locked 
 bays — Humboldt, Tomales, San Francisco, and San Diego, all 
 of them long, narrow, and separated from the ocean by narrow 
 peninsulas, their longer axes being parallel with the coast. 
 The roadsteads are numerous. Further mention is made of 
 them in the chapter on commerce. 
 
 § 9. Tale-Land. — Along the borders of most of the bays, 
 the Tulare and Kern Lakes, and the Sacramento and San 
 Joaquin Rivers, there are extensive tracts of swami3-laads, 
 usually called " tule-lauds," from the tule^ a species of rush, 
 which grows on them. Neai-ly all the tule-land west of Sac- 
 ramento and Stockton, to which points the tides extend, are 
 salt marshes; but north of Sacramento and south of Stockton 
 the tule-lands ai'e fresh-water swamps. The area of the tule- 
 land is estimated to be 3,000,000 acres. 
 
 § 10. Sierra Nevada — The Sierra Nevada is four hundred and 
 fifty miles long (in California) and seventy wide, with a height 
 varying from live thousand to eight thousand feet above the sea- 
 level. Nearly its whole width is occupied wiih its western 
 slope, which descends to a level of three hundred feet above 
 the ocean ; whereas the slope on the eastern side is only five 
 or six miles wide, and terminates in the Great Basin, which is 
 itself from four thousand to five thousand feet above the sea. 
 Nearly all the snows and rains that visit the Sierra Nevada fall 
 on its western slope, which has all the large rivers. These 
 rivers run westward, at right angles to the course of the chain, 
 and cut it into steep hills and deep ravines, canons, and chasms. 
 The valleys are all small, and it is rare to see a hundred acres 
 of level, tillable land, even on the banks of the largest moun- 
 tain sti-eams. The greater part of the Sierra Nevada is cov- 
 ered with timber. The oak, manxanita, and nut-pine grow to 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 7 
 
 about twenty-five hundred feet above the sea ; and then the 
 coniferous trees appear, and are found in dense forests to a 
 height of six thousand feet. 
 
 § 11. Rivers of the Sierra. — The low land of the Sacra- 
 mento basin, bounded on the west by the Coast Mountains 
 and on the east by the Sierra Nevada, which ranges meet both 
 at the north and the south, is the heart of the State, four hun- 
 dred miles long by fifty wide, reaching from latitude 35° to 
 40 '' 30'. It is di'ained by two rivers : the Sacramento, run- 
 ning from the north ; and the San Joaquin, from the south. 
 They meet and unite in the center of the basin, at 38°, and 
 break through the Coast range to tlie Pacific, forming the 
 bays of Suisun, San Pablo, and San Francisco, on their way. 
 The valley is nearly level, and thirty feet above the level of 
 the sea at the junction of the rivers, and two hundred feet 
 higher where they issue from the mountains. Part of the Sac- 
 ramento Valley shows terraces, the farthest from the river being 
 a coarse gravel. The richest soil is on the immediate bank. 
 The great body of the valley is bare of trees. Its even surface 
 is broken in only one place, by the " Buttes," a range of vol- 
 canic hills, six miles wide by twelve long, with three peaks, 
 about two thousand feet high, which rise in lonely abruptness 
 from the middle of the plain, in 39^ 20'. The general course 
 of the two main I'ivers of the basin lies nearly midway between 
 the two mountain chains, but almost all their tributaries come 
 from the Sierra Nevada, whicli, like the Coast Range, has 
 most of its wealth on its western slope. In the four hundred 
 miles from Tejon to Shasta, there are a dozen creeks marked 
 on the map as flowing eastward from the Coast Range to the 
 San Joaquin and Sacramento ; but during the summer, three- 
 fourths of them are swallowed up in the sands before reaching 
 their mouths. Not one south of 38° is a permanent stream. 
 From the Sierra Nevada a number of rivers run westward. 
 Beginning at the north, we have the Pit, Feather, Yuba, 
 American, Cosumnes, Mokelumne, Calaveras, Stanislaus, 
 
8 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Tuolumne, Merced, San Joaquin, King's, White, and Kern 
 Rivers — all of them considerable streams, though otliers in 
 the southern part of the basin are swallowed up in the sands 
 in the dry seasons, before reaching their mouths. The San 
 Joaquin Kiver does not rise at the extreme southern end of 
 the basin, but one hundred miles northward from it, in the 
 Sierra Nevada. After running westwaixi to the middle of the 
 valley, it turns northward. From its bend southward, the 
 valley discharges no water to the ocean during the summer ; 
 but in wet winters there are continuous sloughs, or pieces of 
 raarsh-like ground, from the Tejon to the San Joaquin. In 
 the dry season, no channel is visible for the escape of the 
 waters of Tulare and Kei-n Lakes. 
 
 The rivers flowing down from the Sierra Nevada are about 
 one hundred and twenty miles long on an average, following 
 their courses. Tlie upper half of tiieir length is in the moun- 
 tains, where they are torrents, falling five thousand feet in 
 fifty miles. Their beds are in deep canons ; after reaching the 
 plain their currents are gentle, and they meander between low 
 banks, fringed with oaks, sycamores, cottonwood, and willows. 
 In the southern part of the San Joaquin basin there are several 
 large streams, which, soon after issuing from the mountains, 
 divide into a number of channels, as do some large rivers 
 which have deltas near their entrance to the sea. King's 
 River, which is about eighty yards wide where it leaves the 
 mountains, divides into seven or eight channels, which all 
 unite again. The Cahuilla {Kaweah, or Pipiyuraa) River, also 
 a large stream, divides into a number of channels, which irri- 
 gate " the Four-Creek country," and render it one of the most 
 fertile parts of the State. 
 
 § 12. Lakes of the Sierra. — The Sierra Nevada has few 
 lakes. The most notable one is Lake Tahoe or Bigler, about 
 twenty miles long and ten wide, and six thousand feet above 
 the level of the sea, in latitude 39°, and on the eastern border 
 of the State. Part of the lake is in Nevada, and its waters 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 9 
 
 flow eastward into Truckee River. In the eastern part of Ne- 
 vada County tliere is a group of two dozen lakes, called the 
 Eureka Lakes, the largest of which is three miles long and 
 a mile wide. In Calaveras County near the summit there is 
 a cluster called the Blue Lakes. 
 
 § 13. Klamath Basin. — North of latitude 41 '^ lies the l)a- 
 sin of the Klamath River, which rises in Oregon, crosses the 
 Californian line, about eighty miles from the sea, then turns 
 south west ward, and, after a course of about one hundred and 
 fifty miles, empties into the Pacific in 41* 33'. The basin of 
 the Klamath is very rugged, particularly that part of it witliin 
 forty miles of the ocean. Along the main river there is no 
 valley, or bottom-land ; its whole length is between steep hills 
 and moiintains, and through rocky canons. Its largest tribu- 
 taries, the Trinity and Salmon, run through a country almost 
 as rugged as that bordering the main stream. Scott and Shasta 
 Rivers, which are the only other notable tributaries of the 
 Klamath — they all flow from the southward — have valleys of 
 bottom-land, about Ave miles wide and forty long. 
 
 § 14. Enclosed American Basin. — A prominent feature of 
 the North American Continent is the Enclosed American Ba- 
 sin, a triangular district of country, bounded on the north by 
 the basin of the Columbia, on the east and southeast by the 
 basin of the Colorado, and on the southwest by the Sierra Ne- 
 vada and Coast Range. This Great Basin — an elevated tract 
 of land, most of which is four thousand or live thousand feet 
 above the sea-level, mountainous, barren, and cheerless, with 
 no outlet for its waters — extends into this State, taking a strip 
 along the eastern border from 34® to 42°. The California 
 portion of the Enclosed Basin is one of the driest and most 
 sterile parts of the earth's surface, cut up by numerous irreg- 
 ular ridges of bare, rocky mountains, with intervening valleys 
 of sand and volcanic scorii^, and occasional springs and little 
 streams which terminate in lakes, presenting a wide extent of 
 muddy salt water after heavy rains, and in the dry season 
 
10 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 wide beds of dried and cracked mud, covered with a white 
 alkaline efflorescence. The chief stream in the California por- 
 tion of the Enclosed Basin is the Mojave, which rises on the 
 northern slope of Mount San Bernardino, and, after running 
 about one hundred miles in a northeastward direction, sinks 
 in the sand. The Mojave receives no tributai-ies after it leaves 
 tlie side of Mount San Bernardino. After sinking, it rises 
 again ; or rather, pools of water are found in the low places of 
 its bed, the water evidently soaking through the sand and fol- 
 lowing the bed of tlie stream. The next stream in importance 
 is Owen's River, which runs southward seventy-five miles along 
 the foot of the Sierra Nevada, and terminates in Owen Lake, 
 which lies in latitude 36° 25', and is fifteen miles long by nine 
 wide. North wai'd, one hundred miles from Owen Lake, is 
 Mono Lake, eight miles long and six wide, sometimes called 
 " the Dead Sea of California." No fish can live in the water, 
 which is so heavy with saline substances tliat the human body 
 fioats in it very lightly ; tliough it is so strongly alkaline that 
 it scalds the skin. In the midst of the lake is an island sev- 
 eral miles long. While the greater part of the Enclosed Basin 
 is high above the level of the sea, there is a portion of it, called 
 " Death Valley," the sink of the Amargosa River, thirty miles 
 long and ten wide, between 36*^ 5' and 36" 35', thi-ee hundred 
 and seventy-seven feet below the sea-level, one of the driest 
 and most desolate parts of that basin of deserts. About lati- 
 tude 40°, the Sierra Nevada seems to divide or fork — one 
 branch running north ^fkrd, in the line of the main chain ; the 
 other northwestward to Mount Shasta. Between these two 
 branches, and between 40*^ and 42'^, is a high table-land or 
 plateau, about one hundred and twenty miles long, and five 
 thousand feet above the ocean level, belonging to the Enclosed 
 Basin. The main stream in this plateau is Susan River, wliich 
 after a course of forty miles in an eastward direction, empties 
 into Honey Lake, which is twelve miles long by five wide. 
 Northwestward from Honev Lake, and distant thirtv mile? 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 11 
 
 from it, is Eagle Lake, about half the size of the other. The 
 land is barren and the vegetation scanty. Pit River starts in 
 the northeastern corner of the State, breaks through the 
 plateau, and empties into the Sacramento, to the basin of 
 which it belongs. North of the river are Wright Lake and 
 Rhett Lake, within iive miles of the Oregon line ; and Goose 
 Lake and Lower Klamath Lake, partly in Oregon and partly 
 in California. The largest is Goose Lake, tifteen miles long 
 and tive wide. Some of the lakes in the Enclosed Basin 
 change their character according to the seasons. After abund- 
 ant rains they are large, and their water is clear and sweet ; 
 after several dry years the watei-s fall, become thick, opaque 
 and saline, or entirely disappear. 
 
 § 15. Colorado Desert. — A district, about seventy miles 
 wide by one hundred and forty long, on the soutli eastern bor- 
 der of the State, belongs to the basin of the Colorado River. 
 It is usually called the " Colorado Desert," because of its bar- 
 ren, sandy soil, and scanty vegetation. In some places the 
 soil is composed of sand, packed together lirmly, with a hard 
 and smooth surface, which rellects light like a mirror ; in other 
 places are mountains of loose sand, which are continually shift- 
 ing. In latitude 33° 20', and longitude 115° 50', a district 
 containing 3,000 square miles is seventy feet below the level 
 of the sea. At one time the Gulf of California extended sev- 
 eral hundred miles farther north than it now does; and the 
 Colorado River, in long ages, deposited on the western edge of 
 its channel so much alluvium as to make banks down to the 
 present head of the gulf, thus cutting olf from its connection 
 with the ocean that part of the gulf now dry. The evapora- 
 tion in this desert far exceeds the fall of rain ; so it was not 
 long before this lake was dried up. When the Colorado River 
 is very high, it breaks over its banks about forty miles south- 
 ward from Fort Yuma, and sends a large stream, called New 
 River, northwestward, a distance of a hundred miles or more, 
 to the lowest portion of the desert. 
 
12 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 16. Counties. — California has tifty-thre« counties. Those 
 in the northern half of the State, are Del Norte, Klamath, 
 Humboldt, Mendocino, Modoc, Sonoma, and Marin, on the 
 coast ; Lassen, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, and Ama- 
 dor, on the eastern border ; and Shasta, Siskiyou, Trinity, 
 Tehama, Plumas, Butte, Colusa, Yuba, Sutter, Lake, Yolo, 
 Napa, Solano, and Sacramento, inner counties. 
 
 In the southern half of the State, are San Francisco, San 
 Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, 
 Los Aufyoles, and San Diego, on tlie ocean ; Mono, Inyo, and 
 San Bernardino, on the eastern boundary ; Calaveras, Tuol- 
 umne, Mariposa, Fresno, Tulare, Kern, San Joaquin, Stanis- 
 laus, Merced, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Benito, and Santa 
 Clara, wliicli do not reach to the bordei*. San Diego reaches 
 entirely across the State, and is the only county that does. 
 
 § 17. Maps. — Among the maps prepared by C. F. Hofl- 
 mann, of the State Geological Sui'vey, and executed in the finest 
 style of topographical work, and with great accuracy, are the 
 following : 
 
 1. A map of Central California, on a scale of six miles to 
 an inch. It covers an area three hundred miles square, its 
 northern line being beyond Lassen's Peak and Cape Mendocino, 
 its eastern beyond Owen Lake, its southern beyond Visalia and 
 Point Sur, its western be3'ond Point Reyes. All that part of 
 this region in California has been carefully surveyed by the 
 State Geological Survey, except a little strip in the Coast 
 mountains north of Clear Lake. The scale of the map is six 
 miles to an inch, and the style of execution is superior to that 
 of any other map ever made in the New World, of a State, or 
 any large area. This map is published. 
 
 2. The triangle south of Central California, on the same 
 scale, with equal thoroughness. Its northern and eastern sides 
 are about two hundred miles long, and its soutliern and west- 
 ern boundaries are the ocean. This map is to be published 
 soon. 
 
TOPOGRAPHY. 18 
 
 3. The Bay ma]), covering an area of sixty-six by ninety 
 miles, extending from Napa to Gilvoy, and from Livermore 
 Pass to Olema, on a scale of two miles to an inch, has been 
 published. It shows the latest municipal lines, the town plats, 
 the surroundings, and the completed railroads, in addition to 
 the topography and tlie depth of the waters. 
 
 4. The Yosemite region, covering an area of forty by iifty- 
 eight miles, on a scale of two miles to an inch. Published. 
 
 0. The Yosemite grant, on a scale of two inches to a mile. 
 Published. 
 
 fi. California and Nevada, on a scale of eigliteen miles to 
 an inch. Published. 
 
 7. A geological map of the gravel range across Nevada 
 and Placer Counties, to be done probably in three months ; 
 and a geological map of the peninsula of San Francisco. Not 
 yet published. 
 
14 RESOURCES OF CALIFORXrA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 § 18. Population. — In population, California is the twenty- 
 fourth State of the Union, but in the absolute number of 
 Chinamen it is the first, in Mexicans and Russians second, in 
 Spaniards the third, in Poles and Danes the fifth, in French the 
 sixth, and in English, Scotch, and Irish the ninth. About 
 one-seventh of the people of the United States, and four- 
 elevenths of the Californians, were born abroad. 
 
 According to the Federal census, the population of Califor- 
 nia was, in 1870, 560,247 ; and since that j'ear no census has 
 been taken of the entire pojjulation in any part of the State, 
 nor of any class save that of the children counted for school 
 purposes. In 1872, the children under sixteen years of age 
 numbered 207,084, indicating an increase of 22,394 in two 
 years, or more than 11,000 annually. Of these 207,084, 69,723 
 were under five years of age, and 137,361 between five and 
 fifteen inclusive. We may assume safely that in each of those 
 two years 8,000 cliildreu passed beyond the school age, so that 
 the entire natural increase was 38,394. We know also, by the 
 statistics kejDt by the Custom House of San Francisco and the 
 Central Pacific Railroad Company, that in the three years and 
 a lialf between the 1st of July, 1870, and the 1st of January, 
 1874, the excess of arrivals over departures by sea and rail 
 was 65,000 persons. After allowing for deaths, the population 
 of the State at the end of 1873 was about 641,000, if the 
 
SOCIETY. 15 
 
 census of 1870 was correct. It is certain, however, that mucli 
 of the census work was done inefficiently, and there is good 
 reason to believe that the true population of California in 1870 
 was not less than 590,000, and on that basis the present popu- 
 lation would be about 680,000. 
 
 § 19. Nationalities. — The census of 1870 contains many 
 details which may be regarded as approximately correct ; and 
 we must accept it because nothing of the same kind is to be 
 found in any other authority. Our attention is first attracted 
 to the matter of nativities, and here we find that 350,416 of 
 the Californians in 1870, v/ere natives of the present terri- 
 tory of the United States; and 209,831 were foreign-born. 
 Among the foreigners, we find the following numbers, viz : 
 54,421 Irish, 48,826 Chinese, 30,777 Germans and Austrians, 
 22,044 English, 12,195 British Colonists, 9,380 Spaniards and 
 Spanish-Americans, 8,063 French, 4,660 Italians, 2,944 Scan- 
 dinavians, 2,495 Portuguese, and 1,344 Russians and Poles. 
 
 Among the Austrians are several thousand Dalmatians from 
 the shores of the Adriatic ; and they ai-e the majority of our 
 citizens of Slavonic blood. Counting the Germans, British, 
 British-Americans, and Scandinavians together, we have 
 68,560 foreigners of Teutonic blood, 54,421 Celts (assuming 
 that the Irish are all of Celtic blood), and 25,048 Latins, 
 including under that head all the Spaniards, Spanish-Ameri- 
 cans, French, Italians, and Portuguese. 
 
 Of the 350,416 natives in California, 169,904 were born in 
 the State, leaving 180,512 natives of other parts of the Union ; 
 and of these, 47,792 were born in the Southern or ex-slave 
 States, and 132,720 in the Territories and Northern States. 
 New Yrok contributed 33,766, Missouri 16,050, Massachusetts 
 15,334, Ohio 12,735, Maine 11,261, Pennsylvania 11,208, and 
 Illinois 10,689. 
 
 § 20. Occupations and Sexes. — The number of people 
 reported as being engaged in occupations in 1870, was 238,648, 
 including 224,868 men, and 13,780 women. Of the total, 
 
16 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 47,863 were engaged in agriculture, 76,112 in personal and 
 protessioual duties, 33,165 in trade and transportation, and 
 81,508 in mechanical and mining industries. 
 
 TJie entire number of males and females is not reported in 
 any volume of the census yet published, but we have the 
 ligures f )r those persons aged ten years or moi-e, and among 
 those we find 283,740 males, and 146,704 females. We 
 know, however, that there were 184,000 children under six- 
 teen, in the State in 1870 ; and as among them the two sexes 
 were equally divided, it follows that there were, in 1870, 
 263,000 males, and 126,000 females over sixteen in the State, 
 or two to one. After deducting 48,000 Chinamen, we find 
 that there are eight males to five females among the whole 
 population over sixteen, and that 90,000 white men can find 
 no mates in the^tate. 
 
 Tlie native males number 199,421, including 64,203 between 
 five and eighteen years of age, 77,828 between eighteen and 
 foi-ty-five, and 93,327 adults. The foi-eign males number 
 150,058, including 6,883 between five and eighteen, 117,107 
 between eighteen and forty-five, and 133,929 adults. 
 
 There are 150,995 native females, and 59,973 foreign 
 females. 
 
 § 21. Other Classes. — There are 128,752 families in Cali- 
 fornia, averaging 4.35 persons each, and 126,307 dwellings, 
 averaging 4.44 persons each. The adult male citizens num- 
 ber 145,802, and 94,738 votes were cast at the presidential 
 election in 1872, showing that in that year 51,064 voters, 
 or more than 35 per cent., stayed away from the polls. The 
 proportion of voters who did not go to the polls was unusually 
 large in that year, the supposition being that at i)residential 
 elections ordinarily about nine-tenths of the voters cast their 
 ballots. 
 
 The paupers number 991, including 637 foreign and 354 
 native. 
 
 The convicts in prison were 1,574, 906 of them foreign 
 and 668 native. The number convicted in the year was 1,107. 
 
SOCIETY. 17 
 
 § 22, Decline of Mining Comities. — The population 
 reported in 1860 was 379,944, showing a gain, in ten years, 
 of 176,669, or 46 per cent. 
 
 The general gain of the State is very unevenly distributed, 
 and there are some serious losses, especially in the mining 
 counties, of which the following may be taken as samples : 
 
 Counties. i860. 1870. 
 
 Calaveras 16,209 8,896 
 
 El Dorado 20,562 10,326 
 
 Mariposa 6,243 4, 572 
 
 Sierra 11,387 5,337 
 
 Trinity 5,125 3,173 
 
 Mokelumne 16,226 8,171 
 
 Total 82,842 40,475 
 
 Here is a loss of 42,366 inhabitants in six counties, or more 
 than half the total population which those counties had ten 
 years ago. The loss in productive power is still greater, for 
 there is a much larger proportion of women and children now 
 than in 1860. Placer shows a loss of about 15 per cent, ; 
 Siskiyou of 10 ; and Yuba (which formerly had rich placers) 
 of 20, Del Norte, Klamath, Plumas, and Shasta, other 
 mining counties, show no change worthy of note. Amador 
 and Nevada, which have the most profitable quartz mines of 
 California, have gained, the former 10, and the latter 16 per 
 cent. 
 
 The largest relative gain has been in some of the smaller 
 agricultural counties, such as Colusa and Humboldt, which 
 have each added 200 per cent, to their population in the 
 decennium. Stanislaus, San Luis Obispo, and San Francisco 
 gained 180 per cent, ; Sutter, 170 ; Merced and Alameda, 
 150 ; Solano, 125 ; San Joaquin and Santa Clara, 120 ; Santa 
 Barbara, San Mateo, Monterey, Yolo, and Marin, 100 ; Men- 
 docino, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma, 75 ; Contra Costa, 60 ; 
 Fresno, 50 ; Los Angeles, 35 ; Napa, 28 ; Sacramento, 12 ; 
 Butte, (which is now mainly agricultural) 9 ; and San Diego, 
 2 
 
18 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 8 per cent. There was a loss of 28 per cent, in San Ber- 
 nardino ; 20 in Tulare ; and 10 in Tehama. The loss in San 
 Bernardino, and the smallness of the increase in San Diego, 
 are probably due mainly to the disappearance of Indians, of 
 whom 3,000 were reported for each county in 1860. 
 
 The growth in the agricultural districts of the San Joaquin 
 Valley has been large. We put the following counties 
 together : 
 
 Counties. i860. 1870. 
 
 San Joaquin 9,435 21,064 
 
 Stanislaus 2,245 6,510 
 
 Merced 1,141 2,810 
 
 Fresno 4,605 6,336 
 
 Total 17,426 36,720 
 
 Here is an increase in the district of more than 100 per 
 cent. 
 
 There are 53 counties, of which 18 are mainly mining, and 
 35 agricultural and commercial. The total population of the 
 mining region is 105,314, or an avei'age of 5,861 to the 
 county. The agricultural and commercial districts have 
 451,299 inhabitants, or an average of 14,031 to the county. 
 San Francisco has 27 per cent, of the inhabitants of the 
 State, or more than the entire population of the mining region. 
 Sacramento, Santa Clara, Alameda, San Joaquin, Sonoma, 
 and Nevada, are the next counties in order, and together tliey 
 have about one-fourth of the population of the State, and 
 with San Francisco they have more than the remaining 46 
 counties. 
 
 § 23. Cosmopolitanism. — Not one in twenty among the 
 adult Californians to be met with in the larger towns is a na- 
 tive of the State, and nearly all those who occupy prominent 
 and influential positions in society and business have come 
 from distant homes. Every State in the Union, every countiy in 
 Europe, all the British Colonies in North America and Australa- 
 asia, all the countries of Spanish America, and many of the 
 
SOCIETY. 19 
 
 Polynesian Islands, are represented. The long and costly jour- 
 ney demanded either money, an adventurous disposition, or 
 both. The people as a class are unequaled in their general in- 
 telligence and enterprise. The journey in pioneer times was suf- 
 ficient in itself to educate a man, and after his arrival here he 
 found himself among a mixed population, who had to make 
 allowance for strange customs, and in new conditions which 
 required new modes of working and new habits of life. The 
 migratory habits of the miners, the large profits of business, 
 and the small proportion of women, have all exercised a strong 
 influence on California society, which, even among the poorest 
 and most ignorant class, has a liberal and cosmopohtan tone. 
 
 § 24. State Pride. — The Californians who have been here 
 from fifteen to twenty-five years are j^roud of tlieir State, and 
 carry their pride so far that it is observed as something ex- 
 ceptional in the United States. The causes of this feeling are : 
 satisfaction with themselves for their share in building up the 
 State*, and with the rapidity with which it has advanced ; the 
 recollection of the wonderful changes that have occun-ed here 
 within a quarter of a century, and of the impressive events in 
 which they have taken pai-t ; and profound convictions that 
 this is in many respects the best place in the world for 
 the enjoyment of life, that its attractions are not generally 
 understood in the Eastern States and Europe, that it is destined 
 to have a prosperous and glorious future, and that it will be a 
 chief pleasure i-esort and a center of tlie highest civilization. 
 To many of the pioneers, existence would lose its zest and ro- 
 mance, and would become a dull drudgery, if they were com- 
 pelled to make their homes east of the Rocky Mountains. A 
 large proportion of those who have left the State, intending to 
 spend the remainder of their lives in their native places, liave 
 returned, declaring that they could not accommodate them- 
 selves to the slow, quiet, dull ways of more antiquated States. 
 
 W. F. Rae, in his Westward hy Rail, thus exaggerates 
 and caricatures the State pride of the pioneers : 
 
20 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 " The love of Californians for their country has been ab- 
 sorbed in a singular and exceptional aifection for their State. 
 
 * * They appear to live under the delusion that the rich 
 gold mines, the unrivaled grain, the magnificent fruit, the 
 delightful climate, are all creations of their own. Tell them 
 
 * * that nature has been as kind to dwellers in other 
 portions of the globe, and they will appear to think an affront 
 is intended." 
 
 This ridicule loses its edge when we read elsewhere in his 
 book, that this is " the land of perpetual sunshine," and " it is 
 not surprising that those who have lived in California should 
 be reluctant to leave it, and, after having gone elsewhere, 
 should long to return thither." Californian miners have wan- 
 dered off in considerable numbers to British Columbia, Mon- 
 tana, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, but the Golden State holds 
 a warm place in their affection, and they call it " God's Coun- 
 try," a title full of eloquence as well as of endearment. And 
 if Californians over-estimate the value of their State, it should 
 be remembered that they have a right to speak as experts, for 
 no others have seen more of the world, or had better oppor- 
 tunities to make a fair comparison. 
 
 § 25. Hospitality. — It is, perhaps, partly on account of 
 their State pride, that the Californians are cordial and hospit- 
 able. They want travelers to carry away good impressions of 
 the country. Since the completion of the trans-continental 
 railroad, many residents of the Eastern States have come to 
 visit their Californian relatives, and they have carried back 
 glowing accounts of the generous welcome given to them. In 
 the numerous books on California, much is said of the hospi- 
 tality of the people. One gentleman, connected with the Bank 
 of California, has been so magnificent in the entertainment of 
 strangers, that an absurd rumor was published that the Bank 
 allowed him $150,000 annually for that purpose ; but such a 
 story would not have been started about any other State. The 
 hospitality of the Californians is in keeping with their general 
 
SOCIETY. 21 
 
 mode of life. They live for enjoyment, and expect to expend 
 most of their money as it comes. They have traveled enough 
 to know how to entertain, and how to accept entertainment. 
 C. L, Brace, in his New West, says : " The great virtues of Cal- 
 ifornian society are its intelligence, its energy, and above all, 
 its generosity." 
 
 § 26. Luxurious Living. — The enjoyment of life is a 
 prominent purpose of Californian society, while religion, social 
 display, and the accumulation of money are less noticeable than 
 in most other countries. The prevalent mode of living is luxu- 
 I'ious, and the habits are extravagant. While many line for- 
 tunes have been made in the State, in comparison with the 
 number of inhabitants, yet a large proportion of those having 
 excellent incomes save relatively little, preferring to enjoy 
 their gains as they go along. Tlie houses generally ai-e fur- 
 nished elegantly ; the tables are supplied with a variety of the 
 best kinds of food ; and the clothing is of costly material. 
 The traveler observes that the dresses of the ladies on Kearny 
 Street are richer in stuff and color, and less pretentious in their 
 cut and trimming, than those of Broadway. When people 
 come to California they expect to better their condition, and 
 they are not content to live as they lived before coming hither. 
 They are often extravagant, and seldom miserly. 
 
 § 27. Social Equality. — In no place is society more free and 
 cordial, and ready to give a friendly reception to a stranger, than 
 in California. The new-comer is looked upon with favor ; no- 
 body cares whether he belongs to a distinguished family, has 
 moved in a fashionable circle, or possesses wealthy or iniluential 
 friends or relatives. The great question is, " Is he or she well 
 educated, polished, and entertaining ? " Of course, Californi- 
 ans are not entirely above such considerations as govern soci- 
 ety elsewhere, but they are influenced by them far less than 
 people in other States. The course of business is such that no 
 profession has all the wealth. There are rich men of all oc- 
 cupations, and some of the mechanical trades are now as profit- 
 
22 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 able, on tlie average, to those engaged in them, as are the 
 learned professions. Those who were rich in the older States, and 
 received a thorough education and a polished training, may here 
 be poor, while those who came hither poor and ignorant may 
 now be rich. liesides, the changes are so rapid that our neigh- 
 bor who is poor to-day may be rich to-morrow, and the neigh- 
 bor who is rich to-day may be poor to-morrow. Again, 
 California is preeminently a countr}' of business. People 
 come here to make money, and everybody tries to make it ; 
 and in a State where wages are high., and profits large, a 
 man's business depends to a considerable extent on the multi- 
 tude of liis friends, so everybody wishes to make a friend of 
 everybody else. The millionaire in Euroj^e may treat his ten- 
 ant as an inferior ; in California the wealthiest land-owner is 
 expected to treat his tenant as an equal. All these things 
 have their influence in preventing the separation of our society 
 into those classes which prevail elsewhere. 
 
 In no part of the world is the individual more free from 
 restraint. High wages, migratory habits, and bachelor life, 
 are not favorable to the maintenance of stiff social rules among 
 men ; and the tone of society among women must partake, to 
 a considerable extent, of that among men, especially in a 
 country Avhere the women are in a small minority, and thei'e- 
 fore are much courted. Public opinion, which as a guardian 
 of public morals is more powerful than the forms of law, loses 
 much of its power in a community where many of the inhab- 
 itants are not permanent residents. A large portion of the 
 men in California live alone, either in cabins or in hotels, 
 remote from Avomen relatives, and therefore uninfluenced by 
 the powers of a " home." Many girls commence going into 
 "society" about fifteen, then receive company alone, and go 
 out alone with young men to dances and other places of 
 amusement. 
 
 Charles Nordhoff pays Californians the following compli, 
 ment : 
 
SOCIETY. 23 
 
 " I do not know whether to ascribe it to their varied em- 
 ployments, or to the fact that the State was settled originally 
 by a picked population, tlie most energetic and resourceful only 
 coming here, and of these again only the ablest achieving suc- 
 cess and remaining here ; but it is a fact, that I was struck with 
 the high character of the population, in all parts of the State 
 I have seen, for intelligence, enterprise, and activity. ' Chicago 
 and San Francisco are the only two cities you can find in the 
 whole country which will remind you of New York,' said a 
 friend to me, whom I met in Chicago. I think he is right. 
 Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, and other large cities, differ 
 in many Avays from New York. All of them seem ' slow ' to 
 one accustomed to the rush and whirl of New York business 
 life. But such a person finds himself at home in either Chi- 
 cago or San Francisco. In both he finds the same activity in 
 the streets ; California Street, in San Francisco, during business 
 hours, is so much like our own Broad and Wall Streets, that 
 when I first saw it I had no need to ask what was done there. 
 The business men of San Francisco move, talk, dress, dine, and 
 carry on aft*airs like New Yorkers ; some of them drink a little 
 more whisky — that is the only apparent difierence between 
 them. They are as accessible to strangers, as readily hospitable, 
 and as little formal as New Yorkers ; and what is true of San 
 Francisco is equally true of the whole State. A banker, law- 
 yer, or merchant, anywhere we have traveled in California, 
 might be, for aught you could tell from his appearance or lan- 
 guage, dress or address, just from New York. You would 
 not take him for a Bostonian or a Philadelphian ; and I did 
 not notice on any person that peculiar air or dress which, 
 with us in the East, proclaims a lawyer or business man from 
 the interior. I think it was Donald G. Mitchell who com- 
 plained that no man could live two years out of New York, 
 no matter how well informed he might be, or how excellent 
 bis tailor, without betraying himself to a New Yorker as a 
 countryman. Well, here in California I met dozens of busi- 
 
24 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ness and professional men whom I should have taken anywhere 
 for New Yorkers — men as fresh in their thouglits, as ready, as 
 though tliey had only the day before left Broadway or Wall 
 Street. 
 
 " It is the same with their houses. They receive you, tliey 
 dine or lunch you, they entertain, as though they were New 
 Yorkers. Of course, the climate leads them to a ditferent 
 style of building ; but when you are once indoors you are as 
 much at home, and find the ways of the house, the mode of 
 life, and the tone of conversation, as familiar to you as though 
 you were at home. I met no ' rusty' people in all California." 
 
 An American correspondent of a London paper said : 
 
 "All Englishmen with whom I have talked agree that 
 there is a marked difference between Californians and other 
 Americans, and in favor of the former. It comes out, I think, 
 most clearly in the manners of the lower classes, who have a 
 certain frank coiirtesy that I have not met elsewhere in the 
 States. One explanation is that California has been settled by 
 picked men from all countries in the world. * * * The pleas- 
 anter side of such deference to a stranger's feelings is a self- 
 respect which makes the lower classes in California among the' 
 most agreeable companions I have known anywhere in a corres- 
 ponding class." 
 
 § 28. Physical Characteristics. — Of tlie Americans in Cal- 
 ifornia, it may be remarked that they generally have the same 
 marks as the Americans in the Eastern States. Their eyes are 
 deep set, their foreheads high, their features regular and finely 
 cut, their faces expressive and free from grimace, their com- 
 plexions sallow, their lips thin, their mouths grim, their bodies 
 tall, slim, and slightly bent in the shoulders, their chests thin, 
 their voices harsli, and their enunciation slow and clear, with 
 little modulation. These general characteristics, as compared 
 with Europeans, are common among the natives of the Atlantic 
 States who came to California after reaching adult age ; but 
 there is an evident change in those who came young to the 
 
SOCIETY. 25 
 
 State, or were born here. The typical Californian of the next 
 generation will be plump, ruddy in complexion, full in the 
 chest, and melodious in voice. In other words, he will resem- 
 ble the Briton more than the Massachusetts man. Even 
 among those natives of the Eastern States who have come to 
 California as men and women, tliere is much change. Many 
 of them have lost their sallow complexions and thin figures, 
 and when they return to their brothers and sisters in the East 
 the contrast attracts attention immediately. Age does not 
 show so rapidly in California. Onr women as a class are con- 
 siderably heavier than in New York, and the sizes of corsets 
 and shoes sold there are too small for the main demand of the 
 San Francisco market. Many English tourists, writers of 
 books, have observed the physical peculiarities of Californians 
 as compared with other Americans ; and among them is W. F. 
 Rae, who wrote thus : 
 
 " From points about which travelers differ it is a pleasure 
 to turn to one about which there has been and must be perfect 
 unanimity. The beauty of the women is Avithout the pale of 
 controversy. It cannot be likened to the beauty fur which 
 Engli>li girls are universally and deservedly admired ; for 
 which Italian maidens have been immortalized on canvas or in 
 verse ; for which the sprightly damsels of France, and the 
 coquettish ladies of Spain, have won applause, and by means 
 of which they have won conquests. If I were to select a par- 
 ticular locality in the United States, I might truthfully com- 
 pare the type of beauty predominant there to that of a partic- 
 ular country in the Old World. But America is a world in 
 itself Within the bounds of the Republic of the West are all 
 climates which give diversity to Europe, from Rome to Copen- 
 hagen and from London to Madrid. Where climates vary, 
 female faces vary also. In New England, may be seen those 
 delicately chiseled features and transparent complexions which 
 in Europe are characteristic of the fascinating beauties of the 
 North. In the Southern States, the imperious and indolent 
 
26 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Spanish women, with their amorous eyes and raven hair, have 
 been reproduced at a distance of many thousand miles from 
 Andahisia and Castile. Let the traveler cross the continent 
 till the Pacific slope is reached, and there the soft and delicate 
 beauty of Italy, combined with an intelligence wholly Ameri- 
 can, and a physique wholly English, delights and surprises 
 you. Nor are good looks the sole dower of the American 
 girls. They are more French than English in the acuteness 
 with which they argue. They are imssionately fond of the 
 frivolities of existence, yet they follow with interest the course 
 of the graver topics of the day. * ******* 
 
 " The children are healthy and robust. Their rosy cheeks are 
 a great contrast to the transparent skins and pale complexions 
 of New England children. If the child be a criterion of the 
 man, the native-born Californians will hereafter be fine speci- 
 mens of humanity. * * The physical conditions under 
 which human beings exist in this favored region, are well 
 adapted for imparting to them the qualities which lead to 
 greatness in all departments of exertion." 
 
 In his book entitled Across the Continent, Samuel Bowles 
 says : 
 
 " The indications are tliat the human stock will be improved 
 both in physical and nervous qualities. The cliildreu are stout 
 and lusty. The climate invites, and permits with impunity, 
 such a large open-air life that it could hardly be othersvise." 
 
 Another traveler, C. L. Brace, thus records his impressions : 
 
 " The population will be the most industrious working ])op- 
 ulation of the world. * * Such is the wonderful quality of 
 nature here, and the selected energy of the Americans, that 
 the five hundred thousand [Californians] are equal to millions 
 elsewhere. * * It is the land of handsome men. * * The 
 young girls of the city [San Francisco] show a great deal of 
 beauty, and such rich bloom of complexion as we seldom see 
 on the Atlantic border. The Coast will no doubt be merely 
 the American type improved. * * I am constantly meeting 
 
SOCIETY. 27 
 
 young, ruddy, round-faced business men, wliom I mistake for 
 Englislimen, but tliey are Yaukee-born." 
 
 Robert von Schlagiutweit, a distinguished German traveler, 
 says : 
 
 " The visitor from tlie Eastern States of America immedi- 
 ately observes tlie fresli appearance of the Califurnians ; and is 
 astonislied at the healthy complexions and light red cheeks, 
 which are rare in his former home." 
 
 These quotations are inserted here not only to confirm my 
 own statements, and give additional authority to them, but also 
 to show how strongly ti'avelei'S are impressed with the evi- 
 dences that a race of peculiar physical character, or at least 
 different from^and superior to those of the Atlantic States, Avill 
 grow up here. I have not found anywhere an adverse opinion. 
 
 § 29. Puhlicity of Life. — Life in California is very public. 
 Many of the people live in hotels and at large boarding- 
 houses. Travelers are numerous ; theaters and balls are 
 abundant and well attended ; celebrations and festivals are 
 frequent ; the population is excitable ; all take tlie newspapers, 
 and all are interested in the events of the day ; and the his- 
 tory of the country is full of eventful incidents, which 
 always present fruitful topics for discussion. Money is 
 abundant, and is easily earned, and of course it is spent 
 freely ; and the favorite method of spending is in jjublic fes- 
 tivities and attending places of amusement. The regularity 
 of the summer climate enables people to make journeys, 
 excursions, picnics, and parties, without fear of rain or prepar- 
 ation for it. In the winter the people are not shut in by the 
 cold ; and at San Francisco the coolness of the climate is a 
 constant stimulus to exercise, and an invitation to go into the 
 street. Dancing parties are common throughout the year. 
 Numerous national, secret, and benevolent associations, Sun- 
 day-schools, and military companies, must have tlieir annual 
 picnics, while others have their periodical festivities in the 
 form of balls. But perhaps the amusement which has found 
 
28 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the most favor in California is billiard-playing. Billiard- 
 tables are found everywhere. In many little villages where 
 there is but one inn a fine billiard-table will be found. In 
 San Francisco there are numerous large billiard-saloons, con- 
 taining each from eight to twelve of the largest and most 
 elegant billiard-tables, at which men are constantly playing. 
 
 § 30. Education. — California has an excellent system of 
 State schools, open without charge to all children between 
 five and fifteen years of age ; and the system of instruction 
 and the general management of the departments are reported 
 to be little, if in any manner, inferior to those in Massachu- 
 setts. The teachers are mostly natives of the Eastern States, 
 and are highly capable. The intelligence of the people who 
 settled the State will be transmitted to their offspring, and 
 there is no probability that the Californians of 1900 will be 
 less intellectual than those of 1870. 
 
 Out of 135,361 children of school age, 72,972 go to school, 
 and frhe average daily attendance is 65,700. There are 1,612 
 schools, and 2,301 teachers, of whom 1,420 are ladies. The 
 total expense to the public ti'easury is $2,131,783 annually. 
 There are 88 school libraries, with 200,000 volumes. 
 
 The public libraries of the State^ in addition to those 
 belonging to the schools, number thirty, with 300,000 volumes, 
 including the Mercantile of 30,000, Meclianics' of 20,000, and 
 the Odd Fellows' of 18,000, in San Francisco. 
 
 A State University has been liberally endowed by the State 
 and has been organized, but as yet it deserves to be called a 
 college. It has a small library, no laboratory, and few pro- 
 fessors and students ; but it has a magnificent site, and means 
 which, if properly managed, would enable it to become a 
 great institution. Much of its money has been squandered, 
 however, and the result for the future is doubtful. Secta- 
 rian colleges are scattered along the coast from Santa Kosa 
 to Santa Barbara, most of them small atiairs. Tliose of 
 the Jesuits have the best buildings and apparatus and the 
 
SOCIETY. 29 
 
 largest number of students and professors. Many of the non- 
 Catholic parents send their sons and daughters to Catholic 
 schools. 
 
 § 31. Literature. — California has made a Beginning in the 
 establishment of a local literature, but her writers were nearly 
 all born elsewhere, though they first resorted to authorship 
 here, and were impelled to it by our intellectual atmosphere. 
 The only native of the State who has ventured into priut is a 
 lady of Spanish blood, and she did not make a success. The 
 Californian books include law, history, geography, religion, 
 biography, science, romance, poetry, and humor. H. W. Hal- 
 leck's International Law, Gregory Yale's Water Mights^ Frank- 
 lin Tuthill's History of California, John W. Dwinelle's Colo- 
 nial History of San Francisco, Frank Soule's Annals of San 
 Francisco, T. F. Cronise's Natural Wealth of California, T. 
 H. Hittell's Adventures of James Adams, A. S. Evans' Our 
 Sister Hepuhlic, John F. Swift's Trip to Jericho, John F. 
 Derby's Phmiixiana, Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad, and 
 Bret Harte's Condensed Novels, deserve special mention. 
 Derby, Mark Twain, and Bret Harte are accounted deservedly 
 as among the leading humorists of the age, and Swift, in his 
 Jericho, has shown much humorous power. Ina Coolbrith, C. 
 W. Stoddard, Emily Lawson, Edward Pollock, Joaquin Mil- 
 ler, and many others, have made valuable contributions to the 
 poetry of the Pacific. 
 
 § 32. Art. — Our artists, like our authors, have all come 
 from abroad, and yet they feel as if they belonged here as 
 much as if born here. Some of them came hither without 
 skill or reputation and rose to eminence among us ; others, who 
 had gained reputation in the East, came and made their home 
 by preference in California, on account of the attractions of 
 its climate and scenery. Landscape has been the branch of 
 most of our artists, and has been carried to a high degree of 
 excellence. Thomas Hill is a master in general effect, relief, ef- 
 fective arrangement of light and shade, and fine harmonies of 
 
30 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 contrast and color ; and in tliese prominent points I have not 
 yet seen any pictures superior to his. Wm. Keitli has similar 
 merits, but both jjaint in the same broad style, and omit much 
 desirable linish of detail. In this respect, Bierstadt, who does 
 not claim to be a Californian, but has spent much time here, 
 is superior to either. Virgil Williams is another landscape 
 painter of much skill. The only historical painter is Charles 
 Nahl, wliose works possess remarkable excellence in vigor and 
 suggestiveness of design. In accuracy of drawing, strength of 
 light and sliade, careful finish, and brilliancy of color, he ranks 
 high. His picture of " Sunday in the Mines in 1849," of ex- 
 hibition size, representing a mining camp, with horse-racing, 
 with men bible-reading, writing home, W"ashing, quietly rest- 
 ing, gambling, and figlitin^ is enough to make a reputation. 
 He is fond of bright sunshine, and he makes it glare with all 
 the brilliancy of midday under a California sky. Wm. Hahn, 
 an excellent figure painter, has not yet determined to make 
 his permanent home here. S. M. Brookes, as a painter of still 
 life, is xnisurpassed on our continent. 
 
 The Art Association of San Francisco has taken a firm foot- 
 hold and given some very creditable exhibitions, and it prom- 
 ises to become the nucleus of a permanent art-school. 
 
 § 33. Religion. — In 1870, California had 643 religious con- 
 gregations, 532 houses of worship, and seats in them for 195,- 
 000 persons, or space for about one-third of the population. 
 The property of these congregations was valued at $7,404,000, 
 or about $13,000 for each church, on an avei-age. The Catho- 
 lics have 144 churches, 66,000 seats, and pi*operty valued at 
 $4,600,000, or more than one-fourth of the churches, one-third 
 of the seats, and one-half of all the church property in the 
 State. The Methodists have 155 churches, the Baptists 115, 
 the Presbyterians and Congregationalists95, the Episcopalians 
 38, and others smaller numbers. The Jews have seven, the 
 Mormons three, and the Spiritualists two. The people gener- 
 ally are not strict in their adherence to ecclesiastical regula- 
 
SOCIETY. 31 
 
 tions. Most of tliem rarely go to church, and many of those 
 who go are not communicants. Church membership is not 
 generally supposed to be inconsistent with the round dances, 
 theater-going, or card-playing. The Americans generally are 
 nearly all Protestants by education, but they wear their faith 
 loosely, and lean to indiflerentism, if not skepticism. The great 
 majority of tlie Germans are more skeptical than the Ameri- 
 cans. The Italians and French adhere nominally to the 
 Catholic Church, but show no zeal. The foreign-born Irish 
 have brought their zeal with them, and preserved it pretty 
 well ; but the new generation ai-e affected to a considerable 
 extent witli the spirit of indifferentism, and the church, not- 
 withstanding it gains some converts from the Protestant sects, 
 which win none in return, is losing influence relatively, not- 
 withstanding its numerous schools, in which the dogmas of the 
 church are instilled into the minds of the people with great 
 care. Secret associations, mainly benevolent and social in 
 their purposes, occupy a prominent jjlace in California ; and in 
 many of the mining towns the Odd Fellows' and Masonic 
 lodges are more costly and commodious than the churches, 
 and the feeling of attachment to these Brotherhoods is akin 
 to religion. 
 
 The Odd Fellows, the strongest secret order in the State, 
 have 200 lodges and 14,000 members; gain 1,000 members 
 every year ; collect $300,000 of revenue, and spend two-thirds 
 of the sum for the relief of needy members. 
 
 The Free and Accepted Masons have 187 lodges and 10,000 
 members, and gain about 800 annually. 
 
 The Improved Order of Red Men has 40 lodges and 2,600 
 members. 
 
 The Independent Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias, 
 the Order of Druids, the Order of Heptasophs, are other asso- 
 ciations, mainly benevolent. 
 
 The Fenian Brotherhood, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, 
 the United Order of American Mechanics, the United Order 
 
32 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 of White Men, the American Protestant Association, the Order 
 of the Crescent, and the Grand Army of the Republic, have 
 political and benevolent purposes. 
 
 The B'nai B'rith, and the Ancient Jewish Order of K. S. B., 
 are societies of mutual benevolence, open to Jews. 
 
 The Patrons of Husbandry, recently organized, has about 
 7,000 members. Its avowed purpose is to advance the inter- 
 ests of the agricultural community. 
 
 § 34. Deeds of Blood. — Twenty years ago, California had 
 a sad notoriety for deeds of blood, and for lynch executions; 
 but as society has become more settled, murders and illegal 
 punishments have become rarer, and are perhaps not more 
 common now than in some States east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 The abundance of treasure, the necessity of transporting it for 
 long distances over mountainous roads, and the sparseness of 
 the population, offer opportunities for robbery seldom found 
 elsewhere, and they are not entirely neglected. The stage rob- 
 bers ai'C usually gentlemen in their way ; and they generally 
 content themselves with taking the box of treasure sent by 
 the express company, neither robbing nor insulting the passen- 
 gers when they find that the express box is empty, and 
 that they have risked their lives for nothing. Even when 
 homicides were most frequent, the great majority of the peo- 
 ple were secure in their lives and property ; but the percent- 
 age of deaths was large among the gamblers, drunkards, hold- 
 ers of disputed land claims, thieves, and borderers. Public 
 gambling was tolerated by law until 1854, and by custom in 
 the miuing towns ten years later. Dueling Avas common. 
 The Indians were a degraded and drunken race, and caused 
 much bloodshed. The great injustice done by the govern- 
 ment, in pi'eventing the people from getting secure titles to 
 either the agricultural or mining lands, led to numerous quar- 
 rels, and many fatal affrays. The scarcity of women was 
 another source of trouble. In all these respects there has been 
 great improvement, and our larger towns are little inferior to 
 
SOCIETY. 33 
 
 those of Illinois in the security of life and the maintenance of 
 public order. 
 
 Yet in the most disorderly times, the great majority of the 
 people were peaceful, quiet, and firmly hostile to all forms of 
 crime. The pioneers, as a class, would have been a credit 
 morally to any country ; and the ideas to the contrary have 
 been circulated mainly by writers who were not here previous 
 to 1853. 
 
 California has been a favorite subject of exaggeration. A 
 I'omancer who wants to make a sensation, tells a big story 
 about our State, with no purpose that it shall be taken as true ; 
 but somebody else imagines it to be the fact, draws it up in a 
 new form, and it then passes as established truth. It must be 
 in this manner that Herbert Sj^encer, one of the most learned 
 and able men of the day, has lately been misled. The Popu- 
 lar Science Monthly for June, 1873, contains a paper from his 
 pen, and in its course he says : 
 
 " I do not refer only to such extreme illustrations of it as 
 were at one time furnished in California, where, along with 
 that complete political freedom which some suppose to be the 
 sole requisite for social welfare, most men lived in perpetual 
 fear for their lives, while others prided themselves on the 
 notches which marked, on the hilts of their pistols, the num- 
 ber of 7Tien they had killed." 
 
 Unfortunately for Mr. Spencer, his illustrations are false. I 
 have lived twenty-five years in California, jmrt of the time in 
 the mines, have all the time been familiar with tlie general 
 condition of society throughout the State, and can safely say 
 that never was one man in a hundred " in perpetual fear of 
 his life," nor in any fear once a year. Men who have attended 
 to their own business, kept sober, avoided gambling houses 
 and disputed land titles, and acted honestly, have always been 
 comparatively safe. I do not remember that any Californian 
 murderer ever prided himself on the notches on his pistol 
 marking the number of his victims, nor could boasts of mur- 
 3 
 
34 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 der have been made with mipunity in any part of the State. 
 
 Bret Harte's rejii-esentations of the manners of the miners 
 of California are very entertaining, and they do not claim to 
 be anything save romance. He and Clarence King have both 
 undertaken to write about pioneer life in the mines of Cali- 
 fornia, without personal knowledge or careful investigation, 
 which was not required of the novelist, but would not have 
 been out of place in a work recording observations taken dur- 
 ing an official geological survey. 
 
 Previous to 1856, street lights were among the institutions 
 of San Francisco. It would frequently be announced by con- 
 versation, or even by the newspapers in the morning, that a 
 street fight might be expected that day, between two men 
 whose names were mentioned ; and the curious would collect 
 on the main business street, to see the fun. The belligerents 
 would walk along the street, and on coming near each other 
 would draw their revolvers, and, with or without speaking, 
 commence firing. The fight would be one of self-defense on 
 both sides. In the use of deadly weapons, California resem- 
 bles the Gulf States far more than the North. The wild con- 
 dition of affairs in the early times was impressed upon our 
 society, and we have not yet been able to reform it altogether ; 
 and in the matter of carrying deadly weapons, and in street 
 fights, we have imitated the example of the Cotton States. 
 So, too, in the matter of duels, of which there have been 
 many in California, and some of them of a character so re- 
 markable as to attract attention all over the civilized world. 
 Dueling is punishable as a felony by severe penalties ; but a 
 hundred duels have been fought in the State, and about one- 
 third of them have proved fatal to one of the principals, and 
 yet no man has been legally punished for dueling, nor has 
 any one been prevented from voting or holding office for that 
 reason ; on the contrary, many of the duelists have held offices 
 among the most honorable and profitable in the State. Pub- 
 lic opinion, which is more potent than the law, has con- 
 demned duels, and w^e have not had one for years. 
 
SOCIETY. 35 
 
 § 35. Dialect. — Bret Harte has attributed to the miners of 
 California a peculiar, stronglj^-marked, and affected dialect, 
 but he has drawn on his ima£;ination for the greater part of it. 
 A mixed population, like that in the mines, representing evei-y 
 State in tlie Union, and every county of Great Britain, could not 
 have a dialect ; and nowhere is the English language better un- 
 derstood, or spoken with more foi'ce, elegance, and purity, by 
 the poorer classes of people, than in this State. Harte did not 
 come to California until 1857, never lived in the mines, and 
 bad no habits of research, nor was it necessary that he should 
 have for success in his department of literature. Slang, as dis- 
 tinct from dialect, is common in California. Mark Twain had 
 excellent opportunities to become familiar with it, and lie has 
 made a singular and amusing collection of it in an account of 
 *' Buck Fanshaw's Funeral." 
 
 § 36. Calif ornianisms. — The Californians have introduced 
 certain words into the English language, or at least have 
 adopted them in common use in the State, and a list of them, 
 with tlieir pronunciation and definition, may not be out of 
 place here : 
 
 Aparejo, (a par ay' ho) a Mexican pack-saddle, 
 
 Adobe, (a do' ba) a large, sun-dried, unburned brick, some- 
 times two feet long, a foot wide, and four inches thick. 
 
 Arroyo, (ar ro' yo) a brook, or the dry bed of a brook or 
 small river. 
 
 Arastra, (a ras' tra) a primitive mill for crushing quartz. 
 
 Alforja, ( al for' hah) a bag, usually made of raw cowhide, 
 used for holding the articles to be carried by a pack-horse. 
 
 £ar. — A low bank of sand or gravel, at the side of a river, 
 deposited by the stream. 
 
 Bximmer. — An idle, worthless fellow, who does no woi-k 
 and has no visible means of support. The word " loafer," like 
 " lounger," does not designate the general conduct or perma- 
 nent character of a man, but only a temporary idleness. A 
 respectable, industrious man may become a " loafer " by mak- 
 
36 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ing idle, impertinent visits in business places during business 
 hours ; but tlie word " bummer " implies a low, laz}^ character. 
 It is probably derived from the vulgar German words Bum- 
 meln and Bummeler, which are about equivalent to " loafer " 
 and " loaf" Its origin has been attributed to Boehmen, the 
 German name of Bohemia, a nationality celebrated for the 
 number of its sharpers and adventurers. The Gipsies are 
 called Bohemiens in France, because of their roving lives and 
 worthless character. " Bummer " is generally supposed here 
 to be a Califoruianism. 
 
 Bumming^ acting the bummer, used in such phrases as " he 
 is bumming around." 
 
 Caballada, (ca bal yah' da) a herd of broken horses. 
 
 Canada, (can yah' da) a small canon, a deep ravine, a nai*- 
 row valley with steep sides. 
 
 Canon, (can' yon) originally a tube, and hence applied to 
 mean a deep gorge with high, steep walls. Comparatively few 
 canons and canadas are to be found in that portion of the 
 United States east of the Mississippi, but they are abundant in 
 California. The Spaniards place the accent on the last syllable 
 of canon, (can yone') but in ordinary American usage the ac- 
 cent is on the first syllable. It is frequently spelt " canyon," 
 and " kanyon." 
 
 Corral, (cor ral') a pen into which a herd of cattle or horses 
 is driven, when one is to be caught. 
 
 To corral, to drive into a corral ; to drive a person into a 
 position from which he cannot escaj^e. 
 
 To coyote, a mining term, to dig a hole resembling the bur- 
 row of the coyote, or small Californian wolf 
 
 Claim, the tract of land claimed for mining purposes by a 
 man or party. There are various kinds of claims, such as 
 bank, bar, hill, tunnel, flat, etc. 
 
 Color, a visible quantity of gold found in prospecting. If 
 the pi'ospector finds one or more particles of gold in his search, 
 he savs he has found the color. 
 
SOCIETY. 37 
 
 To dry up, a slang plu-ase, meaning to stop, fail, disappear, 
 become silent. It is very cxju-essive to Californians, accus- 
 tomed to see the whole face of the country dry up in the sum- 
 mer season. 
 
 Diggings, a general name for placer gold mines. Wet dig- 
 gings are in the banks and bars of creeks or rivers ; dry 
 diggings are in Hats or the beds of gullies, which are dry the 
 greater portion of the year. 
 
 Es'pediente, the original papers relating to some government 
 business, filed in a public office. 
 
 Emharcadero, (em bar ca day' ro) a landing place. 
 
 To freeze out, a miner's phrase, used to express the policy 
 whereby stockholders, or partners in mines, are driven to sell 
 out. For instance : if some rich men, owning part of a mine, 
 discover that it is very valuable, they may conceal that fact, 
 and at the same time levy heavy assessments for works which 
 can bring no speedy return ; and thus the poorer shareholders 
 will be burdened and discouraged, and induced to sell out at 
 a low price. 
 
 Ftiste, (foos' te) a strong saddle-tree, made of wood, and 
 covered with raw cowhide, used for lassoing. 
 
 Gulch, a gully. 
 
 Hahilitation, from the Spanish habilitacion, a certificate, or 
 stamp on paper, which authorized it to be used for certain 
 purposes. To habilitate paper, is to place the mark of hahili- 
 tation upon it. 
 
 2^0 hydraulic, a mining term, to wash dirt by throwing a 
 stream of water upon it through a hose and pipe. 
 
 Jaquima, (hack' ee ma) a head-stall used in breaking wild 
 horses. 
 
 To knock doion, a miner's phrase, meaning to steal rich 
 pieces of auriferous quartz from the lode. 
 
 Manada, (ma nah' da) a herd of breeding mares under the 
 lead of a stallion. 
 
 Mecai^e, (may cah' te) a rope of hair, used for tying horses. 
 
38 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Mochilas, (mo cbee' las) large leathern flaps for covering a 
 fuste. 
 
 Plaza, a public square in a town. 
 
 Play a ^ a beach. 
 
 Pozo, a spring or well. 
 
 Pueblo, a town. 
 
 To pipe, to wash dirt by the hydraulic process. 
 
 Pay-Dirt, auriferous dirt rich enough to pay the miner. 
 
 Placer, from the Spanish, a place where gold is found in 
 earthy matter. 
 
 To prospect, to hunt for gold diggings ; to examine ground 
 or rock for the purpose of finding whether it contains gold, 
 and how much. 
 
 Prospect, the discovery made by prospecting. 
 
 Pocleo, (ro day' o) a collection of wild or half- wild cattle, 
 made for the purpose of separating or marking them. 
 
 Pecojida, (ray cohee' da) a similar collection of horses. 
 
 Pancho, (ran' tsho) before the Americans took California, 
 meant a tract of land used almost entirely for pasturage, 
 rarely less than four square miles in extent, sometimes as 
 much as ninety -nine square miles, and in most cases not less 
 than thirty square miles. Since the conquest, rancho, and its 
 American derivation " ranch," are often applied to small farms, 
 and sometimes, in the way of slang, to single houses, tents, and 
 liquor shops. " Ranch" is sometimes used as a verb : thus a 
 man who opens a farm, according to common parlance, " has 
 gone to ranching." We speak of a " milk ranch," " butter 
 ranch," " cheese ranch," " chicken ranch," etc. 
 
 Panchero, (ran-tsha'-ro) a man who owns and lives upon a 
 rancho. It is usually understood to mean a Spanish Califor- 
 nian. 
 
 Pancheria, (ran tsha ree' a) an Indian hut or a village. 
 
 Peata, (ray ah' ta) a rawliide rope, used for lassoing. 
 
 Pubric, a flourish, \vhich ]Mexicans and native Californians 
 append to their signatures, and which, in fact, they consider 
 
SOCIETY. 39 
 
 as an important part of tlieir signatures, and the most difficult 
 to imitate or counterfeit. They often use their " rubrics " 
 alone as signatures. To rubricate, to sign with a rubric. 
 
 Sluice, a trough used for washing pay-dirt. 
 
 Grouncl-Sluice, a trough cut in the ground for washing pay- 
 dirt. 
 
 Tail-Sluice, a sluice put in below a number of other sluices, 
 and depending on them for its supply of dirt and water. 
 
 Sluice-Fork, a fork similar to a manure fork, but with 
 blunt prongs, as wide at the point as at the heel. The fork is 
 used for throwing stones out of the sluices. 
 
 Sluice-Head, the quantity of water used in a sluice ; a con- 
 stant stream of water running through an aperture, usually 
 two inches high, and from five to fifteen inches long, under a 
 pressure of seven inches. 
 
 Slum, slimy mud. 
 
 To strip, to throw off worthless dirt from the top of pay 
 dirt. 
 
 Sierra, (see er' ra) originally a saw, a chain of mountains. 
 
 Square Meal, a good meal at a table, as distinguished from 
 such meals as men make when they are short of provisions, a 
 condition not uncommon among men who make adventurous 
 trips into the mountains. 
 
 Tailings, the waste of a sluice, torn, rocker, or quartz-mill. 
 
 Tom, a wooden trough, from ten to fifteen feet long, for 
 washing pay-dirt. 
 
 Tom-Stream, or Tom-Head, the amoiint of water used in a 
 tom. 
 
 Rocker, or Cradle, a machine resembling a domestic cradle, 
 for washing pay-dirt. 
 
 Wing-Dam, a dam in a creek or river, running partly 
 across. 
 
 § 37. Spanish Californians. — The people of Spanish blood 
 in the State are mostly natives of California, Mexico, and Chile. 
 As a class, they are poor and ignorant. The Mexicans and 
 
40 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Spaniards who came to California while Spain held dominion 
 of the country, brought few women with tliem, ])ut took In- 
 dian Avomen for wiv'es ; and the descendants of these women 
 form a majorit}^ of the Spanish Calif jrnians. Among the 
 wealtliier families, the Indian cast of countenance has almost 
 disappeared. Although the features are sometimes thick, the 
 expression of the face is mild and pleasant. The complexion 
 is dark, and grows darker with age ; the hair is black and 
 straight, the eyes black, the cheeks ruddy. Many of the men 
 are handsome, tall, broad-shouldered, large-boned, strong, 
 healthy, and long-lived. They grow fleshy as they grow old ; 
 and the same remark applies to the women. Tliey are a good- 
 natured race, very kind and obliging to their friends, but out 
 of place among Americans, who are too sliarp for them in 
 trading. Instead of increasing in wealth with the develop- 
 ment of the country, the S})anish Califoruians have been rap- 
 idly growing poorer, and now they own not one-twentieth of the 
 landed property which they had in 1848. Then they owned 
 nearly everything ; now there is not a leading merchant or 
 millionaire among them. They regret the conquest. They 
 lived in a very simple manner under the Mexican dominion, 
 but they were secure in their property, and were the political 
 masters. Now they form a small and powerless minority, 
 among a people far superior to them in agricultural and 
 mechanical skill and business knowledge — a people who are 
 absorbing all their wealth, and who look upon them and treat 
 thera as inferiors. Although some of the Spanish Califoruians 
 are content with the change of dominion, yet many hate the 
 Americans. Indeed, the condition of aftairs in some of the 
 counties where the Spanish population is numerous, was near 
 civil war at various jieriods between 1851 and 1854. Most 
 of the Spanish Califoruians live in the country ; their chief 
 wealth is in land and cattle, and the main occupation of the 
 poorer classes is herding cattle. 
 
 § 38. Chinese. — The Chinese population of California was 
 
SOCIETY. 41 
 
 49,310 in 1870, and of these, 22,760 were in the mining- 
 counties, inchiding San Diego, Kcni, Yuba, and San Bernardi- 
 no, in whicli mining occupies only a small part of the inhabit- 
 ants. San Francisco has 12,030 ; Sacramento, 3,596 ; Nevada, 
 2,627 ; Placer, 2,410 ; Yuba, 2,337 ; Butte, 2,082 ; and other 
 counties smaller numbers. The census reports so far published, 
 do not classify the Chinese according to their occupations ; but 
 by my estimate, 18,000 of them are miners, 8,000 are agri- 
 culturists, and 22,000 are manufacturers, fishermen, domestic 
 servants, merchants, washmen, etc. In the class of miners are 
 included the builders and menders of roads. 
 
 Most of our Chinese came from Southern China, and be- 
 long to large companies, each of which represents the district 
 from which its members came, and has a large building in 
 San Francisco, where they lodge and feed all the members of 
 their company when they arrive from China, or when they 
 come on a visit from the interior. The companies are benevo- 
 lent associations, and take care of their indigent and sick. 
 There are iew Chinese beggars in the streets, and few Chinese 
 patients in the public hospitals. The common laborers are 
 brought to the State under contract to work for several years 
 at a low rate of wages (from four to eight dollars) per month ; 
 and they usually keep these contracts faithfully. The employ- 
 ers in these cases are either the companies, or associations of 
 Chinese capitalists. The merchants are considered to be very 
 faithful to their promises, and in San Francisco they can get 
 credit among their acquaintances quite as readily as other men 
 in similar branches of business. In the mines, the Chinamen 
 work in the poorest class of diggings. They own no ditches, 
 large flumes, hydraulic claims, or tunnel claims. The white 
 miners have a violent antipathy to them, will not permit them 
 to work in many districts, and will often drive them from their 
 best claims in the districts where they are permitted to work. 
 Sometimes the Celestials venture to dam a stream, but not 
 often. They use the rocker more than any other class of miners. 
 
42 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 In San Francisco, tlie merchants ai'e usually in pavtnersliips, 
 with not less than three nor more than ten jjartners, all of 
 whom live in the store, and deal chiefly in Chinese silks, teas, 
 rice, and dried fish. The two latter articles form a large por- 
 tion of the food of the Chinamen in the State. They have not 
 learned to use bread instead of rice. Those who can afford it 
 eat pork, chickens, and ducks. Beef, and most of our garden 
 vegetables, do not find much favor with them, even among 
 the wealthiest. The washermen are usually in companies of 
 two or three, and they have numerous little shops in the streets 
 of San Francisco, and in the smaller towns. They sprinkle 
 their clothes, jirevious to ironing, by filling the mouth with 
 water and then blowing it over them. For ironing, instead of 
 a flat-iron, they use an iron pan with a smooth bottom, and 
 kept full of burning charcoal. 
 
 The Chinese men, women, and children learn English very 
 slowly ; most of those who have been five or six years in the 
 State cannot understand the most common Euglisli words. 
 All the Chinamen in California adhere to tlieir national cos- 
 tume, with some slight variations. They wear their hair long, 
 use no white muslin or linen next the skin, and very few ever 
 put on a dress coat or stove-pipe hat. In the cities, they or- 
 dinarily use wooden-soled shoes, with thin cotton uppers. In- 
 stead of a coat they have a short blouse, generally of dai'k- 
 blue cotton, fitting close up to the neck. The wealthy have 
 this blouse made of silk or fur. In cold weather, if of silk or 
 cotton, it is wadded. The legs and lower part of the body 
 are enclosed in breeches of cotton or silk, tight from the thigh 
 down, and loose above. Trowsers, boots, and felt hats are 
 common. 
 
 The law tolerates the Chinese. A treaty gives them the 
 right of coming to our country, living here, and engaging in 
 business ; but they are excluded from the privileges of natu- 
 I'alization, 
 
 The statutes of California levying a tax of $50 each on all 
 
SOCIETY. 43 
 
 Chinese immigrants, and a tax of $4 per month on all Chinese 
 miners, have been declared void by the Courts ; and the stat- 
 ute forbidding them to testify against a white man was re- 
 pealed by the new Code, in a clause of which the people knew 
 notliing till after its adoption. Public sentiment and partizan 
 policy in California are decidedly hostile to the Chinamen, 
 have shown them no mercy, and have not insisted on the pun- 
 ishment of the numerous crimes committed against them. The 
 Chinamen have no votes, elect no officers, support no news- 
 papers, and have few advocates. 
 
 Riots, to beat and murder Chinamen, to destroy their 
 houses, and to drive them away from places where they were 
 employed, have been frequent in the State. Many public 
 meetings have been held to fan the hatred against them into 
 flames. A prominent politician, in a public speech, expressed 
 a wish that the Pacific Mail steamers which bring immigrants 
 from Canton, should be burned. A Jesuit priest, in 1873, de- 
 livered an anti-Chinese address in a Catholic Church in San 
 Francisco, and in its course thus addressed his auditory : 
 
 " If, I say, they [the Chinese] should ever become domiciled 
 in our country, your posterity will be doomed to a miserable 
 fate — a fate ao-ainst which it will be useless for them to strusc- 
 gle, for it will not have the power to resist ; and bitter, aye 
 bitter, will be the curses on your memory, when you are gone, 
 for the legacy which you have left to it." 
 
 The address was published in full in the Monitor^ the lead- 
 ing organ of the Catholic Cluirch in California, and was com- 
 mended editorially as an " admirable discourse." 
 
 Cliinamen are exposed every wliere to insult and injury, as a 
 hated and helpless race must be everywhere, if there are ruf- 
 fians among their enemies. They are, besides, exposed to mob 
 violence in case they should enter into new employments. 
 They would not dare to work in the gold quartz mines at Grass 
 Valley or Sutter Creek ; nor would it be safe for them to un- 
 dertake to do work of stevedores or hod-men in San Fran- 
 
44 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 cisco. Assault and murder would be the probable punishnient 
 of such grievous oftenses. Arson has been used often aijjainst 
 them and their employers. Factories, quartz mills, wheat 
 stacks, and dwellings, have been burned on many occasions ; 
 half a dozen white men have been assassinated, because they 
 hired Celestials. The owners of several factories have dis- 
 missed Chinese operatives in times of anti-Chinese excitement, 
 to save their property from the torch. 
 
 Hundreds of farmers, miners, and manufacturers would like 
 to hire Celestials, but dare not offend the anti-Chinese ruffians. 
 The Chinese have been employed extensively on the railroads, 
 but would not have been if their Avork had been combustible, 
 or if the directors of the companies had lived near the line of 
 their roads in solitary houses, where assassination would prob- 
 ably have escaped detection. Tlie opportunity for tlie crime, 
 but not the will, was lacking. Chinamen do not erect costly 
 houses in solitary places, nor in small towns ; but they have 
 purchased some good buildings in San Francisco, where they 
 ai'e protected against fire by the abundance of people and by 
 the fears of the conflagrations extending to the property of 
 white men. Even in the metropolis, with its crowded streets 
 and numerous policemen, the Celestial wash men usually have 
 their windows boarded up to keep out murderous cobble- 
 stones. While the great majority of the white people treat the 
 yellow men kindly, still there are enough rulhaus to make 
 their condition unenviable. They live among us by suflei-ance, 
 and all want to leave so soon as they can save enougli to enjoy 
 comfort elsewhere. 
 
 It is said that the Chinamen should not be tolerated here 
 because they are an infe]'ior caste, they do not learn our lan- 
 guage or customs, they send away the money of the country, 
 they make no improvements, they pay few taxes, and they 
 are immoral Pagans, and enslaved. The only slavery among 
 them in California, is an honest compliance witli their contracts, 
 entered into freely. They ])ay their debts incurred for their 
 
SOCIETY. 45 
 
 passage money, and tliat is a kind of slavery that miglit pre- 
 vail more extensively among other nationalities without hurt- 
 ing them. 
 
 The Paganism is brought up only as an excuse for persecu- 
 tion. If industry, economy, sobriety, fidelity in service to the 
 extent of their knowledge, humanity, peaceful disposition, good 
 order, kindness of manner, prompt payment of debts, and at- 
 tention to their own business, be immoral, then the Chinamen 
 are. There can be no caste in California except in so far as 
 their exposure of crime, and their submission to illegal violence, 
 makes them an unfortunate class. They are free, and their 
 children born here are citizens and voters ; and, under such cir- 
 cumstances, caste is not possible. 
 
 Should they be blamed for not erecting houses for their ene- 
 mies to burn, or can Ave find fault if they send away money 
 which they can neither invest nor enjoy here in security? 
 Could we expect them to adopt our customs or language, when 
 we show to them that they must not think of this as their 
 home ? If California wants them to study her interests, she 
 should study tlieirs. The highest triumph of statesmanship 
 consists in bidding successfully for men, and the grossest of all 
 ])olitical blunders have been committed by driving away in- 
 dustrious, skillful, peaceful, and honest workers. France and 
 Spain, by such mistakes, enriched Holland and England ; and 
 perhaps California can» enrich Oregon or British Columbia in 
 a like manner. The Cliinese are a very desirable class of 
 inhaljitants. They have all the natural qualities needed to 
 make a rich and happy State ; and if they understood that 
 they could enjoy their wealth here, they would probably soon 
 change their policy, and fit themselves for the country, by 
 making greater efforts to learn its language and customs, by 
 adopting the Avhites' costume, building good houses, and bring- 
 ing their women with them. 
 
 Complaint is made that the Chinamen deprive the poor 
 white men of employment and drive them from the State ; 
 
46 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA, 
 
 but tliere is reason to believe tliat the Chinamen support in- 
 directly a large proportion of the while men in California, and 
 that the larger the number of Chinamen the more wliite men 
 will be needed and the greater tlieir profit will be. We owe to 
 them nearly all our railroads, all the large irrigation ditches 
 lately built or now in progress, nearly all our reclamation 
 dykes, most of our factories, and many of our wagon roads. 
 Without their help we could not manage our vineyards, our 
 orchards, or our grain harvests. If we could not atford to do 
 without the Chinamen now here, we should not lose anything 
 by having more of them. There is room here for 3,000,000, 
 and we would have had that number if those here had been 
 received properly, and they would indirectly or directly sup- 
 port at least as many white people. But when we are to 
 obtain 2,000,000 whites under our present policy is extremely 
 doubtful. With a population of 4,000,000, ( and Italy witii 
 a smaller area has 24,000,000) our farms, our quartz mines, 
 our town lots, our railroads, and all our property, would be 
 vastly increased in value, and thousands of white men who 
 are now barely able to support themselves and maintain their 
 possessions, woitld then be wealthy. 
 
 Any considerable addition made to the number of Indus- 
 trious, skillful, and economical workmen must add to the value 
 of land. The interest of the land-owner in a country where 
 most of the area is the property of thtf Government, and is 
 oftered by it as a gift to poor citizens, must be the interest of 
 the State ; and if it were in conflict with the interest of home- 
 less and landless laborers, then the latter should be sacrificed. 
 The Cliinese dig at least $6,000,000 annually, or nearly one- 
 third the gold yield of the State. We could not do without 
 that. They are indispensable in our kitchens. If tlie China- 
 men were expelled, a thousand white families would break up 
 house-keeping, and never resume it again. Thousands of farm- 
 houses, country hotels, and boarding-houses in the small 
 towns, would be in confusion, if the Chinamen should all 
 
SOCIETY. 47 
 
 leave. But the cliief siifterer would be San Francisco, which 
 would rind many factories closed, five hundred houses vacant, 
 and several tliousand white men deprived of their incomes. 
 
 The idea that industrious, economical, and skillful laborers 
 can impoverisli a country, is absurd. Tiiey must enrich it. 
 The lower the wages for which they work, the greater the prof- 
 it made by the remainder of the community. The more of 
 the cheap laborers, the better for the others. The white men 
 have vast advantages in the possession of all the capital, the 
 language, the mechanical skill, the government, and the ex- 
 clusive right of clairaiug mines and preempting farms on the 
 Federal domain. Under these circumstances, if they cannot 
 compete with the Chinamen, then for the welfare of California, 
 they should give way before the stronger race. But there is 
 no danger that the white men would be driven ont of Cali- 
 fornia. On the contrary, the more Chinamen, the more white 
 men. 
 
 Fears have been entertained that the poor whites would be 
 swamped by the immigration of Celestials, not only to Cali- 
 fornia, but also to the Atlantic States and Europe ; but there is 
 no ground for apprehension. The estimate of 350,000,000 in- 
 habitants for China is too high by 100,000,000, according to 
 the latest authorities ; and if the Chinese emigrants were kindly 
 received and properly taught the useful arts in Christian lands, 
 factories in the valleys of the Yangtze and Hoangho would 
 soon furnish employment for their surplus labor. It is the in- 
 terest of California that the Chinese should emigrate, partly 
 to stimulate business in China, partly to increase production 
 on all the coasts of the Pacific, and partly to provide numer- 
 ous skilled laborers, who will go back to their native country 
 and help to build up their manufactories of iron, cotton, silk, 
 wool, etc., with the help of steam. China has the coal, the 
 iron, the labor, and the capital, and when the skill shall be pro- 
 vided, the work will soon be done. Our prosperity is intim- 
 ately associated with that of our Asiatic neighbors. 
 
48 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 39. Indians. — Tlie ladiaus are a miserable i-ace, destined 
 to speedy extinction. Twenty-five years ago they numbered 
 fifty thousand or more ; now there may be seven thousand of 
 them. They were driven from their hunting-grounds and 
 fishing places by the whites, and they stole cattle for food ; 
 and to punish and prevent their stealing, the wliites made war 
 on them and slew them. Such has been the origin of most of 
 the Indian wars whicli have raged in various parts of the State 
 at intervals since 1849. The poor Indian, afoot, and armed 
 only witli the bow and arrow, is no matcli for the ricli Ameri- 
 can, armed with rifle and revolver, and mounted on a horse, 
 which saves liim from fatigue, takes him swiftly to the best 
 point of attack, or carries him still more swiftly from danger. 
 For every white man that has been killed, fifty Indians have 
 fallen. 
 
 In 1848, nearly every little valley had its tribe, and there 
 were dozens of tribes in the Sacramento basin ; but now most 
 of these tribes have been entirely destroyed. Disease and 
 brandy have cooperated with the bullet and the knife, to make 
 room for the white men. The Indians are fond of strong 
 liquor, and wlien tliey can get it, frequently become liabitual 
 drunkards. The squaws drink as much as the " bucks." 
 Among a tribe of drunken men and women, matrimonial con- 
 stancy is not to be expected ; nor is it found among the Indian 
 women in California. The infectious disease which threatens 
 to utterly destroy all barbarous and semi-barbarous nations, 
 has slain many of the red men in tliis State, as well as in other 
 parts of the continent. 
 
 The Indians of California, with the exception of the Mojaves, 
 are supposed to beh^ng to the general division of tlie Shosho- 
 uees, which includes also the Indians of Nevada, and a major- 
 ity of those in Utah. They are physically and intellectually 
 inferior to their relatives in Nevada, and far inferior to the 
 Indians wlio dwelt during the last century east of the Missis- 
 sippi River. Tlie red men of this State have but a small 
 
SOCIETY. 49 
 
 shave of the courage, militai-y spirit, and intellectual activity 
 of the Shawnees, Miarais, Delawares, and the other tribes who 
 contended so stoutly for the possession of the valley of the 
 Ohio. The majority of the Californian Indians never learned 
 to use fire-arms, and never dared to meet tlie wliite men in 
 battle. A few in the northern part of tlie State liave rifles, 
 use them well, and fight stubbornly, but they are a small pro- 
 portion. 
 
 The Californian Indian men are about five feet and a half 
 high on an average, and the women four feet and ten inches. 
 They ai'e very thick in the chest, and have voices of wonderful 
 strength. The children are clumsy, and heavy set. The women 
 are very wide in the shoulders and hips, and strongly built. 
 Men and women are large in the body, and slim in the 
 legs and arms, as compared with Caucasians. When not 
 affected by hereditary diseases, caught from the white men, 
 the Californian Indians have healthy constitutions, and for- 
 merly they lived to a great age. During the last ten years, a 
 number have died, with the reputation of being more than one 
 hundred and twenty years old. It is a common assertion that 
 the wild Indians never take cold. Daring the winterof 1849- 
 '50, I lived near a tribe in the mines, in what is now Shasta 
 County, and I saw that the men never wore any clothing save 
 a deerskin thrown over the shoulders ; that men, women, and 
 children went barefooted through a winter when snow lay on 
 the ground for a week at a time, and that their huts were only 
 about six feet wide, were open on all sides, and on two sides 
 had holes large enough for men to get in and out ; and I never 
 saw one troubled with a cold or cough. In the tribes living 
 far from the whites, the men usually go naked, and the women 
 wear a petticoat made by fastening flags or strips of bark, 
 about eighteen inches long, to a girdle. They are filtliy in 
 their habits, and their liouses are always filled with vermin. 
 Their form of government is simple. They have hereditary 
 chiefs who have little power. The tribes are small, and have 
 4 
 
50 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 no wealtli and no laws. Occasionally a member of a tribe 
 gives offense, and some of the leaders agree to kill bim, and 
 the sentence is carried into effect by waylaying bim and 
 shooting him with aiTOws. Their rule is blood for blood. 
 They rarely keep men prisoners, but kill adult male captives 
 immediately. Women and children are held frequently as 
 prisoners ; and one of the most common causes of war is the 
 capture of women. They liave no hereditary slavery. 
 They have no maiTiage ceremony, and the duration of the 
 marriage relation depends entirely upon the pleasure of the 
 husband. Polygamy is permitted by many of the tribes. 
 The women are not prolific, or at least the children are few, 
 and mostly boys. The girls are neglected, or intentionally 
 killed soon after birth, and this policy would, if continued, 
 soon cause an extinction of the race in California. In 
 certain tribes on the northern coast, if a mother, having 
 an infant child, dies, the child is buried with her. Most of 
 the tribes burn their dead, commencing the cremation in the 
 evening, and keeping up the fire all night, while the friends 
 watch, and the women relatives utter plaintive cries until day- 
 light. They have no religious ceremonies ; or no ceremonies 
 to which they attach ideas clearly religious. Every year, 
 usually in the spring, they have a dance, as it is called. They 
 assemble, build a large fire, and the men surround it, and 
 keeping their knees, elbows, and backs bent, they beat time 
 with their feet to a monotonous song, which they sing with 
 tlie assistance of the squaws, who sit off on one side. In some 
 tribes, several of the men have pipes, from which they elicit a 
 few notes as an accompaniment for the song. 
 
 The squaws are treated like slaves. Tiiey are required to 
 do all the work, and to attend to every want of their hus- 
 bands. They must collect vegetable food, prepare it, and 
 carry all the movable property in times of migration. They 
 are beaten on the slightest provocation. The men never con- 
 sult them about the management of public or private afiairs. 
 
SOCIETY. 51 
 
 Tliey are bought as merchandise from tlie parent, and treated 
 as slaves after the purchase. 
 
 Most of the wild Indians have no permanent place of resi- 
 dence. Each tribe has a territory which it considers its own, 
 and witliin which its members move about. Each family has 
 a hut, and a cluster of these huts is called a rcmcheria. The 
 rancherias are usually established on the banks of streams, in 
 the vicinity of oak-trees, horse-chestnut bushes, and patches of 
 wild clover. Such places are generally on fertile soil, with pic- 
 turesque scenery. In the Sacramento Valley the most common 
 plan for a hut was to dig a hole three or four feet deep and 
 ten feet across ; erect an upright post in the center, about six 
 feet high ; lay poles from the edge of the hole to rest on this 
 post, and cover the poles with grass and then witii dirt. In 
 some districts the hut is made by taking large pieces of pine 
 bark and laying them against a frame- work of poles fastened 
 together in a conical shape. In the San Joaquin Valley it 
 was more convenient to make a frame-work of poles, and 
 cover it with rushes or tules. These huts may be deserted for 
 a time, but are considered the property of the builders, who 
 move, according to the seasons, to those places where they can 
 obtain food most conveniently. In one month they go to the 
 thickets ; in another, to the open plain ; in another, to the 
 streams. 
 
 Their food is composed chiefly of acorns, clover, grass, grass 
 seeds, grasshoppers, horse-chestnuts, fish, game, pine-nuts, edible 
 roots and berries. The acorns of California are large, abund- 
 ant, and some of them are not unpleasant to the taste, but 
 they do not contain much nutriment as compared with an 
 equal bulk of those articles commonly used for food by the 
 Caucasian race. The acorns are gathered by the squaws, and 
 are preserved in various methods. The most common plan is 
 to build a basket with twigs and rushes in an oak tree, and 
 keep the acorns tliere. Tiie acorns are prepared for eating by 
 grinding them and boiling them with water into a thick paste, 
 
52 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 or by baking them in bread. The oven is a hole in the ground 
 about eighteen inches cubic. Red-hot stones are placed at the 
 bottom of the hole, a little dry sand or loam is thrown over 
 them, and next comes a layer of dry leaves. The dough or 
 paste is poured into the hole until it is two inches or three 
 inches deep. Then comes another layer of leaves, more sand, 
 red-hot stones, and finally dirt. At the end of five or six 
 hours the oven has cooled down, and the bread is taken out, 
 an irregular mass, nearly black in color, not at all handsome 
 to the eye or agreeable to the palate, and mixed with leaves 
 and dirt. For grinding the acorns, a stone mortar is used. 
 This mortar is sometimes nearly fiat, with a hollow not more 
 than two inches deep ; and occasionally one will be seen fifteen 
 inches deep, and not more than three inches thick in any part 
 of it. The pestle is of stone, round, ten inches long and three 
 thick. 
 
 Horse-chestnuts are usually made into a gruel or soup. Af- 
 ter being ground in the mortar, they are mixed with water in 
 a waterproof basket, into whicli red-hot stones are thrown, and 
 thus the soup is cooked. As the stones when taken from tlie 
 fire have dirt and ashes adhering to them, the soup is not 
 clean, and it often sets the teeth on edge. 
 
 Grass-seeds are ground in the mortar, and roasted or made 
 into soup. 
 
 Grasshoppers are roasted, and eaten without further prepara- 
 tion, or mashed up with berries. 
 
 • Fish and meat are broiled on the coals. The intestines and 
 blood are eaten, as well as the muscle. 
 
 Clover and grass are eaten raw. The Indians go out into 
 the clover patches, pull up the clover with tlicir hands, and 
 eat stalks, leaves, and fiowers. They consider clover a great 
 blessing, and get fat on it. 
 
 The Indians rarely have salt and spices, and most of their 
 food is such as a white man could not eat, unless reduced to 
 near starvation. In eating they have no plates, cups, knives, 
 
SOCIETY. 53 
 
 or forks, nor do they use any utensils in prepai-ing their food, 
 save tlie mortar and waterproof basket. The pine-nuts, edi- 
 ble roots, and berries, are eaten raw. Bugs, lizards, and snakes 
 are all considered good for food. In those places where the 
 tules grow, the roots of those rushes are eaten. Except one or 
 two tribes in the Colorado Desert, the wild Indians of California 
 never tilled the soil. 
 
 They use very few tools. The bow was the only weapon 
 for killing quadrupeds. It is made of a reddish wood, said to 
 be the western yew, and on the back the bow is strengthened 
 with a covering of deer's sinews. The arrows are of reed, and 
 have a head made of obsidian, a transparent, vitreous sub- 
 stance of volcanic origin, in appearance very similar to a coai'se 
 quality of glass. The arrow-heads are made two inches 
 long, half an inch wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, with 
 a vei-y sliarp point and sharp edges. The head is fastened in a 
 split of the shaft of the arrow by tying with deer's sinews. 
 Such an arrow-head can be used but once, for the obsidian is 
 as brittle as glass and breaks at the first shock. Some tribes, 
 in the northern part of the State, poison their arrows by irri- 
 tating a rattlesnake and then thrusting forward a fresh deer's 
 liver, which it will bite. After it has bitten repeatedly, and 
 thrown some of its poison at every bite into the liver, the lat- 
 ter is buried and allowed to putrefy. It is then dug up, the 
 arrow-head is dipped in it, and allowed to dry. An arrow thus 
 poisoned will kill a man, a horse, or an ox in twenty-four 
 hours, or less time ; and it is said that the meat of an animal 
 thus killed may be eaten with safety. I know that the Indi- 
 ans eat the meat of animals killed with poisoned arrows, 
 but I am not positive that the poison was prepared in this 
 manner. Tlie pokon of a rattlesnake is not injurious when 
 taken into a sound stomach : it is only when injected into the 
 blood that its injurious influences are felt. The arrows, even 
 when not poisoned, make very dangerous wounds, for the sinew 
 used to fasten the head soon softens, and allows the head 
 to remain when the shaft is pulled out. 
 
RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Tlie Indians are very familiar with the liabits of wild ani- 
 ■ als. They know procij^ely the character of the brushwood 
 and ravines in which the deer and bear liide during the day, 
 and the places to which they go to feed in the morning and 
 evening. In liunting deer and antelope, in places where there 
 is grass eighteen inches or two feet high, tlie Indian will often 
 hold the skull and horns of a buck deer before him, and thus 
 crawl within bow shot. The Pit River Indians dig pits about 
 five feet cubic, and cover them with brush and grass, and thus 
 catch deer, hares, and so forth. For catching wild geese, vari- 
 ous small and simple kinds of nets are used, and they are 
 knocked down with clubs. Salmon are killed with stones and 
 clubs in shallow Avater, and are caught M'ith spears. Their 
 most ingenious spear has a head of bone about one inch and a 
 half long, and sharp at both ends. To the middle is fastened a 
 string, which is attached to the spear-shaft. One end of the 
 head fits in a socket at the end of the spear-shaft. When the 
 spear is thrown, the head comes out of the socket and turns 
 cross-ways in the fish, and then there is no danger that it will 
 tear out. The Indians rarely hunt the grizzly bear. Along 
 the ocean beach they get barnacles. Their method of catching 
 gi'asshoppers is to dig a hole several feet deep, in a valley 
 where this species of game abounds, A large number of the 
 Indians then arm themselves with bushes, and commence at a 
 distance to drive the gi'asshoppers from all sides toward the 
 hole, into Avhich the insects finally fall, and from which they 
 cannot escape. The pine-nuts are sought at the tops of the 
 pine-trees, which the " bucks " ascend by holding to the rough 
 bark with their hands, and pressing out with their legs, so that 
 they do not touch the body to the trunk of the tree in going 
 up. It is more like walking than climbing. 
 
 The bow and arrow, the spear, the net, the obsidian knife, 
 the mortar, and the basket, are the only tools made by the 
 Indian. Tlie obsidian knife is merely a piece of obsidian, as 
 large as a hand, and sharp on one side. The baskets are all 
 
SOCIETY. 55 
 
 made of wire-grass, a grass with a round jointless stem, about 
 a sixteenth of an inch thick and a foot long. The basket- 
 work made with tliis wire-grass resembles the texture of a 
 coarse Panama hat, and is waterproof All the basket-work 
 of tlie Californian Indians is made of this material. The most 
 common shape for the basket is a perpendicular half of a cone, 
 three feet long and eigliteen inches wide, open at the top. 
 The basket, carried on the backs of the squaws, is iised for 
 carrying food, miscellaneous articles, and children. Neither 
 the Californian Indians of the present, nor of any preceding 
 century, made such mounds, circumvallations, arrow-heads, or 
 spear-heads of llint, or pipes and battle-axes of stone, as are 
 found in the State of Ohio. There is nothing to indicate that 
 any of the inhabitants of the country, previous to the arrival 
 of the Spaniards, were above a very low degree of savagism. 
 They have no domestic animals save the dog, and that of 
 a small kind. They have so little skill in the preservation of 
 food, that, like wild beasts, they grow grossly fat in the spring 
 and poor in the winter. The Mojave Indians, in the Colorado 
 Desert, depend for their subsistence chiefly on cultivated food. 
 Tiiey plant wheat, grass, pumpkins, and muskmelons. After 
 the annual overflow of the bottom land, a small patch of 
 ground is cleared ofl' with the help of knives and fire ; then 
 small holes are made, the seeds are deposited, and the field is 
 left to grow up as well as it may. The muskmelons are eaten 
 fresh ; the pumpkins are eaten fresh, or sliced and dried ; the 
 wheat and grass-seeds are ground, made into a paste with 
 water, and dried in cakes. The mezquit bean, next to the cul- 
 tivated grains, pumjikins, and squashes, is the most important 
 article of food with the Indians of the Colorado Desert. These 
 beans are prepared for eating in the same manner with the 
 wheat and grass-seed. 
 
 The preceding remarks relate to the wild Indians only, and 
 are intended to illustrate the natural habits, character, and 
 capacity of the race. . During the last fifteen years, however, 
 
56 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 they have all been influenced so much by intercourse with the 
 whites, tljat they have lost many of their wild habits and ac- 
 quired new ones. In some districts they have fire-arms ; in 
 others they obtain much of their food and clothing from their 
 Caucasian neio-hbors. In the counties along the southern 
 coast, there are many civilized Indians, who live in adobe 
 houses, and support themselves by herding cattle, breaking 
 horses, and working in the gi-ain fields, orchards, and vine- 
 yards. They have lost much of the savage expression of 
 countenance, and some of them have become very industrious 
 and trustworthy laborers ; but the majority are idle and dissi- 
 pated in their habits. Tiiey have all learned a vulgar dialect 
 of tlie Spanish, and a few speak a little English. The young- 
 er ones know notliing of any tongue save English and Span- 
 ish, but the elder Indians, when talking with one another, pre- 
 fer to use the language of their fathers. 
 
 § 40. Mining 2'owns. — The towns of California are seaport, 
 inlandport, railroad, agricultural, and mining. The mining 
 towns enjoyed their greatest prosperity from 1852 to 18G0. 
 Wea verville, Shasta, Oroville, Quincy, Nevada, Auburn, Down- 
 ieville, San Andreas, Jackson, Sonoma, and jNIariposa, are the 
 county-seats of various mining counties. Most of them are 
 built with crooked streets through the middle of a canon, 
 which near the middle is densely lined with stores, billiard 
 rooms, liquor shops, and restaurants. The dwellings are scat- 
 tered about irregularly : some are neatly built and are sur- 
 rounded with pleasant gardens ; the majority are miserable 
 little shanties or log-cabins, with no yard, flowers, or fruit- 
 trees to give an appearance of home. The population is not 
 permanent. One year the peoj^le are here, next they are else- 
 where. In 1854 Oroville was laid out; in 1857 it cast one 
 thousand votes, in 1860 its glory had departed, and at least a 
 dozen towns have now a larger population and a larger trade. 
 Copperopolis has now a population of about 200 ; in 18G4 it 
 cast 564 votes. Columbia in 1860 cast 1,008, and in 1873, 
 
SOCIETY. 57 
 
 341 A'otes. Mokelumiie Ilill was for a long time one of the 
 leading towns of tlie State ; now it has very little importance. 
 Nevada and Grass Valley have suffered less decline than any 
 other gold-mining towns wliich were prominent fifteen years 
 ago ; the former liad 3,986 and the latter 7,063 inhabitants in 
 1870. The mines in their vicinity are not yet exhausted. 
 From 1860 to 1864, when the main traffic across the Sierra 
 Nevada passed through Placerville, that was one of the busi- 
 est towns in the State. 
 
 § 41. Inland Ports. — Sacramento, at the head of naviga- 
 tion for large river steamers, and Red Bluff for small steamers 
 on the Sacramento, and Marysville for small steamers on the 
 Feather River, are tlie only places that could properly be 
 called river ports. The slough ports are San Rafael, Peta- 
 luma, Napa, Suisun, Stockton, Pacheco, Oakland, Union City, 
 Alviso, and Redwood. All these inland ports, save Union 
 City, Alviso, and Pacheco, have been supplied with railroads, 
 but Red Bluff, Suisun, Stockton and Petaluma have been 
 seriously injured by the railroad influence. Slough traffic is 
 still maintained, but it has lost much of its importance. 
 
 § 42. Railroad Towns. — Before the San Joaquin Valley 
 Railroad had been built, the towns of Empire and Paradise 
 were established on the Stanislaus River, and Tuolumne City 
 on the Tuolumne River ; but the iron track passed to the 
 west of them, and tliey were moved to the road. It is the 
 misfortune of Visalia and Shasta tliat they are not on the 
 main road passing through tlie middle of the Saci-amento- 
 San Joaquin basin, and Yreka is in danger of being left at 
 one side, by tlie California and Oregon Railroad. The towns 
 which have derived the most benefit from the railroads, are 
 Oakland, Vallejo, Sacramento, Napa, Calistoga, Santa Rosa, 
 Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Sau Jose, Gilroy, and Salinas ; and 
 with the exception of San Jose, all were founded by Ameri- 
 cans. The railroad system of the State will probably, at no 
 distant time, reach the southern coast, and give activity and 
 population to many of the old Spanish settlements. 
 
58 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 43. San Francisco. — San Francisco, styled figuratively 
 the Golden City, the metropolis of the finance, commerce, 
 manufactures, and fashion of the Pacific Coast of North 
 America, is situated in latitude 37° 48', about the same dis- 
 tance from the equator as Riclimond, Lisbon, Palermo, Ath- 
 ens, Smyrna, and Yeddo, and four miles from the Pacific Ocean 
 on the western shore of San Francisco Bay. The climate is 
 cool throughout the year, never cold enough to freeze, and 
 seldom hot enough to make liglit clothing comfortable. The 
 average temperature of January, the coldest month, is 49°, 
 and of September, the warmest month, 58*^ Fahrenheit, the 
 difference being only nine degrees ; whereas the difference be- 
 tween January and July is 42° in New York, 25" in London, 
 and 30*^ in Naples. No other city in the temperate zone has 
 a climate so equable as that of San Francisco ; none in any 
 zone has a temperature better suited for the growth of physi- 
 cal healtli and development, or for the intellectual and physi- 
 cal activity of man. The climate is so cool in summer that 
 sunny exposures are preferred for residences, and shade trees 
 are very few. In our parks and ornamental grounds we pre- 
 fer low, bushy evergreens, not tall, Avide-spreading, deciduous 
 trees. The peninsula of San Francisco lias a poor soil, and is 
 bare of trees. Daring the late winter and spring the surround- 
 ing hills are covered with green grass, but in tlie summer, fall, 
 andeai-ly winter, the adjacent country and the city itself have 
 a cheerless, dirty, yellow look. 
 
 The people are mostly Americans by birth, but tliei-e are also 
 many English, Irish, French, Germans, Italians, Spanish- Amer- 
 icans, Scandinavians, Dalmatians, and Chinese. There are 
 French, German, Italian, and Spanish newspapet-s ; French, Ger- 
 man, and Chinese cliurches, and Frencli, German, and Cliinese 
 theatrical companies, which i)erform occasionally. Tlie relig- 
 ions in wliich public services are regularly held are : Jewish, 
 Buddhist, Catliolic, Protestant, and Spiritualist. The city 
 has twenty-eight Protestant and ten Catholic churches, two 
 
SOCIETY. 59 
 
 Jewish synagogues, and six buildings in whicli Buddhist cere- 
 monies are occasionally held. The most splendid edifice de- 
 voted to purposes of worsliip in the city is the Synagogue 
 Emanu-El. An Episcopal Bishop and a Catholic Arclibishop 
 reside here. Among the Protestant churclies are five Presby- 
 terian, four Congregationalist, three Baptist, eight Methodist, 
 four Episcopal, three Lutheran, and one Unitarian. If, how- 
 ever, church-going be necessary to religion, then it might be 
 said tliat the majority of the jieople have no religion. On 
 pleasant Sundays the cars and ferries are crowded with persons 
 going out into the suburbs or the country, to visit ])laces of 
 amusement, or to stroll about and enjoy the fresh air. Re- 
 ligious prejudices are not strong. Protestant, Catholic, and 
 Jew associate together in business and society with the utmost 
 friendliness, as if it were better to agi*ee about the affairs of 
 this world than to quarrel about those of another. When any 
 important financial, social, or political movement is on foot, 
 the manao-ers are not satisfied unless all classes are brought in 
 and represented. The daily press treat all forms of faith with 
 equal respect, and frown upon all attempts to excite religious 
 animosities. No church monopolizes the business, the wealth, 
 the intelligence, or the political government of the city. The 
 Catholics have the most compact religious organization, the 
 Jews have a large portion of the importing and treasure trade, 
 and the Protestants or persons of Protestant descent hold most 
 of the ottices. Under such circumstances, religious bigotry 
 cannot thrive. 
 
 There are a vast number of benevolent and social associa- 
 tions in the city. There are two Jewish, one German, one 
 French, one Spanish, one Scandinavian, one Italian, one Swiss, 
 one Dalmatian, and one City Benevolent Societies, fifteen Ma- 
 sonic Lodges, nine Odd Fellow Lodges, and at least one each 
 of the B'nai B'rith, Druids, American Protestant Association, 
 American Mechanics, Seven Wise Men, Knights of Pythias, 
 Independent Red Men, Improved Red 'SLen, and Ancient Or- 
 
60 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 der of Knights. The Catholic Church maintains two Orphan 
 Asyhims, a liospital, and a Magdalen Asylum. The Protest- 
 ants have an Orphan Asylum, and an association for the re- 
 lief of destitute Avomen. The German and French Benevo- 
 lent Societies have each a fine hospital. 
 
 San Francisco is, in proportion to its size, the busiest seaport 
 of the world. No other city twice as large has so large a trade. 
 The annual exports are about $70,000,000, the imports nearly 
 as much, the manufactures are worth nearly $20,000,000, the 
 real estate sales amount to about $12,000,000, and the cash 
 value of the laud, buildings, and movable property of the city, 
 is about $300,000,000. We send away about forty tons of 
 silver and six tons of gold every month — the former metal in 
 bars fifteen inches long and five inches square ; the latter in 
 small bars about six inches long, three inches wide, and two 
 inches thick. Wagons loaded with the precious metals are 
 seen in the streets nearly every day. The profits of mer- 
 chants and the wages of mechanics and laborers are high. 
 
 In the matter of public amusements, the city is destined to 
 become eminent. The mild winters and cool summers are fa- 
 vorable to out-door life. The people spend much of their 
 time in the open air. Processions, picnics, excursions, and 
 public displays are frequent. Dancing is in fashion through- 
 out the year. Two theaters are open almost constantly, and 
 we have an opera season every year, besides numerous con- 
 certs and lectures. Those who wish to go out in a buggy, 
 usually drive to the splendid ocean beach, on a romantic road, 
 over the hills west of the city. The spring and early summer, 
 when the country is green, is the season for leaving the city. 
 The number, however, of those who come to San Francisco for 
 pleasure, is much greater than of those who leave it. Every- 
 body who lives on the Pacific slo})e wants to make a home in 
 this city, or at least to spend some time here. The miner who 
 has made a successful strike, the farmer who has a good crop, 
 the lawyer who has accumulated a nice property by practice 
 
SOCIETY. 61 
 
 in the interior, looks forward to the day when he can enjoy 
 the fruits of his labor in tlie metropolis of the Pacific. Tliere 
 is a multitude, a variety, and a rapid succession of entertain- 
 ments, uneqnaled by any city of the New World, save New 
 York. The most costly productions, and the greatest delica- 
 cies of all quarters of the globe, are here collected. Kearny 
 Street, though shorter than Broadway, is not less brilliant. 
 Our hotels are palatial in size, furniture, cost, and style of 
 management. When we see a city not yet out of her teens 
 rivaling in luxuries the capitals of Europe, what grandeur may 
 we not expect for her maturer years ? 
 
 San Francisco has the misfortune of standing upon the bare, 
 treeless, and sandy point of a peninsula, where constant winds 
 render it a matter of difficulty to train up any shrubbery ex- 
 cept under the immediate shelter of a house or fence. The 
 city has few large i^rivate gardens, and its only large park is 
 still new and its trees young and small. The western portion 
 of the municipal territory is a waste of sand, and much of the 
 southern is a waste of high hills ; and yet for pleasant drives, 
 and romantic scenery in the vicinity, San Francisco has no su- 
 perior. The view from the Long Bridge on a quiet evening 
 is very pleasant, and without a parallel in the United States. 
 A beach with an uninterrupted surf like ours would make the 
 fortune of an Atlantic watering place. The sea lions are an 
 attraction, without their like elsewhere. Saucelito, north of 
 the Golden Gate, and only four miles distant, is a very roman- 
 tic place. 
 
 San Francisco has a number of views unsurpassed for extent 
 in the vicinity of large cities. Rome had seven hills : the me- 
 tropolis of California has we know not how many. It may be 
 said that she is divided into three amphitheaters, each enclosed 
 by hills on three sides : the amphitheater of Yerba Buena, 
 east of Russian Hill ; the amphitheater of Spring Valley, west 
 of Russian Hill ; and the amphitheatre of the Mission, south 
 of Pine Street Hill. From the hill-tops we see the city, and a 
 
62 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 large area of surroiinding country. Telegraph Hill is 300 
 feet high, Russian Hill 360, and Lone Mountain 400 feet. 
 
 Looking out Market Street we see, two miles from Mont- 
 gomery Street, two peaks which rise to a thousand feet, and 
 command a view of 40 miles distant north, south, and east, 
 and 20 miles west. Eight miles south of the city is Mount 
 San Bruno, 1,500 feet high; 20 miles north is Tamalpais, 
 2,600 feet high ; and 35 miles eastward is Mount Diablo, 3,856 
 feet high. 
 
 The population of San Francisco was 149,473 in 1870, ac- 
 cording to tlie Federal Census. 
 
