RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 By JOHN S. HIT TELL. 
 
 V 
 
 (^ SAN FRANCISCO: 
 A. ROMAN AND COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK: W. J. WIDDLETON. 
 
 1867. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1867, by Jokn S. 
 HiTTELL, in tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
 States, for the Northern District of California. 
 
 fS64 
 
 ALTA CALIFORNIA PBINTIN'O HOtlBB. 
 
 I 
 I 
 f 
 
AFFIDAVIT 
 
 THAT THIS BOOK IS EXCLUSIVELY CALIFORNIAN. 
 
 State of California, j 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, f 
 
 JOHN S. HITTELL, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he ordered 
 A. Kosenfield, of the Alta California Printing House, to print and E. Bosqui & Co., 
 Binders, to bind a number of copies of The Resources of California, in said city, using 
 only Californian material; that he has the affidavit of S. P. Taylor, that the printing 
 paper was made at the Pioneer Paper Mill in Marin County; that he has the affidavit 
 of Wm. P. Harrison, agent of the San Lorenzo Paper Mill, that the thick paper and 
 pasteboard used in the binding was made there; that he has the affidavit of J. J. 
 Grady, that he tanned in this city the Morocco and Sheepskins used in the binding; 
 that he hai the affidavit of L. J. Rector, that the Thread was made in the Oakland 
 Cotton Mill in this state; that he has the affidavit of Thomas Reilly, that the Gold 
 Leaf was beaten in this city; and that he has the affidavits of A. Rusenfield, and 
 J. H. Mitchell, foreman of the bindery of E. Bosqui & Co., that the said matei-ials 
 and none other of their kind were used in printing and binding said book; that the 
 printing and binding were done in this city; and that the book is so far as they know, 
 exclusively Californian in its manufacture. And deponent declares that he wrote said 
 book in this city, and relying on said affidavits, declares that this book is exclusively 
 Californian in composition and manufacture. 
 
 JOHN S. HITTELL. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this tenth 
 day of September, 1867. 
 
 H. S. TIBBEY, 
 
 Notary Public. 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct copy of an affidavit made by me and that the 
 book in which this is affixed is one of those referred to in the affidavit. 
 
H 
 
 St 
 
To the Socuty of 
 
 CALIFORNIA PIONEERS, 
 
 the Organization which 
 
 represents 
 
 the Men who founded 
 
 THE AMERICAN EMPIRE 
 
 on the Pacific, 
 
 this Book 
 
 is respectfully dedicated, 
 
 By tHE Author. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 I UNDERTAKE to write the resources of a state, wHch, 
 though young in years, small in population, and remote 
 from the chief centres of civilization, is yet known to the 
 furthest corners of the earth, and, during the last twelve 
 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 accumulate before our continent was 
 discovered, or our lans;ua2;e was formed. I write of a land 
 of wonders. I write of California, which has astonished 
 the world 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 within 
 thirteen years to $700,000,000, which has sensibly affected 
 the markets of labor and money in all the leading nations 
 of Christendom ; by the rapid development and great extent 
 of her commerce ; by the greatness of her chief port, which 
 at one time had more large ships at her anchorage than 
 were ever seen together in the harbor of eitherLiverpool, 
 Kew York, or London ; by the swift settlement of her remote 
 districts ; by the prompt organization of her government ; 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 by the liberality with which the mines were thrown open 
 and made free to all comers ; by the rush of adventurers 
 of every color and of every tongue ; by the prices of her 
 labor, and the rates of her interest for money, double those of 
 the other American states, and' quadruple those of Europe ; 
 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 antediluvian 
 streams richer than those of the present era ; by beds of 
 lava, which, after filling np the beds of antediluvian rivers, 
 were left, by the washing away of the banks and 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 lifting a hundred mountains 
 from their beds ; by six thousand miles of mining ditches ; 
 by aqueducts less durable, but scarcely less wonderfid 
 than those of ancient Rome ; by silver mines that promise 
 to rival those of Peru; by quicksilver mines surpassing 
 those of Spain ; by great deposits of sulphur and asphal- 
 tum ; by lakes of borax ; by mud volcanoes, geysers, and 
 natural bridges ; by a valley of romantic 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 tlian the 
 third of a mile ; by a climate the most conducive to health, 
 and the most favorable to mental and physical exertion — so 
 temperate 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 
 
P K E F A C 1<: . 
 
 dozen species grow to be more than two hundred and fifty 
 feet high, and one species has reached a height of four hun- 
 dred 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 ; b}^ the importation 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 unrivalled in the variety and magnificence of home- 
 grown fruits ; by the largest crop 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 large migration of eastern Asiatics from their own 
 continent; by the first settlement of Chinamen among 
 white men ; by the entire lack of mendicants, paupers, and 
 alms-houses ; by the rapid fluctuations of trade ; by the ac- 
 cumulation of wealth in the hands of men, most of whom 
 came to the country poor ; by the practice, universal m 
 early years, of going armed ; by the multitude of deadly 
 affrays, and by extra-constitutional courts, which sometimes 
 punished villains with immediate execution, and sometimes 
 proceeded with a gravity and slow moderation that might 
 become the most august tribunals. I write of California 
 while she is still youthful, and full of marvels ; while her 
 population is still unsettled ; while her business is still 
 fluctuating, her wages high, her gold abimdant, 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, ^nd 
 wish to commence it where they may have the freest career, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in full sight of the greatest rewards for snccess, and witli 
 the fewest chances of failure. 
 
 The general public are aware that California is a peculiar 
 state, and their attention has often been called to certain 
 prominent points of wonder, like those to which I have 
 just referred ; but hitherto there has been no careful at- 
 tempt to sum up all that is known of her resources and 
 natural history. I have undertaken that task, and the re- 
 sult of my undertaking is in this book placed before the 
 ^'eader. I have been a Californian since 1849, and expect 
 to be as long as I may live. All the most interesting as- 
 sociations of my life are connected with this state. I 
 arrived in the country while it was still under a territorial 
 government, and more than a year before it was organized 
 as a state under act of Congress. I saw the land in its 
 original w^ildness, and saw society, order, trade, industry 
 and polity developed ; and I now see about me the, begin- 
 nings and promises of science, art, literature, philosophy, 
 and whatever can enrich or honor humanity. I have seen 
 the state grow up, and its history is part of my life. The 
 land-marks of its chorography, and the prominent events of 
 its political, social, and industrial progress, mark epochs 
 in my memory. Many of the happiest days of my life 
 have been spent here, and here I hope to enjoy whatever 
 blessings the future may have in store for me. If then I 
 fail to do justice in my book to California, the failure will 
 not be for any lack of love of her. Neither will it be for 
 any lack of attention or industry. During the last nine 
 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 all the 
 newspapers published between Crescent City and San Diego, 
 and have examined all the books written about the country, 
 Spanisli, Jb'rench and German, as well as English. I have 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 been in the extreme nortli, and the extreme south ; I have 
 gone to both extremities by land and sea ; I have travelled 
 through the centre of her great basin ; I am intimately ac- 
 quainted with her richest agricultural districts ; I know 
 something of her mining and agriculture by experience and 
 practice ; and, hnally, I have endeavored to compress into 
 this book all the important att^iinable facts. Amidst so 
 much information, there are undoubtedly some little errors ; 
 but the fair critic, before condemning and expatiating upon 
 minor faults, will pass judgment upon the'question whether 
 the book is or is not more comprehensive and instinictive 
 than any other, or than all others relating to the same 
 subject. 
 
 Of course, when I quote from the writings of others, I 
 use quotation marks, and give credit according to the rules 
 of honorable autliors ; but I have adopted, without quota- 
 tion marks, various passages from articles written by my- 
 self, and published in different newspapers and magazines. 
 Since the work is intended for popular use, and should be 
 free from every thing not intelligible and interesting to the 
 general reader, I have made no references to authorities ; 
 and, indeed, I have drawn my information from so great a 
 variety of sources (in many instances newspapers), that it 
 would have been very inconvenient for nie, and cumber- 
 some to the book, to cite the authority for every statement. 
 In case," however, that the accuracy of any statement in the 
 work should be called in question, I think that I can pro- 
 duce in CA'Cry case credible evidence, and in most cases the 
 conclusive proof While I have drawn my material from 
 many different sources, I claim as much originality as is 
 possible for so comprehensive a collection of facts, in so 
 many and so distinct branches of knowledge. 
 
 J. S.-H. 
 
 San Francisco, March, 1862. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS. 
 
 § 1. Preliminary. — Since the first edition of this book was prepared 
 for the press five years have elapsed, and in that time some progress 
 has been made by the industry of California, and some new light has 
 been thrown upon the resources and physical geography of the State. 
 In this introductory chapter, I shall try to state briefly the main points 
 of the additional information obtained since 1862. 
 
 § 2. The Galifornian Alps. — The State Geological Survey discovered, 
 in the summer of 1864, that the Sierra Nevada, between latitudes 35° 
 and 38*^, has the wonderful mountain region of California. Shasta, 
 which towers in solitary grandeur 7,000 feet above everything in its 
 vicinity, and shows its mantle of eternal snow to a wide area in three 
 States, is no longer our highest peak. Mt. Whitney, in latitude 36° 
 30'', which is surrounded by so many other peaks of nearly equal 
 height as to attract no special attention from a distance, rises to about 
 15,000 feet, while Shasta is only 14,440. 
 
 Not only is Shasta dethroned, but also Switzerland. The Helvetian 
 Republic has, for hundreds of years, had the fame of possessing the 
 greatest area of elevated land, and the largest number of great peaks 
 within the limit of high civilization, but the newly discovered moun- 
 tain region surpasses Switzerland. That country has only four peaks 
 above 13,000 feet, and not more than 150 square miles above 8,000 feet, 
 while we have 100 peaks above 13,000 feet and 300 or more square 
 miles above 8,000 feet. 
 
 This Alpine region of California occupies the upper part of the 
 Sierra Nevada, from Castle Peak to Kern River, a distance of 200 
 miles ; and throughout that distance all the main peaks rise to 13,000 
 feet or more. The exact height of Mt. Whitney is not known. The 
 surveying party made two trials to get to the summit, but failed. C. R. 
 
ii INTRODUCTION, 
 
 King reached an elevation of 14,730 feet, and was there arrested by 
 a precipice. He thought there were 300 or 400 feet of elevation above 
 him. The main Fork and the North Fork of Kern River rise on the 
 southern and western slopes of this mountain, and King's River on its 
 northwestern slope. The main Fork of Kern River runs southward 
 for thirty miles through a tremendous caiion, in the upper part of 
 which the river falls 10,000 feet within six miles. A mountain whose 
 summit is six miles east of Mono Lake, and 7,000 feet above it — a 
 pretty steep ascent — is called Mt. Dana. A peak further south, with 
 an elevation of 13,700 feet, is called Mt. Grant ; another of 14,500 feet 
 is called Mt. Tyndall ; a third is styled Mt. Brewer. From Castle Peak, 
 in latitude 38°, for a distance of 200 miles along the summit of the 
 Sierra, there is no pass known feasible for a wagon, or less than 11,000 
 feet in altitude. It would not be safe to assert, however, that no lower 
 pass will be discovered. Much of the range has not yet been exam- 
 ined. Throughout all this Alpine region the views are very extensive, 
 and the scenery grand beyond that of Switzerland, though not so 
 picturesque ; that is, not so beautiful in little places. At some future 
 time it will become a place of great resort for tourists and travelers. 
 
 § 3. The Great Brought— The winters of 1862-63 and 1864-65 
 proved to be unusually dry, the former bringing only 15i and the latter 
 only 8i inches of rain at San Francisco, instead of the average of 21 
 inches. Two such dry seasons coming together proved very disastrous, 
 and there was a general failure of crops, and a great mortality among 
 cattle. It was estimated that out of 3,000,000 horses, neat cattle and 
 sheep that were in the State in 1862, 800,000 perished by starvation 
 within two years, and most of those which survived had a very narrow 
 escape. The southern coast counties suffered most severely, some of 
 them losing two-thirds of their cattle, which were the main stock of 
 their wealth. The year 1865 is known as the year of the great drought, 
 and the native Californians say that at no time within forty years had 
 two consecutive seasons passed with so little rain. 
 
 § 4. The Earthquake of 1865— On the 8th October, 1865, San Fran- 
 cisco was visited by an earthquake that surpassed in violence any 
 shock felt here within the recollection of tlie oldest inhabitants. It 
 occurred on Sunday at 12:45, P. M. just about the time when the 
 morning services were being closed in the churches. Two-thirds of 
 the front of a new four-story brick building on the corner of Third and 
 Mission streets (the mortar of which had not had time to dry yet) was 
 thrown down. Parts of the fire-walls and chimneys of two dozen brick 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ul 
 
 buildings were tlirown down. The walls of the City Hall, of the old 
 Merchant's Exchange on Battery street, of California Engine House on 
 Market street, the Pennsylvania Engine House on Jackson street, the 
 Market building at the corner of Pine and Market streets, besides a 
 multitude of others, were badly cracked. Several wooden buildings 
 which were being raised, and were supported on temporary scaffolding 
 or blocks, were thrown down and demolished. The falling cornices 
 and fire- walls filled some of the streets with dust, and fell on four or 
 five persons, some of whom were seriously hurt, though the injuries 
 did not prove fatal in any case. In those churches where the services 
 were not closed, the people rushed for the doors in a very disorderly 
 manner. 
 
 § 5. Geological Survey. — A geological survey of the State was com- 
 menced in November, 18G0, and has been since prosecuted under charge 
 of Prof. J. D. Whitney. He has been assisted by Wm. M. Qabb, in 
 paleontology, W. H. Brewer and H. N. Bolander in botany, J. G. 
 Cooper in zoology, A. Remond and Clarence King in general geology, 
 Wm. Ashburner in economical geology, C. F. Hoffman, V. Wacken- 
 reuder and J. T. Gardner in topography. The expense of the work 
 has so far been about $100,000. Only two volumes of the report have 
 been published, but others are ready for the press, and several will soon 
 be out. The following are some of the results of the survey : 
 
 The coast mountains rose from the sea before the Sierra Nevada, and 
 the latter range was for long after much lower than now ; and a vege- 
 tation, different from that which now flourishes here, covered the land. 
 Afterwards came a series of great volcanic convulsions ; the Sierra 
 Nevada was lifted up on three successive occasions, separated by long 
 intervals. A hundred volcanoes poured out vast floods of liquid fire 
 and of water mixed with ashes. Mounts Shasta and Lassen, Pilot Peak, 
 Spanish Peak, Old Man Mountain, and Castle Peak, and a multitude 
 of others for which we have no names, were all ablaze at once. There 
 were intervals of rest between their periods of activity, and alternate 
 beds of lava and of alluvial gravel or soil exist on the hills as deposited 
 in what were then valleys or the beds of rivers. An area of not less 
 than 20,000 square miles is now covered with lava. The three periods 
 of upheaval were first at the close of the Cretaceous era ; second after 
 the deposition of the Miocene tertiary ; and third after the later 
 Pliocene. This last upheaval is supposed to be still in progress. 
 
 It was during this period of volcanic activity that the earliest man 
 of whom any remains have been found in the world, lived, and he lived 
 
JV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in what is now Calaveras County. A few years since, some human 
 bones were found in England and France, showing that men lived in 
 those lands in a former epoch, contemporaneously with the hyena, the 
 rhinoceros, the elephant, and numerous other animals which dis- 
 appeared from Europe long before the beginning of our historical re- 
 cords. This discovery made a great sensation in the learned world, and 
 was tjie basis of Lyell's great book on "The Antiquity of Mankind." 
 The ancient human bones of Europe were foimd in the later tertiary 
 formation ; but now a human skull has been found in California in the 
 pliocene, a much older formation. This skull is, therefore, the rem- 
 nant not only of the earliest known pioneer of this State, but the old- 
 est known human being. The skull was found in a shaft 150 feet deep, 
 two miles from Angel's, in Calaveras county, by a miner named James 
 Matson, who gave it to Mr. ScriBner, a merchant, and he gave it to Dr. 
 Jones, who sent it to the State Geological Survey. Prof. Whitney 
 went to the place, examined it, questioned the persons who had had 
 the skull in their possession, and he is entirely satisfied that it was 
 found in the shaft, as represented. The shaft passes through five beds 
 of lava and volcanic tufa, and four deposits of auriferous gravel. The 
 upper bed of tufa is homogeneous, and without any crack through 
 which the skull could have been introduced from above. The published 
 volume of the State Survey on the Geology of California states that 
 man existed here contemporaneously with the mastodon, but this fossil 
 proves that he was here before the. time in which the mastodon was 
 known to extist. Prof. Whitney has divided the animal paleontology 
 ot the State into two epochs ; the pliocene, or the epoch before the 
 great volcanic eruptions which covered a large part of the State, and 
 the post-pliocene, which came after the eruptions. Most of the promi- 
 nent animals, the fossils of which have been found here, such as the 
 mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, bison, tapir, mammoth bull, horse and 
 buflklo, have not been encountered in the pliocene, and all the vegeta- 
 bles so far met there are of species not now living in the State. 
 
 After the volcanic epoch came the glacial epoch, in which glaciers, 
 far grander than any that now exist in the alps, were found in all the 
 large ravines on the high mountains, where their marks still remain, 
 though the rivers of ice gradually disappeared before the .gradually 
 increasing warmth of the climate. The auriferous gravel in the 
 ancient river beds was deposited in the latter pliocene, and it was 
 followed by a great outbreak of volcanic energy, which covered the 
 gravel with beds of lava and other eruptive material. 
 
INTRODUCTION. . y 
 
 The gold deposits of the State lie not in the Silurian rock^, which 
 were previously considered to be the basis of all rich auriferous regions, 
 but in the Jurassic or Triassic lithological formations of later date. 
 
 The coal region of California lies not in the tertiary rocks, as was 
 previously supposed, but in the Cretaceous, the highest portion of the 
 secondary era. 
 
 The limits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous have been traced with 
 tolerable accuracy over most of the area of the State. 
 
 All the principal high points of the State, long known, have been 
 ascended, their geological character examined, and their precise al- 
 titude ascertained. 
 
 A large district, previously unheard of by the public, has been found 
 to rise to a height of eleven thousand feet or more, with a hundred 
 peaks that rise about thirteen thousand feet, and a general elevation, 
 extent and grandeur of scenery that surpass Switzerland. 
 
 The Big Tree has been found to exist, not merely in a few isolated 
 groves, as was supposed, but in extensive forests, with tens of thou- 
 sands of trees, along a considerable portion of the Sierra Nevada. 
 
 Large bodies of excellent pasturage were found in places previously 
 unknown to the whites. 
 
 It has been ascertained that the men and mammoths, whose bones 
 are found deep in the hills of the mining districts, lived together in 
 the same age, and their remains were buried side by side in the same 
 natural convulsions, which happened many thousands, perhaps hun- 
 dreds of thousands, of years ago. 
 
 An extensive collection of minerals, vegetables, and preserved or 
 stuffed animals, has been obtained, and will be prepared for exhibition 
 so soon as the State prepares a proper place for it. 
 
 § 6. Wheat. — Within the last three years much larger crops of 
 wheat have been grown than ever before, and during the twelve 
 months ending July 1, 1867, San Francisco exported wheat and flour 
 equivalent to 1,700,000 barrels of flour, more than twice as much as 
 was ever exported in any one year before. The production of barley 
 is about the same as it was seven years ago, while the area sowii in 
 wheat has increased considerably. Of late, many hills which were 
 before untouched by the plough, have been sown in wheat. 
 
 ^ 7. Fruit. — There has been a very slight increase in the number 
 of apple, pear and peach orchards since 1862. Cherries have been 
 very profltable near San Francisco, and a multitude of trees have been 
 planted in the vicinity of the bay. It has been found that some trees 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which thrive in the coast valleys do not thrive in the Sierra Nevada. 
 Mr. Weatherwax, an orchardist at Mud Springs, El Dorado county, has 
 ascertained, by trial, the Benick is the most profitable apple there, and 
 after it come the Red Romanite, the Red Cheek Pippin, Prior's Red, 
 the Belleflower and Esopus Spitzenberg. The most profitable pears 
 are the Bartlett, Easter Beurre, Vicar of Wakefield and Winter Nellis. 
 Mr. Nickerson, of Placer county, obtained, as gross receipts from a 
 years's crop on his best trees, eight years old, the following prices, viz : 
 figs, $75 ; pear, peach, apple and plum, each, $60 ; apricot, $50, and 
 nectarine, $45. 
 
 § 8. The Grape. — The number of vineyards has increased greatly 
 within five years, especially in the counties north of the bay and in 
 the Sierra Nevada. According to the Report of the Surveyor General 
 of the State, for 1866, in that year 1,312,730 gallons of wine were made, 
 and there were 15,410,077 grape vines in vineyard. It is not determined 
 yet, by common consent among winegrowers, what are the best wine 
 grapes, but many of the most intelligent viniculturists think that for 
 light white wines, the best grapes are the Golden Chasselas, the Burger, 
 the White Rhenish Muscatella, the Riessling, the Chasselas Fontaine- 
 bleau, and the White Green ; and for red wine, the Zenfenthal, the 
 Black Malvoisie, the Black Burgundy, the Running Burgundy, Black 
 Cabrunet and the Traminer. For the table, the White Muscat of Alex- 
 andria bears the best price ; and for raisins, the White Malaga, called 
 also the Fiherzagos, is preferred. 
 
 In the first and second edition of The Resources, the largest grape 
 vine of the State was inadvertently passed over without notice. In 
 1765 Seilora Dominguez, a native of Mexico, and a resident of Santa 
 Barbara county, rode from Monterey to her home, and before starting 
 she picked up a grape cutting for a switch. When she had ridden 
 twenty miles she saw that her switch was budding, so she took care of 
 it, and after getting to her liouse at Montecito, she planted it in the 
 garden. The vine grew, and now its trunk is 15 inches in diameter, 
 and its branches are supported by an arbor 114 feet long and 78 feet 
 wide. Its annual yield of grapes is three or four tons. Sertora Domin- 
 guez, who planted it, died on the 9th May, 1865, at the age of 105 years, 
 after having given more than 300 children, grand children, great-grand 
 children, and greatrgreat-grand children to the State. The vine was 
 watered from a mineral spring, find the old lady said the grapes and 
 the wine from it were better than any others in the neighborhood, 
 and that the superior excellence was due to the mineral water. 
 
INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 E. M. Smith, in Coloma, has an Isabella vine which is now in its fifth 
 year, and in 186G it bore 1,500 bunches of grapes, which weighed 420 
 pounds. He estimates the yield this year at 2,500 bunches and 1,000 
 pounds. I visited the vine and started to count the bunches, but gave 
 it up in despair, and determined to accept Mr. Smith's estimate. 
 
 The value of the wine exported in 18G3 was $79,000 ; in 1864, 
 $41,000 ; in 18G5, $89,000 ; in 18GG, $1G9,000 ; and in the first half 
 of 18G7, $G2,000. 
 
 The principal wholesale wine houses of San Francisco are the fol- 
 lowing, viz: The United Anaheim Wine Growers' Association. (B. 
 Dryfas, agent,) deals only in Anaheim wines ; G. Groezinger & Co, 
 Mercado & Seully, and Kohler & Frohling, deal in California wines 
 generally; M. Keller and A. Eberhardt deal chiefly in Los Angeles 
 wines ; and I. Landsberger and M. Hoadley deal chiefly in still and 
 sparkling Sonoma wines. Any orders to these houses for wines, by 
 express, would no doubt be promptly and honestly filled. Persons in 
 the East desirous of getting specimens of California wines, can send 
 their money with instructions. 
 
 The following are the chief varieties — viz : Red Wine, White Wine 
 Port, Sherry, Madeira, Sparkling Sonoma and Angelica. The Red and 
 White are usually the plain grape juice in a vinous state of fermenta- 
 tion ; the Port, Sherry and Madeira are made stronger, either by letting 
 the grapes remain on the vine until much of the water has evaporated 
 or else by adding brandy. The Angelica is not fermented. The lio-ht 
 wines of California are almost invariably pure ; and the strong wines 
 have no admixture that deserves to be considered an adulteration. 
 
 § 9. Hop.— The cultivation of the hop on a large scale has been es- 
 tablished with profit. Several fields of cotton, of several hundred 
 acres each, were cultivated for two or three years during the war but 
 now the business is less profitable, and most of those who engao-ed in 
 it have abandoned it. In 1866, 198 bales of Californian cotton were 
 brought to San Francisco, from Tulare and Los Angeles counties. 
 Flax seed and the castor oil are both grown in the State now. 
 
 § 10. SUk Worms. — Extensive fields have been planted with the 
 white mulberry, and the breeding of silk worms has been com- 
 menced on an extensive scale, and a silk factory has been erected at 
 San Josd. It is found that the worms thrive wonderfully well in our 
 climate, and are so heavy that it is sufficient to feed them once a day, 
 by giving them a big supply in the morning. 
 
 § 11. Quartz 3fimug. —Qn&rtz mining in California is in a very 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 satisfactory and progressive 'Condition. The number of mines being 
 opened and mills being built is much larger tlian at any previous 
 time ; and, what is more important, the enterprises now in progress 
 are in the hanfls of men who, as a class, have more learning, more ex- 
 perielnce and more prudence than those who erected quartz mills 
 before the discovery of the Washoe mines. All the energy and capi- 
 tal of California were concentrated in silver for four or five years, and 
 we are now just getting to study gold-quartz mining as a regular busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Among the principal quartz mines of the State 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 ; the Mariposa Mine produced $84,948 in 
 1864. Those four mines are in the Mariposa grant, and liaA^e all been 
 idle since 1865, because of mismanagement. The New Britain has 
 yielded $52,000 ; the Sherman, $200,000 ; the Kite's Cove yields $150 
 per ton ; and the Potts' Mine, $50,000 annually. 
 
 In Tuolumne county, the Soulsby yields $100,000 annually; 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 total 
 yield of the App, the Reist, the Heslep, and the Golden llule have not 
 been reported, but they are doing a large amount of work, and are all 
 valuable. 
 
 The Morgan Mine, on Carson Hill, in Calaveras county, (according 
 to the statement of Thomas Dear, who is reputed to have better op- 
 portunities 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 the town of Melones, at the foot of the hill, was 
 the largest mining camp in the State for a time. For sixteen years 
 the title was in litigation and the mine in idleness. Work has been 
 resumed lately. The South Carolina has yielded $400,000 ;• the Re- 
 serve, $100,000 ; the Bovee, $600,000 ; Hill's Mine, $250,000 ; and the 
 Cherokee, $100,000. 
 
 The Hayvvard 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 surtuce, and 300 feet below the level 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 of the sea. The total yield, according to rumor, which no doubt 
 exaggerates greatly, has been $6,000,000. The Keystone, a mile and 
 a half distant, pays $80,000 a year in dividends. 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 $13,000, in 
 specimens ; the Danes and the Shepard. 
 
 In Placer county, the Harpending, the Green Emigrant and the 
 Schnable, are the most notable. 
 
 In Nevada county, the Eureka, reputed to be the best worked mine 
 in the State, has yielded $1,500,000 ; the North Star $500,000 profit ; 
 the Allison $2,300,000 ; Massachusetts Hill $5,600,000; New York Hill 
 $500,000 ; Missouri Hill $200,000 ; the Fellows $1,000,000 ; Noram- 
 bagua $80,000 ; Gold Hill $4,000,000 ; Union Hill $74,000 ; Empire 
 $1,300,000 ; 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 ; Wigham $200,000, and Banner 
 $200,000. 
 
 The Sierra Buttes yielded $224,000 gross, and $154,000 net, in 1866 ; 
 and has three years' supply of ore in sight. This mine has paid more 
 regularly than any other in the State, and if the milling capacity were 
 increased, could be made to surpass any other mine in the State in 
 yield. The Independence, on the same vein, yielded $100,000, in 1866, 
 and has ore in sight to last three years. The Primrose, 2 miles distant, 
 has yielded $226,000— idle. The Union, one mile from Alleghany, 
 yielded $75,000 in a pocket. 
 
 In Plumas county, the Eureka has yielded $1,600,000 ; the Mam- 
 moth, $1,000,000 ; the Crescent, $500,000 ; and the Whitney, $68,000. 
 
 In Yuba county, at Brown's Valley, 12 miles from Marysville, and 
 not more than 300 feet above the level of the sea, are the Pennsylva- 
 nia, which yields 1,000 tons and $10,000 net per month ; the Jefierson, 
 which has paid $250,000 of dividends ; and the Dannebroge, which 
 has yielded $250,000. 
 
 § 12. Sulphur ets.— Most of the quartz mines, and especially the 
 richer ones, have in the rock from one to five per cent, of sulphurets 
 of iron, which contain from $20 to $1,000 per ton of gold. This can- 
 :not be obtained by amalgamation ; and the only resource is to separate 
 A 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the sulphurets (the specific gravity of which is 5,) from the pulverized 
 quartz, (the specific gravity of which is 2^.) This separation, called 
 concentration, must be done with the assistance of water. The long 
 sluice is now considered the best machine for concentration. The 
 sluice has a grade of 3 or 3 inches to 12 feet ; and riffles half an inch 
 thick are introduced gradually as the boxes fill up, the sand being 
 occasionally stirred with a hoe. When the sand is 8 inches deep, the 
 riffles are gradually removed one by one, and the sand again stirred 
 up ; and in this way the sulphurets are obtained in a very clean state. 
 The sulphurets are then roasted, and put into a chlorine bath. The 
 chlorine unites with the gold ; the chloride of gold is dissolved in 
 water ; and the gold is precipitated by sulphate of iron. This process 
 costs usually about $30 per ton, although one superintendent says the 
 expense, exclusive of his own supervision, is only $9. The cost of con- 
 centration is $10 per ton of sulphurets where the rock contains one 
 per cent. 
 
 . § 13. Cement Mills. — Cement Mills have been brought into use since 
 1833. At the bottom of some of the ancient channels, Llie richest pay 
 is found in a stratum of clay and gravel, so cemented together that it 
 will not dissolve in the sluice ; and the only mode of separating the 
 gold from the dirt, heretofore, has been crushing in a stamp mill. 
 Many of these mills are now in use, and their number is increasing 
 rapidly. The gold is usually coarse in the cement. The material is 
 not so hard as quartz, nor is it crushed so fine ; so the crushing does 
 not usually cost over 50 cents per ton. A pan has lately been invented 
 for reducing cement. It is an iron pan, six feet in diameter, and 
 eighteen inches deep, in which four iron rakes, radiating from the cen- 
 ter, each with three strong teeth, revolve rapidly. A large stream of 
 water pours in, and the pulverized stuff" is carried off" through small 
 holes in the bottom. The large stones are discharged through a gate. 
 There are two sluices, one to carry off* the stones, and the other to 
 carry off" the dissolved clay. 
 
 § 14. Copper Mining. — Copper mining in California began in 1861, 
 and was very profitable for a time, but the price of the metal has 
 fallen greatly within the last year or two, and copper mining in this 
 State has declined. The amount of ore exported in 1863 was 3,660 
 tons ; in 1863, 5,553 tons ; in 1864, 10,334 tons ; in 1865, 17,787 tons ; 
 in 1866, 19,813 tons ; and in the first half of 1867, 3,542 tons. Besides 
 this ore, about 300 tons of metallic copper have been shipped. The 
 ore exported contained on an average about 14 per cent, of metal. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 § 15. Coal Mining. — Coal mining, at Monte Diablo, in California, 
 commenced in 1861 and advanced very rapidly. In 18G2, 23,000 tons 
 were produced, and in 186G, 84,000 tons. It was at first supposed that 
 the coal was of very poor quality, and that the supply would soon give 
 out ; but these suppositions have proved to be erroneous. 
 
 § 16. Borax. — The production of borax was commenced in Califor- 
 nia in 1865, in which year 1,707 cases, worth $22 per case, were 
 exported ; in the next year, 3,171 cases were exported ; and in the 
 first half of 1867, 3,671 cases. 
 
 The borax is obtained from Borax Lake, which covers an area of 200 
 acres, one mile from the eastern end of Clear Lake, in Lake county. 
 The water of the lake is strong with borate of soda, and the mud at 
 the bottom of the lake is full of crystals of borax, nearly pure. 
 
 § 17. Other Minerals. — In 18G6, 5,000 barrels of California petroleum 
 were produced. Several tons of sulphur were refined near Clear Lake ; 
 and several tons of plumbago were refined at Sonora. An opal mine 
 was opened at Mokelumne Hill in 1865, but proved unprofitable, and the 
 work has ceased. The stones are abundant, but common in quality. 
 
 § 18. Treasure Trade. — Up to the end of 1861, the total amount of 
 treasure manifested at the San Francisco Custom House for exporta- 
 tion, as given in section 177, was $551,603,904. Since '61 the following 
 sums have been shipped, viz : in 1862, $45,561,761; in '63, $46,071,920; 
 in '64, $55,707,201; in '65, $44,984,546;- in '66, $56,146,577; in the first 
 half of '67, $20,804,994. Adding these sums to the total of 12 years 
 before, we have $817,881,003. It is well known, howevfer, that large 
 sums were exported in early years without entry at the Custom House, 
 and ray estimate of $700,000,000 for the total exportation previous to the 
 1st January, 1862, has been considered, by business men and bankers, 
 in San Francisco, to be as near correct as any estimate could be ; and 
 we may assume that in the last six years and a half the production has 
 been greater by $35,000,000 than the exportation ; we have a total pro- 
 duction of $1,000,000,000 for the coast, up to the 1st July, 1867. 
 
 This production, however, has not been exclusively from California. 
 In 1866, Wells, Fargo & Co's Express, which carries all the treasure, 
 the transportation of which is published, received at San Francisco 
 S24,055,381 from the Northern mines of California, $5,415,711 from 
 the Southern mines, $15,215,218 from Nevada, $6,551,284 from the 
 Northern Coast, including Victoria, and $2,309,994 from foreign parts. 
 During the first half of 1867 the Northern mines sent us $9,647,527, 
 the Southern mines $2,110,773, Nevada $9,341,949, and the Northern 
 Coast $1,683,857. 
 
xii IN^rilODUCTION. 
 
 . The yield of Nevada is rapidly increasing ; that of Idaho, which 
 supplies most of the gold from the "Northern Coast," is either decreas- 
 ing since 1864, or else the treasure is sent eastward overland. Califor- 
 nia supplies about three-fifths of the treasure exported from San Fran- 
 cisco. One of the. main causes of the decrease in the gold production 
 of this State is the tax of $4 per month levied on Chinese miners. Not 
 less than ten thousand have left the placers of California within the 
 last two years, either for Idaho, Montana, or Nevada. 
 
 § 19. iSJdjJjnnff- — Previous to 1860 our imports exceeded our exports, 
 and ships came heavily laden, and went away in ballast. The tables 
 are now turned, and ships come in ballast to load with our grain, copper 
 ores, wines, avooI, hides, horns, quicksilver, borax, and plumbago. In 
 the first half of 1867, 1,144 vessels, registering 391,000 tons, entered the 
 port of San Francisco, making the annual tonnage of the j^ort about 
 800,000. 
 
 § 30. Population. — The population of the State has gained consider- 
 ably during the last five years, but there is no method of ascertaining 
 the precise increase. The gain by excess of arrivals over departures 
 seawards, was 3,232 in 1853 ; 23,023 in '54 ; 6,300 in '55 ; 5,372 in '56 ; 
 6,088 in '57 ; 12,745 in '58 ; 13,402 in '59 ; 16,185 in '60 ; 16,864 in '61 ; 
 16,150 in '62 ; 15,882 in '63 ; 9,773 in '64; 4,759 in '66 ; and 8,188 in the 
 first half of 1867 : making a total gain of 158,963 in thirteen years and 
 a half. In 1865 there was a decrease of 3,780, leaving a net gain of 
 155,883. The increase by birth has more than counterbalanced the 
 loss by death and by emigration overland to Nevada, Idaho and Mon- 
 tana. In section 252 I estimated the population at 400,000 ; and if 
 that figure was correct for the 1st July, 1860, and I am inclined to 
 think it was, then the present population of California is not far from 
 500,000. 
 
 § 21. Manufactures- — Since 1862, there has been a very rapid 
 develoj)ment of the manufacturing industry of the country. Mills and 
 factories have been established, and are now in operation, making 
 cotton goods, powder, linseed and castor oils, ropes of iron and hemp, 
 glass, shot, lead pipe, boots and shoes, and brushes. Additional paper 
 and woolen mills have been built. A rolling mill is now in the course 
 of erection. These manufactures are nearly all at San Francisco, which 
 is likely to become one of the chief manufacturing cities of the Union. 
 Large quantities of turpentine and rosin are made in Butte and Yuba 
 counties. In 1866, 18 vessels left San Francisco for the codfish banks 
 of the North Pacific, and they brought back fish which when dried 
 
INTllODUCTION. xm 
 
 weighed 900 tons'. This fishery began in 1864. The production of 
 soap in San Francisco in 18G6 was 13,000,000 lbs. 
 
 § 32. San Francisco. — The growth of San Francisco has been 
 steady and rapid since 1863. Every year has witnessed great changes 
 and vast additions to the number of buildings. The city is now truly 
 metropolitan in its appearance. Montgomery street, as a fashionable 
 retail street and promenade, has no superior on the continent, save 
 Broadway ; and Kearny street, which is now being widened, is rapidly 
 advancing to rival Montgomery. There are three hotels, which in 
 size and style deserve to take rank with the finest of New York. Five 
 street railroads are ready to take passengers to every part of the city. 
 One of the largest and finest stone dry-docks of the world is nearly 
 completed, at Hunter's Point. The construction of a sea-wall, to pro- 
 tect the harbor, has been commenced. Splendid buildings have been 
 erected by the Merchants' Exchange Association, the Mercantile 
 Library Association, and the Mechanics' Institute. The silver mines 
 of Washoe, and the principal quartz mines of California, are mostly 
 owned here, and their wealth has contributed to beautify and enrich 
 the city. The establishment of a regular line of monthly steamers to 
 China and Japan, and the rapid progress of the Pacific Railway, with 
 the certainty of its speedy completion, have given confidence, attracted 
 population, and induced the investment of capital. Numerous branches 
 of manufacturing industry have been established. The commerce of 
 the city has continued to advance. The average number of houses 
 erected annually, during the last five years, has been about 1,500. It 
 may safely be said that no city shows greater signs of prosperity. San 
 Francisco, in proportion to her size, is the busiest seaport in the world. 
 The annual exports are about $70,000,000, and 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 land, build- 
 ings, and movable property, is about $200,000,000, although assessed 
 for taxation at only $80,000,000. It sends away about forty tons of 
 silver and six tons of gold every month — the former metal in bars fif- 
 teen 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. 
 
 Most of the towns of the interior have grown little during the last 
 five years. Sacramento suffered so severely from the flood that she 
 has not yet recovered. The Central Pacific Railroad, the Sacramento 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Valley Railroad, and the California Pacific Railroad (from Vallejo) 
 centre here ; and the Western Pacific, the building of which has been 
 long delayed, is to terminate here. The new State House, to cost 
 more than $1,000,000, will not be finished for a year or two. 
 
 § 23. . Vallejo. — The construction of the California Pacific, and Napa 
 Valley Railroads has given a stimulus to Vallejo, which seems to be on 
 the point of getting the benefit of the natural advantages of its posi- 
 tion. Those advantages could do nothing for it without the assistance 
 of railroads ; but now that the roads are to be built, Vallejo is certain 
 to be one of the leading towns of the coast. Its exemption from earth- 
 quakes, the probability that it will be a brick-built town, the conse- 
 quent security against great fires, the freedom from a heavy debt, the 
 promise of free wharfage, the certainty that it will be the terminus of 
 the railroads from Humboldt Bay and Oregon, and that it will attract 
 much of the travel and freight from Sacramento, and the possibility, 
 or as many view it, the probability that it will be the main western 
 terminus of the Pacific Railroad, are great considerations in its favor. 
 The town is growing rapidly now, and land has increased greatly in 
 value. 
 
 § 24. Legal matters. — Congress has granted to the State of Cali- 
 fornia Yosemite Valley and the Big Tree Grove of Mariposa ; and has 
 passed an act providing for the sale of the quartz mines, on which 
 work to the amount of $1,000 has been done ; and fur the sale of the 
 agricultural lands in the mineral districts. 
 
 i^ 25. Communicatiohs. — In 1862, the only railway in the State was 
 the Sacramento Valley road, 20 miles from Sacramento to Folsom. 
 Now we have the Central Pacific completed 95 miles, from Sacramento 
 to Cisco ; the San Francisco and San Jose road, 50 miles ; the Western 
 Pacific, completed from San Jose to Vallejo's mill, 20 miles ; the Ala- 
 meda and Hayw-ard road, 15 miles ; the Oakland and Brooklyn road 4 
 miles ; the Napa Valley road, 25 miles ; the Oroville and Marysvile 
 road, 25 miles ; the Central California road, from Folsom to Marysville, 
 (unfinished) 40 miles; and the California Pacific, from Vallejo to Sac- 
 ramento (unfinished), 60 miles ; and the Folsom and Shingle Springs 
 road, 40 miles. 
 
 A monthly line of steamers runs to China and Japan ; another to 
 Mazatlan ; and a third is to be established to the Hawaiian Islands. 
 There are two lines of telegra])h across the continent, placing us in 
 instantaneous communication with the Atlantic States and Europe. 
 
 § 26. Galifornian Books. — Considerable contributions to the litera- 
 
.TNTE ODOOTTON. XV 
 
 turc of California have been made during the last five years. Among 
 the books written in or about California, or published by Californians, 
 are : the first volume of the Geology and volume first of the Palcnto- 
 logy of the State Geological Survey ; the Reports of the Pacific Rail- 
 road Survey ; the History of California, by Franklin Tuthill ; the His- 
 tory and Resources of California, (in French) by Ernest Frignet ; the 
 Resources, Society and Industry of California (in German) by Karl 
 Ruelil ; a School History of (?!alifornia, by Lucia Norman ; the Mineral 
 Resources of the Pacific Slope, by J. Ross Browne, U. S. Commissioner 
 of Mining Statistics; a Treatise on Mining Law, by Gregory Yale 
 (not published yet) ; a Guide Book to Yosemite, by the State Geolo- 
 gical Survey (not published yet) ; a collection of Californian Poems, 
 ca'led " Outcroppings ;" another styled "Poetry of the Pacific;" a 
 volume of poems, by Charles Warren Stoddart ; the Jumping Frog of 
 Calaveras, by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) ; Phoenixiana, by Lieut. 
 Derby ; the Adventures of James Capen Adams, the Grizzly Bear 
 Hunter, by Theodore H. Hittell ; and Treatises on Grape Culture and 
 Wine-making, by G. A. Haraszthy and T. H. Hyatt, and a Manual of 
 Silk Culture, by L, Prevost. 
 
lE'DEX OF CPIAPTEES. 
 
 Chapters. - Page 
 
 I. Chorograpiiy ] 
 
 II. Climate 19 
 
 III. Geology 47 
 
 IV. Scenery "72 
 
 Y. Botany 91 
 
 VI Zoology 108 
 
 VII. Agriculture 151 
 
 VIII. Mining 2:38 
 
 IX. Other Branches of Industry 304 
 
 X. Commerce 32G 
 
 XL Constitution and Laws 349 
 
 XII. Society 359 
 
 XIII. ToPOGRAPmcAL Names 422 
 
 XIV. The Past and Future Development of the State 431 
 
 APPENDIX. , 
 
 Proportions of the Sexes in California ; 4G2 
 
 Oregon 464 
 
 Vv^asuinqton Territory , 478' 
 
^ 
 
Il^DEX OF SECTIOI^S. 
 
 CnOROGRAPHT — ChAP. I. 
 
 3ea Page 
 
 1. General Remarks 1 
 
 2. Coast Mountains 2 
 
 3. Coasts Peaks, and Passes.. 3 
 
 4. Coast Rivers 5 
 
 5. Coast Lakes 6 
 
 6. Capes 7 
 
 7. Islands 1 
 
 8. Bays and Harbors 7 
 
 y. Sacramento Basin 10 
 
 lu. Rivers of the Sacramento 
 
 Basin 12 
 
 11. Tule Laud 13 
 
 12. Sierra iSevada 13 
 
 13. Peaks and Passes of the 
 
 Sierra 14 
 
 14. Lakes of the Sierra 15 
 
 15. IPlateau of the Sierra Ne- 
 
 vada 15 
 
 16. Klamatk Basin 16 
 
 17. UtahBasm 16 
 
 18. Colorado Desert 17 
 
 19. Area of the State 18 
 
 Climate — Chap. II. 
 
 20. General Remarks., .-r 19 
 
 21. Temperature of the Middle 
 
 Coast 20 
 
 22. Clear Days 25 
 
 23. The Sirocco 25 
 
 24. Temperature of the South- 
 
 ern Coast 27 
 
 25. Sacramento Basin 27 
 
 26. Comparative Tables 28 
 
 27. Rain 30 
 
 28. Dryness of Climate 38 
 
 29. Length of Days 39 
 
 30. Thunderstorms 39 
 
 31. Hail 40 
 
 32. Earthquakes 40 
 
 33. Sand-Storms 45 
 
 Geology — Chap. III. 
 
 Sec. Page 
 
 34. General Geological Charac- 
 
 ter 47 
 
 35. Diluvium 48 
 
 36. Gold 50 
 
 37. Auriferous Lodes 51 
 
 38. Placers 52 
 
 39. Mineralogy of Gold 54 
 
 40. Silver 60 
 
 41. Platinum 61 
 
 42. Quicksilver 61 
 
 43. Copper 62 
 
 44. Coal 63 
 
 45. Asphaltum 63 
 
 46. Other Minerals 65 
 
 47. Artesian "Wells 67 
 
 48. Paleontology 69 
 
 49. Relics of Early Humanity. 70 
 
 50. Mineral Springs 70 
 
 61. Cortes Shoal 71 
 
 Scenery — Chap. IV. 
 
 52. Introductory 72 
 
 53. Coast Valleys 72 
 
 54. Tosemite Valley 73 
 
 55. Mammoth Tree Groves. ... 78 
 
 56. Geysers 84 
 
 57. Mud Volcanoes 85 
 
 68. Santa Cruz Ruins 86 
 
 59. Mirage 86 
 
 60. Caves 88 
 
 61. Waterfalls 88 
 
 62. Solfiitaras 89 
 
 63. Mount Shasta 89 
 
 Botany — Chap. V. 
 
 64. Peculiar Fauna and Flora. . 91 
 05. Distribution of Plants 92 
 
 66. Superiority of Conifers 93 
 
 67. Redwood 92 
 
XIV 
 
 INDEX OF SECTIONS. 
 
 Sec. 
 68. 
 69. 
 10. 
 71. 
 12. 
 73. 
 74. 
 75. 
 76. 
 77. 
 78. 
 79. 
 80. 
 81. 
 82. 
 
 83. 
 84. 
 85. 
 
 86. 
 
 87. 
 
 88. 
 
 89. 
 
 90. 
 
 91. 
 
 92. 
 
 93. 
 
 94. 
 
 95. 
 
 96. 
 
 97. 
 
 98. 
 
 99. 
 100. 
 101. 
 102. 
 103. 
 104. 
 105. 
 106. 
 107. 
 108. 
 109. 
 110. 
 111. 
 112. 
 113. 
 114. 
 115. 
 116. 
 
 Page 
 
 Pines 93 
 
 Firs 96 
 
 Cedars 96 
 
 Yew and Nutmeg 97 
 
 Laurel 97 
 
 Madrona 98 
 
 Manzanita 98 
 
 Ceanothus 99 
 
 Oaks 99 
 
 Buckeye 101 
 
 Sj^camore 101 
 
 Pitahaya 101 
 
 Yucca 102 
 
 Mezquit 102 
 
 Miscellaneous Trees and 
 
 Shrubs 102 
 
 Poison Oak 103 
 
 Amole 104 
 
 Nutritious Herbage 104 
 
 ZooLoaY — Chap. YI. 
 
 General List 108 
 
 Bears 108 
 
 Panther and Wild-Cat Ill 
 
 "Wolves and Poxes 112 
 
 Badger, etc 114 
 
 The^ Squirrel Family 115 
 
 The Rat Family 120 
 
 The Deer Family 121 
 
 The Hare Family 124 
 
 Aquatic Animals 125 
 
 Yultures 128 
 
 The Eagle Family 129 
 
 Owls 130 
 
 Road-runner 130 
 
 Woodpecker 131 
 
 Huraming-Birds 132 
 
 Flycatchers 133 
 
 Singers. 133 
 
 Scratchers 134 
 
 Waders 137 
 
 Swimmers 137 
 
 Fishes 140 
 
 Salmon 140 
 
 Halibut 141 
 
 Turbot 142 
 
 Sole 142 
 
 Mackerel 142 
 
 Rock-Fish 142 
 
 Sturgeon 143 
 
 Jew-Fish 143 
 
 Sun-Fish 144 
 
 Sec. 
 
 117. 
 
 118. 
 
 119. 
 
 120. 
 
 121. 
 
 122. 
 
 123. 
 
 124. 
 
 125. 
 
 126. 
 
 127. 
 
 128. 
 129. 
 130. 
 131. 
 132. 
 133. 
 134. 
 135. 
 136. 
 137. 
 138. 
 139. 
 140. 
 141. 
 142. 
 143. 
 144. 
 145. 
 146. 
 147. 
 148. 
 149. 
 150. 
 151. 
 152. 
 153. 
 154. 
 155. 
 156. 
 157. 
 158. 
 159. 
 160. 
 
 161. 
 162. 
 163. 
 164. 
 165. 
 
 Page 
 
 Green-Fish 144 
 
 Sea-Bass 144 
 
 Sheepshead 144 
 
 Smelts 144 
 
 Anchovies 145 
 
 Sardine and Herring 145 
 
 Viviparous Fishes 145 
 
 Fresh- Water Fishes 146 
 
 Shell-Fish and Crustaceans . 146 
 
 Reptiles 147 
 
 Honey-Dew Aphis 149 
 
 Agricultuee — Chap. YIL 
 
 General Remarks 151 
 
 Agricultural Districts 153 
 
 Agricultural Produce 160 
 
 Rotation of Crops 161 
 
 Ploughing 162 
 
 Advantages, etc 162 
 
 Fences 163 
 
 Barley 167 
 
 Wheat 170 
 
 Oats 177 
 
 Maize 178 
 
 Potatoes 178 
 
 Hay 179 
 
 Tobacco, Cotton, Rice 181 
 
 Hop 181 
 
 Kitchen Yegetablaa. 182 
 
 Fruit P 184 
 
 Apples 186 
 
 Peaches 188 
 
 Pears 189 
 
 Apricots and Plums 189 
 
 Ohvcs 190 
 
 Oranges 191 
 
 The Grape 193 
 
 Wine-making 201 
 
 Berries 207 
 
 Ornamental Shrubs 209 
 
 Pests of the Farmer 211 
 
 Neat Cattle 212 
 
 Spanish Cattle 212 
 
 Rodeos 214 
 
 Brands 217 
 
 Eaily Maturity of Cahfornian 
 
 Cows 218 
 
 Corral and Reata 219 
 
 Occasional Starvation 219 
 
 Lnported Cattle 220 
 
 Dairies 222 
 
 Spanish Horses. 222 
 
INDEX OF SECTIOXS, 
 
 XV 
 
 Page 
 
 Horse-break iiig 224 
 
 131ood4iorscs 228 
 
 Mules 229 
 
 Ciimels 229 
 
 Sheep 229 
 
 Swine 233 
 
 Poiiito' 233 
 
 Bees 235 
 
 Silkworms 237 
 
 Mining — Chap. YIIL 
 
 Chief Industry 
 
 Metals obtained 
 
 Gold Mines 
 
 Placer Mines 
 
 Tlie Sluice 
 
 Anialgamatiou 
 
 Cleaning' up 
 
 Riffle-bars , 
 
 Double-Sluice.-^ 
 
 llock-Sluices , 
 
 H3-draulic Miuing 
 
 Blasting 
 
 Tail-Sluice 
 
 Tunnel-Sluice 
 
 Ground-Sluice. . .^, 
 
 Long-Tom 
 
 Cradle 
 
 Pan 
 
 Dry "Washing , 
 
 Dry Digging 
 
 Puddling Box ". . . 
 
 Quicksilver Maehiue 
 
 Tunnel Miuing ,. . 
 
 Shafts 
 
 River Mining 
 
 Beach Mining 
 
 Mining- Ditches 
 
 Prospecting 
 
 Quartz Mining 
 
 Distribution of Gold 
 
 Quartz 
 
 Prospecting Quartz Rock. 
 
 The Divining Rod 
 
 Quarrying Quartz 
 
 Arastra 
 
 Chilean MiU 
 
 Stamps 
 
 Separation 
 
 , Sulphurets 
 
 Chief Quartz Mills 
 
 Silver Mining 
 
 238 
 
 238 
 
 238 
 
 241 
 
 243 
 
 246 
 
 249 
 
 250 
 
 252 
 
 252 
 
 253 
 
 25G 
 
 25G 
 
 257 
 
 257 
 
 257 
 
 258 
 
 262 
 
 264 
 
 204 
 
 265 
 
 265 
 
 266 
 
 267 
 
 268 
 
 269 
 
 270 
 
 271 
 
 272 
 
 273 
 275 
 277 
 277 
 278 
 280 
 280 
 281 
 284 
 284 
 285 
 
 Sec. Page 
 
 215. Quicksilver Mining 286 
 
 216. Platinum 287 
 
 217. Del No'-te and Klamath. . . 288 
 
 218. Siskiyou 289 
 
 219. Trini\v and Shasui 289 
 
 220. Plumas and- Sierra 290 
 
 221. Yuba and Butte 294 
 
 222. Nevada and Placer 205 
 
 223. Kl Dorado and Amador 296 
 
 224. Calaveras and Tuohmmo. . . 298 
 
 225. Mono and Mariposa 301 
 
 226 Fresno, etc 303 
 
 Otiieu Br.vnciies of Industry — 
 Chap. IX. 
 
 227. High Wages 304 
 
 228. Lumbering ■. 305 
 
 229. Fidiing. .' 313 
 
 230. Hunting 317 
 
 231. House-building 320 
 
 232. Furniture, et^ 323 
 
 Commerce — Chap, X. 
 
 233. General Advantages 326 
 
 234. Tributary Population 327 
 
 235. Imports.' 330 
 
 230. Exports 330 
 
 237. Shipping 332 
 
 238. Unsteadiness of Business. . 333 
 
 239. I.n.- olvencies 334 
 
 240. Interest of Money 335 
 
 241. Speculation in Land 337 
 
 242. Jso Paper Money 337 
 
 243. Opportunities for Invest- 
 
 ment 338 
 
 244. Assurance 347 
 
 Constitution and Laws — Chap. XL 
 
 245. Outlines of Constitution 349 
 
 246. Inferiority of Colored Per- 
 
 sons 350 
 
 247. Law Favorable to Debtors . . 350 
 
 248. Tenure of Land 352 
 
 249. Ownership of Minerals. . . . .354 
 
 250. Titles of Mining-Claims. . . 354 
 
 251. Marriage 358 
 
 Society — Citap. XIL 
 
 252. Population 359 
 
\vi 
 
 INDEX OF SECTIONS. 
 
 Sm3. Page 
 
 253. Nativities 3G1 
 
 254. Liberal Tone of Society. . . . 3G2 
 
 255. Publicity of Life 364 
 
 256. Amusements 365 
 
 257. Luxurious Living 366 
 
 258. Health 366 
 
 259. Proportion of Sexes- 368 
 
 260. Education 369 
 
 261. Vigilance Committees 3T0 
 
 262. L>Tich Executions 373 
 
 263. Sciuatter League 374 
 
 264. Anti-Chinese Mobs 375 
 
 265. Deeds of Blood 375 
 
 266. Religion 378 
 
 267. Cahtbrnianisms 380 
 
 268. Germans and French 385 
 
 269. Spanish Californians 385 
 
 270. Chinamen 387 
 
 271. Indians 388 
 
 272. Cities and Towns 397 
 
 273. San Francisco 398 
 
 274. Sacramento. 401 
 
 275. Stockton 404 
 
 276. Marysville 405 
 
 277. Nevada 406 
 
 278. Los Angeles 406 
 
 279. Petaluma 408 
 
 280. San Jose 409 
 
 281. Santa Clara 409 
 
 282. Columbia 410 
 
 283. Placerville 410 
 
 284. Yreka 410 
 
 Sec. Page 
 
 285. Yallejo 41 1 
 
 286. Visalia 413 
 
 287. Red Bluff 414 
 
 288. Martinez 414' 
 
 289. Pacheco 414 
 
 290. Suisun 415 
 
 291. Benicia 416 
 
 292. Napa 416 
 
 293. Crescent City 416 
 
 294. Areata 417 
 
 295. Anaheim 417 
 
 296. Monterey, etc 419 
 
 297. Mining Towns 420 
 
 298. General Remarks. 420 
 
 ToPOGR.iPUicAL Names — Chap. XIIL 
 
 299. Introductory 422 
 
 300. Sacred Spanish Names. . . . 422 
 
 301. Profane Spanish Names. . . 424 
 
 302. Indian Names 425 
 
 303. American Names 426 
 
 304. Etymology of California .. . 428 
 
 305. Pronunciation of Names. . . 429 
 
 The Past and Future Development 
 OF THE State — Chap. XIY. 
 
 306. Summary, General 431 
 
 307. Sale of Mineral Lands 437 
 
 308. Mexican Grants 45* 
 
RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHOROGRAPHY. 
 
 § 1. General BemarJcs. — California has a peculiar cho- 
 rography. No other country comprises within so small a 
 space, such various, so many, and such strongly-marked cho- 
 rographical divisions. Mountains the most steep, barren, and 
 rugged; valleys the most fertile and beautiful; deserts the 
 most sterile ; spacious bays, magnificent rivers, unparalleled 
 waterfalls, picturesque lakes, extensive marshes, broad prairies, 
 and dense forests — all these are hers. 
 
 In general shape, California is a long parallelogram, extend- 
 ing from latitude 32° 45' to 42° north, seven hundred miles in 
 length by one hundred and eighty in breadth, the course of 
 the longitudinal axis being north-northwest by south-southeast. 
 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 Interior 
 district may be subdivided into the Sierra Nevada^ the Sac- 
 1 
 
2 EE SOURCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 ramento JBasin^ the Plateau of the Sierra Kevada^ the Kla- 
 math JBasin^ the Great Basin of JJtah^ and the Colorado 
 Desert. 
 
 § 2. Coast Mountains. — The Coast range, though not so 
 high, or so wide as the Sierra Nevada, may be considered 
 the main orographical feature of California, because it alone 
 extends through the whole length of the state. The height 
 of the range is from tw^o thousand to six thousand feet; 
 its width from twenty to forty miles. South of 34° 20' the 
 spurs are short and run at riglit angles to the course of the 
 main divide, which is the easternmost ridge of the chain; 
 nearly all the s^Durs^ v^alleys, and streams, run to the west- 
 ward. South of 34° 20' a plain from twenty-five to forty 
 miles wide lies between the mountains and the sea ; north of 
 that the spurs make up the greater part of the Coast line, 
 and, where they enter the ocean, form the headlands and 
 capes. The Sunta Susanna spur starts from the main ridge in 
 34° 20' and runs west by south, and is separated by the valley 
 of the Santa Clara River from the Santa Inez ridge, which 
 starts in 34° 30' and runs west ; then continuing our course 
 northward, across the Santa Inez valley, we come to the Santa 
 Barbara ridge, which starts from the main ridge in 34° 40' and 
 runs w^est-northAvest. The Cuyama valley sejDarates the Santa 
 Barbara from the Santa Lucia ridge, which branches off at 
 35° in a northwestern direction, and forms the southern bound- 
 ary of the Salinas valley, w^hose northern boundary is the Gab- 
 iian ridge, starting in 36° 10' and running north-northwest; 
 which is separated from the Contra Costa ridge, rising in 
 3*7° 10' by the Santa Clara valley, and the Contra Costa ridge 
 is separated from the main divide by the Amador and San 
 Ramon valleys. The Gabilan ridge forms the back-bone of 
 Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and San Francisco counties, each of 
 which gives its name to that portion within its borders. The 
 ridge is cut in two on the southern border of Santa Cruz 
 county by the Pajaro River, and the Alameda Creek breaks 
 through the Contra Costa ridge. North of the Golden Gate, 
 
CnOROGRAPIIT. 3 
 
 the Gabilan ridge reap|)ears, ainl is separated by Petalnnia 
 valley from the ►Sonoma ridge, ihut by Sonoma valley from the 
 Cnrneros ridge, and that by Napa valley from the main Coast 
 ridge. Farther north the spurs are so numerous, and con- 
 nected so closely together, that they are scarcely distinguished 
 by names ; and a large portion of the coast, from the main 
 ridge westward, is a mass of mountains. The Coast Moun- 
 tains are steep, rocky, rugged, aud brown: north of 38° they 
 are covered w ith timber and brush ; south of that the ridges 
 nearest the ocean have some timber, those farther inland are 
 nearly bare. The main ridge near the head of the Sacramento 
 valley is called the Trinity ridge ; near Mount Diablo it is 
 called the Diablo ridge, or the Bolbones ridge ; south of 34° 
 it is called the San Bernardino ridge, and in one place the 
 Ciiyaraaca Mountain. 
 
 § 3. Coast PeaJcs and Passes. — The principal peaks of the 
 main ridge are Mount Linn, in 40° 10'; Mount St. John, in 
 39° 25'; Mount Ripley, 7,500 feet high, in 39° 08'; Mount St. 
 Helena, 3,700 leet high, in 38° 40'; Mount Diablo, 3,876 feet 
 high, in 37° 50'; Pacheco's Peak, 2,700 feet high, in 36° 57'; 
 Mount San Bernardino, 8,500 feet high, in 34° 20' ; and Mount 
 San Gorgonio, 7,000 feet high, in 33° 48'. - In the Gabilan 
 ridge are the following peaks: the Chupadero, in 36° 35'; the 
 Gabilan, in 30° 50'; the Loma Prieta, 4,040 feet high, in 37° 
 OS' ; and Table Mountain, or Tamalpais, in 37° 53'. The prin- 
 cipal passes in the main ridge are south of the outlet of the 
 Saci-aniento basin, and are — Livermore's Pass, 086 feet high, 
 in 37° 42'; Pacheco Pass, in 37° ; the Pass de los Pobles, in 
 35° 20' ; the Cajon de Tenoco, in 34° 40' ; the Pass of San 
 Francisquito, 3,437 feet high, in 34° 35'; Williamson's Pass, 
 3,164 feet high, in 34° 30'; the Cajon Pass, 4,676 feet high, in 
 34° 10'; the San Gorgonio Pass, 2,808 feet high, in 33° 55'; 
 and Warner's Pass, 3,780 feet high, in 33° 10'. The Santa Mar- 
 garita Pass, with an altitude of 1,350 feet, leads across the 
 Santa Lucia ridge, in 35° 20' ; and the San Fernando Pass, 
 1,956 feet high, crosses the Santa Susanna ridge, in 34*^' 2C' 
 
4 EESOTJRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Haying thus considered the mountains, let us look into the 
 valleys of the coast. The flat land west of the San Bernardino 
 Mountains, south of 34°, is rather composed of plains than of 
 valleys, though watered by the San Gabriel, Los Angeles, 
 Santa Ana, and other rivers. There are two of these plains : 
 the lower one about two hundred and fifty feet above the sea, 
 and skirting the coast ; the other one thousand or twelve hun- 
 dred feet high, nearer the mountains. On the lower plain are 
 Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Pedro ; on the upper are San 
 Fernando, San Bernardino, Cocomongo, Jurupa, Temescal, 
 and Temecula. Northward of 34° we find long, flat, narrow, 
 fertile valleys, shut in by steep, rugged hills. We have already 
 mentioned the names of many of these valleys, as dividing cer- 
 tain ridges of the Coast Mountains from each other. South 
 of the Salinas all these valleys open upon the ocean, save the 
 Cuyama valley, the river of which runs in a caiion through 
 mountains as it approaclies its mouth. The Pajaro Kiver 
 breaks throuirh the Gabilan Mountains, and makes a small but 
 rich valley. The average width of these coast valleys is five 
 miles at the mouth, with a length of from ten to foi'ty miles, 
 narrowing to a point near the head in the mountains. The 
 Salinas valley, the largest of all the coast valleys, is ninety 
 miles long, and from eight to fourteen wide. Three terraces 
 are distinctly traceable on each side of the river. The first 
 and lowest is about four miles wide, with 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 many valleys 
 in the state. Ordinarily, the coast valleys are separated from 
 each other by steep, rugged mountain-ridges, but there are 
 occasional exceptions. Thus, there is a low plain between 
 Russian River and Santa Rosa valley, which opens into Sono- 
 ma and Petulama valleys; and again, the Santa Clara and 
 
CHOKOGRAPHT. 5 
 
 Pajaro valleys are separated from each other by hills not more 
 than two hundred and fifty feet high ; and the valleys of the 
 Pajaro and the Salinas open into each other. So also the 
 divide between San Ramon and Amador valleys is so low as 
 to be scarcely noticed by the traveller ; and Amador valley is 
 connected, by a level road through a canon, with Sunol valley, 
 and that by another canon with the plain at San Jose Mission. 
 North of San Francisco Bay, the valleys of Suisan, Yaca, Pu- 
 tah, and Cache Creek, lie eastward from Napa valley. The 
 valley at the head of Putah Creek is sometimes called Berre- 
 yesa valley ; and that at the head of Cache Creek, Clear Lake 
 valley. North of Russian River there is little level land, and 
 that little is found in Eel River valley, about the shores of 
 Humboldt Bay, and about Crescent City. 
 
 § 4. Coast JRivers. — 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, Cuyama, Santa 
 Inez, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Gabriel, Santa Ana, Santa 
 Margarita, San Luis Rey, San Diegaito, and San Diego. Some 
 of these are large streams in wet w^inters ; but, in the drought 
 of autumn, all those south of the Salinas are swallowed up in 
 the sands before reaching the ocean. Most of them are con- 
 stant 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 meanderings 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 
 intervening 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 : 
 
 "The point at which w\ater 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 
 
6 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 formation. The point, however, as before stated, is by no 
 means a fixed one : thus, during the night it extends farther 
 downward than in daytime ; in cloudy weather, for tlie same 
 reason, 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. 
 
 " The descent of these streams in the rainy season may be 
 either a gradual process in the progressive saturation of their 
 sandy beds, or, the saturation being accomplished by previous 
 showers, the irruption may be sudden. A fine example of this 
 sudden appearance was observed in the San Diego River, in 
 December, 1849 ; when, after a rainy night, by which its sandy 
 bed was completely saturated, the upper stream suddenly ap- 
 peared in the form of a foaming body of water, moving onward 
 at the rate of a fast walk, curling round the river-bends, ab- 
 sorbing the pools, and soon fihing its bed with a brimming, 
 swift current. An instance of the more gradual descent was 
 seen in the following season (December, 1850), when, from 
 the absence of local rain, its downward progre^ was slow and 
 interrupted." 
 
 The only navigable stream south of San Francisco Bay is 
 the Salinas, and that but for small vessels, and near its mouth. 
 
 North of San Francisco the main streams rising in the Coast 
 Mountains are the Russian, Eel, Elk, Mad, and Smith Rivers, 
 all permanent, but none navigable. 
 
 § 5. Coast Lakes. — The only large lake in the Coast district 
 is Clear Lake, which lies about eighty miles northward from 
 San Francisco. It is twenty miles long, and varies in breadth 
 from tAvo to ten miles. Surrounded by a small valley of fer- 
 tile land, it lies in a deep basin bounded by high mountains, 
 with an outlet to the eastward,. where its surplus waters arc 
 carried off by Cache Creek to the Sacramento. The water of 
 Clear Lake is limpid ; the vegetation on its banks abundant 
 and vigorous; the scenery beautiful and romantic. In Ama- 
 dor valley, twenty-five miles eastward from Snn Francisco, 
 there is a small lake, covering a couple of hundred acres. It 
 
c n O E O G 11 A P II Y . 7 
 
 lies in the course of tlie Alameda Creek. In the San Francis 
 quito Pass, forty-five miles northward from Los Angeles, there 
 was a lake called Lake Elizabeth, covering several hundred 
 acres, but it has dried up of late. 
 
 These are the only lakes of note in the Coast district. Pre- 
 vious to 1860, there was a lake called the "Laguna Sal," six 
 miles long and three wide, near Alamo, San Diego county; 
 but it entirely dried up in that year. The water had a strong 
 taste of alkali and sulphur. According to report, the lake was 
 formed about the year 1820. 
 
 § 6. Capes. — California has two capes : Cape Mendocino, 
 in 40° 25'; and Point Conception, in 34° 25'. The former is 
 reputed to be the stormiest place on our coast ; the latter is 
 the southern limit of the cold fogs and cool summers. 
 
 § v. Islands. — About forty miles westward from San Fran- 
 cisco are the Farallones, seven little islands of bare rocks, 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 lighthouse, is maintained. All the other islands of Cah- 
 fornia lie between 32° 50' and 34° 10', the farthest one being 
 about sixty miles from the mainland. They are named Santa 
 Cruz, Santa Catahna, San Clemente, Santa Rosa, San Nicolas, 
 Anacapa, and Santa Barbara. They are all hilly, rocky, bar- 
 ren, and of little value. Santa Cruz, the largest and best of 
 them, has good water and a few trees. It is -twenty-one miles 
 long, with an average width of about three miles. All these 
 islands appear to be peaks of submerged mountain-ridges. Be- 
 tween them and the mainland lies the Santa Barbara channel. 
 
 § 8. Bays and Ilarhors. — California has four land-locked 
 bays — Humboldt, Tomales, San Francisco, and San Diego. 
 All of them are comparatively long and narrow, and separated 
 from the ocean by narrow peninsulas, their general course 
 being parallel with the coast. 
 
 Humboldt Bay is twelve miles long, from two to five miles 
 wide, and is separated from the ocean by two tongues of land, 
 which are covered by high and dense timber, and offer an 
 
8 RESOFKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 excellent protection against the strong winds of the coast. 
 The mouth of the bay, in latitude 40° 44', is a mile across, but 
 has breakers on each side ; and between them is a channel, a 
 quarter 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 deep 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. 
 
 Tomales Bay is fourteen miles long and two miles wide, 
 separated from the ocean by a strip of land a mile and a half 
 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. 
 
 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 Chrysopylis, is a mile wide, 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 hes 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, 
 and aspires to be the main port of the coast, but in vain. Yal- 
 lejo, seven miles from Benicia, still has hopes of that kind. 
 
C II OROGRAPHY. 9 
 
 The harbor of Vallcjo is excellent, lying between Mare Island 
 and the mainland. It is half a mile wide, by three miles long, 
 with four fathoms of water at Ioav tide, excellent holding- 
 ground, and perfect protection against all winds. 
 
 The bay of San Diego is twelve miles long, from one to two 
 miles wide, and crescent-shaped, rmming from the entrance, 
 and then turning to the southeastward. A channel, thirty 
 feet deep and half a mile wide, extends more 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 surveyed, 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, with a bottom of sand and rocks. 
 Vessels drawing twelve feet of water lie nearly half a mile 
 from the shore. The harbor is safe while the wind blows 
 from the north and northwest, but very dangerous when it 
 blows from the southward. The harbor might be made much 
 moi'e safe by a breakwater, at a cost of one or tAvo millions 
 of dollars, but the trade of the place would never justify such 
 an expenditure. 
 
 Trinidad, in 41° 03', is a very small harbor, open to the 
 south, with deep water and excellent holding-ground. 
 
 Bodega Bny, in 38° 18', has nine feet of water, and opens 
 to the southward, so that the anchorage is secure only while 
 the wind blows from the north. Tomales Bay, just opposite, 
 
10 EESOITRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 opens into the southern part of Bodega Bay, and is only five 
 miles distant from the Bodega anchorage ; and, as one is secure 
 against northern and the other against southern winds, vessels 
 are safe in all weathers, because tliey can easily run across to 
 whichever may prove the sheltered side. 
 
 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', is small, has four fathoms of water, a sandy bottom, 
 and is open to the south. 
 
 Twelve miles firther south is the mouth of the Sahuas River, 
 which is about tAVO hundred yards wide, and has seven feet of 
 water. It is entered by small schooners, with the help of a 
 steam-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 
 ^s 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. 
 
 The difference between extreme high tide and extreme low 
 tide is about nine feet at Crescent City, and seven feet at San 
 Diego. At San Francisco, the establishment of the port is 
 ten hours. 
 
 § 9. Sacramento JBasin. — The low land of the Sacramento 
 basin, bounded on the west by the Coast Mountains and on 
 
CnOEOGEAPnY. 11 
 
 the east by the Sierra Nevada, which ranges meet both at the 
 north and the south, is the heart of the state, four hundred 
 miles long by fifty wide, reaching from latitude 35° to 40° 30'. 
 It is drained by two rivers : the Sacramento, running from the 
 Dorth ; and the San Joaquin, from the south. They meet and 
 unite in the centre of the basin, at 38°, and break through the 
 Coast range to the Pacific, forming the bays of Suisun, Saa 
 Pablo, and San Francisco, on their way. The mountains rise 
 steeply from the edge of the valley, which is nearly level, about 
 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 Sacramento 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 volcanic hills, six miles wide by 
 twelve i^ng, 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 rivers of the 
 basin lies nearly midway between the two mountain-chains, 
 but almost all their tributaries come from the Sierra Nevada, 
 which, 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 num- 
 ber of rivers run westward. Beginning at the north, we have 
 the Pit, Feather, Yuba, American, Cosumnes, Mokelurane, 
 Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, San Joaquin, King's, 
 White, and Kern Rivers — all of them considerable streams, 
 though some of those in the southern part of the Sacramento 
 basin are swallowed up in the sands, in the dry seasons, before 
 reaching their mouths. The San Joaquin River does not rise 
 at the extreme southern end of the basin, but one hundred 
 
12 KESOFRCES OP C AL I F O I12TI A. 
 
 miles northward from it, in the SisiTa I^eva'da. After running 
 westward to the midd-e of the valley, it turns nortliward. 
 From its bend southward, the valley discharges no water to 
 the ocean during the summer ; hut in Avet winters there are 
 continuous sloughs, or pieces of marsh -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 Kern Lakes. 
 
 § 10. Blvers of the Sacramento Basin. — The rivers flow- 
 ing down from the Sierra Nevada are about one hundred and 
 twenty miles long on an average, following their courses. The 
 upper half of their length is in the mount:iins, v>^here 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, cotton wood, and vrillows. In the south- 
 ern part of the Sacramento 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 Ca- 
 huilla or Pipiyuma River, also a large stream, divides into a 
 number of channels, v/hich irrigate " the Four-Creek country," 
 and render it one of the most fruitful parts of the state. " , 
 
 The Sacramento River is navi liable for steamers drawinjr 
 three feet of water, to Sacramento City, and to Red Bhiif 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 OroAdlle, 
 twenty-five miles farther. Steamers drawing five feet can run 
 regularly to Stockton, on the San Joaquin, a distance of one 
 Imndred 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 farther. A number 
 of sloughs or tide-water creeks, navigable for small vessels, 
 open into the bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. 
 