 H. G. Langley, who has taken much care to compile an 
 annual directory for the last fifteen yeai-s, and has devoted 
 special attention to the number of inhabitants, asserts that 
 it was 188,000 on the 1st of March, 1873. He says: 
 
 The following estimate of tlie population of this city has been pre- 
 pared from careful investigation made during the progress of the can- 
 vass for the present volume, and other reliable data ; and in directing 
 attention thereto, the compiler believes that the aggregate presented is 
 a fair approximation to the actual number : 
 
 White Males over twenty -one 6o, 197 
 
 " Females over eighteen (estimated) 37> 100 
 
 " Males under twenty-one (estimated) 38,641 
 
 " Females under eighteen (estimated) 33>435 
 
 *' Males, names refused, and foreigners not taken in the 
 
 canvass (estimated) 1,800 
 
 Chinese, Male and Female 11 ,000 
 
 Colored, Male and Female i ,550 
 
 Total permanent population 183,723 
 
 To which should be added a large element of our population 
 known as " floating," which consists of: 1st. Transient board- 
 ers, etc., at hotels, boarding-houses, etc. 2d. Soldiers at the 
 fortifications in the harbor. 3d. Persons engaged in navigat- 
 ing the bay, who claim the city as their residence. 4th. In- 
 mates of Alms House, hospitals, and other charitable institu- 
 tions. County Jail, etc. 5th. A large number of persons who 
 have no permanent place of abode : tojjcther amounting to 
 about 4,600 
 
 Total population, March i, 1873 188,323 
 
SOCIETY. 63 
 
 According to Langley, the number of buildings in Marcli, 
 1872, was 20,287, including 4,720 of brick, and 15,807 of 
 wood, and iu tlie year following, six hundred additional build- 
 ings were erected. 
 
 The first house was built in 1835, and the place was then 
 called Yerba Buena, Spanish for "good herb," applied to a 
 species of mint growing in the vicinity. In 1847 the name 
 was changed to San Francisco. In 1846 the population was 
 six hundred, and had grown to about one thousand in the 
 spring of 1848, when the gold fever broke out. During July, 
 August, and September, the town was deserted by many of its 
 residents ; but as the people became impressed witli the rich- 
 ness and extent of tlie mines, and as adventurers began to ar- 
 rive from abroad, the population of the town increased, and 
 then suddenly it sprang from an obscure village to a world- 
 famous city. In May and June, 1850, and in the same months 
 the next year, great conllagrations swept away the wooden 
 shanties with which the main part of the city was built up ; 
 and it was not until the latter half of 1851, that the citizens 
 commenced to erect the numerous tine brick stores which now 
 ornament the principal business streets. The sand ridges on 
 the site of the city were cut down, and the hollows were filled 
 in; and the shallow cove in front of the mainland was also 
 filled in, and made the foundation for the busiest part of the 
 town. 
 
 The hotels of San Francisco are famous for their excellence, 
 and also for their cheapness, as compared with houses of equal 
 comfort in Ne\v York, Chicago, Paris, and London. The Oc- 
 cidental and Cosmopolitan has each accommodations for 400 
 guests, the Lick House for 350, and the Grand for 300. The 
 price at each (and they are the most costly houses in San 
 Francisco) is $3 per day, for board and lodging. The tables 
 in all are su})plied with an abundance and variety of the best 
 provisions, cooked in the best style. The Lick House dining 
 hall is the most elegant room of its kind in tlie United States, 
 
64 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and is superior, if report be true, to the dining liall of the 
 Grand Hotel at Paris. The restaurants of San Francisco are 
 unequaled in the United States. 
 
 § 44. Sacramento. — Sacramento City, tlio political capital 
 and second town of California, is situated near the center of 
 the Sacramento basin and of the State — is one hundred and 
 twenty-five miles by the course of navigation, and seventy-five 
 miles in a direct line, distant from the ocean, on the southeast- 
 ern corner of land formed by the junction of the Sacramento 
 and American Rivers, at an elevation of fifty feet above the 
 sea, in latitude 38° 33' and longitude 121° 20'. The business 
 part of the city is about twenty feet above low- water mark in 
 the Sacramento River, which, in front of the town, during the 
 dry season, rises and falls about a foot with the tide. The 
 site is level, and in the midst of a wide plain, most of 
 which is bare of trees. Tiie streets are wide and straight, run 
 with the cardinal points of the compass, and are designated 
 only by numbers and letters. Those parallel with the Sacra- 
 mento are first, second, third, and so forth ; those parallel with 
 the American are A, B, C, and so on. The main business part 
 of the city is near tlie Sacramento, extending from First to 
 Sixth, and from H to L streets. Tlie houses and stores there 
 are mostly built of brick, one or two stories high. The streets 
 are gravelled or planked ; the side-walks are planked or paved 
 with brick, and covered with awnings to give protection against 
 the sun. In those parts of the town used for dwellings, the 
 houses are chiefiy of wood, neatly painted, and surrounded by 
 gardens ; and the sti*eets are lined with shade-trees, such as Cot- 
 tonwood, willow, sycamore, elm, and locust. There are water- 
 works and gas-works. The water is pumped up from the 
 Sacramento River, which is so turbid, even at its clearest 
 stage, that six inches of mud are deposited monthly in the 
 reservoir. 
 
 The first settlement by white men on the site of Sacramento 
 was made in 1839, by John A. Sutter, a Swiss by birth, who, 
 
S'OCIETY. 65 
 
 after liaving served .as a captain in tlie body-guard of Cliarles 
 X of France, came to the United States, where he was Amer- 
 icanized. He afterwards came to California, and was admitted 
 to Mexican citizenship. He obtained a grant of eleven square 
 leagues of land on the eastern bank of tlie Sacramento River, 
 and under that grant the title to the site of Sacramento City is 
 now held. In 1841 he built some adobe buildings, which he 
 dignitied with the title of New Helvetia, wliile to the Ameri- 
 cans it was generally known as " Sutter's Fort." It was, for 
 a long time, the only place where white men had a permanent 
 footliold in the Sacramento basin ; and it was a place of im» 
 portance, as the fii-st point where the American trappers, 
 travelers, and immigrants, entering the territory from the 
 eastward, could obtain provisions, ammunition, and horses, 
 and rest secure against Indians. Sutter treated all comers 
 with the utmost generosity and liberality ; no white man was 
 turned a^ny becaiise of inability to.pay for food or lodging. 
 The first gold diggings w^ere discovered about twenty-Uve 
 miles eastward from the fort, which became the chief trading 
 point between San Francisco and the mines. The adventurers 
 ascended the Sacramento River to the mouth of the American, 
 where they landed, and their goods were taken by ox-wagons 
 to the fort, two miles distant, where they prepared themselves 
 for the land journey. Before the first year of gold mining 
 had come to an end, it M'as evident there must be a town on 
 the bank of the Sacramento at the mouth of the American ; so 
 the present town site was laid oli' in October, 1848, and the 
 New Year's day following, the building of the first house, (of 
 logs) near the Sacramento River, was commenced. On the 
 8th of January the lots were sold by auction, and were des- 
 cribed as lying in the town of " Sacramento." The fort and 
 its vicinity continued to be the cliief place of business until 
 April, 1841), when tlie bank of the Sacramento was found to be 
 much more convenient for purposes of business, and the mer- 
 chants and traders moved. The town very soon became the 
 5 
 
66 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 most important center of trade and population in the State, 
 next to San Francisco, and it has continued to hold the same 
 relative position, growing with the growth of the State, not- 
 withstanding many severe disasters to which it has been ex- 
 posed. In 1851 there was a serious riot about land titles ; on 
 the 3d of November, 1852, the greater part of the town, in- 
 cluding six hundred houses, was destroyed by lire, with a 
 pecuniary loss estimated at the time at $5,000,000 ; and the 
 city was flooded in January, 1850, in March, 1852, in January, 
 1853, in December, 1861, and in Januar}' and February, 
 1862. In 1853 the business part of the town was raised about 
 five feet, the streets being filled in with gravel to that depth, 
 and a levee or embankment was built round the city, extend- 
 ing about a mile along the bank of the Sacramento, and three 
 or four miles along the bank of the American. Tlie flood of 
 1861 and '62 proved extremely disastrous. It filled every 
 part of the city ; was three feet deep in every street — in some 
 places fifteen feet deep. Gardens w^ere destroyed, fences car- 
 ried away, domestic animals drowned, furniture ruined, and 
 many of tlic people driven to take refuge in San Francisco and 
 other towns not afilicted by the general scourge. The business 
 district has since been raised above the level of the flood of 
 1862, and the embankment of the Central Pacific Railroad 
 coming from the north is a great protection to the district 
 which has not yet been filled in. 
 
 . The town has many elegant residences and gardens, and the 
 vegetation is very luxuriant in the summer. E. B. Crocker 
 has a private gallery of oil paintings, including many of great 
 merit. 
 
 The State Capitol is 286 feet long, 142 wide, and 220 high 
 to the top of its dome ; and its design is creditable as a work 
 of architectural art. The cost was about two and a half 
 million dollars. 
 
 The site of the town was badly chosen, but the establish- 
 .ment of the State Capitol there, and the policy of the Cen- 
 
SOCIETY. 67 
 
 ti*al Pacific Railroad Company in making it a center for their 
 lines, and building most of their workshops there, has main- 
 tained its prosperity. 
 
 Its population in 1870, according to the Federal Census, was 
 16,283, but 20,000 is the figure generally accepted for the 
 present time. The number of votes cast at the presidential 
 election in 1872, was 3,509. 
 
 § 45. Oakland. — Oakland is the prettiest town in Califor- 
 nia, and (so far as my observation goes) in the United States, 
 and owes its superiority mainly to the luxuriance, variety, 
 and beauty of its vegetation, and the elegance of its 
 dwellings. It is a suburb of San Francisco, and the residence 
 of many wealthy men doing business in the city. Having 
 very little trade, its houses are nearly all dwellings, and land 
 is cheap as compared with the metropolis. Many of the 
 homes are surrounded by fine gardens ; and enough of the 
 indigenoiis evergreen oaks have been left to almost hide the 
 houses in some parts of the town, and to make the name 
 strikingly appropriate. The site is level ; the streets are well 
 macadamized ; and three horse, and two steam railroads fur- 
 nish convenient and cheap means of access to the neighboring 
 country. The State University, and the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind 
 Asylum, are beautifully situated at the base of the mountains. 
 The population, in 1870, was 10,500, and in 1872, the number 
 of voters was 1,877. 
 
 At Oakland, the track of the Central Pacific Railroad ends ; 
 but on account of the lack of harbor facilities, it is not the 
 terminus. The business is done in San Fi-ancisco, which is 
 reached by a wharf extending a mile and a half across the 
 mud flat out to deep water, and a ferry boat running two 
 miles and a half This wharf was built at an expense of more 
 than a million dollars, but is not considered a permanent 
 structure, as the teredo, or shipworm, has commenced to eat 
 the piles. A plan has been proposed for the construction of 
 an artificial harbor in San Antonio Creek, which is the south- 
 
68 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 em boundary of Oakland, and, for a length of a mile and s 
 half, has a width of three hundred j'ards or more, and at its 
 head has two lakes or tide water basins, covering an area of 
 nine hundred acres. The creek, through much of its length, 
 has a depth vaiying from ten to twenty feet at low tide, but 
 in front of the mouth of the creek, and all along the Oakland 
 shore, a mud flat, covered by less than two feet of water at 
 low tide, extends out into the bay, and the ship channel is 
 more than a mile distant from the upland. Having no natural 
 harbor accessible for large vessels, except the anchorage along- 
 side the present wharf, wliich is a temjDorary structure, Oak- 
 land has been unable to derive any profit from her extensive 
 water front, but a plan has been proposed for making an arti- 
 ficial harbor. 
 
 This plan is practicable and important. It contemplates 
 the construction of walls three hundred yards apart, from the 
 moutli of the creek to deep water, thus extending the creek 
 out to ship channel, and avoiding the mud flat which now 
 prevents ships from reaching Oakland. The basins at the 
 head of the creek will supply a large area of tide water, 
 which will sweep through the channel four times a day and 
 2)reserve its depth, and perhaps even clean it at first without 
 dredging. The construction of the walls in durable style 
 would cost several million dollars, but would add five times 
 as much as its cost to the market value of Oakland property. 
 Such a liai-bor nearly three miles long, 300 yards wide, and 
 twenty feet deep, with five miles of excellent frontage, Avould 
 be more commodious, secure, and convenient of access, than 
 some harbors of consideiable seaports in Europe ; and by its 
 construction, Oakland would be fitted to become the main 
 railroad terminus of California. The influence of the Rail- 
 road Company would be suflicient to transfer thither a large 
 part of the business now done at San Francisco. 
 
 The people of Oakland have contemplated the construction 
 of this harbor for several years, and several eftbrts have been 
 
SOCIETY. 69 
 
 made to organize companies to undertake the work ; but capi- 
 talists would not take hold witliout a promise from the Rail- 
 road Company that it would make Oakland the main terminus 
 of all its roads. At present, a proposition is under considera- 
 tion to get a Federal appropriation to make the harbor ; and 
 as Congress has been accustomed to improve harbors not so 
 good by nature, nor so favorably situated for business as this, 
 the measure might pass, especially with such powerful lobby 
 influences as could bebrouglit to bear in favor of the project. 
 Congress has ordered a survey of the creek, and a favorable 
 report has been made on the practicability of the project. 
 
 § 46. San Jose and Santa Clara. — San Jose, fifty miles 
 southward from San Francisco, tlie chief town of tlie rich 
 Santa Clara Valley, had a population of 9,089 in 1870, and 
 cast 1,657 votes in 1872. The town was laid out about the 
 beginning of the century, and some of the houses are of adobe, 
 and were built before the American conquest. The streets 
 are lined with shade-trees, the gardens filled with beautiful 
 ornamental trees, fruit-trees, and fiowers, and the dwellings 
 are elegant. There are eleven hundred acres of orchard in 
 the vicinity. Artesian wells are numerous, and are of great 
 value. One of the boasts of San Jose is the " Alameda," 
 an avenue three miles long, reaching to Santa Clara, lined 
 with willow and cotton wood trees. The trees stand close 
 together, and are of large size, so tliat they form a dense 
 shade, and between runs a horse railroad, and also a turn- 
 pike. 
 
 Santa Clara, three miles westward of San Jos(^, and con- 
 nected with it by the Alameda, is a new town, and nearly all 
 the houses are of wood. The principal building is the old 
 mission church, erected in 1822. It is now used as part of a 
 Jesuit College. Tlie mission of Santa Clara was founded in 
 1777, and a church was built on the bank of the Guadalupe 
 Creek, at a place called " Socoistika," the Indian name of the 
 laurel-trees which grew there. Two years later this building 
 
70 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 was swept away by a flood, and in 1781 a new cburcli was 
 commenced, lialf a league distant from the river, in a grove 
 of oak-trees, the Indian name of which, " Gerguensen," was 
 given to the vicinity. This church was destroyed by an 
 earthquake in 1818. The population in 1870 was 3,469. 
 
 § 47. Stockton. — Stockton had a population of 10,066 in 
 1870, and was inferior to Oakland in that respect, and in 1872 
 cast 1397 votes (less than the number cast in Vallejo, Oak- 
 land, or San Jose); but it may still fairly claim to be the third 
 town in the State as a business center, and it may continue to 
 improve in the future, being the main river port of the great 
 San Joaquin Valley. The town is situated on Stockton 
 Slough, ten miles from the San Joaquin River, and 125 
 miles fi'om San Francisco by the steamboat route. Boats 
 drawing five feet can reach the town at ordinary stages of low 
 water, but the channels are narrow and crooked. The tide 
 rises about a foot. The town has a pleasant aj^pearance. 
 Many of the dwellings are neatly built, and are surrounded 
 by elegant gardens. Shade-trees are abundant. Fresh water 
 is supplied to the city, for domestic purposes and for irriga- 
 ting the gardens, by one hundred and fifty windmills, which 
 pump it up through lead pipes, thrust down twenty feet deep 
 into auger holes two inches wide. So abundant is the water 
 in the soil at that depth, that there is no difiiculty in obtain- 
 ing it in this manner. Stockton is nick-named " The City of 
 Windmills," and indeed the name appears vei-y appropriate 
 to the traveler who ai)}»roaches the town on a windy day, and 
 at a distance sees little save a multitude of great arms revolv- 
 ing furiously above and among the trees and house-tops. 
 
 The first settlement on the place was made in 1844 by 
 Charles M. Weber and Mr. Gulnac, the latter of whom ob- 
 tained a grant of the land from the Mexican government in that 
 year. They had some trouble with the Indians, and Guhiac 
 sold out to his partner, who would not give the rancho up; 
 and afterwards, when the place became important for its com- 
 
SOCIETY. 71 
 
 mercial advantages, lie became the founder and fatlier of the 
 town, where ]ie still resides. The name was selected in hon- 
 or of Commodore Stockton, who commanded the American 
 naval forces on this coast during the war with Mexico, and 
 contributed much to the conquest of California. The town, 
 like Sacramento and Marysville, was overflowed during the 
 great flood of 18G2, the water having covered all the streets 
 on the 11th of January, and stood for days more than a foot 
 deep, in the highest of tliem. 
 
 The Central Paciflc Railroad runs through Stockton, and a 
 railroad twenty miles long, from Milton, in Calaveras County, 
 terminates there. 
 
 A company has been organized to cut a canal thirteen miles 
 long, from Stockton to Venice, on the San Joaquin River, 
 below which point the channel is twenty feet deep, and more 
 than a hundred yards wide. Gen. B. S. Alexander, having 
 examined the country, has made a written report, to the efiect 
 that the project is practicable, and that a canal lOG feet wide 
 at the water line, 20 feet deep at mean tide, and 12 miles long, 
 will cost $1,207,000 with certain basins and canals. He adds 
 that " the day is coming, if it has not already come, when the 
 San Joaquin Valley will demand a cheaper outlet for its pro- 
 ductions than it is possible to obtain by railroad or a system 
 of railroads, and a narrow, crooked, and shallow river." The 
 company propose to reduce the expense to $843,000 by reduc- 
 ing the width three feet, the depth one foot, and omitting sev- 
 eral of the basins designed for turn-outs and other purposes. 
 
 The San Joaquin Valley Railroad forms a j unction with the 
 Central Pacific at Lathrop, eight miles south of Stockton. 
 
 § 48. Vallejo and Carquinez. — Vallejo, situated on an arm 
 of San Pablo Bay, called Napa Bay, Vallejo Bay, or Mare 
 Island Strait, is twenty-three miles from San Francisco in a 
 northeastward direction ; the harbor is five miles long, a 
 quarter of a mile wide, thirty feet deep, with excellent protec- 
 tion against the winds, and good holding ground. The chan- 
 
72 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 nel from tlie Golden Gate is a mile wide, twenty-five feet deep 
 at low tide at the shallowest place, and distinctly marked by 
 prominent headlands. The winds are constant, and there are 
 no I'ocks to endanger navigation. The site of the town is an 
 extensive plain, which comes down very near to deep water, 
 presenting the best natural water front for large vessels on the 
 waters tributaiy to the Golden Gate, the sliore elsewhere be- 
 ing either rocky, bluif, or mud-flat. The town has now more 
 wharves constructed with much less exi)ense than those acces- 
 sible for ships elsewhere. The site is at the head of ocean 
 navigation, and being only sixty miles fi-om Sacramento in a 
 direct line, is in a good position to be the point where the cars 
 and ships should meet in the futui-e, as they must meet. The 
 water in the harbor is brackish, and the teredo cannot live 
 there. Tlie supply of fresh water is abundant and cheap. 
 
 The population in 1870 was 7,391, (less than that of Oakland, 
 Stockton, or San Jose) but in 1872 it cast 2,147 votes, surpass- 
 ing all those places, and ranking next to Sacramento in that 
 respect. 
 
 A great future has been predicted for Vallejo, but the pre- 
 dictions have remained without fulfillment for many years. 
 Forty-seven ships were loaded there with grain for Europe in 
 the twelve mouths ending June 30th, 1873. Railroads run 
 from the town to Sacramento, Knight's Landing, Woodland, 
 Vacaville, and Calistoga. The town was laid out in 1850 by 
 M. G. Vallejo, for the capital of the State. He owned large 
 tracts of land, tlien estimated to be worth several millions of 
 dollars. Among his possessions was the Suscol Rancho, and 
 he was induced to believe that if he would lay ofl:' a town and 
 make a liberal ofier of land and money to the State, the capi- 
 tal would be established there, and increase tlie value of his 
 land so much that he would profit largely by the aflair. The 
 suggestion appeared reasonable, and he adopted it, oifering 
 mucli land and three hundred and seventy thousand dollars in 
 cash for the establishment of the capital at Vallejo — the three 
 
SOCIETY. 73 
 
 hundred and seventy thousand dollars to be spent in erecting 
 public buildings. The ofter was accepted, and the capital was 
 located at Vallejo, but the Legislature went thither at 
 a time when there were no houses there, and they imme- 
 diately Avent away. Seiior Vallejo did not pay the money 
 which he had offered, and finally the capital was established 
 at Sacramento, Avhere it is likely to remain. The business of 
 Vallejo now depends chiefly upon the United States Navy- 
 yard and Dry-dock, on 3Iare Island. 
 
 Benicia, on the north bank of the Strait of Carquinez or the 
 Silver Gate, may be regarded as a suburb of Valh^jo, from 
 which it is six miles distant. The two towns are really twins 
 in interest, and each has decided advantages lacking to the 
 other. The Strait of Carquinez is the natural center for the 
 land and water travel of the State, but the Avater front of 
 Benicia is a swamp, and it has obstructed the progress of the 
 town. It Avas laid out in 1847 ; for a time it aspired to be the 
 great commercial city of the Coast, whicli aspiration it did not 
 abandon until as late as 1853. It was twice made the State capi- 
 tal, and twice deserted by the Legislature. The houses are 
 scattered about so far from each other that the town is called, 
 in sport, " The City of Magnificent Distances." A ferry-boat 
 crosses the strait to Carquinez about six or eight times every 
 day. The population, in 1870, was 1,656. 
 
 Martinez, on the southern side of the Strait of Carquinez, 
 and nearlv opposite Benicia, had a population of only 560 in 
 1870, but may become an important toAvn imder the influ- 
 ence of the Central Pacific Railroad, which will pass through 
 the town on its way from Stockton to Oakland, and will thus 
 bring much of the travel of the State to the strait. A wide 
 and shallow mud flat lies in front of Martinez, but west of the 
 town the channel is deep near the shore ; and as the railroad is 
 to follow the shore line, warehouses will be built between the 
 track and the channel, and there much of the wheat of the San 
 Joaquin Valley will pi'obably be loaded for Europe. A steam- 
 
74 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ferry l»oat connects Martinez witli Benicia. The town is shel- 
 tered by liigli hills from the west and sonth ; Avest, wlience the 
 prevalent winds come, and the fog, blown npland from the 
 Golden Gate passes to the northward, leaving Martinez and 
 vicinity in the sunshine many days, while Benicia is covered 
 with a cloud. 
 
 The town of Pacheco was founded in 1858. It is built at 
 the head of navigation of the Pacheco Slough, and is the ship- 
 ping port of Pacheco, San Ramon, Diablo, and Nassau valleys. 
 The distance to Mai-tinez is four miles, further than farmers 
 like to haul tlieir grain, when tliey can avoid it. The slough 
 is bare at low water ; at high water it is navigable for sloops 
 and schooners drawing six feet. The population is about 
 1,000. The town will probably lose much of its importance 
 after the completion of the Bantas, Martinez, and Oakland 
 Raih'oad. 
 
 § 49. Los Angeles. — The town of Los Angeles, formerly 
 called Pueblo de los Angeles, or the Pueblo de la Reiua de los 
 Angeles — the town of tlie Queen of the Angels — the largest 
 town in the southern part of the State, had a population of 
 5,728 in 1870. It was founded about 1780, and was a consid- 
 erable town previous to the American conquest, but the finest 
 buildings in the place have been erected within the last twelve 
 years. The town is situated on the western bank of the Los 
 Angeles River, where that stream breaks through the range of 
 low hills, twenty miles north of the bay of San Pedro. The 
 streets are mostly of good width, but are not straight ; do not 
 cross each other at right angles, are not graded, nor are they 
 paved. All the old houses are built of adobes, and most of 
 them are of one story, with flat roofs of asi)haltum. The new 
 houses are of wood and brick. On the northwestern side of 
 the town, and very near to the most busy part of it, is a hill 
 about sixty feet high, whence an excellent view of the whole 
 place may be obtained. The vineyards and gardens ai-e 
 beautiful. There are 2,500 or 3,000 acres of brilliant green — 
 
SOCIETY. 75 
 
 the largest body of land in vineyard, garden, and orchard 
 witliin so small a space in the State. Tlie fences fix the atten- 
 tion of the stranger. They are made of willow trees, planted 
 from nine inciies to two feet apart, the spaces between the 
 trunks being filled with poles and brush. After the fences, 
 the stranger's notice is attracted by the zanjas, or irrigating 
 ditches, which run through the town in every direction. These 
 zanjas vary in size, but most of them have a body of water 
 three feet wide and a foot deep, running at a speed of five 
 miles an hour. They carry the water from the river to the 
 gardens, and are absolutely necessary to secure the growth of 
 the fences, vines, and many of the fruit-trees, at least when 
 young. One of the otlicers of the town is the zMijero, whose 
 duty it is to take charge of the zanjas, see that they are kejjt 
 in order, and that the water is equally distributed among those 
 entitled to it. Entering the enclosures, we are among the 
 vines, orange, lemon, lime, citron, pear, apple, peach, olive, 
 fig, and walnut trees. Many of the vines are from ten to 
 thirty years of age. The population of the place may be de- 
 scribed as of three nearly equal classes, Americans, Europeans, 
 and Spani>h Californiaus. The Americans own most of the 
 houses and land in the town, the Europeans probably do most 
 of its trade. Tlie town is the seat of the county government, 
 and the chief business place in this part of the State. The 
 general impression upon my mind, after spending the last 
 week in September in the place, is that it is one of the most 
 jjleasant places, known to me, to visit. The luxuriant vegeta- 
 tion, with its sub-tro]ncal character, is peculiarly agreeable 
 to the sons of the North. The " clime of the sun," " the land 
 of the cypress and myrtle," where the citron blooms and the 
 golden oranges glow amidst the dark-green leaves, have ever 
 been with the poets of the colder lands the symbols of a ter- 
 restrial {laradise, and some of the most brilliant verses of 
 Goethe and Byron have been inspired by admiration of them. 
 
76 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The song of Mignon came vividly before me as I walked 
 through the gardens of the City of the Angels. 
 
 " Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, 
 Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket's gloom, 
 Where the wind ever soft from the blue heaven blows, 
 And groves are of myrtle and olive and rose ?" 
 
 Luscious fruits, of many species and unnumbered varieties, 
 loaded the trees. Gentle breezes came through the bowers. 
 The water rippled musically through the zanjas. Delicious 
 odors came from all the most fragrant riowers of the temper- 
 ate zone. Julius Froebel speaks thus of Los Angeles in his 
 book, Aus Amerika : " I could wish no better home for my- 
 self and my friends than such a one as noble, sensible men 
 could here make for themselves. ISTature has preserved here, 
 in its workings and phenomena, that medium between too 
 much and too little, which was one of the great conditions of 
 high civilization in the classic regions of ancient times. In- 
 deed, when we seek in other lands for places like Los Angeles 
 and Southern California generally, w^e must turn our eyes to 
 the Levant. In the United States there are [in 1858] no 
 kindred spots." The town is situated on the banks of the 
 Los Angeles River, twenty-five miles from the ocean. 
 
 Di'. J, W. Hough writes thus : " The general view of Los 
 Angeles, from the old Fort, more nearly resembles tliat of 
 Damascus, ' the pearl of the Orient,' than any city I have 
 elsewhere seen. The hills skirt it on the north and west, as 
 the range of Anti-Lebanon does the eastern city ; while from 
 them your eye sweeps over the same broad, brown plain, in 
 the midst of which lies an island of verdure, {El Jlerj, or the 
 meadows, tl)e Arabs call it) with the city embowered in its 
 midst. True, there are no minarets rising from tlie modern 
 town, and the Los Angeles River is a poor substitute for the 
 ancient Abana ; nor are the desert schooners, which take their 
 departure for the Colorado River, much like the caravans 
 which leave for the Euphrates. But the vineyards have the 
 same luxuriance, the pomegranates the same real blossom, and 
 
SOCIETY. 77 
 
 the orange-groves the same ravishing beauty, while an occa- 
 sional palm, stateliest of trees, gives an oriental air to the 
 scene. One misses the ocean view, and the mountains lie 
 away upon the horizon ; the city itself is rather irregular and 
 has but few line buildings. The beauty is in the environs, 
 where lovely cottages and lofty mansions peep out from amid 
 bowers in which lemons and limes and apricots are mingled 
 with oranges and walnuts and grapes, 
 
 " Los Angeles owes its future promise, as Damascus does its 
 past greatness, to the water which flows so freely in its zanjas, 
 and to its situation with reference to the interior country. It 
 lies on the lap of a wide farming country, and in the midst of 
 thrifty settlements, such as El Monte, Los Nietos, Anaheim, 
 and Compton, while one who stands at the depot, and sees 
 now and then a car load of bullion passing down to the sea, 
 or a great wagon loading for Arizona, discerns therein the 
 promise of a mighty inland traffic, which, unless diverted when 
 the railroad system of the region shall be determined, must 
 make Los Angeles an important center." 
 
 The embarcadero, or shipping point of Los Angeles, was San 
 Pedro, twenty-five miles distant to the southward, where a 
 couple of houses sheltered the few people who found occupa- 
 tion in the scanty trade, until 1858, when a small steamer was 
 obtained, and used to transport freight from the anchorage of 
 the ocean steamers at the San Pedro roadstead, fuur miles up 
 an estuary to Wilmington, which soon grew into a little town, 
 and now has a population of 1,000. In 1871, Congress appro- 
 priated $200,000 to build a breakwater, to make an artificial 
 harbor, and afterwards $225,000 more ; and the work is now 
 rapidly approaching completion. Some able engineers and 
 navigators have expressed the opinion that the breakwater 
 would be worthless, and that the harbor would have to be 
 built further out ; but the Los Angeles papers say there is no 
 longer room to doubt the success of the present structure. If 
 this statement be true, the harbor will be at New San Pedro, 
 
78 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 about half-way between Wilmington and old San Pedro, and 
 twenty-three miles from Los Angeles. Whether the break- 
 water be a success or not, it is certain that an artiticial harbor 
 mxist be made to accommodate the rich and extensive country 
 north and east of San Pedro. Tiie -IjOS Angeles people claim 
 that, as the Texas and Pacific Railroad will cross the Coast 
 mountains at San Gorgoiiio Pass, eighty miles east of their 
 town, and the same distance north of San Diego, its main ter- 
 minus must be at New San Pedro. 
 
 § 50. San Diego. — San Diego, which had a population of 
 2,300 in 1870, and has gained scA'^eral hundred in the last three 
 years, has been made by Congress the western terminus of the 
 Texas and Pacific Railroad, now in progress of construction. 
 The distance by this road from the Pacific to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, at Galveston, is only 1,500 miles, whereas from San 
 Francisco to New York the distance is 3,300 miles. The San 
 Diego people predict that when their road shall be completed, 
 it will be preferred to the middle Pacific for the transportation 
 of freight between Asia and the Atlantic cities, and they argue 
 that their town will be the rival or equal of San Francisco. 
 The harbor of San Diego is excellent, and in many respects un- 
 surpassed ; but the entrance is only twenty-five feet deej) at high 
 water, and calms off the coast frequently render it difficult for 
 sailing vessels to enter or leave the harbor for days at a time, 
 whereas, two hundred miles farther north, the trade Avinds are 
 almost constant. 
 
 The vicinity of San Diego is poor in agricultural resources. 
 The town is in the southwestern corner of a county which is 
 sixty miles from north to south, and one hundred and twenty 
 miles from the ocean to the Colorado, and that vast area has 
 only 5,000 inhabitants, and only 15,000 acres under cultiva- 
 tion, or three acres to the person. The population of the city 
 is 2,300, and 7,000 square miles in the coimty have only 
 2,700 inhabitants, or less than one person to two square miles. 
 The western third of the county is nearly all rugged moun- 
 
SOCIETY. 79 
 
 tains, unfit for tillage, and the eastern two-thirds is desert, 
 though much of it may be reclaimed. The rivers are ^mall 
 and sliort, and tlieir valleys narrow. Not one irrigating ditch 
 is reported for San Diego County, though the average annual 
 rainfall is only four inches. The soil is rich in the valleys, 
 and, where moist, is very productive. 
 
 The town must rely mainly on the railroad for the fulfill- 
 ment of its hopes of active business, though, as a health resort, 
 it will always remain in favor. It has excellent accommoda- 
 tions for travelers, and is a touching point for the mail steam- 
 ers between San Francisco and Panama. 
 
 § 51. Anaheim. — Anaheim is the only German town in 
 the State. It was laid out by Germans, built up by Genuans, 
 and is in the main populated and owned by Germans. But it 
 will never have the foreign character which marks many Ger- 
 man villages in the valley States of the Mis^^issippi, where the 
 English language is not known to any of the people. None of 
 the Anaheimers have come direct from Germany : all of them 
 have lived for some time elsewhere in the United States, and 
 most of them speak English fluently. The English language 
 will be the predominant tongue, although German will long 
 be cherished. Analieim is a tract of land a mile wide by a 
 mile and a half long, in the valley of the Santa Ana River, 
 Los Angeles County. It was unoccupied, and supposed to be 
 of little value in 1857, when it was bought for two dollars an 
 acre by a German company of fifty members, mostly residing 
 in San Francisco. They were incorporated as a joint-stock 
 association. The land, containing one thousand one hundred 
 and sixty-eight acres, was divided into fifty lots of twenty 
 acres each, with a little town plat in the middle, and conven- 
 ient streets. The place was given in charge of a superintend- 
 ent, who held his position two years, in which time he 
 planted and cultivated eight acres of every lot with vines, and 
 put willow hedges (nearly all the fences in Los Angeles 
 County are of willow) around the outer boundary of the tract, 
 
80 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and along the principal streets inside. During a large part of 
 the time lie liired tifty laborers. The total expense for tJie 
 two years was seventy thousand dollars, or one thousand four 
 hundred dollars per lot of twenty acres, including eight acres 
 of vine. The owner of a vineyard lot had a little town lot of 
 half an acre besides. In December, 1859, the property was 
 divided b}' lot among the members, many of whom afterwards 
 moved to the place and made their homes there. Anaheim 
 has some advantages over Los Angeles in the regularity of its 
 plan, and perhaps, also, in location, (for it is nearer the ocean, 
 and farther from the snowy mountains) and in the extent of 
 rich land in its neighborhood, and in its location near tlie 
 direct line of travel between "Wilmington and San Bernardino. 
 It is almost as beautiful as Los Angeles, and in many respects 
 bears a great resemblance to that town. The population was 
 881 in 1870. 
 
 § 52. Santa Barbara. — Santa Barbara, in latitude 34'' 24', 
 on a shore tliat runs east and west, 50 miles eastward from 
 Point Arguello at the southern base of the Santa Inez moun- 
 tain range, which shelters it fi*om the north winds, is now one 
 of the most prosperous towns in the State, having more than 
 doubled its population in the last five years. The number of 
 inhabitants in 1870 was 4,000. Its cliief attraction is the 
 climate, and many of the new settlers are invalids from the 
 Atlantic States. Congress has ordered an examinatiun of the 
 estuary of the town, to determine whether an artificial harbor 
 can be made there. Tiie town has excellent hotels, and nice 
 gardens. 
 
 § 53. Petaluma. — Petaluma, forty miles north of San 
 Francisco, and ten miles from the mouth of Petaluma Creek, 
 is the main town of a rich valley, and in 1860 was tlie eightli 
 town of the State, and was growing witli great rapidity, being 
 then the only outlet of Santa Rosa and Uussian Valleys. But 
 it was a slougli port, and when a railroad was built through 
 the valley with a terminus four miles below tlie town, it began 
 
SOCIETY. 81 
 
 to decline, and it has lost some of its voters, and a considera- 
 ble portion of its trade. Tlie population in 1870 was 4,588. 
 
 § 54. Grass Vcdley. — Grass Valley, tlie chief quartz min- 
 ing town of the State, is 2,500 feet above the level of the sea, 
 and thirteen miles north of Colfax, on the Central Pacific 
 Railroad. The site is in the midst of an amphitheater of 
 gently rolling hills, which have a fertile red soil, and are cov- 
 ered eitlier by nice little homesteads and gardens, or by a 
 multitude of young pine trees, which liave arisen to take the 
 place of the older trees, cut down to supply firewood or shaft- 
 ing timber. A large area is occupied by residences. Several 
 square miles must be included within the town plat. Tliere is 
 abundant room for the orchards and gai'dens which surround 
 many of the dwellings. The ugly piles of boulders, the bare 
 rock, and the deep excavations on the hill-sides, which show 
 the ravages of the placer miner, are not seen here. Tiiis is the 
 home of tlie quartz miner, who has built a comfortable liouse, 
 surrounded it with fiowers, and fixed himself to enjo}^ life 
 with liis family. Unlike most of the placsr mining camps, 
 this is a beautiful town, and it has an appeai-ance of comfort 
 and permanence and steady prosperity that would do no dis- 
 credit to a thrifty New England village. There is now in tlie 
 township a population of 7,000, most of whom are collected in 
 the town. Tlie business is suflicient to pay a fair profit, if it 
 were evenly divided, to many more. The township is the 
 gi'eatest center for gold-quartz mining in the world, and the 
 annual gold yield is estimated at $4,000,000, There are 
 here, witliin a small area, a number of the richest mines in 
 the State. The miners of Grass Valley have two serious dis- 
 advantages : the lodes are very narrow, and water is found 
 abundantly at a depth of 50 or 75 feet. But the richness of 
 the rock, and the proximity to the centers of the population, 
 have more than counterbalanced the drawbacks. 
 
 § 55. Marysville. — From 1855 to 1860, Marysville was the 
 first in beauty, and the third in population and trade, among 
 
 6 
 
82 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tlie towns of the State, but it was a river port, and lost much 
 of its trade wlien the Central Pacific Railroad gave access by 
 rail to the mines of Nevada and Butte ; and moreover, the 
 production and trade of the mining counties, which formerly 
 got their supplies through Marysville, began to decline rapidly 
 about the time when the roads were built. Thus it is tliat in 
 1872 Marysville cast only 833 votes, whereas, in 1860, it had 
 cast 1,871, The population, in 1870, was 4,738. It lies be- 
 tween the Feather and Yuba Rivers, at their junction. The 
 site, like that of Sacramento, is fiat, and in the midst of the 
 large valley, and has been raised artificially above its natural 
 level to protect the houses against fioods. Marysville resem- 
 bles Sacramento, though smaller. The first settlement was 
 made in 1841 by Theodore Cordua, a German, who built a 
 couple of adobe houses, and called the place New Mecklen- 
 burg. In 1849 several persons built shanties, and the jilace 
 was called Yubaville. In January, 1850, the town was laid 
 oft", and named after Mrs. Mary Covillaud, the wife of the 
 chief proprietor. On the 31st of August and the lOtii of Sep- 
 tember, 1851, two large fires occurred, destroying almost the 
 whole town. In the spring of 1852 the business part of the 
 town was covered with water, and the next year it was raised 
 twelve feet. The town was again fiooded in December, 1861, 
 and January, 1862. Marysville is at the head of navigation 
 on the Feather River. The distance by water is about seventy 
 miles from Sacramento ; by the railroad it is forty-five miles. 
 § 56. Visalia. — Visalia is situated in the " Four Creek 
 country," about fifteen miles northeastward from Tulare Lake. 
 The " Four Creek country " is formed by Cahuilla Creek, 
 which, after leaving tlie Sierra Nevada, spreads out into a 
 number of channels, and these again subdivide, and moisten- 
 ing a considerable district of rich soil, render it very product- 
 ive. Visalia has a population of 1,626. It promised to be- 
 come one of the leading towns of tlie State, until 1872, when 
 the railroad was built through the valley, passing seven miles 
 
SOCIETY. 83 
 
 to the westward, thus cutting oft' the main trade, and laying 
 the foundation of a rival town at Goshen. The town was 
 overflowed in tlie flood of 18G2, and the water was two feet 
 deep in the main street. 
 
 § 57. Suisun. — Suisun, a village of about sixty houses, is on 
 the western bank of Suisun Slough, in Solano County, about 
 ten miles, in a direct line, from Suisun Bay, and sixteen miles 
 by the slougli. The place was commenced on a little island, a 
 couple of hundred yards in diameter, and no part of it more 
 than a foot above the liighest tide. It is surrounded by tules, 
 or salt-water rushes, growing on land overflowed at every high 
 tide, and bare at low tide. Two roads lead from*the dryland 
 of the valley to the city — one of them a plank-road, and now 
 in a very dilapidated condition. Most of the streets ai-e subject 
 to overflow by spring tides, and the marks of the water can be 
 seen upon them, even when dry. A few lots have been raised 
 above high tide, by bringing earth from other places ; and en- 
 closures are made by" digging ditches, in which the water is 
 never more than two feet below the surface. The island, being 
 in the tule, was not included in the Suisun grant, and it was 
 claimed, in 1853, by two men who laid off" the town. The 
 place owed its importance to its advantages as the shipping- 
 point of the valley ; but the construction of the California 
 Pacific Pailroad lias cut ofl* much of its trade, and its pros- 
 perity has been declining for several years. The population, 
 in 1870, was 462. The town is one mile from dry land, on the 
 edge wliereof, immediately north of Suisun, lies Fairfield, 
 which is the county seat, and lias three hundred and twenty- 
 nine inhabitants. 
 
 § 58. Yreka. — Yreka is situated at an elevation of fifteen 
 hundred feet al)ove the sea, in the valley of Shasta River, 
 about twenty miles northwest from Mount Shasta. It is a 
 mining town, being situated in a rich district, and founded 
 on pay-dirt. The place is surrounded by high mountains, 
 the Siskiyou ridge on the north, the Sierra Nevada on the 
 
84 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 east, the Scott and Trinity ridges on the south, and tlie 
 Coast Range on the west, and is shut in by snows during part 
 of every winter. Mucli of tlie merchandise sent out from this 
 point to mining camps in the vicinity, goes on pack-mules. 
 The goods imported by Yreka are hauled eighty miles, by 
 horses, from Redding, the end of tlie railroad. Tlie town is 
 on the main road between the Sacramento and "Willamette 
 Valleys, and occupies a central position in the basin of the 
 Klamath River, and will probably maintain its importance, if 
 the railroad be built to run through it. The population, in 
 1870, was 1,063. 
 
 § 59. Nax>a. — Napa was laid off in 1848, by Nathan 
 Coombs, at the ford of Napa River, on the road from Benicia 
 to Sonoma. In those days there were no bridges or ferries, 
 and the ford and the head of navigation for sloops determined 
 the location of the town. Now the ford is never used, but 
 the investment of capital has made the town permanent. The 
 railroad runs through the town, and has been of great benefit. 
 It is now a beautiful and growing place. A Branch Insane 
 Asylum is being built near Napa. The jDopulation hi 1870 was 
 1,879. 
 
 § 60. Crescent City. — Crescent City is a seaport, fifteen 
 miles south of the Oregon line, and in 1870 had 458 inhabit- 
 ants. The jilace was founded in 1853, with the expectation 
 that, because of its proximity to the mines of the Klamath and 
 Rogue River basins, it would become an important commercial 
 point for the imports of Southern Oregon and Northern Cali- 
 fornia. Its founders, however, were disappointed in tliis ex- 
 pectation. The people at the head of the Sacramento Valley, 
 , knowing that an attempt was making to cut off a large part 
 of their trade, went to work industriously and made a good 
 wagon road to Yreka, and thus reduced the freights to that 
 place very much. The country westward of Yreka is rug- 
 ged, and as the people of Crescent City had not the capi- 
 tal to make a wagon road, their goods had to be transported 
 
SOCIETY. 85 
 
 at much expense on mules ; and Yreka and vicinity con- 
 tinue to make their imports and exports by way of the Sacra- 
 mento Valley. Crescent City, therefore, remains a small 
 place, but it supplies a district within a range of forty or iifty 
 miles to the east and northeast. Trinidad, a small seaport, 
 is the chief trading point of the miners in Klamath County. 
 
 § 61. Humboldt Bay Toicns. — The principal town on Hum- 
 boldt Bay is Eureka, which had 2,049 inhabitants in 1870. 
 Areata had 924, and Bucksport, 388. Eureka has the main 
 shipping business, Areata being situated behind a wide mud 
 flat. The latter town was long the more important, and in 
 1862, 1,500 pack-mules were employed in conveying goods to 
 the mines in Trinity and Klamath Counties. Eureka is the 
 only town of over two thousand inhabitants in the State with- 
 out a telegraphic line. 
 
86 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 C L I .AI A T E . 
 
 § 62. 3Iain Features. — One of tlie chief advantages of 
 ' California is its admirable climate. After a careful study of 
 all the accessible books relating to the subject — and their num. 
 ber is large — I claim and believe it to be more conducive to 
 health and comfort, and intellectual and physical activity, than 
 that of any other country in the world. Other climates may 
 be better, but if so their meterological statistics are not within 
 my reach, and they may belong to countries objectionable on 
 account of their isolated situation or tlie semi-civilized condi- 
 tion of their inhabitants. Among these may be Tasmania, and 
 certain districts in the mountains of Mexico and South Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 The climate of the valleys in California is unlike that of 
 every other country, and particularly dissimilar to tliat of 
 the American States east of the Rocky Mountains, resembling 
 in general character that of Spain. Its chief peculiarities, 
 as distinguished from the Eastern States, are, that the winters 
 are warmer; the summers — especially at night — cooler; the 
 changes from heat to cold not so great nor so frequent ; the 
 quantity of rain less, and confined principally to the winter 
 and spring mouths ; the atmosphere drier ; the cloudy days 
 fewer ; violent wind storms, tliunder, liglitning, hail, snow, ice, 
 and the aurora borealis, rarer ; and the wiuds more regular — 
 blowing from the north for fair weather, and from the south 
 for raiu. 
 
CLIMATE. 87 
 
 § 63. Many Climates. — The State reaches through nearly 
 nine and. a half degrees of latitude. San Diego is as far south 
 as Cliarleston, three and a half degrees south of Gibraltar. 
 and near the parallel of Jerusalem and Shanghae ; and Cres- 
 cent City is as far north as Chicago, Providence, Rome, and 
 Constantinople. Italy has the same general shape, direction, 
 and length as California, but is five degrees further north. 
 Much of the Golden State has the winter of South Carolina, 
 and the summer of Rhode Island. The orange, the lemon, 
 the olive, the fig, the pomegranate, the vine, the peach, the 
 apple, wheat, and barley, all find most congenial climes in Cal- 
 ifornia. 
 
 The State, indeed, has many climates ; one for the western 
 slope of the Coast Range, between Point Argiiello and Cape 
 Mendocino ; another for the low land of the Sacramento Ba- 
 sin ; another for tlie Sierra Nevada and Klamath Basin ; another 
 for the Great Basin of Utah ; another for the coast south of 
 Point Conception ; and still another for the Colorado Desert. 
 
 The causes of these peculiarities of climate are chiefly to be 
 found in the position of the country — a narrow strip on the 
 western side of the continent, bounded on the east by a high 
 range of mountains that shuts the coast oif from all the influ- 
 ences of the interior ; bordering on the wide Pacific Ocean, 
 washed by a warm current flowing across from the China Sea ; 
 with a shore line that runs nearly north and south, and is ex- 
 posed in all its length to the strong winds constantly blowing- 
 southeastward over the ocean ; and with a large, dr}'^ plain in 
 the middle of the State ; and a hot, arid desert in the south- 
 eastern corner. 
 
 § 64. Sea Breeze. — The sea breeze is a prominent feature in 
 the climate of California. Nearly every day the wind blows 
 from the ocean to the land. In the summer its force is stronger 
 than in the winter, on account of the great heat of the earth 
 in the Sacramento-San Joaquin, Mojave, and Colorado Basins. 
 The air there rises after becoming warm, and its place must 
 
bo RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 be Rupi)Hed by the breezes from the ocean. These leave the 
 surface of the Pacific ordinarily with a temperature of 50°, 
 and as they advance inland, it rises. Thus, the mean temper- 
 ature of July in San Francisco is 57°, in Yallejo 63°, Sacra- 
 mento TS'', and St. Helena 77°, the diii'erence being due to the 
 greater or less exposure of these several places to the winds 
 from the ocean. Two valleys, on the same level, only five 
 miles apart, but separated by a high mountain ridge which 
 pi'Otects the more eastern of tlie two from the sea breeze, 
 may have a ditFerence of 10*^ in their summer \\eather. 
 
 Strong winds blow almost constantly through the gaps in 
 the Coast ridge. 
 
 As the sea breeze prevails in the day-time, so the land breeze 
 comes in the summer nights, and although not strong enough 
 to be noticed in many parts of the State, it is regularly felt in 
 certain gaps on the southern coast, and in canonsof the Sierra 
 Nevada. The air pouring down from the snow of the summit 
 of the Sierra, helps to cool the nights in the valleys, 
 
 § 65. Middle Coast. — On the coast, between latitudes 35*^ 
 and 40°, there is little diiFerence in the temperatures of winter 
 and summer. San Francisco is in the same latitude with 
 Seville, Palermo, Smyrna, "\\^ashington, and St. Louis, but 
 knows neither the cold winters nor the hot sumraei-s wliich 
 atHict American cities east of the Rocky Mountains in the 
 same latitude. Ice is rarely formed in the Californian metrop- 
 olis, and never more than an inch in thickness ; and the ther- 
 mometer never stays at the freezing point twenty-four consec- 
 utive hours. The lowest point which the thermometer has 
 ever reached in San Francisco, since observations have been 
 taken, was 22^" Fahrenheit in January, 1862 ; and previous to 
 that time it had never fallen below 25'* ; while in St. Louis it 
 goes down to 12'' every winter, and remains near that figure 
 for many consecutive days. The mean temperature of Jaiuiary 
 at sunrise is 44®, and the coldest noon, according to Dr. H. 
 Gibbons, between 1850 and 1868, was 37°. In three years 
 
CLIMATE. 89 
 
 out of five the thermometer does not foil to 32° in tlie daj'- 
 time, though a year rarely passes without frost formed at night. 
 Rome has a day and a half of snow in average wintei-s ; and 
 in San Francisco I have never seen the streets in a mantle of 
 white in a residence of more than twenty years. In St. Louis, 
 the winter months rarely have a day which is really comforta- 
 ble in the open air ; while half the season is so in San Fran- 
 cisco, the sky being clear, the sun warm, and the breezes 
 gentle, so that the weather bears a strong resemblance in tem- 
 perature to the Indian Summer in the upper JMississippi basin. 
 Our coldest winter days, at noon, are as warm as the warmest 
 in Philadelphia. 
 
 On tlie other hand, the summers are cool or cold. In No- 
 vember, 1854, the lowest figure reached by the thermometer 
 in San Francisco, Avas 47'', while in July of the same year it 
 was at 46° — showing that at no time in the former month 
 was it so cold as at one time in the latter, and the weather in 
 neither month was exceptional for its season. The mean 
 temj^erature of July is 57'', twenty-one degrees lower than in 
 Washington city. There are, on an average, seven days in the 
 year when the thermometer rises above 80° — at which figure 
 beat first begins to be oppressive — while in St. Louis and at 
 Washington there are in every year from sixty to ninety days 
 that see that height. No matter how warm the day at noon, 
 the evenings and mornings are always cool, and blankets are 
 necessary — at least a pair of them — as a bed-covering every 
 night. Although the mean temperature of summer diflers 
 little from that of winter, yet there are sometimes very warm 
 days, which may be succeeded immediately by very cool 
 nights. 
 
 Professor Robert Von Schlagintweit says that " the climate 
 of California resembles in general character that of Italy, but 
 has not its objectionable efl:ect of depriving the people of the 
 disposition and power of energetic mental and physical labor. 
 The dolcefar niente of the southern Italian is unknown in Cal- 
 ifornia." 
 
90 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Samuel Bowles writes that " there is a steady tone in the 
 atmosphere like drauglits of champagne or the subtle presence 
 of iron. It invites to labor, and makes it possible. Horses can 
 travel more miles liere in a day than at the East, and men 
 and women feel impelled to an unusual activity." 
 
 C. L. Brace thinks that " it is the most exhilarating atmos- 
 phere in the world," 
 
 The Loudon Spectator said, editorially, that the climate of 
 California is that of Greece cooled, and the climate of Tasmania 
 is that of England etherealized, and tlie two are the nearest 
 perfection in tlie world. 
 
 § 66. Ban Francisco. — San Francisco seldom suffers more 
 than tljree hot days in succession. When the sun lias had an 
 opportunity to rage for so long a period, the air in the interior 
 of the State becomes so hot, that it rises rapidly ; and the 
 ocean-winds, which must rush to supply the place, never fail 
 to bring cool weather to the vicinity of the Golden Gate. 
 Thus, the mercury has risen (and that was its highest) to 97°, 
 and it often falls in July to 46'' ; and such a change of fifty 
 degrees might occur within twelve hours. The average range 
 of the thermometer in July and August is about 20° — from 
 50** to 70'^. Yet, as the mornings and evenings are cool, and 
 the noons are not always warm, " summer clothing " is seldom 
 worn by men, and never for twelve consecutive hours. The 
 common custom is, to wear woolen coats and trousers of the 
 same thickness in summer and winter. The pei'sons who visit 
 San Francisco during tlie summer, from the interior of the 
 State, where the cHmate from May to October is mucli warm- 
 er, and where summer clothes are worn, are much botliered 
 at having to bring their winter clothes with them. The ed- 
 itor of a Stockton paper, disgusted with the climate of the 
 metropolis in July, expressed himself somewhat after tliis 
 manner : " Yoii go out in the morning shivering, notwith- 
 standing the fact that you are dressed in lieavy woolen cloth- 
 ing, and under-clothing, and have a thick overcoat buttoned 
 
CLIMATE. 91 
 
 up to yoiiY throat. At 8.30, you unbutton two of the upper 
 buttons; at 9, you unbutton the coat all the way clown ; at 
 9.30, you take it off; at 10, you take off your woolen coat, 
 and put on a summer coat ; at 11, you take off all your 
 woolen and put on light summer clothing ; at 2, it begins to 
 grow cool, and you have to put on your woolen again ; and 
 by 7 o'clock, your overcoat is buttoned to the chin, and you 
 shiver until bedtime." 
 
 The coolness of the summer is caused by the winds and 
 fogs, which blow in from the ocean, whose temperature at the 
 Farallones never varies more than a degree or two from 42**. 
 A strong wind blows along the Coast from the north and 
 noi'thwest during almost the whole year ; and it blows strong- 
 ly upon the land for several hours after eleven o'clock in the 
 morning, and after five in the evening, and not unfrequently 
 it continues the whole twenty-four hours. The common prev- 
 alence of this wind during the afternoon, renders the morn- 
 ings the pleasantest part of the summer weather in San Fran- 
 cisco ; and the more delicate and fashionable ladies habitually 
 make their calls and allow their children to go, into the street 
 only before mid-day. In June, July, and August, heavy, wet, 
 cold mists come tip from the sea at six in the evening, and 
 continue until eight or nine in the morning. In the winter, 
 fogs are rarer, and do not commence so early in the evenings, 
 and the winds are not so strong ; so that, in these respects, the 
 winter is the pleasanter season of the year. 
 
 The mean temperatures of spring, summer, autumn, and win- 
 ter, are 54°, 57°, 56°, and 50° respectively, showing a differ- 
 ence of only seven degrees between the average of winter and 
 summer ; whereas a similar comparison in the climate of New 
 York city, shows a difference of thirty-nine degrees. There is 
 a range of two degrees more in San Francisco by taking the 
 months separately — January, the coldest month, having a mean 
 temperatui'e of 49°, and September, the warmest, a mean of 
 58°, October is as warm as July, and in some years it has 
 
92 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 been warmer. The mean of the whole year is 54°, a temper- 
 ature that requires heavy woolen clothing for comfort. For 
 vigorous, industrious men, the climate of San Francisco is the 
 healthiest and most agreeable in the world, I prefer it to all 
 others. But, to enjoy it, a man should have warm blood, full 
 veins, and active habits ; if he is weak or idle, he will iiud it 
 too cool for him. It is a climate that allows a person to be 
 out in the open air all the time ; no hour is lost because of 
 either excessive heat or excessive cold. Women do not like 
 the climate so well as men ; it is too cool for their less vigor- 
 ous constitutions and sedentary habits. 
 
 San Francisco does not lie immediately on tlie ocean, but 
 only six miles from it, and where there is a great gap to let in 
 the winds and fogs. The nearer the Pacitic, the denser and 
 more frequent the fogs, the stronger the winds, tlie warmer the 
 winters, and the cooler the summers. The great ocean is a 
 powerful equalizer of climate : as you advance into the inte- 
 rior, the range of heat and cold becomes greater. In the coast 
 valleys you can choose your distance. San Rafael is ten miles 
 from the Pacific, Petaluma twenty, Sonoma thirty, Napa 
 thirty-five, Suisun forty-five, and Vaca Valley fifty. Sonoma 
 Valley has a delightful climate, free from fogs and cold winds, 
 and yet blessed with a sea-breeze which tempers the heat of 
 every summer day to the precise degree necessary to the per- 
 fect happiness of a man who wishes to take life without exer- 
 tion, and the same may be said of Santa Clara, and many 
 other valleys along the coast. 
 
 ■ § 67. Hot Days. — According to the self-registering ther- 
 mometer kept in San Francisco by Thomas Tcnncnt, in the 
 twenty years preceding the 1st of January, 1872, the mercury 
 rose on 13G diflerent days to 80''. The average number of hot 
 days in a year is less than seven. In 1861, 1862, and 1863, not 
 one hot day occurred ; in 1864, and 1871, two each ; in 1869, 
 four ; and five years out of the twenty, had a dozen or more. The 
 largest number in one year was twenty-two, in 1855. In the 
 
SOCIETY. 
 
 93 
 
 score of years, six hot days came in March, twelve in April, 
 ten in May, fourteen eacli in June and July, eleven in August, 
 forty-one in September, twenty-seven in October, and one in 
 November. The average number of hot days is a fraction 
 over two for September, vvliich lias more than any other month. 
 A singular alteration appears between the six years from 1852 
 to 18o7, inclusive, as compared with the next six from 1858 
 to 1863, inclusive. In the former period, the number of hot 
 days in a year was never less than eleven, and the average 
 was thirteen ; while in the latter the highest was seven, and 
 the average was less than three. 
 
 The following table shows the number of hot days in San 
 Francisco,, when the thermometer reached 80°, for every month 
 between March and November, inclusive, in twenty years. 
 
 1852. 
 
 1853- 
 1854. 
 
 1855- 
 1856. 
 
 1857- 
 1858. 
 
 1859- 
 i860. 
 1861. 
 1862. 
 1S63. 
 1864. 
 1865. 
 1866. 
 1867. 
 1868. 
 1869. 
 1870. 
 1871. 
 
 Total 
 
 10 14 14 II 41 27 
 
 1 136 
 
 The number of hot days increases rapidly as we go inland 
 and get away from the influence of the ocean winds. 
 
94 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 68. Sunrise and Noon. — The following table, showing 
 the mean temperatures at sunrise and noon, was jjrepavecl by 
 Dr. H. Gibbons. 
 
 SUNKISR. 
 
 NOON. 
 
 dog. 
 
 dog. 
 
 44 
 
 56 
 
 47 
 
 60 
 
 4S- 
 
 63 ■ 
 
 49 
 
 65 
 
 50 
 
 64 
 
 51 
 
 68 
 
 52 
 
 67 
 
 53 
 
 67 
 
 53-5 
 
 69 
 
 53 
 
 68 
 
 49 
 
 62 
 
 45 
 
 55 
 
 49-5 
 
 63-7 
 
 JaBuary 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Yearly mean. 
 
 The mean of sunrise rises regularly from January to Sep- 
 tember, but that of noon higher in June than in July and 
 August. Tiie strong winds called in from the ocean to supply 
 the place of the air heated in the Sacramento-San Joaquin 
 basin, reduce the temperature of midsummer in San Francisco. 
 
 § 69. Cold Days. — The number of cold nights, those in 
 which the thermometer fell, at San Francisco, to 32°, num- 
 bered seventy-four in the twenty years ending June 30th, 1872, 
 (according to Thomas Teuueut's self-registering thermometer) 
 less than four to the year on an average. Of these seventy- 
 four cold days, twenty-four occurred in December, thirty-three 
 in January, eleven in Februaiy, four in March, and one each 
 in April and May. In the winters of 1852-53, 1864-65, 
 1866-67, 1868-69, and 1871-72, or five out of twenty winters, 
 not one cold day occui-red. 
 
 The seasons of 1854-55, 1859-60, 1860-61, 1863-64, and 
 1865-66, had each one cold day. 
 
 The seasons of 1853-54, 1862-63, and 1869-70, had each 
 three cold days. 
 
CLIMATE. 95 
 
 There were four cold days in 1857-58; five in 1856-57; 
 seven each in 1855-56, and 1870-71 ; eight in 1867-68 ; nine 
 in 1858-59, and twenty-one in 1861-62. 
 
 § 70. Sa7i Francisco Fogs. — Dr. H. Gibbons, speaking of 
 the mists and fogs at San Francisco, says : 
 
 " It is curious to observe the conflict between the absorbino- 
 power of the air and the supplying power of the ocean, in re- 
 gard to moisture. Toward noon, when the wind rises, huge 
 columns of mist may be seen piled along the coast, three or 
 four miles west of the city, and pouring in, like a deluge, upon 
 the land. But the air of the land, which is always thirsty, 
 drinks it up with astonishing avidity ; so that the impendino- 
 wave, though in a current moving from thirty to fifty miles 
 an hour, makes slow progress. By the middle of the after- 
 noon, it is within a mile or two of the city ; and there it 
 stands, like a solid mass of water, several hundred feet in 
 depth, rolling and tumbling toward you, (not without o-rand- 
 eur and majesty) and threatening to overwhelm you in a few 
 seconds. You await its coming, but it comes not ; it even re- 
 cedes, to return and recede again. Not until the sun has lost 
 his calorific power, does the atmosphere reach the point of 
 saturation ; and tlien, toward sunset, or later, everythino- is 
 submerged by the vapory flood. In the course of the even- 
 ing, the wind falls. During tlie night, the mist is gradually 
 dissolved, and disappears from the lower stratum of air, while 
 it forms a heavy cloud above. About the middle of the fore- 
 noon, the cloud is dispersed by the rays of the sun. The dis- 
 persion is rapid, the sky often becoming entirely clear in less 
 than half an hour, 
 
 " If it be possible to distinguish between fog and mist — re- 
 garding the former as impalpable, and the latter as composed 
 of palpable particles of moisture — I may remark that mist be- 
 longs only to the summer, and fog to the winter climate of San 
 Francisco. There is no mist in winter, and no fog in summer. 
 At all seasons, the drying tendency of the atmosphere is ob- 
 servable. You notice none of those phenomena which, in 
 
96 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 other climates, depend on an excess of water in the air, and 
 on sudden clianges of temperature. The moisture does not 
 condense on your windows, nor on tlie plastered Myalls ; salt 
 does not liquify, nor even exhibit the slightest dampness ; and 
 the housewife lias no trouble in drying her clothes, pi'ovided it 
 should not rain. In fact, the atmosphere of San Francisco, in 
 sjiite of sea winds and mists, is a dry atmosphere." 
 
 § 71. January and July. — The following table shows the 
 mean temperature of January and July, and the difterence be- 
 tween them in certain prominent points in California, and other 
 countries and States. 
 
 San Fraucusco.. 
 
 Monterey 
 
 Santa Barbara. 
 Los Ang'eles . . . 
 
 Jnnipa 
 
 San I)iego 
 
 San Luis liey . . 
 Sacramento . . . . 
 
 Stockton 
 
 Humboldt Bay 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 St. Helena 
 
 Vallejo 
 
 Antio -h 
 
 Millerton 
 
 Fort Jones 
 
 Fort Reading . . 
 Fort Yuma .... 
 
 Cincinnati 
 
 New York , 
 
 New Orleans. . . . 
 
 Naples 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 Honolulu 
 
 Mexico , 
 
 Funchal 
 
 London 
 
 Dijon 
 
 Bordeaiix 
 
 Mentone 
 
 Marseilles 
 
 Genoa 
 
 Algiers 
 
 
 
 DIPPER 
 
 ■ LATI- 
 
 .TAN. 
 
 .TUIjY. 
 
 
 
 
 
 E3SCE. 
 
 TLDE. 
 
 (leg. 
 
 d.'^. 
 
 dog. 
 
 dcg. mill. 
 
 49 
 
 57 
 
 8 
 
 37 48 
 
 S^ 
 
 58 
 
 6 
 
 3636 
 
 54 
 
 71 
 
 17 
 
 34 24 
 
 5- 
 
 75 
 
 23 
 
 34 04 
 
 54 
 
 73 
 
 19 
 
 34 02 
 
 51 
 
 72 
 
 21 
 
 32 41 
 
 52 
 
 70 
 
 18 
 
 33 15 
 
 45 
 
 73 
 
 28 
 
 3«34 
 
 49 
 
 72 
 
 23 
 
 37 56 
 
 40 
 
 5i:> 
 
 18 
 
 40 44 
 
 45 
 
 66 
 
 21 
 
 38 18 
 
 42 
 
 11 
 
 35 
 
 3S 30 
 
 48 
 
 67 
 
 19 
 
 38 05 
 
 43 
 
 70 
 
 27 
 
 3S 03 
 
 47 
 
 90 
 
 43 
 
 37 00 
 
 34 
 
 71 
 
 37 
 
 41 40 
 
 44 
 
 82 
 
 3S 
 
 40 28 
 
 56 
 
 92 
 
 36 
 
 32 43 
 
 30 
 
 74 
 
 44 
 
 39 06 
 
 31 
 
 77 
 
 42 
 
 40 37 
 
 55 
 
 82 
 
 27 
 
 29 57 
 
 46 
 
 76 
 
 30 
 
 40 52 
 
 47 
 
 77 
 
 30 
 
 31 47 
 
 71 
 
 78 
 
 7 
 
 21 16 
 
 52 
 
 65 
 
 13 
 
 19 26 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 10 
 
 32 38 
 
 37 
 
 62 
 
 25 
 
 51 29 
 
 33 
 
 70 
 
 37 
 
 47 25 
 
 41 
 
 /J 
 
 32 
 
 44 50 
 
 40 
 
 73 
 
 33 
 
 43 41 
 
 43 
 
 75 
 
 32 
 
 43 17 
 
 4b 
 
 77 
 
 31 
 
 44 24 
 
 52 
 
 75 
 
 23 
 
 36 47 
 
CLIMATE. 97 
 
 The following table furnishes the figures for a comparison 
 of temperature at various points on the Central Pacific Rail- 
 road across the State, from the level of tlie sea to the summit 
 of the Sierra : 
 
 TOWNS. JANUARY. JUTjY. DIFFERKNCE. EI.EVA'HON. 
 
 deg. deg, deg. feet. 
 
 San Francisco 49 57 8 30 
 
 Livermore 48 68 20 485 
 
 Sacramonto 46 72 24 30 
 
 Aiibiim 45 75 30 1363 
 
 Alta 43 75 32 3612 
 
 Cisco 30 62 32 5939 
 
 Summit 27 60 33 7017 
 
 Truckee 23 53 30 5846 
 
 It will be observed that the winter becomes cooler regular- 
 ly, as we ascend the Sierra, and also after we begin to de- 
 scend on the eastern side, the January of Truckee being seven 
 degrees colder than that of Cisco, at a higher elevation on the 
 western slope. The heat of midsummer increases till we reach 
 an elevation of 3,000 feet, and then begins to decline. 
 
 January and July are the two typical months, and from 
 them we can form a good general idea of the temperature of 
 a place. 
 
 "We observe, in the above table, that the January of San 
 Francisco is 4° warmer than that of Sacramento, 7° warmer 
 than St. Helena, 18° warmer than New York, 12° warmer 
 than London, and 3° warmer than Naples. 
 
 San Francisco's July, on the other hand, is 16*^ cooler than 
 that of Sacramento, 14° cooler than that of Santa Barbara, 
 20° cooler than St. Helena, 33° cooler than Millerton, 20° 
 cooler than New York, and 19° cooler than Naples. 
 
 Tlie ditference between the mean temperatures of January 
 and July, is 9° greater at Santa Barbara, 20° greater at Sacra- 
 mento, 27° greater at St. Helena, 35° greater at Millerton, 34° 
 greater at New York, and 22° greater at Naples, than at San 
 Francisco. 
 7 
 
98 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 '•^V. 
 
 Honolulu is a fair sample of ti'0]:)ical climate on a small 
 island, A'ery equable, but 14° wanner, in its coldest month, 
 than San Fi-ancisco is in Jnly. 
 
 § 72 Monthly Means. — The following table gives the mean 
 montlily temperatures for a number of jjlaces in California 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 San Francisco . , 
 
 Vallejo 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 Millertou 
 
 Fort Reading. . , 
 
 Fort Yuma 
 
 St. Helena , 
 
 Vacaville 
 
 Meadow Valley , 
 
 Fort Jones 
 
 Grass Valley . . . 
 
 New York 
 
 New Orleans . . . 
 Steilacoom .... 
 
 London 
 
 City of Mexico . 
 
 Naples 
 
 Fiinclial 
 
 Honohihi 
 
 Jerusalem 
 
 Canton 
 
 Nagasaki 
 
 -^L 
 
 ^\< 
 
 5255 
 
 53 57 
 51 59 
 566: 
 
 54 59 
 6673 
 
 5657 
 
 5562 
 
 41 
 
 4349 
 
 3844 
 
 3S47 
 
 64 70 
 
 4248 
 
 4246 
 
 61 63 
 
 51 56 
 6263 
 7274 
 6054 
 
 62 70 
 5061 
 
 555657 
 59 67 67 
 
 67 71 73 
 
 68 S3 90 
 
 65 77 82 
 76 87 92 
 
 66 70 77 
 66 72 74 
 61 66 71 
 51 61 71 
 49 52 63 
 57 67 73 
 75 Si 82 
 55 60 64 
 53 58 62 
 66 65 65 
 64 70 76 
 64 67 70 
 7677,78 
 66 7177 
 778183 
 
 69 77180 
 
 m O 
 
 5758 
 66164 
 73 '66 
 83[76 
 79j7i 
 90 86 
 7066: 
 7372; 
 6857 
 68I62 
 
 58i53 
 72:66 
 82[78 
 63157 
 6257' 
 6464 
 76 69' 
 7272, 
 797s; 
 72 72; 
 82 80 
 83I78 
 
 55|48; 
 52144; 
 64551 
 5451I 
 
 60 
 
 44 
 41 
 43 
 
 45!34: 
 55' 
 
 AVER- 
 AGE. 
 
 54 
 58 
 59 
 66 
 62 
 73 
 
 52 
 
 46 
 
 51 
 69 
 
 50 
 49 
 60 
 60 
 65 
 75 
 62 
 69 
 62 
 
 San Francisco has one of the mildest and most equable 
 climates in the world. Many places in the tropics are more 
 equable, but with the equability of intense and enervating 
 heat. Yallejo is nearly thirty miles from tlie ocean, and has a 
 warmer summer and a colder winter than the immediate coast. 
 Sacramento has the climate of Naples and Jerusalem through- 
 out the year : its summer being tlie same as that of New York, 
 but' its winter fourteen degrees warmer. Fort Reading and 
 Nagasaki have nearly the same figui-es. Fort Yuma, in the 
 Colorado Desert, in latitude 32" 45', is warmer than New 
 Orleans in 29° 57'. 
 
CLIMATE. 99 
 
 The Pacific Railroad, running eastward from Oakland, a 
 suburb of San Francisco, passing over the Sierra Nevada, the 
 summit of wlncli is reached in 274 miles, enables tlie traveler 
 along its line to place himself in any comfortable degree of 
 heat or cold, in ordinary summer days. He can find banks of 
 snow near Cisco in July. Ten miles west of Oakland is the 
 ocean-beach, where a chilling wind blows without ceasing. 
 Ooing from the coast, the traveler would gradually get into a 
 warmer clime, until, in Stockton, he would find the thermom- 
 eter indicating 85°, most of the summer noons ; and pro- 
 ceeding up the sides of the Sierra, he would gradually rise 
 into greater cold, to the eternal frost on the summit. A branch 
 road, running south to Fort Yuma, would enable the traveler 
 to enjoy almost as great a variety of temperature in the winter. 
 
 § 73. Clear Days. — On an average, there are two hundred 
 and twenty perfectly clear days in a year, without a cloud, in 
 the Sacramento Basin; eighty-five days wherein clouds are 
 seen, though in many of them the sun is visible; and sixty, 
 rainy. Italy cannot surpass that. New York has scarcely 
 lialf so many perfectly clear days. From the first of April 
 till the first of November there are, in ordinary seasons, fifteen 
 cloudy days; and from the first of November till the first of 
 April, half the days are clear. It often happens that weeks 
 upon weeks in winter, and months upon months in summer, 
 pass without a cloud. Near the ocean shore, coast-clouds or 
 fogs are frequently blown up from the sea, but they disappear 
 after ten o'clock in the morning. 
 
 § 74. Sirocco. — Several cases are on record, of a sirocco, 
 or burning-hot wind, visiting the coast. One was felt at the 
 town of Santa Barbara, on the 17th of June, 1859. The 
 Gazette newspaper of that place, published six days after- 
 ward, said : 
 
 " I'liday, 17th June, will be long remembered by tlie in- 
 habitants of Santa Barbara, from the burning, blasting heat 
 experienced that day, and the effects thereof Indeed, it is 
 
100 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 said that, for the space of thirty years, nothing in comparison 
 Las been felt in this country, and, we doubt, in any otiier. 
 The sun rose like a ball of fire on that day ; but though quite 
 warm, no inconvenience was caused thereby until two o'clock 
 p. M., when suddenly a blast of heated air swept through our 
 streets, followed quickly by others; and shortly afterward 
 the atmosphere became so intensely heated, that no human 
 being could withstand its force : all sought their dwellings, 
 and had to shut doors and windows, and remain for hours con- 
 fined to their houses. The effect of such intense and unparal- 
 leled heat was demonstrated by tlie death of calves, rabbits, 
 birds, etc. The trees were all blasted ; and the fruit, such as 
 pears and apples, literally roasted on the trees ere they fell to 
 the ground, and the same as if they had been cast on live 
 coals. But, strange to say, they were only burned on one side, 
 the direction whence came'the wind. All kinds of metal became 
 so heated, that for hours nothing of the kind could be touched 
 with the naked hands. The thermometer rose to nearly fever- 
 heat — in the shade. Near an open door, and during the prev- 
 alence of this properly-called sirocco, the streets were filled 
 with imi^enetrable clouds of fine dust, or pulverized clay. 
 Speculation lias been rife since to ascertain the cause of such 
 a terrible phenomenon ; but, tliough we have heard of many 
 plausible theories thereon, we have not been fully con- 
 vinced yet ; however that miglit be, we see its terrible eflects 
 all around us, in blighted trees, ruined gardens, blasted fruit, 
 and almost a general destruction of the vegetable kingdom 
 here." 
 
 A correspondent of a San Francisco paper wrote thus : "At 
 one o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th instant, a burning 
 wind came upon us from the northwest, and smote us with 
 terror. At two o'clock, the thermometer exposed to this 
 wind rose to 133° of Fahrenheit ; at five o'clock, it had fallen 
 to 122®; and at seven o'clock, it stood at 77°, where it had 
 been in the morniug. During the whole time of this visita- 
 
CLIMATE. 101 
 
 tion, every one stayed in the house, taking good care to keep 
 dooi's and windows closed. A tisherman who was out at sea, 
 came back with his arms all bUstered. Many calves, rabbits, 
 and birds, died of siiftocation. The greatest losses are among 
 the vegetables. The fruit-trees are all burned ; the pears and 
 apples liave been literally cooked." 
 
 A similar occurrence of a hot wind, six days later, in Stan- 
 islaus County, was thus described by a correspondent of the 
 Stockton Argus: 
 
 " The theiTuometer was IIS'^ in the shade. The wind was 
 avoided, as it was heated so, that it felt as if actually burning 
 the flesh — as if rushing from a hot oven. In one team of ten 
 horses, three fell in the road, from heat ; two died, but the 
 other recovered by pouring sweet oil in its throat. The ani- 
 mal's throat was closed, so that it could not drink, when the 
 oil was used so as to soften the throat, and open it, that it 
 could swallow water, when it recovered. The two that died, 
 expired before such aid could be used with them. At Burton's 
 public house, at Loving's Ferry, birds flew into the bar-room, 
 to the pitcher, to get water, so tame were they made by the 
 thirst caused by extreme heat. Birds were seen to fall dead 
 off" the limbs of trees, in the middle of the day, from the heat, 
 as if they were shot. The wind was of that burning heat, 
 never before witnessed by the settlers there since their arrival 
 in the State." 
 
 § 75. Interior Basins. — The climate of the Sacramento-San 
 Joaquin Basin differs from that of San Francisco in having no 
 fogs, faint sea-breezes, winters four degrees colder, and sum- 
 mers from sixteen to twenty degrees warmer. The greater 
 heat of summer is owing to the want of ocean winds and fogs ; 
 the greater cold of winter is caused by the distance from the 
 Pacific, and the proximity of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. 
 While, at San Francisco, the thermometer usually stands at 
 70° at mid-day, it is at 86° in Sacramento city at the same 
 moment ; and these sixteen degrees make a vast ditference, for 
 
102 ■ RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 they cliauge comfort into oppression. And Sacramento city, 
 lying near the great gap in the Coast Mountains, is cooler in? 
 summer tlian cither end of the basin ; for the upper portions 
 of botli tlie Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, nearly every 
 summer, see days when the thermometer stands at over 100'' 
 in the shade. The County Assessor of Fresno County stated, 
 in his annual report for 1857, that the mean tem])erature at 
 Millerton, during the three summer months, was lOC^. 
 
 In the Sierra Nevada, the heat of the sumnrer at mid-day 
 is about the same as in the Sacramento Valley ; but the win- 
 ter is cold, and the amount of rain greater in proportion to- thfi 
 altitude above the sea. In jjlaces tliree tliousand feet above 
 the ocean-level, ice forms five and six inches thick, and snow, 
 deep enougli for sleighing, lies several weeks nearly every win- 
 ter. In towns six thousand feet above the sea, the snow falls 
 from five to ten feet deep, and covers the ground four or five 
 months in the year. 
 
 In the Enclosed Basin, the wintei"s are cold and the summer 
 days very hot ; but tliere too the nights are always cool. 
 
 The Colorado Desert has exceedingly hot summer days and 
 warm wintei-s, but occasional frosts in the spring and fall, as 
 well as in the winter. 
 
 In the Klamath Basin, the winters are very cold, and frosts 
 occur nearly every mouth in the year. 
 
 § 76. Ua'm. — Nearly all the i-aiu in California falls be- 
 tween the first of November and the first of June — the period 
 called the " rainy season," as contradistinguished from tlie 
 " dry season," which occupies the remainder of the year. Tliose 
 names, however, when applied to any special season, do not 
 signify an uncliangeable set of months, but rather the term 
 during which the rain falls or the dry weather lasts. Thus, we 
 say that the rainy season of 1858-59 began in October, be- 
 cause in that month the first heavy rains fell ; the rainy sea- 
 son of 1870-71 did not begin until December ; the dry season 
 of 18G5 began in March ; that of 1860 not till June ; and so 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 103 
 
 forth. The rainy season is so called, not because the rain falls 
 then continnously, but because it does not fall at any other 
 time. There are occasional showers in June, July, August, 
 and September, but they are rare and light. 
 
 The following table gives the average amount of rain, in 
 inches, which falls during the four seasons of spring, summer, 
 autumn, and winter, at various places in California, as com- 
 pared with the amount in certain other places. 
 
 PLACES. 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 6.64 
 
 7.01 
 
 11.30 
 
 13-51 
 
 9-57 
 
 0.27 
 
 2.74 
 
 16.43 
 
 12. II 
 
 11.69 
 
 11.29 
 
 12.86 
 
 7.27 
 
 5-53 
 6.19 
 
 0.13 
 
 0.00 
 
 0-39 
 1. 18 
 0.02 
 1.30 
 
 0-55 
 
 4.00 
 
 10.28 
 
 11.64 
 
 17.28 
 
 14.09 
 
 3-39 
 
 5-92 
 
 9.78 
 
 3-31 
 2.61 
 4.89 
 4.87 
 2.80 
 0.86 
 1.24 
 21.77 
 
 11-93 
 9-93 
 9.62 
 8.71 
 
 10.89 
 6.51 
 
 10.81 
 
 13-33 
 12. II 
 12.44 
 15-03 
 
 9-79 
 0.72 
 5.90 
 
 44-15 
 10.93 
 10.39 
 12.71 
 6.29 
 
 9-31 
 4.68 
 
 7-32 
 
 23.41 
 21.73 
 29.02 
 
 34-56 
 22.18 
 
 3-15 
 10.43 
 
 86.35 : 
 
 45-25 
 43-65 
 50.90 
 
 41-95 
 30.86 
 22.64 
 34-10 
 
 Fort Readinf? 
 
 Fort Humboldt 
 
 Fort Miller 
 
 Fort Yvima 
 
 San Diego 
 
 Astoria 
 
 Portland, Maine 
 
 New York City 
 
 New Orleans 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 Rome 
 
 Paris 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 
 
 From this table it appears that the amount of rain is about 
 one-half as great in San Francisco as in those States east 
 of the Mississippi. Here all the rain falls in the winter and 
 spring ; there the amounts are nearly the same in the four sea- 
 sons. They have as much rain in their summer and autumn 
 as we in our winter and spring. We have less rain than Liv- 
 erpool and Rome, and about the same amount as Paris. 
 
 § 77. Railroad Rain Table. — The following table gives 
 the rainfall at' various points on the line of the Pacific Rail- 
 road, crossing the State near its middle from west to east, with 
 the elevations in feet and the distances by rail in miles from 
 San Francisco. 
 
104 
 
 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 San Francisco 
 
 Oakland 
 
 Niles 
 
 Livermore . . 
 
 Ellis 
 
 Stockton .... 
 Sacramento . . 
 
 Rocklin 
 
 Auburn 
 
 Colfax 
 
 Alta 
 
 Cisco 
 
 Summit 
 
 Truckee 
 
 Boca 
 
 Reno 
 
 1870-71. 
 
 1872-73. 
 
 DISTANCE. 
 
 12.50 
 
 10. 
 
 
 
 11.60 
 
 
 6 
 
 7-30 
 
 
 29 
 
 5.90 
 
 
 47 
 
 3.80 
 
 
 69 
 
 4-75 
 
 12.5 
 
 91 
 
 7.85 
 
 13-5 
 
 138 
 
 10.00 
 
 
 160 
 
 17-45 
 
 25- 
 
 174 
 
 30.90 
 
 33- 
 
 192 
 
 27-95 
 
 
 206 
 
 32-95 
 
 52- 
 
 230 
 
 34-45 
 
 
 243 
 
 17.00 
 
 25. 
 
 257 
 
 10.50 
 
 9- 
 
 264 
 
 2.30 
 
 
 293 
 
 ELEVATION. 
 
 15 
 15 
 B7 
 4S5 
 76 
 
 23 
 
 30 
 
 249 
 
 1363 
 
 2421 
 3612 
 
 5939 
 7017 
 
 5S46 
 5533 
 4507 
 
 Tlie amount of the rainfall increases at the rate of about an 
 inch for one hundred feet of elevation as we ascend the Sierra 
 Nevada from the west, and decreases still more rapidly as we 
 descend on the other side. Reno, fifty miles from the summit, 
 is in the State of Nevada, but its figures indicate the rainfall 
 of many places in California, at an equal distance from the 
 summit on the same side. 
 
 Tlie average annual rainfall is about 34 inches at Crescent 
 City, 32 at Humboldt Bay, 23 at San Francisco, 18 at Monte- 
 rey, 14 at Santa Barbara, 12 at Los Angeles, and 10 at San 
 Diego, making a difference of 24 inches in a distance of less 
 than ten degrees, or a little more than two inches to the de- 
 gree. 
 
 § 78. State Rains for twenty-three years. — Tlie following 
 table shows the annual rainfall as recorded at San Francisco and 
 Sacramento since 1849, and at Stockton, Los Angeles, Santa 
 Barbara, Nevada, and Napa, for a few years. The observations 
 at San Francisco are by different observers, the figures given 
 by Dr. Gibbons being generally less than those by Mr. Tennent. 
 The ditierence in one year was nine inches. Both are careful 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 105 
 
 and conscientious observers, but there is probably a difference 
 in the ^situations of their causes. 
 
 1849-50 
 1850-51 
 1S51-52 
 1852-53 
 1853-54 
 1854-55 
 1855-56 
 
 1856-57 
 1857-58 
 1858-59 
 1859-60 
 1860-61 
 1861-62 
 1862-63 
 1863-64 
 1864-65 
 1865-66 
 1866-67 
 1867-68 
 1868-69 
 1869-70 
 1870-71 
 1871-72 
 1872-73 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Tennent. Gibbons 
 
 33 
 
 7 
 
 18 
 
 35 
 23 
 23 
 21 
 
 19 
 21 
 22 
 
 19 
 
 49 
 13 
 10 
 
 24 
 22 
 
 34 
 38 
 21 
 
 19 
 14 
 34 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 18 
 
 33 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 21 
 20 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 17 
 
 IS 
 
 38 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 21 
 20 
 13 
 33 
 
 27 
 17 
 54 
 59 
 81 
 
 115 
 56 
 53 
 
 45 
 70 
 
 26 
 30 
 19 
 15 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 The observations for San Francisco in the first column were 
 taken by Thomas Tennent, and in the second by Dr. Henry 
 Gibbons ; those for Sacramento, by Dr. Thomas Logan ; for 
 Stockton, by Dr. G. Shurtleff"; for Napa, by W. A. Trubody ; 
 for Santa Barbara, by Dr. J. B. Shaw. 
 
 The rainfall at Shasta in 1871-72, was 9G inches ; at Mur- 
 phys, in 1870-71, 17 inches ; at San Luis Obispo, 11.83 inches 
 in 1869-70, and 12.97 inches in 1870-71 ; at Modesto, in 
 1870-71, 2.25 inches; at Chowchilla, in 1870-71,5 inches; 
 
106 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 at Marysville, iii 1870-71, 6.60 inches ; at Chico, iu 1870-71, 
 17.60 inches; at Sesma, in 1870-71, 13,13 inches ; at Placer- 
 ville, in 1861-62, 86, and in 1862-63, 26 inches ; at South 
 Yuba Reservoir, in 1861-62, 109 inclies ; and at Iloopa Val- 
 ley, in 1861-62, 129 inches. 
 
 §79. 3Ionthhj Table, lM^-\^ld. The following table of 
 the rain, month by month, from July, 1849, to June, 1873, is 
 derived from the observations kept by Thomas Teuneut : 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 107 
 
 
 1849. 
 
 1850. 
 
 1851. 
 
 1852. 
 
 1853. 
 
 1854. 
 
 1855. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 >% 
 
 
 t^ 
 
 
 >> 
 
 
 
 
 >> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •■-• 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 •^ 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ;^ 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 •r 
 
 s 
 
 'f 
 
 a 
 
 T 
 
 a 
 
 T. 
 
 a 
 
 T( 
 
 a 
 
 !/) 
 
 ^ 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 a 
 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 cS 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 o* 
 
 « 
 
 o- 
 
 M 
 
 (y 
 
 « 
 
 (y 
 
 tt 
 
 (y 
 
 Q 
 
 <y 
 
 « 
 
 <y 
 
 « 
 
 Jnly 
 
 August 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .04 
 
 1 
 
 .01 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 SeiJtember. . 
 
 
 
 .33 
 
 4 
 
 1.03 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 .46 
 
 4 
 
 .15 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 October .... 
 
 ;i.i4 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 .21 
 
 2 
 
 .80 
 
 1 
 
 .12 
 
 ■_) 
 
 2.41 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 November . . 
 
 8.60 
 
 8 
 
 .92 
 
 7 
 
 2.12 
 
 5 
 
 5.31 
 
 12 
 
 2.28 
 
 12 
 
 .:« 
 
 2 
 
 .67 
 
 7 
 
 December . . 
 
 6.20 
 
 12 
 
 1.05 
 
 4 
 
 7.10 
 
 14 
 
 13.20 
 
 20 
 
 2.32 
 
 11 
 
 .81 
 
 3 
 
 5.76 
 
 13 
 
 
 1850. 
 
 1851. 
 
 1852. 
 
 1853. 
 
 1854. 
 
 1855 
 
 1856. 
 
 January 
 
 rf.34 
 
 15 
 
 .72 
 
 5 
 
 .58 
 
 4 
 
 3.92 
 
 11 
 
 3.88 
 
 10 
 
 3.67 
 
 11 
 
 9.40 
 
 13 
 
 February . . . 
 
 1.77 
 
 
 
 .54 
 
 4 
 
 .14 
 
 4 
 
 1.42 
 
 5 
 
 8.04 
 
 16 
 
 4.77 
 
 10 
 
 .50 
 
 4 
 
 March 
 
 i.m 
 
 7 
 
 1.94 
 
 9 
 
 6.68 
 
 14 
 
 4.86 
 
 6 
 
 3.51 
 
 11 
 
 4.64 
 
 12 
 
 1 . 60 
 
 5 
 
 April 
 
 .40 
 
 3 
 
 1.23 
 
 8 
 
 .26 
 
 3 
 
 5.37 
 
 8 
 
 3.12 
 
 9 
 
 5.00 
 
 10 
 
 2.94 
 
 6 
 
 May 
 
 
 
 .67 
 
 3 
 
 .32 
 
 1 
 
 .38 
 
 7 
 
 .02 
 
 1 
 
 1.88 
 
 6 
 
 .76 
 
 3 
 
 June 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .08 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 .03 
 
 1 
 
 
 33.10 
 
 53 
 
 7.40 
 
 39 
 
 18.44 
 
 48 
 
 35.26 
 
 70 
 
 23.87 
 
 79 
 
 23.68 
 
 67 
 
 21.66 
 
 54 
 
 1856. 
 
 .02 
 
 .07 
 
 .45 
 
 2.79 
 
 3.75 : 
 
 1857. 
 
 2.45 
 8.59 
 1.62 
 
 .02 
 .12 
 
 19.811 
 
 July . . 
 August . . . 
 September 
 October . . 
 November 
 December 
 
 January . 
 February 
 March .. 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 Juue 
 
 1857. 
 
 1858. 
 
 1859. 
 
 1860. 
 
 1861. 
 
 1862 
 
 1863. 
 
 
 
 .05 
 
 
 
 
 
 .21 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .05 
 
 2 
 
 .16 
 
 2 
 
 .02 
 .03 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 .02 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 .03 
 
 1 
 
 .93 
 
 3 
 
 2.74 
 
 4 
 
 .05 
 
 1 
 
 .91 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 .40 
 
 
 
 
 
 3.01 
 
 11 
 
 .69 
 
 5 
 
 7.28 
 
 13 
 
 .58 
 
 3 
 
 4.10 
 
 12 
 
 .15 
 
 3 
 
 2 . 55 
 
 .T 
 
 4.14 
 
 8 
 
 6.14 
 
 14 
 
 1.57 
 
 6 
 
 6.16 
 
 21 
 
 9.54 
 
 10 
 
 2.35 
 
 9 
 
 1.80 
 
 8 
 
 1858. 
 
 1859. 
 
 1860. 
 
 1861. 
 
 1862. 
 
 1863 
 
 1864. 
 
 4.36 
 
 8 
 
 1.28 
 
 4 
 
 1.64 
 
 8 
 
 2.47 
 
 8 
 
 24.36 
 
 18 
 
 3.63 
 
 9 
 
 1.83 
 
 5 
 
 1.83 
 
 8 
 
 6.32 
 
 18 
 
 1.60 
 
 7 
 
 3.72 
 
 8 
 
 7.53 
 
 10 
 
 3.19 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 . 55 
 
 8 
 
 3.02 
 
 11 
 
 3.99 
 
 13 
 
 4 08 
 
 8 
 
 2.20 
 
 11 
 
 2.06 
 
 8 
 
 1.52 
 
 9 
 
 1.55 
 
 4 
 
 .27 
 
 4 
 
 3.14 
 
 8 
 
 .51 
 
 4 
 
 .73 
 
 9 
 
 1.61 
 
 9 
 
 l.,57 
 
 4 
 
 .34 
 
 3 
 
 1.55 
 
 4 
 
 2.86 
 
 11 
 
 1.00 
 
 3 
 
 .74 
 
 5 
 
 .23 
 
 2 
 
 .78 
 
 5 
 
 .05 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 .09 
 
 2 
 
 .08 
 
 2 
 
 .05 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 21.88 
 
 56 
 
 22.22 
 
 68 
 
 22.27 
 
 73 
 
 19.72 
 
 70 
 
 49.27 
 
 83 
 
 13.62 
 
 52 
 
 10.08 
 
 37 
 
 1864. 
 
 .21 
 .01 
 .13 
 
 6.68 
 8.91 
 
 1865. 
 
 5.14 
 1.34 
 
 .94 
 .63 
 
 July .. 
 August . . . 
 SeiJtember 
 October. . . 
 November 
 December 
 
 Januaiy . . 
 February . 
 March ... 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 186 
 
 5. 
 
 186 
 
 3 
 
 186' 
 
 1. 
 
 186 
 
 3. 
 
 186 
 
 9. 
 
 1S7 
 
 3. 
 
 187 
 
 1. 
 
 .24 
 
 ., 
 
 .11 
 
 2 
 
 .04 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 .12 
 
 1 
 
 .03 
 
 1 
 
 .03 
 
 .-, 
 
 .26 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 .20 
 
 1 
 
 .15 
 
 3 
 
 1.29 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 .11 
 
 2 
 
 4.19 
 
 10 
 
 3.35 
 
 12 
 
 3.41 
 
 6 
 
 1.18 
 
 5 
 
 1.19 
 
 5 
 
 .43 
 
 4 
 
 3.72 
 
 9 
 
 .58 
 
 8 
 
 15.16 
 
 18 
 
 10.69 
 
 18 
 
 4.34 
 
 11 
 
 4.31 
 
 7 
 
 3.38 
 
 8 
 
 16.74 
 
 14 
 
 1866. 
 
 1867. 
 
 1868. 
 
 1869. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1871. 
 
 1872. 
 
 10. 8« 
 
 16 
 
 5.16 
 
 15 
 
 9.50 
 
 17 
 
 6.33 
 
 14 
 
 3.89 
 
 () 
 
 3.07 
 
 7 
 
 4.22| 9 
 
 2.12 
 
 9 
 
 7.20 
 
 9 
 
 6.13 
 
 9 
 
 3.90 
 
 5 
 
 4.78 
 
 9 
 
 3.76 
 
 10 
 
 6.97 
 
 18 
 
 3.04 
 
 12 
 
 1.58 
 
 7 
 
 0.30 
 
 12 
 
 3.14 
 
 12 
 
 2.00 
 
 8 
 
 1.29 
 
 8 
 
 1.64 
 
 9 
 
 .12 
 
 1 
 
 2.36 
 
 8 
 
 2.31 
 
 9 
 
 2.19 
 
 5 
 
 ■[.SA 
 
 4 
 
 1.93 
 
 5 
 
 1.10 
 
 6 
 
 1.46 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 .03 
 
 2 
 
 .08 
 
 2 
 
 .20 
 
 2 
 
 .21 
 
 3 
 
 .10 
 
 2 
 
 .04 
 
 1 
 09 
 
 
 71 
 
 .23 
 
 3 
 78 
 
 .02 
 21.35 
 
 1 
 
 58 
 
 
 47 
 
 
 46 
 
 .02 
 
 2 
 73 
 
 22.93 
 
 34.92 
 
 38.84 
 
 19.31 
 
 14.10 
 
 34.71 
 
 1873. 
 
 2 17 
 
 4.24 
 
 .78 
 
 .44 
 
108 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Mr. Tennent is a cai-eful observer, but I think tlie figures 
 for January, 1862, must be erroneous, due jDerhaps, to some 
 exceptional influences near his rain gauge; and I fancy the 
 general fall in the city was not more than fifteen inches in that 
 month. Dr. Gibbons reports 38 inches for the seasons 1861 
 and 1862, or eleven inches less than Mr. Tennent, and I am 
 more disposed to accept the smaller figures. 
 
 The subjoined table is compiled from Mr. Tenuent's record : 
 
 
 INCHES RAINFALL. 
 
 COMPARISON OF MONTHS 
 
 RAINY n.KXS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 1 ■ 
 
 
 ,• 
 
 <- 
 
 fl, 
 
 MONTH. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 :j 
 
 u . a ,: 
 
 
 =3 
 
 ? ^ 
 
 i> 
 
 
 2 
 
 CD 
 
 
 a 
 'S 
 
 o 
 
 -3 " 
 
 tl 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 u a 
 
 
 
 <! 
 
 w 
 
 I-] 
 
 IZi 
 
 ►J 
 
 O 
 
 '^ H 
 
 9 
 
 < 
 10 
 
 ;5 
 
 n 
 
 12 
 
 Column . . . 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 July 
 
 0.01 
 0.02 
 
 0.21 
 0.21 
 
 0.00 
 0.00 
 
 21 
 18 
 
 21 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 18 
 
 24 
 22 
 
 3 
 10 
 
 0.1 
 0.4 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 21 
 18 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 0.20 
 
 1.03 
 
 0.00 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 28 
 
 1.1 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 October 
 
 0.58 
 
 3.14 
 
 0.00 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 21 
 
 60 
 
 2.5 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 November. . . . 
 
 2.87 
 
 8.66 
 
 0.15 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 182 
 
 7.5 
 
 1.-) 
 
 13 
 
 December 
 
 6.29 
 
 16.71 
 
 0.58 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 285 
 
 11.8 
 
 21 
 
 11 
 
 January 
 
 5.10 
 
 24.36 
 
 0.58 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 240 
 
 10. 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 February 
 
 3.80 
 
 8.59 
 
 0.00 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 218 
 
 90 
 
 18 
 
 11 
 
 March 
 
 3.08 
 1.69 
 0.59 
 0.05 
 
 6.68 
 5.37 
 2.86 
 0.12 
 
 0.74 
 0.00 
 0.00 
 0.00 
 
 
 1 
 3 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 8 
 11 
 13 
 
 9 
 13 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 214 
 
 130 
 
 81 
 
 17 
 
 8 9 
 5.4 
 3 3 
 0.7 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 13 
 18 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The first column shows the annual rainfall of each month 
 for the last twenty years. 
 
 The second column shows the greatest, and the third the 
 smallest, amount that has fallen in the month in any year since 
 1849. 
 
 The fourth shows the number of years out of twenty -four, 
 in which the montli lias brought no rain. 
 
 The fifth shows the number of years in which the month 
 has brought less than the average, wliich is brought up by 
 large figures at intervals. The purpose of this and the next 
 three columns, is to show the irregularity of tlie seasons. 
 
 The sixtli column shows the number of years in which the 
 several months brought fifty per cent., or miore than the aver- 
 
CLIMATE. 109 
 
 age. The average of December is 6.29 inches ; an addition of 
 fifty per cent, to that makes 9.44. We find that in five out 
 of the twenty-four years, December gives fifty per cent, 
 more tlian the average, and the next season sliows tliat in seven 
 seasons it brought at least fifty per cent less than the average, 
 or less than 3.15 inches. 
 
 The eighth column shows the number of seasons in which 
 the several months have brought either fifty per cent, more or 
 fifty per cent, less than the average, and as either is an ex- 
 treme, I find that most of the seasons are extreme in their 
 character. 
 
 The ninth column shows the total number of rainy days in 
 twenty-four seasons, from July 1st, 1849, to June oOth, 1873. 
 
 The tenth column shows the average, and the eleventh the 
 greatest number of rainy days in each month. 
 
 The twelftli shows the number of months in twenty-four 
 years in which the number of rainy days has been under the 
 average. 
 
 § 80. Drought and Flood. — Floods usiially come with more 
 than thirty inches of rain, and droughts with less than sixteen 
 at Sacramento, the damage being dependent, to a certain ex- 
 tent, upon the distribution, as well as upon the amount, of the 
 rain. Thus, in a very wet season, if the moisture comes in nearly 
 equal quantities in eack one of the sixteen or twenty weeks, 
 the streams do not rise so high as if ten or fifteen inches came 
 in one month. The fiood seasons have been 1849-50, 1852-53, 
 1861-62, and 1867-68, or four in twenty-five years. 
 
 The years of drought have been 1851, 1856, 1857, 1861, 
 1863, 1864, 1870, and 1871, or eiglit in twenty-five years. 
 There are two droughts to one fiood, and every other year, on 
 an average, brings either a drought or a flood. 
 
 § 81. Dryness of Air. — The small amount of rain during 
 the winter, the entire want of it during the summer, the 
 warmth of the sun, and the great number of cloudless days, 
 render the climate a very dry one. As one consequence or 
 
110 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 accompaniment of our dry climate and clear sky, it may be 
 worth while to observe tliat near the ocean the clouds are rare- 
 ly picturesque or sublimely beautiful. The magnificent sun- 
 sets, where the god of light goes down amid curtains of gold 
 and crimson — those high-piled banks of clouds which adorn 
 the heavens before and after thunder-showers, in the Mississippi 
 Valley — are rarely seen near the coast. 
 
 Dew is rare or sliglit over a great part of tlie State. 
 During tlie summer and autumn, many of the rivers sink in 
 the sand soon after leaving the mountains in which they rise ; 
 the earth is dry, and baked hard to a depth of many inches or 
 even feet ; the grass and herbage, except near springs or on 
 swampy land, are dried n^, and as brown as the soil on which 
 they grew. 
 
 It has been said that very hot days are less oppressive in 
 California than equal heat in the Eastern States, because the 
 cool nights serve to invigorate the system, and the extreme 
 dryness of the climate favors the evaporation of sweat, and 
 thus keeps the body cooler than in districts where the earth is 
 always moist. Evaporation is so rapid that a beefsteak hung 
 up in the air will dry before it can commence to putrefy. A 
 dead rat thrown into the street, where its body is crushed by 
 wagon-wheels so that its viscera are exposed to the air, will 
 "dry up," and its stiff hide and meat will lie during a whole 
 summer in a mummy-like condition. In many places, steel 
 may be exposed to the night air for weeks without getting a 
 touch of rust. 
 
 It is common to ascribe the effects of the dryness of the at- 
 mosphere to the " purity" of the air ; but it is rather the ab- 
 sence of moisture. I know no reason for supposing that, apart 
 from its dryness, the air in California is purer than in any 
 other ])art of tlie continent. It may be, however, tliat the con- 
 stant decom])osition of animal and vegetable matter lying on 
 wet ground, imder a hot sun, causes the air in other States to 
 be filled with such gases as are not set free to an equal extent 
 here. 
 
CLIMATE. Ill 
 
 In May and June all California " dries up " — tlie rivers, the 
 brooks, the springs, the ditches, the vegetation — and with 
 them many of the resources of the country. 
 
 § 82. Length of Days. — The shortest day in the year, the 
 20th of December, measures nine hours and four minutes be- 
 tween sunrise and sunset at Crescent City, and ten hours at 
 San Diego ; while the longest day, the 20th of June, measures 
 fifteen hours and seventeen minutes on the southern border, 
 and fourteen hours and nineteen minutes on the northern bor- 
 der of the State — or, measuring from the beginning of twi- 
 light in the morning to the end of twilight at night, the day 
 measures nineteen hours and forty-seven minutes on the Siski- 
 you Mountains, and seventeen hours and forty-three minutes 
 at Fort Yuma. 
 
 § 83. l^hiinder-Storms. — Thunder-storms are very rare in 
 California. Lightning is not seen more than three or four 
 times a year at San Francisco, and then it is never neai*. 
 Thunder is still more rare. Indeed, many persons have been 
 here for years, without observing either. I have never seen a 
 brilliant Hash of lightning, and have heard but one loud clap 
 of thunder in the State. Thunder-storms are sometimes wit- 
 nessed high up in the mountains, and in the great Basin; very 
 rarely in any of the low land of the State. In May, 18G0, a 
 house in Sonora was struck by lightning ; and in P"'ebruary, 
 18G1, three vessels in Humboldt Bay were struck in the same 
 manner : and, thoiigh there were persons in the house and on 
 all the vessels, no serious injury was done to either 2)erson or 
 property in any case. On the 25th of May, 1860, a China- 
 man was killed by lightning near the Lexington House, on the 
 Coloma road, in Sacramento County ; and that is, I think, the 
 only death by electricity in California on record. 
 
 The weather never has that peculiar condition which iso- 
 lates everybody electrically, and then fills them with electric- 
 ity. In New York, on a dry winter evening, a man dressed 
 in woolen and shod in woolen slippers, after sliding along on 
 
112 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the carpet a few steps, will accumulate so mncli electricity, 
 lliat when lie thrusts his linger at another person, a visible spark 
 will tly off, and he can light gas with it ! But this amusing 
 experiment, not uncommon in the Eastern States, never has 
 been successful here. 
 
 § 84. Hail. — Hail is a rarity ; and instead of falling in 
 July and August, as is usual in the Eastern States and Europe, 
 it is seen in California only between February and May. On 
 the 10th of May, 1856, a storm of hail-stones, some of them 
 weighing twelve pounds each, visited a small district at Butte 
 Creek, in Shasta County. It has several times happened that 
 hail-stones more than an inch in diameter liave fiillen in the 
 Sacramento Valley. 
 
 The Aurora BoreoXis is seldom seen in California, perhaps 
 not more than a dozen times within the last twenty years. 
 The aurora of the 28th of August, 1859, seen over a great 
 part of the world, was plainly visible in this State. 
 