CHOKOGRAPnT. 13 
 
 The most notable. of tliese are the Alviso or Guadalupe slough, 
 tit the head of San Francisco Bay ; the San Antonio slough, 
 opposite San Francisco city ; tlie Petaluma, Sonoma, and Napa 
 sloughs, opening into San Pablo Bay; and Suisun and Pacheco 
 sloughs, opening into Suisun Bay. 
 
 § 11. Tide-Land. — Along the borders of these bays, and of 
 the Tulare and Kern Lakes, and of the Sacramento and San 
 Joaquin Rivers, there are extensive tracts of swamp-lands, usu- 
 ally called " tule-lands," from -the tide., a species of rush which 
 grows on them. Nearly all the tule-land west of Sacramento 
 and Stockton, to which points the tides extend, are salt marsh- 
 es ; but north of Sacramento, and south of Stockton, the tule- 
 lands are fresh-water swamps. The extent of this marshy land 
 varies in diiferent seasons j but at my estimate, there are eighty 
 squarer miles on the borders of San Francisco Bay, eighty on 
 San Pablo Bay, sixty on Suisun Bay, two hundred on the Sac- 
 ramento River, one hundred on the San Joaquin, two hundred 
 on the Tulare Lake, and the slough leading from it, and one 
 hundred and twenty south of Tulare Lake — making eight 
 hundred and forty square miles in all. 
 
 ; § 12, Sierra N'evada. — The Sierra Nevada is four hundred 
 and fifty miles long (in California) and seventy wide, with a 
 height varying from five thousand to eight thousand feet above 
 the sea-level. Nearly its whole width is occupied with 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, caiions, 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 tlie largest moun- 
 tain-streams. Tlie greater part of the Sierra Nevada is cov- 
 ered with timber. The oak, manzauita, and nut-pine, grow to 
 
14 EESOFECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 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. 
 
 § 13. Peaks and Passes of the Sierra. — Mount Shasta, 
 which rises, in 41° 30', high into the region of perpetual snow, 
 the loftiest peak in the state, may be treated as belonging to 
 the Sierra Nevada, though in fact it stands midway between 
 that range and the Coast Mountains, and is connected by high 
 mountain-ridges with both of them. Its height is given by 
 Wilkes (Exploring Expedition, vol. v., p. 240) at 14,390 feet. 
 Kearly a perpendicular mile of it is always covered with snow, 
 and it is visible in every direction for more than a hundred 
 miles, presenting to the traveller the most prominent landmark 
 of the state. It is of volcanic origin, and still emits sulphure- 
 ous vapors from its summit. Several parties have ascended to 
 its top. The other most notable peaks in the Sierra Nevada 
 are — ^Lassen's Peak, 9,000 feet high, in 40° 22', also of vol- 
 canic origin ; the Donnieville Buttes, 8,500 feet high ; Pilot 
 Peak, 7,300 feet high, in 39° 50; Castle Peak, 11,000 feet 
 high, in 38° 10'; and Mount Breckenridge, 7,500 feet high, in 
 35° 20'. Mount Shasta is the only mountain which has snow 
 on its southern and southwestern slopes throughout the year ; 
 the other-mentioned peaks lose all their snow in September 
 and October, except in deep, shady ravines on their northern 
 slopes. 
 
 The most notable passes in the Sierra Nevada are the fol- 
 lowing: Lassen's, 7,000 feet high, in latitude 41° 50'; Fredo- 
 nyer's, 5,667 feet high, in 40° 47'; Beckworth's, in 39° 50'; 
 Kenness's, in 39° 30'; Truckey, 5,636 feet high, in 39° 25'; 
 Johnson's, 6,752 feet high, in 38° 50'; Carson's, 7,972 feet 
 high, in 38° 43'; Sonora, 10,132 feet high, in 38° 15'; Walk- 
 er's, 5,302 feet high, in 35° 40'; Hum-pa-ya-mup, 5,356 feet 
 high, in 35° 35' ; Tehachepa, 4,020 feet high, in 35° 10' ; Tejon, 
 5,285 feet high, in 35° ; and Cajon de las Ilvas, 4,256 feet high, 
 in 34° 50'. The last five passes are in the Sierra Nevada, south 
 of its bend, where it turns westward to meet the Coast range. 
 
CHOEOGEAPHT. 15 
 
 The Johnson Pass is used by most of the travel and traffic 
 between Sacramento and Utah-; the llenness Pass lies east of 
 Marysville, and is used by the people of that neighborhood; 
 and the Cajon de las Uvas is used by travellers between the 
 San Joaquin valley and the Los Angeles district. 
 
 § 14. Lakes of the Sierra. — The Sierra Nevada has few 
 lakes. The most notable one is Lake 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 Utah. Its waters flow eastward 
 into Truckey River. In the eastern part of Nevada county 
 there is a group of two dozen lakes, called the Eureka Lakes \ 
 the largest are three miles long and a mile wide. 
 
 § 15. Plateau of the Sierra Nevada. — About latitude 40*^, 
 the Sierra Nevada seems to divide or to fork — one branch run- 
 ning northward, in the line of the main chain ; the other north- 
 westward, 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. This plateau is an independent basin, 
 and its waters never leave it, but flow into a few lakes, where 
 they are swallowed up in the sands. The district bears a 
 strong resemblance in many of its features to the Great Basin 
 of Utah, with which it should perhaps be classed. The main 
 stream is Susan River, which, after a course of forty miles in 
 an eastward direction, empties into Honey Lake, which is 
 twelve miles long by five wide — or was, for in 1859 the lake 
 dried up, and again dried up in 1 860. The lake, when full, 
 was shallow, with thick, yellowish water, of a saline taste. 
 Northwestward from Honey Lake, and distant thirty miles 
 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, and breaks through the 
 plateau. North of the river are Wrigiit Lake and Rhett Lake, 
 within five miles of the Oregon line ; and Goose Lake and Low- 
 er Klamath Lake, partly in Oregon and partly in Cahfornia. 
 
16 EESOUFvCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 The largest is Goose Lake, ten miles long and five wide. All 
 are destitute of large tributaries, sweet water, and valuable 
 adjacent land. 
 
 § 16. Klamath J3asi?i. — North of latitude 41° lies the basin 
 of tiie Klamath River, which rises in Oregon, crosses the Cali- 
 fornian line about eighty miles from the sea, then turns south- 
 westward, 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 within 
 forty miles of the ocean. Along the main river there is no 
 valley, or bottom-land ; its whole length is between steep hills 
 and mountains, and through rocky canons. Its laro-c^ 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 Kla- 
 math — they all flow from the southward — have valleys of 
 bottom-land, about five miles wide and forty long. 
 
 § 17. Vtah J)asi?i. — A prominent feature of the North 
 American continent is the Great Basin of Utah, a triangular 
 district of country, bounded on the north by the basin of the 
 Columbia, on the southeast by the basin of the Colorado, and 
 on the southwest by the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino 
 Mountains. This Great Basin — an elevated tract of laud, most 
 of which is foiir thousand or five thousand feet above the sea- 
 level, mountainous, barren, and. cheerless, Avitli no outlet for 
 its waters — extends into Califoriiia, including a district about 
 two hundred miles long and one hundred wide, in the south- 
 eastern portion of the state. The Californian portion of the 
 Great Basin is one of the driest and most sterile parts of the 
 earth's surface, cut up by numerous irregular ridges of bare, 
 rocky mountains, with intervening valleys of sand and volcanic 
 6Coria3, and occasional springs and httle streams which termi- 
 nate m lakes, presenting a wide extent of muddy salt water 
 after heavy rains, and, in the dry season, wide beds of dried 
 and cracked mud, covered with a white alkaline efflorescence. 
 The chief stream in the Californian portion of the Great Basin 
 
CHOROGRAPHT. 17 
 
 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 re- 
 ceives no tributaries after it leaves the side of Mount San Ber- 
 nardino. After sinking, it rises again ; or rather pools of water 
 are found in tlie low places of its bed, the water evidently 
 soaking through the sand and following the bed of the stream. 
 The next stream in importance is Owen's River, which runs 
 southward seventy-five miles along the foot of the Sierra Ne- 
 vada, and terminates in Owen Lake, which lies in latitude 36° 
 25', and is fifteen miles long by nine wide. Northward, one 
 hundred miles from Owen Lake, is Mono Lake, eight miles 
 long and six wide, sometimes called " the Dead Sea of Califor- 
 nia." No fish can live in the water, which is so heavy with 
 saline substances, that the human body floats in it very lightly ; 
 though it is so strongly alkaline, that it scalds the skin. In 
 the midst of the lake is an island, several miles long. While 
 the greater part of the Utah Basin is high above the level of 
 the sea, there is a portion of it, called " Death Valley," three 
 hundred and seventy-seven feet below the sea-level ; and, not- 
 withstanding its great depth, it is one of the driest and most 
 desolate parts of that basin of deserts. 
 
 § 18. Colorado Desert. — A district, about seventy miles 
 wide by one hundred and forty long, on the southeastern bor- 
 der of the state, belongs to the basin of the Colorado River, 
 [t is usually called the " Colorado Desert," because of its bar- 
 ren, sandy soil, and scanty vegetation. Li some places the 
 soil is composed of sand, packed together firmly, with a hard 
 and smooth surface, which reflects light like a mirror ; in other 
 places are mountains of loose sand, whicli are continually shift- 
 ing. In latitude 33° 20', and longitude 115° 50', is a district, 
 thirty miles square or more, which is seventy feet below the 
 level of the sea. It is supposed that at one time the Gulf of 
 California extended several hundred miles farther north than 
 it now does ; and that the Colorado Itiver, in long ages, depos- 
 ited so much alluvium as to make banks down to the present 
 
18 EE SOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 head of the gulf, thus cutting off from its connection with the 
 ocean that part of the gulf now dry. The evaporation 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 southward 
 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. A proposition has been made 
 to cut a canal from the river to the low ground ; so that the 
 land, which is said to be of excellent quality, might be irri- 
 gated and cultivated : but no accurate survey has yet been 
 made of a route for the canal, or of the district to be irrigated. 
 The Colorado River is navigable to Fort Yuma, a distance of 
 seventy-five miles from its mouth. The average depth is ten 
 feet, but there are shoals wiiich have not more than two feet 
 at low water ; the tide rises ten feet. The channel is crooked, 
 and the bottom is of sand, which is constantly changing posi- 
 tion. The banks of the river are low and muddy. The aver- 
 age current runs at the rate of two and a half miles per hour. 
 The river is high in July, when the snows of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains (in latitude 38°-44°) melt, and then the flood covers the 
 low bottom-land along the river-banks. 
 
 § 19. Area of the State. — The total area of the state amounts 
 to about 155,000 square miles, of which there are, at my esti- 
 mate, 42,000 in the mountains and valleys of the coast, 40,000 
 in tlio Sierra Nevada and its plateau, 20,000 in the low land 
 of the Sacramento Basin, 30,000 in the Great Basin of Utah, 
 15,000 in tlie Colorado Desert, and 8,000 ia the Klamatli Basin. 
 In the 42,000 square miles of the coast slope, 16,000 may be 
 l>\it down as valley and 26,000 as mountain. 
 
CLIMATE. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 § 20. General Remarlcs. — The climate of California is un- 
 like that of every other country, and particularly dissimilar to 
 that of the American states east of the Rocky Mountains. In 
 general character it resembles tlfe climate of western Europe. 
 Its chief peculiarities, as distinguished from the Eastern states, 
 are, that the winters are warmer; the summers — especially at 
 niglit — 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 months ; the atmosphere drier ; the 
 cloudy days fewer ; thunder, hghtning, hail, snow and ice, and 
 the aurora borealis, rarer; the winds more regular — bio win f>" 
 from the north for fair weather, and from the south for storms ; 
 and earthquakes more frequent. 
 
 The state reaches through nine and a quarter degrees of lati- 
 tude, from 32° 45' to 42°, San Diego being as fir south as 
 Charleston, and Crescent City as far north as Providence. 
 Much of the Golden state has the winter of South Carolina, 
 and the summer of Rhode Island. The orange, the lemon, the 
 oUve, the fig, the pomegranate, the vine, the peach, the apple, 
 wheat, and barley, all find most congenial climes in Califor 
 nia. 
 
 Tiie state, indeed, has many climates : one for the western 
 slope of the Coast range between Point Conception and Cape 
 Mendocino ; another for the low land of the Sacramento Basin ; 
 
20 EESOFRCKS OB" CALIFORNIA. 
 
 another for the 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 
 ranoje of mountains that shuts the coast off 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. 
 
 § 21. Temperature of the Middle Coast. — On the coast, 
 between latitudes 35° and 40°, there is little difference in the 
 temperatures of winter and summer. San Francisco is in the 
 same latitude with Washington and St. Louis, but know^s nei- 
 ther the cold wmters nor the hot summers which afflict those 
 places. Ice is rarely formed in the Californian metropolis, and 
 never more than an inch in thickness ; and the thermometer 
 never stays at the freezing point twenty-four consecutive 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 consecu- 
 tive days. The lowest figures which the mercury reached in 
 the daytime at San Francisco, in January of the years 1851, 
 '52, '53, '54, and '55, were respectively 30°, 35°, 41°, 25°, and 
 33°, showing that in three Januaries out of five no ice at all 
 was formed in the daytime ; and when the thermometer fell to 
 25° in 1854, the weather was declared to be colder than it had 
 ever been before, " within the memory of the oldest inhabit- 
 ant." During nine years' residence in the city, I never have 
 seen ice formed here half an inch thick, and never saw the 
 slightest film of it formed on water in a house. Snow some- 
 tiu)es falls, but I have never seen thie streets dressed in white. 
 
CLIiTATE. 2l 
 
 In St. Louis, the winter months rarely have a day which is 
 really comfortable in the open air; while at least half the sea- 
 son is so in San Francisco, the sky being clear, the sun warm, 
 and the breezes gentle, so that the weather bears a strong re- 
 semblance in temperature to the Indi.in summer in the upper 
 Mississippi basin. Our coldest winter days, at noon, are as 
 warm as the warmest in Philadelphia. 
 
 On the other hand, the summers are cool or cold. In No- 
 vember, 1854, the lowest figure reached by the thermometer 
 in San Francisco, was 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. The mean temperature of 
 July is 57°, twenty-one degrees lower than in Washington 
 city. There are not more than a dozen days in the year when 
 the thermometer rises above 80° — at which figure heat first 
 begins to be oppressive — while in St. Louis and at Washing- 
 ton there are in every year from sixty to ninety days that see 
 that height. No matter how warm the day at noon, the even- 
 ings 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 differs little from 
 that of winter, yet there are sometimes very warm days, which 
 may be succeeded immediately by very cool nights. San Fran- 
 cisco never sees more than three hot days in succession. When 
 the sun has 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 
 twenty degrees — from 50° to 70°. Yet, as the mornings and 
 evenings are invariably 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 
 
22 RESOTJllCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 woollen coats and trousers of the same thickness in summer 
 and winter. The persons who visit San Francisco during the 
 summer, from the interior of the state, where the climate from 
 May to October is much warmer, and where summer clothes 
 are worn, are much bothered at having to bring their winter 
 ■clothes with them. The editor of a Stockton paper, disgusted 
 with the climate of the metropolis in July, expressed himself 
 somewhat after this manner: "You go out in the morning 
 shivering, notwithstanding the fact that you are dressed in 
 heavy woollen clothing and under-clothing, and have a thick 
 overcoat buttoned up to your throat. At 8.30 you unbutton 
 two of the upper buttons ; at 9 you unbutton the coat all the 
 way down; at 9.30 you take it off; at 10 you take off your 
 woollen coat, and put on a sum^mer coat; at 11 you take off all 
 your woollen and put on light summer clothing : at 4 it begins 
 to grow cool, and you to put on your woollen 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 north- 
 west during almost the whole year ; and it blows strongly 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 prevalence of this 
 wind during the afternoon renders the mornings the pleasaut- 
 est part of the summer weather in San Francisco ; 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 up 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 evernngs, and the winds are not so 
 Bti-ong ; so that, in these respects, the winter is the j^leasanter 
 season of the year. 
 
CLIMATE. 23 
 
 Dr. II. Gibbons, speaking of tlie mists and fogs at San Fran- 
 cisco, says : 
 
 "It is curious to observe the conflict between tlie absorbing: 
 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 tlie land, which is always thirsty, 
 drinks it up with astonishing avidity; so that the impending 
 wave, though in a current moving from thirty to fifty miles an 
 liour, makes slow progress. By the middle of the afternoon 
 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 grandeur and majesty), and 
 threatening to overwhelm you in a few seconds. You await 
 its coming, but it comes not ; it even recedes, to return and 
 recede again, ^ot until the sun has lost his calorific power 
 does the atmosphere reach the point of saturation ; and then, 
 toward sunset or later, every thing is submerged by the va- 
 pory flood. In the course of the evening the wind falls. Dur- 
 ing the 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 forenoon the cloud is dis- 
 persed by the rays of the sun. The dispersion 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 other 
 climates depend on an excess of water in the air, and on sud- 
 den changes of temperature. The moisture does not condense 
 on your windows, nor on the phistered walls ; salt does not 
 liquify, nor even exhibit the slightest dampness ; and the house- 
 
24 EESOUECES OP CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 wife has no trouble in drying her clothes, provided it should 
 not rain. In fact, the atmosphere of San Francisco, in spite of 
 sea winds and mists, is a dry atmosphere." 
 
 The mean temperatures of spring, summer, autumn, and win- 
 ter, are 54°, 57°, 56°, and 50° respectively, showing a difference 
 of only seven degrees between the average of winter and sum- 
 mer ; 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 tem- 
 perature of 49°, and September, the warmest, a mean of 58°. 
 October is as warm as July, and in some years it has been 
 warmer. The mean of the whole year is 54°, a temperature 
 that requires heavy woollen clothing for comfort. For vigor- 
 ous, industrious men, the climate of San Francisco is the health- 
 iest 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 find 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 exces- 
 sive heat or excessive cold. Women do not like the climate 
 so well as men ; it is too cool for their less vigorous constitu- 
 tions and sedentary habits. 
 
 San Francisco does not lie immediately on the ocean, but 
 only six miles from it, and where there is a great gap to let in 
 the winds and fogs. The nearer the Pacific, the denser and 
 more frequent the fogs, the stronger the winds, the 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 thir- 
 ty-five, Suisun forty-five, and Vaca valley fifty. Sonoma valley 
 has a delightful climate, free I'rom fogs and cold winds, and 
 yet blessed with a sea-breeze which tempers the heat of every 
 summer day to the precise degree necjfcsary to the peifect 
 
CLIMATE. 25 
 
 happiness of a man who wishes to take life easy, and do noth- 
 ing. Indeed, all the valleys embosomed in the Coast Moun- 
 tains, from Humboldt Bay to Santa Barbara, have beautiful 
 climes, which will compare favorably, I think, with the best 
 of Italy. The summer days are always warm, rarely hot ; the 
 mornings and evenings are clear and pleasant ; in winter, ice 
 never forms over two inches in thickness, and if snow falls, it 
 never lies twenty-four hours. 
 
 § 22. Clear Days. — On an average, there are two hundred 
 and twenty perfectly clear days in a year, without a cloud ; 
 eighty five days wherein clouds are seen, though in many of 
 them the sun is visible ; and sixty rainy. Italy cannot surpass 
 that. Xew York has scarcely half 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 vrithout a cloud ; that is, at a 
 distance of thirty miles from the ocean. Near the shore, coast- 
 clouds are frequently blown up from, the sea, but they disap- 
 pear after ten o'clock in the mornmg. 
 
 § 23. The Sirocco. — One case, and only one, is on record, 
 of a sirocco, or burning-hot w^ind, visiting the coast. This one 
 was felt at the town of Santa Barbara, in latitude 34° 20', on 
 the ocean-shore, on the l7th of June, 1859. The Gcvzette news- 
 paper of that place, published six days afterward, said: 
 
 "Friday, 17th June, will be long remembered by the inhab- 
 itants of Santa Barbara, from the burning, blasting heat expe- 
 rienced that day, and the effects thereof. Indeed, it is said 
 that, for the space of thirty years, nothing in comparison has 
 been felt in this county, and, we doubt, in any other. The 
 sun rose like a ball of firo 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 atmo- 
 sphere became so intensely heated, that no human being could 
 
26 eesoukCes of California. 
 
 withstand its force : all sought their dwellings, and had to shut 
 doors and windows, and remain for hours confined to their 
 houses. The efiect of such intense and unparalleled heat was 
 demonstrated by the 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 khids 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 prevalence of this 
 properly-calied sirocco, the streets Avere filled with impene- 
 trable clouds of fine dust, or pulverized clay. Speculation has 
 been rife since to ascertain the cause of sucb a terrible phe- 
 nomenon ; but, though we have heard of many plausible theo- 
 ries thereon, we have not been fully convinced yet : however 
 that might be, we see its terrible efiects all around us, in 
 blighted trees, ruined gardens, blasted fruit, and almost a gen- 
 eral destruction of the vegetable kingdom here. We hope we 
 will never see the like again." 
 
 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 
 morning. During the whole time of this visitation, every oi>e 
 stayed in the house, taking good care to keep doors and win- 
 dows closed. A fisherman who was out at sea came back with 
 his arms all blistered. Many calves, rabbits, and birds, died 
 of suffocation. The greatest losses are among the vegetables. 
 The fruit-trees are all burned ; the pears and apples have been 
 literally cooked." 
 
 No similar case is mentioned in history or tradition, nor is 
 there any explanation of this. 
 
CLIMATE. 2f 
 
 § 24. Temperature of the Southern Coast. — The high moun- 
 tain-spur which projects into the ocean at Point Conception 
 seems to protect the coast south of it from the fogs, which are 
 much rarer and w^armer at Los Angeles than at San Francisco. 
 But though the former is in latitude 34°, it is at times as cold in 
 winter as the latter (in 37° 48'), because it is flirther from the 
 ocean, and is in sight of Mount San Bernardino and other high 
 mountains, some of which wear snow-caps during a large part 
 of the year. In summer, however, it is much warmer, even 
 oppressively hot. The nights are sometimes so warm, that a 
 sheet is as much covering as is necessary for comfort; but 
 blankets are usually required. 
 
 The coast north of latitude 40° is much colder and cloudier 
 in summer, and has more rain than any other part of the state. 
 
 § 25. Sacramento Sasin. — The climate of the Sacramento 
 Basin differs from that of San Francisco in having no fogs, faint 
 sea-breezes, winters four degrees colder, and summers from six- 
 teen 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 prox- 
 imity of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. While at San Fran- 
 cisco the thermometer usually stands at 70° at mid-day, it is 
 at 86° in Sacramento city at the same moment ; and these six- 
 teen degrees make a vast difference, for they change comfort 
 into oppression. And Sacramento city, lying near the great 
 gap in the Coast Mountains, is cooler in summer than either 
 end of the basin ; for the upper portions of both the Sacra- 
 mento 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 temperature at IMillerton during the 
 three summer months was 106°. The Stockton Argus spoke 
 thus of a great heat that was felt in Stanislaus county on the 
 23d of June, 1859: 
 
 "The thermometer was 113° in the shade. The wind was 
 avoided, as it was heated so, that it felt as if actually burning 
 
28 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the flesh — as if rushing from a hot oveu. In one team of ten 
 horses, three fell in the road, from beat ; 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 sw^allow 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." 
 
 In the Sierra Nevada, the heat of the summer at mid-day 
 is about the same as in the Sacramento valley ; but the winter 
 is cold, and the amount of rain greater in proportion to the 
 altitude above the sea. In places three thousand feet above 
 the ocean-level, ice forms five and six inches thick, and snow 
 deep enough 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 fivf 
 months in the year. 
 
 In the Great Basin, the winters are cold and the summer 
 days very hot ; but there too the nights are always cool. 
 
 The Colorado Desert has exceedingly hot summer days and 
 warm winters, but occasional frosts in the spring and fall as 
 well as in the winter. 
 
 § 26. Gomparative Tables. — The following table shows the 
 mean temperature of every month, and the average of the 
 whole year, at San Francisco, Benicia, Sacramento, Fort Mil- 
 ler, Fort Reading, Fort Yunin,' and also at various places in 
 other parts of the world, some of them (such as Funchal, Na- 
 ples, Honolulu, and Mexico) being famed for the beauty and 
 equability of their climates. In addition to the temperature, 
 the latitude of each place is given ; 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 29 
 
 PLACES. 
 
 40 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 > 
 13. 
 
 55 
 
 1— 1 
 55 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 
 > 
 57 
 
 58 
 
 O 
 o 
 
 57 
 
 o 
 54 
 
 o 
 p 
 
 51 
 
 AVER- 
 AGE. 
 
 LATITinOE. 
 
 Sail Francisco . . . 
 
 54 
 
 37° 
 
 48' 
 
 Beuicia 
 
 '47 
 
 52 
 
 53 
 
 57 
 
 59 
 
 67 
 
 67 
 
 6U^ 
 
 G4 
 
 G2 
 
 54 
 
 47 
 
 58 
 
 58 
 
 03 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 45 
 
 48 
 
 51 
 
 59 
 
 67,71 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 66 
 
 64 
 
 52 
 
 45 
 
 59 
 
 '38 
 
 34 
 
 Foit» Miller 
 
 47- 
 
 53 
 
 5G 
 
 62 
 
 68 83 
 
 90 
 
 83 
 
 76, 
 
 67 
 
 55 
 
 48 
 
 66 
 
 37 
 
 
 Fort Reading . . . 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 54 
 
 59 
 
 65,77 
 
 82 
 
 79 
 
 71 
 
 62 
 
 52 
 
 44 
 
 62 
 
 40 
 
 28 
 
 Fort Yuma 
 
 56 
 
 58 
 
 G6 
 
 73 
 
 76 87 
 
 92 
 
 90 
 
 86 
 
 76 
 
 64 
 
 55 
 
 73 
 
 32 
 
 43 
 
 New York 
 
 31 
 
 30 
 
 38 
 
 47 
 
 57 67 
 
 73 
 
 72 
 
 66 
 
 55 
 
 45 
 
 34 
 
 51 
 
 40 
 
 37 
 
 New Orleans .... 
 
 55 
 
 58 
 
 G4 
 
 70 
 
 75,81 
 
 82 
 
 82 
 
 78 
 
 70 
 
 62 
 
 55 
 
 69 
 
 29 
 
 57 
 
 Steilacoom 
 
 :5S 
 
 37 
 52 
 
 40 
 40 
 54 
 
 42 
 42 
 61 
 
 48 
 46 
 63 
 
 55 60 
 53 '58 
 
 gg;65 
 
 64 
 62 
 
 65 
 
 62 
 64 
 
 57 
 57 
 64 
 
 52 
 50 
 60 
 
 45 
 44 
 55 
 
 39 
 40 
 52 
 
 50 
 49 
 60 
 
 47 
 51 
 19 
 
 10 
 29 
 26 
 
 London 
 
 Cit}' of Mexico . . . 
 
 Naples 
 
 4G 
 
 47 
 
 51 
 
 56 
 
 64 
 
 70 
 
 76 
 
 76 
 
 G9 
 
 61 
 
 53 
 
 49 
 
 60 
 
 40 
 
 52 
 
 Fuuchal 
 
 GO 
 
 GO 
 
 62 
 
 63 
 
 64 
 
 67 
 
 70 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 
 67 
 
 G4 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 32 
 
 38 
 
 Honolulu 
 
 71 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 
 74 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 
 78 
 
 79 
 
 78 
 
 76 
 
 74 
 
 73 
 
 75 
 
 21 
 
 \^ 
 
 
 47 
 
 53 
 
 60 
 
 54 
 
 66 
 
 71 
 
 77 
 
 72 
 
 72 
 
 GO 
 
 58 
 
 47 
 
 62 
 
 31 
 
 47 
 
 Canton 
 
 52 
 
 55 
 
 62 
 
 70 
 
 77 
 
 81 
 
 83 
 
 82 
 
 80 
 
 73 
 
 65 
 
 57 
 
 69 
 
 23 
 
 08 
 
 Nagasaki 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 
 50 
 
 61 
 
 69 
 
 77 
 
 80 
 
 83 
 
 78 
 
 66 
 
 53 
 
 47 
 
 62 
 
 32 
 
 45 
 
 3 
 
 By the study of this table, we can form an excellent idea of 
 the temperature of the different portions of the state, as com- 
 pared with each other, and as compared with those of some 
 other countries. So far as we know, San Francisco has the 
 most equable and the mildest climate in the Avorld. Within 
 the tropics there are, no doubt, many places which have a 
 more equable temperature, but it is the equabihty of intense 
 heat. 
 
 Funchal, on the island of Madeira, has probably the mildest 
 climate in the world, but in equability it is inferior to San 
 Francisco. Benicia is thirty miles from the 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 the same as that of New York, 
 hat its winter fourteen degi-ees warmer. Fort Reading and 
 Nagasaki have nearly the same figures. Fort Yuma, in the 
 Colorado Desert, in latitude 32° 45', is warmer than New Or- 
 leans, in 29° 57'. 
 
 A railroad, one hundred and eighty miles long, running 
 eastward from Oakland, a suburb of San Francisco, passing 
 
30 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 through Stockton and Sonora, near the Mammoth Grove of "j 
 Mariposa and the Yos emit e valley, to the summit of the Sierra' 
 Nevada, would enable the people near the line to place them- 
 selves, every summer's day, in any tolerable degree of heat 
 or cold. 
 
 Fourteen miles west of Oakland is the ocean-beach, where 
 a chilling wind blows without ceasing. Going from the coast, 
 the traveller Atould gradually get into a warmer clime, until, 
 in Stockton, he would find the thermometer indicating 100°, 
 most of the summer noons ; and proceeding up the sides of the 
 Sierra, he would gradually rise into greater cold, to the eter- 
 nal frost on the summit. A branch road running south to Fort 
 Yuma would enable the-traveller to enjoy almost as great a 
 variety of temperature in the winter. 
 
 § 27. Main. — ISTearly all the rain in California falls between 
 the first of November and the first of June — the j^eriod called 
 the " rainy season," as contradistinguished from the " dry sea- 
 son," which occupies the remainder of the year. Those names, 
 however, when applied to any special season, do not signify 
 an unchangeable number of months, but rather the term dur- 
 ing 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 season 
 of 1855-'56 did not begin until December; the dry season of 
 1857 began in March; and so forth. The rainy season is s(u 
 called, not because the rain falls then continuously, but becaiis^ffl 
 it does not fall at any other time. There are occasional show-' 
 ers 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 which falls in other places in the 
 "United States 
 
CLIMATE. 
 
 31 
 
 PLACES. 
 
 San Francisco . . . 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 Fort Reading. . , . 
 Fort Humboldt . . 
 
 Fort Miller 
 
 Fort Yuma 
 
 San Diego 
 
 Astoria 
 
 Portland, Maine . . 
 New York city. . 
 New Orleans. . . . 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 Rome 
 
 Paris 
 
 Liverpool 
 
 SPRING. 
 
 SUMMER. 
 
 ATITUMN. 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 TEAR. 
 
 6.64 
 
 0.13 
 
 3.31 
 
 11.33 
 
 21.41 
 
 7.01 
 
 0.00 
 
 2.61 
 
 12.11 
 
 21.73 
 
 11.30 
 
 0.39 
 
 4.89 
 
 12.44 
 
 29.02 
 
 13.51 
 
 1.18 
 
 4.87 
 
 15.03 
 
 34.56 
 
 9.57 
 
 0.02 
 
 2.80 
 
 9.79 
 
 22.18 
 
 0.27 
 
 1.30 
 
 0.86 
 
 0.72 
 
 3.15 
 
 2.74 
 
 0.55 
 
 1.24 
 
 5.90 
 
 10.43 
 
 16.43 
 
 4.00 
 
 21.77 
 
 44.15 
 
 86.35 
 
 12.11 
 
 10.28 
 
 11.93 
 
 10.93 
 
 45.25 
 
 11.69 
 
 11.64 
 
 9.93 
 
 10.39 
 
 43 . 65 
 
 11.29 
 
 17.28 
 
 9.62 
 
 12.71 
 
 60.90 
 
 12.86 
 
 14.09 
 
 8.71 
 
 6.29 
 
 41.95 
 
 7.27 
 
 3.39 
 
 10.89 
 
 9.31 
 
 30.86 
 
 5.53 
 
 5.92 
 
 6.51 
 
 4.68 
 
 22.64 
 
 6.19 
 
 9.78 
 
 10.81 
 
 7.32 
 
 34.10 
 
 From this table it appears that the amount of rain is about 
 one-half as great in San Francisco as in any of the American 
 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 seasons. They have as much rain in their summer 
 and autumn as we in our winter and spring. We have less 
 rain than Liverpool and Rome, and about the same amount 
 with Paris. San Diego has only one-half and Fort Yuma one- 
 seventh the rain-fall of San Francisco, which latter place is 
 surpassed nearly seventy-five per cent, by Humboldt Bay. At 
 Fort Yuma, and all through the Colorado Desert, the rain 
 omes not in the rainy season of California, but chiefly in the 
 ummer and fall, synchronous with the wet season of North- 
 .vestern Mexico. Unfortunately, we have no statistics of the 
 rain-fall in the Sierra Nevada, or in the Great Basm, within 
 the limits of this state. 
 
 The least rain in San Francisco, during any rainy season 
 since 1852, has been 19 inches; the largest amount, 24 inches. 
 I obtain the following figures from statistics kei)t in this city 
 by Mr. Thomas Tennant, from 1850 to the present time: 
 
 The average rain-fall in January is 3.52 inches. The most 
 notable departures from that average were in 1858, Avhen there 
 
32 RESOUllCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 were 9.40; in '59, only 1.28; in '60, 1.64; and in '62, 24.36 
 inches. 
 
 The average of February is 3.67 inches; bnt in 185^3, the fall 
 was 1.42; in '54, 8.04; m '56, 0.50; in '57, 8.59; in '58, 1.83; 
 in '59, 6.32 ; hi '60, 1.60 ; in '61, 3.72 ; and in '62, 7.53 niches. 
 This shows a remarkable alternation. In only one year did 
 the amount approach the average ; in the others (excluding 
 the last), the rains were very heavy and very light by turns. 
 A dry February, after a wet December and January, is one of 
 the pleasantest months of the year in California. 
 
 The average rain-fall of March is 3.38 : in 1857, the amount 
 was 1.62 ; in '58, 5.55. 
 
 The average of April is 2.63: in 1855, the amount was 5 
 inches; in '57, nothing; in '58, 1.35 ; and in '59, 0.27. 
 
 The average of May is 0.63 : in 1857, the amount was 0.05 ; 
 and in '60, 2.86. 
 
 The average of June is 0.08 ; of July, 0.02 ; of August, 0.03 ; 
 and of September, 0.15. There are no large rains recorded in 
 any of these months. 
 
 The average of October is 0.66 : but in 1^54, the* amount was 
 2.41 ; and in '58, 2.74; in -do, nothing. 
 
 The average of Xovember is 2.50: in 1854, the amount was 
 0.34; in '59, 7.28; and in '60, 0.58. 
 
 The average of December is 4.49 : in 1854, the amount was 
 0.81 ; in '57, 8.08 ; in '59, 1.57 ; in '60, 6.16 ; and m '62, 9.54. 
 
 The rainy season of 1854-55 did not commence, it may be 
 said, until January; for although there were 2.41 inches of 
 rain in October, yet the amount was only 0.34 in November, 
 and 0.81 in December: so that the moisture from the October 
 rain did no good to either the farmer or the miner, having 
 been completely dried out from the earth before the rains of 
 January came. 
 
 Let us now examine the rainy seasons since 1350, and see 
 in what months more than three inches of rain fell. In 1851- 
 '52, these months were December and March ; in '52—53, De- 
 cember, January, and March ; in '53-54, January, February, 
 
CLIMATE. 33 
 
 March, and April; in '54-55, Janunry, February, March, and 
 iVpril; in '55-'53, December and January; in '56-57, De- 
 cember and February; in 'SV-'SS, December, January, and 
 March ; in '58-59, December, February, and JMarch ; in '59- 
 '60, November, March, and April; in '60-61, December and 
 February; and in '61-'62, from November to February, in- 
 clusive. 
 
 The rain of California usually comes with gentleness, and 
 falls perpendicularly. The coast, above Humboldt Bay, re- 
 ceives a greater amount of rain than any other part of the 
 immediate shore ; and in this respect it resembles the humid 
 clime of Western Oregon. At Fort Yuma the amount of rain 
 is from one-fiftli to one-seventh that at San Francisco, and it 
 all falls during the spring and summer ; for the rainy season 
 of the Colorado Desert does not come at the same time with 
 that of the remainder of the state, but is synchronous with th« 
 rainy season of Northwestern Mexico. 
 
 The rain along the middle coast of California usually comes 
 slowly, and falls gently and perpendicularly. Here it is very 
 seldom that two inches of rain fall in a day, and three inches 
 have not fallen Avithin twenty-four hours in ten years ; while 
 in the Eastern states the former figure is reached frequently, 
 and the latter every year — where also the rain is generally 
 accompanied with violent and long-continued storms of wind. 
 The rains of the Sierra Nevada are far more abundant in quan- 
 tity, and fiercer in the manner of their coming, than those 
 about the bay of San Francisco. It is established that the 
 amount of rain, and its equivalent snow, increases on the west- 
 ern slope of the Sierra Nevada with the elevation ; but our 
 statistics are not sufliciently extensive to enable us to deter- 
 mine whether the increase is in regular ratio to the altitude, or 
 what the proportions are between the snow and rain at clifter- 
 ent heights. It is, however, an unquestioned fact that, in or- 
 dinary seasons, the amount of rain at Sonora, two thousand 
 five hundred feet above the sea, is from twice to thrice as great 
 as in Stockton, only seventy miles distant, at the sea-level ; 
 3 
 
34 BESOUKCESOF C A L I F O K N I A . 
 
 and the. same diiference is observed between Nevada and Mar 
 rysville, which bear similar relations of distance and elevation 
 to each other. 
 
 The statistics given in the preceding part of this section 
 relative to the amount of rain-fall at San Francisco, are intend- 
 ed to represent ordinary years, such as all those between 1847 
 and 1860. But the winter of 1861-62 proved to be an ex- 
 traordinary season, the amount of rain being double that w^hich 
 has fallen in any other winter since the American conquest. 
 The average rain-fall durins: the winter months at San Fran- 
 Cisco is about 12 inches ; whereas, between the 1st of Novem- 
 ber, 1861, and the 1st of February, 1862, 37 inches fell in San 
 Francisco, and during the same period 101 inches fell in So- 
 nora, Tuolumne county. During the four months from the 1st 
 of November, 1861, to the 28th of February, 1S62, inclusive, 
 45.53 inches of rain fell in San Francisco, viz. : 4.10 in Novem- 
 ber; 9.54 in December ; 24.36 in January; and 7.53 in Feb- 
 ruary. This rain caused a great flood, which did much damage 
 along most of the rivers, and especially in the Sacramento 
 Basin, where Sacramento City, Stockton, Marysville, and nu- 
 merous minor towns, were completely inundated, and the 
 whole central part of the basin, including an area one hundred 
 and fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, was converted 
 into a great lake, which covered the land to a depth varying 
 from two to ten feet for more than a month. The long K^ura- 
 tion of the flood, its great height, and the vast damage which 
 it did, will render it an epoch in the history of the state, and 
 " make it well worthy of study, especially so far as relates to 
 the Sacramento Basin, where the most serious injury was done 
 — that basin extending north and south from Mount Shasta to 
 the Tejon Pass, a distance of four hundred and fifty miles ; and 
 east and west from the summit of the Coast Range to that of 
 the Sierra Nevada, a distance of one hundred miles. These 
 two ranjres unite at the two ends of the basin, which has its 
 outlet in the middle, where the Sacramento from the north and 
 the San Joaquin from the south, having united their waters in 
 
CLIMATE. 35 
 
 latitude 39°, break through the Coast Mountains to reach the 
 Pacific. It may he said that the waters of these streams, aftei 
 their union, pass through three straits : one at the Golden 
 Gate, one hundred feet deep and a mile wide ; one at the 
 i~*raits of Carquinez, fifteen feet deep and three-quarters of a 
 mile wide, thirty-five miles from the ocean ; and one near the 
 head of Suisun Bay, half a mile wide and ten feet deep. The 
 Goklen Gate. and the straits of Carquinez afford an abundant 
 outlet for all the water from the interior, but not so with the 
 pass at the head of Suisun Bay. The land at this place is low 
 — not more than six or eight feet above low-water mark — for 
 a width of three miles, beyond Avhich there are hills, which 
 prevent the spreading of the water to a greater distance. The 
 river is shallow and crooked ; the banks lined with bushes and 
 covered with tules, which obstruct the passage of the water in 
 time of flood. 
 
 During the flood of January, 18G2, there was very little 
 perceptible increase in the height of the water in San Fran- 
 cisco and Suisun Bays above the level of ordinary high tide. 
 But there was no flow of the tide ; a continual ebb of thick, 
 muddy water, poured out at the Golden Gate for weeks to- 
 gether, discoloring the sea to a distance of forty miles from 
 land. In the bays the water became almost fresh, and the 
 planted oysters were killed by it in their beds near Oak- 
 land. 
 
 . We may presume, since thirty-six inches of water fell at 
 San Francisco from November to January inclusive, of 1861- 
 '62, that the same amount fell in all the low lands of the Sac- 
 ramento Basin, nearly one-half of its area. We may presume 
 further that the amount which fell at Sonora is a f^xir repre- 
 sentation of the amount which fell on the Sierra Nevada, one- 
 half of the area of the basin. But possibly snow, which has not 
 yet melted, formed one-third of the snow and rain which fell 
 on the Sierra Nevada. It is not, therefore, necessary to take 
 any account of that third, in this consideration of the flood of 
 1862 — written, as it is, before the waters have gone down. 
 
36 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 There wa:^, then, a f;ill of three feet of water over an area of 
 about twenty-two thousand live Inindred square miles, and a 
 fall of eight and a hah"" feet over an area of fifteen thousand 
 square miles. This would give us an average of five and one- 
 foui th feet over an area of thirty-seven thousand five hundred 
 squai:e miles. The first foot was absorbed by the sand and 
 earth, dried during a very arid summer and fall; and then 
 there were four feet of water to escape through an outlet half 
 a mile wide, from an area nearly as large as England, or the 
 state of Ohio. 
 
 The outlet proved insufiicient: tlie waters heaped them- 
 selves up in the lowest part of the Sacramento Basin, the size 
 of which low portion I have already given as one hundred and 
 fifty miles long and twenty wide, or an area of three thousand 
 square miles. jSTow, four feet of water over an area of tliirty- 
 sevcn thousand five hundred square miles, will, if collected 
 within three thousand square miles, form a body forty-eight 
 feet deep ; and that figure represents the amount of water that 
 had to escape through the Sacramento River, below the mouth 
 of the San Joaquin. It is to be observed that, as the outlet of 
 the Sacramento Basin is in its centre, so the freshets come 
 simultaneously from the north and from the south. The rains 
 fall along the whole length of the Sierra IS'evada at the same 
 time ; and as the mountain-streams are short and swift, they 
 pour down their floods immediately and all together. Such 
 are tlie circumstances which contributed to the great flood of 
 1862, and may contribute to other floods in the future. 
 
 During January, 1862, 24.36 inches of rain fell in San Fran-' 
 Cisco, according to records kept by Thomas Tennant, Esq. ; 
 8.66 inches fell in Sacramento, according to Dr. T. M. Logan ; 
 37.79 niches fell at Downieville, according to Dr. T. R. Kibbe ; 
 and 33.79 inches fell in Grass Valley, according to Mr. Atwood. 
 I presume that all these figures are correct save those for San 
 Francisco ; and while I admit the care and accuracy of Mr. 
 Tennant, I must suspect that somebody played tricks with his 
 gauge, upon which he could not keep a constant watch. 
 
CLIMATE. 37 
 
 Between the 1st of November, 1861, and tlie 1st of Febru- 
 ary, 1862, 37 inches of rain fell in San Francisco; 75.69 in 
 Grass Valley; 79.28 in Downieville; 101 in Sonora; 42 inches 
 of rain and 50 feet of snow (the snow probably eqnallino; 60 
 inches of water) on the summit of the Sierra Xevada at Hen- 
 ness Pass ; and 34 feet of snow and a great amount of rain 
 (not measured) on the summit of the same range at the Big- 
 Tree Road. The observations at the Henness Pass were kept 
 by Mr. S. R. Dunham; those at the Big-Tree Road by Mr. 
 Richey. 
 
 There have been " rainy seasons" in California which passed 
 without rain ; and the grass, receiving no moisture in winter, 
 spring, or summer, has remained brown for a period of eigh- 
 teen months. But no drought — more fearful than the worst 
 of floods — has visited the country during the last twenty years, 
 nor have Ave any accurate information about those that are re- 
 ported to have happened before that time. 
 
 So long as the wind blows from the north, we expect fair 
 weather ; when it veers to the south, rain may be expected, 
 usually within forty-eight hours. Sometimes, after a rain, the 
 clouds near the earth move toward the south, while those 
 higher up are going in the contrary direction : in such case, 
 more rain may be expected. In no part of Europe or the 
 Atlantic states can the state of the weather be predicted or 
 guessed with so much reasonable confidence as in California. 
 Here it is almost a certainty that nineteen days out of twenty 
 in summer and fall, and tliat ten out of twenty on an average 
 in winter and spring, will be clear and warm. Many circum- 
 stances of value, in furnishing grounds for predicting the state 
 of the weather in other regions, are of no use here. In the 
 Mississippi valley, for instance, three consecutive frosty morn- 
 ings are considered as an almost certain indication of rain ; but 
 in California, frosts have no such significance : for a dozen 
 may occur successively in the coast valleys or foot-hills of the 
 Sierra Nevada, and nobody expects rain the more on that 
 account. 
 
38 BESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 28. Dryness of Climate. — The small amount of rain dur- 
 ing 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 conseqence or ac- 
 companiment of our dry climate and clear sky, it may be worth 
 while to observe that near the ocean the clouds are rarely pic- 
 turesque or sublimely beautiful. The magnificent sunsets, 
 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 th^ Mississippi 
 valley — are never seen near the coast. 
 
 Dew is very rare or slight over a great part of the state. 
 During the 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 up, 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 
 atmosphere to the "purity" of the air; but it is rather the 
 absence of moisture. I know no reason for supposing that, 
 apart from its dryness, the air in California is purer than in 
 any other part of the continent. It may be,]iowever, that the 
 
CLIMATE. 39 
 
 constant decomposition of animal and vegetable manner, lying 
 on wet ground, under 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. 
 
 In May and June, all California " dries up" — the rivers, the 
 brooks, the springs, the ditches, the vegetation — and, with 
 them, many of the resources of the country. 
 
 § 29. 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 twilight 
 in the morning to the end of twilight at night, the day meas- 
 ures nineteen hours and forty-seven minutes on the Siskiyon 
 Mountains, and seventeen hours and forty-three minutes at 
 Fort Yuma. 
 
 § 30. Thimder- 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 near, but 
 far off, playing about the peak of Mount Diablo. Thunder is 
 still more rare. Indeed, many persons have been here for 
 years, and cannot say that they have ever seen the one or 
 heard the other. During eleven years' residence in the state, 
 I have never seen a brilliant flash of lightning or heard a loud 
 clap of thunder. Thunder-storms are sometimes witnessed 
 high up in the mountains, and in the Great Basin ; very rarely 
 in any of the low land of the state. In May, 1800, a house in 
 Sonora was struck by lightning; and in February, 1861, three 
 vessels in Humboldt Bay were struck in the same manner: 
 and, though there were persons in the house and on all the 
 vessels, no serious injury was done to either person or prop- 
 erty in any case. On the 25th of May, 1860, a Chinaman was 
 
40 EESOTJKCESOFCALIFOENIA. 
 
 killed by lightning near the Lexington House, on the Coloma 
 road, in Sacramento county. 
 
 Tiie weather never has that peculiar condition which isolates 
 everybody electrically, and then fills them with electricity. In 
 New York, on a dry winter evening, a man dressed in wool- 
 len and shod in woollen slippers, after sliding along on the 
 carpet a few steps, > will accumulate so much electricity, that 
 when he thrusts his finger at another person, a visible spark 
 will fly off, and he can light gas with it ! But this amusing 
 experiment, common as it is in the Eastern states, never has 
 been successful, and probably never will be often practised, 
 here. 
 
 § 31. Sail. — 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 weigh- 
 ing 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 have fallen in the Sacra- 
 mento valley. 
 
 The Aurora Horealis is seldom seen in California, perhaps 
 not more than half a dozen times Avithin the last ten years. 
 The aurora of the 28th of August, 1859, seen over a great part 
 of the world, w^as plainly visible in this state. 
 
 § 32. JEarthquakes. — 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 Sacra- 
 mento, Marys ville, Yallejo, and Napa. As a general rule, they 
 are less frequent and less severe in the northe^-n than in the 
 southern part of the state. The vicinity ot Humboldt is moi-e 
 often shaken 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 j not so many at one place. Most 
 
CLIMATE. 4\ 
 
 of the shocks are so slight as to pass unnoticed by a great 
 majority of the people ; and there are persons who have re- 
 sided six or eight years in San Francisco, and many who have 
 resided ten years in other parts of the state, and say they have 
 never felt an earthquake. ]^o person has been hurt, nor has 
 any strongly-built Iiouse been injured, by an earthquake in 
 California, north of latitude 35°, since the American conquest. 
 Several brick walls have been cracked in San Fi-ancisco, but 
 they were weak structures, built on "made ground," and 
 would perhaps have cracked by settling, of tlieir own weight. 
 On three or four occasions, 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 unin- 
 jured, even in the slightest perceptible manner. 
 
 On one such occasion, a friend of mine, 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. He sup- 
 posed that, with another such a sliock or two, the building 
 must be in ruins ; and he was very much astonished the next 
 m.orning to find that thei-e was not the slightest crack in the 
 plastering. His room was in the fourth story of a brick hotel. 
 It seems that tlije whole building had moved together. 
 
 The fear of earthquakes prevents the erection of high struc- 
 tures for show ; and, for this reason, there is not a tall steeple 
 in San Francisco. The largest 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 low tow- 
 ers. The same motive induces many wealthy families to reside 
 in wooden houses, which are considered better fitted 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 houses are usually erected in the Atlantic states, 
 but are " Chicago frames," held together with nails. This 
 
42 KESO LUCES OF C A L I F O k :N I A . 
 
 Bty]-ii of building, thougli introduced solely because of its 
 cheapness and simplicity, is considered by far the most secure 
 against earthquakes. 
 
 No earthquake felt at San Frnncisco since 1846 has been 
 more severe than one which visited Buffalo, New York, in 
 1857, as described in the American Jcnirnal of Science and 
 Art for September, 1858. On the 10th of July, 1855, an 
 earthquake cracked the walls of twenty-six houses in Los An- 
 geles; but no Avail was thrown down, nor was any person 
 injured. 
 
 Most of the earthquakes of California are confined to very 
 small districts. Thus, not more than one in ten of those felt 
 in San Francisco is perceived in Sacramento. The most ex- 
 tensive Californian earthquake of which we have any record 
 was that of January 9th, 1857. It shook the earth from Fort 
 Yuma to Sacramento, a distance of five hundred miles, being 
 most severe at Fort Tejon, about half way between these two 
 points. Loud noises, either rumbling or like explosions, were 
 heard to accompany the shock at Tejon, San Bernardino, Yisa- 
 lia, and in the Mojave valley. The waters of the Mokelumne 
 Hiver were thrown upon the banks so as almost to leave the 
 bed bare in one place. The current of Kern River was turned 
 up-stream, and the Avater ran four feet deep OA^er the bank. 
 The Avater of Tulare Lake Avas thrown upon its shores ; and 
 the Los Angeles RiA^er Avas flung out of its bed. In Santa 
 Clara valley the artesian Avells were much affected : some 
 ceased to run, and others had an increased supply of Avater. 
 Xear San Fernando a large stream of Avater was found run- 
 ning from the mountains, where there was no water before. 
 In San Diego, and at San Fernando, soA'eral houses were 
 thrown doAvn ; and at San BueneA^entura the roof of the Mis- 
 sion Church fell in. Several new springs were formed near 
 Santa Barbara by the shock. In the San Gabriel A^illey the 
 earth opened in a gap several miles long ; and in one place 
 the river deserted its ancient bed, and followed this new open- 
 ing. In the valley of the Santa Clara River there Avere large 
 
CLIMATE. 43 
 
 cracks in the earth. A large fissure was made in the western 
 part of the town of San Bernardino. At Fort Tejon the shock 
 threw down nearly all the buildings ; snapped off large trees 
 close to the ground, and overthrew others, tearing them up by 
 the roots ; and tore the earth a})art in a fissure twenty feet 
 wide and forty miles long, the sides of which rent then came 
 together with so much violence, that the earth was forced up 
 in a ridge ten feet wide and several feet higli. At Reed's 
 ranch, not far from Fort Tejon, a house was thrown down, 
 and a woman in it killed. 
 
 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. The 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 that at San Juan Capistrano, and there was nobody in the 
 church when it fell. At the same time the sea receded a Ions: 
 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, fled to the higher ground, 
 and by that means alone saved their lives. These reports 
 made about this earthquake of 1812, to Dr. J. B. Trask, by 
 old residents, have never been contradicted, though published 
 six or eight years ago. 
 
 The old Mission Church at Santa Clara was thrown down 
 by an earthquake in 1818. On the loth of IMay, 1851, a severe 
 shock was felt in San Francisco. Windows were broken ; mer- 
 chandise was thrown down from shelves in stores; and vessels 
 in the harbor rolled heavily. On the 26th of November, 1858, 
 nearly every brick building in San Jose was injured by an 
 earthquake. On the 3d of July, 1861, Amador valley, in Ala- 
 meda county, was severely shaken. Adobe houses were seri- 
 ously injured, chimneys toppled down, furniture was flung 
 from side to side of the houses and much broken, and men in 
 the fields were thrown down. 
 
 A severe shock of an eartliquake was felt at Fort Yuma and 
 
44 RESCUE CES OF CALTFOKXIA. 
 
 vicinity on the 29th of November, 1852. The low grounds 
 near the 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 ; aud 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 ofticers 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 the cause of it, they found 
 the mud-volcanoes on the site of the old pool, throwing up 
 steam, boiling water, and mud, very much like the salses liir- 
 ther north. 
 
 Earthquakes, according to the common theory of Califor- 
 nians, are electrical in their origin, or closely connected with 
 electrical influences. Many of the strongest shocks have been 
 preceded by a condition of the atmosphere very similar to that 
 which precedes thunder-storms in other lands. When the 
 weather is sultry and oppressive in San Francisco, people say, 
 " Look out for an earthquake!" And it usually comes — j^er- 
 haps so faint as to be barely perceptible, and sometimes not 
 until several hours after a change in the weather. 
 
 Tlie frequency of earthqiiakes in California has caused a 
 number of persons, perhaps a hundred or more, to leave the 
 state, and return to their former homes on the Atlantic side 
 of the continent. And yet there they are in more danger from 
 lightning than hei'e from earthquakes, for there are fifty killed 
 by lightning in the- Mississippi valley for one killed by an 
 earthquake in California. A year rarely passes that a dozen 
 persons are not struck by thunderbolts within three hundred 
 miles of St. Louis. [See Appendix^ p. 464.] 
 
C L I ]\r A T E . 45 
 
 § 33. Sand-Siorms. — In tlic Colorado Desert, and in some 
 other districts in the southern part of the state, sand-storms, 
 similar to tlie simooms 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- 
 eller, because lie dare not open his eyes to the little tiinty par- 
 ticles; nor can he eat, for the dust covers his food and fills 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 traveller happen to enco,unter 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. Kapidly it spreads over the sky, darkens the sun, 
 and the fine particles of sand are swept before the gale in a 
 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 blinded, para- 
 lyzed with fear, and no urging can induce them to go forward. 
 Were it otherwise, to go on would be folly; the road and sun 
 are hid from view ; no landmarks by Avhich to be guided — ■ 
 safety bids you remain. The traces are unhitched, and the 
 horses tethered to the wagon ; the only course is to securely 
 fiisten down the sides to the wagon-top, and wait with, what 
 patience one can command until the storm has passed, which 
 will be, doubtless, in from six to ten hours. 
 
 "Once the staGfe 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 Uie gale had spent its force, though the station was even 
 in sight. 
 
 "I have found such a storm sufficiently disagreeable Avliile 
 housed bv the riv^er-sido, the fine sand penetrating everywhere. 
 
46 EESOFKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 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." 
 
 Note. — Tlie chix}f writers upon the Meteorology of California have been, 
 Dr. Henry Gibbons, of Alameda, and Dr. T. M. Logan, of Sacramento, whose 
 writings have been published in the books of the Smithsonian Institute, and 
 in ihe newspapers of San Francisco and Sacramento. 
 
GEOLOGY, 47 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 § 34. General Geological Character. — California, geologi- 
 cally considered, belongs chiefly to the paleozoic and tertiary 
 epochs. The carboniferous rocks are Avanting, or their exist- 
 ence in the state is confined ^o a very small district, and has 
 not been demonstrated even there. A tertiary sandstone, some 
 of which is metamorphic, having lost its original stratification 
 under the influence of intense heat, underlies the valleys of the 
 Sacramento, the San Joaquin, and the coast, and is seen in the 
 Coast Mountains, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Desert. 
 Granite occupies the higher portions of all the mountainous 
 districts, and considerable portions of the Great Basin and the 
 borders of the Colorado Desert. The scarcity of stratified 
 rocks is plainly discoverable by the traveller in the number 
 and ruggedness of the mountains ; only primary, eruptive, and 
 metamorphic rocks make such steep hill-sides. The thinly- 
 stratified rocks, with intervening layers of clay, are soon worn 
 down by the water into gentle slopes, and covered with fertile 
 soil, every foot of which may be turned over by the plough, 
 and with profit. Such is not the character of California, nearly 
 all of which is primary or metamorphic. 
 
 Many rocks besides granite and tertiary sandstone appear 
 in irregularly-distributed patches. About Mounts Shasta and 
 Lassen, Castle Peak, the Marysville Bnttes, in the plateau of 
 the Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Desert, 
 there are considerable tracts of basalt, lava, trap, and trachyte ; 
 and in other places there are small tracts. Some very remark- 
 able hills of basalt, called "Table Mountains," are found in the 
 
 y 
 
4S Tw E S O U K C E S OF C A L I F O E N I A . 
 
 Sierra Nevada. The largest of these is in Tiiolumiie county, 
 about three thousand feet above the sea, and one hundred 
 miles eastward from San Francisco. It is thirty miles long, 
 tliree hundred to eight hundred feet high above the surround- 
 ing country, and about a quarter of a mile wide, in many jilaces 
 less. The basaltic formation is evident at a distance, from the 
 perpendicularity of the sides near the to}>, and the flatness of 
 its summit, gently descending toward the west. xVlong the 
 sides of the Sierra Xevada, near the lino of separation between 
 the sandstone of the valley and the granite of the higher parts 
 of the Sierra, are found various other rocks, among whicli 
 slate, quartz, and limestone, are prominent. Tlie slates are 
 usually sot\:, their cleavage often perpendicular to the horizon. 
 Limestone is abundant about two thousand feet aboye the sea, 
 between latitudes 37^ 30' and 30^. It is all metamorphie, and 
 some of it is a line marble, which may prove of value for stat- 
 uary. Most of it is gray in color. Metamorphie limestone is 
 also found near Santa Cruz, near New Almaden, at Monte 
 Diablo, and in Shasta and Siskiyou counties. It is said that 
 some stratitied secondary limestone has been foimd in Shasta 
 county, but this is a matter of doubt. Xo secondary coal has 
 been found in the state. Tertiary coal, much of it a lignite, 
 has been found at various places in San Diego, Santa Clara, 
 Alameda, San Francisco, S:m Mateo, Contra Costa, and So- 
 noma counties, and much n\oney has been spent in opening 
 veins. 
 
 § 35. Diluvium. — The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys 
 are covered with a diluvium from four hundred to fifteen hun- 
 dred feet deep. It is composed of alternate layers of sand, 
 gravel, and clay. The most complete infornuition which we 
 have as to the nature of this diluvium is given in the report 
 of the boring of an artesian well, one thousand feet deep, at 
 Stockton. This is, I believe, the only artesian well in the Sac- 
 ramento Basin ; at least, it is the most notable one. An at- 
 tempt was made to bore an artesian well in Sacramento, but 
 tlie auger struck a stratum of boulders about f^ur hundred feet 
 
GEOLOGY. 49 
 
 from the surface, and was tmable to pass through it. The fol- 
 lowing is a statement of the different strata encountered in the 
 Stockton well, and the thickness of each in feet, beginning at 
 the surface : 
 
 Black loam, 6 ; red clay, ; dark-red clay and sand, IS ; blue 
 clay, mica, and sand, 10; blue clay, hard, highly stratified, 4; 
 blue clay, mica, and sand, 3 ; blue clay, hard, and highly strati- 
 fied, 4 ; green sandstone and clay, very hard, 29 ; blue clay, 
 sand, and gravel, slightly impregnated with gold, 2 ; blue clay, 
 sand, and gravel, 18 (100); green sandstone, clay, and mica, 
 hard, 15; fine gi'avel, 5; gray quicksand, 15; blue clay, 8; 
 gray sand and clay, 27 ; dark-blue clay and sand, 33 (203) ; 
 coarse gravel and pebble-stone, 27; blue clay, 7; gray sand, 
 13 ; blue clay and sand conglomerated, 12 ; light-gray sand, 3 ; 
 blue clay, 6; light sand, 9; blue clay, 1 ; fine gray sand, 12; 
 dark clay, 2 ; fine gray sand, 7 (302) ; clay and sand, 10 ; coarse 
 gray sand, 1; light clay, 19; coarse sand, 14. (Note. — At 
 340 feet, in this stratum of sand, a red-wood stump was found, 
 and a stream of water ascended to within three feet of the 
 surface.) Light clay, 8; fine gray sand, 1^; light clay, 20i ; 
 coarse gray sand, 20 ; clay, very hard, 4 (400) ; gray sand and 
 clay, 5; clay, 20; coarse gray sand, 3; light clay, 15; fine 
 gray sand, 4 ; light clay and sand, 1 ; coarse gray sand and 
 clay, 1 ; hght-blue clay, 11 ; gray sand and clay, 7; light-blue 
 clay, 15; fine gravel, 1; light-blue clay and gravel, 13 (496); 
 fine gravel, 25 ; clay and sand, 2 ; sand and clay, 5 ; coarse 
 gray sand, 7 ; fine blue clay, 8 ; fine gray sand, 42. (Note. — 
 At 560 feet, in this stratum of sand, obtained a stream of water, 
 rising five feet above the surface.) Gray sand and clay, 15 
 (GOO) ; light clay and sand, 6 ; fine gray sand, 24 ; clay and 
 sand, 3 ; fine sand, 9 ; fine gravel, 3 ; fine gray sand, 5 ; coarse 
 sand, 2 ; blue clay and sand, 8 ; gray sand and clay, 8 ; clay 
 and sand, 5 ; fine gray sand, 10 ; clay, 5 ; coarse gray sand, 2 ; 
 fine light-blue clay, 4 ; hard, chocolate-colored clay, 2 ; blue 
 clay, 2 (098) ; fine gray sand, 30 ; clay and sand, 8 ; gray sand, 
 4 ; light clay, 10 ; coarse sand, 6 ; blue clay, 4 ; dark clay, very 
 
50 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 hard, 2 ; gray sand, 4 ; blue clay, i.^; liglit-drab clay, 3 ; very 
 fine gray sand, 24 (807) ; light-drab clay, 1 ; light-gray sand, 
 very fine, 27; dark-gray c:ay, 17; light-blue clay, very hard, 
 22 ; light clay, 11 ; dark, 4'hocolate-colored clay, very hard, 10 ; 
 light clay, very hard, 15 (910) ; fine gray sand — a good stream 
 of Avater, 2 ; clay and sand, 11. (Note. — A large stream of 
 water was obtained in this stratmn, rising seven feet above 
 the surface.) Fine sand and gravel, 10; blue clay, 20; sand 
 and gravel, 6 ; blue clay, 27 ; clay, gravel, and mica, 14 (1,000) ; 
 in sand, 2. 
 
 The depth of the well is 1,002 feet. The temperature of the 
 water, as it issues from the well-surface, is 77°, the atmosphere 
 being 60° Fahrenheit. The water rises eleven feet above the 
 surface of the plain, and nine feet above the established grade 
 of the city. The quantity of water discharged is about sixty 
 thousand gallons in twenty-four hours. 
 
 The diluvium in the coast vallevs bears a strono: o-eneral re- 
 semblance, in its material and stratification, to that of the San 
 Joaquin valley. In many places where artesian wells have 
 been sunk, fossil wood and bone have been found three hun- 
 dred and four hundred feet below the surface of the ground, 
 and two hundred feet or more below the present level of the 
 sea. In the mountains there are also large bodies of diluvium, 
 but the material is coarser than in the valleys, being usually a 
 gravelly clay, deposited in distinctly-marked layers, with inter- 
 vening strata of sand and boulders. 
 
 § 86. Gold. — Gold is found in nearly all j)arts of California, 
 but is most abundant on the western slope of the Sierra Xe- 
 vada, between two thousand and six thousand feet above the 
 sea, from latitude 37° to 40° — a district two hundred and 
 twenty miles long by forty wide. This may be called the Sac- 
 ramento district. It is drained by the Feather, Yuba, Ameri- 
 can, Cosumnes, Calaveras, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne rivers. 
 The next disti'ict in importance is in the northwestern corner 
 of the state, including that part of the Sacrainento Basin west 
 of Shasta, and the lower portion of the Klamath valley. Kext 
 
GEOLOGY. 51 
 
 is the Kern River district, including White Iiiver between 
 35° and 3G° on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. There 
 are goki diggings on the San Gabriel and Santa Anita Rivers, 
 and in tlie San Francisquito canon in Los Angeles county. In 
 the Colorado valley, fifty miles above Fort Yuma, gold has 
 been found. Nearly every one of the coast counties has more 
 or less gold : it has been found in the valleys of Russian River, 
 Putah Creek, Soquel Creek, Coyote Creek, the Salinas River, 
 and in the earth in which the city of San Francisco is built. 
 
 § 37. Auriferous Lodes. — Gold is found fastened in stony 
 veins, and loose in earthy matter : the latter called placer dig- 
 gings, the former auriferous quartz lodes. 
 
 It is the accepted theory among geologists that all gold was 
 once enclosed in quartz lodes, and that the gold in the placers 
 was obtained from the disintegration or breaking up of the 
 lodes. The surface of the earth was once all rock^ the earthy 
 matter w^as formed by the action of air and water on this 
 rock. The earthy matter was then deposited in diluvium, 
 among which was the gold that had existed in the rock pre- 
 vious to its disintegration. 
 
 Gold is sometimes found in granite, syenite, limestone, slate, 
 and other rocks ; but the auriferous lodes, regularly worked, 
 are all of quartz. Most of the quartz veins run parallel with 
 the main divide of the Sierra — that is, north-northwest and 
 south-southeast — are from a line to thirty feet thick, and are 
 nearly perpendicular, dipping to the eastward. They are be- 
 tween two thousand and six thousand feet above the sea. The 
 general color of the rock is white, occasionally bluish, fre- 
 quently reddish-brown, the color of iron-rust, derived from the 
 decomposition of iron pyrites. In some veins the rock is com- 
 pact, and then it is usually verylvdiite; in others it is full of 
 cracks and crevices, and ready to break into small pieces with 
 a little pounding. Most of the veins have gold in them; only 
 a few have enough to pay for working. The gold is in })ar- 
 ticles of irregular shape, but with some regularity of size, scat- 
 tered through the rock. The particles are seldom larger than 
 
52 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 a pea, never weigh more than an ounce, and often are so fine 
 as to be invisible to the naked eye. 
 
 A lode has usually a peculiar kind of particles, either lar';^e 
 or small. Most of ^he gold in a lode is usually in a rich streak, 
 near the "foot wall" or lower side, as if the metal had settled 
 down by its gravity. The rock near the " hanging Avail" or 
 upper side of the lode is poorest. Occasionally several rich 
 streaks will be found in a lode — one streak with coarse par- 
 ticles of gold, another with fine. All parts of a lode are not 
 equally rich ; but the gold is found in spots. A lode which is 
 very rich in one place may be very poor in another not far 
 oflT; indeed, there is no auriferous vein in the state known to 
 be regularly rich for a long distance on the surface. The gold 
 is found in streaks or i30ckets ; the rich streak nms downward, 
 and has a regular dip in the lode. It is a matter of very great 
 importance to the miner to ascertain the direction of this dip, 
 and here is the rule : Take out some of the vein stone, and 
 examine the wall rock carefully. In most veins it will be 
 found that the wall has little furrows, as though the lode had 
 been pushed upward. These furrows indicate the direction 
 of the dip of the rich streaks. Pockets may be considered as 
 interrupted streaks ; and when one rich pocket is discovered, 
 others may usually be found by going down into the vein in 
 the proper direction, and that is ascertained in the same man- 
 ner as for continuous streaks. This is an important rule, and 
 it is now published for the first time. I am indebted for it to 
 J. E. Clayton, Esq., mining engineer. 
 
 § 38. Placers. — The placers are of two kinds — diluvial., or 
 those deposited under large bodies of water, as if in a deluge ; 
 and alluvial., or those deposited under the influence of streams 
 of water, such as the j^resent rivers and brooks of the countiy. 
 It is evident, from an examination of the mining districts, that 
 large tracts of auriferous ground have been deposited under 
 diluvial influences. The same strata are found extendinc: over 
 wide areas, and the deposition is diflerent fi-om that made by 
 a river. The gold, being nineteen times heavier than water, 
 
GEOLOGY. 63 
 
 and from six to eight times heavier than the clay and stones 
 witli which it is found, has sunk to the bottom of the diluvium. 
 The best diggings are therefore near the " bed-rock." The 
 dirt in which the gold is found is usually a stiff clay, wdth 
 gravel and large stones intermixed. The common phrase 
 "golden sands" may mislead. Pure, fine sand rarely has any 
 gold in it ; and the richest deposits of the precious metal are 
 in a clay so tough as to give the miner much trouble to dis- 
 solve it, with stones in it weighing from a pound to several 
 hundred weight. The character of the pay-dirt varies greatly. 
 A hill of diluvium may be three hundred feet deep, wath a 
 dozen strata of different material, and all of them auriferous in 
 different degrees. In some places the pay-dirt is full of boul- 
 ders, weighing severajl hundred })Ounds or more; in other 
 places the stones are all about as large as a man's head ; in 
 others, as large as a lien's egg. In one stratum the dirt is 
 red, in another bine, in another browai. In some places the 
 dirt was deposited in basins of rock, four or five miles across, 
 and from ten to fifty feet deeper at the centre than at the rim. 
 
 The jjlacer-diggings are all found in a very rough, mountain- 
 ous country. Tlie gold has not been carried far ; its weight 
 has anchored it near its mother-vein. There may be much 
 gold in the Sacramento valley ; but if so, it is deposited be- 
 neath one thousand feet of diluvium,^ and nine hundred feet 
 below the level of the sea, where it will never be disturbed. 
 
 The diluvial placers are in what are called hill and flat dig- 
 gings ; the alluvial^ made by streams running through the 
 diluvium, are in river-beds, bars, ravines, and gullies. The 
 alluvial i)lacers, as a general rule, are richer than the diluvial. 
 The streams have carried away much of the dirt, and left 
 nearly all the metal. Most of the gold of the rivers comes 
 from gullies. There is a gully on a mountain : it is dry, ex- 
 cept during heavy rains ; it has steep sides. The rain conies ; 
 the water pours down its sides, fiercely sweeping clay, gravel, 
 and gold along. The bed of the ravine is not so steep as the 
 bides; most of the gold stops there; the dirt is carried away 
 
54 RESOURCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 into tlie river, with n little gold. A thousand such gullies, 
 contributing each a little gold, make a river rich. The heav- 
 ier particles are deposited in the middle of the river-bed ; many 
 of the smaller particles are deposited at the sides. The richest 
 spots in gullies are usually where the bed-rock is full of crev- 
 ices, as where slate, with perpendicular strata, crosses the 
 gully. In those parts of a gully where the bed is very steep, 
 there is usually less gold than in spots nearly level. In rivers, 
 the richest spots are usually just below canons, where bars are 
 formed. Wherever there are eddies at times of Jiigh water, 
 there the gravel, clay, and gold will be deposited ; and when 
 the river falls, a bar is exposed. The richest bars of California 
 have been found at the mouths of cafions. 
 
 § 39. Mineralogy of Gold. — The particles of gold in quartz 
 are usually very rough in shape, but sometimes they are in 
 octahedral crystals, and at others in smooth, leaflike sheets. 
 Very rarely specimens of crystals are found, clustered together 
 so as to resemble pieces of coral. 
 
 Placer-gold, called " gold dust," is fine and coarse. 
 
 The fine is in scales, grains, flour, shot, and icire. 
 
 Flour-gold is very fine dust. 
 
 Grain-gold is in particles about as large as the end of a pin. 
 
 Scale-gold is in scales from a sixteenth to an eighth of an 
 inch across, and as thick as heavy wrapping-paper. 
 
 Shot-gold is in roundish particles, the size of a pin-head. 
 
 Wire-gold is in small wires, from an eighth of an inch to an 
 inch long, and as thick as a pin. Sometimes the wires are 
 fluted, or hollow on one side; and sometimes they are knotted 
 together. 
 
 Coarse gold is coarse-shot, pea, bean, moccasin, cucumber- 
 seed, pumpkin-seed, large wire, and miscellaneous coarse. 
 
 The pfea, bean, cucumber-seed, and pumpkin-seed varieties 
 of gold, have particles resembling in shape the seeds whence 
 they derive their names. The coarse-shot is in particles re- 
 sembling coarse shot in shape and size. Moccasin-gold is in 
 pieces resembling a low shoe or moccasin in shape, and about 
 
GEOLOGY. 55 
 
 liiilf an inch long. Large wire-gold is in wirelike pieces, about 
 a sixteenth of an inch thick, and from a quarter of an inch to 
 an inch long. Miscellaneous coarse gold is in pieces of very 
 irregular shape and size. 
 
 Fine gold is often found without any admixture of coarse ; 
 coarse is rarely found without some admixture of fine. 
 
 The different varieties of gold are often found separate from 
 each other. One gully will have scale gold, another fine wire- 
 gold, another moccasin-gokl, another pumpkin^seed gold, and 
 so on. These different varieties of gold are frequently found 
 very near to each other : a cucumber-seed gully w^ill not be 
 more than a hundred yards from a pea gully. There is a small 
 hill in El Dorado county; all the gold on one side is fine, all 
 on the other coarse. The gold as it originally comes from the 
 quartz is rough, but by friction among the gravel and sand it 
 becomes smooth. Where all the pieces of gold are rough, it 
 has not moved far from its maternal lode ; w'here all the par- 
 ticles ai-e small and smooth, the presumption is that it has 
 moved a considerable distance. The larger the stream, the 
 finer and smoother its gold, as a general rule. 
 
 Most of the gold now obtained is miscellaneous coarse ; the 
 little gullies W'hich yielded the delicate varieties are now nearly 
 all exhausted. 
 
 Most of the placer-gold is coarse, in pieces w^orth half a dol- 
 lar or more. Pieces worth five dollai'S are very common, and 
 numberless nuggets worth one hundred dollars or more have 
 been found in California. The largest nugget of gold on rec- 
 ord was found at Ballaarat, Australia, on the 9th of June, 
 1858 ; it weighed two hundred and twenty-four pounds Troy, 
 of nearly pure gold, and was called " The Welcome Nugget." 
 The next, weighing one hundred and ninety-five pounds Ti'oy, 
 ^\'as found in Calaveras county, California, in November, 1854. 
 Tlie third, called " The Blanche Barkly Nugget," weighed one 
 hundred and forty-five pounds Troy, and was also found in 
 Australia. Smaller lumps are too mmierous to mention. All 
 placer-gold is called " dust," but the particles of the dust are 
 
50 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sometimes pretty large. No satisfactory explanation has been 
 given of the fact that placer-gold is usually in particles so much 
 laro'er than that found in quartz. 
 
 Gold is line and coarse mechanically — that is, in the size of 
 its particles — and chemically in its composition. Most metals 
 are found in ores, combined chemically with non-metallic sub- 
 stances which hide them. The ores have usually neither the 
 color, the specific gravity, the strength, nor the other peculiar 
 features of the metals. Xative gold is never found as an ore ; 
 it is always in a metallic form. The reason of this is, that it 
 does not rust on exposure to the air, nor is it dissolved by any 
 of the simple acids. And yet it is never found pure, but always 
 mixed with silver, in nearly all possible proportions. Fre- 
 quently copper and lead are also found in native gold. Tlie 
 amount of other metal in gold is designated by figures of fine- 
 ness, estimated according to thousandths. Perfectly pure gold 
 is 1,000 fine; gold containing one-tenth of its weight in silver 
 is 900 fine; that is, 900 parts in 1,000 are gold, and 100 are 
 silver. In gold 600 fine, 400 parts in 1,000 are of other 
 metal. " 
 
 The native gold in California varies in fineness from 500 to 
 990, averaging about 880. One large piece, found at Downie- 
 ville, was 992 fine. In Mariposa, Fresno, and Buena Vista 
 counties, and at Mono Lake and Walker's River, east of the 
 Sierra Nevada, the fineness is very low. The gold of the Col- 
 orado is very fine. In other districts there are great variations 
 in the fineness within small distances. One has gold 900 fine ; 
 another, one hundred yards distant, has gold only 800 fine. 
 Ordinarily, all the gold in a gully or in a river-bar is of the 
 same fineness ; so also all the gold in a quartz-lode is of the 
 same fineness. But there are the same difl'erences of fineness 
 between the gold taken from difierent quartz-lodes as in that 
 taken from difierent gullies. For these difierences there is no 
 satistactory ex]>lanation. 
 
 Let us now rmi through the list of the principal mining dis- 
 tricts of the state, giving the fineness of the placer-gold of each : 
 
GEOLOGY. ^l 
 
 The gold found in the bars and beds of the Klamath and 
 Salmon Kivers is in coarse particles, averaging 868 fine, and 
 mixed with iridium. 
 
 The gold of Scott River is coarser and poorer. That of the 
 South Fork of Scott River is about 875 fine, and coarse. 
 
 The gold on Trinity River, near Weaverville, is in small 
 particles, from 885 to 940 fine. 
 
 Twenty miles below Weaverville, on the same river, the 
 gold is poorer — from 865 to 870. 
 
 StiU farther down, iridium becomes so abundant, that the 
 gold is worth a dollar or a dollar and a half per ounce less 
 than it would be if clear of that metal. 
 
 In the gullies and hills near Weaverville there are rich dig- 
 gings of coarse gold, from 890 to 960 fine. 
 
 At Gold Bluff the gold is 950 fine. 
 
 The gold found at Yuba is coarse, in rough, flat particles, from 
 820 to 830 fine. In some lumps from Yuba little pebbles have 
 been found hidden in their centre. 
 
 The gold of most of the creeks near Yuba is from 845 to 
 850 fine. 
 
 McAdam's Creek, near Shasta, yields gold from 875 to 885 
 fine. 
 
 Cottonwood Creek, near the Oregon line, yields gold of the 
 same fineness. 
 
 At Oro Fino, near Yuba, the gold is in wires, and, like all 
 wiry gold, is of poor quality, from 760 to 780 fine. 
 
 The Shasta gold is generally coarse, ranging from 865 to 
 925 fine, except at French Gulch, where it is only 830 fine. 
 
 The Pit River gold is coarse and poor, 830 fine. 
 
 The Feather River gold is all good, from 890 to 920 fine. 
 
 At Oroville it is from 920 to 940 fine. 
 
 At La Porte, Gibsonville, and Pine Grove, in Sierra county, 
 the diggings are deep, and the gold coarse, and from 915 to 
 970 fine. At Poor Man's Creek, the gold is coated with some- 
 thing like an enamel, the color of iron-rust. When the gold 
 is pounded, this enamel breaks off. 
 4 
 
58 KESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The Downieville gold is coarse, ami from 895 to 925 fine. 
 
 At Goodyear's Bjtt the fineness varies from 880 to 885. 
 
 At Foster's Bar, and f-irther down, from 800 to 900. 
 
 At Shite Creek and Canon Creek, from 900 to 910. 
 
 At Forbestown, in Yuba county, the gohl is 890 fine. 
 
 At Camptouville, the fineness is from 920 to 970, except in 
 one hill, which has wiry gold, 870 fine. 
 
 The gold of the Middle Fork of the Yuba River is fine, from 
 8S5 to 890. 
 
 That of the creeks and ravines tributary to that stream is 
 still finer— from 900 to 920. 
 
 At North San Juan the fineness is from 960 to 965. 
 
 At French Corral it is 920 fine. 
 
 The gold of the Southern Fork of the Yuba River is from 
 890 to 900 fine. 
 
 Every hill about the town of Nevada has a quality of gold 
 difiering from that of other places in the vicinity. Some of it 
 is very good, but the generiil character is poor, from 800 to 
 850. Most of it is rough. 
 
 The Grass Valley gold is poor, from 800 to 840. 
 
 At Rough and Ready the gold varies as at Nevada. 
 
 The gold of Yuba county is good, from 940 to 970. 
 
 The Timbuctoo gold in Yuba county is 950 fine. 
 
 The gold of Park's Bar is 910 fine. 
 
 The North Fork of the American River has gold from 915 
 to 920 fine; the Middle Fork from 865 to 900; the South 
 Fork from 915 to 920. 
 
 At Iowa Hill, the gold is 900 fine ; at Michigan Blufi; 930 ; 
 at Forest Ilill, 900; at Yankee Jim's, from 890 to 910; at 
 Auburn, 860; below Auburn, and near Ophir, 820; and at 
 Secret Ravine, 780. All these placers ai*e in Phicer county. 
 At Gold Hill, in Flacer coimty, iridium is found lastened in 
 with the gold; the only place on the coast where the two 
 metals are found fasteiii'd together. 
 
 Next we come to El Dorado county. The Coloma gold is 
 good, about 915 fiu.e ; and ^ome of the hill gold in the vicinity 
 
GEOLOGY. 59 
 
 of the town is from 920 to 930 fine. The Georgetown gold is 
 coarse, and from 890 to 920 fine. AfKelsey'^s Diggings the 
 fineness is 860. At Placerville the range is from 870 to 970. 
 Coon Hollow, near Placerville, produces gold 970 fine. At 
 Diamond Springs the fineness varies from 870 to 900. The 
 El Dorado -or Mud Springs gold is 860 fine. The gold of the 
 Cosumnes River varies from 865 to 875. 
 
 The gold along the American River, in Sacramento county, 
 is from 915 to 920 fine. 
 
 Most of the gold in Amador county is poor, from 865 to 
 920. The gold about Vo-cano averages 870; Jackson, 865 to 
 868 ; the Buttes, near J:ick.son, 920. 
 
 The gold of the Mokelumne River, above Mokelumne Hill, 
 varies from 850 to 910. At the hill, some of the gold has been 
 980 fine. At Campo Seco the fineness is 900. Along the Mo- 
 kelumne River are many placers where the gold is in coarse, 
 wiry .pieces, and poor in quality. At Vallecito, the fineness is 
 915 ; at San Andres, 920 ; at Murphy's, 885 ; at Douglas Flat, 
 890; at Angel's, 890; at Jesus Maria, from 858 to 860; and 
 at Carson, from 890 to 920. 
 
 The gold found along the Stanislaus River is from 875 to 
 880 fine. 
 
 Columbia, in Tuolumne county, is the best place for good 
 gold in the state; it ranges from 930 to 970. There are many 
 other places where gold equally fine is obtained, but non© 
 which produces so much gold of a high fineness, with so small 
 a proportion of poor gold. The average of the Sonora gold is 
 900 ; Jamestown, 870 ; Montezuma Flat, 900 ; ravines at Chi- 
 nese Qamp, 950 ; the river and creek claims at Chinese Camp, 
 860 ; Don Pedro's Bar, 880 ; Big-Oak Flat, 800 ; and Garote, 
 810. 
 
 La Grange, in Stanislaus county, has gold 885 fine ; that of 
 the Merced River is from 845 to 860 fine. 
 
 The gold of Mariposa county is poor, and much of it wiry, 
 ranging from- 700 to 820 fine, averaging about 760. Some of 
 the gold of Mariposa county is coarse, and resembles that of 
 
60 E E SlO U K C E S OF C A L I F O K N I A . 
 
 high fineness from other -districts, but, on assaying, it proves 
 to be poor. 
 
 The gold Ironi the San Joaquin River is in small scales, and 
 about 800 fine. 
 
 The Kern River gold is 630 fine. 
 
 The Colorado gold is 930. 
 
 The AValker's River gold is 560 ; the Mono gold 600. 
 
 The above figures of the fineness of gold from various dis- 
 tricts refer only to the placer-gold. The gold from diflerent 
 quartz-lodes also varies. As a general rule, the quartz-gold is 
 not so rich as the placer-gold; but some of the gold taken 
 from quartz is nearly as rich as any from the placers. 
 
 § 40. Silcer. — A large amount of silver is found in Califor- 
 nia. One-tenth in Aveight of the gold-dust is silver. But it 
 was not until 1860 that valuable veins of argentiferous ore 
 were discovered in the state. As gold predominates on tlie 
 western side of the main divide of the Sierra Nevada, so does 
 silver on the eastern side. The "Washoe mines are not in Cali- 
 fornia ; but the Esmeralda and Coso districts are, 
 
 Esmeralda is in latitude 38^ 15', about two hundred and fifty 
 miles in a direct line from San Francisco in an eastward direc- 
 tion, and just within the limits of the state, as is generally sup- 
 posed, though some persons assert that it is in Utah. The 
 country is mountainous ; the rock is porphyry and trap. The 
 argentiferous veins are of a bluish-white quartz, containing sul- 
 phuret of silver. The principal vein of the district runs north 
 and south, and this has very little gold ; many other veins, 
 containing considerable quantities of gold mixed with the sil- 
 ver, run east and west. The main vein is about twenty feet 
 wide. The ores assay from thirty to fifteen hundred dollars 
 per ton, but the latter figure was only obtained from picked 
 specimens. TimbL^' suitable for firewood is abundant, and 
 there is sufficient water to supply the wants of a small town. 
 
 The Coso silver district is about one hundred and fifty miles 
 nortlnvard from Los Angeles, one hundred miles eastward from 
 Visalia, and twenty miles southeastward from Owen's Lake. 
 
GEOLOGY. 61 
 
 Wood and water are very scarce. Little is known about the 
 district as yet. The Coso and the Esmerelda districts are both 
 in the Great Basin of Utah, and about five thousand feet above 
 the level of the sea. 
 
 It is said that rich silver-mines have been discovered in the 
 valley of the Mojave River. 
 
 In the Coast Mountains, in Monterey county, a silver-mine 
 called Allisal has long been know^n to exist, but it is not rich 
 enough to pay. Similar veins are found in the Coast Moun- 
 tains, in Santa Cruz county. 
 
 Veins of silver ore are also found in Nevada county. 
 
 § 41. Platinum. — Platinum, 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 
 entirely lacking. Platinum is found in lumps by itself; iridi- 
 um 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 have 
 no fixed market price. When mixed with gold-dust, they 
 mjure its value, and prevent its reception at the mint on de- 
 posit. 
 
 § 42. QidcJcsilver. — Tliere is probably no country in the 
 world so rich in quicksilver as California. That metal is ob- 
 tained only from its sulphuret or cinnabar, of which extensive 
 deposits are found in Santa Clara county, about sixty miles 
 southward from San Francisco, and fifteen miles from San 
 Jose. There ai'e three mines here — the I^ew Alniaden, the 
 Enriqueta, and the Guadalupe. The ore is found between trap 
 on one side, and metamorphic limestone on the other. The 
 mines are about one thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
62 EESOFECES OF OALIFOT^XIA. 
 
 The gangiie or vein-stone is quartz. The ore varies in rich- 
 ness from 5 to TO per cent.: the ore of the Ahnaden mine 
 averages IS per cent. ; that of the Enriqiieta mine is about the 
 same ; that of the Xew Idria mine is about 8 per cent. The 
 lodes are extremely irreo-uhir ; sometimes there will be a mere 
 thread, which will widen out into a mass forty feet in breadth, 
 twenty high, and seventy long, of rich ore. and then diminish 
 again to a thread. The total annual production of the state 
 will probably amount to three million seven hundred thousand 
 pounds, of which two million four hundred thousand at least 
 "will come from New Ahnaden. The Xew Idria mines, in the 
 Coast Mountains, about seventv-five miles southeastward from 
 San Jose, furnish about three hundred and litty thousand 
 pounds per annum. In Xapa county, on the slopes of Mount St. 
 Helena, and in Sonoma comity, in the Geyser Mountains, west 
 of Clear Lake, cinnabar has been found, and companies are 
 now at work opening the mines. "Whether they will prove to 
 be of value is as yet a matter of doubt. It is a singular fea- 
 ture of the cinnabar veins in these two last-mentioned places, 
 that they are accompanied by a porous limestone which is full 
 of pure quicksilver ; and when the stone is shaken or struck, 
 the liquid met;il flies out in minute globules. There have been 
 rumors of discoveries" of cinnabar in other parts of the state, 
 but they are not well authenticated. 
 
 § 43. Copper. — Copper ore has been found near Crescent 
 City ; at Copper Canon, in the southwestern corner of Calave- 
 ras county ; in San Diego county ; in Xapa county ; six miles 
 below Grizzly Flat, in El Dorado coimty ; near Sweetland, in 
 Nevada county ; and in Shasta county. Sulphuret of copper, 
 or copper pyrites, is found in auriferous quartz-lodes in nearly 
 all the mining counties. Xear Sweetland, Xevada county, 
 there is a claim in which so much copper is fomid with the 
 gold, that the dust is worth only eleven dollars per dunce. 
 Ko copper has been smelted in the state ; the only attempts 
 to mine for the ore have been at Copper Caiion, and on the 
 bank of the Cosumnes River, below Grizzly Flat. Some of 
 
GEOLOGY. 63 
 
 the Copper Canon ore has been exported. There are rich 
 veins of copper-ore near Crescent City, in Del Xorte county ; 
 but, with the present high prices of labor and coal, they cannot 
 be profitably wrought. Vitreous copper is found at William- 
 son's Pass, sixty miles from Los Angeles. 
 
 § 44. Goal. — The old red sandstone and the " true carbon- 
 iferous" rocks, as they are called, are wanting in California; 
 and it was long supposed that no valuable coal would ever be 
 discovered in the state ; but within the last year some veins 
 of a very good quality have been found near Mount Diablo. 
 The mineral belongs to the tertiary epoch, but contains far 
 more soUd combustible matter and less incombustible material 
 than most tertiary coal. In the strict geological, meaning of 
 the terms, it is not " coal," but " lignite," belonging to a later 
 date than the true coal, and lying in a difierent formation. 
 The rocks are sandstone and shale, of the upper tertiary or 
 pliocene age, and were formed by alternating depositions in 
 salt and fresh water. The coal-veins are situated on the north- 
 eastern 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 analysis of 
 some of the best specimens showed 50 per cent, of carbon, 46 
 per cent, of volatile bituminous substances, and 4 per cent, of 
 ashes. The coal is bituminous in character, breaks readily, 
 shows a bright surface where fractured, and burns with 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. 
 
 § 45. Asphalturu, — 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 springs, 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 
 
64 RESOTJECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 becomes liquid at 85°. Some springs of it rise in the sea, near 
 San Diego, and others near Santa Barbara ; and masses of the 
 asphaltum are seen floating many miles from shore. The air 
 at sea is even scented with it, and on several occasions frights 
 on shipboard have been caused by its odor, which was sup- 
 posed to come from some hidden fire. 
 
 The principal places in which these 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 here cov- 
 ered by the hardened asphaltum. 
 
 2. In San Luis Obispo valley. The asphaltum 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 Santra Barbara coun- 
 
 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. Kincon of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara county. 
 
 T. 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. The 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 shute which 
 would carry it into the hold of a vessel at anchor. 
 
 A spring of mineral oil has been found in Mattole valley, 
 Humboldt county. This is probably the same material with 
 that of the asphaltum springs of the southern coast. 
 
 i 
 
GEOLOGY. 65 
 
 Tlie 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. 
 
 § 46. Other Minerals. — Iron pyrites, or the sulphuret of 
 iron, is found with gold in many of the quartz-veins. Iron is 
 found also in a number of chalybeate springs. Iron-ore con- 
 taining, it is said, 83 per cent, of metal, has been found near 
 Auburn, in Placer county ; and the assessor of Shasta county, 
 in his report for 1857, said "rich iron-ore" had been found in 
 that county. Magnetic iron ore is found in the Canada de las 
 Uvas, and at Williamson's Pass. 
 
 Tin-ore, of the kind called " tin-stone," of a rich quality, has 
 been found in, a large vein at Temascal, in San Bernardino 
 county ; and it is reported that another lode of similar ch.arac- 
 ter has been found in the valley of White River, Buena Vista 
 county. 
 
 Galena has been found in Humbug valley, Siskiyou county ; 
 in Tuolumne county ; and on the banks of the Cosumnes Kiver, 
 in El Dorado county. Plumbago has been discovered near 
 Columbia, Tuolumne county. 
 
 Cobalt is found, in various ores, in many counties in the 
 state. 
 
 At San Emidio, about twenty miles westward from Tejon 
 Pass, is a rich and large lode of sulphuret of antimony ; the 
 vein is from four to twelve feet thick, and is about six thou- 
 sand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 Arsenic exists in many of the lodes of auriferous quartz, in 
 the argentiferous lodes at Esmeralda and Coso, and in the an- 
 timonial ore of San Emidio. 
 
 Sulphur is abundant in California. It exists in large beds 
 near the Geysers, in Sonoma county ; near Clear Lake, in 
 Napa county ; in San Diego county, thirty miles northward 
 from the town of that name, and twelve miles from the sea ; 
 near the sea- shore, fifteen miles eastward from Santa Barbara; 
 4* 
 
66 RESOTJKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 in the valley of Santa Glara River, near its head ; and near 
 San Juan Bautista, Monterey county. The most abundant and 
 most accessible supph^ is that near Clear Lake. 
 
 Alum is found in Santa Clara county, eastward of San Jose ; 
 near Lancha Plana and Campo Seco, in Calaveras county ; at 
 the Geysers, and at Owen's Lake. At the two last-named 
 places there are hot alum-springs. 
 
 Three miles above the forks of Clear Creek, in Shasta coun- 
 ty, there are twenty salt-springs. 
 
 Springs strong with sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, 
 are found at the Geysers. 
 
 Chalk is found in Amador county and in Sonoma county. 
 
 Suisun marble, the most beautiful form of sulphate of lime, 
 is found in Solano county. Gypsum is found in Santa Cruz 
 and Amador counties. Fine specimens of alabaster have been 
 obtained in El Dorado and Monterey counties. 
 
 Fine varieties of porcelain clay exist in many of the mining 
 counties, particularly in Tuolumne. Clay, suitable for making 
 fire-brick, mp-y be obtained near Kichmond, in Honey Lake 
 valley. 
 
 Chromium is found on the bank of Feather River, near the 
 mouth of N^jlson Creek; near the town of Nevada; on the 
 bank of Bear River, above Anson's Ferry ; and on the ridge 
 between the North and Middle Forks of the American -River. 
 Chrome iron is found in Monterey county. 
 
 During the summer and fall, in many parts of the state, a 
 saline efflorescence covers the earth, or those low parts of it 
 where Avater collects during the rains of winter. This efflo- 
 rescence is composed chiefly of carbonate and borate of soda, 
 mixed with various other salts. The largest deposit of this 
 kind is probably found at Soda Lake, at the sink of the Mojave 
 River. 
 
 California is very rich in borax, and the day is probably not 
 far distant when we shall supply a large amount of it to com- 
 merce. It is found in springs in Tehama county, and in springs 
 And Jakes in Napa county. One of these lakes covers a lum- 
 
GEOLOGY. 67 
 
 clrecl and fifty acres of ground, and is strong with the solution. 
 In the mud at the bottom of this lake, the borax is found crys- 
 tallized in large quantities. Boracic acid has been discovered 
 in the sea-water near the coast. 
 
 § 47. Artesiaji 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 
 and eighteen — more than are to be foimd in any other 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 Avells 
 aie from fifty to four hundred feet deep; the bore varies from 
 six to nine inches. Only a small portion of Santa Clara valley 
 yields artesian water ; the artesian district lies north of a line 
 commencing at Mountain View ; thence running nine miles 
 with the road through the town of Santa Clara to San Jose ; 
 and thence southeast to the mountains. South of this line no 
 artesian 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 hundred yards distant, has 
 no water short of three hundred feet. The wells throw up 
 living fish and shell-fish, which are of different species in dif- 
 ferent w^ells. Some wells throw up soft-shell clams good to 
 eat, and of a kind not found in the snperterrene waters of the 
 state, before the opening of these artesian supplies. One well 
 throAvs 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 these fish and shell- 
 fish are mostly shallow, not more than one hundred and fifty 
 feet deep. If put into water fresh fiom wells two hundred 
 and fifty or three hundi'ed feet deep, they soon die, as do su- 
 Derterrene fish ; either, it is supposed, because the water is 
 
68 KESOUECES OF CALIF OK XIA. 
 
 too T\'arni, or because it has not enough air in it. The deeper 
 the well, the warmer the water. 
 
 Many of the wells have trone dry — " been drained bv other 
 wells," as people say ; but vet how can one well " drain" an- 
 other,, the mouths of both being on a level with each other? 
 The wells whose mouths are at a lower level may take water 
 from those farther up the valle}' ; but the theory that the 
 water deserts one well, to flow out of another of equal or 
 higher elevation, is not sound. There is very little difference 
 of elevation, perhaps ten feet, between San Jose and Alviso ; 
 and. the wells near the latter place throw their water about 
 five feet higher above the surface than do those of the 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, have been thrown 
 up ; and if a large stone should happen to lodge crosswise in 
 the pipe, other smaller stones and gravel might soon stop it 
 up entirely, or break the force of the current so that the 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, lias 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- 
 It is the general opinion in Santa Clara valley that the arte- 
 sian wells have drained away the surface-water, and the soil is 
 much drier than it was before the wells Mere bored. In 1849, 
 Dr. Bascom found water west of Santa Clara by digging three 
 feet ; and since then he has been going deeper every year, un- 
 til now his surface-well is fifty feet deep. In Pellier's garden, 
 at San Jose, the surface-water was six feet below the surface 
 in 1849; now it is fourteen. Ten years ago, there was a con- 
 stant stream of water along the Alameda, between Santa Clara 
 and San Jose ; but that ditch has been entirely dry for several 
 years. A multitude of such observations are mentioned ; yet 
 there is no conclusive proof that the artesian wells have taken 
 away the surface-water. It seems that the soil began to get 
 
GEOLOGY. * 69 
 
 dry before these "wells were bored. The artesian wells cannot 
 draw the water from the soil immediately around them, for 
 they throw their waters above the earth ; it may be, however, 
 that their supplies are derived from tlie soil in the upper part 
 of the valley — supplies which, if the wells were not. there, 
 would not be drained away into subterranean chaimels, but 
 would go to moisten^ the whole valley. It is to be observed 
 that, at the very time when the soil of the Santa Clara valley 
 was becoming so dry, a similar disappearance of the surface- 
 water Avas noticed far beyond the influence of the artesian wells 
 — Honey Lake, on the plateau of the Sierra Nevada, and Lake 
 Elizabeth, in the Great Basin, both disappearing about the 
 same time, in 1859 ; and several other little lakes and ponds 
 in other parts of the country following tlieir example, soon 
 after. 
 
 There are artesian wells at various places in the state besides 
 Santa Clara valley, but they offer nothing new in a geological 
 point of view. 
 
 § 48. Paleontology. — 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, 
 South America, in antediluvian times, had gigantic sloths and 
 tapirs, akin to the animals now found within her limits. Each 
 continent has a fiiuna of its own, to which its antediluvian ani- 
 mals were nearly akin. Every continent has sevei'al zoological 
 districts ; and the ancient and modern fauna of thesp 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 different continents from each other. But the ante- 
 diluvian animals of California possessed no peculiar relation- 
 ship to the animals now indigenous in the state: the former 
 fauna was totally distinct from that of the present age ; the 
 fossil bones found are not numerous, and no large and valuable 
 
TO EESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 skeletons have been brought to light — only fragments here and 
 there. Of quadrupeds, we have the remains of a mastodon, an 
 elephant, and a new species of horse. Of birds and reptiles, 
 nothing noteworthy has been found. We have no entire fossil 
 fishes, but a few teeth. Dr. W. O. Ayres found near Pit River 
 the teeth of a shark, of the genus Lamna — a genus now extinct 
 on this coast. There are numerous beds of marine shells, the 
 most remarkable being on the shores of San Pablo Bay, on the 
 sides of Mount Diablo, and on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. 
 In the bluffs of the coast, near the Lake House, are shells iden- 
 tical with those now found alive in the vicinity. All our fossils 
 are of the tertiary period, save a few ammonites of the second- 
 ary era, found in the northern part of the state. 
 
 § 49. Belies of Early Humanity. — 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 Ava»- found sixteen feet 
 deep, at Tehachepe, in Los Angeles county. 
 
 In October, 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 dej^th of one 
 hundred feet below the surfice. 
 
 In October, 1854, the 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. 
 
 These are a few only of the fossil evidences that California 
 has been inhabited by men many thousands of years. 
 
 § 50. Mineral Springs. — Mineral springs are very numer- 
 ous in California. The greatest number are found in the coast 
 valleys, from latitude 40° southward to 32°. Nearly every 
 little vale has one or more ; many of them warm or hot. The 
 most common temperatures range from 60° to 120°. Some of 
 these springs yield a large quantity of water, and are in ro- 
 
GEOLOGY. '71 
 
 mantic sites, destined to become places of fashionable resort 
 when our population grows dense. There are so many of 
 these springs in the state that there is not room here to men- 
 tion them all. 
 
 In San Bernardino valley there are a number of warm 
 springs. Their temperatures are thus reported: 108°, 128°, 
 130°, 16G°, 169°, and 172°. The heat of the springs at Aguas 
 Calientes, in San Diego county, is thus given: 58°, 74°, 130°, 
 136°, and 140°. 
 
 Near Warner's ranch, in San Diego, is a spring with a tem- 
 perature of 135°, rising from a cleft in the granite rock. 
 
 § 51. Cortes Shoal. — About one hundred miles west of San 
 Diego is Cortes Shoal, twenty miles long and three miles 
 wide, with a depth of only fifteen feet in one place. This 
 shoal is evidently the summit of a submarine ridge of moun- 
 tains, parallel with the other ridges of the coast. The shoal 
 was discovered in December, 1852, by Captain Cropper, of the 
 steamship Cortes, who asserted that there was evidently a sub- 
 marine volcano in operation there. The water was in violent 
 commotion, and at intervals was thrown up into the air in col- 
 umns ; there was an escape of steam, and he suddenly found 
 the depth of water chaiige from forty-five to nine fathoms. 
 He saw also light and smoke, and at one time tlie place looked 
 as though it were a ship on fire. The general opinion is, that 
 he saw only the waves breaking upon the Bishop Rocks, as the 
 rocks at the shallowest place are called ; but some persons ad- 
 here to his opinion of a submarine volcano. 
 
 Note. — The chief writers upon the Geology of Cahfornia are W. P. Blake, 
 J. S. Newberry, an 1 Jules Marcou, in the United States Pacific Railroad Sur- 
 vey reports, and Dr. J. B. Trask's reports to the state legislature, and Jules 
 Marcou's book on the Geology of North America. For the chemical fineness 
 of the gold in the various mining districts, I am indebted to Henry Yan Valk- 
 enburg. 
 
72 - RESOURCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 S C E N^ E R Y. 
 
 § 52. Introductory. — California has much beautiful scenery. 
 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 mead- 
 ows covered in the spring with brilliant grasses and flowers, 
 are all magnificent in their kind. The valleys are mostly bare 
 of timber, with here and there a grove of oaks, and lines 
 of trees and bushes along the water courses. The coast val- 
 leys 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. Sonoma, Napa, Amador, 
 San Ramon, and Sunol valleys may be made as beautiful as 
 any part of the world. 
 
 § 53. Coast Valleys. — Xapa valley, which is now the most 
 beautiful of these valleys, because most thickly settled and 
 most thoroughly cultivated, is thirty miles long, five miles wide 
 at its mouth, gradually growing narrower toward the head. 
 ISTapa River, a small stream, runs through the whole length 
 of the valley, which is of level land, bounded on both sides by 
 steep mountains, about two thousand feet high. These moun- 
 tains, brf;\vn near the foreground and blue in the distance, oak 
 groves, brilliant laurel and madroiia, fields of wheat and bar- 
 ley, ploughed fields, good fences, elegant farm-houses, and nu- 
 merous gardens and orchards, go to make up the landscape. 
 
SCENEET. 78 
 
 Tlie valley should be seen from the moimtain-top, wlience it 
 appears spread out as level as a floor. The fields, differhig in 
 color according to the season and their condition of cultiva- 
 tion, lie like a great checker-board, over which are scattered 
 numerous firm-lioui^es, and irregular streaks of timber mark- 
 ing the position of the river and its tributaries. The oak-trees 
 form a most important part of the scene. They are wide in 
 proportion to their height, thick in the trunk, heavy in the 
 main boughs, many of which have a horizontal or downward 
 course. The top of the tree has the semicircular shape, and the 
 smaller branches have the pendant grace seen in the Eastern 
 states only in the elm. The large npper boughs of the Cali- 
 fornian white-oak have at their extremities some branches or 
 twigs that hang perpendicularly down from three to twenty 
 feet, and many of the trees for this reason look in the summer 
 as though they were covered with vines. Add to these pecu- 
 liarities the abundant gray Spanish moss, hanging like long 
 and venerable beards from all the twi2:s and bouo^hs, and 
 the dark druidical mistletoe, and we have one of the most 
 important and characteristic features of the Californian land- 
 scape. 
 
 Sunol valley, a little dale about three miles in diameter, 
 nearly circular in shape, and shut in on all sides by mountains, 
 is destined to become famous at some future day for"its beauty. 
 Now it is in a state of nature, but art will give it new charms. 
 
 The places in the state most visited on account of their nat- 
 ural scenery are the Yosemite valley, the big-tree groves, and 
 the Geysers. 
 
 § 54. Yosemite Valley. — Yosemite valley is a dell of match- 
 less cliffs and cascades, with more scenes of grandeur and 
 beauty than can be found within an equal space in any other 
 part of the world. Shut in closely by walls of rock almost 
 perpendicular, from two thousand to four thousand five hun- 
 dred feet high, it has within a radius of five miles five cas- 
 cades, one of which is two thousand feet high, another nine 
 hundred and forty, another seven hundred, another six hun- 
 
Y4 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 drecl, and another three hundred and fifty, and their waters 
 flow through a natural meadow ornamented by beautiful trees 
 and brilliant verdure. 
 
 The valley is a chasm in the Sierra Xevada, four thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, and distant about one hundred 
 and twenty miles in a direct line from San Fiancisco, and in a 
 nearly due eastward direction. It is watered by the main 
 branch of the Merced River, which above and below makes 
 its way through the mountains in deep and dark gorges, the 
 bottom of which is rarely seen by the sunlight. The valley is 
 ten miles long and nearly three wide in the middle, from which 
 it decreases each way. It is bounded on all sides by walls of 
 yellowish granite, from two thousand to four thousand feet 
 high, in some places perjiendicular, and everywhere precipit- 
 ous. It is only at the ends of the valley that it is possible for 
 travellers to get in or out of it, and even there the entrance 
 and exit are difficult for horses and impossible for wagons. 
 
 The general course of the valley is east and west. The main 
 entrance is at the western end, where a steep path leads down 
 a descent of two thousand five hundred feet. The view from 
 the ridge overlooking the valley is splendid. The chasm is 
 seen winding away amidst the clifi*s; a cascade is in sight, and 
 numerous mountain-peaks rise in various directions. At the 
 bottom of the dell are seen the meandering river, the green 
 grass, and lofty trees diminished to the appearance of shrubs. 
 The waterfall 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 be- 
 comes imposing as the traveller approaches it. The body of 
 water is about seventy feet wide on the first of June. The fall 
 is called the Cascade of the Rainbow, from the beautiful colors 
 which always, in sunlight, adorn the mist floating about it. 
 
 Nearly opposite this cascade, on the northern side of the 
 valley, and about three-quarters of a mile distant, but apparently 
 much nearer when the tourist looks up at it, is the Capitan (or 
 Captain), a rock which projects into the valley and rises up 
 
SCENERY. To 
 
 perpendicularly from the level green-sward three thousand and 
 ninety feet. Continuing our course up the valley, we come 
 soon to another high peak on the same side of the valley, 
 known as the Signal Rock, two thousand nine hundred and 
 twenty-eight feet high. Four miles above the Rainbow cas- 
 cade we come to the great falls of tlie Yosemite, where the 
 stream of that name, eighty feet wide, leaps down two thou- 
 sand and sixty-three feet in three falls, of which the first is 
 one thousand three hundred feet high, the next two hundred 
 and fifty, and the third four hundred and fifty. About three 
 hundred feet from the top of the upper fall there is a project- 
 mg ledge on which the stream In-caks when the water is low, 
 but up to the middle of June, wliile the current is large and 
 swift with melted snow, the great body of the water leaps 
 clear of the ledge, and pitches sheer down into the hell of rocks 
 below. The Yosemite fall, sometimes c.alh d by the Indian 
 name of "Cholook," is, in so far as height is concerned, the 
 greatest cataract in the world; but it does not impress the 
 observer like Niagara. The body of water, never large, is 
 almost lost in spray before reaching the bottom ; and in the 
 late summer, the stream dries up entirely. Niagara is sublime, 
 overwhelming the soul ^\it]l the idea of power ; Yosemite is 
 beautiful and romantic — that is all. The tremendous precipices 
 here, as throughout the valley, are greater and more impres- 
 sive than the cascades, which have not enough water to con- 
 found. Besides, the falls cannot be approached from those 
 points whence they might be seen to the greatest advantage ; 
 and looking from a distance, the Yosemite somewhat resem- 
 bles a great sheet of white satin hanging over the clift'. But 
 inferior as this one cascade is to Niagara, the valley, taking 
 all its scenery together, is far superior in variety and romantic 
 beauty, and equal in grandeur. A day or two at Niagara is 
 enough ; while a lover of nature may stay at Yosemite for 
 months and continually find new delights in the study of the 
 scenery. I have given tlie total height of the three falls of 
 the Yosemite, all of which are very near together, at two thou- 
 
76 EESOUCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sand and sixty-three feet, which is the figure given by the offi- 
 cial surveyor of that county ; but others have estimated the 
 height at two thousand three hundred and two thousand five 
 hundred feet. 
 
 Across from the Yosemite Falls, on the southern side of the 
 valley, is the Pyramid Rock, so named from the shape which 
 it bears when seen from some points of view. It is three 
 thousand two hundred feet high. Three miles further up and 
 at the head of the valley is "Mirror or Tocoya Lake," a beau- 
 tiful body of water covering about eight acres. The northern 
 side of this lake washes the foot of the North Dome, a hnge 
 mountain of rock crowned with a dome-like knob, three thou- 
 sand six hundred and thirty feet high ; and near the southern 
 edge of the lake is the perpendicular face of the South Dome, 
 a still higher mountain, which rises up four thousand four hun- 
 dred and eighty-one feet, towering above all the peaks in the 
 vicinity. This peak is a sublime sight, with its perpendicular 
 wall, which, as you look up at it, seems as if it would keep 
 going up forever. 
 
 Windmg back now along the southern side of the valley, we 
 soon come to the southern fork of the Merced River, which 
 rushes down through a gorge. We ascend this gorge on foot, 
 climbiniT with iireat labor over rocks and throuixh the brush- 
 wood, and at the distance of a mile and a half come to the 
 Vernal or Canopah Falls, where the stream, about one hun- 
 dred feet wide, falls three hundred and fifty feet into a basin 
 surmounted by large evergreen trees. This cascade possesses 
 one o-reat advanta2:e over all the others of the Yosemite val- 
 ley, and that is, it can be approached from above, where we 
 look down upon it from the top of the granite cliff, leaning 
 over a natural parapet of rock, as convenient as though made 
 expressly for the accommodation of picturesque tourists. 
 
 About half a mile above the Vernal Fall the river takes a 
 another leap, called the Nevada or Awanee Falls, but it costs 
 a mile and a half of rounda1)out clambering to get to it. The 
 fall is seven hundred feet high, half of which the water shoots 
 
SCENERY. ' 17 
 
 plumb down through the uir, and strikes the projecting rock, 
 ' breaking into spray. 
 
 AI)oiit two miles west of Nevada Falls is the cascade of Tu- 
 sayac, about six hundi'ed feet high, but it is very difficult of 
 access. 
 
 A few hundred yards above Lake Tocoya is Lake Tesahae, 
 ' which has an area, of about six acres, and is forty feet deep. 
 
 No description can convey a clear idea of the great variety 
 of scenery in the valley. There are a thousand nooks and cor- 
 ners and Avoody dells, full of enchanting picturesqueness. 
 The rocky cliffs take all manner of queer forms, resembling 
 pyramids, castles, and domes, chimneys and spires. Li one 
 place there is a nari'ow 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 niiich 
 warmer than the shadows of the southern cliffs. Shrubs arid 
 flowers are in the full glory of foliage, and flower along the 
 northern w^all in May and June, while the same species are 
 still bare or budding a mile or two 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, i'he valley is almost 
 inaccessible, on account of snow, before the middle of May, 
 and the best time for a visit is in June. In the late summer 
 and fall the quantity of water in these streams decreases 
 
7a EESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 greatly, and the Yosemite cascade becomes a mere trickling 
 brooklet. 
 
 There are a couple of houses for the accomm.odation of trav- 
 ellers, but the fashionable way with those w^ho visit the valley 
 is to go iu parties on horseback, provided with pack animals, 
 carrying tent, bedding, provisions, and cooking utensils along. 
 Ladies dress in the Bloomer style. Wagons do not come 
 Avithin forty miles of the valley. There are some quail and 
 hare, but no larger game. The dell was inhabited by a war- 
 Uke tribe of red men eight years ago, but they undertook to 
 fight with the whites and have all been cut oif, and scarcely a 
 sign of their existence remains, save here and there the dim 
 vestige of a trail. 
 
 The valley was first entered by white men iu 1848, if rumor 
 be true, and afterward in 1850 and 1852, but its wonders at- 
 tracted no notice from the press, and were unknown to the 
 public until 1854, and did not attract many visitors until 185G. 
 
 § 55. Mcmiinoth Tree Groves. — The next great natural 
 wonder of California is the big-tree grove in Mariposa 
 county. It is a grove of four hundred and twenty-seven 
 mammoth trees, the largest of which are thirty feet in diame- 
 ter and three hundred feet in height. This is the largest spe- 
 cies of tree in the world, and this is the largest grove of them. 
 The grove is about twenty miles from the Yosemite valley, 
 and thirty miles southeast of the town of Mariposa, and about 
 four thousand five hundred feet high on the western slope of 
 the Sierra Nevada. When the traveller enters the grove he 
 sees on all sides of him numerous giants of the forest, varying 
 from twenty to thirty-four feet in diameter, and from two hun- 
 dred and seventy-five to three hundred and twenty-five feet 
 in heio-ht. Sublime si^^ht ! Each tree fills him with wonder 
 as he looks at it. A glance at" one of these immense trunks 
 conveys a new idea of the magnificence of nature; '^glorious 
 as the universe on creation's morn" is this grove. The Titans 
 and' the gods fought with such tree-trunks as these for clubs, 
 when the attempt was nuide to carry heaven by storm, as re- 
 
SCENERY. 79 
 
 corded in Grecian mythology. The trees are so high that you 
 must look twice before you can see their tops, and then you 
 must keep on looking before you can comprehend their height. 
 The best way to see them is to lie down and look up, and re- 
 member that the spire of the New York Trinity Church, wliich 
 is the highest artificial structure in the United States, tower- 
 ing far above all the rest of the American metropolis, though 
 two hundred and eighty-four feet high, would be entirely lost 
 to distant view if set down among these trees. 
 
 The grove covers a space half a mile wide and three-quar- 
 ters of a mile long. Classifying its trees according to their 
 size, we find that there is one tree thirty-four feet in diameter; 
 two trees of thirty-three feet ; thirteen between twenty -five 
 and thirty-three ; thirty-six between twenty and twenty-five ; 
 eighty- two between fifteen and twenty; making a total of one 
 hundred and thirty-four trees between fifteen and thirty-four 
 feet in diameter ; and then there are two hundred and ninety- 
 three between one and fifteen feet through. 
 
 One very large tree has fallen, and a considerable portion 
 of it has been burned ; but appearances indicate that it was 
 nearLy forty feet in diameter, and fonr hundred feet high. 
 
 The Mammoth Tree is a cone-beariiig evergreen, belonging 
 to the botanical genus named Gvpressus (cypress) by Linnaeus. 
 After the time of that naturalist, his genus of the Cupressiis 
 was divided ; so that the Mammoth Tree would have come 
 under the head of the Taxodlum^ which, about the year 1850, 
 was again divided by Endlicher, the German botanist, and the 
 redwood-tree was declared to belong to a new genus, called 
 Sequoia. 
 
 In 1853, the mammoth trees first came to the notice of the 
 public. The botanists in San Francisco, engaged in the tur- 
 aioil of business, looked at the specimens, but had not time to 
 examine them, and supposed tliem to be of the same^ species 
 with the redwood, to which the mammotli tree certainly does 
 jear a very close resemblance. Thinking the tree, however, 
 jC be very remarkable on account of its great size, they sent 
 
80 KESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 some of its cones, leaves, and wood, to botanists in 'New York, 
 but they were unfortunately lost on the way. A few months 
 later, an English collector sent some specimens to Professor 
 Lindley, who not only found the tree to be of a new species, 
 but determined to make a new genus of it, and he affixed to it 
 the name WelUngtonia gigaiitea. When the news of the se- 
 lection of this name arrived in California, a foolish and preten- 
 tious fellow, who meddled with matters of science of w^hich he 
 knew nothing, wrote a ranting article against Lindley, for try- 
 ing to confer the honor of the great tree of America upon a 
 Briton like Wellington, and declaring that the only proper 
 title for the tree w^ould be 'Washingtonia gigantea. If there 
 had been any bad taste in conferring the name of a Tory and 
 a man of blood ujdou such a magnificent tree, still the rules of 
 botanical nomenclature are well established, and the matter of 
 the name is left entirely to the discretion of the man who first 
 gives a technical description of the plant and determines its 
 genus. American botanists, therefore, never recognized the 
 name Washingt07iia^ because Lindley's name was of undoubt- 
 ed priority ; and to acknowledge the priority, and yet recognize 
 the WashingtoJiia^ would be equivalent to proving their own 
 stupidity. And yet English botanists have, in scientific rec- 
 ords, accused American botanists and "Americans" of making 
 an agitation to establish the name as WasJmigtonia. These 
 facts are part of the history of botany, and facts of interest 
 relating to the big trees. 
 
 The general opinion among botanists is, that Lindley was 
 wrong in declaring the mammoth tree to be of a new genus : 
 it is a Sequoia, related in the closest manner to the redwood. 
 When the redwood and the mammoth tree come to be held 
 as of a distinct genera, then nearly every difierence heretofore 
 considered merely specific may be made the basis for establish- 
 ino; new erenera. Dr. Seeman called the mammoth tree the 
 Sequoia gigantea, and it bears that name with botanists gen- 
 erally. 
 
 The Sequoias arc found only in California; the Sequoia 
 
SCENERY 81 
 
 gigardea only on tbe western slope of the Sierra Nevada, be- 
 tween latitudes 34° and 41°. The tree has the great pecu- 
 liarity that it bears two kinds of leaves : those on the young 
 trees, and on the lower branches of larger ones, are about five- 
 eighths of an inch long and an eighth wide, and are set in pairs 
 opposite each other, on little stems ; the other Jiinds of leaves, 
 growing on the branches which have borne flowers, are trian- 
 gular, about an eighth of an inch long, and they lie close down 
 to the stem. The cones are not much larger than a hen's Qgg-, 
 whereas the cones of many smaller conifers of the coast are 
 larger than pine-apples. The seeds of the Sequoia gigantea 
 are not more than a quarter of an inch long, a sixth wide, and 
 almost as thin as writing-paper. The bark is reddish-brown 
 in color, of a coarse, dry, stringy, elastic substance, and very 
 thick — on the largest trees not less than eighteen inches. The 
 wood is soft, elastic, straight-grained, free-splitting, light when 
 dry, and red in color. It bears a close resemblance to red cedar, 
 but the grain is not quite so even. The wood is very durable. 
 The mammoth tree grows in a deep, fertile soil, and is al- 
 ways surrounded by a dense growth of other evergreens, such 
 as various species of pine, fir, spruce, and Californian cedar, 
 Tlie scenery in these forests is beautiful. The trees grow^ very 
 close together ; and the trunks, usually from a foot to two feet 
 in diameter, rise in perfect perpendicularity, and wilh little or 
 no diminution of size, more than a hundred feet without a 
 limb : and while all is perfect stillness and rest and shadow on 
 the ground, the traveller, looking to where the sunbeams are 
 perceptible here and there on the thick foliage, can see the 
 flexible tops swinging from side to side in the roaring moun- 
 tain-breeze. The soil, being never visited by the sun, is always 
 moist, and produces a luxuriant and beautiful little undergrowth 
 of mosses, flowers, and berries. When in such forests, I have 
 at times compared myself to a merman, who, while at the bot- 
 tom of the ocean, amid a large growth of queer sea-weed, and 
 surrounded by beautiful shells and the treasures of a thou- 
 sand wrecks, should look from his abode of peace, and see 
 
82 EESOTJRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the surface of the water, far above hini, raging in a terrific 
 storm. 
 
 Many young trees of the Sequoia gigantea^ produced from 
 the seed, are growing in gardens in California, in the Eastern 
 states, and in Europe. 
 
 The mammoth tree is found only in a few small groves, of 
 which six or seven are known, though probably there are 
 many in unexplored parts of the Sierra Nevada. Three of 
 these groves are in Mariposa county, one in Calaveras, one in 
 Tuolumne, and one in Tulare. 
 
 The three Mariposa groves are within two miles of each 
 other. The second one in size contains eighty-six trees ; the 
 third thirty-five. The Tuolumne grove contains ten trees, one 
 or two of which are said to be thirty-five feet in diameter. 
 
 The Calaveras mammoth grove was the first discovered, and 
 attracts the greatest number of visitors. There are in this 
 grove ten trees thirty feet in diameter, 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 " Horse- 
 back ride," one of the notabilities of the place, is a hollow 
 trunk, Avhich a man can ride upright through on horseback, 
 seventy-five feet. 
 
 In 1854, 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 au- 
 gers. On the stump, which has been smoothed ofi", there have 
 been dancing-parties and theatrical performances; and for a 
 time a newspaper, called the JBig Tree Jjulletin, was printed 
 there. 
 
 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 contiimed green and flourish- 
 ing two and a half years after being thus denuded, and did not 
 begin to sliow signs of dying until a very hard frost came in 
 the winter of 1850-57. Although seven years have passed 
 
SCENERY. 83 
 
 since its bark was stripped off, some of its branches are yet 
 green. 
 
 A section of bark and part of the wood of tlie felled tree 
 are now in the English Crystal Palace. The rings of this tree 
 were counted ; and its age was variously estimated, according 
 to the different methods of counting, at from nineteen hundred 
 to three thousand years. Probably its age was about two 
 thousand years. It sprouted wliile Rome was in her glory. 
 It is older than any kingdom, language, or creed, of Europe 
 or America. It was a large tree before the foundation of the 
 Christian Church, and was fifteen hundred years old before 
 the period of modern civilization began. Twenty centuries 
 look down upon the tourist from the tops of the larger trees; 
 and some of the little ones will still flourish for a thousand 
 years from now, when all our present kingdoms and I'epublics 
 shall have disappeared, and our political and social systems 
 shall have been swept away as fidl of evil, and replaced by 
 other and better systems, under which men will live in civilized 
 society without each being forced to rob his brother by means 
 more or less legal and respectable. 
 
 In many of the trees in all the groves, hollows 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 oft' by the snow, which 
 often falls to a great depth so high up on the Sierra Nevada. 
 The trees, in some places, grow very 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. 
 
 It is said that the big-tree grove of Tulare county is eight 
 miles long, and contains larger trees than either Calaveras or 
 Mariposa, the largest measuring one hundred and twejity-three 
 feet in circumference twelve feet above the ground. We have, 
 however, no detailed description of this grove. 
 
► 84 KESO URGES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 56. Geysers. — The Geysers, in the northern part of Sono- 
 nui 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 
 momitains which separate Clear Lake from the basin of Rus- 
 sian River, runs a stream called the Pluton River ; and near 
 this are the Geysers, a multitude of springs, boiling 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), sul- 
 phate of aluminum (alum), and various salts of iron, predomi- 
 nate. 
 
 The chief feature of the Geysers is called " The Steampipe," 
 an orifice about eight inches in diameter, in the hill-side, from 
 which rises a large volume of steam to a height varying from 
 fiity to two hundred feet. The steam roars continuously, 
 sometimes bursting out in pufts louder than that made by the 
 general-escape pipe. It deposits flowers of sulphur on the 
 objects which come within its range. 
 
 '' The Devil's Punch-Bowl," called also " The Witches' Caul- 
 dron," is in a large hole, six feet across, in the hill-side. The 
 liauid in the boAvl is black and thick, and is always in commo- 
 tion with the heat, and the vapor from it deposits black flow- 
 ers of sulphur on the rocks around. 
 
 The sides of the canon are bare, and smoking with heat. 
 The Geysers are a favorite place of resort for pleasure-seekers 
 
SCENERY. 85 
 
 in tlie state. They are seventeen hundred feet above the level 
 of the sea. 
 
 § 57. 3fud- Volcanoes. — In the Colorado Desert, about lati- 
 tude 33° 25', and longitude 115° 45', are some remarkable 
 mud-volcanoes. They are in that part of the desert below the 
 level of the sea ; and if the water of the ocean were turned in 
 upon that low land, they Avould 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 serious 
 liard ships. The volcanoes cover a space a quarter of a mile 
 long and an eighth of a mile wide ; this area is of soft mud, 
 through which hot water and steam are constantly escaping. 
 The noise can be heard at a distance of ten miles, and the 
 steam is visible at a greater distance. The quantity of water 
 throwTi 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 with the noise and action of an explosion, throw- 
 ing 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 boiling w4th intense 
 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 boiling springs 
 ■which throw up their water twenty or thirty feet ; and there 
 are large basins, one hundred feet across, and five or six feet 
 below the general surfice, in Avliich a bluish paste is continu- 
 ally boiling. Some of the springs are surrounded by incrusta- 
 tions and arborescent concretions of carbonate of lime; others 
 are encircled by deposits of sulphur. The air blown fi-om the 
 salses is fetid with sulphur. It is very dangerous to approach 
 the springs and cauldrons, because the whole 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 w\ater 
 thrown up on these occasions would suffice to kill a man in a 
 few seconds. 
 
86 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 58. Santa Cruz Ruins. — Fifteen miles northeastward from 
 the town of Santa Cruz are "The Ruins," as they are called — 
 forty and odd perpendicular cylinders of sandstone, from a foot 
 to two feet in diameter, with holes from six to fourteen inches 
 wide running through them. These cylinders were discovered 
 in 1855, in a bed of sand, on the side of a sandstone mountain, 
 and were at first supposed to be the remains of some woi-k of 
 human hands: whence their name of "The Ruins." Much 
 curiosity was excited by their discovery, and a number of men 
 were employed to dig away the sand, so as to expose the foun- 
 dation on which the cylinders stood. The excavation was car- 
 ried down in one place to the depth of forty feet, and the base 
 of the column was found to rest on the bed-rock sandstone. 
 The surface of the rock was sloping and rough, and there was 
 nothing to indicate the work of man. It is now supposed that 
 the cylinders were deposited by mineral springs, although it is 
 believed that no similar columns have been formed elsewhere, 
 the elevations made by mineral springs being, with this excep- 
 tion alone, shaped like hillocks or cones — never like cylinders. 
 The theory of deposition by springs may be the best mode of 
 explaining their existence, but it is not satisfactory : the cyl- 
 inders rise perpendicularly, or nearly so, and are very little 
 tliicker at the base than at the top ; some of them preserve the 
 same thickness from bottom to top. The material of the shafts 
 diifers from that of the bed-rock by being coarser and darker. 
 And besides, the texture apj)ears in places to have a spiral 
 form, as though it had been made of a thick paste, rolled up 
 spirally into a cylinder, and then hardened into a solid ; leav- 
 ing, however, a plain trace of the manner in which it was 
 made. And some pieces, which have been broken oft', suggest 
 such a mode of formation. 
 
 § 59. Mirage. — Among the most remarkable scenes wit- 
 nessed in California are the illusions of the mirage in the des- 
 erts of the Colorado and the Great Basin. "All the phenomena 
 of mirage," says Professor W. P. Blake, " are exhibited on a 
 grand scale upon the Colorado Desert. Mountain-ranges, so 
 
SCENEKY. 87 
 
 I 
 
 far distant as to be below the horizon, are made to rise into 
 view in distorted and chano;inQ: outlines. Inverted imagoes of 
 smaller objects, and apparent lakes of clear water, are often 
 seen, and invite the traveller to turn aside for refreshment. 
 Tlie first exliibition of mirage that was seen [by Blake's party] 
 was from the margin 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 vising sun. Tall blue columns, and the spires of 
 churches, and overhanging precipices, seemed to stand npon 
 the verge of the plain. Their outlines were changing gradu- 
 ally, and, as the sun rose higher, they were slowly dissipated. 
 After reaching Fort Yuma, and witnessing the strangely pre- 
 cipitous and pinnacled outline of the mountains beyond, it was 
 at once apparent that the mirage consisted of their distorted 
 images. When we were upon the northern part of the desert, 
 the peak of Signal Mountain was often distorted and raised 
 above the horizon. The points of distant ranges also seemed 
 at times to be elevated above the surface, precisely as the 
 headlands of a coast sometimes appear to rise above the water 
 at sea. 
 
 "Many of the phenomena called mirage are not due to re- 
 fraction, but are believed to be the result of reflection from 
 the sand, or smooth surflice of clay, or the polished pebbles. 
 The smooth clay forms an excellent reflector for all the rays 
 which are incident at a slight angle, and is most frequently 
 the cause of the appearance of water. The beautiful surface 
 of the pebbly plain may be regarded as a combination of myr- 
 iads of reflectors; for each pebble is so highly polished, that it 
 reflects light almost like a mirror. The reflection from such a 
 brilliant surface, when seen at a favorable angle, looks like a 
 sheet of water, the similarity being heightened by the motion 
 of the stratum of heated air in contact with the surfoce." 
 
 Tlie phenomena of mirage are frequently witnessed in the 
 Sacramento Basin, and also in the coast valleys, on warm, dry 
 days. 
 
88 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 60. 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 wide ; 
 the other two hundred feet long by one hundred wide. 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 car- 
 bonate 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 
 Calaveras county, is a cave in which a Know-Nothing lodge 
 was accustomed to meet in 1855. In the bluff 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 fine stalactites. 
 
 § 61. Waterfalls. — Besides the cascades of the Yosemite 
 valley, 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 ]VIiddle Fork of Feather River ; one of three 
 hundred and eighty feet, where the South Fork of the Ameri- 
 can 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 foils fourteen hundred feet 
 within a mile ; and one of three hundred feet, called the " Riffle- 
 box Falls," in Deer Creek, Nevada county. 
 
 California has five natural bridges. The largest of these is 
 on a small creek emptying into the Hay Fork of the Trinity 
 
SCENERY. S9 
 
 River, Avhere a ledge of rock three hundred feet wide crosses 
 the 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 Kiver, in 
 Siskiyou county, there are two natural bridges, about thirty 
 feet apart. The rock is a conglomerate sandstone, and each is 
 from ten to fifteen feet wide, and the distance across the stream 
 is about eiglity feet. One of these bridges is used regularly 
 by travellers. On Coyote Creek, in Tuolumne county, ten 
 miles nortliward from Sonora, are two natural bridges, half a 
 mile apart. The upper bridge is two hundred and eighty-five 
 feet long with the course of the water, and thirty-six feet high, 
 Avith the rock thirty feet deep over the water. The lower 
 bridge is similar in size and height to the other. 
 
 § 62. Solfataras. — In the northeastern part of Plumas coun- 
 ty 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 distance of a mile, and their steam can be seen from 
 a greater distance. The whole place smells strongly of sul- 
 phur, which mineral, as well as alum and various earthy salts, 
 abound in the soil about the springs. 
 
 In four or five places in California the earth is constantly 
 hot, and sulphureous gases and vapors are always escaping. 
 There 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. It was rumored in 1858 that there was an active 
 volcano in Plumas county, near Lassen's Peak, but there is no 
 satisfactory proof of its existence, though there is a portion of 
 country in that vicinity of which very little is known. 
 
 § 63. Mount Shasta. — One of the best opportunities for ro- 
 mantic adventure in the state is in the ascent of Mount Shasta. 
 Several parties have gone to its summit — no trifling underta- 
 king. The ascent is very difficult ; the sides of the peak are 
 steep and rugged. The distance from the southern foot of the 
 mountain to the summit is estimated at fifteen miles. Four 
 6* 
 
90 EESOtlRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 miles from the summit there is a bench of trap-Fock; seven 
 miles farther is a second bench, of red cement or lava ; three 
 miles farther is a third bench, of black lava and obsidian. 
 Near the second bench there are several lakes in cavities which 
 were once probably craters. One of them certainly was once 
 the vent of volcanic action. On the extreme summit of the 
 mountain are a number of basaltic columns, looking like chim- 
 neys. The scenery is very grand ; for, as the peak is fourteen 
 thousand four hundred feet high, and towers far above all the 
 mountains around it, the view has no limit in any direction 
 save a very remote horizon. The Klamath, Trinity, Scott, 
 Rogue, Pit, and Sacramento valleys are all visible, besides 
 Lassen's Peak, the Downieville Buttes, the Marysville Buttes, 
 the Three Sisters in Oregon, and so on. About a hundred 
 yards west of the summit there are a dozen steaming-hot sul- 
 phur springs, and the earth about them is so hot as to be un- 
 pleasant. The air is so rare at the summit of Mount Shasta, 
 that some persons ascending it have been troubled while there 
 with dizziness, headache, spitting of blood, and difficulty of 
 breathing. 
 
BOTANY. 91 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 BOTANY. 
 
 § 04. Peculiar Fauna and Flora. — California lias a botany 
 and zoology of her own. Ilcr indigenous })lants and animals 
 are peculiar to her soil. Her plants, her quadrupeds, her birds, 
 and lier iishes, are difierent 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 miglit travel almost as well, but he is found 
 only in California and Oregon. The Californian deer is difier- 
 ent from that of Virginia in horns, teeth, feet, color, and size. 
 The bird known as the roadrunner or paisano might fly to ail 
 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. The robin of 
 New England difiers from the robin of Old England, and the 
 Californian robin difiers 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- 
 Hke, those of the Atlantic states and Europe. We have oak 
 and pine, spruce, sycamore, and horse-chestnut trees, and yet 
 any observant man sees at a glance that they differ in many 
 important particulars from the trees known by those names 
 elsewhere. California, with a little of the country adjacent, is 
 a distinct botanical district. Her vegetation was first pro- 
 
02 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 duccd on licr own soil, and li:is not been derived from or com- 
 municated to any other district by the course of nature. 
 
 § 05. JDistn'butioti of J^Iafits. — ^lost of the Sacramento and 
 San Joaquin valleys, the Colorado Desert, the eastern slopes 
 of the Coast Mountains, and the Coast Kange south of latitude 
 35°, are treeless; the Sierra Nevada and the western slopes of 
 the Coast l\ange north of 35°, have line 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. 
 
 § 06. Sfq)eriorit(/ of Co7ii/ers.— The botany of California is 
 remarkable for containing a number of the largest and most 
 beautiful coniferous trees in the world, groAving 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 mannnoth tree, the 
 redwood, the sugar-pine, the red lir, the yellow fir, and the 
 arbor-vitte, or IVmja gigantea. Other large conifers contrib- 
 ute to the magnilicence of our forests. We have the laurel, 
 the madrona, the evergreen-oak, and the nut-pine {Pinus sa- 
 bhu'ana)^ evergreen trees with a growth resembling that of 
 deciduous trees. Our deciduous trees are few, and of little 
 value to the mechanic. 
 
 The mammoth tree (Sequoia gigantea) wa5 described in the 
 preceding chapter. 
 
 § 67. Redwood. — The redwood {Sequoia sem2)ervirens) 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 grows only within thirty miles of the 
 ocean from Monterey to Crescent City, and is never found out 
 of the state. It bears a remarkable resemblance in color and 
 texture of wood and bark, and color, form and distribution of . 
 foliage to the mammoth tree, to which it is not much inferior in 
 size. A redwood-tree called "Fremont's tree," in Santa Cruz 
 county, is two hundred and seventy-live feet high, and nineteen 
 
ROTA^'Y. 93 
 
 feet in diameter six feet above the ground ; and others equally 
 large are found in the northwestern part of tlie state. Trees 
 two hundred and fifty feet high and eight feet through are 
 not rare. Tlie wood is very straiglit-graincd, free-splitting, 
 durable, soft, and light. So freely does it split, that boards 
 twenty feet long, eight inches wide, and an inch thick, are 
 sometimes made from it with the frow. No wood in the world 
 splits so beautifully and regularly. There is no better wood for 
 the general use of the farmer, and it is the chief building ma- 
 terial of the coast. No timber is more durable either above or 
 below ground. The color is a rich dark-red, which, when var- 
 nished, makes a fine appearance in furniture. The tree grows 
 in dense forests, which contain an immense amount of timber. 
 Thus, on the plain southeast of Crescent City, there are hun- 
 dreds of acres of land of which every fifteen feet square, on an 
 average, supports a tree three feet through and two hundred 
 and twenty-five feet high — a statement that may appear in- 
 credible to those wiio have seen only the forests east of the 
 Mississippi River. These trees will often furnish tw^enty saw- 
 logs, each ten feet long, and every acre will supply material to 
 make one million feet of sawn lumber, which, at the low rate 
 of fifteen dollars per one thousand feet, is Avorth fifteen thou- 
 sand dollars. The redwood stump, after the tree has been 
 cut down, throws out a number of shoots, one or two of which 
 choke down the weaker ones and become larije trees. A red- 
 wood forest is almost inexterminable. 
 
 § 68. Pines. — The sugar-pine (Piiius lambertiana) 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 moiiarchs of the plant kingdom. It is 
 closely related to the white pine {Pi7ius strobvs) of the East- 
 ern states; "though," as Dr. Newberry says, "like all the 
 conifers on the Pacific coast, it exhibits a symmetry and perfec- 
 tion 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 diam- 
 
94 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOHXIA. 
 
 eter of twenty, but it rarely exceeds tvv'O hundred and ten. 
 The young trees of the sugar-pine give early promise of the 
 majesty to which they subseqututly attain. They are unmis- 
 takably young giants; even when having a trunk a foot in 
 diameter, their remote and regularly-whorled branches, like the 
 stem covered with a smooth, grayish-green bark, showing 
 that, although so large, the plant is still " in 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 development of the 
 trunk at the expense of the branches. Nearly the whole 
 growth is thrown into the trunk, which generally stands with- 
 out a flaw or flexure, a perpendicular cone, all its transverse 
 sections accurately circular, sparsely set with branches, which, 
 m their insignificance, seem like the festoons of ivy wreathing 
 about the columns of some ancient ruin. The leaves are three 
 inches long, dark bluish-green in color, and they grow in 
 groups of five. 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 work" of houses, and 
 is the chief building material used in the Sierra Nevada, where 
 it grows. Tiie 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 terebinthine flavor. The pine sugar is ca- 
 thartic. It is found in small quantities only, though it is said 
 one hundred and fifty pounds of it were collected by a man 
 who devoted himself for a few weeks to the business of gath- 
 
 ermg it. 
 
 The Western yellow pine [Pinus ponderosa) is a noble tree, 
 next in size among the pines of CaUforuia to the sugar-pine. 
 It sometimes reaches a diameter of seven feet. Its leaves 
 grow in threes at the ends of the branches, giving the foli- 
 
BOTANY. 95 
 
 age a peculiarly tufted appearance. Tlie color of the leaves is 
 a dark yellowish-green. The bark is of a light yellowish-brown 
 or cork color, and is divided into large, smooth plates from 
 four to eight inches wide and from twelve to twenty inches 
 long, whereby the tree may be recognized at a distance. The 
 tree is found near the snow-line in the Sierra Nevada, and 
 east of the summit, and northward to Washington Territory. 
 
 The nut-pine (Pl/ius sahiniana) is remarkable as a conifer 
 for its spreading top, and for its large cones full of edible 
 seeds. It brandies 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 height. 
 About halfway 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 valley. 
 The seeds are larger than the common white bean, and are 
 very palatable, 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 
 the nuts for a considerable portion of their food.~ They climbed 
 the tree by catching hold of the rough, strong bark with their 
 hands, then putting their feet against the tree, without touch- 
 ing it with their body or knees, they walked up till they reached 
 the limbs. 
 
 The twisted pine [Pimcs contortd) is found in the northeni 
 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. 
 
 Coulter's pine [Pinus coidterii) grows in the Santa Lucia 
 mountains. It reaches a height of one hundred feet, and has 
 
96 RESOURCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 a trunk three feet throngh. 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. 
 
 § GO. J'lrs. — The red lir, or Douglas spruce (Abies doxiglasii), 
 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. Newberry 
 says, '^ one of the grandest of the group of giants which com- 
 bine to form the forests of the West." The wood is strong, 
 but coarse and uneven in grain ; the layers of each yeai^'s 
 growth being soft on one side and very hard on the other. 
 The timber is much used for rough work in 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 or Williamson's spruce (Abies icilliaiJisonii) 
 bears a close resemblance to the red fir, and the two trees are 
 usually found in company with each other. 
 
 The black fir (Abies mefiziesii) is smaller and of little value. 
 
 The Abies bracheata (Sajita 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 in- 
 cense. 
 
 The "Western balsam-fir (Picea granelis)^ or Avhite fir, attains 
 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. 
 
 § 70. Cedars. — The Western juniper, or cedar (J^uuipenfs 
 occide?italis), bears a strong resemblance to the juniper (J'u- 
 niperus virginianus) of the Eastern states. Its wood, however, 
 is white in color. It grows to be about thirty feet high. The 
 wood of a juniper-tree found near the quicksilver mines of Xew 
 Idria is so hard and fine in texture, that it would probably be 
 valuable to engravers. 
 
BOTANY. 97 
 
 The Californian white cedar [Lihoeed^us decurrens) grows 
 one hundred feet high, and seven feet tliick in tlie trunk. It 
 is found from Mount Sliasta to the Tejon Pass. The trunk is 
 usually angular. Many of the trees are affected with a dry-rot 
 which destroys their value as timber. 
 
 The fragrant-cedar [Ciqyressiis 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 unpleas- 
 ant odor, half way between turpentine and ottar of roses. 
 
 Lawson's cedar (Cujyressus lawsoniana) is a tree of little 
 value. 
 
 The arbor-vitae, also called cedar (Thuja giganted)^\?i, a most 
 symmetrical and graceful conifer, growing to be nearly three 
 hundred feet high. 
 
 § 71. Yew and Nutmeg. — The Western yew is an upright 
 tree, from fifty to seventy-five high, with thin and light foli- 
 age, 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 
 grows on the Sierra Nevada from 34° northward to British 
 Columbia. 
 
 The coast cypress ( Cujoressiis macro-carpus) is found only 
 on Cedar Point, at Monterey, and there are not more than one 
 hundred trees of it there. The foHage is very dense. 
 
 The Californian nutnieiz' {^Torroja californica) 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 Western yew in foliage and general 
 form. The fruit is like a nutmeg in size and shape, but it has 
 a disagreeable terebinthine taste, and is never used as a condi- 
 ment. 
 
 § 72. Ziaxirel. — The Californian laurel, or bay ( Oreodaphne 
 calif ornica), 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. 
 
S8 EESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 The leaves are dark green, lustrous, 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. Both leaves and wood have an aromatic 
 odor, which is stronger in the former ; and becomes still 
 stronger when tlie leaves are bruised. The odor resembles 
 that of bay-rum. It gives the headache to some sensitive 
 persons. 
 
 § 73. Mach'ona. — The raadrona (Arbutus menziesii) is one 
 of the most striking trees of the Californian forest. It is an 
 evergreen, with an open growth, 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 neAv bark is 
 a pea-green, which changes to a bright red. The wood is very 
 hard, and is used to some extent in the arts, especially for ma- 
 king the wooden stirrups commonly used in the state. The 
 tree bears a bright-red berry in clusters, of which the birds 
 are fond. 
 
 § 74. 3Ia7izamta. — The manzanita [Arctostaphylos glauca)^ 
 another prominent feature in the Californian 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. 
 Tlie wood is dense, hard, and dark-red in color. The 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 pea-green in color; they set vertically upon tlieir 
 Rtems. The manzanita bears a pinkish-white blossom in clus- 
 ters, and these are replaced by round red berries about half an 
 inch in diameter; they have a 2)leasant, acidulous taste, and 
 
BOTANY. 99 
 
 are often eaten by the Indians and grizzly bears, but there is 
 too little meat on them to pay Avhite men for the trouble of 
 gathering them. The shrub grows in the coast valleys, and 
 in the Sierra Nevada, up near to the limit of perj^etual snow. 
 The name means " little apple," manzana being the Spanish 
 for apple. 
 
 § 75. Ceanothiis. — The ceanothus, sometimes called tlieT^ali- 
 fornian lilac, of which there are many sjiecies, 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. 
 
 § 76. Oaks. — The Californian white oak ( Quercus hindsii), 
 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. Some- 
 times it measures 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 straio-ht 
 timber, and the wood is so soft and brittle as to be of no use 
 in the arts ; whereas the Avhite oak of the Mississippi valley is 
 a most valuable ^ree, with a trunk so tall and straight, thiit 
 sills and beams of it sixty feet long are common, and with a 
 wood so tougli, that it supplies all the axles and plough-bejims 
 of the country. The Californian white oak is not even fit for 
 fence-rails. The tree, however, is very beautiful and mnjestic, 
 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 traveller in California." The tree bears much resemblance 
 in form and size to the oak of England, the groves of it appear- 
 
100 RESOURCES OF CALIFORiSriA. 
 
 ing like the English parks. At the ends of the large boughs 
 are branches which hang down like vines — giving the tree, 
 when seen from a distance, something of the appearance of an 
 elm. The acorns are large, sometimes two and a half mches 
 long. They once formed the chief article of food of the Cali- 
 fornian Indians. 
 
 The evergreen oak [Quercus agrifolia) 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 densijlora) is a low, 
 handsome evergreen tree, with a leaf very much like that of 
 the chestnut. The bark is very rich in tannin, and is exten- 
 sively used for the tanning of hides. The tree is rare north of 
 latitude 39°, and is most abundant in the mountains about 
 Santa Cruz. 
 
 The Western chinquapin ( Castanea 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 beechnut 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. 
 
 The fulvous oak ( Quercus fulvescens) is a deciduous tree, 
 that grows about thirty feet high, with leaves somewhat like 
 those of the Western chinquapin. Tlie 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 tough- 
 er than that of most of the oaks of California. 
 
 Kellogg's oak ( Quercus kellorjgii) 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 mos^ 
 
BOTANY. 101 
 
 abundantly every other year. An idea prevails that the acorns 
 giv^e to swine a disease of the kidneys. 
 
 The huckleberry -leafed oak ( Quercus vaccinifolla) is a shrub, 
 from four to six feet high, which 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 hazel-nut. 
 
 § 77. Buckeye. — The Californian horse-chestnut, or buck- 
 eye {^scidiis callfornica), is a shrub, 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 thickness of thre« or four inches each; but 
 usually it has one trunk, six or eight inches through. The 
 tree rarely exceeds fifteen feet in height, and it has a hemi- 
 spherical 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 Mis- 
 sissippi 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 their subsistence. 
 
 § 78. Sycamore. — The Mexican sycamore {Platanus race- 
 moscf.) exhibits a striking resemblance to the Western syca- 
 more of the Atlantic slope. It has the same straggling, irreg- 
 ular 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 stem run- 
 ning through one or tw' o, and terminating in the last one^. 
 
 § 79. PitaJiaya. — The pitahaya {Cerens giganteus)., a gigan- 
 tic cactus, is one of the most prominent features of the botany 
 of the deserts in the southern part of California. It growls to 
 a height of fifty feet, with a trunk thirty inches in diameter. 
 Sometimes the trunk has no boughs, but usually it throws out 
 
102 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 from two to six, which are about half the thickness of the 
 trunk ; they run out horizontally for a foot or two, and then 
 turn upward and rise parallel with the trunk. There are no 
 twigs or leayes, but flowers and fruit grow on the tops of the 
 trunk and branches. The whole plant resembles a huge can- 
 delabrum. The flowers are three inches long, as wide, with 
 stifl', curling, and cream-colored petals. Tlie fruit is as large 
 as a hen's egg, and the meat is a red pulp, full of little seeds. 
 The taste is insipid ; but when the fruit is dried, according to 
 the Indian custom, it acquires a flay or somewhat hke that of 
 a fig. 
 