 § 85. Sand- Storms. — In the Colorado Desert, and in some 
 other districts in the southern part of the State, sand-storms, 
 similar to the simoons of Africa, but not so dangerous, occa- 
 sionally occur. The sand, which forms the greater portion of 
 the soil, unprotected by sod, vegetation, or moisture, is swept 
 away in dense clouds by every high wind, and carried many 
 miles, a terror to man and beast. The storm stops the trav- 
 eler, because he dare not open his eyes to the little flinty par- 
 ticles ; nor can he eat, for the dust covers his food and tills his 
 mouth; and even in the most tightly-built houses the sand 
 penetrates and fills the air. 
 
 A newspaper correspondent speaks thus of a Colorado sand- 
 storm : 
 
 " Should the traveler happen to encounter a sand-storm, 
 however, he may not get along so smoothly. A huge, black 
 cloud, rising from the western horizon, warns him of its ap- 
 proach. Rapidly it spreads over the sky, darkens the sun, 
 and the fine particles of sand are swept before the gale in a 
 
CLIMATE. 113 
 
 dense and suffocating cloud ; even the larger gravel and peb- 
 bles are sometimes lifted from the plain and carried like hail 
 before the force of the blast. The horses are bUuded, para- 
 lyzed with fear, and no urging can induce them to go for- 
 ward. Were it otliermse, to go on would be folly ; the road 
 and sun are hid from view ; no landmarks by which to be 
 guided — safety bids you remain. The traces are unhitched, 
 and tlie horses tethered to the wagon ; the only course is to 
 securely fasten down the sides to the wagon-top, and wait 
 witli what patience one can command until the storm has 
 passed, which will be, doubtless, in from six to ten hours. 
 
 ''Once the stage encountered a sand-storm, while within 
 three hundred yards of a station ; the horses could not be in- 
 duced to move, and there was no remedy but to stay by them 
 till the gale had spent its force, though the station was even 
 in sight. 
 
 " I have found such a storm sufficiently disagreeable while 
 housed by the river-side, the line sand penetrating everywhere, 
 and have no ambition to encounter one upon the central des- 
 ert. Luckily, they are not very common in the severest 
 aspect ; in summer, quite rare." 
 
114 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SALUBRITY. 
 
 § 86. Healthy Chroioth. — In the preceding cliapter, proof 
 was furnished that the climate of the coast of California is 
 more equable, and more favorable to human growth and com- 
 fort, than that of Italy, Greece, or Palestine, countries 
 which have had the repute from remote times, of having the 
 most auspicious skies in the old world. In the chapter on 
 agriculture and botany, we shall see that the domestic animals 
 and cultivated plants grow with a rapidity, and the fruit 
 trees, cereals, and kitchen vegetables, bear witli a fecundity, 
 unsurpassed and probably unequaled in any otlier part of the 
 world. In my researches I have not been able to learn of 
 crops elsewhere so large as many recorded in California. 
 
 The Si^anish Californians, before the American conquest, had 
 remarkably large families, and were long-lived beyond ex- 
 ample. In no place known to me were there so many centen- 
 arians relatively. Prominent among the early settlers were 
 Ignacio Vallejo, Joaquin Carrillo, Jose Noriega, Jose Ai- 
 giiello, Jose Maria Pico, Francisco Sepulveda, Jose Maria 
 Ortega, and Juan Bandini. These men had eleven children 
 each on an average, the largest number in one family being 
 thirteen and the smallest nine. Two children of Ignacio Val- 
 lejo had each a dozen, and one grandchild has had a dozen 
 children. Jose Antonio Castro had twentj'-five. It was a 
 common event for persons to have several hundred living de- 
 scendants. Juana Cota had five hundred, and Senora Domin- 
 
SALUBRITY. 
 
 115 
 
 gnez, wlio planted the big vine at Montecito, in Santa Barbara 
 County, had tliree hundred. Such cases may be found in every 
 country, but in no such large proportion elsewhere. The 
 records of the Mission and parish church of Santa Barbara, 
 from 1782 till 1847, a period of 65 years, show that, in that 
 period, the births were 1,781, the deaths 441, and the mar- 
 riages 298. These figures indicate six births on an average 
 to one marriage, a ratio not to be equaled elsewhere. 
 
 Our later statistics are defective. The majority of the pop- 
 ulation are not natives of the country, and many invalids have 
 come from the Atlantic side, so that the State may be regarded 
 as a sanitarium, and on that account it has more deaths than 
 properly belong to it. 
 
 According to the Federal census report, the number of 
 deaths in the year ending June 1st, 1870, was 9,025 or 16 per 
 tljousand ; a number which is moderate in itself, yet is above 
 the average for the whole Union, which has only 12. The 
 only States above California are Louisiana, 20, Massachusetts, 
 17, and Missouri, 16. The average mortality among civilized 
 nations i*anges from 20 to 40 per thousand, and we may safely 
 assume that the report that eighteen States have less than 12 
 deaths to the thousand annually, is grossly erroneous. The 
 Health Report of New York City gives the following figures 
 of the deaths per thousand in certain prominent cities of 
 Europe and the United States. 
 
 Naples 39 
 
 Berlin 38 
 
 Milan , 38 
 
 Florence 37 
 
 Vienna 35 
 
 Liverpool 35 
 
 Turin 33 
 
 Glasgow 32 
 
 Manchester 31 
 
 Rome 30 
 
 Genoa 29 
 
 Edinburgh 26 
 
 Dublin 26 
 
 London 24 
 
 Vicksburg 41 
 
 Troy 38 
 
 Mobile 34 
 
 Charleston 31 
 
 Savannah 30 
 
 New Orleans 29 
 
 New York 28 
 
 Baltimore 26 
 
 Boston 23 
 
 Chicago 23 
 
 Philadelphia 22 
 
 San Francisco 21 
 
 Cleveland 19 
 
 St. Louis 16 
 
116 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The advantages of our climate for salubrity consist mainly 
 in tLe dryness of the atmosphere, and the equability and mild- 
 ness of the temperature. Moisture combined witli heat causes 
 fevers and pneumonia ; combined with cold it brings on con- 
 sumption. Malarial diseases and affections of the respiratory 
 organs, together, carry off a large part of our race, and no- 
 where can the iiercentage of loss by them be brought to a 
 lower figure than in this State. In Massachusetts, 29 out of 
 100 deaths are caused by diseases of the respiratory organs ; in 
 Maine 27, in London 26, in Cuba 25, and in California 30 ; 
 but of these, few caught the disease in tliis State. All the au- 
 thorities agree, that conditions like those here prevalent are 
 the best for the prevention and cure of consumption. Blodgett, 
 in his work on climatology, expressed the opinion that not 
 more than four per cent, of the natives of California will die 
 of consumption ; and although he wrote nearly twenty years 
 ago, nothing has since occurred to show that he Avas wrong. 
 
 § 87. Infant Mortality. — An article published in the St 
 Paul's Medical Journal, in 1872, says, that of 365,508 deaths 
 reported by the Board of Health of New York city, from 1804 
 to 1853, 184,534, or more than 50 percent., were children un- 
 der five years of age. The same percentage is observed in the 
 deaths of the same city in 1866, 1867, and 1869 ; in Chicago, 
 from 1843 to 1869, the proportion Avas 51 per cent. ; in Phila- 
 delphia, from 1858 to 1870, 45 per cent.; and in Baltimore, in 
 1860, 1861, 1862, 1865, and 1866, 47 per cent. Some of this 
 mortality is to be charged, undoubtedly, to constitutional 
 weakness, inherited from weak, diseased, dissipated, ill-fed, or 
 unhappy parents ; but far more is due to bad food, insufficient 
 care, defective ventilation, scanty clothing, and exposure to 
 wet and cold. The poor farmer who should lose half his 
 sheep, pigs, or calves, under ordinary circumstances, would be 
 regarded as grossly ignorant, or careless ; but the rich inhabit- 
 ants of the cities generally lose about half their children by 
 death before maturity. 
 
SALUBRITY. 117 
 
 According to the mortality statistics of the Federal Census, 
 492,263 deaths occurred in the United States, in the year end- 
 ing June 1st, 1870, and of those 203,213, or 40 per cent., were 
 infents (under five years old). According to the same author- 
 ity, the total deaths, and the infants' deaths, in California in 
 the same period, were 9,025 and 3,450 respectively, giving a 
 ratio of 37 i^er cent. These figures are less favorable to Cali- 
 fornia than those given in the report of the State Board of 
 Health, according to which, in twenty-two places — including 
 San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland, Marysville, 
 Stockton, Petaluma, Los Angeles, Napa, and nearly all the 
 larger towns of California — the total number of deaths in the 
 year ending Jime 30th, 1871, was 4,831, and of these 1,614 
 were children under five years of age, or thirty -three per cent. ; 
 while in San Francisco alone, the j)roportiou was thirty-four 
 per cent. This imj^lies that, of ten children who die in East- 
 ei'n cities, three might be saved by keeping them in San Fran- 
 cisco for their first four summers. After they reach the age of 
 five, the danger rapidly decreases for twenty years. The num- 
 ber of tliose who die in any one year under five, exceeds that 
 of those who die between the ages of five and thirty. 
 The writer of the article above referred to, says : 
 " A gi-eat part of this mortality, which I believe to be avoid- 
 able, occurs in what is known as the ' heated term,' (a period 
 of special dread to parents with young children) comprising 
 the months of June, July, August, and September. When- 
 ever the thermometer rises and remains for any considerable 
 length of time above 80 degrees, derangements of digestion 
 among infants living in such an atmosphere are very liable to 
 occur. Milk, and all animal substances used for food, rapidly 
 deteriorate in quality in regions of higli temperature, and, 
 unless great care is taken, become unfit diet for infants. The 
 infantile stomach is particularly susceptible, and the child, by 
 its sufiering, will speedily show tlie bad eflects of the least de- 
 parture from pure, fresh, and wholesome food or water. Per- 
 
118 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sisteiice in the itse of food tliat has caused disordered digestion 
 is sho\\ai to develop cholera infantum, or some other grave form 
 of disease. High temperature is everywhere recognized as one 
 of the chief j^rovoking causes of diseases of the stomach and 
 bowels, particularly among children under two years of age, 
 whether nursed at the breast or artificially fed. These dis- 
 eases in their inception are frequently mere distiirbances of 
 digestion caused by lieat, or the deterioration of food, or the 
 unwholesomeness of diet. According to the weekly mortuary 
 reports of our cities, the diseases of this class alone are referred 
 to as the cause of over twenty-five per cent, of all deaths oc- 
 curring during the summer months ; and the mortality among 
 children under five years alone increases the death rate in 
 cities from one-fourth to one-half over the other months of the 
 year. As heat seems to be the constant attendant, if not the 
 chief cause, of the ' summer complaints ' of children, and 
 consequent great mortality among them, it is obviously an 
 element to be taken into special account, and, therefore, de- 
 sirable to provide for those who are actually sick, quiet apart- 
 ments or homes, where they can have free ventilation and pure 
 air of a moderate temperature." 
 
 The time will probably come when a large number of in- 
 fants will be sent to spend their early years away from the 
 hot and malarious districts where their parents are compelled 
 by imperious business to live ; and no better place than the 
 Coast district of California can be found for the rearing of 
 children, A large part of the mortality of infants in the East- 
 ern States is caused by scarlet fever and cholera infantum. 
 These two diseases carried ofi" respectively 5,645, or ten per 
 cent,, and 2,683, or four per cent,, out of a total of 52,659 in 
 Pennsylvania, and 479, or five per cent., and 227, or two and a 
 half per cent. , in California, in the mortality year of 1869-70. 
 In Pennsylvania fourteen i^er cent., and in Califoi'nia only seven 
 and a half per cent, of all deaths, are chargeable to those two 
 scourges. Pennsylvania was selected for comparison because 
 
SALUBRITY. 119 
 
 it is central, and, as compared with the other portions of the 
 Atlantic side, a salubrious State ; yet the chances of death 
 from tliose two main diseases are twice as great there as here. 
 § 88, 3£al.aria. — Climatic influence is the chief cause of 
 sickness, and more men die of those diseases which may be 
 classed as climatic, than of all other diseases combined. The 
 climatic ailments are mainly fevers, which carry off from one- 
 fourth to two-thirds of the hiiman race ; and inflammations 
 of the respiratory organs, which carry off from one-sixth to 
 one-third, according to circumstances. The precise manner 
 in which the organs of the human system are thrown into 
 disorder by meteorological influences is a matter of doubt and 
 dispute; but the fungoid theory of disease is now gaining 
 favor — the theory that many of our ailments are caused by 
 the growth of vegetable parasites carried into our systems in 
 the form of germs so minute that they float about in the air. 
 These germs of disease multiply with the greatest rapidity, 
 and display the most malignant activity, in a humid and hot 
 atmosphere. 
 
 The principle is universally accepted among physicians, that 
 malignant fevers owe their origin mainly to heat and humidity. 
 We have overwhelming evidence that these two conditions 
 always accompany, or have accompanied, the most fatal epi- 
 demics and endemics, including cholera, yellow fever, vomito, 
 jungle fever, Panama fever, and various forms of plague 
 which formerly raged in Europe, but seem to have entirely 
 disappeared now. The greatest mortality by such ailments is 
 invariably in hot climates, where the rainfall is great, or in 
 warm, wet seasons ; and they are never very destructive in 
 high latitudes or altitudes, or in dry countries. In some trop- 
 ical districts, forty per cent, of all foreigners are seriously sick 
 the first year of their residence, and half of the cases prove 
 fatal ; and even the natives, accustomed to the climate, can- 
 not venture to spend a night in certain unhealtliy localities. 
 The migration of business men to and from certain tropical 
 
120 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 cities, is almost as regular in spring and fall as tbe move- 
 ments of migratory birds. Ex|)erience has proved that men 
 who can safely spend the winter in New Orleans cannot stay 
 there througli one summer, without incurring greater danger 
 than soldiers usually do in a severe pitched battle. The pres- 
 ence of malarial diseases is generally proportioned to the 
 amount of rain, but in certain localities it depends on proxim- 
 ity to swamps, and the direction of the winds. Thus, if the 
 winds blow i*egularly through the summer in a certain dis- 
 trict from the westward, a town on low groiind east of a 
 large swamp, in a hot summer, will be sickly, while another 
 town on the other side of the swamj) may be quite healthy. 
 Let the wind shift for a few weeks, and tlie conditions will 
 change. If a high ridge runs through the sickly town, the 
 people there will be healthier than on the low land. A French 
 army that encamped on a malarial piece of ground, near Na- 
 ples, was suddenly reduced, by sickness, from 28,000 to 4,000 
 men. In 1809, a British army corps lost 10,000 men at Wal- 
 cheren, Netherlands, by malarial disease. It is highly dan- 
 gerous to spend a single night in the open air in portions of 
 the Campagna, near Rome. There are some very sickly 
 places on the Sacramento basin, to the leeward of the tule 
 swamps of ground flooded by water from ditches ; and the 
 introduction of extensive irrigation will inj ure the salubrity 
 of some districts now free from malaria. Yet irrigation will 
 not do more harm in the Sacramento-San Joa<juin Valley than 
 it does in Lombardy, which is inhabited by a handsome, active, 
 and healthy race. 
 
 § 89. Consumption. — Consumption is, in most cases, the 
 growth of a cold, humid climate. lu Massachusetts, from 20 
 to 25 per cent, of the deaths are by consumption ; in Philadel- 
 phia, 12 per cent. Boston has more consumption, in propor- 
 tion to its population, than any other place in the Union. It 
 is more common among those classes confined to the house 
 than those who work in the open air, the deaths by consump- 
 
SALUBRITY. 121 
 
 tion, in some occupations, rising to 33 per cent, of the entire 
 mortality. The Indians at Paget Sound also suffer much from 
 consumption, probably because they spend a great portion of 
 their time in huts filled with smoke. 
 
 At Philadelphia, 12 per cent, of the deaths ai-e caused by- 
 consumption, 4 by pneumonia, 2 by croup, and 2 by bronchitis ; 
 but generally, in the Northern States, there are two cases of 
 consumption to one of pneumonia. The proportion of the two 
 diseases is reversed in the cotton districts, pneumonia appear- 
 ing to replace consumption in the warm climates. The deaths 
 by all diseases of the respiratory organs are 29 per cent, of 
 the entire mortality in Massacluisetts, 27 in Maine, 26 in Lon- 
 don, 25 in Havana, 24 in Michigan, and 20 in New York. In 
 California, most of our consumptives are imported. The dry- 
 ness and warmth of our climate offer little encouragement for 
 it, and the proportion of deaths from it is less than one-half 
 that in New York. 
 
 A mild, dry climate is not only a protection against con- 
 sumption, but also a cure for it. Dr. Copeland says : " Moist- 
 ure is a good conductor of electricity ; dry air, a bad one. 
 The human body receives electricity constantly from the earth, 
 with which it is in contact, and probably develops it through 
 the organic processes. In dry weather, this electricity is re- 
 tained, in a great measure, and the body becomes loaded with 
 it, the nervous system is stimulated, and buoyancy and cheer- 
 fulness of mind follow. In damp weather, on the contrary, 
 the moisture of the atmosphere acts as a conductor, and con- 
 stantly carries away the electricity from the body ; thence it 
 is at a minimum, and mental depression follows." 
 
 Whether this explanation be correct or not, it is certain that 
 a warm, moist climate impairs the appetite and causes languor, 
 and a dry, cool atmosphere stimulates the appetite and invig- 
 orates the system. As debility is the main difficulty in con- 
 sumption, it is evident that the warm, moist climate should be 
 carefully avoided. 
 
122 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Persons suffering witli debility, as well as consumption, should 
 seek a climate marked by dryness, equability, and mildness. 
 The nearest approacli to such a climate in Europe is found on 
 the shores of the Mediterranean, at Mentone, Nice, and Can- 
 nes, between Marseilles and Genoa, and consequently the best 
 districts there are tilled with invalids from other parts of the 
 continent. The southern part of this State has a still better 
 climate, more equable, drier, and milder. The injurious influ- 
 ence of moist air upon diseases of the throat and lungs has not 
 been explained, but it is felt very plainly. The equability and 
 mildness of temperature stimulate to exertion, and protect the 
 invalid from dangerous chills and enervating heat, and take 
 away any motive for cutting ofl:' ventilation. 
 
 It is only of late years that much attention has been given 
 to medical climatology, and there is, as yet, no comprehensive 
 treatise upon it. The books which treat of it omit to men- 
 tion many material facts, and are devoted to the praise of 
 small districts. For the cure of diseases of the respiratory 
 organs, no part of the continent is equal to California. Our 
 climate has the equable, mild, and dry character that is needed 
 by persons sufleriug with bronchitis and various forms of pneu- 
 monia. It is now conceded by leading physicians that con- 
 sumption, except in very advanced stages of the disease, is 
 curable, not by drugs, which are injurious, but by living in 
 the open air, especially in a dry atmosphere. The disease is 
 mainly caused by breathing foul air, and is most destructive to 
 persons dwelling in close rooms. Tlie only cures of advanced 
 cases of consumption, well authenticated, within the range of 
 our experience and study, were efl;ected by the influence of the 
 open air. 
 
 The mildness of climate is important to invalids generally. 
 Perfect ventilation and exercise are necessary in many diseases, 
 and they will always be neglected if they are not conducive to 
 comfort, as they are here. Cold prevents ventilation, and heat 
 prevents exercise. In chronic diseases, as a class, clianges of 
 
SALUBRITY. 123 
 
 climate, diet, and occupation are among the chief remedies — 
 especially of climate. Here we have the variety needed — from 
 the eternal snows of the Californian Alps, through a dozen dif- 
 ferent phases of eternal spring and summer, to the burning 
 sands of the Colorado Desert, with its four inches of rainfall 
 in a year. The patient can dwell under the palm trees or in 
 the orange groves of Los Angeles, under the giant fig trees of 
 San Luis Obispo, in the vineyards of Sonoma, in the orchards 
 of Santa Clara or of Yolo, in the evergreen oak groves of 
 Alameda, amidst the mammoth trees of Calaveras, the majes- 
 tic white oak groves of Napa, under the shadow of the cliffs 
 of Yosemite, or amidst the sulphurous fumes of Geyser Canon. 
 § 90. State Mortality Table.— The following table of the 
 mortality of certain towns in California, for the year ending 
 June 30th, 1871, was prepared by Dr. Logan, Secretary of 
 the Board of Health : 
 
124 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 IBUBtBoi-oqctjCx 
 
 uim w*M o n X M c 
 
 C<l t- tH rH CO CO 
 
 CO CO tH rH C^ CO CO 
 
 •BijDiqdig 
 
 •staAioq 
 pa's tjoBuiois 
 aT{% JO sasBosid 
 
 C^XTi<rHrHQO-<l^f-HC^ta 
 
 > -J 05 rH Cq i-l ■* CO rH 
 
 •sgtmx JO 
 sascasip Jaqjo 
 
 ^ -^ ci ci o lo 00 CO T-t ci c^ «^ CO t- o CO cocoes o 
 
 •noiidniusnoo 
 
 ooo«5cqoocoocj-*oc!t-coot-o lOLori cico 
 
 noT^jBnidod joooo'l 
 jod sq^Bap jo onBH 
 
 ^OXTttOi-(O^OC0OO»-0>r;»aWiHOClC0OOOO w 
 ^-^C3CO'XXC:X^CO^— ^COCO^CO'VOi-HClCJXi-OO X 
 
 ■gq^Bap 
 JO jaqniuu t^^ox 
 
 ■*r-iioc-cqc]t-oin5SX«ococ-<ot050>»coeo-*-^LOi--; 
 
 r^C^-*THClX(NC^rHOCNCOCli-<t-COTHi-HCi'*(MrHfHr^ 
 
 •noijBjndo<j 
 
 »HX-^<OOCOlOCqC:t-OCrO-»^T-HOOOrHOOOOO 
 tO*f-IOt*COt^— — »-0 0000-t<0'MOC:C!:^C2C;0 
 CO C-JIC O -:}i_C^CO iO LO C:_ 0_ O C>^ tH ^_ O <N p p'-O^O poo 
 cTt^ Co'^»o"co'"o ■^'rn'c^ 
 
 L0OOOO-t<O'MOC:OOCOO 
 
 .2 o 
 
 
 o J3 
 
 CO >i'2 =5 
 
 S3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SALUBRITY. 125 
 
 § 91. Prevalent Diseases. — We have in California less con- 
 sumption, scarlet fever, cholera infantum, and sunstroke, than 
 in the Atlantic States, and more rheumatism and neuralgia, 
 heart disease, aneurism, and diseases of the eyes, tlian in the 
 Atlantic States. In some districts we have far less malarious 
 disease; in others, as much. It has been observed that ozone 
 is rare where malarious epidemics prevail, and that it is 
 abundant in the trade winds that blow throughout the summer 
 along our coast. Whenever the winds stop for a few days in 
 the middle of the Sacramento-San Joaquin basin, malarious 
 fever prevails. In the natural advantages of the coolness of 
 summer climate, all those conditions which indicate malaria, 
 the constancy and force of the breezes, and the abundance of 
 ozone, San Francisco has no equal among the great cities. 
 Sunstroke, which has in one season killed 300 persons in New 
 York city, is almost unknown here, even in the interior val- 
 leys, where the summers are much hotter than in New York. 
 The dryness of our atmosphere secures a rapidity of evapora- 
 tion which keeps down the temperature of the body. Neither 
 are any lives lost in our valleys by the intense cold, such as 
 killed seventy persons, and maimed thirty more, in Minnesota, 
 in the winter of 1872-73. 
 
 § 92. Mineral Waters. — California is peculiarly rich in min- 
 eral waters. Elsewhere the springs suitable for medicinal pur- 
 poses are few and far apart ; here they are found in great clus- 
 ters, and they may be numbered by the thousand. They ex- 
 tend from the borders of Oregon to Mexico, and from the 
 edge of the Pacific to the alkali plains of the Great Basin. 
 Surprise Valley, in latitude 41° 40', at the eastern base of the 
 Sierra, has hundreds of hot and cold saline, chalybeate, and 
 sulphur springs ; the mud volcanoes of the Colorado Desert, 
 and the hot springs of Warner's Valley, are samples of what 
 are to be found in the extreme south ; but the most remarka- 
 ble collections are in Napa, Sonoma, and Lake Counties, about 
 a hundred miles north of San Francisco, and conveniently ac- 
 cessible by steam and stage. 
 
126 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 31ount St. Helena, in the first of those counties, the Geysers 
 in the second, and Clear Lake in the third, all of volcanic ori- 
 gin, and at least two of them the craters of great volcanoes, 
 are the three corners of a triangle, with sides thirty miles 
 long, and an area that was once alive with subterranean fires. 
 The basaltic columns in regular crystallization, found near the 
 summit of St. Helena, extensive strata of trap covering the 
 adjacent ridges, the tufa formed by torrents of mud or wet 
 sand, that came from volcanic vents on the triangle, making 
 up considerable parts of the ridges between Suisun and Napa, 
 and between Napa and Sonoma Valleys, the petrified forests 
 near Calistoga, the sulphur bank and the borax pond near 
 Clear Lake, all indicate the remarkable influences that were 
 active in that region in a remote age. Not unworthy of their 
 associates, are the mineral springs in the same region. We 
 find them hot, warm, and cold ; rich in sulphur, iron, alum, 
 Epsom salts, carbonates, chlorides, and borates of soda, car- 
 bonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen, and. 
 other gases. 
 
 The following analytical table gives the number of grains 
 of the ditfcrent solids contained in a gallon of certain mineral 
 waters of California. The analysis of Napa Soda was made 
 by L. Lanzweert ; those of the White Sulphur water hj Prof. 
 John Le Conte ; that of Sanel by Dr. J. A. Bauer ; that of 
 Adams by Thomas Price ; and the others by unknown authori- 
 ties. 
 
SALUBRITY. 
 
 127 
 
 
 
 10 c^ e^ 1- t- 
 
 
 
 
 •Bpog ^irnnmg 
 
 CI •« 
 
 00 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 CI C) CI -K 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •loans 
 
 r-l 10rj< l- 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 CJi ..* 00 00 ..51 C» CO 
 
 rH 
 
 
 •jaSiCaf) 
 
 Oi 00 "^ CO CO I— i 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 C" CI ^ -* 
 
 10 
 
 
 •bSo^siibD 
 
 CI CO CO ^0 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 r-< CO CI i-( '30 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •B3o;Bjt!s 
 
 rt CI rtrt r-1 ^ 
 
 ?? 
 
 
 
 1-1 t- CI 00 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 -di t-- '•^- X> !>- ~i 
 
 — ^ 
 
 
 
 CI 
 
 
 
 rH 
 
 
 
 CI tr- CO lO 00 
 
 
 
 •i -on: 'jnqdtng a^itiAi 
 
 -^ '<J< IC CI tH 
 
 
 
 
 
 -* GO CI in tH CO 00 
 
 50 
 
 
 •9 -ox 'jnqdtng 9;iq,v\. 
 
 00 CI d T-H r1 
 CI i-H 
 
 CT 
 
 "* 
 
 
 
 t- CO 00 CI -1 
 
 
 
 ■C -OM '.mqdtng auqAi 
 
 rH rH rl ''^J CI 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 1-t t-CS OOCl^C^ COCO"^ 
 
 -* 
 
 
 ■7, •0{i 'saiqoa osBj 
 
 t- t- n '^ 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 OS 
 
 
 
 -X Cl .-1 i-( C-. rt -* 
 
 00 
 
 
 •X -OK 'saiqoa osBa 
 
 kO CO 1-1 t- ^ CO 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ CI 000 
 
 03 
 
 
 ■napBOTiv '^ax 
 
 CO r-t CI CI CI L, •*J* 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 
 ■Bpog BdB^I 
 
 CI '^ •"? CO 00 00 CO .^ 
 
 t-; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 :3 
 
 :.S 
 
 - 'J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : cs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . r:; 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 03 
 
 
 ■s a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 H 
 
 a 
 
 Sr2 
 
 of Soda 
 f Magne 
 
 of Mag 
 f Lime. 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C3 
 
 1 
 
 3 s 
 
 lis 
 
 P.<c»t: 
 
 
 
 
 "I ^ -^ ^ C ^ -^ ■■*^ -fi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ° <s zia a z:^. ^ ° ° 
 
 
 •<t3S = oS 
 
 
 
 
 OOoti0tiSt:-!SC-^O o3.2^3t„CD<D 
 
 rH 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ouooSoSooS^ccmm^sSmOwmO,- 
 
 
 There are traces of iodides and bromides in Paso Robles 
 Spring No. 2 ; of nitric acid and salt of potash in Adams 
 Spring ; of sulphate of potash in Summit Soda Spring ; of mag- 
 
128 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 nesia in Saratoga ; of siliceous acid and carbonate of iron in 
 Sanel ; of silica in New Almaden, and of alumina in Calistoga. 
 
 Adams has 304, New Almaden 112, Summit Soda 186, 
 Paso Robles No 1, 47, Paso Robles No. 2, 10 cubic inches 
 of carbonic acid gas in a gallon ; Sanel has an abundance ; 
 and Napa Soda has also an abundance, probably exceeding 
 any of the others. Paso Robles No. 1 has 10 grains of car- 
 bonic acid to the gallon, the only instance of determining 
 its quantity by weight. 
 
 White Sulphur No. 1 has 6, Wliite Sulphur No. 2 has 4, 
 White Sulphur No, 3 has traces, Calistoga has 3 cubic inches, 
 and Paso Robles. No. 1 has a saturating quantity of sulphur- 
 etted hydrogen. 
 
 The Paso Robles Spring marked No. 1 is the "Mud Spring"; 
 the Sanel Spring has been called the " California Seltzer "; the 
 Saratoga, the "Pacific Congress"; the New Almaden, the 
 " California Vichy," and so on. 
 
 The carbonate of soda, carbonate of iron, iodides and bro- 
 mides, are among the most beneficial thereapeutic agents found 
 in mineral Avater ; but sulphates of magnesia, and soda and 
 phosphates, are also desirable ; and the iodides and bromides, of 
 which traces are found in the waters of Paso Robles, are es- 
 pecially valuable in certain diseases. 
 
 § 93. Health Resorts. — The jDlaces which have been most 
 in favor with Americans of late years, as health resorts for 
 consumptives, have been Mentone and vicinity, in southeastern 
 France, Florida, Minnesota, and California. The tables given 
 in the chapter on climate, will enable the reader to compare 
 the temperature and rainfall of these places. We pronounce, 
 without hesitation, against Florida and Minnesota : the former, 
 because it is very moist as well as too warm, and the latter, 
 becaiise it is very cold. Neither is fit for residence through 
 the year. Santa Barbara, which may be regarded as the type 
 of the entire coast district south of Point Argiiello, is 14° 
 warmer in January than Mentone, and has eight inches less 
 
SALUBRITY. 129 
 
 vain. St. Helena very nearly resembles Mentone, being two 
 degrees warmer in January, four degrees warmer in July, and 
 liaving about seven inches more rain. 
 
 Tliere ai-e, however, extensive districts in California for 
 which we have no meteorological tables, and some of these 
 may liereafter come into higlier favor with consumptives than 
 any of those to which they uow throng. Among these, Pope 
 and Berreyesa Valleys, east of Mount St. Helena, and tlie head 
 of the Salinas, Saticoy, and Cayama Rivers, between latitudes 
 34° and 35° 30', deserve special attention. These valleys are 
 west of the Diablo ridge, but are protected against the ocean 
 winds and fogs by a distance of about thirty miles covered 
 witli mountains, beyond whicli the air is dry and the climate 
 warm. 
 
 Special attention should be given to the fact that Dr. J. H. 
 Bennet, who first brought Mentone into notice as a healtli re- 
 sort for consumptives, and whose book, " Winter in the South 
 of Europe," is our authority, strictly orders his patients to 
 leave Mentone in tlie spring, because the summer is too warm 
 and moist. 
 
 § 94. /San Itafael and St. Helena. — The places most in fa- 
 vor as sanitariums in California, are San Rafael, St. Helena, 
 SaiitaJigji)ara, Los Angeles, and San D iego. 
 
 San Rafael is fifteen miles north of San Francisco, and eight 
 miles from the ocean, and has less fog and wind than any 
 other town near the edge of San Francisco Bay. It is not 
 equal in the dryness of its atmosphere and the scantiness of 
 i-ainfall to the southern coast, but it has the great advantage 
 tliat its residents can spend five or six hours in the middle of 
 the day in San Francisco, and tlius attend to business tliere. 
 A thermometrical record shows that tlie mean temperature of 
 January, is 50'' at 9 a. m., 58° at 12 m; 60<=' at 3 r. m., and 51° 
 at G I'. M. ; while in July the means for the same hours are 59°, 
 ^0°, 68° and 06° respectively. These figures not having been 
 kejjt at the times usually observed by meteorologists, cannot 
 9 
 
130 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 be compared safely witli tlie otlier figures kept according to 
 rule. 
 
 St. Helena is forty miles from the ocean and fifty miles 
 north of San Francisco, near tlie liead of Napa Valley, and 
 shut in hy high mountains, which cut otF the wind and fog. 
 Though tlie rainfall is greater than at San Rafael, yet the at- 
 mosphere is drier and more agreeable to consumptives and 
 asthmatics. The distance from San Francisco is three times 
 greater than to San Rafael, yet the people of St. Helena can 
 come to the metropolis, spend three hours, and return the 
 same day. About two miles away are the White Sulphur 
 Springs, a fashionable summer resort ; eight miles oti' is Calis- 
 toga, another summer resort, and eight miles further is the 
 summit of Mt. St. Helena. The town is in the center of a 
 grape-growing district, and unimproved land ranges from SI 00 
 to $200 per acre in the vicinity. 
 
 § 95. Santa Barbara. — SantaBarbara, in latitude 34° 24', 
 on the ocean shore, about forty miles east of Point Argucllo un- 
 der the shelter of tlie Santa Inez ridge, which runs east and 
 west, is more in favor at present with consumptives than any 
 other town in the State. Dr. Logan, Secretary of the Board of 
 Health, has recommended it as having the best climate in the 
 State for diseases of the respiratory organs. He says : 
 " Bounded on the north by the Coast Range Mountains, of an 
 average height of 3,000 feet, which prove an insurmountable 
 barrier to the peculiar harsh oceanic winds, and on the south 
 by a channel formed by the Santa Cruz and other islands, some 
 twenty miles distant, whicb serve as Avell to deflect the cold 
 current that sweeps down from the Arctic seas as to afl:brd 
 protection from the concomitant cold fogs that roll in so unin- 
 terrujitedly in other parts of the coast, this portion of California 
 stands out ])re-cminently the land of promise to the weary des- 
 ponding invalid." 
 
 Dr. Brinkerhofl', a resident of Santa Barbara, writes thus : 
 " Some ten miles from Santa Barbara, in a westerly direction. 
 
SALUBRITY. 131 
 
 in the bed of tlie ocean, about one and a half miles from the 
 shove, is au immense s|)ring of petroleum^ the product of whicli 
 continually rises to tlie surface of the water, and floats upon it 
 over an area of many miles. This mineral oil may be seen any 
 day from the decks of the steamers plying betsveen here and 
 San Francisco, or from the high banks along the shore, its 
 many changing hues dancing upon the shifting waves of the sea, 
 and affording various suggestions, both for the speculative and 
 the speculator. Having read statements that, during the past 
 few years, the authorities of Damascus, and other plague-rid- 
 den cities of the East, have resorted to the practice of intro- 
 ducing crude petroleum into the gutters of the streets to disin- 
 fect tlie air, and as a preventive of disease, which practice has 
 been attended with the most favorable results, I throw out the 
 suggestion, but without advancing any theory of my own, 
 whether the prevailing westerly sea breezes, passing over this 
 wide expanse of sea-laden petroleum, may not take up from it 
 and bear along witli them to the places whither they go, some 
 subtle power which serves as a disinfecting agent, and which 
 may account for the infrequency of some of the diseases re- 
 ferred to, and possibly for the superior healtlifulness of the 
 climate of Santa Barbara." 
 
 Whether the claim of superiority for Santa Barbara over 
 any other place in California be justified or not, all must 
 admit that it has great advantages of climate and position. It 
 is a town of about 4,000 inhabitants, has a beautiful site, fine 
 gardens and orchards, and has become tlie leading health 
 resort of the New World. 
 
 § 96. San Diego. — San Diego ranks next in public favor to 
 Santa Barbara, and has a similar climate, except that the rain- 
 fall is thirty-three per. cent, less, and the humidity of the 
 atmosphere greater. Dr. Bevei-ly Cole, who is cited by the 
 people of San Diego as authority, speaks thus of its advanta- 
 ges : 
 
 " The wind blowing steadily from one quarter insures healthi- 
 ness. Take a place where the wind blows in the morning 
 
132 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 from the west, and in tlie afternoon from tlie north ; to-day 
 from the south, and to-morrow from tlie northeast, and yoii 
 will see that the people inhabiting that place are seriously 
 aifected by the sudden and abrupt clianges. Tliis is easily ex- 
 plained. Tlie sudden changes interrupt the action of the skin, 
 and cause the poisonous matter that should be eliminated 
 therefrom to be thrown back on the internal organs, thereby 
 causing disease. The great difference in tlie velocity of the 
 wind at this point and elsewhere is also noticeable. The aver- 
 age number of miles traveled during the eight months' obser- 
 vation I have referred to, was thirteen miles per hour at 2 p. 
 M. ; during the rest of the day it will not exceed from three to 
 five miles per hour. Tiie great velocity acquired by the wind 
 at San Francisco and other places, impairs health by vaporizing 
 the moisture of the skin and thereby rendering the surface 
 eold. The remarkable lightness of the wind can therefore be 
 set down as a cause of exemption from sudden and serious 
 colds, that often grow into pulmonary complaints. The hu- 
 midity of the atmosphere is also of the greatest importance. 
 There is a disposition to rely too much on the absence of 
 moisture. Tliere teas moisture in the air of San Diego, as the 
 observations pi'oved, and it was a very necessary quality. The 
 application of an ointment to a sore was not because the oint- 
 ment contained curative powers, but simply to protect it from 
 the irritating action of the air. This shows that moisture, and 
 not its opposite, is necessary. It would be folly in a man with 
 ulcerated lungs to seek tlie raritied air of a high mountain. The 
 action of the oxygen woukl prove positively injurious, because it 
 would irritate the lungs, which require, instead of extreme 
 dryness, exactly the reverse condition of the atmosphere — 
 moisture." 
 
 The entire coast between Santa IJarbara and San Diego, with 
 an average width of twenty miles, and an area of three thous- 
 and square miles, will probably be, occupied for a health 
 resort. Among the towns along the shore are Ventura, 
 
SALUBRITY. 133 
 
 Huenerae, Santa Monica, San Pedro, Wilmington, Analieim 
 Landing, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Rey, and San Die- 
 guito. Between ten and tliirty miles back are Santa Paula, 
 Triunfo, Camula, San Fernando, Los Angeles, San Gabriel, 
 Monte, Nietos, Anaheim, Riverside, Temascal, Temecula, 
 Pala, and Joya. Still further back, and most of them at an 
 elevation of 1 ,000 feet or iaiore, are San Bernardino, Cocumon- 
 go, Jurupa, Weaver, Warner, and San Felipe. 
 
 § 97. Klamath Valley.— Oi the Klamath Valley, Dr. T. T. 
 Cabanis says : 
 
 " Rlieumatism, croup, bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy, 
 are almost unknown, and during a residence of fourteen years 
 in this portion of the State, I have never seen but two ca<es of 
 tuberculous consumption. These did not originate here. Ten 
 cases of croup would cover all which I have witnessed. I can- 
 not now recall to my mind more than ten cases of pneumonia. 
 When it is considered that the population of tliis county, 
 being miners and farmers who are greatly exposed to bad 
 weather, and have to endure great hardships, it is a matter of 
 surprise that so few cases of diseases of the lungs are known 
 here. Tliough much is due to the climate, there is one thing 
 which exercises a remarkable influence on this subject, and 
 that is, that the people, as a general thing, live in a primitive 
 manner. They live in houses which are very open, and they 
 use chimneys in the place of stoves." 
 
 Tliere are a few localities where intermittent fever prevails 
 during the Fall, but it yields very readily to small doses of 
 quinine — never leaving any of the sequelae behind which are 
 found following that form of disease in hot climates. Neural- 
 gia is frequently seen, but it often depends upon derangement 
 of the digestive organs. Were people to closely observe the 
 laws of health, it would be a rare sight to find a sick man 
 among us. The diseases which are the most prevalent, are 
 those which follow errors of diet. 
 
 § 98. Earthquakes. — Earthquakes belong, on scientific con- 
 siderations, in the chapter in geology ; but practically they 
 
134 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 come witliin the domain of salubrity, for many persons in the 
 Eastern States object to California as a place of residence, be- 
 cause of the danger from those convulsions of the globe. 
 There is a possibility of death from them, but the i)ossibility 
 is so remote that it does not disturb the enjoyment of life here. 
 In twenty years, about forty deaths have been recorded in the 
 State, and not one of these occurred in a strong house. The 
 majority of the victims lived in walls of adobe, or dried mud, 
 ready to topple over at a slight shock. In San Francisco, 
 several thousand brick houses, many of them three, and some 
 four stories high, have stood for fifteen years, or more, not only 
 without coming down, but without showing any mark of in- 
 jury, beyond slight cracks in the plastering. The deaths from 
 earthquakes liave been about two annually, or at the rate of 
 one in a quarter of a million ; while, in the Eastern States, 
 lightning, sunstroke, and hurricanes, which kill nobody here, 
 have each slain three times as many relatively. 
 
 Most of tlie earthquakes of California are confined to very 
 small districts. Tims, not more than one in ten of those felt 
 in San Francisco is perceived in Sacramento. Many shocks 
 are slight, and observed only by a few people. The question 
 is frequently asked in San Francisco, " AVas there an earth- 
 quake last night?" Somebody felt a slight tremor in the 
 house ; perhaps it was caused b)^ an earthquake — perhaps by a 
 heavy wagon passing tlu'ough the street. Tourists occasionally 
 express great disappointment because a shock came, and was 
 so slight tliat tliey did not feel it, either because they were 
 asleep, or were walking. Many persons in the street, when 
 the shock of October 21st, 1868, occurred, did not feel it, and 
 when they saw the people rushing out of the houses, wondered 
 at the excitement. 
 
 We frequently hear San Franciscans say, this is " eartliquake 
 weatlier," wlien it is sultry, but there has been notliing in ex- 
 perience to justif}' such language. No peculiar condition of 
 the temperature of the sky, or of the barometer, has uniform- 
 
SALUBRITY. 135 
 
 ly, or generally, preceded tlie shocks, nor is there any rule 
 by which we can predict tlieir occurrence, nor have ^ve any 
 instrument by which we measure precisely their duration, 
 violence, or tlie course of tlieir vibrations. 
 
 § 99. Their Frequency. — Earthquakes are common in some 
 parts of California, and especially at San Francisco, Los An- 
 geles, and near the Tejon Pass, at the southern junction of the 
 Sierra Nevada and Coast Mountains. They are rare at Sacramen- 
 to, Marysville, Vallejo, and Napa. As a general rule, they are 
 less frequent and less severe in the northern than in the southern 
 part of the State. The vicinity of Humboldt is more often shak- 
 en than any other place north of the Bay of San Francisco. 
 About a dozen earthquakes are felt in a year at different places 
 in the State ; not so many at one place. Most of the shocks 
 are so slight as to pass unnoticed by a great majority of the 
 people ; and there are persons who have resided six or eight j^ears 
 in San Francisco, and many who have resided ten years in 
 other parts of the State, and say they have never felt an earth- 
 quake. No strongly-built house has been injured, by an 
 earthquake in California, north of latitude 35°, since the Amer- 
 ican conquest. Several brick walls have been cracked in San 
 Francisco, but they were weak structures, built on " made 
 ground," and would, perhaps, have cracked by settling, of 
 their own weight. Large four-story houses have been so much 
 shaken, that the inmates have run out in great alarm ; but, on 
 examination, it was found that the buildings were uninjured, 
 even in the slightest perceptible manner. 
 
 On one such occasion, a gentleman, who thought his life in 
 great danger, and ran to save it, observed, before he left his 
 room, that the water was splashed out of his basin by the 
 movement of the house. The basin was of earthen-ware, 
 about fifteen inches in diameter at the top, six inches deep, half 
 full of water, and it stood on an ordinary wash-stand. Pie 
 supposed that, with another such a shock or two, the building 
 must be in ruins; and he was very much astonished to find 
 
136 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 that there was not the slightest crack in tlie walls or jilaster- 
 ing. His room was in the fourth story of a brick hotel. It 
 seems that the whole building had moved together. 
 
 The fear of earthquakes prevents the erection of high struc- 
 tures for show ; and, for this reason, there are few tall steeples 
 in San Francisco. Several churches have been commenced on 
 such a plan that they might be crowned with lofty spires, but 
 it was thought more prudent to leave them with li)w towers. 
 Tlie same motive induces many wealtliy lamilies to reside in 
 wooden liouses, which are considered better titled to resist the 
 shocks of earthquakes. These wooden houses, it must be kept 
 in mind, are not " framed " with mortices and tenons, as large 
 wooden Iiouses are usually erected in the Atlantic States, but 
 are " Chicago frames," held together with nails. This style of 
 building, though introduced solely because of its cheapness 
 and simplicity, is considered, by far, the most secure against 
 earthquakes. 
 
 Few earthquakes felt at San Francisco since 18 4G have been 
 more severe than one which visited Buffalo, New York, in 
 1857, as described in the American Jbunial of /Science and Art 
 for September, 1858. 
 
 § 100. List of Earthquakes. — The following is a list of the 
 most notable earthquakes observed in California. 
 
 On the 11th October, 1800, six severe shocks were felt at 
 San Juan Bautista, and every house was shattered and ren- 
 dered uninhabitable. Tlie same earthquake was felt with 
 much severity at San Jose. 
 
 On the 21st of June, 1808, twenty-one shocks were felt at 
 San Francisco, and the few hotises then existing were seriously 
 injured. 
 
 In September, 1812, on a Sunday, an earthquake threw down 
 the Mission Church at San Juan Capistrano, in latitude 33'' 20', 
 and thirty persons were killed. Tlie church at Santa Inez, in 
 Santa Barbara County, was thrown down on the same day ; 
 but the shock, according to report, was an hour later than at 
 
SALUBRITY. 137 
 
 Sail Juan Capistrano, and tliere was nobody in the church 
 when it fell. At the same time the sea receded a long distance 
 from the ordinary place of the water's edge, on the beach of 
 Santa Barbara ; and the people there, knowing that it would 
 soon rush upon the shore, tied to the higher ground, and by 
 that means alone saved their lives. 
 
 The old Mission Church at Santa Clara was thrown down 
 by an earthquake in 1818. 
 
 On tlie loth of May, 1851, a severe shock was felt in San 
 Francisco, Windows were broken ; merchandise was thrown 
 down from shelves in stores ; and vessels in the harbor rolled 
 heavily. 
 
 A severe shock of an earthquake was felt at Fort Yuma and 
 vicinity on the 29th of November, 1852. The low grounds 
 near tlie Colorado cracked open with long, wide fissures, from 
 which water, sand, and mud, spouted up. The fissures were 
 in some places so large, that they turned the river from its 
 course; and the change was so sudden, that great multitudes 
 of fish were left to die in the mud. At the same time, the 
 mud-volcanoes of Lower California, distant forty-five miles 
 south westward from Fort Yuma, resumed their activity ; for, 
 although there is no record of their previous action, yet they 
 probably existed before. A pool of hot, sulphurous water had 
 been observed at the place by Americans since 1849. Imme- 
 diately after the shock of 1852, the ofiicers at Fort Yuma saw 
 a great body of steam shoot up at least one thousand feet in 
 the desert to the southwest ; and when, soon afterward, some 
 of them went out to examine into tlie cause of it, they foimd 
 the mud-volcanoes on the site of the old ]iool, throwing up 
 steam, boiling water, and mud, very much like the mlses far- 
 ther north. 
 
 On the lOtli of July, 1855, an earthquake cracked tlie walls 
 of twenty-six houses in Los Angeles; but no wall was thrown 
 down, nor was any person injured. 
 
 The earthquake of January 9th, 1857, shook the earth from 
 Fort Yuma to Sacramento, a distance of five hundred miles, 
 
138 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 being most severe at Fort Tejon, about half-way between 
 these two points. Loud noises, either rumbling or like explo- 
 sions, were heard to accompany the shock at Tejon, San Ber- 
 nardino, Yisalia, and in the Mojave Valley, The waters of 
 the jMokelumue River were thrown upon the banks so as to 
 almost leave the bed bare in one place. The current of Kern 
 River was turned up-stream, and the water ran four feet deep 
 over the bank. The water of Tulare Lake was thrown upon its 
 shores ; and the Los Angeles River was flung out of its bed. 
 In Santa Clara Valley the artesian wells were mucli aflected. 
 Some ceased to run, and others had an increased supply of 
 water. Near San Fernando, a large stream of water was 
 found running from the mountains, where there was no water 
 before. In San Diego, and at San Fernando, several houses 
 were thrown down ; and at San Buenaventura the roof of the 
 Mission Church fell in. Several new springs were formed near 
 Santa Barbara by the shock. In the San Gabriel Valley, the 
 earth opened in a gap several miles long; and in one place the 
 river deserted its ancient bed, and followed this new opening. 
 In the valley of the Santa Clara River there were large cracks 
 in the earth. A large Assure was made in the westcn-n part of 
 the town of San Bernardino. At Fort Tejon the shock threw 
 down nearly all the buildings, snapped oiF large trees close to 
 the ground, and overthrew others, tearing them up by the 
 roots, and tore tlie eartli apart in a fissure twenty feet wide 
 and forty miles long, the sides of which rent then came to- 
 gether with so much violence that the earth was forced up in a 
 ridge ten feet wide and several feet high. At Reed's Ranch, 
 not far from Fort Tejon, a house was thrown down, and a wo- 
 man in it killed. 
 
 On the 26th of November, 1858, nearly every brick build- 
 ing in San Jose was injured by an earthquake. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1861, Amador Valley, in Alameda 
 County, was severely shaken. Adobe houses were seriously 
 injured, cliimneys toppled down, furniture was flung from side 
 
SALUBRITY. 139 
 
 to side of the houses and much broken, and men in the fields 
 were thrown down. 
 
 On Sunday, October 8th, 1865, at 12.45 p. m., a severe shock 
 visited the coast valleys, from San Luis Obispo to Humboldt 
 Bay. In San Francisco, weak brick buildings were shattered, 
 cornices were thrown down, and several persons were seriously 
 injured by falling bricks, and by injui'ies received in jumping 
 out of windows. 
 
 The eartliquake which destroyed many towns and killed 
 many people in Peru, on the 13th of August, 18G8, was not 
 felt in California, but its tidal waves were observed here the 
 next day. The sea ebbed and flowed in a remarkable manner 
 from San Francisco to San Diego, from daylight till dark, the 
 tides reaching heights not observed before, but doing no dam- 
 age. 
 
 Tiie severest earthquake observed in San Francisco since 
 1846, came on the 21st of October, 1868, about eight a. m. 
 A dozen brick buildings on made ground were shattered so as 
 to be imtenantable, tlie cornices of two dozen were thrown 
 down, many walls were cracked, much window glass was 
 broken, and five persons were killed by falling bricks, and as 
 many more had bones broken by jumping out of windows. 
 
 On the 26th of March, 1872, the southern part of the State 
 was shaken up, the shock being most severe in Owen Valley, 
 275 miles southeast of San Francisco, and beyond the Sierra 
 Nevada. Two hundred buildings, most of them cheap struct- 
 ures of adobes, were thrown down, and thirty-five persons 
 were killed by the falling of the walls and roofs. Cracks 
 opened several feet wide, and tlien came together with so 
 much force that ridges were thrown up. Springs disappeared 
 in some places, and appeared- in others. The level of Owen 
 Lake raised four feet, or the ground on one side seemed to 
 have sunk as much. 
 
140 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SCENERY. 
 
 § 101. Introductory. — Califoi-nia lias much beautiful sceneiy. 
 The atmosphere is remarkably clear, giving the eye a wide 
 range. The mountainous character of the State not only pre- 
 vents monotony and secures a rich variety of landscapes, but 
 gives them extent and grandeur. The large rivers, the high 
 snow-peaks and ridges, wide bays, forests of the largest and 
 most graceful evergreens, parks of majestic oaks, natural 
 meadows, covered in the spring with brilliant grasses and flow- 
 ers, are all magnificent in their kind. The low lands are 
 mostly bare of timber, with hei-e and there a groA'e of oaks, 
 and lines of trees and bushes along the water-courses. The 
 coast valleys are very beautiful ; and, in the course of ten or 
 fifteen years, when ornamented with thorough cultivation, will 
 be as pretty as any places in the world. Tlie most reniarkable 
 features of our scenery are : Yosemitc, the Big Tree Groves, 
 the Geysers, the Petrified Forest, Mt. Diablo, Mt. St. Helena, 
 Mt. Tamaljiais, Mt. Shasta, the Californian Alps, Clear Lake, 
 and Lake Tahoe. 
 
 § 102. Yosemite. — Yosemite Valley, one of the greatest nat- 
 ural wonders of the world, is a chasm eight miles long and a 
 mile wide, in the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, tliirty 
 miles west of the summit, and one hundred and forty miles 
 east of San Francisco, in a direct line. Tlie bottom of the 
 valley is 4,0G0 feet above the level of the sea, and its general 
 course is east and west. The sides are granite walls, rising 
 
SCENERY. 141 
 
 steeply — in many places, almost vertically — to a beiglit varying 
 from 1,200 to 4,600 feet The Merced River runs tlirough the 
 valley, escaping at the lower end through a narrow and rugged 
 cafion. 
 
 Among the attractions of Yosemite, are a dozen cliffs, more 
 than 3,000 feet high, eiglit cataracts, of which one is 1,700 
 feet high, and five dome-shaped mountain peaks. No such 
 collection can be found elsewhere within the same area, and 
 they are accompanied by valley scenery of great beauty. The 
 general judgment of travelers has decided that Yosemite is 
 more worthy of a visit, for grand and picturesque scenery, than 
 any other place known to tliem. 
 
 § 103, Opinions of Tourists. — Some of these opinions are 
 worthy of record here. Prof. J. D. Whitney says": 
 
 " The peculiar features of the Yosemite are : first, the near 
 approach to verticality of its walls ; next, their great height, 
 not only absolutely, but as compared with the width of the 
 valley itself; and finally, the very small amount of debris, or 
 talus, at the bottom of these gigantic cliffs. The.^e are the 
 great characteristicsof the valley througliout its whole length ; 
 but, besides these, there are many other striking peculiarities 
 and features, both of sublimity and beauty, which can hardly 
 be surpassed, if equaled, by those of any other mountain 
 scenery in the world." 
 
 Horace Greeley wrote thus : 
 
 " Of the grand sigh'ts I have enjoyed — Rome from the 
 dome of St. Peter's — the Alps from the valley of Lake Como 
 — Mont Blanc and her glaciers from Chamouny — Niagara — 
 and the Yosemite — I judge the last-named most unique 
 and stupendous. It is a partially- wooded gorge, one hundred 
 to three hundred rods wide, and 3,000 to 4,000 feet deep, be- 
 tween almost perpendicular walls of gi'ay granite, and here 
 and there a dark yellow pine rooted in a crevice of either 
 wall, and clinging with desperate tenacity to its dizzy eleva- 
 tion. The isolation of the Yosemite — the absolute wilder- 
 
142 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
 ness of its sylvan solitudes, many miles from human settle- 
 ment or cultivation — its cascade 2,000 feet Iiigli, tliough the 
 stream which makes this leap has worn a channel in the hard 
 bod-rock to a depth of 1,000 feet — 'renders it the grandest 
 marvel that ever met my gaze." 
 
 Tlie opinion of Starr King was that — 
 
 " Nowhere among the Alps, in no pass of the Andes, and in 
 no canon of the mighty Oregon range, is there such stupen- 
 dous rock scenery as the traveler now lifts his eyes to." 
 
 The following is an extract from Samuel Bowles : 
 
 " Indeed, it is not too much to say that no so limited space 
 in all the known world offers such majestic and impressive 
 beauty. Niagara, alone, divides honors with it in America. 
 Only the whole of Switzerland can surpass it — no one scene 
 in all the Alps can match this, before me now, in the things 
 that mark the memory and impress all the senses for beauty 
 and for sublimity." 
 
 § 10-i. The Leading Features. — Tlie tourists wlio enter the 
 valley by the trails that lead over the mountains, north and 
 south of the caiion, obtain line views just before commenc- 
 ing the descent. The chasm is seen winding away amidst 
 the cliffs ; a cascade is in sight, and numerous mountain-peaks 
 rise in various directions. At the bottom of the dell are the 
 meandering river, the green grass, and lofty trees diminished 
 to the appearance of shrubs. The Bridal Veil fall, seen on the 
 right, several miles distant, is a mere white streak on the face 
 of the rock, and does not appear grand in the least, but it is 
 nine hundred and forty feet high, and becomes imposing as 
 the traveler approaches it. The body of water is about seventy 
 feet wide on the lirst of June. 
 
 Nearly opposite this cascade, on the northern side of the val- 
 ley, and about three-quarters of a mile distant, but apjiarently 
 much nearer when the tourist looks up at it, is the Capitan, (or 
 Captain) a rock projecting into the valley and rising up per- 
 pendicularly from the level green-swai'd three thousand 
 
SCENERY. 143 
 
 three bundrecl feet. It has two faces, which meet nearly at a 
 right angle, one facing to the south, and the otlier to the west. 
 It is regarded as one of the grandest features of the Yosemite 
 scener3\ The Indian name is Tutucanula. 
 
 The next object of interest as we ascend the valley, is the 
 Three Brothers, or Pompompasus. Tlie highest of these reaches 
 an elevation of 4,000 feet above the valley, and according to 
 Clarence King, the best general view of the valley can be ob- 
 tained from its summit. 
 
 A mile beyond the Bridal Veil, on the south side of the 
 valley, we come to the Cathedral Rocks, which, as seen from 
 the eastward, suggest tlie architecture of the medieval cathe- 
 drals. Tliey rise to a height of 3,000 feet, and near them are 
 the Cathedral Spires, each about 700 feet high and 300 feet 
 in diameter. Tiiey do not look so large, however, to the 
 spectator, who looks up nearly half a mile from the valley to 
 their base. 
 
 Sentinel Rock, a natural obelisk, about 1,000 feet high and 
 300 feet in diameter at the summit, and 3,043 feet above the 
 valley, is on the south side of the valley, about five miles from 
 the western end. It stands out from the adjacent cliff in such 
 a manner as to be one of the most striking objects in the land- 
 scape from many different points of view. 
 
 Directly ojjposite to Sentinel Obelisk, are the Yosemite Falls, 
 the upper one 1,700 feet and the lower 400, with a distance of 
 half a mile, and a descent of 620 feet in a series of small cas- 
 cades, which are not visible from the valley between them. 
 The falls are made by Yosemite Creek, which is fed by the 
 melting snows on the southern slope of Mt. Hoffman, two miles 
 distant. The stream is usually thirty feet wide and ten feet 
 deep, with a speed of a mile an hour, about the middle of 
 June, but its size depends entirely on the stock of snow and 
 the heat. A hot day, wlien the snow is abundant, makes a 
 perceptible difference in the size of the cascade. The best 
 general view of both falls is obtained from the south bank of 
 
144 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tlie Merced River, more than a mile from tlie upper fall, which 
 from that distance looks like a ribbon of mist, and is entirely 
 inaudible. Yosemite Creek dries up some time between the 
 first of July and the last of August, according to the seasons. 
 
 A little more than a mile eastward from the Yosemite Falls, 
 is a vertical wall of granite, half a mile long, and nearly 2,000 
 feet high, from which some scales of rock have fallen down, 
 leaving arches like eyebrows, several hundred yards long, pro- 
 jecting sixty or seventy feet beyond the surface of the wall 
 beneath. They are called the Royal Arches. 
 
 Adjoining this wall on the east, and attached to it, is ^Yash- 
 ington Column, which, as seen from the westward, looks like 
 a half pillar. 
 
 Half a mile eastward from the Washington Column, is 
 Mirror Lake, a shallow body of water, covering an area of 
 several hundred acres. It is remarkable on account of the 
 l^erfect smoothness of its surface, at certain times — early in the 
 morning, for instance — before the winds have commenced to 
 blow, and then the neighboring cliffs are reflected with won- 
 derful clearness and accuracy. This lake is an enlargement of 
 Tenaya Creek. 
 
 The Half Dome, three-quarters of a mile southeastward 
 from Mirror Lake, is part of a dome which was cut through 
 vertically, and half of it carried away. The side next the val- 
 ley id perpendicular for 2,000 feet from the summit, which is 
 4,734 feet high. Professor Whitney claims for it, " the first 
 place among all the wonders of this region." 
 
 Opposite to the Royal Arches, and two miles east of the 
 Sentinel Obelisk, the Little Yosemite Valley enters the main 
 valley. Its stream is the Merced River, which there fiows 
 down through a rugged and narrow canon. On this stream, a 
 mile after leaving the main valley, we come to the Vernal 
 Fall, 400 leet high. The water in this tumble has a greenish 
 color, iinlike the others, which are broken into white si)ray. 
 
 A mile further on the same stream, is the Nevada Fall, GOO 
 feet high. It is, in many respects, the handsomest and grand- 
 
SdEITERY. 145 
 
 ifist of all the cascades in the Yosemite region. Between the 
 Vernal and Nevada Falls, the river descends 275 feet, and is 
 broken into foam for a large part of its distance. 
 
 Three-quarters of a mile southwestward from tlie Vernal 
 Fall, is Toloohveack, or, as Whitney sjdcIIs it, Illilouette Fall, 
 never measured, but estimated to be 600 feet high. Tolool* 
 weack Creek, below the cascade, runs through a rugged cas- 
 cade, in which immense rocks lie piled upon one another, with 
 great open spaces beneath them. 
 
 Half a mile southeastward from Sentinel Obelisk, is the 
 "Sentinel Dome, 4,150 feet high. From its summit, very ex- 
 tensive views can be gained. 
 
 Glacial Point, a little more than a mile eastward from Sen- 
 tinel Obelisk, commands extensive views. 
 
 The South iDome, or Mount Starr King, is two miles south- 
 eastward from the iSTevada Fall, and is the most regular in 
 shape of all the mountain domes. Its summit is 6,500 feet 
 above the valley, and is inaccessible. 
 
 Immediately north of the Nevada Fall, rises the Cap of 
 Liberty, or Mount Broderick, to a height of 4,600 feet above 
 the valley. 
 
 Several miles eastward from the Half Dome, is the Cloud's 
 Rest, 5,700 feet above the valley. 
 
 The North Dome, 3,568 feet above the valley, is half a mile 
 north of the Washington Column. 
 
 § 105. Cascades of MocJcats. — It is impossible to convey, by 
 description, a clear conception of the grandeur, the varietrv, 
 and the singular character of the Yosemite scenery. A large 
 number of excellent photographs show many of the beauties 
 of the place faithfully. A peculiar feature in most of the cas- 
 cades is not caught in the photographs — I mean the rocket 
 forms of the water, which, as tlie spectator looks up, seems to 
 shoot down or out, in forms like a succession of rockets, each 
 composed of a head of white water, leaving a trail of snowy 
 sparks behind it, until it is exhausted, and others succeed it.. 
 10 
 
146 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 All the cacasfles, save the Vernal, are thoroughly white, and 
 roekcty at the top. The rockets of the Upper Yosemite are 
 distinctly perceptible from the Yosemite Hotel, a mile and a 
 half away. This feature impressed me very strongly, and yet 
 I have never seen a recognition of it in any of the descrip- 
 tions of the valley, or pictures of the falls. 
 
 § 106. Yegetation, etc. — There are a thousand nooks and 
 corners, and woody dells, full of enchanting picturesqueness. 
 Tlie rocky cliffs take all manner of queer forms, resembling 
 pyramids, castles and domes, chimneys and spires. In one 
 place, there is a narrow cleft, one hundred feet deep, in one of 
 the rocks, as though some giant had commenced to split off part 
 of the mountain, and had left his work unfinished. 
 
 The river, as it meanders through the valley, is a great ad- 
 dition to its beauty ; and its waters, as well as those of the 
 lakes, are clear as crystal in the summer, though turbid in the 
 spring. Mountain trout are found in all these streams. 
 
 The climate of the valley is cool. The numerous cascades 
 agitate the air ; and, near the fall, there are often gusty winds. 
 
 There is much difference between the vegetation and tem- 
 perature of the two sides of the valley ; the northern side,where 
 the sunshine is felt throughout the day, being much warmer 
 than the shadows of the southern cliffs. Shrubs and flowers 
 are in the full glory of foliage, and flower along the northern 
 wall in May and June, while the same species are still bare 
 or budding a mile to the southward ; but the more delicate 
 annual shrubs are usually more healthy on the southern than 
 on the northern side of the stream, because those in the warmer 
 spots are stimulated to come out so early as to be badly 
 nipped by the frosts, which prevail here all through the spring, 
 and into the summer. 
 
 In ordinary winters, five feet of snow lies iif the valley, and 
 the cascades are surrounded, at the base, by lulls of frozen 
 spray. 
 
 § 107. Formation of the Valley. — There are three theories 
 
SCENERY. 147 
 
 to explain the formation of the valley. Professor J. D. Whit- 
 siey thinks that the bottom " sank down to an unknown depth, 
 owing to its support being withdrawn from underneath during 
 some of those convulsive movements which must have attended 
 the upheaval of so extensive and elevated a chain." That is 
 the subsidence theory. The glacial theory, that the glaciers 
 coming down the mountain side scooped out this immense 
 chasm, is advocated by John Muir, a geologist who has 
 spent much time in the Yosemite region. Nobody advocates 
 the theory of erosion. Ordinary water currents could not 
 have worn away avails so vertical and crooked as these, nor 
 could glaciers have done so, even if there had been an outlet. 
 I believe the fissure theory, but will attempt no argument for 
 it here. The rock split apart, and it still preserves the shape 
 that would follow a great crack in the solid crust of the earth. 
 The subsidence theory wovild do in the vicinity of a volcano, 
 and in a diffei-ent rock formation ; but not in granite, high up 
 on a ridge that has never been volcanic in its character. 
 
 § 108. Iletchhetchy . — A chasm similar to Yosemite is 
 Hetchhetchy, twelve miles further north, on the Tuolumne 
 River. This valley is three miles long, half a mile wide, and 
 fenced in by granite clifts from 1,500 to 2,500 ifeet high. There 
 are several finecascades,includingthatof Hetchhetchy Creek, 
 1 ,700 feet high. The scenery bears a strong general resemblance 
 to that of Yosemite, but is on a smaller scale. Above Hetch- 
 hetchy Valley, the canon reaches thirty miles into the moun- 
 tains, with walls nearly vertical for a large part of the dis- 
 tance, and much remarkable scenery, including many high 
 cascades. 
 
 On the south side of Mt. Whitney, King's River forms a 
 wonderful canon, more than a mile deep, with a level bottom, 
 in one place half a mile wide and ten miles long. 
 
 § 109. Big Tree Groves. — The mammoth sequoias are 
 prominent features in the scenery of Cahfornia. A tree three 
 hundred feet high and thirty feet thick in the trunk, is a great 
 
148 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 curiosity, and here we have numerous groves of them. Cal- 
 averas County lias two ; Tuolumne, two ; Mariposa, three ; and 
 Fresno and Tulare, many. 
 
 The Calaveras Big Tree Grove, containing one hundred and 
 fifty trees, ninety of them more than fifteen feet in diameter, 
 was the first discovered, is nearest the center of the State, is 
 more conveniently accessible than the others, has better ac- 
 commodations for tourists, and attracts the greatest number of 
 visitors. There are in this grove ten trees thirty feet in diam- 
 eter, and eighty-two between fifteen and thirty, making ninety- 
 two over fifteen feet through. One of the trees, which is 
 down, must have been four hundred and fifty feet high and 
 forty feet in diameter. The " Horseback ride," one of the no- 
 tabilities of the place, is a hollow tnink, through which a man 
 can ride upright on horseback, seventy -five feet. 
 
 In 18.34, one of the largest trees, ninety-two feet in circum- 
 ference and three hundred feet high, was cut down. Five 
 men worked twenty-two days in cutting through it with large 
 augers. On the stump, Avhich has been smoothed ofl", there 
 have been dancing-parties and theatrical performances ; and for 
 a time a newspaper, called the Big Tree Bulletin, was pinnted 
 there. An examination of its rings showed that it was about 
 2,000 years old. 
 
 At the same time that this tree was cut down, another was 
 stripped of its bark for a distance of one hundred and sixteen 
 feet from the ground. This tree continued green and flour- 
 ishing two and a half years after being thus denuded, and did 
 not begin to show signs of dying until a very hard frost came 
 in the winter of 1856-57. Seven years passed before it died. 
 
 In many of the trees in all the groves, liollows are burned 
 at the foot, and some of them have been burned so as to stand 
 on three legs. One of these, in the Calaveras grove, called 
 " Uncle Tom's Cabin," has an open space under it of more 
 than a dozen feet square. The largest trees seem to end ab- 
 ruptly at the top, having been broken ofl:' by the snow, which 
 
SCENERY. 149 
 
 often falls to a great depth so higli up on the Sierra Nevada. 
 The trees, in some places, grow ver}^ near together ; in others, 
 they are comparatively far apart ; and occasionally two or 
 three will be seen which are united at the ground, although 
 they may have been twenty or thirty feet apart when they 
 sprouted. The Tuolumne Big Tree Grove, on the wagon road 
 from Big Oak Flat to Yosemite, has two dozen Sierra sequoias, 
 most of them ten feet or less in diameter, but one of them 
 about twenty-five. It is one of the smallest and least impos- 
 ing. 
 
 A wagon road projected to run from Coulterville, passes 
 through the Merced Grove, a few miles west of Yosemite Val- 
 ley. 
 
 The State Grove, in Mariposa County, is fifteen miles south 
 of Yosemite, and has been given by Congress to California 
 for a public pleasure resort. It has four hundred and twenty- 
 seven trees, including one hundred and thirty-four over fifteen 
 feet in diameter, eighteen over twenty-five feet, and three over 
 thirty -three feet. 
 
 § 110. Moimtahi Peaks. — Mount Diablo, or as the Spaniards 
 and many others call it, Monte Diablo, thirty miles eastward 
 from San Francisco, rising to a height of 3,856 feet, an iso- 
 lated cone in the midst of a fertile and populous country, otters ' 
 one of the most extensive and interesting views in the world. 
 It overlooks the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays ; 
 the Santa Clara, San Ramon, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Suisun, 
 Napa, and Sonoma Valleys, and commands a view of the 
 Sierra Nevada for a length of two hundred and fifty miles from 
 Mt. Lassen to Mt. Whitney. The Sierra rises like an amphi- 
 theatre, and Diablo is the point from which it can be seen to 
 the best advantage. Though not so high as a score of other 
 peaks in the Coast Range, nor half so high as a hundred in the 
 Sierra, it is familiar to, and is seen every clear day by more 
 people than any other mountain in California. It commands a 
 view of an area of 40,000 square miles of land — as much as the 
 
150 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 entire State of ]!^ew York. J. D. Whitney, in the first volume 
 of the State Geological Survey Report, says : " It is believed 
 there are few, if any, points on the earth's surface from which so 
 extensive an area can be seen as from Monte Diablo." San 
 Francisco, Sacramento, Stockton, Vallejo, Antioch, Redwood 
 City, the Farallones, and the Marysville Buttes, are all dis- 
 tinguishable. 
 
 A ride of sixteen miles from Martinez, half of it on horseback, 
 or of twenty-six miles from Oakland, including ten on horse- 
 back, enables a person to reach the summit. Accommoda- 
 tions have been provided on the mountain for visitors. 
 
 Mount Shasta at the north, and Mount San Bernardino at 
 the south, occupy positions of relative prominence somewhat 
 like that of Diablo in the middle of the State, towering far 
 above the surrounding country. Shasta is clothed with snow 
 for a distance of a vertical mile from the summit most of the 
 year, and is a sublime feature of the landscape ; it is visible in 
 every direction to a distance of a hundred miles. 
 
 The State Geological Survey discovered, in the summer of 
 1864, that in the Sierra Nevada, between the latitudes of 35° 
 and 38°, an area of 300 square miles or more has an elevation 
 exceeding 8,000 feet, with 100 peaks that rise above 10,000 feet, 
 and one that reaches 14,900 feet, the highest point in the Unit- 
 ed States, and 500 feet higher than Mount Shasta. The lat- 
 ter makes a more im]Dosing appearance, because it rises in 
 solitary grandeur 7,000 feet beyond the tops of any mountain 
 within fifty miles of it, whereas. Mount Whitney is surrounded 
 by other peaks of nearly equal elevation, and is not distinguish- 
 able or, at least, is not a striking landmark, from any large 
 town or main line of travel in tlie State. Switzerland has, for 
 hundreds of years, had the fame of possessing the greatest area 
 of land elevated nearly to the level of perpetual snow, and the 
 largest number of great peaks within the limit of high civili- 
 zation ; but is now surpassed by this Alpine region of California, 
 which reaches from Kern River to Castle Peak, a distance of 
 two hundred miles. 
 
SCENERY. 151 
 
 The following is a list of some of the prominent peaks on 
 the Sierra Nevada : 
 
 PEAKS. ELEVATION. LATITUDE. 
 
 deg. ruin. 
 
 MountWhitney l4,90O 36 32 
 
 Moixnt Shasta 14,442 41 25 
 
 Mount Tyndall 14,386 36 40 
 
 Mount Daua 13.227 37 S- 
 
 Mount Lyell 13,217 37 44 
 
 Mount Brewer 13,886 36 42 
 
 Mount Silliman 11,623 36 38 
 
 Mount Lassen io,577 4° 3° 
 
 Mount Gardner 36 46 
 
 Mount Kearsarge 36 46 
 
 Mount King 36 48 
 
 Mount Humphreys 37 ^5 
 
 Mount Goddard 37 05 
 
 Red Slate Peak 37 32 
 
 Cathedral Peak 37 S° 
 
 Mount Hoffman 37 5° 
 
 Castle Peak 38 04 
 
 Downieville Butte 39 35 
 
 Kaweah Peak 36 31 
 
 The peaks of which the elevations are not given, are sup- 
 posed, except the Downieville Butte, to be at least 10,000 feet 
 high. 
 
 The following are some of the peaks in the Coast Range : 
 
 PEAKS. ELEVATION. LATTTUDE. 
 
 deg. min. 
 
 North Yolo Bailey 40 3° 
 
 South Yolo Bailey 4° 10 
 
 Mount St. John 39 25 
 
 Mount Ripley 7,5°° 39 08 
 
 Mount St. Helena 4,343 38 4° 
 
 Mount Diablo 3,856 37 50 
 
 Mount Tamalpais 2,604 37 53 
 
 Mount Hamilton 4,44° 37 20 
 
 Loma Prieta 4,040 37 08 
 
 Gabilan Peak 36 50 
 
 Mount Chupadero 36 35 
 
 Mount San Bernardino 1 1,600 34 09 
 
152 RESOURCES OF CALITORNTA. 
 
 Tamalpais, or Mount Tamalpais, ten miles nortli of Snn 
 Francisco, has an elevation of 2,604 feet. Tlie summit can be 
 reached on horseback, and commands a fine vieAv of San Fran- 
 cisco and San Pablo Bays, with many of their tributary val- 
 le3^s, and of the summit of the SieiTa Nevada. 
 
 Mount St. Helena, ten miles, by the trail, from Calistoga^ 
 has an elevation of 4,343 feet, and commands an extensive 
 view, but far inferior to that from Diablo, the adjacent country 
 being less fertile, higher, and mountainous. 
 
 Loma Prieta, Mount San Bruno, Mount Hamilton, the 
 Mission Peak, (in the county of San Francisco) Castle Peak,, 
 Grizzly Hill, near Grass Valley, Mount Gabilan, and Uncle 
 Sam Mountain, near Clear Lake, all look down on interesting 
 scenes. 
 
 § 111. /San Francisco mid Vicinity. — In many respects the 
 appeai-ance of San Francisco is decidedly unprepossessing ta 
 the strange visitor. It stands at the. end of a peninsula, much 
 of which is bare, rocky hill and loose sand. We must go- 
 twelve miles before we reach any large body of tillable soil. 
 As seen from the deck of a vessel entering the harbor, between 
 July and November, the place looks like desolation and cheer- 
 lessness. The streets, the houses, and the hills are brown, and 
 only here and there, at long intervals, do we get a glimpse of 
 a little garden. 
 
 But after looking about a v^cok or two, the stranger gets 
 better impressions. The lack of shade trees in the sti-eets and 
 gardens, and even in the public squares, is explained by the 
 coolness of the summer climate, and the general desire to get 
 all possible sunshine on average July days. There is pleasure 
 in thinking of a city to which, and not from which, we wish 
 to flee in tlie dog-days. And then, as we go to the more fash- 
 ionable residence streets, we find numerous elegant gardens, 
 luxuriant in a vegetation that could not endure the winter of 
 Washington and St. Louis. The delicate and beautiful Euro- 
 pean roses, (the I^auliue, the Laffay, the Agrippiua, the Mai- 
 
SCENERY. 153 
 
 maison, the Perfection, the SaftVano, and a hundred others) 
 the geraniums, the fuchsias, the floripondios, the heliotropes, 
 the verbenas, the laurustinus, and the Australian acacias, 
 give a beauty to our gardens not to be found in any of the 
 larger Eastern American cities. Tlie external architecture 
 of our dwellings, too, is more graceful, the wooden material 
 allowing a liberal use of ornament at little expense. Although 
 the buildings on our main business streets are not so high as 
 at the East, still, in general appearance, Montgomery and 
 Kearny will compare favorably with the most fashionable 
 streets of the Eastern cities generally, and can surpass any- 
 ihiim outside of New York and Chicago. 
 
 But to see the most attractive features of San Francisco, 
 we must look not at the city herself, but at her surroundings 
 and suburbs. In these she is unsurpassed. She stands upon 
 the shore of a magnificent bay, which attracted the admira- 
 tion and the praise of every navigator who visited it, even 
 before it had attained any commercial importance. The bay 
 is skirted by fertile plains several miles wide, beyond which rise 
 mountain ridges from two to three thousand feet high. A 
 spur runs through the city, within ten minutes' walk from the 
 Merchants' Exchange, and has various peaks three hundred 
 feet liigh ; and also within the city limits, but three miles from 
 the City Hall, are the Mission Peaks, with an elevation of 
 eisrht hundred feet. Eio;ht miles further south is Mount San 
 Bruno, twelve hundred feet high ; fifteen miles to the north- 
 ward, beyond the Golden Gate, is Tamalpais, twenty-six hun- 
 dred feet high ; thirty-five miles to the eastward Mount Diablo, 
 three thousand eight hundred and seventy-six feet high, and 
 fifty-five miles to the southward Mount Hamilton, six hun- 
 dred feet higher yet. These are the corner ornaments to the 
 mountain framing of our landscape. Diablo and Tamalpais 
 are very beautiful mountains, and the former is as high as 
 Vesuvius. 
 
 The bay has a fine contour, and romantic shores. Goat Is- 
 land, Angel Island, Seal Rock, and Alcatraz,add much to the 
 
154 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 landscape. The steep sides of the last, and its position, just 
 inside the entrance, and near the middle of the cliaunel, tit it 
 admirably for the impregnable fortress of a great harbor. Its 
 casements and barbette batteries suggest detiance, even to those 
 who have no technical knowledge to assist them in under- 
 standing the full military value of the place. The Golden 
 Gate is tlie impressive name of the strait, a mile wide, guard- 
 ed on each side by high rocky bluffs, leading into the chain of 
 bays, with an area of 350 square miles. It is appropriate, too, 
 for through it have passed $1,000,000,000 to stimulate com- 
 merce and industry and to enrich the world. 
 
 But six miles from our anchorage lies the Pacific, the vast 
 ocean which covers more than a third of the surface of the 
 globe, and is the open road of our commerce with four conti- 
 nents. Its name, too, is approj^riate here, for it is never vexed 
 by hurricanes or cyclones on this Coast. Yet its surf is 
 always grand, and the beach extending southward live miles 
 from Point Lobos is unsurpassed in beauty, and the road to it 
 past (after going through) Lone Mountain Cemetery and back 
 by the Ocean House over the mountain, with a chance to look 
 down on the city and bay, completes a round of scenery which 
 no other city can surpass. The new park has a fine drive, and 
 Woodward's Garden oflers to visitors attractions not to be 
 equaled in some important respects by the costly and exten- 
 sive park of the Eastern metropolis. 
 
 Oakland, a suburb of San Francisco, a city of homes for 
 our business men, is embowered in a grove of indigenous ever- 
 green oaks, and abounds with spacious gardens filled with the 
 most luxuriant, varied, and handsome vegetation that our cli- 
 mate will tolerate. We have seen many to^vns, renowned for 
 beauty, but we have yet to see one that deserves to be placed 
 alongside of Oakland. At Berkeley, a few miles distant, we 
 find ourselves in the midst of a landscape attractive witliout 
 help from art, and promising to be enchanting, after the land- 
 scape gardener and the architect shall have placed a few years 
 
SCENERY. 155 
 
 of labor on it. In Hayes Cafion and Moraga Valley, east of 
 Oakland, and at Saucelito, we find romantic nooks as wild in 
 vegetation as if there were no city witbin a bundred miles. 
 The variety and fullness of natural scenery, which j^eople else- 
 where must travel for weeks to see, we have here collected 
 within a narrow space, which the land, the sea, and the sky 
 have conspired to bless with peculiar favor. 
 
 § 112. Geysers. — The Geysers, in the northern part of So- 
 noma County, are among the wonders of the State. They are 
 in a deep and steep ravine, amid a district filled with the 
 marks of violent volcanic action. Down the western slope of 
 the mountains which separate Clear Lake from the basin of 
 Russian River, runs a stream called the Pluton River ; and 
 near this, at an elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the 
 sea, are the Geysers, a multitude of springs, boihng with heat, 
 and emitting large quantities of steam, with a hissing, roaring, 
 and sputtering noise. Near them are many tepid and cold 
 springs, which add to the wonderful character of the place. 
 Hot and cold springs, quiet and boiling springs, are found 
 within a few feet of each other. And then the waters differ 
 as much in taste, odor, and color, as in temperature and action. 
 One is almost as fetid at times as rotten eggs ; another has 
 black water, resembling ink ; a third is called the " Eye-water 
 Spring," and its waters are reputed to be excellent for curing 
 sore eyes and cutaneous diseases ; and the waters of others are 
 strongly purgative. The ground in the ravine is in places 
 deeply covered with the minerals deposited by the springs; 
 among these, sulphur, sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts) 
 sulpliate of aluminum, (alum) and various salts of iron, pre- 
 dominate. The chief feature of the Geysers is called " The 
 Steampijje," an orifice about eight inches in diameter, in the 
 hill-side, from which rises a large volume of steam to a height 
 varying from fifty to two hundred feet. The steam roars con- 
 tinuously, sometimes bursting out in pufls louder than that 
 made by an engine's escape-pipe. It deposits flowers of sul- 
 
156 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 phur on the objects which come witliin its range. " The 
 Devil's Punch-Bowl," called also "Tlie Witches' Cauldron," is 
 in a large hole, six feet across, in the hill-side. The liquid in 
 the bowl is black and thick, and is always in commotion with 
 the heat, and the vapor from it deposits black flowers of sul- 
 phur on the rocks around. The sides of the canon are bare, 
 and smoking with heat. The Geysers ai*e a favorite place of 
 resort for pleasure-seekers, being conveniently accessible, part of 
 the route from San Francisco going through either Napa, 
 Petaluma, or Russian Valleys by i-ail, and the remainder by 
 stage over a romantic wagon road. 
 
 § 113. Petrified Forest. — Five miles west of Calistoga, in 
 the ridge which separates Xa))a from Santa Rosa, are a score 
 of i^etrified tree-trunks, lying down, and these have been called 
 the " Petrified Forest," a name which might mislead persons 
 to imagine that the number of petrified trees was large, and 
 that they were standing erect. They are scattered over an 
 area five hundred yards square, and others are found at inter- 
 vals, on the ridge, down nearly to the bay, a distance of twen- 
 ty-five miles. The largest is five feet in diameter and about fif- 
 teen feet long, with nothing to indicate what became of the 
 remainder of the tree. No branches have been found, nor 
 more than twenty feet of the trunk of any one tree. The 
 smallest trunk is o-ver a foot in diameter, and most of them 
 over two feet, but many fragments are foimd, broken from 
 trunks of unknown size. The petrifaction is complete. The 
 woody fiber has entirely disappeared, and has been replaced by 
 a grayish stone that seems to be mainly carbonate of lime, in 
 which the grain of the timber is distinctly preserved. The pet- 
 rifactions split readily with the grain, and the numerous sjjlin- 
 ters lying about resemble wood rather than stone, until they 
 are picked iip. 
 
 All the stone trunks are broken across transversely, some of 
 them in pieces not more tlian a foot long, on an average, with 
 a squarenesss of fracture suggesting that after petrifaction 
 
SCENERY. 157 
 
 they must have been thrown down. No other explanation 
 will accoiuit for tlie fact that all have numerous transverse 
 breaks, cutting squarely across the trunks, with no appearance 
 of having been crushed. No timber could possibly be broken 
 in sucli a manner : tlie breaks must have occurred in tlie stony 
 condition. 
 
 The rock of the ridge is a volcanic sandstone, and was 
 formed by the solidification of wet sand thrown up by a vol- 
 cano, or waslied down from its sides. Such a tlood of volcanic 
 sand filled up an ancient forest, to a depth of twenty feet or 
 more ; the trees rotted away ; those parts above the surface 
 of the sand disappeared ; tliose parts below the surface were 
 replaced by stone deposited in water which trickled down ; 
 this petrifaction was harder than the surrounding sandstone, 
 which was washed away-; the petrified trunks, left witliout sup- 
 port, fell down and were broken into numerous fragments, and 
 there they continue to lie, and to tell of wonderful events that 
 happened thousands of years ago. 
 
 The trees were redwood, of the species which still grows in 
 the same vicinity. 
 
 Another petrified forest, similar to that near Calistoga, is 
 found in the valley of Cedar Creek, in the northeastern corner 
 of the State. 
 
 § 114. Waterfalls. — Besides the cascades of the Yosemite 
 and Hetchhetchy valleys, there are a number of others in the 
 State. There is a cataract, about five hundred feet high, on 
 Fall River, which empties into the Middle Fork of Feather 
 River ; one of three hundred and eighty feet, where the South 
 Fork of the American River slides down over a convex rock, 
 looking like a streak of snow when seen from a distance ; one 
 of sixty feet, in the San Antonio River, in Calaveras County ; 
 another of seventy-five, on the same stream, which falls four- 
 teen hundred feet within a mile ; and one of three hundred 
 feet, called the " Riffle-box Falls," in Deer Creek, Nevada 
 County. 
 
158 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 115. Katural Bridges. — California lias five natural 
 bridges. The largest of these is on a small creek emptying 
 into the Hay Fork of the Trinity River, -where a ledge of rock 
 three hundred feet wide crosses tlie valley. Under this rock 
 runs the creek, through an arch twenty feet high by eighty feet 
 across. The rock above the arch is one hundred and fifty feet 
 deep. On Lost River, in Siskiyou County, there are two nat- 
 ural bridges, about thirty feet apart. The rock is a conglom- 
 erate sandstone, and each is from ten to fifteen feet wide, and 
 the distance across the stream is about eighty feet. One of 
 these bridges is used regularly by travelers. On Coyote Creek, 
 in Tuolumne County, ten miles northward from Sonora, are 
 two natural bridges, half a mile apart. The upper bridge ia 
 two hundred and eighty-five feet long with the course of the 
 water, and thirty- six feet high, with the rock thirty feet deep 
 over the water. The lower bridge is similar in size and height 
 to the other. 
 
 § 116. Caves. — There are a number of caves in California. 
 Of these, the most noted are the Alabaster Cave, seven miles 
 from Auburn, in Placer County ; the Bower Cave, twelve miles 
 from Coulterville, in Mariposa County ; the Cave of Skulls, in 
 Calaveras County ; and the Santa Cruz Cave, two miles from 
 the town of Santa Cruz. The Alabaster Cave has two cham- 
 bers : one about one hundred feet long by twenty -five Mnde ; 
 the other two hundred feet long by one hundred Avide. It 
 contains a large number of brilliant stalactites and stalagmites. 
 The Bower Cave has a chamber one hundred feet long by 
 ninety wide ; it is reached by an entrance seventy feet long, 
 and in one place only four feet wide. The Santa Cruz Cave 
 has no beauty to render it attractive. The Cave of Skulls is 
 remarkable for having contained, when first discovered, a num- 
 ber of human skulls and bones, all covered with layers of 
 carbonate or sulphate of lime, from the thickness of a leaf to an 
 inch. These bones are now in the cabinet of the Smithsonian 
 Institute. At Cave City, and seven miles from Murphy's, in 
 
SCENERY. 159 
 
 Calaveras County, is a cave in which a Know-Nothing lodge 
 was accustomed to meet in 1855. In the bluif bank of the 
 Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River, eighty feet above the 
 stream, is a cavern called Limestone Cave, with many intri- 
 cate passages and some line stalactites. 
 
 §117. Mirage. — Among the most remarkable scenes wit- 
 nessed in California are the illusions of the mirage, seen fre- 
 quently in the deserts of the Colorado and the Great Basin, 
 and sometimes as far north as San Francisco. " All the phe- 
 nomena of mirage," says Professor W. P. Blake, "are exhib- 
 ited on a grand scale upon the Colorado Desert. Mountain 
 ranges, so far distant as to be below the horizon, are made to 
 rise into view in distorted and changing outlines. Inverted 
 images of smaller objects, and apparent lakes of clear water, 
 are often seen, and invite the traveler to turn aside for refresh- 
 ment. The first exhibition of a mirage that was seen [by 
 Blake's party] was from the mai'gin of the plain at Carriso 
 Creek, looking toward the Gila, about ninety miles distant. 
 It was early in the morning, and the eastern sky had that 
 golden hue which precedes the rising sun. Tall blue columns, 
 and the spires of churches, and overhanging precipices, seemed 
 to stand upon the verge of the plain. Their outlines were 
 changing gradually, and, as the sun rose higher, they were 
 slowly dissipated. After reaching Fort Yuma, and witnessing 
 the strangely precipitous and pinnacled outline of the moun- 
 tains beyond, it was at once apparent that the mirage con- 
 sisted of their distorted images. When we were i;pon the 
 northern part of the desert, the peak of Signal Mountain was 
 often distorted and raised above the horizon. The points of dis- 
 tant ranges also seemed at times to be elevated above the 
 surface, precisely as the headlands of a coast sometimes ap- 
 pear to rise above the water at sea." 
 
 One morning in the last week of March, 1871, the peoj^ie of 
 Santa Cruz looking southward towards Monterey, M'hich is 
 twenty-two miles distant, and usually invisible, saw the town 
 
160 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 in the air, with its houses and dipping. The j^icture was 
 clearly distinguishable for several hours, but repeatedly 
 changed with the clouds, the objects reflected being often 
 magnified and distorted. Beautiful mirage pictures have on 
 rare occasions been seen at San Francisco. 
 
 § 118. Mud -Volcanoes. — In the Colorado Desert, about lati- 
 tude 33° 25', and longitude 115° 45', are some remarkable 
 mud-volcanoes. Tiiey are in that part of the desert below the 
 level of the sea ; and if the water of tlie ocean were turned 
 in iipon that low land, they would be lost to sight. As it is 
 now, they are very rarely visited, because they are in a region 
 so desolate, that an excursion to them is accompanied by seri- 
 ous hardships. The volcanoes cover a space of a quarter of a 
 mile long, and an eighth of a mile vpide ; this area is of soft 
 mud, through which hot water and steam are constantly es- 
 caping. The noise can be heard at a distance of ten miles, 
 and the steam is visible at a greater distance. The quantity 
 of water thrown up is small ; that of the steam, great. The 
 vapor rises steadily in some places, with a hissing noise ; in 
 other places, it bursts out witli the noise and action of an ex- 
 plosion, throwing the mud a hundred feet into the air, with a 
 loud report. 
 
 There are places where the mud is in constant movement, 
 and rises in great bubbles, and bursts, as if boiUng with in- 
 tense heat ; while in other places, regular cones, apparently 
 hardened into permanency, and with shapes varying from low 
 hillocks to sharp points, have been formed. There are boil- 
 ing springs, which throw up their water twenty or thirty feet ; 
 and there are large basins, one Imndred feet across, and five or 
 six feet below the general surface, in which a bluish paste is 
 continually boiling. Some of the springs are surrounded by 
 incrustations and arborescent concretions of carbonate of 
 lime ; others are encircled by deposits of sulphur. The air 
 blown from tlie salses is fetid with sulphur. It is very danger- 
 ous to approach the springs and cauldrpns, because the whole 
 
SCENERY. 161 
 
 earth is soft in the vicinity of them, and frequently the crust 
 is broken and thrown up with great force, to establish new 
 springs, steam-vents, and mud-cauldrons ; and the boiling slime 
 or water thrown up on these occasions would suffice to kill a 
 man in a few seconds. 
 
 In the northeastern part of Plumas County are many hot 
 springs — perhaps numbering one thousand^covering an area 
 of ten acres. They roar and hiss so as to be heard at a dis- 
 tance of a mile, and their steam can be seen from a greater 
 distance. The whole place smells strongly of sulphur, which 
 mineral, as well as alum and various earthy salts, abounds in 
 the soil about the springs. 
 
 In four or five places in California, the earth is constantly 
 hot, and sulphuroiis gases and vapors are constantly escaping. 
 Ther.e is such a solfatara about fifteen miles eastward from 
 Santa Barbara ; another near Owen's Lake ; another near the 
 Geysers, in Sonoma ; and another near the hot springs, in Plu- 
 mas County. 
 
 11 
 
162 EESOUHCES OF CALirOKNI^, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 § 119- Situation. — The commercial situation of Califomis 
 is excellent. It is in the southern half of the north temperate 
 zone, in the midst of the western coast of a large and rich con- 
 tinent, at one end of tlie middle Pacific Railroad, on all the 
 lines of circumterraneous steam communication now in opera- 
 tion, and on the shortest and most comfortable line that can 
 be built to connect the main centers of wealth, ^wpulation^ 
 industr}', and intelligence in Euroj^e, Asia, and North America, 
 It possesses the best site for a commercial center between 
 Cape Flattery and Cape Horn, and it has the greatest accu- 
 mulation of capital, the largest body of people familiar with 
 the most profitable branches of trade and industry, and the 
 best system of rail communication. 
 
 Tlie foreign commerce of California, and the greater part of 
 its commerce with the Atlantic States, is conducted by San 
 Francisco. The Golden Gate on the sea side, and the Donner 
 Pass on the laud side, are the doors through which the trade 
 and travel entering and leaving the State must go. It might 
 be difficult, if not impossible, to find another country so exten- 
 sive, possessing only one importing point on a sea coast more 
 than a tliousand miles long, and only one notable importing 
 road on an inland boundary fifteen hundred miles long. Ore- 
 gon and Arizona send travelers, but no freight ; and Humboldt 
 and Santa Cruz sometimes send away lumber, but (except a 
 cargo or two of nitrate of potash received at the latter point) 
 have received no imports. • 
 
•COMMERCE. 163 
 
 § 120, Volume of Business. — The commerce of California 
 is exceptionally active. No country of Europe, and no other 
 State in the New World, consumes so large a proportion of 
 foreign merchandise, or exports so much, relatively, of its 
 agricultural and mineral products to foreign lands. The sum 
 of the annual exports ranges from $65,000,000 to $75,000^000, 
 and the cost of imports is the same. The value of the im* 
 ports from foreign countries is tibout $20,000,000, and that 
 from other jDortions of the United States, about $30,000,000; 
 the freights and charges on imports are $5,000,000, the duties 
 exacted by the Federal Government, $8,000,000 ; and a con- 
 siderable sum is paid as interest on borrowed capital, and as 
 expenses of Californians traveling abroad. 
 
 Among our exports are $20,000,000 of treasure, the produce 
 of our States and Territories; and the total annual product of 
 California for exportation, is from $45,000,000 to $55,000,000, 
 or about $85 to the person ; whereas $20 to the person is a 
 large sum in other States. 
 
 The Pacific Slope of the United States has 1,292,000 square 
 miles, a present population of 831,059, and a coast line of 
 12,000 miles, whereas the coast line of our country on the 
 Atlantic side, is 4,000 miles. A large part of the area of the 
 Pacific side of our country is composed of desert, barren 
 mountain, and Arctic snow fields, but there is a fertile area 
 of not less than 300,000 square miles, with a capacity to 
 maintain a population of 50,000,000 iwoj^le. 
 
 San Francisco, in the amount of its foreiga importations, is 
 the fourth city in the Union, being inferior to New York, 
 Boston, and Baltimore, and superior to Philadelphia and New 
 Orleans. 
 
 Before 18G8, San Francisco supplied all the exports of the 
 State, save a few cargoes of lumber from Humboldt Bay and 
 Santa Cruz ; about two-fifths of the wheat is now loaded at 
 Oakland and Vallejo. 
 
 Among the exports of 1873, were wheat and flour, twen- 
 ty-one millions ; wool, seven and three-quarters ; wines, cue ; 
 
164 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ores, one and three-qi;arters ; leatlier, two-tliirds ; salmon, a 
 quarter ; quicksilver, four-fifths ; lumber, a third of a mil- 
 lion ; and hides, bones, horns, brooms, abelone shells, barley, 
 fruit, mustard seeds, and furs, in smaller amounts. 
 
 Among our imports we pay four millions annually for sugar ; 
 one and a half for coffee ; four for other provisions ; making 
 nine and a lialf millions for provisions alone. Then we have 
 three for coal ; one for nails ; and as much for iron, in pigs and 
 bars ; tobacco and kerosene each demands one ; clotliing re- 
 quires twelve ; miscellaneous dry goods, six ; hardware, four ; 
 machinery and agricultural implements, three ; boots, one 
 and a half; drugs, one; jewelry, two; tableware, two ; and 
 several millions must be allowed for sundries. 
 
 § 121. Shiipping. — The vessels which entered the harbor 
 of San Francisco, from the sea, in 1872, numbered 3,670, and 
 measured 1,237,000 tons, an average of 330 tons each. The 
 coasters, (vessels from American ports on the Pacific) meas- 
 ured 634,000 tons ; the vessels from foreign ports, 505,000 tons ; 
 and those from American ports on the Atlantic, 96,000, In 
 1860, the coasters measured 205,000 tons, and the foreign 
 ships, 199,000 ; showing an increase of two hundred per cent. 
 in the former, and 150 in the latter, in thirteen years ; while 
 the American Atlantic ships, in 1860, measured 129,000, show- 
 ing a decrease of 30 per cent. Tlie coasters numbered 2,972, 
 and averaged about 200 tons each. The American ports on 
 the Atlantic sent us 86 ships, including 70 from New York, 
 7 from Boston, and five from Baltimore. Europe sent us 88, 
 including 72 from Great Britain, and 8 each from Germany 
 and France. Australia sent us 77 ; China and Japan, 80 ; the 
 East Indies, 38 ; South America, 122; and Polynesia, 68. 
 The American ports on the Atlantic do not occupy a very 
 prominent place in our seaAvard commerce. 
 
 § 122. Currency. — The currency of all branches of com- 
 merce and industry, and of the State and County Treasuries 
 in California, is gold. Treasury notes are used for paying in- 
 
COMMERCE. 165 
 
 ternal revenue taxes, and for a few other purposes, but are 
 treated as merchandise, and are quoted in the market reports 
 at a discount. Some over-wise people have told us that the 
 State has been greatly injured by adherence to a gold curren- 
 cy, and their chief reason is that men are unwilling to move 
 from the Eastern States to California if they must give $10,- 
 000 of their money for $9,000 or $8,500 of ours. This would 
 imply that California should sacrifice ten or fifteen per cent, of 
 her property as a condition of exchanging a perfectly safe and 
 stable currency for unsafe and unstable greenbacks. Asser- 
 tions have been made that the gold standard has been retained 
 here because of the influence of a small ring of capitalists in 
 San Francisco, but such a statement needs no refutation among 
 men familiar with business. Every contract is made inde- 
 pendently, and the currency is usually gold, because every- 
 body finds it preferable. 
 
 The coin consists chiefly of the double-eagle, or piece of 
 $20, The coinage of the San Francisco Mint, in 1872, was 
 $16,380,000, including $15,600,000 in double-eagles; $300,- 
 000 in eagles, half-eagles, and quarter-eagles ; $29,000 in half- 
 dollars, $26,000 iu quarter-dollars, $19,000 in dimes, and $3,- 
 600 in half-dimes. These figures may be accepted as fair an- 
 nual averages. The silver coinage is only two per cent, of 
 the whole sum, and the amount of half dollars, the lai-gest 
 silver coin in common use, is more than three times as great 
 as that of all the smaller coins together ; while the average of 
 double-eagles is fifty times greater than that of all the smaller 
 gold pieces. For payments of twenty dollars, or more, the 
 double-eagles are generally used. No copper or nickel money 
 is coined or current, and half-dimes, the smallest coins, are 
 not very common. 
 
 § 123, Wealth of the State. — According to the State as- 
 sessment, which purports to be made at the cash value, the tax- 
 able property in the State amounted, in 1873, to $527,000,000, 
 including $212,000,000 in San Francisco, $25,000,000 iu Ala- 
 
16Q RESOURCES 07 CAL5F0RI?nA. 
 
 mecla, $27,000,000 in Sauta Clara, $20,000,000 in Sacramento^ 
 $18,000,000 in San Joaquin, $16,000,000 in Sonoma, and 
 $11,000,000 in ^lonterey; $9,000,000 each in Los Angeles^ 
 Solano, and !^an Mateo, $8,000,000 in jMarin and Yolo, and 
 smaller sums in the other counties. 
 
 Alameda, San Mateo, and Marin owe their valuations, to a 
 great extent, to their position as prcsent or prospective sub- 
 urbs of San Francisco; and the city with its suburbs con- 
 tains more than half the taxable property of the State. But in 
 addition to their possessions in and i^iear tho city, the inliabitants 
 and business men of Sau Francisco ovfu large tracts of land^ 
 many mines, saw-mills, irrigating and mining ditches, gas and 
 water works, elsewhere, and the total value of their property 
 is not less than $400,000,000. 
 
 The banldng capital of the State in 1873 amounted to about 
 $80,000,000, including $45,000,000 in savings banks in Sau. 
 Francisco, and $9,000,000 in savings banks in interior towns. 
 The savings banks make long loans — mostly of a year or more, 
 secured by mortgage at rates varying from nine to twelve per 
 cent, per annum. The insurance com})anies also loan their 
 money on mortgage. The commercial banks obtain from one 
 to one and a half per cent, per month, for one or two months, 
 on promissory notes secured by endorsement, or by the pledge 
 of collateral securities, among which mmiug .stocks occupy a 
 prominent place. 
 
 The dividends paid in San Francisco by incorporated com- 
 panies in 1873, amounted to $20,000,000, including $13,300,000 
 by mining companies, $3,700,000 by savings banks, $1,000,.000 
 by commercial banks, $480,000 by the water company, 
 $410,000 by the gas company, and $227,000 by insurance 
 companies, 
 
 § 124. Mining Stocks. — The stock market in San Francis- 
 co is very active, and owes much of its profit to the silver 
 mines of Nevada. The sales of mining shares, in one board 
 of brokers, amoimted to $140,000,000 in 1873, $189,000,000 
 
COMMERCE. 167 
 
 in 1872, $129,000,000 in 1871, $51,000,000 in 1870, and $69,- 
 000,000 in 1869. 
 
 The gross market value of shares in the mines of the Corn- 
 stock Lode has ranged from $15,000,000 to $80,000,000, and 
 the change from the lower to the upper limit has sometimes 
 occurred within a few months, making an intense excitement 
 in business. Thus, in the beginning of January, 1872, the 
 shares of the thirteen leading'mines of the Comstock Lode were 
 selling at rates indicating that the entire value of these mines 
 was $17,000,000, and five months later they were selling at 
 the rate of $81,000,000. The shares of the Crown Point 
 mine were sold in May at $1,450 each, and as there are 12,000 
 shares, the whole mine was then valued at $17,000,000, The 
 Belcher, at the same time, was held at $16,000,000. Before 
 the end of summer, the $80,000,000 had fallen back to $30,. 
 000,000, indicating a loss of $50,000,000 to the people who 
 did not sell when the prices were at the highest. This was 
 the most remarkable stock excitement in the history of San 
 Francisco ; but a fall of twenty-five per cent, in the mar- 
 ket value of a mine, within a week, is common. One hundred 
 and fifty difterent mines are on the stock list, including fifty 
 on the Comstock Lode, sixty more in other parts of Nevada, 
 eighteen in California, eight in Idaho, and two in Utah. The 
 gross amount of the sales is seldom less than $1 ,000,000, and 
 once exceeded $10,000,000 in a week. It is evident, that with 
 such sales and such fluctuations, many fortunes must be lost 
 and won every year. 
 
 The fluctuations become credible when we consider the 
 amounts of dividends and assessments paid within twelve years 
 in a city that has now 180,000 inhabitants. The Bullion Com- 
 pany has paid $1,700,000 of assessments, the Overman $900,- 
 000, the Consolidated Virginia $200,000, the Segregated 
 Belcher $200,000, and eight others $658,000, making $3,600,- 
 000 in all by twelve companies, not one of which has ever 
 paid a dividend. The Yellow Jacket has paid $1,500,000, 
 
168 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the Ophir $1,200,000, the Hale & Norcross and the Gould & 
 Curry each $800,000, and the Crown Point and Belcher each 
 $600,000 of assessments ; but all these have paid more divi- 
 dends than assessments — in some cases several millions more. 
 The total amount of assessments paid by the Comstock min- 
 ing companies has been $14,000,000, and dividends $35,000,- 
 000, leaving a nice surplus on the profit side. 
 