 § 80. T^iicca. — The yuccn, or bayonet-tree, is a kind of palm, 
 — an endogenous tree that liyes in the southern deserts. It 
 sometimes grows to be thivty-fiye feet in height, with a trunk 
 two feet through ; but usually it is about ten feet hi^h, 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, hangs down from the tops of the trunks. 
 
 § 81. Mezquit. — The mezquit {Algarobia glandidosa) 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 branches are very near the ground, and the whole 
 tree has a very regular, semispherical form. The leaves are 
 like those of the black locust, and the foliage thin. The tree 
 bears numerous pods, from three to five inches long, full of 
 sweet, nourishing beans, about the size of the common white 
 bean. The mezquit-bean is often eaten by men, and horses 
 and mules are very fond of it. 
 
 The curly mezquit {Stromhocarptis 2yubesce7is) is a similar 
 shrub, and bears a crooked bean, called the " screw-bean." It 
 also grows only on the desert. 
 
 § 82. Jliscellaneous Trees and Shnd)s. — A few walnut-trees 
 grow along the Sacramciito River, and it is said that some 
 chestnuts have been found in Mendocino county, but they are 
 unknown in tlie greater part of the state. We have no indi- 
 
BOTANY. 103 
 
 geiions beech, elm, hickory, locust, acacia, or sassafras. Our 
 wild cherry and wild plum are bushes, but their fi'uits resem- 
 ble the wild plums and cherries of the East. We have willows 
 and Cottonwood, which differ little in appearance from those 
 of the Mississippi valley. There are Avild 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 oi Ephedrci)^ sometimes 
 used for making tea, is found in Calaveras and Tuolumne coun- 
 ties. 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 peppermint and 
 camphor. The yerha delavihora (Spanish for "rattlesnake- 
 herb," known to botanists as the Dauciis pusillus) is a carrot- 
 like vegetable, the leaves of which are said to be a specific for 
 the bite of the rattlesnake. 
 
 § 83. Poison OaJc. — The poison oak, or poison ivy (lihus 
 toxicodendron)^ grows abundantly in the Sacramento Basin, 
 and along the coast. It thrives best on a moist soil, and in 
 the shade. In a thicket with other bushes it sends up many 
 thin stalks eight or ten feet high, with large, luxuriant leaves 
 at the top ; in the shade, the leaves are green. In tlie open, 
 dry ground, exposed to the sun, and without support from oth- 
 er bushes, the poison oak is a low, poverty-stricken little shrub, 
 with a few red leaves. If it can attach itself to an oak-tree, 
 it becomes a parasitic vine, and attains a thickness, though very 
 rarely, of four inches in the ti'unk, and climbs to a height of 
 forty feet. The 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. Tlie most delicate parts 
 of the body are most affected by the poison. The eyes are 
 sometimes closed "up entirely by the swelling round them ; and 
 
104 KESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 many cases are recorded of faces so swollen, that they could 
 not be recognized by mtimate friends. iSome persons are not 
 aliected 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 poison has once taken hold, the system is always very 
 easily affected from that tune 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 asrain. 
 
 § 84, Amole. — The amole ( CJilorogaliunponieridianmn)^ or 
 soap-plant, has an onion-like, bulbous root, which, when rubbed 
 in w^ater, 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 cov- 
 ered with buds, which open in the night, beginning at the root 
 of the boughs, about four inches of a branch opening at a time. 
 The next night, the buds of another four inches open, and so 
 on. 
 
 § 85. Nutritious Herbage. — Of indigenous nutritious grasses 
 there are a number in the state. The wild oat, though not a 
 grass, may be mentioned under this head. It resembles the cul- 
 tivated oat so nearly, that there has been some doubt whetlier 
 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 
 tliat time, when the white men crossed frequently from the 
 southern to the northern side of the bay, the oat was sown in 
 a natural way by horses and cattle, 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 
 w^ere so high, that men sitting erect on horseback could not 
 
BOTANY. 105 
 
 see each other at a distance of ten feet. The 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. They 
 are propagated from year to year, not by the roots, but by the 
 seeds, many of which fall into cracks in the earth, where they 
 lie in safety until the rains come, when the ground closes up 
 and the grain sprouts. The earth cracks in the summer, in 
 many parts of the state ; and in places where the wild oats 
 grow, the position 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 gram which it furnishes is small in proportion to 
 the quantity of straw, and it is never threshed. 
 
 After the 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 when green ; but after it dries, 
 the burrs fall upon the ground, and are picked up by the cat- 
 tle, while the 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 alfilerilla {Erodmm cicutarium) is another indigenous 
 
 nutritious herb of much importance to the herdsman. It is 
 
 succulent, sweet, hardy, bearing clusters of spikes or pins an 
 
 inch and a half long. These spikes have given it the name of 
 
 pin-grass ; and the resemblance of its leaves to the geranium 
 
 has suggested the name of " wild geranium," by which title it 
 
 is also known to some persons. It has a large root, which it 
 6 
 
106 HESOUKCES OF CALlFOKNIA. 
 
 sends deep into the ground, tlius enabling it to resist 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 indigenous 
 herb of the state. The seeds seem to abound throughout 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, cultivated fields, 
 and fallow lands. 
 
 The white Californian clover has a large yellowish- white 
 bloom, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, a beau- 
 tiful plant, well suited as an ornament for yards and gardens. 
 It grows very large, and two feet high in moist, favorable sit- 
 uations ; while in dry places it will also mature its seed with- 
 out rising more than two or three inches above the 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. 
 
 Another 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 Melilotes officmalis^ another herb, commonly called a 
 clover, though not strictly entitled to that name, likes a very 
 moist soil, and then grows luxuriantly, crowding out nearly 
 every thing else. Its bloom consists of a drooping head about 
 an inch long and a sixth of an inch thick, hung with little yel- 
 low flowers. Cattle are not fond of this herb in any shape, but 
 they hke it better in hay than when green. 
 
 Of nutritious grasses there are a number, but they do not 
 form a sod. The drought of summer and fall seems to kill the 
 roots. 
 
 Of wild flowers there are a great variety and abundance in 
 California, and they have their different seasons for blooming; 
 and in canons where the soil is always moist, flowers may be 
 seen in every month of the year. In tlie spring-time the hill- 
 
BOTANY. 107 
 
 sitles are frequently coYered with them, and their red, bhie, or 
 yellow petals hide every thing else. Each month has its flow- 
 ers : in March the grass of a valley may be hidden under red, 
 in April under blue, and in May under yellow blossoms. There 
 is such a variety that within an hour I have counted twenty 
 species on a spot not more than tAventy feet square. This was 
 on dry, sandy soil, in Sonoma valley, in the month of May. 
 None of the flow^ers are large, brilliant in color, or rich in 
 sweet, strong perfume. 
 
 The tule is a reed which covers all the large tracts of swamp 
 lands in the state. It has no leaf, but a plain, round stalk, ya- 
 rying from half an inch to an inch and a half at the butt, and 
 tapering gradually to a point. It is usually not more than 
 eight or ten feet high, but at the Tulare Lake it grows to 
 fifteen or twenty feet. 
 
 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 c )vered with 
 snow, the valleys of California are dressed in the brilliant 
 green of young grass. 
 
 The mistletoe grows abundantly on the oak-trees of Califor- 
 nia. The Spanish moss, which hangs in long lace-like gray 
 beards from the branches, also serves to give beauty to the 
 groves in the valleys. 
 
 Note. — ^Ntost of my information about the botany of the state has been 
 derived from the reports of Dr. J. S. Newberry, in the United States Pacific 
 Raihoad Survey, and from the conversation of Dr. A. Kellogg, Dr. 11. Behr, 
 and Mr. II. G. Bloomer, of San Francisco. 
 
108 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 ZOOLOGY. 
 
 § 86. General List. — Among the indigenous animals of Cal- 
 ifornia are the grizzly bear ; the black bear ; the panther , the 
 wild-cat ; the gray wolf ; the coyote ; three foxes ; the badger ; 
 the raccoon ; the opossum ; the mountain-cat ; the weasel ; two 
 skunks ; one porcupine ; three squirrels ; two spermophiles ; 
 two ground-squirrels ; three rats ; three jumping-rats ; one 
 jumping-mouse ; nine mice ; one mole ; the elk ; one deer ; 
 one antelope ; the mountain-sheep ; three hares ; two rabbits ; 
 the seal ; the sea-otter ; the sea-Uon ; the beaver ; two vul- 
 tures ; 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 ; three 
 grouse ; three 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 sal- 
 mon ; two codfish ; and one mackerel. 
 
 § 87. J^ears. — The grizzly bear ( Ursiis horrihilis) is the 
 largest and most formidable of the quadrupeds of California. 
 He grows to be four feet high and seven feet long, with a 
 Aveight, when very large and fat, of two thousand pounds, be- 
 ing the largest of the carnivorous animnls, and much heavier 
 than the lion or tiger ever get to be. The grizzly bear, how- 
 over, as ordinarily seen, does not exceed eight hundred oi 
 nine hundred pounds in w^eight. In color the body is a light 
 grayish-brown, dark brown about the ears and along the ridge 
 of the back, and nearly black on the legs. The hair is long, 
 
ZOOLOGY. 109 
 
 coarse, and wiry, and stiff on the top of the neck and between 
 the shoulders. The " grizzly," as he 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 farmers, that he has been industriously hunted, 
 and his numbers have been greatly reduced. He rano-es 
 throughout the state, but prefers 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 sel- 
 dom 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 with large rifle balls. He is one of the most dangerous 
 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, with his face down, the bear, 
 will usually content himself with biting him for a while about 
 the arms and legs, and will then go off a few steps and watch 
 him. If the man lies still, the bear will believe him dead, and 
 will soon get tired and go away. But let the man move, and 
 the bear is upon him again ; let him fight, and he will be in im- 
 minent 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 
 maternal anxiety. The dam will attack any man who comes 
 near her cubs, and on this account it is dangerous to go in the 
 
110 RESOURCES OF OALIFOENIA. 
 
 early summer afoot tlirongli 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. IS^o 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 manza- 
 nita, service, salmon, and whortleberries, are all favorites with 
 him. The roots which he eats are of many different 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 if swine come within his reach, he soon 
 learns the taste. The farmers in those districts where the 
 bears are abundant, shut up their hogs every night in corrola 
 or pens, surrounded by very strong and high fences, which the 
 bears frequently tear down. After having killed a hog, if any 
 part of the carcass is left, the grizzly will return the next night 
 and feast upon the remains, and go until it becomes putrid. 
 He prefers, however, the fresh pork if it can be had. Xot un- 
 frequently the grizzly discovers the carcasses of doer, elk, and 
 antelope, killed by hunters, who have gone off for horses to 
 carry their game home. 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 gl'izzly, 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 intelHgence scarcely 
 inferior to that of very young children. The grizzly may easily 
 be tamed, and it becomes very fond of its master. Adams, the 
 Californian mountaineer and bear-hunter, trained several griz- 
 
ZOOLOGY. Ill 
 
 zlies 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 tex- 
 ture and taste, exceeding it in juiciness and greasiness ; but 
 the meat of the old he-bear is extremely strong, and to delicate 
 stomachs it is nauseating. 
 
 The black bear ( Ursus americanus) is found in the timbered 
 portions of California, but is not abundant. It is more often 
 seen near the coast north of Bodega than in any other portion 
 of the state. Dr. Newberry, speaking of the food of the black 
 bear on this coast, says : " The subsistence 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 profusely, and are very low, assist in making up 
 his bill of fare. Rarely, too, we saw trees of yellow-pine bear- 
 ing marks of bears' teeth, where they had torn off 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 nei- 
 ther the grizzly nor the black bear hybernates in California. 
 
 § 88. Panther and Wild-Cat. — The panther of California, 
 supposed by Dr. Newberry to be the Felis concolor — the same 
 with the panther found on tlie 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 buff coat, was creeping through some brush to get near a 
 deer, when he felt a heavy animal strike his back. He sprang 
 up very suddenly, and saw a panther, Avhich had jumped down 
 upon him from a tree, probably mistaking him for a calf or a 
 deer. The brute seemed very much astonished and frightened 
 at seeing a man there, and immediately fled at full speed. The 
 panther is nocturnal in his habits, and always prefers the night 
 
112 BESOTJRCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 as a time for attacking colts, which are a favorite prey with 
 hira. He is found in all parts of the state where there is tim- 
 ber, but he never stops long in any place, unless he can find 
 bushes to hide in. 
 
 The American wild cat {Lynx nifus) is common in Califor- 
 nia, particularly 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 hues along the middle 
 of the back. 
 
 § 89. Wolves and Foxes. — The gray wolf ( Canis occidenta- 
 lis) is found in aU the inhabited parts of California, but is not 
 abundant. 
 
 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 latra?7s), but I am inclined to believe 
 that they are specifically difl:erent. 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 rab- 
 bits, grouse, small birds, mice, lizards, and frogs ; and in time 
 of scarcity he will eat carrion, grasshoppers, 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 ene- 
 mies and most troublesome pests of the farmer. His method 
 of catching chickens is to hide near the hen-roost about day- 
 light, 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 
 the birds which have been wounded by the hunters. 
 
 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 liis 
 reach ; but if there be no hiding-place, he goes up boldly. The 
 
ZOOLOGY. 113 
 
 SOW will at once face the assailant, and start to attack hira. 
 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. While running, he keeps his head 
 turned to one side, partly to watch her, and partly to watch 
 the pigs ; and when he has seduced her far enough away, he 
 suddenly makes a dash at the pigs, and, getting one of them, 
 runs off with 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 oppor- 
 tunities to see his purpose. 
 
 The coyotes frequently go in packs, and sometimes will un- 
 dertake to attack a cov>\ On such occasions, they have a con- 
 certed 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. As their teeth are very shaip, 
 they often succeed. The cow's hamstrings once cut, she falls, 
 and is 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 the coyote 
 is hungry, he will gnaw any tiling that is greasy, and for that 
 reason he frequently cuts off the hemp and raw-hide ropes 
 with which horses are tied out at night ; but he never bites 
 into hair-ropes, which for that reason were formerly used ex- 
 clusively for staking out horses. 
 
 The coyote is nocturnal in his habits, and is very fond oi£ 
 
 howling or yelping. He begins with a shrill, quick bark, ana 
 
 follows up with a succession of yelps, ending in a long-drawn, 
 
 quavering, melancholy howl. When one begins, all others 
 
 within hearing take up the cry. Ten years ago, the traveller 
 
 in the Sacramento valley rarely passed a night without hearing 
 
 their music. They are not so numerous now, but still they 
 6* 
 
114 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 are frequently seen in the most densely-settled parts of the 
 country. 
 
 The red fox ( Yitlpes fiilvus macrovrus) is found north of 
 latitude 3'7°; the gray fox (Vulpes virginianiis) in all the tim- 
 bered parts of the state. The coast fox ( Viilpes littoralis) is 
 found only on the island of San Miguel, ofl* 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 
 stupid, allowing themselves to be caught, over and over again, 
 in tlie same manner. 
 
 The desert fox ( Jl.d2)es 7nacroifrus), which is found in the 
 central deserts of the continent, crosses the Sierra Nevada, and 
 is often killed in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. 
 
 § 90. JBadger^ etc. — The American badger [Taxidea ameri- 
 eana) is abundant in 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 traveller. 
 
 The black-footed raccoon [Procyon hernandezii) is found in 
 the timbered portions of the Pacific slope of our continent from 
 Santa Barbara to British Columbia. It is longer than the At- 
 lantic raccoon [Procyon lotor)^ but resembles it very closely in 
 its mental character and capacity, habits and appearance. The 
 raccoon is fond of grapes, and when he enters a vineyard selects 
 those of the finest flavor. 
 
 An opossum (JDidel2)hys calif arnica) is found in the wooded 
 portions of the state, but is not abundant. 
 
 The yellow-haired porcupine [Erethizon epixanthus)^ a na- 
 tive of California, is the largest of its genus. The spines are 
 a couple of inches long, yellowish in color, with brown tips. 
 On the lower part of the sides the spines are replaced by long, 
 stitf bristles. 
 
 The mountain-cat, or striped bassaris {Passaris astuta), is 
 abundant along the western base of the Sierra Nevada, be- 
 tween latitudes 36° and 39°. The body is about the size of 
 
ZOOLOGY. 115 
 
 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 miners call it 
 the " mountain-cat," and frequently tame it. It is a favorite 
 pet with them, becomes very playful and familiar, and is far 
 more affectionate than the common cat, which it might replace, 
 for it is very good at catching mice. 
 
 The pine-marten (Mustela americana) is found in California, 
 but is rare. 
 
 Tlie yellow-cheeked weasel (Putorius xanthogenys) is found 
 along the coast, in the vicinity of the bay of San Francisco. 
 
 The common mink [Putorius vison) 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 {^Mephitis occidentalis and Me- 
 phitis hicolor), very common animals. The Mephitis hicolor, 
 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. 
 
 § 91. IVie Squirrel family. — The Californian gray squirrel 
 (Sciurus fossor), the most beautiful and one of the largest ot 
 the squirrel genus, inhabits all the pine-forests of the state. Its 
 color on the back is a finely-grizzled bluish 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 with 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 the head and 
 body, and fifteen inches long in the tail, making the entire 
 length twenty-seven inches. Dr. Newberry says: ''The Cali- 
 fornian gray squirrel is eminently a tree-squirrel, scarcely de- 
 scending to the ground but for food and water, and it subsists 
 almost exclusively on the seeds of the largest and loftiest pine 
 known {Pinus lamhertiana)^ the ' sugar-pine' of the Western 
 coast. The cones of this magnificent tree are from twelve to 
 sixteen inches in length, and contain each one hundred or more 
 
116* EESOUIICES OF CALIFOHNIA. 
 
 seeds of the size and shape of the small wliite bean of com- 
 merce. Tliese cones would be unmanageable by the sqrarrel 
 in the tree, and he has the habit, so common m tlie family, of 
 dropping them to the ground, where he can dissect them at. 
 leisure. This he usually does early in the morning, climbing 
 to the extremities of the topmost branches, where the cones 
 hang, and cutting 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 skil- 
 fully possesses hhnself of the seeds which they conceal. He 
 is compelled, however, to supply other wants than his own, for 
 the smaller pine-squii-rel [Sciurus douglasii) and the ground- 
 squirrel [Tamias toicnsendli) 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 co-operation of his more diminutive congeners. 
 From the fact that he feeds upon the ground, it has been sup- 
 posed that he was less active and less fitted for climbing than 
 most tree-squirrels. This, I think, is not true. He is exceed- 
 ingly quick and graceful in his movements ; and if less fre- 
 quently seen to spring from tree to tree than the black and 
 gray squirrels of tlie eastern states, it is because he inhabits 
 coniferous trees, which are remarkable 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 {Sciuncs douc/lasii) inhabits the 
 pine and redwood forests of the state. He is gray above and 
 red beneath, with a black stripe separating the tv>o colors. 
 He lives in a burrow or hollow log, but climbs well, and ob- 
 tains his food chiefly from the pine-cones, which he cuts off 
 in numbers at a time, and tears to pieces at his leisure, after 
 tlu^y 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. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 117 
 
 Tlie Missouri striped ground-squirrel has five dark-brown 
 stripes on the back, separated by four gray stripes ; the sides 
 are reddisli-brown, the belly grayish-white, and the tail rusty- 
 blaok above and rusty-brown beneath. The animal is four or 
 five inches long. It is found in the northern parts of tlie state. 
 It eats acorns and the seeds of the pine, manzanita, and ccano- 
 thus, in the thickets of which last-named bush it prefers to hide 
 its stores. 
 
 The SpermopJiile has two species in California, which resem- 
 ble each other so closely, that they are usually supi)osed to bo 
 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 differ- 
 ence between them and squirrels ; the color above black, yel- 
 lowish-brown, and brown, in indistinct mottlings, hoary-yel- 
 lowish 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 usually live in communities in the open, fertile 
 valleys, preferring to make their buri'ows under the shade of 
 an oak-ti'ee. Sometimes, however, single spermophiles will be 
 found living in a solitary manner, remote from their fellows. 
 Their burrows, like those of the prairie-dog, are often used by 
 the rattlesnake and the little owl. Dr. Xewberry says : " They 
 are veiy timid, starting at every noise, and on every intrusion 
 into their privacy dropping from the trees, or hurrying in from 
 their wanderings, and scudding to their holes with all possible 
 celerity ; arriving at tho entrance, however, they stop to ]"econ- 
 noitre, standing erect, as squirrels rarely and spermophiles 
 habitually do, and looking about to satisfy themselves of the 
 nature and designs of the intruder. Should this second view 
 justify their flight, or a motion or step forward still further 
 alarm them, with a peculiar 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 mean time have 
 
118 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 seated yourself with your back against a tree, and have re- 
 mained for a time as immovable as the trunk against which 
 you lean, you will soon see sundry little heads protruding from 
 the burrows, with as many pairs of eyes and ears skilled to 
 detect the least sign of danger from their equally-feared ene- 
 mies, the coyote, the Californian vulture, the red-shouldered 
 and red-tailed hawk, and man himself If, however, your si- 
 lence and quietness persuade them that you are none of these, 
 they w^ill swarm forth from their holes, and at first timidly, 
 but, gaining confidence, more fearlessly, engage in all the 
 sports and antics for which the sciuridce are noted, and in 
 w^hich none excel the species under considei'ation. 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 play- 
 ing together. As far as ^he eye could reach through the vista, 
 the sprightly movements of these innocent animals could be 
 discerned." 
 
 The two species are called Beechey's spermophile [Spermo- 
 philus heecheyi) and Douglas's spermophile {Spermophilus 
 douglasii). The size, habits, and general appearance of the 
 two species are the same, but they differ in the color of a stripe 
 along the spine from the base of the head to the middle of the 
 back: in Beechey's spermophile 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 north 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 rapidly 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-trees and vines ; they are, in short, dan- 
 gerous to nearly every thing that is cultivated. They are very 
 industrious, and lay up large stores for the winter, spending 
 several hours every pleasant summer's day in gathering food. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 119 
 
 They go considerable distances to fields; and the traveller, 
 whose approach scares them, sees them in hundreds running 
 across the road before him, with their tails erect, hurryhig 
 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 consid- 
 eration in the estimate of the price of land. They will not 
 live in moist land, nor very near the ocean, where the fogs 
 l^revail. They are poisoned with strychnine and phosphorus, 
 drowned by irrigation, and shut out by tight board fences. 
 In wet winters many of them are drowned ; after a dry winter 
 they are'* always numerous. Away from cultivated fields they 
 depend for food chiefly upon grass-seeds, grass-roots, and 
 acorns. 
 
 The Californian gopher {TJiomomys hulbivorus) is, next to 
 Beechey's spermophile, the most abundant and most trouble- 
 some 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, ^^aler 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, w^hite to their margin, which is dark-brown. 
 
 The gopher inhabits the fertile valleys of the coast from lati- 
 tude 34° to 39°. He spends nearly all his time under ground, 
 and does most of his mischief there, gnawing oif the roots of 
 fruit-trees and garden vegetables, eating newly-sown grain 
 and seeds, and nibbling at flowers and sweet bulbs. He is not 
 a climber, nor is he very agile : if he gets into a trench eight 
 inches wide and a foot deep, with perpendicular sides, he will 
 run a long distance in it rather than clamber out ; and one of 
 the best methods of catching him is to make such a trench 
 round a field, and place square tin boxes, fifteen inches deep, 
 eight inches square, and open at the top, in the bottom of the 
 
120 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 trench, at regular intervals of about fifty yards. The gopher 
 frequently travels at night, and when he comes to this trench 
 he falls in. He then runs along in it, looking for a convenient 
 place to get out, and, coining to a tin box, falls into that. He 
 can neither jump out nor gnaw through ; so he remains a pris- 
 oner till he starves to- death, or the farmer conies along and 
 kills hhii. 
 
 The Colorado gopher [Thomomys fidviis) 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. 
 
 § 92. TJie Rat Family. — California has a number of indi- 
 genous jumping-rats, jumping-mice, and other rats and mice, 
 too many and not sufficiently singular, or interesting to tlie 
 general reader, to deserve a complete description here. I 
 shall content myself, therefore, with giving a simple list of 
 them, with the districts they inhabit, their entire length from 
 the point of the nose to the end of the tail, and the main color 
 of the back : 
 
 Philip's jerboa, or jumping-rat {DipodjOmys philipi) ; Sac- 
 ramento Basin and the southern valleys ; twelve inches ; yel- 
 lowish-brown. 
 
 The dun jumping-rat {Dipodotnys ayills) ; coast valleys 
 south of San Francisco ; twelve inches ; lead-color. 
 
 The Colorado jumping-rat {Perognathus penicillatus) ; Col- 
 orado Desert ; nine inches ; tawny. 
 
 The King's River jumping-rat {Per ognatJius parvus) ; King's 
 River valley ; four inches. 
 
 Hudson's jumping-mouse {Jacidas Jauhonii)\ valley of Ca- 
 noe Creek; eight inches ; yellovvish-brown. 
 
 Black rat {Mus rattus) ; coast from Humboldt Bay to San 
 
ZOOLOGY. 121 
 
 Diego ; fourteen inches. There is much doubt whether it is 
 indigenous. 
 
 The long-tailed mouse {Reiihi'odon longiccmda) ; coast near 
 San Francisco ; five inches ; dark-brown. 
 
 Gambel's mouse i^He^^peromys ganihelii) ; from Tomales 
 B ly to Kern Kiver ; five inches ; glossy-brown. 
 
 Boyle's mouse {Ilesperomys hoylli) ; valley of the American 
 Kiver ; eight inches ; glossy-brown. 
 
 Californian mouse {Hesperomys callfornicus) ; Santa Clara 
 valley ; six inches ;' sooty-brown. 
 
 Desert-mouse {Ilesperomys eremieus) ; Colorado Desert ; 
 five inches ; grayish-yellow. 
 
 The bash rat {Neotoma mexicana) ; near San Diego and in 
 the Colorado desert ; thirteen inches ; yellowish brown. 
 
 The Keotoma fuscipes^ a rat ; coast valleys, from 38° to 
 40° ; fifteen inches ; reddish above. 
 
 The Arvicola montana^ a mouse ; near Petaluma, Monte- 
 rey, and Lost River ; six inches ; yellowish brown. 
 
 The long-faced mouse {Arvicola longirostris) ; Pit River 
 valley ; six inches ; yellowish brown. 
 
 The Californian ground-mouse {Arvicola edax) ; coast val- 
 leys south of San Francisco ; six inches ; yellowish brown. 
 
 The Arvicola callfomica, a mouse much like the sj^ecies 
 last named. 
 
 Tlie Oregon mouse {Arvicola oregond) ; near Tanales Bay ; 
 four inches ; yellowish brown. 
 
 The Oregon mole {Scalops tounsendii) 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 fiiint- 
 purplish or sooty-black reflections in the hair. 
 
 § 93. The Deer Family. — The American elk {Cervus cana- 
 densis) is found in California as well as in many other parts 
 of the continent. 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 
 
122 RESOUEOES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 greatest weight one thousand pounds. The color is a chest- 
 nut brown, daik on tlie liead, neck, and legs, lighter and yel- 
 lowish on the back and sides. The horns are very large, some- 
 times 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 lovfer jaw, forty 
 pounds. The horns of the old bucks have from seven to nine, 
 perhaps more, prongs, all growing forward, the main stem 
 running upward and backward. The elk were very abundant 
 in California previous to 1849, and they were frequently seen 
 in lai'ge herds ; but within the last ten years they have become 
 rare, and before the close of another decade they will be ex- 
 tinct in our state. A few are found in the San Joaquin valley, 
 but the best place for hunting them is in Mendocino county. 
 Several hundred carcasses find their way every year to the 
 San Francisco market. The young fat elk furnishes a very 
 juicy and sweet venison. 
 
 The white-tailed Virginian 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 columbiafius), 
 which is a little larger and has brighter colors, but does not 
 furnish as good venison, the meat lacking the juiciness and 
 savory taste of the venison in the Mississippi valley. The av- 
 erage weight of the buck is about one hundred and twenty- 
 pounds, and of the doe one hundred pounds, but bucks have 
 been found to weigh two hundred and seventy-five pounds. 
 The summer-coat of the black-tailed deer is composed of rather 
 long and coarse hair, of a tawny browm, approaching chestnut 
 on the back. In September this hair begins to come off, expo- 
 sing what the hunters call the "blue coat," which is at first 
 fine and silky, and of a bluish-gray color, afterward becoming 
 chestnut brown, inclining to gray on the sides, and to black 
 along the back. Occasionally deer purely white are found. 
 The horn, when long, is about two feet long, and forks near 
 mid-length, and each prong forks again, making four points, to 
 which a little spur, issuing fi'om near the base of the horn, may 
 
ZOOLOGY. 123 
 
 be added, making five in all. This is the general fonn of the 
 horn ; sometimes, however, old bucks are found with but two 
 points. The deer likes the hills and the timber ; the prong- 
 horned antelope {Antiloccq:>ra americana) loves the valley and 
 the open laud. Before the Americans took California, the Sac- 
 ramento 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. The traveller in the 
 Tulare valley and in the Great Basin near the Coast Moun- 
 tains, sees herds of them every day. Thousands are killed 
 yearly for the market. In size the antelope is not quite so 
 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 anteloj^e 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 inde- 
 pendent, and move each in the way that suits him best. In color, 
 the back, upper part of the sides and outside 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. 
 The hair is very coarse, thick, spongy, tubular, slightly crimped, 
 or Avaved, 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 perpen- 
 dicularly, 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 distin- 
 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 it is a 
 rare and very shy animal, and is seldom killed. Its length is 
 about five feet, and its weight sometimes three hundred and 
 
124 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fifty pouncls, considerably greater than that of the deer or do- 
 mesticated sheep. The color is white beneath, grayish brown 
 elsewhere. The horns of the ram are very large, sometimes 
 five inches through at the base and three feet long. The 
 horns, after starting upward, turn backward, then downward, 
 and so round with a circular or spiral shape, the tip inclining 
 outward. Mountaineers assert that tliese horns are used by 
 the sheep in getting down from the high clifis 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 first 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. 
 
 § 94. The Hare Family. — The Californian hare, or "jackass 
 rabbit," as it is commonly called {Lepus calif or 7iicus)^ 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 ears are very 
 large, 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 hairs 
 being of a light smoky-ash color for about half the length, 
 then dark sooty-brown, then pale cinnamon-red, and finally 
 black at the tip. 
 
 The prairie hare [Lepus cainpestris) 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, from 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. 
 
 Audubon's hare [JLepus auduhonii) inhabits the coast val- 
 leys from Petaluma to San Diego. It is fifteen inches long, 
 
 I 
 
ZOOLOGY. 125 
 
 with 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 (Le2nis troichridgii) is found along the 
 coast southward from 39°. The length is from eleven to 
 fifteen inches ; the tail, with hair and all, less than an inch. 
 The back is yellowish brown mixed with dark brown, paler on 
 the sides, and ash-colored beneath. 
 
 The sage rabbit {Lepus 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. 
 
 § 95. Aquatic Mammals. — The American beavers ( Castor 
 canadensis) were once very abundant in all the large streams of 
 California, and it was chiefly for their sake that the first Ameri- 
 can trappers entered the country some thirty-five or forty years 
 ago. They are still found in nearly all parts of the state, and 
 even numerous, it may be said, in some of the sloughs near the 
 junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. They 
 rarely build dams vi CaJ'fornia, 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 in 
 a still night. Their skins, which once commanded very high 
 prices, have lost much of their value since the adoption of silk 
 for making hats. 
 
 The common mink [Putorius vison) is found in California, 
 but is not abundant. The general color of the animal is dark 
 brownish-chestnut, with a Avhite spot on the end of the chin. 
 The skin of the mink is as valuable as that of the beaver. 
 
 The Californian otter [Lutra callfornica) is found all along 
 this coast, and was formerly abundant on all the large streains. 
 It is carnivorous, living entirely on fish and shell-fish. It pre- 
 fers large streams and lakes for its home, while the plant-eating 
 beaver prefers small streams. The Californian otter is some- 
 
126 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 times five feet long from the point of the nose to the tip of 
 the tail. When in the water, its hair is at times beautifully- 
 iridescent. 
 
 The sea-otter {JEnhydra TJiarina) is larger than the Califor 
 nian otter, and is also carnivorous. 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 which induced the Russian Fur Company to estab- 
 lish a post at Fort Ross, in latitude 38° 30', Avhere a number 
 of Aleutian Indians were emploj^ed 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 fish-bladders, so 
 that there was no danger of their sinking if the 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 Mr. 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 
 various diverting tricks, such as standing on end in the water, 
 jumping over the waves, holding the paws 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 their 
 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 
 resembhng lamb. The flesh of the old ones is insipid and 
 toucrh. 
 
ZOOLOGY. 127 
 
 ** Tlie otter is never seen upon land. He is purely an aquatic 
 animal. When he swims ho turns upon his back and propels 
 himself with great rapidity. The fore-paws are rounded like 
 a cat's, but tlie claws of tlie older ones are generally worn oif. 
 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 the one for the other. The otter 
 sleeps in the water, lying upon his back, and anchors himself 
 from the motions of Avinds and waves by drawing a string of 
 kelp across his breast, just below his fore-legs. When discov-' 
 ered in this position, they are often approached very near by 
 the hunters. They are very buoyant 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 w^hich the overflowing waters bring to it, and 
 it is then easily taken from the rock and removed from its 
 slioll. The otter is well acquainted with all the peculiarities 
 of this fish, and this opportunity to capture it for food." 
 
 The common seal, a species of phoca, is abundant along the 
 coast. 
 
 The sea-lions, of the Otaria genus, frequent the coast from 
 May to November, making their homes during the winter in 
 t^oine 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 often be seen on the rocks 
 near the Golden Gate, and heard too, for they keep up a kind 
 of barking or growling in chorus, Avhich grows louder as they 
 see any one approaching. They db not wait, however, to let 
 a man come near, but pitch off into the sex before he is within 
 
128 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 two hundred yards of them. Their color varies from light 
 yellowish-brown to dark brown. 
 
 § 96. Vultures. — The Californian vulture ( Ca^Aar^es ca^(/br- 
 nianus), sometimes improperly called ''condor," the largest bird 
 on the continent, and next to the condor the largest flying bird in 
 the world, inhabits all parts of the state, thougii it is not abun- 
 dant in any place. It is as prominent and peculiar a feature of 
 the birds Of California as the grizzly bear among the quadru' 
 peds. 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 across the wings. The 
 head and neck are bare, and red and yellow in color. The bill 
 is yellowish white, and the iris carmine. Dr. Newberry says : 
 " A portion of every day's experience in our march through 
 the Sacramento valley, was a pleasure in watching the graceful 
 evolutions of this splendid bird. Its flight is easy and eftbrt- 
 less, almost beyond that of any other bird. As I sometimes 
 recall the characteristic scenery of California, those intermina- 
 ble 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 
 toward 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 carcass 
 
ZOOLOGY. 129 
 
 ■will shield it from a vulture, though not from the 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 Californian 
 vulture joins to his rapacity an immense muscular power, as a 
 sample of which it will suffice 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 upward of 
 one hundred pounds." 
 
 The turkey-buzzard, or turkey-vulture {Cathartes aura), 
 specifically the same with the bird known by that name in 
 the Atlantic states, is found in all parts of California. From 
 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail it is about thirty inches 
 long, and six feet from tip to tip of the outstretched wings. 
 The head and neck arc bare, covered with a bright-red wrin- 
 kled skin. The plumage commences below that, with a circu- 
 lar ruff of projecting feathers. The color of the plumage is 
 black, with a purplish lustre, many of the feathers having a 
 pale border. The bill is yellowish in color. 
 
 § 97. The Eagle Family. — The golden eagle (Aqiiila can- 
 adensis) inhabits 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 
 of the tail, and brown, varying to purplish brown, and black 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The bald eagle {Halimtus leiicocephalos) was abundant in 
 California ten years ago, and is still often seen along the Sac- 
 ramento, San Joxiquin, 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 brown- 
 ish black on the breast, wings, and back. 
 
 The fish-hawk {PaJidion carolinensis) 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 spots 
 on the breast. The back, wings, and tail are dark brown. - 
 7 
 
130 RESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 The goshawk {Astur atricapillus) is of the same size with 
 the fish-hawk, and in color is dark — a blu'sh-slate abovCj and 
 mottled-white and hght ashy-brown beneath. , 
 
 There are seventeen other hawks in the state, most of them 
 small and rare. 
 
 § 98. Owls. — 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 Mis- 
 sissippi. 
 
 The burrowing owl (At7ie?2e 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, w^here 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 apparently aiding 
 their imperfect sight, and getting a better view of the intruder. 
 When shot at and not killed, or when otherwise alarmed, they 
 fly Avith an irregular, jerking motion, dropping down much 
 hke a woodcock at some other hole." 
 
 The pigmy owl [Glaucidium gnoraci) is seven inches long, 
 and inhabits the wooded districts. It flies about actively in the 
 daytime, and appears to subsist chiefly on sparrows, which it 
 catches in daylight. The general color is brownish-olive above 
 and brownish- white beneath. 
 
 § 99. Road-runner. — ^The paisano, or road-runner ( Geococcyx 
 calif ornianus)^ is one of the most remarkable birds of the state. 
 It lives almost entirely upon the ground, very rarely flies, and 
 frequents the highways, along wiiich it will run from any one 
 approaching. Its speed is nearly equal to that of a common 
 liorse, and it often furnishes an exciting chase to the solitary 
 rider. It is abundant in the valleys and low hills, and luakes 
 
ZOOLOGY. 131 
 
 its home among the bashes. 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 general color is olive-green above and 
 Avhite beneath; the central tail-feathers are olive-brown, the 
 others dark-green — all edged and (except the central two) 
 tipped with white. Dr. Heerman says : " I have not witnessed 
 the followmg feat, but am assured by many old Californians 
 that this bird, on perceiving the rattlesnake coiled up asleep, 
 basking m the sun, will collect the cactus and hedge him 
 around with a circle, out of which the reptile, unable to es- 
 cape, and enraged by the prickly points opposing him on every 
 side, strikes himself, and dies from the efiects of his self-inocu- 
 lated venom." 
 
 § 100. Wood^^eckers. — There are eleven species of wood- 
 pecker in the state ; of which two, the Californian (Melanerjyes 
 formicworus) and Lewis's {JSIelanerpes torquatus)^ are worthy 
 of special mention. 
 
 The Californian woodpecker is called by the Spanish Cali- 
 fornians the carpintero^ or carpenter, because he is in the habit 
 of boring holes with his beak in the bark of the nut-pine, red- 
 w^ood, 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 trees, where they are pro- 
 tected from the rains, w^hich 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 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, darting down upon them and peck- 
 
132 RESOURCES OF CA.LIFOENIA. 
 
 ing them with their beaks. When the squirrel sees the prop- 
 erty-owner coming, he hm'ries to a hole, or gets under a limb, 
 where the woodpecker cannot conveniently strike him. Some- 
 times Indians and even white men are glad to avail themselves 
 of the woodj^ecker'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 conthient], is 
 an inseparable element of the scenery of the Sacramento val- 
 ley. 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 counter- 
 part 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 de- 
 light to sit on the end of a dry limb, and fly ofl' 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 and twelve thou- 
 sand feet above the sea. 
 
 § 101. Humming-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 sAvallow, but 
 smaller, is common ii) the Colorado Basin. We have a whip- 
 poor-will different from the one known in the Eastern states. 
 Two night-hawks are found in our state, one of them appear- 
 ing on this slope of the continent only in the vicinity of the 
 Colorado, and on the other slope not extending far beyond the 
 
ZOOLOGY. 133 
 
 Rio Grande. The belted king-fisher [Ceryle alcyon) is at 
 home in CaUfornia as well as in all other parts of the couti 
 nent. 
 
 § 102. Fly-catcher. — The family of fly-catchers [Colopteri- 
 dce)^ which connects the non-melodious with the true singing 
 Lirds, 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." 
 
 § 103. Singers. — The zoological sub-order called seines., or 
 singers, has one hundred and nine species in our state, inclu- 
 ding 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 tit- 
 mouses, one snow-bird, two grosbeaks, one cow-bird, one ori- 
 ole, 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 Oscines 
 sub-order, which is marked by a peculiar muscular apparatus 
 for singing, composed of five pairs of muscles in the throat. 
 Though there are many species of Oscines in the 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 
 traveller 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 increased, 
 and their enemies the hawks are driven away. Most of our 
 i 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 oriole, 
 are of species not found in the Atlantic states. The majority 
 
134 KKSOrSCKS OW ■CXI.ITO^'SIA 
 
 of the Oseutes indigenow s on tiiis eosst are mikiiown in the 
 oldta^ st^es. Our inoding-biids are nerer domesticated, and 
 are not to be compared to the mocknig-bird of Yirginia. 
 
 § 104. Seratckers. — The omithcdogical order of Sataret, or 
 Bcratchers, is represente=i in California bv eleven species, name- 
 1 J : one pigeon, two doves, three grouse, two quails, ome par- 
 tridge, and one sand-hill crane. The pigeon, partridge, grouse, 
 quails, and <xie of the doves, are specifically different from the 
 birds known by the same name east of the Mis^ssip^ The 
 vild-turkey is not foimd in our state. 
 
 The most abundant and prominent of our scrmtdiers, the 
 Califomian quail {Lcphortyx caH/bmirv^y. is found in aD the 
 faUeys of California and Or^pcm. Its breast and upper parts 
 are lead-cc^red, with an o&ve-brown gloss oa the back and 
 wings ; the chin and throat are Uack. with a white line run- 
 n: _ ' rd fixHn the eye ; the forehead is brownish-ydlow ; 
 
 -^ '^baC with an orsmge-brown round spot in the 
 
 ^ _' to white at the sides; the feathss on the 
 
 bn^ and si e a central streak of white, and those on 
 
 the top and aides of the neck have black edgings. The head 
 bears a crest numboing £rom three to six feathers, usually 
 :five. about an inch and a half loa^. The diafts are bare, veiy 
 slsri^ier. and. though all are in a straight line on the longitu- 
 dinal medial line of the head, they are so near togedier as to 
 look like but one shaft, more especially as the fine, fur-like 
 bushes at their tivps aU ecHnbine to icana a compact little plume. 
 These feathers are usnafly erect, the plume leaning forward 
 when the Inrd is trying to look its best in the pres«ace of com- 
 pany ; but whoi running about in the grass, and not thinking 
 of its a{^>earaDce, the crest is lowered, jEiUing forward over the 
 bilL 
 
 The Caiifomian quail has two c : Vr- — 'ir song and the caD- 
 The S4Mig of the Atlantic quail is in fw" — the well-known 
 
 whistle, sounding like *" Bob- White."* T _' of the Cali- 
 
 fivnian quail has but one note, beginning ^^e ihe "" £ob^ and 
 filing like the *~ White'' of its Ej^tem rdbtive. Tbe <*^^-Tk of 
 
ZOOLOGY. 135 
 
 tlie Atlantic and Pacific quails are nearly alike, and may be 
 represented by the syllables " hire-he." — " As a game-bird," 
 says Dr. Xewberry, " the Califurnian 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 aiford 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 espe- 
 cially in the early morning, uttering his peculiar cry." 
 
 The plumed quail [Oreortyx pictus), likewise called the 
 *' mountain quail," while the Lophortyx callfornicus is often 
 styled the " valley quail," is peculiar to this coast, and is one of 
 the most beautiful features of its ornithology. It is a ^Jartridge 
 ten inches long, very plump in shape, handsome in color, ma- 
 jestic in its bearing, and graceful in motion. Its head is sur- 
 mounted 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 numerous 
 variegations of white, black, and minor shades, on the j^lumage, 
 all contributing to heighten its beauty. 
 
 The mountain partridge lives in the hills and mountains, 
 from the Tejon Pass to the Columbia Kiver. 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 fly 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 eiglit to twelve in number. The flimilies seem 
 to be much attached to each other, and if they are scattered, 
 they 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 
 
136 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 — more readily than their brethren of the valley. The moun- 
 tain partridge hates the quail, and when brought into its pres- 
 ence always attacks it; the smaller bird makes no resistance. 
 
 Gambel's quail {Lovphortyx gainbelli) is a bird differing from 
 the Californian quail only in having duller colors, and is per- 
 haps specifically the same, the difference in color being a mere 
 accident of climate. Occasionally, white quails, very similar 
 in form and size to the Lophortyx calif or nicus^ are found near 
 Humboldt Bay. 
 
 The sage-cock, or cock of the plains {Centrocercus urophasi- 
 anits)^ 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, flame-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 ohscurus) inhabits the coniferous 
 forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the northeastern part of the 
 state. The cock, according to common report, is the hand- 
 somest of all the American grouse. It is twenty inches long, 
 dark-brown above, mottled with lead-color, and lead-color be- 
 neath. There are twenty feathers in the tail, which is broadly 
 tipped with a light slate-color. 
 
 The baud-tailed pigeon ( Colimiba fasciata\ the only wild 
 
ZOOLOGY. 137 
 
 pigeon found on the Pacific coast, bcais a strong resemblance 
 in form, size, and color, to its congener in the Atlantic states, 
 and has similar habits, but is not numerous. Small flocks mi- 
 grate through the state every spring and autumn, and some 
 of them spend the summer here. 
 
 The white-winged dove {JSIdophelia leucoptera) 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 caroUnensis) of the Atlantic 
 slope is found on the Pacific slope as well. 
 
 The sand-hill crane ( Gn(s canadensis) are found from the 
 meridian of Cincinnati to the Pacific, and are not rare in Cali- 
 fornia. They spend the winters in our valleys, and in the 
 s})ring 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 frequently seen in the San Francisco market. 
 
 § 105. Waders. — The order of waders (Grallatoi^es) is rep- 
 resented in California by forty-one species of birds, namely : 
 one crane, two herons, two bitterns, one fly-up-the-creek, one 
 ibis, six plovers, one oyster-catcher, two turnstones, one avoi- 
 set, three phalaropes, one stilt, one willet, one godwit, one 
 curlew, five snipes, five sand-pipers, one sanderling, three rails, 
 and one coot. The oyster -catcher, one turnstone, one plover, 
 and one heron, are the only species in the list not found east 
 of the Mississippi, and none of them have such value or pecu- 
 liarities as would give interest to a particular description of 
 them. 
 
 § 106. Swimmers. — California has sixty-six species of the 
 order of swimmers {Natatores) : of these there are t^vo swans, 
 six geese, twenty-two ducks, four albatross, two petrels, seven 
 gulls, four terns, three pelicans, three cormorants, four guille- 
 mots, 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. 
 
138 KESOrK'ES OF CAI.IFOKNIA. 
 
 The tmmpeteTHSwan {Cy^mts bveetMator) is a very large 
 bird, nieasiuriiig fire teet from the point of the bill to the eod of 
 the tail, and six feet sa^toss from tip to tip of the ontstretched 
 vings. The plumage is snowy-white in color, its l^s and bill 
 hln^ The i^uoie of " trumi^ter" is giren to it because cdT its 
 cUrion-like scream, which is heard as it flies. It frequents : 
 lakes in the northern and northeastern parts of the s\ate, :i: 
 is scHnetim^ se«i in the riTers, It is a shy bird, and is rar . ; 
 killed- 
 
 The American swan, toimd also <m the Atlantic slope of the 
 contiEKfflt, is simiLvr in ap^pearance and size to the trumpeter, 
 but lacks its loud voice, and is otherwise distinguishable from 
 it chiefly by having an orange-colored spot on its bill in front 
 of the eye, whereas the biU of the Cy^HMS hmceinaBtcr is en- 
 tindy Uack. 
 
 Wild geese are very abundant in Cahfomia during the 
 spring and I^U, when they pass through on xh&r migratioos. 
 Among them are the Canada goose {BerniHa eeuutdemtis}^ the 
 snow-goose (^IjMer Ayperboneus)^ the white-footed goose, or 
 " speckled belly'' ( JL#«*cr erytkroptUys Hutehins^s goose (JSer- 
 MiW<ti hiii€kiH*ii)y and the black brandt {Btrnicia fiiffricins). 
 Hutchias's goose is mOTe abimdant than any of the others. 
 Some of thtm, while in the state, get all th^ food in the tules ; 
 others in the spring resort to the fields of young grain, where 
 they pasture. Dr. Xewberry says : "* I was much interested in 
 noticing the pertect harmony of intercourse ivhich seemed to ex- 
 ist anK>ng the smaller species. Tbey intermingled freely while 
 feeding, and when alarmed arose without separation ; and I 
 have seal a triangle flying steadily high over my head, com- 
 posed of individuals of three species, eadi plainly distinguish- 
 akde by its plumage, but each holding its place in the geomet- 
 linl figure, as though it was composed of entirely hc«nogene- 
 oos material ; periiaps unequal members of the darker speeies, 
 with three, four, or UMte pure aiow- while geese flying togeth- 
 er somewhere in the converging lines-'' 
 
 Among the ducks of California are the mallard and canvas 
 
ZOOLOGY. 139 
 
 l):ick. Tlie meat of the latter has not so fine a flavor as in the 
 Eastern states, probably because it does not here find the wild 
 celery upon whicli 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 
 tules. 
 
 The murre, or foolish guillemot ( Uria ri7igvin)^ is similar to 
 the gulls, seventeen inches long, dark-brown above and white 
 beneath, with transverse stripes of ashy-brown on its sides. Its 
 throat is brown in summer and white in winter. It frequents 
 tlie islands along the coast, and lays its eggs there on the bare 
 ground or rocks. These eggs are wonderfully irregular in 
 form, size, and color, but are generally about three and a half 
 inches long, sea-green in color, with dark-brown spots of angu- 
 lar shapes on them: Quantities of these eggs are obtained ev- 
 ery year at the Farallones, and are sold in the San Francisco 
 market at about half the price of hen's eggs per dozen, or, if 
 taken by weight, at one-fourth. Their taste, however, is rank, 
 and they are not used by those who can afibrd to buy the 
 hen's eorcrj?. 
 
 Dr. Heermann says : " At one o'clock every day during the 
 Q^^ season, Sundays and Thursdays excepted (this is to give 
 the birds some little respite), the egg-hunters meet on the 
 south side of the island. The roll is called, to see that all are 
 l)resent, that each one may have an eqtial chance in gathering 
 the spoil. The signal is given, every man starting oif at a full 
 rim for the most productive egging-grounds. The gulls [TjCirus 
 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 
 tlie rookeries ; the aifrighted murres have scarcely risen from 
 tlieir nests, before the gull, with remarkable instinct, not to 
 say almost reason, flying 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 
 
140 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 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 plentilul supply of its favorite food." 
 
 § 107. Irishes. — The fishes of the coast and rivers of Califor- 
 nia are all diflerent from those of the Atlantic side of the conti- 
 nent, with the exception, perhaps, of one species of the hahbut. 
 The cod and shad, two of the most important fishes of the sea 
 of the Eastern shore, and the lobster among crustaceans, 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. 
 
 § 108. Sabnon. — The most important fish of California is the 
 quinnat salmon (Sahno quinnat)^ a species found from Point 
 Conception to the Columbia River. Its color above is oliva- 
 ceous brown, 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 Novem- 
 ber, and continue to come in for three or four months. They 
 ascend the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and some of 
 their smaller tributaries, deposit their spawn, 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 com- 
 mon popular errors, that the salmon 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 along the banks of 
 salmon-streams. But the salmon find their chief food in mi- 
 nute animalculeT, 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 skilful fisherman with the 
 fly. They dislike the mud with which the streams emptying 
 into San Francisco Bay are filled by the miners, and therefore 
 
ZOOLOGY. 141 
 
 do not go f:ir fiom tlie sea or ascend the small tributaries ; but 
 elsewhere they ascend every little brook, up to points where 
 there is scarcely enough water for them to swim ; and in these 
 expeditions 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 oifspring 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 supposed that the 
 salmon always return to the river in which they were born ; 
 so that the salmon born in the Klamath River never enter San 
 Francisco Bay, nor do those born in the Sacramento and San 
 Joaquin Rivers ever enter Humboldt Bay. Although the sea- 
 son in which salmon are abundant in tlie rivers extends from 
 November to June, yet some of them are found in the streams 
 of California at all seasons, and they can be had fresh in the 
 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 River, and the stellatus salmun in Humboldt 
 Bay and its tributaries. Gairdner's salmon has a silvery-gray 
 back, silvery sides, and a yellowish-white belly. The body has 
 numerous indistinct, blackish spots. The stellatus salmon is 
 light-olive in the back, yellowish-white on the belly, and rarely 
 exceeds two or three pounds in weiglit. 
 
 § 109. Halibut. — There are two species of halibut on the 
 coast of California, the Californian {H'qjpoglossus californicus) 
 and the common [HqyjwglossKS vulgaris). There is some 
 doubt whether the latter species is properly named ; if it be, 
 then we have one species of fish foimd on the Atlantic coast. 
 The Californian halibut is a slender fish, weighing at the 
 largest twenty-five pounds, in color grayish-brown above and 
 
142 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 white below. The halibut prefer n colder climate, and are not 
 sufficiently abundant in this latitude to sustain a special fish- 
 ery ; 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. 
 
 §110. Tarhot. — The turbot i^PUuronycJitliys rugosus) is 
 the only large flat-fish, except the halibut, found along our 
 shore. It sometimes grows to weigh twenty pounds, but the 
 common size is from three to ten pounds. The turbot inhabits 
 deep waters and rocky bottoms, eats fish, and bites readily at 
 the hook. It is one of the best fish in our market. 
 
 § 111. Sole. — We have four species of small flat-fish, com- 
 monly called soles {Psettlchthys sordidus^ Psettichthys onela- 
 nostictus, Parophrys vetnlus, and Platessa hlllneatd). They 
 are 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 
 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 themselves in 
 the mud here through the winter, as they do in the North At- 
 lantic. The soles feed on Crustacea, little fishes, and marine 
 animalculse. 
 
 § 112. Mackerel. — ^I'he mackerel {Scomber diego) is found 
 north of Point Conception. It is good, but not more than 
 half as large as the Atlantic mackerel. The Californian mack- 
 erel rarely exceeds ten inches in length. It lies near the sur- 
 face 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. 
 
 § 113. Pock-Pish. — 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 {mela?i02:)s), and wharf rock- 
 
ZOOLOGY. 143 
 
 jfish {auricidatus). The red rock fish grows to Aveigh twenty 
 pounds; the other species rarely exceed four or five. The 
 wharf rock-fish is the only one caught in the bay ; the others 
 hve out at sea, in deep water and on rocky bottoms : they eat 
 crabs and shell-fish, and bite freely at hooks. They are always 
 hi market, and their meat is excellent at all seasons. 
 
 § 114. Sturgeon. — We have three species of sturgeon, of 
 which the only important one is the Californian sturgeon (^Aci- 
 2)enser brachi/rint/nis), which sometimes grows to be seven 
 feet long and to weigh two hundred jDOunds. The sturgeon 
 is a sea-fish, which enters fresh water to spawn, but it is 
 caught in the bay of San Francisco and tributaries at all sea- 
 sons of the year ; whereas in the Eastern states there are sea- 
 sons 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 up from the bottom and springing out of 
 water, and then falling flat upon its belly, making a loud 
 spfash — very diflferent from the porpoise, which also darts out 
 of the water, but always strikes head first, making little noise. 
 Some ichthyologists suppose that 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, because of the 
 abundance and large size of the fish. 
 
 § 115. Jew-Fish. — The Jew-fish {Stereolepis 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 Fi-ancisco 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 
 
144 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 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. 
 
 §116, Sun-Fish — The sun-fish { Orthagorisciis emails) is 
 found occasionally south of Point Conception, where it is seen 
 floating on the surface, in accordance with the habits of the 
 genus everywhere. It weighs from one to a hundred pounds. 
 Its form suggests the idea that the body has been cut oiF near 
 the broadest part, and the tail sewed on. 
 
 §117. Green-Fish. — The green-fish (Opplo7no?ia pcuitheri- 
 7ia).) generally called cod in the San Francisco market, but 
 having no relationship to the true cod, is abundant along the 
 coast. It grows to be about two feet in length. The meat is 
 coarse, and green in color ; and the fish has little commercial 
 value. 
 
 § 118. SeaSass. — 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 deli- 
 cate, and always commands a high price in the mayket. It is 
 a surface-fish, and sometimes enters the bays, but is not abun- 
 dant anywhere. It is caught from March to November. 
 
 § 119. She.epshead. — The Californian sheepshead {Lahrus 
 pulcher) is a black fish, with a broad, bright-red band sur- 
 rounding the body, and weighs from one to twelve pounds. 
 It has white, 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 York market. The meat has 
 a very fine flavor when fresh, but loses its delicacy after being 
 dead a day or two. It is found south of Point Conception, 
 on rocky and kelpy bottoms, from April to October. Its food 
 is chiefly shell-fish. 
 
 § 120. Smelts. — We have four species of fish called smelts 
 {Atherinopsis callforniensis^ Atherlnopsis offi.7iis, Osmerus 
 preciosus, and Osmerus siinills). The Atherinopses are not 
 
ZOOLOGY. 145 
 
 true smelts, but belong to the same genus with the sandeT- 
 lings of tlie Atlantic, which last are thrown away, or used only 
 as bait; Avhereas our AtJterinojyses are valuable fishes. The 
 Atherinojysis calif orniensis forms the great bulk of the smelts 
 in our market. It is the largest of the Pacific smelts, some- 
 times reaching a length of fifteen inches, and a pound in weight. 
 The Osrnerus species are small. All of them have bright silver 
 bands along their sides. The smelts are more abundant here 
 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. 
 
 § 121. Anchovies. — There are tw^o anchovies i^JEngraulis 
 mordax and Engraulis nanus) on the coast of California. 
 They are so nearly alike, that they are undistinguishable ex- 
 cept by ichthyologists. Both are small, from four to six inches 
 long, very delicate in flavor, but very bony. They are fully 
 equal to the European anchovy for the table. They feed on 
 minute animalculse, go in shoals, and are caught w^ith nets in 
 the bays at all seasons of the year. 
 
 § 122. Sardine and Herring. — The sardine {Meletta ceru- 
 lea) is abundant from Humboldt 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 i^Clupea Tnirabilis) 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. 
 
 § 123. Vivijmroiis Irishes. — The viviparous or embiotocoid 
 fishes of this coast are a peculiar feature^ of its ichthyology. 
 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 had been 
 previously known, but their young are brought forth in a very 
 immature condition ; whereas the little embiotocoid fishes are 
 born with a fulness of development similar to that of warm- 
 
146 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 blooded animals, and the moment after they leave the mother 
 they are seen swimming and taking care of themselves. There 
 are seventeen or eighteen species belonging to the several 
 genera, among which the embiotoca and holconotis are promi- 
 nent. All are marine fishes save one, which is fomid in fresh 
 water. They weigh from half a pound to three pounds, and 
 most of them are grayish brown above and silvery beneath. 
 They are abundant in the market at all seasons of the year, 
 and are called " perch" by the fishermen, though they have no 
 relationship to the true perch. The meat is not good. The 
 young are born from Aj^ril to August. 
 
 § 124. Fresh- Water Fishes. — Amono- 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 other countries. 
 
 A fish called the salmon-trout [Ptychocheilus grandis)., but 
 not related to the salmon, the trout, or the salmon-trout, is 
 found in all the large rivers and lakes of California. It grows 
 to weigh thirty pounds. Its teeth are not in the mouth, but 
 in the throat, where it crushes such shell-fish as it feeds upon. 
 It bites voraciously, and is caught with the hook and with 
 nets. The meat is poor, bony, and insipid. It is brought to 
 the market in winter. The small ones are called pikes. 
 
 A chub {Tycjorna crass Iccmda)., and two suckers (Catosto- 
 nms lahiatus and Catostomus occidentalls), never weighing 
 more than three pounds, are also found in our rivers. Tliey 
 are not valuable, 
 
 § 125. Shell-Fish and Crustaceans. — We have five species 
 of shell-fish valuable for the table: one oyster, two muscles, 
 one cockle, and a soft-shelled clam. The oysters are small, 
 not finely-flavored, nor abundant. We have no lobster, but a 
 prawn [Palbiuris)., very similar to the lobster in size, color, 
 flavor, habits, and general appearance, except that it lacks the 
 
ZOOLOGY. 147 
 
 large claws. Crabs are abundant. The abelone or aulone 
 (I/aliotis) is found as far north as Point Reyes, and abounds 
 south of Point Conception. It is a moUusk with one shell, 
 from five to seven inches across ; the shells are beautifully 
 irid^ent, and are much used in the arts for buttons, knife- 
 handles, inlaying, &c. Many vessels are engaged in fishing 
 for them. The abelones stick to the rocks and to each other, 
 collecting in some places in masses two feet thick ; the fisher- 
 men break them oflT from the rocks with a spade. When the 
 abelones do not suspect danger, they loosen their 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, he finds the shells 
 fastened down to the rock with great power, and all the 
 strength of a man is scarcely sufiicient to pry one of them off*. 
 The meat of the abelone is eaten by the Chinese, who dry 
 them ; the dried meat resembles horn in its color and hard- 
 ness, and in shape looks as though it might be the hoof of a 
 colt. 
 
 The shrimp ( Crmigon franciscorum) is found in the bays 
 of California, and was very abundant a few years ago, but 
 lately is getting scarce, at least in San Francisco Bay. 
 
 § 126. Reptiles. — The snakes of California are not large, 
 numerous, nor remarkable. Only one of them, the rattlesnake, 
 is poisonous. 
 
 Tlie scorpion is found in the w^armer portions of the state, 
 but is not abundant. 
 
 Tarantulas are common in Calaveras, Mariposa, Fresno,. and 
 Tulare counties. They 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 
 various kinds, but, unlike most other spiders, has no net. It 
 lives in a hole in the ground not much larger than itself when 
 pressed into the smallest compass, and the hole is covered by 
 
148 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 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 i^a^nd 
 they have great difficulty 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 flees when it discovers their i 
 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 taran- ; 
 tula dies, the wasp drags it to her hole, usually the deserted 
 burrow of a spermophile, where she may collect twenty or 
 thirty dead tarantulas in one. season. There are three differ- 
 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 Mai'iposa thus 
 describes the killing of a tarantula : " Some of our readers may 
 have heard of the tenacity with which the venomous tarantula 
 is pursued by an inveterate enemy, in the form of a huge wasp 
 — invariably resulting in the defeat and death of the former. 
 We were an eye-witness to one of these conflicts last week, 
 while on a ramble among the adjacent hills. This is the sea- 
 son when the poisonous tarantula leaves his well-fishioncd 
 abode to perambulate the dusty roads and smooth paths so 
 often trod by the industrious miners, and about their haunts a 1 1 
 dozen or so may be seen any day, of this 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 
 
ZOOLOGY. l-^O 
 
 we m.'irked, Avith attentive curiosity, his awkward gait while 
 lifting his long, mnWeldy legs above the short blades of grass, 
 and wondered for what uses and purposes this ugly little mon- 
 ster was placed upon this beautiful globe. While attentively 
 watching the motions of one of these insects during our w\alk, 
 we were much surprised to see the object of our attractioi^ 
 suddenly stop short in his wanderings and raise itself up to its 
 full height, as though watching the coming of some unwelcome 
 visitor. We at first supposed that it had just espied us, and 
 was expecting danger at our hands ; but upon our retreating a 
 f«w steps, he quickly crouched behind a tuft of dried grass, and 
 remaining very quiet, seemed to make himself as small as pos- 
 sible. 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 tarantula. Like some bird of prey, 
 the wasp remained thus poised a moment, and then, quick as 
 thought, darted down uj^on the enemy, and stung him many 
 times with great rapidity. The tarantula, smarting under the 
 pain, began a retreat, with all the speed of which he was ca- 
 pable ; but the wasp hung over him with wonderful tenacity, 
 and again and again struck him with his venomous sting. 
 Gradually the flight of the tarantula became slower and more 
 irregular, and at length, under the repeated thrusts of his con- 
 queror, he died, biting the grass with his terrible fangs." 
 
 Locusts and grasshoppers are abundant in the valleys ; mus- 
 quitoes in the tules, and along the streams in the Sacramento 
 Basin ; and fleas everywhere. 
 
 § 127. Honey-Dew Aphis. — Among the noteworthy insects 
 of the state is one which secretes a sweet liquid called " honey- 
 dew," and deposits it on trees. It is transparent, thick hke 
 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 spots or drops. The honey-dew is more 
 frequently found on oak-trees than on any other tree or bush ; 
 and oftener in dry seasons, and remote from the coast, than in 
 
160 EESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 wet weather or within the reach of the sea-fogs. A kind of 
 molasses may be made by breaking off the twigs covered with 
 the secretion, and boiUng them in water. 
 
 Honey-dew is found in most countries where the soil is bar- 
 ren or the climate dry, and may be the same with the manna 
 of4he Hebrews. It is known, too, that various insects secrete 
 sweet liquids; and some of the Ajyhis genus are kept as milch- 
 cows by the ants, which stroke them down or tickle them with 
 their antennae, when they want some of the sweet milk, and 
 the captive Aphis obligingly squeezes out the secretion through 
 her sides, which is industriously gathered by the milk-ants. 
 
 ISToTE. — Xearly all the iuforraation about the quadrupeds and birds of Cali- 
 fornia, heretofore printed, may be found in the papers of Dr. J. S. Newberry 
 and Professor S. F. Baird, in the United States Pacific Eaih'oad Survey Re- 
 ports. Most of my information about the fishes and fisheries, and much even 
 of the language, is derived from the conversation of Dr. "W. 0. Ayres, of San 
 Francisco ; and I hope that, as he is the most competent man, he will some 
 day treat the subject in a special work. 
 
AQBICULTURE, 151 
 
 CHAPTER yil. 
 
 1 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 1 
 
 § 128. General Remarks. — Of the 160,000 square miles in 
 the area of California, about 60,000 may be tillable; of which 
 H 16,000 are in the coast valleys, 30,000 in the low lands of the 
 •Sacramento Basin, 12,000 in the Sierra Nevada, and 2,000 in 
 the Klamath Basin : while the 25,000 square miles of the Great 
 I^a^in, the 15,000 of the Colorado Desert within the limits of 
 J this state, 30,000 of the Sierra Nevada, 26,000 of the Coast 
 Mountains, and 6,000 of the Klamath Basin, may be put down 
 as unfit for the plough*. The 60,000 square miles of tillable 
 land contain nearly 40,000,000 acres, but only 1,000,000 are 
 cultivated in the state : of the remaining 39,000,000, one-fourth 
 have a soil very thin, or not fertile because of the presence of 
 alkaline substances ; one-half are too remote from market, even 
 where the soil is good ; and a considerable portion is tied up 
 in lawsuits, so that the ownership is doubtful, and the claim- 
 ants dare not improve it for fear of losing the improvements. 
 Only a small portion of the state is,, therefore, fit for the plough. 
 Not more than one acre in ten could now be tilled profitably, 
 and I suppose that not more than one acre in four will be tilled 
 during this century. 
 
 As compared with the great agricultural states of the Mis- 
 sissippi valley, in so far as relates to the proportion of rich land 
 i fit for the plough, California is at a great disadvantage, and is 
 probably inferior in this respect to every state on the Atlantic 
 slope of the continent. In Illinois and Indiana, nearly every 
 root of land has a rich soil and a level position. Again, Call- 
 
Ib^ KESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fornia is at a great clisadvantage as compared with her sister- 
 states east of the Rocky Mountains, in the proportion of land 
 fitted for growing a variety of crops. In the northern part of 
 the Mississippi vStlley, nearly every acre will produce all the 
 main articles of cultivation — fruits, maize, potatoes, and gar- 
 den vegetables, as well as wheat and oats. In this state, how- 
 ever, of the 40,000,000 tillable acres, at least 30,000,000 are so 
 dry, that they cannot, because of the want of moisture, and 
 the impossibility of irrigation, be made to produce any crop 
 save small grain ; and of the remaining 10,000,000 acres, three- 
 fourths will not yield fruits, maize, potatoes, pumpkins, or gar- 
 den vegetables, without irrigation. 
 
 These are undoubtedly very serious drawbacks to the agri- 
 culture of the state, but we have great advantages in many 
 other points. The climate in the valleys, for instance, is so 
 warm and the sky so clear through the winter, that vegetable 
 life upon moist ground is almost as active in January 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 supposed our 
 soil to be richer. This supposition is erroneous, as I am satis- 
 fied ; the superiority of the Californian productions is owing to 
 the more favorable climate. I am not aware that any com- 
 parison of our soils has been made by chemical analysis with 
 those of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio ; but the proba- 
 bility 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 thou- 
 sands of years ; whereas in the valleys of California, the vege- 
 tation is comparatively scanty, and the air is 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 mferior 
 
 J 
 
AG III CULTURE. 153 
 
 in depth, blackness, and fertility of loam, to the valleys of the 
 
 I Miami, Wabash, and Illinois Rivers. 
 
 § 129. Agricultural Districts. — Let us now consider the dif- 
 ferent districts in the state suitable for agriculture. These dis- 
 tricts, as I have said before, compose only a small part of Califor- 
 nia, and have strongly-marked boundaries. They are nearly 
 all valley-land, shut in by mountains. The Great Utah Basin 
 has very little tillable land in the state ; there are small patches 
 of fertile soil, but too slight to deserve special mention. The 
 Colorado Basin is in about the same condition. It is possible 
 that a considerable tract of land will be rendered fit for tillaore 
 by turning the Colorado into the low part of the desert ; but 
 this is a remote contingency, and we have no accurate infor- 
 mation about the character of the soil which it is projijosed to 
 irrigate in this manner. In a few little valleys, however, just 
 at the eastern foot of the Coast Range, the soil is fertile, and 
 the climate so warm, that fruits ripen six weeks earlier than 
 on the western side. 
 
 The largest tracts of tillable land in the Klamath Basin are 
 
 ^ the Scott and Shasta valleys, each about thirty miles long and 
 four wide. They are elevated from three to four thousand 
 
 ', feet above the sea ; the winters are severe, and frosts common 
 in spring and autumn, and not rare in summer. Most of the 
 soil is a gravelly clay, with a rich, sandy loam, along the im- 
 mediate borders of the streams. Wheat, oats, apples, and 
 
 ^potatoes, do well; but maize, peaches, melons, tomatoes, and 
 sweet-potatoes, require a warmer climate. There is some level 
 land in the eastern part of the Klamath Basin, near the Kla- 
 math Lakes, but the soil is barren, and the vegetation like 
 that of a desert. Del Norte county, which may be said to 
 
 'belong to the Klamath Basin, has 44,117 acres of land, of 
 wliich 15,240 are covered with redwood, 7,277 with spruce, 
 19,204 are prairie, 2,400 are sand-ridges, and 4,712 are in la- 
 goons. Most of the redwood land is level and fertile, but the 
 timber is dense almost beyond example, and could not be 
 
 .cleared profitably, because all the redwood stumps throw out 
 
154 KESOTJECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sprouts, which grow up to trees. Much of the prairie-land is 
 fertile and suitable for cultivation, but it is remote from the 
 market. Klamath and Trinity counties are almost destitute 
 of valley-land. Both, however, have numerous small spots of 
 rich soil in their mountains, and both have a mining popula- 
 tion who must be fed, and have the means and disposition to 
 pay well for the necessaries and delicacies of life. The farms 
 must be small, but the farmers are protected by the rugged 
 mountains from the competition of those in the large valleys. 
 Hay-Fork valley, one of the best little tracts of tillable land in 
 Trinity county, is three thousand six hundred feet above the 
 sea-level. 
 
 The largest tract of level land in the plateau of the Sierra 
 Nevada is the valley of Suisun River and Honey Lake, about 
 sixty miles long and ten wide. The elevation is about four 
 thousand five hundred feet above the sea ; much of the soil is 
 sandy and alkaline, with no indigenous vegetation save the 
 worthless wild sage. Portions of the soil, however, are fertile, 
 and there are a number of farms under cultivation. Honey 
 Lake valley has the advantage of proximity to Washoe, and 
 good roads for coramuDication. There are 115,000 acres in 
 the valley, of which 20,000 are swampy, at least in wet sea- 
 sons. Eagle Lake valley is about one-third the size of Honey 
 Lake valley, and of similar soil. <\ 
 
 All along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada there are 
 little spots of fertile soil, well suited for cultivation ; but with 
 the exception of a few, they are too small to deserve special 
 mention. The soil is usually a red clay or a black loam. The- 
 largest tillable spots on the western descent of tlie Sierra Ne- 
 vada are in Plumas county. Sierra valley is forty-live miles 
 long by six wide, and is drained by a tributary of Feather 
 River. Much of the land is barren sand ; much is tule-swamp, 
 and only a small portion is fit for tillage. No water flows from 
 the valley after July. The Big Meadows contain 100,000 
 acres ; Beckworth's valley, 90,000 ; Indian valley, 20,000 ; 
 Mountain Meadows, Red Clover valley, and Mohawk valley, 
 
 1: 
 
AGKICULTUEE. 155 
 
 10,000 acres each ; and American valley, 5,000. In all of them 
 the soil is very sandy, but not barren. They are from three to 
 five thousand feet above the sea ; all shut in by high moun- 
 tains; and all containing a considerable portion of swampy 
 land. 
 
 The low land of the Sacramento Basin comprises 20,000 
 square miles — about 3,000,000 acres. The Sacramento valley 
 has several benches. The lowest bench. is about twenty feet 
 above the low-water mark of the river, and has a soil of sandy 
 loam, richer immediately along the stream than farther off. 
 The next bench, very .rregular in height and width, has a soil 
 of red, gravelly clay, which extends back to the mountains. 
 In some places this clay becomes very soft in wet seasons — so 
 soft, that weak cattle may mire down in it and be miable to 
 extricate themselves. I knew a case where a team of weak 
 oxen, exhausted by hard driving and scanty food, sank down 
 in a wet gravel-ridge, so that only their heads raid a little of 
 their necks and shoulders appeared above-ground ; and passing 
 the place some months later, when the ground liad become as 
 hard as clay and gravel ever are, I saw the six bare skulls of 
 the oxen resting with their chins on the earth where they had 
 sunk down, and behind them were the projecting spines of the' 
 back-bone, with the yokes still on the necks of each pair of 
 oxen. This gravel is seldom cultivated at present, but in many 
 places it will produce good crops of barley. It forms at least 
 one-half of the Sacramento valley. Very little of it can be irri- 
 gated ; and the general belief is, that no corn, potatoes, garden 
 vegetables, fruit, or grapes, can be grown on it without irriga- 
 tion. The sandy loam produces large crops of wheat, barley, 
 and oats, without irrigation. Fruit-trees and grape-vines thrive 
 without it after they grow to be three or four years old, but 
 in most places require it till they have taken a good start. 
 Garden vegetables cannot be grown without irrigation, unless 
 planted very early, and of such kinds a« ripen before July. In 
 the level valley there are no springs, nor are there any artesian 
 -wells ; so the only method of getting water is by pumping it 
 
156 RESOXJKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 Tip from common wells, for which purpose windmills are ex- 
 tensivolT used, and thus most of the water used for irrigration 
 is obtained. A large part of the valley, especially of that near 
 the rivers, is subject to overflow ; and about once in five years 
 a flood comes, sweeping away houses, fences, and cattle, de- 
 stroying gardens, and covering the earth with a thick clay, 
 which, instead of enriching the soil, is far poorer than the an- 
 cient deposits of sandy loam, made before the miners had com- 
 menced to tear down the mountains for their golden treasures. 
 In these times of flood, so much of the v^alley is covered with 
 water, that it looks like a great lake, and the pilots of the river 
 steamers know the channel only by the rows of trees along the 
 banks, for the banks themselves are completely hidden from 
 sight. The flood rarely comes earlier than January or later 
 than March. 
 
 The bottom-lands along the Feather River are considered 
 richer than those near the banks of the Sacramento. Tribu- 
 tary to Sacramento valley on the western side is Cache Creek 
 valley, about twenty miles long by five wide ; and connected 
 with it is Clear Lake valley, a basin nearly circular in shape, 
 and twenty miles across, surrounded by mountains. Tlie lake 
 is about one thousand feet above the sea. South of Cache 
 Creek, and also tributary to the Sacramento valley, is Put ah 
 Creek, which drains Berreyesa valley, twenty miles long by 
 two wide. These little valleys have very rich land ; and being 
 shut in by near mountains, the soil is much moister than out 
 in the open plain. The nearer to the coast and the farther 
 north, the greater the moisture as a general rule ; and it may 
 almost be said that the value of the land depends upon the 
 moisture. 
 
 In the northwestern corner of the Sacramento Basin, along 
 the banks of Cottonwood Creek, there are some beautiful, 
 moist, and fertile little vales. The Sacramento valley has very 
 few trees, save along the banks of the streams and stream- 
 beds, where oaks, sycamores, laurels, willows, buckeyes, birch, 
 and wild grape, are the i)rincipal growth, marking in summer 
 
AGRICULTURE. 157 
 
 the places where the water runs in winter. The only trees 
 growing away from the watercourses are oaks, which are 
 usually found in groves, and almost invariably without under- 
 growth. 
 
 In the Sacramento valley there are about two hundred 
 square miles, or one hundred and twenty-eight thousand acres, 
 of tule-land, most of it above high tide, and covered by water 
 only in times of flood. Very little of it has been drained or 
 cultivated, and therefore we do not know its value. All the 
 tule-land is covered five or six feet deep with water in times 
 of flood. 
 
 The northern part of the San Joaquin valley is much like 
 the southern part of the Sacramento valley. When the San 
 Joaquin River approaches within fifty miles of Suisun Bay, it 
 divides into three channels, which are separated from one an- 
 other by islands of low tule-land. In times of high flood, the 
 river spreads out and covers a space fifteen or twenty miles 
 wide. There is less gravel and clay but more sand in the San 
 Joaquin valley than in the Sacramento valley ; the soil is drier, 
 and contains more of alkaline substances, and the vegetation 
 is more scanty. From Pacheco's Pass across to Firebaugh's 
 Ferry, a distance of about fifty miles, there is not a tree, and 
 in the autumn the country looks like a desert. At Fresno 
 City the soil is nearly a pure sand, and the river at low water 
 is not more than six or eight feet below the surface of the 
 plain. From the bend of the San Joaquin River, southward, 
 a district sixty miles wide by one hundred and fifty long, most 
 of the soil is a barren sand, in many places covered with an 
 alkaline efflorescence. 
 
 The country about Kern River is very desolate, and be- 
 tween that river and the Tejon Pass is a desert plain, covered 
 with a scanty and useless vegetation. East of Tulare Lake, 
 however, there is some rich soil, particularly in the " Four- 
 Creek country," where the Cahuilla River, issuing from the 
 mountains, divides into half a dozen streams, which spread out 
 over a space twelve miles wide, and then unite again, filling a 
 
158 RESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 large tract of fertile land with abundant moisture. Tulare 
 Lake is fifty-seven feet above Fresno City, and might be 
 drained, and its land converted into cultivated fields, but 
 whether with a profit is a question now unanswerable. This 
 country is so remote from the main centres of population, that 
 probably the chief occupation for residents here must be the 
 breeding of sheep and cattle. 
 
 Turning our attention now to the valleys in the Coast Moun- 
 tains, we find that in all the low land between latitudes 39° 30' 
 and 40° 40', the^soil is a rich and moist loam, very favorable 
 for pasture and for maize, but not so well suited for small 
 grain. In some valleys the season is six weeks later than it is 
 across the mountain in the Sacramento valley. Russian River 
 valley produces more maize than aU the remainder of the state. 
 Lying between the bend of Russian River and the head of 
 Petaluma valley is Santa Rosa plain, which has a soil of rich 
 sandy loam, excellent for grain, and probably favorable for 
 the grape. Near the mouth of Russian River is the plain of 
 Bodega, the best place in the state for potatoes. The soil is a 
 light, sandy loam, which is kept moist by the sea-fogs. Peta- 
 luma valley is the chief dairy district of the state. The soil is 
 a rich, moist loam. Sonoma valley has a soil of red gravelly 
 clay near the mountains, and a warm, sandy loam near the 
 creek. This is the chief grape district in the northern half of 
 the state. Much of the soil is too thin to produce good crops 
 of wheat. The grape is grown without irrigation, the distance 
 from the ocean (about twenty-five miles) not being so great as 
 entirely to cut off the fogs. The bed-rock is in some places 
 trap, in others sandstone, and in others magnesian limestone. 
 The latter is supposed to be particularly favorable to the 
 growth of the grape. 
 
 Next to Sonoma valley is Napa, which has a deep, clayey 
 soil, the strongest in the state, and therefore the best for 
 wheat. In proportion to its size, it produces more wheat than 
 any other part of the state. The upper part of the valley has 
 a great deal of gravel, and may be good for grapes. A larger 
 
AGRICULTURE. 159 
 
 proportion of the land is cultivated in Napa valley than in any- 
 other part of the state, and the cultivation is more thorough. 
 Suisun valley has a rich, sandy loam, good both for barley and 
 wheat. Vaca valley, a small vale near Suisun, has a very warm, 
 fertile soil, and is shut in by the hills from the wind. It will 
 be an excellent place for fruit, and 6very thing will ripen early 
 there. 
 
 South of the straits of Carquinez is Diablo valley, which 
 has an excellent soil for wheat and barley. So also has San 
 Ramon valley, but the fruit has been badly nipped by frost 
 during the last three or four years. Amador valley has a soil 
 of rich sand at the sides and strong loam in the centre, all of 
 it moist and fertile. Livermore valley, which may be consid- 
 ered as the eastern half of Amador, is a bed of gravel, of little 
 value for tillage. Suiiol valley has a rich, sandy loam. The 
 Alameda plain, on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay, from 
 San Pablo to San Jose, is one of the richest agricultural dis- 
 tricts in the state; the soil is fertile — in some places clay, in 
 others sand. The soil on the western side of the bay is similar 
 in character, but there is not so much of it. The lower part of 
 Santa Clara valley has a fertile, black, sandless loam, changino- 
 to sand and then to gravel, which last is abundant toward the 
 head of the valley, where very little of the land is tilled. The 
 principal fruit district in the state is in the vicinity of San Jose. 
 The plain east of Monterey Bay, in Santa Cruz county, has a 
 fertile soil, and a climate peculiarly favorable to beans ; excel- 
 lent crops of wheat and barley are also grown here. The soil 
 of Pajaro valley is one of the richest and strongest in the state, 
 and its crops of w^heat and potatoes are unsurpassed. The Sa- 
 linas has a rich, sandy loam in the lower part of its valley and 
 near the river, but the sides and head of the vale contain much 
 gravel ; the climate and soil are very dry, and only a small por- 
 tion of the land is cultivated. The Cuyama, Santa Inez, and 
 Santa Clara River valleys, are sandy and dry, and have but 
 little tillage ; the lai>t-named valley has a soil that is in places 
 almost pure sand, too thin to secure a covering of grass in a 
 
160 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 wet winter. Most of the level land in Los Angeles, San Ber- 
 nardino, and San Diego counties, is sandy and dry, and very 
 little of it is cultivated. Irrigation is necessary for fruit, vines, 
 and vegetables. Wheat and barley do not produce well. Los 
 Angeles is the principal grape district in the state ; the largest 
 vineyards are planted in the bottom-lands of the Los Angeles, 
 San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers, where the soil is almost 
 l)ure sand: and yet vineyards which have been in bearing 
 twenty-five years, and have never been manured, are now as 
 productive as ever. Allow a stream of water to run twenty- 
 four hours through a field, and at the end of that time the bot- 
 tom of the ditch will contain nothing but white sand, all the 
 earthy particles in the soil having been dissolved and carried 
 away. At the Monte the San Gabriel River sinks, and, after 
 flowing two or three miles under-ground, reappears. The 
 place where it sinks is very moist, covered with abundant 
 vegetation, and, after Russian River valley, is the best district 
 in the state for maize. 
 
 § 130. Agricultural Produce. — California has 1,000,000 acres 
 of land in cultivation, about six-tenths of which are used for 
 gi'owing grains and roots employed as food for men and do- 
 mestic animals. Of these grains and roots in 1860 (the agri- 
 cultural statistics for which year were more fully reported than 
 those of 1861) the following amounts were grown, namely; 
 5,'700,000 bushels of barley; 5,000,000 of wheat; 1,500,000 
 of oats; 1,500,000 of potatoes; 500,000 of maize; 65,000 of 
 beans ; 55,000 of peas ; 55,000 of sweet potatoes ; 50,000 of 
 buckwheat, and 40,000 of rye, making an aggregate of 14,- 
 470,000 bushels — an average of twenty-four bushels to the 
 aero, and, estimating the population of the state at 400,000, 
 an average of thirty-eight bushels to the person. I purposely 
 omit the consideration of all articles not enumerated in the 
 list, either because we have no statistics, or because the inser- 
 tion would serve rather to confuse than to instruct. We grow 
 very few roots of the turnip kind as food for cattle. 
 
 Examining, then, the amounts of the crops above mentioned 
 
AGIilCULTURE. 161 
 
 in their pioi^ortion to the total 1 4,470,000 bushels, we find that 
 arley forms 39 per cent., wheat 34 per cent., oats 10 per cent., 
 potatoes 10 per cent., maize 3 per cent., and peas, beans, sweet 
 potatoes, buckwheat, and rye, about one-half of one per cent, 
 each. This proportion will be found to differ greatly from 
 that of any other country. Compare our state with Ohio, 
 which may fairly be considered as a representative of the free 
 agricultural states of the Union. Ohio has 10,000,000 acres 
 under cultivation — that is, ten times as much as California — 
 and, according to the census of 1850, in the previous year pro- 
 duced 92,644,000 bushels of the above-mentioned articles, six 
 times as much as California. The population of Ohio was then 
 1,980,000; so the yield was an average of forty-six bushels to 
 the person. Coming down to particulars, we find that in 1849 
 Ohio i)roduccd 59,000,000 bushels (or 03 per cent.) of maize; 
 14,000,000 bushels (15 percent.) of wheat; 13,000,000 bushels 
 (14 per cent.) of oats; 5,000,000 bushels (5 per cent.) of pota- 
 toes; 638,000 bushels (one-half of 1 per cent.) of buckwheat; 
 425,000 bushels of rye, 354,000 of barley, 187,000 of sweet 
 potatoes, and 60,000 of peas and' beans. Comparing the pro- 
 portion of the several items to the total of the crops, we find 
 that California grows eighty times as much barley as Ohio, 
 twice as much wheat and potatoes, twelve times as much peas 
 and beans, and only one-twentieth as much maize. The pro- 
 l)ortion of oats, buckwheat, and rye, is about the same in the 
 two states. 
 
 § 131. Rotation of Crops. — Rotation of crops, as the phrase 
 is understood in the Atlantic states and Europe, receives very 
 little attention from the farmers of California, and indeed is im- 
 possible on the greater part of the land, because its dryness 
 will not permit the growth of roots or common grasses. The 
 soil is too dry for corn, potatoes, turnips, clover, and timothy 
 or herd's grass. Peas and beans yield well in Only a few lo- 
 calities. Alfalfa or lucerne will thrive, but it needs several 
 years to get deep root and make a thick sod. Horses and 
 cattle find food in the open plains and hills throughout the 
 
162 RF. SOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 year ; and the wild oat is cut for hay. The farmers generally 
 are anxious to make as much money as possible, and as soon 
 as possible, without regard to the future value of the land. 
 Some of them are not permanent residents of the state, and 
 intend to leave it so soon as they can get a certain number of 
 dollars together ; others are farming land the title of which is 
 in dispute, and, as they feel uncertain about its ownership, they 
 are indiiferent to its exhaustion. Many of them come from 
 the Western states, where the land had not, previous to their 
 migration, become poor ; and as rotation of crops had never 
 been a necessity within their experience, they have never 
 adopted it. 
 
 The soil of California is not exhausted ; much of it will con- 
 tinue tc produce large crops of small grain without interrup- 
 tion and without manure for a score of years to come. Pre- 
 vious to 1853, the valleys were filled with cattle, and their 
 manure had contributed for a long time — along the southern 
 coast for half a century — to enrich the soil. 
 
 The prominence of barley in Californian farming is owing to 
 the facts that it is an almost certain crop, produces largely, 
 can be grown on all the cultivated land in the state, yields 
 good volunteer crops, is excellent food for horses, can be kept 
 for years, and always commands a market abroad. 
 
 § 132. Ploughing. — Ploughing commences with the first 
 heavy rain. The heat and drought of summer and autumn 
 bake the ground, and render it too hard for the plough ; so 
 the farmer must wait for the rains. The sooner they come, 
 after the first of October, the more convenient for him, and the 
 more work he can do. The rain must be sufiicient to wet the 
 earth down six or eight inches deep ; a little shower will not 
 sufiice. The soils of loam and clay are so hard, that no ordi- 
 nary plough is strong enough to break through them ; and 
 ploughing would do no good, because the earth would be in 
 large clods, which would furnish little nutriment to the grain. 
 
 § 133. AdvaoifMges., etc. — ^The Californian farmer has a great 
 advantage over those of the Northern Atlantic states, in the 
 
AGKICULTURE. 163 
 
 mildness of the winters. Here we have no snow or ice, and 
 no time is lost because of cold. Neither are our frosts so se- 
 vere as those east of the Mississippi. But, on the other hand, 
 farmers in other parts of the Union have a great advantage 
 
 ' over us in the security of title and the equal division of the 
 
 f land among the tillers of the soil. Here most of the titles are 
 in dispute, and much of the land held under undoubted title is 
 owned in large tracts by a few persons. 
 
 Barns are not used hi 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 j^laced in the 
 granary. Between harvest and threshing-time there is little 
 danger of rain ; and to such slight danger as there is, every 
 
 . farmer exposes himself. Barns in other countries are necessi- 
 ties ; here they could not be used if we had them. Not unfre- 
 quently the grain, wdthin two weeks after cutting, is stored in 
 a warehouse in San Francisco ; often it is left lying in sacks 
 upon the field 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 prominent feature of the Californian 
 
 i landscape in the farming districts. 
 
 The straw, elsewhere saved, is usually burned here ; and. a 
 most improvident practice it is. Not more than a dozen or 
 two of farmers save the straw. The others burn it after the 
 first rain, wiien there is.no danger of the fire spreading; and 
 the columns of smoke rising all over the country make a sin- 
 gular appearance. 
 
 Farms in California are usually larger than those in the East- 
 ern states, and many of the ranches — containing from ten to 
 fifty thousand acres — are large enough for principalities. 
 
 As our valleys are not covered with sod, so the first plough- 
 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 
 upi)er Mississippi valley, is unknown here. 
 
 § 134. Fences. — In the matter of fences, the Californian 
 farmer is at a disadvantage, as compared with his Eastern 
 
164 EESOFRCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 brethren. TlirongLout the United States, the system has pre- 
 vailed of permitting horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, to run at 
 large, with no right of indemnity for any damage which they 
 might do in cultivated fields, unless surrounded by a " lawful 
 fence." This may be a good system for the pioneer, who tills 
 little land, and wislies his horses and cattle to have a wide 
 range ; and it was well suited to the pastoral hfe of the Span- 
 ish Californians previous to the American conquest; but it is 
 of doubtful policy as applied to the present condition of aifairs, 
 at least in the principal agricultural valleys, where all the land 
 is under plough. For instance, in the Alameda plain, along 
 the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay — a district fifty miles 
 long by three wide, and containing one hundred and fifty 
 square miles, of which one hundred and twenty-five are culti- 
 vated — there are five hundred farms, and probably two hun- 
 dred miles of fencing, made at a cost of one hundred thousand 
 dollars. This is a severe tax upon firming, and it is levied 
 chiefly to protect the grain and fruit-trees from the depreda- 
 tions of horses and cattle belono-ino- to neio^hbors and strano-ers. 
 A farmer would rarely go to the expense of fencing his own 
 cattle and horses out : it would be much cheaper for him to 
 keep them in a yard or stable. 
 
 The legislature has prescribed what kind of a fence is "law- 
 ful ;" and if any domesticated animal breaks through a lawful 
 fence, its owner is liable for the damage done in the enclosure ; 
 and if the trespass be repeated by any neglect of the owner of 
 the animal, he is liable for double damages. The farmer mny 
 take up the trespassing animal as an estray; but if he injure 
 or kill it, he becomes responsible to the owner. The require- 
 ments of lawful fence are not the same in all parts of the state. 
 In the counties of Butte, Amador, Tuolumne, Calaveras, San 
 Diego, Nevada, San Bernardino, Colusi, Placer, Santa Barbara, 
 Yuba, Shasta, Klamath, Trinity, and Siskiyou, " every enclo- 
 sure" (I quote the words of the statute) "shall be deemed a 
 lawful fence which is four and a half feet high, if made of 
 stone ; and if made of rails, five and a half feet high ; if made 
 
AGKICIJ LTURE. 1G5 
 
 upon tlie eiiibaiikment of n ditch, three feet high from the bot- 
 tom of the ditch, the fence shall be two feet high ; said fence 
 to be substantial and reasonably strong, and made so strong 
 that stock cannot get their heads through it, and if made to 
 turn small stock [sheep, goats, hogs, &c.], sufliciently tight to 
 keep such stock out. A hedge-fence shall be considered a law- 
 ful fence, if live feet high and sufficiently close to turn stock." 
 In other counties the requirements are so complex and lengthy, 
 that I shall not try to describe them all. In Marin, Alameda, 
 Sacramento, San Francisco, Stanislaus, Yuba, Santa Clara, Yolo, 
 I San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, San Bernardino, Sutter, 
 Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Tuolunme, Te- 
 hama, Colusi, Butte, ISTapa, Humboldt, Merced, Trinity, Mon- 
 terey, and Solano, hogs are not permitted to run at large ; or 
 at least any person finding them trespassing upon his " prem- 
 ises" — which means land, whether enclosed or not — may take 
 them up, keep them at the expense of the owner, and treat 
 them as estrays. 
 
 Board-fences are the best. They are usually 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. Yt^orm 
 and post-and-rail fences are common near the redwood districts 
 — for instance, in Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Marin, Napa, 
 San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties. The farmers 
 generally make their owm 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, Sun Ber- 
 nardino, and San Diego counties. There are a fe\v hedges of 
 osage-orange and ' gorse, for ornament, in the counties about 
 San Francisco Bay, but few or none for use. The osage-orange 
 
166 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 grows tbriflily about San Jose, where it can be irrigated, but 
 hedges are Hable to much damage from gophers, which are 
 fond of the roots ; and if a hole is made, it is difficult to get 
 young plants to grow, the older ones choking them down. 
 After the thh'd 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 of farmers, osage- 
 orange hedges will not pay, even in the land best suited for 
 them : the labor of j^lanting the seed, transplanting the sproutts, 
 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-hedo;e is the most common fence in Los Ang^eles 
 county, and is a prominent feature of the scenery near the 
 towns. The fence is made with cuttings, the larger the 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. If larger cuttings cannot be had, small ones, half an 
 inch thick and two feet long, are taken, and only an inch or 
 two is left above-ground. K the cuttings are of the largest 
 size, the fence is good in the second year ; if small, 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 fircAVOod, an item of no 
 small importance in the woodless plains of the south, and throw 
 a pleasant shade over the roads which they line. The willow- 
 fence requires frequent irrigation, for its growth will usually 
 depend upon the amount of water supplied to it. 
 
 The cactus was used extensively for fences at the old mis- 
 sions, and some fields are still enclosed with it. The plant is 
 merely thrown upon the ground, where it takes root, no matter 
 
A G K I CULTURE. 107 
 
 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 tliorns, and is feared by all large animals, but 
 spermopliiles and gophers are fond of burrowing under it, 
 for it protects them against their enemies, and its leaves fur- 
 nish them with food. 
 
 Several machines have been made to cut ditches through the 
 tules, and throw the dirt up as an embankment on one side, 
 but none of them have been very successful ; and the sj^ade is 
 still considered the best instrument for making fences in the 
 tules. 
 
 § 135. Darley. — The soil and climate of California appear to 
 be particularly favorable to the growth of barley, which forms 
 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 weather. Three kinds are grown in 
 CaUfornia — the common, the Nepaul, and the chevalier. Only 
 a few acres of the Nepaul have been raised, as an experiment ; 
 the chevalier is cultivated to a small extent, and 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 the first of November, and 
 continues to the first of April. The ground used for small 
 grain 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 ploughs are then set to work immediately, 
 running from four to eight inches deep. One ploughing is 
 usually considered sufficient. The grain is sown according to 
 convenience, soon after the i)loughing, 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 
 
168 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 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, w^ill 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 distinct from " spring 
 barley" — a division familiar in the Atlantic states. 
 
 The harvest precedes that of wheat ; commencing in the Sac- 
 ramento Basin early in June, and in the coast valleys late in 
 the same month. The grain is all cut with reaping-machines, 
 and is never housed, but is threshed on the field, with or with- 
 out stacking. Sometimes it is bound ; frequently it is gath- 
 ered in a tight wagon-bed, and hauled into a pile in the centre 
 of the field, where it remains until the threshing-machine can 
 come. The rarity of rain from June to October renders this 
 course pretty safe ; though it has happened, on one or two 
 occasions during the last ten yen,rs, that grain in the field has 
 been injured by September rains. The same land is cultivated 
 year after year in barley ; and there has been very little, if 
 any, decrease in crops during the last ten years. 
 
 When men are hired to plough and sow by the job, they 
 charge three dollars per acre ; reaping and binding cost two 
 dollars per acre ; threshing costs from one-twelfth to one-tenth 
 of the grain, and sacks holding one hundred pounds cost fif- 
 teen cents apiece. The common yield is from thirty to thirty- 
 five bushels per acre, and fifty per cent, more than the average 
 barley-crop in the Eastern states. In 1856, according to the 
 reports of the county assessors, the average yield of barley in 
 Alameda county was 45 bushels ; in Sonoma, 39 ; in Marin, 39 ; 
 in Sacramento, 26 ; in Amador, 34 ; in Santa Cruz, 30. In 1 857, 
 according to the same authorities, the average yield in Alame- 
 da was 40 bushels ; Sonoma, 25 ; Marin, 39 ; Sacramento, 24 ; 
 Amador, 25 ; and Santa Cruz, 30. In 1859, Alameda reported 
 an average of 29 bushels; Contra Costa, 30; Napa, 25; San 
 Joaquin, 1*7; Sonoma, 40; Santa Cruz, 30; Yolo, 10; Sacra- 
 mento, 25. In 1860, the assessors' reports show an average 
 of 30 bushels for Alameda, 40 for Butte, 40 for Amador, 35 
 
AGRICULTURE. 169 
 
 for Calaveras, 40 for Fresno, 45 for Marin, 40 for Los Angeles, 
 20 for Mendocino, 31 for Merced, 33 for Monterey, 28 for Ne- 
 vada, 11 for Sacramento, 20 for San Joaquin, 21 for Santa Clara, 
 30 for Santa Cruz, 16 for Shasta, 60 for Sonoma, 60 for Yolo, 
 and 40 for Yuba. 
 
 Many of these figures are merely guessed at by the asses- 
 sors, who, however, are compelled to travel all over their re- 
 spective counties, and converse with all the farmers. Their 
 conjectures, therefore, are worthy of respectful consideration. 
 But an average of sixty bushels per acre for a whole county 
 looks almost too large to be believed unless supported by some 
 special authentication more than we have. Nevertheless, 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 men- 
 tioned as undoubtedly true by the assessor of Monterey coun- 
 ty in his ofiicial report ; and a prize was granted by an agri- 
 cultural 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 ofl:ered 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. 
 
 There is probably no part of the world whore volunteer 
 crops do so well as in California, and barley seems to produce 
 better on the volunteer system than any other grain. Volun- 
 teer crops are those grown from the seed which falls out in 
 harvesting ; there is, therefore, no sowing or planting. Some- 
 times the land is ploughed and harrowed ; sometimes it is left 
 untouched. Large amounts of volunteer barley are grown 
 every year, and sometimes the yield is excellent. One case is 
 reported of a field in Yolo county which produced five succes- 
 
170 EESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 sive volunteer crops of barley, the last and least crop amount- 
 ing to tliirty bushels per acre ! 
 
 In 1860, the largest barley counties of the state were — ^Yolo, 
 which produced 1,541,640 bushels; San Joaquin, 912,500; Al- 
 ameda, 630,750 ; Contra Costa, 350,000 ; Sacramento, 300,683 ; 
 Santa Clara, 300,000; Yuba, 243,761 ; Butte, 241, 340; Santa 
 Cruz, 212,000; and Kevada, 207,000. 
 
 § 136. JVheat. — Many kinds of wheat are cultivated here, 
 of which the main are Chile, Australian, Odessa or Old Cali- 
 fornian, Red Mediterranean, Sonora, Oregon White, Bald, and 
 Egyptian. The general diyision of wheat into " winter" and 
 ''sprhig," common in the wheat-growing districts of the East- 
 ern states, is unknown. All our wheat may be set down as 
 spring wheat. When winter wheat is brought here from 
 abroad, it does not thrive the first 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 chiefly of Mediterranean and Sonora. The Egyptian 
 yields largely, but has little gluten, and is fit only for coarse 
 bread or maccaroni. All the acclimated wheat of the state is 
 white ; though imported red seed shows its color the first year, 
 but in the second year it loses its redness. 
 
 The qualities in which the best wheat excels are glutinous- 
 ness or strength, flintiness or dryness, whiteness of color, thin- 
 ness 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 difference from potatoes, 
 which always do and must occupy an inferior place upon our 
 tables. Much gluten in flour 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 
 much in proportion to the flour used ; while if the amoimt of 
 
AGEICULTUIiE. 1*71 
 
 gluten be small, the grain of the bread will be uneven, the 
 dough will give way in places, allowing the formation of large 
 cavities, and less moisture will be rctaiued. The wheat of dif- 
 ferent countries varies greatly in gluthiousness, and California 
 occupies a very high position. Our wheat is far more glutin- 
 ous than that of any other North American state, and, although 
 I have no precise information, I am inclined to believe that we 
 have a like superiority in this respect over European countries. 
 The consequence is, that our wheat is now in demand in New 
 York to mix wdth their w^eak grain, so that a tolerably strong 
 flour 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 Ma- 
 teo county ; the southern part of Alameda county ; and Diablo, 
 San Ramon, and Suisun valleys. That of Santa Rosa, Pajaro, 
 Salinas, Petaluma, and Sonoma, is considerably hiferior in glu- 
 tinousness, but is better than that of the Sacramento, San Joa- 
 quin, and Napa valleys, the vicinity of Half-Moon Bay, and 
 Alameda opposite the 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 glutinous ; 
 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 moistef. 
 
 In Oregon and Washington, where the 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 w^heat is also 
 weak ; and just in the Gallego and Haxall district, if report be 
 true, the rain-fall is less than in any wiieat-district east of the 
 Alleghanies. And yet in the Sacramento and San Joaquin 
 valleys, Avhich are among the driest parts of California, the 
 Avheat is very weak. This is accounted for — by those adopting 
 the theory that glutinousness depends entirely upon the cli- 
 
172 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 mate — 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 their perfect development. 
 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 consumer. 
 
 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 the valley. It is 
 worthy of remark that the soil of the Putah and Cache valleys, 
 tributary to the Sacramento, diifers in no noteworthy particu- 
 lar from the soil in Suisun, Diablo, and San Ramon, which lat- 
 ter yield strong while the former produce weak wheat. It has 
 been observed that during the last three years the wheat of a 
 large farm in San Mateo county, said to be the best cultivated A| 
 in the 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 glu- 
 ten is not affected by early or late sowing, thorough or careless 
 cultivation, largeness or smaUness of the yield, or cleanness of 
 the crop. 
 
 In flintiness 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 mto tlie hold of a ship within two weeks 
 after harvest, and then sent twice through the tropics, and 
 there is no danger that it will heat or sweat. The same may 
 be said of its iiour. No wheat or flour from the Atlantic 
 states is near it in this respect. In August, 1860, J. B. Fris- 
 bie loaded a vessel at Vallejo with wheat taken from the har- 
 vest-field — it had never be^n 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, mi^uld, sprouting, or fermentation, 
 as it was when harvested. The Atlantic flour, when kiln-dried, 
 and pressed, does not keep like ours as it comes from the mill, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 173 
 
 after having gone there fresh from the threshing-machine and 
 the harvest-field. 
 
 The flour made from flinty wheat is peculiarly suited for 
 shipment to tropical countries, where the moister flour soon 
 fei-ments and sours. These are excellent markets, for they are 
 certain, they pay well, and there is little competition. Most 
 of the flour now exported to the West Indian islands and the 
 Malaysian 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 flour. 
 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 flintine^s of 
 our wheat is undoubtedly owing to the dryness of the climate, 
 and it is about the same in all the wheat-growing districts of 
 the state. There is no noteworthy difierence 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 cli- 
 mate. Millers in New York and Liverpool make some objec- 
 tion to our wheat, that it is too hard for their millstones ; but 
 this is their misfortune, not our fault. The difiiculty is reme- 
 died by moistening the wheat 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, Washing- 
 ton, and some other districts of the United States ; yet is supe- 
 rior to the wheat of England and of most European countries. 
 The fogs give a dark color to the wheat grown at Half-Moon 
 Bay, in the Pajaro and Petaluma valleys, and on the Santa 
 Rosa plain ; but in the other districts a uniform whiteness pre- 
 vails. 
 
 Our wheat generally has a thin skin, and does not make 
 much bran ; but in the same districts where the skin is dark- 
 ened 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 usually be 
 
174 'eesources of California. 
 
 cleaned there before it can be ground. Our flirmers, however, 
 are gradually becoming more careful in cleaning their wheat. 
 
 In the plumpness and size of the berry, our wheat compares 
 weU with that of Europe and the Atlantic states, but can per- 
 haps claim no decided superiority. Comparing the different 
 districts of the state with one another on this point, Suscol 
 probably deserves the first place, and Napa the next. In the 
 Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, the wheat is often shriv- 
 elled by hot winds, which blow for three or four successive days 
 while the grain is in the milk, and seem to blast it. Great 
 difterenccs are observed, however, according to the season. 
 
 The weight of Californian wheat is usually sixty pounds per 
 bushel, seldom less — frequently sixty-two, and sometimes sixty- 
 five ; thus entithng our state to a high position in that respect. 
 
 The average yield of Californian \vlieat-fields is from twenty 
 to twenty-five bushels per acre, which is about thirty-three per 
 cent, more than in the states on the Atlantic slope. An old 
 Spanish book of records, of the mission of San Diego, states 
 that, in 1778, twelve fanegas (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 Die- 
 go is far inferior for wheat-growing to the coast valleys about 
 San Francisco Bay; and previous to the coming of the Ameri- 
 cans the ground was not ploughed, but only scratched, and the 
 limb of a tree was used for a harrow. 
 
 Culton, in liis " Three Years in California" (page 442), states 
 that while the priests still had sole conti'ol of the missions and 
 mission-lands, previous to 1833, the mayorclonio or steward of 
 the Mission of San Jose harvested 4,300 fanegas of wlieat 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 year, ac- 
 cording to this report, the increase was 107-fold, and the next 
 year 65-fold. At the Mission of Soledad, according to the 
 
AGKICULTURE. 173 
 
 same author (page 445), 1,700 fanegas were harvested from 19 
 sown — an mcrease of 89-fold; and in 1827, an increase of 58- 
 fold was obtained at San Luis Obispo by scratcliing the seed 
 in with a harrow upon land unploughetl, and not even touched 
 by the thing called a plough in those days. Not less than half 
 a iiinega is sown to the acre ; so we may suppose that the tig- 
 ures which indicate the increase of the crop over the seed also 
 indicate the number of bushels to the acre. Now, a tenfold 
 increase is considered a fair crop. Crops of 80 bushels to the 
 acre have often been grown in Cahfornia. Mr. Hill harvested 
 82| bushels from an acre in Pajaro valley in 1853, and obtahied 
 G60 bushels from 10 acres. In 1851, Mr. P. M. Scooffy har- 
 vested 88 bushels ; and Mr. N. Carriger 80 bushels in Sonoma 
 valley. In 1853, J. M. Horner harvested 1,000 acres of wheat 
 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 hud 2,000 acres, with an average of 40 bushels. Large 
 fields of wheat in Eel River valley, according to the report of 
 the assessor of Humboldt county, averaged 73 bushels to the 
 acre in 1857. 
 
 In the best wheat districts of the Mississippi valley, the 
 f irniers 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, on a visit from California, 
 I spoke to experienced and intelligent men among them of GO 
 bushels, I was told that not more than 50 bushels could possi- 
 bly stand upon the ground. In 1856, the average wheat-crop 
 per acre in California, according to the county assessors' reports, 
 was — 25 bushels in Amador and Santa Cruz counties, 30 in 
 Marin, 28 in San Francisco, 19 in Sacramento, 20 in San Joa- 
 quin, 15 in Sonoma, and 28 in Tuolumne. The next year it 
 was 35 in Amador, 40 in Del Norte, 20 in Alameda, Santa 
 Cruz, San Joaquin, and Tuoluume, 19 in Sacramento, and 30 
 in Sonoma. In 1859, the average was 30 bushels in San Ma- 
 teo, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Sonoma, and Yuba, 32 in Butte, 25 
 m Napa and Santa Clara, 20 in Contra Costa and Solano, 15 ia 
 
176 KESOTJECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 San Joaquin, and 14 in Sacramento. In 1860, the reported 
 average was 45 bushels in San Luis Obispo, 35 in Yolo and^Bj 
 Calaveras, 34 in Placer, 30 in Sonoma, Stanislaus, Yuba, and 
 Amador, 27 in Santa Cruz, 26 in Fresno and Tulare, 25 in Te- 
 hama, Butte, Humboldt, and Napa, 24 in Nevada, 20 in San 
 Diego, Santa Clara, and Shasta, 18 in San Joaquin, and 15 in 
 Sacramento. 
 
 In 1855, the worst year for wheat we have ever known 'm » 
 California, when both smut and rust raged from Siskiyou to 
 San Diego, the average crop of the state was put down as 15 
 bushels per acre. Of 12,233 acres sown in Sonoma county, 
 only 3,500 were harvested; and of 2,490 sown in Marin, all 
 but 462 went untouched by the reaper. 
 
 In Ohio, the average wheat-crop is about sixteen buslc!s p -r 
 acre; and in England, with aU their manuring and 'careful 
 j)loughing, twenty-one bushels. In California, no manure is 
 applied ; the soil is ploughed but once in most fields, and there 
 is httle rest for^ the land by rotation of crops.- 
 
 It is a singular fact that where wheat is sown under oak- 
 trees, the stalks are usually thicker and taller, and the grain 
 more abundant, than in other places. This may be owing to 
 the facts that the trees protect the ground under them from 
 the frost, and also retain the moisture; and that while the 
 country was in the hands of the Mexicans, the cattle had pos- 
 session of the valleys, and, collecting under the trees in the 
 summer-time, their manure enriched the soil there. The roots 
 of the oak-trees in the valleys do not run along the surface of 
 the ground, but go deeper for moisture, and thus the plough 
 can run up to the trunk, and put all the land in order for grain. 
 
 The princii^al wheat-growing counties in the state are San 
 Joaquin, which in 1860 produced 895,000 bushels ; Napa, with 
 652,000 ; Yolo, with 459,000 ; Alameda, with 440,000 ; Santa 
 Clara, with 400,000 ; Yuba, with 223,000 ; Santa Cruz, Avith 
 243,000 ; Sonoma, with 275,000 ; and Contra Costa, with 
 450,000. 
 
 It is almost impossible that there should ever be an entire 
 
AGRICULTURE. 177 
 
 failure of the wheat-crop in California, unless the rain should 
 completely fail. After wet winters, the dry lands and hills 
 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 favor- 
 able. There is no danger that the grain, when nearly ripe, 
 will be beaten down by the hail, as has happened in Europe 
 and the Atlantic states. On only one occasion, 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, for most of 
 the grain recovered, and all of it, if I remember rightly, was 
 reaped by machines. 
 
 Wheat is sown from the first of IsTovember 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 sp.ring 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 l)ay and the middle of February. 
 Most of the sowing is done broadcast, but drills are used to a 
 considerable extent. One ploughing is, by most farmers, con- 
 sidered sufficient. The harvest comes from the middle of June 
 to the middle of July. The expenses of sowing, harvesting, 
 and threshing, are the same as with barley. 
 
 § 137. Oats. — The principal varieties of oats cultivated in 
 California are the Australian, English, Bare, Feather, and Tuck- 
 er. 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 produces 
 large and tall stalks, they do not contain so much weight 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 the Atlantic states. The Crescent City Herald re- 
 ported in October, 1857, that Rigg and Reid, in Del Norte 
 9 
 
178 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKJJIA. 
 
 county, had grown 125 bushels of oats to the acre; and that 
 John A. Brown, of Crescent City, had a crop of 157^ bushels 
 to the acre. According to the assessors' returns, the average 
 crop per acre of 18G0 was — 50 bushels in Alameda and Yuba 
 comities; 40 in Butte, Placer, and Santa Cruz; 35 in Napa; 
 30 in Amador, Sacramento, and Yolo ; 28 in Humboldt ; 25 in 
 San Joaquin ; and 20 in Klamath, Santa Clara, and Sonoma. 
 The largest oat-orrowins: counties in the state are — Alame- 
 da, which in 1861 produced 449,000 bushels; Contra Costa, 
 300,000; Santa Cruz, 262,000 ; Sonoma, 187,000, and Marin, 
 174,000. 
 
 § 138. Maize. — 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 districts 
 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 Angeles 
 county, where the San Gabriel River sinks and fills 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 Fransisco. Green maize, grown in the 
 open air, is in the market from June to September. 
 
 The cultivation of rye and buckwheat differs Uttle from that 
 of the same grains in the Eastern states. 
 
 § 139. Potatoes. — The potato thrives wonderfully in a few 
 places in California, particularly at Bodega, Tomales, and in 
 Pajaro valley. The average produce per acre is perhaps not 
 larger than in Ohio or England, but the tubers are larger in 
 size and smoother in skin. 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 clus- 
 
AGRICULTURE. IV-O 
 
 ter that had grown together, eight inches long, six wide, and 
 four deep, that weighed eight pounds. 
 
 The soil at Bodega and Toinales, the chief potato district, 
 is a light, sandy loam, and the mists fi'om the ocean supply the 
 abundant moisture which th'e plant loves. In 1860, S^onoma 
 produced 314,000 bushels, Sacramento 263,000, Marin 240,000, 
 and Alameda 73,000. The potato district of Sacramento coun- 
 ty is on the banks of the sloughs of the Sacramento River, near 
 its junction with the San Joaquin. The soil is a very light, 
 warm, rich loam, and the vegetables gtown there are among 
 the earliest in the market. According to the assessors' reports, 
 the average crop of Sacramento county in 1860 was 390 bushels 
 per acre; of Sonoma county, 100 bushels; and of Marin, 80. 
 The Californian potatoes are mealy, sound, and palatable. 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 low land about the head 
 of Suisun Bay. The true sweet potato has^ growjsi here to 
 weigh fifteen pounds — much larger than any I have ever seen 
 in the states east of the Mississippi. The flavor is not equal 
 to those grown at the East. They lack the mealiness and deli- 
 cate taste which make the Eastern SAveet potato so palatable in 
 its season. 
 
 § 140. Hay.— In 1860, California had 150,000 head of horses 
 and 1,100,000 head of neat cattle, and cut 200,000 tons of hay, 
 or one ton for six head of large stock. In 1849, Ohio had 
 463,000 horses and 1,350,000 cattle, and cut 1,500,000 tons of 
 hay, or five tons for six head of stock. Ohio, therefore, cuts 
 five times as much hay, in proportion to the number of her 
 horses and cattle, as does California ; and if we suppose that 
 she exports one-fourth of her hay to the slave states, she still 
 makes three times as much in proportion for home use as this 
 state. The cause is, that there every horse and cow must have 
 hay throughodt' the winter, and many of them througli the 
 summer; while here very few cattle are fed with hay at any 
 
180 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 season of the year, and horses not employed are usuall j turned 
 out into the open pkiin. The hay of Ohio is cut in cultivated 
 fields, from tame grasses ; that of California is made of wild 
 oats and indigenous grasses, which are grown in the open 
 valleys. 
 
 The haying season comes about the first of May. The old 
 adage, that " you must make hay wliile 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 1860, that a considerable amount of hay was spoilt 
 by the late rains in June. The whole process of haymaking in 
 California is managed by machinery. It is cut with the ma- 
 chine-mower, raked together with horse-rakes into cocks or 
 vnndrows, and finally the cocks are hauled together on hay- 
 sleds which load themselves by slipping under the cocks. The 
 hay is not turned by hand, nor is the field raked by hand. 
 The hand must be used, however, when wagons are to be 
 loaded or stacks built. Hay is usually cured in the cock or 
 windrow. It is not necessary to turn it by hand, as is cus- 
 tomary in the Eastern 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 wild 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. The principal hay counties of the state are — 
 San Joaquin, which in 1860 made 37,000 tons; Santa Clara 
 and Yolo, 18,000 each; Sonoma, 17,000; Yuba, 14,000; Sac- 
 ramento, 13,000 ; and Contra Costa, 11,000. Very little maize- 
 fodder is used in the state. 
 
 Tame grasses occupy, at the present time, a very small place 
 in the agriculture of California. Not one-tenth of the farms 
 in the state have an acre of cultivated pa^iire; and even in 
 the largest farms, containing from three hundred to a thou- 
 sand acres under i)lough, it is rare to find a field of timothy, 
 clover, or alfalla. The last-mentioned Avill probably become 
 
AGRICULTURE. 181 
 
 the principal grass grown in the state, since it is peculiarly 
 fitted to thrive in a climate and soil so dry as ours. 
 
 § 141. Tobacco^ Cotton^ Rice. — California produces tobac- 
 co of a fine quality, but the amount grown is small ; and the 
 experience of its cultivation is too brief to furnish much infor- 
 mation. It requires a moist soil, and most of the attempts to 
 cultivate it in dry places in the Sacramento valley and in the 
 vicinity of Los Angeles have failed. The best crops have been 
 grown near the coast, north of San Pablo Bay and about the 
 head of Suisun Bay. The tobacco-JDlant has been converted 
 into a perennial at San Francisco ; one specimen of it growing 
 up eight or ten feet high, like a tree. 
 
 A little cotton of a good quality has been grown, but I think 
 its cultivation can never be extensive. The cotton states have 
 three times as much rain as California, and I presume that 
 only our moistest lands could produce a good crop of it — 
 such, for instance, as the tule-Iands in the valley of the San 
 Joaquin. 
 
 The question whether rice can be cultivated in the tule-lands 
 has been much discussed, but is not yet decided, though it is 
 the general opinion that some of the tule-lands will produce 
 large and profitable crops. 
 
 § 142. Hop. — The hop grows luxuriantly and produces abun- 
 dantly in California ; and indeed there is good reason to doubt 
 Avhether any country has a climate and soil more favorable to 
 it than ours. We have no heavy dews or showers in summer 
 to wash ofi" the dust which contains the strength of the flow- 
 ers, or to cover the plant with blight. The failures of crops, 
 from these causes, so frequent in England and the Atlantic 
 states, would never occur here. Not only is the crop certain, 
 but it can be cured here with more ease and in better condi- 
 tion than in other countries. The moisture of the air in Eng- 
 land compels the hop-growers to dry the flowers in the sun or 
 in kilns ; and if a rain fall ujjon them while drying, they are 
 ruined: and they are injured by both the sun and kiln-drying. 
 In California, they may be dried in the open air, under sheds; 
 
182 EESOUECES OF CALIPOENIA. 
 
 and thus prepared, they will be superior to any of the Euro 
 pean hops. 
 
 The Chinese sugar-cane grows luxuriantly in this state, but 
 it is not extensively cultivated. 
 
 Flax, hemp, and the basket-willow, are not cultivated, or in 
 patches so small as to be unworthy of notice. 
 
 § 143. Kitchen Vegetables. — The vegetables for the kitchen 
 — such as cabbage, cauliflower, beets, parsnips, 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-heads, weighing twenty 
 pounds each, have been grown ; and hard, soUd 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 -vN^inter and summer. 
 
 The largest squash or soft-skin pumpkin produced in Cali- 
 fornia weighed two hundred and sixty pounds, and the vine 
 which bore it had several others weighing over one hundred 
 pounds each; the total weight of its fruit being more than 
 eight hundred pounds ! Elsewhere, sixty pounds is a very large 
 pumpkin or squash ; and there is scarcely a record in the 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. Ballou, at San Jose, grew two squashes, weighing two hun- 
 ired and ten and two hundred and four pounds respectively. 
 
 1 
 
AGRICULTUBE. 183 
 
 The largest Californian onion weighed forty-seven ounces 
 avoirdupois, and measured twenty-two inches in circumference. 
 Our onions generally excel those of the Eastern states iii size 
 and weight. 
 
 Our largest red beet weighed one hundred and eighteen 
 pounds — ^was five feet long, and a foot in diameter. It was 
 three years old. The first year it grew to weigh forty-eight 
 pounds, and because of its large size was reserved for seed ; 
 but it disappointed its owner, and, instead of producing seed 
 the next year, merely kept on growmg, and reached the size 
 of eighty-six pounds; and the following year got to a hundred 
 and eighteen. 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 than a glance. Beets fre- 
 quently are three feet long, so that it requires 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-five pounds. 
 
 Our largest tomato measured twenty-six inches in circum- 
 ference. 
 
 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 have cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, 
 turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes, horseradish, celery, 
 green onions, leeks, salsify, and parsley, throughout the year ; 
 green peas, string-beans, water-melons, cantaloupes, and nut- 
 meg-melons, from June to November inclusive ; tomatoes from 
 May to October; garden-eggs, green okra, Lima-beans, and 
 Californian sweet potatoes, from July to September ; aspara- 
 gus 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 aver- 
 age, 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 
 
184 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 throughout the year. Another advantage of our climate is, 
 that garden vegetables may be left in the ground all winter. 
 Potatoes are sometimes not dug until the first of January, and 
 turnips and beets are usually left in their beds lintil 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. The melons and toma- 
 toes like a warm climate, and thrive best in the Sacramento 
 valley — and Putah valley, which is tributary to it — where 
 many of the early vegetables for the San Francisco market are 
 grown. 
 
 § 144. 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 infe- 
 rior to Eastern fruit ; in the flavor of other species we are at 
 least equal' to other countries. The pear, the plum, the apri- 
 cot, the grape, and the olive, are peculiarly thrifty, healthy, 
 and productive, as compared with the same kinds of fruit else- 
 where. 
 
 The Californian orchards are trained low, the lower limbs 
 being within a foot or at most two feet of the ground. All 
 kinds of fruit-trees are trained on the same principle. Men, 
 therefore, do not walk under the trees in an orchard, or climb 
 after the fruit. It would be as absurd to try to walk under or 
 to climb a bearing apple-tree in California as to walk under or 
 climb a gooseberry-bush. One fruit-tree in a hundred may be 
 trained high, not more. The advantages of low training are, 
 that the trees bear fruit earlier — a matter of the greatest im- 
 portance in California, where the interest of money is so high, 
 
AGRICULTURE. 185 
 
 and the price of fruit rapidly falling from year to year ; 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 without 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 feet high, 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 Januar}--, 1855, I planted a small almond-tree, 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 
 9* 
 
186 RESOUTwCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 from the bud, is now ten feet high, four feet through the top, 
 and measures ten inches round the body at the ground, branch- 
 ing about one foot from the surface. A Beurre Diel dwarf, 
 planted in January, 1856, 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 m circumference 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 eight feet high and well branched, and 
 the trunk four and a half inches in circumference at the ground. 
 The growth 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 the freedom from frosts, severe 
 cold, and furious storms, protect us against a ftiilure 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. 
 
 § 145. Apples. — The Spanish Calif ornians had a few apple- 
 trees, but they were seedlings of a poor class. The first good 
 apples w^ere imported from Oregon in 1849 ; but the varieties 
 were few, and the trees did not thrive. Either the stock was 
 
AGRICULTUKE. 187 
 
 not the best, or the change of climate had an injurious influ- 
 ence on them. In 1852, a few trees were imported byway 
 of the isthmus of Panama; other importations followed very 
 rapidly ; and now the state lias millions of trees in nursery, and 
 about eight hundred thousand bearing trees in orchard, inclu- 
 ding 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 
 apart, fourteen or sixteen being the more common distances. 
 This is much closer together than is customary in the Atlantic 
 states ; the reasons for the denser planting here being to pre- 
 vent injury by the wind, and to keep the earth moist by sha- 
 ding 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 
 liere being as large as a tAvo-year-old tree in Ohio. Grafts on 
 yearling stocks have been known to grow six and eight feet in 
 a season — twice as long as similar grafts Avill grow in the mid- 
 dle states. The fruit usually grows larger here than elsewhere. 
 The Gloria Mundi apple, w^hich elsewhere seldom exceeds 
 fourteen ounces in Aveight, 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 here than in other states. Those varieties which 
 are grown for winter i;se elsewhere, are here generally con- 
 verted into autumn apples, and only a few will keep to New- 
 Year's Day. A fruit-groAver in Alameda has succeeded in 
 keeping several kinds until June. Our list of winter apples is 
 very short, and some years will pass before we can in this re- 
 Sj^ect equal the middle states. Some varieties have been intro- 
 duced here from Georgia and other Southern states, but we 
 do not yet know how they will succeed. 
 
 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 
 
188 RESOURCES OP CALIFOR]NIA. 
 
 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 cold winter high up on 
 the Sierra Nevada ; and be of poor quality if grown in the 
 equable temperature of the coast. 
 
 The best varieties, so far as ascertained, about the bay of 
 San Francisco, lire the Summer Pearmain, Red Astrakhan, Red 
 June, and Early Harvest, for early apples ; the Porter, Graven- 
 stein, and Summer Queen, for late summer apples ; the Bald- 
 win, Roxbury Russet, and Rhode Island Greening, for fall 
 apples; the Golden 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. 
 
 The leading counties in the production of apples are Santa 
 Clara, Sacramento, Alameda, Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Yolo, Yuba, 
 and El Dorado. 
 
 The trees grow so rapidly and bear so abundantly, that some 
 persons suppose our orchards must be short-lived ; and the old- 
 est American orchard in the state — at the Mission of San Jose 
 — is cited as proof of this theory. That orchard is evidently 
 dying, though only eleven years old ; but its unhealthiness is 
 owing to some influences peculiar to that spot. It has been 
 gradually dying for four or five years, while other orchards six 
 and eight years old are in perfect health. Besides, the fruit- 
 trees of the old missions, many of them thirty 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 cul- 
 tivated 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. 
 
 § 146. Peaches. — ^The peach-tree grows very rapidly, comes 
 into bearing very early, and produces abundantly, in California ; 
 
AGKICULTUEE 189 
 
 but nearly all varieties suiFcr with "the curl," which has given 
 so much trouble during the last two years, that m:iny of the or- 
 chards have been cut down. The varieties most free from the 
 curl are the Late and Early Crawford, the Late Admirable, and 
 the Smock. Li the valleys and near the ocean, the peaches are 
 not equal, either in size or 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 which i3revail 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. 
 
 § 147. Pears. — The pear is the most productive and healthy 
 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. 
 Tlie 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 d'ete. Dear- 
 born's Seedling, and Bartlett, for summer pears ; and the Win- 
 ter Nelis, Glout Morceau, Easter Beurre, and Pear d' Albert, 
 for winter. 
 
 Neither tree nor fruit is troubled by any bug, fire-blight, 
 sun, or rain. 
 
 § 148. Apricots and Plwns. — 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 a}tpearance and size — eat 
 holes in the apricots before they are ripe ; and the bees, which 
 never break the skin, eat at the holes which the bugs have 
 commenced. The a[)ricot-tree is more healthy than the peach, 
 and produces more abundantly ; and its fruit supplies the place 
 of the peach in many districts. 
 
190 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The nectarine is affected by the curl, and is not much culti- 
 vated. 
 
 If the curculio should not be introduced, the plum will oc 
 cupy a very prominent place in the horticulture of the state. 
 The tree is healthy ; and the fruit is large, finely-flavored, and 
 abundant. The climate is very favorable to drying fruit, and 
 prunes might be made here with a profit. 
 
 The cherry and the soft-shell almond thrive in all the valleys 
 of the state. 
 
 The fig-tree is cultivated from Shasta to San Diego, but 
 does not produce abundantly north of latitude 35°. In the 
 vicinity of Los Angeles it is a very thrifty and productive tree. 
 It produces two crops of fruit annually. North of 37° the sec- 
 ond crop is usually killed by the frost or stunted by the cold. 
 
 The almond and the English walnut both grow well and 
 produce abundantly about Los Angeles, but do not thrive so 
 well north of Santa Barbara. The almond suffers, and loses 
 its fruit, with a slight touch of frost. 
 
 The pomegranate is a healthy and productive bush in Cali- 
 fornia, but its fruit is not profitable. It is cultivated to a 
 small extent in all the large fruit-gardens. 
 
 § 149. 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 our olive-oil comes, the crop is frequently destroyed by sum- 
 mer rains, blight, and insects, all of which causes of trouble 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, most of those in bear- 
 ing having been planted half a century ago. Nor is it likely 
 that there will be a rapid increase. The tree does not come 
 into bearing until ten years of age, at least not in Europe ; and 
 although it may live and continue in bearing for five or six 
 centuries, the j^ossibility of a steady income to our remote 
 posterity will not pay Californians for investing their money 
 in a business that will yield no income for a decade of years. 
 
 I 
 
AGRICULTURE. 191 
 
 Most of the bearing olive-trees are in the town of Los An- 
 geles, and at the Missions of San Fernando, San Gabriel, 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 w^ould prove an excellent 
 income, for the fruit and the oil are in demand. 
 
 § 150. Oranges. — The orange is cultivated in Los Angeles; 
 and, althouirh the trees now there are covered with insects to 
 such an extent, that most of them bear no fruit, yet I think 
 there is reason to hope that the fruit will, at no distant day, be 
 cultivated extensively and profitably. 
 
 A Avarmer clime than that of this state is undoubtedly more 
 congenial to the orange than ours ; but in those lands where 
 the chmate is warmer, the men are less industrious and intelli- 
 gent. Cultivation, which is the first element in the develop- 
 ment of every species of fruit, is wanting there, while here 
 there is no lack, Not that our climate is so cold as to make 
 it doubtful wiiether Ave can cultivate the orange in the open 
 air : long experience has settled the fact that the orange-tree 
 will thrive and produce well from Santa Barbara southward. 
 
 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 bav- 
 in 2: come from the indig-enous trees aloncr the western coast of 
 Mexico. The seeds were planted at various old missions, such 
 as San Diego, San Fernando, San Juan Capistrano, and so forth. 
 The trees grew, Avere planted out, bore Avell, received little at- 
 tention or cultivation, and some of them are still standing as 
 monuments to the industry and enterprise of the old priests. 
 
 There are now, so far as I can learn, about twenty -five hun- 
 dred orange-trees set out in orchard in the state, more than 
 
192 BESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 two-thirds of them being in the orchard of William Wolfskill, 
 in the town of Los Angeles. About four hundred of the 
 orange-trees in the state are old — from ten to fifty years of 
 age ; the remainder are young, from six to eight years old, at 
 which age they begin to come into bearing. 
 
 The proper way to raise orange-trees is to make a bed about 
 three feet wide and twenty long, with the earth in it well pul- 
 verized ; and in January or February plant this bed with seeds, 
 in rows a foot apart, and the seeds six inches apart in the rows, 
 and about aix inches deep. The bed should be weeded care- 
 fully, and kept constantly moist. If in the dry sand of Los 
 Angeles county, the bed should be irrigated once a week. At 
 the end of three years the trees will be four feet high and an 
 inch and a half thick in the trunk. They should then be set 
 out in the orchard where they are to stand, and be planted 
 twenty-five or thirty feet apart each way. The transplanting 
 should be done in any of the spring months, the earlier the 
 better, and should be immediately followed by irrigation. The 
 transplanting should not take place when the young trees are 
 growing, and therefore the trees should not be irrigated be- 
 fore transplanting, especially if the weather be warm ; for 
 warmth and irrigation would have a tendency to start the 
 shoots. 
 
 The trees begm to bear in their seventh year, when they are 
 about ten feet high, and the trunks from three to five inches 
 thick. At fourteen years they are in full bearing, and they 
 continue to bear till they are at least fifty years of age, proba- 
 bly much longer. In full bearing, every tree will produce at 
 least one thousand oranges a year, and some trees will regu- 
 larly produce two or three thousand. The tree grows to be 
 thirty feet high, the top spreading out thirty feet wide. It 
 blossoms early in the spring, and the fruit is ripe in the follow- 
 ing February, although it looks ripe in December. Tlie or- 
 anges will keep well until May, if left on the tree. The fruit 
 is always in demand, and always commands a high price; and 
 previous to 1857, Mr. Wolfskill made more than one hundred 
 
AGRICULTURE. 193 
 
 dollars apiece annually from his bearing trees; but since that 
 time the bugs have injured the crop seriously. 
 
 The tree is very beautiful, and grows continuously. The 
 wood is hard and valuable. The tops grow very bushy, and 
 frequently branches have to be cut out to allow the air to have 
 access to the fruit and leaves ; and sometimes the trees have 
 to be suj^ported, to save them from breaking down under the 
 Aveight of their fruit. The trees, after setting out in the or- 
 chard, should be irrigated thrice every summer, and, unless 
 the land is rich, should be ftianured. 
 
 The bug, a species of Aphis, has fixed itself in most of the 
 bearing trees in the state ; and unless some remedy not now 
 in use be applied, it will probably kill all the trees. Many- 
 devices to drive away the pest have been tried in vain. But 
 there must be a bane for this busc : when that bane is once 
 found, the cultivation of the orange will take an important 
 place in the horticulture of the southern part of the state, and 
 therefore every good citizen is interested in finding it. 
 
 § 151. The Grape. — California is a favorite land of the 
 grape ; and indeed many of our vine-growers suppose it to be 
 the best grape country in the world. 
 
 The grape region of California extends from the southern 
 boundary, at latitude 32° 30', to 41°, a distance of five hundred 
 and ninety-five miles from north to south, with an average 
 breadth from east to west of about one hundred miles. The 
 Los Angeles grape district is in an open plain about seventy 
 miles long, and reaching back thirty miles from the ocean — 
 bounded on the east by barren, rugged mountains. The So- 
 noma, Naj^a, and Santa Clara grape districts, are in flat, nar- 
 row valleys, shut in by steep, rugged ridges of the Coast 
 Mountains, between latitude 37° 30' and 39°. The Sacramento 
 grape district is in a flat valley, about half way between moun- 
 tain-ranges fifty miles apart. The grape districts of the Sierra 
 Nevada are situated on the western slopes of those high m(;nn- 
 tains, usually in very small dales. 
 
 The soil of the vineyards at Los Angeles and Anaheim is a 
 
194 RESOURCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 deep, liglit, warm sand, which, to the inexperienced eye, looks 
 as though it were too poor to produce any valuable vegetable 
 growth. In those places where Avater runs through it for a 
 few days, all the mould is dissolved and carried ofl", leaving a 
 white and almost pure sand. The soil is so dry, that cultiva- 
 tion is possible only with the assistance of irrigation. In So- 
 nera and Napa valleys the vineyards are planted in a red, 
 gravelly clay near the foot of the mountains, or in a light, sandy 
 loam in the centre of the valley. Of late,4he vine-growers of 
 these valleys have done without irrigation. In Santa Clara 
 valley most of the vines have been placed in a rich, black 
 loam, but their vineyards are unhealthy. The Sacramento 
 vineyards are planted in sandy loam ; those of the Sierra Ne- 
 vada in sandy loam or in gravelly clay. 
 
 The vme was brought to California by the Spanish mission- 
 aries about the year.lT^O. So far as is known, only one vari- 
 ety — 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 
 vineyards and in most of the new ones south of the bay of San 
 Francisco. It fills three-fourths of the vineyards in the state. 
 The berry is round, reddish-brown while ripening, and nearly 
 black when fully ripe, about five-eighths of an inch in diame- 
 tar at its largest size, covered by a strong skin, possessing an 
 abundance of thick and very sweet juice, with little meat, but 
 with no fruitiness 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 first 
 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 Yallejo to be of the Madeira 
 stock, was introduced. It is now extensively cultivated in 
 Sonoma and Napa counties and in the Sacramento valley, and 
 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 
 
AGRICULTURE. 195 
 
 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 nieat and a little fruiti- 
 ness of a 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 " Californian" 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 G:raDes are 
 hardy, healthy, long-lived, productive, and early in coming into 
 bearing ; but they are surpassed in flavor, hardiness, produc- 
 tiveness, earliness of ripening, and earliness of bearing, by 
 many foreign varieties, which, so far as is known, are not infe- 
 rior in any respect. The latter have Seen tried, however, only 
 three or four years, and therefore Ave cannot speak positively 
 whether they will prove so long-lived, or whether they will be 
 equal in some other points to the Mission grapes. 
 
 Still, the superiority of the foreign grapes is so great, that 
 no reasonable man, acquainted with the subject, doubts that 
 they will drive the Mission grapes out of the market. 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 com- 
 mand more than six or eight cents per pound in the San Fran- 
 cisco market, at the very time that fine foreign varieties bring 
 twenty-five and thirty-seven cents. Cuttings of the Mission 
 grapes can now be had for ten dollars per thousand, a price 
 that will not more than pay for preparing them for market ; 
 while those of the foreign cost from forty to one hundred and 
 fifty dollars per thousand. For wine, the foreign grape has an 
 equal or still greater advantage. Flavor and fruitinoss are not 
 less needed there than in fruit to be eaten fresh at the table. 
 The lack of fruitiness is the great misfortune of the wine made 
 from the Culilbrnian grape, and the evil can only be remedied 
 by the use, of tho»foreign grape. 
 
196 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 For raisins the Mission grape is unsuited, because it is all 
 juice and lacks meat. Again, we want various kinds of grapes 
 to make diiferent kinds of wine, and to give variety to our 
 tables ; and we wish also to have early and late grapes, so that 
 our wine-making may extend through a long season, and that 
 our tables may have grapes upon them from August to Decem- 
 ber. The foreign grapes, it has been observed, are stronger to 
 resist the frost than the Mission grape. The latter is there- 
 fore doomed, if not to destruction, at least to a subordinate 
 position. 
 
 About two hundred varieties of grape are cultivated in Cali- 
 fornia, including the most noted stocks of Spain, France, Ger- 
 many, Hungary, and the Eastern states. Xearly all of them 
 thrive, and it can scarcely be said authoritatively that any one 
 of them has proved a failure. The Catawba and Isabella do 
 well; the latter furnishing our finest table-grajDe for some 
 tastes, while others prefer some of the Muscatels. 
 
 The total number of grape-vines planted in vineyard in the 
 state is about nine and a half millions, or ten thousand five 
 hundred acres, of which more than one-third are in Los An- 
 geles county. One-fifteenth of these may be foreign vines, of 
 which one-half are in Sonoma county. There were probably 
 two hundred thousand bearing vines in the state in 1 848, and 
 they still continue productive. Very little was done to increase 
 their number until 1856, and then the business of grape-grow- 
 ing and making Avine for the market was commenced. The 
 new vineyards then set out were planted with Mission grapes, 
 the only variety 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 California 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 JMission grape was established by trial. 
 
 The advantages of California for the cultivation of the grape 
 are the following : 
 
AGRICULTURE. 197 
 
 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 else- 
 where I know not, but the fact is indubitable. Crops of twenty 
 thousand pounds per acre have been seen here, but never else- 
 where, if witnesses, generally considered credible, are to be 
 believed. 
 
 2. The grape-crop never fails, as it does in every other coun- 
 try. 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 abun- 
 dant time for gathering the grape, while in other vine coun- 
 tries the rain and frost destroy the fruit after it is ripe. The 
 oidiimi — the disease which has done such great damage in 
 France — appeared in 1859, but has done no injury as yet save 
 in a few small, young vineyards. I have heard of it only in 
 Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Alameda counties, where the vines 
 are planted in a wet, black loam, or stiff clay. Bugs and in- 
 sects, which do much harm in European vineyards, have as 
 yet done no injury worthy of note in California. 
 
 3. Vineyards in other countries require more labor than in 
 California. In Europe, the vine is trained with a stalk four 
 feet high, and supported by a pole, w^hich has to be set down 
 every year, and to which the vine is tied. Here the stalk 
 stands alone. 
 
 4. The equability and warmth of the climate render it easy 
 to make wine by fermentation without artificial heat during 
 the winter ; whereas in other grape countries fires must be 
 kept up in the cellars through the winter. 
 
 5. The great variety of grapes which thrive here as com- 
 pared with every other grape country. _ 
 
 The disadvantages of California consist in the high price of 
 labor (three times as high as in Ohio, and four times as high 
 
198 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKNIi. 
 
 as in Europe), the ignorance of the people of the arts of vine- 
 growing and wine-making, the dearness of casks (costing from 
 five to twenty cents per gallon), and the necessity of irriga- 
 tion. 
 
 Land suitable for vineyards costs from twenty to one hun- 
 dred dollars per acre, whereas it is worth several times as much 
 in France ; but there is a counterbalancing diiference in the 
 interest of money, so that the French vine-land at four hundred 
 dollars per acre, bought with money borrowed at six per cent. 
 a year, costs little more than a Californian vineyard bought for 
 one hundred dollars, with money at twenty-seven per cent. 
 
 The vine likes a sandy or gravelly (not very moist) soil, and 
 never thrives in wet, loamy, or stiff clay soil. In California, 
 nearly all the vineyards are planted on flat land ; in Europe, 
 hills are preferred, and in Germany the name for a vineyard is 
 *' Weinberg" — a vine-hill. 
 
 Vineyards are planted with cuttings or with rooted vines. 
 The cuttings are obtained at the annual pruning in January or 
 February, are about thirty inches 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 w^ay : the former distance 
 giving one thousand vines to the acre, is customary at Los An- 
 geles ; the latter, giving six hundred and eighty vines to the 
 acre, is preferred in Sonoma and Napa. The vines are planted 
 about two feet deep, perpendicularly, leaving aibout three or 
 four inches with two buds above the surface. The holes are 
 usually made with a crow-bar, 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 very moist, the newly-planted vineyard is irri- 
 
A G n 1 C U L T LT K E . 1 99 
 
 gated ; for the vine, when taking root, likes water. Daring 
 the first year after planting, the vine-grower has nothing to do 
 save to irrigate twice, to plough several times, and to hoe 
 down such weeds as cannot be reached with the plough. 
 
 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- 
 teen inches high. 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. In the southern part of the state the vineyard 
 must be irrigated at least twice every summer ; in many locali- 
 ties in the northern and middle districts, irrigation is consid- 
 ered unnecessary, though it would undoubtedly be beneficial 
 during the first year. 
 
 The third 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 
 fop 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 ttn-ee or four 
 
200 EESOUECES OP CALHTOENIA. 
 
 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. The 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. 
 
 The towns most notable for the cultivation of the vine in 
 California are Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Sonoma — all grape- 
 towns, and the only towns which depend chiefly on the grape 
 for their revenue. Los Angeleshas about 1,900,000 vines, Ana- 
 heim 400,000, and Sonoma 1,500,000. Many of the vmes of So- 
 noma are not yet old enough to bear ; those of Anaheim are 
 all now (1862) in their fourth year; while more than one-half 
 of those of Los Angeles have been in full bearing for several 
 years. The Cocomongo ranch, in San Bernardino county, 
 owned by J. Rains, has a vineyard of 165,000 vines, most of 
 them very young yet. This ranch is one thousand feet above 
 the sea-level, and has the reputation of producing the best wine 
 in the state. Hock farm, in Sutter county, has a large vine- 
 yard, owned by Emil Sutter, a son of Captain J. A. Sutter, 
 and the wine produced there has an excellent reputation. 
 
 Among the largest vineyards in the state are the following: 
 
 A. Haraszthj, Sonoma 500,000 vines. 
 
 John Rains, Cocomongo 165,000 vines. 
 
 B. D. Wilson, San Gabriel 100,000 vines. 
 
 William Wolfskill, Los Angeles 85,000 vines. 
 
 C. H. S. Williams, Sonoma 68,000 vines. 
 
 Matthew Keller, Los Angeles 61,000 vines. 
 
 Corbett and Dibblee, Santa Anita 60,000 vines. 
 
 T. J. White, Los Angeles 50,000 vines. 
 
 J. R. Scott, Los Angeles 50,000 vines. 
 
AGRICULTURE. 201 
 
 There are many vineyards in the mining counties, but they 
 are small and young. In 1858, an acre of bearing vineyard was 
 worth a thousand dollars ; but since then the supply of grapes 
 and native wines has increased to such an extent, that the vine- 
 yards have depreciated fifty per cent. The profits of wine- 
 making several years ago, induced the vine-growers to make 
 their wine hastily and carelessly, and much of it is poor stuff, 
 that has brought all native wines into discredit. The wine- 
 business, just now depressed, will in a year or two become 
 better, and then vine-planting will take a new start, and vine- 
 yards will rise in value. 
 
 § 152. Wine-making. — The making of wine is considered a 
 a branch of agriculture. In 1861, California probably made 
 about a million gallons of wine, and the amount will increase 
 within five years to three million gallons. The best wines are 
 made from foreign grapes, of which, however, not many are as 
 yet produced in the state ; so that the Mission grapes yield 
 the chief supply. The principal classifications of wme are into 
 red and white, light and heavy, still and sparkling. 
 
 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 off easily from the stem, leaving no juice upon it; and 
 when, on holding a bunch up to the sun, the fibres running 
 from the stem into the berry are nearly or quite invisible. 
 
 The branches are cut off 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 are carefully 
 picked out, and the bunches are then thrown upon a coarse 
 wire sieve. A man presses the bunches upon this sieve, 
 through which the grapes fall, some broken and others un- 
 broken, 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, 
 10 
 
202 EESOTTECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 crush the berries, but do not bruise the seeds, which, if crushed, 
 would give a bitter taste to the wiue. If the wine is to be 
 white, the pulp is pressed as it comes from the masher ; if it 
 is to be red, the pulp is left to stand for six or eight days, so 
 that the red color of the skins may be communicated to the 
 juice. This is the only mode in which Avines are colored. 
 The juice as it comes from the fresh berry is never red, but 
 some varieties of grape make a yellowish juice. 
 
 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 considerable 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 fer- 
 mentation begins ; in three or four more its period of greatest 
 activity has passed. The temperature is a matter of the ut- 
 most importance to fermentation, the proper degree being 
 about 65° Fahrenheit; and if the liquid be kept either warmer 
 or colder than that figure, it will be in great danger of spoil- 
 ing. 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 the 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 opejj, and throws out 
 all scum that rises to the surface there. Wlien 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 tlian 
 three months. After this, comes the " racking off." All the 
 liquor, except about four inches at the bottom, containing sedi- 
 ment, is drawn off through a siphon, or a cock placed above 
 
AGRICULTURE. 203 
 
 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 deposited 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 buixg 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 the latter is in active development, the former feels 
 a peculiar impulse also. Thus, the periods wlien the vine 
 sprouts in March or April, when it blossoms in June, and when 
 the grape ripens in September, are also the times when the fer- 
 nientation is the most active. At those seasons the bungs must 
 be taken ofi", or at least loosened, and the barrels must not bo 
 moved. 
 
 It is an important point with wine-makers to avoid disturb- 
 ing the process of fermentation. Between times, when the 
 w^ine is at rest, it should be racked off*, and placed in a clean 
 cask. At the end of a year and a half the wine has become 
 clear, but it continues to grow better with age for about a 
 score of years, about the expiration of which jDciiod it has ac- 
 quired a mellowness and delicacy of flavor and an oiliness of 
 consistency which neither gain nor lose by longer preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 Many kinds of w^ine are made in California. The light wines 
 come in this state, as in other j^arts of the world, from the 
 northern, and the strong wines from the southern districts. 
 The wines of Los Angelica have a body like those of Spain, 
 and the wines of Sonoma and the upper Sacramento valley re- 
 semble claret and hock. A wine similar to port is made in 
 tlie southern part of the state, by leaving tlie grapes on the 
 vines until they are " dead ripe," and somewhat shrivelled by 
 the sun. The juice is then very strong, and, being left with 
 the pulp ten days or two Aveeks, takes a strong, dark red color. 
 
204 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Wine is defined to be "the fermented juice of the grape," 
 and therefore "Angehca" is not properly a wine, though it is 
 usually classed under that title. It is made by mixing brandy, 
 in proportions varying from one-fifth to one-third, with the 
 grape-juice fresh from the press or but a few hours old. The 
 brandy prevents fermentation. Angelica is a sweet liquor, 
 and is usually considered a proper drink for women ; but it is 
 really stronger than the fermented wines. 
 
 The wine made of the juice that drips from the masher, or 
 of the first drainings from the press, is considered superior to 
 that obtained by severe pressure from the pulp. After the 
 pulp has been pressed, it is sometimes covered with water, 
 allowed to stand a few days, and pressed again ; and the wine 
 made of this liquor is called " Piquet," a very light wine, and 
 generally sourish in taste. 
 
 Some sparkling wine has been made in California, but thus 
 far without great success. The only house which has engaged 
 extensively in the business is that of Sainsevain Brothers, who 
 brought an experienced workman from the champagne district 
 of France. They own a large vineyard at Los Angeles, and 
 another at San Jose, and have a large capital invested in the 
 wine-business. Their foilure in making the " sparkling Cali- 
 fornia," as they call their effervescent wine, was owing to the 
 strength of the Los Angeles grape, and the " earthiness" of its 
 taste, which earthiness is stronger in the sparkling than in the 
 still liquid. Effervescent wines should not be strong; and the 
 grapes grown at Los Angeles, or at least the Mission grapes 
 grown there, are too strong. I speak of the experiment as a 
 " failure," meaning thereby that the Sainsevains have not made 
 an article equal to the best brands of imported champagnes ; 
 but, for all that, it is a passably good wine. Attempts are to 
 be made this year, and for several years to come, with the 
 lighter wines made in the middle and northern parts of the 
 state, and there is good reason to believe that the experiment 
 will prove entirely successful. 
 