 Mining is an uncertain business, and mines, when managed 
 in the most competent manner, rapidly change in value. The 
 opening, or the unexpected exhaustion of a rich body of ore, 
 may give or take away great value within a few weeks. But 
 the stock market in San Francisco is not governed, though it 
 is influenced, by the condition of the mines. The prices are 
 determined, to a great extent, by folly and dishonesty. Out 
 of the one hundred and fifty mines on the stock list, not ten 
 are now paying dividends, and four-fifths, though worked for 
 years, have never paid a dividend. Yet any one of these un- 
 profitable mines may strike a rich body of ore ; and so long as 
 they continue to work, the officers circulate encouraging re- 
 ports, and the stock fluctuates in market price. If a body of 
 ore be struck, the fact of the discovery may be concealed, or 
 its nature misrepresented, for the purpose of defrauding the 
 shareholders, by inducing them to buy or sell. The superin- 
 tendent holds his place at the mercy of the trustees, and they 
 often require him to inform them privately of any change in 
 the mine several days before it is announced publicly, so 
 they can make something. If he has a rich body of ore, he 
 manages to pay very large dividends for several months, and 
 asserts that he can continue them for a long time, and then 
 the stock goes up ; or he keeps his men out of the good ore, 
 and sends poor stufl" to mill, so that an assessment is levied, 
 and then the stock goes down. In either case, the outsiders 
 are swindled. These are only a few of tlie numerous tricks 
 common among the mining sharps, and he who deals with 
 them, does so with greater risk and yviih less chance of fair 
 dealing than when he sits down at the faro table. 
 
 I 
 
COMMERCE. 169 
 
 § 125. Large Estates. — The following is a list of the 
 landed estates of more than 100,000 acres each, (some of them 
 are scattered tracts) in California, viz : Miller & Lux, 228,000 
 acres ; the Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company, 
 160,000 ; Mary E. Beale, 173,000 ; Charles McLaughlin, 141,- 
 000; L Friedlander, 125,000; Los Angeles Land Company, 
 101,000. 
 
 In San Diego County, John Forster has 88,000 acres ; and 
 Miguel Pedroreno, 47,000 ; in Los Angeles, the L. A. Land 
 Company, 101,000; Irvine, Fhut & Co., 77,000; Pioche & 
 Bayerque, 69,000 ; E. de Celis, 56,000 ; Beale & Baker, 53,000 ; 
 James Lick, 51,000. In San Bernardino, the San Jacinto Tin 
 Mining Company, 48,000 ; Alfred Robinson, trustee, 42,000. 
 In Santa Barbara, the Pliiladelphia and Petroleum Land Com- 
 pany, 131,000; Dibblee & Hollister, 97,000; A. P. Moore, 
 63,000 ; Santa Cruz Island Company, 53,000 ; H. & W. Pierce, 
 53,000 ; J. W. Moore, 48,000 ; L. T. Barton, 47,000 ; E.Con- 
 way, 42,000 ; Hollister & Cooper, 41 ,000. In San Luis Obispo, 
 P. \y. Murphy, 54,000 ; and F. Steele, 44,000. In Monterey, 
 the estate of Arques, 71,000 ; J. D. Carr, 47,000 ; and JNliller 
 & Lux, 41,000. In Alameda, Charles McLaughlin, 60,000. 
 In San Joaquin, the Tide Land Reclamation Company, 77,000 ; 
 Charles McLaughlin, 54,000. In Kern, Mary E. Beale, 173,- 
 000 ; Chapman, Jansen & Roebing, 75,000 ; A. Weill, 48,000 ; 
 and J. H. Redington, 45,000, In Fresno, the San Joaquin Val- 
 ley Land Association, 79,000 ; L Friedlander, 62,000 ; E. 
 Applegarth, 49,000; J. W. Pedree, 47,000 ; W. C. Ralston, 
 44,000 ; and E. St. John & Co., 42,000. In Merced, Miller & 
 Lux, 166,000 ; C. Paige, 60,000 ; and J. W. Mitchell, 42,000. 
 In Marijwsa, the Mariposa Land and Mining Company, 44,000. 
 In Sacramento, Lloyd Tevis, 43,000 ; in Colusa, the California 
 and Oregon Railroad Company, 61,000 ; and in Mendocino, 
 Throckmorton & McKinstry, 83,000. The number of these 
 estates over 40,000 acres is forty-four, in the State, so far as 
 reported ; the number between 30,000 and 40,000 acres is 
 
170 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 twenty-three ; tliose between 20,000 and 30,000, are fifty-five ; 
 those between 10,000 and 20,000 acres are one lunidred and 
 forty-eight ; and those between 5,000 and 10,000 acres, two 
 hundred and thirty-eight. The entire number of tliese estates 
 of more tlian 5,000 acres each, is four hundred and fifty-three. 
 Most of them are held under Mexican grants, and probably 
 one-third or one-fourth imder purchase from the American 
 government. Several railroad companies, which own large 
 tracts, do not appear in the list, 
 
 § 126. Railroads. — The following is a list of the railroads 
 completed in California. 
 
 The (original) Central Pacific, from Sacramento to Ogden, 
 748 miles. 
 
 The original Western Pacific, now consolidated witli the 
 Central Pacific, from Oakland to Sacramento, 135 miles; and 
 from Niles' to San Jose, 18 miles. 
 
 The original Oakland City Railroad, now consolidated with 
 the Central Pacific, from Oakland to Brooklyn, 5 miles. 
 
 The original San Joaquin Valley Railroad, now consolidated 
 with the Central Pacific, from Lathrop to Goshen, 146 miles. 
 
 The original California and Oregon Railroad, now consoli- 
 dated with the Central Pacific, from Junction (or Roseville) 
 to Redding, 152 miles. 
 
 The original Alameda Valley Railroad, now consolidated 
 with the Central Pacific, from Alameda to Hay ward, 11 
 miles. 
 
 The main line of the Central Pacific, from Oakland to 
 Osden, is 878 miles, and there are 337 miles of branches : and 
 including three miles of ferry between Oakland and San Fran- 
 cisco, and five miles between Alameda and San Francisco, the 
 total length of the routes of the Central Pacific is 1,226 miles. 
 On the main line of the Central Pacific, from Oakland to the 
 State line, there are 275 miles in California. 
 
 The California Pacific Road, from Vallejo to Sacramento, 
 60 miles. 
 
COMMERCE. 171 
 
 The Napa branch of the California Pacific Railroad, from 
 Napa Junction to Calistoga, 35 miles. 
 
 The Marysville branch of the California Pacific Railroad, 
 from Davisville to Marysville, 44 miles ; but of this distance, 
 20 miles is not now in running order. 
 
 The Los Angeles and Wilmington Railroad is 21 miles 
 long. 
 
 The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company 
 have a railroad 56 miles long, connecting Donahue with Clov- 
 erdale. 
 
 The Stockton and Copperopolis and Visalia Company have 
 a railroad of 30 miles, from Stockton to Milton, and another 
 of 19 miles, from Peters to Oakdale. 
 
 The Southern Pacific Railroad Company have a railroad 94 
 miles, from San Francisco to Hollister ; a branch railroad from 
 Carnadero to Salinas, 38 miles ; a railroad from Goslien to 
 Delano, 50 ; and 50 miles from San Fernando to Rubottom. 
 
 The Sacramento Valley Railroad, from Sacramento to 
 Shingle Springs, is 49 miles long. 
 
 Tlie raih'oad routes above o-iven, asro-i-eo-atinoc 1,671 miles, 
 are nnder tlie control of the gentlemen who compose the Cen- 
 tral Pacific Railroad Company, Of the Central Pacific main 
 line, 605 miles are in Nevada and Utah, leaving 1,036 miles 
 of its main road and branches in California, now completed. 
 
 The Northern California Railroad, from Marysville to Oro- 
 ville, is 26 miles long. 
 
 The Pittsburg and Black Diamond Railroad^ connecting the 
 Monte Diablo coal mines with Antioch, is 7 miles long. 
 
 The San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad is 3i miles long. 
 
 The total length of the steam railroads in California is 1,1651 
 miles. 
 
 The San Francisco and North Pacific Coast Railroad Com- 
 pany is now constructing a railroad with a gauge of three feet, 
 to run from Saucelito to Bodega, by way of San Rafael, and 
 promises to have the cars running to San Rafael before mid- 
 summer of 1874. 
 
172 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Tlie Southern Pacific Railroad Company has promised to 
 build twenty-five miles of railroad, from Los Angeles to Ana- 
 heim, within two years, and has commenced the work. 
 
 Congress has given 12,800 acres per mile, for a continuous 
 railroad from Sacramento to Portland, and 170 miles of the 
 road in California, and 203 in Oregon, are in running order, 
 leaving a gap of 209 miles unfinished between Redding and 
 Roseburg. Short as is the gap, and valuable as are the roads 
 in the Sacramento and Willamette Valleys, with considerable 
 bodies of rich land in the Klamath and Rogue Valleys, yet 
 the progress of the work is very slow, and fears are enter- 
 tained that the connection will not be completed for some 
 years. The work is entrusted to two companies, one in Oregon 
 and one in California, and each is required to finish twenty 
 miles every year, and to reach the line before 1876. 
 
 Congress has granted to the Texas and Pacific Railroad, 
 12,800 acres per mile along its route in California, and 25,000 
 acres per mile ni Arizona and New Mexico. In Texas the 
 land is the property of the State, and the Legislature has given 
 a large quantity, enough, it is said, to secure the comple- 
 tion of the road from Marshall to the western border. The 
 distance from San Diego to Galveston is 1,500 miles, whereas 
 that from San Francisco to New York, by the Middle Pacific, 
 is 3,300. But from San Francisco to New York by way of 
 San Diego and Marshall, the distance is 3, GOO miles. The 
 grades on the Texas and Pacific are better than on the Middle 
 Pacific, and there is no danger of snow. An Act of Congress, 
 passed on the 2d of May, 1872, provides that not less than 
 one hundred miles must be built annually, from Marshall west- 
 ward, and not less than ten miles before the 2d of May, 1874, 
 and after that twenty-five miles a year from San Diego east- 
 ward, and that the whole road shall be finislied before the 
 2d of May, 1882. Congress has granted to the Atlantic and 
 Pacific Railroad Company a subsidy of 25,600 acres per mile, 
 for a railroad from the southern line of Missouri to Fort Mo- 
 
COMMERCE. 173 
 
 jave on the Colorado River, and 12,800 acres per mile for the 
 extension of tlie road from that point to some convenient point 
 on the Pacific ocean, A subsidy of 12,800 acres per mile has 
 also been given to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company of 
 California for a branch road to run from San Jose, to con- 
 nect at Fort Mojave \vith the main road of the Atlantic and 
 Pacific. 
 
 § 127. Railroad Termimis. — The question of the main 
 terminus of the railroad system of the State is not yet settled ; 
 although five years have elapsed since the cars from the Mis- 
 souri River began to run regularly to Sacramento. San Fran- 
 cisco, having all the importing business, all the exporting 
 houses, all the first-class wholesale houses, and nearly all the 
 banking and insurance capital of the State, was, so far as the 
 concentration of business and business men could make it, 
 the proper terminus for the road. But it had the serious dis- 
 advantao-e of beingj cut off from Sacramento — the inland 
 business center of the State — by swamps, mountains, and 
 bays. Tlie distance from Sacramento to San Francisco, in a 
 direct line, is seventy-six miles ; to Oakland, by rail through 
 Livermore Pass, 135 ; to San Francisco, via Livermore Pass 
 and San Jose (the only rail route to San Francisco) 178 miles ; 
 to Oakland, by Stockton, Bantas, and Martinez, (road not 
 yet made) 148 ; to San Francisco via Bantas, Martinez, Oak- 
 land and San Jose, 248 ; to San Francisco, via Bantas, Mar- 
 tinez, Oakland, and j^rojected bridge across the bay at Rav- 
 enswood, 208 miles. 
 
 After the completion of the road to San Francisco, various 
 plans were considered to bring the cars into the city. A bridge 
 across the Bay from Oakland, a bridge across the Bay at Rav- 
 enswood, thirty miles to the south, a bridge to Goat Island, 
 which is only a mile and a half from the city, were all pro- 
 posed, discussed, strenuously opposed on various grounds of 
 public interest, and all have now been given up, or, at least, 
 allowed to drop, as if finally abandoned. It is generally ad- 
 
174 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 mittecl tlmt the cars cannot be brouglit into San Francisco 
 with a profit, by rail, but they may be brouglit across the Bay 
 in large ferry-boats ; and one has been built to carry twenty 
 cars at a load, and it is supposed that this may accommodate 
 the business. If, however, it be necessary, for heavy freight, 
 that the cars should meet the ships at deep water, without the 
 intervention of a ferry-boat, then an important rail terminus 
 may be either at Oakland, (after an artificial harbor shall be 
 made there) at Vallejo, where nature has provided a good 
 harbor, a good upland site for a city, and good water front 
 for more than half a mile, at Benicia, at Martinez, or Sauce- 
 lito. Tiie last place has many advantages of position, but its 
 site is composed of high, steep hills. Oakland is 144 miles 
 from Sacramento, by Stockton, Bantas, and Martinez, the level 
 route ; and Vallejo is GO miles in distance, and ten miles more 
 by difficulty of grade (having an elevation of 200 feet to pass) 
 from Sacramento. Freight can be carried from Sacramento 
 to the ship at Vallejo for one-half the price to Oakland. 
 Saucelito might be reached from Vallejo by a road thirty 
 miles long, but there is no present probability of its construc- 
 tion. The completion of the railroad from Bantas, by way of 
 Martinez, to Oakland, would make a concentration of chan- 
 nels of communication at Carquinez Straits, or the Silver Gate 
 of California, requiring every car or ship, going and coming 
 between the great Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin and the sea, 
 to pass that point. 
 
 § 128. Ocean Steamers. — All the ocean steamers of Califor- 
 nia ply from San Francisco. The following is a brief schedule 
 of their routes and times of departure : 
 
 Twice a month for Panama; there connecting bv the Isth- 
 mus Kailroad with New York, and touching on the Pacific 
 side, on her southward course, at San Diego, Mazatlan, Man- 
 zanillo, and Acapulco. At the last-named port, one steamer 
 each month connects with a branch steamer for various Central 
 American ports. 
 
COMMERCE. 175 
 
 Twice every month for Yokohama, connecting there with a 
 brancli steamer for Ilong Kong, toucliing at Iliogo and Na- 
 gasaki by the way. 
 
 Once a month for Honoluhi. 
 
 Once a month for Guayraas, touching at Magdalena Bay, 
 Cai^e San Lucas, La Paz, and Mazatlan. 
 
 Twice a month for Victoria, connecting there with steamers 
 for Paget Sound. 
 
 Once a week for Portland, connecting there with steamers 
 for Puget Sound and Sitka. 
 
 At intervals of five days, for San Diego, touching at Santa 
 Barbara and San Pedro, 
 
 At intervals of ten days, for Santa Barbara, touching at 
 Monterey, San Simeon, and San Luis Obispo. 
 
 Once a week for Tomales and Olema. 
 
 Once a week for Salinas and Santa Cruz. 
 
 Once a week for Hueneme, touching at San Buenaventura. 
 
 Once a month for Hong Kong direct, by a British line. 
 
 Once a month for Hong Kong direct, by a German line, not 
 yet in full operation. 
 
 Once a month to Auckland and Sydney, by a line for which 
 a contract has been made, but not yet established. 
 
 The steamers of the Pacific Mail Company, running from 
 San Francisco to Jajjan, number ten, with 39,000 tons; to 
 Panama, seven, with 19,000 tons; to San Diego, four, with 
 3,200 tons ; to Honolulu, one, with 1,300 tons ; and to Guay- 
 mas, one, with 800 tons, making twenty-three steamers in all, 
 with 62,300 tons. 
 
 § 129. Telegraphs. — The magnetic telegrajih connects all 
 the main towns of the Coast, extending from Vancouver 
 Island, through Washington, Oregon, and California, to Tucson, 
 Arizona. West of the main ridge of tlie Coast Mountains, in 
 Cahfornia, the wires do not extend northward from San Fran- 
 cisco beyond Cloverdale, but will probably soon be taken 
 on to Humboldt Bay. Two lines connect San Francisco with 
 
176 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the Atlantic States. The present charge for ten words from 
 San Francisco to New York is $2.50 ; to Vallejo or San Jose, 
 25 cents ; to Sacramento or Stockton, 40 cents ; to Visalia, $1 ; 
 to San Diego, $2. 
 
 § 130. Harbors. — San Francisco Bay, one of the finest 
 bays in the world for the purposes of commerce, is about eight 
 miles wide and fifty long, reaching from 37° 10' to 38°. Its 
 entrance, called the Golden Gate, or Chrysopolis, is a mile 
 T\^de, between 37° 48' and 37° 49'. The peninsulas which 
 separate the bay from the ocean, are from six to fifteen miles 
 wide. The water on the bar is thirty feet deep at low water ; 
 inside much deeper, with excellent holding-ground, and room 
 for all the shipping of the world. 
 
 Connected with this bay, are those of San Pablo and Suisun, 
 lying farther inland, on the course of the outlet of the waters 
 of the Sacramento basin. San Pablo Bay is nearly round, 
 about ten miles in diameter, and lies north of San Francisco 
 Bay, with which it is connected by an unnamed strait, about 
 three miles wide. Suisun Bay, about four miles wide by eight 
 long, lies eastward of San Pablo Bay, with which it is con- 
 nected by the Strait of Carquinez, which is a mile wide. Both 
 bays are deep, but the water in the strait is only sixteen feet 
 deep at low tide, and large vessels cannot ascend beyond it. 
 Benicia, on the bank of the strait, is the head of navigation 
 for shipjDing of the largest class, has a large and secure harbor, 
 accessible at low tide for vessels drawing twenty-two feet, 
 and at high water for those drawing twenty-seven. Five miles 
 west of Benicia, Napa River enters San Pablo Bay, making 
 Vallejo Bay, which is 400 yards wide and four miles long, 
 with a depth of 26 feet. Martinez, opposite Benicia, and 
 Oakland, opposite San Francisco, are cut off from deep 
 water by mud flats. At Oakland a wharf has been built out 
 a mile and a half, to reach a point accessible by large vessels. 
 
 The Bay of San Diego, twelve miles long, from one to two 
 miles wide, and crescent-shaped, running from the entrance, 
 
COMMERCE, 177 
 
 and then turning to the southeastward, is a magnificent liar- 
 bor. A cliannel, thirty feet deep and half a mile wide, ex- 
 tends mi >re than half the length of the Bay, from the entrance. 
 The holding-ground is good ; the protection from the winds 
 perfect. There is no difficulty in entering at any time, but it 
 is not safe for sailing vessels to go out during gales from the 
 southeast. 
 
 In latitude 34° 38',thirty-five miles southeastward from Los 
 Angeles, is a land-locked estuary, about eight miles long and 
 from half a mile to a mile wide. It has not been survej^ed, 
 and its value for commerce is not known ; but there has been 
 some talk lately of using it as a port for some of the. adjacent 
 towns. The entrance is not more than ten feet deep, and 
 probably not so deep as that. 
 
 Of the open harbors, that of Crescent City is the most 
 northern, in latitude 41° 44'. It lies on the southern side of a 
 rocky point that juts out about half a mile in a westward 
 direction, at right angles to the general line of the coast. The 
 harbor is small and shallow, Avith a bottom of sand and rocks. 
 Vessels drawing twelve feet of water lie nearly lialf a mile 
 from the shore. The harbor is safe while the wind blows from 
 the north and northwest, but is very dangerous when it blows 
 from the southward. The harbor might be made much more 
 safe by a breakwater, at a cost of one or two millions of dol- 
 lars. 
 
 Trinidad, in 41° 03', is a very small harbor, open to the 
 south, with deep water and excellent holding -ground. 
 
 Bodega Bay, in 38° 18', has nine feet of water, and opens 
 to the southward, so that the anchorage is secui-e only while 
 the wind blows from the nortli. Tomales Bay, just opposite, 
 opens into the southern part of Bodega Bay, and is only five 
 miles distant from the Bodega anchorage : and, as one is se- 
 cure against northern and the other against southern winds, 
 vessels are safe in all weathers, because they can easily run 
 across to whichever may prove the sheltered side. 
 12 
 
178 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Tomales Bay is fourteen miles long and two miles wide, 
 separated from the ocean by a strip of land a mile and a balf 
 wide. Its mouth is in 38° 15'. Its course is southeastward, 
 and it is open to the northwest winds. The water is about 
 twelve feet deep. Tomales Bay is surrounded by hills, and is 
 of little value for commerce. 
 
 The Bay of Sir Francis Drake, in latitude 38°, is small, 
 open to the south, and of no value to commerce. 
 
 Half-Moon Bay is a small roadstead, eighteen miles south of 
 the Golden Gate. 
 
 Santa Cruz Harbor, on the northern side of Monterey Bay, 
 in 36° 57'j is small, has four fathoms of water, a sandy bottom, 
 and is open to the south. 
 
 Twelve miles farther south is the mouth of the Salinas River, 
 which is about two hundred yards wide, and has seven feet of 
 water. It is entered by small schooners, with the help of a 
 eteam-tug. 
 
 Eight miles farther to the southward is the harbor of Mon- 
 terey, which is large and deep, and has good holding ground. 
 It is open to the north. 
 
 San Simeon Harbor, in 35° 38', has a good anchorage, and 
 is safe while the wind blows from the north ; but it offers no 
 protection against storms from the southward. The bottom 
 is sandy. 
 
 San Luis Obispo Harbor, in 35° 10', has a good anchorage, 
 safe at all times, except during storms from the southward. 
 
 Santa Barbara, in 34° 24', has an open harbor, exposed to 
 the south winds. The water is deep, and the bottom hard. 
 
 San Pedro, in 33° 43', is open to the south, but probably 
 might be made secure by a breakwater, to cost one million of 
 dollars. The bottom is hard. 
 
 At Wilmington, about five miles east of San Pedro, the con- 
 struction of a breakwater to provide an artificial harbor has 
 been commenced. 
 
 Humboldt Bay is twelve miles long, from two to five miles 
 wide, and is separated from the Pacific by two tongues of 
 
COMMERCE. 179 
 
 land, which are covered by high and dense timber, and offer 
 an excellent protection against the strong winds of the coast. 
 The month of the bay, in latitude 40° 44', is a mile across, but 
 has breakers on each side ; and between them is a channel, a 
 qnai'ter of a mile wide, with about eighteen feet of water at 
 low tide. The greater part of the bay is shallow, but there is 
 an abundance of dee^i water, with good anchorage and perfect 
 safety for shipping. The entrance is considered dangerous, 
 and a steam-tug escorts nearly all sailing-vessels in and out. 
 
 The difference between extreme high tide and extreme low 
 tide is about nine feet at Crescent City, eight feet at San 
 Francisco, and seven feet at San Diego. The mean difference 
 between the highest tide and the lowest low tide in one day, 
 at San Francisco, is less than six feet. 
 
 George Davidson, of the U. S. Coast Survey, in his Coast 
 Pilot, says : " As a general rule there are, upon the Pacific 
 Coast of the United States, one large and one small tide dur- 
 ing each day. * * * The corrected establishment, or mean 
 intervals between the moon's transit and the time of high 
 water at Fort Point, San Francisco Bay, is 12 hours, 6 min- 
 utes." 
 
 § 131. Navigable Streams. — The Sacramento River is nav- 
 igable for steamers drawing three feet of water, to Sacramento 
 City, and to Red Bluff for boats drawing fifteen inches. The 
 Feather River is navigated by steamers drawing fifteen inches, 
 to Marysville, seventy -five miles from Sacramento ; and boats 
 have ascended to Oroville, twenty-five miles farther. Steam- 
 ers drawing five feet can run regularly to Stockton, on the San 
 Joaquin, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles from .San 
 Francisco ; and in times of high water, a boat drawing about 
 fifteen inches ascends to Fresno City, one hundred and fifty 
 miles fartlicr. A number of sloughs or tide-water creeks, 
 navigable for small vessels, open into the bays of San Fran- 
 cisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. The most notable of these are 
 the Alviso or Guadalupe slough, at the head of San Francisco 
 
180 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Bay ; the San Antonio slough, opposite San Francisco city ; 
 the Petaluma, Sonoma, and Napa sloughs, opening into San 
 Pablo Bay ; and Suisun and Pacheco sloughs, opening into 
 Suisun Bay. 
 
 The navigation of the Colorado is beset by many diiliculties. 
 The tide rises 28 feet at the mouth of the river, and some- 
 times advances with an immense bore or wave, which is dan- 
 gerous to small vessels. In the lower part of tlie river the 
 sand-bars are numerous, and they frequently shift their posi- 
 tions. The transportation is done by small tug steamers, draw- 
 ing about two feet of water, the freight being placed on 
 barges. The boats tie up to the bank in the evening, to avoid 
 the risk of running in the dark. The distances from the 
 mouth of the river, or Victoria Bay, are 150 miles to Fort 
 Yuma, 453 miles to Hardy^'ille, and 543 miles to Callville. 
 The last point is the head of possible navigation, and there 
 the ordinary surface of the stream is 780 feet above the sea, 
 showing an average descent of about a foot and five inches to 
 the mile. Hardyville is the actual head of navigation, and 
 steamers usually take ten days for the trip from the mouth of 
 the river. * 
 
 The State has at present one navigable canal, built mainly 
 for the purpose of irrigation, but little use is made of it. Sev- 
 eral large canals M'ill undoubtedly be constructed within a 
 few years. 
 
 § 132. J*asses. — Tlie passes on the mountains which fence in 
 the valleys of California are important elements in determin- 
 ing the course which commerce must take. Among the passes 
 in th^ Coast Range, are the following : 
 
 PASSES. EliEVATION. LATITUDE. 
 
 dfig. min. 
 
 Livermore Pass 686 37 42 
 
 Pacheco Pass 37 00 
 
 Panoche Pass 
 
 Cajon de Tenoco Pass 34 40 
 
 San Francisqmto Pass 3>437 34 35 
 
COMMERCE. 181 
 
 PASSES. EI;EVATION. LATITUDE. 
 
 dog. min. 
 
 Williamson's Pass 3,164 34 3° 
 
 CajonPass 4,676 34 10 
 
 San Gorgonio Pass 2,808 33 55 
 
 Warner's Pass 3,7So 33 lO 
 
 Santa Margarita Pass 1,35° 35 20 
 
 San Pernando Pass 1,956 34 20 
 
 The following are the principal passes in the Sierra Nevada, 
 commencing at the north : 
 
 NAME. ELEVATION. LATITUDE. 
 
 deg. min. 
 
 Lassen's Pass 41 5° 
 
 Fredonyer Pass 40 25 
 
 Beckwourth Pass 5,3^9 39 45 
 
 Luba Pass 6,642 39 38 
 
 Henness Pass 6,996 39 30 
 
 Donner Pass 7,056 39 20 
 
 Georgetown Pass 7, 1 19 39 10 
 
 Johnson Pass 7,339 3^ 5° 
 
 Carson Pass 8,759 38 45 
 
 Silver Pass 8,793 3^ 3° 
 
 Sonora Pass 10,115 3^ 10 
 
 Mono Pass 10,765 37 55 
 
 Slate Pass 12,400 37 28 
 
 Whitney Pass 12,057 36 32 
 
 Walker Pass 5,302 35 40 
 
 Humpayamup Pass 5,356 35 35 
 
 Tehachepe Pass 4,020 35 ID 
 
 Tejon Pass 5,285 35 00 
 
 Uvas Pass 4,256 34 50 
 
182 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, ETC. 
 
 § 133. Coarse Work. — Among manufactures are here in- 
 cluded lumberinrj, fishino; and hantino^, l)re\nnof and the dis- 
 tillation of spirits generally ; but tlie making of wine and the 
 distillation of brandy are treated under the head of Agricul- 
 ture, and the reduction of ores as part of Mining. The man- 
 ufactures of California are mostly of a coarse class, requiring 
 little labor, relatively, and much raw material, and of classes 
 costing much, relatively, for importation. Our blankets and 
 coarse flannels are of home manufacture, our broadcloths 
 and merinos are imported. We make wrapping, but not let- 
 ter paper. We have factories to make wine and pickle-bottles, 
 but not plate or cut-glass. Having a large supply of hides, 
 lead, M'hcat, barlej', and grease, we find it cheaper to make 
 our leather, lead-pipe, shot, flour, beer, and soap, than to send 
 the raw material 19,000 miles by sea to the shops in the At- 
 lantic, and pay for manufacture there and for freighting both 
 "ways. But our finest leather, our most costly malt liquors, 
 and our most esteemed toilet soaps, come from abroad. Nitric 
 and sulpliuric acids, matches, dynamite and blasting powder, 
 are made here, because the freight on them round Cape Horn 
 is very high. Their dangerous character forbids long trans- 
 portation. We refine our sugar, because we get most of it 
 from the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands. Our wire-rope is 
 produced here, because it must be made to order and deliver- 
 ed promptly ; mirrors are silvered here, because the process is 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 183 
 
 simple, and the foreign mirrors are frequently injured in trans- 
 portation. We produce no manufactures for exportation, and 
 many years may elapse before we supply the finer articles 
 needed for home consumption. 
 
 § 134. Obstacles. — The lack of water-power near the me- 
 tropolis, the high price of transportation, the dearness of fresh 
 water in our large towns, and the high price of land suitable 
 for factory sites near a deep water-front in secm-e harbors, all 
 tend to increase the difficulties of manufacturing. The high 
 rate of wages, however, is the chief obstacle. This is felt at 
 once, at the very beginning of every enterprise, and is much 
 more oppressive in many branches than all the other obstacles 
 together. The exj^enses of living are less here than in the 
 Eastern States ; and in no city on the Atlantic slope can so 
 much comfort and enjoyment be obtained for the same money 
 as in San Francisco. The extreme heat of summer, the cold 
 of winter, and the diseases which they bring upon the poor, 
 make a great difference against Eastern cities. There is no 
 good reason why labor should not be as cheap here as beyond 
 the Rocky Mountains, except that, on account of the lack of 
 manufactures and of irrigating ditches, there is not sufficient 
 regularity of employment. At favorable seasons the demand 
 for laborers in the mines and farming districts exceeds the sup- 
 ply, and the excessive competition of employers at such times, 
 and the idleness of laborers at others, equally tend to keep 
 up wages. 
 
 The interest of the State demands the payment of the high- 
 est wages at which the employer can afford to find work for 
 all white applicants ; but a rate so high that it prevents the es- 
 tablishment of manufactories, and leaves a considerable part of 
 the people without occupation during three or four months ev- 
 ery year, repels immigration, keeps down the value of land, 
 hampers commerce and agriculture, and is one of the most se- 
 rious misfortunes that can befall a State. 
 
 Our agricultural and mining industries have reached ad- 
 vanced development in some branches, while our manufactures 
 
184 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 are backward. Tlie chief working force of tlie world is now 
 steam,- and the State which reUes mainly on its human muscle, 
 as California does, is at a great disadvantage. We not only 
 lose the profit on the steam-engines, and that on the 
 wages of the skilled operatives, but we condemn ourselves 
 to the production of raw material — the most unprofitable of 
 all occupations — pay freight on raw material to Atlantic ports, 
 and on the manufactured articles back, deprive our land-own- 
 ers of the rent of factories and dwellings for factory laborers, 
 and leave our farmers withoiit a home market. "We send our 
 wool, hides, leather, bones, horns, and mustard to distant 
 countries, and receive one-third of them in a manufactured 
 condition — another third going to pay the manufacturers, 
 middlemen, and shippers. 
 
 Prominent among the obstacles to the development of our 
 own manufactures, is the lack of cheap coal, iron, and hard 
 wood. The western slope of the continent does not, so far as 
 known, produce any first-rate mineral coal, which is the basis 
 of mechanical power. Such coal as we have in California is 
 not abundant, nor is its extraction very clieap. Iron ore of 
 excellent quality we have, but dear transportation and dear 
 coal prevent the erection of furnaces, and we import all our 
 iron from Atlantic poits. Tough hard wood (such as oak, 
 ash, and hickory, fit for wagons, cars, agricultural implements, 
 and strong casks) is imported from the Eastern States. Tlie 
 imsettled state of society, the insecurity of land titles, and the 
 frequency of land suits, tend to repel capital and keep up the 
 rates of interest, which are so high that manufacturers cannot 
 afibrd to pay the current rates. Yet, if large maimfacturing 
 establishments oflered an unexceptionable security, they could 
 probably borrow at the rates slightly in advance of those cur- 
 rent in England. 
 
 § 135. Statistics. — According to the Federal census, Califor- 
 nia had, in 1870,3,984 manufacturing establishments, emi)loy- 
 ing 25,392 persons and $40,000,000 capital, paying out $13,- 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 185 
 
 000,000 for wages, and $35,000,000 for raw material, and 
 turning out products worth $66,000,000 annually. The wages* 
 raw material, and ten per cent, on the capital invested, added 
 together, make $52,000,000, leaving $14,000,000 as annual 
 profit, above a low rate of interest on the money. 
 
 The number of steam engines is 604, with 18,493 horse- 
 power, and of water-wheels, 271, with 6,877 horse-power, or 
 a total of 25,370 horse-power ; and, as each of these is equal 
 to ten men, the machine power considerably exceeds that of 
 the adult male residents of the State. 
 
 The chief manufactured products are : flour, $8,000,000 ; 
 lumber, $6,000,000 ; sugar and machinery, each $4,000,000 ; 
 quartz gold, $3,400,000; printed work, $2,200,000; cigars, 
 $1,900,000; clothing, $1,800,000; malt liquors, $1,600,000 ; 
 boots and shoes, $1,500,000 ; iron castings, $1,300,000; car- 
 riages and wagons, $1,300,000; bread and woolen goods, each 
 $1,200,000 ; and harness, quicksilver, and distilled liquors, 
 each $1,000,000. The quartz mills and quicksilver reduction 
 works do not properly come under the head of manufactur- 
 ing establishments, and their production is underestimated. 
 
 Move than half of the manufacturing industry of California 
 is in San Francisco, which produces $37,000,000 out of the 
 $66,000,000 of annual product; pays $20,000,000 out of 
 $35,000,000 for raw material, and $7,000,000 out of $13,000,- 
 000 of wages; has $21,000,000 out of $40,000,000 capital, 
 and 1,223 out of 3,984 manufacturing establishments. After 
 San Francisco, in the amount of manufacturing product, are 
 Sacramento, with $4,000,000 ; Santa Clara, with $2,300,000 ; 
 Santa Cruz and Amador, each with $1,600,000 ; Sonoma, with 
 $1,400,000; Yuba and Nevada, each with $1,300,000; Ala- 
 meda, with $1,100,000 ; and Mendocino and San Joaquin, each 
 with $1,000,000. 
 
 § 136. Wages. — There has been a gradual fall in the wages 
 of labor since 1849. For instance, in that year the wages of 
 good carpenters were sixteen dollars per day; in 1851, ten 
 
186 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 dollars; in 1853, seven dollars; in 1856, five dollars ; and 
 now four dollars ; and there has been a similar decrease of 
 wao-es in all those branches of labor much in demand. Tail- 
 ors, shoemakers, and cabinet-makers have never received high 
 wages, because little is done in their trades. Millers, caulkers, 
 and shipwrights now get from four to six dollars per day ; 
 bricklayers, stone masons, and plasterers, fi'om four to five dol- 
 lars ; boiler-makers, machinists, and pattern-makers, four dol- 
 lars ; carpenters, blacksmiths, and carriage-makers, from three 
 to four dollars; house-painters, paper-hangers, and steve- 
 dores, three dollars ; hodmen and washerwomen, two dollars; 
 cotnmon white laborers, one dollar and seventy-five cents ; and 
 Chinamen, from eighty cents to one dollar and a quarter. Of 
 such pei'sons as are liired by tlie month and boarded, garden- 
 ers get thirty-five dollars; farmers, teamsters, waiters, sailors, 
 chambermaids, and seamstresses, twenty-five dollars. Clerks 
 in stores get from thirty to sixty dollars, with boarding ; from 
 fifty to one hundred dollars without boarding. The best 
 miners, of the class called " drifters," who cut and blast tun- 
 nels and dig shafts, get three or four dollars per day ; com- 
 mon miners get fifty dollars a month and boarding. 
 
 The policy of fixing wages so high that manufactures of 
 home production cannot compete with those imported, that 
 laborers cannot obtain steady employment, and tliat immi- 
 grants are frightened ofl" by the cry that this is no country 
 for a poor man, is the most pernicious one possible for the 
 State as a whole, and for laborers as a class. Irregularity and 
 uncertainty of employment are the greatest evils tliat can be- 
 set poor men ; and inability to furnish employment to poor 
 men, with profit to himself, is one of the most unfortunate 
 conditions for a rich man. The general interest is best pi'o- 
 moted when the poor man's labor and the rich man's money 
 are always in active demand at a fair price ; and then poor 
 men of intelligence, skill, and credit, svill frequently become 
 employers, and by their intluence and example keep up a kind- 
 ly feeling between the two classes. 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 187 
 
 § 137. Navy Yard. — The only navy yard established by 
 the American Government on the Pacific Coast, is at Mare 
 Island, twenty miles northeastward from San Francisco, and 
 it is destined to occnpy a prominent place in the manufactur- 
 ing industry of California. The site is excellent in nearly 
 every respect, and it will probably become the most impor- 
 tant navy yard of the country. The work on t/ie Atlantic 
 side is divided up between seven yards, and not one of them 
 is fitted up properly. The report of the Secretary of the 
 Navy for 1870 contains a report of Admiral Porter, who said: 
 
 " Mare Island is destined in time of war to be the most im- 
 portant of our dock-yards, and I therefore beg leave to invite 
 your particular attention to it. It is evident that in the future 
 all of our ships in the Pacific will have to depend upon the 
 Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs. The passage around 
 Cape Horn, at the end of a three years' cruise, should not be 
 attempted, and it will be found much more economical to fit 
 out vessels for Cliina, in California, by which they avoid the 
 long passage around the Cape of Good Hope, via Brazil, or 
 the troublesome and expensive one through the Suez Canal. 
 By the Cape of Good Hope route, the passage from New York 
 to Hong Kong cannot be made in less than one hundred and 
 ten days, or by way of the Suez Canal in less than sixty-five 
 days, while the voyage from San Francisco to the same point 
 can be perfoi-med in twenty-eight days. This is at once an 
 argument in favor of fitting vessels out at Mare Island for all 
 parts of the Pacific and for the Asiatic coast. The argu- 
 ment holds good also for laying the vessels up there, and they 
 can reach California from the China seas quicker than they 
 can the Eastern coast of America, to say nothing of the wear 
 and tear of the longer voyage, and the anxiety of coming on 
 our stormy coast in the winter, which they will escape. Sev- 
 eral of the European powers are making preparations to es- 
 tablish repairing stations in the East, if they have not already 
 done so ; while we need not go to such an expense- if we pro- 
 
188 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 vide tlie facilities for repairing the different vessels at Mare 
 Island." 
 
 Our ships in commission — that is, in active duty — are 
 divided into five squadrons. The Pacific, Asiatic, North At- 
 lantic, and European squadrons, are of nearly equal force ; 
 while the South Atlantic is of about half the force of either 
 of the others. The vessels are fitted up to cruise for a period 
 of three years. The men ai-e enlisted for that time, and the 
 imperishable ammunition and stores are calculated to last for 
 that period ; and as it takes many months for a ship to reach a 
 distant station, if the cruises were shorter, most of the time 
 would be lost in the outward and home voyages. For many 
 years it was customary, on account of lack of supplies and 
 machinery, and the high pi'ice of labor at Mare Island, to 
 send the ships of the Pacific and Asiatic squadrons to Atlan- 
 tic navy yards, to be refitted at the end of every cruise, tluis 
 consuming about one year out of three, in a long, uncomfort- 
 able, and useless voyage ; and most of the Asiatic ships still 
 make that costly trip. All the war ships of the country sta- 
 tioned in the Pacific hemisphere should be refitted at the Pa- 
 cific Navy Yard, in the opinion of Admiral Porter, and the 
 present Secretary of the Navy ; and when tlie Government 
 acts on that opinion, and puts our navy on an equality, as to 
 strength and efiiciency, Avith that of Great Britain, there will 
 be steady work for years at Mare Island for 10,000 men ; 
 whereas the largest number employed heretofore has been 2,000, 
 and they were retained only a short time, the average being 
 from 500 to 1,000. 
 
 The Woolwich, Cherbourg, and other navy yards of Great 
 Britain and France, have each more machinery and material 
 than all the American yards put together. Tlie British yards 
 furnish employment to 20,000 artisans in ordinary times, and 
 twice as many in exceptionally busy seasons. The Cherbourg 
 Navy Yard has cost $80,000,000 for permanent improvements ; 
 and with the low wages paid in France, that sum represents 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 189 
 
 more than twice as much labor and material as it would in 
 California. The total expenditure for permanent improve- 
 ments at Mare Island, has been perhaps $1,000,000. There 
 are some dwellings for officers, and buildings for workshops; 
 but instead of having machinery and materials for construct- 
 ing half a dozen large iron-cladsat once, there is not enough 
 of either for the convenient building of a small wooden vessel. 
 In fact, we arc almost helpless ; and such security as we enjoy 
 on this Coast against aggression is due, not to our strength, 
 but to the pacific disiDOsition or interests of the great naval 
 powers of Europe. 
 
 A Board of Government Engineers, in March, 1874, recom- 
 mended the following permanent improvements, viz : For 
 grading 100,000 cubic yards per annum, 15 years, $500,000 ; 
 the quay wall, 500 linear feet per annum, $2,500,000 ; for 
 extension of floating dock basin, and building and repairing 
 ways, 675 feet, to include Ways No. 8, and iron floating dock, 
 $1,750,000; for wood and metal work-shops for yards and 
 docks, $500,000 ; for carpenter and joiner shops for construc- 
 tion and repair, $300,000 ; for machine shops, storehouse, and 
 offices, $700,000 ; for storehouse and office for yards and docks, 
 $250,000 ; for temporary erecting-shop for steam engineering, 
 $300,000 ; for sail-loft in store, $300,000 ; for general store 
 for ordnance, $250,000 ; for shell-house for ordnance, $250,- 
 000 ; for smithery, $200,000 ; for machine shop, $500,000 ; 
 for boiler shop, $250,000 ; for storehouse, $300,000 ; or foun- 
 dry, $250,000; for construction basin complete, $1,500,000. 
 Total for fifteen years' construction estimated at $10,600,000. 
 
 § 138. Lumbering . — Lumbering, or the preparation of for- 
 est timber for industrial purposes, is an important branch of 
 the industry of the State. Our houses are built of lumber, 
 our streets are planked with lumber, our fields are fenced with 
 lumber, and our flumes and sluices are made of lumber. Some 
 parts of the State are very rich in timber, and can readily sup- 
 ply the whole demand. Lumber is of three kinds, sawn, 
 
190 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 hewn, and split : the last two kinds being very small in im- 
 portance as compared with tlie first. There are 328 saw-mills 
 (205 driven by steam, and 123 by water) in the State, and 
 they saw 260,000,000 feet (board measure) annually. Men- 
 docino saws 70,000,000, Humboldt 40,000,000, Nevada, 35,- 
 000,000, Placer 17,000,000, Santa Cruz 14,000,000, and Sono- 
 ma and El Dorado each 9,000,000. The coast mills ai-e occu- 
 pied almost entirely with redwood, and tlie mountain mills 
 with pine and fir. The mills in Nevada send large quantities 
 of lumber of the State of Nevada and Utah. 
 
 The logs cost from S4 to S7 per thousand feet, delivered at 
 the mill ; the sawing costs from $3.50 to $4.50, and the 
 freight to San Francisco is not less than $4.50 from Humboldt 
 Bay, or $3 from Mendocino and Sonoma ports, and sometimes 
 25 or 50 per cent. more. In redwood, from 15 to 35 per cent, 
 is clear, from 40 to 75 per cent, rough, and from 10 to 25 per 
 cent. I'efuse or broken. In fir, from 1 to 25 per cent, is clear, 
 from 65 to 85 is rough, and from 5 to 10 per cent, is refuse. 
 The refuse clear redwood sells for $10 less than the good clear, 
 and the refuse rough $4 less than the otlier. There is, be- 
 sides, a coinmission on sales, varying from two and a half to 
 five per cent. The average cost to the producer of tlie lum- 
 ber, delivered in San Francisco, is not less than $1 6. 
 
 § 139. Cod Fishery. — The fisheries of our Coast are, ac- 
 cording to respectable authorities, superior to those of the 
 North Atlantic in the abundance, variety, and quality of the 
 fish ; but if there were no superiority in any point, we should 
 still have cause to i-egret that the natural wealtli of our rivei's 
 and banks is neglected. We import largely of cod, mackerel, 
 herring, sardines, and anchovies, which abound on our shores ; 
 and perhaps sardelles, which we obtain from Germany, might 
 also be found here. The mackerel oiF the coast of Santa Bar- 
 bara is small ; but a fish very similar to the Atlantic mackerel, 
 and equal in size and flavor, was found near Kodiak by the 
 U. S. Coast Survey last summer. The cod banks of Alaska 
 
MANUFACTUKES, ETC. 191 
 
 are more extensive than those of Newfoundland. Halibut 
 can be caught in immense numbers, but they are scarcely dis- 
 turbed. The curing of salmon is only in its beginnings, while 
 that of herring, smelt, sardines, and anchovies has not yet 
 commenced. The cod fishery is languisliing. In 1873 only 
 eleven vessels went to the Alaska banks from California, about 
 one-half as many as had gone in several previous seasons. The 
 causes of the decline, so far as we can learn, are that the men 
 employed are ignorant and careless, the salt impure, and the 
 drying process faulty. Some vessels take the cheapest salt for 
 curing, and its alkalies unite with the fat of the fish to injui'e 
 its flavor and reduce its weight. Opinions prevail among ex- 
 perts that the process of drying proceeds too fast in our cli- 
 mate, and that the rapidity of desiccation makes the meat hard, 
 and prevents a certain course of chemical changes necessary 
 to excellence. It is said that some of the codfish most in favor 
 Avith those who claim to be gourmets, are also the most fra- 
 grant while drying. If a moister atmosphere than ours is 
 requisite, it can be found on the shores of Puget Sound, where 
 the climate resembles that of England. Spain, which has in 
 Europe the latitude and climate of California, has never taken 
 a prominent part in the cod-fishery of the Atlantic ; but the 
 Californians do not consider themselves limited by the exam- 
 ple of the Spaniards. 
 
 It is only within a few years that the codfishery has been 
 commenced in the Pacific. In 1864 the first vessel lel"t San 
 Francisco to fish for cod in the Northern seas, and her venture 
 was so profitable that a multitude of others followed her ex- 
 ami)le. Since then the business has been irregular, and is not 
 important just now ; but it will soon increase, and take a prom- 
 inent place among the industries of the North Pacific. Along 
 the shore of Alaska, au4 the numerous islands belonging to 
 it, the best and largest cod banks are found. The fish are 
 caught in water from fifteen to sixty fathoms deep, and hereto- 
 fore the vessels engaged in the trade have salted the fish down 
 
192 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 immediately after catching, and have kept them in salt until 
 their arrival here ; whereas the fish would have been better, 
 and the process cheaper, if the drying could have been done 
 near the fishing ground. 
 
 The principal fishing grounds are off the Fox Islands, the 
 Chouraagin Islands, and Kodiak, and a few boats have gone 
 to the Ochotsk. A large part of the ocean near our new pos- 
 session oft'ers a fine field for fisliing, but the depth of water 
 has been examined in comparatively few places. Off the 
 Choumagin Islands there is a bank, and the depth of water at 
 a distance of thirty-five miles is from forty to fifty fathoms. 
 Fifty miles south, 83° west of the southernmost point of the 
 Choumagin, there is a bank forty-five fathoms. Along the 
 southeastern coast of Afognak and Kodiak, there is a bank of 
 forty-five fathoms, but east of St. Paul's there is a " pocket " 
 with ninety fathoms. South by east, fourteen miles from the 
 eastern end of the easternmost of the Trinity Islands, there is 
 a bank with fifty fathoms. Half-way between Trinity Island 
 and Oukanok, soundings give fifty-five fathoms. East of the 
 south end of Niuniak Island, distant twenty-eight miles, the 
 water is fifty fathoms, and ten miles further east forty fathoms 
 deep. Nine miles southeast from the Sannach Reef, in latitude 
 54° 20', longitude 162° 30', bottom is found at thirty-five 
 fathoms. In latitude 53° 35' and longitude 164° 10', soundings 
 are obtained in fifty fathoms. In the eastern part of Behring's 
 Sea there is a cod bank with an area of 18,000 square miles 
 and a depth of less than fifty fathoms. 
 
 Our Coast Survey could scarcely render better service to 
 the country than by detailing several vessels to make a recon- 
 noissance of all the waters about Alaska, so as to ascertain pre- 
 cisely where the best fishing grounds are. That is work that 
 must be done, and the sooner the better. Professor Davidson 
 says: 
 
 " Next to the fur trade in its legitimate pursuit, the fisher- 
 ies of the coast of the new territory will prove the most valu- 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 193 
 
 :able ami certain ; in fact, I consider them the most important 
 acquisition to our Pacific Coast. As tlie hanks of Newfound- 
 land are to the ti'ade of tlie Atlantic, so will the greater banks 
 of Alaska be to the Pacific — inexhaustible in supply of fish 
 that are eqiial, if not superior, in size and quality, to those of 
 the Atlantic, and the pursuit thereof developing a race of sea- 
 men yearly decreasing as our steam marine, commercial and 
 naval, is increasing." 
 
 § 140. Salmon Fish-ery. — ^The rivers of California and the 
 waters of the ocean near its coast, abound with fish. Trout 
 are caught in the little streams, salmon in the Sacramento 
 and San .Joaquin, and the rivers emptying into the ocean north 
 of San Francisco Bay ; and a great variety of fish are cauglit 
 in the ocean. 
 
 Our fisheries are as yet so limited in extent that few fish 
 are salted, nearly all going while fresh to supply the market 
 of the towns on the coast. Salmon is the only fish salted for 
 export. The species of salmon caught in our waters is called 
 the Quinnat. They are hatched in the rivers, go out to sea 
 when three or four months old, stay there, probably not less 
 than fifteen months, and then return to the river in which they 
 were born, there to spawn. The Quinnat salmon, as found 
 in our waters, averages ten pounds in weight, and sometimes 
 grows to sixty jDouuds. It enters our rivers in November and 
 remains about four months. Before our rivers were kept in a 
 continual state of muddiness by the gold miners, the salmon 
 ascended every brook in the Sierra Nevada large enough for 
 a fish to swim in ; but now they do not leave the large rivers 
 nor ascend them far. The salmon in clear water ofi:er fine 
 sport to the fisherman with the fiy, but in California they are 
 caught only as a matter of business, and always in the gill- 
 net, which has meshes just large enough to let the fish get his 
 head in, and then the twine catches him behind the gills and 
 holds hira. The net is not dragged, but is stretched across or 
 partly across the river, and is allowed to drift with the current 
 13 
 
194 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 down stream, a distance of some hundreds of yards, perhaps a 
 quarter or even half a mile, tlie fisherman accompanying it 
 in a boat. The net has lead sinkers at the bottom and cork 
 floats at the top, so as to keep it upright, and it is not so deep 
 as to catch on the bottom. The fish are swimming up the 
 river, so they of coui-se run into the net. A large number of 
 salmon are taken in Eel River, Humboldt County, and great 
 quantities might be caught in the Klamath and other streams 
 along the northern coast. A few young salmon, varying from 
 three to six inches in length, are caught wliile on their way 
 out to sea, with fine nets, in the shallow waters of San Fran- 
 cisco Bay. The Quinnat salmon is fat when it enters the fresh 
 waters from the ocean, but gradually grows lean, and the 
 color, which is light yellowish red, changes to a deej^er shade 
 as it ascends the rivers. The meat becomes leaner, poorer in 
 flavor, and redder in color, in proportion to the length of time 
 that it remains in fresh water ; but the little ones which have 
 never seen the salt water, have a more delicate meat than the 
 larger ones fresh from the ocean. No attempt has yet been 
 made to breed fish for our rivers, though it might evidently 
 be done to a profit in many of the streams ^ but whether in 
 the Sierra Nevada, where the mud abounds, is doubtful. Yet 
 the probabilities of success are suflicient to justify the trial. 
 Fifteen years ago the salmon regularly ascended all, or nearly 
 all, the mountain streams, to points above any of the present 
 mining camps, where the waters are as clear now as they were 
 in 1847. The rule is known to be general, and supposed to be 
 universal, that the salmon leave the ocean in the stream from 
 which they entered it ; and it is supjwsed, further, that they 
 go to the very branch or brook in which they were born. It 
 is well known that there is a salmon in the Klamath River 
 never seen in Humboldt Bay, and various species in the Col- 
 umbia never found in the waters of California, and salmon in 
 the Quiniault River, Washington Territory, not found yet in 
 any other stream ; and the Indians of Oregon say that certain 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 195 
 
 tributaries of the Columbia liave species never canglit in any 
 other place. If, then, a million of eggs were hatched at the 
 head waters of the Sacramento River, there would be reason 
 to hope that tliey would return to spawn there. 
 
 § 14:1. Various Sea-fish. — The halibut are not sufficiently 
 abundant on the coast to make the fishery for them a distinct 
 branch of business. They are caught with a hook at sea, in 
 water varying from thirty to iifty fathoms deep, on rocky 
 bottoms. Tlie line called a " trawl-line " is about six hundred 
 yards long, with numerous short lines and hooks, and is left 
 six or eight hours in a place, and when drawn up has halibut, 
 flounders, rock-fish, turbot, cod, and nearly all the large bit- 
 ing fish that come to the market. The bait used is chiefly 
 sardines and herrings. ; 
 
 The mackerel, {Scomber diegd) a good fish, but smaller 
 than the Atlantic mackerel, is caught with a hook off" the 
 coast south of Point Conception. It is a surface fish, and 
 bites greedily at a bit of white rag or shining fish-skin jerked 
 through the water. It does not frequent bays, but is caught 
 in the harbors of Catalina Island. 
 
 The little brown rock-fish {Sebastes auriculatus) is caught 
 in San Francisco Bay about the wharves ; but the other species 
 are only found out in the open sea. Tliey stay where the 
 bottom is rocky, eat crabs and shell-fish, and bite freely at 
 hooks. Most of them are caught near Punta Reyes and the 
 Farallone Islands. The rock-fish are in the market, and of 
 equally good quality, throughout the year. 
 
 The turbot is caught with the trawl-line throughout the year. 
 Soles are caught with small mesh-nets in the shallow waters 
 of the Bay of San Francisco, at all seasons of the year. 
 There is no separate fishery for them : they are caught with 
 numerous other species of small fishes, among which the 
 smelts have an important place. The smelts are much more 
 abundant than on the Atlantic coast, go in large shoals, and 
 are caught at all seasons. A laraje business mi<rht be done in 
 
196 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 salting them, but tliey are caught only for the fresh market. 
 The anchovies are very numerous in San Francisco Bay, 
 where tliey try to keep in shoals by themselves, but do not 
 succeetl, and are caught with other small fishes in nets. They 
 are fully equal to the European anchovy, and may become an 
 important article of commerce. At present, most of those 
 taken are eaten fresh, and only a few are potted. They are 
 caught at all seasons of the year. Sardines are also abundant, 
 and of a flavor equal to those on the coast of France, but 
 larger. Tiiey are found in all the bays along the coast, from 
 May to October. An attempt was made several years ago to 
 pickle sardines for the market, but it failed. Tlie herring is 
 not abundant on the coast of Califoniia, or at least is not 
 found here in such dense shoals as in the Atlantic, and our 
 species is smaller. It is caught with a net in the shallow 
 watex's of the bays. Shrimps are caught in the shallow watei*s 
 of the bay of San Francisco with small mesh-nets, but are be- 
 coming very scarce. The sturgeon visits the rivers of the At- 
 lantic States, for only a couple of months in a year, but it is 
 abundant in the Californiau rivers at all seasons. It never 
 bites, the mouth being a round hole, always open, surrounded 
 with gristle. In the Eastern States the sturgeon is often har- 
 pooned, but here it is caught only with nets. The meat is 
 coarse, and is sold at one-fourth or one-sixth the price de- 
 manded for the meat of other fishes. The sturgeon might be 
 salted, but nothing has been done in that business yet. An 
 attempt was made several years ago in San Francisco to estab- 
 lish the business of preparing caviare from the roe of the stur- 
 geon, but it did not prove profitable, and it was abandoned. 
 Sea-bass, a fish of fine, delicate flavor, and highly prized by 
 epicures, is caught with hand-lines outside the heads of San 
 Francisco Bay, and in the bay near Saucelito, with nets during 
 the spring and summer. It is not abundant. The sheeps- 
 head, an excellent fish, is caught ofl' Santa Barbara with hand- 
 lines durins: the summer. It should be brousxht to the mar- 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 197 
 
 ket alive in smacks, for it loses its delicacy of flavor soon 
 after deatli. Tlie jewfish is abundant south of Point Concep- 
 tion, and may easily be taken with a hook or harpoon. It 
 spends most of its time at the bottom, in both deep and shoal 
 water, but frequently comes to the siirface, and according to 
 report, sleeps there. It also goes into lagoons, and likes to be 
 near the kelp. They grow very large, sometimes to weigh 
 five hundred pounds ; and as their flesh is very good, a jorofit- 
 able business might be made of fishing for them. 
 
 Sharks are taken by Chinamen for food, and by Americans 
 for tlieir oil. The common sharks caught by the Chinamen, 
 perhaps more properly called " dog-fish," [Acanthea suckleyi, 
 and TrkiJcis fasciatus) are taken in nets during the summer 
 months, and are dried in the sun. They are from three to five 
 feet long, and contain a large amount of meat, whicli is never 
 eaten by white men, but seems to have favor among the Mon- 
 golians. Tlie fish is cut open by a dexterous and quick stroke 
 of a large knife along the back-bone, and is then dried with- 
 out the use of salt. The fins are considered a delicacy. In 
 Humboldt Bay the true shark, {Notorhynchus ynaculatus) from 
 five to twelve feet in length, is taken with spears. Three men 
 have a flat-bottomed boat, twenty feet long and four feet wide, 
 with which they go into the shallow waters of the bay, whither 
 the sharks resort in pursuit of the sardines. The liver is taken 
 from the shark, and the remainder thrown away. Each 
 liver yields from one to eight pounds of oil. The spears have 
 a handle eight feet long, whicli is loose, and comes out of the 
 spear-head after the shark is struck. If the handle were fas- 
 tened in the spear-head, it would be broken by the struggles 
 of the fish. A rope attached to the spear-head suffices to hold 
 him, and by its means he is drawn up to the side of the boat, 
 where he is struck by an axe on the head, and thus dispatched. 
 The shark season lasts only about two months, during July 
 and August. The oil is used for lubricating the machinery of 
 the sasv-mills about the bay, and sells for one dollar per gal- 
 
198 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Ion ; and so long as the season lasts, the fishermen make from 
 five to ten dollars per day. 
 
 Monterey Bay is destined to be the seat of a large fishing 
 interest. The bay, being twenty miles wide at the mouth, and 
 ten miles deep inland, serves as a sort of bag to catch the fish, 
 which come running down the coast near shore; and as the 
 depth of water is not great, fishermen have an excellent chance 
 at them. Many kinds of fish, which seldom venture in at the 
 narrow Golden Gate against a strong tide and fresh water, 
 abound at Monterey. There is no better place on the coast for 
 catching sardines and herrings than at Monterey, which town 
 would also 'be an excellent rendezvous for smacks engaged in 
 catching the larger varieties of fish that are found in the 
 Santa Bai-bara Channel. So many whales enter Monterey Bay, 
 that there are several whale-boats constantly engaged in hunt- 
 ing them, and about forty are killed annually. Tiie Mon- 
 terey whale fishers are mostly Portuguese ; the Chinese devote 
 themselves to fishing for small fry, of which they catch and 
 dry about three hundred tons in a year. Besides the fish, the 
 Celestials take great numbers of abelones, the mollusks that 
 make the large, bright, univalve, pearl-like shells of our Coast. 
 
 § 142. JJuntinf/. — The principal game quadrupeds and birds 
 of California are grizzly bear, elk, deer, antelope, hare, rabbit ; 
 the gray Canada brant, the wliite goose; the canvas-back, 
 mallard, sprig-tail, spoonbill, and summer ducks, the widgeon, 
 the teal, the English black-breasted, sand, and dowiches snipe ; 
 the curlew, the mountain partridge, the valley quail, and var- 
 ious kinds of grouse. Nobody makes a business of hunting 
 the grizzly : to attack him is so dangerous, and to kill him so 
 difiicult, that many hunters will not shoot at him even when 
 he comes in their way. A large number of them, however, 
 are killed every year, and their carcasses are seen in the meat 
 markets of San Francisco at all seasons of the year. The 
 meat resembles pork in its greasiness, but it is coarser in texture, 
 and rank in fiavor. It nauseates some delicate stomachs. 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 199 
 
 The Spanish-Californians sometimes lasso the bear, "When 
 four or five of them, well mounted, and provided with good 
 saddles and reatas, surprise a bear in an open plain, they all 
 beset him at once, and while one thi*ows the lasso over his 
 head, another catches him by a hind-leg, and a third by a fore- 
 leg ; and then two horses in front, but a little distance from 
 each other, drag him along, and the thiixl and perhaps a fourth 
 horse follows him, each one keeping his lasso stretched, so that 
 even if the bear should succeed in breaking one riata or slip- 
 ping it off, he will still be held fast by several others. He is 
 thus dragged to a pen, where he is kept for a bull-fight or 
 some other amusement. 
 
 It is only a few years since the elk were abundant on the 
 Sacramento and San Joaquin, but they have now disappeared 
 in those places, and are found in small numbers along the 
 northern coast, where they will soon be exterminated. The 
 meat resembles that of the deer, but is a little coarser in grain. 
 The elk are shy animals, have a very quick ear, and are more 
 difficult to apj)roach than any other game animal in the State, 
 unless the mountain sheep be excepted. They ordinarily lie 
 hidden in thickets during the middle of the day, and feed 
 about sunrise and sunset, at which times the hunters seek 
 them. 
 
 The black-tailed deer are good game for the hunter. They 
 may be approached with more ease than the Virginia deer, run 
 with a steady gait, and when disturbed do not run so far. 
 The deer east of the Mississippi go with a run and a jump; 
 the Pacific deer move with a steady run. Their meat is not 
 so sweet as that of their Eastern congeners. The deer live 
 near the timber, and ai'e found along the coast and in the 
 Sierra Nevada. They were at one time very abundant, but are 
 now rai)idly decreasing. The best place for hunting them is 
 in Mendocino County. There is no deer-hunting on horseback, 
 nor by large parties. The hunters go out alone or in small 
 parties. Occasionally a deer is caught with the lasso, but this 
 
200 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 requires an excellent liorse, a fii^st-i-ate vaquero, and a snrprisey 
 or when a man riding through the woods will occasionally 
 come within a few yards of the deer before being seen. 
 
 Tlie antelope lives in the open plain and in the desert. The 
 valley of San Joaquin was once full of great herds of them, 
 but they, like other large game, have become rare noAv. They 
 are shy, but inquisitive also, and are easily enticed to approach 
 the hunter, who hides himself behind a rock, and fastening a 
 white handkerchief to his ramrod, waves it back and forth. 
 The antelope, like the deer, is occasionally caught with the 
 reata, but these occasions do not occur once in the year, and 
 when they do occur, they establish the fame of the horse and 
 rider engaged in the exploit. 
 
 Tliere is one pack of hounds in tlie State, and they are some- 
 times, but rarely, used for liunting coyotes and foxes, as well 
 as deer. 
 
 Tlie wild geese and ducks are very abundant in California, 
 from September to March. Hiey spend the winter in thetules 
 of San Francisco Bay and tributary waters, and in the spring 
 they migrate to the north. While here, they afford profitable 
 em]>loyment to a number of hunters, who are of two classes — 
 the " boat-shooters " and the " ox-shootei-s. " The boat-shooters 
 go in parties of two or three, each party having a sloop of its 
 own. The sloop goes to the slough where the game abounds, 
 and there evei*y man starts in his skiff*, with three double-bai*- 
 relled shot-guns. He usually shoots first at the ducks or geese 
 while they are in the water, and afterward again and again as 
 they rise and fly. Sometimes he goes ashore, to shoot them 
 while feeding. The geese spend the night in the water — gen- 
 erally in a slough or pond — and rise about daybi-eak, to feed 
 in the fields of grain, grass, or wild oats. They remain there 
 dunng a considerable part of the morning, return to spend the 
 middle of the day in the water, go back to the fields in the 
 afternoon, and at sunset take to the water again for the night. 
 The ducks get most of their food in the tules, and are not 
 often shot on the land. 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 201 
 
 Tlie ox-shooter stalks his game. He has a trained ox, wliich 
 walks before him and liides him from the geese or ducks until 
 within good sliooting-distance. The boat-shooters average 
 thirty ducks a day during the season ; and a good ox-shooter 
 will sometimes kill one hundred and fifty geese in a day. 
 
 Snipe, curlew, and quail, are the game for sportsmen who 
 hunt for their amusement, and the modes of hunting them are 
 the same as those in the Eastern States. 
 
 The diver or devil's diver frequents the bays of California, 
 and is killed for its pelt, which is used for collars, capes, and 
 muffs, the feathers being fine in texture, making a thick mat, 
 and wearing a smooth surface with lustrous white, gray, and 
 dai-k gray colors. The bird when shot is skinned by cutting 
 down the middle of the back, so as to preserve the beautiful 
 plumage of the breast entire ; and a large pelt, nicely stretched 
 and dried, has at times been worth $3 or $4 in the San Fran- 
 cisco market, and in Europe still more. It is said that as 
 many as one liundrcd liave been killed by one hunter in a day, 
 but that was at a time when they were far more abundant 
 than now. 
 
 § 143. House-building. — In the building of houses, the Cali- 
 fornians, like Americans generally, are expert and quick. It 
 it is not uncommon to see a wooden dwelling-house commenced 
 and finished within a month. Brick houses are built so fast, 
 that the mortar has scarcely time to dry and harden as the 
 walls go up. Most of the houses are of wood, and of the kind 
 called " Balloon " or " Chicago " frames, fastened togetlier with 
 nails, without tenons and mortices, and with no upright posts 
 thicker than two by four inches. This kind of a frame, called 
 " Balloon " from its lightness, and " Chicago " because they first 
 came extensively into use in that ])lace about fifteen years ago, 
 ajipears very strange to a carpenter familiar only with the old- 
 fashioned frames held together by tenons and mortices ; but 
 weak as the balloon-frame appears, it is really the strongest 
 kind of a wooden building ; and it is not uufrequeutly made 
 
202 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 four or five stories liigli, Avliereas the heavier frame very rarely 
 reaches tliree stories. 
 
 In tlie balloou-frarae, the sills, instead of being eight, ten, 
 or twelve inches square, are only two or three inches by six or 
 eight ; and they rest on numerous studs, which again rest on 
 the ground. Tiie sills are nailed together at the corners. The 
 studs are not morticed into the sills, but nailed upon them. 
 The lower joists stand upon the sills, and the upper ones rest 
 upon an inch board " let into " the studs to which they are 
 nailed. On the top of the studs is no heavy plate, but only a 
 board. At the corners two studs are put side by side. Each 
 stud is hoisted to its place separately, so there is no " raising." 
 Wooden houses are all covered with shingles. White pine, 
 imported from the Eastern States, is used to a considerable 
 extent for the frames and casings of doors and windows, and 
 for other inside-work ; and nearly all the doors and window- 
 sashes are imported ready made. 
 
 Nine-tenths of the houses in the State are of wood ; the 
 others are of brick and adobes. Stone houses are very rare. 
 Brick buildings are numerous in the business streets of the 
 cities and towns. Every town of note has its fire-proof brick 
 stores, with iron doors and window-shutters, and its roof of 
 brick laid in mortar. The bricks are made in this State, and 
 the lime is burned here. Brick buildings not constructed to 
 be fire-]iroof, have shingled roofs. There are a few buildings 
 with fronts of granite, which for one house was brought from 
 China, and that for others from the Eastern States. 
 
 Stone houses are very rare in California : it would almost be 
 possible to count all of them on the fingers. Nearly all the 
 dwellings in the counties bordering on the coast, from Mon- 
 terey southward, are made of adobes, or sun-dried bricks ; but 
 most of the houses built of late, and all the elegant structures, 
 are of wood or brick. 
 
 § 144. Turpentine, etc. — When the exportation of rosin 
 and turpentine from North Carolina was arrested by the civil 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 203 
 
 war, Butte County went into the production of those things 
 from the pitch of the Western Yellow Pine, {Pinus ponderosa) 
 wliich grows about Forbestown and Magalia, and in other 
 parts of the country, to large size and in great abundance. A 
 hole was cut in the side of the ti-ee in the spring, and the semi- 
 fluid pitch which collected there was put into a retort and 
 distilled, the volatile i)ortion passing off in vapor, and after- 
 wards condensing into turpentine, while the solid matter re- 
 mained in the form of rosin. This industry was very active 
 for four or five years, but at last lias ceased, as North Caro- 
 lina has again resumed her old industry, and can make rosin 
 and turpentine cheaper than we can. 
 
 Some turpentine makers in Butte County tried to distill the 
 pitch of tlie nut pijie, [Pbms sahiniana) and after some diffi- 
 culty succeeded, but found that the liquid produced was dif- 
 ferent from turpentine, being much ligliter and possessing a 
 pleasant odor. An examination of it made by W. T. Wenzel, 
 chemist, showed that its specific gravity is only 0.694, while 
 that of turpentine is 0.840, and its boiling point differs 
 much from that of turpentine. It was first named erasine, 
 but druggists who have sought to convey the idea that they 
 had exclusive possession of it, have called it aurantine, theo- 
 line, abietine, and various other names. It is excellent for dis- 
 solving grease, and its vapors are fatal to moths. 
 
 The manufacturers of erasine buy their pitch delivered at 
 $3.50 per 100 pounds — the price being about twice as high as 
 that of the pitch from the common yellow pine trees. The 
 latter are larger and grow in denser forests, so that one man 
 can collect more in a day. The pitch-gatherer cuts a notch 
 eight or ten inches wide across the tree, and three or four 
 inches deep, with a depression that will hold the sap, which is 
 transferred once a month to a tin can. A tree two feet in 
 diameter will yield from three to four gallons the first year, 
 and more the second and third ; and forty gallons of the crude 
 pitch will, when distilled, give five gallons of erasine and 
 
204 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 twenty-five or tliirty of fine rosin. The distillation is more 
 diflicult and also move dangerous than that of common tur- 
 pentine. 
 
 § 145, Silk. — San Francisco has now a silk factory en- 
 gaged in the manufacture of sewing silk. The silk manufac- 
 urers are sanguine in regard to the profits of the business in 
 this State. They claim that the expense of living is less here 
 than in Paterson or Lyons ; that the warmth of the winters 
 will save the expense of heating the mills, (the threads snap in 
 cold Aveather, especially when the machinery is first started in 
 the morning) and labor is cheaper, 
 
 § 146. Sulphur and Salt. — The production of sulphur and 
 manufacture of its compounds in California, is rising in im- 
 portance. The chief supply of the world is obtained from the 
 sides of Mount ^Etna, in Sicily, and this State used the Sicilian 
 brimstone until lately. The sulphur works on the shore of 
 Clear Lake have at times produced four tons a day — as much 
 as the Coast could consume. The freight from the Mediterra- 
 nean, the increased charge on account of the combustible 
 nature of the material, and the necessity for keeping large 
 stocks on hand, so as to prevent any disturbance of trade in 
 case a cargo should be delayed or lost, give decided advanta- 
 ges to the home manufacture. The Sicilian brimstone cannot 
 be laid down here for less than four cents per pound, and the 
 domestic article is sold for three and a half cents. 
 
 The sulphur bed of Clear Lake is about eight miles from 
 the southern end, on the eastern shore, only a few hundred 
 yards from the water. There is a bank resembling ashes, in 
 which there are numerous alkaline and sulphur springs, and 
 also vent-holes, from which sulphurous fumes escape. These 
 holes are surrounded by beautiful cr3'stals of pure sulphur 
 deposited by the fumes rising from below. The earth, con- 
 taining about fifty per cent, of sulphur, is placed in an iron 
 retort, which is heated to a high temperature, so that the sul- 
 phur is driven oft" in fumes into a receiver, where it settles in 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 205 
 
 a liquid form, and runs out into pine boxes, two feet long, and 
 a foot square. It is as pure as the Sicilian brimstone, but the 
 latter comes in sticks, which are more convenient for handling, 
 when small pieces are wanted. 
 
 The lump sulphur is used chiefly for making jiowder, and 
 sulphuric acid, which last is employed in making blue-stone, 
 giant powder, nitric acid, and muriatic acid, and in refining 
 gold and silver. The consumption of sulphuric, nitric, and 
 muriatic acid on the Coast, amounts to 2,000,000 tbs, and the 
 entire demand is supplied by home manufacture. The produc- 
 tion of flowers of sulphur has been commenced at Clear Lake. 
 The fumes passing ofl" from the retort, instead of being carried 
 into a small hot receiver as for brimstone, are led into a large, 
 cool chamber, in wliich they condense into a flaky, snowlike 
 form. A large supply of the flowers of sulphur has been re- 
 quired in this State by the vineyardists, who use them to pre- 
 vent or cure the oidiura, or vine mildew. 
 
 East of Kern Lake there is a flat, with an area of twelve 
 square miles, where brine stronger than that of most saline 
 springs can be obtained at a depth of ten feet, and it yields a 
 salt of excellent quality for table purposes. This brine rises 
 to tlie surface in various places, and in dry weather dries and 
 crystallizes, so that considerable quantities can be shoveled 
 up in an impure condition. Persons at various times have 
 pumped lip the water and boiled it down, but nothing is beino- 
 done now in that way. The natural brine is strong euouo-h 
 without concentration to pickle meat. 
 
 Along the coast, salt is made from the ocean at various 
 points where the water can be admitted at pleasure, or is 
 blown by storms into shallow ponds. The most extensive salt 
 ponds of the State are in Alameda County, where several 
 thousand acres in a district extending from near San Leandro 
 to tlie JMission of San Jose, are used in summer for the pur- 
 poses of evaporation ; and hundreds of tons of salt are pro- 
 duced there annually, most of it of a very low grade. At 
 
206 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the Goleta Ranch, in Santa Barbai-a County, a flat fills with 
 water during storms and dries np in clear weather, leaving a 
 bed of salt that has supplied a large area of country for many 
 years. 
 
 In some of the salt flats along the eastern base of the Sierra 
 Nevada, salt has been obtained for years by evaporating 
 water drawn from pits or wells only two or three feet deep. 
 
 The salt-makers, while digging their pits, found large crys- 
 tals, which they tasted and threw away because they were 
 not good salt. Assays prove that they are borax, and many 
 of these flats, which were not worth $1.25 per acre for the 
 brine, have now been bought up. It is singular that the 
 brine in these flats should be nearly free from borax, and that 
 the crystals in the stratum in which the brine is found are 
 nearly free from salt. The surface of the salt and borax flats 
 is usually covered with slum or dry mud, about a foot thick ; 
 and beneath that is a layer of earth and sand, mixed with the 
 borax crystals, from an inch to two feet thick. So far, only one 
 stratum of borax has been found, but others could perhaps be 
 discovered by deep digging. The borax is worth twenty 
 times as much per ton as ordinary salt. 
 
 In Southern California, near the line of Nevada, there is a 
 deposit of rock salt in large rectangular and transparent crys- 
 tals, and it is supposed that by careful search other similar de- 
 posits might be found. Some of this salt is quarried now, and 
 hauled away by people in the vicinity. 
 
 § 147. Heet Sugar. — The manufacture of beet sugar was 
 commenced in 1870, when 500,000 pounds were manufactured 
 from that year's crop; the beets of 1871 supplied 850,000 
 pounds; those of 1872, 1,300,000 pounds, and those of 1873, 
 1,500,000 pounds. There are two factories, one at Santa 
 Cruz, the other at Sacramento. The average yield of beets is 
 fifteen tons to the acre ; the average yield of sugar, eight per 
 cent., or 2,400 pounds of sugar to the acre. It has been found 
 that in our climate the beet can be kept with much less ex- 
 
MANUFACTURES, ETC. 207 
 
 pense than in those places where the thermometer frequently 
 goes down to zero. Protection against frost is expensive in 
 Germany, and here it costs nothing. The Californian beet su- 
 gar mills are the only successful establishments of the kind in 
 United States, but they are not very proiitable, or they would 
 have been enlarged beyond their present capacities. Each is 
 prepared now to work up sixty tons of beets in a day. 
 
208 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CmVPTER vin. 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 § 148. Statistics. — According to the Federal census report, 
 California had, in 1870, 23,734 farms, averaging 482 acres in 
 size. Of those which had 500 acres or more, there were 1,915 ; 
 12,248 had between 100 and 499 acres; 3,224 between 50 
 and 99 acres; and 6,339 between 3 and 49 acres. Tracts of 
 less than three acres were not counted. The round casli value 
 of the farms was $141,000,000 ; of our live stock, $37,000,000 ; 
 and of our annual farm products, $50,000,000. The total num- 
 ber of acres in farms was 11,400,000, and the number im- 
 proved, 0,200,000. According to the latest State statistics, 
 5,261,000 acres were enclosed in 1871, and 3,653,000 were 
 cultivated, and 20,074,000 were assessed in 1872. The State 
 Report says that the total production of cereals amounted in 
 1870 — we have returns for 1871, but the crop was less then 
 on account of drought — to 30,000,000 bushels, including 
 17,300,000 of wheat, 9,500,000 of barley, 3,700,000 of oats, 
 and 1,400,000 of maize. In other words, we grew nearly twice 
 as much wheat as barley ; nearly three times as much barley 
 as oats ; and twice as much oats as maize. In Ohio, on the 
 other hand, they grow about twenty times as much wlieat as 
 barley ; as much oats as wheat ; and fifty per cent, more maize 
 than of the three others combined. 
 
 In April, 1874, 4,500,000 acres of land were under cultiva- 
 tion, tlie increase having been rapid of late years. In 1860, 
 the area was 937,000 acres ; in 1866, 1,774,000, and in 1870, 
 2,992,000, the gain being more than ten per cent, annually 
 
AGRICULTURE. 209 
 
 compounding. Of the total in the spring of 1874, about 
 1,500,000 acres were to be credited to the low land of the San 
 Joaquin Valley, 875,000 to the Northern Coast, 1,350,000 to 
 the Southern Coast, 730,000 to the low land of the Sacramento 
 Valley, and 200,000 to the Sierra Nevada, with the addition 
 of Siskiyou and Shasta Counties. 
 
 It is estimated that 40,000,000 acres in the State deserve 
 to be considered tillable. The area of the land surveyed is 
 33,000,000 acres; and the amount disposed of, 22,000,000 
 acres. The last figure includes 8,000,000 acres of Mexican 
 grants, 7,500,000 acres given for educational pui'poses, 4,000,- 
 000 acres sold, 600,000 given as homestead claims, and 800,000 
 granted to the State as swamp laud. The railroad grants 
 cover 30,000,000 acres in the State, but the patents have been 
 issued for only a small ])ortion of this amount. 
 
 § 149, Colorado Desert Volkijs. — In considering the dis- 
 tricts valuable for agriculture, let us first turn our attention to 
 the valleys east of the Coast and Sierra divides. 
 
 The Carriso Valley, opening into the Colorado Desert, near 
 the line of Lower California, has no town, a very dry climate, 
 and a fierce summer temperature. The same remarks apply 
 to San Felipe and Cahuilla Valleys further north, the last be- 
 ing the largest and best of the three, with some excellent 
 soil. A district ten miles wide and forty long, thirty miles 
 east of the summit of the Coast mountains below the level ot 
 the sea, could be irrigated, from the Colorado, and might, no 
 doubt, be made valuable. The soil, though not very rich, 
 would no doubt be productive when supplied with abundant 
 moisture. Wherever there is any cultivation in the low lands 
 of the Colorado Desert, vegetation reaches maturity six 
 weeks earlier than on the western side of the Coast Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 § 150, Valleys of the Enclosed Basin. — Crossing from the 
 Colorado Desert into the enclosed basin, we come to the Mo- 
 jave, which rises on the northern slopes of Mount San Bernar- 
 14 
 
210 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 dino. It is a very irregular stream, sometimes being nearly 
 dry, and there are few settlers in its valley ; which may be tilla- 
 ble for a width of two and a length of twenty miles. Teha- 
 chepo Valley, drained by White Rock Creek, is ten miles long 
 and two wide. Amargosa River, terminating in Death Val- 
 ley, has a considerable basin, but no desirable land. Owen 
 Valley, eighty miles long, three miles wide, and 4,500 feet 
 above the sea, is fertile, and is supplied with water for irriga- 
 tion by numerous creeks that come down from the moun- 
 tains. Mono Valley, twenty miles long and three wide, is sim- 
 ilar to Owen Valley. The East Walker and West Walker 
 Rivers, tributaries to Walker River in Nevada, run through 
 deep canons in California, with very little tillable land. An- 
 telope Creek, emptying into Honey Lake, has a valley twenty 
 miles long and one wide. It is about 4,000 feet above the sea. 
 Susan River, emptying into the same lake, has a valley twice 
 as large. Some of the land is alkaline and unfit for cultiva- 
 tion. Pine Creek, a tributary of Eagle Lake, has a valley ten 
 miles long and half a mile wide. Surprise Valley, in the 
 northeastern corner of the State, is forty miles long and five 
 wide, and has a rich soil covered in places by a dense growth 
 of wild clover. 
 
 § 151. Coast Valleys. — In San Diego County, we find the 
 Tia Juana, (part of it belongs to Lower California) Sweet- 
 water, and Santa Margarita Creeks, and San Diego, San Ber- 
 nardo, and San Luis Rey Rivers, The last is the most import- 
 ant, but they are all small streams with little level land. Not 
 ten square miles out of fifteen thousand in this county, includ- 
 ing three thousand west of the main divide of the Coast 
 Range, are under cultivation. 
 
 In Los Angeles County, as we move northward from the 
 San Diego line, we pass successively the San Juan and Alisos 
 Creeks, and the Santa Ana, Coyote, and San Gabriel Rivers. 
 The Santa Ana is the lai-gest stream, emptying into the ocean 
 between Cape San Lucas and Monterey, a distance of a thou- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 211 
 
 sand miles ; and yet its bed for ten miles nearest the sea is dry 
 for six months of the year in ordinary seasons. Its waters are 
 used for irrigating San Bernardino, Riverside, Anaheim, 
 Santa Ana, Cocamongo, Jurupa, and Chino. 
 
 San Bernardino has the best wheat land in the State south 
 of 35°, and a considerable part of it is table land, a thou- 
 sand feet above the sea. Both the ujiper and lower plains are 
 well adapted to the cultivation of the vine and sub-tropical 
 fruits. 
 
 The San Gabriel River ranks next to the Santa Ana in size 
 on tlie western slope of tlie Coast mountains, south of Monterey. 
 Near the main stream are San Gabriel, Monte, Nietos, San 
 Pascual, Santa Anita, and Wilmington ; on its branch, the 
 Los Angeles River, is the town of Los Angeles. About fifteen 
 miles from the ocean the San Gabriel breaks through a i-idge 
 of hills, abo^'e which, for a distance of two miles, the river 
 disappears in the summer and fall, making its way under- 
 ground through a sandy plain, and then reappearing below at 
 the canon in the hills. This plain is covered with willows, 
 and is called the " jNIonte," which in Spanish means either a 
 mount or a forest. The earth here is moist, and is the best for 
 maize in the State. The soil in all the Coast valleys south of 
 35° is sandy, and at Los Angeles and Anaheim much of it is 
 nearly pure sand. After running a stream of water for a few 
 hours through an irrigating ditch, nothing save gray sand is 
 left in sight. On the bottom land below the hills, water 
 stands about ten feet below the surface, and artesian water is 
 obtained about seventy feet deeper. Artesian water has also 
 been found in the San Bernardino plain. The valleys of the 
 Santa Ana and San Gabriel contain many vineyards, and have 
 more lai-ge orchards of sub-tropical fruit than any other part 
 of the State. 
 
 The Saticoy, or Santa Clara River, has a length of seventy 
 miles, and for forty miles nearest the sea its bed is dry in the 
 fall. The soil of its valley is sandy. 
 
 k 
 
212 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The Buenaventura River has a valley about twenty miles 
 long, with an average width of a quarter of a mile. There are 
 numerous little valleys in Ventura County, all well adapted to 
 the cultivation of sub-tropical fruits. Artesian water is found 
 near the mouth of the Buenaventura River. 
 
 The Santa Barbara plain, at the southei-n base of the Santa 
 Inez mountains, has some of the finest orchards of sub-tropical 
 fruits in the State. 
 
 The Santa Inez River has a valley about thirty miles long 
 and two wide, but has no considerable town or extensive cul- 
 tivation ; and the same remarks apply to the Cuyama River, 
 which lies to the north of it. Both of them reach the sea 
 through canons, the widest parts of their valleys being back 
 ten or fifteen miles from the ocean. 
 
 The Salinas valley, the largest of all the coast valleys, is 
 ninety miles long, and from eight to fourteen wide. Three 
 ten'aces are distinctly traceable on each side of the river. The 
 first and lowest is about four miles wide, Avith a sort of a rich, 
 sandy loam ; the second rises with an abrupt edge, is eleven 
 feet higher, has about two miles of width on each side, and 
 has a coarser, poorer soil ; the third terrace is less regular in 
 height and width, and has a coarse, gravelly soil, scarcely fit 
 for cultivation. This terraced formation, with its variations 
 in richness of soil, is a strongly-marked feature of man}' 
 valleys in the State. The southern or upper part of the valley 
 is very dry, and the cultivation is confined almost entirely to 
 the lower or northern part of it, within convenient reach of 
 steam communication. 
 
 The Pajaro valley has two branches, one coming from the 
 southward, the other from the northward, and both rich. In 
 tlie northern branch, about ten miles south of the town of 
 Gilroy, is a ])lain of about ten thousand acres of rich swamp 
 that needs draining. 
 
 The San Lorenzo, flowing southward into Monterey Bay, is 
 the first stream to which we have come with a considerable 
 
AGRICULTURE. 213 
 
 body of forest in the low land of its basin. The pasturage is 
 good, but the area of tillable soil is scanty. 
 
 Passing by the Golden Gate in our northward course, we 
 find that the next noteworthy stream entering the ocean is 
 Russian River, which has a main valley forty miles long and 
 about three miles wide, much of it very fertile. It has also a 
 number of small tributary valleys, including those of Green, 
 Dry, Santa Rosa, Mark West, Knight's, Spring, Redwood, and 
 Potter Creeks. 
 
 Walhalla, Navarro, Eel, and Mad Rivers, are in the redwood 
 region, and those portions of their basins within twenty miles 
 of the ocean are covered with dense forests of the Coast Se- 
 quoia, which is almost inei-adicable ; and tillage is possible, or 
 at least profitable, only in places that happen to be free from 
 those trees. 
 
 The lOamath rises in Oregon, and has a considerable part 
 of its basin, including much fertile land, in California. Nearly 
 all of its tillable ^oil is 2,000 feet or more above the level 
 of the sea, and is exposed to severe winter and frequent frosts 
 in spring and fall. 
 
 § 152. San Francisco Basin. — The San Francisco Basin, 
 lying west of the Diablo Divide and finding its outlet to the 
 sea at the Golden Gate, is the richest part of the State. It 
 extends from Calistoga to Gilroy, a distance of 120 miles from 
 north to south, and is about twenty-five miles wide. Going 
 southward from San Francisco, on the eastern side of the 
 Gabilan Ridge, we pass San Andreas, Raymundo, and Red- 
 wood Valleys, opening into the San Mateo plain, bounded on 
 the east by San Francisco Bay. These little valleys are well 
 wooded, have good soil, and beautiful scenery ; and the country 
 below them is covered with the country residences of the rich 
 men of San Francisco. 
 
 Santa Clara Valley, about thirty miles long, and ten miles 
 wide at its mouth, is the richest and largest of the valleys in 
 the San Francisco Basin. Its proximity to the metropolis, its 
 
214 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 facilities for communication by land and water, and the abund- 
 ance of its artesian wells, contribute to attract population aud 
 stimulate cultivation. Wheat, temperate fruits, and straw- 
 berries, are among its chief productions. Much of the valley 
 is covered with scattered oak trees. 
 
 The Alameda plain, between the Contra Costa Ridge and 
 San Francisco Bay, has a ricli, deep soil, excellent for wheat 
 and barley, and part of it well adapted to the cultivation of 
 kitchen vegetables ; and of tliese the metropolis gets a large 
 portion of its supply here. Orchards of apple, pear, plum, 
 cherry, and peach trees, are numerous. 
 
 Between the Contra Costa Ridge and the Diablo Divide 
 lies a valley called Amador, Livermore, San Ramon, Alamo, 
 and Pacheco, in dift'erent parts. The first two have their out- 
 let to the southward ; the last three send their waters to the 
 Strait of Carquinez, at Martinez. Alameda Creek, which 
 drains Amador and Livermore Valleys, runs through Sunol 
 Dale, which is about three miles in diameter, and is surrounded 
 by steep mountains. 
 
 Tasajera and Diablo are small valleys running down from 
 Mt. Diablo. 
 
 Crossing the Strait of Carquinez, we come to Napa Valley, 
 which is forty miles long, by two miles of an average width. 
 At the lower end the soil is a deep loam, and very fertile ; 
 near the upper end we find much gravel. Wheat is cultivated 
 in the rich soil ; vineyards and orchards are moi'e profitable 
 farther north. The possession of a railroad, of numerous 
 places of fashionable resort, of beautiful scenery, and a 
 healthful climate, have contributed to place Napa Valley next 
 to Santa Clara in relative wealth. Conn and Brown Valleys 
 are small tributaries of Napa. 
 
 Sonoma Valley is about fifteen miles long and two wide. 
 Most of the soil is thin and not well adapted for grain, but the 
 grape flourishes, and this valley has more vines than any other 
 district of its size in the State. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 215 
 
 Petaluma Valley, about twenty miles loug and three wide, 
 has a rich moist soil, and a cool climate, and is well adapted 
 to the cultivation of fruit, maize, and wheat. 
 
 § 153. Sacramento- San Joaquin Valley. — The Sacramento- 
 San Joaquin Valley is three hundred and fifty miles long from 
 north to south, and forty miles wide, with an area of 14,000 
 square miles, not more than five hundred feet above the sea 
 level. On the western side there are few streams ; on the 
 eastern, many. Near the middle of the valley there is much 
 tule or swamp, and south of Tulare Lake there is some alka- 
 line soil. The entire valley has a warm summer climate, and 
 the greater portion of its surface is bare of trees, aud is too 
 dry to produce wheat regularly without irrigation. The supply 
 of water available for irrigation is abundant, and the topog- 
 raphy of tlie country not unfavorable for the construction of 
 canals. 
 
 The only minor valleys of note, tributary on the west side to 
 the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley, are the Suisun, Pleasant, 
 Putah, and Cache Valleys, all of them formed in the coast 
 mountains, not far north from the Strait of Carquinez, and all 
 of them fertile and well adapted to the cultivation of grapes 
 and fruit. Tributary to Putah Valley are Berreyesa, Pope, and 
 Coyote Valleys, and tributary to Cache Creek are the valleys 
 of Clear Lake, (which lies about a thousand feet above the 
 sea) and Long, Bear, and Indian Creeks. 
 
 Most of the rivers coming down from the Sierra Nevada 
 have little bottom land until they get down into the main 
 valley. King's, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern Rivers, which reach 
 the middle of the valley south of 36° 30', all have deltas of 
 rich, moist soil, on which the water may be found at a depth 
 varying from seven to twenty feet. These deltas are admira- 
 bly adapted to the cultivation of cotton. 
 
 § 154. Farming Advantages. — The Californian farmer has 
 a great advantage over those of the northern Atlantic States, 
 in the mildness of the winters. Here we have no snow or 
 
216 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ice, and no time is lost because of cold. Xeither ai-e our 
 frosts so sevei-e as those east of tlie Mississippi. The climate 
 in the valleys is so warm, and the sky so clear through the 
 winter, that vegetable life is, in ordinary seasons, almost as 
 active in Januaiy as in July ; and our trees and shrubs have 
 nearly twice as much time to grow and mature as in the free 
 States of the East, where frost reigns from October to May. 
 It is a well known fact, that California has produced larger 
 specimens of garden vegetables, more thrifty growth and rapid 
 development of fruit trees, and larger crops of small grain to 
 the acre, than any State in the Union, and many persons have 
 siipposed our soil to be richer. No comparison of our soils has 
 been made by chemical analysis with those of Illinois, Mis- 
 souri, Indiana, and Ohio ; but the probability is, that the latter 
 are more fertile. The loam is deeper; the vegetation has been 
 greater, and it has enriched the soil by the accumulation of 
 its decomposed remains through thousands of years ; whereas 
 in the valleys of Califoniia, the vegetation is comparatively 
 scanty, and the air is for much of the year too dry to permit a 
 decomposition of wood or grass to enrich the soil. The bot- 
 tom lands of the Sacramento and San Joaquin are far inferior 
 in depth, blackness, and fertility of loam, to the valleys of the 
 Miami, AVabash, and Illinois Rivers. 
 
 Our domestic animals can live through the winter without 
 shelter and without cultivated food, and thus several items, 
 causing much expenditure in Ohio, ai'C here saved. 
 
 The dryness of the summers saves much trouble and expense. 
 Weeds cannot grow here as they do in a moister climate. A 
 late ploughing finishes them for the season. 
 
 Barns are not generally used in California. The grain, 
 after cutting, is put into a stack, or thrown into a heap, until 
 a threshing-machine can be obtained, and the grain is then 
 placed in the granary. Between Imrvest and threshing time 
 there is little danger of rain ; and to such slight danger as 
 there is, every farmer exjDoses liimself. Barns in other countries 
 
AGRICULTURE. 217 
 
 are necessities: here tliey coukl not be used if we had tliem. 
 Not unfrequeiitly the grain, within two weeks after cutting, 
 is stored in a warehouse in San Francisco ; often it is left lying 
 in sacks upon tlie fields until it is sold — a period of months. 
 In August and September, the square piles of white sacks in 
 the stubble-fields are a common and jirominent feature of the 
 Californiau landscape in tlie farming districts. 
 
 As our valleys are not covered with sod, so the first ploiigh- 
 ing is nearly as easy as any of the subsequent ones ; and the 
 severe task of breaking prairie, so common in the States of the 
 upper Mississippi Valley, is unknown here. 
 
 § 155. Du-advanfaf/es. — The most serious disadvantage of 
 California as a farming country is the frequency of droughts. 
 The necessity of irrigation over a large part of the State im- 
 poses a heavy burden on the farmer, equal generally to two 
 dollars an acre, annually ; and although this expenditure is 
 more than repaid in the increased yield, yet many of the farm- 
 ers cannot afi:'iird to make the advance. Without irrigation, 
 there is no proper rotation of crops, and the soil is exhausted 
 by the cultivation of the same grain for many succes^^ive yeai'S. 
 Rotation is impossible on tlie greater part of the land, because 
 its dryness will not permit the growth of roots or common 
 grasses. The soil is too dry for maize, potatoes, turnips, clo- 
 ver, alfalfa or lucerne, and timothy or herd's grass. Peas and 
 beans yield well in only a few localities. In consequence of 
 the dryness of the summers, our firming is confined chiefly 
 to wheat and barley, which are produced in surplus, and are 
 governed in prices by the distant markets to which we must 
 send them at our expense. 
 
 Ploughing commences with the first heavy rain, but the 
 farmer may lose much time in waiting for it to come. The 
 heat and drought of summer and autumn bake the ground, 
 and render it too hard for the plough ; so the sooner the rains 
 come, after the first of October, tlie more convenient for him, 
 and the more work he can do. The rain must be sutficieut to 
 
218 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 wet the eartli down four or six inches deep ; a little shower 
 will not suffice. Tlie soils of loam and clay arc so hard, that 
 no ordinary plough is strong enough to break through them ; 
 and ploughing would do no good before the rains, because the 
 earth would be in large clods, which would furnish little 
 nutriment to the grain. If, however, the land had been 
 plouglied late in the spring and allowed to lie fallow, it may be 
 in good condition for ploughing in the early fall. Grasshop- 
 pers, akin to the " locusts " mentioned in the Bible, have fre- 
 quently done great damage to the crops, though not in the 
 middle of the larger valleys, where extensive areas have 
 been regularly culti\'ated. 
 
 § 156. Droughts. — It is estimated that twelve inches ot 
 water are sufficient to secure a good wheat crop in California — 
 that is, distributed at the time and in the manner best adapted 
 to the growth of the grain. But the rains do not come at 
 such times and in such manners. They pour down in excess 
 in one month, and they fail to appear in the next. They may 
 be abundant — either too early, or too late to do much good ; 
 and usually there is a partial failure when the rainfall does not 
 amount to sixteen inches, and when less than fourteen inches, 
 the failure is general. In the last twenty years there have 
 been seven of general failure in the Sacramento Valley, and 
 the proportion is still larger in the San Joaquin Valley, where 
 the rainfall is considerably less. 
 
 The most disastrous drought in the history of the State was 
 that of the summer of 1863 and 1864, the two winters preced- 
 ing them having brought, together, only as much rain as 
 should have been brought by one winter. The result was 
 a com])lete failure of grain and grass everywhere, save on the 
 northern coast, and a great mortality among farm animals. 
 Out of 3,000,000 horses, neat cattle, and sheep, in tlie State, 
 more than 800,000 died by starvation. Tiie southern coast 
 suffered most sevcrelj^, and in some counties two-thirds of all 
 their neat cattle died. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 219 
 
 § 157. Fences. — In tlie matter of fences, the Californian 
 farmer is at a disadvantage, as compai*ed with his Eastern 
 bretliren, who usually have timber enough on or near their 
 land to fence it ; but here, in the agricultural districts generally, 
 trees fit for making rails or boards are lacking. Throughout 
 the United States, tlie system has prevailed of permitting 
 horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, to run at large, with no right 
 of indemnity for any damage which they might do in culti- 
 vated fields, unless surrounded by a " lawful fence." This 
 may be a good system for the pioneer, who tills little land, and 
 wishes his horses and cattle to have a wide range ; and it was 
 well suited to the pastoral life of the Spanish Californians 
 previous to the American conquest : but it is of doubtful policy 
 as applied to the present condition of atfairs, at least in the 
 principal agricultural valleys, where all the land is under 
 plough. 
 
 According to the Federal Agricultural Report of 1871, 
 California had, in 1870,4,971,504 acres under fence, used 66,- 
 000 miles of fencing ; the cost of the present fencing is $29,- 
 600,000 ; the annual cost of repairs is $1,800,000 ; the annual 
 interest on the cost is $1,770,000 ; the annual interest and 
 repairs together amount to $3,575,000, and the average cost 
 of new fencing is about $450 per mile. The estimate of $1,770,- 
 000 for the interest on the cost of the fencing is too low, and 
 is based on an allowance of only six per cent, annually ; 
 whereas twelve per cent, is nearer the true figure, making the 
 yearly interest about $3,500,000 : and adding that sum to the 
 repairs we have $5,300,000 as the total annual cost of the 
 fences as they were in 1870. From the agricultural statistics 
 of the Federal census, we find that the gross value of all the 
 farm animals in the State in 1870 was $38,000,000, and if we 
 deduct $8,000,000 for the sheep which are herded, and $10,- 
 000,000 for horses and cows which are never allowed to run 
 about, we liave $20,000,000 as the value of the live stock 
 against which fences are necessary. The annual profit on 
 
220 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 these may be fifteen per cent., and the inference is clear that 
 one set of land-owners must pay about $4,000,000 to let 
 another set make $3,000,000, 
 
 Board-fences are the best. They are iisually made five feet 
 high, with redwood posts set eight feet apart, and five spruce 
 boards six inches wide and an inch thick in each panel. Such 
 a fence, well made, costs five hundred dollars a mile. Worm 
 and post-and-rail fences are common near the redwood distiicts 
 — for instance, in Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Marin, 
 Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties. The 
 farmers generally make their own fences of these kinds, and 
 the cost is of time, not money. When the work is done by 
 the job, it costs from three to six hundred dollars a mile, 
 according to the distance and position of the timber, and the 
 quality of the wood : the price increasing in proportion as the 
 trees are far off, or situated in deep canons, and as the wood 
 is tough and cross-grained. Ditches are common in the tule- 
 lands. Hedges are made with willows and cactus in Los 
 Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties. There are 
 a few hedges of osage-orange and gorse, for ornament, in the 
 counties about San Francisco Bay, but none for use. The 
 osage-orange grows thriftily about San Jose, where it can 
 be irrigated, but hedges are liable to much damage from 
 gophers, which are fond of the roots ; and if a hole is made, it 
 is difticult to get young plants to grow, the older ones choking 
 them down. After the third year, irrigation is not necessary. 
 In dry land, where water is not abundant for irrigation, the 
 hedges do not grow up regularly. In the general opinion ot 
 farmers, osage-orange hedges will not pay, even in the land 
 best suited for them : the labor of planting the seed, trans- 
 planting the sprouts, irrigating, replanting, and trimming for 
 three years, costs more than a board-fence, which is useful 
 from the first day, and is in no danger from gophers, whereas 
 the hedge is useless for three years, and is in constant danger. 
 
 The willow-hedge is the most common fence in Los Angeles 
 
AGRICULTURE. 221 
 
 County, and is a prominent feature of the scenery near the 
 towns. The fence is made with cuttings, the larger tlie better ; 
 the largest are three inches in diameter and eight feet long. 
 These are planted perpendicularly three feet deep and nine 
 inches apart, and then irrigated freely, when nearly all will 
 grow and make a good fence in the second year. If larger 
 cuttings cannot be had, small ones, half an inch thick and two 
 feet long, are taken : only an inch or two is left above ground, 
 and four or five years may be required to make a tight fence. 
 Twigs and poles are woven horizontally through the hedge. 
 In the course of eight or ten years, the willows grow to be 
 trees, with trunks five or six inches in diameter, and with 
 dense tops from fifteen to thirty feet high. They thus not 
 only shut out trespassing animals, but furnish a large amount 
 of firewood — an item of no small importance in the woodless 
 p]jains of the south — and throw a pleasant shade over the roads 
 which they line. The Avillow-fence requires frequent irriga- 
 tion, for its growth will usually depend upon the amount of 
 water supjjlied to it. 
 
 The cactus was used extensively for fences at the old mis- 
 sions, and some fields are still enclosed with it. Tlie plant is 
 merely thrown upon the ground, where it takes root, no mat- 
 ter how dry or barren the soil, and grows up in a dense 
 mass of thick leaves, six feet high and from five to ten feet 
 wide. It is covered with thorns, and is feared by all large 
 animals, but spermophiles and gophers are fond of burrowing 
 under it, for it protects them against their enemies, and its 
 leaves furnish them with food. 
 
 Several machines have been made to cut ditches through 
 swamps, and throw the dirt up as an embankment on one side, 
 but none of them have been very successful ; and the spade is 
 still considered the best instrument for making fences in the 
 tules. 
 
 § 158. Varieties of Wheat. — Alany kinds of wheat are 
 cultivated here, of which the main are Club, Chile, Australian, 
 
222 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Odessa or Old Californian, Red Mediterranean, Sonora, Ore- 
 gon White, Bald, and Egyptian. The general division of 
 wheat into " winter " and " spring," common in the wheat- 
 growing districts of the Eastern States, is nnkuown. All our 
 wheat may he set down as spring wheat. When winter 
 wheat is brought liere from abroad, it does not thrive tlie tirst 
 year ; but in the second year, having been converted into 
 spring wheat and acclimated, it yields well. The Chile gives 
 general satisfaction, and is more cultivated than any of the 
 others. The Australian has a tendency to smut, but this is 
 corrected with blue vitriol. These two form three-fourths of 
 the crop ; the other fourth is made up chietly of Mediterran- 
 ean and Sonora. The Egyptian yields largel}', but has little 
 gluten, and is tit only for coarse bread or maccaroni. All 
 the acchmated wheat of the State is white ; though im- 
 ported red seed shows its color the first year, but in the sec- 
 ond year it looses its redness. 
 
 § 159. Quality. — The qualities iu which the best Avheat 
 excels are glutinousness or strength, tlintiness or dryness, 
 whiteness of color, thinness of skin, cleanness, plumpness and 
 size of berry, and weight. 
 
 The value of wheat depends, to a great extent, upon its 
 strength. In this point lies its chief ditference from potatoes, 
 which always do and must occupy an inferior place iipon our 
 tables. Much gluten in tlour renders the dough tough, 
 makes handsome bread, with the air bubbles in it small and 
 uniform in size, and retains moisture, so that the bread will 
 weigh raucli in ])roportion to the flour used ; while if the 
 amount of gluten be small, the grain of the 'bread will be 
 uneven, the dough will give way in places, allowing the for- 
 mation of large cavities, and less moisture will be retained. 
 The wheat of different countries varies greatly in glutinous- 
 ness ; and California occupies a very high position. Our wheat 
 is far more glutinous than that of any other Xorth American 
 State, or country of middle or northern Europe. The conse- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 223 
 
 quence is, tliat ouv wheat is now in demand in New York and 
 England, to mix with their weak grain, so that a tolerably- 
 strong iionr may be made. 
 
 But the wheat of California is not all equally glutinous ; 
 some of it is much weaker than other. The most glutinous is 
 that grown in Santa Clara Valley ; the southeastern part of 
 San jMateo County ; the southern part of Alameda County ; 
 and Diablo, San Ramon, and Suisun valleys. That of Santa 
 Rosa, Pajaro, Salinas, Petaluma,and Sonoma, is much inferior 
 in glutinousness, but is better than tliat of the Sacramento, 
 San Joaquin, and Napa Valleys, the vicinity of Half-Moon 
 Bay, and Alameda, opposite tlie Golden Gate. The strongly- 
 glutinous is about one-third of the crop of the State. It is not 
 known why the wheat in one district is more glutinous than in 
 another. None of that grown very near the coast is strongly glu- 
 tinous, so the moisture seems to be injurious. Napa wheat is 
 inferior in glutinousness to that of Sonoma, though farther 
 from the coast, and more free from ocean-fogs ; but the soil of 
 Napa is much more moist. 
 