 Sparkling wine is treated like still wine until after the first 
 
 I 
 
AGEICULTUEE. 205 
 
 fermentation, except that it receives much more attention, and 
 is made from a more careful selection of berries, than any other 
 kind of wine. After the first fermentation, the wine is jfut in 
 bottles, and these are placed in racks wdth their necks down, 
 the racks being made so that the bottles can be raised and 
 lowered ; and the position of the bottles is changed from time 
 to time, to assist fermentation, which continues, though in a 
 suppressed form — the carbonic acid gas being retained in the 
 "wine, instead of escaping as it does during the fermentation 
 of still wines in the open barrel. The management of spark- 
 ling wines is very complicated. It varies greatly in difierent 
 places, and is usually kept as secret as possible. Thus, the 
 Sainsevains keep their process to themselves. 
 
 White grapes will not make a red wine ; but the skins, if 
 left to ferment with the juice, will give it a dirty-yellow or 
 light-brown color. 
 
 The general custom, in making wine, is to use the pure juice 
 of the grape, but wine-makers consider it not unwholesome or 
 disreputable to put sugar, water, or brandy, into certain kinds 
 of wines ; all of which, however, are unnecessary and injurious 
 to the finer kinds of still wines. Sugar and water endanger 
 the keeping qualities of the wdne, and brandy spoils the flavor. 
 In France, it is common to put sugar or rock-candy into wine 
 intended for the sweet tastes of the Americans ; and in bad 
 years, when the grapes are sourish, they sweeten a little for 
 home consumption. Brandy is sometimes used to prevent 
 W' ine from turning into vinegar ; but the mixture, if strong 
 enough to have the desired effect, deserves rather the name 
 of adulterated brandy than of wine. Different kinds of pure 
 wanes may be mixed without impropriety, but the label should 
 not misrepresent the nature of the mixture. It is a fraud to 
 niix a bad wine with a fine article, and then sell it by the name 
 of the latter. If a wine-maker sends his wine into the market 
 under his own name, no other person can honestly mix any 
 thing else with it, and still preserve the name of the original 
 maker. 
 
206 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Most of the wines hitherto made in California have been 
 pure, but not fine in flavor. The Mission grape lacks delicacy 
 and fruitiness of taste, and gives an earthiness or harshness to 
 the wine. These defects will probably be remedied by the 
 use of the foreign grapes, and their mixture with the native 
 Mission grape. Still wines, equal to the best still wines of 
 France, have been made from foreign grapes in California; 
 and we presume that we can make equally as good wine, in 
 very large quantities, so soon as we have the grapes. Only 
 about one-tenth of the foreign vines planted in the state are 
 now in bearing. 
 
 The skin of the grape probably contains tannin, for the red 
 wines have an astringent taste not common to the white. 
 
 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, wine-makers 
 generally have no cellars, but only -houses. In Los Angeles 
 county, most of the wine is kept in adobe houses. The sandi- 
 ness of the land, the frequent irrigation, and the proximity of 
 the vines to the places where the wine is stored, would lead to 
 the filling of deep cellars with water ; 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, Colonel Haraszthy has dug a wine-cellar in 
 the side of a hill of magnesian limestone. The wine-cellar 
 should be used for wine alone, because the presence of other 
 things — especially salt meat, leather, and putrefying vegetables 
 — may spoil the flavor of the wine. 
 
 It is probable that, in many of the vineyards, the soil will 
 not produce a first-rate wine. In Europe, the wines from the 
 flat lands are generally of an inferior quality. To what extent 
 
AGRICULTUEE. 207 
 
 tliis rule prevails here, cannot be ascertained until we have 
 given the finer foreign grapes a fair trial. Certainly the Mis- 
 sion grape takes up in most of the vineyards an earthiness of 
 taste which must never be found in whies of the best quality. 
 We cannot yel tell what are our best grape-soils, or how they 
 differ from one another in their influences on the wine. It is 
 certainly no easy matter to make fine wine out of the Mission 
 grape, and most of our wine-makers have little experience in 
 the business. Again, they send their wine to the market too 
 soon after it is made. They often use old barrels and bottles, 
 which may give a taste to the wine. They have also been too 
 careless in pressing grapes before they were fully ripe, and 
 without picking out the green and rotten fruit. 
 
 § 153. Berries. — Alameda county cultivates, chiefly for the 
 San Francisco market, four hundred and fifty acres of straw- 
 berries, one hundred of raspberries, and thirty of blackberries 
 — more than all the remainder of the state. The varieties of 
 strawberries most prized are the British Queen and Long- 
 worth's Prolific. They are planted in rows, thirty inches 
 apart, and the plants are a foot apart in the rows. The straw- 
 berry comes into the market in April, and continues abundant 
 till July, but it may be obtained in any month in the year ; 
 and the only reason why large quantities are not grown from 
 August to October inclusive, is, that they are not in demand, 
 because of the abundance of cheaper fruits. It must always 
 be costly as compared with the tree-fruits, because it is more 
 perisliable, requires greater cultivation, costs more for pick- 
 ing, and produces less to the acre, The picking alone costs 
 about two cents a pound, being done by Chinamen, who pick 
 forty pounds in a day, and are paid seventy-five cents a day, 
 they providing their own food. The average yield per acre is 
 about one thousand pounds, and the average wholesale price 
 in 1861, during the season of their abundance, nine cents per 
 pound, making a gross yield of one hundred and twenty dol- 
 lars to the acre. The largest field of strawberries contains 
 eighty acres, the second seventy, and the third sixteen. Very 
 
208 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 few strawberries are preserved, or used in any way save to be 
 eaten fresh on the table. 
 
 Most of the raspberry-fields of Cahfornia are in Oakland and 
 its immediate vicinity. The land about a mile northward from 
 the Oakland wharf is said to be peculiarly favorable to the 
 raspberry. The average yield is about fifteen hundred pounds 
 per acre, and the wholesale price in 1861 was ten cents per 
 pound. The picking is done by Chinamen, and costs from 
 three to four cents a pound. The bushes are planted in rows 
 five feet apart, and one foot apart in the row. The berries are 
 produced on wood a year old, and at the end of every season 
 all the wood that has borne is cut away. It is not known how 
 long the raspberry-bush will continue to bear, but probably 
 ten years at the least. The largest raspberry-field in the state 
 contains twenty acres. 
 
 An excellent wme is made of raspberries, and some of the 
 Oakland people have gone into the business, hoping to derive 
 a large profit from it. The berries are bruised, a gallon of 
 water is poured on for three pounds of berries, and after three 
 days the berries are pressed; three pounds of sugar are added 
 for every gallon of the liquid, which is then put into barrels, 
 and allowed to stand, with the bung open, until active fermen- 
 tation has ceased — a period varying from five weeks to two 
 months — and the wine is ready for use, though the longer it 
 stands the better it becomes. Soft water is better than hard 
 for putting on the berries, and hard water should not be used 
 without boiling. An acre of raspberries will yield six hundred 
 gallons of wine, which, if well made, is worth a dollar or a dol- 
 lar and a half a gallon at wholesale. The raspberry cultivated 
 at Oaldand is the Fastolf variety. The fruit ripens during June 
 and July. 
 
 The Lawton blackberry is also cultivated about Oakland. 
 The rows are from six to eight feet apart, and the plants from 
 four to six feet apart in the row. The yield of the blackberry 
 and the cost of picking are about the same with the raspberry, 
 but the price is much higher, the blackberry selling at whole- 
 
AGKICULTUUE. 209 
 
 sale ill 1861 at twenty -five cents per pound. It is in the mar- 
 ket from the first of July to the middle of September. Wine 
 is made from the blackberry in the same manner as fi'om the 
 raspberry, and sometimes the two berries are combined to- 
 gether. 
 
 § 154. Ornamental Shrubs. — Professional gardeners say that 
 California is better fitted by Nature than 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, tlian those of other 
 states. The mayo and nialva trees, the rose, the daisy, the 
 pansy, the oelyssum, the clyanthus punceus, the flowering ver- 
 bena, ,the hollyhock, 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 March to June ; 
 and the camelia japonica from January to May, all in the open 
 air. Persons at all familiar with the cultivation of these flow- 
 ers 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, but they retain their leaves through 
 most of the winter months, 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 that of clambering up a brick wall on the 
 southern side of an unoccupied house. Our roses are larger as 
 well as more abundant than in the Eastern states, but their 
 perfume is not so strong. 
 
 A marked feature of our ornamental gardening is our ability 
 to cultivate in the open air many plants which can only be pre- 
 served in this latitude east of the llocky Mountains under glass 
 and with the aid of artificial heat. These plants are too nu- 
 merous to be all specially named here ; but some of the more 
 10* 
 
210 RESOUKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 important are the orange, camelia japonica, laurastinns, myo- 
 porum, ericas, casuarina, daphne, eucalyptus, nietrosideros, and 
 thirty varieties of acacia, twenty of them from Australia. It 
 might be almost 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 growth of evergreens, 
 especially to those strange and beautiful ones from Australia, 
 with the gi-aceful growth and the- brilliant, feathery foliage. 
 Two of the most striking features of our ornamental horticul- 
 ture are the malva and mayo trees. The former, a native of 
 the southern part of this state, grows to be about fifteen feet 
 high, continues green throughout the year, and is always cov- 
 ered with abundant foliage and a wreath of large crimson flow- 
 ers, resembling the flowers of the crimson hollyhock in size, 
 shape, and color. The mayo-tree is an evergreen, originally 
 from Chile, always brilliant with abundant yellow flowers. 
 
 Among the most common and beautiful 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 j^orticoes. 
 
 The rose, the honeysuckle, the veronica, the oleander, the 
 laurastinus, the euonimus japonica, and the verbenas — espe- 
 cially the lemon verbena — may safely be said to make twice as 
 much wood in a year as they do on the 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. There is scarcely any tree or shrub cultivated in the At- 
 lantic states which does not thrive equally as well here, except 
 the weeping willow. 
 
 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. The malva and the ce- 
 anothus are the chief ornamental shrubs, indigenous in Califor- 
 nia, adopted for cultivation. 
 
AGRICULTUBB. 211 
 
 "We have not yet had time to produce many ornamental 
 gardens ; but I tiiink the time is not far distant when no place 
 in the world will, within so small a district, have so many fine 
 gardens as the valleys round San Francisco Bay. 
 
 § 155. Pests of the Farmer. — Certain "pests" of the farmer 
 must be mentioned here, among Avhlch 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 phosphorus. About 
 a drachm of strychnine is dissolved in a quart of whiskey, and 
 then the solution is poured over dry wheat in such quantity, 
 that the surface of the liquid is just on a level Avith the top of 
 the jrrain. 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. When phosphorus is to be used, the 
 wheat is soaked in boiling water until it is soft, when the wa- 
 ter is drawn off*, and the wheat in a pan is put in or over boil- 
 ing water to keep it near the boiling heat. A stick of phos- 
 phorus three inches long is put into the hot wheat, melts in ten 
 minutes, and the wheat is stirred about well, so that the melted 
 phosphorus 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 : and such a progressive destruction 
 has been observed more than once in California. 
 
 The gopher is more readily caught with traps than the sper- 
 mophile. In the chapter on zoology I have described the 
 trench used for keeping gophers out of orchards and gardens, 
 and for catching them. Several traps are in common use, but 
 it is not easy to describe them ; so I will not attempt it. 
 
 The grasshoppers are the greatest pests of the farmer in 
 
212 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 California, and I fear thai \> e have not yet seen the worst of 
 them, thoui^rh several times durincr the last fil\een years thev 
 have eaten every green thing within large districts. They 
 come in millions upon millions, 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, ai*e aUke 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 Calilornia, 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 killinc: them after thev have entered a field, or of driviua: 
 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 has been seen 
 in California, but has done little damage as yet. The curculio 
 and weevil are not known in the state. The Canada thistle, 
 the mullen, and the dock, have been introduced, but have not 
 yet given much trouble. 
 
 § 156. 2\eat Cattle. — California has 1,100,000 neat cattle, 
 900,000 sheep, and 150,000 horses, nearly all bred in the open 
 air and open plains, and fed only on wild grasses. The system 
 of breeding live-stock difiers much in California from that 
 wliich pn■e^ ails in the Atlantic states, where cattle are kept in 
 fields and stables all the time, and fed with cultivated food. 
 Here domestic animals grow more rapidly, and reach their full 
 development earlier, than east of the Sierra Xevada. 
 
 § 157. SjXDiish Cattle. — Most of our neat cattle are of the 
 old Califoruian breed, brought hither by the Spanish mission- 
 aries irom Mexico, about 1770. At what time tlieir stock 
 
AGRICULTURE. 213 
 
 came originally to Mexico is not precisely known, but without 
 doubt it was in the seventeenth century, soon after tlie con- 
 quest by Cortes, and they 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 
 of Europe ; but mouse, dun, and brindle colors — almost infal- 
 lible signs of " scrub" blood — are more frequent ; and the deep 
 red, fine cream-color, and delicate mottling of deej) red and 
 w^hite, found only in animals of high blood, are entirely w^ant- 
 ing. Their legs are long and thin, their noses sharp, their 
 forms graceful, their heads high, their horns long, slender, and 
 wide-spread ; and they have a duskiness about the eyes and 
 nostrils similar to that of the deer, betwx'en which animal and 
 a young Spanish cow there ave many points of resemblance. 
 The general carriage of the Spanish cow is like that of a wild 
 animal : she is quick, uneasy, restless, frequently on the look- 
 out for danger, snuffing the air, moving watli a high and elastic 
 trot, and excited at the sight of a man, particularly if afoot, 
 when she will often attack him. In some counties it is, for this 
 reason, unsafe to go about on foot. The native Californians 
 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 with 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 ranches. No- 
 body wanted to own less than a square league (four thousand 
 
214 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 four liiiDclred and thirtv-eigbt acres) of land; and the govern 
 meut granted it away without charge, in tracts varviug from 
 one to eleven leagues, to anybody who would imdertake to 
 erect a house and put a himdred head of cattle on the place. 
 It was common for one man to own five thousand head of cat- 
 tle. The cows were kept for breeding, and the steers were 
 regularly killed as they reached the age of three or four years. 
 All had the freedom of the country, 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. Xo attempt was made to improve the breed, nor was 
 any profit to be obtained from an improvement. Most of the 
 ciilves were born about the beginning of the year, and in March 
 the first rodeo was held. 
 
 § 158. Hodeos. — 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 special 
 rodeos. A rodeo may be for one ranch, or for several ; but 
 every ranchero owning a large ranch and many cattle has his 
 own rodeo. Every large ranchero must have 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 neighbor- 
 hood ; the special rodeo is held for the benefit of some partic- 
 nlar 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. general 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 that distance. 
 On the day appointed, the ranchero having selected some 
 place where the cattle are to be collected, sends out his mount- 
 ed vaqueros or herdsmen at daylight to drive the cattle to the 
 appointed place, where they are gathered at ten o'clock. By 
 that time, the interested rancheros with their vaqueros have 
 
AGRICULTURE. 215 
 
 made their appearance, and are on tlie ground, all mounted, 
 and prepared for the 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 veiy large. I have seen eight thousand head 
 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, whither he drives his cattle ; and there are several men 
 there mounted, to prevent them from returning to the main 
 herd. 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 
 w4sh 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 knife. 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 
 neiojhborhood, whose time has not vet come for enterino: the 
 centre 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 ranche- 
 ros 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 taken away. He takes it for granted that 
 every one will drive off only his own animals. Sometimes sev- 
 eral days are necessary to complete the general rodeo of a 
 
 I 
 
216 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ranch, and the work is continued from day to day until fin- 
 ished. All the rodeos of a neighborhood are usually held in a 
 regular and close connection. The rancheros from a distance, 
 therefore, stay until they have attended all the rodeos in a 
 district to which they suppose that any of their cattle have 
 strayed ; and they are usually the guests of the man upon 
 whose ranch the rodeo is given. 
 
 When a cow is driven out, her calf follows. Every ran- 
 cher© knows his cattle by the brand, which law and custom re- 
 quire him to use. Of course, when a man has four or five thou- 
 sand head of cattle, he cannot recognize them all by sight; he 
 can only distinguish them by marks. He knows his cows by 
 their brands, and his calves by their following the cows. 
 
 The spring rodeos are the busiest seasons of the rancheros, 
 and are for them the chief occasions of general meeting, exci- 
 ting 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 for 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 horsemen. Frequently the lasso must be 
 used. Many of tlie vaqueros are fond of showing their skill 
 before so many spectators, and astonishing feats of horseman- 
 ship are performed. 
 
 When a ranchero returns from a rodeo, with his cattle which 
 had strayed away, he drives them into his corral, 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 randies are too numerous to he 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 be- 
 come 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 
 
AGEICULTUEE. 217 
 
 the ranches, tlie rodeos of which he attends. It is only in 
 times of extraordinary scarcity of grass, that the rancheros are 
 particular to drive the cattle of other owners off their lands. 
 
 The rodeo season being over — that is, when the ranchero 
 has 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, while 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. 
 
 § 159. fronds. — ^The law requires that every horse and cow 
 shall be branded, w^ith a brand belonging to their owner. The 
 brand is made of iron, sometimes representing one or two let- 
 ters, sometimes other arbitrary signs, such as a cross, a circle, 
 a triangle, or any other design. The brand may be six inches 
 long by four wide, and the thickness of the iron is about a 
 third of an inch. There is an iron handle, with a wooden 
 cross-piece at the end, so that the brand can be handled 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 re- 
 corder's office. Every minor and servant on a ranch must use 
 the bi-and of the owner of the ranch. The brand must be 
 burned, under penalty, upon all horses and neat cattle, before 
 the age of eigbteen months. The brand is burned upon the 
 hip, and indicates ownership ; when the animal is sold, the 
 brand is burned upon the shoulder, and indicates sale. The 
 purchaser then puts his brand upon the hip ; and thus the skin 
 of a Californian horse or cow contains the history of its owner- 
 
218 RESOUKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 ship. Many of the brands are well known to the rancheros 
 over a large portion of the state ; and by looking at the aui- 
 mal, they will tell where it was born, and who have owned it 
 at diflerent times. The hips and shoulders on both sides are 
 often covered with brands. Sometimes the brands grow Avith 
 the animals ; in other cases they remain nearly of their original 
 size. A brand well burned into the skin is perceptible as long 
 as the animal lives, though it grows less* and less distinct witn 
 the advance of years. 
 
 In the fall there is another 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 the county 
 recorder's office. It is contrary to law to cut off the end of 
 the ear, 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. 
 
 § 160. Early Maturity of Calif ornian Cows. — The cows 
 calve almost invariably before they are two years old, frequent- 
 ly before they are eighteen months, and sometimes before four- 
 teen months. They generally arrive at maternity a year sooner 
 than in the Atlantic states. It is said that suckling heifers 
 have been seen to take the bull. 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 ; that 
 is, from January or February, when they are born, until No- 
 vember, when the pasturage is very scanty. The Spanish cows 
 have small udders, and yield little milk ; and notwithstanding 
 their great number m the country, butter, milk, and cheese 
 were very rarely seen on the table previous to the coming of 
 
AGRICULTURE. 219 
 
 the Americans. American cows are the only ones used for the 
 dairy, but many of them are now kept also for breeding alone, 
 and, like the Spanish cows, they are never milked. 
 
 § 161. Corral and Reata. — The corral is an important part 
 of all cattle-ranchos, and on many of them it is the only enclo- 
 sure. It is a pen, from thirty to fifty yards square, surrounded 
 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. Rawhide 
 is better than any other material, because it has just the proper 
 weight and stifiuess 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 round 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 fly, its w^hole 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 tlie 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 
 accomplished by catching the head with one reata, and a hind- 
 leg with another. 
 
 § 162. Occasional Starvation. — Nineteen out of twenty of 
 the cattle of California never get any food, save such as grows 
 
220 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 indigenously in the open country, and they always suffer for 
 it. From March to July the pasture is abundant and ex- 
 cellent, and the cattle are fat ; from July to October, in ordi- 
 nary years, the grasses and clovers, though dry and brown, are 
 nutritious, and the cattle still remain in good condition ; but 
 from October to Januaiy 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 deprived 
 of its nutriment. The first case happens when the grass is 
 very scanty, because of a small fall of rain during the winter ; 
 the second occurs when a heavy rain, lasting a day or two, 
 comes before N'ew Year's day, and is followed by cold dry 
 weather. The rain takes away the palatable and nutritious 
 qualities of the old grass, and the cold and dry weather pre- 
 vents 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 
 liumber m the county. The state has not one large cattle-ranch 
 surrounded by fence, and therefore, if a man owns good pas- 
 ture land, the cattle of other people come and eat the grass, 
 and later in the season his own must suffer. It is impossible 
 for the vaqueros to drive away the strange cattle, because they 
 enter the ranch on every side every day, and if the grass be 
 much better than on adjoining ranches, they will, if driven 
 away one day, return the next. The proper and profitable 
 method of managing an extensive cattle-ranch, is to have it all 
 fenced in and divided ofi* into a few large fields, in which the 
 cattle could be pastured at different seasons. It would also be 
 a source of profit to have hay for them or green alfalfa in the 
 early winter, so that there would be no danger of a reduction 
 to skin and bone : for it costs thrice as much to replace as to 
 preserve a pound of flesh. Spanish cattle, when slaughtered 
 between September and February, are usually very thin, and 
 in the Atlantic States it would be grossly impolitic to send 
 such animals to the market. 
 
 § 163. Imported Cattle, — The great majority of the cattle 
 
AGEIOtTLTURE. 221 
 
 in the state are of pure Spanish blood, but there is a consider- 
 able number of American cows and half-bloods, which are 
 constantly increasing in number, Avhile the Spanish cattle are 
 decreasing. Most of the American cattle are in the Sacra- 
 mento basin and the coast valleys north of Monterey, while 
 along the southern coast they are very few in number. 
 
 During the last four or five years about seventy-five pure- 
 blood Durhams, twenty-five Devons, and four Ayrshire bulls and 
 cows, have been imported across the Isthmus of Panama. The 
 freight on the steamer and railroad, from New York to San 
 Francisco, for a bull or cow, is two himdred and seventy-five 
 dollars. The food is carried free of charge, but the owner must 
 find a person to feed and take care of the animal during the 
 voyage. Some of these imported animals are of the best English 
 stock. The better the blood the larger the beeves grow, and 
 the more readily and rapidly they fatten. The Spanish cattle are 
 too uneasy ; they run about so much that they lose flesh. The 
 half breed American cattle are more quiet, the full-blood Ameri- 
 can still more quiet, and the Durham the best of all. But as our 
 beef cattle get no food save such as they pick up in the open 
 country, I doubt whether it will pay to import these pure-blood 
 Durhams to improve the breed. The excellence of the Durham 
 is caused by care in breeding, protection against the weather, and 
 an abundance of good food ; and the excellence cannot be main- 
 tained without a continuance of the same system of manage- 
 ment. The Durham will, in a few generations, cease to be a 
 Durham, if he gets no food save such as he can pick up in the 
 valleys and hills ; but if carefully fed, he will, of course, do as 
 well here as elsewhere. It is said that the Durham needs suc- 
 culent food ; if so, the blood will soon degenerate on the dry 
 grasses of California. The Devon stock, which has been praised 
 by the importers of it as peculiarly fitted to thrive on our in- 
 digenous grasses, has not found much favor. Our dairy cows 
 are the only ones which are well taken care of; and therefore 
 the Ayrshire blood is really more needed, and likely to be 
 better preserved, than either the Durham or Devon. Roots 
 
222 KESOUKC^S OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 are seldom cultivated for cattle ; hay, barley, and wlieat-bran, 
 are used for feeding them when kept in the yard. Beeves are 
 never stall-fed in California. 
 
 § 164. Dairies. — The chief dairy districts of the state are 
 the valleys in the vicinity of the bay of San Francisco. The 
 business is very profitable, but requires a considerable capital. 
 
 The climate near the coast is very favorable for making 
 butter and cheese. 
 
 In 1860, according to the assessors' reports, Santa Clara 
 county produced 220,000 lbs. of butter and 300,000 lbs. of 
 cheese; Marin, 226,000 lbs. of butter and 170,000 lbs. of 
 cheese; Sonoma, 220,000 lbs. of butter and 103,000 lbs. of 
 cheese; Sacramento, 148,000 lbs. of butter and 122,000 lbs. of 
 cheese ; Yuba, 92,000 lbs. of butter and 5,745 lbs. of cheese ; 
 and Alameda, 70,000 lbs. of butter and 103,000 lbs. of cheese. 
 
 § 165. Spcmish Horses. — California has about one hundred 
 and fifty thousand horses, of which about one-third are Ameri- 
 can ; one-third wild Spanish ; and one-third tame Spanish. 
 The Spanish horses are of the old stock imported, 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 nuaierous large spots 
 or blotches, are common ; while chestnut, bright sorrel, blood- 
 bay, and dappled gray, are 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 the heavy, steady work of the 
 plough, cart, or wagon. They are wanting in the dociUty, 
 kindly disposition 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 California, as it was in 1845, there were no better 
 horses than the Spanish-Mexican. They have a wonderful tough- 
 
AGKICTJLTTTEE. 223 
 
 ncss, and some of their exploits in the way of travelling are un- 
 surpassed in the annals of the turf. A number of instances are 
 on record where Californian horses have carried a rider one 
 hundred miles in a day, and that with no food save grass. 
 Sixty miles a day is not an uncommon ride, nor is it considered 
 a severe one. Fremont, on one occasion, rode four hundred 
 miles in four days, riding different horses, but driving them 
 before him from the beginning to the end of the journey. 
 
 More than half of the brood-mares of the state are wild 
 Spanish ; that is, they live entirely in the open plain, are un- 
 broken, and many of them have never been touched save when 
 they were to be branded. They are in bands called manadas^ 
 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 avaquero 
 tries to drive the manada into a corral for the purpose of catch- 
 ing 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 five to nine years of age. He guards 
 his manada with the most jealous care. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that one garaiion 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 ob- 
 ject of the battle too. The manada 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 breeding. 
 The foals are branded at the age of three or four months, and 
 
224 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 are weaned at the age of eiglit or ten months. The fillies con- 
 tinue to run with the manada, and become part of it. The 
 colts are altered when branded, and continue to run with the 
 manada until they are three or four years of age, when they 
 are bi'oken and put into the caballada^ or herd of broken horses. 
 The Mexicans never broke their mares, and considered it dis- 
 creditable and a mark of great poverty to ride one. 
 
 § 166. Horse-h'eaking. — The Mexican system of breaking 
 horses is peculiar. They are broken only to the saddle ; for 
 horses were never used before wagons by the Spanish-Califor- 
 nians. The horse having run free all his life, is too wild to be 
 caught without a lasso, or to be approached at first while he is 
 on his feet. He is therefore caught by the neck with one reata, 
 by a hind-foot with another, and then thrown down by pulling 
 the reatas in different directions. A vaquero goes to the horse 
 as he lies down and puts a jdquima^ or a kind of halter, on his 
 head. The jaquima is provided with a piece of leather, which 
 can be pulled over the eyes so as to blind the horse, but it is 
 first lifted to let him see. The reatas are taken' from the 
 neck and leg of the prostrate horse, and a long rope having 
 been fastened to the jaquima, he is allowed to rise. This is 
 the first time he has been haltered and he dislikes the restraint, 
 but he exerts himself in vain to get loose. After he has tired 
 himself in vain efforts, the vaquero goes up for the purpose of 
 pulling down the blind. The horse is terrified at so near an 
 approach of a man, and trembles with excitement. If he pulls 
 back hard the vaquero sees there is little danger, and slowly 
 advancing and putting his hand to the blind pulls it down over 
 the horse's eyes. But if the horse stand up, it is probable that 
 he will rear up when the vaquero comes near, or strike at him 
 with a fore-foot. Such animals are very dangerous, and are 
 usually allowed to tire themselves by standing without food, 
 or else they are drawn up to a fence or tree, behind which the 
 vaquero can protect himself. So soon as the blind is down, 
 the horse is perfectly quiet. He can be rubbed, and saddled, 
 and mounted without a motion. The first thing after blind- 
 
AGRICULTUEE. 225 
 
 ing is to put a saddle on liiin. It is fas.'^^ned well, the blind is 
 raise^r, and the full length of the rope given to him. He does 
 not understand the saddle. It may be a carnivorous beast for 
 all he knows. He is terrified at it.- He jumps, and snorts, and 
 kicks, rears and pitches, throws himself down, worries himself 
 out, and falls into an agony of despair. After an hour or so 
 of such work, the vaquero advances again, puts down the 
 blind, and the horse stands trembling with fear and exhaus- 
 tion. He is now to be ridden. The rope is fastened under the 
 chin, so that it can be used for a bridle-rein ; the horse's ears 
 are pushed down under the upper part of the jaquima, so that 
 he shall be deaf as well as blind; the saddle-girth is tightened, 
 and the rider mounts. Over the saddle he has a second girth, 
 which is loose enough to allow him to get the point of his knee, 
 bent at right angles, under it. This girth ties him upon the horse. 
 The more he presse's the knee outward, the tighter the girth 
 holds him ; whereas by turning his knees inward and straight- 
 ening his legs, he can be free in an instant. Having put his 
 knees under the girth (he does not care for the stirrups and 
 cannot use them) he reaches forward, takes the ears out from 
 under the jaquima, and raises the blind. The horse, as soon as 
 he sees the man on his back, is stricken with a new terror. He 
 immediately commences to jump stiff-legged. He springs up 
 into the air and comes down on his fore-feet with his legs stiff. 
 This is the way in which horses try to shake off panthers, and 
 they resort to the same method with men. The shock would 
 be severe if the man were not tied down to the saddle, but he 
 moves with the horse and is not hurt with the shock. Some- 
 times a horse will jump thus for hour after hour, and the rider 
 is very well satisfied, for there is no danger in the jumping, and 
 it is very tiresome to the animal. Some horses, after jumping 
 for a few minutes, will commence to run. To this the rider 
 makes no opposition, but practises the horse with the reins to 
 accustom him to guidance. The most dangerous horses are 
 those whi(;h rear up and fall backward. In such case the 
 vaquero must be ready to throw off the girth from his knees, 
 11 
 
226 KESOFRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and alight upon his feet as the horse foils. After riding for a 
 couple of hours, the vaquero reaches for\yard, pushes the blind 
 down over the horse's eyes and dismounts. To dismount with- 
 out first putting down the blind would be very dangerous, for 
 the horse would probably kick him. He takes oif the saddle, 
 hoists the blind, ties him to a fence or a tree with his head up, 
 and selves him neither food nor water. The next morning; he 
 is very stiff and hungry. The vaquero does not feed him, but 
 pulls down the blind, puts on the saddle, mounts him again, 
 and the scenes of the previous day are re-enacted, though the 
 jumping is less furious. After a couple of hours of exercise, 
 the horse is tied where he can get water and grass. Every day 
 he is ridden. In five or six days he quits jumping. In three 
 months the blind is laid aside. In four months a bit is put in 
 his mouth. This is strange to him, and he jumps sliff-legged. 
 If the first bit used is American, he will jump again when the 
 harsher Spanish bit is used. When any thing is wrong he j umps 
 stifi'-legged. During the first month or two his nose will be 
 very sore where the jaquima or halter crosses it, caused by the 
 pulling of the halter in holding and guiding the animal. At the 
 end of a couple of months he learns to follow the guidance of 
 the jaquima almost as readily as afterward the bit. After he 
 has been ridden daily for six months, he has become tame and 
 quiet, and he commences to fatten up again ; for during the 
 first three or four weeks he worries liimself so much, with his 
 vain plungings, that he loses flesh rapidly. The Californian 
 horse, when once broken, is kindly in disposition. He rarely 
 bites or kicks, no matter how roughly he may be used. 
 
 After having been broken to the saddle, he must be taught 
 the uses of the reata. The vaquero always carries his reata 
 with him, and the horse soon learns to see it swinging about 
 the rider's head. The reata is first thrown at small calves and 
 then at larger ones, and the horse gradually learns that he can 
 best hold a lassoed animal by presenting his head toward it, 
 and bracing himself back with his fore-feet. The reata is fast- 
 ened to the horn of a saddle, strong enough to hold a bull 
 
AGEICULTUEE* 22 1 
 
 The horse learns to watch tlie reata ; if it catches, he slackens 
 his pace, or stops suddenly ; if it does not catch, he continues 
 at full speed, while the vaquero pulls up the reata and prepares 
 to throw it again. The saddle and bridle are both peculiar, 
 and necessary to the trade of the vaquero. The saddle-tree, or 
 fuste.) is made of four pieces of wood, two of Avhich are longi- 
 tudinal and rest on the sides of the horse ; one forms a high 
 back ; and the fourth is a fork, which rises in a large strong 
 horn. The pieces are strongly fastened together, and the 
 whole framework is covered with wet rawhide, which shrinks 
 when dry, and contributes much to its strength. A good fuste 
 is stout enough to hold the strongest bull. The girth is four 
 inches wide, and is made of a number of little ropes of horse- 
 hair, connecting two iron rings four inches in diameter. One 
 of tliese rings is fastened on the right side of the saddle, by 
 straps running over the front and back of the fuste ; and a 
 similar ring is fastened in like manner on the left side of the 
 fuste. In this latter ring is a rawhide strap three feet long. 
 When the saddle is to be fastened, this strap runs through the 
 ring at the loose end of the girth, then througli the upper ring, 
 then down to the girth ring again ; and the vaquero pulls, and 
 nsually draws so tightly that the wide girth cuts into the 
 horse's belly and evidently displaces its contents. When a 
 vaquero is preparing for a day of lassoing, there is no danger 
 that the saddle will slip. The girth has no buckle about it, 
 and is made wide to give it strength and to prevent it from 
 hurting the horse. It is placed farther back than in American 
 saddles, and rarely cuts the skin, just behind the fore-legs. 
 Sometimes in lassoing, the animal caught will get off sideways 
 from the horse, and the saddle must be so firmly in its place, 
 that it cannot move ; and sometimes the vaquero will drop his 
 reata after having caught his cow or horse, and then while his 
 horse is going at full speed he must reach down, supporting 
 himself with one hand on the horn of the saddle and with the 
 other seize the reata. For such feats, the girth must not be 
 loose. The stirruj)s are of wood, about three inches wide, and 
 
228 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 are covered in front with pieces of tliick leather, called topa' 
 deras^ which prevent the feet from slipping through. The 
 fiiste is usually covered by large flaps of leather called niochilaSj 
 and along the stu'rup-straps are pieces of leather called suda- 
 deras^ to protect the legs of the rider from the sweat of the 
 horse's side. Cruppers and martingales are never used by the 
 Spauish-Califoruians. The bridle is so made that a hard pull 
 on the rein hurts the horse, and a severe jerk will throw him 
 back on his haunches. The bit has an arm projecting about 
 two inches up in the mouth. On ordinary occasions this arm 
 lies flat on the tongue, but when the rein is pulled it rises and 
 presses against the roof of the mouth. The slightest pull, 
 therefore, on a Spanish bridle is felt by the horse, and he will 
 stop instantaneously, though at full speed, if the reins be jerked 
 severely. It may be cruel to the horse, but it is very conve- 
 nient to the rider, and necessary to the vaquero. 
 
 The common gait of the Califoruiau horse under the saddle 
 is the gallop. He never paces or racks, and rarely tries a 
 sharp trot, but rests himself with a walk or a slow trot. His 
 gallop has an easy motion which does not tire the rider in fifty 
 miles. He has an excellent speed for a race of a quarter a mile, 
 but he cannot run two-mile heats with the thoroughbred, though 
 for a gallop of a hundred miles he has probably no superior. 
 
 Many of the Californian horses have of late years been bro- 
 ken to the wagon and the plough, and they do very well for 
 fiirm work, though not equal to American horses. 
 
 § 167. Jjlood-horses. — The American horses, that is the com- 
 mon stock of horses brought from the Atlantic States within 
 the last twelve years, and their ottspring, are large, fine animals, 
 not so healthy and tough as the Californian horses, but larger, 
 more active, stronger and more handsome in shape and color. 
 
 A large number of stallions and mares of fine blood have 
 been imported, including about fifty thoroughbreds or English 
 racers, two dozen Morgans or American trotters, and a dozen 
 Clydesdale and Flemish, or heavy cart and truck horses. Some 
 of these horses are valued as high as ten thousand dollars 
 
AGKICULTURE. 229 
 
 apiece. The Clydesdale and Flemish are considered the most 
 valuable for crossing with the Califoniian mares, the oifspring 
 being large, strong farm-horses, worth twice as much in the 
 market as the pure Californian. The thoroughbred horses in 
 California are of the purest blood, and some of them have few 
 superiors in speed in any country. 
 
 § 1G8. Jlides. — Nearly all the farm w'ork of California, 
 where draught animals are necessary, is done with horses. 
 Mules are too dear and oxen are too slow. A great number 
 of mules and horses are used in packing merchandise in those 
 districts where there are no good w^agon-roads. For the or- 
 dinary uses of the farm the mule is preferable to the horse, 
 being longer-lived, more healthy, not so much injured physi- 
 cally or morally by ill-treatment, and contented with much 
 cheaper and simpler food. But the mule is not considered 
 handsome, and the small farmer wants a horse which he can 
 ride, and with which he can take his family out, so he never 
 gets a mule. Mules are now used on very few farms, but I 
 think they will gradually gain in favor. Few mules are bred 
 in the state at present, but there are some excellent jacks in 
 Contra Costa county and in the San Joaquin valley. 
 
 § 169. Camels. — Some camels have been introduced into 
 CaUfornia, but they are as yet few in number, and have been 
 here but a short time. Our experience with them is therefore 
 small, and we do not know what value they are to have in the 
 future. They a^e healthy, increase, thrive on our wild pas- 
 tures, are strong and active, climb our rugged mountains as 
 well as horses or mules, carry loads of one thousand pounds 
 each, go three or four days at a time without w^ater, and are 
 readily managed ; but they have not been tried in a regular 
 business way, and such trial is necessary before we can tell 
 what they are to be. 
 
 § 170. Sheep. — The climate of California is peculiarly favor- 
 able 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 i.mong those familiar with the sub- 
 
230 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ject, tliat a slieep, born and bred in California, is, at two years 
 of age, usually as large and heavy 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 Rocky Moun- 
 tains. The health of the herds is better. IRo fatal disease has 
 ever preA^ailed to any serious extent. The " scab" exists in 
 many herds, but in a mild form, and few have died of it. It is 
 the general opinion of sheep-breeders that the sheep bred in 
 California will produce more wool than those of other states. 
 The heaviest unwashed fleece on record, is that of " Grizzly," 
 a French Merino buck. It was fourteen months old, weighed 
 forty-two pounds, and was sheared by Flint, Bixby & Co., in 
 Monterey county, in 1859. 
 
 Sheep in California are never kej^t imder shelter, and except 
 a few of fine blood, seldom get any food save such as they 
 can pick up on the 025en hills and plains. Sometimes lambs 
 are lost with cold, but this is very rare when they are weU 
 managed. 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 
 centre. If a sheep turns his head out, the dog bites his knees 
 and makes him tm-n about. The dog seems to understand 
 that the wolf cannot do much harm by biting the rump of a 
 sheep, but would soon kill it after catching its throat. 
 
 In most other sheep countries, tlie 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 considerable part of the year ; the herds must be 
 imder shelter in the winter ; four or five men are required, on 
 an average, to attend to a thousand sheep ; the herds are not 
 
AGRICULTURE. 231 
 
 BO 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 
 taken care of, Inive lambs before they are a year old — increase 
 one hundred per cent, every year. The cost of keeping large 
 herds is variously estimated 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 avooI 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 Avere a very poor stock, but they were for a long time 
 the only sheep that could be had, and they now form the great 
 majority of the sheep in the state. 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 wdio 
 had nothing save nine hundred ewes ; and they mcreased so 
 rapidly and proved so profitable, that now, if report be true, 
 he has ten thousand sheep, sixteen thousand acres of land, and 
 other property to the value of one hundred thousand dollars. 
 Within the last three years many sheep of fine blood have been 
 imported, and these will gradually swallow up the Mexican 
 stock. The imported kinds ai'e American, Southdown, Aus- 
 tralian Merino, French Merino, and Spanish Merino. Of the 
 two latter varieties there are few save bucks. The prices of 
 sheep fluctuate, but the relative prices of the different breeds 
 
232 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 remain about the same. Thus when a Mexican evre is worth 
 about three dollars, an American is worth five dollars, a half- 
 Merino six dollars, a Southdown six dollars, and an Australian 
 Merino twelve dollars. The Mexican sheep produces on an 
 average two pounds of wool per year, worth from five to 
 seven cents per pound ; the American four pounds, worth from 
 fifteen to twenty cents ; the half-Merino six pounds, worth 
 from eighteen to twenty-four cents; the Southdown five pounds, 
 worth twenty or twenty-one cents; the Austrahan Merino 
 seven pounds, worth twenty or twenty-one cents. These 
 weights indicate the weights of the unwashed fleeces, and the 
 prices paid in this market for unwashed wool. The Californian 
 wool, especially that grown in the southern part of the state, 
 is filled with grease, dust, and sand. In one case, a fleece 
 weighing sixteen pounds was reduced by washing to six 
 ]iounds. The finer the wool, and thefiirther south it is grown, 
 the greater the proportion of dirt. The wool grown in the 
 northern part of the Sacramento valley, is cleaner than that 
 of Alameda county, and that of the latter place is superior to 
 the wool of San Luis Obispo. There are a few Chinese sheep in 
 the state, and much value was for a time attached to them, 
 because the ewes very frequently produce triplets, but it re- 
 quires a good ewe to suckle two lambs well, and twins are 
 sufiiciently abundant among American sheep. Sheep-growers 
 are divided in opinion as to whether the French or Spanish 
 Merino be the best sheep for the state. The French Merino 
 grows large, and averages more wool to the sheep than any 
 other kind, but it is said that the Spanish Merino, though 
 smaller, will produce more wool to the acre. About a thou- 
 sand sheep are kept in a herd. One sbeep-owner m Monterey 
 county has 30,000 head ; and others have 15,000 and 20,000 
 head each. The largest sheep county is Monterey, which has 
 about 150,000; Solano has nearly as many, and after these 
 come Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Luis Obispo. 
 There are about 900,000 sheep in the state, and their number 
 is rapidly mcreasing. One of the drawbacks of wool-growing 
 
AGRICULTURE. 233 
 
 in California is, that in the summer the wool gets full of the 
 little hurs of the bur-clover, which gives much trouble in w^ash- 
 ing and carding. By sheering early this trouble is to some 
 extent avoided. Of course the sheep grow lean in the late 
 fall, as do the horses and neat cattle, and some of them die of 
 starvation. The same remarks may apply to high-blood sheep 
 as to other high-blood animals — they must degenerate if they 
 get no cultivated food ; but the stock may be kept up by cross- 
 ing with high-fed bucks of pure blood. 
 
 § 171. Sioine. — Swine are not favorite animals in Califor- 
 nia. They increase rapidly and are healthy, 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 coun- 
 ties ; the mast is scanty in the agricultural counties, and grain 
 suitable for feed is dear. It is probable that in a few years 
 o-reat numbers of swine will be bred in the tules, the roots of 
 which they like to eat ; but the tule-lands at present are in 
 Avide undivided tracts, and the swine which have access to 
 them soon get lost. The present number of swine in the state 
 is about six hundred thousand. 
 
 § 172. Poultry. — Poultry command very high prices in this 
 state, but all attempts to breed them on a large scale, have 
 proved unprofitable. liens 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 or 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. One large hennery, on the 
 French plan, has been established about eight miles from Oak- 
 land, and it contains one thousand five hundred hens, with 
 accommodations for five thousand. The poultry-yard covers 
 four acres of ground, and one acre of it is separated from the 
 remainder. The hens lay in the lower story of a frame house, 
 which is open on one side. The nests are in a long trough, a 
 
 foot square, open on top, and separated into nests by partitions. 
 11* 
 
234 KESOXIRCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 Each nest has some hay in it and a mock egg of porcelain. 
 Several times in the course of a day, the eggs are taken out 
 and placed in a covered box near at hand. Four or five hens 
 may use the same nest in the course of a day, and if the eggs 
 •were left in the nest the warmth might start the development 
 of the chick, and injure the egg for either hatching or eating. 
 It is considered bad policy to let a hen sit on eggs while lay- 
 ing, even if she is to hatch them herself, for some will be far- 
 ther advanced in incubation than others, and then the propor- 
 tion of loss will be great. Over the laying department is the 
 roosting place, which is eighteen feet high, and his the perches 
 so fixed that the droppings of one hen do not fall on another 
 A stairway leads up from the ground to the roosting chamber 
 In the lower story of another house is the hatching depart- 
 ment, with nests for six hundred hens. The nests are about a 
 foot square, with a door in front, opening on a level with the 
 floor. They are numbered and divided into sections, each of 
 which has one door, and has hens which commenced sitting at 
 the same date. The hens are fed by sections ; ten, twenty or 
 thirty being let out at a time, and called to eat. When first 
 called they do not understand it, and after they have eaten, 
 they have difliculty in finding their places ; but in three or four 
 days they come out immediately as soon as the door is opened, 
 and when the signal for closing is given, they go to their places 
 without the least confusion. About a dozen eggs, usually not 
 more than four, and never more than ten days old, are given to 
 each sitting hen, and of this dozen, nine or ten are hatched on 
 an average. Every nest has snuflf in the bottom of it to keep out 
 the lice. When the hen has hatched out her brood, she and 
 they are transferred to the "young-chick room," over the 
 hatching room, where every hen is put in a pen. During the 
 first twenty-four hours the little chicks get nothing to oat ; 
 then they are fed twice on fine bread, after that on boiled rice 
 and corn-meal. They are fed four times a day. When five 
 days old, the chicks, with their mother, are placed in the 
 smaller enclosure of the poultry -yard, which has several 
 
AGRICULTUKE. 235 
 
 streams of clear water running through it, bushes and mustard- 
 plants for shade, and boxes into which the hens can retire for 
 protection against the cold and rain. When the young brood 
 enters the yard, the older occupants, or some of them, make war 
 on it, and one chick in a dozen is slain in these hostilities. After 
 the hen has proved by fighting her right to be there, peace is 
 restored, and she and her little ones are ready to make war on 
 any subsequent intruders. After the chickens are three months 
 old, they are turned into the large yard, where they have to 
 struggle for their food and lives, with all the old hens and 
 cocks on the place. In the large yard the chickens are fed 
 twice a day, and four ounces to each chicken per day. The 
 food is wheat, rice, oats, barley, raw meat, cabbage-leaves, 
 sorrel, chalk, oyster-,shells, and green mustard. Regularity in 
 the time of feeding is considered a matter of much import- 
 ance. There should be one cock to a dozen hens. The hens 
 commence laying when about eight months old and lay most 
 in their second year. They will continue laying till their fifth 
 or sixth year, but they are usually killed about the end of the 
 fourth year. Hens that eat eggs and that crow are killed. 
 Hens which want to sit when their services are not needed in 
 that way, are shut up in the callaboose, kept there one or two 
 days, with- no food save green vegetables, ducked several times 
 in cold water and then let out cured. In ei2:ht or ten da^'S 
 they are ready to commence laying again. A hen will lay 
 fifteen or eighteen eggs before wanting to sit. 
 
 One man near Oakland, devotes himself entirely to the busi- 
 ness of breeding rabbits, and according to rumor, finds it very 
 profitable. 
 
 Goats, pigeons, and pheasants are bred in California, but on 
 only a small scale. 
 
 § 173. Bees. — There were no bees in California until within 
 the last seven years, and it was supposed they could not live 
 here, because of the dryness of the vegetation during the last 
 half of the year ; but for these insects, as for larger aninials, 
 it was found on trial, that our climate is peculiarly favorable. 
 
236 RESOUKCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 and that tliey thrive better here than east of the mountains. 
 A good hive here will make two hundred pomids of honey, or 
 may be made to produce twenty swarms in a season, an in- 
 crease ten times as great, and a production of honey five times 
 as large as that in the Eastern States. Mr. H. Hamilton, a 
 bee-keeper of Stockton, reports that he had thirty-five swarms 
 of bees on the first of February, 1860 ; and by the first of 
 October, they had increased to five hundred hives, and pro- 
 duced twenty thousand and seventy-five pounds of honey ; a 
 production said to be without parallel. Bees are not idle during 
 six months of the year, as in N"ew York, but busy during nine 
 or ten months. They find their food in wild and cultivated 
 flowers, in the blossoms of manzanita bushes, fruit-trees, grasses, 
 clovers, and grains, in grapes, fruits, and honey-dew. They 
 seem to thrive in the driest portions of the state, where there 
 are no cultivated fields and no flowers or green herbage. They 
 are very fond of apricots, which they eat in places where the 
 skin has been previously cut through by bugs. When 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 the bees lose their lives in conse- 
 quence of their fondness for the apricot. Either they eat too 
 much, or they eat the meat after it has passed into the alco- 
 holic fermentation ; but whether intoxicated or surfeited, they 
 are unable to get home, and they perish during the night. In 
 places where the honey-dew is abundant, especially in the 
 mountains on the eastern border of the Tulare valley, the 
 bees make honey very rapidly. When the food for bees was 
 becoming scarce in the midsummer of 1860, in the Santa Clara 
 valley, a man owning seventy hives sent them to the vicinity 
 of Yisalia, so that they could get honey-dew. Indeed it is the 
 custom of several bee-keepers in California, to move their bees 
 about from place to place, according to the pasture and the 
 season. Hitherto little honey has been sold in the mai-ket, the 
 chief object of bee-keepers being to produce swarms, which 
 for a time were worth one hundred dollars each This busi- 
 
AGRICULTURE. 237 
 
 ness yielded so large a profit tliat a dozen men devoted tliem- 
 'selves to it exclusively, and some of them, wlio commenced 
 five years ago with only three or four hives, now have com- 
 fortable fortunes. Tlie hives have increased so rapidly, how- 
 ever, that they have fallen greatly in value, and are now worth 
 from ten to thirty dollars each ; and honey, Avhich is worth one 
 dollar per pound, will come into the market. The honey made 
 in the mountains is very similar in quality to that of the East- 
 ern states ; that made in the valleys is not so good. Many 
 swarms have gone off and found homes for themselves in the 
 woods, so it is not rare to find " bee-trees." Most of the bees 
 in the Sacramento basin during 1861, were destroyed by the 
 flood of 18G2. 
 
 § 174. Silkworms. — A few silkworms have been hatched, in 
 California, and liave been found to thrive extremely well, but 
 the high price of labor has prevented any extensive experi- 
 ment in the production of silk. Our climate is very favorable 
 to them in three respects, equability of temperature, exemption 
 from electrical convulsions, and dryness in summer. The silk- 
 worms should be kept at a temperature of about 75° Fahren- 
 heit, and this is very near the summer temperature of some of 
 the valleys near the coast. Extreme heat and extreme cold, 
 are both very prejudicial to them. A considerable proportion of 
 them will die if the thermometer falls to 45° or rises to 100° ; 
 thunderstorms kill a large portion of the worms every year 
 in France, Italy, and China ; in California such storms are un- 
 known. In all the countries where silk is now produced ex- 
 tensively, there are showers winch wet the mulberry leaves, 
 and this moisture gives a diarrhoea to the worms whereby 
 many are killed. These are important advantages, and may 
 enable us to compete soon with Europe and China in the 23ro- 
 duction of silk. 
 
 Note. — I owe acknowledgments for information aboiit oraiu to J. W. Os- 
 born, of Napa; about fruit to A. A. Colien, of Alameda; about the grape to 
 Charles Kohler ; about the orange to John Frohling ; and about the quality 
 of wheat from different districts to Isaac Friedlander, of San Francisco. 
 
238 KESOUKCES OF C A L I F O K N I A. 
 
 CHAPTER yill. 
 MINING. 
 
 § 175. Chief Industry. — Mining is the chief industry of 
 California. It employs more men and pays larger average 
 wages, than any other branch of physical labor. Although it 
 has been gradually decreasing in the amount of its production, 
 in the profits to the individuals engaged in it, and in its rela- 
 tive importance in the business of the state, it is yet and will 
 long continue to be the largest source of our wealth, and the 
 basis to support the other kinds of occupation. 
 
 § 176. Metals obtained. — Our mines now wrought are of 
 gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, and coal. Ores of tin, lead, 
 and antimony in large veins, beds of sulphur, alum, and as- 
 phaltum ; lakes of borax and springs of sulphate of magnesia, 
 are also found in the state, but they are not wrought at the 
 present time, though they will probably all become valuable 
 in a few years. Platinum, iridium, and osmium are obtained 
 with the gold in some of the placer mines, but are never found 
 alone, nor are they ever the main object sought by the miner. 
 The annual yield of our gold mines is about forty millions of 
 dollars, of our quicksilver two millions of dollars. Our silver, 
 copper, and coal mines have been opened within a year, and 
 their value is yet unknown. All our other mining is of little 
 importance as compared with the gold. 
 
 § 177. Gold Mines. — Our gold mines are divided into pla- 
 cer and quartz. In the former, the metal is foimd imbedded in 
 layers of earthy matter, such as clay, sand, and gravel ; in the 
 latter it is incased in veins of rock. The methods of mining 
 must be adapted to the size of the particles of gold, and the 
 
MINING. 239 
 
 nature of the material in which they are found. In placer 
 mining, the earthy matter containing the gold, called the " pay- 
 dirt," is washed in water, which dissolves the clay and carries 
 it off in solution, and the current sweeps away the sand, gravel, 
 and stones, while the gold, by reason of the higher specific 
 gravity, remains in the channel or is caught w4th quicksilver. 
 In quartz mining the auriferous rock is ground to a very fine 
 powder, the gold in which is caught in quicksilver, or on the 
 rough surface of a blanket, over which the fine 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 and generally understood to mean " a 
 subterraneous work or excavation for obtaining metals, metallic 
 ores or mineral substances ;" but this definition does not •'^pply 
 to our placer mines, which are places where gold is taken from 
 diluvial or alluvial deposits. Most of the work is not subter- 
 raneous ; it is done in the full light of day. In some of the 
 claims the pay-dirt lies within two feet of the surface ; in 
 others it lies much deeper, but all the superincumbent matter 
 is swept away. 
 
 "Water is the great agent of the placer miner; it is the ele- 
 ment of his power ; its amount is the measure of his work, 
 and its cost is the measure of his profit. With an abundance 
 of water he can w^ash every thing ; without water he can do 
 little or nothing. Placer mining is almost entirely mechanical, 
 and of such a kind that no accuracy of workmanship or scien- 
 tific or literary education is necessary to mastery in it. 'Amal- 
 gamation is a chemical process it is true, but it is so simple 
 that after a few days' experience, the rudest laborer will man- 
 age it as well as the most thorough chemist. 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain the amount of gold which 
 has been taken from the mines of California. Records have 
 been kept of the sums manifested at the San Francisco Custom 
 House, for exportation, and deposited for coinage in the mints 
 of the United States ; and there is also some knowledge of 
 the amounts sent in bars and dust to England ; but we have 
 
240 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOPwNIA. 
 
 no account of the sums carried by passengers to foreign coun- 
 tries and coined elsewhere than at London, or used as jewehy, 
 or of the amount now in circulation in this state. According 
 to the books of the custom-house of San Francisco, the sums 
 manifested for export were as follows : 
 
 In 1849, $4,921,250; in 1850, $27,676,346; in 1851, $42,- 
 582,695; in 1852, $46,586,134 ; in 1853, $57,331,034 ; in 1854, 
 $51,328,653; in 1855, $45,182,681 ; in 1856, $48,887,543; in 
 1857, $48,976,697 ; in 1858, $47,548,025 ; in 1859, $47,640,462 ; 
 in 1860, $42,303,345; in 1861, $40,639,089; a total of $551,603,- 
 904 in twelve years. 
 
 The exportation of gold commenced in 1848, but we have 
 no record of the sums sent away in that year. Previous to 
 1854 very large sums were carried away by passengers, who 
 gave no statement at the custom-house; since that year, the 
 manifests show the exportation correctly within a fevv millions. 
 I am entirely satisfied that the total gold yield of California 
 has been not less than seven hundred millions of dollars ; but 
 I have not room here to state the reasons for this opinion. My 
 estimate is considerably less than that of most business men 
 of the state, and less than that made by Hmit's Merchants' 
 Magazine. There was undoubtedly a regular increase in the 
 annual yield of the mines from 1848 to the end of 1853 ; and 
 there has been a gradual decrease since the beginning of 1854 
 — a decrease perhaps not very regular but still certain. Since 
 1854 considerable sums exported from San Francisco and in- 
 cluded in our tables, came from mines beyond the limits of 
 CaUfornia, such as the mines in Southern Oregon, in the east- 
 ern part of Washington Territory, in British Columbia, an<l 
 in Xevada Territory ; and while the Californian gold yield has 
 been decreasing, these extraneous supplies have been increi:s- 
 ing. Several milhons must be deducted from the annual 
 shipments since 1858, for foreign gold. The gold yield will 
 undoubtedly continue to f;ill, but to what point and at wliat 
 rate no one can know. I believe that in 1870, the yield will 
 not exceed thirty millions of dollars. 
 
MIXING. 241 
 
 § 178. Placer Mines. — Placer miues are divided into many 
 classificatioDS. 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 the sur- 
 face. The shallow or surface diei'inirs are chiefly found in the 
 Ijeds of rayines and gullies, in the bars of riyers, and in shal- 
 low flats ; the deep diggings are in hills and deep flats. The 
 pay-dirt is usually covered by layers of barren dirt, which is 
 sometimes washed, and sometimes left undisturbed, while the 
 pay-dirt is taken out from beneath it through tunnels or shafts. 
 So far as our present information goes, we haye reason to be- 
 lieye 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 California. 
 In Australia the diggings are yery deep and spotted, that is, 
 the gold is uneyenly 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 dicrgincrs were not so 
 extensiye nor so rich as in this state. Here we haye numerous 
 large streams coming down through the mining districts, very 
 large bodies of pay-dirt, and a mild climate. 
 
 After diyiding placers into deep and shallow, the next clas- 
 sification will be according to their topographical position, as 
 into hill, flat, bench, bar, river-bed, ancient river-bed, and 
 gulch mines. HiU diggings are those where the pay-dii't is 
 in or under a hill. Flat diggings are in a flat. Bench dig- 
 gings are in a " bench" or narrow table on the side of a hill 
 above a river. Benches of this kind are not uncommon in 
 California, and they often indicate the place where the stream 
 ran in some yery remote age. Bars are low collections of 
 sand and grayel at the side of a river and above its surface at 
 low water. River-bed claims are those beneath the surfoce of 
 the river at low water, and access is obtained to them only by 
 removing the water from the bed by flumes or ditches. An- 
 cient river-bed claims are those of which the gold was deposited 
 by streams in places where no streams now exist Gulch claims 
 
242 KESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 are those in gullies which have 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 man- 
 ner in which, or the instruments with which they are wrought. 
 There are sluice claims, hydraulic claims, timnel claims, dry 
 washing, dry digging, and knife claims. In 1849 and 1850, 
 the main classification of the placers was into wet diggings 
 and dry diggings, the former meaning mines in the bars and 
 beds of rivers, and dry diggings were those in gullies and flats 
 where water could be obtained only 2)art of the year or not at 
 all. That classification 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 hydraulic process had been introduced. The class of 
 mines then known as the " dry diggings," and which for 
 several years furnished nearly half of the gold yield of the 
 state, are now, with a few miimportant exceptions, 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 Avash, 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 
 lost ; in some processes a considerable proportion. The general 
 estimate in California is, that one-twentieth of the gold in the 
 dirt which is washed 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 them from 
 being carried away by the water like sand. The larger pieces 
 will sink to the bottom and resist the force of the water ; the 
 smaller the particles, the greater the danger that it will be 
 borne away. Many devices have been tried to_catcli all the 
 gold, but none have succeeded i^erfectly, and some which have 
 caught a portion of what escaped from the ordinary modes of 
 mining, have been found to cost more than their yield. The 
 miner does not grieve about that which he cannot catch. He 
 
MINING. 243 
 
 is not careful to catch all that he could. His purpose is to 
 draw the largest possible revenue per 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 profit from his mine. 
 If his chiim 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 Avork, and his success will depend to a great extent upon 
 the amount of dirt which he can wash within a given space of 
 time. He regrets that any of the gold should be Avasted, but 
 his regret is because it escapes from his sluice and his pocket, 
 rather than because it is lost to industry and commerce. 
 
 § 179. Tlie Sluice. — The board-sluice is a long wooden 
 trough, 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 
 by quicksilver. The board-sluice is the great washing ma- 
 chine, and the most important instrument used in the placer 
 mining of California. It washes nearly all the dirt and catches 
 nearly all the placer gold of the country. It was invented 
 here, although it had previously been used elsewhere ; it has 
 been more extensively employed hete than in any other country, 
 and it can be used here to more advantage than elsewhere. 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. It is made 
 in sections or "boxes" twelve or fourteen feet long. The 
 boards are an inch and a half thick, and are sawn for that 
 special purpose, the bottom boards being four inches wider at 
 one end than the other. The narrow end of one box therefore 
 
244 EESO FECES OP CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 its in the wide end of another, and in that way the shiice is 
 put together, a lo^ig succession of boxes, the lower end of 
 eacli resting in the upper end of another, and not fastened 
 together otherwise. These boxes stand u})on trestles, with a 
 descent varying from eight to eighteen inches in twelve feet. 
 It is therefore an easy matter to put up or take down a sluice 
 after the boxes are made, and it is not uncommon for the 
 miners to haul their boxes from one claim to another. The 
 descent of a sluice is usually the same throughout its length, 
 and is called its " grade.'' If there be a fall of eight inches 
 in twelve feet, the sluice has an " eight-inch grade," and if the 
 fiill be twice as great, it is a " sixteen-inch grade." The grade 
 depends upon the character of the pay-dirt, the length of the 
 sluice, and its position. The steeper the descent, the more 
 rapidly the dirt is dissolved, but the greater the danger also 
 that the fine particles of gold will be carried away by the 
 water. The tougher the dirt, that is, the greater its resistance 
 to the dissolving power of the water, the steeper, other things 
 being equal, should be the sluice. A slow current does not 
 dissolve tough clay, and that is the greater part of the pay- 
 dirt, so rapidly as a swift one. The shorter the sluice, other 
 things being equal, the smaller the grade should be. There is 
 more danger that the fine particles of gold will be lost by a 
 short sluice than by a longer one, and to diminish this danger, 
 the rapidity of the current must be reduced by a small grade. 
 The greater the amomit of dirt to be washed, other things 
 being equal, the steeper should be the grade ; for a swift cur- 
 rent will wash more dirt than a slow one. In many claims 
 the pay-dirt is full of large stones and boulders, weighing from 
 one liundi-ed to five hundred pounds each, all of which must be 
 carried away through the sluice. Some are sent down whole, 
 and others are broken into pieces with sledge-hammers before 
 they are thrown into the box. These require a swift current 
 and a large body of water. The larger the supply of water, 
 the steeper the sluice is made, other things being equal. Of 
 course economy and convenience of working require that the 
 
MINING. 245 
 
 sluice should be near the level of the ground, and as that may 
 be steep or level below the claim, the grade of the sluice must 
 to some extent conform to it. There are thus a multitude of 
 points to be taken into consideration in fixing the grade of a 
 sluice ; but a fall of less than eight or more than twenty inches, 
 in a box of twelve feet, would be considered as unsuitable for 
 the board-sluice. Sometimes the upper part of the sluice is 
 made steeper so as to dissolve the dirt, and the lower jDart has 
 a small grade to catch the gold. The cla^'ey matter of ordi- 
 nary i^a^'-dirt is fully dissolved in a sluice two hundred feet 
 long with a low grade, so the use of the boxes beyond that 
 length is merely to catch the gold. There are claims however 
 in which the clay is so extremely tough that it will roll in 
 large balls more than a quarter of a mile through a steep sluice 
 with a large head of water, and come out at the lower end 
 scarcely diminished in size. 
 
 The gold is caught in the sluice-boxes by false bottoms of 
 various kinds. It would not do to leave the smooth boards, 
 for the water would sweep all the gold away, and the boards 
 themselves would soon be worn throuo;h. The most common 
 false bottom is the longitudinal riffle-bar, which is fi'om two to 
 four inches thick, from three to seven inches wide, and six feet 
 long. Two sets of these riffle-bars go into each sluice-box, the 
 box being twice as long as the bar. A set of riffle-bars is as 
 many as fill one-half of a box. They are wedged in, from an inch 
 to two inches apart ; the wedging being used, because the bars 
 can more readily be fastened in their places, and more easily 
 taken up, than if nails were used. Before the work of sluicing 
 commences, all the boxes are fitted with riffle-bars, and the 
 bottom of the sluice is therefore full of holes from one to two 
 inches wide, from three to seven inches deep, and six feet long. 
 These are the places in which the gold, quicksilver, and amal- 
 gam are caught. Quicksilver is used now in nearly all the sluices, 
 and is the more necessary the smaller the particles of gold. 
 The large pieces of the metal would all be caught by their 
 specific gravity without the aid of amalgamation. 
 
246 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 The sluice-boxes having been made, and set np "with th 
 proper grade, the water is turned in. The boxes are made ol 
 the rough boards as they come from the saw, and the joints are 
 not waterproof, but the leaks are soon stopped by the swelling 
 of the wood, or by the dirt. The stream of water in the sluics 
 is at least two inches deep over the bottom. The height of 
 the sides of the boxes is from eight inches to two feet. The 
 sluice usually runs through the claim, and the auriferous dirt 
 is thrown in with shovels, of which from four to twenty are 
 constantly at work. A man will throw in from two to five 
 cubic yards of dirt in one day. The water rushing over the 
 dirt as it lies in the box, rapidly dissolves the clay and loam, 
 and then sweeps the sand, gravel, and stones down. The first 
 dirt in the box goes to fill the spaces between the riffle-bars. 
 After the sluicing has been in progress a couple of hours, some 
 quicksilver is put in at the head of the sluice, and it gradually 
 finds its way downward, most of it stopping, however, near 
 where it is put in. 
 
 § 180. Amalgamation. — There are a few metals, including 
 gold, silver, copper, and tin, which, with quicksilver, form a 
 peculiar chemical union called amalgamation, a process of great 
 importance to the gold miner. "When a piece of gold or silver 
 is placed in mercury, the latter metal gradually penetrates 
 through it, destroys the coherence of its particles, and forms 
 with it a mass like dough. A lump of gold as large as a bean 
 will be soaked through in three or four days ; with silver and 
 copper the process is slower, but they are affected in the same 
 manner. Amalgamation, though a union of a solid with a 
 liquid, difters much from a solution. In the latter the union is 
 mechanical ; in the former it its chemical. In the latter the 
 solid is reduced to particles of impalpable fineness ; in the 
 former it is not. An ounce of salt will be dissolved in, and 
 nearly equally difiiised through, a pint of w\ater ; but if an ounce 
 of gold be thrown into a pint of quicksilver, it will, after forming 
 an amnlgam with the quicksilver, remain at the bottom. We 
 have no texture so fine that it will strain salt out of water; but 
 
MINING. 247 
 
 the particles of gold are so coarse in amalgam that they can 
 easily be strained out by means of buckskin or tight cloths. 
 However a little gold will remain in the quicksilver — about 
 the fiftieth part of an ounce of gold in every pound of quick- 
 silver; and the only method of obtaining this gold is by re- 
 torting. 
 
 Quicksilver is used in gold mining for catching the small 
 particles of metal ; the large ones are caught by their weight. 
 But many of the particles are so small that they are almost in- 
 visible to the naked eye, and when in moving w^ater they 
 float. Miners frequently sliow visitors the fineness of their gold 
 by putting some of the dust in a vial with water ; and upon 
 shaking, the particles of metal can be seen floating about in 
 the clear water. Riffles, and all the devices to get the benefit 
 of specific gravity, are of little use to arrest this " float-gold," 
 so amalgamation is employed. Kabit of quicksilver is put in 
 the Avay of the fine gold, the two metals unite at once and 
 make a larger bulk, which can be caught. 
 
 There is no such attraction between gold and quicksilver as 
 there is between the magnet and iron ; but when the two for- 
 mer metals once touch, an amalgam is immediately formed, and 
 if the proportions of the metals be about even, they in time 
 make a hard mass. Some gold does not amalgamate readily ; 
 in various diggings of Siskiyou county, the gold has a red- 
 dish coating, which prevents amalgamation. Grease or resin 
 in the w^ater used for washing, is also unfavorable. So is cold. 
 Heat is favorable, and therefore less gold is lost in summer 
 than in winter. Quicksilver that has been once used is consid- 
 ered better than that fresh from the flask. 
 
 No tinned iron or copper vessel should be used for holding 
 or panning out amalgam, or dirt containing amalgam ; since 
 quicksilver forms an amalgam with tin and copper, and will 
 stick to the sides of a tinned or copper pan. 
 
 In most sluices, the quicksilver is put in above the riff[le- 
 bars at various places along in the boxes, with a confidence 
 that the great specific gravity of the metal will prevent it from 
 
248 EESOUPvCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 being lost. The greater the quantity and proportion of fine 
 gold, the greater the importance of the quicksilver. 
 
 The best method of catching very fine gold by amalgama- 
 tion is to cover a large copper plate with mercury, and let the 
 dirt and water, in a thickness of not more than a quarter of an 
 inch, pass over it slowly. There are various methods of cover- 
 ing copper plates with quicksilver. The first thing, in every 
 case, is to wash the copper with diluted nitric acid, so as to 
 remove all dirt and grease. The quicksilver may then be 
 rubbed on with a rag ; or, still better, it may be dissolved in 
 nitric acid, and the liquid nitrate of quicksilver may be applied 
 with a rag. The nitric acid will attack the copper, and leave the 
 quicksilver as an amalgam on the surface of the copper. This 
 is the most common process, but the nitrate of copper con- 
 tinues for a long time to come up through the quicksilver and 
 interfere with the catching of the gold. When the nitrate of 
 copper appears — it is a green slime — it should be scraped off" 
 and the place rubbed over with quicksilver. When a plate is 
 once covered with mercury, the operation need never be re- 
 peated ; but more mercury must be sprinkled on as the gold 
 collects and forms a solid amalgam. The plate is usually three 
 feet wide and six feet long, and is set nearly level. In very 
 large sluices the stream should be divided so as to run over 
 difi"erent plates. The slowness of the current and the shallow- 
 ness of the water are important, for with a swift current or 
 deep water many of the particles of float-gold may escape 
 without touching the quicksilver. Wherever a speck of gold 
 has fixed itself on the plate, there others will collect about it, 
 evidently preferring to fix themselves in a neighborhood rather 
 than in a waste place. The more gold there is on a plate, the 
 better it is considered to be. The seasons for cleaning up are 
 usually determined by the danger of theft. Miners do not like 
 to leave their gold out in quantities so large as to attract 
 thieves. The amalgam is sometimes half an inch thick, and 
 is usually, at cleaning-up time, a hard mass, which must be 
 loosened by heat. The plate is put on a fire, and when it gets 
 
MIXING. 249 
 
 so warm that the hand can scarcely bear it, the amalgam is 
 softened and loosened, so that it can be scraped off readily. 
 The plate is then sprinkled anew with quicksilver, and is ready 
 for use again. Mercury does not amalgamate with copper so 
 readily as with gold or silver. A copper j^late, the sixteenth 
 of an inch thick, may be used for at least five years, and per- 
 haps for ten ; whereas a gold plate of equal thickness would, 
 if exposed to the action of quicksilver in the same manner, faH 
 to pieces in a few weeks. After a time the quicksilver per- 
 vades the copper, and gives it a silvery whiteness all through 
 on the under side. It is said that a solution of cyanuret or 
 prussiate of potash, is used instead of nitric acid in applying 
 mercury to copper plates, and that it is still better, there being 
 then no trouble with the green spots of nitrate of copper. 
 
 A good amalgamated copper plate is considered as service- 
 able as a bed of quicksilver of equal size, and it is very much 
 cheaper and more convenient to manage. 
 
 The dirt and water should be admitted to the copper plate, 
 by falling first through a sheet-iron plate, pierced with holes 
 half an inch Ions: and a sixteenth of an inch wide. Some 
 miners place this sheet-iron plate immediately over the copper. 
 
 Very soon after the water and dirt commence to run in the 
 sluice, all the spaces between the riffle-bars are filled with 
 sand, gravel, and dirt; which, however, present many little 
 inequalities of surface, sufficient to catch all the particles of 
 gold larger than a pin-head. The largest gold is caught near 
 the head of the sluice; and the fiirtlier down the sluice, the 
 finer the gold. In some sluices, where the pay-dirt contains 
 much coarse gold, the quicksilver is introduced from thirty to 
 sixty yards below the head, so as to catch only the fine par- 
 ticles of metal. 
 
 § 181. Cleaning 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. Ordinarily the 
 12 
 
250 TwESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sluice runs only during daylight, but in some claims the "work 
 continues night and day. Cleaning up occupies from half a 
 day to a day, and therefore must not be repeated too often, 
 because it consumes too much time. In some sluices the clean- 
 ing up does not occur until the riffle-bars have been worn out 
 or much bruised by the wear of the stones and gravel. Clean- 
 ing up is considered light and pleasant work as compared with 
 other sluicing, and is often reserved for Sunday. At the time 
 fixed, the throwing in of dirt ceases, and the water runs until 
 it becomes clear. Five or six sets of riffle-bars, a distance of 
 thirty or thirty-five feet, are taken up at the head of the sluice, 
 and the dirt between the bars is washed down, while the gold 
 and amalgam lodge above the first remaining set of riffle-bars, 
 whence it is taken out with a scoop or large spoon, and put 
 into a pan. Five or six more sets of bars are taken up, and 
 so on down. Sometimes all the riffle-bars are taken up at 
 once, save one sot in every thirty-six feet, and then the work 
 of cleaning up is dispatched much more raptdly. 
 
 The quicksilver and amalgam taken from the sluice are put 
 into a buckskin or cloth, and pressed, so that the liquid metal 
 passes through, and the amalgam is retained. The amalgam, 
 is then heated, to drive ofl:' the mercury. This may be done 
 either in an open pan or in a close retort. In the former, the 
 quicksilver is lost ; in the latter, it is saved. The pan is gen- 
 erally preferred. Often a shovel or plate of iron is used. 
 Three pounds 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 the amalgam, is a porous mass, somewhat resem- 
 bling sponge-cake in appearance. 
 
 § 182. 2\f\fffe-Jjars. — The riffle-bars are usually sawn longi- 
 tudinally with the grain of the wood, but " block riffle-bars" 
 are considered preferable; 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 are worn out in a week in some large 
 
MINING. 251 
 
 sluices, there is a considerable savincr in usinc: the former. 
 The block riffle-bars are only two or three feet long. 
 