 In Oregon and Washington, where tlie climate is very moist, 
 the wheat is as weak as at Half-Moon Bay. In the Mississippi 
 Valley, where a great amount of rain falls, the wheat is also 
 weak ; and just in the Gallego and Ilaxall districts, if report 
 be true, the rain-fall is less than in any wheat district east of 
 the Alleglianies. And yet in the Sacramento and San Joaquin 
 valleys, which are among the driest parts of California, the 
 wheat is very weak. This is accounted for — by those adopt- 
 ing the theory that glutinousness depends entirely upon the 
 climate — by saying that those valleys are visited, while the 
 grain is in the milk, by weather so hot that the berries are 
 burned, and are prevented from attaining tlieir perfect devel- 
 oj^ment. It would be well if this matter were thoroughly 
 studied, for it is one of much importance to the merchant and 
 ship-owner, as well as to the farmer, the baker, and the con- 
 sumer. 
 
224 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The wheat grown on the clayey loam about Alviso, is not 
 so glutinous as that produced on the sandy loam about Santa 
 Clara, and the gravelly clay in other parts of tlie valley. It 
 is worthy of remark, tliat the soil of the Putah and Cache 
 valleys, tributary to the Sacramento, differs in no noteworthy 
 particular from the soil in Suisun, Diablo, and San Kamon, 
 which latter yield strong, while the former produce weak 
 wheat. It has been observed that during late years, the wheat 
 of a large farm in San Mateo County, one of the best culti- 
 vated in tlie State, has been gradually decreasing in strength. 
 It is not known whether the change is caused by a difference 
 in the seasons, or by a progressive exhaustion of the soil. So 
 far as observations have been made in California, the amount 
 of gluten b not affected by early or late sowing, thorough or 
 careless cultivation, largeness or smallness of the yield, or 
 cleanness of the crop. 
 
 In tliutiness or dryness, Californian wheat has no superior, 
 and no equal save in the Chilean. It may be stored in bulk, or 
 it may be thrown into the hold of a ship within two weeks after 
 harvest, and thea sent twice through the tropics, and there is 
 uo danger that it will heat or sweat. The same may be said 
 of its flour. Xo wheat or flour from the Atlantic States is 
 near it in this respect. In August, 1860, J. B. Frisbie loaded 
 a vessel at Yallejo with wheat taken from the harvest-field — 
 it had never been inside of a house, but had lain upon the 
 ground for several weeks after threshing — and that cargo of 
 wheat, when discharged at Liverpool, was as sweet and clear 
 from mustiness, mould, sprouting, or fermentation, as it was 
 when harvested. Tlie Atlantic flour, when kiln-dried and 
 pressed, does not keep like ours as it comes from the mill, after 
 havino- gone thither fresh from the threshing-machine and the 
 harvest-field. 
 
 The flour made from flinty wbeat is peculiarly suited for 
 shipment to tropical countries, where a moister flour soon fer- 
 ments and sours. These are excellent markets, for they are 
 
AGRICULTURE. 225 
 
 certain, they pay well, and there is little competition. Most 
 of the flour now exported to the West Indian Islands and the 
 Maylasian Archipelago, is of the Gallego and Haxall brands, 
 which, because of their dryness and strength, are worth from 
 twenty to fifty per cent, more in the market than other floun 
 California may not be able to supply the West Indian Islands, 
 but she certainly has peculiar advantages for supplying the 
 tropical islands and shores of the Pacific. The flintiness of 
 our wheat is undoubtedly owing to the dryness of the cli* 
 mate, and it is about the same in all the wheat-growing dis- 
 tricts of the State. There is no noteworthy difterence in this 
 respect between that of the Sacramento Valley and that 
 grown on the immediate coast. It is all so dry as to keep 
 well in any climate. Millers in New York and Liverpool 
 make some objections to our wheat — that it is too hard for 
 their millstones ; but this is their misfortune, not our fault. 
 The difficulty is remedied by moistening the wlieat before 
 grinding. 
 
 Most of the wheat of this State is white, but it is not 
 equal in whiteness to that of the Genesee Valley, Oregon, 
 Washington, and some other districts of the United States ; 
 yet is superior to the wheat of England and of most Euro- 
 pean countries. The- fogs give a dai'k color to the wheat 
 grown at Ilalf-Moon Bay, in the Pdjaro and Petaluma 
 Valleys, and on the Santa Rosa plain; but in the other 
 districts a uniform whiteness prevails. 
 
 Our wheat generally has a thin skin, and does not make 
 much bran ; but in the districts where the skin is darkened 
 by the fogs, there also it is thick. 
 
 Most of the Californian wheat is not well cleaned. It is 
 sent to the market containing oats, barley, chess, alfalfa- 
 seed, and dirt ; and when shipped to New York must often 
 be cleaned there before it can be ground. Our farmers, 
 however, are gradually becoming more careful in cleaning 
 their wheat. 
 15 
 
226 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 9 
 
 In the plumpness and size of the berry, our wheat compares 
 well with tliat of Europe and the Atlantic States, but can per- 
 haps claim no decided superiority. Comparing the diflerent 
 districts of the State with one another on this point, Suscol 
 probably deserves the first place, and N^apa the next. In the 
 Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the wheat is often shriv- 
 eled by hot winds, whicli blow for three or four successive 
 days while the grain is in the milk, and seem to blast it. 
 Great diiferences are observed, however, according to the 
 season. 
 
 The weight of Californian wheat is usually sixty pounds per 
 bushel, seldom less — frequently sixt^'-two, and sometimes 
 sixty-five ; thus entitling our State to a high position in that 
 respect. 
 
 § 160. Yield. — The average yield of Californian wheat- 
 fields is from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre, wliich is 
 about thirty-three per cent, more than in the States on the At- 
 lantic slope. An old Spanish book of records, of the Mission 
 of San Diego, states that in 1778 %vfe\ye fane gas (a fanega 
 is about two bushels) of wheat were sown, and three hundred 
 and fifty fanegas were harvested — an increase of thirty-fold. 
 The next year, sixteen fanegas were sown, and the yield was 
 one hundred and sixty fanegas. In 1780, twenty- four fanegas 
 were sown, and eight hundred harvested — an increase of 
 thirty-three-fold. San Diego is far inferior for wheat-growing 
 to the coast valleys about San Francisco Bay ; and previous 
 to the coming of the Americans the ground was not ploughed, 
 but only scratched, and the limb of a tree was used for a 
 harrow. 
 
 Colton, in his " Three Years in California, " (page 442) 
 states that while the priests still had sole control of the missions 
 and mission-lands previous to 1833, the niayordomo or steward 
 of tlie Mission of San Jose, harvested 4,300 fanegas of wheat 
 from 40 fanegas of seed ; and at the next harvest he had a 
 volunteer crop of 2,600 fanegas on the same land. The first 
 
AGRICULTURE. 227 
 
 year, according to this report, the increase was 107-fold, and 
 the next year 6o-fold. At the Mission of Soledad, according 
 to tlie same author, (page 445) 1 ,700 fanegas were liarvested 
 from 19 sown — an increase of 89-fohl ; and in 1827, an increase 
 of 58-fold was obtained at San Luis Obispo by scratching the 
 seed in with a harrow upon land unploughed, and not even 
 touched by tlie thing called a ))lough in those days. Not less 
 tlian half a fanega is sown to the acre ; so we may suppose 
 that the figures which indicate the increase of the crop over 
 the seed, also indicate the number of bushels to the acre. 
 Now, a ten-fold increase is considered a fair crop. Crops of 
 80 bushels to the acre have often been grown in California. 
 Mr. Hill harvested 82 J bushels from an acre in Pajaro Valley 
 in 1853, and obtained 6G0 bushels from 10 acres. In 1851, 
 Mr. P. M. Scooify harvested 88 bushels, and Mr. N. Carriger 
 80 bushels in Sonoma Valley. In 1853, J. M. Horner har- 
 vested 1 ,000 acres of Avheat near the Mission of San Jose, 
 with an average of 40 bushels, some of it producing 60 
 bushels to the acre. The next year he had 2,000 acres, with 
 an average of 40 bushels. Large fields of wheat in Eel River 
 Valley, according to the repoi-t of the assessor of Humboldt 
 County, averaged 73 bushels to the acre in 1857. 
 
 In the best wheat districts of the Mississippi Valley, the 
 farmers generally believe, or did believe a few years ago, that 
 not more than 45 bushels of wheat ever had been or ever 
 could be grown upon an acre ; and when I spoke to exper- 
 ienced and intelligent men among them of 60 bushels, I was 
 told that not more than 50 bushels could possibly stand upon 
 the ground. It is almost imi^ossible tliat there should ever be 
 an entire failure of the wheat-crop in California, unless the 
 rain should completely fail. After wet winters, the dry lands 
 and lulls will produce the best crops ; in seasons of light rain- 
 fall, the low, moist lands will take the lead. There are so 
 many soils and so many climates in the State, that some must 
 be favorable. There is no danger that the grain, when nearly 
 
228 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ripe, will be beaten down by the hail, as has happened in Europe 
 and the Atlantic States. On only one occas^ion, within my 
 knowledge or reading, has it happened that the grain has been 
 " lodged " or beaten down by rain, and that was at Suscol and 
 Napa in 1860 ; and the damage then was slight. 
 
 § 161. Cost. — Tlie richest grain land of the State, that in 
 the valleys near San Francisco Bay, has been cropped for 
 many yeai-s without rest or rotation, and the large yields have 
 become exceptional ; and now thirty bushels to the acre is 
 more of a rarity than forty was fifteen years ago. The average 
 wheat crop of the State was about seventeen bushels per acre 
 in 1867, eighteen in 1868, sixteen in 1869, thirteen in 1870, 
 and nine in 1871. In the counties bordering on San Francisco 
 the yield is considerably larger, but the average for the State 
 is reduced by the residts in the San Joaquin Valley, where 
 large areas have been cultivated in a shallow and cheap style, 
 and a dry and not very strong soil. Gang ploughs are used, 
 usually two or five in a gang, sometimes six, eight, or even 
 ten, each cutting a furrow ten or twelve inches wide, and 
 four or six inches deep. A span of horses is required for each 
 plough in the gang, one driver for the entire team. Frequent- 
 ly a machine sower and harrow are attached behind the 
 ploughs, and thus at one movement the laud is broken, sown, 
 harrowed, and prepared for its first harvest. The lightness of 
 the soil, the lack of a sod, and absence of stones, bushes, and 
 trees, permits the reduction of the land from its wild state to 
 cultivation at very little expense — that is, after abundant 
 rains have come to soften the earth. 
 
 A sulky gang with two ploughs, each cutting twelve inches, 
 drawn by six horses, will dispatch four acres per day ; while a 
 five-gang plough, each cutting ten inches, drawn by eight or 
 ten horses, will dispatch eight acres in a day, only one man 
 being required in each case. The cost per acre of ploughing 
 large fields is variously estimated at from forty cents to one 
 dollar per acre to the farmer provided with horses and gang- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 229 
 
 ploughs. Generally the cost of ploughing in small farms and 
 on the sti'ong soils is estimated at various prices, from two 
 to three dollars per acre. 
 
 The following is an estimate of the expenses of a wheat 
 crop in Stanislaus County, per acre : plougliing, $1.25 ; seed, 
 50 cents ; sowing and harrowing, 75 cents ; heading and stack- 
 ing, $1.25 ; threshing, $1.25; rent $2 ; sacks $1.75 ; hauling, 
 $1 ; total $9.75. A yield of twenty bushels to the acre, worth 
 $25 in good years, would leave a nice profit. Tlie hauling 
 varies greatly in different places, and the prices and seasons 
 are so irregular that it is unsafe to rely upon them. 
 
 It is a custom with some farmers in the San Joaquin Val- 
 ley to divide their land into three parcels. One is ploughed 
 and sown ; another, having lain fallow the previous season, is 
 simply sown and harrowed ; and the third is ploughed to lie 
 fallow. Another rotation of a less prudent character is to 
 plough and sow a third; let another third volunteer for 
 grain ; and another vohuiteer a second time for hay. 
 
 Wheat is sown from the first of November to the first of 
 April. The most certain crops are those sown early ; the 
 largest are those sown late in favorable years. If the amount 
 of rain is small or moderate, the earliest sown fields are the 
 best ; but if the spring be wet, the early-sown fields are sur- 
 passed by those sown about the first of February. Wheat is 
 usually sown after barley and oats. The best farmers prefer 
 to sow between New Year's Day and the middle of Febru- 
 ary. Most of the sowing is done broadcast, but drills are 
 used to a considerable extent. One ploughing is, by most 
 farmers, considered sufficient. The harvest comes from the 
 middle of June to the middle of July. 
 
 § 162. Parley. — The soil and climate of California appear 
 to be particularly favorable to the growth of barley, which 
 formed, previous to 1860, a larger proportion of agricultural 
 produce here than in any other part of the world. It is a 
 hardy grain, preferring a sandy or gravelly soil, and dry cli- 
 
230 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 mate. Three kinds are grown in California — the common, 
 the Nepaul, and the chevalier. The Nepaul and chevalier are 
 cultivated to a small extent, the latter chiefly for pearl barley, 
 of which a little is made in the country. The yield of the 
 chevalier is from ten to twenty per cent, less than that of the 
 common barley. 
 
 The sowing commences with the first heavy rain, which 
 comes in some years as early as tlie first of November, and 
 continues to the first of April. Tlie ground used for small 
 grahi bakes hard during the heat and drought of summer and 
 autumn ; and ploughing is not possible until the rain comes, 
 and rain enough to wet the earth thoroughly, at least six 
 inches deep. The j^loughs are then set to work immediately, 
 running from four to eight inches deep. One ploughing is 
 usually considered suflicient. Tlie grain is sown according to 
 convenience, soon after the ploughing, or after the lapse of 
 weeks, and is immediately harrowed in. The amount of seed 
 sown to the acre varies from a bushel and a half to two bush- 
 els. The sowing is usually done broadcast, but some farmers 
 prefer the drill. Early sowing gives the best yield, if the 
 winter rains be light ; but when the rains are abundant, the 
 late sown fields are the best. There is always danger that 
 small grain in California, if sown early, will get more rain 
 than it wants. The same barley is sown early and late ; our 
 farmers do not know any thing of " winter barley " as dis- 
 tinct from " spring barley " — a division familiar in the Atlan- 
 tic States. 
 
 The harvest precedes that of wheat : commencing in the 
 Sacramento basin early in June, and in the Coast valleys late 
 in the same montli. The grain is all cut with reaping ma- 
 chines, and is never housed, but is threshed on the field, with 
 or without stacking. Sometimes it is bound ; frequently it is 
 gathered in a tight wagon- bed, and hauled into a pile in the 
 center of the field, where it remains until the threshing machine 
 can come. The rarity of rain from June to October renders 
 
AGRICULTURE. 231 
 
 this course pretty safe ; though it has happened, on one or two 
 occasions during the last ten years, that grain in the iield has 
 been injured by September rains. The same land is cultivated 
 year after year iu barley, without apparently exhausting the 
 land so much as wheat does. A field near Gilroy has pro- 
 duced a lai'ge crop of barley every year since 1853, with sow- 
 ings only every other year, and without irrigation; but when 
 the grain was ripe, hogs were turned in to harvest it, and they 
 enriched tlie soil while they fattened themselves. 
 
 Barley crops of sixty bushels to the acre are not rare. In 
 1853, a field of one hundred acres, in the valley of the Pajaro, 
 produced ninety thousand bushels, and one acre of it yielded 
 one hundred and forty-nine bushels ! It was grown by J. B. 
 Hill ; was mentioned as undoubtedly true by the assessor of 
 Monterey County in his official report ; and a prize was granted 
 by an agricultural society for the crop. The field which took 
 the prize of the State Agricultural Society in 1859, yielded 
 sixty-seven bushels to the acre. The field was a large one, 
 and ten acres, (a fair sample of the whole) were measured. 
 The crop which takes that prize is not necessarily the largest 
 crop in the State, but only the largest among those olFered for 
 competition. No doubt, many larger crops were harvested in 
 1857. In 1859, ninety bushels of Nepaul barley were grown 
 to the acre by Mr. Burrell, in Santa Cruz County, but in a 
 small field. Large amounts of volunteer barley are grown 
 every year, and the yield is often excellent. One case is re- 
 ported of a field in Yolo County, which produced five success- 
 ive volunteer crops of barley, the last and least crop amount- 
 ing to thirty bushels j^er acre ! 
 
 § 163. Oats. — The principal varieties of oats cultivated in 
 California are the Australian, English, Bare, Feather, Norway, 
 and Tucker. The Bare and Tucker oats thrive best on a heavy 
 soil ; the Feather oat prefers a sandy loam. The indigenous 
 wild oat of California is never cultivated ; for although it pro- 
 duces large and tall stalks, they do not contain so much weight, 
 
232 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 or bear so much grain, as the domesticated oat. The average 
 crop is from 30 to 40 bushels to the acre, 30 per cent, greater 
 than in tlie Atlantic States. The Crescent City fferald rei^orted 
 in October, 1857, that Rigg and Reid, in Del Norte County, 
 had grown 125 bushels of oats to tlie acre ; and that John A. 
 Brown, of Crescent City, had a crop of 1571 bushels to the 
 acre. 
 
 § 164. 3Ialze. — Maize can be grown to advantage in only 
 a few places in California. Most of the land is too dry, and 
 the summer nights too cool for it. The principal maize dis- 
 tricts are in the valleys of the upper coast, from Russian River 
 to Humboldt Bay ; in Yuba County, upon the moist bottom- 
 lands of the Sacramento River ; and at the Monte, in Los An- 
 geles County, where the San Gabriel River sinks, and hlls the 
 plain with moisture. Sixty bushels to the acre is considered a 
 large crop ; the average is not over thirty. Corn can be grown 
 wherever the land can be irrigated, but this is a troublesome 
 and expensive mode of cultivation, though it is not uncommon 
 in gardens near San Francisco. Green maize, grown in the 
 open air, is in market from June to September. 
 
 The cultivation of rye and buckwheat differs little from 
 that of the same grains in the Eastern States. 
 
 § 165. Potatoes. — The potato tlirives wonderfully in a 
 few places in California, particularly at Bodega, Tomales, 
 and in Pajaro Valley. The produce per acre is perhaps 
 not larger than in Ohio or England, but the tubers are 
 larger and smoother. The average size of those sold in the 
 San Francisco market is probably fifty if not one hundred 
 per cent, larger than of those sold in New York. Potatoes 
 six inches long by three inches through, and weighing a^ 
 pound, are not uncommon ; many have been seen to weigh 
 four pounds, and one grew to weigh seven pounds. I saw 
 a cluster that had grown together, eight inches long, six 
 wide, and four deep, that weighed eight pounds. A San 
 Francisco paper of December 31st, 1872, mentions a sack 
 
AGRICULTURE. 233 
 
 of potatoes — about 1 20 pounds — every potato weighing three 
 pounds or more. They were from Pdjaro Valley. The 
 larger specimens were a foot long, four inches wide, and 
 two and a half inches thick. 
 
 The soil at Bodega and Tomales, the chief potato dis- 
 tricts, is a light, sandy loam, and the mists from the ocean 
 supply the abundant moisture which the plant loves. The po- 
 tato district of Sacramento County is on the banks of the 
 sloughs of the Sacramento River, near its junction with the 
 San Joaquin. The soil is very light, warm, rich loam, and the 
 vegetables grown there are among the earliest in the market. 
 The Californian potatoes are mealy, sound, and palatable ; yet 
 in the opinion of many travelers, inferior in flavor to those 
 grown east of the Rocky Mountains. The potato-disease has 
 never made its appearance in this State. 
 
 The immediate coast, at least north of Point Conception, is 
 too cold for the sweet potato, which thrives, however, in the 
 Sacramento Valley, especially in the lowland about the head 
 of Suisun Bay. The true sweet potato has grown here to 
 weigh fifteen pounds — much larger than any I have ever seen 
 in the States east of the Mississippi. They lack the mealiness 
 and delicate taste which makes the Eastern sweet potato so 
 palatable in its season. 
 
 § 166. Hay. — As most of our farm animals are never 
 brought under shelter, and never fed at a trough, rack, or 
 stack, the proportion of hay cut here is much less than in the 
 Atlantic States and Europe — probably not more than one-half 
 as much. There every horse and cow must have hay through- 
 out the winter, and many of them through the summer ; while 
 here very few cattle are fed with hay at any season of the 
 year, and horses not employed are usually turned out into the 
 oi:)en plain. The hay of Ohio is cut in cultivated lields from 
 tame grasses ; that of California is made of wild oats and in- 
 digenous grasses, grown in the open valleys, or of wheat, bar- 
 ley, or oats, cut while they are gi-een, usually when the grain 
 
234 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 is in the milk. If the season threatens to be so dry that the 
 field will not pay for liarvesting the grain, then the mowing 
 machines are started, and the stutf is saved for hay. 
 
 The haying season comes about the first of 31ay. The old 
 adage that " you must make hay while the sun shines," does 
 not apply in California, for here the sun shines all the time, 
 and the haymaker has ordinarily no fear of rain. It happened, 
 however, in 18G0, that a considerable amount of hay was spoilt 
 by the late rains in June. The whole process of hay-making 
 in California is managed by machinery. It is cut with the 
 machine-mower, raked together with horse-rakes into wind- 
 rows, and finally hauled together on hay-sleds, which load 
 themselves by slii)ping under the heaps or windrows. The 
 hand must be used, however, when wagons are to be loaded 
 or stacks built. Hay is usually cured in the windrow. It is 
 not necessary to turn it by hand, as is customary in the East- 
 ern States. One turning and one day in the sun are enough, 
 when it is raked together, and is ready for the stack or the 
 mow. In Ohio a good field of timothy will yield four tons of 
 hay to the acre ; in California the Avild oat stands so thick in a 
 few places as to yield as much, but the average crop is not 
 over a ton to the acre. 
 
 Tame grasses occupy at present a very small place in the 
 agriculture of California. Not one-tenth of the farms in the 
 State have an acre of cultivated pasture ; and even in the 
 largest farms, containing from three hundred to a thousand 
 acres under plough, it is rare to tind a field of timothy, clover, 
 or alfalfa. The last mentioned, known also as lucerne, will 
 probably become the principal grass grown in the State, since 
 it is peculiarly fitted to thrive in our climate and soil. 
 
 § 1G7. Hops. — The hop grows luxuriantly and produces 
 abundantly in California ; and indeed there is good reason to 
 doubt whether any country has a climate and soil more 
 favorable to it than ours. We have no heavy dews or 
 showers in summer to wash ofl" the dust which contains the 
 
AGRICULTURE. 235 
 
 strength of the flowers, or to cover the plant with bUght. The 
 faihires of crops from tliese causes, so frequent in England 
 and the Atlantic States, would never occur here. Not only 
 is the crop certain, hut it can be cured with more ease and 
 in better condition than in other countries. The moisture 
 of the air in England compels the hop-growers to dry the 
 flowers in the sun or in kilns ; and if a rain fall upon them 
 while drying, they are ruined : and they are injured by both 
 the sun and kiln-drying. In California, thej^ may be dried in 
 the open air, under sheds ; and thus prepared they will be 
 superior to any of the European hops. 
 
 § 158. Tobacco. — Tlie cultivation of tobacco has been at- 
 tempted, on a small scale, every year since 1853 ; but the 
 product was so small, previous to 1872, that it was scarcely 
 worthy of notice, and the business seemed to have no impor- 
 tance for the future of the State. Now, however, it promises 
 much, chiefly on account of certain discoveries made in the art 
 of curing the plant, by J. D. Gulp, who obtained patents for 
 cigars and chewing tobacco, and transferred them to the 
 American Tobacco Company, which in 1873 had 400 acres 
 in tobacco, an area not equaled by any other company or ciil- 
 tivator in the Union. 
 
 In curing cigar tobacco, the plant, instead of being hung up 
 vertically by tie butt in a barn, according to the old method, 
 is by the Gulp method taken into a close building, and there 
 put in piles two feet high, and allowed to remain ten hours or 
 more, until a temperature of about 100 degrees is reached; 
 then hung up horizontally until the surface moisture on the 
 leaves dries, perhaps two or three days ; then piled again till 
 tliey reach a heat of 100 degrees, usually twenty-four hours; 
 and hung ten days or more till dry, and Anally stacked. When 
 the plants are put into jiiles the second time, some leaves are 
 green, and others yellow, and the green come out yellow, and 
 the yellow is converted into brown ; and in the third piling all 
 assumes the brown color. TJie stacking in bulk, for six mouths, 
 
236 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 gives mellowness to the flavor, and brightness and uniformity 
 to the tint. The curing, previous to stacking, can be done 
 in six, and sometimes in three weeks. The fermentation is in- 
 dispensable, and to secure this, the house must be tight, and 
 must be provided with heating apparatus, and the tempera- 
 ture inside mi;st never fall below seventy degrees. 
 
 Chewing tobacco is hung in the field, on portable racks, soon 
 after cutting, and allowed to remain a week or more, till the 
 leaves are yellow in general color ; then piled on the ground 
 two feet deep (for perhaps twelve hours) till the fermentation 
 causes a heat of 110 degrees ; then hung on tlie racks again, 
 until the leaves and stalks are dry ; and finally stacked, ready 
 for the manufacturer. 
 
 There are two main new ideas in Mr. Gulp's processes — one 
 is hanging horizontally, and the other is fermentation in piles- 
 The advantages claimed are tliat the tobacco is better in 
 quality than any other cured elsewhere ; that it is more uniform 
 in quality, and that there is none of the great damage that 
 frequently results from very dry or very wet weather in the 
 curing season in Cuba and Kentucky. On account of the 
 diyness of the atmosphere, the old style of curing would never 
 have been profitable here. Besides, under the system of hang- 
 ing vertically, the butt up, the sap in the stalk could not run 
 into the leaves, and the leaves resting upon each other could 
 not dry evenly, thus causing great losses. 
 
 The climate of California is very favorable to the growth of 
 the plant, and a large area will probably be cultivated in tobacco 
 in a few years, Tlie growing season being much longer than on 
 the Atlantic side, the plant after having been cut down grows 
 up again, and thus produces two crops of chcAiing and four 
 of cigar tobacco from the same stalk. The total average yield 
 per acre is 3,000 pounds of cured chewing, and 2,200 pounds 
 of cigar tobacco. The old style of cui'ing costs three times 
 as much as the Gulp method ; the quality is inferior and the 
 yield less. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 237 
 
 § 169. Cotton. — About two thousand acres are cultivated 
 in cotton in California. The ordinary yield ranges from 250 
 to 500 pounds per acre ; and as the price is twenty cents per 
 pound, tiie product is much better adapted to shipment for 
 long distances, than wheat at two cents a pound. The ex- 
 pense of making the crop is about $30 per acre, including $3 
 for rent, $2.50 for seed, $2 for planting and cultivating, $20 
 for picking, ginning, and baling, and $2.50 for sundries. As 
 the lowest yield in an ordinary season is $50 per acre, with a 
 good chance for $100, there is a nice margin for profit. The 
 cultivation of cotton has been increasing steadily for the last 
 four years, but its importance for the future depends to a great 
 extent on the irrigation works. When the water is supplied 
 to the San Joaquin Valley, cotton will probably claim a large 
 area as the most profitable crop. 
 
 § 170. Kitchen Vegetables. — -The vegetables for the kitchen 
 — such as cabbage, cauliflower, beets, parsnijDs, carrots, rad- 
 ishes, onions, melons, squashes, pumpkins, green peas, string- 
 beans, tomatoes, asparagus, rhubarb, okra, cucumbers, lettuce, 
 garden-egg, and so forth — thrive in California, many of them 
 beyond example elsewhere. Cabbages weighing fifteen pounds 
 are wonders in the New York market ; in San Francisco they 
 are common. Whole fields of cabbage-lieads, weighing twenty 
 pounds each, have been grown ; and hard, solid heads, with no 
 loose leaves, weighing forty-five and fifty-three pounds each, 
 are on record. One cabbage, which did not make a head, 
 grew to be seven feet wide, throwing out leaves three and a 
 half feet long on each side. In many cases the cabbage has 
 been converted into a perennial, evergreen, tree-like plant, by 
 preventing it from going to seed. Several of these are now 
 growing in the State, with stalks from two to six feet high, 
 and a foliage that grows through winter and summer. 
 
 The largest squash or soft-skin pumpkin produced in Cali- 
 fornia weighed two hundred and sixty jjounds, and the vine 
 which bore it had several others weigliing over one hundred 
 
238 ' RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 pounds each ; tlie total weight of its fruit being more than 
 eight luindred pounds ! Elsewliere, sixty pounds is a very large 
 pumpkin or squash ; and there is scarcely a record in tlie At- 
 lantic States of a greater weight than one hundred pounds, 
 which has been frequently surpassed here. In 1857, one 
 squash- vine on the ranch of James Simmons, in Yuba County, 
 produced one hundred and thirty squashes, weighing in all 
 twenty-six hundred and four pounds ! In the same year, J. Q. 
 A. Ballon, at San Jose, grew two squashes, weighing two hun- 
 dred and ten and two hundred and four pounds respectively. 
 
 The largest Californian onion weighed forty-seven ounces 
 avoirdupois, and measured twenty-two inches in circumfer- 
 ence. Our onions generally excel those of the Eastern States 
 in size and weight: 
 
 Our largest red beet, (a mangel-wurzel) weiglied one hun- 
 dred and eighteen pounds — was five feet long, and a foot in 
 diameter. It was three years old. The first year it grew to 
 weigli forty-eight pounds, and because of its large size was re- 
 served for seed ; but it disappointed its owner, and, instead of 
 producing seed the next year, merely kept on growing, and 
 reached the size of eighty-six pounds ; and the following year 
 srotto a hundred and eis:hteeD. Such beets can be grown in 
 abundance. A beet of twenty pounds is a wonder in New 
 York or London ; here it is too common to attract more tliau a 
 glance. Beets are frequently three feet long, so tliat it re- 
 quires no little trouble to dig them out. 
 
 Our largest common white turnip weighed, I believe, twenty- 
 six pounds ; our largest carrot, ten pounds ; our largest water- 
 melon, sixty-live pounds. Our largest tomato measured twenty- 
 six inches in circumference. 
 
 Our kitchen vegetables, grown in the open air, are in the 
 market during a greater part of the year than in any State 
 east of the Mississippi. We liave cabbage, caulitlower, lettuce, 
 turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes, horseradish, celery, 
 green onions, leeks, salsify, and parsley, throughout the year ; 
 
AGRICULTURE. * 239 
 
 green peas, string-beans, water-melons, cantaloupes, and nut- 
 meg-melons, from June to November ; tomatoes from May to 
 October ; garden-eggs, green okra, Lima-beans, and Californian 
 sweet potatoes, from July to September; asparagus from 
 March to June ; and rhubarb from April to July — the months 
 being meant inclusively in every instance. These seasons for 
 the different species of vegetables are, on an average, twice as 
 long as the seasons on the Atlantic slope of the continent in 
 the same latitude. Our tables are thus supplied with a great 
 variety of fresh and wholesome vegetables throughout the 
 year. Another advantage of our climate is, that garden veg- 
 etables may be left in the ground all winter. Potatoes are 
 sometimes not dug until the first of Janiiaiy, and turnips and 
 beets are usually left in their beds until they are to be sent to 
 market ; there is never enough cold to freeze them. Potatoes 
 are never buried, but after they are dug are piled up in bags 
 under a shed, or are placed in a storehouse. 
 
 The cabbage likes a moist air and soil, and thrives best along 
 the coast, from Bodega to Santa Cruz. Tiie melons and toma- 
 toes like a warm climate, and thrive best in the Sacramento 
 Valley — and Putah Valley, wliich is tributary to it — where 
 many of the early vegetables for the San Francisco market are 
 grown 
 
 § 171, Fruit. — As a fruit-growing State, California takes a 
 high position. In this particular, as in so many others, her 
 climate gives her great advantages. In no part of the world 
 do fruit trees grow so rapidly, bear so early, so regularly, and 
 so abundantly, and produce fruit of such large size. Nor is 
 there any other country where so great a variety of. fruit can 
 be produced in high excellence. In the matter of flavor, our 
 apples, peaches, and strawberries, or most of them, are infer- 
 ior to Eastern fruit ; in the flavor of other species we are at 
 least equal to other countries. The pear, the plum, tlie apri- 
 cot, the grape, and the olive, are peculiarly thrifty, healthy, 
 and productive, as compared with the same kinds of fruit else- 
 where. 
 
240' RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 In the Califovnian orchards the fruit trees ai'e trained low, 
 the lower limbs being within a foot, or at most two feet, of the 
 ground. Men, tlierefore, do not walk under the trees in an 
 orchard, or climb after the fruit. One fruit tree in a hundred 
 may be trained high, not more. The advantages of low train- 
 ing are, that the trees bear fruit earlier ; the trunk is shaded, 
 and protected against the disease called the sun-scald ; the 
 earth about the roots is kept moist ; and the trees are protected 
 against the wind. 
 
 The trees are planted from one-sixth to one-half nearer to- 
 gether in the orchards than in the Eastern States. This is an 
 additional protection against sun and wind. The ground is 
 ploughed several times every summer, and kept clean ; whereas 
 in the Eastern orchards it is common to sow grass or cultivate 
 vegetables. Our apple trees are free from the borers after the 
 first year, and our plum and cherry trees from the curculio, 
 though the plum suffers from the aphis, or louse. 
 
 Fruit trees in California are generally as large at two years 
 old as they are in New York at three and four years. The in- 
 stances of unusually rapid growth here are witliout parallel 
 elsewhere. Cherry trees have grown to be fourteen feet high 
 in one year ; pear trees ten feet high ; peach trees to have 
 trunks from two to three inches in diameter. These were all 
 from buds on yearling stocks, and were well provided with 
 branches — not trimmed to gain height. These specimens of 
 rapid growth were observed on an island near the junction of 
 the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, At Petaluma, a 
 cherry tree two years old from the graft, and three from the 
 seed, had a trunk seven inches and three-quarters round ; a 
 plum tree, three years from the seed, was eleven feetliigh, and 
 had a trunk seven inches in circumference ; and a peach tree, 
 one year from the bud, was eight feet high and eight and a 
 half inches round. 
 
 Mr. E. B. Crocker, of Sacramento, wrote thus in December, 
 1858 : *' In January, 1855, 1 planted a small almond tree, 
 
AGRICULTURE, 241 
 
 with a stem little larger than a goosequill, and which I cut 
 down within a few inches of the ground. It is now a tree 
 twenty feet high, sixteen feet through the top, with branches 
 starting from the surface of the earth. The body below the 
 branches is twenty-four inches in circumference. .. .A Glout 
 Morceau dwarf pear tree, planted in 1855, when it had grown 
 one year from the bud, is now ten feet high, four feet through 
 the top, and measures ten inches round the body at the ground, 
 branching about one foot from the surface. A Beurre Diel 
 dwarf, planted in January, 185G, is now seven feet high, three 
 feet through the top, and ten inches in circumference at the 
 ground. A dwarf May Duke cherry, planted in 1856, is now 
 thirteen feet high, and thirteen and a half inches in circum- 
 ference at the ground. An Old Mixon peach, planted in 1855, 
 and cut down within a few inches of the ground, is now twenty 
 feet high, twenty-two feet through the top, and the trunk 
 twenty-eight inches in circumference. A seedling peach, seed- 
 planted in January, 1858, is now eiglit feet high and well 
 branched, and the trunk four and a half inches in circumfer- 
 ence at the ground. The growtli of trees, vines, and shrubs, 
 is about double that of similar kinds on the rich prairie-soils 
 of Northern Indiana." 
 
 In 1858, a sprig of a peach tree, a foot long, was stuck into 
 the ground on the Bay -State ranch ; the next year it bore fruit. 
 It may be set down as a general rule that, previous to the time 
 of bearing fruit, trees in California make twice as much wood 
 in a year as they do in the Middle States. 
 
 In Alameda County, plum trees have grown twelve feet in 
 one year from the bud. 
 
 The trees commence to bear fruit at about half the age at 
 which they bear in the Atlantic States. An apple orchard in 
 New York begins to bear in its fifth or sixth year ; in Califor- 
 nia, in its second or third. 
 
 The variety of climates, and tlie freedom from frosts, severe 
 16 
 
242 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 cold, and fixrious storms, protect us against a failure of the 
 fruit crop. 
 
 Our apples, pears, apricots, and plums, are larger than the 
 same varieties usually are elsewhere ; other fruits are about 
 the same in size. 
 
 Dried fruit will probably in a few years occujiy a large place 
 among the productions of California, including • raisins, figs, 
 prunes, plums, apricots, peaches, apples, pears, and currants. 
 At present, the Alden process of drying is considered prefera- 
 ble to any other. 
 
 § 172. Abundance of fruit. — Of the temperate fruit trees 
 California has about 4,000,000, including 2,446,000 apple, 
 835,000 peach, 356,000 pear, 243,000 plum, 122,000 cherry, 
 78,000 apple, 31,000 nectarine, and 19,000 prune. Of the 
 apple kind, including apple and pear, there are 2,800,000 ; and 
 of the peach kind, including peach, apricot, and nectarine, 
 930,000, and the two classes together make up more than 
 ninety per cent, of the whole number. 
 
 Of the sub-tropical fruit and nut trees we have 250,000, 
 inclnding 59,000 almonds, 58,000 walnut, 50,000 fig, 38,000 
 orange, 38,000 olive, and 7,000 lemon. 
 
 Besides these, we have 26,000,000 grape vines, 12,000,000 
 strawberry vines, and 1,000,000 raspberry bushes. In all, we 
 have 37,000,000 trees, vines, and bushes, bearing fruits or nuts, 
 under cultivation, covering an area of more than 100,000 
 acres, or nearly half an acre in fruit for every man in the 
 State. 
 
 The trees generally are healthy and in good condition. Our 
 cherries and plums are not troubled by the curculio, and our 
 apples are free from the worms which abound in the Eastern 
 orchards. 
 
 § 173. Grape. — California is a favorite land of the gi'ape ; 
 and indeed many of our vine-growers suppose it to be the best 
 grape country in the world. The gi'ape region of Califor- 
 nia extends from the southern boundary, at latitude 32° 30', 
 
AGRICULTURE. 243 
 
 to 41°, a distance of five liundred and ninety-five miles from 
 north to south, with an average breadth from east to west of 
 about one hundred miles. The number of grape vines in the 
 State is 30,000,000, including in round numbers 4,000,000 
 each in Los Angeles and Sonoma, 2,000,000 each in Napa and 
 Sacramento, 1,500,000 each in El Dorado, Solano, and Tu- 
 olumne, 1,000,000 eaeh in Santa Clara and Amador, and 800,- 
 000 each in Butte, Placer, and San Joaquin. The basin of 
 San Francisco Bay, west of the Diablo ridge, has 9,500,000 ; 
 the low land of the Sacramento Basin, 7,500,000 ; the coast, 
 south of 35°, 5,200,000 ; and the Sierra Nevada has 8,000,000. 
 A large majority of the vines are planted in bottom lands, 
 where the vines can be started and cultivated with least in- 
 convenience, and where they bear most abundantly. 
 
 § 174. Large vines and vineyards. — The grape vine sup- 
 posed to be the largest in the world, grows at Montecito, near 
 Santa Barbara. It is of the Los Angeles variety, was planted 
 in 1795, has a trunk 15 inches in diameter, and its branches 
 are supported by an arbor 115 feet long and 78 feet wide. It 
 has in a favorable year borne four tons of grapes, but is now 
 losing its vigor and will probably not live much longer. The 
 State has a number of other large vines, some of which bear 
 2,000 bunches annually, and threaten to rival the old vine at 
 Montecito. 
 
 The largest vineyard of the State is that of the Buena Vista 
 Vinicultural Association, which has 300,000 vines near the 
 town of Sonoma. B. D. Wilson, at San Gabriel, has 200,000 
 vines; L. J. Rose, near tlie same place, 130,000; Matthew 
 Keller, at Los Angeles, 100,000 ; the Orleans Hill Vineyard 
 Company, in Capay Valley, 3G miles west of Sacramento, 
 100',000 ; R. Chalmers, at Coloma, 100,000 ; S. L. Wilson, near 
 Sacramento, 75,000 ; B. N. Bugbey, near Folsom, 100,000. 
 The figures for many other large vineyards are lacking. Most 
 of these vineyards are planted with 700 or 800 vines to the 
 acre. 
 
244 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 175, Varieties. — The vine was brought to California by 
 the Spanish missionaries, about the year 1770. So far as is 
 known, only one variety — that now known as the Los Angeles- 
 grape — was brought by them in the last century. It is the 
 vine found in all the old vineyai'ds, and in most of the new 
 ones south of the bay of San Francisco. Tlie berrj'^ is round, 
 reddish-brown while ripening, and nearly black when fully 
 ripe, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter at its largest 
 size, covered by a strong skin, possessing an abundance of 
 thick and very sweet juice, wath little meat, but with no fruit- 
 iness of flavor. It has been asserted that this grape is of the 
 Malaga variety ; but if so, it has changed so much — perhaps 
 while under cultivation in Mexico, whence the lirst cuttings 
 that came to California were probably obtained — that it no 
 longer resembles its parent stock. 
 
 About 1820, when the missions were established north of 
 the bay of San Francisco, a new variety, now called the So- 
 noma grape, and said by General Vallejo to be of the Madeira 
 stock, was introduced. It is now extensively cultivated in 
 Sonoma and Napa Counties and in the Sacramento Valley ; it 
 is also found in a few vineyards south of the bay of San Fran- 
 cisco. The berry is bluish-black in color ; is covered, when 
 ripe, with a grayish dust, which brushes off, leaving a glossy, 
 smooth skin ; is about half an inch in diameter at its largest 
 size ; has a thin, sweet juice, with more meat and a little fruiti- 
 ness of flavor. 
 
 The Sonoma grape makes a light wine, resembling claret ; 
 the Los Angeles grape makes a strong wine, resembling port 
 and sherry. The two grapes are classed together as the " Mis- 
 sion," " Native,'' or " Californiau " grapes, and were the only 
 varieties cultivated here previous to 1853. In that year the 
 importation of foreign grapes commenced, and now about two 
 hundred varieties are cultivated. The Mission graj^es are 
 hardy, healthy, long-lived, productive, and early in coming 
 into bearing ; but they are surpassed in flavor, hardiness, pro- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 245 
 
 (luctiveness, earliness of ripening, and earliness of bearing, by 
 many foreign varieties, which are not inferior in any respect. 
 
 There were probably two hundred thousand bearing vines 
 in the State in 1848, and they still continue productive. Very 
 little was done to increase their number until 1856, and then 
 the business of grape-growing and making wine for the market 
 ' was commenced. The new vineyards then set out were planted 
 with Mission gi-apes, the only varieties of which cuttings in 
 large quantities could be obtained. A few foreign vines had 
 been imported in 1853, '54, and '55, by nurserymen, but there 
 was little demand for them. When it became clear that Cali- 
 fornia would produce wine largely, the foreign varieties came 
 into demand. It was not until 1859 that the superiority of 
 the foreign grapes, as a class, over the Mission grapes, was es- 
 tablished by trial. 
 
 About two hundred varieties of grapes are cultivated in 
 California, including the most noted stocks of Spain, France, 
 Germany, Hungary, and the Eastern States. All of them 
 thrive as vines, but most of them do not give satisfaction, 
 either for productiveness or flavor, and are therefore not mul- 
 tiplied. In the Eastern States the European vines will not 
 live in the open air, the winters being too severe for them ; 
 but here we have most delicate varieties from Spain and Mo- 
 rocco, side by side with the Catawba and Isabella. 
 
 Flavor is a matter of vast importance in fresh fruit, and 
 the want of it is the great defect of the Mission grape, which 
 will not command more than one-third of the price of the 
 best foreign varieties in the San Francisco market. For wine, 
 the foreign grape has an equal or still greater advantage. 
 Flavor and fruitiness are not less needed there than in fruit to 
 be eaten fresh at the table. The lack of delicate flavor is one 
 defect of the wine made from the Californian grape, and the 
 evil can only be remedied by the use of the foreign stock. 
 
 For wine, the Zinfindel, Berger, Riessling, Black Malvoisie, 
 German Muscat, French Muscat (of Frontignan), Burgundy, 
 
246 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Golden Chasselas, and Fontainebleau Cbasselas, are in most 
 favor. The white Muscat makes the best raisins ; the French 
 Muscat the best vinegar. We have no statistics of the differ- 
 ent kinds; but most of the vineyards planted in the last seven 
 years are of European varieties, which now probably amount 
 to more than one-fourth of all the vines in the State. 
 
 For the table and for raisins, the Muscat of Alexandria is 
 more prized here than any otlier grape, on account of its 
 large size, and rich, spicy flavor. It does best on a gravelly 
 loam, mixed with a little clay, and bears very poorly in rich 
 clay loam without sand or gravel. The most productive Mus- 
 cat vines ai"e in the Sonoma Valley. In good years it yields 
 9,000 pounds to the acre, and the average wholesale price is 7 
 cents per pound, making a gross yield of $350 per acre, of 
 which $50 may be counted for cultivation, picking, and send- 
 ing to market. One of the cliief objections to this grape is that 
 in many places it does not " set " well, and then the only way 
 to secure a good crop is to pull off some of the blossoms, and 
 shake the pollen over other blossoms which are left to bear. 
 The vine generally starts out to produce two crops every sea- 
 son, but the careful vineyardist plucks off the second set of 
 blossoms, for otherwise neither crop would ripen properly. 
 The Alexandrian Muscat is the only grape that is good for 
 wine, tirst-rate for the table, for raisins, and for long transpor- 
 tation. 
 
 The Flame Tokay is prized for its fine ap])earance, and for 
 its excellent keeping qualities ; but it is useless for wine, and 
 has little flavor. It bears more than the Muscat of Alexandria, 
 and has hitherto commanded the same price in the market. 
 It may come into demand in the Eastern States. The Queen 
 of Nice differs so little from the Flame Tokay, that by many 
 it is regarded as the same grape. 
 
 The Rose of Peru is a large firm grape, of fine flavor, yield- 
 ing in good years 12,000 pounds to the acre. The price is 
 about G cents per pound, but the inferior price is compensated 
 
AGRICULTURE. 247 
 
 for by tlie superioi* yield as compared ^itli the varieties previ- 
 ously mentioned. Tlie Black Hamburg is large, fine in flavor, 
 and well suited to transportation, but inferior to the Rose of 
 Peru, The Isabella and Catawba, several Muscatels, and 
 some varieties of the Chasselas, are good for the table, but 
 they do not bear shipment well. The Zintindel, Malvoisie, 
 Riessling, Black Burgundy, and Traminer, are excellent for 
 wine, but are not in demand for the table. The Mission 
 grape, especially when grown in the Los Angeles district, is 
 very rich in sugar if plucked soon after ripening ; and if left 
 on the vine till November, the sugar changes to spirit, so that 
 it becomes highly vinous, and is for that reason preferred by 
 some persons ; but it could not be transported from the South- 
 ern Coast to the Mississippi Valley with profit, although it 
 could be obtained in any quantity at 2 cents per pound. 
 
 § 176. Advantayes. — The advantages of California for the 
 cultivation of the grape are the following : 
 
 1. Californian vineyards produce ordinarily twice as much 
 as the vineyards of any other grape district, if general report 
 be true. Here, twelve thousand pounds of grapes per acre 
 is a crop as common as six thousand in France, Germany, or 
 Ohio. Why our vineyards should produce so much more than 
 those elsewhere I know not, but the fact is indubitable. 
 Crops of twenty thousand pounds per acre have been seen here. 
 
 2. The grape crop seldom fails, as it does in every other 
 coimtry. This is owing partly to the fact that we have no 
 severe frosts, no hail, and no storms of rain and electricity 
 from the time the vine buds until the grape is gathered, each 
 of which often causes a total loss of the crops in Europe. 
 There is abundant time for gathering the grape ; while in other 
 vine countries the rain and frost destroy the fruit after it is 
 ripe. The didium — the disease which has done such great 
 damage in France — appeared in 1859, but has done little in- 
 jury here. ' Certain kinds of bugs and insects, which do much 
 harm in European vineyards, have never appeared in Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
248 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 3. Vineyards in other countries require more labor than id 
 California. In Europe, the vine is trained witli a stalk four 
 feet high, and supported by a pole, which has to be set down 
 every year, and to which the vine is tied. Here the stalk 
 stands alone. 
 
 4. Tlie equability and warmth of the climate render it easy 
 to make wine by fermentation without artiticial heat, whereas, 
 in many other grape countries, fires must be kept up in the cel- 
 lars through the winter. 
 
 5. Tlie great variety of grapes which thrive here as com- 
 pared with every other grape country. 
 
 The disadvantages of California consist in the high pi-ice of 
 labor, the bad situation of many of the vineyards, the igno- 
 rance of the ]>eople of the arts of wine-growing and wine-mak- 
 ing, and the dearness of casks. 
 
 Land suitable for vineyards costs from twenty to one hun- 
 dred dollars per acre, whereas it is worth from two to four 
 hundred in France ; but there is a counterbalancing diflerence 
 in the interest of money. 
 
 § 177. Vine-planting. — The vine likes a sandy or gravelly 
 (not very moist) soil, and never thrives in wet, loamy, or stift' 
 clay soil. In California, nearly all the vineyards are planted 
 on fiat land ; in Euro]>e, hills ai-e preferred, and in Germany 
 the name for a vineyartl is " Weinberg " — a vine-hill. 
 
 Vineyards are planted with cuttings or Avith rooted vines. 
 The cuttings are obtained at the annual pruning in January or 
 February, are about thirty inclies long, and are all of wood 
 less than a year old. They should be taken from vines not 
 less than four years old. The rooted vines are cuttings which 
 are planted in the nursery and allowed to grow there through 
 one season. These latter may be planted out from November 
 to March, inclusive ; cuttings from January to March. It is 
 not usual to plough more than once before planting, but sev- 
 eral ploughings would be better. The vines are planted either 
 six and a half or eight feet apart each way : the former dis- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 249 
 
 tance, giving one thousand vines to the acre, is customary at 
 Los Angeles ; the latter, giving six hundred and eighty vines 
 to the acre, is preferred in Sonoma and Napa. There is, how- 
 ever, no regularity in the vineyards planted of late years ; in 
 some places the rows are live feet apart, and the vines three 
 feet apart in the row. The plough is always used in cultiva- 
 tion, and it requires six feet for convenience of handling. The 
 cuttings are set a foot or two feet deep, perpendicularly, leaving 
 three or four inches with two buds above the surface. The holes 
 are usually made with a crowbar, and after the vine is thrust 
 down into it, a little loose sand or pulverized dirt is poured in 
 to fill up the hole. Sometimes holes are dug with the spade. 
 Unless the ground is moist, the newly-planted vineyard is irri- 
 gated, if water can be obtained readily ; for the vine, when 
 taking root, likes Avater. During the first year after planting, 
 the vine-grower has nothing to do save to plough several times, 
 and to hoe down such weeds as cannot be reached with the 
 plough ; and to irrigate twice if he has water. The cuttings, if 
 properly set, will all grow in a favorable season without irri- 
 gation ; but a supply of water about a month after the last 
 good rain, and another supply a month later, will double the 
 growth of their roots. 
 
 There is very little growth of wood the first year, but it fre- 
 quently happens that cuttings bear grapes — one bunch, it may 
 be, to a dozen vines. Rooted vines do not bear the first year. 
 The next year the ground should be kept loose and clean by 
 ploughing and hoeing twice or thrice. Any suckers springing 
 out from buds beneath the surface must be broken off, and a 
 little pruning is done. In pruning, regard is had to the form 
 which the stalk is to have. 
 
 The vine bears fruit on new wood ; that is, on twigs pro- 
 duced in the same season with the grape. All the twigs are 
 cut off every year, leaving a bare stalk. In the old vineyards 
 of California the stalks are from three to five feet high. Of 
 late, the more general custom is to make the stalks about fif- 
 
250 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 teen inches higb. It is observed that the nearer the grapes to 
 the ground, the earlier they ripen, and the less liable they are 
 to injury from frost and wind. The strongest shoot is selected 
 to make the stalk, and it is tied to a little stake stuck into the 
 ground at its side, and the other shoots are cut off. It is a 
 matter of importance to use the stake so that the vines may 
 grow straight up. Vineyards planted with cuttings bear no 
 grapes the second year ; those planted with rooted vines may 
 bear a few. 
 
 The tliird year, the ploughing and hoeing is the same as the 
 second. More attention must be given to the pruning. All 
 the twigs are cut off save two or three, which sprout from the 
 top of the stalk, and these are pruned so as to leave but two 
 buds on each, which are to produce all the wood and fruit of 
 the season. This year the vines should produce tliree or four 
 pounds of grapes each ; some vineyards have averaged twelve 
 pounds to the stalk the third year. 
 
 The fourth year, the five or six twigs all starting from the 
 top of the stalk, are left with two eyes each ; and this year the 
 yield should be six or eight pounds per vine. Tlie fifth year, 
 there should be seven or eight twigs, with two eyes each, and 
 the grape-yield should be ten pounds per vine. The sixth year, 
 the vine is in full growth, and there should be eight or ten 
 twigs, and from ten to fifteen pounds of fruit per vine. About 
 the fortieth year the vine begins to decay. After the third or 
 fourth year, if the vine has been well trained, it needs no stake 
 for support, but stands alone. 
 
 All vineyards do better with irrigation during the first three 
 years ; many of them do better without it afterwards. On 
 the coast, south of 35°, most of the old vineyards are irrigated ; 
 and nearly all of them are planted in places where they can 
 be irrigated. 
 
 § 178. Wme Yield. — According to the State Reports, the 
 total production of Californian wine was 4,542,000 gallons 
 in 1871; 3,700,000 in 1870; 2,000,000 in 18G9 ; 2,600,000 in 
 
AGRICULTURE. 251 
 
 1868; 1,800,000 in 1867; 800,000 in 1863 ; and 400,000 in 
 1860. The yield in some vineyards has been a gallon to the 
 vine, but we could make a gallon to two vines without de- 
 ducting anything for the late plantings ; so that really the 
 State has the capacity to make 13,000,000 gallons of wine in 
 a year. At present, however, many of the grapes are eaten at 
 the table ; others are converted into brandy, strong wine, raisins, 
 syrups, and vinegar, and some have been allowed to go to 
 waste. Many new vineyai'ds have come into bearing within 
 the last five years, and the owners have neither learned how to 
 make wine, nor found a market for it after it is made ; so that, 
 though there has been a rapid increase absolutely in the pro- 
 duction of wine, yet in relation to the supply of grapes there 
 has been a decrease. Of the 3,700,000 gallons made in 1870, 
 Los Angeles supplied 1,000,000; Sonoma, 750,000; Napa, 
 297,000 ; Solano, 284,000 ; Placer and Sacramento, each 170,- 
 000 ; Calaveras, 136,000 ; and Santa Barbara and El Dorado, 
 each 100,000. 
 
 § 179. 'Wine-making. — The making of wine is considered 
 a branch of agriculture. Grapes cannot be transported far 
 witliout much loss and expense, and usually those intended for 
 wine are pressed in the vineyard where they are grown. A 
 few persons having vineyards of their own, and being provided 
 with machinery and cellar- room, buy the grapes from adjacent 
 vineyards not so well supplied. In all wine coimtries it is the 
 general custom that the owners of the vineyards should press 
 the grapes, and take care of the must until it has passed 
 through its first fermentation. Here they do not sell the wine 
 until it is at least six months old. 
 
 Wine-making commences with the ripening of the grapes, 
 about the middle of September. The berry is considered to 
 be fully ripe when the heart has taken a tinge resembling the 
 darkness of the skin ; when the berry is perfectly sweet, and 
 comes ofl:' easily from the stem, leaving no juice upon it ; and 
 when, on holding a bunch up to the sun, the fibers running 
 from the stem into the berry are nearly or quite invisible. 
 
252 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The branches are cutoff with a knife, (after the dew or fog, 
 if any, has been dispelled) put into a basket, and carried to the 
 press. Here the rotten and unripe berries should be picked 
 out before the bunches are thrown upon a coarse wire sieve. 
 A man presses the bunches upon this sieve, through which the 
 grapes fall, some broken and others unbroken, while the large 
 stems and leaves will not pass, and are thrown away. Below 
 the sieve is the masher, composed of two rollers, ten inches in 
 diameter and three feet long, made of iron or wood. These 
 rollers, turning toward each other, crush the berries, but do 
 not bruise the seeds, which, if crushed, would give a bitter 
 taste to the wine. In large establishments a machine called a 
 stemmer is used to tear the berries from the stalks before they 
 go to the masher ; and the grapes are thrown from a wagon 
 with a pitchfork into a hopper that feeds the stemmer. 
 
 The stemmer and masher together crush all the grapes, and 
 the best part of the juice is liberated before the press is reached ; 
 and that which runs first from the grape is better than the 
 last squeezings. Usually the fresh juice of all grapes is free 
 from color ; and when red wine is to be made, the crushed 
 grapes, as they come from the masher, are thrown with their 
 juice into a vat, and allowed to stand six or eight days, at 
 the end of which time the alcohol formed by fermentation has 
 dissolved the resinous coloring matter in the skin of the grape, 
 and then the pressing can be done. 
 
 § 180. Fermentation. — After the pressing, the red and 
 white wines are treated in the same manner. The juice is put 
 into large casks, usually those of one hundred and forty gallons 
 each, and about one hundred and fifteen gallons are put in 
 each. The casks are thus not filled entirely, but a consider- 
 able surface of the wine is left exposed to the air. This is to 
 favor fermentation, to which the atmosphere is necessary. The 
 cask lies upon its side, the bunghole is left open, and in 
 three or four days the fermentation begins ; in three or four 
 more, its period of greatest ^activity has passed. The temper- 
 
 II 
 
AGRICULTURE. 253 
 
 ature is a matter of the utmost importance to fermentation, 
 the proper degree being about 65° Fahrenheit ; and if the liquid 
 be kept either warmer or colder than tliat ligure, it will be in 
 great danger of spoiling. The fermentation is accompanied by 
 a rising of little air-bubbles to the surface, where they burst, 
 making a noise that may be heard by applying ttie ear to the 
 bunghole, and which is sometimes so loud as to be heard in the 
 cellar at a distance of ten or twenty feet from the barrel. 
 
 After the fermentation has been in progress three or four 
 days, the wine-maker pours in six or eight gallons of fresh 
 juice every day, until the cask is full; and for several days 
 after that he leaves the bunghole still open, and throws out 
 all scum that rises to the surface there. When the scum has 
 ceased to rise, the barrel is closed, and not disturbed for a pe- 
 riod which should not be less than three weeks nor more than 
 three months. After this, comes the " racking otF." All the 
 liquor, except about foiir inches at the bottom, containing sedi- 
 ment, is drawn oif throiigh a syphon, or a cock placed above 
 the level of the sediment. The remainder is filtered through 
 a doubled cotton cloth, and is then poured in with the clear 
 liquor, or used in making brandy. The sediment dej^osited in 
 the bottom of the cask within the first three months, is about 
 one-twentieth in weight of the juice as it comes from the press. 
 After the first racking, the new cask is filled up, the bung is 
 put in, and the wine is not disturbed till March or April, when 
 it begins to feel a more lively fermentation, for that process 
 never ceases entirely. 
 
 It is said that the wine sympathizes with the vine, and that 
 whenever tlie hitter is in active development, the former feels 
 a peculiar impulse also. Thus, the periods when the vine 
 sjjrouts in March or April, wh.en it blossoms in June, and when 
 the grape ripens in September, are also "the times when the fer- 
 mentation is the most active. At those seasons the bungs 
 must be taken oft', or at least loosened, and the barrels must 
 not be moved. 
 
254 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 It is an important point with wine-makers to avoid disturb- 
 ing the process of fermentation. Between times, when the 
 wine is at rest, it should be racked off, and placed in a clean 
 cask. At the end of a year and a half, good, dry, still wine 
 has become clear ; but it continues to grow better with age for 
 about a score of years, at tlie expiration of which period it 
 has acquired a mellowness and delicacy of flavor, and an oili- 
 ness of consistency, which neither gain nor lose by longer 
 preservation. 
 
 In making wine, much depends on the management of the 
 fermentation. The grapes should not be pressed until they 
 are between 55° and 70° warm, and it is very important that 
 the first fermentation should not be checked by cold, which 
 frequently interferes, whereas natural heat very seldom does. 
 
 § 181. Kinds of Wine. — California makes many kinds of 
 wines, the chief classes being the dry, the sweet, the still, and 
 the sparkling, the Mis-ion, and the foreign. Dry wine is that 
 in which the sugar of the grape is all, or nearly all, converted 
 into alcohol. In other words, the process of fermentation has 
 been carried through to completion. Claret, Sauterne, and 
 the liglit wines generally, are dry, and they are preferred by 
 connoisseurs, because they can be drank in considerable quan- 
 tities without either cloying the palate or confusing the head, 
 and because it is easier for the i»ractised taste to detect adul- 
 terations. 
 
 The sweet wines are those which contain part of their sugar 
 unchanged ; and, usually, fermentation has been arrested in 
 them by either allowing the gra))es to become over-ri})e, and 
 thus extremely rich in sugar, or by mixing brandy with them. 
 The ordinary ports, sherries, and madeiras of commerce, are 
 sweet wines, or imitations of them ; though the Spaniards of 
 the Jerez district, and the Portuguese near Oporto, drink dry 
 port and sherry, whereas those wines designed for the English 
 market are fortified with distilled liquor. Sweet wines usually 
 have from fifteen to twenty-five per cent, of alcohol in them, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 255 
 
 whereas dry wines have ordinarily from eight to fourteen per 
 cent. The larger the percentage of alcohol above ten, the 
 slower the fermentation ; and when port has twenty per cent., 
 it may be kept for weeks in the open bottle in a temperature 
 of 70° with very little perceptible alteration ; whereas a light, 
 dry wine will begin to turn in a day. Our principal sweet 
 wines are the Californian, ports, sherries, and Madeiras. 
 
 The still wines are those wliich do not effervesce when the 
 bottle is opened, and they include all tlie strong wines. The 
 sparkling wines are those which effervesce Avhen the bottle is 
 opened, as sparkling champagne. 
 
 Sometimes water is thrown on the cheese as it comes from the 
 press, and after standing a couple of days it is pressed again, to 
 make a very light wine called "Piquet." 
 
 Wine is defined to be " the fermented juice of the grape," 
 and therefore " Angelica " is not properly a wine, though it is 
 usually classed under that title. It is very sweet grape juice, 
 preserved from fermentation by brandy, and is considered a 
 proper drink for ladies, thoiigh it contains twice or thrice as much 
 spirit as dry wine. There are many ways of making it : one 
 is to mix a quart of brandy with a gallon of fresh grape juice; 
 another, to boil the grape juice down to half its bulk and add 
 an eighth of brandy ; another, to let the grapes shrivel on the 
 vines, and add a tenth of brandy to the juice, and so on ; and 
 it is said that some is made without any brandy. 
 
 § 182. Defects of our Wine. — Most of the wines of Cali- 
 fornia are strong, lacking in delicacy of flavor. The climate 
 in the Sacramento basin, and on the coast, south of 35°, is so 
 warm that light wine cannot be made couvcuiently. After 
 ripening commences, it proceeds so rajndly that before much 
 work can be done, an excess of sugar is produced. Spain, 
 Portugal, and Italy make strong wines, while the valleys of 
 the Garonne, Marne, and Rhine, farther north, supply a lighter 
 article. The correction of this evil is to commence pressing as 
 soon as possible after a sufficient quantity of sugar has been 
 
256 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 developed to give eight or ten per cent, of spirit in tlie wine. 
 The defects of flavor are partly owing to the bad situation of 
 the vines, their bad quality, or the bad management of fer- 
 mentation. The low lands in which most of the vineyards are 
 planted, though they can be cultivated with little trouble and 
 produce most abundantly, will not give the best wine. The 
 hills are better fur quality, though Avorse for quantity. The 
 main stock of our vines is of the Mission variety, which bears 
 abundantly, and yields a berry rich in sugar, sometimes turn- 
 ing partly to alcohol on the vine, so that a person Avith a sen- 
 sitive stomach will get dizzy from eating a large bunch of 
 grapes ; but it lacks aroma and tartness, both of which are 
 necessary to high excellence. Many of the foreign varieties 
 contain less sugar, more aroma, and more tartaric acid ; and 
 they are gradually replacing the others, being set out in all the 
 new vineyards, and in some places being used for grafting the 
 old ones. The defects of fermentation are chargeable to lack 
 of experience and of good cellars. 
 
 The cellar is a matter of great importance to the wine- 
 maker. From the moment when the grape juice comes from 
 the press until the wine is brought upon the table to be drunk, 
 it should be kept in a cellar ; and it is only in a cellar that the 
 equability and coolness of temperature proper to favor fermen- 
 tation can be obtained. In France and Germany, it is often 
 necessary to have fires in the cellars ; and it would be well to 
 have them occasionally in California. Indeed, Avine-makers 
 generally haA^e no cellars, but only houses. In Los Angeles 
 County, much of the w'lue is kept in adobe houses. The sandi- 
 ness of the land, the frequent irrigation, and the proximity 
 of the vines to the places Avhere the wine is stored, Avould lead 
 to the filling of deep cellars Avith Avater ; so the cellars are dug 
 only three or four feet into the ground, and an adobe wall 
 three feet thick, and a thick covering, render the cellars pretty 
 cool. In Sonoma, the Buena Vista Society has a cellar dug 
 like a tunnel a long distance into a hill of volcanic tufa. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 257 
 
 While most of the wine of California does not deserve com- 
 mendation, much of it compares favorably with fine qualities 
 of European production. There are considerable quantities of 
 Californian port, light red wine, and sparkling wine, that can 
 ■compare on fair terms with good brands from Oporto, Bor- 
 deaux, and Rheiras ; and the amounts are steadily increasing. 
 
 At present, nearly all the best light wine comes from Sonoma ; 
 but I think the time is not far distant when a large area on the 
 coast mountains from Clear Lake to Santa Barbara, near the 
 line between the foggy coast ifnd the hot interior climate, will 
 be covered by vineyards engaged in the production of light 
 wines of tine bouquet. 
 
 § 183. Sparkling California. — California is now making 
 about 200,000 bottles of genuine sparkling wine annually ; 
 but if her vineyards were protected by laws enforcing the 
 principles of common honesty, and not oppressed by proliibi- 
 tory taxes on the distillation of brandy, as at present, tliey 
 would probably soon produce five times as much wine as they 
 now do. The champagne district of France is not so large 
 as the district fit to produce sparkling wine in California, and 
 it makes 20,000,000 bottles of sparkling wine, and sells them 
 for $12,000,000 annually. 
 
 The business of making the machine-aerated sparkling wine 
 is carried on very extensively in the United States, the pro- 
 duction amounting to 2,500.000 bottles annually, or as much 
 as the total consumption of the genuine sparkling wines. 
 The bogus article will not keep, and lias a bad name ; and 
 nearly all of it is oti:ered to the public under fraudulent labels, 
 in imitation of the favorite brands of champagne. Of course, 
 men of high character cannot compete with rogues in such 
 business, and the result is, under our present laws, that honest 
 men are at a disadvantage. So little capital is required for 
 making machine-aerated wine, that the manufacturer may 
 move his establishment four or five times a year to escape de- 
 tection, and yet throw a large stock on the market. It is said 
 17 
 
258 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 that good wine can be made by machine-aeration, but so long 
 as the business is conducted fraudulently as at present, it 
 would be foolish to expect any excellence in the product. The 
 wine is sold by the forged label, and not by its merit. We 
 want laws making the imitation of a label a crime, and requir- 
 ing a stamp on imitation articles showing their true quality. 
 Give us proper legislation, and let us see whether we cannot 
 do as well. Tlie. sparkling wine of our State is now far above 
 the average of France in quality, and ranks little below, per- 
 haps, half a dozen of tlie best French ; and we are fully pre- 
 pared now to profit from legislation to protect, not simply home 
 production, but common honesty. 
 
 § 184, A2)2^les. — The Spanish Californiaus had a few apple 
 trees, but they were seedlings of a poor class. The first good 
 apples were impoited from Oregon, in 1849 ; but the vai'ieties 
 were few and the trees did not thrive. Either the stock was 
 not the best, or the change of climate had an injurious influ- 
 ence on them. In 1852 a few trees were imported by way of 
 the Isthmus of Panama ; other importations followed very rap- 
 idly, and now the State has millions of trees in nursery, and 
 about eight hundred thousand bearing trees in orchard, includ- 
 ing two hundred varieties, the best of Europe and the Atlan- 
 tic States, both standard and dwarf trees. 
 
 Apple-trees are usually planted from twelve to thirty feet 
 ai^art, fourteen or sixteen being the more common distances. 
 This is much closer together than is customary in the Atlantic 
 States : the reason for the denser planting here being to pre- 
 vent injury by the wind, and to keep the earth moist by shad- 
 ing it against the sun. The apple-tree comes into bearing in 
 the third year in California, about two years earlier than in 
 the Eastern States. It also grows more rapidly, a yearling 
 tree here being as large as a two-year old tree in Ohio. Grafts 
 on yearling stocks liave been known to grow six and eight 
 feet in a season — twice as long as similar grafts will grow in 
 the Middle States. The fruit usuallv arrows larger here than 
 
AGRICULTURE. 25'9 
 
 tslsewhere. The Gloria 3[uncll apple, which elsewhere seldom 
 exceeds fourteen ounces in weight, in California frequently 
 reaches twenty ounces, and some have attained the great size 
 of two and even two and a half pounds. 
 
 The climate seems to have a tendency to ripen apples 
 more thoroughly than in other States. Those varieties which 
 are grown for winter use elsewhere, are here generally con- 
 verted into autumn apples, and only a few will keep to New 
 Year's Day. Our list of winter apples is very short, and 
 some years will pass beforeVe can in this respect equal the 
 Middle States. 
 
 The flavor of our apples is not equal, as a general rule, to 
 that of the apples grown on the Atlantic slope. They are less 
 juicy and more mealy. Some varieties, however, are better 
 here than in the Eastern States. Great variations are observed 
 in different parts of the State : an apple may be excellent when 
 the tree grows in the hot summer and cool winter high up on 
 the Sierra Nevada ; and be of poor quality if grown in the 
 equable temperature of the coast. 
 
 The trees grow so rapidly and bear so abundantly, that some 
 persons suppose onr orchards must be short-lived ; but the fruit- 
 trees of the old Missions, many of them forty years old, are 
 still in excellent health and full bearing, and have not failed 
 at any season during the last score of years to produce a good 
 crop. The indigenous trees in our valleys have a thriftiness of 
 growth and a precocity of development similar to our culti- 
 vated fruit-trees, and yet have a longevity equal to that of the 
 similar species east of the Mississippi, where the summers are 
 shorter, the winters colder, the annual growth less, and the 
 development of the reproductive power later. 
 
 The best varieties, so far as ascertained, about the bay of 
 San Francisco, are the Summer Pearmain, Red Astraklian, 
 Red June, and Early Harvest, for early apples ; the Porter, 
 Gravenstein, and Summer Queen, for late summer apples ; tlie 
 Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, and Rhode Island Greening, for 
 
260 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fall apples ; the Goldeu Russet, the Northern Spy, the Yellow 
 Newtown Pippin, the White Winter Pearmain, and the Spitz- 
 enberg, for winter apples. The best cider apple is the Smith's 
 Cider. In the Sacramento Valley the Newtown Pippin, 
 Swaar, and Rawles Jeannette, are considered the best winter 
 apples; on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, from 1,000 to 
 3,000 feet above the sea, the Spitzenberg and Wine Sap are 
 preferred. 
 
 Of the apple-trees in the State, there are 1,100,000 in Santa 
 Clara, 200,000 in Sonoma, 90,000 each in Sacramento, El 
 Dorado, and Alameda, 55,000 each in Placer and Napa, and 
 50,000 each in Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, and Humboldt. 
 Most of the orchards are not profitable, and no large ones 
 have been set out of late years, 
 
 § 185. Peaches. — The peach-tree grows very rapidly, comes 
 into bearing very early, and produces abundantly, in Califor- 
 nia ; but suffers with " the curl." Tiie varieties most free 
 from that disease are the Late and Early Crawford, the Late 
 Admirable, and the Smock. In the valleys and near the ocean, 
 the peaches are inferior in size and flavor to the same varieties 
 on the Atlantic slope; but in the Sierra Nevada they are fully 
 equal to the Eastern fruit. The peach does not thrive in the 
 high winds about San Francisco Bay. The trees are usually 
 set out in orchard when one year old from the graft or bud ; 
 in the second year after that, they begin to bear. 
 
 § 186, Pears. — The pear is the most productive and liealthy 
 of the fruit-trees of California. It thrives in all parts of the 
 State, and everywhere its fruit is delicate in flavor and large in 
 size. There are pear-trees at San Jose which produce twenty- 
 five hundred pounds, or forty bushels each, of fruit annually. 
 The pear was more cultivated by the Spanish Californians 
 than any other fruit ; but their varieties were not good, and 
 most of the old trees have been grafted with varieties brought 
 from the Atlantic States during the last eight years. The 
 varieties most prized are the Madeline, Bloodgood, Diane 
 
AGRICULTURE. 261 
 
 d'ete, Dearborn's Seedling, Seckel, and ■ Bartlett, for summer 
 pears ; and the Winter Nelis, Glout Morceau, and Easter 
 Beurre, for winter. 
 
 § 187, Apricots and Plums. — The apricot thrives well and 
 bears abundantly, especially in the warmer parts of the State. 
 The fruit, however, in some places, is much eaten by bugs and 
 bees. The bugs — some of them of the kind commonly called 
 " Lady-bug," and others similar in appearance and size — eat 
 holes in the apricots before they are ripe ; and the bees, which 
 never break the skin, eat at the holes which tlie bugs have 
 commenced. The apricot-tree is more healthy than tlie peach, 
 and produces more abundantly ; and its fruit supplies the place 
 of the peach in many districts. 
 
 § 188. Olives. — For the cultivation of the olive, California 
 has great advantages. The tree is very healthy, and always 
 bears abundantly ; whereas in Italy and Greece, whence most 
 of onr olive oil comes, the crop is frequently destroyed by 
 summer rains, blight, and insects, all of which causes of trou- 
 ble are unknown here. There, it is expected that the crop will 
 fail one year in three, whereas here no failure has ever been 
 known. The number of our olive-trees is small, many of 
 those in full bearing having been planted half a centmy ago. 
 Nor is it likely that thei-e will be a rapid increase. The tree 
 does not come into bearing until ten years of age, at least not 
 in Europe ; but it will live and continue in bearing for five or 
 six centuries. Most of the bearing olive-trees are at Los An- 
 geles, San Fernando, San Gabriel, Santa Barbara, San Diego, 
 and San Juan Capistrano. The olive-tree resembles a willow in 
 the form and color of its bark, the shape and proportions of 
 its trunk and branches, and the size, color, and distribution of 
 its leaves. The trees are grown from cuttings or shoots, which 
 latter frequently sprout from the large trees near the surface 
 of the ground. A large olive orchard in full bearing will 
 prove an excellent income, for the fruit and the oil are in de- 
 mand. One cause of the unwillingness of many persons to 
 
262 
 
 plant olives, is the difficulty in getting fine vaneties, most of 
 the old stock at the JMissions being small and bitter, and not 
 the best either for oil or pickles. 
 
 § 189. Orange, — Tlie orange thrives and bears in the Sac- 
 ramento Valley, as far north as latitude SS'^ 30' ; but along the 
 coast south of 34° 30' it is one of the most profitable trees, 
 besides being highly ornamental, with its dense, glossy ever- 
 green foliage and fragrant blossoms, and its bright, golden 
 fruit, which covei-s the trees for a lai-ge part of the year. A 
 good tree, ten years old, will bear a thousand oranges annually ; 
 and the average price of these, delivered at the orchard, varies 
 from $10 to $30, or $500 to $1,500 per acre. Some trees at 
 Sacramento, Auburn, Oroville, Putah Valley, Sonoma, San 
 Lorenzo, and Martinez, have borne well, but the cultivation 
 has not been extensive enough to satisfy farmers that large 
 orange orchai-ds there would be profitable. More trees, how- 
 ever, are being set out. 
 
 We have no exact information as to the time when the or- 
 ange was introduced into California, nor from what stock the 
 old orange-trees came. Probably the first missionaries 
 brought orange-seeds with them from Lower California, that 
 stock having come from the indigenous trees along the west- 
 ern coast of Mexico. Tlie seeds were ])1 anted at various old 
 Missions, such as San Diego, San Fernando, San Juan Capis- 
 trano, and so forth. The trees grew, were planted out, bore 
 well, received little attention or cultivation, and some of them 
 are still standing as monuments to the industry and enterprise 
 of the old friars. Tlie orange is at a disadvantage, in being 
 mifit for drying, as grapes and figs are, or fin- pickling, like 
 olives; and its cultivation is exposed to serious drawbacks, 
 among wliich are injury by gophci-s, ground squirrels, and 
 scale bugs, and by dependence on an abundant supply of 
 water. No orange orchard thrives without irrigation, and 
 several orchards in tlie vicinity of Santa Barbara do not 
 bear, for unknown reasons. Mr. Evans, in the Overland 
 
AGRICULTURE. 263 
 
 Monthly for March, 1874, thus estimates the cost of ten 
 acres of orange orchard, in the first year, viz : land, $300 ; 
 fencing, $300; 600 trees, two years old, $125; planting, 
 $300 ; ploughing, replanting, and other incidentals, $200. 
 Total, $1,425, The trees begin to bear at the end of seven 
 or eight years, but do not yield a good crop until two or three 
 years later. The cost of managing ten acres of orange or- 
 chard, in full bearing, is estimated at $3,130 per year, and 
 the receipts at $15,000, leaving $11,870 profit. The soil 
 should be a rich, sandy loam, with good drainage. Adobe 
 soil will not do. Mr. Evans gives the prices of trees in the Los 
 Angeles nurseries : trees five years old sell for $3 each ; four 
 years old, $1.50; three years old, 40 to 60 cents; two years 
 old, 3 to 20 cents ; one year old, one-half cent ; all by the 
 hundred. Imported oranges from the Hawaiian and Society 
 Islands are picked before maturity, thus injuring their flavor, 
 or sutfer a loss of fifty per cent on the voyage, giving the do- 
 mestic oranges a great advantage in the market. 
 
 § 190. Berries. — Raspberries and blackberries were culti- 
 vated extensively eight or ten years ago for the San Francisco 
 market, but are now out of favor. Cherry currants are 
 grown with a profit ; of gooseberries Ave have few. 
 
 Strawberries are cultivated extensively in Santa Clara 
 County for the San Francisco market. Tlie best fields of 
 vines in their third and fourth years will yield from 4,000 to 
 6,000 pounds per acre, and the wholesale price in this city may 
 be six or seven cents per pound, making a gross yield of $240 
 to $420 per acre. The cost of picking is 2 cents, of railroad 
 freights J cent, drayage in San Francisco ^ cent, and com- 
 missions 8 per cent. The amount received is sometimes from 
 60,000 to 70,000 pounds daily, indicating a lively consumption 
 for a city of 180,000 inhabitants. The strawberries are mostly 
 grown on the shares by Chinamen, who give half the crop for 
 the land. As the vines produce nothing the first year, and 
 the Chinamen are poor, the land-owner usually loans his credit 
 
264 ' RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 for provisions, and clears $100 per acre. Six Chinamen do 
 the work on ten acres of strawberries, except in the picking 
 season, when three extra men are employed to tlie acre. 
 Strawberry fields have fallen into the possession of the Chinese 
 within the last five or six years, and the profits to the land- 
 lords are greater than under the old system of paying wages. 
 It would be impossible to grow the berries profitably without 
 Celestial help, and except in a few moist spots without irriga- 
 tion, 
 
 § 191. Ornamental Gardens. — Professional gardeners say 
 that California is better fitted by nature tlian any part of 
 Europe or the Atlantic slopes to have beautiful ornamental 
 gardens. Our shrubs are more numerous, grow larger, remain 
 green longer, and have a longer blooming season, than those 
 of other States. The rose, the daisy, the pansy, tlie a3lys- 
 sum, the clyanthus punceus, the flowering verbena, the holly- 
 hock, and the calla, or Ethiopian lily, bloom here in the open 
 air every month in the year. The honeysuckle, metrosideros, 
 and myrtle, bloom from March to December ; the geranium 
 and snow-ball from April to October ; the violet from October 
 to May ; the pittosporum from November to March ; the 
 spireas and flowering almond from JMarch to June ; and the 
 camelia japonica from January to May, all in the open air. 
 Persons at all familiar with the cultivation of these flowers in 
 New York, will observe that the blooming season here is, on 
 an average, fully double its length there. Not only do they 
 bloom in the open air, l>ut they retain their leaves through 
 most of the Avinter montlis, so that our gardens are never bare 
 and cheerless, as they are in the Atlantic winters. I have seen 
 a rosebush bearing twenty full-blown roses in January, and 
 that in the open air, with no assistance from artificial heat, 
 and no protection save tliat of clambering up a brick wall on 
 the soutliern side of an unoccupied house. Our roses are larger 
 as well as more abundant tlian in the Eastern States, but their 
 perfume is not so strong. The delicate European varieties, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 265 
 
 which die in the winter of Pennsylvania, abound in our gar- 
 dens. Among the favorites are the Pauline, Malmaison, 
 Madaine LatFa}^ Model of Perfection, Raglan, Hopper, Giant 
 of Battles, Prince Charles, Devoniensis, Lamarck, Clara Wen- 
 del, Glory of Jena, and Agrippina. 
 
 A marked feature of our ornamental gardening is our ability 
 to cultivate in the open air many plants which can only be 
 preserved in this latitude east of the Rocky Mountains un- 
 der glass, and with the aid of artificial heat. These plants 
 are too numerous to be all specially named here ; but some 
 of the more important are the geranium, fuchsia, orange, 
 camelia japonica, laurastinus, myoporum, ericas, casuarina, 
 daphne, eucalyptus, metrosideros, and thirty varieties of 
 acacia, twenty of them from Australia. It might be al- 
 most said that we have no hot-houses in the State, but 
 only green-houses, for it is scarcely ever necessary to make 
 a fire, even to protect the most delicate of tropical plants. 
 Our climate is very favorable to the gi'owth of evergreens, es- 
 pecially to those strange and beautiful ones from Australia, 
 with the graceful growth, and the brilliant, feathery foliage. 
 
 Among the creeping vines grown in California is the 
 Australian bean, which has a dense, bright, evergreen foliage, 
 and abundant flowers throughout the year. It climbs strings, 
 and is therefore well suited to shade verandas, and to grow in 
 the front of porticoes. 
 
 The rose, the honeysuckle, the veronica, the oleander, the 
 laurastinus, the euonymus japonica, and the verbenas — espe- 
 cially tlie lemon verbena — may safely be said to make twice 
 as much wood in a year as tliey do on tlie Atlantic Coast. The 
 geraniums in San Francisco are almost trees. Rose-sprouts 
 often grow twenty feet in a season, and other plants in propor- 
 tion. Tliere is scarcely any tree or shrub cultivated in the At- 
 lantic States which does not thrive equally as well here, except 
 the weeping willow. 
 
266 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 California has thus far furnished very little for our gardens. 
 There are many singular plants in our mountains, but few have 
 found favor with our gardeners. Tlie ceonothus is the chief or- 
 namental slirub, indigenous in California, adopted for cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 § 192. Arbor Iculture. — The cultivation of forest and shade 
 trees is yet very limited in California. For timber purposes 
 the blue gum or eucalyptus globulus is preferred, on account 
 of the rapidity of its growth, and the strength, hardness, and 
 durability of its wood. Several other species of the eucalyptus 
 are also in favor. The black locust grows rapidly, but is in 
 some places injured by insects, and it gives trouble by the 
 numerous sprouts that rise from its roots. In the interior 
 towns the scycamore, Cottonwood, native willow, Lombardy 
 poplar, the ailanthus, and the Eastern and California maple, 
 are used for shade ; but in the gardens near the middle coast, 
 where the summers are not very warm, and shade not much 
 needed, the Monterey cypress, Monterey pine, and Lawson 
 cypress are preferred, on account of their beauty, the density 
 of their foliage, the regularity of their growth, and their hardi- 
 ness. 
 
 § 193. Pests of the Farmer. — Certain " pests " of the farmer 
 must be mentioned here, among which are the spermophile, 
 gopher, grasshopper, locust, grape-bug, orange-bug, army- 
 worm, Canada thistle, mullen, dock, fern, and so forth. Of 
 the spermophiles and their habits I have spoken in the chapter 
 on the zoology of the State. The amount of mischief which 
 they do is very great. The most effective means of driving 
 them off are poisons, chiefly strychnine and pliosphorus. About 
 a drachm of strychnine is dissolved in a quart of whisky, and 
 then the solution is poured over dry wheat, in such quantity 
 that the surface of the liquid is just on a level with the top of 
 the grain. In the course of twelve hours the wheat absorbs 
 all the liquor, and a few grains may then be thrown in front 
 of every squirrel hole. Another method of preparation is to 
 
 !| 
 
♦AGRICULTURE. 267 
 
 cover a pint of wlieat with boiling water, and keep hot till all 
 the water has been soaked up ; then pulverize an ounce of 
 strychnine, mix it well with the hot wheat ; add two ounces of 
 brown sugar, and stir that up witli the mass ; then add four 
 ounces of corn meal to serve for drying and covering the moist 
 kernels. Wheat thus prepared will keep a long time after it 
 is dried, and three or four grains dropped in a squirrel hole 
 will have a percei)tible eifect. Pieces of watermelon and of 
 sweet apple, sprinkled with powdered strychnine and placed 
 near the squirrel holes, are good. 
 
 Phosphorus is dissolved by hot molasses or water. The 
 molasses with phosphorus is mixed with wheat and flour, and 
 small quantities of the mixture are dropped into the holes. By 
 another method the wheat is soaked in boiling water until it is 
 soft, when the water is drawn oif, and a stick of phosphorus 
 three inches long ])ut into the hot water, melts in ten minutes, 
 and tlie wheat is stirred about well, so that the melted phos- 
 phorus will touch every grain. The wheat is then poured 
 upon some bran, in which it is rolled, so that every kernel may 
 be covered ; and the grain is ready for its purposes of destruc- 
 tion. A couple of kernels will kill a squirrel ; and if a cat 
 eats the squirrel, it will kill him ; and if a raven picks out the 
 eyes of the cat, he will die too. Such a progessive destruction 
 has been observed more than once in California. 
 
 The squirrels may also be killed by soaking a rag in kero- 
 sene, sprinkling it with sulphur, setting it on tire, throwing it 
 into a squirrel hole, and filling the mouth of the hole carefully 
 with dirt, and of every other hole where the smoke appears in 
 the vicinity. Sometimes several burrows are connected. In 
 one case eighty squirrels were thus killed witli one i-ag. A 
 bellows with a chamber for burning sulphur has been devised 
 for blowing poisonous fumes into the holes. But in defiance 
 of these ingenious methods to destroy them, the pests are still 
 numerous. 
 
268 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The gopher may be poisoned with pliosphorus or strychnine, 
 and may be caught more readily with traps than the sper- 
 mopliile. In the chapter on zoology I have described tlie trench 
 used for keeping gophers out of orchards and gardens, and for 
 catching them. 
 
 The grasshoppers are the greatest pests of the farmer in 
 California, and several times during the last fifteen years they 
 liave eaten every green thing within large districts. They 
 come in millions upon millons, and darken the air, moving for- 
 ward at the rate of a mile or two a day, and leaving no grass 
 or leaf behind them. Grains, grass, weeds, kitchen vegetables, 
 and fruit trees, are alike eaten bare of every green particle. 
 Grasshoppers are abundant in countries where the summers are 
 dry, the winters warm, and the vegetation vigorous ; and if a 
 large extent of land be uncultivated, they will occasionally be 
 so numerous as to destroy every green thing. They are bred 
 in the hills of California, and after dry winters descend into 
 the valleys, usually content to eat the wild grasses, but some- 
 times attack the cultivated fields. There is no known method 
 of killing them after they have entered a field, or of driving 
 them away from it ; but they may be kept out by digging a 
 trench, putting straw in it, with some moist straw on top, and 
 then setting fire to it. The grasshoppers do not like the fire 
 and smoke, and will try to avoid them. 
 
 Under the head of the grape and the orange, I have spoken 
 of the bugs which infest them. The army-worm and weevil 
 have been seen in California, but have done little damage as 
 yet. Tlie curculio is not known in the State. The Canada 
 thistle, the mullen, and the dock, have been introduced, but 
 have not yet given much trouble. 
 
 § 194. Irrigation. — According to the State Surveyor-Gen- 
 eral's statistics for 1871, California had in that year 915 irri- 
 gating ditches, supplying water to 90,344 acres — an average 
 of about 100 acres to the ditch. Siskiyou is credited with 180 
 ditches, and 6,900 irrigated acres; Tulare, with 110 ditches 
 
 il 
 
AGRICULTURE. 269 
 
 and 5,000 acres; Mariposa, with 60 ditches and 210 aci-es; 
 Los Angeles, with 52 ditches and 18,200 acres; Tuolumne, 
 with 2 ditches and 15,000 acres; San Joaquin, with 2 ditches 
 and 3,000 acres ; Alpine, with 2 ditches and 2,500 acres ; and 
 Calaveras with 27 ditches and 272 acres. 
 
 Most of the irrigation works which existed before 1872 were 
 of little relative importance ; they supplied less than one acre 
 in a thousand, and most of them were very costly, compara- 
 tively, on account of their small size. California is now about 
 to enter on the era of irrigation. The first of the new ditches 
 — that of the San Joaquin and King's River Canal and Irriga- 
 tion Company — supplies 15,000 acres with irrigation this year. 
 It is thirty-eight and a half miles long, fifty-five feet wide, 
 four feet deep, has a descent of one foot to the mile, and runs 
 northwestward from the bend of the San Joaquin River. 
 About half of the land irrigated is in grain, and half in al- 
 falfa. The experience so far is most encouraging, the iri*igated 
 land all producing large crops, even where tlie soil is poor ; 
 while the richest soil, above the level of the ditch, yields 
 nothing. In addition to the 15,000 acres, 60,000» more can 
 be irrigated from this ditch, so far as completed. It is pro- 
 posed to extend the ditch forty miles, to San Joaquin City, on 
 the San Joaquin River, with a grade of half a foot to the mile. 
 Tlie extension will supply water to 250,000 aci'es, making the 
 total area for the entire ditch, 325,000 acres. At twenty 
 bushels to the acre, that ditch alone will secure a production 
 of 6,000,000 bushels of wheat from a district that was long 
 considered worthless for tillage, and that has never yet pro- 
 duced 60,000 bushels, though thousands of acres have more 
 than once been sown there. 
 
 The King's River Irrigation Company take out water from 
 King's River, where it enters the San Joaquin plain on the 
 north side, Tlie ditch is thirty feet wide and three feet 
 deep, with a grade of a foot to a mile. The supply of water 
 is sufficient for 300,000 acres, and there would be no serious 
 difliculty in enlarging the canal to take out all the water. 
 
270 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The Fre?5iio Canal was constructed by FrieLllander, Chap- 
 man, and Hou'ard, to take the water from Fresno River, 
 where it strikes the plain. The main canal is ten miles long 
 and forty feet wide, with a grade of eight-tenths of a foot to 
 a mile, with capacity to irrigate 40,000 acres; and it is to be 
 supplied with a reservoir a mile and a half long, a hundred 
 feet wide, and ten feet deep. The district to be irrigated is 
 known as the Alabama Settlement, south of the Fresno River. 
 
 Chapman, Miller & Lux have made a canal, tapping the San 
 Joa(pun twelve miles above the bend, and running northward, 
 nearly parallel witli the stream below the bend. It is thirty 
 miles long, tliirty-live feet wide, and three feet deep, witli a 
 grade of a foot to a mile, and capacity to irrigate 50,000 
 acres. The land covered by this ditch belongs to the three 
 ditch-builders. 
 
 There are several considerable irrig;atiuo; ditches in the east- 
 ern part of San Joaquin County, and in Kern and Yolo Coun- 
 ties. 
 
 Assertions liave been published repeatedly that the con- 
 struction of 'large canals would tend to throw the land irri- 
 gated into the same ownersliip with that of the water supply, 
 and thus would not only prevent the sale of the large tracts 
 now held by single individuals to small farmers, but would 
 compel the sale of many tracts to the ditch-owners. G. P. 
 Marsh claims to have observed such results in Lombardy, but 
 he may have misunderstood the causes. All the experience of 
 our continent tends to prove that the number of independent 
 land-owners increases with the substitution of tillage for pas- 
 turage, and again with the substitution of horticulture for 
 grain-farming on dry soil in a dry climate. The cultivation 
 of irrigated land is horticultural in its tendencies. Twenty 
 acres of irrigated land may demand as much labor, and pay 
 as much gross revenue, as two thousand do without artificial 
 water sujiply, if kept merely for wild pasturage. The size of 
 the farms depends on the quantity that a farmer can aftbrd to 
 
AGRICULTURE. 271 
 
 buy, and can profitably use, with his supply of capital ; and 
 as irrigated land is much dearer, and requires a larger expen- 
 diture for cultivation by the acre, it is evident that the aver, 
 age farmer can neither buy nor manage one-tenth so much as 
 he could of dry valley land. Tliese principles must be quite 
 clear to men of intelligence ; and they are verified by the 
 results. We find, fur instance, that in Utah, where the tillage 
 is done almost entirely by irrigation, the average size of the 
 farms is only thirty acres ; and in Wyoming, where irrigation 
 is also necessary, the average is twenty-five acres ; while 
 Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the next lowest, have more 
 than ninety acres, and California, under the infiuence of its 
 large dry ranches, four hundred and eighty acres. If we com- 
 pare the coimties of California, Ave find that one-half of the 
 farms in Los Angeles are between three and fifty acres in size, 
 or more than twice as many, relatively, in 1870, as in Mon- 
 terey and the San Joaquin Valley, where there were then few 
 irrigating ditches. It is notorious that there are more land- 
 owners and more thorough cultivation in proportion to the 
 area at the cities of Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jos^, the 
 chief irrigation centers of the State, than in any dry -soil dis- 
 tricts. This should be a complete answer to those Avho argue 
 that irrigation will help to concentrate the ownership of the 
 land in the hands of a few, and reduce the farm laborers to 
 greater dependence. 
 
 § 195. Reclamation. — The reclamation of the tule and 
 swamp land is a matter of vast importance to the future of 
 California. The tule land occupies three million acres along 
 the banks of San Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun, and Hum- 
 boldt Bays, and the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, the 
 greater portion of it being in the lieart of the State. The soil 
 is rich, and needs only to be protected against Hoods and high 
 tides, to equal in production the best land in the State. This 
 protection is afibrded by dykes, twenty or thirty feet wide at 
 the base, and five feet at the top, with a height varying from five 
 
272 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 to ten feet. Tliis embankment costs ten or eleven cents per 
 cubic yard, and the ordinary cost of reclamation ranges from 
 $5 to $20 per acre, according to the varying circumstances. 
 The legislature of 1872 j^assed an act authorizing the sale of 
 bonds to pay for the reclamation of the several tule districts, 
 the bonds to be a mortgage on the district reclaimed. It was 
 supposed that bonds to the amount of $20,000,000 would be 
 sold under this act ; but there is no sale for them, except at a 
 discount of fifteen or twenty per cent., and the land-owners do 
 not wish their land reclaimed at such loss. It is suitposed that 
 a better price can be obtained after the passage of an act to 
 remedy some of the defects of the statute of 1872. About 
 100,000 acres have been partially reclaimed already. 
 
 § 196. Products of our Herds. — We can estimate the but- 
 ter of the State to be worth 35 cents per pound, or $2,450,000 ; 
 and the cheese 20 cents, or $680,000. The amount of milk sold 
 annually is 3,700,000 gallons, which brings about $1,000,000 to 
 the dairy-men. In 1872 the exports of hides were worth $170,- 
 000; of horns, $11,000; of bones, $6,000; and of wool, 
 $7,750,000. The value of the animals slaughtered annually 
 is $6,100,000. These figures give us $18,137,000 as the an- 
 nual value of the products of our herds, exclusive of the hides 
 tanned into leather, and of the services of draught and riding 
 animals. 
 
 § 197. Sheep. — The climate of California is peculiarly fa- 
 vorable to the growth, increase, and health of the sheep. Our 
 mild winters permit them to grow throughout the year; and 
 it is an accepted principle among those familiar with the sub- 
 ject, that a sheep, born and bred in Califurnia, is, at two years 
 of age, usually as large and heav^^ as one of three years, born 
 and bred in the Atlantic States. The ewes produce twins and 
 triplets more frequently here than east of the Kocky Moun- 
 tains. The health of the herds is better. No fatal disease has 
 ever prevailed to any serious extent. The " scab " exists in 
 many herds, but in a mild form, and few have died of it. It is 
 
AGRICULTURE. 273 
 
 tlie general opinion of sheep-breeders that the sheep l:>red in 
 California will produce more wool than those of other States. 
 The heaviest unwashed Heece on record, is that of " Grizzly," 
 a French Merino buck. It was fourteen months old, weiglied 
 forty-two pounds, and was slieared by Flint, Bixby & Co., in 
 Monterey County, in 1859. 
 
 Sheep in California are never kept under shelter, and except 
 a few of fine blood, seldom get any food, save such as they can 
 pick up on the open hills and plains. Sometimes lambs are 
 lost with cold, but this is very rare when they are well man- 
 aged. At night the herds are driven into corrals or pens, to 
 protect them against the coyotes, and to keep them from 
 being lost. On the large sheep ranches, one herdsman is em- 
 ployed for a thousand sheep. There are a few shepherd-dogs 
 in the State, some brought from Australia, others from Scot- 
 land. The word " corral " is understood by these dogs, and 
 when they hear it, they immediately drive the herd to the 
 corral. At the sight of a wolf they hastily collect the sheep 
 into a dense body, with their tails out and the lambs in the 
 center. If a sheep turns his head out, the dog bites his knees 
 and makes him turn about. Tlie dog seems to understand that 
 the wolf cannot do much harm by biting tbe rump of a sheep, 
 but would soon kill it after catching its throat. 
 
 In most other sheep countries, the sheep-breeder is at great 
 disadvantages as compared with California : the land is dear ; 
 it must be cultivated ; the sheep must be fed by hand every 
 day during a considei-able part of the year ; the herds must be 
 under shelter in the winter ; four or five men are required, on 
 an average, to attend to a thousand sheep ; the herds are not 
 so healthy, do not increase so rapidly, do not grow so large 
 within the first two years, and do not produce so much wool. 
 The land of the sheep ranches in California is not worth more 
 than five dollars per acre, on an average — probably not more 
 than three dollars. It follows that sheep-breeding should be 
 very profitable here, and so it is. The ewes, when properly 
 18 
 
274 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 taken care of, have lambs before they are a year old — increase 
 one hundred per cent, every year. The cost of keejnng lar^^e 
 herds is variously estimated at from thirty-seven to fifty cents 
 per head annually, exclusive of the interest of the land used 
 for pasturage. The wool of a good sheep will pay twice the 
 cost of keeping it ; and the wool and lamb together, of a fine- 
 blood ewe, are worth eight or ten times the cost. It is the 
 present custom to sell the wethers for mutton when a year old, 
 but this is bad policy, save with the poorest sheep. 
 
 The old missions had large herds of sheep, but after the 
 management of those large establishments was taken from 
 the priests and given to civil officers, in 1833, the sheep were 
 neglected and most of them were killed. Twenty years later 
 very few were left in the State ; but there was a demand for 
 mutton, so large herds were driven from New Mexico. These 
 were a very poor stock, but they were for a long time the 
 only sheep that could be had. The first attempt to breed 
 sheep, as an exclusive business in California, since the Ameri- 
 can conquest, was commenced in 1853, by a poor man who 
 had nothing save nine hundred ewes; and they' increased so 
 rapidly, and proved so profitable, that within ten years he had 
 ten thousand sheep, sixteen thousand acres of land, and other 
 property to the value of one hundred thousand dollars, and 
 his wealth has greatly increased since. 
 
 The business of wool-growing has advanced with more 
 steadiness, and has paid greater average and regular profits, 
 than any other agricultural occupation extensively pursued in 
 the State. The increase in the production was for a long time 
 fifty-five per cent, annually. In 1855 the j'ield was 300,000 
 pounds, in 1860 3,200,000, in 1865 6,445,000, in 1870 19,700,- 
 000, and in 1872 23,000,000. Every man who has managed a 
 large sheep ranch with knowledge and prudence has become 
 rich. 
 
 The varieties most prized are the French and Spanish Mer- 
 inos, but in addition to these we have some fine Southdowns, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 275 
 
 Cotswokls, and Leicesters. According to the State statistical 
 report of 1873, California had in that year 4,000,000 sheep, 
 and as tlie yield was 30,000,000 pounds, the average 
 per sheep was seven pounds to the head. The Federal Census 
 report says the average yield per head was four and an eighth 
 pounds. California has the finest large herds of sheep in 
 the United States, and produces the most wool. The num- 
 ber of sheep in the State now is probably 4,500,000. ^^ 
 
 The increase of a well-managed herd of sheep in California 
 is seldom less than 80 per cent,, or more than 110 per cent, of 
 the number of ewes over two years old ; and the increase is 
 about the same in all the varieties, the average being about 95 
 per cent. Of the two-year-old ewes, 10 per cent, have twins ; 
 of the three-year-olds, 30 per cent. ; of the four-year-olds, 35 
 per cent, ; and the percentage remains the same till they get to 
 be ten years old. From five to ten per cent, are barren each 
 year, but absolute barrenness is very i-are. Two or three per 
 cent, of the lambs are separated from their dams during the 
 first two or three days, and die of neglect ; and two per cent, 
 die of injuries received while being marked. 
 
 South of Santa Clara the grasses are more nutritious and 
 more abundant in favorable years than in the north, and the 
 climate is more genial. In good seasons an acre should sus- 
 tain a sheep. In the winter, spring, and summer, the herds 
 pasture chiefly on the alfilerilla and bunch grass, preferring 
 the former to everything else ; but in the fall nothing is left 
 for them save burr-clover, and they take to that. The burrs 
 are so rough that they sometimes cut through the gullet, or 
 stomach, and thus cause the death of the sheep. They also 
 get into the wool and seriously injure its value, because they 
 are set round with little spines, and can only be removed by a 
 gin. They are as brown as the earth, cover the southern val- * 
 leys, and possesssing a rich nutriment, they enable sheep to 
 fatten on land that to the inexperienced eye looks as barren 
 as bare sand. These burrs are especially abundant in the wool 
 
276 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 from the southern coast ; that from the northern part of the 
 State is much cleaner in every respect. The best northern 
 wool brought to our market in any considerable quantity is 
 worth 23 cents per pound ; the same quality from San Luis 
 Obispo, full of burrs, is sold for 1 6 cents. A little washed wool i& 
 brought from Russian River Valley, but our woolen factories 
 have to wash and clean all their wool. Most of the best wool 
 of the State is purchased here, and the poorer qualities are ex- 
 ported. The condition of the wool is taken into account, as 
 well as the blood of the sheep. 
 
 § 198. Neat Cattle. — The neat cattle have been decreasing 
 since 1860, in which year the number was 1,100,000, whereas 
 now it is 820,000, a decrease of nearly 300,000. Beef has 
 been unprofitable, and the sheep and wheat together have oc- 
 cupied large areas once occupied by cows. In 1853 the miners 
 stigmatized the coast as " the cow counties," but the name 
 is no longer applicable. The counties which have the most 
 neat cattle at present are : Fresno 119,000, San Luis Obispo 
 61,000, Tulare 58,000, Kern 59,000, Sonoma 45,000, Monterey 
 37,000, Merced 34,000, Humboldt and Los Angeles each 27,- 
 000, Contra Costa 25,000, and Colusa, San Joaquin, Sacra- 
 mento, and San Diego, each 20,000. The true cow region now 
 is the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, where Fresno, 
 Merced, Tulare, and Kern have together 270,000 head, or 
 one-third of the entire stock of the State. 
 
 § 199. Sjoanish Cattle. — Many of our neat cattle are of 
 the old Californian breed, brought hither by the Spanish mis- 
 sionaries from Mexico, about 1770. At what time their stock 
 came originally to Mexico is not precisely known, but without 
 doubt it was in the seventeenth century, soon after the con- 
 quest by Cortez, and tliey must have been imported from 
 • Spain. They are called •' Spanish cattle." In Mexico, as sub- 
 sequently in California, they were allowed to run almost wild, 
 and they took something of the appearance of wild animals. 
 They have nearly the same range of colors as the neat cattle 
 
AGRICULTURE. 277 
 
 of Europe ; but mouse, dun, and brindle colors — almost in- 
 fallible signs of " scrub " blood — are more frequent ; and the 
 deep red, fine cream color, and delicate mottling of deep red 
 and white, foimd only in animals of high blood, are entirely 
 wanting. Their legs are long and thin, their noses sharp, 
 their forms graceful, their heads high, their horns long, slen- 
 der, and widespread ; and they have a duskiness about the 
 eyes and nostrils similar to that of the deer, between which 
 animal and a young Spanish cow there are many points of re- 
 semblance. The general carriage of a Spanish cow is like that 
 of a wild animal : she is quick, uneasy, restless, frequently on 
 the lookout for danger, snuffing the air, moving with a high 
 and elastic trot, and excited at the sight of a man, particular- 
 ly if afoot, when she will often attack him. In some districts 
 it is, for this reason, unsafe to go about on foot. The herdsmen 
 are always mounted, and to these the cattle are accustomed ; 
 but a man afoot is considered to be a dangerous animal, de- 
 serving of the same treatment as wolves and coyotes. The 
 Spanish cow is small, does not fatten readily, produces little 
 milk, and her meat is not so tender and juicy as that of Amer- 
 ican cattle. 
 
 The breeding of neat cattle was almost the only business of 
 the country previous to the American conquest, and they were 
 killed for their hides and tallow, which were the chief exports. 
 
 The meat went to enrich the land ; there was too much of 
 it to be eaten. The breeding of cattle being the chief occupa- 
 tion of the Californians, determined their mode of life, the 
 structure of their society, and the size of their ranchos. No- 
 body wanted to own less than a square league, (four thousand 
 four hundred and thirty-eight acres) of land ; and the Govern- 
 ment granted it away without charge, in tracts varying from 
 one to eleven leagues, to anybody who would undertake to 
 erect a house and put a hundred head of cattle on the place. 
 It was common for one man to own five thousand head of 
 cattle. The cows were kept for breeding, and the steers were 
 
278 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 regularly killed as they reached the age of three or four years. 
 All had the freedom of the counti'y and ranged where they 
 pleased, except that several times a year every man collected 
 his own upon his ranch. There was about one bull to fifty 
 cows. No attempt was made to improve the breed, nor was 
 any profit to be made from an improvement. Most of the 
 calves were born about the beginning of the year, and in 
 March the first rodeo was held. 
 
 § 200. Rodeos. — The word rodeo comes from the same 
 root with " rotate," and means a surrounding, a gathering of 
 all the cattle on a ranch, and the separation and removal of 
 those belonging to other ranches. There are general and spe- 
 cial rodeos. A rodeo may be for one ranch or for several ; 
 but every ranchero owning a large ranch and many cattle, has 
 his own rodeos : at least one rodeo in the spring and another 
 in the fall. The general rodeo is held for the benefit of all 
 the cattle-owners in the neighborhood ; the special rodeo is 
 held for the benefit of some particular person or persons who 
 desire an opportunity to remove their cattle from a ranch. 
 Every owner of a rancho is required by law to give a gen- 
 eral rodeo every spring. 
 
 When a general rodeo is to be held, the ranchero sends no- 
 tice several days or weeks in advance to the cattle-owners in 
 the vicinity ; and in the cattle-districts the neighborhood ex- 
 tends forty or fifty miles, for cattle will stray tliat distance. 
 On the day appointed, the ranchero having selected some 
 place where the cattle are to be collected, sends out his 
 mounted vaqueros, or herdsmen, at daylight to drive the cat- 
 tle to the appointed place, where they are gathered at ten 
 o'clock. By that time, the interested rancheros with their va- 
 queros have made their appearance, and are on the ground, 
 all mounted and prepared for tlie day's work. 
 
 The ranchero who gives the rodeo is present to entertain his 
 visitors, and his men are instructed to keep the cattle together. 
 The herd may be very large. I have seen eight thousand head 
 
AGRICULTURE. 279 
 
 of cattle in a rodeo, forming a solid body about a quarter of 
 a mile in diameter in every direction. The visiting rancheros 
 who have come from the greatest distance are permitted to 
 enter the mass first, select their cattle, and drive them out. 
 Each man has a position chosen at a distance of half a mile or 
 a mile, wliither he drives his cattle ; and there are several men 
 there mounted, to prevent them from returning to the main 
 hei-d. When a ranchero sees one of his cows in the herd, he 
 calls to a friend, and the two chase her out. She does not 
 wish to go, and tries to hide herself among the other cattle. 
 The horses, accustomed to the rodeo, soon recognize the cow 
 that is to be parted out, and enjoy the work. They turn 
 with every turn of hers, and she is soon tired and compelled 
 to go out. If the cow be accompanied by a large unmarked 
 calf, the latter is often caught with the lasso, thrown down, 
 and then marked with the kuife. While these rancheros are 
 riding about among the herd, and seeking their own, the cattle 
 are driven by a few vaqueros belonging to the ranch, so as to 
 move about in a circular manner. As the cattle are thus 
 moving round in one direction, the rancheros of the immediate 
 neighborhood, whose time has not yet come for entering the 
 center of the rodeo, ride round in a direction contrary to the 
 course of the herd, and thus are enabled to see them to more 
 advantage than if they were standing still. After the ran- 
 cheros from a distance have parted out all their cattle, those of 
 the vicinity ride in, and the whole day is thus spent in racing 
 and chasing after cattle. 
 
 The man who gives the rodeo does not attempt to examine 
 the cattle which are driven away. He takes it for granted 
 that every one will drive ofl" only his own animals. Some- 
 times several days are necessary to complete the general rodeo 
 of a ranch, and the work is continued from day to day until 
 finished. All the rodeos of a neighborhood are usually held 
 in a regular and close connection. The rancheros from a dis- 
 tance, therefore, stay until they have attended all the rodeos 
 
280 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ill a district to which they suppose that any of their cattle have 
 strayed ; and they are usually the guests of the man upon 
 whose rancli the rodeo is given. 
 
 When a cow is diiven out, her calf follows. Eveiy ran- 
 chero knows his cattle by the brand, whicli law and custom 
 require him to use. Of course, when a man has four or five 
 thousand head of cattle, he cannot recognize them all by 
 sight : he can only distinguish them by marks. lie knows his 
 cows by their brands, and his calves by their following the 
 cows. 
 
 The spring rodeos are the busiest seasons of the raneheros, 
 and are for them the chief occasions of general meeting, excit- 
 ing adventure, conversation, and festivity, in the course of the 
 year. Frequently three or four hundred men will meet at these 
 places, mounted on their best horses, and ready fur fun. All 
 the work of the rodeo is exciting. Lively scenes are enacting 
 at every moment, and in every direction. Calves will try to 
 get away from the herd, and escape to the hills. Cows which 
 have been driven out will endeavor to get back. These must 
 be chased by the hoi*semen. Frequently the lasso must be- 
 used. Many of the vaqueros are fond of showing tiieir skill 
 before so many spectators, and astonishing feats of horseman- 
 ship ai-e performed. 
 
 When a ranchero returns from a rodeo, with his cattle which 
 had strayed f^way, he drives them into his cori*al, and brands 
 and marks his calves ; so that if they should return to their 
 former range, he will know them the next year. If those that 
 have been on other ranches are too numerous to be branded 
 and marked in one day, some of his vaqueros stay with them 
 on horseback, and herd them until all can be marked. When a 
 cow has become accustomed to a ranch, she likes to return to it. 
 After all the calves are marked, the owner does not care much 
 whither they go, provided that they do not stray beyond the 
 limits of the ranches, the rodeos of which he attends. It is 
 only in times of extraordinary scarcity of grass that the ranch- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 281 
 
 eros are pavticulav to drive the cattle "of otlier owners off their 
 lands. 
 
 Tlie rodeo season being over — that is, when the ranchero 
 lias all his cattle on his own ranch, and his alone — he com- 
 mences the work of branding. His vaqueros drive about two 
 hundred cows with their calves into the corral every morning, 
 and two or three good vaqueros will brand these calves in a 
 day. The vaqueros enter the corral with their horses, which 
 they need when the calves are large and strong, for many of 
 them are three and four months old. If the calf be small, the 
 vaquero may be afoot to lasso him. One vaquero throws 
 a reata over the calf's head, and another catches him by the 
 leg ; they throw him down, and one holds him, wliile the 
 other gets a hot branding-iron and burns the owner^s mark 
 upon its hip. Thus the work goes on from day to day, and 
 from week to week, until every calf on the ranch is marked. 
 
 § 201. liranch. — The law requires that every horse and 
 cow sliall be branded with a brand belonging to their owner. 
 The brand is made of iron, sometimes representing one or two 
 letters, sometimes other arbitrary signs, such as a cross, a cir 
 cle, a triangle, or any other design. The brand may be six 
 inches long by four witle, and the thickness of tlie iron is 
 about a third of an inch. There is an iron handle, with a 
 wooden crosspiece at the end, so that the brand can be han- 
 dled when hot, and held down firmly upon the prostrate calf, 
 until the figure is indelibly burned into the skin. A copy of 
 every brand must be burned upon leather, and deposited in 
 the county recorder's office. Every minor and servant on a 
 ranch must use tlie brand of the owner of the ranch. The 
 brand mu^.t be burned, under penalty, upon all horses and 
 neat cattle, before the age of eighteen months. The brand is 
 burned upon the hip, and indicates ownership ; when the ani- 
 mal is sold, the brand is burned upon the shoulder and indi- 
 cates sale. Tlie purchaser then puts his brand upon the hip ; 
 and thus the skin of a Californian horse or cow contains the 
 
282 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 history of its ownersliip. Many of the brands are well known 
 to the rancheros over a large portion of the State ; and by 
 looking at the animal, they will tell where it was born, and 
 who have owned it at different times. The hips and slioulders 
 on both sides are often covered with brands. Sometimes the 
 brands grow with the animals ; in other cases they remain 
 nearly of tlieir original size. A brand well burned into the 
 skin is perceptible as long as the animal lives, though it grows 
 less and less distinct with the advance of years. 
 
 In the fall there is anotlier season of rodeos, to brand such 
 calves as may have escaped notice at the spring rodeos, or 
 may have been too small to be branded. 
 
 The rancheros sometimes have a mark in addition to their 
 brand, such as slitting the ear or cutting a notch in the dew- 
 lap. A drawing of the mark must be deposited in tlie county 
 recorder's office. It is contrary to law to cut otf the end of 
 the car, or to cut it on both sides so as to bring it to a point ; 
 for those modes of marking would give opportunities to cut 
 away the marks of other people. The bull-calves are usually 
 altered at the rodeos, as well as branded and marked. The 
 cattle on many ranches are touched only twice in their lives 
 by the hand of man — first, when they are branded ; and next, 
 when they are slaughtered. 
 
 § 202. Early Maturity . — The cows calve almost invariably 
 before they'aretwo years old, frequently before they are eight- 
 een montlis, and sometimes before fourteen months. They 
 generally arrive at maternity a year sooner than in the 
 Atlantic States. The Spanish rancheros have eight or ten 
 bulls to a hundred cows ; the Americans usually four or five. 
 The calves suckle from six to ten months : tliat is, from Janu- 
 ary or February, wlien they are born, until November, when 
 the pasturage is very scanty. The Spanish cows have small 
 udders, and yield little milk ; and notwithstanding tlieir great 
 number in the country, butter, milk, and cheese were very 
 rarely seen on the table previous to the coming of the Ameri- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 283 
 
 cans. American cows are tlie only ones used for the dairy, 
 but many of them are now kept also for breeding alone, and, 
 like tlie Spanish cows, are never milked. 
 
 §. 203. Corral and Reata. — The corral is an important 
 part of all cattle-ranchos, and on many of them it is the only 
 enclosure. It is a pen, from thirty to fifty yards square, sur- 
 rounded by a high, strong fence. It is used whenever horses 
 or cattle are to be branded. 
 
 The reata, used for lassoing, is a rawhide rope, about five- 
 eighths of an inch in diameter, and thirty yards long. It is 
 made of four strips of cowhide, from which the hair has been 
 scraped ; and after plaiting, it is greased and dragged along on 
 the ground after a saddle to render it pliable. Kawhide is 
 better than any other material, because it has just the proper 
 weight and stiffness for the purpose. A running noose, which 
 slips very easily, is arranged at one end. When the reata is 
 to be used, the noose is made from four to six feet long ; one 
 side of the noose and the reata just outside are taken in the 
 right hand, so that while in the hand the noose will not slip ; 
 the remainder of the reata is held coiled up in the left hand, 
 ready to be let go. The vaquero swings the noose around his 
 head in such a way as to keep it open ; and when he has a 
 good swing he lets go, and away it will fiy its whole length. 
 If it catches the object aimed at, the noose draws tight. It is 
 not an uncommon thing for a vaquero to catch a cow at a dis- 
 tance of thirty feet, while she and his horse are both running 
 rapidly; but usually he will get within fifteen or twenty feet 
 if he can, before throwing his reata. A good vaquero, stand- 
 ing in front of another man, can push the latter back, and the 
 moment his foot leaves the ground throw a reata under it, and 
 thus lasso him by the leg. When cattle or horses are to be 
 branded, they must be thrown down ; and this is generally ac- 
 complished by catching the head with one reata and a hind 
 leg with another. 
 
284 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 204, Occasional Starvation. — Nineteen out of twenty of 
 the cattle of California never get any food save such as !j;ro\vs 
 indigenously in the open country, and they always suffer for 
 it. From March to July the pastui*e is abundant and excel- 
 lent, and the cattle are fat ; from July to October, in ordinary 
 years, the grasses and clovers, though dry and brown, are nu- 
 tritious, and the cattle still remain in good condition ; but 
 from October to January they grow lean rapidly, and almost 
 every year a considerable number of them die by starvation. 
 Either the grass may be all consumed, or it may be de]irived 
 of its nutriment. The first case happens when the grass is 
 very scanty, because of the small fall of rain during the win- 
 ter; the second occurs when a heavy rain, lasting a day or 
 two, comes before New Year's day, and is followed by cold, 
 dry weather. The rain takes away the palatable and nutri- 
 tious qualities of the old grass, and the cold and dry weather 
 prevents the starting of the new grass, and between the two 
 the cattle suffer. In 1856, seventy thousand head of cattle 
 died in Los Angeles County alone by starvation, one-third of 
 the entire number in the county, which has now only 27,000 
 in all. In 1863 and 1864, the loss by starvation was estimated 
 at 200,000 or 300,000. Santa Barbara County had 97,000 head 
 in the spring of 1863, and only 12,090 in the spring of 1865, in- 
 dicating a decrease of 85,000. The numei'ous droughts affect 
 the neat cattle interest more permanently than any other. The 
 failure of wheat in one year does not injure the crop of the 
 next, but is rather a benefit to it, since the soil has liad a rest, 
 and its materials have been prepared for plant assimilation by 
 exposure to the air. A severe drought prevents an increase in 
 the sheep, but does not reduce their number. But the neat 
 cattle receive less care, are less profitable, and find more diffi- 
 culty in surviving on scanty pasturage. 
 
 § 205, Fine Blood. — The cattle of pure Spanish or Mexi- 
 can blood in a few years will have entirely disappeared from 
 the State. The American and English breeds are replacing it. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 285 
 
 Tlie American cows are fine animals for milk and beef, but 
 they are not uniform in blood, and are inferior in the most 
 desirable qualities to the carefully bred Durhanis, Ayrshires, 
 and Alderiieys, which are regarded here with more favor 
 than any other of the European stocks. The wild pastures of 
 the State are not fitted to keep up the character of the fine 
 breeds, and after a few years the ofispring of the Durham and 
 Devon bulls, left without cultivated food, are scarcely dis- 
 tinguishable from the common herd of mixed American and 
 Spanish blood. Tlie time is, howevej, not far distant when we 
 shall have extensive pastures in the reclaimed and irrigated 
 districts, and then our neat cattle will soon show a great im- 
 provement. 
 
 § 206. Pasture. — The cultivated food given to dairy cows 
 in California consists of maize cut green, pumpkins, beets, 
 potatoes, bran mixed with chopped straw and hay, alfalfa, 
 oats, and barley. The natural pastures near the ocean keep 
 green longer than those in the interior, and they are therefore 
 better adapted to dairy purposes. Fine pasture is found in 
 some of the high parts of the Sierra Nevada, and many dairy- 
 men who have their homes in the valleys or foot-liills, drive 
 their herds up into the mountains at tlie beginning of summer, 
 take their families with them, and spend their time in making 
 butter until the approach of winter drives them down, when 
 they bring the product of their season's work down to the 
 market. 
 
 § 207. Butter. — The production of butter in California 
 amounted in 1872 to 7,500,000 pounds, a large quantity as 
 compared with that of other countries with a similar climate. 
 The dairy cows are nearly all of American blood, crossed with 
 Durham, Ayrshire, or Devon, and a few are of the pure 
 Britisli milking breeds. In many places they get no cultivated 
 food except in times of drought, when they receive enough hay 
 to keep them alive ; but there is a constant improvement in 
 the style of their keeping and also in the profit of the dairies. 
 
286 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The chief dairy districts are Marin, Sonoma, Santa Clara, 
 Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz, (the counties 
 west of the Diablo divide, between 35° and 39°, taking the 
 lead) then Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Yolo, (the center of 
 the Sacramento-San Joaquin Basin) and after these the Sierra 
 Nevada. 
 
 The most notable dairy property in the State was a few 
 years since a small tract of 130,000 acres, in Marin County, 
 owned by three gentlemen ; but it has since been divided into 
 three equal parts, one belonging to J, M. Shafter, another to 
 C. Howard, and a third to the estate of O. L. Shafter. It fronts 
 thirty-five miles on the ocean, including Point Reyes, north of 
 the Golden Gate, and extends inland ten miles. This estate 
 was stocked with cows, which were leased in herds, with from 
 five to seven acres to each cow, the lessee paying about $25 
 cash .for each cow, and a cow-calf for each two cows as an- 
 nual rent. The yield for each cow above expenses is estimated 
 at $G0, so that the lessee has a fair chance to prosper with 
 good management ; and the dairy-men of Marin, as well as 
 of other parts of the State, have generally done well. No 
 other agricultural occupation in California has paid so steadily, 
 or given competence to so large a proportion of the men en- 
 gaged in it, except wool-growing. 
 
 § 208. Cheese. — The annual production of cheese in Cali- 
 fornia is 3,400,000 pounds, including 700,000 from Monterey, 
 525,000 from Santa Clara, 470,000 from San Mateo, 380,000 
 from Marin, 340,000 from San Luis Obispo, 250,000 from So- 
 noma, and 230,000 from Merced. Monterey and San Luis 
 Obispo, which front on the ocean for a hundred miles south of 
 36° 40', and produce about one-twelfth of the butter of the 
 State, supply more than one-third of the cheese ; while Marin 
 and Sonoma, which occupy the Pacific shore from 38° 40' to 
 39° 50', make three-sevenths of our butter, and only one-fifth 
 of our cheese. The cheese dairy-men feed less cultivated food 
 to their cows than do the butter men, and generally they oc- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 287 
 
 cupy places less accessible to the market. Partly on account 
 of the lack of cultivated food, and the large areas necessary 
 to support one cow — usually from five to ten acres, (whereas 
 with cultivation, two acres would be sufficient) we have only 
 two cheese factories to work up the milk of a number of dif- 
 ferent farmers, though many of the cheese houses designed to 
 do the work of separate dairies are equal in size to large fac- 
 tories in New York. 
 
 § 209. Morses. — California has 237,000 horses, of which 
 perhaps a fourth are of pure Spanish blood, while the remain- 
 der are mostly mixed American and Spanish blood. The 
 Spanish horses are of the old imported stock, sent early in the 
 sixteenth century from Spain to Mexico, and thence brought to 
 California about eighty years ago. Like the neat cattle, the 
 Spanish horses run wild, and partake to some extent of the wild 
 nature. They show their base blood by their colors — mouse 
 color, dull duns of various shades, and calico color, or mixtures 
 of white with red or black, in numerous large spots or blotches, 
 are common ; while chestnut, bright sorrel, blood bay, and dap- 
 pled gray, arc very rare among them. They are quick, tough, 
 » healthy, and unsurpassable for the uses of the rider, and the 
 vaquero ; but small, lacking in weight, strength, and beauty, 
 and unfitted for tlie heavy, steady work of the plough, cart, or 
 wagon. They are wanting in the docility, kindly dis])osition, 
 and steadiness of the well-bred horse ; and they have little of 
 that kind of sense which leads an American horse to be quiet 
 and gentle, even in circumstances strange to him. For Cali- 
 fornia as it was in 1845, there were no better horses than the 
 Spanish-Mexican. They have a wonderful toughness, and 
 some of their exploits in the way of traveling are unsurpassed 
 in the annals of the turf. A number of instances are on rec- 
 ord where Californian horses have carried a rider one hun- 
 dred miles in a day, and that with no food save grass. Sixty 
 miles a day is not an uncommon ride, nor is it considei-ed a se- 
 vere one. Fremont, on one occasion, rode four hundred miles 
 
288 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 in four days, riding different horses, but driving them before 
 him from the beginning to the end of the journey. 
 
 Many of the brood-mares in the southern part of the State 
 are wikl Spanish ; that is, they live entirely in the open plain, 
 are unbroken, and many of them have never been touched, save 
 when they were to be branded. They are in bands called 
 7na7iadas, numbering from thirty to sixty mares, which are 
 under the guidance of one stallion or garanon. He knows 
 every one of his band, keeps them together, conducts them to 
 what he considers the best pastures, and drives away geldings, 
 stallions, mules, and whatever animals he may dislike. When 
 a vaquero tries to drive the manada into a corral for the pur- 
 pose of catching some of the band, the garanon will frequently 
 divide them and scatter them about, and render it impossible 
 for the vaquero to get them together ; for while he drives in one 
 place, the stallion is equally busy at another, and the mares 
 fear his teeth and heels as much as the swinging reata of the 
 horseman. The garanon is usually from live to nine years of 
 age. He guards his manada with the most jealous care. It 
 sometimes happens that one garafion tries to take away a mare 
 from the band of another, and then a fight ensues, in which 
 the weaker has to suffer a severe biting and kicking, and then 
 lose the object of the battle, too. The mananda keeps together 
 for year after year, but when it gets too large, the vaquero 
 will divide it and give a portion to the charge of another 
 garanon. All the mares foal before they are three years old, 
 whereas in the Atlantic States they seldom foal until a year 
 later. They also breed more regularly than elsewhere, for 
 when mares are kept in stables, they frequently pass seasons 
 without having colts. The foals are branded at the age of 
 three or four months, and are weaned at the age of eight or 
 ten months. The fillies continue to run with the manada, and 
 become part of it. The colts continue to run with the 
 manada until they are three or four years of age, when they 
 are broken and })ut into the caballada, or herd of broken 
 
AGRICULTURE, 289 
 
 horses. The Mexicans never broke their mares, and con- 
 sidei-ed it discreditable and a mai-k of great poverty to ride 
 one. 
 
 The American horses, that is the common stock of liorses 
 brought from the Atlantic States, and their oflspriug, are 
 large, fine animals, not so healthy and tough as the Califor- 
 uian horses, but lai'ger, more active, stronger, and more hand- 
 some in sliape and color. 
 
 Many stallions and mares of fine blood have been imported, 
 including thoroughbreds or English racers, Morgans, and vari- 
 ous other American trotters, and Clydesdale and other heavy 
 cart and truck horses. Some of these horses are valued as 
 high as twenty thousand dollars each. The trotters are in 
 greater demand, and bring higher prices than the thorough- 
 breds, and much more than the working horses ; but the last 
 are the animals of direct industrial value. The Clydesdale, 
 crossed with the American and Spanish stocks, supplies many 
 of our best horses for heavy draught. The pure Clydesdale 
 weighs about 2,000 j^ounds ; the tln-ee-quarter blood, (one 
 quarter Spanish) at four years old, weighs about 1,500 pounds, 
 and is worth $300 ; the half-blood weighs 1,300 pounds, and is 
 worth $250 ; and the pure Spanish weighs 800 and sells for 
 $50. The cross of the Clydesdale wath the American, gives a 
 larger and move valuable animal. Many of the Clydesdale 
 grades (as animals of mixed blood are called) are worth from 
 $400 to $800, 
 
 § 210. Mules. — Nearly all the farm work of California, 
 where draught animals are necessary, is done with horses. 
 Mules are too dear and oxen are too slow. Many mules and 
 liorses are used in packing merchandise in those districts Avhere 
 there are no good wagon-roads. For the ordinary uses of the 
 farm the mule is preferable to the horse, being longer-lived, 
 more healthy, not so much injured physically or morally by 
 ill-treatment, and able to thrive on cheaper and simpler food. 
 But the mule is not considered handsome, and the small farmer 
 19 
 
290 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 wants a horse which he can ride, and witli wliich he can take 
 his family out. The State has 27,000 mules, and perhaps a 
 dozen jacks of fine blood. 
 
 § 211. Sioine. — Swine are not in favor with the farmers of 
 California, as may be inferred from the fact that the State 
 had 600,000 of them in 1860, and has only 400,000 now. 
 They increase rapidly, and their meat commands a high price, 
 but they do not thrive upon the dry pastures ; they are not 
 permitted to run at large in many counties ; the mast is scanty 
 in the agricultural counties, and grain suitable for feed is dear. 
 It is probable that after extensive districts are brought under 
 the influence of irrigation, so that maize and succulent roots 
 can be cultivated with more profit than at present, swine will 
 come into more favor. 
 
 § 2 1 2. Angora Goats. — The importation of Angora or Cash- 
 mere goats was commenced in 1858, and several hundred ani- 
 mals, represented to be of pure blood, have been brought to 
 the State since ; but, notwithstanding the most brilliant 
 promises, they have as yet paid a profit to nobody save those 
 who sold the bucks. A gentleman engaged in that business, 
 and claiming to understand the value and market of Angora 
 wool, published an article several years ago, stating that a herd 
 of 768 nanny goats of common blood, supplied with Angora 
 bucks, would in five years have increased to 8,364, most of 
 them as good for wool as the pure Angora. The sales of 
 wethers for mutton in the five years, at $4 per head, would 
 amount to $5,000; and the sales of wool, beginning after two 
 years, when there would be a considerable stock of goats of 
 seven-eighths blood, would be $384 the first year, $1,728 the 
 second, $4,896 the third, and from that time on would con- 
 tinue to increase at the rate of about fifty per cent, annually, 
 if the wool were to bring $1 per pound. 
 
 After fifteen years of trial, California has discovered 
 that there was something wrong about these promises. In- 
 stead of having a million Angora goats of nearly pure blood, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 291 
 
 and of exporting several million pounds of the wool, we have 
 not exported so mucli as the imported animals should have pro- 
 duced : we have only about tljree hundred animals that deserve 
 to be called Angora goats. There are 18,000 grade goats 
 crossed with the cotnmon stock ; but so far as experience has 
 as yet determined, they are worthless for wool. Whether the 
 Angora goats can be bred with a profit in California, is still 
 a problem. They will live and multiply in some places where 
 sheep will not. Tluis, in the Sierra Nevada there is a strip 
 twenty miles wide between 500 and 5,000 feet above tlic sea, 
 where, on account of the abundance of brush, sheep will not 
 thrive. The Cashmere goats prefer browsing to grazing, and 
 they eat the foliage of all the bushes except the poison oak, 
 standing upon their hind feet to reach as far as possible on the 
 chaparral and manzanita. The goats keep togethei- and come 
 home at night; and it is said that one man can herd 2.000 
 of them with less trouble than two men can herd 2,000 sheep. 
 They have no disease except that a few have been poisoned — 
 it is supposed by eating dry buckeyes. 
 
 § 213. Poultry. — Poultry command very high prices in this 
 State, but all attempts to breed them on a large scale have 
 proved unproiitable. Hens are worth from fifty to seventy- 
 five cents each, and eggs from twenty-five to fifty cents per 
 dozen. Chickens are healthy and increase rapidly in small 
 poultry -yards oi; farms ; but when more than five hundred are 
 collected a fatal epidemic appears, and they die off. The dis- 
 ease seems to be a kind of apoplexy, for it attacks the fattest 
 chickens, and they die suddenly. Several large henneries have 
 been established, but all have failed ; that is, so far as their 
 purpose was the production of eggs and chickens for the table 
 with a profit. 
 
 § 214. Bees. — It was supposed, before 1853, that the honey- 
 bee would not thrive in a climate so dry as that of California ; 
 but some hives brought to the State in that year, proved the 
 error of the supposition. A good hive will increase in num. 
 
292 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ber, and store lioney, twice as rapidlj' as in New York. Bees 
 here are not idle dming six months of the year as tliere, but 
 busy during nine or ten months. They find their food in wild 
 and cultivated liowei*s, in the blossoms of manzanita bushes, 
 fruit-trees, grasses, clovers, and grains, in grapes, fruits, and 
 honey-dew. Tliey seem to thrive in the dryest portions 
 of the State, Avhere there are no cultivated fields and no 
 flowers or green herbage. They are very fond of apiicots, 
 which they eat in places where the skin has been previously 
 cut through by bugs. Wlien the latter have made a hole, 
 the bees come and eat side by side with the bugs, which are 
 of the " lady-bug" kind, and other similar species. Many of 
 tlie bees lose their lives in consequence of tlieir fondness for 
 the apricot. Either they eat too much, or they eat the meat 
 after it has passed into the alcoholic fermentation ; but wheth- 
 er intoxicated or surfeited, they are unable to get home, and 
 they perish during the night. In places where the lioney-dew 
 is abundant, especially in the mountains on the eastern border 
 of the Tulare Valley, the bees make honey veiy rapidly. In- 
 deed, it has been the custom of several bee-keepers in Califor- 
 nia to move their bees about from place to place, according 
 to the pasture and the season. Many swanns have gone ofi" 
 into tlie mountains, where they occupy holes in trees and clefts 
 in rocks. The mountain honey resembles in taste that of the 
 Eastern States and Nortliern Europe, Avhile tli.at made in the 
 Coast Valleys has a peculiar flavor, which, it is said, is much 
 like the honey of Mount Hymettus, where the bees have ac- 
 cess to a great variety of wild flowers. 
 
 The State has 30,000 bee-hives, including 3,000 each iuMon- 
 terey and Los Angeles Counties, 2,000 in San Diego, 1 ,500 in 
 Sacramento, and 1,000 each in San Joaquin, Santa Clara, and 
 Siskiyou. The hives are increasing in number more rapidly in 
 Los Angeles and San Diego than in any other district. It is 
 not rare for a hive to make two hundred pounds of honey in 
 a season. The bees are exposed to constant danger from the 
 
AGRICULTURE. 293 
 
 bee-moth, and also from tlie bee-bird and lizard. The last 
 two eat the bees while they are on the flowers ; but the chief 
 enemy is the moth, which gets into the hives and soon ruins 
 them, if not discovered and ejected. On account of its dep- 
 redations, the hives are usually unprofitable in the hands of 
 persons wlio do not understand the business. 
 
 Many swarms of bees liave gone off and made homes for 
 themselves in hollow trees and clefts of rocks ; and in several 
 of the soutliern counties these wild swarms are so numerous 
 that some persons find it profitable to hunt for them, and take 
 their honey, and transfer the bees to their hives. The Los 
 Angeles Netos thus describes the bee-hunter's plan : 
 
 '' Proceeding out of the range of the pasturage of his own 
 bees, he places a piece of burning wax on the ground, and 
 adjacent to it he deposits a little honey. If there are any 
 bees in the vicinity, the burning wax attracts tliem to the 
 spot, and they soon alight ui)on the honey. The luinter 
 watches the bee mitil it obtains its fill, wlien it at once takes 
 flight for its hive. Sometimes he waits the return of the bee, 
 which never fails so to do, accompanied by several of its con- 
 federates'. Some of these the hunter captures, and places in a 
 box. He then proceeds in the direction taken by the first bee. 
 Having gone far enough, according to his judgment, he liber- 
 ates one of the bees held captive, which flies onward in case 
 the hive is not already past ; if otherwise, the bee returns, and 
 the hunter has to retrace his steps. Whenever he deems it 
 necessary, the process of wax-burning is repeated. By these 
 means it seldom takes many hours for the hunter to find the 
 cave, rob it of comb, lioney, and swarm, and carry all tri- 
 umphantly to his own apiary." 
 
 In tlie San Fernando Mountain, an immense swarm, or a 
 cluster of swarms, lias established itself in a cleft of rock, and 
 has collected a stock of honey estimated to weigh sixty 
 tons. 
 
294 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 215, Sericulture. — Sericulture will probably become an 
 important branch of Californian agriculture. China, Jai)an, 
 France, and Italy, which are now the chief producers of raw 
 silk, have thunder-storms and rains in summer, both very in- 
 jurious to the young worm. Besides, our winters are not so 
 cold, nor are our summers near the coast so hot, as at Lyons 
 and Milan, the centers of the chief silk districts of Europe. 
 The great drawback of that continent is, however, the bom- 
 byx i)lague, which attacks nearly all the worms hatclied from 
 eggs laid there ; and for the last ten years the French and Ital- 
 ian silk-growers have been compelled to import eggs from re- 
 mote countries, getting a large part of their supply from 
 Japan, and of late years expending as much as 88,000,000 
 annually in these purchases. It is believed that California can 
 furnish all the eggs needed by Europe at greater profit than 
 any other country, and that in a few years she will be able to 
 work up her own raw silk. 
 
 Silk worms have been bred here every year since 1860, but 
 the business has not yet reached a steady and solid basis. 
 Previous to 1867 it was experimental, but in that year an ex- 
 citement was caused by a State premium, ottering large money 
 prizes for every plantation of mulberry ti-ees, and for every 
 large lot of cocoons, in proportion to their number. No re- 
 striction was made in the matter of quality, and some persons 
 imagined tliat they could plant their trees as thick as in a 
 nursery, that they could get as much premium for the poorest 
 trivoltene cocoons after they had been hatched out, as for the 
 best French animals prepared for reeling. Under this stimu- 
 lus, the State produced 1,000,000 cocoons in 1868, 3,000,000 in 
 1869, and 12,000,000 in 1870, when the premium fever came 
 to an end. and the bubble burst. It was found that many of 
 the so-called mulberry plantations were mere nursei'ies, and 
 were besides planted in wet places, where the worms could 
 never thrive. As a consequence, a large proportion of them 
 
AGRICULTURE. 295 
 
 died ; and many of the jjlantations have been dug up, and the 
 cocooneries have been used for other purposes. There are now 
 cocooneries at Sonoma, Maytield, Crystal Springs, Nevada, 
 Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles; and about 
 2,000,000 cocoons have been made in 1873. 
 
296 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MINING. 
 
 § 216. Minim/ Products. — Mining was until about I860 
 the cliief industry of the State, but it lias now been surpassed 
 by both agriculture and manufactui'^s. The annual products 
 of mining in California may be thus stated : Gold $20,000,- 
 000, lead $300,000, silver $1,000,000, quicksilver $3,000,000, 
 coal $800,000, borax $100,000, asphaltum $50,000, petroleum 
 $10,000, sulphur $50,000, and cop^x^r $100,000. The pro- 
 duction of petroleum and borax is just commencing, and the 
 yield of sulphur and copper is very irregular. The total is 
 $25,400,000. 
 
 § 217. Number of Gold Miners. — We have no official 
 statistics of the number of gold minei-s in California, so we 
 must ascertain the number by calculation from various sources. 
 
 The number of votes cast in 1872, and the number of 
 Chinamen in the gold mining counties in 1870, were the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Counties. Votes. Chiuamen. 
 
 Amador i>76o 1,619 
 
 Butte I>2i9 2,070 
 
 Calaveras i>659 i,43i 
 
 Del Norte 238 216 
 
 El Dorado 2,402 1,551 
 
 Kern 459 142 
 
 Klamath 205 542 
 
 Mariposa 763 i >07 1 
 
MINING. 297 
 
 Counties. Votes. Chinamen. 
 
 Mono 138 41 
 
 Nevada 3.472 2,617 
 
 Placer 2,255 2,401 
 
 Plumas 792 908 
 
 San Bernardino 509 ^^ 
 
 San Diego §73 7i 
 
 Shasta 821 574 
 
 Sierra 1,300 809 
 
 Siskiyou i,372 1,439 
 
 Stanislaus 1,130 305 
 
 Trinity 652 1,095 
 
 Tuolumne 1,536 i,5" 
 
 Yuba 2,015 2,324 
 
 Total 25,567 22,760 
 
 The number of votes cast at the last Presidential election 
 is probably within one-tenth of the total adult white males ; 
 so that, if we allow 28,000 for the wliite men, we shall 
 have, with . the Chinamen, about 50,000 men in these 
 counties. It will be observed that we have excluded 
 Los Angeles and Merced, which have a few gold mines, and 
 Inyo and Alpine, which Avork no mines save those of silver. 
 We have included San Bernardino and San Diego, in which 
 mining is one of the chief industries, and Stanislaus and Yuba, 
 in which, though the placers now yield little, they were once 
 important. 
 
 Of the 50,000 men in the auriferous districts of California, 
 there are not 30,000 now engaged in gold raining. Some of 
 those counties which, fifteen years ago, were exclusively de- 
 voted to gold mining, are now predominantly agricultural. In 
 Siskiyou, Tuolumjie4_^hasta, and Plumas, one white man out 
 of two may work in a mine ; in El Dorado, Placer, and Cal- 
 averas, one in three ; in Kern,f5an Diego, and San Bernardino, 
 one in four ; in Yuba, Butte, and Stanislaus, one in five. If 
 we allow that 18,000, or four-fifths of the Chinamen, and 
 12,000, or nearly half of the white men, are miners — and these 
 
298 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 are very liberal estimates — we shall have a total of 30,000 
 gold miners. Miners may average 250 days of work in a 
 year, and the 30,000 multiplied by that figure would give 
 7,500,000 days' work in a year, or $266 per day on an average. 
 That sum is not discreditably small. 
 
 § 218. Profit of Gold Mining. — The statement has been 
 made that the gold produced in California cost moi-e than it 
 was worth. That gold mining was profitable to the miners, is 
 shown by tlie fact that the business has been maintained now 
 for nearly twenty-five years ; and those who were engaged iu 
 it, as a class, have abundant reason to be pleased with their 
 experience. Mining has certainly not been a source of loss to 
 the State, which would have been little better tlian a desert to 
 this day, if the auriferous deposits of the Sierra Nevada had 
 not been discovered. It was the gold yield that tilled our 
 valleys with people, planted our orchards and vineyards, built 
 our cities, the Panama Railroad, our transcontinental railroad, 
 and our Coast railroad system ; that establish«ed the mail 
 steamer line to China ; that opened Japan to civilization and 
 trade, and that tilled the North Pacific with commerce. 
 Without the help of this magician, San Francisco Bay would 
 probably have been of no more importance in the business of 
 the United States, than Puget Sound is now. 
 
 The American Union, as a whole, has been greatly bene- 
 fitted by the mines, which, though they drew away a large 
 number of the most intelligent and active men from the At- 
 lantic slope, yet gave a Avonderful stimulus to all branches of 
 industry, called out energies that would otherwise have been 
 dormant, attracted hundreds of thousands of immigrants, gave 
 the nation increased influence in the world, and poured into 
 her lap more riches than had ever before been derived from 
 one source within so short a time from its start, and by so few 
 laborers. The addition of $1,000,000,000 in gold to the 
 wealth of our nation witliin less than a quarter of a century, 
 by 50,000 miners, contributed much to raise America to the 
 
MINING. 299 
 
 position which she now holds in the industry and commerce of 
 the woi'ld. Other nations did not pi'otit so much, and some of 
 them no doubt lost, for they were compelled to give ten days' 
 work in their products for the gold obtained here in one day's 
 work. 
 
 § 219. Gold Yield. — The gold mines of the Sierra Nevada 
 were discovered on the 19tli of January, 1849 ; were first 
 worked in May of that year ; immediately began to be very 
 productive in proportion to the men employed ; and five years 
 later reached their greatest yield, which was about $65,000,- 
 000 in 1853 ; and since, have been turning out less and less 
 every year, exce^jting such ii-regularities as may arise from 
 unequal seasons. The statistics of the annual exportation of 
 treasure as manifested at the San Francisco Custom House, 
 and given in the chapter on commerce, omit much that belong 
 to the gold yield of California, and contain much that does 
 not belong to it. From 1852 to 1860 large sums were carried 
 away in dust by miners returning to the Eastern States, with- 
 out report to the Custom House ; and since 1860 large quanti- 
 ties of treasure from Idaho and Nevada have been made part 
 of the exports from San Francisco. It is safe to estimate the 
 total gold product of California in the twenty-five years, 
 from the 1st of July, 1848, to the 30th of June, 1873, at 
 $1,000,000,000. 
 
 § 220. Gold Mines. — Our gold mines are divided into 
 placer and quartz. In the former, the metal is found imbedded 
 in layers of earthy matter, such as clay, sand, and gravel ; in 
 the latter, it is encased in veins of rock. The methods of min- 
 ing must be adapted to the size of the particles of gold, and 
 the nature of the material in wliich tliey are found. In placer 
 mining, tlie earthy matter containing the gold, called " pay- 
 dirt," is washed in water, which dissolves the clay and carries 
 it oti:' in solution, and the current sweeps away the sand, gravel, 
 and stones ; while the gold, by reason of its higher specific 
 gravity, remains in the channel, or is caught with quicksilver. 
 
300 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 In quartz raining, the auriferous rock is ground to a very tine 
 powder, tlie gold in wlncli is cauglit in quicksilver, or on the 
 rough surface of a blanket, over which the tine material is 
 borne by a stream of water. About two-thirds of our gold 
 is obtained from the placers, and one-third from the quartz. 
 
 A mine is defined in our dictionaries to be " a subterraneous 
 work or excavation for obtaining metals, metallic ores, or min- 
 eral substances "; but this definition does not apply to our placer 
 mines, which are places where gold is taken from alluvial de- 
 posits. Most of the work is not subterraneous ; it is done in 
 the full light of day. In some of tlie claims the pay-dirt lies 
 within two feet of the surface ; in others it lies much deeper, 
 but all the superincumbent matter is usually swept away. 
 
 § 221. Placers. — Placer mines are divided into many clas- 
 sifications. The first and most important is into deep and 
 shallow. In the former the pay-dirt is found deep, twenty 
 feet or more beneath the surface ; in the latter near tlie surface. 
 The shallow or sui'face diggings are chiefiy found in the beds 
 of ravines or gullies, in the bars of rivers, and in shallow fiats. 
 The pay-dirt is usually covered by layers of barren dirt, which 
 is sometimes Avashed, and sometimes left undi^^turbed, while 
 the pay-dirt is taken out from underneath it by tunnels or 
 shafts. So far as our present information goes, we have rea- 
 son to believe that no gold country ever possessed so large an 
 extent of paying placer mines, with the pay-dirt so near the 
 surface, and with so many facilities for working them, as Cali- 
 fornia. In Australia, the diggings are very deep and spotted, 
 that is, the gold is unevenly distributed, and the supply of 
 water for mining is scanty. In Siberia, the winter is terribly 
 cold during six months of the year. In Brazil, the diggings 
 were not so extensive nor so rich as in this State. Here we 
 have numerous large streams coming down through the min- 
 ing districts, very large bodies of pay-dirt, and a mild climate. 
 
 After dividing placers into deep and shallow, the next clas- 
 sification will be according to their topographical position, as 
 
MINING. 301 
 
 into liill, flat, bench, bar, river-bed, ancient river-bed, and 
 gulch mines. Hill diggings are those where the pay-dirt is in 
 or under a hill. Flat diggings are in a flat. Bench diggings 
 are in a " bench," or narrow table on the side of a hill above 
 a river. Benches of tliis kind are not uncommon in Califor- 
 nia, and they often indicate tlie place where the stream ran 
 in some very remote age. Bars are low collections of sand 
 and gravel at the side of a river, and above its surface at low 
 water. River-bed claims are those beneath the surface of the 
 river at low water, and access is obtained to them only by re- 
 moving the water from the beds by flumes or ditches. An- 
 cient river-bed claims are those in which the gold was de- 
 posited by streams, in places where no streams now exist. 
 Gulch claims are those in gullies which liave no water save 
 during a small part of the year. A "claim" is the mining 
 land owned or held by one man or a company. 
 
 The placer mines are again classified according to the in- 
 struments with which they are wrought. There are sluice 
 claims, hydraulic claims, tunnel claims, dry washing, dry dig- 
 ging, and knife claims. In 1849 and 1850, the main classifi- 
 cation of the placers was into wet diggings and dry diggings ; 
 the former meaning mines in tlie bars and beds of rivers, and 
 dry diggings were tliose in gullies and flats, where water could 
 be obtained only part of the year, or not at all. Tiiat classifi- 
 cation was made while nearly all the mining was done near 
 the surface, before the great deposits of pay dirt in the hills 
 had been discovered, and before ditches, sluices, and the hy- 
 draulic process liad been introduced. The " dry diggings," 
 which for several years furnished nearly half of the gold 
 yield of the State, are now, with a few unimportant excep- 
 tions, exhausted, or left to the attention of the Chinamen. 
 
 The purpose of all placer miners is not to catch all the gold 
 in the dirt which they wasli, but to catch the greatest possible 
 quantity within a given time. It is not supposed that any 
 process used in gold mining catches all the metal. Part of it is 
 
302 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 lost ; in some processess a considerable proportion. Tlie general 
 estimate in California is, that one-twentieth of tlie gold in the 
 dirt which is waslied is lost. Many of the particles are so 
 very small as to be invisible to the naked eye, and so light 
 that their specific gravity does not avail to prevent tliem from 
 being carried away, by tlie water, like sand. The larger pieces 
 will sink to the bottom and resist the force of the water ; the 
 smaller the particles, the greater tlie danger that they will be 
 borne away. Many devices have been tried to catch all the 
 gold, but none have succeeded perfectly ; and some which liave 
 caught a portion of what escaped from the ordinary modes of 
 mining, have been found to cost more than their jield. The 
 miner does not grieve about that which he cannot catch. He 
 is not careful to catch all that he could. His purpose is to 
 draw the largest possible revenue j^er day from his claim. He 
 does not intend to spend many years in mining, or if he does, 
 he has become thriftless and improvident. In either case, he 
 wishes to derive the utmost immediate jDrolit from his mine. 
 If liis claim contain a dollar to the ton, and he can save five 
 dollars by slowly washing only six tons in a day, while he 
 might make ten dollars by rapidly washing fifteen tons in a 
 day, he will prefer the latter result, though he will lose twice 
 as much of the precious metal by the fast as by the slow mode 
 of working. The object of the miner is the practical dispatch 
 of work, and his success will depend to a great extent upon 
 the amount of dii't which he can wash within a given space of 
 time. He regrets that any of the gold should be wasted, be- 
 cause it escapes from his sluice and his pocket, not because it 
 is lost to industry and commerce. 
 
 § 222, Ditches. — Water is the great agent of the placer 
 miner, and the element of his power. Its amount is the 
 measure of his work, and its cost the measure of his profit. 
 With an abundance of water he can wash every thing ; with- 
 out water he can do little or nothing. Placer raining is almost 
 entirely mechanical, and of such a kind that no accuracy of 
 
MINING. 303 
 
 •workmanship or scientific or literary education is necessary to 
 mastery in it. Nearly all the water used by miners is sup- 
 plied by ditches, which therefore occupy an important place in 
 the mining of California. Indeed, it may be said that without 
 them the mines of the State would be relatively insignificant. 
 At least four-fifths of the gold is obtained with the assistance, 
 direct or indirect, of ditch water. There are very few springs in 
 the mining regions, the bed rock being usually slate with per- 
 pendicular cleavage, through which the water soaks down to 
 the lowest levels. The permanent streams are found only at 
 long intervals, and run in deep, steep, and narrow channels. 
 Nature has furnished no adequate supjily of water near the 
 surface for towns or for quartz mills ; so they, as well as the 
 hydraulic pipes and sluices, must depend upon ditch water, 
 which thus is an indispensable requisite to the production of 
 four- fifths, perhaps nineteen-twentieth s, of the gold. It is for- 
 tunate that the mountain ridge east of the mining districts rises 
 high into the region of snow, where the moisture that falls 
 from the atmosphere in winter is condensed and retained until 
 summer and fall. But without the ditches, this moisture would 
 do little good to the miners, since there are few camps near 
 springs or on the immediate banks of constant streams. 
 
 § 223. Flumes. — Flumes are usually made with boards, an 
 inch and a half thick for the bottom, and an inch and a 
 quarter thick for the sides. At intervals of two and a half 
 feet there is a support fur the fiurae box, consisting of a sill, 
 posts, and cap. The sills are four inches square ; the posts 
 three by four inches, and the caps one and a half by four 
 inches. To erect a fiume 25 feet high, costs about twice as 
 much as to lay one on the level of tlie ground, and at 60 feet 
 it costs about four times as much. The annual repair of a 
 flume is about one-eiglith of its original cost, in favorable cir- 
 cumstances. If the flume is left dry several mouths, the 
 repairs may be more, for the sun warps and splits the boards, 
 and draws the nails. A flume box, 40 inches wide by 20 
 
304 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 inches deep, witli a grade of 13 feet to the mile, Avill carry 
 about 800 inches, and such a flume built on tlie surface of tlie 
 ground will cost now at the rate of $4,000 per mile, near a 
 saw-mill. The boards are put in the flume rough, but are 
 always battened, and sometimes caulked. The cheapest flume 
 costs twice as much as the cheapest ditch of the same capacity, 
 and the rcjiairs of a flume cost 90 per cent, more than tliose of 
 a ditch. Tlie duration of a high flume is on an average 
 about six years, and of a low one, eight or ten. For the flrst 
 two or three years after the construction of a ditch, there is 
 much trouble fi'oin gopher holes and slides. 
 
 The flumes in the highest portions of the Sierra, and 
 especially about Ilowland Flat and La Porte, are troubled by 
 the snow, and much labor is spent on them every winter. 
 The weight of the snow is so great that after every snow- 
 storm, or while it is in progress, a man must go along and 
 clear the flume with a shovel. In cases where the flume is on 
 a hill-side, it is necessary to shovel away the snow from the 
 upper side of tlie flume, for the mass moves down hill with 
 tremendous weight, thofigh with very slow motion, and no 
 flume could resist it. 
 
 § 224. Iron Pipe. — The use of iron pipe in the form of 
 an inverted sii)h<)n, instead of a high flume, for the purpose of 
 carrying water across ravines, has been a great improvement 
 and saving in the ditch business. Near Placerville, water is 
 carried across a depression 190 feet deep and 1,600 feet long, 
 in a pipe tliat cost $900, whereas a flume would have cost 
 $25,000. Not only is it cheaper, but it can be used where 
 flumingis pecuniarily impossible, as in crossing ravines 400 feet 
 deep. 
 
 The sheet iron used in making pipe, comes in sheets two 
 feet wide and six feet long. The common sizes of pipe are 7 
 and 11 inches in diameter, made in joints two feet long. A 
 sheet makes .two joints of 11 -inch pipe, and thi-ee of seven- 
 inch, and 11 joints are riveted together to make a section 20^ 
 
MINING. 305 
 
 feet long. At the end of each section, as pipes are usually 
 made, there is an ear or hook riveted on each side, and when 
 the foot of one section is thrust into the head of anotiier, a 
 wire is wrapped round tlie opposite ears or liooks to tie the 
 sections together. In case a pipe is laid on a hill-side running 
 down, each section is tied at the head to a post, to keep it 
 in place ; and tlie post may be supported by a board, placed 
 edgewise and crosswise in the ground. About an inch and a 
 half of space is allowed for the lap at the end of the sections. 
 The ends need to be made with precision, so that they will be 
 water-tiglit, without packing. The pipe should be put together 
 in a straight line, and the sections should be driven together 
 with a sledge hammer, striking a board laid across the end of 
 the section. The pipe needs to be coated with tar to preserve 
 it, and if very large it may be coated inside as well as out. 
 
 The cost of 11-inch pipe made of No. 20 iron is about 75 
 cents per foot. The thickness of the iron depends upon the 
 amount of pressure and the size of the pipe. The larger the 
 pipe, the thicker the iron should be. The pressure at 190 feet 
 is 88 pounds per square inch, and No. 20 iron is strong enough 
 for that, if the pi]:)e be not more than 11 inches in diameter. 
 
 § 225. Expeyisive Constntction. — The first experiments in 
 ditching in 1850 were magnificently successful. The canals 
 were short and small, and the water was either sold at a very 
 high price, or was used in working out rich claims. It was 
 not uncommon for several years for little ditches to repay the 
 cost of construction in a couple of months. It was supposed 
 that the right to the water of a good stream would be worth 
 a fortune. The merchants in each town considered it their 
 interest to encourage and assist the miners to bring in water, 
 so as to increase the poinilation, gold production, and trade. 
 The country was full of enterprise and money, for which there 
 was not much other use. Numerous ditch companies were 
 formed, to bring water from the elevated regions in the moun- 
 tains, and many had invested too much to withdraw before 
 20 
 
306 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 any of tliem had learned the business before them by exper- 
 ience. The work was done when labor was very high ; the 
 price for common laborers being $8 per day, and lumber was 
 $100 per thousand feet. Before the canals were finished, 
 wages had fallen 50 per cent, or more, and the work done was 
 worth in the market only half its cost. Besides, in 1851 and 
 1852 tlie common price for water was 50 cents or $\ an inch, 
 and the ditch companies made their calculations upon charging 
 those figures; but before the completion of the ditches the best 
 claims in the ravines had been exhausted, and there was not 
 enough rich ground left to pay high pi-ices for all the water. 
 Flumes which do not last more than ten, and sometimes become 
 worthless in six years, were used to cross deep chasms where 
 iron i^ipe would have been much better and cheaper. Some of 
 these structures were wonderful works. The Golden Rock 
 flume near Big Oak Flat was 256 feet high, and supported by 
 an immense trestle-work ; and after it was blown down, a 
 durable iron pipe at less than a quarter of the cost sui)plied 
 its place equally well. On account of the bad engineering 
 and the inexperience of the early ditch builders, the exhaus- 
 tion of the placers, and other causes, the mining ditches which 
 cost not less than $20,000,000 are now worth probably not 
 more than $2,000,000. The total number of mining ditches 
 in 1871, according to the State Surveyor General's report, was 
 516, and their aggregate length 4,800 miles, and tlieir daily 
 supply of water 171,000 inches. 
 
 § 226. 3Ieasurement of Water. — Water is sold by the inch, 
 and usually an inch is the amount which escapes through an 
 oritice an inch square, with the water six inches deep above 
 the top of the orifice. That is called a six-inch head or 
 pressure. If a large quantity is sold, the oritice may be two 
 or three inches high. The mode of measurement, however, is 
 not uniform. In some places the pressure is nine or ten inches ; 
 in others there is no pressure, but the quantity that escapes 
 through an orifice an inch wide, and three inches high, with- 
 out pressure, is called an inch. 
 
MINING. 307 
 
 In calculations made by machinists it is often necessary to 
 use the term " an inch of Avater," and by common consent 
 that phrase is accepted now to mean a supply of two and one- 
 third cubic feet of water passing a given point in a minute of 
 time, equivalent to 21,000 gallons in 24 houi's. The mining 
 ditches of the State carry 171,000 inches in the aggregate, but 
 much of this is used for only ten hours a day, and we may 
 consider it equal to 100,000 inches running 24 hours, or 2,000,- 
 000,000 gallons a day, more than all the great city aqueducts 
 of Europe sup])ly. Single hydraulic claims use 3,000 inches 
 each, or 60,000,000 gallons daily ; or more than New York 
 City with nearly a million inhabitants gets from Croton 
 aqueduct. The price of water, as sold by the mining ditch 
 companies, varies from five to twenty cents per inch for ten 
 hours, the average being about ten cents. 
 
 § 227. deeming up. — The separation of the gold, amalgam, 
 and quicksilver, from the dirt in the bottom of the sluice, is 
 called " cleaning up " ; and the period between one "clean- 
 ing up " and another is called a " run." A run in a common 
 board-sluice usually lasts from six to ten days ; in a large hy- 
 draulic claim, one month. Ordinarily the sluice runs only 
 during daylight, but in hydraulic claims tlie work continues 
 night and day. Cleaning up occupies from half a day to three 
 days, and therefore must not be repeated very often, because 
 it consumes much time. In some sluices the cleaning up 
 does not occur until the bed of the sluice has been worn 
 out or much bruised by the wear of the stones and gravel. 
 Cleaning up in small sluices is considered light and pleasant 
 work, and is often reserved for Sunday. At the time fixed 
 the throwing in of dirt ceases, the water runs until it becomes 
 clear, the false bottom of the sluice is taken up in sections, 
 and the heavy sand, amalgam, and quicksilver, taken up in 
 pans. After separating the sand, the quicksilver and amalgam 
 from tlie sluice are put into a buckskin clotli, and pressed, so 
 that the liquid metal passes through, and the amalgam is re- 
 
308 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tainetl. The amalgam is then heated, to drive off the mercury. 
 Tliis may be done either in an open pan or in a close retort. In 
 the fonner, the quicksilver is lost ; in the latter, it is saved- 
 The pan is generally preferred. Often a shovel or plate of 
 iron is used. Three jjounds of amalgam, from which the 
 liquid metal has been carefully pressed out, will yield one 
 pound of gold. The gold remaining after the quicksilver has 
 been driven off by heat from tlie amalgam, is a porous mass, 
 somewhat resembling sponge-cake in appearance. 
 
 § 228. Riffle-Bars. — The riffle-bars used as false bottoms 
 in sluices, are usually sawed longitudinally with the grain 
 of the wood, but "block riffle-bars" are considered prefer- 
 able ; the latter are cut across the tree, and the grain stands 
 upright in the sluice-box. The block riffle-bars are three times 
 more durable than the longitudinal ; and as the latter kind ai'e 
 worn out in a week in some large sluices, there is a consider- 
 able saving in using the former. 
 
 § 229. Double Sluices. — Sluices are sometimes made 
 double — that is, with a longitudinal division thx-ough the 
 middle, so that thei-e are two distinct sluice-boxes side by 
 side. Two companies may be working side by side, so that it 
 will be cheaper for them to build their sluices jointly. An- 
 other device for saving gold in sluices is the " under-current 
 box." There is a grating of iron bars in the bottom of a box, 
 near the lower end of a sluice ; and under this grating is an- 
 other sluice, with an additional supply of clean water, and 
 with a lower gi-ade. The grating allows only the fine mate- 
 rial to fall through ; and the current of water being moder- 
 ate, many particles of gold, that would otherwise be lost, are 
 saved. Sometimes the matter from the under-current box is 
 led back to the main sluice. 
 
 § 230. RocJc-Shdces. — Large sluices are frequently paved 
 with stone, which makes a more durable false bottom than 
 wood, and catches fine gold better than riffle-bars. Tlie stone 
 bottoms have another advantage — that it is not so easy for 
 
 1 
 
MINING. 309 
 
 thieves to come and clean up at night, as is often clone in riffle- 
 bar sluices. But, on the other hand, cleaning up is more diffi- 
 cult and tedious in a rock-sluice, and so is the putting down of 
 the false bottom after cleaning up. The stones used are cob- 
 bles, six or eight inches through at the greatest diameter, and 
 usually flattish. A good workman will pave eight hundred 
 square feet of sluice-box with them in a day ; and after the 
 water and dirt have run over them for an hour, they ai-e fast- 
 ened very tightly by the sand collected between them. In 
 large sluices, wooden riffle-bars are worn away very rapidly — 
 the expense amounting sometimes, in very large and long 
 sluices, to twenty or thirty dollars a day ; and in this point 
 there is an important saving by using the stone bottoms. 
 They are used only in large sluices, and they generally have a 
 grade of twelve or fourteen inches to the box of twelve feet. 
 
 § 231. Hydraulic Washiny. — Most of the gold of the 
 placer mines of California is obtained by hydraulic washing — 
 that is, throwing water under a strong pressure against the 
 banks of auriferous gravel, which is then canned by the water 
 into a sluice. The hydraulic process is applied only in claims 
 where the dirt is deep and where the water is abundant. li 
 the dirt were shallow in the claim and its vicinity, the neces- 
 sary head of water could not be obtained. Hydraulic claims 
 are usually in hills. The water is led along on the hill at a 
 height varying from fifty to five hundred feet above the bed- 
 rock, to the claim at the end or side of the hill, where the 
 water, playing against the dirt, soon cuts a large hole, with 
 perpendicular or at least steep banks. From the top of the 
 bank, a hose or iron pipe extends down to the bottom of the 
 claim. The hose is of heavy duck, sometimes double sewn, by 
 machine. When full, it is from four to ten inches in diameter, 
 and will bear a perpendicular column of water fifty feet high : 
 but a greater height will burst it. Now, as the force of the 
 stream increases with the height of the water, it is a matter of 
 great importance to have the hose as strong as possible ; and 
 
310 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 for tliis purpose, in some claims, it is surrounded by iron bands, 
 which are about two inclies wide, and are connected by four 
 roi^es which run perpendicularly down. The rings are about 
 three inches apart. The " crinoline hose," thus made, is very 
 flexible, and will support a column of water one hundred and 
 fifty or two hundred feet high. The j^ipe at the end of the hose 
 is like the pipe of a lire-engine hose, though usually larger. 
 Sometimes the pipe will be eight inches in diameter where it 
 connects with the liose, and not more than two inches at the 
 mouth ; and the force with which the stream rushes from it is 
 so great, that it will kill a man instantaneously, and tear 
 down a hill more rapidly than could a hundred men with 
 shovels. One or two men are required to hold the pipe when 
 it is to be held ; but usually it is supported on a frame-work. 
 These remarks apply, however, mainly to the small claims ; in 
 the larger ones, the water is brought down the hill in iron 
 pipe, whence it ])asses into a patent nozzle which will discharge 
 three, five, or eight hundred inches of water through an arifice 
 from four to eight inches in diameter ; the speed, in consequence 
 of the pi-essure, being ten times as great as at the top of the 
 hill. Such a stream, under a head of three or even live hund- 
 red feet, has terrific force, and will make boulders a foot 
 through jump twenty feet into the air, when it strikes them. 
 
 The miners usually turn the stream upon the bank near its 
 bottom until a large mass of dirt tumbles down, and then they 
 wash this all away into the sluice ; when they commence at 
 the bottom of the bank again, and so on. If the bank is one 
 hundred and fifty feet high, the mass of earth that tumbles 
 down is of course immense, and the pipemeu must stand far 
 off for fear that they will be caught in the avalanche. Such 
 accidents are of daily occurrence, and the deaths from this 
 cause probably ai"e not less than a score every year in the 
 State. Often legs are broken ; still more frequently the pipe- 
 men have warning, and escape in time. When men are bur- 
 ied iu the falling dirt the water is used to wash them out. In 
 
MINING. 311 
 
 some claims, tlie pipe will tear down more dirt than the sluice 
 can wash ; in other claims, the sluice always demands more 
 dirt tlian the pipe can bring down. In tlie latter case, blast- 
 ing may be used to loosen the dirt, or tlie miners may under- 
 mine tlie bank, leaving a few columns of dirt for support ; 
 and then these being washed away by the pipe, the whole 
 bank comes tumbling down. 
 
 In hydraulic claims all the dirt is washed ; in all other 
 kinds of claims, such dirt as contains no gold is thrown to one 
 side, or " stripped otf." " Hydraulic mining " is the highest 
 branch of placer mining ; it washes more dirt and requires 
 more water, and a larger sluice, than any other kind of min- 
 ing. The number of men employed in a hydraulic claim, 
 however, is usually small — from three to six — the water doing 
 nearly all the work. In some claims a man is constantly em- 
 ployed with a heavy sledge-hammer in breaking up large 
 stones, so that the pieces may be sent down the sluice. One 
 man attends to the sluice, and sees that the dirt does not 
 choke up in the sluice, or in the claim above it. 
 
 The quantity of dirt that can be washed with a hydraulic 
 pipe depends upon various circumstances — sucli as the supply 
 of water, the height of its fall, the toughness of the dirt, and 
 the amount of moisture in it. More can be washed in winter 
 than in summer, because the dirt is then moister, and requires 
 less water to loosen and dissolve it. The quantity of water 
 used in a hydraulic claim is from forty inches to three thous- 
 and. With one hundred inches, at least thirty cubic yards 
 can be washed in ten hours, on an average ; and three men 
 can do all the work. If there were a cent's worth of gold in 
 each cubic foot, the thirty cubic yards would yield eight 
 dollars and ten cents per day, or two dollars and seventy 
 cents to the man, exclusiye of the cost of water. The water 
 usually costs ten cents an inch per day, so that one hund- 
 red inches would cost ten dollars. Allowing for the water 
 at that rate, a claim in which thirty cubic yards could be 
 
312 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORlSriA. 
 
 washed in a clay with one hundred inches of watei*, and in 
 which the dirt contained five cents to the cubic foot, would 
 leave a net pay of ten dollars and sixteen cents to each man 
 per day. 
 
 One hydraulic company washed two hundred and twenty- 
 four thousand cubic feet of dirt in six days, using two hundred 
 inches of water, and employing ten men. The wages of the 
 men amounted, at four dollars per day each, to two hundred 
 and forty dollars ; the water cost three hundred dollars ; and 
 the waste of quicksilver, and wear of sluice, perhaps one hund- 
 red dollars more, making a total expenditure of six hundi'ed 
 and forty dollars ; and the gold obtained was three tliousand 
 dollars, leaving a clear profit of twenty-tliree luindred and 
 fifty dollars. The dirt contained one cent and a fifth of gold 
 in a cubic foot. 
 
 Another company used two thousand inches of water for a 
 hundred days in washing down 1,000,000 cubic yards of gravel, 
 obtained $32,000 gross, or three cents and a fifth to a cubic 
 yard of gravel, and netted $12,000, or one cent and a fifth to 
 a yard. The area of the ground washed down was 1,100 feet 
 long, 300 feet wide, and 80 feet deep, and the quantity of 
 gravel carried down every day on an average 10,000 cubic 
 yards. 
 
 The greater the amount of water used, the greater the pro- 
 portionate amount of dirt that can be washed, and the greater 
 the proportionate profits. It is far more profitable to have a 
 large sluice than a little one, if the water and dirt can be ob- 
 tained in abundance. Usually, in a hydraulic claim, the dirt 
 is washed down to the bed-rock ; but in some places tlie wash- 
 ing stops far above the bed-rock, because there is no outlet for 
 the water. 
 
 § 232. Ground-Sluice. — All the sluices hitherto mentioned 
 and described have wooden boxes, but the ground-sluice has no 
 box : the Avater runs on the ground. The place selected for the 
 ground-sluice is some spot where there is a considerable supply 
 
MINING. 313 
 
 of water, a steep descent f<n- it, and much poor dirt. Tlie stream 
 is turned througli a little ditch, which the miners labor to deepen 
 and enlarge ; and when it is deep they prize off" the high banks 
 so that the dirt may fall down into the ditch. This is a very- 
 cheap and expeditious way of washing, but it is not applied 
 extensively. 
 
 § 233. Cradle. — The rocker or cradle is still less than the 
 torn and inferior in capacity. It bears some resemblance in 
 shape and size to a child's cradle, and rests upon similar rock- 
 ers. The cradle-box is about forty inches long, twenty wide, 
 and four high, and it stands with the upper end about two 
 feet higher than the lower end, which is open, so that the tail- 
 ings can run out. On the upper end of the cradle-box stands 
 a hopper or riddle-box, twenty inches square, with sides four 
 inches high. The bottom of this riddle-box is of sheet-iron, 
 perforated with holes half an inch in diameter. The riddle- 
 box is not nailed to the cradle-box, but can be lifted oif with- 
 out difficulty. Under the riddle is an " apron " of wood or 
 cloth, fastened to the sides of the cradle-box and sloping down 
 to the upper end of it. Across the bottom of tlie cradle-box 
 are two riiile-bars about an inch square, one in the middle, the 
 other at the end of the box. The dirt is shoveled into the 
 hopper, the " cradler " sits down beside his machine, and while 
 with one hand with a ladle he pours water from a pool at his 
 side upon the dirt, with the other he rocks the cradle. With 
 the water and the motion the dirt is dissolved, and carried 
 down through the riddle, falling upon the apron, which carries 
 it to the head of the cradle-box, whence it runs downward 
 and out, leaving its gold, black sand, and heavier particles of 
 sand and gravel behind the riffle-bars. 
 
 § 234. IVie Sluice. — The board-sluice is a long wooden 
 ti'ough, through which a constant stream of water runs, and 
 into which the auriferous dirt is thrown. The water carries 
 away the clay, sand, gravel, and stones, and leaves the gold in 
 the bottom of the sluice, where it is caught by its gravity and 
 
314 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 by quicksilver. Tlie board-sluice was for a time the great 
 wasliing machine, and the most important instrument used in 
 the placer mining of California. It washed nearly all the dirt, 
 and caught nearly all the placer gold. It was invented here, 
 although it had previously been used elsewhere ; and it has 
 been more extensively employed here than in any other country. 
 It is not less than fifty feet long, nor less than a foot wide, 
 made of boards. The width is usually sixteen or eighteen 
 inches, and never exceeds five feet. The length is ordinarily 
 several hundred, and sometimes several thousand feet. 
 
 § 235. Pan. — The pan is used in all branches of gold min- 
 ing, either as an instrument for washing, or as a receptacle for 
 gold, amalgam, or rich dirt. It is made of stiti:' tin or sheet- 
 iron, with a fiat bottom about a foot across, and with sides six 
 inches high, rising at an angle of forty-five degrees. A little 
 variation in the size or shape of the pan will not injure its 
 value for washing. Sheet-iron is preferable to tin, because it 
 is usually stronger and does not amalgamate with mercury. 
 The pan is the simplest of all instruments used for washing 
 luriferous dirt. Some dirt, not enough to fill it full, is put in, 
 ind the pan is then put under water. The earthy part of tlie dirt 
 s rapidly dissolved by the water, assisted by the shaking of the 
 pan and the rolling of the gravel from side to side, and forms a 
 nud, which runs out while clean water runs in. The light 
 land flows out with the thin mud, while the lumps of tough 
 day and the large stones remain. The stones collect on the 
 ■op of the clay, and they are scraped together with the fingers 
 ind thrown out. This process continues, the pan being grad- 
 lally raised in the water, and its outer edge depressed, until 
 dl the earthy matter has been dissolved, and that, as well as 
 be stones, swept away by the water, while the gold remains at 
 jh"e bottom. Panning is not difficult, but it requires practice 
 :o learn the degree of shaking which dissolves the dirt and 
 throws out the stones most ra])idly without losing the gold- 
 Amalgam can be separated from dirt, by washing, almost as 
 
MINING. 315 
 
 well as gold. In panning-out, it frequently happens that con- 
 siderable amounts of black sand containing fine particles of 
 gold are obtained, and this sand is so heavy that it cannot be 
 separated from the gold by washing, while it is easily separated 
 in that way from gravel, stones, and common dirt. The black 
 sand is dried, and a small quantity of it placed in a " blower," 
 a shallow tin dish open at one end. The miner then, holding 
 the pan with the open end from him, blows out the sand, leav- 
 ing the particles of gold. He must blow gently, just strong 
 enough to blow out the sand, and no stronger. From time to 
 time he must shake the blower so as to change the position of 
 the particles, and bring all the sand in the range of his breath. 
 The gold cannot be cleansed perfectly in this manner, but the 
 sand contains iron, and the little of it remaining is easily re- 
 moved by a magnet. The blower should be very smooth, and 
 made of either tin, brass, or cojjper. 
 
 § 236. Dry Washing. — Dry washing is a method of win- 
 nowing gold from dirt. In many parts of the mining districts 
 of California, water cannot be obtained during the summer for 
 mining purposes. The miner tlierefore manages to wash his 
 dirt witliout water. He takes only rich dirt, and putting it on 
 a rawhide, he pulverizes all the lumps and picks out the large 
 stones. He then with a large flat basin throws the dirt up 
 into the air, catches it as it comes down, throws it up again, 
 and repeats this operation until nothing but the gold remains. 
 
 § 237. Fuddling-Box. — The puddling-box is a rough wooden 
 box, about a foot deep and six feet square, and is used for 
 dissolving very tough clay. The clay is thrown into the box, 
 with water, and a miner stirs the stuti:' with a hoe until the 
 clay is all thoroughly dissolved, when he takes a plug from an 
 auger-hole about four inches from the bottom, and lets the 
 thin solution of the clay run oil", while the heavier material, 
 including the gold, remains at the bottom. He then puts in 
 the plug again, fills up tlie box with water, throws in more 
 clay, and repeats the process again and again until night, 
 
316 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 when he cleans up witli a cradle or pan. The puddlhig-box is 
 used in very few places in California. 
 
 § 238, Tunnel Claims. — 31nch of the placer gold has been 
 obtained from tunnel claims, most of which have been in the 
 beds of dead rivers, in places where the pay dirt Avas covered 
 by a great depth of barren or liard material, or where tlie 
 supply of water was not sutticient for hydraulic washing. 
 Thus, in the Tuolumne Table Mountain, tunnels were necessary 
 to reach the gold. Among the principal tunnel mining camps 
 are Forest Hill, Bath, Alleghany, Minnesota, Forest City, 
 Oregon City, and Howland Flat, all on the lines of dead 
 rivers. A tunnel, in Californian mining, is an adit or drift 
 entering a hill-side, or running out from a shaft. Mining tun- 
 nels are usually nearly liorizontal — those entering hill-sides 
 having a slight ascent, for the double purpose of draining the 
 mine, and to facilitate the removal of the pay dirt. In a few 
 hills the tunnels run downward, at an angle of twenty degrees 
 or more, to avoid veins or ledges of rock, wliich would have to 
 be blasted through if the tunnel were cut horizontally ; but 
 this can only be done with safety in liills which are drained by 
 older horizontal tunnels. Tlie mining tunnel does not run 
 through a hill, but only into it. The length of tunnels varies 
 greatly ; the longest are about a mile. Tlie usual height is 
 seven feet, the width five feet. Ordinarily the top must be 
 supported by timbers, to prevent it from falling in, and not 
 unfrequently the sides must also be protected by boards. The 
 cost of cutting a tunnel varies from two to forty dollars a 
 longitudinal foot, according to the nature of the ground, the 
 cost of getting timbers, etc. Tunnels are frequently made by 
 companies of eight or ten men, of whom one-half may bo 
 merchants, lawyers, physicians, or office-holders, and the 
 remainder laboring miners. The latter class do the work ; 
 the former furnish provisions and tools, and a certain amount 
 of cash weekly, until the pay-dirt is reached. 
 
MINING. 317 
 
 § 239. Shafts. — Shafts are used in prospecting, aud also in 
 mining, where the claims are deep and cannot be reached by 
 either the hydraulic process or the tunnel. The prospecting 
 shaft is sometimes sunk into hills supposed to be auriferous, 
 where the shaft is far less expensive than the tunnel. After 
 the shaft demonstrates that the dii-t is rich, and precisely the 
 altitude at which it lies, a tunnel is cut to strike it. The shaft 
 may be the cheaper for prospecting, but the tunnel is usually 
 the cheaper if any large amount of dirt is to be taken out. 
 
 The shaft is dug by one man in the hole, and one or two 
 are employed at a windlass in hauling up the dirt. Mining 
 shafts in placer diggings are rarely over one hundred feet 
 deep ; but one was dug in Trinity County to the depth of six 
 hundred feet, for the purpose of prospecting. It found neither 
 pay-dirt nor the bed-rock. 
 
 § 240. River Mining. — River mining is mining for gold iu 
 the beds of rivers, below low-water mark. The only practi- 
 cable method of doing this is by damming the stream, and 
 taking the water out of its bed in a ditch or tlume. It has 
 been proposed by persons who never saw the mines, to get the 
 gold by dredgmg, or with a diving-bell ; but such schemes are 
 absurd in the eyes of miners. The rivers in which the gold is 
 found are mountain-torrents, in which a canoe can scarcely 
 float in summer, much less a dredging-machine ; and any 
 large scoop working under water would miss the crevices and 
 corners in the rocks, where most of the gold is found. As the 
 water is very seldom more than a couple of feet deep, a diving- 
 bell would be of little service. The flume, the ditch, and the 
 wing-dam are the chief tasks of the river-miner. The ditch is 
 rarely used, because the banks of the mining-streams are 
 usually so steep, high, rocky, and crooked, that a flume is 
 cheaper. The wing-dam is not often used, because the river- 
 beds are in most places too narrow. The flume is almost uni- 
 versally employed. 
 
 § 241. Beach Mining. — Beach mining is the business of 
 washing the sands of the ocean-beach. Between Point Men- 
 
318 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 docino, in California, and the montli of the Umpqua River, in 
 Oregon, the beach-sand contains gold, and in some places it is 
 very ricli. The beach is narrow, and lies a.t the foot of a blufi" 
 bank of auriferous sand. In times of storm, the waves wash 
 against this bank, undermine it, sweep away the pieces winch 
 tumble down, leaving the gold on the beach. Tlie gold is in 
 very tine particles, and it moves with the heavier sand, which 
 alters its position frequently under tlie inHuence of the waves 
 and surf. One day, the beach will have six feet depth of sand ; 
 the next, there will be nothing save bare rocks. The sand 
 dilfers greatly in richness at various times : one day, it will be 
 full of golden specks ; a few days later, at the same place, it 
 will be barren. The sand in the mean time has been moved 
 by the waves, and replaced by other sand. 
 
 It is a very difficult matter to know where the sand is rich 
 and where it is not. The companies employed in mining on 
 the beach number about ten men ; and there is a foreman, who 
 rides out early every morning, following the beach about two 
 miles to the northward and two miles to the southward of the 
 camp, for the purpose of finding where the sand is the best. 
 So changeable is the sand, that a new examination is made 
 every day ; and only three or four men are su])posed to be 
 good judges of the quality of sand, fi'om its appearance. 
 
 When the foreman has selected a place, he orders all the 
 men to it, and they go with twenty pack mules, which carry 
 the sand in alforjas, or rawhide sacks, to the place of wash- 
 ing, which is up on the bluff, probably a mile or more distant 
 from the spot where the sand is obtained. It happens occa- 
 sionally that the foreman rides long distances on the beach, 
 and sometimes he will order the sand to be obtained ten miles 
 from the washing place. The sand must, of course, be very 
 rich to pay for such transportation, but the beacli sand at 
 times in the sunlight is said to be actually dazzling yellow 
 with gold. The purpose of going upon the bluff to wash it is 
 to get fresh water for washing; for the sea water is not so good, 
 
MINING. 319 
 
 nor can it be obtained conveniently. The richest dirt is that 
 the farthest down on the beach, so still weather and low tide 
 are the best times for getting it. When a rich place is dis- 
 covered low down on the beach, great exertions are made to 
 get as much of the sand as possible before the tide rises. 
 When high tide arid storm come together, little can be done. 
 The sand, having been separated from all clay and soluble 
 matter by the action of the sea, is very easily washed, and all 
 collected in a month can be washed in two days in a sluice. 
 
 § 242. Placer Prospecting. — " Prospecting," or the seai'ch 
 for gold deposits, does not require much experience or scien- 
 titic knowledge. The following are some general rules for the 
 prospector : 
 
 1. Gold probably exists in every district where granite, 
 slate, and quartz veins are found together or in near proximity 
 to one another. 
 
 2. If there is any gold in a district, it is to be found in the 
 beds of the larger ravines. 
 
 3. Profitable diggings are to be found only in the moun- 
 tains, or in the plain immediately below them, 
 
 4. The gold, if any, is to be found by digging to the bed- 
 rock in the beds of gullies or streams, at the mouths of can- 
 ons, or in bars at the lower ends of rapids, at low stages of 
 water. If there be any gold in the basin of a river, some 
 particles of the metal will be found in its bars above the level 
 of low water. 
 
 5. Gold is most abundant in places where the bed is nearly 
 level, just below long and steep pitches; and more metal 
 collects where the bed-rock is rough than where it is smooth. 
 
 6. In a country rich in gold, a pan of dirt taken from the 
 bed-rock of a large ravine will usually show some specks of 
 the metal, 
 
 7. The smaller and smoother the particles, the farther they 
 have come. 
 
 The pan is used for washing the dirt to be prospected. 
 
320 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 243. Quartz Mining. — Quartz miuing dilFers much from 
 placer mining. For tlie former, more capital, more experi- 
 ence, more corajilicated machinery, and richer material, are re- 
 quired than for the latter. The placer miner throws the dirt 
 into the water, which then does the work ; whereas the pul- 
 verizing of rock is a nice operation. Quartz requires a mill 
 and water power ; placer dirt is washed in a simple sluice. 
 Dirt containing ten cents in the cubic yard may pay the 
 hydraulic miner, but the quartz miner must have a hundred 
 times as much in a cubic yard of vein- stone, or he cannot 
 work. The placer gold, when freed from the baser material 
 suiTOunding it, is much of it in coarse particles, which are 
 easily caught by their specific gravity ; the quartz gold must 
 be reduced to a fine powder before it can be set free, and with 
 the fineness of the particles increases the difticulty of catching 
 them. 
 
 § 244. Prospecting for Quartz. — Auriferous quartz lodes are 
 often found by accident. Not unfrequently it happens that 
 a rich streak of pay-dirt in a placer claim is followed up to the 
 quartz claim from which it came. While miners are out walk- 
 ing or hunting, they occasionally will come upon lodes in 
 which the gold is seen sparkling. Some good leads have been 
 found by men employed in making roads and cutting ditches. 
 The quartz might be covered with soil, but the pick and 
 shovel revealed its position and wealth. In Tuolumne 
 County, in 1858, a hunter shot a grizzly bear on the side of a 
 steep canon, and the animal tumbling down, was caught by a 
 projecting point of rock. The hunter followed his game, and 
 while skinning the animal, discovered that the point of rock 
 was auriferous quartz. In Mariposa County, in 1855, a miner 
 was attacked by a robber, and the former saw a sparkle behind 
 his assailant at a spot where a bullet struck a wall of rock. 
 He killed the robber, and found that the rock was gold bearing 
 quartz. In Nevada County, several years ago, a couple of un- 
 fortunate miners who had prepared to leave California, and 
 
MINING. 321 
 
 were out on a drunken frolic, started a large boulder down a 
 steep hill. On its way down, it struck a brown rock and 
 broke a portion of it off — exposing a vein of white quartz 
 which proved to be auriferous, induced the disappointed min- 
 ers to remain some "months longer in the State, and paid them 
 well for remaining. Science and experience do not appear to 
 give much assistance in prospegting for quartz lodes. Chemists, 
 geologists, mineralogists, and old miners, have not done better 
 than ignorant men and new-comers. Most of the best veins 
 have been discovered by poor and ignorant men. Not one 
 has been found by a man of high education as a miner or 
 geologist. No doubt, geological knowledge is valuable to a 
 miner, and it should assist him in prospecting ; but it has never 
 yet enabled anybody to find a valuable claim. 
 
 It is useless to prospect for auriferous quartz in a country 
 where no placer gold has been found. If the metal exists in 
 the rock, some of it will also be found in the alluvium, and it 
 can be discovered there more readily than in the vein. After 
 the placers have been found, then search should be made for 
 the quartz. The following rules are serviceable : 
 
 1. If a ravine is rich in gold to a certain point and bari'en 
 above, look for a quartz vein in the hill-sides just above the 
 place where the riclmess ceases. 
 
 2. A line of pieces of quartz rock observed in a hill-side, 
 probably indicates the course of a quartz vein. 
 
 3. If a ravine ci'osses a quartz vein, fragments of the rock 
 will be found in its bed below. 
 
 4. A large quartz vein will often show its presence in the 
 topography of the country, by forming hills in those spots 
 where the rock happens to be very hard. 
 
 5. Quartz can be found and the veins traced with com- 
 paratively little labor in the steep banks of canons, where the 
 rock is base or is covered with but little soil. 
 
 6. If a quartz vein contains gold, some of the metal may- 
 be perceptible to the naked eye. 
 
 21 
 
322 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 245. Quartz Mining as a business. — Many fine fortunes 
 have been lost in gold-quartz mining, and it is proper to give 
 warning to the ignorant against the dangei^s that beset 
 the business. Here ai'e a few remarks for the consideration 
 of inexperienced persons solicited to take an interest in quartz 
 mines. 
 
 1 . Gold quartz mining is one of the most uncertain of all 
 occupations. 
 
 2. No amount of experience, scientific knowledge, and 
 prudence, will secure the investor against loss in it. 
 
 3. Many of the men engaged in it are very bold, and 
 their statements must not be accepted without great caution, 
 even when there is proof of their sincerity. 
 
 4. No one should risk more in gold quartz than he can af- 
 ford to lose without serious inconvenience. 
 
 5. The presence of large lumps of gold in a vein, is no 
 evidence of a profitable mine. Most of the best mines have 
 had little rich rock ; and the finest specimens have come from 
 mines that are not now worked. It is the large supply of pay- 
 ing quartz, and not the extraordinary richness of small pieces, 
 that makes the great mine. 
 
 G. There is no occupation in which it is easier to waste 
 money by inexperience, carelessness, or folly. 
 
 7. No business has greater need of the j^resence and con- 
 stant attention of an economical, attentive, and capable man- 
 ager, directly interested in tlie business. 
 
 8. For persons of small means, the only safe way to work 
 a quartz mine is to make it pay as it goes along, and to aban- 
 don it whenever the outgo exceeds the income. 
 
 9. Many of the best quartz mines in the State were rich at 
 the surface, and have yielded more than enough from the be- 
 ginning to pay for all the work exi^ended on them. 
 
 10. Not one in five of the mines which did not pay at the 
 surface, and has been worked to a depth of one hundred feet, 
 
 . has ever paid. 
 
MINING. 323 
 
 11. The richness of a vein at one point is no evidence of 
 its richness at another. 
 
 12. Not one quartz miner in a tliousand has made a mod- 
 erate fortune. 
 
 13. Nearly all the owners of the rich quartz mines of Cal- 
 ifornia are capitalists, who made money in other business, and 
 then could afibrd to risk considerable sums in ventures which 
 they considered uncertain. 
 
 14. Do not build your mill till you have opened your mine, 
 and got enough pay-rock in sight to pay for it. 
 
 15. The following remarks of Wm. Ashburner, mining en- 
 gineer, are as worthy of attention as when they were written 
 ten years since : 
 
 "In 1858, there were upwards of 280 quartz-mills in Cali- 
 fornia, each one of which was supplied with quartz from one 
 or more veins. The number of stamps in these mills was 
 2,610, and the total cost of the whole mill property of this 
 nature in the State exceeded $3,000,000. In the summer of 
 1861, while I was attached to the Geological Survey, I made 
 a careful and thorough examination of all the quartz-mills and 
 mines of the State, and could only find between forty and fifty 
 mills in successful operation, several of which were at tliat 
 time leading a very precarious existence." 
 
 16. A good quartz mine, well managed, is the most profita- 
 ble and satisfactory kind of property to be found in California. 
 
 § 246. Rich 3flnes. — Among the quartz mines which have 
 produced the largest sums, are the following : The Princeton 
 mine, which has produced $4,000,000 ; the Pine Tree and 
 Josephine, which together produced $350,000 from the 1st 
 May, 1860, to the 1st May, 1863 ; and the Mariposa mine, 
 which produced $84,948 in 1864, are in the Mariposa grant, 
 and have all been idle most of the time since 1865. The New 
 Britain has yielded $52,000, tlie Sherman $200,000, and the 
 Hite's Cove now yields $15,000 net per mouth. 
 
 In Tuolumne County, the Soulsby yielded for a time $100,- 
 
324 ■ RESOURCES OF CALIFORNrA. 
 
 000 aunually, the Piatt has paid $40,000 profit, the Grizzly 
 has produced $125,000, the Excelsior $300,000, the Sell & 
 Martin ?:150,000, the Tennessee $60,000, the Austrian $100,- 
 000, and the Sophia $45,000. 
 
 The Morgan mine, on Carson Hill, in Calaveras County, 
 (according to the statement of Thomas Dear, who is reputed 
 to have better opportunities of knowing than any body else) 
 produced $2,800,000 from February, 1850, to December, 1851. 
 Mr. Stevenot, however, who claimed an interest in the mine, 
 though he did not succeed in the courts, says the sum was 
 $1,500,000. At any rate, immense masses of gold were found, 
 and tlie town of Melones, at the foot of the hill, was the 
 largest mining camp in the State for a time. The South Car- 
 olina lias yielded $400,000, the Reserve $100,000, the Bovee 
 $000,000, Hill's Mine $250,000, and the Cherokee $100,000. 
 
 The Hayward mine, in Amador County, has been reported 
 to be the most profitable mine in the State. About 24,000 
 tons are crushed in a year, and there are 120,000 tons in sight. 
 The present supply of ore is obtained 1,200 feet below the 
 surface, and 300 feet below the level of the sea. The Key- 
 stone, a mile and a half distant, pays $80,000 a year in divi- 
 dends. The Oneida, a mile and a half distant in the other 
 direction, has produced very large sums, and has in sight 90,- 
 000 tons of rock, expected to yield about $17 per ton. The 
 total expense is about $5 per ton. The Seaton mine has yielded 
 $100,000. 
 
 In El Dorado County, the richest mines have been the Pacific, 
 which has yielded $500,000, the Woodside, which yielded 
 $12,000 in specimens, the Danes, and the Shepard. 
 
 In Placer County, the St. Patrick is the most notable. 
 
 In Nevada County, the Eureka has yielded $3,000,000 ; the 
 North Star $500,000 profit ; the Allison $2,300,000 ; Massa- 
 chusetts Hill $5,600,000 ; New York Hill $500,000 ; Missouri 
 Hill $200,000 ; the Fellows $1,000,000 ; Norambagua $80,000 ; 
 Gold Hill $4,000,000 ; Union Hill $74,000 ; Empire $1,300,- 
 
MINING. 325 
 
 000; Hueston Hill $1,000,000; Osborne Hill $1,000,000; 
 Lone Jack $500,000 ; Gold Tunnel $1,000,000 ; Nevada $400,. 
 000 ; Sneath & Clay $300,000 ; Lecompton $250,000 ; Wig- 
 ham $200,000 ; the Banner $200,000 ; and the Idaho several 
 millions, now yielding $4,000 daily. 
 
 In Sierra County, the Sierra Buttes mine has paid more 
 regularly than any other in the State, having been worked 
 steadily for more than twenty years, and having yielded about 
 $2,500,000, including more than $1,000,000 profit. The In- 
 dependence, on the same vein, yielded $100,000 in 1866. The 
 Primrose, two miles distant, has yielded $226,000 — idle. The 
 Union, one mile from Alleghany, yielded $75,000 in a pocket. 
 
 In Plumas Connty, the Eureka has yielded $1,600,000 ; the 
 Mammoth, $1,000,000; the Crescent, $500,000; and the 
 Whitney, $68,000. 
 
 In Yuba County, at Brown's Valley, twelve miles from 
 Marysville, and not more than 500 feet above the level of the 
 sea, are the Pennsylvania, which yielded at one time $10,000 
 net per month ; the Jefferson, which has paid $250,000 of 
 dividends ; and the Dannebroge, which has yielded $250,000, 
 
 § 247. Extraction. — The extraction of auriferous quartz 
 after it has been found, does not differ in any important ma- 
 terial from the extraction of other ores in narrow veins. The 
 rules for running tunnels and drifts for stoping, draining, ven- " 
 tilating, and timbering, are precisely the same. Extraction, 
 however, requires much experience and judgment for proper 
 management. The dip, thickness, and material of the vein, 
 the horizontal length and the dip of the pay-chute, the char- 
 acter of the walls, the supply of water, and the situation of 
 the mill, must be taken into consideration. Access must be 
 had to the lower works by a horizontal tunnel, or vertical 
 shaft, or an incline running down on the dip of the lode. 
 There are, however, very few auriferous quartz mines in which 
 the lower works can be reached profitably by a tunnel. 
 Ordinarily an incline is preferred ; it goes down in the vein- 
 
326 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Stone, which sometimes, but rarely, pays for the work of taking 
 it out. After the shaft or incline is down, levels or drifts are 
 run off horizontally as far as the pay-rock extends, at intervals 
 usually of a hundred feet, and the levels are numbered from 
 the surface ; so when we read that they have found good rock 
 in a certain mine at the eighth level, we presume tliat it is 
 eight hundred feet below the surface. The rock between two 
 levels is broken down or stoped out, and it falls to the drift or 
 level below, where it is loaded in a car and hauled to the 
 shaft, in which it is carried up, 
 
 § 248. Pulverization. — Nearly all the quartz of California 
 is crushed by stamps or iron hammers, ten inches in diameter, 
 and weighing 500 pounds. The stamp is fastened to a vertical 
 iron stem about six feet long, and near the top is a projection 
 by which a cam or a revolving shaft lifts the stamp a foot 
 high and then lets it fall. Five stamps ai'e placed side by side 
 in a battery, and they fall successively, each making about 40 
 blows in a minute. The quartz is shoveled in on the upper 
 side, and when pulverized sufficiently, it is can'ied away 
 through a wire screen on the lower side by a stream of water, 
 which .poxxrs into the battery steadily. 
 
 § 249 Arrastra. — The arrastra is the simplest instrument 
 for grinding auriferous quartz. It is a circular bed of stone, 
 from eight to twenty feet in diameter, on which the quartz is 
 ground by a large stone dmgged round and round by horse 
 or mule power. There are two kinds of arrastras, the rude 
 and improved. The rude arrastra is made with a pavement of 
 unhewn flat stones, whidli are usually laid down in clay. The 
 pavement of tlie improved arrastra is made of hewn stone, 
 cut very accurately and laid down in cement. In the center 
 of the bed of the arrastra is an upright post which turns on a 
 pivot, and running through the post is a horizontal bar, pro- 
 jecting on each side to the outer edge of the pavement. On 
 each arm of this bar is attached by a chain a large flat stone 
 or muUer, weighing from three hundred to five hundred 
 
MINING. 327 
 
 pounds. It is so hung that the forward end is about an inch 
 above the bed, and the hind end drags on the bed and crushes 
 the quartz. 
 
 § 250. Amalgamation. — The pulverized auriferous quartz, as 
 it comes from the stamps, consists of fine particles of rock and 
 gold mixed together, and the objects of the miner are to sep- 
 arate them, save the metal, and let the other material escape. 
 Here again a small sluice, similar in principle to that used in 
 placer mining, is used ; but instead of rifiie-bars, the bottom of 
 the sluice is copper, covered with quicksilver, or is a rough 
 blanket, in which the gold and heaviest sands are caught. In 
 many mills quicksilver is placed in the battery, two ounces of 
 quicksilver for one of gold ; and about two-thirds of the gold 
 is caught thus. Next the battery is the apron, a copper plate 
 covered with quicksilver, on which a good share of the gold 
 is caught. 
 
 § 251. Concentration. — Below the aprons different devices 
 for catching the gold are used in different mills. The blanket 
 is the most common. It is a coarse blanket, laid at the bot- 
 tom of a sluice through which the pulp from the battery runs, 
 and the gold, black sand, and sulphurets are caught in the 
 wool, while the lighter material runs off. The blanket is 
 washed out in a tub at intervals of half an hour or an hour. 
 
 In some mines nearly half of the gold is mixed with pyrites, 
 and refuses to be caught by quicksilver. In such case a sluice 
 may be used to separate the sulphurets, which may form three 
 per cent, of the pulverized rock. This separation is called 
 concentration, and the material obtained is concentrated tail- 
 ings. The sulphurets are five times as heavy as water, and 
 twice as heavy as quartz, so the separation is not difficult 
 when the supply of w^ater is abundant. 
 
 § 252. Chlorination. — In roasting for chlorination we have, 
 first, to oxydize the iron, and next, by introduction of salt, to 
 chloridize certain other substances which vary with the locality 
 from which the ore is obtained. When this is rightly done we 
 
328 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 have usually formed either oxydes or oxychlorides of all the 
 base metals in the ore treated, leaving gold as the only 
 free metal to absorb the chlorine gas. In order to be sucess- 
 ful in roasting the ore, attention must be given to the construc- 
 tion of the furnace. If the arch over the hearth is too high, the 
 ore will not be oxydized ; so also if the flues are too large, or 
 the damper is opened too wide, as the excess of cold air or 
 draft cools the ore. Then again, if the arch is too low, or flues 
 too small, the air will fail to yield its oxygen to desulphurize and 
 oxydize the ore. Cold air must always flow into the furnace 
 thix)ugh the work-holes, but it must be in proper quantities — 
 and the work-holes must be in proportion to the chimney-flues. 
 The main principle of chlorination is, that the metallic gold is 
 dissolved by chlorine gas, while metallic ox3'-des are left un- 
 touched. The ore is fii*st roasted in a furaace of proper con- 
 struction, and then enclosed in a covered vat, into which 
 chlorine gas is introduced, until all the gold is converted into 
 chloride of gold ; and then the vat is opened and filled with 
 water, which dissolves the gold as sugar is dissolved under sim- 
 ilar circumstances. The solution is drawn ofl*, and the metal- 
 lic gold precipitated from it by the introduction of the proto- 
 sulphate of iron. Tlie cost of the entire process does not ex- 
 ceed $20 per ton ; and in some locations, where wood is cheap 
 and freights moderate, it may be woi-ked as low as $12 per ton 
 of sulphurets. The roasting is the most diflicult step in the 
 entire process, but evei-y part must be con-ectly performed. 
 
 § 253. Quicksilver. — The productive quicksilver mines of 
 California are all in the Coast Mountains, between latitudes 
 36° and 39^. There are three main groups : those of Santa 
 Clai-a County, including the New Almaden, which produces 
 11,000 flasks annually ; those of Fresno, including the New 
 Idria, which yields about 6,000; and those of Napa, including 
 the liedington, producing 7,000. The yield is irregular 
 in all the districts and all the mines, the ore being found in 
 masses almost disconnected ; so that the working of a good 
 body of cinnabar in one year may be followed by several 
 
MINING. 329 
 
 years of searching for others hke it. The total production of 
 the State has never exceeded 52,000 flasks in a year, and at 
 present may be estimated at little more than half that amount. 
 
 The New Almadeu is the great mine of the State, and has 
 produced in the last twenty-four years about 600,000 flasks, or 
 45,000,000 pounds of metal. The highest production was in 
 1864, when it reached 43,000 flasks. It is situated fifteen 
 miles southward from San Jose. The New Idria mine is on 
 the eastern slope of the Diablo ridge, seventy-five miles south- 
 eastward from Hollister ; the Rediugton mine, twenty-eight 
 miles east of Calistoga ; the Phoenix and Washington, in Pope 
 Valley, ten miles east of Calistoga ; the Oakville, six miles 
 southward from the town of St. Helena ; and the St. Johns, five 
 miles northeast wai-d from Vallejo. The St. Johns and the 
 Great Western, eighteen miles beyond Calistoga, are mines that 
 promise to become important in the future. Tlie total present 
 production of the State is about 30,000 flasks. The consump- 
 tion of the Pacific States and Territories is 19,000, and of the 
 remainder of the continent, 11,000, so that North America 
 has no need either to export or import now. 
 
 The metal is extracted from the ore by sublimation. The 
 furnaces and condensers used ditter greatly in the manner of 
 construction, and also in the expense of running. 
 
 At tlie New Almaden and New Idria mines the old style 
 of furnaces are used. They are about fifty feet long, twelve 
 feet high, and twelve feet wide. At one end of each furnace 
 is the fire chamber, which may be nine feet cubic inside ; 
 next that is the ore chamber, of about the same size ; and be- 
 yond that is the condensing chamber, in which there are a 
 number of partitions, alternately running up from the bottom 
 and down from the top, witli a space for the fumes to pass, 
 their course being up and down, and up and down again, and 
 so on for a distance of thirty feet to the chimney, which is 
 forty feet high. In the bottom of the condensing chamber is 
 water. The wails between the fire chamber and the ore 
 
330 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 chamber, and between the latter and the condensing chamber, 
 are built with open spaces, so that the heat, smoke, and fumes 
 can pass through. The ore is placed in the ore chamber in 
 such a manner as to leave many open spaces. The heat drives 
 off" the sulpliur and mercury of the ore in fumes, which in 
 passing through the condensing chambers deposit the mer- 
 cury, and the smoke and sulphur escape through tlie chimney. 
 Three days are usually allowed for drawing off" the metal 
 from each charge, and then several days are allowed for the 
 furnace to cool off" before the exhausted rock can be removed, 
 and a new chai'ge put in, so that nearly a week is devoted to 
 a charge. The rock must be made white hot before the 
 quicksilver passes off" in fumes. 
 
 The furnace patented by Knox and Osborn may be consid- 
 ered the favorite, more of that than of any other kind being 
 in use. It is upright in form, about twenty feet high, receives 
 the ore at the top, and the heat from a hearth at the side. 
 It has a capacity of twenty-five tons, and eighteen tons are 
 roasted daily, implying that the ore remains four days in the 
 heat. At the end of six mouths the fire is allowed to burn 
 out, and the furnace is examined to see whether repairs are 
 necessary. Two cords and a half of wood are reqiiii-ed daily. 
 The condensers are of cast iron, seven feet long, four feet 
 high, and two feet wide, the inner end being fourteen inches 
 higher than the outer, to allow the soot to come down easily to 
 the door. Sixteen of these are required for condensing the 
 metal from eighteen tons of ore (averaging less than five per 
 cent, of metal) daily. They are all connected into one contin- 
 uous channel by goose-neck castings, and each with its goose- 
 neck weighs 2,700 pounds. Water trickles continuously over 
 all the condensers to keep them cool. By this furnace, and 
 perhaps by several others, ore yielding one-half of one per 
 cent, of metal, can be worked with a profit at the present 
 prices. 
 
 § 254. Silver. — Silver ores are found at many places in 
 California, but the only productive silver mines are east of the 
 
MINING. 331 
 
 main divide of the Sierra Nevada. There are five silver 
 mills in Alpine, four in Mono, and eight in Inyo County, but 
 most of them are idle, and not one of them is producing 
 much. In the production of silver by the milling process the 
 ore, after it 1ms been pulverized by stamps, is stirred as a thick 
 pulp in a large iron pan with water, quicksilver, and some 
 chemicals for six hours, at the end of which time the pulp is 
 run into a tank, mixed with much water, and allowed to settle, 
 when the amalgam and quicksilver are found at the bottom. 
 
 The cost of extraction usually ranges from $2 to $6 ; 
 crushing costs from $9 to $12, amalgamation from $1.50 to 
 $2.50, and other expenses may be from $2 to $10 when there 
 is a good supply of ore. But allowance must be made for 
 prospecting, dead work, and other contingencies which beset 
 every silver mine, and the cost of which is without limit. 
 Free-milling ore will not, as a general rule, pay a profit unless 
 it yields $22 per ton, and few companies can make dividends 
 at that figure. 
 
 The most productive silver mines of California are those at 
 Cerro Gordo, in Inyo County, where the ores are of the smelt- 
 ing class, containing considerable proportions of carbonate 
 and sulphuret of lead. These mines are nearly 7,000 feet 
 above the sea. In some of the lodes the lead and silver ai*e 
 mixed, containing sixty per cent, of the former and $60 of the 
 latter to the ton ; in others, either the quantity of one or the 
 other is very small, and the ores have to be mixed. The pay- 
 ore yields fifteen to thirty per cent, of argentiferous lead or 
 base bullion, containing from $200 to $400 per ton of silver 
 and gold. The ore is smelted at the mine in furnaces, each of 
 which produces from three to ten tons of bullion daily. The 
 base bullion is shipped to the refining works, San Francisco, 
 where it is melted at a heat so low that the silver crystal- 
 lizes in the liquid lead, and can be dipped or strained out 
 by the Pattinson pi'ocess. The expense of refining varies 
 from $30 to $80 per ton. 
 
332 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 255. Sulp/mr. — Sulphur is produced at tlie sulphur bank, 
 on the eastern shore of Clear Lake, about eiglit miles from 
 the town of Lower Lake. The mineral is found in a propor- 
 tion varyinc; from ten to forty per cent, with earth. The 
 crude material is shoveled up from the surface ; taken in a 
 wheel-barrow to a furnace, where it is heated, and the sulphur 
 passes off into an iron receiver ; thence it goes into an iron pot 
 where it is purified, and is allowed to run in a fluid form into 
 a wooden box, in which it solidifies. It is then ready for the 
 the market. 
 
 § 256. J^orax. — Borax, and minerals from which borax 
 can be made, are abundant in certain lakes and dry lake beds 
 east of the Sierra Nevada, extending from Reno to near the 
 Colorado River. The extraction of borax from these deposits 
 is a new business, and has not yet been placed on a very econ- 
 omical basis. The chief difficulty at present is expensive 
 transportation ; but it is beset by many other drawbacks. 
 The crystals of borate of lime found mixed with sulphate of 
 soda, chloiide of soda, other salts and dirt, in the dry-beds of 
 ponds east of the Sierra Nevada, are dissolved in hot water, 
 which, after it has stood several hours, is drawn olf, leaving 
 the sand and clay behind it, and then soda is added to form a 
 biborate, which is crystallized after the lime has been precipi- 
 tated in an insoluble condition. In some places carbonates of 
 soda are found, and the production of sal-soda and caustic 
 soda will become important in time. Some soda was made in 
 1864 and 1865 at Borax Lake, near Clear Lake, but the busi- 
 ness was interrupted by the abundant rains in 1866 and '67, 
 and has not been resumed. 
 
 § 257. Ilydraulic Cement. — The production of hydraulic 
 cement in California is confined to one mill at Benicia, but 
 might, perhaps, be extended. The peculiar limestone con- 
 verted into the cement by burning and grinding, is found in 
 seams not more than five feet wide, in the metamorphic sand- 
 stone on both sides of the Strait of Carquiuez, and the work- 
 
MINING. 333 
 
 men seldom dig down more than ten feet for it. The largest 
 deposit of it now known is about half a mile southward from 
 tlie railroad wharf at Vallejo, and teams are constantly em- 
 ployed hauling tlie rock from that point to tlie mill. The 
 company pays fifty cents for tlie privilege of digging up the 
 rock on land within four or five miles of its mill, and pays 
 from $3 to $o per ton for rock, (according to quality) deliv- 
 ered at the mill. About 1,500 barrels of the cement are 
 shipped per month, and the quality is reported to be superior 
 to the best imported. Considerable quantities of the rock are 
 found at distances often or fifteen miles from Benicia, but not 
 enough in any one spot to justify the erection of a mill. 
 
 § 258. Coal. — The total annual consumption of mineral 
 coal in California is 500,000 tons, of which 175,000 tons come 
 from Mt. Diablo, 75,000 tons from the coast north of our 
 State, 5,000 from Chile, 30,000 from the Eastern States, 30,- 
 000 from England, 115,000 from Australia, and 60,000 tons 
 from the Rocky Mountains, The supplies from Chile-, Aus- 
 tralia, England, and the Atlantic States, are irregular, depend- 
 ing to a considerable extent on the freights. The production 
 of the Mt, Diablo mines is increasing, having been 6,000 tons 
 in 1861,50,000 in 1864, 100,000 in 1867,150,000 in 1869, 
 and 175,000 in 1872, The method of mining for coal does 
 not difler materially from those pursued elsewhere, except 
 that our seams are smaller, and good qualities of the fuel are 
 not found until a depth of several hundred feet is reached. 
 