 In some small sluices the riffle-bars are not placed in the 
 boxes longitudinally, nor in sets ; but one bar near the head 
 runs downward at an angle of forty-five degrees to the course 
 of the box, not touching its lower end to the side of the box, 
 but leaving an open space of an inch there. Just below this 
 open space another bar starts from the side of the box and 
 runs downward at right angles to the course of the first bar, 
 and an open space is again left at the end of this bar ; and so 
 on down to near the lower end of the sluice, where there are 
 longitudinal riffle-bars in sets as described in the preceding 
 paragraphs. The consequence of using this kind of riffle-bar 
 is, that though much of the water and light dirt runs straight 
 over the bars, the heavier material runs down from side to side 
 in a z\a:ziia; course. Near the head of the sluice is a vessel, 
 from which quicksilver Mis by drops into the box ; and it fol- 
 lows the coursesof riffle-bars, overtaking the gold which takes 
 the same route. These zigzng riffle- bars are nailed down. In 
 all sluices, men must keep watch to see that the boxes do not 
 choke ; that is, that the dirt and stones do not collect in one 
 place, so as to make a dam, and cause the water to run over 
 the sides, and thus waste the gold. 
 
 There are small sluices, from which all stones as large as a 
 doubled fist are thrown out. For this purpose the miner uses 
 a sluice-fork, which is like a large manure-fork or garden-fork, 
 but has tines which are blunt and of equal width all the way 
 down ; the bluntness being intended to prevent the tines from 
 catching in the wood, and the equality of width to prevent the 
 stones from getting fast in the fork. 
 
 In some sluices, the "block riffle-bars" — that is, bars cut 
 across the grain of the tree — are set transversely in the boxes, 
 and about two inches apart. 
 
 Another device is, to fill the pores of such riffle-bars with 
 quicksilver. This is done by driving an iron cylinder with 
 a sharp edge into the surface of the bar, then putting mercury 
 
252 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 into tne cylinder, and pressing it into the wood. The quick- 
 silver, thus fastened in the wood, catches particles of gold, 
 "which must be scraped off when the time for " cleaning up" 
 comes. 
 
 § 183. Double Sluices. — Sluices are sometimes made double 
 — that is, with a longitudinal division through the middle, so 
 that there 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. In some places 
 the amount of water varies greatly ; so that in the winter there 
 is enough to run two sluices, and in the summer only one. And 
 there are companies which wish to continue washing without 
 interruption ; so they wash first on one side and then on the 
 other, and clean up without any interruption to the process of 
 Avashino-. 
 
 Another device for saving gold in sluices is the " under-cur- 
 rent 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 
 another sluice, with an additional supply of clean water, and 
 with a lower grade. The grating allows only the fine mate- 
 rial to fall through ; and the current of water being moderate, 
 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. 
 
 § 184. JRoclc- Sluices. — Large sluices are frequently paved 
 with stone, which makes a more durable false bottom than 
 wood, and catches fine gold better than riffle-bars. The stone 
 bottoms have another advantage — that it is not so easy for 
 thieves to come and clean up at night, as is often done in riffle- 
 bar sluices. But, on the other hand, cleaning up is more diffi- 
 cult and tedious m 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 wa- 
 ter and dirt have run over them for an hour, they are fastened 
 
MINING. 253 
 
 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. 
 
 § 185. Hydraulic Mining. — After the board-sluice, with its 
 various adjuncts of riffle-bars, stone bottoms, copper plates, 
 and so forth, the next instrument of importance in the gold- 
 mining of California is the hydraulic hose, used to let water 
 down from a considerable height, and throw it under the press- 
 ure of its own weight against the pay-dirt, which is thus torn 
 down, broken up, dissolved, and carried into the sluice below. 
 The sluice is a necessary part of hydraulic mining. The hose 
 is used, not to wash the dirt, but to save digging with shovels, 
 and to carry it to the sluice. 
 
 The hydraulic process is applied only in claims where the 
 dirt is deep and where the water is abundant. If the dirt 
 were shallow in the claim and its vicinity, the necessary 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 two 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. At the top of the bank is a little reservoir, con- 
 taining perhaps not more than a hundred gaflons, into which 
 the water runs constantly, and from which the hose extends 
 down to the bottom of the claim. The hose is of heavy duck, 
 sometimes double, sewn by machine. This hose when full is 
 from four to ten inches in diameter, and will bear a perpendic- 
 ular 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 for this purpose, in some 
 claims, it is surrounded by iron bands, which are about two 
 
254 EESOUECES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 inches wide, and are connected by four ropes which run per- 
 pendicularly down. The rings are about three inches apart. 
 The " crinoline hose," thus made, is very flexible, and will sup- 
 port a cohimn of water one hundred and fifty or two hundred 
 feet high. The pipe at the end of the hose is like the pipe of 
 a fire-engine hose, though usually larger. Sometimes the pipe 
 wall be eight inches in diameter where it connects with the 
 hosCj and not more than two inches at the mouth ; and the 
 force with which the stream rushes from it is so great, that it 
 wall kill a man instantaneously, and tear down a hill more rap- 
 idly than could a hundred men with shovels. 
 
 One or two men are required to hold the pipe. They usu- 
 ally 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 airain, and so on. K the bank is one hundred and 
 fifty feet high, the mass of earth that tumbles down is of 
 course immense, and the pipemen must stand far ofi*, for fear 
 that they will be caught in the avalanche. Such accidents are 
 of daily occurrence, and the deaths from this cause probably 
 are not less than threescore every year in the state. Often 
 legs are broken ; still more frequently the pipemen have warn- 
 ing, and escape in time. When men are buried in the falling 
 dirt, the water is used to wash them out. In some claims, the 
 pipe will tear down more dirt than the sluice can wash ; in 
 other claims, the sluice always demands more dirt than the 
 pipe can bring down. In the latter case, blasting may be used 
 to loosen the dirt, or the miners may undermine the bank, 
 leaving a few columns of dirt for support ; and then these be- 
 ing washed away by the pi^^e, 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 off." — "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 mining. 
 
MINING. 255 
 
 Tlie 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 employed 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 — such as the sup- 
 ply of water, the height of its fall, the toughness of the dirt, 
 and the amount of moisture in it. More can be washed in win- 
 ter than in summer, because the dirt is then moister, and re- 
 quires less water to loosen and dissolve it. The quantity of 
 water used in a hydraulic claim is from forty to two hundred 
 inches. 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 dol- 
 lars and ten cents per day, or two dollars and seventy cents to 
 tlie man, exclusive of the cost of water. But, as a matter of 
 fact, nearly all the hydraulic claims pay more than that, and 
 they will average at least three cents to the cubic foot, and 
 many of them yield five cents. The water usually costs twen- 
 ty cents an inch per day, so that one hundred inches would 
 cost twenty dollars. Allowing for the water at that rate, a 
 claim in which thirty cubic yards could be washed in a day 
 with one hundred inches of water, and in which the dirt con- 
 tained five cents tp the cubic foot, would leave a net pay of six 
 dollars and sixty-six cents to each man per day. 
 
 One hydraulic company, of whose labors I have a note, 
 washed two hundred and twenty-four thousand cubic feet of 
 dirt in six days, using two hundred inches of water, and em- 
 ploying 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 hundred dollars more, making 
 
256 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 a total expenditure of six hundred and forty dollars : and the 
 gold obtained was three thousand dollars, leaving a clear profit 
 of twenty-thi-ee hundred and fifty dollars. The dirt contained 
 one cent and a fifth of gold in a cubic foot. The greater the 
 amount of water used, the greater the proportionate 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 obtained in abundance. 
 
 Usually, in a hydraulic claim, the dirt is washed down to 
 the bed-rock ; but in some places the washing stops far above 
 the bed-rock, because there is no outlet for the water. 
 
 § 186. JBlasting. — In some hydraulic claims, the dirt, in dry 
 seasons, is blasted, so as to loosen it. A drift or hole is cut 
 into the bottom of a hill one or two hundred feet high, and a 
 number of kegs of powder (from twenty to two hundred) are 
 introduced, and they are fired with a slow match. The explo- 
 sion makes an earthquake in the vicinity ; and the ground is 
 loosened to such an extent that there is a great saving of labor. 
 The breaking up of the dirt and the exposure to the air are 
 supposed to facilitate the washing greatly. 
 
 More water is required for piping down banks than for 
 washing the dirt ; and often the sluice is almost idle for want 
 of dirt, while the water, after being thrown against the hill- 
 side, runs away without doing any service at washing. Blast- 
 ing, therefore, by loosening the earth, enables the hydraulic 
 miner to have an abundant and regular supply of dirt in his 
 sluice, at an expense much less than the cost of manual labor 
 to dig the bank down with pick and shovel. 
 
 § 187. Tail-Sluice. — The tail-sluice is a large sluice made 
 for rewashing the tailings or dirt which has previously passed 
 through other sluices. It is placed ordinarily in the bed of a 
 ravine or creek through which tailings run, and it receives no 
 attention for weeks or months at a time, save to keep it from 
 choking. The sluices emptying into it furnish both dirt and 
 water, and in the dirt there is always a large amount of tine 
 gold, as is plainly proved by the fact that some of the tail- 
 
MINING. 257 
 
 sluices have paid large profits to their owners. Tail-sluices 
 are always large, long, and paved with stones ; and sometimes 
 they are double, so that one side may be cleaned up while the 
 other continues washing. In a branch of the Yuba there is. 
 or was not long since, a tail-sluice twenty feet wide. 
 
 § 188. Tunnel- Sluice. — A tunnel-sluice is a sluice, in a tun- 
 nel. It sometimes happens that a considerable body of water 
 runs out through a tunnel ; and in such case, a sluice at the 
 bottom of the tunnel offers the easiest method of getting out 
 and washing the dirt. The tunnels are never cut level, but 
 with a slightly-ascending grade, so that the water will always 
 run out. The grade is so low, that transverse riffle-bars must 
 be used ; for with longitudinal riffle-bars or stones, there would 
 be too much danger of choking. These tunnel-sluices, because 
 of. their low grades, require much more attention than any 
 other kind of sluices. 
 
 § 189. Ground- Sluice. — All the sluices hitherto mentioned 
 and described have wooden boxes,'but the ground-sluice has no 
 box : the water runs on the ground. The place selected for the 
 ground-sluice is some spot where there is a considerable supply 
 of water, a steep descent for it, and much poor dirt. The stream 
 is turned through 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. It is used to the most advantage for washing 
 where the water is abundant for only a few weeks after heavy 
 rains, and where it would not pay to erect large sluices. A 
 few cobble-stones should be left or thrown at intervals in the 
 bed of the ground-sluice to arrest the gold, for if the bed were 
 smooth clay, the precious metal might all be carried off. 
 Quicksilver is not used in the ground-sluice. After the dirt 
 has all been put through the ground-sluice, it is cleaned up in a 
 short board-sluice, or a tom. 
 
 190. Jjong Torn. — The tom or long tom, an instrument ex- 
 tensively used in the Californian mines in 1851 and 1852, but 
 12"^' 
 
258 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOR^^IA. 
 
 now rarely seen, is a wooden trough about twelve feet long, 
 eighteen inches wide at the upper end, and widening at the 
 lower to thirty inches, with sides eight inches high. It is used 
 like a board-sluice, but has no riffle-bars, and at the lower end 
 its bottom is of sheet-iron, perforated with holes half an inch 
 in diameter. This sheet-iron is turned up at the lower end, so 
 that the water never runs over there, but always drops down 
 through the perforated sheet-iron or riddle, into a little rifile- 
 box, contiuning transverse riffle-bars. A stream of water of 
 about ten inches makes a "tom-head" — or the amount con- 
 sidered necessary for a torn — through the torn, which has a 
 grade similar to that of a board-sluice. The dirt is thrown in 
 at the head of the torn, and a man is constantly employed in 
 moving the dirt with a shovel, throwing back such pieces of 
 clay as are not dissolved, to the head of the torn, and throw- 
 ing out stones. From two to four men can work with a torn; 
 but the amount of dirt that can be washed is not half that of 
 a sluice. The torn may be used to advantage in diggings 
 where the amount of pay-dirt is small and the gold coarse. 
 The riffle-box contains quicksilver, and as the dirt in it is kept 
 loose bv the water fallins^ down on it from the riddle above, a 
 large part of the gold is caught ; but where the particles are 
 fine, much must be lost. 
 
 § 191. Cradle. — The rocker or cradle is still less than the 
 tom and inferior in capacity. It bears some resemblance in 
 shape and size to a child's cradle, and restg upon similar rockers. 
 The cradle-box is about forty inches long, twenty wdde, and 
 f Hir high, and it stands with the upper end about two feet 
 higher than the lower end, which is open so that the tailings 
 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 lit\ed off with- 
 out difficulty. Under the riddle is an "apron" of wood or^ 
 cloth, fastened to the sides of the cradle-box and sloping down 
 
MINING. 259 
 
 to the upper end of it. Across tlie bottom of tlic cradle-box 
 are two rifHe-bars about an inch square, one in the middle, the 
 other at the end of the box. The dirt is shovelled 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 rid<Ue, 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 riftle-bars. The man who rocks a 
 cradle learns to appreciate the fact, that the " golden sands" 
 of California are not pure sand, but are often extremely tough 
 clay, a hopperful of which must be shaken about for ten. 
 minutes before it will dissolve under a constant pouring of 
 water. Many large stones are found in the pay-dirt. Such 
 as give an unpleasant shock to the cradle, as they roll from 
 side to side of the riddle-box are pitched out by hand, and 
 after a glance to see that no gold sticks to their sides, are 
 tlirown away ; but the smaller ones are left until the hopper- 
 ful has been washed, so that nothing but clean stones remain 
 in the riddle, and then the cradler rises from his seat, lifts up 
 his hopper, and with a jerk throws all the stones out. The 
 water and the rocking are both necessary. Without the 
 water, the dirt could not be washed ; and without the rocking, 
 the dirt would dissolve very slowly, and the gold would 
 most of it be lost. The rocking keeps the dirt in the bottom 
 of the cradle more or less loose, so that the particles of 
 gold can sink down in it, whereas if the cradle stood still 
 the sand there would almost immediately pack down into a 
 hard floor, over which the gold would run almost as readi- 
 Jy as over a board. The whole business of washing with a 
 cradle is a repetition of the process already described— some 
 dirt, about one third or one-fourth of what the hopper would 
 hold, if full, is put into the hopper, and while the cradle is 
 rocked with one hand, the other pours in the water. The 
 
260 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 cradle is cleaned irp two or four times in a day. The clean- 
 ing up is done by lifting the hopper, taking out the apron, 
 scraping up all the dirt in the bottom of the cradle with an 
 iron spoon, putting it into a pan and washing out the dirt, so 
 that only the gold will be left. This last process is called 
 panning out, and will be described in the next section. Most 
 of the gold collects above the upper riffle-bar, including all the 
 larger lumps. If the apron be of rough woollen cloth, some of 
 the fine gold will be caught there. In diggings where the 
 gold is very fine, the hopper is sometime? placed over the 
 lower end of the cradle, and the apron is made twice as long, 
 and with a lower inclination than in the more common form 
 of the rocker. The water for the cradle should be supplied by 
 a little ditch, with a reservoir at the head of the cradle, to 
 contain five or six gallons. The dipper should be of tin, 
 shaped like a basin, hold about a gallon when full, and have a 
 handle an inch and a half in diameter, and eight inches long. 
 The difterence of height between the upper and lower ends of 
 the cradle should not be more than two inches : a steeper in- 
 clination will make the current running through it too strong, 
 and the gold will be carried ofi"; and, on the other hand, if 
 the cradle be nearer a level it will be hard to rock, and the 
 dirt in the bottom will pack more raj^idly. The amount of dirt 
 that can be washed in a day with a cradle, varies from one to 
 three cubic yards. The dirt is usually shovelled into a pan or 
 bucket, from which it is thrown into the hopper. The miners 
 usually measure the amount of dirt washed by the number of 
 "pans." One man working alone with a cradle ought to 
 wash from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty pans in a day, 
 and two men will wash twice as much. A pan may contain 
 one-third or one-half of a cubic foot. Two men can work more 
 conveniently with the rocker than one. There is enough work 
 to give constant employment to a cradler and a shoveller. The 
 latter has a couple of buckets or pans, which he fills alter- 
 nately, always keeping one full and near the cradler, so that 
 without moving his feet he can pick it up and empty it into 
 
MINING. ^ 261 
 
 tlie ri(.l(lle-box. If tlie rocker have only one man, he must 
 stop rocking after washing every i)an and get more dirt. This 
 delay is injurious to the process of washing, because it allows 
 the dirt in the bottom of the cradle to harden and pack, and 
 Bome gold is always lost as a consequence. If the dirt and 
 water be convenient not more than two men can work to a 
 profit with a rocker. But sometimes it happens that water 
 cannot be led to the claim, and in such case the dirt must be 
 carried to the water, a greater weight of which is used than 
 of dirt. At least three times as much water as dirt is required 
 for washing. If the distance from the hole to the water be 
 not over ten or twenty feet, the miners will usually carry the 
 dirt in buckets ; if farther they will use wheelbarrows ; and 
 sometimes for greater distances pack-mules or wagons. The 
 greater the distance, the more the men required for carrying 
 the dirt. Sometimes, too, it happens that the claim is troubled 
 by water, and then one man may be constantly employed in 
 balino;. 
 
 It is of great importance in mining with the cradle, to have 
 the cradle placed within four or five feet of the hole from 
 which the pay-dirt is obtained, and to have a good supply of 
 water at the head of the cradle, and then to have a good de- 
 scent below the cradle, so that the tailings may all be carried 
 away by the water, so as not to accumulate. The rocker 
 Avashes about one-half the amount of dirt that can be washed 
 by an equal number of men with the tom, one-fourth of what 
 can be washed with the sluice, and one-hundredth of the 
 amount that can be washed with the hydraulic process ; but it 
 is peculiarly fitted for some kinds of diggings. Many little 
 gullies, containing coarse gold in their beds, cannot obtain 
 water for washing except during rains, and then only for a few 
 days at a time. In these gullies the cradle can be used to the 
 best advantage, for it can easily be transported, and it is very 
 good for saving coarse gold. While diit that would pay 
 from ten to twenty-five cents, was abundant at the surface of 
 the earth in the Californian mines, the cradle was extensively 
 
262 BESO FECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 used, but now it has been abandoned by the whites, and is left 
 to the Chinamen, who think themselves doing well if they make 
 seventy-five cents or one dollar per day. 
 
 The great difficulty in mining with the cradle, is that the 
 sand will " pack," or make a hard mass on a level with the 
 top of the riffle-bars, and the gold then is lost. So long as the 
 cradle is in motion the dirt does not J3ack, but when the rock- 
 ing ceases, the mass hardens in a few minutes. If the miner 
 leaves his cradle standing for fifteen minutes, he stirs up the 
 dirt with his spoon before commencing again to wash. One 
 device to prevent packing is to put a little block imder each 
 end of the rockers, so that at the end of every motion the cradle 
 receives a shock. Quicksilver is sometimes used in cradles, 
 but not usually. 
 
 § 192. jP«?i. — 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 stiif tin or sheet- 
 iron, with a flat 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 
 auriferous dirt. Some dirt, not enough to fill it full, is put in, 
 and the pan is then put under water. The water ought to be 
 not more than a foot deep, so that the pan mny rest on the 
 liottom, while the miner inserts his fingers in and under the 
 dirt and lifts it up a little, so that the whole mass is wet. If 
 the Avater be deep, the pan may be held in one hand while the 
 other is used to stir up the dirt, but it is more convenient to 
 take both. The dirt having been filled with water, the miner 
 catches the pan at the sides, raises that part toward his body, and 
 lowers the outer edge a little, Jind commences to shake the pan 
 from side to side, holding it so that all the dirt is underwater, 
 and so that a little of the dirt can escape over the outer edge. 
 The earthy part of the dirt is rapidly dissolved by the water, 
 
MINING. 263 
 
 assisted by the shaking of the pan and the rolling of the 
 gravel from side to side, and forms a mud which runs out while 
 clean water runs in. The light sand flows out with the thin 
 mud, while the lumps of tough clay and the large stones remain. 
 The stones collect on the top of the clay, and they are scraped 
 together with the fingers and thrown out. This process con- 
 tinues, the pan being gradually raised in the water, and its 
 outer edge depressed, until all the earthy matter has been dis- 
 solved, and that as well as the stones swept away by the 
 water, while the gold remains at the bottom. Panning is not 
 difiicult, but it requires practice to learn the degree of shaking 
 which dissolves the dirt and throws out the stones most rapidly 
 without losing the gold. If the shaking be too mild and slow, 
 the process consumes too much time ; whereas if it be too 
 rapid and violent, the gold is carried off with the stones. 
 Sometimes the pan is shaken so that the dirt receives a rotary 
 motion. This is the most rapid method of washing dirt, but 
 also the most dangerous. The pan must always be used in 
 cleaning up the dirt which collects in the cradle, in prospect- 
 ing, and frequently in washing small quantities of dirt col- 
 lected in other kinds of placer mining. Amalgam can be sepa- 
 rated from dirt by washing, almost as well as gold. In panning 
 out, it frequently happens that considerable 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 by that process -from 
 gravel, stones, and common dirt. The black sand is dried, 
 and a small quantity of it is 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, leaving the par- 
 ticles 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 
 uand contains iron, and the little of it remaining is easily re- 
 
204 KESOUKCES OF CALIF OEXIA. 
 
 moved by a magnet. The blower should be very smooth, and 
 made of either tin, brass, or copper. 
 
 § 193. Dry 'Wasldng. — Dry washing is a method of win- 
 nowing gold from dirt. In many parts of the mining districts 
 of California, water cannot be obtained daring the summer for 
 mining purposes. The miner tlierefore manages to wash his 
 dirt without 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. 
 Of course a pleasant breeze, that will carry away the dust, is 
 a orreat assistance to the operation. Sometimes two men have 
 a hide or a blanket, with which they throw up the dirt. The 
 process is very similar to the ancient method of separating 
 grain from chaff. Tlie miner w^ho devotes himself to dry 
 washing must be very particular to take only rich dirt, so he 
 scrapes the bed-rock carefully. He never digs very deep — not 
 more then twenty feet ; and when he goes beyond seven or 
 eight feet he " coyotes," or burrows after the pay-dirt. He 
 may coyote into the side of a hill, or sink a shaft and coyote 
 in all directions from it. This style of mining is named from 
 the resemblance of the holes to the burrows of the coyote, or 
 Californian wolf. Coyoting is not confined to the dry wash- 
 ing, but is used also by miners washing with the pan and 
 cradle. One of the Congressmen elected some years ago to 
 represent California at Washington, was a miner at the time 
 of his nomination, and was so fond of coyoting, that he was 
 generally known as " Coyote Joe." 
 
 § 194. Dnj Digging. — Dry digging is that mining where 
 the miner, after using the shovel to strip off the barren dirt, 
 scrapes the pay-dirt over with a knife, picking out the particles 
 of ffold as he comes to them, and throwincr awnv the earthy 
 matter. This is a slow process, but in rich placers may be 
 profitable. The miner is, of course, particular to examine all 
 the crevices in the bed-rock ; and if the material be slate, he 
 
MINING. 265 
 
 digs up part of it, to see whether the gold has not found its 
 way into cracks scarcely perceptible on the surface. " Dry 
 digging," as a mode of mining, must not be confounded with 
 " dry diggings," a kind of mining-ground which has been de- 
 scribed near the beginning of this chapter. 
 
 Knife-mining differs a Httle from dry digging. In the latter, 
 a shovel is used to strip off" the barren dirt ; whereas the knife- 
 mining is practised in those places where the gold is deposited 
 in crevices in rocks along the banks of streams, without any 
 covering of barren dirt, so that the knife alone is used in scra- 
 ping out the dirt; and afterward the dirt, being placed in a 
 pan, may be washed in water, which is never used in dry dig- 
 ging- 
 
 § 195. Puddling-Hox, — The puddling-box is a rough wood- 
 en 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 stuff 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 off, w^hile the heavier material, inclu- 
 ding the gold, remains at the bottom. He then puts in the 
 plug again, fills up the box wdth water, throws in more clay, 
 and repeats the process again and again until night, when he 
 cleans up with a cradle or pan. The puddling-box is used 
 only in small mining oj^eratious, and never with the sluice, or 
 in hydraulic claims. 
 
 § 196. Quicksilver-Machine. — The quicksilver-machine, or 
 Burke rocker, is a cradle about seven feet long, two feet wide, 
 and two feet high. In the bottom are a number of compart- 
 ments, all containing quicksilver. One man rocks the machine 
 without cessation. A constant stream of water pours into the 
 machine at its head. The riddle extends the whole length of 
 the machine ; and the stones, after being washed clean, fall off 
 the riddle at the lower end. One man is employed constantly 
 working with a shovel to keep the dirt on the riddle under the 
 stream of water, and in throwing off the big stones. K the 
 
266 RESOUKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 pay-dirt is very conveiiient, two men can shovel enough to 
 keep the machine in operation. The Burke rocker was exten- 
 sively used in Califoraia eight and ten years ago, but now it is 
 a great rarity. 
 
 § 197. TunneJ-Mlaing. — A tunnel, in Californian mhiing, is 
 an adit or drift enteriug a hill-side, or running out from a shaft. 
 Mining-tunnels are usually nearly horizontal — 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 tunoels ran downward at an angle of 
 twenty degrees or more, to avoid veins or ledges of rock, 
 which would have to be blasted through if the tunnel wero 
 cut horizontally ; but this can only be done with safety in hills 
 which are drained by older horizontal tunnels. 
 
 The mining-tunnel does not run through a hill, but only into 
 it. The leno'th of tunnels varies c^reatlv ; the lono^est are about 
 a mile. The 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 thnbers, &c. Timnels are 
 usually made by companies of eight or ten men, of whom one- 
 half may be 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. Two or 
 three men work at a time cutting a tunnel ; one or two to dig 
 the dirt ; and one or two to haul it out. The dirt of the first 
 fifty yards is hauled out in a wheelbarrow ; beyond that dis- 
 tance a little tram-way or railroad is laid down, and the dirt is 
 hauled out in cars, pushed by the miners. It is not customaiy 
 to use horses. It is common to have two relays of laborers — 
 one set working from noon to midnight, the other from mid- 
 night to noon. Work in a tunnel is as pleasant at night as in 
 the da}time. "When a company is rich, or has many laborers, it 
 
MINING. 267 
 
 may have three relays, each to work eight hours in the twenty- 
 four. 
 
 It is not nncommon for two companies, owning adjacent 
 claims in a hill, to unite and cut a tunnel on joint account along 
 the dividing line. They go in until they reach the pay-dirt, 
 and then a surveyor is employed to run the line between their 
 claims, and the tunnel is continued through the pay-du't. The 
 dirt from the tunnel is washed for the joint account of the two 
 companies. After the dividing line has been established, each 
 company keeps on its o^^ti side, and each has its time to use 
 the tram-way. Tliey may also have a joint-stock sluice at the 
 mouth of the tunnel — one company having the privilege of 
 using the sluice one week, and the other the next. All tho 
 dirt brought out in a week can readily be washed in a day. 
 The work of taking out the pay-dirt after the main tunnel has 
 been cut, is called " drifting ;" and the holes made by the men 
 engaged in it are termed " drifts." The drifts are usually not 
 so high as the tunnels. The large stones and barren dirt ob- 
 tained in the drifts are piled up here and there to sustain tho 
 earth overhead. Sometimes wooden posts are likewise neces- 
 sary. 
 
 § 198. Shafts. — Shafts are used in prospecting, and 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 dirt 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, but it found neither pay-dirt 
 nor the bed-rock. 
 
268 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 199. Hivev-Mining . — rJiver-mining is mining for gold in 
 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 flume. It has 
 been proposed by persons who never saw the mines, to get the 
 gold by dredging, 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 Tvhich a canoe can scarcely 
 float in summer, much less a dredging-machine ; and any large 
 scoop Avorking under water would miss the crevices and cor- 
 ners 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 usu- 
 ally 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 universally em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The work of river-minino: can be done onlv durinsr the sum- 
 mer and fall, while the water is low, and while the miner can 
 have confidence that it will not rise. It may be as low in Jan- 
 uary as in August, but the winter is the season of rains ; and 
 when the flood comes, it sweeps dams, flumes, and every thing 
 before it. If the dam and flume be commenced too early in 
 the season, they may be carried ofl" before they are finished ; 
 and it frequently happens that they are destroyed in the fall 
 just when the miners are commencing to reap the reward of 
 their summer's labor. 
 
 River-mining has many disadvantages, as compared with 
 other branches of mining. Tlie miner cannot work at it more 
 than half the year ; he cannot prospect the dirt which is hid- 
 den under water ; he must erect expensive dams and flumes, 
 which can be used for only a few months ; and then he is ex- 
 posed to floods which may come and destroy all his work 
 before he has commenced to wash. These disadvantages, and 
 
MINING. 269 
 
 the exhaustion of most of the river-diggings in the state, have 
 almost put an end to river-mining in CaUfornia. In a few 
 cases, extensive fluming enterprises have proved profitable; 
 but, as a general rule, river-mining in this state has cost more 
 than it has produced. A river is seldom flumed for less than 
 three hundred yards, and sometimes for a mile; and the lum- 
 ber and labor required to make so long a flume, and one large 
 enough to hold all the water of a river, are very expensive. 
 The dam will always leak, and water will run into the bed 
 from the adjacent hills and mountains, and this water must be 
 lifted out by pumps driven by wheels placed in the flume. 
 The river-beds are full of large rocks, weighing from one to 
 ten tons, and these must be moved by machinery, to allow (he 
 dirt to be taken out. 
 
 Itiver-mining is now never undertaken by an individual, but 
 always by large associations, generally called "fluming com- 
 panies," sometimes composed of miners exclusively, sometimes 
 of miners and all the principal business-men living near the 
 place where the work is to be done. The lawyers, doctors, 
 and oflice-holders, pay their assessments in cash; the mer- 
 chants furnish provisions, the lumbermen supply lumber, and 
 the miners make the dam, and help the carpenters build the 
 flume. 
 
 § 200. Jjeach-Mi7iinQ. — Beach-mining is the business of 
 washing the sands of the ocean-beach. Between Point Men- 
 docino, in California, and the mouth of the Umpqua River, in 
 Oregon, the beach-sand contains gold, and in some places it is 
 very rich. The beach is narrow, and lies at the foot of a bluff 
 bank of auriferous sand. In times of storm, the waves wash 
 against this bank, undermine it, sweep away the pieces which 
 tumble down, leaving the gold on the beach. The gold is in 
 very fine particles, and it moves with the heavier sand, which 
 alters its position frequently under the influence 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 
 differs greatly in richness at various times : one day, it will be 
 
270 KESOTJECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ftill of golden specks ; a few days later, at the same place it 
 will be barren. The sand in the mean tune 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 
 everyday; and only three or four men are supposed to be 
 good judges of the quality of sand, from 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 washing, 
 which is up on the bluff, probably a mile or more distant from 
 the spot where the sand is obtained. It happens occasionally 
 that the foreman rides long distances on the beach, and some- 
 times he will order the sand to be obtained ten miles from the 
 washing-place. The sand must, of course, be very rich, to pay i 
 for such transportation, but the beach-sand at times in the sun- 
 light 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 ; fox the sea-water is not so good, 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 discovered 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 
 and storm come together, little can be done. The sand, hav- 
 ing 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. 
 
 § 201. jSIining-Dltches. — The placer-mines of Caliibrnia 
 would yield very little gold, were it not for the numerous 
 ditches which supply them with water for washing. The au- 
 
MINING. 271 
 
 rifcroiis districts are very dry in summer, and in some places 
 tliere is not a spring nor a brook Avithin many miles. The 
 ^artificial ditch supplies the want. The ditches are made by 
 large companies, which sell the water by the "inch." An 
 inch of water is as much as will run out of an orifice an inch 
 square, with the water standing six or seven inches deep in 
 the flume over the orifice. The depth of water over the orifice 
 is called the " head." The orifice is usually two inches high, 
 and as long as necessary to give the amount of water desired. 
 Nobody wants less than ten or twelve inches for mining: a 
 "•sluice-head" is about eighteen inches; a "hydraulic head" is 
 from forty to two hundred inches. The water, however, is 
 not measured accurately. Of course, the amount which runs 
 through the orifice will depend to a considerable extent upon 
 the " head," which is usually greater in the morning than at 
 night. At sunrise there may be fifteen inches head, and at 
 sunset only three. The water collects during the night, and 
 is exhausted during the day. The price of water is in no 
 place less than ten cents an inch per day ; in some places it is 
 forty cents ; the average is about twenty cents. 
 
 Many of these ditches are extensive enterprises, and have 
 cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. When they cross ra- 
 vines and valleys, large flumes — ^.wonders of carpentry — must 
 be built. Some of these are two hundred feet high and a mile 
 long, and so large that a horse and wngon can be driven 
 through thern. In all, save length and durability, they are as 
 w^onderful as the great Roman aqueducts, whose tall ruins still 
 stand in tlie Campagna, near the Eternal City. In some cases 
 iron tubes have been used, and, although they are very expen- 
 sive, yet they may pay for themselves, by preventing evapora- 
 I tion, leaking, and soaking, which take away much of the water 
 from flumes and ditches. 
 
 § 202. Pi'ospectlng. — "Prospecting" is the search for gold. 
 The instruments used by the prospector for placer-mines are 
 usually the pan, pick, and shovel. He should be familiar with 
 the general laws of the distribution of gold, and then try the 
 
272 RESOUIiCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 dirt in the most favorable places. If there is any gold in a 
 district, he can scarcely fiiil to find sj^ecks of it by washing dirt 
 from the bed-rock in the ravines, and in bars. The existence 
 of gold in a district having been established, close observation 
 will suggest to the prospector where he may reasonably expect 
 to find the best diggings. It is usually found that placer-gold 
 is collected in those places where, if he had been familiar with 
 the ancient topography of the country, he should have had 
 reason to suppose that it would be. 
 
 § 203. Quartz Mining. — Quartz mining differs much from 
 placer mining. For the former, more capital, more experience, 
 more complicated machinery and richer material are required 
 than for the latter. The placer miner throws the dirt into the 
 water, which then does the work ; whereas the pulverizing of 
 rock is a nice operation, requiring constant attention. 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 hydrauhc 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 surrounding 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 from 
 its gangue, and with the fineness of the particles increases 
 the difticulty of catching them. 
 
 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 vein from which it came. 
 AVhile miners are out walking or hunting, they occasionally 
 will come upon lodes in which the gold is seen sjxirkling. 
 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 
 
MINIXG. 273 
 
 his gfime, and while skinning the animal, discovered that the 
 point of rock was auriferous quartz. In Mariposa county in 
 1855, a robber attacked a miner, and the latter saw the rock 
 beliind his assailant sparkle in the sunlight, at a si)ut where a 
 bullet struck a w.all of rock. He killed the robber, and found 
 that the rock was gold-bearing quartz. In Nevada county 
 several years ago, a couple of unfortunate miners who had 
 jirepared to leave California, and were out on a drunken frolic, 
 started a large boulder down a steep hill. On its Avay 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 miners to remain some months longer in the 
 state, and paid them well for remaining. Science and experi- 
 ence do not appear to give much assistance in prospecting 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 any body to find a 
 valuable claim. 
 
 § 204. Distribution of Gold m Quartz. — The rich quartz- 
 veins of California extend from Kern River to the Siskiyou, 
 are found on hills, in canons and in vales. They are at least 
 two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and not more 
 than ten thousand feet above it. Their course is generally 
 from north-northwest to south-southeast, and they dip steeply 
 to the eastward, sometimes being nearly perpendicular. They 
 differ in thickness from a line to sixty feet. Quartz veins are 
 very numerous in most of the mining districts, so the task is 
 not to find the veins, but rather to find those which arc gold- 
 bearing. It is supposed that nearly all large veins come to 
 the surface of the bed-rock or " country ;" but many of them 
 are covered with soil and thus are hidden. Hidden veins are 
 called " blind ;" those plainly visible on the ^ surface are called 
 13 
 
^'7Jt RESOURCES OF CALIFOIINIA. 
 
 *'croppings veins," because their position is shown by the out- 
 croi)})ings. Experience has not ascertained wjiether large or 
 small veins are more hkely to contain gold. It is found in 
 both. The porous quartz, or that containing many cavities, is 
 more frequently found auriferous and richly auriferous, than 
 the very comj:)act quartz. The best gold-bearing veins are 
 usually yellowish or brownish in tinge, near the surface at 
 least ; but very rich specimens are found in "white and bluish- 
 white rock. Most quartz veins in California contain a little 
 gold ; the metal seems to have been distributed most lavishly, 
 but unfortunately in nine-tenths of the veins, the proportion 
 of metal is too small to pay. Most of the large veins are sup- 
 posed to run for miles upon miles, though they can rarely be 
 traced clearly on the suiface for more than a furlong. The 
 auriferous veins vary much in richness. No vein is wrought 
 for more than a few hundred feet. Beyond that, it is either 
 too poor to pay, or the vein is hidden. Some persons have 
 supposed that there is one great gold-bearing quartz vein run- 
 ning along the side of the Sierra Nevada, from Mariposa to 
 Plumas county, and that many of the richest claims are really 
 in this one vein ; but this is a supposition which cannot be 
 proved now. Sometimes a vein seems to spread out and di- 
 vide into a number of smaller veins, all of which afterward 
 unite again. These points of junction, and the narrower places 
 in tlie ^ein, are usually richer than otlier parts of it. When 
 two veins cross each other, one may be auriferous on one side 
 of the intersection and not on the other ; but in this case the 
 other vein will be auriferous on both sides. It is as though 
 they were streams, one rich, the other barren, and that after 
 - meeting, the wealth of the one Avas divided between them. 
 It is a general rule that metalliferous veins running parallel 
 with the strata of the bed-roc^v or country are not extensive. 
 In fact they are rather deposits than veins, and though often 
 extremely rich are soon exhausted, while the lodes which run 
 across the stratification run far and deep, and have a regular 
 and straight course and dip. Lodes lying between two difterent 
 
MiNiisrG. 275 
 
 ^inds of rock, are usually richer tliaii those which have the 
 same kind of rock on both sides. Thus it is said that the richest 
 veins of auriferous quartz in California, have been discovered 
 at the intersection of trap and serpentine, and the richest places 
 in veins are where they cross from one kind of bed-rock 
 into another. The richest part of a lode of auriferous quartz 
 is almost invariably on the lower side of the vein, near the 
 foot- wall. All these are facts to be remembered by the pro- 
 spector as a guide, and an assistance to him in his search for 
 a rich gold-bearing vein. If the lode is covered with earthy 
 matter, he may sometimes trace its course by the difference in 
 the color of the dirt and stones over it from that elsewhere. 
 When tlie prospector finds dirt and stones on a vein, evidently 
 disintegrated portions of it, he should wash some of the dirt 
 in a pan, and if he finds no gold, there is a strong presumption 
 that the vein is barren. 
 
 § 205. Prospecting Quart?. Rock. — After finding a gold- 
 bearing vein, the question arises Avhether it will pay. Great 
 sums are lost in gold-mining countries by injudicious invest- 
 ments in mills and machinery to work the aiM'iferous rock, and 
 persons going into the business should be particularly careful 
 not to commit this great error. The business of quartz min- 
 ing has great profits but also great pecuniary dangers con- 
 nected with it. It is rarely that all the rock of a vein will 
 pay for working. In some lodes, the vein-stone will average 
 one hundred dollars to the ton, for all the stone found in a cer- 
 tain part of the lode, but beyond that the rock may be poor 
 or worthless. Picked specimens may be worth several thou- 
 sand dollars to the ton, but perhaps not more than a ton of 
 such specimens has been obtained in the best lode ever opened 
 in the state. The most profitable lodes are those which have 
 a large supply of rock, easily to be obtained, and all of it yielding 
 something above the cost of working. The common method 
 of ascertaining whether rock will pay, is to pulverize a little of 
 it and wash it in a horn spoon. In taking out the quartz rock 
 in large lodes, it is important to take out only that which will 
 
276 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 pay, and to determine this, the superintendent of tlie quarry-men 
 must occasionally test the vein-stone. He takes several little 
 pieces of it, average specimens, places them on a hard, smooth, 
 flat stone about a foot square, on which he crushes them with a 
 stone muller four inches square, and then by rubbing with the 
 muller he reduces them to a fine powder. He has a horn 
 spoon, made of a large ox-horn, with a bowl about three inches 
 wide and eight inches long, being merely one-half of the horn 
 in its natural shape. With this spoon he washes out the pow- 
 der in water, and if he does not find a speck of gold or a 
 " color," as it is called, in a pound of the rock, he infers that 
 it will not pay. The three principal quartz mines in the state 
 are those of Fremont in jNlarijiosa county, of the Allison com- 
 pany in Nevada county, and of the Sierra Butte company in 
 Sierra county. The first has produced $75,000 in a month, the 
 second $60,000, and the third $20,000, but the average is prob- 
 ably thirty per cent, less, and the expenses about thirty pei 
 cent, of the total product. The average yield of the Fremont 
 rock is fourteen dollars to the ton, of the Sierra Butte rock 
 eighteen dollars, and that of the Allison company, according 
 to report, has for more than a year at a time been one hundred 
 dollars per ton. The cost of working quartz rock, including 
 quarrying, crushing, and amalgamating, is in the best mills 
 from five to ten dollars per ton. The width of the vein, the 
 softness of the rock, the amount of work done, and the skill 
 and industry of the workmen, all are items of great importance 
 in estimating the cost of quartz-mining. It is a business which 
 the owner of the mill ought to understand. The cost of 
 quarrying common quartz rock is about two dollars per ton, 
 that is, for mill-owners that understand the business and super- 
 intend the labor themselves. "When given out by the job, it 
 usually costs more. When quartz is crushed in a custom mill, 
 that is, a mill built to crush for all applicants, the cost is rarely 
 less than five dollars per ton, and in Washoe, the price was at 
 one time thirty dollars per ton ; but in the large mills, where 
 many tons are crushed every day, is about two dollars per ton. 
 
MINING. 211 
 
 § 206. The Divining Rod. — In prospecting for auriferous 
 quartz, use is sometimes made of the divining rod, a practice 
 not without credit with some good miners. The rod is a fork 
 of a green hazel-bush, shaped like a V, with the arms about a 
 foot long. The prospector holds the end of an arm in each 
 hand, with the point of the V directed forward horizontally, 
 and as he walks along, the point turns down whenever he 
 comes over a metalliferous vein, metallic body or water. It is 
 supposed that very few persons can use the divining rod effec- 
 tually ; for most men it refuses to turn. It is used in nearly 
 every civilized country, especially by miners, and is generally 
 considered superstitious, because it is employed by ignorant 
 people, and because there has been no generally accepted 
 scientific explanation of the manner in which a stick could be 
 influenced by a metal hidden under ground. A scientific ex- 
 planation of the principle of the divining rod has been offered 
 to the world, by Baron Reichenbach (see page sixty of his 
 Odic-Ma(jnetic Letters., translated by John S. Hittell). 
 
 § 207. Quarrying Quartz. — The quarrying of quartz rock 
 differs little from the quarrying of other metalliferous vein- 
 stones. The lode descends steeply, and the excavation mnst 
 follow its course. Sometimes the quartz is so soft that it ma 
 easily be loosened with the pick. The hai-der rock is blasted. 
 Soft quartz is that which is penetrated by numerous cavities, 
 though the lumps between the cavities may be very bard. 
 Some quartz on exposure to the air crumbles into sand, though 
 hard when first taken from the vein. In narrow^ lodes, some 
 of the wall-rock must be cut away to get room for the work- 
 men. In wide lodes, that part of the vein-stone which does 
 not pay is left. Sometimes the gold from the lode penetrates 
 a little way into the foot-wall, and in' that case the quarryin"- 
 must extend beyond the vein-stone. ' The quartz loosened in 
 the vein, must either be hoisted perpendicularly in a bucket 
 with a windlass, or be hauled out through a tunnel. The com- 
 mon method is to hoist the rock with a whidlass. Most of the 
 vems are in such places that shafts are more easily dug than 
 
278 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tunnels. After the excavation has extended twenty or thirty- 
 feet below the surface, it is usual to dig a perpendicular shaft, 
 so as to strike the vein sixty or seventy feet below the surface, 
 and from this point the miner or " drifter" works upward, and 
 as he loosens the rock it falls to the bottom of the shaft, where 
 it is put in the bucket to be hoisted to the surface. Our quartz 
 mines are generally in dry hills, so that they are not troubled 
 much by water ; but there are a few shafts where steam-pumps 
 are constantly at work to carry off the water. 
 
 Occasionally the miners find small quantities of auriferous 
 quartz which are so easily broken up, and the pieces of gold in 
 which are so coarse, that after the rock has been pounded a 
 little in a mortar, the metal can easily be picked out with the 
 fingers. 
 
 § 208. Arastra. — Quartz is pulverized either in an arastra, 
 or Chilean mill, or by stamps. 
 
 The arastra is the simplest instrument for grinding aurifer- 
 ous 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 dragged round and round by horse or mule power. 
 There are two kinds of arastras, the rude or improved. The 
 rude arastra is made with a pavement of unhewn flat stones, 
 which are usually laid down in clay. The pavement of the 
 improved arastra is, made of hewn stone, cut very accurately 
 and laid down in cement. In the centre of the bed of the 
 arastra is an upright post which turns on aj)ivot, and running 
 through the post is a horizontal bar, projecting on each side to 
 the outer edge of the pavement. Ou each arm of this bar is 
 attached by a chain rt large flat stone or muller, weighing from 
 three hundred to five hundred pounds. It is so hung that the 
 forw^ard end is about an inch above the bed, and the hind end 
 drags on the bed. A mule hitched to oue arm will drag two 
 such mullers. In some arastras there are four mullers and two 
 mules. Outside of the pavement is a wall of stone a foot high 
 to keep the quartz within reach of the mullers. About four 
 hundred pounds of quartz, previously broken into pieces about 
 
MINING. 279 
 
 the size of a pigeon's egg, are called a " charge" for an arastra 
 ten feet in diameter, and are put in at a time. The mule is 
 started and in four or five hours the quartz is pulverized. 
 Water is now poured in until the powder is thoroughly mixed 
 with it, and the mass has the consistence of thick cream. Care 
 is taken that the mixture be not too thin, for the thickness 
 of it is important to the amalgamation. The paste being all 
 right, some quicksilver (an ounce and a quarter of it for every 
 ounce of gold in the quartz, and the amount of gold is guessed 
 at from the appearance of the rock) is scattered over the aras- 
 tra. The grinding continues for about two hours more, dur- 
 ing which time it is supposed the quicksilver is divided up into 
 very fine globules and mixed all through the paste (which is so 
 stiff that the metal does not sink in it to the bottom), and that 
 all the particles of gold are caught and amalgamated. The 
 amalgamation having been completed, some water is let in 
 three or four inches deep over the paste, and the mule is made 
 to move slowly. The paste is thus dissolved in the water, and 
 the gold, quicksilver, and amalgam have an opportunity to fall 
 to the bottom. At the end of half an hour, or sooner, the 
 thin mud of the arastra is allowed to run off, leaving the pre- 
 cious material at the bottom. Another charge of broken 
 quartz is now put in and the process is rei:)eated, and so on. 
 The length of a " run," or the period from one cleaning up to 
 another, varies much in different places. In the rude arastra 
 a run is seldom less than a week, and sometimes three or four. 
 The amalgam having settled down between the paving stones, 
 the bed must be dug up and all the dirt between them carefully 
 washed. In the improved arastra the paving fits so closely 
 together, that the quicksilver and amalgam do not get down 
 between them, but remain on the surface, and can readily be 
 brushed up into a little pan, and therefore cleaning up is much 
 less troublesome and is more frequently repeated than in the 
 rude arastras; besides there is a greater need of frequent 
 cleaning up in the improved arastras, because the amount of 
 work done within a given time is usually greater. 
 
280 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The arastra is a slow instrument^ but in some important re- 
 spects it is superior to any other method of working auriferous 
 quartz. It grinds the quartz well, is unsurpassable as an amal- 
 gamator, is very cheap and simple, requires no chemical knowl- 
 edge or peculiar mechanical skill in the work, requires but httle 
 power, and very little water — all of them important consider- 
 ations. In many places, the scarcity of water alone is enough 
 to enable the arastra to pay a larger profit than any other 
 method. Again, if a miner finds a rich spot in a lode, he may 
 be doubtful as to the amount of paying rock which he can ob- 
 tain. Such cases very frequently happen in California, and 
 the arastra is just the thing for the case ; for then if the 
 amount of paying rock is small, nothing is lost, whereas the 
 erection of a stamping-mill would cost much time and money, 
 and before it could get into smooth operation the rich rock 
 would be exhausted, and the mill perhaps become worthless. 
 No other simple process of amalgamation is equal to that of 
 the arastra ; and it has on various occasions happened in 
 California, that Mexicans making from fifty to sixty dollars 
 per ton from quartz, have sold out to Americans who have 
 erected large mills at great expense, with patent amalgama- 
 tors, and have not been able to get more than ten or fifteen 
 dollars from a ton. The arastra is sometimes used for amalga- 
 mating tailings which have passed through stamping-mills. 
 
 § 209. Chilean 3Iill. — The Chilean mill has a circular bed 
 like the arastra, but much smaller, and the quartz is crushed 
 by two large stone wheels which roll round on their edges. 
 In the centre of the bed is an upright post, the top of 
 which serves as a pivot for the axle on which both of the 
 stones revolve. A mule is usually hitched to the end of one 
 of the axles. The methods of managing the rock and amalga- 
 mating: with the Cliilean mill, are very similar to those of the 
 arastra. The Chilean mill, however, is rarely used in Califor- 
 nia ; the arastra being considered far preferable. 
 
 § 210. Stamjys. — Nine-tenths of the quartz crushed in Cali- 
 fornia is pulverized by stamps, of which there are two kinds, 
 
MINING. 281 
 
 the square and rotary. The square stamp has a perpendicular 
 wooden shaft, six or eight feet long, and six or eight inches 
 svjuare, with an iron shoe, weighing from a hundred to a 
 thousand pounds. The wooden sliaft has a mortice in front 
 near the top, and a cam on a revolving horizontal shaft enters 
 this mortice at every revolution. When the cam slips out of 
 the mortice, the stamp falls with all its weight upon tlie 
 quartz in the " battery" or " stamping-box." The rotary 
 stamp has a shaft of wrought iron about two inches in diam- 
 eter, and just before faUing this shaft receives a whirling mo- 
 tion, which is continued by the shoe as it strikes the quartz. 
 The rotary stamp is considered superior to tlie squai'c, its ad- 
 vantage being that it crushes more rock with the same power, 
 that it crushes more witliin tlie same space, and that it wears 
 away less of the shoe in proportion to the amount of rock 
 crushed. There are usually half a dozen square stamps or 
 more, standing side by side in a square-stamp mill, and these 
 do not all fall at the same moment, but successively, running 
 from the head to the foot of the " battery." The quartz is put 
 in at the head of the battery and is gradually driven to the 
 foot. The rotary stamps sometimes stand side by side, jlnd 
 sometimes in a circle. The battery of both rotary and square 
 stamps is surrounded by w^ire gauze, or a perforated iron 
 plate, allowing the finely pulverized quartz to escape, and re- 
 taining the coarser particles. Quartz is crushed wet and dry. 
 In wet crushing a little stream of water runs into the battery 
 on one side and escapes on the other, carrying all the fine 
 quartz with it. 
 
 § 211. Separation. — After pulverization comes the separa- 
 tion of the gold from the rocky portion of the powder. The 
 means of separation are mechanical or chemical. The eliemical 
 process is amalgamation ; the mqchanical are those wherein the 
 gold is caught on a rough surface with the aid of its specific 
 gravity. The chief reliance is upon amalgamation, and in some 
 large quartz-mills mechanical appliances are not used at all for 
 catching the particles of gold, but only for catching amalgam. 
 13* 
 
282 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 The mechanical appliances used in quartz-mills in' separating 
 the gold from the pulverized rock, are the blanket, the sluice, 
 and the rawhide. > 
 
 The blanket is a coarse, rough, gray blanket, which is laid 
 down in a trough sixteen inches wide and six feet long. The 
 pulverized quartz is carried over this by a stream of water, 
 and the particles of gold are caught in the wool. The blanket 
 is taken up and washed, at intervals depending upon the 
 amount of gold deposited. In some mills where a large 
 amount of rock is crushed, and where the powder is taken 
 over the blanket before trying any other process of separation, 
 the washing takes place every half-hour. In mills where the 
 pulverized quartz is exposed to amalgamation first, the blanket 
 may be washed three or four times a day. The washing is 
 done in a vat, kept for that especial purpose. 
 
 The sluice used in quartz-mills is similar to the jDlacer board- 
 sluice, but the amount of matter to be washed is less, and there 
 is no dirt to be dissolved, and there are no large stones, and 
 therefore the sluice is not so large, so strong, or so steep in 
 grade, as the placer-sluice, and the riffle-bars are not so deep. 
 In some quartz-mill sluices there are transverse riffle-bars. K 
 the quartz has much iron or copper pyi-ites, the sluice is used 
 to collect this material and save it for separation at some future 
 time. The pyrites ordinarily contains, or is accompanied by 
 much gold, which it protects from amalgamation. This separiv 
 tion of the pyrites from the pulverized rock is called " concen- 
 trating the tailings," and the material collected is called " con- 
 centrated tailings." In the sluices of some quartz-mills cast-iron 
 riffle-bars are used ; cast in sections about fifteen inches square, 
 and about an inch deep. Much study has been devoted to the 
 subject of making these riffle-bars in such a manner that the 
 dirt will not pack in them, but will always remain loose, and 
 keep in constant motion under the influence of the water run- 
 ning over them; but the object has never been fully attained. 
 Quicksilver is used in nearly all quartz-mill sluices. 
 
 The rawhide used in separating gold from the pulverized 
 
MINING. 283 
 
 quartz is a common cowhide, laid down in a trough with the 
 Jiairy side up, and the grain of the hair against the course of 
 the water. The gold is then caught in the hair. Sheep-hides 
 have been used in the same manner, recalhng to mind the 
 Golden Fleece. The hides, however, are inferior to the 
 blankets for this purpose, and are never used in the best mills. 
 
 The methods of amalgamating are numerous. Among them 
 are amalgamation in the battery, amalgamation witli the cop- 
 per plate, amalgamating bowls, and patent amalgamation of 
 many kinds. 
 
 Tn 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. The copper plate in quartz-mills is 
 made in the same manner as in placer-sluices, under which 
 head a description of the plate may be found. Some amalga- 
 mating boAvls or basins are little Chilean mills and arastras, 
 made of cast-iron. One plan of amalgamation is to use a cast- 
 iron bowl about four feet in diameter and a foot deep. Near 
 the bottom are horizontal iron arms, which revolve and stir 
 the quicksilver and pulverized quartz together. Four or five 
 of these bowls sit in a row but at different levels : the bottom 
 of the first bowl being level with the top of the second, and so 
 on. The pulverized quartz passes through them all. Under 
 each bowl a fire is kept up, because heat forms the action of 
 amalgamation. If there be any pyrites in the quartz, some 
 common salt is thrown in to assist in releasing the gold from 
 the embraces of the sulphurets, and preparing it to be seized 
 by the mercury. Another amalgamating bowl revolves on an 
 axis that stands at an angle of about seventy-five degrees to 
 the horizon, so that the material in the bowl is continually 
 moving ; and the bottom is divided by little compartments, 
 which make a constant riffle. In other bowls the })ulverized 
 quartz is forced with water through the mercury. The methods 
 of amalgamation diifer very much, and a book might be filled 
 with a description and discussion of the processes used at 
 different quartz-mills in California. 
 
284 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 212. Siulphurets. — Many auriferous quartz veins contain 
 considerable quantities of sulpliurets or pyrites of iron, cop- 
 per and lead, and their presence prevents amalgamation, and 
 thus causes a great loss of gold. It is said that on some occa- 
 sions in good mills, not more than twenty or thirty dollars 
 have been obtained from a ton of vein-stone which had seven 
 or eight hundred dollars of gold in every ton. The best 
 method of treating the quartz containing pyrites, is to roast it, 
 and thus drive off the sulphur, but this process is so expensive 
 that it is seldom used ; and the common practice is to crush 
 and amalgamate the rock, and save the concentrated tailings for 
 some future time, when there may be a sale for them, or Avhen 
 it will be cheaper to reduce them. The pulverized sulphurets 
 are decomposed by exposure to the air, and after the tailings 
 have been preserved for a time, they may pay better at the 
 second amalgamation than at the first. A mixture of common 
 salt assists the decomposition of the pyrites. 
 
 § 213. Chief Quartz-Mills. — The most productive quartz- 
 mill in the state is the Benton mill, on Fremont's Ranch, in 
 Mariposa county. It is also the largest, having forty-eight 
 stamps. There are four mills on the estate, with ninety-one 
 stamps in all, and their average yield per month is sixty thou- 
 sand dollars. A railroad four miles long conveys the quartz 
 from the lode to the mills. The Allison quartz mine in Nevada 
 county produces forty thousand dollars per month. The Sierra 
 Buttes quartz-mill, twelve miles from Downieville, yields about 
 fifteen thousand dollars per month. These last mills run 
 night and day, and crush and amalgamate ten thousand tons 
 of rock a year or twenty-eight tons per day. Forty men are 
 employed, twenty-five to quarry the rock, five in the mill to 
 attend to the stamps and amalgamation, one to do carpentry, 
 one for blacksmithing, and eight for getting out timber, trans- 
 porting quartz, and so forth. The cost gf quarrying, crush- 
 ing, and amalgamating a ton of rock is six dollars. The wages 
 of the men are from fifty to seventy dollars per month with 
 boarding. The average wages is sixty dollars About ten 
 
MINING. 285 
 
 miles eastward of Sonora, in Tuolumne county, are some rich 
 veins of auriferous quartz, the most prominent of which are 
 the Soulsby and Blukeslee lodes. The Soulsby mill produced 
 forty thousand dollars in three weeks, when it commenced 
 work in 1858, but it has not been so profitable of late. 
 
 § 214. /Silver Alining. — Silver mining has not yet been 
 established fairly as a business in California. The silver ores 
 of Washoe were discovered in 1859, and mining has been 
 fairly commenced there, but the mines of Esmeralda and Coso, 
 within the limits of this state, were not found until the sum- 
 mer of 1860, and up the present time no mills have been, 
 established there. 
 
 Silver mining diflers much from gold mining. Gold is always 
 found as a metal, never as an ore, and the separation from the 
 accompanying vein-stone with which it is mixed mechanically, is 
 much more simple and easy than the reduction of the argentif- 
 erous ores in which the silver is chemically combined with 
 base substances, for which it has a strong afiinity. Chemical 
 knowledge and chemical processes are more necessary in min- 
 ing for silver than for gold ; and while all auriferous quartz is of 
 the same kind, and may be treated in the same manner, there 
 are many different kinds of silver ores, each of which requires 
 a peculiar treatment. The reduction of silver ore costs on an 
 average, from three to five times as much as the reduction of 
 auriferous quartz. 
 
 The silver ore of Esmeralda and Coso is a sulphuret of 
 silver, nearly all the veins having the same material, though the 
 amount of it scattered through the vein-stone difters greatly 
 in difierent lodes. In some veins there is much free gold, that 
 is, little specks of metallic gold which can be separated from 
 tlie other material in the same manner that gold is separated 
 from auriferous quartz. The methods of reducing silver ore 
 are so numerous ^d complex, and vary so much in difil-rent 
 districts and under difierent circumstances, that it is impossi- 
 ble to know now what process will be used in Esmeralda and 
 Coso, the resources of which places have been so little studied. 
 
286 KESOUKOES OP C ALIFORlSri A. 
 
 Besides it is said that new processes for reducing silver ore 
 have been invented, far superior to all the old methods ; and 
 these processes are kept secret. It is therefore unnecessary 
 that I should go into a long description of the various pro- 
 cesses practised elsewhere. Silver ore after pulverization is 
 smelted by mixing with it fifty per cent, of lead in metal or 
 ore, and ten per cent, of iron, and exposing the whole to a 
 heat suiRcient to melt the silver which runs off. The metal 
 thus obtained is not pure but contains much lead, which is 
 driven off by heat while the silver is kept in a molten condition 
 for a period of four or six hours. The cost of smelting in 
 California at present, is about one hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars per ton. In most of the other methods of reducing 
 silver ore, the ore is roasted to drive off the sulphur. In the 
 barrel amalgamation, which has been used at Washoe, and will 
 probably be used at Esmeralda also, half a ton of ore, after 
 being pulverized and roasted, three hundred pounds of water, 
 and one hundred pounds of wrought iron, in little fragments, 
 are put into a barrel, which revolves on a perpendicular axis. 
 At th(i end of two hours the mass has taken the consistence of 
 thick cream, when five hundred pounds of quicksilver are put 
 in, and after the barrel has revolved four hours more, the 
 amalgamation is complete. More water is now poured in; 
 the barrel revolves very slowly to let the amalgam all settle to 
 the bottom, the mud runs off through a cock four inches above 
 the bottom and the mercury and amalgam are then drawn off 
 through a little hole in the bottom of the barrel. 
 
 § 215. Quicksilver Minmg. — The ore from which quick- 
 silver is obtained is a sulphuret. The sulphur is driven off by 
 heat, and the metal, which rises in fumes from the ore, is col- 
 lected by condensation. The miners are Cornishmen and 
 Mexicans. The ore is in large masses underground, not in a 
 connected vein of regular thickness ; and a|^r one mass is ex- 
 hausted, much labor is often vainly spent in search of another. 
 There are, however, usually little seams of ore running from 
 one large deposit to another, and it is the business of the 
 
MINING. 28Y 
 
 milling captains to observe tliese veins closely, and trace them 
 np when a "fault" occurs. Tliere are no scientilic rules for 
 finding the ore ; and the business of searching for the large 
 deposits is never intrusted to educated mining engineers, but 
 always to mining captains, who have themselves been laborers, 
 and have learned, by experience where to seek. The New 
 Almaden mine produces two hundred and twenty thousand 
 pounds of metal in a month. The hacienda^ or reducing estab- 
 lishment of the mining company, has fourteen brick furnaces, 
 each fifty feet long, twelve feetiiigh, and twelve feet wide. At 
 one end of each furnace is the fire chamber, which may be nine 
 cubic feet inside ; next that is the ore chamber of about the 
 same size ; and beyond that is the condensing chamber in 
 which there are a number of partitions alternately running up 
 fi-om the bottom and down from the top, with 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 con- 
 densing chamber is water. The walls between the fire cham- 
 ber and the ore chamber, and between the latter and the con- 
 densing 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. 
 Tiie heat drives off the sulphur and mercury of the ore in 
 fumes, which in passing through the condensing chambers, de- 
 posit the mercury, and the smoke and sulphur escape through 
 the chimney. In the Enriqueta and Guadalupe mines the 
 quicksilver is condensed in a close iron retort, and the sulphur 
 is absorbed by quicklime. 
 
 Copper ore is dug from several mines in California, but it is 
 all exported to be smelted elsewhere. 
 
 § 216. Platinum. — Platinum, iridium, and osmium, three 
 white metals of ab(^t the same specific gravity with gold, are 
 found with the latter metal in the placers in the basin of 
 the Klamath and Trinity Rivers. Their particles are usually 
 fine scales, very rarely reaching a quarter of an ounce in weight, 
 
288 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 and the largest piece of either ever found was less than an 
 ounce and a half. They cannot be separated from the gold by 
 washing, but they do not unite with qnieksiiver, and therefore 
 they are separated from the more precious metal by amalga- 
 mation. They have no regular market in the state ; miners 
 never make them the chief object of search, and tliey have 
 not been studied, so it is not known to what extent they might 
 be obtained. 
 
 § 217. Del ^orte and Klamath. — Del Xorte county in the 
 northwestern corner of the state, is about forty miles long 
 from east to west by thirty from north to south. Tlie mining 
 population in it is small. Most of tlie mining is done along the 
 banks of the Klamath Hiver, which runs about twenty miles 
 thi'ough the southeastern portion of the county. There are 
 some miners on the head-waters of Althouse Creek, which runs 
 northward into Oregon. The county assessor, in his report for 
 1860, does not mention the existence of any quartz-mill or 
 mining-ditch in the county. The mining districts are very 
 mountahious and difficult of access. They obtain most of their 
 supplies from Crescent City. The mining is chiefly in shallow 
 placers, in deep and narrow ravines, and on bars of the Kla- 
 math River. 
 
 Klamath county lies immediately south of Del Norte, and is 
 about the same size. It is almost exclusively a mining county, 
 and has a population of about eighteen hundred. The diggings 
 are placers in the bars and banks of the Klamath River and 
 its tributaries, the Trinity and Salmon Rivers, and many small 
 creeks. The principal mining places are Orleans Bar, Gullion's 
 Bar, Negro Flat, Cecilville, AYeitspeck, and Red Cap. The 
 whole county is very rugged and mountainous, and much of it, 
 is covered with heavy timber. The diggings are so difficult 
 of access, and are so protected by mountains against ditches, 
 that they will last for many years. Therms probably no part 
 of the state where the single miner, without capital, has a 
 better chance to dig gold with a profit. Nearly the wholt? 
 beach of the county is auriferous. 
 
MINING. 289 
 
 § 218. SisJciyoii. — Siskiyou county lies east of Del Norte 
 and Klamath, is forty miles wide from north to south, one 
 hundred miles long from east to west, and reaches to the 
 eastern boundary of the state. It has a population of 7,629, 
 the large majority of whom are engaged in mining. The 
 mining district is all in the western end of the county, along 
 the banks of the Klamath River and its tributaries the Scott 
 and Shasta Rivers. The Klamath runs through a deep canon ; 
 the Scott and Shasta Rivers have pleasant open valleys, but the 
 diggings along their banks are chiefly among the canons near 
 the Klamath. Hydraulic and tunnel claims are rare. There 
 are six quartz-mills in the county and fifteen mining-ditches, 
 of which last the principal is the Yreka canal, forty miles long, 
 brino^inGT water from the head of Shasta River to the town of 
 Yreka. In 1859 there were four quartz-mills in the county, 
 one of which was at Mugginsville, one in Scott's valley and 
 two in Quartz valley. I have no information about the situa- 
 tion of the two built since that time. The principal mining 
 towns are Yreka, Scott's Bar, Hawkinsville, Johnson's Bar, 
 Deadwood, and Cottonwood. 
 
 § 219. Trinity and Shasta. — South of the western part of 
 Siskiyou and the eastern part of Klamath, lies Trinity county, 
 ninety miles long from north to south, and about twenty miles 
 wide on an average. The northern part of the county is the 
 basin of the Trinity River, and is auriferous. From the county 
 Assessor's report for 18G0, it is to be inferred that there is not 
 a quartz-mill or a mining-ditch in the state. The county is 
 very mountainous, and most of the mining is done in rugged 
 canons along the Trmity River. The chief mining towns are 
 Weaverville, Cox's Bar, Big Bar, Arkansas Flat, Mooney's 
 Flat, and Trinity Centre. 
 
 South of Siskiyou and east of Trinity lies Shasta county, 
 which is on an average forty miles wide from north to south, 
 and one hundred mJ^3S long, reaching to the eastern border of 
 the state. There is a rich auriferous district about twenty 
 miles square, in the vicinity of the town of Shasta, in the 
 
290 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 southwestern part of the county. The diggings are mostly in 
 the basins of Clear Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Rock Creek, 
 and Salt Creek, all of which enter into the Sacramento. There 
 are four quartz-mills in the county, one at French Gulch, one 
 at Middle Creek, one at Muletown, and one at Old Diggings. 
 The county has twenty-seven mining ditches, with a joint length 
 of one hundred and forty-one miles, an average of five miles 
 each. The chief mining towns are Shasta, Horsetown, French 
 Gulch, Muletown, Briggsville, Whiskey, and Middletown. 
 
 § 220. Plumas and Sierra. — South of the eastern part of 
 Shasta county lies Plumas, wdiich is about seventy miles square. 
 About one-third of the county, in the southwestern part of it, 
 comprising that portion drained by the head- waters of Feather 
 River, is auriferous. It lies high above the level of the sea, 
 and the ^vork of mining is interrupted during a considerable 
 portion of the winter, by cold, snow, and ice. Hydraulic and 
 tunnel claims in deep hills, furnish a large portion of the gold 
 yield of the county. There are five quartz-mills, one at Eliza- 
 bethtown, one at Eureka Lake, and three at Jamison Creek. 
 The principal mining towns are Quincy, Jamison City, Indian 
 Bar, Nelson's Point, and Poorman's Creek. 
 
 South of Plumas is Sierra county, which is fifty miles long 
 from east to west and twenty miles wide from north to south. 
 The North Fork of the Yuba River runs through its cen- 
 tre, and the Middle Fork is its southern boundary. Though 
 small, it is one of the richest mining counties of the state, and 
 in proportion to the extent of its mining ground, is much 
 richer than any other county. All its territory is four thou- 
 sand feet above the sea-level, at the lowest. Most of the min- 
 ing is done in hydraulic and tunnel claims in deep hills. Near 
 the centre of the county is a mountain called the Downieville 
 Butte, or the Yuba Butte, eight thousand eight hundred and 
 forty-six feet high, on the sides of which are found some rich 
 quartz leads. In 1859 there were eleven quartz-mills in Sierra 
 county, of which seven are at the Butte, two at Downievijle, 
 one at the Mountain House, and one at Sierra City. The 
 
MINING. 291 
 
 principal mining towns are Downicvillc, Monte Cristo, Pine 
 Grove, St. Louis, La Porte, Poker Flat, Eureka City, Forest 
 City, Allegliany Town, and Cox's Bar. One of the most re- 
 markable features of tlie placers of the state is the blue lead, 
 which was first discovered in Sierra county, and has been more 
 thoroughly examined there than elsewhere. The "blue lead" 
 is a stratum of blue clay very rich in gold. It is found deep 
 under other strata. The general opinion is, that the blue lead 
 occupies the bed of a large antediluvian river, which ran parallel 
 with the Sacramento and about sixty miles eastward of it. It 
 has been traced twenty miles or more, passing near Monte 
 Cristo, Alleghany Town, Forest City, Chip's Flat, and Zion Hill. 
 Mr. C. S. Capp wrote thus to the San Francisco Bulletin : 
 
 " This is not one of the many petty leads, an inch or two in 
 breadth and thickness, which, after being traced a few hundred 
 feet, end as suddenly and mysteriously as they commence ; but 
 it is, evidently, the bed of some ancient river. It is often hun- 
 dreds of feet in width, and extends for miles and miles, a thou- 
 sand feet below the summits of high mountains, and entirely 
 through them. Now it crops out where the deep channels of 
 some of the rivers and ravines of the present day have cut it 
 asunder ; and then, hidden beneath the rocks and strata above 
 it, it only emerges again miles and miles away. Wherever its 
 continuity has been destroyed, the river or gulch which has 
 washed a portion of it away, was found to be immensely rich 
 for some distance below, and the materials of which the lead, is 
 composed are found with the gold in the bed of the stream. 
 It is evidently the bed of some ancient stream, because it is 
 walled in by steep banks of hard bed-rock, precisely like the 
 banks of rivers and ravines in which water noAv runs, and be- 
 cause it is composed of clay which is evidently a sedimentary 
 deposit, and of pebbles of black and white quartz, which 
 could only be rounded and polished as they are by the long- 
 continued action of swiftly running water. The bed-rock in 
 the bottom of this lead is worn into long smooth channels, and 
 also has its rouohnesses and crevices like other river-beds. 
 
292 KESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The lighter and poorer qualities of gold are found nearest to 
 its edges, while the heavier and finer portions have found their 
 way to the deeper places, near the centre. Trees and pieces 
 of wood, more or less petrified and changed in their nature, 
 which once floated in its waters, are also everywhere encoun- 
 tered throughout this stratum. 
 
 " The clay and fine gravel in which these pebbles and boul- 
 ders are found to be tightly packed, is of a light-blue color, 
 which gives the name to the lead. Much of this clay is re- 
 markably fine and free from coarse particles, and is smooth and 
 unctuous to the touch. It is said to be strongly impregnated 
 with arsenic, as was shown by chemical analysis, and contains 
 large quantities of iron and sulphur in solution, for pyrites and 
 sulphurets of iron are deposited in shining metallic crystals in 
 every vacant crevice. Fine gold is found among this clay, and 
 the heavier particles beneath it, upon the bed-rock. This stra- 
 tum varies in thickness from eio'hteen inches to eio-ht or ten 
 feet, while the whole lead varies in width from a hundred and 
 fifty to five hundred feet. 
 
 " The same lead has been found at Sebastopol, four miles 
 above Monte Cristo, and also higher up among the mountains. 
 It appears at Monte Cristo, which is four miles above the high- 
 lying Downieville, and over three thousand feet above it, and 
 at Chapparal Hill on the side of a deep ravine ; then at the 
 City of Six, which is also on very high land, about four miles 
 from Downieville, across the North Yuba. It is next found 
 at Forest City, on both sides of a creek, and is there traced 
 directly through the mountain to Alleghany Town and Smith's 
 Flat, on the opposite side. There it is again cut in twain by 
 a deep ravine. It crops out on the other side at Chip's Flat, 
 where it has been followed by tunnels passing completely 
 through the mountain to Centreville and Minnesota on the 
 other side. Here it is obliterated by the Middle Fork of the 
 Yuba, but it is believed to be again found at Snow Point, on 
 the opposite side of the river ; and again at Zion Hill, several 
 miles beyond. There is no reason for doubting that after thus 
 
MINING. 293 
 
 reaching over twenty miles, it still extends farther. Hundreds 
 of tunnels have been run in search of it. Where the line it 
 follows was adhered to, they have always found it, and have 
 been well rewarded for their labor. Millions of dollars have 
 been taken from this lead, and its richness, even in portions 
 longest worked, is yet undiminished. These tunnels have cost 
 from $20,000 to $100,000 each, and interests in the claims 
 they enter sell readily at from $1,000 to $20,000, in proportion 
 to the amount of ground within them remaining untouched, 
 and the facilities which exist for working it. Many of these 
 claims will yet afford from five to ten or more years' profitable 
 labor to their owners, before the lead itself Avithin them is 
 exhausted. As in some of them quartz veins and poorer pay- 
 ing gravel have been found, many of them may be valuable to 
 work from the top down as hydraulic claims." 
 
 This idea that the blue lead occupies the bed of an an- 
 tediluvian river is however not universally accepted. Mr. 
 B. P. Avery, who has written numerous newspjiper articles 
 upon the mineral deposits, asserts that the "blue lead," as 
 it is called, is not a " lead" but an extensive stratum which 
 is many miles wide, and is found all the way from the foot hills 
 to the summit of the Sierra Xevada. In reply to this, it is 
 said that while a bluish stratum of clay similar to that of the 
 blue lead is found over a wide district, that it is evidently 
 different in origin from the blue lead itself, which is confined 
 to a narrow bed, and marked by the signs found in all the other 
 ancient river-beds of the state. 
 