334 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 § 259. Plutonic and Secondary. — The rocks of California 
 are mainly Plutonic, upper Secondary, Tertiary, and Volcanic. 
 The Plutonic, or granite, forms the bulk of the Sierra Nevada 
 and part of the coast mountains. The upper Secondary occu- 
 pies a belt on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, vary- 
 ing from live miles in width, about latitude 35°, to forty 
 miles in latitude 39°. Its lower edge is in places within five 
 hundred feet of the level of the sea ; its upper line 6,000 feet, 
 but the average elevations of the two edges are probably 
 1,000 and 4,000 feet. The rocks of this formation are 
 mainly slates, and in them are found the seams of auriferous 
 quartz and the deposits of gold-bearing gravel which first at- 
 tracted a large population to California. These slates are 
 found, also, in the northern coast mountains ; and in the 
 Sierra Nevada a belt of limestone is associated with them. 
 In the coast mountains, south of 39°, and also in spots on the 
 Sierra, cretaceous rock, the highest of the secondary forma- 
 tion, appears, and it is accompanied by coal and quicksilver. 
 
 § 260. Tertiary. — The Tertiary formation, stratified and 
 metamorphic sandstones, occupy the valleys in the middle 
 and southern portions of the State, the greater part of the 
 coast mountains, and the lower foothills at the back of the 
 Sierra Nevada. The strata on the coast mountains have been 
 
\ 
 
 GEOLOGY. 335 
 
 much disturbed, and we frequently find tliem standing nearly 
 vertically. In the vicinity of San Francisco, the cuts through 
 the hills show great and numerous flexures. The aqueous 
 sandstone of California is generally unfit for either building or 
 road making. The stratification is thin ; it abounds in frac- 
 tures, does not wear well when exposed to the weather, and 
 under wheels is soon converted into mud. Some of it that 
 has been highly metamorphosed by heat, is excellent for build- 
 ing. 
 
 § 2G1. Volcanic. — Volcanic rocks occupy a large space 
 north of latitude 38°. In remote ages, California was the^scene 
 of great volcanic activity in the northern half. No lavas or 
 volcanic peaks west of the summit of the Sierra Nevada have 
 been found south of the latitude of tlie Golden Gate on 37° 
 48', while on the other side of that line they ai'e abundant. 
 Mount Diablo has the conical shape and solitary position of a 
 volcano, but its rocks are cretaceous. The numerous high 
 peaks of the Californian Alps — the principal one reaching the 
 greatest elevation in the United States — much as some of them 
 resemble volcanic cones at a distance, fail to show any signs 
 of volcanic action so far as they have been closely examined. 
 
 Many of the lava beds of the Sierra Nevada are prominent 
 features of the landscape. They filled up the channels and 
 canons of the streams of the Pliocene or post-Pliocene age, 
 and being harder than the slates, the latter were washed away, 
 leaving those places which had been hollows standing like 
 steep mountains, rising 500 or 1,000 feet above the adjacent 
 country. The Tuolumne Table Mountain, 30 miles long and 
 half a mile wide, and the Oroville Table Mountain, nearly as 
 long, are the most remarkable examples of such geological 
 changes ; but many others might be found. Ridges covered 
 with beds of lava are common. 
 
 There are immense beds of lava about Mount Shasta, and 
 appearances indicate that at least 10,000 feet of the elevation 
 of that peak are due to the matter ejected from its crater. 
 
336 RESOURCES OF CALirORNIA. 
 
 Mount Lassen also vomited wonderful quantities of molten 
 rock; and an area of nearly, if not quite, 10,000 square miles, 
 including those two peaks, is covered with lava of various 
 kinds, and in many places they have not been sufficiently 
 decomposed on the surface to sustain a good growth of vege- 
 tation. 
 
 § 262. Extinct Volcanoes. — The most southerly volcanic 
 peak yet discovered on tlie Coast is Mount St. Helena, in 
 latitude 38° 42', 4,343 feet high. Its volcanic origin is 
 indubitable, although its long and flat form does not suggest 
 the volcanic idea to the sj^ectator looking from a distance. 
 The basaltic columns forming a projecting point at its north- 
 ern end, and another, but less prominent one, near its southern 
 end, and the basalt covering the ridge to the southward, must 
 have come from this crater, which was once half a mile in 
 diameter, but has been worn down by the eroding action of 
 water, so that its original outline is scarcely traceable. The 
 ridge between Sonoma and Petaluma is covered with trap ; 
 that between Napa and Sonoma has an immense quantity of 
 tufa and a little trap, and that east of Green Valley in Solano 
 County has much tufa ; and presumj)tions indicate that all 
 these may have poured out from St. Helena. The country, 
 however, for fifty miles north-northwestward from St. Helena, 
 is full of the evidences of great volcanic activity. Clear 
 Lake, which is twenty miles long, seems to have been the 
 crater of a volcano, and the Californian Geysers are solfataric 
 in their character, and undoubtedly derive their heat from the 
 deej) internal fires. 
 
 § 263. Gold-bearing Mocks. — The gold-bearing formation 
 of California is a Jurassic slate, in which are found veins of 
 auriferous quartz, and these occasionally extend into adjacent 
 granite and limestone. The erosion or disintegration of the 
 rock has set free much gold, which is now found in the placers 
 or gravel beds. 
 
 The quartz lodes vary in thickness from a line to forty feet, 
 
GEOLOOY. 337 
 
 and they run in every direction ; but usually their course coin^ 
 cides with that of the mountain chain in which tliey are 
 found. The most remarkable vein of the State, and perhaps 
 of the world — in extent, at least — is the Mother Lode of the 
 Sierra Nevada. It has been traced for sixty miles, from the 
 Cosumnes River to Mariposa, in a southeast direction, with a 
 dip of about 45° to the northeast. The width varies greatly, 
 but the average may be thirty feet. The vein stone is a white 
 quartz, divided up into a multitude of seams, with gray and 
 bi'own discolorations, and with small proportions of iron, cop- 
 per, lead, antimony, and silver ores, besides gold, in the state 
 not of ore, but of metal. The Mother Lode is not only the 
 main support of a number of mining camps, but it also affects 
 the face of nature ; for such prominent elevations as Penon 
 Blanco, Quartz Mountain, Carson Hill, and Whisky Hill, seem 
 to be due entirely to the superior hardness of the large body 
 of quartz in this vein, which has defied the eroding powers, 
 while the softer slates adjacent have been washed away. The 
 hills stand in those places where the lode is widest and most 
 compact, and the rivers have sought out the intervening points 
 where the quartz was divided up into a multitude of little 
 seams, as at the crossings of the Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuol- 
 umne, and Merced Rivers, and Maxwell's Creek. 
 
 § 264. Placers. — Tlie placers are alluvium that contains 
 gold. As the auriferous rocks were worn away, the lighter 
 and smaller particles were swept down into the level valleys, 
 while the larger pieces of stone and the materials of greater 
 specific gravity were left near the point where they were set 
 free. If a stream cut through a vein of auriferous quartz, 
 containing thick seams of gold, the largest lumps of the metal 
 would be near the point of intersection, the smaller lumps 
 would be carried down farther, and the fine scales might be 
 deposited many miles below. The smaller the pieces of gold, 
 as a general rule, the smoother they ai-e, the smaller and 
 smoother the sand or gravel in which they are found, and the 
 22 
 
338 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 nearer the bottom land of the valleys. Gold is rarely found 
 in loam or pure clay, but usually in the strata of gravel or 
 boulders, next the bed-rock, and in the deepest depressions, as 
 in the beds of streams. 
 
 § 265. Dead Rivers. — But those places which are now, 
 were not in the Pliocene era, the beds of rivers. California 
 has numerous dead rivers or channels, once used by large 
 streams of water, but now lilled up with gravel ; and on ac- 
 count of their auriferous wealth they have been discovered, 
 traced out, and examined with an industry and care not be- 
 stowed upon similar extinct streams in any other part of the 
 world. Indeed, it is doubtful whether dead rivers so wonderful 
 in character could be found elsewhere. Some of these channels 
 are covered with mountains of basalt, among which the Tuol- 
 umne Table Mountain, thirty miles long and half a mile 
 wide, is the most celebrated. lu the Pliocene age, a river ran 
 nearly in the course of the present Stanislaus, but it was de- 
 stroyed by a lava flow, which left no place for the water, rose 
 to the level of the banks, and after they were washed away 
 by the water, rose up like a mountain, with a serpentine 
 course, steep sides, and a bare and level top. In sinking down 
 through the middle of Table Mountain, the miner passes 
 through 150 feet of basalt, 100 of volcanic sand, 50 of clay 
 and sand, 30 of gravel, (the lowest 10 feet being rich in gold) 
 and then strikes the bed-rock of slate. When that channel 
 was filled up, and became a dead river, the waters had to find 
 a new course in the live Stanislaus. 
 
 § 266. Bead Blue Miver. — The greatest dead river of Cal- 
 ifornia in length, breadth, depth and wealth, is " The Dead 
 Blue River," as I call it. Some gentlemen, connected with the 
 State Geological Survey, have denied the correctness of my 
 assertion, that there is such a stream ; and they claim that the 
 gravel deposits which I include in it, were not made in a river- 
 bed : but I adhere to my opinion. A line of placer mining 
 towns extends from Forest Hill, on the southern line of Placer 
 
GEOLOGY. 339 
 
 County, to the northern line of Sierra, a distance of 65 miles 
 in a north-northwest direction, intersected by the live streams, 
 some of which run in canons 2,000 feet deep. These towns 
 are situated at the points where the auriferous deposits of the 
 Dead Blue River are accessible. The gravel is uniform in 
 its character, and rich wherever the lower strata have been 
 reached. The name was suggested by the general bluish 
 color of the sand mixed with the pebbles and boulders, most 
 of which are of quartz. The term " gravel " is applied to 
 the material found in these dead rivers, though in it we often 
 find boulders a foot, or three feet, or six feet through. The 
 lower the strata, as a general rule, the larger, rougher, or less 
 regular the pieces of stone. 
 
 The abundance of quartz in the Dead River is astonishing 
 and inexplicable. In the large live streams running through the 
 quartz districts we find perhaps one per cent, or one-fifth of 
 one per cent, of the gravel and boulders composed of quartz, 
 and we know that in the rock eroded by the live streams 
 running down tlie Sierra Nevada, quartz does not form one- 
 twentieth of one per cent. But in the Dead Blue River, we 
 find that fifty or seventy per cent of the gravel is quartz. 
 And its absolute quantity is not less wonderful than the pro- 
 portion. The Dead Blue River contains a hundred fold more 
 quartz in its pebbles and boulders than we could get from all 
 the known quartz veins of the Sierra Nevada, if we should 
 dig them out through their entire length to the depth of a 
 mile. 
 
 This Pliocene river was a quarter of a mile wide on an 
 average, was parallel with the Sacramento, but fifty miles 
 farther east, and carried ten or twenty times as much water. 
 The current ran southwards, as that of the Sacramento does. 
 We know this fact from the present elevations, from the man- 
 ner in which the flat bouldei'S lie pointing down stream, from 
 the direction in which the branches — which, like the main 
 stream, are filled with gravel — enter it, from water-worn 
 
340 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 pieces of driftwood, and from drift trees with the tops point- 
 ing down stream. We tind such marks in live sti'eams, and 
 tliey cannot be attributed in the Dead Blue, as it is sometimes 
 called, to any influence save that of a strong current flowing 
 southward. 
 
 It was a stream of wonderful force, far exceeding in power 
 any of its size now known. The miners find strata of bould- 
 ers, many of which weigh a ton, deposited over a width of a 
 quarter of a mile, and a length of sixty miles ; above that is 
 another stratum of boulders, in which half a ton is a com- 
 mon weight, and so on, until ten feet above the bed-rock we 
 find boulders a foot through. We do not know, nor are we 
 justified in supposing, that the Columbia or the Mississippi 
 could distribute such boulders with such regularity. The 
 entire depth of the gravel is fi-om 200 to 400 feet deep, aver- 
 aging 300. 
 
 The bed of the Dead Blue, at Forest Hill, is 2,700 feet, and 
 at Little Grizzly, the most northern point to which it has been 
 distinctly traced, 4,700 feet high — a descent of 2,000 feet in 
 Go miles, or 37 feet in a mile. A fall of five feet in a mile 
 makes a swift river ; with one foot in a mile a canal eats away 
 its banks. The country in which the Dead Blue runs has 
 been raised by subterranean forces, or contractions of the earth's 
 crust, and the upper end may have been elevated more than 
 the lower ; though the Sierra Nevada down to 36° has been 
 raised more than that to the northwai'd. 
 
 North of Sierra County, the Dead Blue River is covered 
 with lava, or otherwise hidden, while south of Placer, it has 
 been washed away or covered with later alluvium. 
 
 The dead rivers are much richer in gold than the live ones. 
 They were larger ; they eroded greater masses of rock, and liad 
 access to larger bodies of quartz, probably auriferous. The 
 streams of the present day have cut down through those 
 of the Pliocene era, and are invariably much richer below 
 the intersection than above. 
 
GEOLOGY. 341 
 
 In the Dead Bine River most of the gravel, about 100 feet 
 above the bed-rock, is in pieces as large as a goose egg, 
 whereas in the Dead Brandy River, as I call it, running through 
 Laporte, Brandy City, Camptonville, and North San Juan, the 
 gravel is generally the size of a pigeon's egg. 
 
 f 267. Fineness of Gold. — Gold is found iu many parts of 
 the State, but the principal mines are on the western slope of 
 the Sierra Nevada. Miners look for it wherever they find 
 granite, slate, and quartz together. It is mixed meclianically, 
 not chemically, with the rock and base metals that accompany 
 it ; but is not pure, for it is alloyed naturally with silver, and 
 sometimes with small proportions of copper, lead, and iron. 
 Usually about 12 per cent, of the weight of gold dust as sold 
 by the miners is silver, base metal, or adherent dirt ; leaving 
 88 per cent, as the pure gold. Tlie variations are great, how- 
 ever, and persons who buy gold dust as a business, study the 
 ratio of impurity in the metal produced by the different mines. 
 This ratio is expi-essed in thousandths. Tluis, we say that 
 perfectly fine gold is 1 ,000 fine ; American coin of standard 
 fineness is 900 fine, containing in 1,000 parts 100 of copper 
 to harden it ; the gold of Downieville ranges from 895 to 925 ; 
 that of North San Juan from 960 to 965 ; that of Grass 
 Valley from 800 to 840 ; that of Volcano, 870 ; Murphy's, 
 885 ; Mariposa, 700 to 820 ; and Kern River, 630. There are 
 often great variations in value between the gold found in two 
 claims separated by a distance of not more than half a mile. 
 
 Placer gold is classified according to the size and form of 
 the placer in wliich it is found. Some pieces are small, oth- 
 ers large, smooth, or rough, in flat scales, round lumps, and 
 shaped like wires, cucumber seed, beans, pumpkin seeds, or 
 moccasins, I have washed out gold, nearly every piece of 
 which bore a remarkable resemblance to cucumber seed in form 
 and size. These peculiarities, however, are much less important 
 now than they were formerly, when the placer mines were in 
 the bloom of their production. Large nuggets of gold are 
 
342 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 seldom found in Calfornia of late years, but from 1849 to 
 1853 it was a common event to find pieces of five or ten 
 pounds. Tlie largest nugget on record was found at Ballai-at, 
 Australia, in 1855, and weighed 224 pounds Troy; and in 1854, 
 a piece of gold containing some quartz, and weighing 195 
 pounds Troy, was found in Calavei^s County, California. 
 
 § 268. Silver. — Extensive dejiosits of silver ore occur east 
 of the Sierra Nevada, in the basins of Owen Lake and the 
 Mojave and Colorado Rivei-s ; but the only silver mines of note 
 in the State are those of argentiferous galena at CeiTo Gordo. 
 
 § 269. Quicksilver. — Quicksilver is one of the leading met- 
 als of California in industrial value, its total yield surpassing 
 that of silver obtained fix)m the ai"gentiferous lead added to 
 that separated from gold. Mercury occurs in its metallic form 
 in some porous rocks near St. Helena, from which it can be 
 shaken ovat; but the market is supplied by mines of sul})huret 
 or cinnabar, the richest deposits of which are at New Alma- 
 den, New Idria, Knoxville, Pope Valley, Vallejo, and various 
 places in Sonoma County. Cinnabar is found at many points 
 in the cretaceous rocks of the Coast Range, from Santa Bar- 
 bara to Shasta. 
 
 § 270. — Platina. — Platina, iridium, and osmium, are three 
 white metals resembling steel, often found in the placer mines 
 of California. They usually occur together, and are found 
 more abundantly in the lower part of the Klamath Valley than 
 in any other part of the State. In many districts they are en- 
 tirely lacking. Platina is found in lumps by itself; iridium 
 and osmium are found united, and are then called irid-osmium. 
 These metals are found in small particles, usually fine scales ; 
 the largest piece was of irid-osmium, found on the Lower 
 Klamath, and weighed an ounce and a quarter. They are not 
 found separate from the gold, nor are they ever the main 
 object of search ; they are obtained in small quantities only, 
 and are rarely bought and sold in the State ; they liave no 
 fixed market price. When mixed with gold dust, they in- 
 
GEOLOGY. 343 
 
 jure its value, and prevent its reception at the mint on deposit. 
 
 § 271. Other Metals. — Copper ores are abundant in the 
 Colorado desert, but are of little value there, on account of 
 the high cost of reduction and transportation. Large deposits 
 of copper pyrites have been found in Calaveras, Fresno, El 
 Dorado, Amador, and Plumas Counties. 
 
 Iron, in rich beds of hematite, magnetic, and other valuable 
 ores, exists in Calaveras, El Dorado, Sierra, and Plumas Coun- 
 ties. 
 
 A vein of brown oxide of tin, containing 20 per cent, of 
 metal, and ten feet wide, has been opened at Temascal, San 
 Bernardino County ; but the extraction of it is not considered 
 profitable, so nothing is done with it, or with other similar 
 veins in the same county. 
 
 § 272. Limestone. — A remarkable belt of limestone runs 
 along the side of the Sierra Nevada, from the Bower Cave in 
 Mariposa County, to Oroville, a distance of 160 miles. Though 
 only a few hundred feet in thickness, it happens to include a 
 number of the richest placer mining camps in the State. 
 Among these are Columbia, Springfield, Kincaid's Flat, 
 Murphy's, Volcano, and Indian Diggings. The limestone is a 
 coarse marble in general character, and where crossed by 
 streams, has been gullied out by numerous channels, leaving 
 pinnacles of rock with o])en spaces between them. These 
 spaces were filled with auriferous gravel, and were singularly 
 rich in gold. At a few points the marble is hard and suscep- 
 tible of a good polish. Metamorphic limestone exists at many 
 points in tlie coast mountains, the principal quai'ries being in 
 Santa Cruz and Contra Costa Counties. 
 
 § 273. Coal. — The old red sandstone and the " true car- 
 boniferous " rocks, as they are called, are wanting in Califor- 
 nia, and it was long supposed that no valuable coal would ever 
 be discovered in the State ; but some veins of a very good 
 quality have been found near Mount Diablo. Tlie mineral 
 contains far more solid combustible matter, and less iucombus- 
 
844 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 til)le material, tlian most tertiary coal. In the strict geologi- 
 cal meauing of the terms, it is not " coal," but " lignite," be- 
 longing to a later date than the true coal, and lying in a dif- 
 ferent formation. The rocks are sandstone and shale, of the 
 cretaceous or upper secondary age, and were formed by alter- 
 nating depositions in salt and fresh water. The coal veins ai-e 
 situated on the northeastern slope of Mount Diablo, are from 
 two to nine feet in thickness, dip to the north at an average of 
 30°, and open on the southern declivities of the hills. A 
 chemical analj'sis of some of the best specimens showed 50 
 per cent, of carbon, 46 per cent, of volatile bituminous sub- 
 stances, and 4 per cent, of ashes. The coal is bituminous in 
 character, breaks readily, shows a bright surface where frac- 
 tured, and burns witli a brilliant flame. The quantity is 
 large, and it can be profitably supplied in San Francisco at 
 eight dollars per ton, whereas imported coal has hitherto cost 
 twice as much. 
 
 § 274. Asphcdtum. — Bituminous springs are numerous near 
 the coast, from the northern line of Monterey County to San 
 Diego. They throw up a dark, pitch-like fluid, of a strong 
 odor, which, on exposure to the air, grows thick, and finally 
 solid. It collects in great masses about the s[)rings, and in 
 some places covers several acres of ground. After being ex- 
 posed to the air for some time, it is called " asphaltum," which 
 is very hard in cold weather, but grows soft at about 75°, and 
 becomes liquid at 85°. Some springs of it rise in the sea near 
 San Diego, and others near Santa Barbara ; and masses of the 
 asj)haltum are seen floating many miles from shore. The air 
 at sea is even scented with it, and on several occasions frights 
 on shipboard have beefi caused by its odor, which was sup- 
 jiosed to come from some hidden fire. 
 
 The principal places in which tlaese springs of asphaltum are 
 found, are the following : 
 
 1. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, in the southeastern part 
 of Santa Clara County. A tract of twenty-five acres is hero 
 covered by the hardened asphaltum. 
 
GEOLOGY. 345 
 
 2. In San Luis Obispo Valley. The asphaltuiu covers thirty- 
 acres. 
 
 3. The Napoma ranch, in San Luis Obispo County. The 
 springs are small, and yield but little. 
 
 4. On the ranch of La Purissima, in Santa Barbara County. 
 
 5. A place six miles west of the town of Santa Barbara. 
 The deposit of asphaltum covers three hundred acres, from 
 two to eight feet thick. 
 
 6. Rincon, of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara County. 
 
 7. A place near the San Buenaventura River, twelve miles 
 from its mouth, in Santa Barbara County. 
 
 8. A place near the Santa Clara River, eighteen miles from 
 its mouth, in Santa Barbara County. 
 
 9. A place in the Sierra Santa Susanna, in Los Angeles 
 County. 
 
 10. In Los Angeles Valley, Los Angeles County. 
 
 11. Tlie San Pedro Hills, in Los Angeles County. 
 
 12. San Juan Capistrano, Los Angeles County. 
 
 One of the deposits in Santa Barbara is so near the sea, 
 that the mineral might be thrown with a shovel into a 
 chute which would carry it into the hold of a vessel at anchor. 
 
 The asphaltum generally comes up through sandstone. The 
 springs of Santa Barbara seem to have ceased to flow, while 
 those in Los Angeles County are still active. It is supposed 
 that the amount lying on the surface at the various deposits 
 is not less than five thousand tons. 
 
 § 275. Miscellaneous Minerals. — Sulphur occurs at the sul. 
 phur bank near Clear Lake, at the Geysers, near San Buena- 
 ventura, in San Diego County, thirty miles northward from 
 the bay, and in Colusa County. At the sulphur bank the 
 mineral is mixed with earth, sand, and soda. Sulphur springs 
 abound in the Coast Range ; and in the volcanic districts 
 about Clear Lake, the Geysers, Mt. Shasta, and Mt. Lassen, 
 there are numerous vents for sulphurous fumes, which deposit 
 their sulphur on the sides of the holes through which they rise 
 to the surface. 
 
346 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Gypsum is found at numerous points in the coast moun- 
 tains, but not in large bodies ; and the name of the Alabaster 
 Cave, in El Dorado County, indicates the material of its sides. 
 
 Clay, valuable for stoneware and fine brick, is obtained at 
 Michigan Bar, and near Antioch. 
 
 There are alum springs at the Geysers and near Owen 
 Lake, and banks of clay containing a strong taste of alum 
 have been noted in Santa Clara and Calaveras Counties. 
 
 Diamonds have been washed out from the placers at many 
 jDoints on the slopes of the Sierra Nevadas ; but tliey have 
 been too small and too rare to justify hunting for them as an 
 exclusive or as amain occupation. The best place for them 
 so far has been Cherokee, Butte County, wliere a deep stratum 
 in a dead river, covered by the Oroville Table Mountain, con- 
 tains them. 
 
 Opals are abundant in a stratum near Mokelumne Hill, but 
 they are of a dull lustre and worthless quality. 
 
 Hydraulic lime, fit for cement, occurs in seams in the meta- 
 morphic sandstone, north of Mt. Diablo, and there is enough 
 of it about Benicia to keep a mill going. 
 
 A bed of plumbago, or graphite, near Columbia, was 
 worked in 1867, but has been abandoned as unprofitable. 
 
 Chromic iron is exported from Del Norte and Sonoma Coun- 
 ties, and an ore of manganese has been dug in considerable 
 quantities in Red Rock. 
 
 Salt springs are found in Shasta County. 
 
 Deposits of borate of lime, carbonate of soda, and borate 
 of soda, cover the dry beds of numerous ponds east of the 
 Sierra Nevada ; and some of them promise to have a high com- 
 mercial value for the production of borax. 
 
 A small lake, without an outlet, east of Clear Lake, is a 
 weak solution of borax. 
 
 Steatite, or soa|>stone, valuable as a substitute for fire-brick, 
 exists in extensive layers in El Dorado County, which has 
 also beds of silicious eartli, or fine grit, valuable for polish- 
 ing. 
 
GEOLOGY. 347 
 
 § 276. Water. — The waters of California are generally 
 soft and pure, but mineral, warm, and hot springs are numer- 
 ous. Large hot springs are found in large clusters in Surprise 
 Valley, at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, at the 
 Geysers, and in the vicinity of Clear Lake. They are also 
 found scattered through the coast mountains, nearly every 
 valley having several. Most of the hot springs are also min- 
 eral, sulphur being the predominant flavor. The tempera- 
 tures of certain springs are thus given : Harbin's Springs 
 108° and 118° respectively, Skaggs' Springs 120° and 140°, 
 White Sulphur Springs 97°, 79°, 75°, 76°, 64°, 68°, 89°, 86°, 
 and 69°, San Bernardino Warm Springs 108°, 128°, 130°, 166°, 
 169°, and 172°, Aguas CaHentes, (San Diego County) 58°, 
 74°, 130°, 136°, and 140°, Warner's Ranch Warm Spring 135°. 
 
 Borax Lake, in the very dry season of 1863, contained 281 
 grains of anhydrous biborate of soda to the gatlon, besides as 
 much carbonate of soda, and three times as much chloride of 
 sodiitm. 
 
 Clear Lake contains 11,69 grains of solid matter in a gallon 
 of water, including 3.19 of carbonate of lime, 3.35 carbon- 
 ate of magnesia, 0.91 carbonate of iron, 0.32 chloride of 
 potassium, 0.42 chloride of sodium, 0.42 sulphate of lime, 
 0.57 silica, traces of boracic and phosphoric acid, and 246 of 
 organic matter. The following figures of solid grains in a 
 gallon give the basis for a comparison of some of the waters 
 of Pilai'citos (San Francisco) and Clear Lake with those of 
 Lake Michigan at Chicago, and Croton River at New York. 
 
 PILAHCITOS. CLEAK lAKE. CHICAGO. NEW YOKK. 
 
 Organic Matter ... . 0.78 2.46 1.06 0.66 
 
 Inorganic Matter . . 7.42 9.23 5.62 3.90 
 
 Total Solids 8.20 11.69 6.68 4.56 
 
 § 277. Artesian Wells. — There are a great number of arte- 
 sian wells in California. In Santa Clara County, within a dis- 
 trict six miles wide by fifteen long, there are three hundred — 
 
348 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 more tlmn are to be found in any otlier district of equal size in 
 the world. Their water is nearly all used to irrigate land; 
 some for manufacturing purposes. They supply about two 
 million gallons in twenty-four hours. The wells are from fifty 
 to four hundred feet deep ; the bore vai'ies from six to nine 
 inches. Only a small portion of Santa Clara Valley yields 
 artesian water ; the artesian district lies north of a line com- 
 mencing at Mountain View ; thence running nine miles with 
 the road through the town of Santa Clara to San Jose ; and 
 thence southeast to the moiuitains. South of tliis line no arte- 
 sian water is found. 
 
 It is supposed that the water comes from certain subterra- 
 nean streams. One well has abundant water at one hundred 
 feet ; another, not more than one liundred yard^ distant, has 
 no water short of three hundred feet. The wells throw up 
 living fish and' shell-fish, which are of diffei-ent species in dif- 
 ferent wells. Some wells throw up soft-shell clams, good to 
 eat, and of a kind not found in the superterrene waters of the 
 State, before tlie opening of these artesian supplies. One well 
 throws up a snail, with a long spiral shell ; another has snails 
 with flat shells; and others have blind fish, evidently of a spe- 
 cies that has lived long in subterrene waters, and lost its eyes 
 because it had no use for them. Like the fish of the Mammoth 
 Cave, in Kentucky, these artesian fish have the eye-socket and 
 a blind eye in it. The wells that produce the fish and shell- 
 fish are mostly shallow, not more than one hundred and fifty 
 feet deep. If put into water fresh from wells two hundred 
 and fifty or three hundred feet deep, they soon die, as do su- 
 perterrene fish ; either, it is supposed, because the water is 
 too warm, or because it has not enough air in it. The deeper 
 the well, tlie warmer the water. 
 
 Many of the wells have gone dry — " been drained by other 
 wells," as people say ; but yet how can one well " drain " an- 
 other, the months of both being on a level with each other ? 
 The wells whose mouths are at a lower level may take water 
 
GEOLOGY. 349 
 
 from those fartlier up the valley ; but the theory that the water 
 deserts one well, to liow out of another of equal or higlier 
 elevation, is not sound. Tiiere is very little difference of ele- 
 vation, perhaps ten feet, between San Jos^ and Alviso ; and 
 the wells near the latter place throw their water about five 
 feet Jiigher above the surface than do those of tlie former. 
 One cause of the failure of the wells may be the filling up of 
 the pipes. From many of them great quantities of sand, 
 gravel, and stones half a foot in diameter, liave been thrown 
 up ; and if a large stone should happen to lodge crosswise in 
 the pipe, the other smaller stones and gravel might soon stop it 
 uj) entirely, or break the force of the current so that tlie water 
 could not rise to the top. In many cases the pipe has not 
 been driven down to the foundation ; and the water, whirling 
 round at the bottom of the pipe, has torn away the earth and 
 made an excavation, thus preparing the way for a caving in 
 of the ground, and filling up of the well. 
 
 Artesian wells have also been sunk in San Francisco, Oak- 
 land, Petaluma, Stockton, Fi-esno County, San Felipe, in 
 Montery County, the Colonia rancho in Ventura County, the 
 Los Angeles plain, San Bernardino, Kern, and Tulare Counties. 
 At San Felipe, a gaspipe with a steel point was driven down 
 with a mallet, until it reached a stratum of artesian Avater, which 
 now flows up in a constant stream. Some of the San Fran- 
 cisco artesian wells raise their water nearly to the surface, and 
 it must be pumped up for use. At San Diego an immense 
 siipply of water has been reached by an artesian auger, but 
 does not come quite to the surface. San Bernardino County 
 has 100 artesian wells. 
 
 § 278. Paloiontology . — It is a general rule, that the animals 
 of former geological eras, in any given district, appear to have 
 been the gigantic ancestors of those of the present time. Thus, 
 ^ the kangaroo and emu of Australia, found in no other part of 
 the world, were preceded by gigantic kangaroos and emus, 
 whose fossil remains are found in New Holland only. So, too, 
 
350 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 South America, in antediluvian times, had gigantic sloths and 
 tapirs, akin to the animals now found within her limits. Each 
 continent has a fauna of its own, to which its antediluvian ani- 
 mals were nearly akin. Every continent has several zoological 
 districts ; and the ancient and modern fauna of these districts 
 are sometimes as clearly related to each other, and as distinctly 
 separate from those of other parts of the continent, as are the 
 fauna of ditferent continents from each other. But the ante- 
 diluvian animals of California possessed no peculiar relation- 
 ship to the animals now indigenous to the State : the former 
 fauna Avas totally distinct from that of the present age ; the 
 fossil bones found are not numerous, and no large and valuable 
 skeletons have been brought to light, but many fragments. 
 None of the large saurians — those wonderful lizards, as large 
 as whales of an early geological era — have yet been found here ; 
 but our hills and mountains contain the bones of the mastodon, 
 elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, camel, whale, and 
 a quadruped resembling a tapir. Oyster-shells fifteen inches 
 long are found near Corral Hollow, and Oyster Peak near Mt. 
 Diablo is named after its fossils. Ammonites abound in 
 Shasta County, some of them a foot and a half in diameter. 
 The climate of California must have been tropical in the era 
 of this extinct fauna ; and then our valleys were great swamps ; 
 and our mountains were covered with a luxuriance of vegeta- 
 tion that now belongs to the equatorial regions. 
 
 § 279. Post- Pliocene Man. — Many evidences that man ex- 
 isted as early as the post-Pliocene era, have been found in 
 California ; and Amos Bowman claims that he was here in 
 Pliocene times. Near the town of Altaville, in Calaveras 
 County, part of the skull of a man was found in a post-Pliocene 
 formation, under four successive strata of lava, at a depth 
 of 131 feet from the surface, in a miner's shaft. The first 
 stratum was of black lava, forty feet deep ; then gravel, three 
 feet ; light lava, thirty feet ; gravel, five feet ; light lava, fifteen 
 feet; gravel, twenty -five feet ; dark-brown lava, nine feet ; and 
 
GEOLOGY. 351 
 
 gravel in wliich the skull was found, nine feet. Some attempts 
 have been made to discredit this discovery ; but those who 
 have made the most careful investigation of the facts, and 
 whose opinions are entitled to the most weight, accept it. 
 
 Amos Bowman, of the State Geological Survey, thus defines 
 certain eras in the geological history of California : 
 
 1st. The Pliocene, or ancient eroding period, during which 
 these deep ' dead " river channels were cut into the " bed- 
 rock." 
 
 2d. These Pliocene channels filling up with gravel — or the 
 choking or damming period. 
 
 3d. The active volcanic period of the Sierra, when the 
 gravels were capped with lava and volcanic ashes. 
 
 4th. The cold, or glacial period, when the mountain slopes 
 were covered with living, moving glaciers. 
 
 5th. The modern erosive, or recent period, during which 
 the present river channels were formed, crossing the old chan- 
 nels at various angles. 
 
 Dr. James Blake, of San Francisco, reported to the Acad- 
 emy of Sciences, in the beginning of 1873, the discovery of 
 some artificial stone ornaments, in a Pliocene formation, near 
 San Francisco, indicating the existence of men here in the 
 Pliocene era. 
 
 Stone mortars, pestles, and arrow-heads, have been found, 
 according to report, in Pliocene gravel, at Murphy's Camp, 
 Shaw's Flat, Columbia, Springfield, Tuolumne Table Mountain, 
 Kincaid Flat, French Bar and Cottonwood, in Siskiyou 
 County, Spanish Flat and Soapweed, in El Dorado County. 
 
 In May, 1859, an Indian arrow-head was found, eighty feet 
 below the surface of the earth, at Buckeye Hill, Nevada 
 County. About the same time, another arrow-head was 
 found three feet deep in undisturbed alluvium, near Freeman's 
 Crossing, in the same county. 
 
 In April, 1859, the skeleton of a man was found sixteen 
 feet deep at Tehachepe, in Los Angeles County. 
 
352 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 In Octobei-, 1855, two stone mortars, such as were used by 
 the Indians for grinding acorns and grass-seeds, were found 
 near Diamond Springs, El Dorado County, at a dejjth of one 
 hundred feet belowthe surface. 
 
 In October, 1854, tlie skeletons of two men were found at 
 Rattlesnake Bar, fourteen feet below the surface, and under 
 ancient strata, which had apparently not been disturbed from 
 the time of their deposition. 
 
 Unfortunately, these discoveries were nearly all made by 
 men ignorant of geology, and the evidence in many cases is 
 not so satisfactory as it might be. 
 
BOTANY. 353 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 BOTANY. 
 
 § 280. Faima and Flora. — California has a botany and 
 zoology of her own. Her indigenous plants and animals are 
 peculiar to her soil. Her plants, her quadrupeds, her birds, 
 and her fishes, are different from those of other countries. The 
 Californian vulture is, next to the condor of South America, 
 the largest bird that flies ; and he might easily migrate to other 
 parts of the continent, but he makes his home only in this 
 State, and is certainly never seen east of the Rocky Mountains. 
 The grizzly bear might travel almost as well, but he is found 
 only in California and Oregon. The Californian deer is difler- 
 ent from that of Virginia in horns, teeth, feet, color, and size. 
 The bird known as the roadrumier or paisano might fly to all 
 parts of the continent, but is found only west of the Sierra 
 Nevada. There is a blue-jay here, but it differs from the bird 
 known to the New Englanders as the blue-jay. Tlie robin of 
 New England ditters from the robin of Old England, and the 
 Californian robin differs from both. The sturgeon of the San 
 Francisco market are not the same with those eaten in New 
 York ; and one species found in California is not found in a 
 State so near as Oregon. Our trees are like, and yet are un- 
 like, those of the Atlantic States and Europe. We have oak 
 and pine, spruce, sycamore, and horse-chestnut trees, and yet 
 they difler in many important particulars from the trees known 
 23 
 
354 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 by those names elsewhere. California, with a little of the 
 country ailjacent, is a distinct botanical district, and is more 
 nearly related in vegetation to Spain than to the Mississippi 
 valley. The species of trees and plants are comparatively few 
 in number, and our forests and fields lack the variety observed 
 in moister temperate climes. Our valleys and low hills abound 
 with wild flowers, but nearly all bloom within a brief period 
 instead of continuing to beautify the landscape till the end of 
 summer. The forests are found only in the districts which 
 have more than the average amount of rain, such as the re- 
 gion near the ocean, north of 36°, and the mountains. The 
 bareness of the hills is one of the striking features of the 
 Californian landscape. 
 
 Most of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the Col- 
 orado Desert, the eastern slopes of the Coast Mountains, and 
 the Coast Range south of latitude 35°, are treeless ; the Sierra 
 Nevada, and the western slopes of the Coast Range north of 
 35°, have fine forests; and in the foot hills of the Sierra 
 Nevada, and in the coast valleys, there are beautiful open 
 groves of oak-trees. The timber of the Sierra is mainly 
 spruce, pine, and fir ; that of the coast north of 37°, redwood ; 
 and spruce and pine south of that latitude. 
 
 The botany of California is remarkable for containing a 
 number of the largest and most beautiful coniferous trees in 
 the world, growing to a height of three hundred feet, and a 
 thickness of eight and ten feet in the trunk, and some of them 
 still larger. Among these gigantic glories of the vegetable 
 kingdom, are the mammoth tree, the redwood, the sugar-pine, 
 the red fir, the yellow fir, and the arbor-vita?. Other large 
 conifers contribute to the magnificence of our forests. We 
 have the laurel, the madrona, the evergreen-oak, and the nut- 
 pine evergreen trees, with a growth resembling that of decid- 
 uous trees. Our deciduous trees are few, and of little value 
 to the mechanic. 
 
 § 281. Big Tree.—^hQ Big Tree of California, although 
 
BOTANY. 355 
 
 not taller tlian some of the trees of Australia, is the largest 
 and most wonderful production of the vegetable kingdom. It 
 reaches a height of 300 feet, and a diameter of 35 feet, and 
 some specimens whicli liave fallen down, were probably still 
 larger. Fi'om all the larger trees the tops have been broken 
 olF by the snows, so that their normal height must be not 
 less than 350 feet. It belongs to the Linnean genus Cu- 
 pressus, whicli was afterwards divided, and the new genus 
 Taxod'mm, in which the redwood belonged, was created ; but in 
 1850, Endlicher, a German botanist, made another division, 
 and gave to the redwood a genus called the Sequoia. In this 
 the Big Tree properly belongs. The two trees bear a remark- 
 able resemblance to each other in the color, the texture of the 
 wood and bark, in the color, form, development, and distribu- 
 tion of the foliage, and even in size, for some of the redwoods 
 grow to be twenty feet in diameter, and 275 feet high. The 
 specific difference of the Sequoia of the Sierra from that of the 
 Coast Mountains, was discovered in 1853 by Lindley, a British 
 botanist, who undertook to gratify his national vanity by 
 creating a new genus, and naming the tree the Wellingtonia 
 gigantea. The differences, however, were not generic in their 
 character, and botanists generally repudiate his new genus, 
 and call the tree the Sequoia gigantea. It is indigenous only 
 on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, between latitudes 
 36° 30', and 38° 30', at elevations between 3,000 and 5,000 
 feet above the sea ; north of 37° 20', it is found only in small 
 and widely separated groves ; south of that line it exists in 
 belts of forest five or ten miles long. The seeds have been 
 sent to many remote countries, and young giant sequoias are 
 found as ornaments in many gardens of Europe, as well as in 
 the valleys of California. 
 
 § 282. Redwood. — The redwood [Sequoia se)npervire?is) is 
 the second in size and the first in commercial value of all the 
 trees in California, though not much superior to the sugar-pine 
 in either respect. It is found in dense forests, in which many 
 
356 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 of the trees are five feet in diameter, 200 feet high, and 80 
 feet to tlie first limbs. The wood is dai-k red in color, close 
 in texture, soft, light, straight-grained, free-splitting, and dur- 
 able. It is unsurpassable for railroad ties, good for the inside 
 finish of houses, and tolerable for such furniture as does not 
 need to be very strong. The redwood trees have been cut 
 down from large areas, but the roots throw up shoots which 
 soon grow again into trees ; and if carefully managed, there 
 would be no decrease in the area covered by this valuable 
 growth ; but under neglect, other conifers are encroaching on 
 it. In some places the roots of the redwood have been dug 
 up, as on the hills back of Oakland ; and as the foliage of the 
 Sequoias not only shades the ground, but also condenses the 
 moisture of the fogs, the land thus deprived of its protection 
 has lost the moisture and the numerous springs found on it 
 thirty years ago. A redwood in Santa Cruz County, known 
 as Fremont's tree, is 275 feet high, and 19 feet in diameter, 6 
 feet above the ground ; and many trees still larger are found 
 between the Klamath and Russian Rivers. Near the road 
 between Eureka and Areata, in Humboldt County, there is a 
 tree that measures Gl feet in circumference of trunk. 
 
 § 283. Pines. — The sugar- pine {Pimis lamhertiana) is the 
 most magnificent tree of all the pine kind, and indeed it has 
 no superior in the vegetable creation, save the mammoth and 
 the redwood, the confessed monarchs of the plant kingdom. 
 It is closely related to the white pine {Pimis strobus) of the 
 Eastern States ; " though," as Dr. Newberry says, " like all 
 the conifers on the Pacific Coast, it exhibits a symmetry and 
 perfection of figure, a healthfulness and vigor of growth, not 
 attained by the trees of any other part of the world." The 
 mature tree sometimes reaches a height of three hundred 
 feet, and a diameter of twenty, but it rarely exceeds two hund- 
 red and ten. The young trees of the sugar-pine give early 
 promise of the majesty to which they subsequently attain. 
 They are unmistakably young giants; even when having a 
 
BOTANY. 357 
 
 trnnk a foot in diameter, their remote and regularly-wliorled 
 branches, like the stem covered with a smooth, grayisli-green 
 bark, showing that, although so large, the plant is still " iu 
 the milk," and has only begun its life of many centuries. The 
 sugar-pine conspicuously exhibits one of the most general and 
 striking characteristics of the conifers — the great develop- 
 ment of the trunk at the expense of the branches. Nearly 
 the whole growth is thrown into the trunk, which generally 
 stands without a flaw or flexure, a perpendicular cone, all its 
 transverse sections accurately circular, sparsely set with 
 branches, which, in their insignificance, seem like the festoons 
 of ivy wreatliing about the columns of some ancient ruin. 
 The leaves are three inches long, dark bluish-green in color 
 and they grow in groups of Ave. The foliage is not dense. 
 The cones are large, sometimes eighteen inches long by four 
 thick. The wood is similar to that of the white pine — white, 
 soft, homogeneous, straight-grained, clear, and free-splitting. 
 It furnishes the best lumber in the State for the " inside Avork '* 
 of houses, and is the chief building material used in the Sierra 
 Nevada, where it grows. The tree derives its name from a 
 sweet resin which exudes from the duramen or hard wood of 
 the tree. This resin is sugar-like in appearance, granulation, 
 and taste, and could not be distinguished from the manna of 
 the drug-stores, except by a slight terebintliine flavor. The 
 pine sugar is cathartic. It is found in small quantities only, 
 though it is said one hundred and fifty pounds of it were col- 
 lected by a man who devoted himself for a few weeks to the 
 business of gathering it. 
 
 The Western yellow pine {Phws ponderosa) is a noble tree, 
 sometimes reaching a diameter of seven feet, and is next in 
 size among the pines of California to the sugar-pine. Its 
 leaves grow in threes at the end of the branches, giving the 
 foliage a peculiarly tufted appearance. The color of the 
 leaves is a dark yellowish-green. The bark is of a light yel- 
 lowish-brown or cork color, and is divided into large, smooth 
 
358 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 plates from four to eiglit inches wide, and from twelve to 
 twenty inches long, whereby the tree may be recognized at a 
 distance. It is found in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range, 
 and is valuable for lumber, as well as for resin and turpentine, 
 extracted from the pitcli which exudes when the tree is 
 gashed. 
 
 The nut-pine (PinKS sahiniana) is remarkable as a conifer 
 for its spreading top, and for its lai'ge cones full of edible 
 seeds. It branches out somewhat after the manner of a ma- 
 ple ; rarely more than sixty feet high, though often with a 
 trunk four feet through — a thickness of trunk that with most 
 other conifers would give more than double the lieight. About 
 half-way from the ground to the top, the trunk divides into a 
 number of branches, which grow upward. The nut-pine is 
 found in the lower part of the Sierra Nevada, and in the 
 coast mountains, near the head of the Sacramento Yalley. 
 The seeds are larger than the common white beau, and are 
 very i>alatable, with a slight terebinthine taste. The leaves 
 are from four to ten inches long, and grow in threes. The 
 foliage of the tree, when seen from a distance, resembles that 
 of the willow, both in color and distribution. In places where 
 the nut-pine is found, the woodpeckers select them as store- 
 houses for their winter food, cutting holes in their bark, and 
 putting an acorn in each. The Indians formerly relied upon 
 tlie nuts fur a considerable portion of their food. They 
 climbed the tree by catching hold of the rough, strong bark 
 with their hands, then putting their foot against the tree, with- 
 out touching it with their body or knees, they walked up till 
 they reached the limbs. 
 
 A liquid called ei-asine, similar to turpentine in its qualities, 
 is distilled from the pitch of the nut-pine. 
 
 The Monterey pine {JPim<sinsi(/nis) is extensively cultivated 
 as an ornamental tree, being hardy, quick in growth, and 
 dense and handsome in form and foliage ; but it has no value 
 for timber. 
 
BOTANY. 359 
 
 Coulter's pine {Pinus coulterli) grows in the Santa Lucia 
 Mountains. It reaches a height of one hundred feet, and has 
 a trunk three feet through. Its branches are large and spread- 
 ing, the leaves a foot long, and pale sea-green in color ; the 
 cones seventeen inches long, seven inches through, and like a 
 sugar-loaf in shape. 
 
 The twisted pine {Plmis contorta) is found in the northern 
 part of the State. The leaves are yellowish green in color, 
 about two inches long, and they grow in pairs. The tree 
 does not exceed sixty feet in height. 
 
 § 284. Firs. — The red fir, or Douglas spruce, (Abies doug- 
 lasii) is a tree of very large size, growing to be three hundred 
 feet high, and ten feet thick in the trunk. It is, as Dr. New- 
 berry says, " one of the grandest of the group of giants which 
 combine to form the forests of the West." The wood is strong, 
 but course and uneven in grain ; the layers of each year's 
 growth being soft on one side, and very hard on the othei*. 
 The timber is much used for rough work on houses, and for 
 ship-building. The tree grows in dense forests on the Sierra 
 Nevada and Cascade Mountains, from 35° to 49°, and near 
 the coast north of 39°. 
 
 The yellow fir {Abies pattonii) bears a close resemblance 
 to the red fir, and the two trees are usually found in company 
 with each other. 
 
 The black fir [Abies menziesii) .is smaller, and of little 
 value. 
 
 The Abies bracheata (Santa Lucia fir) grows in the Santa 
 Lucia Mountains. The height is about one hundred feet, the 
 shape a perfect cone, the lowest branches resting on the 
 ground. The tree produces a resin used by the Catholic 
 priests for incense. 
 
 The Western balsam-fir, (Picea grayidis) or white fir, at- 
 tains a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and a diameter 
 of seven feet in the trunk. The bark on the trunks of the 
 young trees contains numerous cysts full of the resinous fluid 
 called the balsam of fir. 
 
360 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 285. Cedar and Cypre&s. — The Western juniper, or 
 cedar, {Junipems occidentalis) grows thirty feet high, and 
 bears a strong resemblance to the juniper (Junij'terKS virgini- 
 amis) of tlie Eastern States. The wood of a juniper-tree 
 found near the quicksilver mines of New Idria, is so hard and 
 fine in texture, that it would perhaps be valuable to en- 
 gravers. 
 
 The arbor-vitae, also called cedar, {Thuja gigantea) is a 
 most symmetrical and graceful conifer, growing to be nearly 
 three hundred feet high. 
 
 The Californian white cedar {Libocedrus decurrens) grows 
 one hundred feet high, and seven feet thick in the trunk. It 
 is found from Mount Shasta to the Tejon Pass. Tlie trunk is 
 usually angular. Many of the trees are afi'ected with a dry- 
 rot, which destroys their value as timber. 
 
 The fragrant cedar ( Oupressus fragrans) is found along the 
 northern coast of the State. It is a large tree, and produces 
 a white, clear lumber, valuable for furniture and the inside 
 work of houses. The wood has a strong, lasting, and not un- 
 pleasant odor, halfway between turpentine and ottar of roses. 
 
 Lawson's cedar {Ciqyressus laxosoniana) is a tree of little 
 value in the forest, but as an ornament it is highly prized. 
 The foliage is dense and graceful in shape, and brighter in 
 color than that of most conifers. 
 
 The Monterey cypress ( Ciqyressus 7nac7-ocarpa) is indigen- 
 ous only on Cedar Point, at Monterey, and there are not 
 more than one hundred trees there ; but great numbei*s 
 of them have been planted for ornament in all the larger 
 towns of the State. It is hardy, and a quick grower, has a 
 dense, graceful foliage, bears clipping well, and makes a fine 
 appearance in all stages of its growth. The largest tree of 
 the kind is six feet in diameter, and sixty feet high. The 
 wood is solid and durable. One tree at Monterey has as- 
 sumed a remarkable weeping appearance ; but I believe no 
 others of that character have been produced from it. Another 
 
BOTANY. 361 
 
 species, the Gove Cypress, [Ciipressus goveniana) growing 
 near Monterey, is a liandsome, ornamental tree, and does not 
 exceed ten feet in height. 
 
 The Western yew is an upriglit tree from fifty to seventy- 
 five feet high, with thin and light foliage, the leaves being 
 about an inch long. Its growth is straighter, its branches 
 fewer, and its foliage thinner, more feathery, and lighter in 
 color, than the European yew. It gi'ows on the Sierra Nevada 
 from 34° northward to British Columbia. 
 
 Many otlier conifers are found in California, but do not re- 
 quire special description here. Among them are several hem- 
 locks, (Tsuf/as) and various species of pine, and fir. 
 
 § 286. Nutmeg. — The California nutmeg {Torreya cali- 
 fornica) is a graceful and beautiful evergreen, found in the 
 Coast Mountains near the Bay of San Francisco. It grows 
 from fifty to seventy-five feet high, and resembles the West- 
 ern yew in foliage and general form. The fruit is like a nut- 
 meg in size and shape, but it has a disagreeable terebinthine 
 taste, and is never used as a condiment. 
 
 § 287. Laurel. — The California laurel, or bay, {Oreo- 
 daphne californica) is one of the most common and beautiful 
 trees of the coast valleys. It is an evergreen, which grows to 
 a height of fifty feet, with a trunk sometimes thirty inches in 
 diameter. The leaves are dark green, kistrous, four inches 
 long, one inch wide, sharp at both ends, with smooth edges. 
 The foliage is dense. The wood is grayish in color, very hard, 
 durable, and difficult to split, susceptible of high polish, and 
 in many trees marked with a beautiful grain, so that it has 
 been used for veneering and solid ornamental work. It is 
 sometimes, however, occupied while growing by a boring 
 beetle, which contiuues its work after the wood has been 
 made into furniture, and destroys its value. The leaves have 
 a strong aromatic odor, resembling that of bay rum. 
 
 § 288. Madrona. — The madrona {Arbutus menziesii) is 
 one of the most striking trees of the Californian forest. It is 
 
362 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 an evevgi-ecn, with an open gvowtli, somewhat like that of a 
 maple, bright-green and lustrous leaves, and a bright-red 
 bark. Its height is sometimes fifty feet ; its diameter in the 
 trunk two feet. The leaves are oval in shape, three inches 
 long, pea-green underneath, and dark and shining above. 
 The bark is smooth, and it peels off at regular seasons ; the 
 new bark is a ])ea-green, which changes to a bright red. The 
 wood is^ ver}' hard, and is used to some extent in tlie arts, es- 
 pecially for making the wooden stirrup commonly used in the 
 State. The tree bears a bi'ight-red berry in clusters, of which 
 the birds are fond. 
 
 § 289. Manzan ita. — The manzanita, {Arclosfaphylo!^ glcmcci) 
 another prominent feature in the Califurniau forest, is a dense, 
 clump-like shrub, which grows as high as twelve feet, and 
 nearly as broad as it is high. The trunk divides near the 
 ground into several or many branches, and these terminate in 
 a great multitude of twigs, so that the shrub is a dense mass 
 of branches and branchlets, all of which are very crooked. 
 The wood is dense, hard, and dark-red in color. Tiie bark is 
 red and smooth, occasionally peeling off and exposing a new 
 light-green bark, which soon turns red. The leaves are regu- 
 larly oval in form, about an inch and a half long, thick and 
 shining, and ]iea-green in color ; they set vertically upon their 
 stems. The manzanita bears a pinkish-white blossom in clus- 
 ters, and these are replaced by round red berries about half an 
 inch in diameter, with a ])leasant, acidulous taste. The 
 shrub grows in the coast valleys, and in the Sierra Nevada, 
 up near to the limit of perpetual snow. Tiie name means 
 " little apple," inanzana being the Spanish for a])ple. 
 
 § 290. Ools. — The Californian while oak. {Querccs lohaf.a) 
 or long-acorned oak, is a very large tree, and the characteristic 
 oak of California. It resembles the white oak of the Atlantic 
 slope in the color of its bark and the shape of its leaves ; but 
 its growth is very different. It seldom reaches a greater 
 height than sixty feet, and is often wider than high, sometimes 
 
BOTANY. 363 
 
 measuring one hundred and twenty-five feet from side to side. 
 The trunk, which occasionally grows to be eight feet through, 
 throws out large horizontal boughs within ten feet of the 
 ground, and above that point the trunk is soon lost among 
 the large branches. The tree furnishes no straight timber, and 
 the wood is so soft and brittle as to be of no use in the arts ; 
 whereas the white oak of the Mississippi Valley is a most 
 valuable tree, with a trunk so tall and straight, that sills and 
 beams of it sixty feet long are common, and with a wood so 
 tough, that it sup})lies all the axles and })lough-beams of the 
 country. The Californian white oak is not even fit for fence- 
 rails. The tree, however, is very beautiful and majestic, and 
 the open groves of it in the valleys and foot-hills, form, as 
 Dr. Newberry says, " the most important element in those 
 scenes of quiet beauty which so often excite the admiration of 
 the traveler in California." The tree bears much resemblance 
 in form and size to the oak of England, tlie groves of it appear- 
 ing like the English parks. At the ends of the large boughs 
 are branches which hang down like vines — giving the tree a 
 weeping character; and one tree in Napa Valley is very 
 strongly marked in that respect. The acorns are large, some- 
 times two and a half inches long. They once formed the chief 
 article of food of the Californian Indians. 
 
 The fulvous oak ( Quercus fulvescens) is a deciduous tree 
 that grows about thirty feet high, with leaves somewhat like 
 those of the Western chinquapin. The acorn, when young, is 
 concealed in the cup, the two together resembling a little 
 wheel ; but the acorn, when mature, is an inch and a half 
 long, and projects considerably beyond the cup. The wood is 
 tougher tlian that of most of the oaks of California. 
 
 Kellogg's oak {Quercus kellorf(/il) is a large deciduous tree, 
 found only in California. Its leaves are deeply sinuate, with 
 three principal lobes on each side, terminating in several acute 
 points. It bears fruit only in alternate years, or at least most 
 abundantly every other year. An idea prevails that the acorns 
 give to swine a disease of the kidneys. 
 
364 RESOURCES or California. 
 
 The liuckleberry -leafed oak {Quercus vaccinifolia) is a shrub, 
 from four to six feet high, whicli grows on the mountains in 
 the northern part of the State. Its leaves, in size and form, 
 resemble the huckleberry ; the acorn is of the size and shape 
 of a small hazle-nut. 
 
 In the mountains north of Clear Lake a tough deciduous 
 oak is found, with wood fit for staves and wagon timber, but 
 it is so remote from steam transportation that it has no value 
 at present. It is said that the second growth of some of the 
 oaks in the Sacramento bottom is tough enough for plough 
 beams. 
 
 The evergreen oak [Quercus agrifoUa) is a low, spreading 
 tree, much like an apple-tree in size and shape. The foliage, 
 however, is darker and denser. The acorns are small, thin, 
 and sharp-pointed. The wood is hard, crooked in grain, and 
 valuable for knees in ship building. 
 
 The Californian chestnut oak {Quercus densiflora) is a low, 
 handsome, evergreen tree, with a leaf like that of the chestnut. 
 The bark is extensively used in tanning. The tree is rare 
 north of latitude 39°, and is most abundant in the mountains 
 about Santa Cruz. 
 
 The Western chinquapin, {Gastanea chrysophylla) or golden- 
 leaved chestnut, is an evergreen shrub that grows in the Sierra 
 Nevada. At the height of three feet it bears an edible and 
 palatable fruit, something like the beech-nut in shape, but 
 larger. The flowers and ripe fruit are often found on the same 
 bush. The leaves are dark-green above, and covered with a 
 yellowish powder beneath. The Western chinquapin grows 
 to be a tree thirty feet high in some parts of Oregon. 
 
 § 291. Sycamore, etc. — The Mexican sycamore {Plataiius 
 racemosa) exhibits a striking resemblance to the Western 
 sycamore of the Atlantic slope. It has the same straggling, 
 irregular growth ; the same smooth, white, scaly bark; the 
 same large, yellowish leaf: but instead of having only one 
 ball on a stem, like the Atlantic sycamore, it has several, the 
 
BOTANY. 365 
 
 stem running through one or two, and terminating in the last 
 one. 
 
 The Californian wahiut is found in the coast valleys from 
 St. Helena to Los Angeles, but it is not abundant anywhere. 
 The tree is cultivated for ornament and for its nuts. 
 
 It is said that there are indigenous chestnuts in Mendocino 
 County. Wild cherries are found in many parts of the State ; 
 wild plums in the high mountains, and crab apples in the 
 northern counties. 
 
 The Californian horse-chestnut, or buckeye, (yEscidus cali- 
 fornica) is a bush, or low, spreading tree, abundant in the 
 Sacramento, San Joaquin, and coast valleys. It likes to grow 
 about rocky ledges, in ravines, and on the banks of streams. 
 Sometimes it throws up a dozen stems, which grow to a thick- 
 ness of three or four inches each ; but usually it has one 
 trunk, six or eight inches through. The tree rarely exceeds 
 fifteen feet in lieight, and it has a hemispherical shape, very 
 dense foliage, rising from the ground in a globular form. It 
 continues to put forth large clusters of fragrant blossoms from 
 early spring till late summer. The leaves are among the first 
 to open of the deciduous trees of the State. Five leaves grow 
 together on one stem. The fruit has a close resemblance to 
 that of the buckeye-tree of the Mississippi Valley, but is 
 larger and more abundant. It is a staple article of food with 
 those few Californian Indians who still depend upon wild 
 fruits and game for tlieir subsistence. 
 
 The mountain mahogany is an evergreen found on the 
 eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of 6,000 
 feet above the sea. The leaves are bright and glossy, the 
 growth low, the trunk crooked, the Avood red, very even in 
 grain, hard, heavy, and susceptible of high polisli, and the 
 yellowisli blossoms which cover tlie tree in the spring are vich 
 in a vanilla-like fragrance. 
 
 § 292. Poiso7i Oak. — Tlie poison oak, or poison ivy, {Rhus 
 toxicode7idro7i) grows abundantly in the valleys, the Coast 
 
366 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Mountains, and the Sierra, and is a prominent and important 
 feature of the botany of the State. One of the first lessons 
 of the new-comer in California, should be to learn to distin- 
 guish and avoid this useless and dangerous plant. Tlie touch 
 of the leaf is poisonous, and causes a very irritating eruption 
 of the skin. It rapidly communicates by the touch from one 
 part of the body to another, causing severe inflammations and 
 swellings. The most delicate parts of the body are most af- 
 fected by the poison. The eyes are sometimes closed up en- 
 tirely by the swelling round them ; and many cases are re- 
 corded of faces so swollen, that they could not be recognized 
 by intimate friends. Some persons are not affected by the 
 touch of the Rhus ; but instances have occurred wherein persons 
 supposing themselves, after long experience, to be free from 
 danger, have at last been poisoned : and when the virus has 
 once taken hold, the system is always very easily afiected from 
 that time forward. Even passing to the leeward of the bush 
 on a windy day, or going through the smoke of a fire in 
 which it is burning, will bring the poison to the surface again. 
 The poison oak — the leaves often resemble those of the white 
 oak in shape — abounds in the grounds adapted to picnics near 
 the large towns, and many persons are affected by it on such 
 occasions. Many remedies are in use, but none are regarded as 
 a certain cure. Among them are steam baths, lotions of ker- 
 osene, manzanita leaves, leaves of the wild sunflower, {Grin- 
 dellci) common salt, saleratus, salpeter, bay rum, and alcohol 
 — each being used separately — poultices of bread and milk, 
 the eating of the buds of the poisonous plant, and homoeo- 
 pathic Mhus pills. 
 
 The poison oak thrives best on a moist soil, and in the shade. 
 In a thicket with other bushes it sends uji many thin stalks 
 eight .or ten feet high, with large hixuriant leaves at the top. 
 In the shade, the leaves are green ; in the open, dry groimd, 
 exposed to the sun, and without supjiort from other bushes, 
 the poison oak is a low, poverty-stricken little shrub, with a few 
 
BOTANY. 367 
 
 red leaves. It sometimes attaclies itself to an oak-tree, be- 
 comes a climber, and attains a thickness, though very rarely, 
 of four inches in the trunk, with a height of forty feet. 
 
 § 293. Yarious Plants. — The amole, ( CMorogalum pomer- 
 idimmm) or soap-plant, has an onion-like, bulbous root, which, 
 when rubbed in water, makes a lather like soap, and is good 
 for removing dirt. It was extensively used for washing, by 
 the Indians and Spanish Californians, previous to the American 
 conquest. The amole has a stalk four or five feet high, from 
 which branches about eighteen inches long spring out. The 
 branches are covered with buds, which open in the night, be- 
 sinnino: at the root of the boug;hs, about four inches of a branch 
 opening at a time. The next night, the buds of another four 
 inches open, and so on. The dry bulb abounds in tough fibers, 
 which are separated from the other material, and used as a 
 substitute for hair in mattresses. 
 
 The mistletoe grows abundantly on the oak-trees of Califor- 
 nia. The Spanish moss, {Evernia jiihata) which hangs in long 
 lace-like gray beards from the branches, also serves to give 
 beauty to the groves in tlie valleys. "We have willows and 
 Cottonwood, which differ little in appearance from those of the 
 Mississippi Valley. There are wild grapes, blackberries, 
 gooseberries, huckleberries, raspberries, salmon-berries, and 
 strawberries. A truffle, or a root resembling it, is found in 
 the valleys of the coast and the Sierra Nevada. The grizzly 
 bear considers it a delicacy, and frequently digs it up. A 
 shrub called the "joint-fir," (a species of Ephedrci) sometimes 
 used for making tea, is found in Calaveras and Tuolumne 
 Counties. In the valleys of the Coast Mountains is found the 
 yerha huena, (Spanish for " good herb ") a creeping vine, 
 bearing some resemblance in its leaf and vine to the wild 
 strawberry. It has a strong perfume, half-way between pep- 
 permint and camphor. The yerba de la vibora, (Spanish for 
 " rattlesnake-herb," known to botanists as the Daucus 2nmllus) 
 is a carrot-like vegetable, the leaves of which are said to be a 
 
368 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 specific for the bite of a rattlesnake. California has no indig- 
 enous elms, hickory, beech, birch, persimmon, mulberry, 
 sassafras, locust, catalpa, or magnolia trees. 
 
 § 294. Nutritious Herbage. — Of indigenous nutritious 
 grasses, there are a number in the State. The wild oats, 
 though not a grass, may be mentioned under this head. It 
 resembles the cultivated oats so nearly that there has been 
 some doubt whether they are not identical ; but the opinion 
 among botanists is that they are distinct species. The wild 
 oat, in the year 1835, was found only south of the Bay of 
 San Francisco; but about that time, when the white men 
 crossed frequently from the soutlieru to the northern side of 
 the bay, the oat was sown in a natural way by horses and cat- 
 tle, and it spread rapidly over the Sacramento Valley and the 
 coast region. It grew very luxuriantly, and in some places 
 surpassed in the height, size, and abundance of stalks, any 
 field of cultivated oats which I have ever seen. It is said 
 that in some localities the oat-stalks were so high that men 
 sitting erect on horseback could not see each other at a dis- 
 tance of ten feet. Tiie soil and climate were evidently very 
 favorable to it. During the last six or eight years, the wild 
 oats have been eaten down so closely by cattle, that in many 
 places they have been killed out. Tiiey are propagated from 
 year to year, not by the roots, but by the seeds, many of 
 which fall into cracks into the earth, where they lie in safety 
 until the rains come, when the ground closes up, and the grain 
 si^routs. The earth cracks in the summer in many parts of 
 the State ; and in places where the wild oats grow, the posi- 
 tion of the cracks of one year may be traced the next season 
 by the position of the stalks of the grain. 
 
 The wild oat grows on hill and plain, and furnishes a large 
 part of the wild pasture of the State. It is wholesome, nutri- 
 tious, and palatable for cattle. Much of it is cut for hay. 
 The amount of grain which it furnishes is small in proportion 
 to the quantity of straw, and it is never threshed. 
 
BOTANY. 369 
 
 After tlie wild oats, in importance to the herdsman, comes 
 the " burr-clover," so named from a spherical burr, about a 
 quarter of an inch in diameter, which it bears in clusters of 
 three. This burr-clover is found in all the settled parts of the 
 State. Cattle do not like it w'hen green ; but after it dries, 
 the burrs fall upon the ground and are picked up by the cat- 
 tle, while tlie stranger is astonished at seeing them eating and 
 keeping fat on what appears to him to be bare earth. On ex- 
 amining the surface of the ground, he will find that it is cov- 
 ered with the dry stalks and burrs of the burr-clover. The 
 bloom consists of three very small yellow flowers. It is said 
 that the stalks of this clover take root whenever the joints 
 touch the ground. 
 
 The aliilerilla, vulgarly called " filaree," {Erodimn cicuta- 
 rium) is another indigenous nutritious herb of much import- 
 ance to the herdsman. It is succulent, sweet, hardy, bearing 
 clusters of spikes, which are an inch and a half long, and 
 have given it the name of pin-grass. The resemblance of its 
 leaves to the geranium has suggested the name of " wild ger- 
 anium," by which title it is also known to some persons. Its 
 large root sinks deep into the ground, thus enabling it to re- 
 sist the drought, while above the surface it puts forth a dense 
 mass of stalks and leaves, spreading out sometimes several 
 feet in every direction. Cattle prefer it to every other indig- 
 enous herb of the State. The seeds seem to abound through- 
 out the soil, for wherever the earth is ploughed up for the 
 first time, there the alfilerilla appears, though it may never 
 have been seen there before. It is common in gardens, culti- 
 vated fields, and fallow lauds. 
 
 The white Californian clover has a large yellowish -white 
 bloom, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, a 
 beautiful plant, well suited as an ornament for yards and gar- 
 dens. It grows very large, and is two feet high in moist, fa- 
 vorable situations ; while in dry places it will also mature its 
 seed without rising more than two or three inches above the- 
 24 
 
370 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ground. It is very sweet, and it is often eaten by the Indians, 
 who like it both raw and boiled. Cattle are also extremely 
 fond of it. 
 
 Anotlier species of clover has a round bloom, about a third 
 of an inch in diameter, composed of violet-tinged flowers. 
 
 Another clover has a bloom from a sixth to a quarter of an 
 inch in diameter, the flowers of which are subdued green, 
 tipped with pink at the end. 
 
 The 3IdUotes officinalis, commonly called a clover, though 
 not strictly entitled to that name, likes a very moist soil, and 
 then grows luxuriantly, crowding out nearly everything else. 
 Its bloom consists of a drooping head, about an inch long and 
 a sixth of an inch thick, hung with little yellow flowers. 
 Cattle are not fond of this herb in any shape ; but they like it 
 better in hay than when green. 
 
 Of nutntious grasses there are a number ; but they do not, 
 unless where the soil is exceptionally moist, fonn a sod. The 
 drought of summer and fall seems to kill the roots. 
 
 § 295. Floioers. — Of wild flowei-s there are a great variety 
 and abundance in California, and they have their dififerent sea- 
 sons for blooming ; and in canons where the soil is always 
 moist, flowers may be seen in every month of the year. In 
 the spring-time the hills are frequently covered ynt\\ them, 
 and their red, blue, or yellow petals hide everything else. 
 Each month has its flowers : In March the grass of a valley 
 may be hiden under red, in Api'il under blue, and in May 
 under yellow blossoms. 
 
 Grace Greenwood, writing in May, said : " The grand Cali- 
 fornia flower-show is at its heiglit. Anything more gorgeously 
 beautiful than the display in meadows and wild pasture lands, 
 on hill-side and river-side, it were impossible for any one but a 
 mad florist to imagine. Along the railroads on either hand 
 runs continuously the rich, radiant bloom. Your sight be- 
 comes pained, your very brain bewildered, by watching the 
 galloping rainbow. There are great fields, in which flowers 
 
BOTANY. 371 
 
 of many sorts are mingled in a perfect carnival of color ; then 
 come exclusive family gatherings, Avhere the blues, tlie crim- 
 sons, or the purples, have it all their own way ; and every 
 now and then you come upon great tracts, resplendent with 
 the most royally gorgeous of all wild flowers, the yellow, or 
 orange poppy, which an old Russian bear of a botanist has 
 stretched on the rack of the name Eschscholtzia, but which 
 long ago some poetic Spaniard, neither a flower " sharp," nor 
 a flatterer of flower sharps, taking a hint from nature, as men 
 were modest enough to do in his time, chi-istened El copo de 
 oro [the golden cup]. Every such tract where the sumptuous 
 blossoms stand thick, reminds one of the ' Field of the Cloth 
 of Gold.' They are peculiarly joyous looking flowers, massed 
 together, dancing and hob-nobbing, and lifting their golden 
 goblets to be filled by the morning sun." 
 
 The grass and herbage begin to grow and clothe the land- 
 scape in green after the first heavy rains of the rainy season. 
 These rains may come in December, January, or February ; 
 and until they do come, the earth, in the districts not covered 
 with timber, is brown. The grass continues green until June, 
 when it begins to dry up and turn yellow and brown, which 
 colors then predominate in the landscape until the rains come 
 again. The death of the grass, except at high elevations, is 
 caused not by the cold but by the drought ; and in those months 
 when the prairies of Indiana and Illinois are covered with 
 snow, the valleys of California are di-essed in the brilliant 
 green of young grass. 
 
 The azaleas of California are abundant and rich in perfume ; 
 a species of calycanthus, without fragrance, is found in the 
 canons, and the ceanothus, or Califoruian lilac, of which there 
 are many species, is a beautiful evergreen shrub, growing 
 about ten feet high, with clusters of lilac-like flowers, of 
 various shades of blue, violet, and red, according to the 
 species. The tree produces a multitude of little twigs, and a 
 dense foliage, and may be trimmed into almost any shape. 
 
372 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 296. Desert Verjetation. — Many vai'ieties of cactus are 
 found in the southern parts of tlie State, and in the Colorado 
 Desert they form a considerable portion of the vegetation. 
 Tlie largest is the candelabrum cactus, which grows to a 
 height of fifty feet, and frequently has from two to six branches 
 about half as tliick as the trunk. These run out horizontally 
 a foot or two, and then turning at a right angle, rise vertically, 
 parallel with the main stem. Many of the wild cacti bear 
 insii)id edible fruits, and yet are prized by the Indians and 
 travelers for their abundant moisture. The dried pitahaya 
 resembles a fig in taste. 
 
 Several species of palm grow in the Colorado and Mojave 
 deserts, and one bears an edible date ; but tlie tree is not com- 
 mon nor tlie fruit abundant. The yucca, or bayonet-tree, 
 sometimes grows to be thirty-five feet in height, with a trunk 
 two ft'ct through ; but usually it is about ten feet high, with a 
 trunk eight inches in diameter. It has no twigs or branches, 
 but sometimes it divides into two trunks. The foliage, con- 
 sisting of leaves eighteen inches long, and shaped like the 
 blade of a bayonet;, liangs down from the tops of the trunks. 
 
 The mezquit {Algarobia glandulosa) is a low tree of the 
 Colorado Desert. It sometimes reaches a height of twenty 
 feet, with a trunk fifteen inches in diameter. The lower 
 brandies are very near the ground, and the whole tree has a 
 very regular, semi-spherical form. The leaves are like those of 
 the black locust, and the foliage thin. Tlie tree bears numer- 
 ous pods, from three to five inches long, full of sweet, nourish- 
 ing beans, about the size of the common white bean. The 
 mezq nit-bean is often eaten by men, and hoi-ses and mules are 
 very fond of it. 
 
 The curly mezquit {Stromhocarpus ptibesce?is) is a similar 
 shrub, and beai*s a crooked bean, called the " screw-bean." It 
 also grows only on the deseit. 
 
 The maguey, or American aloe, (Agave americana) which 
 grows to the height of fifty feet, and a smaller species which 
 
BOTANY. 373 
 
 rises to a height of eight feet, and is abundant in the southern 
 counties, are indigenous in tlie State. 
 
 § 297. Swamp Vegetation. — The swamp lands of Califor- 
 nia abound with reeds, or tule as they are here called. The 
 round tule, {Scirptis lacustris) the principal species, has no 
 leaf, but a plain, round stalk, sometimes an inch thick at the 
 butt, and fifteen feet high, but usually not more than half so 
 large. It will grow in places constantly covered with water 
 several feet deep, forms a thick mat with its roots, and cannot 
 be killed readily. 
 
 The triangular tule grows in shallower water, or in land dry 
 for portions of the year, and neat cattle get fat on it. 
 
 The cat-tail flag grows with the tule, but in drier land than 
 the others, and can be killed out with less difliculty. The 
 stalks are used by coopers to put between the staves in their 
 casks, and the fiber of the flower or cat-tail has been gathered 
 for mattresses and pillows. 
 
 § 298. 3Iarine Vegetation. — The ocean near the shore 
 from the Golden Gate, southward, has a great variety of algne 
 or sea-weed, some of which are very beautiful in the delicacy 
 of their forms and the delicate tints of their covering. These 
 are extensively used for ornamental purposes. Others, like 
 ihQMacrocystis pyrifera, have stems of great length, occa- 
 sionally reaching two hundred yards, grow from a depth of 
 forty feet, and present such a mass of foliage in the water as 
 to perceptibly impede navigation. The larger species of algae 
 are especially abundant oflT the coast of Santa Barbara County. 
 
 § 299, Al2nne Vegetation. — The vegetation on the Califor- 
 nian Alps is peculiar. Both grasses and trees are abundant at 
 elevations much above those in which they flourish in Switz- 
 erland. There the trees reach to 6,500 feet above the sea, 
 here to 11,000 feet. There, no tree lives where snow lies 
 through the year; here, two species flourish 1,000 feet above 
 the snow line ; and five species that reach a diameter of three 
 feet in the trunk grow at places where the temperature is be- 
 
374 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 low the freezing point 350 nights in the year. In general 
 character, the vegetation near the snow line resembles that of 
 the Arctic more nearly than that of the Swiss Alps. There 
 are many bodies of rich pasturage, composed of true grasses 
 and of sedge grasses, at high elevations, and never yet occu- 
 pied by white men. Mosses are as abundant as in Switzer- 
 land. The snow plant, [Sarcodes sanguinea) is found fre- 
 quently below the snow line, but looks prettiest when it 
 shows its brilliant red tints amidst the white mantle from 
 which it derives its name. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 375 
 
 CHAPTEE Xn. 
 
 ZOOLOGY. 
 
 § 300. General List. — Among the indigenous animals of 
 California are the grizzly bear, the black bear, the cougar, the 
 wild-cat, the gray wolf, the coyote, three foxes, the badger, 
 the raccoon, the opossum, the mountain-cat, the weazel, two 
 skunks, one porcupine, three squirrels, two spermophiles, two 
 ground-squirrels, three rats, three j umping-rats, one jumping- 
 mouse, nine mice, one mole, the elk, one deer, one antelope, 
 the mountain sheei?, three hares, two rabbits, the seal, the sea- 
 otter, the sea-lion, the beaver, two vultures, the golden eagle, 
 the bald eagle, the fishhawk, eighteen other hawks, nine owls, 
 the road-runner, twelve woodpeckers, four humming-birds, 
 eleven flycatchers, one hundred and nine singers, one pigeon, 
 two doves, thi-ee grouse, thi-ee quails, one sandhill crane, forty- 
 one waders, sixty-six swimmers, including two swans and five 
 geese, about two dozen snakes, including the rattlesnake, half 
 a dozen salmon, two codfish, and one mackerel. 
 
 § 301. Hears. — The grizzly bear, ( Ursus hwribilis) is the 
 largest and most formidable of the quadrupeds of California. 
 He grows to be four feet high and seven feet long, with a 
 weight, when very large and fat, of two thousand pounds, be- 
 ing the largest of the carnivorous animals, and much heavier 
 than the lion or tiger ever get to be, but orcfinarily does not 
 exceed eight or nine hundred pounds in weiglit. In color the 
 body is a light grayish-brown, dark brown about the ears and 
 
376 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 along the ridge of tlie back, and neariy black on the legs. 
 The hair is long, coai'se, and wiry, and stiif on the top of the 
 neck and between the shoulders, Tlie " grizzly," as lie is 
 usually called, is more common in California than any 
 other kind of bear, and was at one time exceedingly numerous 
 for so large an animal ; but he offered so much meat for the 
 hunters, and did so much damage to the farmei-s, t1)at he has 
 been industriously hunted, and his numbers have been greatly 
 reduced. He ranges throughout the State, but prefei-s to make 
 his home in the chaparral or bushes, whereas the black bear 
 likes the heavy timber. The grizzly is very tenacious of life, 
 and he is seldom immediately killed by a single bullet. His 
 thick, wiry hair, tough skin, heavy coats of fat when in good 
 condition, and large bones, go far to protect his vital organs ; 
 but he often seems to preserve all his strength and activity 
 for an hour or more after having been shot through the lungs 
 and liver witli large rifle balls. He is one of the most dan- 
 gerous animals to attack. There is much probability that 
 when shot he will not be killed outright. When merely 
 wounded he is ferocious ; his weight and strength are so great 
 that he bears down all opposition before him ; and he is very 
 quick, his speed in running being nearly equal to that of the 
 horse. In attacking a man, he usually rises on his hind legs, 
 strikes his enemy with one of his powerful fore-paws, and then 
 commences to bite him. If the man lies still, witli his face 
 down, the bear will usually content himself with biting him 
 for a while about the arms and legs, then go off a few steps, 
 and after watching him a short time, will go away. But let 
 the man move, and the bear is upon him again ; let him fight, 
 and he will be in imminent danger of being torn to pieces. 
 About half a dozen men, on an average, are killed yearly in 
 California by grizzly bears, and as many more are cruelly 
 mutilated. 
 
 Fortunately, the grizzly bear is not disposed to attack man, 
 and never makes the first assault, unless driven by hunger or 
 
ZOOLOGY. 377 
 
 maternal anxiety. The dam will attack any man who comes 
 neai' her cubs, and on this account it is dangerous to go in the 
 early summer afoot through chaparral where bears make their 
 home. Usually a grizzly will get out of the way when he sees 
 or hears a man, and sometimes, but rarely, will run when 
 wounded. It is said that grizzlies, in seasons of scarcity, used 
 to break into the huts of the Indians and eat them. No in- 
 stance of this kind, however, has been reported for some years 
 past. 
 
 The greater portion of the food of the grizzly is vegetable, 
 such as grass, clover, berries, acorns, and roots. The raanza- 
 nita, service, salmon, and whortleberries, are all favoi'ites with 
 him. The roots which he eats are of many dilferent species, 
 and it was from him that we learned the existence of a Cali- 
 fornian truffle, very similar to the European tuber of the same 
 name. The grizzly is very fond of fresh pork, at least after 
 he knows its taste, and wliich he soon learns if swine come 
 within his reach. The farmers in those districts where the 
 bears are abundant, shut up their hogs every night in corrals 
 or pens, surrounded by very strong and higli fences, which the 
 bears frequently tear down. After having killed a hog, if 
 any part of the carcass is left, the grizzly will return at night 
 and feast upon the remains, until it becomes putrid. He pre- 
 fers, however, the fresh pork, if it can be had. Not unfre- 
 quently the grizzly discovers the carcasses of deer, elk, and 
 antelope, killed by hunters, who have gone oif after horses to 
 carry their game liorae. In such case, the hunter usually finds 
 little left for him when he gets back. They do not like climb- 
 ing, and rarely attempt to ascend trees. The grizzly, though 
 he often moves about and feeds in the day, prefers the night, 
 and almost invariably selects it as the time for approaching 
 houses, as he often does, in search of food. The cub is one of 
 the most playful, good-humored, and amusing of animals. He 
 will tumble somersets, sit up on his haunches and box, and in 
 some of his pranks will show a humor and intelligence 
 
378 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 scarcely inferior to that of very young children. The grizzly 
 may easily be tamed, and its becomes very fond of its master. 
 Adams, the Californian mountaineer and bear-hunter, trained 
 several grizzlies so that they accompanied him in his hunting 
 excursions, defended him against wild animals, and carried 
 burdens for him. The meat of the young grizzly resembles 
 pork in texture and taste, exceeding it in juiciness and greasi- 
 ness ; but the meat of the old he-bear is extremely strong, and 
 to delicate stomachs it is nauseating. 
 
 The black bear ( JJrsus americanus) is found in the timbered 
 portions of California, but is not abundant anywhere, and is 
 more frequently seen near the coast north of Bodega than in 
 any other portion of the State. Dr. N'ewberr}^ speaking of 
 the food of the black bear on this Coast, says : " The subsis- 
 tence of the black bears in the northern portion of California 
 is evidently, for the most part, vegetable. The manzanita, 
 wild plum, and wild cherry, which fruit grow profusely, and 
 are very low, assist in making up his bill of fare. Rarely, too, 
 we saw trees of yellow-pine bearing marks of bears' teeth, 
 where they had torn oft* the outer bark to get at the succulent 
 inner layer, which is capable of sustaining life, and to which 
 the Indians very generally have recourse when pressed with 
 hunger." It is believed that neither the grizzly nor the black 
 bear hybernates in California. 
 
 § 302. Felines. — The cougar panther of California, sup- 
 posed by Dr. Newberry to be the Felis concolor — the same 
 with the panther found on the Atlantic slope of the continent 
 — has a body larger than that of the common sheep, and a tail 
 more than half the length of the body. Its color is dirty- 
 white on the belly, and elsewhere a brownish-yellow, mottled 
 with dark tips on all the hairs. The panther is a cowardly 
 animal, and, except when driven by some extraordinary 
 motive, never attacks man. A friend of mine, who was out 
 hunting, dressed in a buft' coat, was creeping through some 
 brush to get near a deer, when he felt a heavy animal strike 
 
ZOOLOGY. 379 
 
 Ms back. He sprang up very suddenly, and saw a panther 
 which had jumped down upon him from a tree, probably mis- 
 taking him for a calf or a deer. The brute seemed very 
 much astonished and frightened at seeing a man there, and 
 immediately lied at full speed. The panther is nocturnal in 
 his habits, and always prefers tlie night as a time for attacking 
 colts, which ai-e a favorite prey with him. He is found in all 
 parts of the State where there is timber, but he never stops 
 long in any place, unless he can find bushes to hide in. 
 
 The American wild-cat {Lynx rufus) is common in Califor- 
 nia, pai'ticularly in the vicinity of the bays of San Francisco 
 and San Pablo, where he often catches fish and water-fowl, as 
 well as land-animals. His color is a light brown, with dim, 
 dark spots on the sides, and longitudinal lines along the mid- 
 dle of the back. 
 
 § 303. Canines. — The coyote is very common in the State, 
 and occupies the same place here with that occupied in the 
 Mississippi Valley by the prairie-wolf Dr. Newberry thinks 
 the two belong to the same species, {Canis latrans) but I am 
 inclined to believe that they are specifically ditterent. The 
 color of the coyote has more of a reddish tinge, he howls 
 more, does not bark so much, and is more cunning. His food 
 consists chiefly of rabbits, grouse, small birds, mice, lizards, 
 and frogs ; and in time of scarcity he will eat carrion, grass- 
 hoppers, and bugs. He is very fond of poultry, pigs, and 
 lambs, and will destroy almost as many of them as would a 
 fox. He is one of the worst enemies and most troublesome 
 pests of the farmer. His method of catching chickens is to 
 hide near the hen-roost about daylight, and, as the hens come 
 down, he pounces upon them from his hiding-place ; and his 
 motions are often so quick, that the victim has not even time 
 to squall before she dies. In the spring and autumn, when 
 wild geese and ducks are abundant, many coyotes make their 
 homes in the tules, where they catch birds wounded by the 
 hunters. 
 
380 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The coyote loves nothing better than a young pig. When 
 he sees an old sow with her young ones, he will hide, and wait 
 a long time, in hopes that a little one will come within his 
 reach ; but if there be no hiding-place, he goes up boldly. The 
 sow will at once face the assailant, and start to attack him. 
 He allows her to come up within a few feet of him, and then 
 moves off slowly ; and she, like a fool, thinking she will catch 
 him, continues the chase. Wliile running, he keeps liis head 
 turned to one side, partly to watch her, and partly to watch 
 the pigs ; and when he has seduced her far enougli away, he 
 suddenly makes a dash at the pigs, and, getting one of them, 
 runs off witli it, leaving the agonized and furious sow far be- 
 hind. If the coyote does not succeed in getting a pig at the 
 first attempt — that is, if he does not lead the sow far enough 
 away — he tries it again and again, till he succeeds, the sow 
 being so stupid as to follow him, after having repeated 023por- 
 tunities to see his purpose. 
 
 The coyotes frequently go in packs, and sometimes "will 
 attack a cow. On such occasions, tliey have a concerted plan 
 of operations : they surround their intended victim, and while 
 those in front rush at her as a feint, those behind attempt to 
 cut her hamstrings ; and when they are once cut, she falls 
 completely at their mercy ; and they quickly pick her bones. 
 
 The coyote is a great thief, and will steal the pillow from 
 under a sleeping man's head ; for it happens in California that 
 bags of provisions are often used as pillows. When hungry, 
 he will gnaw anything that is greasy, and frequently cuts off 
 the hemp and rawhide ropes with which horses are tied out at 
 night ; but he never bites into hair ropes, which for tliat rea- 
 son were formerly used exclusively for staking out horses. 
 
 The coyote is nocturnal in his habits, and is very fond of 
 bowling or yelping. He begins with a slirill, quick bark, and 
 follows it with a succession of yelps, ending in a long-drawn, 
 quavering, melancholy howl. When one begins, all others 
 within hearing take up the cry. Twenty years ago, the trav- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 381 
 
 eler in the Sacramento Valley rarely passed a night without 
 hearing their music. They are not so numerous now, but still 
 they are frequently seen in the most densely-settled parts of 
 the country. 
 
 The gray wolf {Canis occidentalis) was once found in all 
 parts of California, but has become very rare in the more 
 densely-settled districts. 
 
 The red fox ( Vidpes fulvus) is found north of latitude 
 37° ; the gray fox ( Viilj)es vin/inicoius) in all the timbered 
 parts of the State. The coast fox ( Vulpes Uttoralis) is 
 found only on the island of San Miguel, otF the coast of Santa 
 Barbara. In its color it bears a great resemblance to the gray 
 fox, but it is not more than half as large, is less cunning, and 
 is slower in its motions. Its tail is only one-third the length 
 of its body. The specimens observed were very bold and 
 stuj^id, allowing themselves to be caught over and over again 
 in the same manner. 
 
 The desert fox, ( Vul2)es macrourus) which is fonnd in the 
 central deserts of*the continent, crosses the Sierra Nevada, 
 and is often killed in Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties. 
 
 § 304. Badger, etc. — The American badger {Taxidea 
 americana) is abundant on the plateau of the Sierra Nevada, 
 and is occasionally found in other parts of the State. It is 
 very shy, and is rarely seen by the traveler. 
 
 The black-footed raccoon {Procyon hemandezii) is found in 
 the timbered portions of the Pacific slope of our continent 
 from Santa Barbara to British Columbia. It is longer than 
 the Atlantic raccoon, {Procyon lotor) but it resembles it very 
 closely in its mental character and capacity, habits and ap- 
 pearance. The raccoon is fond of grapes, and when he enters 
 a vineyard selects those of the finest flavor. 
 
 An opossum {Didelphys calif ornica) is found in the wooded 
 portions of the State, but is not abundant. 
 
 The yellow-haired porcupine (JErethizon epLcanthus) a native 
 of California, is the largest of its genus. The spines are a 
 
382 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 couple of inches long, yellowish in color, with brown tips. On 
 the lower part of the sides the spines are replaced by long, 
 stiff bristles. 
 
 The mountain cat, or striped bassaris (Hassaris astuta) is 
 abundant along the western base of the Sierra Nevada, be- 
 tween latitudes 36° and 39°. The body is about the size of 
 that of the domestic cat, but the nose is very long and sharp, 
 and the tail very long and large. The color of the animal is 
 dark gray, with rings of black on the tail. The minei's call 
 it the " mountain cat," and frequently tame it. It is a favor- 
 ite pet with them, becomes very playful and familiar, and is 
 far more affectionate than the common cat, which it might re- 
 place, for it is very good at catching mice. 
 
 The pine-marten [Mustela Americana) is found in Califor- 
 nia, but is rare. 
 
 The yellow-cheeked weazel (Putorius xmithogenys) is found 
 along the coast, in the vicinity of the Bay of San Francisco. 
 
 The common mink [Putorius iiison) has a skin as valuable 
 as that of the beaver ; the fur is of a dark, brownish chestnut 
 color, with a white spot on the end of the chin. 
 
 California has two skunks, [Mejihitis occidentalis and 3Ie- 
 phitis bicolor) very common animals. The Mephitis bicolor^ 
 or little striped skunk, is chiefly found south of latitude 39° ; 
 the other in the northern and central parts of the State. The 
 colors of both are black and white. 
 
 § 305. Squirrels. — Tlie Californian gray squirrel, {Sciurus 
 fossor) the most beautiful and one of the largest of the squirrel 
 genus, inhabits all the pine forests of the State. Its color on 
 the back is a finely-grizzled bluisli gray, and white beneath. 
 At the base of the ear is a little woolly tuft, of a chestnut color. 
 The sides of the feet are covered witli hair in the winter, but are 
 bare in the summer ; the body is more slender and delicate in 
 shape than that of the Atlantic gray squirrel. It sometimes 
 grows to be twelve inches long in tlie head and body, and fifteen 
 inches long in the tail, making the entire length twenty-seven 
 
ZOOLOGY. 383 
 
 inches. Dr. Newberry says : " The Californian gray squirrel 
 is eminently a tree-squirrel, scarcely descending to the ground 
 but for food and water, and it subsists almost exclusively on 
 the seeds of the largest and loftiest pine known, {Pinus lam- 
 hertlana) the ' sugar-pine ' of the Western coast. The cones of 
 this magnificent tree ai'C from twelve to sixteen inches in 
 length, and contain each one hundred or more seeds of the 
 size and shape of the small wliite bean of commerce. These 
 cones would be unmanageable by the squirrel in the tree, 
 and he has the habit, so common in the family, of dropjiing 
 them to tlie ground, where he can dissect them at leisure. This 
 he usually does early in the morning, climbing to the extremi- 
 ties of the topmost branches, where the cones hang, and cut- 
 ting off a sufficient number to supply his wants for the day. 
 He then descends, and, commencing at the base of the cone, 
 tears off the scales in rapid succession, and skilfully possesses 
 himself of the seeds which they conceal. He is compelled, 
 however, to supply other wants than his own, for the smaller 
 pine-squirrel {Sciurus douglasii) and the ground-squirrel 
 ( Tamlas toionsendii) appropriate a large share of his booty. 
 When oak-trees are near, and acorns are ripe, he has recourse 
 to them for subsistence ; as often as opportunity offers, robbing 
 the woodpeckers of their stores, in which also he has the active 
 cooperation of his more diminutive congeners. From the fact 
 that he feeds upon the ground, it has been supposed that he was 
 less active, and less fitted for climbing, than most tree-squirrels. 
 Tliis, I think, is not true. He is exceedingly quick and grace- 
 ful in his movements ; and if less frequently seen to spring 
 from tree to tree than the black and gray squirrels of eastern 
 States, it is because he inhabits coniferous trees, whicli are re- 
 markable for the insignificance of their branches compared 
 with the size of the trunk, the limbs never stretching out and 
 interlocking, as those of the oak and maple and other trees, in 
 which our common species live." 
 The Californian pine-squirrel (/Sciurus douglasii) inhabits the 
 
384 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 pine and redwood forests of the State. He is gray above and 
 red beneath, witli a black stripe separating the two colors. He 
 lives in a burrow or hollow log, but climbs well, and obtains 
 his food chiefly from the pine-cones, which he cuts off in num- 
 bers at a time, and tears to pieces at his leisure, after they 
 have fallen to the ground. He lays up a store of the seed in 
 his burrow, for his winter supply. He is quick in his motions, 
 graceful in his attitudes, and shy in his habits. 
 
 The Missouri striped ground-squirrel has live dark-brown 
 stripes on the back, separated by four gi'ay stripes ; the sides 
 are reddish-brown, the belly grayish-white, and tlie tail rusty- 
 black above and ru>;ty-brown beneath. The animal is four or 
 five inches long. It is found in the northern parts of the State. 
 It eats acorns and the seeds of the pine, manzanita, and ceano- 
 thus, in the thickets of which last-named brush it prefers to 
 hide its stores. 
 
 Report says a flying squirrel has been found in Mendocino 
 County, but I believe it has never been described. 
 
 § 306. SpermophUes. — The spermophile has two species in 
 California, which resemble each other so closely, that they 
 are usually supposed to be the same ; they are popularly 
 known as the Californian ground-squirrels, the little pests 
 which are so destructive to the grain crops. Their bodies are 
 ten or eleven inches long in the largest specimens ; the tail is 
 eight inches long and bushy ; the ears large ; the cheeks 
 pouched, and herein consists the chief diflerence between 
 them and S(|uirrels ; the color above, black, yellowish-brown, 
 and brown, in distinct mottlings, hoary-yellowish on the sides 
 of the head and neck, and pale yellowish-brown on the under 
 side of the body and legs. They dwell in burrows, and usu- 
 ally live in communities in the open, fertile valleys, prefer- 
 ring to make their burrows under the shade of an oak-tree. 
 Sometimes, however, single spermophiles will be found living 
 in a solitary manner, remote from their fellows. Their bur- 
 I'ows, like those of the prairie-dog, are often used by the rat- 
 
ZOOLOGY, 385 
 
 tlesnake and the little owl. Dr. Newberry says : " They are 
 very timid, starting at every uoise^ and at every intrusion into 
 their privacy, dropping from the trees, or hurrying in from 
 their wanderings, and scudding to their holes with all possi- 
 ble celerity ; arriving at the entrance, however, they stop to 
 reconnoitre, standing erect, as squirrels rarely and spermo- 
 philes habitually do, and looking about to satisfy them- 
 selves of the nature and designs of the intruder. Should 
 this second view justify their flight, or a motion or a step for- 
 ward still further alarm them, with a jieculiar movement, 
 like that of a diving duck, they plunge into their burrows, 
 not to venture out till all cause of fear is past. Should you 
 in the meantime have seated yourself with your back against 
 a tree, and have remained for a time as immovable as the 
 ti'unk against which you lean, you will see sundry little heads 
 protruding from the burrows, with as many pairs of e3res and 
 ears skilled to detect the least sign of danger from their 
 equally-feared enemies, the coyote, the Califoruian vulture, 
 the red-shouldered and red-tailed hawk, and man himself. If, 
 however, your silence and quietness persuade them that you 
 are none of these, they will swarm forth from their holes, and 
 at first timidly, but, gaining confidence, more fearlessly, en- 
 gage in all the sports and antics for which the sciuridoe are 
 noted, and in which none excel the species under considera- 
 tion. It is a pretty sight, and one to which I have often 
 treated myself, to sit down quietly under these old oaks, and 
 watch the squirrels running about over the grass and trees, 
 gambolling and ])laying together. As far as the eye could 
 reach through the vista, the sprightly movements of these in- 
 nocent animals could be discerned." 
 
 Tlie two species are called Beechey's spermophile {Spermo- 
 philus heecheyi) and Douglas's spermophile {/Spermop/dlus 
 douglasii). TIae size, habits, and general appearance of the 
 two species are the same, but they ditfer in the color of a stripe 
 along the spine from the base of the head to the middle of the 
 25 
 
386 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 back ; in Beechey's spermopLile it is yellowish-hoary, in Doug- 
 las's it is dark-brown. The former species is found very abun- 
 dantly south of the Straits of Carquinez; the latter iiortli of 
 it, and fewer in number. 
 
 Beechey's spermophiles are among the most formidable ene- 
 mies of the farmer in those districts where they make their 
 homes. They increase very i-apidly in the vicinity of farms, 
 and do great damage in grain-fields and gardens ; they eat 
 grain and garden vegetables in all stages of their growth ; 
 they peel young fruit-ti-ees and vines; they are, in short, dan- 
 gerous to nearly everythmg that is cultivated. They are very 
 industrious, and lay up large stores for the winter, spending 
 several hours every pleasant summei"'s day in gathering food. 
 They go considerable distances to fields ; and the traveler, 
 whose ajiproach scares them, sees them in hundreds running 
 across the road before him, with their tails erect, hurrying 
 from the field to hide themselves in their burrows. Many a 
 large wheat-field, which would have yielded forty bushels to 
 the acre if there had been no spermophiles to trouble it, is so 
 despoiled by them, that the crop will not pay for harvesting. 
 They are particularly abundant in the Santa Clara, Amador, 
 and Pajaro Valleys ; and their number is an important con- 
 sideration in the estimate of the price of land. They will not 
 live in moist land, nor very near the ocean, where the fogs 
 prevail. Away from cultivated fields, they depend for food 
 chiefly upon grass-seeds, grass-roots, and acorns. 
 
 § 307. Gopher. — The Californian gopher {Thomomys bul- 
 bivorus) is, next to Beechey's spermophile, the most abundant 
 and most troublesome rodent of the State. When full grown, 
 it has a body six or eight inches long, with a tail of two 
 inches. The back and sides are of a chestnut-brown color, 
 paler on the under parts of the body and legs ; the tail and 
 feet are grayish-white ; the ears are very short. In the cheeks 
 are large pouches, covered with fur inside, white to their mar- 
 gin, which is dark brown. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 387 
 
 The gopher inhabits the fertile valleys of the coast, from 
 latitude 34° to 39°. He spends nearly all his time under 
 ground, and does most of liis mischief tliere, gnawing oif 
 the roots of fruit trees and garden vegetables, eating newly- 
 sown grain and seeds, and nibbling at flowers and sweet buds. 
 
 The Colorado gopher {Thomomys fulvus) is found in that 
 portion of the State south of latitude 34°, but is not abundant. 
 It is smaller than the Californian gopher, and has more of a 
 reddish tinge in its colors. Its habits and appearance other- 
 wise are very similar to those of its northern congener. 
 
 The broad-headed gopher, {Thomomys laticeps) found in 
 the vicinity of Humboldt Bay, is about five inches long. Its 
 color on the back, sides, and belly, is yellowish-brown, with a 
 reddish tinge between the fore legs. 
 
 § 308. The Mats. — California has a number of indigenous 
 kangaroo-rats or jumping-rats, jumping-mice, and other rats 
 and mice, too many and not sufliciently singular, or interest- 
 ing to the general reader, to deserve a complete description 
 here. Among these, Philip's jerboa, in the Sacramento Basin 
 and the Southern Valleys, the Don jerboa, in the Coast Val- 
 leys, south of San Francisco, each twelve inches long, from 
 the nose to the end of the tail, are the largest of the jumping- 
 rats. They will leap four or five times their length at every 
 jump. 
 
 The Oregon mole (Scalops toionsenclii) is found near the bay 
 of San Francisco, and perhaps in other parts of the State. It 
 is six or seven inches long, nearly black in color, with faint- 
 purplish or sooty-black reflections in the hair. 
 
 § 309. Deer. — The American elk ( Gervus canadensis) is 
 found in California, as well as in many other parts of the con- 
 tinent. The animal is nearly as large as a horse, and has 
 some resemblance to it in general shape, though smaller, and 
 slimmer in the head, neck, and legs. Its length from the nose 
 to the tail is seven feet ; its height five feet ; its greatest weight 
 one thousand pounds. The color is a chesnut brown, dark on 
 
388 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the head, neck, and legs, lighter and yellowish on the back 
 and sides. The horns are veiy large, sometimes more than 
 four feet long, three feet across from tip to tip, measuring 
 three inches in diameter above the burr, and weighing, with 
 the skull, exclusive of the lower jaw, forty pounds. The 
 horns of the old bucks have from seven to nine, perhaps more, 
 prongs, all gi'owing forward, the main stem running upward 
 and backward. The elk were veiy abundant in California 
 previous to 1849, and tliey were frequently seen in large 
 herds ; but within the last ten yeai-s they have become rare, 
 and before the close of another decade they will be extinct in 
 our State. A few were found in the San Joaquin Valley, but 
 the best place for hunting them is in Mendocino County. 
 Several score of carcasses find their way every year to the 
 San Francisco market. Tlie young fat elk furnishes a very 
 juicy and sweet vension. 
 
 The white-tailed Vii-ginian deer, once common in the States 
 east of the Mississippi, is not found in California, but in its 
 place we have the black-tailed deer, (Cervus columhianus) 
 which is a little larger and has brighter coloi-s, but does not 
 furnish as good veusion, the meat lacking the juiciness and 
 savory taste of the venison in the Mississippi Valley. The 
 average weight of the buck is about one hundred an<l twenty 
 pounds, and of the doe one hundred pounds, but bucks have 
 been found to weigh two hundred and seventy-five pounds. 
 Tiie summer-coat of the black-tailed deer is composed of 
 rather long and coai"se hair, of a tawny bi-own, approaching 
 chestnut on the back. In September this hair begins to come 
 off, exposing Avhat the hunters call the " blue coat," which is 
 at first fine and silky, and of a bluish-gray color, afterward 
 becoming chestnut Ifi-own, inclining to gray on the sides, and 
 to black along the back. Occasionally, deer purely white are 
 found. The horn, when at it greatest length, is about two feet 
 long, and forks near mid-length, and each prong forks again, 
 making four points, to which a little spur, issuing from near 
 
ZOOLOGY. 389 
 
 the base of the horn, may be added, making five in all. This 
 is the general form of the horn ; sometimes, however, old bucks 
 have but two points. 
 
 The deer likes the hills and the timber ; the prong-horned 
 antelope [Antilompra americana) loves the valley and the 
 open land. Before the Americans took California, the Saci'a- 
 mento and San Joaquin Valleys abounded with herds of an- 
 telope ; but now they are rare in the northern part of the 
 State, and not abundant in the southern part. Many are 
 killed yearly for the market. In size tlie antelope is not quite 
 60 large as the Californian deer, which it resembles closely in 
 form and general appearance. They are distinguished at a 
 distance by their motion : the antelope canters, while the deer 
 runs ; the antelope go in herds, and move in a line following 
 the lead of an old buck, like sheep, to which they are related ; 
 while deer more frequently are alone, and if in a herd they 
 are more indefjendent, and move each in the way that suits 
 him best. In color, the back, upper part of the sides and out- 
 side of the thighs and forelegs, are yellowish brown ; the under 
 parts, lower part of the sides, and the buttocks as seen from 
 behind, are white. Tlie hair is very coarse, thick, spongy, 
 tubular, slightly crimped, or waved, and like short lengths of 
 coarse threads cut off bluntly. The horns are very irregular 
 in size and form, but usually they are about eight inches long, 
 rise almost perpendicularly, have a short, blunt prong in front, 
 several inches from the base, and make a short backward 
 crook at the top. The female has horns as well as the male. 
 The hoof is heart-shaped, and its print upon the ground may 
 be readily distinguished from the long, narrow track of the 
 deer. The antelope is about two feet and a half high, and 
 four feet long from the nose to the end of the tail. 
 
 The mountain sheep {Ovis montana) is found on the Sierra 
 Nevada, from the Tejon Pass to the Oregon line, but is a 
 rare and very shy animal, and is seldom killed. Its length is 
 about live feet, and its weight sometimes three hundred and 
 
390 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fifty pounds, considerably greater than that of tlie deer or do- 
 mesticated sheep. The color is white beneath, grayish brown 
 elsewhere. The horns of the i-am are very large, sometimes 
 five inches througli at the base and three feet long. The 
 horns, after starting upward, turn backward, then downwai-d, 
 and so roiind with a circular or spiral shaj^e, the tip inclining 
 outward. Mountaineei"S assert that these horns are xxsed by 
 the sheep in getting down from the high cliffs which he is 
 fond of frequenting. Instead of clambering down toilsomely 
 over the rugged and broken rocks, he makes an easy job of it 
 by leaping headlong, confidently down, over precipices fifty, 
 yes, one hundred feet high, and alights head fii'^t on his horns, 
 which are strong enough to be unbroken by the shock, and 
 elastic enough to throw him ten or fifteen feet into the air — 
 and the next time he alights on his feet all right. 
 
 § 310. Hare. — The Californian hare, or "jackass rabbit,'* 
 as it is commonly called, {Lepus califomicus) is one of the 
 largest of its class, growing sometimes to be two feet long 
 from the nose to the end of the tail. Its eai-s are very lai"ge, 
 and have suggested the vulgar name. It was once abundant 
 in all the valleys from the Klamath to the Colorado ; it is more 
 rare now. The color beneath is a pale cinnamon ; above it is 
 mixed black and light cinnamon, the longest haii*s being of a 
 light smoky-ash color for about half the length, then dark 
 BOoty-brown, then pale cinnamon-red, and finally black at the 
 tip. 
 
 The prairie hare {Leptis eamj'>est'nis) also, one of the largest 
 hares, inhabits the plateau of the Sierra Nevada, Pit River 
 Valley, and the country about the Klamath lakes. It is all 
 white in winter ; in summer yellowish gray, with brownish 
 tinges above and white beneath. The length, frem the tip of 
 the nose to the root of the tail, is from seventeen to twenty- 
 three inches ; and the tail and ear each measure about four 
 inches. 
 
ZOOLOGY. ^ 391 
 
 Audubon's have (Lejms aitdabonii) inhabits the coast val- 
 leys from Petaluma to San Diego. It is fifteen inches long, 
 witli a tail measuring to the end of the hairs on it three 
 inches. The color is mixed yellowish-brown and black above, 
 white beneath, thighs and rump grayish. 
 
 Trowbridge's hare (Lepus troiohridgii) is found along the 
 coast southward from 39°. The length is from eleven to fif- 
 teen inches ; the tail, with hair and all, less than an inch. 
 Tlie back is yellowish brown mixed with dark brown, paler on 
 the sides, and ash-coloi-ed beneath. 
 
 The sage rabbit (Zep^f.9 artemisia) is found in all the open 
 parts of California north of the Straits of Carquinez. It is 
 from eleven to sixteen inches in length; in color, brown above 
 and white beneath, with a yellowish tinge, the under part of 
 the neck a yellowish brown. The fur on all parts of the body 
 is lead-colored at the base. 
 
 § 311. Sea-Lions. — The sea-lions, of the Otori'a genus, fre- 
 quent the coast from May to November, making their homes 
 during the winter in some other clime, but where is not 
 known. They delight to collect on clear summer days on rocks 
 near the water's edge, and bask in the sun. They may be 
 seen nearly every day on the rocks near the Golden Gate, and 
 heard, too, for they keep up a kind of barking or growling in 
 chorus, which grows louder as tliey see any one approaching. 
 They do not wait, however, to let a man come very near, but 
 pitch olf into the sea before he is within fifty yards of them. 
 Their color varies from light yellowish-brown to dark brown 
 and dark iron-gray. They have no mane like that of their 
 relatives in higher latitudes. Fish and birds are their diet, 
 and both are caught with great activity and some stratagem. 
 "When a sea-lion sees a gull swimming, he will dive and try 
 to come up under the bird, wliich he at once seizes ; or if the 
 bird is hovering over the water, the sea-lion will dive, and 
 come up near the place, but keep under the water, the sur- 
 face of which lie breaks, as if a fish were there, and when 
 
392 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the gull comes down to make a catch lie is liimself caught. 
 The sea-hon grows to be nine feet long. 
 
 Sea elephants are found occasionally on the coast of Cali- 
 fornia, and on a few islands, and not elsewhere north of the 
 equator. Tiiey are killed for their oil, each full-grown animal 
 yielding from 90 to 180 gallons. They shed their coat every 
 year, and then suddenly change their color from a yellowish 
 brown to a dark gray, which continues for four or five months, 
 and then alters gradually. The animal sometimes reaches a 
 length of eighteen feet. 
 
 § 312. Otter, etc. — The American beavers {Castor canaden- 
 ds) were once very abundant in all the large streams of Cali- 
 fornia, and it was chiefly fortheir sakesthat the first American 
 trappers entered the country, about 1827. They are still found 
 in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. They rarely 
 build dams in California, but live in burrows in the banks. 
 When they dive they slap the water with their tails, making 
 a noise that can be heard at a considerable distance on a still 
 night. Their skins, which once commanded very high pi-ices, 
 have lost much of their value since the adoption of silk for 
 making hats. 
 
 The common mink [Patorius vison) is found in California, 
 but is not abundant. The general color of the animal is 
 dark bi'ownish-chestnut, with a white spot on the end of the 
 chin. The skin .of the mink is as valuable as that of the 
 beaver. 
 
 The Californian otter {Lutra ealiforyiica) is found all along 
 this coast, and was formerly abundant on all the large streams. 
 It is carnivorous, living entirely on fish and shell -fish. It pre- 
 fers large streams and lakes for its home, while the plant-eat- 
 ing beaver prefers small streams. The Californian otter is 
 sometimes five feet long from the point of the nose to the tip 
 of the tail. When in the water, its hair is at times beautiful- 
 ly iridescent. 
 
 The sea-otter (^Enhydra nyirina) is larger than the Califoi'- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 393 
 
 nian otter, and is also caniivorous. It generally makes its 
 home near islands, and roams about in the water within ten 
 or twenty miles of land. The sea-otter was at one time very 
 abundant along the coast of California, and it was one of the 
 attractions wliich induced the Russian Fur Company to estab- 
 lish a post at Fort Ross, in latitude 38° 30' , where a number 
 of Aleutian Indians were employed, from 1812 to 1840, in the 
 otter fishery. They would start out in their little single ca- 
 noes, made water-proof with a covering of fisli-bladders, so 
 that there was no danger of their sinking if tlie sea should 
 sweep over them, and thus they would go out fifty miles to 
 sea, and travel up and down the coast, usually coming home 
 well-laden with sea-otter skins, worth sixty or eighty dollars 
 each. The sea-otter is still abundant on the southern coast, 
 and there are men in Santa Barbara County who make it a 
 business to hunt them. 
 
 " The otter," says Mi'. W. A. Wallace, " is very harmless, 
 and always seeks to escape from human observation. When 
 attacked they make no resistance, but endeavor to escape by 
 sinking in the sea. If closely pursued and there is no escape, 
 they scold and grin like an angry cat. If they escape the ene- 
 my, as soon as they are safe, they turn and deride him with 
 varioiis diverting tricks, such as standing on end in the water, 
 jumping over the waves, holding the j)aws over the eyes, as 
 if to shade them from the sun while looking at the enemy — 
 then lying flat upon the back and stroking the belly. In tlieir 
 escape they carry their sucklings in their mouths, and drive 
 before them those not fully grown. They were formerly 
 taken by the Russians and Indians, by means of nets, clubs, 
 and spears. The young are said to be delicate eating, the 
 flesh resembling lamb. The flesh of the old ones is insipid 
 and tough. 
 
 " The otter is never seen upon land. He is jnirely an 
 aquatic animal. When he swims he turns upon his back, 
 and jjropels himself with great rapidity. The fore-paws are 
 
394 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 rounded like a cat's, but the claws of the older ones ai'e gen- 
 erally worn off. The hind-legs, or propellers, are broad and 
 flat, like paddles, and are used very dexterously. The seal 
 much resembles the otter, seen at a distance, but he swims 
 upon his belly, and the hunter seldom mistakes one for the 
 other. The otter sleeps in the water, lying upon his back, 
 and anchors himself from the motions of winds and waves by 
 drawing a string of kelp across his breast, just below his 
 fore-legs. "When discovered in this position, they are often 
 approached very near by the hunters. They are very buoy- 
 ant in the water, but when the chase has been long continued, 
 and the blood of the otter becomes heated by the exercise, on 
 being shot the body sinks rapidly to the bottom, and never 
 rises. More than half the otters shot are lost in this way. 
 
 " Once a day the otter comes near the shore for food. He 
 eats every thing that grows in salt water, and is particularly 
 fond of abelones, {haliotus) mussels, and sea-eggs. At high 
 water the abelone loosens its shell from the rock, to receive 
 the nourishment which the overflowing waters bring to it, and 
 it is then easily taken from the rock and removed from its 
 shell. The otter is well acquainted with all the peculiarities 
 of this mollusk, and takes this opportunity to capture it for 
 food." 
 
 The common seal, a species of phoca, is abundant along the 
 coast. 
 
 § 313. Vtdtures. — The Californian vulture, {Cathartes cali- 
 fornianus) sometimes improperly called " condor," the largest 
 bird on the continent, and next to the condor the largest fly- 
 ing bird in the world, inhabits all parts of the State, though 
 it is not abundant in any place. It is as prominent and pecu- 
 liar a feature of the birds of California, as the grizzly bear 
 among the quadrupeds. It is very shy, and is rarely killed. 
 The total length of the Californian vulture is about four feet, 
 and its width from tip to tip of the outstretched wings, ten 
 feet or more. Its color is brownish black, with a white stripe 
 
ZOOLOGY. 395 
 
 aci'oss the wings. The liead and neck are bare, and red and 
 yellow in color. The bill is yellowish white, and the iris car- 
 mine. Dv. Newberry says : " A portion of every day's ex- 
 perience in our march through the Sacramento Valley, was a 
 pleasure in watching the graceful evolutions of this splendid 
 bird. Its flight is easy and efibrtless, almost beyond that of 
 any other bird. As I sometimes recall the characteristic 
 scenery of California, those interminable stretches of waving 
 grain, with here and there, between the rounded hills, orchard- 
 like clumps of oak, a scene so solitary and yet so home-like, 
 over these oat-covered plains and slopes, golden yellow in the 
 sunshine, always floats the shadow of the vulture." 
 
 Dr. Heermann, of the United States Pacific Railroad Sur- 
 vey, wrote thus : " Whilst unsuccessfully hunting in the 
 Tejon Valley, we have often passed several hours without a 
 single one of this species being in sight, but on bringing down 
 any large game, ere the body had grown cold, these birds 
 might be seen rising above the horizon and slowly sweeping 
 towards us, intent upon their share of the prey. Nor in the 
 absence of the hunter will his game be exempt from their rav- 
 enous appetite, though it be carefully hidden and covered by 
 shrubbery and heavy branches ; as I have known these marau- 
 ders to drag forth from its concealment and devour a deer 
 within an hour. Any article of clothing thrown over a car- 
 cass will shield it from a vultui'e, though not from a grizzly 
 bear, who little respects such flimsy protection. My coat, 
 used on one occasion to cover a deer, was found on our return 
 torn by bruin to shreds, and the game destroyed. The Cali- 
 fornian vulture joins to his rapacity an immense muscular 
 power, as a sample of which it will suflice to state that I have 
 known four of them, jointly, to drag off, over a space of two 
 hundred yards, the body of a young grizzly bear weighing up- 
 ward of one hundred pounds." 
 
 The turkey-buzzard, or turkey-vulture, {Cathartes aura) 
 specifically the same with the bird known by that name in 
 
396 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the Atlantic States, is found in all parts of California, From 
 the tip of the bill to tlie end of the tail it is about thirty 
 inches long, and six feet from tip to tip of the outstretched 
 wings. Tlie head and neck are bare, covered with a bright- 
 red wrinkled skin. The plumage commences below that, with 
 a circular ruff of projecting feathers. The color of the plum- 
 age is black, with a purplish lustre, many of the feathers hav- 
 ing a pale border. Tlie bill is yellowish in color. 
 
 § 314. Eagles. — The golden eagle (Aquila canadeyisis) in- 
 habits California, and indeed all parts of North America. Its 
 length is thirty or forty inches ; its color on the head and neck 
 is yellowish brown, white at the base of the tail, and brown, 
 varying to pur])lish brown and black, elsewhere. 
 
 Tlie bald eagle (ffalioetus leucocephalos) was abundant in 
 California ten years ago, and is still often seen along the Sac- 
 ramento, San Joaquin, and Klamath Rivers. It frequents rap- 
 ids for the purpose of catching fish, which seem to furnish the 
 larger part of its food. It is from thirty to forty inches long, 
 white on the head, and at the base of the tail, and brownish 
 black on the breast, wings, and back. 
 
 The fish-hawk (Pandion carollnensis) is found along all our 
 large rivers. It is from twenty to twenty-five inches long. The 
 head and under parts are white, with pale yellowish-brown sjDots 
 on the breast, the back, wings, and tail are dark brown. 
 
 The goshawk (Astur atricapillus) is of the same size with 
 the fish-hawk, and in color is dark — a bluish slate above, and 
 mottled-white and light ashy-brown beneath. 
 
 There are seventeen other hawks in the State, most of them 
 small and rare. 
 
 § 315. Olds. — California has nine species of owls, namely : 
 the barn, great-horned, screech, long-eared, short-eared, great 
 gray, saw- whet, burrowing, and pigmy owls. All of them are 
 found extensively on the continent, beyond the limits of our 
 State, and all save the last two are common east of the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 397 
 
 The burrowing owl {Athene cunicularia) is ten inches long, 
 ashy-brown above and whitish-brown beneath, variegated by 
 spots and bands of white and dark-brown. Dr. Newberry 
 says : " The burrowing owl is found in many parts of Califor- 
 nia, where it shares the burrows of Beechey's and Douglas's 
 spermophiles. We usually saw them standing at the entrance 
 of their burrows. They often allowed us to approach within 
 shot, and, before taking flight, twisting their heads about, 
 bowed with many ludicrous gestures, thus apjjarently aiding 
 their imperfect sight, and getting a better view of the intruder. 
 When shot at and not killed, or when otherwise alarmed, they 
 fly with an irregular jerking motion, dropping down much like 
 a woodcock at some other hole.'' 
 
 The pigmy owl {Gkmcidium gnoma) is seven inches long, 
 and inhabits the wooded districts. It flies about actively in the 
 daytime, and appears to subsist chiefly on spari'ows, which it 
 catches in daylight. The general color is brownish-olive above 
 and brownish-white beneath. 
 
 § 316. i?oac?-nm»er.— The paisano, or road-runner, ((reo- 
 coccyx californianus) is one of the most remarkable birds in 
 the State. It lives almost entirely upon the ground, very 
 rarely flies, and frequents the Iiighways, along wliich it will 
 run from any one approaching. Its speed is nearly equal to 
 that of a common horse, and it often furnishes an exciting 
 chase to the solitary rider. . It is found only in the valleys and 
 low hills, and makes its home among the bushes. The bird is 
 akin to the cuckoo, and its generic name signifies " ground- 
 cuckoo." Its length is from twenty to twenty -three inches, 
 of which twelve are taken up by the tail. The color is olive- 
 green above and white beneath ; tlie central tail feathers are 
 olive-brown, the others dark-green — all edged and (except 
 the central two) tipped with white. Dr. Heermann says : " I 
 have not witnessed the following feat, but am assured by 
 many old Californians that this bird, on Y>erceiving the rattle- 
 snake coiled up asleep, basking in the sun, will collect the 
 
398 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 cactus and hedge liim around with a circle, out of which the 
 reptile, unable to escape, and enraged by the prickly points 
 opposing him on every side, strikes himself, and dies from the 
 effects of his self-inoculated venom." The Los Angeles Star^ 
 in one of its numbers. published in February, 1871, says the 
 paisano will attack the snake when awake, and if it fails to 
 kill him at the first stroke of the beak, will surround him with 
 the cactus leaves, while the rattler remains coiled up, ready 
 for another attack. After the thorny fence is completed, the 
 bird again strikes the reptile till it is dead. One snake thus 
 killed was four feet long. 
 
 § 817. Woodpeckers. — There are eleven species of wood- 
 pecker in the State, and two of them, the Californian (Melan- 
 erpes fortnicivorus) and Lewis's [Jlelanerjjes torquatus) are 
 worthy of special mention. 
 
 The Californian woodpecker is called by the Spanish Cali- 
 fornians the car2nntero, or carpenter, because he is in the habit 
 of boring holes with his beak in the bark of the nut-pine, red- 
 wood, Californian white oak, and Western yellow pine, and 
 then storing acorns in them for his winter use. The holes are 
 just large and deep enough to hold each an acorn, which is 
 hammered in so that there is no danger of its falling out. The 
 acorns on the northern side of the tree, where they are pro- 
 tected from the rains, which come from the southward, often 
 keep good for years. The bark of the nut-pine is preferred, 
 probably being softer and more regular in grain than any 
 other bark. The holes are bored to within two or three feet 
 of the ground, and to a height of fifty feet — sometimes, but 
 rarely, in the limbs as well as the trunk. From thirty to fifty 
 holes are often found in a square foot. In seasons when 
 or places where acorns are rare, the woodpecker will put 
 away hazel-nuts in the same manner. The squirrels often 
 plunder the stores, and then the birds attack the thieves, dart- 
 ing down upon them and pecking them with their beaks. 
 When the squirrel sees the property-owner coming, he hurries 
 
ZOOLOGY. 399 
 
 to a iiole, or gets under a limb, where tlie woodpecker cannot 
 conveniently strike him. Sometimes Indians and even white 
 men are glad to avail themselves of the woodpecker's stores 
 as a protection against starvation. 
 
 The length of the bird is nine inches ; the anterior part of 
 the body above and the tail are black ; the belly, rump, a 
 patch on the forehead, and a collar on the neck, white ; and the 
 crown, and a short occipital crest, red. Dr. Newberry says : 
 " This beautiful bird, the rival and representative of the red- 
 headed woodpecker, [of the Atlantic slope of the Continent] 
 is an inseparable element of the scenery of the Sacramento 
 Valley. While we were encamped under the wide-spreading 
 oaks of that region, I had a very good opportunity to study 
 their habits, as they would come into the trees in the shade of 
 which I was lying. They are not shy, and frequently came 
 round in considerable numbers. Their manners are the very 
 counterpart of the Eastern ' red-head,' and their rattling cry 
 is not unlike his. Like the ' red-head,' I have seen two or 
 three of them amuse themselves by playing ' hide and seek ' 
 around some trunk or branch ; and like the ' red-head,' too, 
 they delight to sit on the end of a dry limb, and fly off in 
 circles for the insects which come near them." 
 
 Lewis's woodpecker is in color dark glossy green above and 
 gray beneath, with dark-crimson patches on the sides of the 
 head and belly. The feathers on the under part are bristle- 
 like. It prefers an elevated home, and is found ten or twelve 
 thousand feet above the sea. 
 
 § 318. Himiming-Birds. — There are four humming-birds 
 in California, all different from those found in the Atlantic 
 States. The white-throated swift, a bird resembling the swal- 
 low, but smaller, is common in the Colorado Basin. AVe have 
 a whip-poor-will, difterent from the one known in the Eastern 
 States. Two night-hawks are found in our State, one of them 
 appearing on this slope of the continent only in the vicinity of 
 the Colorado, and on the other slope not extending far beyond 
 
400 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the Rio Grande. The belted king-lislier {Ceryle akrjon) is at 
 home in California, as well as in all other parts of the conti- 
 nent. 
 
 § 3 1 9. Fly-catchers. — The family of fly-catchers, ( Colojyteri- 
 d(B) which connects the non-melodious with the true singinor 
 birds, is represented in California by eleven species, most of 
 which are not seen in the Atlantic States. They -are small 
 birds, from five to nine inches in length, and their colors are 
 usually dull. Most of them have their upper mandible bent 
 down abruptly at the tip ; and they always have twelve feath- 
 ers in the tail. One of the most common and the best-known 
 of the fly-catchers is the bird called the " pewee." 
 
 § 320, Singers. — The zoological sub-order called Oscmes, 
 or singers, has one hundred and nine species in our State, in- 
 cluding two mocking-birds, three thrushes, two blue-birds, 
 three robins, three larks, five black-birds, eleven finches, six 
 wrens, six swallows, six warblers, one martin, one bunting, six 
 titmouses, one snow-bird, two grosbeaks, one cow-bird, one 
 oriole, one crow, three ravens, three jays, one water-ouzel, two 
 magpies, and so on. Some of these birds are not called " sing- 
 ers " in common language, but they all belong to the Oscmes 
 sub-order, which is marked by a peculiar muscular api)aratus 
 for singing, composed of five paii's of muscles in the throat. 
 Though there are many species of Oscines in tlie State, yet the 
 birds are not so numerous, so melodious, nor are they heard so 
 often, as the feathered songsters in the Eastern States. The 
 traveler may proceed for days in the Sacramento Basin, during 
 the summer season, without hearing more than a few chirps. 
 Our singing-birds have been multiplying very rapidly of late, 
 because of the settlement and cultivation of the land, whereby 
 their supply of wholesome and palatable food is much in- 
 creased, and their enemies the hawks are driven away. Most 
 of our swallows, one mocking-bird, one black-bird, and one 
 raven, found in California, are also seen east of the Mississippi ; 
 but all our jays, robins, blue-birds, and magpies, and our ori- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 401 
 
 ole, are of species not found in the Atlantic States. The 
 majority of the Oscines indigenous on this Coast are uukno^^'"n 
 in the older States. Our mocking-birds are never domesti- 
 cated, and are not to be compared to the mocking-bird of 
 Virginia. 
 
 § 321. Scratchers. — The oi'nithological order of Easores, or 
 scratchers, is represented in California by eleven species, 
 namely : one pigeon, two doves, three grouse, two quails, one 
 partridge, and one sand-hill crane. The pigeon, partridge, 
 grouse, quails, and one of the doves, are specifically ditferent 
 from the birds known by the same name east of the Missis- 
 sippi. The wild-turkey is not indigenous in our State. 
 
 Tlie most abundant and prominent of our scratchers, the 
 Californian quail, {Lophorti/x califoriiicus) is found in all the 
 valleys of California and Oregon. Its breast and upper parts 
 are lead-colored, with an olive-brown gloss on the back and 
 wings ; tlie chin and throat ai'e black, with a white line run- 
 ning backward from the eye ; the forehead is brownish-yellow ; 
 the belly is pale buff, with an orange-brown round spot in the 
 middle, changing to white at the sides ; the feathers on the 
 back and sides have a central streak of white, and those on 
 the top and sides of the neck have black edgings. The head 
 bears a crest numbering from three to six feathers, usually 
 five, about an inch and a half long. The shafts are bare, very 
 slender, and, though all are in a straight line on the longitu- 
 dinal medial line of the head, they are so near together as to 
 look like but one shaft, more especially as the fine, fur-like 
 bushes at their tops all combine to form a compact little plume. 
 These feathers are usually erect, the plume leaning forward 
 when the bird is trying to look its best in the presence of 
 company ; but when running about in the grass, and not 
 thinking of its appearance, the crest is lowered, falling for- 
 ward over the bilk 
 
 The Californian quail has two notes — the song and the call. 
 The song of the Atlantic quail is in two notes — the well-known 
 26 
 
402 RESOURCES OF CALIFORIJIA. 
 
 whistle, sounding like " Bjb White." The song of the Cali- 
 fornian quail has but one note, beginning like the " Bob," and 
 ending like the " White " of its Eastern relative. The calls of 
 the Atlantic and Pacific quails are nearly alike, and may be 
 represented by the syllables '' hi-re-he." " As a game-bird," 
 says Dr. Newberry, " the Califoruian quail is inferior to the 
 Eastern one, though perhaps of equal excellence for the table- 
 It does not lie as well to the dog, and does not aftord a good 
 sport. It also takes a tree more readily than the Atlantic 
 quail. Like its Eastern relative, the* cock-bird is very fond of 
 sitting on some stump or log projecting above the grass and 
 weeds which conceal his mate and nest or brood, and especially 
 in the early morning, uttering his peculiar cry." 
 
 The plumed quail, {Oreortyx pieties) likewise called the 
 " mountain quail," while the Lophortyx californicus is often 
 styled the " valley quail," is peculiar to this Coast, and is one 
 of the most beautiful featui-es of its ornithology. It is a par- 
 tridge, ten inches long, very plump in shape, handsome in 
 color, majestic in its bearing, and graceful in motion. Its head 
 is surmounted by a crest of two straight feathers, three and a 
 half inches long, which hang backward, one immediately over 
 the other. The breast and neck are lead-colored, the upper 
 parts generally olive brown ; the throat and head, beneath the 
 eyes, orange-chestnut ; the abdomen white. There are numer- 
 ous variegations of white, black, and minor shades, on the 
 plumage, all contributing to heighten its beauty. 
 
 The mountain partridge lives in the hills and mountains, 
 from the Tejon Pass to the Columbia River. Its song sug- 
 gests the sound represented by the word " whoit," whistled 
 fuller and louder than the song of the Californian quail. It 
 roosts upon the ground ; and if bushes be near, in which to 
 hide, it will rather run than tiy from its enemies. It seldom 
 flies more than two hundred yards at a time. The cock is 
 equally attentive with the hen to the young brood, which usu- 
 ally varies from eight to twelve in number. The families seem 
 
ZOOLOGY. 403 
 
 to be much attached to each other, and if they are scattered, 
 tliey are very uneasy until all are collected again. In such 
 cases the hunter can entice them to come to him by imitating 
 the call of either old or young. They are easily domesticated 
 — more readily than their brethren of the valley. The mountain 
 partridge hates the quail, and when brought into its presence 
 always attacks it ; the smaller bird makes no resistance. 
 
 Gambel's quail {Lorphortyx gambelU) is a bird diiFering 
 from the Californian quail only in having duller colors, and 
 is perhaps specifically the same, the difterence in color being a 
 mere accident of climate. Occasionally white quails, very 
 similar in form and size to the Lophortyx californicus^ are 
 found near Humboldt Bay. 
 
 The sage-cock, or cock of the plains, ( Oentrocercus eropha- 
 sianus) the largest of the American grouse, often weighing 
 five or six pounds, inhabits the dry plains in the vicinity of 
 Pit River. It is sometimes twenty-nine inches long and forty- 
 two inches across from tip to tip of outstretched wings. Its 
 color above is variegated with black, brown, brownish-yellow, 
 and whitish-yellow ; its breast is white, its belly black. The 
 male has bare, fiame-colored patches of skin on the neck, 
 which are ordinarily hidden by the feathers, but which are 
 plainly visible when he struts about before the hen, with his 
 neck puffed out like a pouter-pigeon's. 
 
 The sharp-tailed grouse {Pediocmtes phasianellus) is also found 
 in the northeastern corner of the State. It is eighteen inches 
 long, light brownish-yellow above, varied with black, and 
 white beneath, the feathers on the breast and sides having 
 brown marks shaped like a V. The tail is long and sharp, the 
 central feathers and the others growing gradually shorter as 
 they approach the sides ; there are eighteen feathers in the 
 tail. 
 
 The dusky grouse {Tetrao obscurus) inhabits the coniferous 
 forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the northeastern part of the 
 State. The cock, according to common report, is the hand- 
 
404 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 somest of all the American grouse. It is twenty inclies long, 
 dark-brown above, mottled with lead-color, and lead-color be- 
 neath. There are twenty feathers in the tail, which is broad- 
 ly tipped with a light slate-color. 
 
 The band-tailed pigeon, ( Columba fasciata) the only wild 
 pigeon found on the Pacific Coast, bears a strong resemblance, 
 in form, size, and color, to its congener in the Atlantic States, 
 and has similar habits ; but is not numei-ous. Small flocks mi- 
 grate through the State every spring and autumn, and some 
 of them spend the summer here. 
 
 The white-winged dove {JSIelophelia leucoptercC) has been 
 seen in the southern part of the State, but is very rare. It 
 has white spots on its wings, whence its common and technical 
 names are derived. 
 
 The common dove {Zenaidura carol inens is) is found on the 
 Pacific slope as well. 
 
 The sand-hill crane [Grus canadensis) are found from the 
 meridian of Cincinnati to the Pacific, and are not rare in Cal- 
 ifornia. They spend the winters in our valleys, and in the 
 spring migrate to the Klamath Lakes, and farther north, where 
 they spend their summers and breed. Subsisting upon vege- 
 table food exclusively, they are themselves good to eat, and 
 are occasionally seen in the San Francisco market. 
 
 § 322. Waders. — The order of waders {Grallatoixs) is 
 represented in California by forty-one species of birds, name- 
 ly: one crane, two herons, two bitterns, one fiy-up-the-creek, 
 one ibis, six plovers, one oyster-catcher, two turnstones, one 
 avoiset, three phalaropes, one stillet, one willet, one godwit, 
 one curlew, five snipes, five sand-])ipers, one saiiderling, three 
 rails, and one coot. The oyster-catcher, one turn-itoiie, one 
 plover, and one heron, are the only species in the list not found 
 east of the Mississippi, and none of tliem have such value or 
 peculiarities as would give interest to a particular description 
 of them. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 405 
 
 § 323. Sioimmers. — California lias sixty-six species of tlie 
 ovdev of swimmers {Natatores) . Of tliese there are two 
 swans, six geese, twenty-two ducks, four albatrosses, two pe- 
 trels, seven gulls, four terns, three pelicans, three cormorants, 
 four guillemots, one loon, and various miscellaneous species. 
 One swan, all the albatrosses, five gulls, the two petrels, the 
 loon, and one guillemot, are found only on this Coast. 
 
 The trumpeter-swan {Cygmis buccinator) is a very large 
 bird, measuring five feet from the point of the bill to the end 
 of the tail, and six feet across from tip to tip of the out- 
 stretched wings. The plumage is snowy white in color ; its 
 legs and bill are black. The name of " trumpeter " rs given to 
 it because of its clarion-like scream, which is heard as it files. It 
 frequents the lakes in the northern and northeastern -parts of 
 the State, and is sometimes seen in the rivers. It is a shy bird, 
 and is rarely killed. 
 
 The American swan, found also on the Atlantic slope of the 
 continent, is similar in appearance and size to the trumpeter, 
 but lacks its loud voice, and is otherwise distinguishable from 
 it cluefiy by having an orange-colored spot on its bill, in front 
 of the eye, whereas the bill of the Cygnus buccinator is en- 
 tirely black. 
 
 Wild geese are very abundant in California during the 
 spring and fall, when they pass through on their migrations. 
 Among them are the Canada goose, [Bemicla canadensis) the 
 snow-goose, {Anser hyperboreus) the white-footed goose, or 
 " speckled belly," {Anser erythrojms) Hutchings' goose {Ber- 
 nicla hutcMnsii) and the black brandt, {Bemicla nigricans). 
 Hutchings' goose is more abundant than any of the others. 
 Some of them, while in the State, get all their food in the 
 tules ; others in the spring resort to the fields of young grain, 
 where they pasture. Dr. Newberry says : " I was much in- 
 terested in noticing the perfect harmony of intercourse which 
 seemed to exist among the smaller species. They intermingled 
 freely while feeding, and when alarmed arose without separa- 
 
406 KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tion ; and I have seen a triangle flying steadily higli ovei* my 
 head, composed of individuals of three species, each plainly 
 distinguishable by its plumage, but each holding its place in 
 tlie geometrical figure, as though it was composed of entirely 
 homogeneous material ; perhaps unequal members of the 
 darker species, with three, four, or more pure snow-white 
 geese flying together somewhere in the converging lines." 
 
 Among the ducks of California are the mallard and canvas- 
 back. Tiie meat of the latter has not so fine a flavor as in the 
 Eastern States, probably because it does not here find tlie wild 
 celery upon which it feeds along the streams of the middle 
 States. 
 
 . Many of the geese and ducks pass the winter in California, 
 where they find an abundance of food in the grain-fields and 
 tnles. 
 
 The murre, or foolish guillemot, ( Uria rifigvin) is similar to 
 the gulls, seventeen inches long, dark-brown above and white 
 beneath, with ti-ansvei-se stripes of ashy-brown" on its sides. 
 Its throat is brown in summer and white in winter. It fre- 
 quents the islands along the coast, and lays its eggs there on 
 the bare ground or rocks. Tiiese eggs are wonderfully irregu- 
 lar in form, size, and color, but are generally about three 
 and a half inches long, sea-green in color, with dark-brown 
 spots of angular shapes on them. Quantities of these eggs 
 are obtained every year at the Farallones, and are sold in the 
 San Francisco market at about half the price of hens' eggs 
 per dozen, or, if taken by weight, at one-fourth. Their taste, 
 however, is i*ank, and they are not used by those who can af- 
 ford to buy hens' eggs. 
 
 Dr. Ileermann says : " At one o'clock every day during the 
 egg season, Sundays and Thursdays excepted, (this is to give 
 the birds some little resijite) the egg-huntei-s meet on the 
 south side of the island. The roll is called, to see that all are 
 present, that each one may have an equal chance in gathering 
 the spoil. The signal is given, every man starting oft' at a full 
 
ZOOLOGY. 407 
 
 run for the most productive egging-grounds. Tlie gulls [Larus 
 occidentalism Western gull) understanding, apparently, what is 
 about to occur, are on the alert, hovering overhead, and await- 
 ing only the advance of the party. The men rush eagerly 
 into the rookeries ; the affrighted murres have scarcely risen 
 from their nests, before the gull, with remarkable instinct, 
 not to say almost reason, Hying but a few paces ahead of the 
 hunter, alights on the ground, tapping such eggs as the short 
 time will allow, before the egger comes up with him. The 
 broken eggs are passed by the men, who remove only those 
 which are sound. The gull, then returning to the field of its 
 exploits, procures a plentiful supply of its favorite food." 
 
 A diver, found in the bays and rivers of the State, gray on 
 the back and white below, is valuable for its skin, which is 
 stretched and dried with the feathers on, and then used for 
 muffs and collars. The meat is so fishy and tough, that it is 
 not fit for the table. 
 
 § 324. Fishes. — The fishes of the coast and rivers of Cali- 
 fornia are all different from those of the Atlantic side of the 
 continent, with the exception, perhaps, of one species of the 
 halibut- The cod and shad, two of the most important fishes 
 of the sea of the Eastern shore, and the lobster among crus- 
 taceans, are here wanting, as also the cat-fish kind in the 
 rivers. Otherwise, our waters are probably as rich in game 
 for the fisherman as those of any country. 
 
 § 325. Salmo)i. — The most important fish of California is 
 the quinuat salmon, (Salmo quinnai) a species found from 
 Point Conception to the Columbia River. Its color above is 
 olivaceous broAvn, changing to salmon-color beneath. The 
 largest one ever caught weighed sixty-two pounds ; the 
 common size is from ten to thirty pounds. The salmon are 
 born in the rivers, but go down to the sea, where they spend 
 part of every year. They commence to enter the Bay of San 
 Francisco in November, and continue to come in for three or 
 four months. They ascend the Sacramento and San Joaquin 
 
408 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Rivers and some of their smaller tributaries, deposit their 
 spaM'n, and in June go out to sea again. They come in lean 
 and go out lean, but in the late winter and early spring they 
 are fat. There are two common popular errors : that the sal- 
 mon do not eat after leaving the sea, and that they never get 
 back alive. The former error is owing to the fact that no 
 large articles of food are found in its stomach ; and the latter 
 to the fact that when going out all are lean, and that many 
 are found dead al-ong the banks of salmon-streams. But the 
 salmon find their chief food in minute animalcuhi3, and not in 
 fish, for catching which they seem to be so well fitted, with their 
 large mouths and sharp teeth. It is well known that the 
 salmon bite like trout, and furnish excellent sport in clear 
 water to the skillful fisherman with the fly. They dislike the 
 mud with which the streams emptying into San Francisco Bay 
 are filled by the miners, and therefore do not go far from the 
 sea or ascend the small tributaries ; but elsewhere they as- 
 cend every little brook, up to points where tliere is scarcely 
 enough water for them to swim ; and in these exjjeditions they 
 are so much exhausted and bruised that they soon die ; but 
 the number thus killed is as nothing compared with those 
 which go out to sea again. The female salmon, having found 
 a suitable place, uses her nose to dig a trench in the sand 
 about six feet long, a foot wide, and three inches deep, and 
 having deposited her spawn in it, throws a little sand over it 
 with her tail, and departs, leaving her eggs to be hatched and 
 the offspring to be fed as best they can. In the month of 
 May the young salmon are found on their way to the sea, 
 from three to six inches long. It is sujiposed that the salmon 
 always return to the river in which they were born : so tliat 
 the salmon born in the Klamath River never enter San Fran- 
 cisco Bay, nor do those born in the Sacramento and San Joa- 
 quin Rivers ever enter Humboldt Bay. Although the sea- 
 son in which salmon are abundant in the rivers extends from 
 November to June, yet some of them are found in the 
 
ZOOLOGY. 409 
 
 streams of Califoniia at all seasons, and they can be had fresh 
 in tlie San Francisco market every day in the year. 
 
 The quinnat is the chief salmon of all the streams and bays 
 of California, but Gairdner's salmon {Fario gairdneri) is 
 found in the Klamath lliver, iini\. the steUatus salmon in Hum- 
 boldt Bay and its tributaries. Gairdner's salmon has a sil- 
 very-gray back, silvery sides, and a yellowish-white belly. 
 The body has numerous indistinct, blackish spots. The stel- 
 latus salmon is light-olive in the back, yellowish-white on the 
 belly, and rarely exceeds two or three pounds in weight. 
 
 § 326. Halibut. — There are two species of halibut on the 
 coast of California, tlie Californian (Hipjwglossus cal'tforni- 
 ciis) and tlie common {Ilipjyoglossiis vulgaris). Tiiere is 
 some doubt whether the latter species is properly named ; if it 
 be, then we have one species of fish found on the Atlantic 
 coast. The Californian halibut is a slender fish, weigliing at 
 the largest twenty-five pounds, in color grayish-brown above 
 and white below. The halibut prefer a colder climate, and 
 are not sufficiently abundant in this latitude to sustain a spec- 
 ial fishery ; but a few are in our market throughout the year. 
 They live in deep water, and in places where the bottom is 
 rocky. They eat little fish and shell-fish, and bite readily at 
 the hook. Their meat is very delicate. 
 
 § 327, Turbot. — The turbot {Pleiironychthys riu/osKs) is 
 the only large fiat-fish, except the halibut, found along our 
 shore. It inhabits deep waters and rocky bottoms, eats fish, 
 and bites readily at the hook, is one of the best fish in our 
 market, and sometimes grows to weigh twenty pounds, but 
 the common size is from three to ten pounds. 
 
 § 328. Sole. — We have four species of small fiat-fish, com- 
 monly called soles {Psettichthys sordidus, Psettichthys inela- 
 nostictus, Parophrys vetidus, and Platessa bilineata). They 
 ai'e so much alike, that they are not distinguished from 
 one another by fishermen generally. The Platessa bilineata is 
 the largest, sometimes weighing two pounds ; the others rarely 
 
410 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 exceed one pound. They frequent the shallow waters of the 
 Bay of San Francisco, and are caught abundantly in nets at 
 all seasons of the year. The flat-fishes do not bury them- 
 selves in the mud here through the winter, as tliey do in the 
 North Atlantic. The soles feed on Crustacea, little fishes, and 
 marine animacula?. 
 
 § 329. Mackerel. — The mackerel, {Scomber diego)' found 
 north of Point Conce]>tion, is good, but not more than half as 
 large as the Atlantic mackerel, rarely exceeding ten inches ia 
 length. It lies near the surface of the water at sea, and is not 
 fond of entering bays, or going very near the shore. Like its 
 Eastern congener, it bites readily at any white rag or shining 
 white substance jerked through the water. 
 
 § 330, Mock-Fish. — The rock-fish furnish the main supply 
 of fish in the San Francisco market. All belong to the genus 
 Sebastes, of which there are eight species, the most important 
 being the red, (rosaceus) black, {melanops) and wharf rock- 
 fish (auricidatus). The red rock-fish grows to weigh twenty 
 pounds ; the other species rarely exceed four or five. The 
 wharf rock-fish is the only one caught in the bay ; the others 
 live out at sea, in deep water and on rocky bottoms ; they eat 
 crabs and shell-fish, and bite freely at hooks. Tiiey are al- 
 ways in market, and their meat is excellent at all seasons. 
 
 § 331. Sturgeon. — The sturgeon is represented in this 
 State by thi-ee species, the only important one being the Cali- 
 fornian sturgeon, Avhich sometimes reaches a length of nine 
 feet, with a weight of 300 pounds. It is a sea-fish, but 
 spawns in fresh water, and it is caught in the Bay of San 
 Francisco and tributaries at all seasons of the year ; whereas 
 in the Eastern States there are seasons for sturgeon in the 
 market, as there are for beans and peas. 
 
 The sturgeon eats the slimy matter, both animal and vege- 
 table, at the bottom of the sea. It never bites, its mouth 
 being circular in form, and fitted only for sucking. It has a 
 habit of shooting \ip from the bottom and springing out of 
 
ZOOLOGY. 411 
 
 water, and then falling flat upon its belly, making a loud 
 sj^lasli — very difterent from the porjDoise, which also darts out 
 of the water, but always strikes head first, making little noise. 
 Some ichthyologists suppose tliat the object of the sturgeon in 
 thus falling on the water is to free itself from parasites; 
 others, that it is merely a kind of play. The spawning-season 
 is not known precisely, but it is probably from December to 
 May. The meat of the sturgeon is coarse, and in the market 
 is worth only about one-fourth or one-sixth of that of the 
 better table fishes ; but the sturgeon fishery is profitable, be- 
 cause of the abundance and large size of the fish. 
 
 § 332. Jewfish. — The Jewfish, {Stereohjns gigas) one of 
 the largest scale-fishes, weighing sometimes five hundred 
 pounds— is abundant south of Point Conception, and rarely 
 straggles as far north as San Francisco Bay. Only two have 
 been caught near the Golden Gate, and one of them filled the 
 city with wonder. It is a bottom fish, living in deep and shoal 
 water, and frequenting lagoons and kelp. It often comes to 
 the surface, and according to report, goes to sleep there. It 
 bites readily at the hook, and may be taken with harpoons. 
 The meat is very good. 
 
 § 333. Simjish. — The sunfish, [Orthagoriseus analis) 
 though not abundant, is frequently found south of Point Con- 
 ception, wliere it is seen floating on the surface, in accordance 
 with the habits of the genus everywhere. Its form suggests 
 the idea that the body has been cut off near the broadest part, 
 and the tail sewed on, and its usual weight ranges from fifty 
 to one hundred pounds. 
 
 § 334. Greenfish. — The greenfish, (Opplo)nona pantheri- 
 na) generally called cod in the San Francisco market, but 
 having no relationship to the true cod, is abundant along the 
 coast. It grows to about two feet in length. The meat is 
 coarse, and green in color ; and the fish has little commercial 
 value. 
 
412 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 335. Sea-Bass. — The sea-bass [Johnius nohilis) is a 
 plain, oval fish, bluish-gray in color above, silvery below, 
 weighing from fifteen to forty pounds. It is closely related to 
 the weak-fish of the New York market. The meat is white 
 and delicate, and always commands a high price in the 
 market. It is a surface fish, and sometimes enters tlie bays, 
 but it is not abundant anywhere. It is caught from March to 
 November. 
 
 § 336. Sheepshead. — The Californian sheepshead (Labinis 
 pulcher) is a black fish, with a broad, bright- red band sur- 
 rounding the body, and weighs from one to twelve pounds. 
 It has Avhite, broad, projecting teeth, like those of a sheep. It 
 has no relationship to the Atlantic sheepshead, but is a conge- 
 ner of the black-fish of the New Yoi-k market. The meat 
 has a very fine flavor when fi-esh, but loses its delicacy after 
 being dead a day or two. It is found sonth of Point Concep- 
 tion, on rocky and kelpy bottoms, from April to October. Its 
 food is chiefly shell-fish. 
 
 § 337. Smelts. — We have four species of fisli called smelts 
 ( Atherniojms californiensis, Atherniopsis affinis, Osmerus 
 preciosiis, and Osmerus simills). The Athemiopses are not 
 true smelts, but belong to the same genus with the sander- 
 lings of the Atlantic, which last are thrown away, or used only 
 as bait ; whereas our Atherniopses are valuable fislies. The 
 Athei'niopsis caUfomiefisis forms the great bulk of the smelts 
 in our market. It is the largest of the Pacific smelts, sometimes 
 reaching a length of fifteen inches, and a pound in weight. The 
 Osmerus species are small. All of them have bright silver 
 bands along their sides. The smelts are more abundant liere 
 than on the Eastern Coast, and are the best of our small fishes. 
 They are caught at all seasons of the year ; in the bays with 
 nets — never at sea, or with hooks. 
 
 § 338. Anchovi/. — There are two ancliovies {Enyraidis 
 mordax and Engrcmlis nanus) on the coast of California. 
 They are so nearly alike, that they are undistinguishable ex- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 413 
 
 cept by iclithyologists. Both are small, from four to six inches 
 long, very delicate in Havor, but very bony. They are fully 
 equal to the European anchovy for the table. They feed on 
 minute aniraalculjB, go in shoals, and are caught with nets in 
 the bays at all seasons of the year. 
 
 § 339. Sardine and Herring. — The sardine {lleletta ceru- 
 lea) is abundant from Ilumljoldt Bay to San Diego. It grows 
 to a length of eight or nine inches, and is therefore much larger 
 than the Mediterranean sardine, to which it is fully equal in 
 flavor. It is found along the coast from April to October, and 
 is caught in the bays with nets. 
 
 The herring (CT«/^>ea mirahilis) is not so abundant as the 
 Atlantic species, nor so large, but is equal in flavor. It comes 
 in the spring, and goes in the autumn. 
 
 § 340. Viviparoiis Fishes. — The viviparous or embiotocoid 
 fishes of this Coast are a peculiar feature of its ichtliyology. 
 They constitute, perhaps, the most remarkable natural group 
 of fishes in the world, and their discovery caused a marked 
 sensation among zoologists. Other viviparous fishes have been 
 previously known, but their young are brought forth in a very 
 immature condition ; whereas the little embiotocoid fishes are 
 born with a fullness of development similar to that of warm- 
 blooded animals, and the moment after they leave the mother 
 they are seen swimming about and taking care of themselves. 
 There are seventeen or eighteen species belonging to the sev- 
 eral genera, among which the emhiotoca and holconotis ai"e 
 prominent. All are marine fishes save one, which is found in 
 fresh water. Tliey weigh from half a pound to three pounds, 
 and most of them are grayish brown above and silvery be- 
 neath. They are abundant in the market at all seasons of the 
 year, and are called " perch " by the fishermen, though they 
 bear no relationship to the true perch. The meat is not good. 
 The young are born from April to August. 
 
 § 341. Flyin(j-Fi!>h. — The Californian flying-fish, {E.voce- 
 tus californicus) found ofl" our coast from Santa Cruz to San 
 
414 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Diego, grows to be aboi;t sixteen inches long, with flying fins 
 nine inches long. These start out back of the gills, and when 
 folded down against the body, reach nearly to the tail. It can 
 fly from 200 to 400 yards, does not reach a height of more 
 than 25 feet, nor stay out of water more than a minute at a 
 time. It is seldom caught, save when it flies on a vessel. The 
 meat is palatable. 
 
 § 342. FresliAoater Fishes. — Among the fresh-water fishes 
 the most important is the brook-trout, {Salar iridea) which 
 is found in all the mountain streams of the State, and 
 offers fine sport for fly-fishing. It not unfrequently grows to 
 weigh two pounds, and if report is to be believed, sometimes 
 reaches ten and twelve pounds. In appearance and flavor it 
 is similar to the trout of otlier countries. 
 
 A fish called the salmon-trout, {Plychocheilus grandis) but 
 not related to the salmon, the trout, or the salmon-trout, found 
 in all the large rivers and lakes of California, weighing 30 
 pounds at its largest size, is caught with the hook or net in 
 winter. The meat is insipid. It lives on shell-fish, whicli it 
 crushes in its throat, where its teeth are. 
 
 A chub, {Tygoma crassicauda) and two suckers, (Catosto- 
 mus lahiatus and Catostomus occidentalis) never weighing 
 more than three pounds, are also found in our rivers. They 
 are not valuable. 
 
 § 343. Reptiles. — The snakes of California are not large, 
 numerous, or remarkable. Only one of tliem, the rattle- 
 snake, is poisonous. 
 
 The scorpion is found in the warmer portions of the State, 
 but is not abundant. 
 
 Tarantulas are common in Calaveras, Mariposa, Fresno, and 
 Tulare Counties. Tiiey belong to the same genus with the 
 spiders, but the body grows to be three inches long and an 
 inch wide, and the entire length from end to end of out- 
 stretched legs is five inches. The body and legs are covered 
 with silky, brown hair. The tarantula eats little insects of vari- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 415 
 
 ous kinds, but, unlike most other sj^iders, lias no net. It lives 
 in a hole in tlie ground, not much larger than itself when 
 pressed into the smallest comjjass, and the hole is covered by 
 a little door on a hinge, which closes by its own weight, or by 
 a spring. In the top of the door are several little holes, into 
 which the tarantula can insert its claws when it wishes to en- 
 ter; and so quick are its motions when terrified, that it often 
 disappears suddenly under the eyes of men pursuing it, and 
 they have great dilficulty in finding its hiding-place. The 
 door fits tightly, and is larger on the outside, so that it never 
 sticks fast. 
 
 The bite of the tarantula is poisonous, but not fatal — or at 
 least has never, so far as I know, proved fatal in California. 
 It rarely bites men, and generally fiees when it discovers their 
 approach. The tarantulas have dangerous enemies in several 
 species of wasps, the females of which kill them by thrusting 
 eggs into their bodies. When the larvae of the wasp are 
 hatched, they make food of the carcass. So soon as the tar- 
 antula dies, the wasp drags it to her hole, usually the deserted 
 burrow of a sperraophile, where she may collect twenty or 
 thirty dead tarantulas in one season. There are three difter- 
 ent species of these wasps : one kind is blue, another yellow. 
 Sometimes the wasp darts down repeatedly upon the taran- 
 tula, and does not touch him except with her egg-planter, de- 
 positing an egg at every thrust. On other occasions the two 
 grapple, and the wasp continues to insert her eggs until the 
 tarantula dies. The editor of a newspaper of Mariposa thus 
 describes the killing of a tarantula : " Some of our readers 
 may have heard of the tenacity with which the venomous tar- 
 antula is pursued by an inveterate enemy, in the form of a huge 
 wasp — invariably resulting in the defeat and death of tlie for- 
 mer. We were an eye-witness to one of these confiicts last 
 week, while on a ramble among the adjacent hills. This is 
 the season when the poisonous tarantula leaves his well-fash- 
 ioned abode to perambulate the dusty roads and smooth paths 
 
416 RESOURCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 SO often trod by tlie industrious miners ; and about their 
 haunts a dozen or more may be seen any day, of tliis hideous 
 enlargement of the spider-race, within a circuit of a few 
 yards, leisurely wending their way along the roads and by- 
 ways. Often have we marked, with attentive curiosity, his 
 awkvvanl. ^ait wliilo lifting his long, unwieldy legs above the 
 sliort blades of grass, and wondered for what uses and pur- 
 I^oses this ugly little monster was placed upon this beautiful 
 globe. While attentively watcliing the motions of one of 
 these ijisccts during our walk, we were much surprised to see 
 the object of our attraction suddenly stop sliort in his wan- 
 derings and raise itself up to its full height, as though watch- 
 ing the coming of some unwelcome visitor. AYe at lirst su^j- 
 posed that it had just espied us, and was expecting danger at 
 our hands; but upon our retreating a few steps, he quickly 
 crouched behind a tuft of dried grass, and remaining very 
 qniet, seemed to make himself as small as possible. A slight 
 buzzing was heard in the air, and in a moment a wasp passed 
 near, hovering on the wing over his trembling victim, the 
 much-dreaded tai'antula. Like some bird of prey, the wasp 
 remained thus jtuisfd for a moment, and then, quick as 
 thought, darted down upon the enemy, and stung him many 
 times with great rai)idity. Tlie tarantula, smarting under the 
 pain, began a retreat, with all tlie speed of which he was 
 capable; but the wasp hung over him with wonderful tenac- 
 ity, and again and again struck him with liis venomous sting. 
 Gradually the llight of the tarantula became slower and 
 more irregular, and at length, under the repeated thi'usts of 
 his conqueror, he died, biting the grass with his terrible 
 fangs." 
 
 Several species of small spiders, which live in a dwelling 
 like those of the tarantula, and therefore called " trap-door" 
 spiders, are found in California, and one kind has many rep- 
 resentatives on Telegrai)h Hill, in San Francisco. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 417 
 
 Locusts and grasslioppers are abundant in the valleys ; 
 mosquitoes in the tules, and along the streams in the Sacra- 
 mento Basin ; and tlies everywhere. 
 
 § 344, IIoneii-Deio Aphis. — Among tlie noteworthy insects 
 of the State is one which secretes a sweet liquid called " lioney- 
 dew," and deposits it on trees. It is transparent, thick like 
 honey, and sweet, sometimes with a bitter after-taste, but more 
 frequently having a flavor like parched corn. The leaves and 
 twigs are covered with it, the deposit usually being nearly even, 
 occasionally in s|)ots or drops. The honey-dew is more fre- 
 quently found on oak-trees than on any other tree or bush ; and 
 oftener in dry seasons, and remote fi-om the coast, tlian in wet 
 weather or within reach of the sea-fogs. A kind of molasses 
 may be made by breaking oif the twigs covered with the seci-e- 
 tion, and boiUng them in water. Honey-dew is found in most 
 countries where tlie soil is barren or the climate dry, and may 
 be the same with the manna of the Hebrews. 
 
 § 345, Shell-Fish — We have five species of shell-fish val- 
 uable for tlie table : one oyster, two mussels, one cockle, and a 
 soft-slielled clam. The oysters are small, not finely-flavored, 
 nor abundant. 
 
 The abelone or aulone {Haliotis) is found as far north as 
 Point Reyes, and abounds south of Point Conception. It is a 
 mollusk witli one shell, from five to seven inches across ; beau- 
 tifully iridescent, and is much used in the arts for buttons, knife- 
 handles, and inlaying. Many vessels are engaged in fishing 
 for them. The abeiones stick to the rocks and to each other, 
 collecting in some places in masses two feet tliick ; the fisher- 
 men break them ofi* from the rocks with a spade. When the 
 abeiones do not susj)ect danger, they loosen tlieir hold and raise 
 their shells from the rock, and then the fisherman may easily 
 thrust his spade down along the surface of the stone ; but if 
 he alarms the abelone beforehand, lie finds the shells fastened 
 down to the rock with great power, and all the strength of a 
 man is scarcely suflicient to pry one of them ofi". The meat of 
 27 
 
418 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the abelone is eaten by the Chinese, who dry it into a sub- 
 stance resembling a colt's hoof in color, and liardness, and 
 shape. 
 
 There are two cowries on the coast of California ; one sliell 
 of the harp {harpa) genus, so called because ribs suggesting the 
 strings of a harp run down over its sides from its spiral crown ; 
 four species of the olive, (oliva) which resemble the fruit of the 
 same in size, shape, and color; one species of the volifta, (simi- 
 lar to the harp, but without its ribs) ; twelve species of the lim- 
 pet, and two species of the bivalve pilgrim shell, (pecten) used 
 sometimes by ladies for pincushions. All these contribute to 
 make the beaches in the southern part of the State attractive. 
 
 We have no lobster, but a prawn, {Palimiris) very similar 
 to the lobster in size, color, flavor, habits, and general appear- 
 ance, except that it lacks the large claws. Crabs are abun- 
 dant. 
 
 The shrimp {Crangon francisconim) is found in the bays of 
 California, and was very abundant a few years ago ; but lately 
 it is getting scarce, at least in San Francisco Bay. 
 
 Coral grows off the coast at various points, as far north as 
 tl e Farallones ; and sponge is found from Santa Barbara south- 
 ward in small quantities. 
 
 The climate is so dry in many parts of the State that land 
 mollusks are comparatively rare, and some of the snails 
 adapt themselves to the circumstances by estivating, or re- 
 maining torpid in the hot dry months, as other animals hy- 
 bernate in very cold weather farther north. 
 
 A sea-egg, {Echhms) sea-urchin, or sea-porcupine, as it is 
 variously called, has a shell nearly spherical in shape, and 
 about three inches in diameter, with spines three inclies long 
 and an eighth of an inch in diameter. The flesh is jmlatable, 
 and the spines are sometimes used as slate-pencils. 
 
 § 346. )Ship-Worm. — The ship-worm (Teredo navalis) is 
 probably not indigenous in the waters of California, but it 
 abounds in our bays, and does great damage. It is a worm 
 
ZOOLOGY. 419 
 
 of soft flesh, But is provided with bone-like cutters, or teeth, 
 with Avhich it bores through hard wood, sometimes making a 
 hole a third of an inch in diametei*. It usually follows the 
 grain, lives only in wood below high tide in salt water, and 
 never descends far below low tide. The mixture of fresh 
 water witli that from the sea diminishes the activity of the 
 teredo, and in seasons of drought they do comparatively much 
 injury in San Francisco Bay, but little after abundant rains, 
 continuing late into the summer. The eggs are thrown out 
 upon the water and carried about by the current. If they 
 stick upon wood, they hatch and bore in, and once inside they 
 never leave it till it is converted into honey-comb. Piles fif- 
 teen inches through, unless covered with metal or filled with 
 some substance (creosote, for instance) ofl:ensive to the ship- 
 worm, are usually rendered worthless in five years, and some- 
 times in three. 
 
 Another harbor pest is the gribble, (Litnnoria) a worm 
 about one-tenth of an inch long, which lives in wood exposed 
 to sea water, between high and low tide, and unlike the teredo, 
 eats across the grain, and comes out to the surface. 
 
420 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LAW. 
 
 § 347, Constitution. — California is a State in the American 
 Union, nominally sovereign, but subject to the superior author- 
 ity of Congress over commerce, naturalization, coinage, cur- 
 rency, foreign relations, and the army and navy. The execu- 
 tive officers of State ai-e elected by the people, a year before 
 the Presidential election, and hold office for four years. The 
 legislative power of the State is held by a Senate, of forty 
 members, who hold office four years, (lialf being elected every 
 alternate year) and an Assembly of eighty members, all of 
 whom are elected every odd year. The Legislature holds a 
 regular session of four months once in two years, commencing 
 in December of every odd year. The members generally are 
 men wdth little experience in business, and little character. 
 Gross corruption is common among them. 
 
 The Supreme Court of California has five judges, who are 
 elected by the people, and \vho hold their office for a term of 
 ten j^ears. It has no original jurisdiction, and devotes itself to 
 the decision of law questions brought up on appeal from the 
 District Courts, of which there are twenty. The District Judges 
 are elected by thepeojile for six years, and have original j uris- 
 diction hi cases of mandamus, injunction, land titles, divorces, 
 suits for more than $300 in money, murder, and arson that 
 might cause death. Crimes are tried in the County Courts. 
 
LAW. 421 
 
 Eitlier party can have a jun^ in any case, and it may be waived 
 in civil suits or trials for misdemeanor, but not in felonies. The 
 judges of California have, as a class, been learned, able, and 
 upright men, and have been far superior to the legislative and 
 executive officers in learning, capacity, and integrity. 
 
 The county officers are mostly elected for terms of two or 
 four years, and they are generally chosen on account of serv- 
 ice rendered to the successful party. The term of service be- 
 ing brief, reelection doubtful, ejection for incompetency un- 
 heard of, and punishment for malfeasance — notwithstanding 
 the frequency of the offense — very rare, thei'e is no sufficient 
 motive to stimulate the officials to study their duties, or to 
 comply very strictly with them, so far as known. 
 
 The Federal as well as the State offices are the subjects of 
 scramble once in four years, or oftener, and success is not de- 
 termined by the public interests. The partisan system of the 
 United States is corrupt and corrupting everywJiere, and in few 
 States has its influence been more pernicious than here. San 
 Francisco has fortunately repudiated it, and most of her offi- 
 cials have been chosen in defiance of the Republican and Dem- 
 oci'atic wire-workers, and her administration has been in many 
 respects better than that of any other American city. 
 
 § 348. Marriage. Marriage, by the law of California, is a 
 civil contract. No ceremonial form, publication of banns, 
 consent of parents, blessing of piiest, seal of magistrate, or 
 presence of witness, is necessary to give validity to the con- 
 tract, if the parties be adults. Although the law does not 
 require a ceremony, yet custom does, and the priests and 
 preachers are usually called in to perform it. Divorce may 
 be granted for adultery, habitual intemperance, extreme 
 cruelty, desertion for two years, sentence to the State prison 
 for two years or more, and impotence. There has been much 
 complaint that the statute renders divorce too easy, but the 
 general opinion of California is favorable to the law as it is. 
 
422 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 349. Inheritance. — The husband can convey his separate 
 property and one-half of the common property by will, at his 
 pleasure. If, however, he gives little or nothing to his chil- 
 dren or wife, the jury in the Probate Court may declare him 
 insane, and set the will aside. If he died without a will, his 
 widow takes one-half if there be no child, or only one child, 
 and one-third if tliere be two or more cliildren. If there be 
 no child, half shall go to his father, and if there be no father 
 living, then to the mother, brothers, and sistei-s in equal shares, 
 or the entire half to one if only one be alive. If the intestate 
 had a child who died before him and left children, they get 
 the share of their parent. The children inherit equally when 
 they inherit anything. No distinction is made on account of 
 age or sex. If the intestate leave no wife or child, all goes 
 to the father, and if he leave no child, parent, brother, or sis- 
 ter, all goes to the wife. In case of the death of the wife 
 without a will, her property descends in the same manner to 
 her husband, children, and relatives. 
 
 No legacy to a corporation is valid, unless the corporation 
 be expressly authorized by its charter, or by statute to take 
 bequests. 
 
 § 350. Conveyance of Land. — Real estate is conveyed by 
 " grant." The Statute gives the following as a valid form : 
 
 I, A B , gi-ant to C D all that real j^rop- 
 
 erty situated in County, State of California, bounded as 
 
 follows . 
 
 Witness my hand this day of 18 — . 
 
 A. B. 
 
 No seal is necessary, and a fee-simple title passes, unless a 
 limitation be expressed. Under the English law, if the con- 
 veyance were made to " John Smith," t-imply, the title reverted 
 to the grantor when Smith died ; and to get a fee-simple the 
 conveyance was made to '' John Smith and his heirs." 
 
 The use of the word " grant " in a fee-simple conveyance in 
 
LAW. 423 
 
 California, implies and covenants that tlie grantor lias not pre- 
 viously conveyed his title or any part of it to any other per- 
 son, or encumbered it in any way ; in other words, he cove- 
 nants that tlie title is as good as when he got it. The grant 
 title is equivalent to the " bargain and sale " title, which was 
 in general use before 1873. Warranty conveyances have 
 never been extensively used in California. 
 
 § 351. Tenure of Land. — Most of the land in California 
 is owned by the Federal Government, which acquired it from 
 Mexico by treaty. This Federal land lies in the mineral re- 
 gions, and in all the unsettled districts of the State. Most of 
 it has been surveyed, and with the exception of land in the 
 mineral districts, is oiFered to homestead settlers, in lots of 
 forty acres, or tracts of any size of which forty is a multiple, 
 not exceeding 160 acres. 
 
 Most of the land held in private ownership in the State, is 
 under grants made by Mexico previous to 1846, Of these 
 grants there are eight hundred and thirteen, covering a total 
 of 9,828,181 acres. Of these claims, about one hundred and 
 fifty, covering about 3,000,000 acres, have been finally rejected, 
 and some are as yet undecided. The grants were for large 
 tracts called ranchos, intended to be used chiefiy or ex- 
 clusively for pasturage, and the average size was about 12,- 
 000 acres, or three square leagues. The grants were made, 
 not by the acre or by the mile, but by the square league, con- 
 taining 4,438 acres and a fraction, or, to be precise, 4,438.683 
 acres. Every ranch had its name, for it was a kind of princi- 
 pality ; and these names have in many cases been transferred to 
 towns and townships under the American dominion. 
 
 The common tenure of land in California is fee-simple. 
 Such conditional tenures as are common in Europe are very 
 rare hei'e, and many of them are prohibited by our laws. We 
 have few life estates, nor is any lease or limited conveyance of 
 land good for a longer period than ten years, unless it be a 
 town lot, and then the limit is twenty years. All conveyances 
 
424 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 of real estate are placed upou record in a Government office, 
 and without si;cli record they are not valid as against persons 
 not parties to the conveyance, and not informed of its exist- 
 ence. 
 
 § 352. Separate Property. — The property owned by either 
 the husband or wife before marriage, and by gift, bequwt, or 
 inheritance after marriage, belongs to each separately ; and 
 the property acquired after marriage by other means than 
 gift, bequest, or inheritance, is common property, belonging in 
 equal shares to both. The husband, however, has sole control 
 of it. The wife has no right of dower, and the husband lias 
 sole control of the common property, and may sell, without 
 the consent of the wife, any of it except tlie homestead ; a 
 deed or mortgage for wliich, without lier signature and seal, is 
 absolutely void. The husband cannot convey liis interest un- 
 less she conveys her interest at the same time. " The wife 
 may, without the consent of her husband, convey her separate 
 property." That is the language of the Code, and it implies 
 that she can lease, repair, give valid receipts for rent, bring 
 suit for the protection of her title, and do other acts that re- 
 quire less |)Ower than does a sale. 
 
 § 353, llining Claims. — All valuable mineral deposits on 
 land belonging to the United States, surveyed or unsurveyed, 
 are free and open to exploration and working without charge, 
 and also to purchase by any citizen, or any foreigner who has 
 declared his intention to become a citizen. Aliens have no 
 right to take up mining claims or to purchase land from tlie 
 Goverimient, but they can hold by valid title when they pur- 
 chase from citizens. Alining claims shall be governed by the 
 conditions prescribed in State or Territorial legislation, or if 
 there be none, then of the regulations adopted by the miners 
 of the district ; but no claim must exceed fifteen hundred feet 
 in length, whetlier taken up by a person or a company, nor 
 shall the width be more than thi-ee hundred feet, or less than 
 twenty -five feet on each side of any lode. 
 
LAW. 425 
 
 § 354. Titles to Mines. — Any person or company holdiug 
 a valid claim to a lode mine, after sj^ending $500 in working 
 it, may obtain a perfect title to it, by patent, from the Federal 
 Land Office, on paying for the survey and for the land at the 
 rate of $5 per acre. The survey shoiild not follow' the rectan- 
 gular lines adopted in the agricultural districts, and should in- 
 clude only the claim. Titles for tracts not exceeding five 
 acres, used for mills or dumps, may also be obtained by 
 patent. Titles for placers may be obtained in rectangular 
 tracts not less than ten acres in size, conforming to the gen- 
 eral system of surveys ; and no patent shall cover more than 
 160 acres of mineral land. The patent issues only to the 
 bolder of a valid placer mining claim, who has spent $500 in 
 working it, and he must pay $2.50 an acre for it. 
 
 Grants of land by Mexico did not carry any title to the 
 minerals under the law of that country ; but the patents based 
 on Mexican grants issued by the United States convey the ab- 
 solute ownership of all the minerals. 
 
 Title to water can be acquired by appi'opriation to a useful 
 purpose, at least of all the water on land belonging to the 
 Federal Government. 
 
 § 355. Lmos Favorable to Debtors. — The laws of Califor- 
 nia relating to the collection of debts are very favorable to the 
 debtor. His homestead, the property owned by his wife pre- 
 vious to marriage, that given to her afterward, his household 
 furniture to the value of two hundred dollars, bis tools, if a 
 mechanic, his horse and wagon, if a teamster, and his li- 
 brary, if a lawyer, ai-e exempt from execution. A married 
 man, a widow or widower with children, or any head of a 
 family, is entitled to a homestead worth five thousand dollars, 
 secure against creditors. An unmarried person may have a 
 homestead worth one thousand dollars. Such laws may pre- 
 vent much oppression of poor people, but they also pi'otect 
 and encourage much rascality. A man may own a homestead 
 worth five thousand dollars, and that may include a very ele- 
 
426 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 gant dwelling. His household furniture, worth as mucli more, 
 may have been presented by some friend to his wife after mar- 
 riage. She may have a separate estate of one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, and may derive an annual income of ten or 
 twenty thousand dollars from it, and both may live in an ex- 
 travagant style, and yet creditors have no hold upon him 
 whatever. There is no imprisonment for debt, except in cases 
 of fraud, which it is almost impossible to prove. In many 
 ways the debtor is fenced about, so that the laws seem to have 
 been devised by men who had had experience in swindling 
 creditors, and wished to secure themselves against trouble in 
 the future. 
 
 The laws of California, like the customs and trade, do not 
 favor the perpetuation of wealth in families. Tliere is no 
 right of primogeniture. All children inlierit equally. The 
 eldest son gets no more than the youngest. Public opin- 
 ion runs with the law. The rich man who expressed an 
 intention to give all his property to liis eldest son, merely be- 
 cause of his seniority, would be hated. Entails are forbidden. 
 How different is all this from the state of affairs in Europe ! 
 There, at least in some countries, all the property goes to the 
 eldest son ; property is entailed in the family for many genera- 
 tions ; the debtor is subject to imprisonment ; thei'e is no re- 
 lease for insolvents ; the property of the woman is by marriage 
 vested absolutely in the husband, and does not revert by in- 
 heritance to her blood relatives by her death ; the limitations 
 for commencing law-suits are very long, and sales, if not 
 made at the market price, or contracts, if made so tliat one 
 party a])pears to have obtained an advantage of the other, 
 may be rescinded. The habits and opinions of the people 
 give strength to their laws ; and wealth once in a family is 
 almost as certain to be transmitted through many generations 
 by inheritance in Europe, as its loss in the second or tliird gen- 
 eration is certain in the new States of America. 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 427 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
 
 § 356. Neto Names. — The topographical names of Cali- 
 fornia dilier much from those of other States in the Union, 
 where tliere is a disagreeable repetition of familiar names. 
 Our people have not attempted to immortalize Franklin, Jef- 
 ferson, Madison, Adams, Henry, Randolph, Clay, Cass, Ben- 
 ton, Webster, Taylor, Fillmore, Polk, Pierce, or Buchanan, by 
 affixing their tiresome patronymics to counties or towns. All 
 our prominent places are designated by titles comparatively 
 new to the English language. 
 
 The topographical names of the State are derived from three 
 languages — Spanish, English, and Indian. The names along 
 the southern coast and about the Bay of San Francisco — dis- 
 tricts wliich were populated by the Spaniards long before the 
 Americans came to the country — are chiefly Spanish. The 
 larger rivers in the Sacramento basin were known to the 
 Spaniards, and were named by them jjrevious to 1846. The 
 mining districts of the Sierra Nevada and the Klamatli basin, 
 and tlie coast north of 40°, were first explored and settled by 
 the Americans, and therefore the names are of English origin. 
 The Indian names are numerous. 
 
 § 357. Sacred Spanish Names. — The Spanish names may 
 be divided into the sacred and profane. The first Spanish set- 
 tlers were Catholic missionaries, in whose almanac every day 
 
428 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 is named after some saint, and in wliose faith the saints were 
 but little below divinity. It was customary for them to keep 
 the saints constantly in mind, and when they came to a 
 strange place, to name it after the saint upon whose day they 
 had reached it. Thus it is that nearly all the settlements 
 made by or under the missionaries are sanctified. 
 
 The male saints have " San," the females " Santa" to pre- 
 cede their Cln-istian names, as in English we have " Saint." 
 Some uneducated Americans corrupt the " San " or " Santa " 
 before certain Spanish names into " Saint," and say " Saint 
 Francisco." Bat the more intelligent Americans adhere to 
 the Spanish spelling, and generally to the i)ronujicialion. The 
 (I g j> jj^ u San^" however, is usually pronounced like the " a " 
 in the English " fat," while the Spanish sound is more like 
 that in " far," and the last " s " in " San Jose " and " Santa 
 Rosa," is ordinarily given like an English " z " rather than a 
 Si:)anish " s." 
 
 The Missions were all named from saints or sacred dogmas. 
 There are San Miguel, San Gabriel, and San Rafael (from the 
 three archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael), San Juan 
 Bautista and San Juan Gapistrano (St. John the Baptist and 
 St. John of Cajjistrano), San Francisco de Assisi and San 
 Francisco de Solano, San Luis Rey and San Luis Obispo (St. 
 Louis the king and St. Louis the bishop), San Garlo.-=, Santa 
 Clara, Santa Barbara, San Jose (St. Joseph), Santa Inez Vir- 
 gen y Martyr (St. Inez the virgin and martyr), San Antonio 
 de Padua (St. Anthony), San Fernando Rey (St. Ferdinand 
 the king), San Buenaventura, La Purisima Concepcion (the 
 Most Pure Conception), Nuestra Seiiora de Soledad (our 
 Lady of Solitude), San Diego (St. James), and Santa Cruz 
 (the Holy Cross). 
 
 Among the saints whose names are applied to places not 
 missions, are San Pedro (Peter), San Pablo (Paul), San Mateo 
 (Matthew), San Andres (Andrew), San Marcos (^lark), San 
 Simeon, San Joaquin (Joachim), San Nicolas, San Clemente, 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 429 
 
 San Lorenzo (Lawrence), San Leanclro (Leander), San Pascual, 
 San llanion, San Felipe (Philip), San Cayetano (Cnyetan), 
 Santa Marta (Martha), Santa Maria, Santa Paula (Pauline), 
 Santa Rosa, Santa Isabel, Santa Margarita, Santa Catalina, 
 Santa Susana, Santa Lucia, and Santa Gertrudis. Other Span- 
 ish sacred names, not derived from saints, are Trinidad 
 (Trinity), Sacramento (Sacrament), Jesus Maria (Jesus the 
 Son of Mary), and Nuestra Senora La Reina de los Angeles 
 (Our Lady the Queen of the Angels). 
 
 § 358, Profane Spanish Names. — Among the Spanish pro- 
 fane names are Agua Fria (cold water), Agua Caliente (hot 
 water, or warm spring), Vallecito (little valley), Esperanza 
 (hope), Campo Seco (dry tield), Garrote, Hornitos (little oven), 
 Salinas (salt places), Alameda (an avenue of elms or cotton- 
 wood trees), Saucelito (a little clump of willows, mure j)roperly 
 spelled Sauzalito),Laguua Seca (dry lagoon), Cienega (puddle), 
 Mei'ced (mercy), Buena Yista (good view). Contra Costa (the 
 opposite coast, the shore opposite the bay of Sau Francisco), 
 Del Norte (of the north), Plumas (feathers), Tulare (a place of 
 tules), El Dorado (the golden land), Fresno (ash), Nevada 
 (snowy). Sierra (mountain chain), Placer (g*'ld dig;;ings), 
 Calaveras (skulls), Mariposa (butterfly), Alcatraz (pelican), 
 Farallones (points of rock in the sea), Corte Madera (place 
 where wood is cut), Monte (the mountain or forest), Loma 
 Prieta (black hill), Monte Diablo (the devil's mountain), 
 Montecito (little mountain or little forest). Alamo (elm or Cot- 
 tonwood tree). Alamo Mocho (the cropped cotton w uod), Pajaro 
 (bird). Coyote, and Tejon (a badger). Some of these names 
 have been changed by the Americans. The Spaniards say, 
 el Rio de las Mariposas (the river of the butterflies), el Rio de 
 las Calaveras, el Rio de los Pajaros, la Isla de las Alcatraces, 
 la Bahia de San Francisco (the bay of San Francisco), La 
 Mision de San Gabriel (the Mission of San Gabriel), el Rio de 
 las SaUnas. The Atnericans drop the common Spanish nouns 
 of rio, bahia, and }7iision, and say Calaveras River, Salinas 
 
430 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 River, the Mission San Gabriel, etc. Though the phiral form 
 of Calaveras and Salinas has been preserved, the singular has 
 been adopted for Pdjaro River, Alcatraz Island, and Coyote 
 Creek. Pajaro River was so named because of the great 
 number of wild geese and ducks which were formerly seen 
 in its valley. Bodega was named after a Spanish navi- 
 gator on this Coast ; Cape JMendocino after the noble pat- 
 ron of another. Amador County and Amador Valley were 
 named after Jos^ M. Amador, who was manager of the prop- 
 erty of the Mission of San Jose, about 1835. lie lived in Am- 
 ador Valley, and in 1848 he went with a number of Indians to 
 mine in what is now Amador County. Vallejo, Pacheco, 
 Martinez, and Alvarado, are the names of prominent men 
 among the Spanish Californians. Some Spanish names have 
 been changed into English. Tlie American River was formerly 
 called el liio de los Americanos, because the Americans enter- 
 ing California visually came down the banks of that stream. 
 The Feather River was called el Mio de las Plumas, the river 
 of feathers. The " Plumas," after having been abandoned as 
 a designation for the river, was given to the county in which 
 it takes its rise. Angel Island was called la Isla de los 
 Angeles, and Mare Island was called la Isla de las Yegiias. 
 The town of Benicia was laid off" in 1846, and was first called 
 " Fraucesca," one of the Christian names of the wife of M. G. 
 Vallejo, on whose land the town was to be built ; but in Janu- 
 ary, 1847, the name of the town of Yerba Buena was changed 
 to San Francisco, and the projector of Benicia, Mr. Charles 
 D. Semple, thought it necessary, for the purpose of avoiding 
 confusion, to change the name of his city on paper, so he 
 adopted " Benicia," another name of Mrs. Vallejo. The town 
 of Sonora was so named because the majority of the first 
 miners there were from Sonora. The New Almaden quicksil- 
 ver mine, for some months after the nature of the ore was 
 discovered, was called la Mina de Santa Clara. Its present 
 name was derived from the great quicksilver mine of Alma- 
 den, in old Spain. 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. ' 431 
 
 § 359. Indian Names. — The Indian names in California 
 are numerous. Among them are Siskiyou, Klamatli, Shasta, 
 Tehattia, Colusa, Yolo, Napa, Sonoma, Mokelumue, Tuolumne, 
 Inyo, Mono, Chowchilla, Cahuilla, Tahoe, Saticoy, Ilueneme 
 (called also Wynema), Suscol, Suisun, Cosumnes, Temecula, 
 Temascal, Jurupa, Petaluma, Tomales, Yreka, Ukiah, Cuy- 
 ama, Cocomonga, Mayacmas, Bolbones, Guilicos, Huichica, 
 and Hoopah. Most of these are the names of tribes of In- 
 dians, The Mokelumne, Tuolumne, Chowchilla, and Cosum- 
 nes Rivers were called by the Spaniards el Rio de los Moque- 
 lumnes, el Rio de los Tuolumues, etc. The second syllable ot 
 Moquelumne was changed by the Americans, to be spelled 
 with a Z;, which has the same sound as qu before e in Spanish. 
 Cahuilla is sometimes vulgarly spelled "Kaweah" by Ameri- 
 cans, who thus represent the Spanish pronunciation as nearly 
 as possible. Klamath and Sliasta were formerly written " Tla- 
 math" and " Tshastl." Sonoma, by some persons written 
 " Zonoma" in early times, is an Indian word meaning " valley 
 of the moon." Temascal means an Indian sweat-house. So- 
 lano is a Spanish word meaning the south wind, but Solano 
 County was so called after the chief of the Suisun tribe of 
 Indians. I have not been able to learn whether his name was 
 given to him by the Spaniards, or was of Indian origin. 
 Mariu County was also named after an Indian chief Yreka 
 is a corruption of Wi-e-kah, which means white, and is the In- 
 dian name of Mount Shasta, at the foot of which the town is 
 situated. 
 
 § 360. American Names. — Now we come to the American 
 names. Towns are named after Jackson, Washington, Lafay- 
 ette, and Stockton (the last was in command of the American 
 navy on this Coast during the Mexican war) . The patronym- 
 ics of Alexander Humboldt, J. A. Sutter, Kern, and Peter 
 Lassen, are affixed to counties. Trinity River was so named 
 because the white man who discovered it in the raoiuitains 
 supposed it emptied into the bay of Trinidad, which had been 
 
432 * KESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 discovered by the Spaniards several centuries ago. Marysville 
 was lirst called Yubaville, and then named after Mrs. Mary 
 Covillaud, one of the founders of the place. Among the 
 pioneer miners of Calaveras County were Murphy, Angel, and 
 Carson, and they became the eponyms of the places where they 
 stopped, first called Murphy's Camp, Angel's Camp, and 
 Carson's Camp, now become permanent towns, which liave 
 discarded the " camp," and assumed the titles, " Murphy's," 
 " Angel's," etc. It is better to drop tlie 6^ and the apostrophe, 
 as is sometimes done. " Yankee Jim's Camp" — the surname 
 of "Jim" was never known to the general public — is now 
 simply Yankee Jim, Messrs. Dovvnie, Weaver, and Heald 
 were tlie respective eponyms of Downieville, Weaverville, and 
 Healdsburg ; and Folsom, Gilroy, and HoUister were named 
 after the owners of the respective ranches on which they were 
 laid out. The knowledge or supposition of rich diggings is 
 indicated by some of the names of towns, as Ophir, Gold Hill, 
 Quartzburg, Placerville, Oroville, Rich Bar, and Tin Cup. 
 Placerviile was, in 1849, called Ilangtown, because it was the 
 first place wliere any person was hanged by Lynch law. Oroville 
 is a compound of oro, the Spanish word for gold, and ville, 
 the French word for city. Tin Cup was so named because 
 the first miners there found the ])lacers so rich that tliey meas- 
 sured tlieir gold in pint tin cups. Many of the bars and camps 
 in the mining disti'icts are named after the discoverers or first 
 settlers. There are Scott's Bar, Long's Bar, Kelly's Bar, 
 Kanaka Bar, Negro Bar, Chinese Camp, etc. Other places 
 are named from the native places of the first settlers, as Mis- 
 sissippi Jjar, Oliio Bar, Iowa Hill, Michigan BlutFs, lUinoistown, 
 Alleghanytuwn, etc. Pine Log is so named because there was, 
 in early times, at that place a pine log across the South Fork of 
 the Stanislaus Kiver, in sucli a position as to ofier a very con- 
 venient crossing to miners. Some of the mining camps are 
 named from the tragic events which occurred there : thus, 
 there is a Murderer's Bar, a Dead Man's Bar, and a Dead Shot 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
 
 433 
 
 Flat. The followiny is a list of some curious names of mining 
 localities : 
 
 Jim Crow Canon, 
 Red Dog, 
 Jackass GuL;h, 
 Ladies' Canon, 
 Miller's Djfeat, 
 Loafer Hill, 
 Rattlesnake B.ir, 
 "^Tiisky Bar, 
 Poverty Hill, 
 Greasers' Camp, 
 Christian Hat, 
 Rough and Rearly, 
 Ragtown, 
 Sugar-Loaf Hill, 
 Poker Flat, 
 Wild-Cat Bar, 
 Dead Mule Caiion, 
 Wild Goose Flat, 
 Brandy Flat, 
 Gridiron Bar, 
 Hen-roost Camp, 
 Lousy Ravine, 
 Lazy Man s Canon, 
 Logtown, 
 Git-up-and-git, 
 Gopher Flat, 
 Bob Ridley Flat, 
 One Eye, 
 Push-coach Hill, 
 Puppytown, 
 Mad Canon, 
 Happy Valley, 
 Hell's Delight, 
 
 D'vil's Basin, 
 D ad Wood, 
 Gouge Eye, 
 Puke Ravine, 
 Slap-Jack Bar, 
 Quack Hill, 
 P ■pp3rbox Flat, 
 Ni^'-ger Hill, 
 S ven+y-six. 
 Pi ty Hill, 
 Hogs Diggings, 
 Brandy Gulch, 
 Liberty Hill, 
 Love-Letter Camp, 
 Piradise, 
 
 Blue Belly Ravine, 
 Bin ice Fork, 
 bh in bone Peak, 
 S ven^up Ravine, 
 Loafer's Retreat, 
 Humpback Slide, 
 fcjwellhead Diggings, 
 Coyote Hill, 
 Poodletown, 
 Yankee Doodle, 
 Horsetown, 
 Petticoat Slide, 
 
 Last Chance, 
 Greenhorn Canon, 
 Shanghai Hill, 
 Shirt-tail Canon, 
 Skunk Guli;li, 
 Coon Hollow, 
 Poor Man s Creek, 
 Humbug Canon, 
 Bloomer Hill, 
 Grizzly Flat, 
 Rat-trap Slide, 
 Pike Hill, 
 Port Wine, 
 Snow Point, 
 Nary Rod, 
 Gas Hill, 
 Ladies' Valley, 
 Graveyard Canon, 
 Gospal Gulch, 
 Cliicken-Thiof Flat, 
 Hungry Camp, 
 Mud Springs, 
 Skindint, 
 
 American Hollow, 
 Gold Hill, 
 Pancake Ravine, 
 Centipede Hollow, 
 
 Chucklehead Diggings, Nutcake Camp, 
 Mount Zion, Seven-by-nine Valley, 
 
 Barefoot Diggings, Paint-Pot Hill, 
 
 Plug-head Gulch, Gospel Swamp. 
 
 Ground Hogs' Glory, 
 Bogus Thunder, 
 
 The Legislature in 1864 granted a franchise for the construc- 
 tion of a toll-road from Pokerville to Fiddletown in Amador 
 County, 
 
 Butte County was named from the buttes or high lulls on its 
 border. Cache Creek was so called because some trappers 
 28 
 
434 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 buried or cached sometl)iiig on its banks many years ago. 
 Butte and cache are words of French origin, introduced into 
 the Eiiglisli language by trappers. 
 
 Anaiieim is derived from Ana the Spanisli for Ann, and the 
 German word hehn^ meaning hdme — and tlie compound means 
 Anna's home. The Ana was suggested by the Santa Ana 
 Valley, in which Anaheim is built. 
 
 § 3G1. Etymology of Califomia. — The name " California," 
 first used in an obscure Spanish novel, ZiCts Sergas de B.^jy/an- 
 dian, published in 1510, was there applied to an i^■land " on 
 the right hand of the Indies near the Terrestrial Paradise." 
 Twenty-five years later Cortez discovered the peninsiila, and 
 gave it the name of California. After 1769, the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment recognized two Califoniias, Vieja or Baja, (old or 
 low) California, and Nueca or Alta, (new or higli) Califor- 
 nia. Tlie latter was conquered by the Americans in 1846, and 
 was called " Alta California," until after the gold discovery, 
 and then simply " California," when the peninsula fell into rel- 
 ative insignificance. The State Constitution, framed in 1849, 
 commences, " We, the people of California," etc. This, there- 
 fore, is the California, and the peninsula south of us is not 
 meant or thought of, unless we use the adjective prefix, and 
 say "Lower California." " Southern . California " usually 
 means that part of American California south of latitude 
 34° 30'. 
 
 § 362. Prwxunciation of Names. — In the pronunciation 
 of the names of Spanish and Indian origin, the letters have 
 usually the Spanish sounds. A is like " a " in far ; e like " a " 
 in fare ; i like " ee " in meet ; o like " o " in go ; u like " oo " 
 in fool. _£ris silent \ j and g, befoi*e e and «, Have a sound 
 similar to that of the English " h " ; s never has the sound of 
 2, but is always like " ss " in hiss. Qu, before e and i, is like " k." 
 Z/, is like " Hi" in William ; n is like " ni " in union. There 
 are no diphthongs in Spanish. Every vowel is sounded sepa- 
 rately. Words ending in a vowel in the singular have the.ac- 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
 
 436 
 
 cent on tlie syllable next the last ; tliose ending in a consonant, 
 on tlie last. In case any vowel lias an accent marked over it, 
 then that vowl'1 has the accent. Tlie Spaniards of old Spain 
 pronounce tlie z btfore all vowels, and the c before e and 
 2, like " th " in thick ; but the Mexicans give them the sound 
 of s. 
 
 The errors which Americans most frequently commit in 
 pronouncing; Spanish words are, in giving to a the English 
 sounds of " a " in fat and fate ; giving to s the sound of " z " ; 
 to 7 and ,7, before e and *', the same sounds as in English ; to 
 gu the sound of the English " w " ; and in putting the accent 
 on tlie first syllable — English fashion. Tlie following may 
 serve as a further guide to the jiruper pronunciation of some 
 of the names : 
 
 SPANISH NAMES AND PUONUNCIATIONS. 
 
 Die<jo — dee ;1y go. 
 
 Suisun — soo ee soon. 
 
 ALnnoda — uh lah m.'iy da. 
 
 Sierra — see er ra. 
 
 Nevada — nay vah dah. 
 
 Mateo — mah tay o. 
 
 Monterey — mon ta r;1y ee. 
 
 Luis Obispo — loo 6ss o bees po. 
 
 Los An^-eL:S — lohs ahn hel es. 
 
 Vall'jjo — val y.iy ho. 
 
 Vallecito — val yay thee to. 
 
 Joaquin — ho ah ke>^n. 
 
 Juan Bautista — hwahn bah oo t6es- 
 
 tah. 
 Tamalpais— tah mal pice. 
 Nietos — nee ;iy tos. 
 
 This table is not a perfect guide to pronunciation, but only 
 an approximation. 
 
 Placer has been anglicized so much that it is commonly 
 spoken with the accent on the first syllable. Mokelumme and 
 Tuolumne have the accent on the antepenultimate, and the 
 vowel short. Siskiyou has the accent on the tirst syllable. 
 
 Napa — nah pah. 
 
 Jose — ho say. 
 
 .Jesus Maria — hay edos mah roe ah. 
 
 Puta — poo tah. 
 
 Tejon — tay hone. 
 
 Farallones — fah rahl y6 nee. 
 
 Gabriel — gah bree ,ale. 
 
 Rafael — rah fah .-ile. 
 
 Miguel — mee gale. 
 
 P.ijaro— pah hah ro. 
 
 Coyote — CO yo tay. 
 
 Pacheco — pah chay co. 
 
 Cahuilla — cah oo eel ya. 
 
 HuL'ueine — way nay may. 
 
 Dos Pueblos— dohs pway blo3. 
 
436 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Sutter is pronounced with the u like " oo " in foot. Mokel- 
 umne is often mispronounced " Mac al a m}'," and the Cosum- 
 nes Kiver is not unfrequently called the Macosme. Folsom 
 is pronounced like the adjective fulsome. Yosemite lias four 
 syllables with the accent on the antepenultimate (Yo f-em i te). 
 San Kafael is usually called " San Rah fell," Tehama " Te- 
 hay ma." 
 
 § 3 63. Erroneous S2y€lling. — The maps issued by the Federal 
 Surveyor General's office have abounded with errors of spell- 
 ing, chargeable to gross ignorance and carelessness. The 
 publications of the State Geological Survey have a iem. 
 Whitney writes " Tamal Pais " instead of Tamalpais, and 
 " Hetch-hetchy" instead of Iletchhetchy. Tiie liyphen in 
 Indian names is an absurdity, and has been abandoned in 
 Tecumseh and Yosemite, and other words in common use. 
 " Pais " in Spanish means county, and Marin County was 
 formerly occupied by the Tanial tribe of Indians, and there- 
 fore it is supposed that the mountain should, out of respect for 
 the Spanish language, be called " Tamal Pais." But tlie Spani- 
 ards united the two words, and instead of using />«/s se[iarately, 
 they would say ^^ el pais de los Tamales.^^ A common error 
 of writers ignorant of Spani>h is to say " the sierras," Tljis, as 
 applied to the Sierra Nevada, is equivalent to spt aking of the 
 Rocky Mountain Chains. There is only one sierra iu California. 
 
CONCLUSION. 437 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 § 364, General ^nnmary. — Twelve chapters of this book 
 have been filled with a detailed statement of tlie nature and 
 characteristics of the resources, industry, trade, and society of 
 Califorxia. In tins chapter, I shall present a summary of 
 their main features. 
 
 We have, then, before us a State lying in the raidst of the 
 temperate zone, on tlie western coast of North America; 
 bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean, and on the other 
 by a high range of mountains ; reaching through nine degrees 
 of longitude and ten of latitude; with a coast-line 1,097 miles 
 long, and a total area of about one hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand square miles. The heart of the State is drained by two 
 large rivers, which run from north and south, unite midway, 
 and in tlieir course to the sea form three large and deep bays, 
 with secure and spacious harbors. On these bays and their 
 tributaries, there are nearly one thousand miles of navigable 
 Btreams now used by steamboats and sailing-vessels. 
 
 The climate near the ocean is the most equable in the world. 
 At San Francisco, there is a difference of only seven degrees 
 between the mean temperatures of summer and winter— the 
 average of the latter season being 50° and of the former o?" 
 Fahrenheit. Ice and snow are never seen in winter; and in 
 summer the weather is so cool, that heavy woolen cli^thing is 
 
438 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 worn every day. There are not more tliau a dozen days in 
 the year too warm fur comfort at mid-day, and the oldest 
 iuliabitant cannot remember a night when blankets were not 
 necessary for a comfortable sleep. The climate is just of that 
 character most favorable to the constant mental and idiysieal 
 activity of men, and to the unvarying health and continuous 
 growth of animals and plants. In tlie interior, the summers 
 are much warmer than near the ocean ; while in the moun- 
 tains the winters are much colder. By traveling a i\'\v hun- 
 dred miles, the Californian can lind almost any temperature 
 that he may desire — great warmth in winter, and icy coldness 
 in summer. 
 
 The rocks of this State are chiefly granite and slate in the 
 Sierra Nevada, and cretaceous and tertiary sandstone in the 
 Coast Range and valleys. Veins of auriferous quartz are 
 numerous in the State near the gi'anite, and they have sup- 
 plied by erosion the gold now found in the placers or alluvial 
 workings. Gold has been found in nearly every county ; but 
 the districts which are or have beeii rich in auriferous de- 
 posits, cover an area of 10,000 square miles. The annual 
 gold yield of California is about $20,000,000. 
 
 The gold-mining of California is conducted in tlie most 
 thorough and enterprising manner. Although the main prin- 
 ciples of the sluice and the hydraulic washing were known 
 and used, on a small scale, long before the discovery of gold 
 in California, it was here that those modes of working were 
 first perfected, applied on an extensive scale, and brought into 
 universal use. Large rivers are turned out of their beds ; 
 mountains are pierced by tunnels ; hills are washed away ; 
 and the rivers roll thick with mud to the sea through summer 
 and winter. 
 
 The State has rich and productive mines of silver and quick- 
 silver ; valuable beds of borax, sulphur, asphaltum, and fire 
 clay ; and numerous mineral springs of powerful medicinal 
 qualities. 
 
CONCLUSION. 439 
 
 Tlie natural scenery of California is varied and grand. The 
 Yosemite Valley is a cliasm ten miles long, a mile wide, and 
 three thousand feet deep, in tl>e lieart of tlie Sierra Nevada, 
 witliont its equal in the world for sublime and picturesque 
 scenery. It lias a dozen great cascades, the highest of which 
 has a fall of thirteen hundred feet. The Mammoth Trees 
 are the largest growths of the vegetable kingdom. There 
 are likewise in the State mud-volcanoes, natural bridges, 
 many caves, and numerous hot and mineral springs, some of 
 whicli throw out great columns of steam. The Calif irnian 
 Alps have a hundred' peaks that rise to an elevation of more 
 than 10,000 feet, and contain much scenery equaling, if not 
 surpassing, any ia Switzerland. Mt. Shasta is grande>t of 
 all the high, snow-covered volcanic peaks conveniently acces- 
 sible to travel ; and it has a great glacier. The view from 
 Mt. Diablo is unjiaralleled for the richness and beauty of the 
 country distinctly visible. 
 
 The animals and plants of California are peculiar to our 
 coast. The finest grouj) of coniferous trees in the world is 
 that of this State. The mammoth tree, the redwood, the 
 sugar-pine, the red fir, the yellow fir, and the arhor vitcB, all 
 reach the wonderful height of three hundred feet ; the mam- 
 moth tree grows to be thirty feet in diameter, the redwood 
 twenty, and the others from eight to twelve. 
 
 Tlie grizzly bear is the largest and strongest indigenous 
 animal of the continent ; and the Californian vulture is, next 
 to the condor, the largest bird that files, Tiie sea near our 
 coast teems with halibut, turbot, mackerel, herring, sardines, 
 anchovies, and smelts ; while sturgeon and salmon are abun- 
 dant in our rivers. 
 
 Farmers in California have many advantages over men of 
 the same occupation in other parts of the United States. The 
 winter is never so cold as to interrupt their work, and tliere 
 are no storms of rain and hail to destroy tlieir grain and ruin 
 their hay. They need no barns. Barley thrives better than 
 
440 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 in any otlier part of the world. The soil and climate are also 
 particularly favorable to the growth of wlieat, wliich unites 
 the valuable qualities of whiteness, dryness, and ghitinous- 
 ness, to a greater degree than any otlier wheat in tlie world. 
 Our average crops are larger than in any other jjlace where 
 manure is not used extensively. Tiie yield of hojts is large, 
 and tlie facilities for drying them, so as to preserve their 
 strength, are better than in any otlier land wliere they are 
 cultivated. Ouc kitchen vegetables grow to an unpavalleled 
 size. Nowhere else have pumpkins been seen ti) reacli two 
 hundred and fifty pounds in weight each, beets one hundred and 
 twenty pounds, white turnips twenty-six pounds, solid-headed 
 cabbages seventy-five pounds, carrots ten jiounds, water-mel- 
 ons sixty-five pounds, onions forty-seven ounces, Irish potatoes 
 seven pounds, sweet potatoes fifteen pounds, and so forth. Some 
 cabbages and beets have spontaneously become perennials here, 
 continuing to grow from year to year, and n-maining green 
 throughout winter and summer; and many of our kitchen 
 vegetables might be converted into perennials by preventing 
 them from going to seed. 
 
 The abundance, excellence, and variety of our fruit astonish 
 the stranger, though he may have cunie fr im the markets of 
 London or New York, which draw tribute from whole hemi- 
 spheres. No market on the globe surjia^ses ours in variety, 
 yet only twenty years since we began to import fruit trees di- 
 rect from the Eastern States and Europe. Our mild winters 
 permit the trees to grow during nine or ten months in the 
 year, and the}^ grow more rapidly, and reach maturity more 
 speedily, than in any other country where they are so healthy, 
 and bear so abundantly. The pear and a])ple trees which were 
 planted by the missimiaries thirty or f rty years ago, are still 
 in [lerfect health, and some of them produce as much as a ton 
 of fruit to the tree every year. The ajjple and pear seem to 
 have found here their most congenial clime. There are no 
 6VX)rms in our apples ; no curculios in our plums or cherries ; 
 
CONCLUSION. 441 
 
 no Hessian fly or weevil in our wlieat. The olive and the fig 
 grow luxuriantly beside tlie apple and the ])ear. We can pro- 
 duce olives better than any of the olive-pri)diicing regions of 
 the Mediterranean, because we liave none of those storms of 
 tliunder and liail and rain, whicli frequently destroy the crops 
 in soutlKMii Europe and Asia Minor. The vine produces more 
 abundantly than in any jiart of Europe, and the crop lias sel- 
 dom faiU'd or been destroyed here, as often hai>])ens tliere. A 
 yield of one thou>and gallons of wine to the acre is as frequent, 
 proportionately, in California, as of four hundred in France or 
 Germany. Our ganlens are, in time, to be the most beautiful 
 in the world, resplendent with conifers and deciduous trees, 
 Avith the flowers of the temperate zone, and the luxurious plants 
 of the tropics. The shrubs, which in New Yurk remain small, 
 and live only imder shelter as delicate exotics, are naturalized 
 in San Francisco, grow almost to tree-like size, remain green 
 throughout the year, and bloom during most of the months. 
 Tiie rosebush is covered with flowers from January to Decem- 
 ber. 
 
 Domestic hei'bivorous animals live and increase without 
 shelter, and without cultivated food. Tiiey reach their full 
 growth a year earlier than in the Eastern States. The absence 
 of extreme cold gives them a more rapid growth, and exemp- 
 tion from many diseases. Sheep produce more wool, are 
 healthier, increase more rapidly, and are kept at far less cost 
 in California than in any American State east of the Rocky 
 Mountains. Bees increase more rajtidly, and make more 
 honey here than there is any record of their doing elsewhere. 
 Thunder and rain storms kill a large proportion of the silk- 
 worms in Italy, France, Turkey, and China every year; in 
 the valleys of California we never have any lightning, and no 
 rain during the season when the silk-worms feed. 
 
 The wages of labor in California are higher than in any 
 other part of the world. Mechanics' wages are generally 
 from two dollars and fifty cents to four dollars per day ; com- 
 
442 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 mon laborers, from one dollar and seventy-five cents to two 
 dollars and fifty cents per day ; farm laborers, and men and 
 maid servants, from twenty to thirty dollars per month. Our 
 imports and exports of treasure are larger in ])ropo tion to our 
 population than those pf any other State. Our chief city has 
 an extensive foreign trade and commerce, and it has an un- 
 doubted supremacy in the commerce of the eastern shore of 
 the Pacific. 
 
 § 36"). Shic Growth. — With many drawbacks, which have 
 been set forth clearly and unreservedly, Calif irnia is one of 
 the richest parts of the globe. It posse>;ses most of the lux- 
 uries of Europe, and many of the advantages wliich tlie Val- 
 ley of the Oliio had forty years ago. It offers an open career 
 to talents. In a few years of its liistory it has a-tonislied the 
 world, and its chief glories are still to come. Tne arts, the 
 sciences, the refinements of life, are to find a favored home in 
 California. 
 
 Wliy is it then that the permanent po]n;lation of the State - 
 has not increased more rapidly ? Why did so many of the 
 early immigrants leave her shores, never to return, by their 
 departure depriving her of the greate>t element of wealth ? 
 TJie great cause was the mismanagement of land-titles, in 
 both the agricultural and- mineral regions, by the Federal 
 Government ; and myriads of men, unable to secure homes, 
 went to the Eastern States, where they coukl find permanent 
 residences. 
 
 The unsettled condition of society here, resulting from the 
 insecurity of land-titles, tlie great expense of bringing families 
 from the Eastern States, the uncertainty of the crojjs in the 
 drier valleys, the scarcity of irrigating canals and of reclama- 
 tion dikes, all contributed to prevent such an increase of jtopu- 
 lation as the natural resources of the State, if properly de- 
 veloped, would have de/nanded. 
 
 § 366. The Future. — The growth of California must be 
 constant, and her future great and glorious. If sky and earth 
 
CONCLUSION. 443 
 
 and man remain the same, her attractions cannot be neglect- 
 ed. Her progress may be relatively slow, until some of her 
 large, dry valleys shall be provided with irrigation, and until 
 her tule lands shall have been secixrely reclaimed ; but so soon 
 as extensive areas, now unfit for secure tillage, on account of 
 the lack or the excess of water, shall have been protected 
 against fiood and drouth, there will be a rapid increase in her 
 population and wealth, and a decided improvement in the 
 character of her industry. She can and she will sustain a 
 jjopulation of twenty millions. 
 
Q,Tiick Tinae and. ( lieap Fares 
 
 FROM 
 
 AUSTRALASIA, CHINA AND JAPAN 
 
 TO 
 
 NEW YORK AND LIVERPOOL. 
 
 The Great Trans-Continental All Rail Route, 
 
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 y'^itml aid Umm EmM Maiboad u 
 
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 Is now in comiDlete running order from 
 
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 THROUGH EXPRESS TRAINS LEA.VE SAN FRANCISCO DAILY, MAKING 
 prompt connectiou with the several Railway Lines in the Eastern States, for all 
 the cities of the UNITED STATES AND CANADA, connecting at New York with 
 the several Steamer Lines to 
 
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 Intermediate points These Drawing-Koom Cars by day and Sleeping-Car-* by night are 
 unexcelled for comfort and convenience to the passenger while en route— combining tlie 
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 Children not over Twelve (12) Years tf Age, Half Fare) under Five (5) Years of Age, Free. 
 
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 THOS. L. KIMBALL, Gen'l Passenger Agent, Omaha, Nebraska. 
 T. H. GOODMAN, Gen'l Passenger Agent, Saa Francisco, 0.»1. 
 
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Ilroafl Laifls in 
 
 -~4 -»—»•■*'> 
 
 The Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroad Companies have 
 laud grants direct from the U. S. Government, including wheat, farm- 
 ing, frnit, grazing, dairy and timber lands, equal to the best in America, 
 and adapted to all purposes of profitable agriculture, and will sell the 
 same in tracts of forty acres, or upwards, at prices ranging from $2.50 
 to $20 per acre, according to quality and situation. 
 
 These lands extend the entire length of California and across the 
 State of Nevada, and — excepting the tracts reserved by Government 
 and those to which a valid homestead or pre-emption right had attached 
 prior to the date of the grant — comprise all the vacant odd-numbered 
 sections within twenty miles on each side of the main line of the Cen- 
 tral Pacific Railroad, within thirty miles on each side of the line of the 
 California and Oregon branch of the Central Pacific Railroad, and 
 within thirty miles on each side of the line of the Southern Pacific Rail- 
 road. The course of these lines of road can be readily ascertained by 
 reference to any late maps of California and Nevada. 
 
 It will be seen that all this country is situated in the midst of what 
 will be, within a few years, a perfect network of railroads. Lands, 
 therefore, anywhere within this section, must, in consequence of situa- 
 tion, outside of their intrinsic worth, increase very rapidly in value. 
 But, independent of situation, the general excellent quality of the eoil, 
 its great productiveness, its adaptability in many places to almost every 
 species of agricultural production, together with the mildness of the 
 climate, the bright skies and the equability of the temperature which 
 prevails over the greater part of its extent, render it a very desirable 
 section for the immigrant or settler who wishes to make a happy home 
 in a place where all the comforts and most of the luxuries of life can be 
 had with but little trouble, and where industry and thrift will be sure 
 to meet with an abundant reward. 
 
 Tracts of not less than eighty acres will be sold, if desired, on a 
 credit of five years; that is, twenty per cent, cash in hand, and the re- 
 mainder of the purchase money payable at any time within five years, 
 with interest at ten per cent, per annum. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 017 064 144 9