 The Sierra Butte Quartz Mining Comj)any has some of the 
 best auriferous quartz lodes in the state. One lode called the 
 Cliff Ledge, is twenty-five feet wide; and another called the 
 Aerial Ledge, is about three feet wide. In the Cliff Ledge, the 
 paying rock averages about six feet in thickness next the foot- 
 wall. The average yield is eighteen dollars per ton. The 
 quartz is bluish-white in color, and very hard when first taken 
 from the lode, but on exposure to the air it slowly crumbles 
 into sand. 
 
294 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 § 221. Yuba and Butte. — AYest of Sierra county, and drained 
 by the same streams, is Yuba, which reaches to the Sacramento 
 River, lying lialf in the mountains and half in the plain, the 
 mining district being in the former half. The principal min- 
 ing towns are Camptonville, Timbuctoo, Foster's Bar, Texas 
 Bar, and Long's Bar. In 1859 there were nine quartz-mills in 
 the county, three at Brown's valley, and one each at Camp- 
 tonville, Dobbin's Ranch, Dry Creek, Honcut, Indiana Creek, 
 and Bobbin's Creek. The assessor in 1860 reported only two 
 quartz-mills in the county. There are twenty-two ditches 
 in the county, with an aggregate length of nine hundred and 
 fifty-two miles, an average of forty-three miles each. The most 
 important ditch, called " Bovyer's," supplies Timbuctoo with 
 five thousand inches of water in the winter, less in the summer. 
 The diggings at Timbuctoo are in a deep hill, which is washed 
 away by the hydrauhc process. 
 
 "West of Yuba and Plumas counties lies Butte, which is 
 drained by the Feather River. The principal nnning towns 
 are Oroville, BidwelFs Bar, Forbestown, Katchez, and White- 
 rock. In 1859 there were seventeen quartz-mills in the county, 
 of which four were at Oregon Gulch, at Columbiaville and 
 Ilansonville three each, two at Yankee Hill, and at Evansville, 
 Gold Run, Long Bar, Xesbitt's Flat, and Spring valley, one 
 each. The assessor reports for 1860, twenty-nine quartz- 
 mills, worth fifty thousand dollars, and crushing in the aggre- 
 frate one hundred and sixtv-two and a half tons per day. 
 There are sixty-four mining-ditches, with an aggregate length 
 of five hundred and eighty-three miles. The bars and beds of 
 Feather River were once very rich, and some of the most ex- 
 tensive enterprises of river mining in the state have been 
 undertaken within the hmits of Butte county. The greatest 
 flume ever built in California was that of the Cape Clnim 
 Company, near Oroville, in 1857. It was three-quarters of a 
 mile long and twenty feet wide, and furnished employment for 
 two hundred and fifty men from May till November. The 
 expenditures during that period were $176,985, and the re- 
 
Mixixo. 295 
 
 ceipts ^251,426, showing a clear profit of $74,441. The next 
 year, after the Avater had fallen, the company commenced its 
 labors again ; S])ent $160,000 and received 8115,000, and thus 
 lost $45,000. North of Oroville is a "table-mountain" with 
 a top of basalt, covering a rich deposit of auriferous clay. 
 
 § 222. Ntvacla and Placer. — South of Yuba and Butte is 
 Nevada, the richest mining county of the state. Within its 
 limits the torn, sluice, under-current sluice, and crinoline hose 
 were invented, and the ditch and hydraulic power were first 
 applied to placer-mining ; and quartz-mining was first under- 
 taken extensively. In 1859 there were thirty-two quartz-mills 
 in the county, and twenty-eight mining-ditches, with an aggre- 
 gate length of three hundred and ninety-four miles. No part 
 of the mineral region of the state is better supplied with water 
 than Nevada county. The richest quartz district is in the 
 vicinity of Nevada City, which has fifteen mills, and Grass 
 Valley, five miles distant, has seventeen. The great Allison 
 mine, which has the richest lode in the state, is in Grass 
 Valley. 
 
 The quartz mines here are much troubled with water, 
 and during the winter of 1860-'61 many of the mills were 
 compelled to stop for weeks until the shafts could be drained 
 by steam-engines, after having been filled by a long and heavy 
 rain. The annual gold yield of Grass Valley has been estimated 
 at four millions of dollars. North San Juan has the finest hy- 
 draulic claims, and Sweetland the largest tail-sluices. The 
 Eureka Lake Ditch Com})any has more ditching and water 
 than any other company in the state. Their main ditch is 
 seventy-five miles long, and there are one hundred and ninety 
 miles of branches, making a total of two hundred and sixty- 
 five miles, which have cost nine hundi'ed thousand dollars. 
 The daily sale of water is six thousand inches, with a weekly 
 income of six thousand dollars. The principal mining towns 
 arc Nevada, Grass Valley, North San Juan, Rough and Ready, 
 Orleans Fiat, Moore's Flat, and Humbug City. 
 
 Placer county lies next to Nevada <:coin2: southward. Tbo 
 
296 RESOURCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 Korth Fork of the American River runs through the micldle of 
 the county, and tlie Middle Fork forms its southern boundary. 
 The principal mining towns are Auburn, Yankee Jim's, Gold 
 Hill, Dutch Flat, Todd's valley, Michigan City, Iowa Hill, 
 Bath and Wisconsin Hill. Two-thirds of the present gold yield 
 of the county is derived from hydraulic claims. 
 
 Some of the placer diggings near Bath are found in a peculiar 
 formation. The principal deposit is in a deep hill, at the bot- 
 tom of which is a stratum of pay-dirt, consisting of a fine sandy 
 sediment, with pebbles and pieces of quartz. The gold is 
 round and coarse. Above that is a stratum of blue gravel, 
 which varies from twenty to one hundred and fifty feet in 
 thickness. This blue gravel is " spoted ;" that is, in places it 
 pays well ; in other places it does not pay at all. Above this 
 stratum is another layer of pay-dirt composed of a reddish 
 gravel, which is about three feet thick on an average, and con- 
 tains little scales of gold. The top of the ridge is composed 
 of a whitish cement or tough clay, which, where exposed to 
 the air, is reddish in color, and resembles the red gravelly clay 
 found in most of the hills in the rich mininor districts. 
 
 § 223. El Dorado and Amador. — El Dorado county ad- 
 joins Placer on the south, and is drained by the South Fork 
 of the American River, which runs through its centre, the 
 Middle Fork, which is its northern boundary, and the Cosum- 
 nes its southern boundary. It is the oldest placer-mining 
 county of the Sacramento basin, Marshall having made his 
 discovery within its limits ; and ten years ago it was called 
 the " Empire County," because it cast the largest vote in the 
 state, but it has now lost much of its population and fallen be- 
 hind several others. The principal mining towns are Placer- 
 ville, Coloma, Georgetown, Diamond Springs, El Dorado, 
 Spanish Bar, and Indian Diggings. In 1859 there were forty 
 quartz-mills in the county, of which six are at El Dorado, 
 three at Steeley's Fork, at Placerville, Nashville, Grizzly 
 Flat, Loafer Hollow, and Logtown two each, and the othera 
 «\re scattered about. The county has fifty-one ditches, twelve 
 
MINING. 297 
 
 hundred and fifty miles in aggregate length, the average 
 length being twenty-four miles, 
 
 "Indian Diggings," says Mr. Capp, "is a mining village 
 twenty-five miles southeastward from Placerville, on the bank 
 of Indian Creek. In this district, a belt of limestone, or blue 
 and white marble, rises in ridges through the slate bed-rock, 
 and is in places cut by the w^ater into long and deep channels, 
 some of which serve as natural tail-races for the miners, but it 
 oftener renders large amounts of blasting necessary. The 
 claims in the bed of the creek formerly paid well, as the tail- 
 ings washed down from the hydraulic claims above continually 
 enriched them. In some of the creek claims, in the middle of 
 the channel, deep holes were found, filled with a kind of dirt 
 difierent from that above it. This was sometimes extremely 
 rich, and in one claim a single panful paid three dollars. An- 
 other singular feature connected with these deep places, is that 
 they seem to have subterranean outlets, for in one instance a 
 hundred inches of water poured in for three days, with all the 
 dirt it washed down, failed to have any perceptible effect in 
 filling it up. It was finally stopped with bushes and gravel, 
 and the water turned off. A mile or more above this, in an- 
 other claim, a similar hole was discovered, and forty inches of 
 water poured in for several hours produced no visible progress 
 toward filling it. Here the miner was in doubt whether there 
 was a rich deposit of gold awaiting him down there, or whether 
 the bottom of his claim had fallen out altogether." 
 
 Amador county adjoins El Dorado, with the Cosumnes for 
 
 its northern boundary and the Mokelumne for the southern. 
 
 The principal mining towns are Jackson, Volcano, Butte City, 
 
 Dryton, Fiddletown, Sutter Creek, and Lancha Plana. Much 
 
 of the b«d-rock is marble. The county is rich in auriferous 
 
 quartz, and has thirty-two mills, of which six are at Sutter 
 
 Creek, five at Amador City, four at Dry Creek, at Volcano, 
 
 Clinton, Contreras, and North Fork of the Mokelumne, two 
 
 each, and at Big Bar Bridge, Butte City, Drytown, Grass 
 
 Valley, Gales' Ranch, Herbertsville, Oneida, and Raucheria 
 14 
 
298 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Creek one each. The county has eight mining-ditches, with an 
 aggregate length of one hundred and sixty-seven miles. 
 
 § 224. Calaveras and Tuolumne. — Next to Amador is Cala- 
 veras county, bounded on the north by the Mokehimne River, 
 on the south by the Stanislaus River, with the Calaveras River 
 running between them. The principal mining towns are Moke- 
 lumne Hill, San Andi-es, Murphy's, Angel's, Vallecito, "West 
 Point, Campo Secho, Douglass' Flat, Carson, Jesus Maria, and 
 Esperanza. The county has thirty-three quartz-mills, of which 
 twelve are at Angel's, at Carson and the South Fork of the Mok- 
 elumne River four each, three at the North Fork of the Mok- 
 ehimne, at West Point, Rich Gulch, Murray's Creek and the 
 Middle Fork of the Mokelumne, two each, and at Bear Creek 
 and McKinney's Humbug one each. Mr. Capp says, " The inain 
 wealth of the district about West Point consists in its quartz 
 leads, vv'hich are so numerous that several of the residents in- 
 formed me, that starting three miles north of West Point, and 
 proceeding south for a distance of nine miles to the junction 
 of the forks of the Mokelumne, a person would cross a quartz 
 vein in every hundred yards. About one hundred of these veins 
 have been prospected upon the surface, and scarcely any have 
 been found that did not prove to contain gold. As a proof of 
 the richness of the veins of this district, it would be sufficient to 
 state that large numbers of Mexicans and other Spaniards are 
 now working them successfully, although they pay from one 
 dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per cargo of three hundred 
 pounds, to have the rock ground in arastras, to which freight 
 from the leads to the mills along the river has also to be added. 
 Mexicans who do their own work, cannot possibly afford to 
 work rock that does not at least pay three dollars per cargo, 
 or twenty dollars per ton, and in fact they seldom do work 
 rock that pays less than six dollars per cargo and forty dollars 
 per ton. 
 
 " There is very little slate in this district, and nearly all the 
 quartz veins are encased in granite, which is usually much de- 
 com2)osed. Occasionally, the granite appears to * pinch' the 
 
MINING. 299 
 
 quartz leads mrtil they become very thin, but by tracing them 
 on further, or downwards, tliey again swell out to their origi- 
 nal size, and sometimes bulge out beyond it. In such places, 
 and at the intersection of small veins, very rich deposits of 
 gold are frequently found, which, from their narrowness and 
 the depth to which they extend, the Spaniards call clavos or 
 nails. The principal portion of the rock about Angel's is of a 
 greenish and gray color, and contains large quantities of the 
 6ul[)liuret of iron. Mixed with this are streaks and veins of 
 white quartz or limestone. The sulphurets are found, either in 
 irregular bright crystalline masses, or small threads and veins. 
 Some of these veins are as much as eight inches in thickness. 
 In other portions of the green rock, the sulphurets are scat- 
 tered all through it, as separate and minute square crystals. 
 The whole formation will probably become one solid vein when 
 any considerable depth is reached ; but near the surface it is 
 cut" up into separate veins by streaks and wedges of slate, 
 which do not appear to contain any gold. These streaks of 
 slate are from a few inches to several feet in thickness. The 
 poorer portions of the rock contain from twelve to sixteen per 
 cent, of the sulphurets, while the richest are nearly pure 
 crystals, among which the gold is seen shining in small par- 
 ticles and swales." 
 
 In the southeastern corner of Calaveras county, thirty-five 
 miles from Stockton, are mines of carbonate and sulphuret of 
 copper. During the first three months of 1861, four hundred 
 tons of ore, containing about thirty-three per cent, of me'tal, 
 were taken out, and one-half the amount was shii)ped to the 
 Eastern states. The cost of getting the ore out and hauling 
 it to Stockton has been eight dollars per ton. 
 
 Tuolumne adjoins Calaveras county, and is bounded by the 
 Stanislaus River on the north, and the divide between the 
 Tuolumne and Merced liivers on the south, the former stream 
 being within the limits of the county. The principal mining 
 towns are Sonora, Columbia, Springfield, Shaw's Flat, James- 
 town, Chinese Camp, Big Oak Flat, Garrote, Don Pedro's 
 
300 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 Bar, and Pine Log. The first four are within a circle with a 
 radius of five miles, a district which has been extremely rich 
 in placer diggings, and especially in large nuggets. In 1850 
 two lumps of twenty-three pounds, one each of eighteen, thir- 
 teen, ten, five, four, and three pounds, were found; in 1851 
 one each of twenty-eight, twenty-foar, twenty-three, and five 
 pounds; in 1852 one each of nine and five pounds ; in 1853 
 one each of twenty, ten, nine, eight, seven, and six pounds ; in 
 1854 one each of seventy-two, twenty-seven, sixteen, and seven- 
 teen pounds; in 1855 one of thirty pounds ; and in 1858 one 
 of thirty-three pounds. Two of the largest mining ditches in 
 the state supply water to the miners in the vicinity of Sonora 
 and Columbia. The number of mining ditches in the county 
 is twenty-one, and their aggregate length two hundred and 
 seventy miles. There are thirty quartz-mills, of which four are 
 at Quartz Hill, four at Tuttletown, three on the banks of the 
 Tuolumne River, and as many on Turnback Creek, at Colum- 
 bia, SouLby's Ranch, and Wood's Creek two each, and at Bald 
 mountain. Big Oak Flat, Italian Camp, Jackson Flat, Moc- 
 casin Creek, Rawhide Ranch, Sonora, Whiskey Hill, Wood's 
 Crossing, and Yankee Hill, one each. The table-mountain in 
 Tuolumne county is the most remarkable elevation of its kind 
 in the state. It has an average height of five hun^-ed feet, an 
 average width of four hundred yards, a length of thirty miles, 
 and a surface almost perfectly flat, slightly descending toward 
 the west. It was evidently formed by an immense stream of 
 lava, which was once confined between banks higher than its 
 own surface, w^iich banks have since been washed away, leav- 
 ing the stream of lava standing like a mountain above the level 
 of the adjacent country. The sides near the top are perpen- 
 dicular and of solid basalt ; farther down they are slojung, and 
 composed of dirt and fragments of basalt that have fallen Ironi 
 above. Under the basalt lie the gravel and sand of the ancient 
 river-bed, enclosed at the sides by ridges of rock, which rise 
 above the level of the adjacent plain. When therefore the min- 
 ers first wished to reach the auriferous deposits under the moun- 
 
MINING. 301 
 
 tain, it was necessary for them to cut tunnels through a rim of 
 rock ; but now that many of the tunnels have drained away all 
 the water, they are started up on the hill-side above the rock, and 
 cut in sloping downward, so that the hard bed-rock is avoided, 
 and in many places the tunnels made on this plan may run all 
 the way through soft dirt. It is established beyond all reason- 
 able doubt, that the auriferous deposit under the basalt was 
 once the bed of an ancient river. Every mark indicates it. 
 The wide water-worn bed, the bends, the bars, the deposits of 
 gravel in eddies, the collection of coarse gold in the centre, 
 the position of the large flat stones, all pointing down stream, 
 the remains of fresh-water mollusks, and the beds of little 
 tributary streams — all these are conclusive proof that a large 
 river once ran Avhere this mountain now stands. The pay-dirt 
 is a tough clay filled with large stones, and is from a foot to 
 six feet deep. In one place a claim one hundred superficial 
 feet square yielded seventy-five thousand dollars. The dis- 
 tance from the outside of the mountain to the pay-dirt, varies 
 from six to twelve hundred feet. About ten miles east of 
 Sonora is the Soulsby quartz lead, one of the richest in the 
 state. 
 
 § 225. Mono mid Mariposa. — Eastward of Tuolumne, east 
 of the summit of the Sierra Nevada, and within the limits of 
 the Great Basin, lies the county of Mono, which contains the 
 gold placers of Mono Lake and Walker River, and the silver 
 lodes of Esmeralda. The placers of Walker and Mono are 
 neither extensive nor rich ; water is scarce ; and the winters 
 are so cold that mining is necessarily interrupted. The Walker 
 diggings are seventy-five miles southward from Carson City, 
 and the Mono placers are twenty-five miles further in the same 
 direction. The Esmeralda mhies are in a nest of mountains of 
 the same name, most of the ridges of which run north and 
 south, and are composed of eruptive rocks, such as trap and 
 basalt, with occasional greenstone and porphyry. The argen- 
 tiferous region lies in a rugged part of the mountains, about 
 five thousand feet above the level of the sea. The ore is all a 
 
302 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sulphuret of silver, in a gangue of gray qnartz, running through 
 trap and porphyritic greenstone. The lode ca'led the Esmer- 
 alda, the most prora_nent and apparently the mother lode of 
 the district, runs with the meridian, and contains very little 
 or no gold, while other leads, running at right-angles to it, con- 
 tain much free gold ; that is, particles of metallic gold which 
 have formed no chemical union wdth the silver ore. The Esmer- 
 alda mines were discovered in August, 1860, by J. M. Cory; 
 not much of the ore has been taken out, no mills have been 
 erected, little of the ore has been reduced, and therefore not 
 much is known of the real w^ealth of the district, although little 
 doubt is entertained that it will in time produce much silver. 
 There are several small ditches at the Mono placers, but the 
 county has no quartz-mills, and thus far no auriferous quartz 
 has been discovered. 
 
 South of Tuolumne lies Mariposa county, w^hich is drained 
 by the Mariposa and Merced Rivers. The mines are shallow 
 placers and quartz. There is, I believe, not a hydraulic or 
 tunnel claim in the county, and the mining-ditches are few. 
 The towns are small ; the population in the placers unsteady 
 and irregular in their mode of life ; and the county, taken as a 
 whole, is considered one of the most unpleasant parts of the 
 state forjthe home of a family. In consequence of the scarcity 
 of ditches there is no water in summer, and the placer miners 
 therefore lie idle during a great part of the year, and either go 
 to other counties or spend their time in dissipation. The 
 county assessor reports five mining-ditches with a total length 
 of forty-two miles. The quartz lodes are numerous and rich. 
 There are thirty-four quartz-mills, of which four are on Fre- 
 mont's ranch ; four at Coulterville ; at Gentry's Gulch and 
 Whitlock Creek three each; at AguaFria, Bean's Creek, Bear 
 valley, Burns' Creek, Mariposa Town, Mariposa Creek and 
 Stockton Creek two each; and at Bull Creek, Corbett's Creek, 
 Guadalupe, Mount Ophir, North Fork, Quartzburg, and Sax- 
 ton's Creek one each. The Fremont ranch, which contains 
 forty-eight thousand acres, is the most valuable mineral estate 
 
MINING. 303 
 
 in California, and includes Bear valley, one of the richest 
 quartz districts in the world. There are two principal lodes, 
 called the Pine-Tree and Josephine, which unite and form a 
 vein thirty feet wide. The rock crushed at the mills of the 
 estate averages fourteen dollars to the ton. 
 
 § 226. l^'resno^ etc. — Fresno county, south of Mariposa, has 
 the Chowchilla River for its northern boundary, and the Fresno 
 and head- waters of the San Joaquin within its limits. These 
 streams are all auriferous, but the diggings are not rich, and 
 the gold is not line in quiility. There are no mining towns of 
 note in this county. 
 
 Between the San Joaquin River and White River, a distance 
 of one hundred miles, the Sierra Nevada is barren of gold. 
 White River is in Buena Vista county, and is not rich, but has 
 some small districts of placer mines and a little quartz. 
 
 Kern River in the same county has a small extent of placer 
 ground and a good deal of auriferous quartz, most of which is 
 crushed and amalgamated with the arastra. 
 
 In latitude 36° 20', east of the Sierra ISTevada and Owen's 
 Mountains, lies the Coso argentiferous district, a region of 
 which very little is known as yet. 
 
 Gold i)lacers are found in the San Francisquito Pass, forty- 
 five miles northward from Los Angeles, in the San Gabriel 
 ^jaiion, twenty miles northeastward from the Mission of San 
 Gabriel in Bear valley, fifteen miles eastward of San Bernar- 
 dino, on the banks of the Colorado, twenty miles north of Fort 
 i'uma, and in the Sierra of Santa Lucia, near the Mission of 
 San Antonio. It is said that veins of auriferous and aroen- 
 tiferous quartz are also found in Bear valley, and in Ilolcomb 
 valley in the slopes of Mount San Bernardino, and that there 
 is rich auriferous quartz at Amargosa in the valley of the 
 Mohave, north of the sink of that river. 
 
 Note. — The statement of the number of quartz-mills and mining canals in 
 the several counties, is taken from H. G. Langley's State Register. 
 
304 KESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 § 227. High Wages. — There are two great difficulties in the 
 way of the productive industry of California, the high prices 
 of labor and. the high rates of interest. These may be bless- 
 ings to certain classes of individuals, and perhaps even to the 
 population generally, but they render it impossible for Califor- 
 nia to compete with foreign manufacturers in many branches 
 of employment. The great distance of our state from Europe 
 and Atlantic ports — San Francisco is about nineteen thousand 
 miles from New York, by the route followed by the sailing 
 vessels ordinarily — and the high freight on merchandise, is a 
 great protection to our home industry, and the Federal tariff 
 gives us a further jDrotection on many articles ; but neverthe- 
 less, a large proportion of the manufactured goods consumed 
 here are imported from abroad, and probably will be for many 
 years to come. We have no secondary coal in the state, and 
 cannot expect to smelt iron ore, or to make cutlery or fine 
 articles of hardware. Some cotton is produced on the shores 
 of China and is now shipped to England ; perhaps we may at 
 some future day be able to import it raw and manufacture it 
 here, but of this there is no certainty. We cannot hope to 
 obtain much cotton from this side of the Pacific, for the west- 
 ern slope of the North American continent is not suited to 
 cotton growing. Now coal, iron, and cotton are the raw ma- 
 terial for a large share of the most profitable manufactures of 
 our age. We shall produce a large quantity of fine wool, and 
 It will in time be spun and woven here with a profit. Lum- 
 ber is so bulky tliat it cannot well be imported from abroad, 
 
OTHER BKAXCIIES OF INDUSTKT. 305 
 
 and our forests are so extensive and convenient to tlie market, 
 tliat we can make our lumber as cheap as that made elsewhere. 
 We have extensive fisheries and they must be developed. We 
 must build our own houses, and construct our own roads, rail- 
 ways, mining-ditches, and flumes. We now import all our 
 hardware, glassware, porcelain, stationery, silks, cottons, fine 
 woollen goods, and nearly all our clotliing, boots, shoes, and 
 fine furniture, and many of our agricultural implements, me- 
 chanical tools, wagons, and carriages. 
 
 There has been a gradual fall in the wages of labor since 
 1849. For instance, in that year the wages of good carpen- 
 ters were sixteen dollars per day; in 1851, ten dollars; in 
 1853, seven dollars; in 1856, five dollars; and now four dol- 
 lars; and there has been a similar decrease of wages in all 
 those branches of labor much in demand. Tailors, shoemakers, 
 and cabinet-makers have never received high wages, because 
 little is done in their trades. Millers, calkers, and ship-wrights 
 now get from four to six dollars per day ; bricklayers, stone 
 masons and plasterers from four to five dollars ; boiler-makers, 
 machinists, and pattern-makers four dollars ; carpenters, black- 
 smiths, and carriage-makers from three to four dollars ; house- 
 painters, papei^hangers, and stevedores three dollars; hod- 
 men and washerwomen two dollars ; common laborers one dol- 
 lar and seventy-five cents. Of such persons as are hired by 
 the month and boarded, gardeners get thirty-five dollars ; farm- 
 ers, 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 with- 
 out boarding. The best miners, of the class called " drifters," 
 who cut and blast tunnels and dig shafts, get four dollars per 
 day ; common miners get fifty dollars a month and boarding. 
 The wages of labor in California are now higher than in any 
 other pait of the world. 
 
 § 228. Lumbering. — Lumbering, or the preparation of forest 
 timber for industrial purposes, is an important branch of the 
 industry, and the sale of hunber is an important branch of the 
 14* 
 
306 KESOIIECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 trade of the state. Our houses are built of lumber, our streets 
 are planked with luraber, our fields are feuced "with lumber, 
 and our flumes and sluices are made of lumber. And some 
 parts of the state are very rich in timber and can readily 
 supply the whole demand. Lumber is of three kinds, sawn, 
 hewn, and split ; the last two kinds being very small in im- 
 portance as compared with the first. About one hundred and 
 seventy millions of feet of lumber are sawn aimually in Cali- 
 fornia, and at the a\'erage price of twenty dollars per one 
 thousand feet at the mill, the total amount of the lumber trade 
 may be estimated at three millions of dollars. The chief lum- 
 bering districts are in the Sierra Nevada, and very near the 
 coast. Mendocino is the largest lumbering county of the state, 
 and according to the assessor's report for 1860, produced thirly- 
 five millions of feet in that year. The mills are at Timber 
 Cove and the mouths of the ISToyo, Albion, and Big Rivers ; 
 and the timber is nearly all redwood. Humboldt occupies 
 the next place, sawing thirty million feet per annum ; and 
 Santa Cruz county next, with ten million feet annually. All 
 the timber cut in Santa Cruz is redwood ; in Humboldt there 
 are about equal amounts of redwood, spruce, and fir, and a 
 little fragrant cedar. Santa Cruz ships much lumber to the 
 southern part of the state, and Mendocino and Humboldt 
 supply most of the redwood lumber for the San Francisco 
 market. The lumber cut in the mining counties is mostly used 
 near home, large amounts being consumed for sluices, flumes, 
 and in other mining enterprises. 
 
 The method of getting the logs to the mills in Humboldt 
 county is peculiar. The mills are all on the shores of Hum- 
 boldt Bay, which is surrounded by flat land six or eight 
 miles wide. Through this flat land run tide-water sloughs or 
 channels, into which brooks run from ravines in the hills. The 
 land in this county has all been Federal property, and has been 
 open to pre-emption ; and most of the lumbermen have laid 
 claim to the tracts where they work, or have bought them 
 Avith state-school warrants, under which any of the Federal 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 307 
 
 land in the state open to pre-emption, may be purchased. The 
 lumbermen owning claims along the sloughs, drag their logs 
 to the water and tumble them in. Those owning claims along 
 the ravines, at the heads of the sloughs, have a wooden tram- 
 way made by laying down long poles, about six inches in 
 diameter and four feet apart. On this tramway runs a wagon 
 with four wheels, each wheel of solid wood eight inches wide, 
 and from two to three feet in diameter, made of a transverse 
 section of a tree. On this wagon one or two logs are placed 
 at a time, and two mules easily haul the load down hill to the 
 slough, and then haul the empty wagon back again. The 
 slope in these little ravines is very gradual, so thei^ is no diffi- 
 culty either in hauling the load down, or the wagon up. The 
 tiiickness of the logs varies from sixteen inches (nothing 
 smaller is sawn) to nine feet. The average thickness is four 
 feet and a half; seven feet is a common thickness in redwood. 
 Of pine and spruce logs the largest are five feet through ; the 
 average thickness is three feet. The greater the thickness of 
 a log, the shorter it is cut. The ordinary lengths of saw-logs 
 are fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-four, and thirty- 
 two feet. Redwood is rarely sawn more than twenty feet 
 long ; spruce and pine usually of that length or longer. A 
 good lumberman will cut down a redwood tree three feet in 
 diameter in an hour ; a tree five feet in diameter in three 
 hours and a half; a tree seven feet in diameter in six hours. 
 Ordinarily two choppers work together, one on each side of 
 the tree, and then, of course, they fell it in half the time that 
 would be required for one man alone. They use the Ameri- 
 can axe and American axe-handle ; the handle being about a 
 foot longer than is used in common chopping. After the tree 
 is down, it is cut into saw-logs with a cross-cut saw, managed 
 by one man. It has been found that one man can make a 
 longer stroke than two, and the lenjxth of the sti-oke is a mat- 
 ter of much importance to " clear the saw," or throw out the 
 saw-dust ; so the handle at one end of the common cross-cut 
 saw is knocked off, and it is then held like the ordinary hand- 
 
308 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 saw. The logs in the ravines are all cut within a hundred 
 yards of the tram-way, to which they are dragged by oxen. 
 The logs once thrown into the slough, are made into rafts 
 from jfifry to one hundred yards long, and from ten to forty feet 
 wide. Tlie outer logs of the rafts are fistened to each other 
 at the ends, by a little chain with a tooth or dog at each end, 
 and one dog is driven into each log. There are t^ien ropes 
 running across in several places to keep it from spreading out 
 in the middle. This is a very easy and simple method of mak- 
 ing a raft and the logs are not injured in the least. When the 
 raft is all complete, the lumbermen get on it, and float with 
 the tide doT^n to the mills, which are on the shore of the bay 
 near the mouth of the slough. The distance from the point 
 where the rafts are made to the mills, varies from three to 
 eight miles. When the tide turns, the raft is made fast to a 
 tree or stump on the shore, and the loggers wait until the ebb 
 commences again. Two tides will usually carry a raft to the 
 mill. Every mill has a boom or enclosure for logs. This en- 
 closure consists merely of large and long logs chained together 
 and floating on the surflice of the water, of a small slough or 
 cove. When the raft arrives the boom is opened, the raffc 
 pulled in and surveyed. The logs are generally cut by com- 
 panies of " loggers" who devote themselves to that business, 
 and sell their logs to the mills. The survey is made by a 
 surveyor, a public ofiicer of the county, who is under bonds. 
 Pie receives ten cents per one thousand feet of lumber, board 
 measure, one-half to be paid by the loggers and one-half by 
 the mill. The thickness of the log is taken at the small end, 
 and one-fourth is thrown ofl" for waste. The large logs will 
 usually produce more lumber, and the small ones less than the 
 amount indicated by this mode of measurement. In some places 
 along the streams it is not convenient to make tram-ways, so the 
 logs are cut in the summer and are piled up on the bank until 
 the heavy rains of winter come, when there is enough water 
 to carry the logs down, and then they are thrown in. The 
 current carries them down to the slough, where the channel is 
 
OTHEK BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 309 
 
 wide and the current more moderate, and there they are 
 caught by a boom, Avhich is made by driving a heavy pile into 
 the bank on e:ich side, and cliaining a large and long log to it. 
 These two logs are chained together at their lower ends, and 
 thus hold all the logs coming down from above. The boom 
 logs may be three or four feet in diameter, and seventy-five feet 
 in length. A little stream, a foot deep and three feet widp in 
 the summer, will increase its volume of water a hundred-fold 
 in winter, and carry down logs ten feet in diameter. Such a 
 brook often supplies five million feet (board measure) of logs 
 in a season. 
 
 There is no place in the world where the average thickness 
 of the logs sawn in the saw-mills, is so large as in Humboldt 
 county, and the mills are built with special reference to the 
 size of the logs. The frames are made very large and strong, 
 and the saws are of proportionate length. The saws used in 
 the mills are of four kinds : the single-gate saw, the gang-saws 
 in a gate, the muley-saw, and the circular saw. The single- 
 gate saw is fastened in a frame or gate, which plays up and 
 down. This saw is used for sawing small logs, and is not 
 found in very large mills. The gang-saws are a set of saws 
 fastened in a frame parallel to each other. In some gangs 
 there are twenty-four saws" side by side, and they cut a log 
 into boards at one movement. The gang-saws move slowly and 
 make smooth lumber. All the boards, plank, joists, rafters, 
 and studding, are cut with gang-saws. The largest logs cut 
 ■with gang-saws are not more than three feet and a half through. 
 The muley-saw is an upright saw, which is fastened at the 
 lower end to a shaft connecting with the steam-engine or 
 water-power, and the upper end is loose, though it plays in a 
 groove to keep it straight. The muley is used for cutting the 
 largest logs into bolts, and taking off slabs, so as to reduce 
 the logs to a size suitable for other saws to work upon. The 
 muley-saw makes three hundred strokes in a minute, whereas 
 the gate-saw makes only about one hundred. The gate of 
 a gate-saw large enough to saw logs nine feet in diameter, 
 
310 EESOrRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 would be too heavy for coiiYenience or quick ^vork. Tlie cir- 
 cular saws are used for cutting all the thin siding, pickets, and 
 laths. The largest circular saws are fifty-two inches in diam- 
 eter, leaving about twenty-four inches on each side of the axle. 
 When large logs are to be sawm with circular saws, one saw 
 is put above the other, and one cuts into the log fi'om above, 
 and the other from below, so that they can saw a log four feet 
 in diameter. The frame-work for the circular-saw mills is 
 lighter than that necessary for the upright saws ; and circular- 
 saw mills are not nnfrequently moved about on wagons from 
 one place to another. The circular saw is used almost exclu- 
 sively in the Sierra Nevada. In Mendocino county and at 
 Santa Cruz, the muley and circular saws are used without the 
 gang-saws. The cost of sawing lumber is about the same 
 with the circular saw as with the upright saw. The circular 
 saw is more dangerous to the sawyer, and requires more skill 
 in mechanics, so the wages of a man to manage a circular saw 
 are one hundred and iifty dollars per month, while the wages 
 of a man for an upright saw are only sixty dollars. The bark 
 of the redwood is always taken off before the log is put into 
 the mill. A tree seven feet in diameter M^ill make four thou- 
 sand feet of lumber, on an average. In Mendocino county 
 the logs are cut in the summer along the little streams, and in 
 the winter they are carried down by the high water to the 
 mills, where they are caught by large booms, but as the rivers 
 are large "with fierce currents, these booms are sometimes 
 broken, when millions of feet of logs are swept out to sea and 
 Jost, The lumber after being sawn, is shipped to San Fran- 
 cisco in schooners, varying from one hundred and fifty to 
 three hundred tons burden. The freight is eight or nine dol- 
 lars per one thousand feet. !Most of the trees convenient for 
 the lumbermen near the mills in ]\rendocino county, have been 
 cut away ; but about Humboldt Bay the supply will last many 
 years. In the Sierra Nevada, the circular-saw mills ordinarily 
 move from place to place, so as to have the timber near at 
 liand. In the valleys of Eel River there are hundreds of red- 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OF IXDrSTRY. 311 
 
 wood trees twenty feet in diameter, nnd one measuring twenty- 
 eight feet. On the trail from Humboldt Bay to Trinidad, there 
 are very large trees, and indeed all along the coast, from Eel 
 River to the Klamath, there are numerous trees of mammoth 
 size. 
 
 The spruce cut at Humboldt Bay is light and is used for 
 packing-boxes. The redwood is used for siding, furniture, 
 raih'oad-sleepers, telegraph-poles, fence-posts, and all kinds of 
 liouse-work, inside and out. The fragrant cedar has an odor 
 suggestive of a mixture of turpentine and ottar of roses, and is 
 used for cupboards, clothes-presses, and inside-work of houses. 
 Fir is used for fence-boards, studding, rafters, joists, and 
 plank, but the grain is too coarse for inside-work of houses. 
 Most of the lumber cut in the Sierra Nevada is sugar-pine, a 
 clear, good wood, which is the chief material for inside work 
 and furniture in the mining districts. 
 
 The principal kinds of split lumber produced in California, 
 are fence-posts, rails, pickets, and shingles. The redwood-tree 
 splits very freely, smoothly, and straight ; and furnishes nearly 
 all the split lumber of the coast. It is a favorite tree for fence- 
 posts, telegraph-poles, and railroad-sleepers, because of its 
 great durability under ground, lasting three or four times as 
 long as any other wood in common use. For split lumber, the 
 tree is cut down and divided with a cross-cut saw, in the same 
 manner as for saw-logs. The choice of the trees for splitting 
 is important, as they differ greatly in the straightness of the 
 grain, and the facility of splitting. Those trees which grow 
 in places exposed to the wind are often twisted, and the wood 
 is full of curls, and will not open without splintering. Where 
 the wood twists, indications of the course of the grain will 
 usually be found in the course of the seams in the bark. The 
 best trees are those with a straight, perpendicular growth, 
 preserving nearly the same thickness one hundred feet up, as 
 at the surface of the ground, with no limbs for one hundred 
 and fifty feet, with thin, smooth bark, seamed with perpendic- 
 ular lines. It is a pleasure to strike an axe into such a tree. 
 
312 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The length of the log depends upon the kind of lumber wanted. 
 Posts are seven feet long ; fence-rails ten or twelve feet ; 
 pickets from five to seven feet ; rafters, joists, and boards from 
 twelve to twenty feet. The work of splitting usually com- 
 mences at the end nearest the root of the tree. The lumber- 
 man draws a straight line with a pencil across the end of the 
 log, and through the centre, avoiding any knot or curl appa- 
 rent in the wood. He then sets his axe in this line and drives 
 it with a stroke or two of the maul half an inch into the wood, 
 takes it out, and moves a little further along till he has opened 
 the line across the log. Then he sets the axe in the log near 
 the centre, and drives it in with the maul several inches deep ; 
 then takes another axe and drives it in on the other side of 
 the centre, and when the second axe has entered two inches, 
 the log, if a good one, will split across the end. He introduces 
 iron w^edges in the end and drives them in, and takes out the 
 axes ; and then uses wooden wedges or gluts, first at tlie end, 
 and then at the side of the log. In subdividing the log, he 
 always tries to have as much wood on one side of the wedge 
 as on the other ; for if there be more than an equal share of 
 wood on one side of the wedge, the split will not run straight 
 with the grain, but will gradually approach the weaker side, 
 so that the piece split off will be smaller at one end than at 
 the other. The redAvood when well managed splits so beauti- 
 fully, that boards are frequently made twelve feet long, a foot 
 wide and an inch thick, and almost as smooth as if sawn. One 
 of the most important places in the state for the manufacture 
 of split lumber is Lexington, on the Santa Cruz mountain, fif- 
 teen miles southwestward from San Jos6. Fence-posts made 
 four inches thick, six inches wide, and seven feet long ; fence- 
 rails ten or twelve feet long, two or three inches thick, and 
 six inches wide ; pickets six and a half feet long, three inches 
 square ; and shingles eighteen inches long. The posts and 
 rails are sold at eight cents apiece ; the pickets at twenty-five 
 dollars per thousand ; and the shingles at four dollars and fifty 
 cents per thousand. 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 313 
 
 § 229. Fishing. — The rivers of C:ilifornia and the waters of 
 the ocean near its coast abound with fish. Trout are caught 
 in the little streams, sahnon in the Sacramento, and San Joa- 
 quin, and the rivers emptying into the ocean north of San Fran- 
 cisco Bay, and a great variety of fish are caught 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 salmon. They are born in the rivers, go 
 out to sea when three or four months old, stay out at sea 
 some months, 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 Avaters, averages ten 
 pounds in weight and sometimes grows to sixty pounds. 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 ofier fine sport to the fisherman with the 
 fly, but in California they are caught only as a matter of busi- 
 ness, 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 him. The net is not 
 dragged, but is stretched across or partly across the river and 
 is allowed to drift with the current down stream, a distance 
 of some hundreds of yards, perhaps a quarter or even half a 
 mile, the fishermen 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 course run into 
 the net. A large number of sahnon 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 
 
314 KESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 caught while on their way ont to sea, with fine nets in the shal- 
 low waters of San Francisco Bay. The Qiunnat sahnon 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 deeper 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, Avhere the mud abounds, is 
 doubtful. Yet the probabilities of success are suflicient to 
 justify the trial. Fifteen years ago the salmon regularly as- 
 cended 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 supj^osed 
 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 Kla- 
 math River never seen in Humboldt Bay, and various species 
 in the Columbia 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 tributaries of the Columbia have species never caught 
 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 they would return to spawn there. 
 
 The legislature has passed an act in regard to the salmon 
 fishery. It pro^■ides that the run of salmon shall not be ob- 
 structed by any dam, weir, fence, or fixed stop-net ; and that 
 no person shall catch with a net in the San Joaquin River, or 
 any tributary, in August, September, and the first half of Oc- 
 tober ; or in any other salmon stream of the state in August, 
 October, December, and January ; nor shall any ^^erson, save 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 315 
 
 Indians, sell fresh salmon during the season when fisliing with 
 the net is prohibited. There is no legal prohibition against 
 taking other fish, or shell-fish at any season of the year. 
 
 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 
 fifty fathoms deep, on rocky bottoms. The line called a " trawl- 
 line" is about six hundred yards along, w4th numei'ous 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 biting fish that come to the market. 
 The bait used is chiefly sardines and herrings. 
 
 The mackerel {Scomber diego), a good fish, but smaller than 
 the Atlantic mackerel, is caught with a hook ofl" the coast 
 south of Point Concei^tion. 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. A number of vessels are 
 now employed in the mackerel fishery of California. 
 
 The little brown rock-fish (Sebastes auriculatiis)^ is caught 
 in San Francisco Bay about the wharves ; but the other 
 species are only found out in the open sea. They 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 caui^fht with the trawl-line throufyhout 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 cau<i^ht at all seasons. A \\xy^q business mij^ht be done in 
 salting them, but they are caught only for the fresh market. 
 The anchovies are very numerous m San Francisco Bay, where 
 
316 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 thev try to keep in sboals by themselves, but do DOt sneceed, 
 and are oaugbt with other small tishes in nets. They are 
 fully eqiuil to the European anchovy, and will soon 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 tlavor equal to those on the coast of France, but 
 laro-er. Thev are found in ail the ba^'S alonjr the coast from 
 May to October. An attempt was made several years ago to 
 pickle sardines for the market, but it f;iiled^ The herring is not 
 abundant on the coast of Calitoruia, or at least is not found 
 here in such dense shoals as in the Athmtic, and our species is 
 smaller. It is caught with a net in the shallow waters of the 
 ba\*s. There are no shad in the waters of California. Shrimps 
 are caught in the shallow waters of the bay of San Francisco 
 with small mesh-nets, but are becoming very scarce The 
 sturgeon visits the rivers of the Atlantic states for only a 
 couple of months in a year, but it is abundant in the CaUfor- 
 nian 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 harpooned, but here it is 
 caught only with nets. The meat is coarse, and is sold at one- 
 fourth or one-sixth the price demanded 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 establish the business of prepar- 
 ing caWare from the roe of the sturgeon, but it did not prove 
 protitable and it was abandoned. Sea-bass, a fish of tine, deli- 
 cate 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 sheepshead, an excellent fish, is caught off 
 S;mta Barbara with hand-lines during the summer. It should 
 be brought to the market alive in smacks, for it loses its deli- 
 cacy of flavor soon :ifter death. The jewfish is abuud:int 
 south of Point Conception, and may easily be taken with a 
 
OxHEIi BRANCHES OP INDUSTRY. 317 
 
 hook or harpoon. It spends most of its time at the bottom in 
 both deep and shoal water, but frequently conies to the surface, 
 and according to report sleeps there. It also goes into lagoons, 
 and likes to be near the kelp. They grow very large, some- 
 times to weigh five hundred pounds, and as their flesh is very 
 good, a profitable business might be made of fishing for them. 
 
 S^iarks are taken by Chinamen for food and by Americans 
 for their oil. The common sharks caught by tlie Chinamen, 
 perhaps more properly called " dog-fish" {Acanthea suclicyi 
 and Triakis /asciatus), 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, which is never 
 eaten by white men, but seems to have lavor among the 
 Mongols. The fish is cut open by a dexterous and quick 
 stroke of a large knife along the back-bone, and is then dried 
 without the use of salt. The fins are considered a delicacy. 
 In Humboldt Bay the true shark {Kotorhynchus maculatus)^ 
 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, which is loose and comes out 
 of the spear-head after the shark is struck. If the handle Avere 
 fastened in the sj^ear-head, it would be broken by the struggles 
 of the fish. A rope attached to the spear-head suftices to hold 
 the shark, and by its means he is drawn up to the side, of the 
 boat, wliere 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 saw-mills about the bay, and sells for one 
 dollar per gallon ; and so long as the season lasts the fisher- 
 men make from five to ten dollars per day. 
 
 § 230. Hunting. — The principal game quadrupeds and birds 
 of California are grizzly bear, elk, deer, antelope, hare, rabbit ; 
 
318 EESOURCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 the gray Canada brant, the white goose; th-'i canvas-back, 
 mallard, sprigtail, spoonbill, and summer ducks , the widgeon, 
 the teal, the English black-breasted, sand, and lowiches snipe ; 
 the curlew, the mountain partridge, the valhy quail, and vari- 
 ous kinds of grouse. Nobody makes a business of hunting 
 the grizzly bear ; to attack him is so dangerous and to kill him 
 so difficult, 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 flavor. It nauseates sOme delicate stomachs. 
 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 throws 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 at a little distance from 
 each other, drag him along, and the third and perhaps a fourth 
 horse follows him, each one keeping his lasso stretched, so that 
 even if the bear should succeed in breaking one reata 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 
 difiicult to approach than any other game animal in the state, 
 unless the mountain sheep be excepted. They ordinarily He 
 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 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OT I^^JDC/SIRYT. 319 
 
 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 
 BO sweet as that of their eastern congeners. The deer hve 
 near the timber, and are found along the coast and in the 
 Sierra Nevada. They were at one time very abundant but 
 are now rapidly decreasing. The best place for hunting thena 
 is in Mendocino county. There is no deer-hunting on horse- 
 back, nor by large parties. The hunters go out alone or in 
 small parties. Occasionally a deer is caught with the lasso, 
 but this requires an excellent horse, a first-rate vaquero, and 
 a good piece of open ground where the horse can have a fair 
 chase and the vaquero can swing his reata. 
 
 The antelope lives in the open plain and in the desert. The 
 valley of the San Joaquin was once full of great herds of them, 
 but they, like other large game, have become rare now. 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, th«y establish the fame of the horse and 
 rider engaged in the exploit. 
 
 There is one pack of hounds in the state, and they are some- 
 times, but rarely, used for hunting coyotes and foxes, as well 
 as deer. 
 
 The wild geese and ducks are very abundant in California 
 from September to March. They spend the winter in the tules 
 of San Francisco Bay and tributary waters, and in the spring 
 they migrate to the north. While here, they afford profitable 
 employment to a number of hunters, who are of two classes — 
 the " boat-shooters" and the " ox-shooters." 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 every man starts in his skiff, with three double-bar- 
 
320 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 relied 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 daybreak, to feed 
 in the fields of grain, grass, or wild oats. They remain there 
 duriog 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. 
 
 The ox-shooter stalks his game. lie has a trained ox, which 
 walks before him and hides him from the geese or ducks until 
 within good shooting-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. 
 
 Hunting is an unimportant interest in California as com- 
 pared with fishing, and must continually decrease in impor- 
 tance, while the fisheries will increase. 
 
 A game-law prohibits the killing of quail, partridge, mallard 
 and summer duck, from the 1st of March to the 15th of Sep- 
 tember ; and elk, deer, and antelope, during the first half of 
 the year ; and prohibits the selling of the game slain during 
 the forbidden season. 
 
 § 231. Ilouse-huilding. — In the building of houses, the Cali- 
 fornians, like Americans generally, are exj^ert and quick. 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 together with 
 nails, without tenons and mortices, and with no upright posts 
 thicker than two by four inches. This kind of a frame, called 
 
 I 
 
OTUEll BRANCnES OP INDUSTRY. 321 
 
 *' Balloon" from its lightness, and " Chicago" because they first 
 came extensively into use in that plice about fifteen years ago, 
 appears 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 unfrequently made 
 four or five stories high, whereas the heavier frame very rarely 
 reaches three stories. 
 
 In the balloon-frame, 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. The 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. 
 
 Three-fourths of the houses in the state are of wood ; the 
 other fourth 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 t-his 
 state, and the lime is burned here. Brick buildings not con- 
 structed to be fire-proof, have shingled roofs. There are a 
 few buildings with fronts of granite, which for one house was 
 brouirht 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 
 dwelhngs in the counties bordering on the coast, from Monte- 
 15 
 
322 BESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 rey southward, are made of adobes, or snn-dried bricks ; but 
 most of the houses built of late, and all the elegant structures, 
 are of wood or brick. 
 
 When an adobe house is to be built, the adobes are made 
 very near the place, for they are too heavy to be hauled far. 
 The earth to make adobes should be a sandy or gravelly clay, 
 which will not crack in drying. A pure loam or pure clay 
 will not do. The material having been found, it is dug uji, 
 and mixed with water and some straw, unti] it makes a thick 
 mud. Not far from the pit the earth is levelled oif, as a yard 
 where the adobes are to be dried. The adobe is from three 
 to six inches thick, from ten to twenty inches wide, and from 
 a foot to two feet long:. The mould is made of the size which 
 the adobes are to have, without top or bottom. It is placed 
 on the ground ; the mud is thrown in, until the mould is filled ; 
 the top is scraped off level with a board ; and the mould is 
 lifted up, and moved to another place. The mud must be so 
 thick, that it will retain its shape after the mould is removed. 
 In twenty-four hours the adobe is so hard, that it will stand 
 on one side, and in three or four days it is dry enough to be 
 used for building. Its sides are rough and its corners broken, 
 but it serves to make a house. Adobe walls are often made 
 three feet thick, rarely less than a foot and a half The mortar 
 used is of the same mud of which the adobes were made. The 
 walls are usually protected by wide eaves, and sometimes the 
 roof projects six or eight feet, so as to make a corridor running 
 entirely round the house. If the adobes be exposed to the 
 rain, they are soon washed down. The w\alls have a founda- 
 tion of stone laid about eight inches high on the suiface of the 
 ground. 
 
 In many of the adobe houses there is no floor save the bare 
 earth. These dwellings are very cool in summer and warm in 
 winter ; and in old times, when the work was all done by In- 
 dians, they were cheop, but now it costs more to build a neat 
 house of adobes than of wood. Many of the old adobe houses 
 are still covered with the tiles baked by the Mexicans ; those 
 
 II 
 
OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 323 
 
 built of lute liave ncnrly all sliingle roofs. In Los Angeles 
 county, the roofs are generally made of asphaltum, obtained 
 from the bituminous springs, of which there are a number 
 along the southern coast. The rafters are covered with boards 
 or cane, upon which earth is thrown, and upon that the asphal- 
 tum is placed. Sometimes the asphaltum is poured upon the 
 earth in a melted condition ; sometimes it is thrown on in 
 hard lumps during the summer, and the melting is left to the 
 heat of the sun. The asphaltum cracks in the cold and melts 
 in the sun ; so the eaves are dripping in July and August, and 
 in the winter, if a rain comes immediately after a severe cold, 
 the roofs are certain to leak. The cracks are always filled up 
 again when a hot sun shines on the roof and melts the asphal- 
 tum. Most of the dwellings are surrounded by verandas or 
 corridors, which are the most pleasant parts of the houses in 
 the summer-time. Some of the dwellings are built in the form 
 of a hollow square, with a paved court inside, planted with 
 trees, and with a corridor running round. This corridor is the 
 favorite place for spending the day, and here visitors are gen- 
 erally received. 
 
 § 232. Furniture^ etc. — Nearly all the fine furniture of the 
 state is imported. The cabinet-makers' shops are few and 
 small. The costly articles of fine wood-work, made on a large 
 scale in California, are the billiard-tables ; and these are made 
 of unsurpassable excellence and with unsurpassed elegance. 
 Our agricultural implements, wagons, carriages, omnibuses, 
 and coaches, are mostly imported ; and when they are made 
 here, imported wood is used. No hubs, spokes, or felloes, are 
 made in the state. It may be that all our agricultural imple- 
 ments will soon be manufactured at home, for a contract has 
 lately been made to employ one hundred of the state-prison 
 convicts in this labor ; but we shall probably continue to im- 
 port our wagon-lumber, for very little of the Californian tim- 
 ber is strong enough for such uses. Our tubs are mostly made 
 here, and are of good quality. We have many well-built 
 wooden bridges in the state. 
 
324 KESOUECES OF GALIFOKXIA. 
 
 California has built many schooners, and one war-vessel of 
 fifteen hundred tons, but will never construct many shij^s. Her 
 evergreen-oak, laurel, and madroua, are good for ships' knees 
 and frames ; but the trees are rare and costly, and far from 
 the shipyards : while Puget Sound is so near, and has such 
 very great advantages over us, that we cannot compete with 
 Washington territory. 
 
 There are a great many excellent roads in the mountainous 
 districts of the state, but the general character of our high- 
 ways is poor — muddy in winter and dusty in summer. Mac- 
 adamized roads are few. Slowly we are getting railroads. 
 There is one, twenty miles long, between Sacramento and 
 Folsom ; another, forty-five miles long, is being made from 
 Folsom to jMarysville ; one has been commenced between Yal- 
 lejo and Marysviile ; and another is to be soon begun between 
 San Francisco and San Jose. 
 
 All our cotton and cotton goods are imported. There is 
 not a cotton-carding machine, spinning-jenny, or loom, in the 
 state. No linen is grown or manufactured here. All our fine 
 woollen goods are imported. We have only two woollen-mills 
 in the state, and they make only blankets and coarse cloths. 
 
 Large quantities of leather are tanned in California, but it is 
 all heavy. We tan no fine calfskin, morocco, or kid. Nearly 
 all our boots and shoes for men's wear, and all for women, are 
 imported. There are small shops where men's boots and shoes 
 are made by the single pair to order after measure taken, and 
 the customers in most cases are desirous of having a very ele- 
 gant fit ; but there are no large factories to make boots by the 
 thousand. 
 
 We make no gunpowder, fire-works, fire-crackers, pitch, tar, 
 or turpentine. It is said that our pine-trees do not contain the 
 resinous sap to make turpentine, pitch, and rosin, and therefore 
 we shall always have to import these articles. 
 
 There are two paper-mills in California, one of which makes 
 printing-paper and the other straw wrapping-paper. We still 
 import much of -our printing and wrapping paper, and all of 
 
OTHliR BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. ?,9.5 
 
 our writing-pa]>er. ]\[nch of our coarse sonp is mado here , all 
 fine soaps are imported. Nearly all our candles are imported. 
 We have no furnaces for smelting iron-ore, and no forges to 
 make wrought iron or steel. AH our cutlery, stoves, cast iron, 
 firearms, cooking-utensils, nails, screws, locks, hinges, tin-ware, 
 copper, and copper-ware, are imported. So also are all our 
 lead and shot, wire, tin, zinc, solder, and sheathing-metal. All 
 our bottles are imported. A bottle-factory was established in 
 San Francisco, to make bottles out of broken glass, of which 
 much could be obtained in the large towns. This factory, 
 however, was shortly abandoned ; but there is a report that 
 it will soon be established a^jain. 
 
S26 ilESOCIECES OF CALIFORKIA. 
 
 CnAPTER X. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 §' 233. General Advantages. — California is now the most 
 important commercial state on the shores of the North Pacitic, 
 and it Avill continue to hold its present relative position. Near- 
 ly all the foreign commerce will be done by San Francisco, 
 which has advantages superior to those of any other place on 
 the coast between the Isthmus of Panama and Puget Sound, 
 or on the coast of Asia. Her only equal, in the waters of the 
 Pacific, is Melbourne. Several ports of China and Japan may 
 have as much shipping ; but the people of those countries are 
 only semi-civihzed, and we shall take their trade, and make 
 them tributary to us. 
 
 In estimating the commercial advantages of California, we 
 must consider the yield of our gold, silver, and quicksilver 
 mines ; the produce of our grain-fields, vineyards, orchards, 
 and saw-mills ; the mineral resources of Western Mexico ; the 
 lumber and fisheries of Washington territory and Oregon ; the 
 gold of British Columbia ; the whale-oil and whale-bone of the 
 North Pacific ; and the industrial products of China and Japan. 
 California is in the position to be the common carrier for all 
 the countries bordering on the North Pacific. Between Puget 
 Sound and Valparaiso there is on this coast no port that can 
 prove a dangerous rival to San Francisco. As the population, 
 wealth, and industry of this coast increase, and as the foreign 
 commerce of China and Japan becomes more extended, the 
 trade of San Francisco must continue to grow in at least an 
 equal ratio. The increase, in every event, is certain. 
 
COMMERCE. 327 
 
 Our chief commercial city is forty days' sail from China, and 
 fifteen from Ilonohilu. It has been proposed to establish a 
 line of steamers between San Francisco and Shan^hae, but I 
 doubt the necessity of such a line. Whenever the trade will 
 justify it, there will be a line of swift-sailing packets, which 
 can make almost as good time as steamers. There is no sea 
 where sailing-vessels can make such regular and swift passages 
 throughout the year as on the North Pacific, particularly if 
 they sail across it from east to west or from west to east. The 
 trade-winds, which blow over it toward the south, are constant, 
 and equally favorable for vessels bound in either direction. 
 Side-wheel steamers would be entirely unsuited for the route, 
 because the wind is always from the north, and one wheel 
 would be out of water nearly all the time ; but propellers, to 
 be used when the wind is low, might be of service ; though 
 there is reason to doubt whether they would be of sufiicient 
 service to justify the additional expense. Six or seven years 
 ago, a steam-propeller was employed between San Francisco 
 and Honolulu, but it was soon driven off by the sailing-vessels, 
 which made the trip ordinarily in about the same time, and on 
 several occasions beat the steamer. 
 
 We cannot foresee clearly the manner and rapidity of the 
 development of the foreign commerce of China and Japan, but 
 that it will reach a high development is certain. Three hun- 
 dred and fifty millions of industrious people are not to be shut 
 out from intercourse with Christendom. They have wants 
 which must be supplied, and which white men alone can sup- 
 ply ; and as California is the nearest state containing a large 
 white population, and having a large commerce, we must have 
 much to do with the business of supplying them. 
 
 § 234. Ih'ilnUary Population. — The present pojiulation of 
 Nevada territory is about six thousand men, and the yield of 
 silver and gold is estimated to amount to about one million 
 dollars per year. It is now the general and confident opinion 
 of Californians that the population and silver production of that 
 territory will rapidly increase, and of course the increase must 
 
328 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 haTC a relatively favorable influence upon the commerce of 
 California, from which Xevacla will obtain all her supplies. 
 
 Oregon has a coast line of two hundred and seventy-five 
 miles, from latitude 42° to 46°, and extends nearly four hun- 
 dred miles from east to west. Al) that portion Ipng east of 
 the Cascade Mountains (wliich are a continuation of the Sierra 
 !N"evacla), comprising about two-thirds of the state, is barren, 
 or nearly so. It may contain good pasture-lands and valuable 
 minerals ; but, with the exception of a few fertile valleys and 
 bottom-lands near the Columbia River, these have not as yet 
 been discovered, or at least not occupied by white men. The 
 western part of the state contains some rich placers, fine for- 
 ests, and valuable land for farming, but the country is difficult 
 of access. The only entrance to it from the sea is by the Co- 
 lumbia River, the mouth of which is dangerous to shipping. 
 There is a land entrance to Oregon from California on the 
 south, and from Washington territory on the north. Oregon 
 has a population of some fifty thousand, and produces about 
 one million dollars in gold-dust annually. 
 
 Washington territory has a sea-coast of two hundred miles, 
 and extends six hundred miles eastward to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. The fertile strip of the territory is only about one hun- 
 dred and twenty miles wide, along the Pacific ; the eastern 
 portion is for the most part barren, but it contains extensive ■ 
 placers of gold, which yield about three hundred thousand dol- 
 lars annually, and, if reports be true, will soon yield much 
 more. The population numbers about ten thousand. The fer- 
 tile district west of the Cascade Mountains is penetrated to a 
 depth of one hundred miles by Paget Sound and Hood's Canal, 
 the finest bodies of land-locked tide-water, for the purposes of 
 internal navigation, in the world. The timber of the territory 
 is very valuable, abundant, and accessible, and is now shipped 
 to all quarters of the globe. No country can furnish large ■ 
 spars in such great abundance, or at so cheap a rate ; and this 
 resource, if there were no other, would secure wealth to Wash- 
 ington. Yet, in addition to these, she has extensive fisheries, 
 
 i 
 
COMMEKCE. 329 
 
 fine farming-lands, and great facilities for commerce. For these 
 reasons, Washington will occupy an important place on the 
 Pacific, will have a dense population, and will contribute much 
 to build up the commerce and increase tJie wealth of Califor- 
 nia. The climate of the western district of Washington is very- 
 moist throughout the year — cool in summer, and not cold in 
 winter. Ice seldom forms more than two inches in thick- 
 ness, or remains more than two or three days ; but the sun is 
 hidden nearly every winter by fogs and clouds, for weeks at a 
 time. The climate of Washington bears as close a resemblance 
 to that of Encjland as does the climate of California to that of 
 Italy. 
 
 British Columbia has a population of six thousand, yields 
 about one million dollars in gold-dust annually, and 1ms fine 
 forests of ship-timber along the shores of the Gulf of Georgia. 
 The soil is not rich, either on the mainland or on Vancouver 
 Island, and the land will not be extensively cultivated there 
 until after the richer land of Washington territory has been 
 occupied. 
 
 The western part of New Mexico and Arizona is a barren 
 country, unfit for tillage, but rich in minerals, which may at 
 some day attract a large population. At present, its white 
 inhabitants, west of the Rocky Mountains, do not number more 
 than one thousand. The present silver production of Arizona 
 may amount to ten thousand dollars per month. . Western Ari- 
 zona and New Mexico obtain most of their imported goods 
 from San Francisco. 
 
 The population of Utah is about forty-five thousand, and 
 they do much of their trading with Placerville and Los An- 
 geles. 
 
 The western coast of Mexico, from San Bias northward, has 
 a population of about a million and a half, and these obtain 
 many of their imported goods from San Francisco. 
 
 The Hawaiian Islands have a population of seventy thou- 
 sand, including two thousand whites, and they obtain most of 
 their imported goods from San Francisco. 
 15* 
 
330 KESOUKCES OF CALIFOT. NIA. 
 
 Adding together the inhabitants of Nevada, Oregon, Wash- 
 ington, the western parts of Xew Mexico and Arizona, the 
 northwestern part of Mexico, British Cohimbia, Vancouver 
 Island, and the Hawaiian IsLands, we have a total of about one 
 million seven hundred thousand people ; and mineral, commer- 
 cial, and industrial resources and advantages that must attract 
 many more inhabitants at no distant day. _ 
 
 § 235. hnports. — The imports of California are about $55,- 
 000,000 per year ; tliat is, we import about as much as we 
 export ; and our exports amount, with gold, silver, grain, wool, 
 wine, and sundries, to $55,000,000 annually. We have, how- 
 ever, no exact table of our imports, for most of tliem come 
 from Xew York, and, if of foreign production, have paid duty 
 there, and no report of their class and value is made at the 
 custom-house in San Francisco. Therefore, we cannot obtain 
 such tables of the imports into our cliief port as are made at 
 New York, where all the foreign goods are received direct. 
 In the absence of accurate statistics, I must make an estimate 
 of the values of the several classes of impoiled articles, which, 
 while confessedly inexact, may yet serve to convey informa- 
 tion to those who know nothing of the subject : 
 
 The clothing and material for clothing imported in a year 
 may cost us $15,000,000; provisions (among which butter is 
 perhaps the most important), coffee, tea, and spices, $3,000,000 ; 
 tobacco, $3,000,000 ; cutlery, hardware, and metalHc articles, 
 $4,000,000 ; articles of wood, such as wagons, agricultural im- 
 plements,. &c., $1,000,000 ; drugs, $1,000,000 ; boots and shoes, 
 $3,000,000 ; jewelry, $1,000,000 ; coal, $1,000,000 ; hquors, 
 $2,000,000; and sundries, $2,000,000 : total, $36,000,000. For 
 freight on imported goods we pay $4,000,000 ; for insurance to 
 foreign companies, $1,000,000 ; for interest-money on foreign 
 capital, $1,000,000 ; for passenger-fares, $2,000,000 — makhig a 
 total sum of $44,000,000, which is less by several millions than 
 the amount of annual exports. 
 
 § 236. Exports. — Gold has the first place, but the exact 
 amount exported is not known, for considerable quantities not 
 
CO]^r MERGE. 331 
 
 reported at the custom-house, are taken away by passengers ; 
 and in the amount of treasure reported by manifest for exporta- 
 tion, the gold is not distinguished from the silver. The amount 
 of treasure exported in 1861 was $40,639,089 57; and probar 
 bly not more than Si, 000,000 of silver is included in the sum. 
 Of this treasure, 832,628,010 were sent to New York, $4,054,- 
 436 to England, $3,525,325 to China, $338,536 to Panama, 
 $58,220 to Japan, $12,459 to Honolulu, $9,000 to Manilla, $6,000 
 to Singapore, and $7,100 to Mexico. As compared with pre- 
 vious years, the export of treasure in 1861 shows a falhng off 
 from 1860 of $1,664,256; of $7,025,908 from 1859 ; $6,908,936 
 from 1858; $8,337,608 from 1857; $8,247,454 from 1856; 
 $4,543,542 from 1855; $10,689,564 from 1854; $16,691,935 
 fi-om 1853; $5,947,055 from 1852; and $1,943,606 as com- 
 pared with 1851. The total treasure export in 1850 was $27,- 
 676,346, and $4,921,250 in 1849, as manifested at the custom- 
 house. From 1848 to 1854, large sums were carried away by 
 passengers. 
 
 After the gold, in importance as an export, we may place 
 silver; which, however, is not all produced within the borders 
 of California, and which is surpassed in value by wheat. But 
 as one of the permanent exports of San Francisco, silver will 
 undoubtedly have the next place to gold. The silver contained 
 in the gold of California amounts to about $200,000 annually; 
 and that produced by Washoe may have amounted in 1861 to 
 $2,500,000. Hitherto very little silver has been exported ; but 
 it is accumulating so rapidly, and it is so inconvenient, in a 
 country w^here so little small coin is used, that it must be sent 
 away hereafter. It is already at a discount of two per cent. 
 
 For several years past, California has exported large quan- 
 tities of wheat and flour. In 1861, we exported 1,350,783 
 sacks of wheat and 170,562 barrels of flour, worth together 
 $3,500,000. In 1860, the value was about $2,500,000 ; in 1859, 
 about $1,100,000; in 1858, about $120,000; in 1857, about 
 $70,000. However, we cannot expect that this ratio of in- 
 crease can be maintained ; we have now reached the summit, 
 
332 EESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 and the statistics of 1862 will show a large decrease as com- 
 pared with the previous year, and perhaps an entire stoppage 
 of exportation. 
 
 The quicksilver exported in 1861 amounted to 35,995 flasks, 
 containing 2,699,625 pounds of metal, worth $1,079,850. The 
 export was 9,348 flasks in 1860, 3,399 in 1859, 24,132 in 1858, 
 27,262 in 1857, 23,740 in 1856, and 27,165 in 1855. The great 
 falling ofl" in 1859 and 1860 was caused by the closing of the 
 New Almaden mine, under an injunction issued at the instance 
 of the federal government. 
 
 Among the other exports of 1861 were 181,166 hides, worth 
 8554,951; 3,721,998 pounds of wool, worth $507,297 ; 373,852 
 sacks of barley, valued at 8355,224 ; silver-ore, valued at 8188,- 
 815; copper-ore, worth 8122,580; lumber, valued at 876,748 ; 
 tallow, worth 865,982 ; and wine, worth 812,399. 
 
 The total value of the exports in 1861, other than treasure, 
 was $6,988,375 ; of which we sent 82,744,537 to New York, 
 81,283,391 to England, 81,078,118 to Australia, 8566,860 to 
 China, and 8453,953 to Mexico. 
 
 § 237. Shipping. — In 1861, there were 1,981 arrivals of 
 vessels, with an aggregate of 599,233 tons, at San Francisco. 
 Of these, 1,538 vessels, with an aggregate measurement of 
 267,698 tons, were from ports of California, Oregon, and 
 Washington (domestic Pacific ports) ; 106 vessels, with 121,342 
 tons, were from domestic Atlantic ports ; 42 vessels (25 from 
 Great Britain, 11 from France, 4 from Hamburg, and 2 from 
 Malaga), with 30,573 tons, from Europe; 31 vessels, with 12,- 
 334 tons, from Australia; 27 vessels, with 28,286 tons, from 
 China; 54 vessels, with 15,704 tons, from Mexico; 41 vessels 
 from Vancouver Island, 17 from the Hawaiian Islands, 13 from 
 the Society Islands, 7 from Japan, 17 from Chili, 11 from the 
 Itussian possessions in America, and 15 from whaling-voyages. 
 The average size of the vessels which arrived from domestic 
 Atlantic ports was 1,144 tons ; of those from China, 1,047 tons ; 
 of those from Europe, 745 tons ; and of those from domestic 
 Pacific ports, 174 tons, most of the latter being little schooners, 
 
COIIMEKCE. 333 
 
 while those from New York, Boston, and China, are chiefly 
 American clii:)per-ships, the finest class of saiUng-vessels in the 
 world. 
 
 § 238. Unsteadhiess of jBusi7iess. — The mercantile business 
 is very lively and fluctuating in California. There is no peo- 
 ple in the world who, in proportion to their numbers, import 
 so largely of foreign goods, or who pay such high prices for 
 them. The amount consumed is not very great, the supplies 
 are irregular, and the time required to obtain shipments round 
 Cape Horn about four months, and therefore it is not a very 
 difficult matter to forestall the market ; and it is a frequent 
 occurrence that a few wealthy men combine together and try 
 to buy up all of a certain kind of merchandise, and then con- 
 trol the market and raise the price. In other countries it is 
 impossible to get any accurate information about the supply 
 of an article, which is stored in large quantities in fifty cities 
 and owned by hundreds of merchants and producers ; but in 
 California the main stock of all imported goods is stored in 
 San Francisco and is held by a few men. Our business of 
 dealing in merchandising is therefore full of speculations, 
 which, though dangerous, particularly to the stupid, are agree- 
 able to the bold and enterjirising, and contribute to render 
 our trade peculiar and difierent from that of other states. 
 
 The business of California is conducted boldly. Men make 
 money rapidly, spend it freely and hastily. Changes in occu- 
 pation are frequent, and in wealth rapid. Hazardous specula- 
 tion is the body of our commercial system. Most of our busi- 
 ness men are young, and they still are under the influence of 
 the feverish times of '49. Our business is unsteady. Heredi- 
 tary wealth is unknown. Our rich men all came to California 
 poor, and they are prominent advertisements of the victories 
 that may be achieved by enterprise and bold speculation. We 
 are speculators by our very position. The people who come 
 to California are bold adventurers naturally. We were dis- 
 satisfied with life in Europe and the Eastern states, because it 
 was too slow. We came here to enjoy an exciting life and to 
 
334 RESOURCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 make money rapidly. Slow and sure plans are unsuited to us, 
 and besides, from the unsettled nature of our trade, there is not 
 the same sureness about slow modes of doing business as in 
 older states. In any little random gathering of a dozen men in 
 San Francisco, you Avill probably find some among them who 
 have worked in the mines, and this amongst the wealthiest and 
 most intelligent, as well as among the poorest. It is no un- 
 common thing to see men who have been wealthy on three or 
 four different occasions and then poor again. " A fire," " an 
 unfortunate speculation in merchandise," " a revulsion in real 
 estate," " a crash among the banks," " an unlucky investment 
 in a flume," these are j)hrases used every day to explain the 
 fict, that this or that man of your familiar acquaintance, though 
 once rich, is now poor. When men fail they do not despair — 
 and least of all those who have been rich and have fidled by 
 some sudden turn in business — they hope to be rich again. A 
 number of the prominent business men in San Francisco have 
 been insolvent within the last five years. 
 
 § 239. Insolvencies. — Insolvencies, legally declared and can- 
 celled by the courts, are more frequent in San Francisco, in j^ro- 
 portion to its population, than in any other part of the world. 
 Our laws provide that any man who declares himself unable 
 to pay his debts, and petitions to be released from them, may 
 obtain a judicial discharge, unless he has been guilty of fraud ; 
 and as the fraud must be distinctly proved upon him before the 
 discharge will be denied, the release is almost invariably ob- 
 tained. The number of suits brought (wdth their debts and 
 assets) in 1860, as compared with each of the five preceding 
 years, has been as follows : 
 
 Yeak No. Suits. Debts. Assets. Deficit. 
 
 1855 197 $8,377,827 $1,519,175 $6.858,G52 
 
 1856 146 3,401,042 657,908 2,743,134 
 
 1857 125 2,375,899 812,417 1,503.482 
 
 1858 90 1,940,662 658,782 1,28L880 
 
 1859 60 706,219 208,044 498^175 
 
 I860 QS 1,019,416 76,787 942,629 
 
 Total 6 years, 692 $17,821,065 $3,933,113 $13,887,952 
 
roMMERCE. 335 
 
 The display looks very serious. There was a regular de- 
 crease from 1855, when the great failures began, down to 
 1859, and then the increase began again. The amount of 
 assets is proportionably smaller for 1800 than at any previous 
 time, but in fict the assets are almost invariably nominal, con- 
 sisting of bad debts that never can be collected, and property 
 estimated at cost, but worthless in the market. It is rarely 
 that a man declares himself insolvent so long as he has prop- 
 erty which he can turn into money. Our insolvent law is 
 very liberal to debtors, and no doubt that contributes, with 
 the very speculative temper of our population, the facility for 
 getting credit, and the unsteady course of our trade, to make 
 our insolvent lists so large. 
 
 § 240. Interest of Money. — Again, in the matter of the in- 
 terest of money, California occupies a peculiar position. The 
 current rates are higher here than in any other Christian land. 
 The common rate on long terms and the best security is one 
 and a half per cent, per month, for interest is always calcu- 
 lated by the month. On short loans, or with security in the 
 least doubtful, the interest is from two to two and a half per 
 cent, per month. The laws place no more restriction upon con- 
 tracts for interest than for any other commercial contracts. 
 The man who promises to pay interest must do so at his 
 own risk ; for the law will not assist in any plans to violate 
 his bargain. The high interest of money is owing in part to 
 the unsettled character of the people, many of whom have no 
 permanent abode, and wish to have their money so that they 
 can get it at- any time. The fluctuations of the market present 
 numerous speculations to merchants. The titles to real estate 
 are, in many cases, questionable, and the capitalist may not 
 like to buy, and will demand a high rate of interest if he must 
 take a mortgage on a doubtful title. Capital always makes an 
 extra charire for runninix a risk. It is a sreneral rule that in- 
 terest will be high where wages are high. There are then 
 many people who can afford to pay interest, and many people 
 who will wish to obtain those comforts and luxuries only to 
 
336 EESOUIICES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 be purchased by the investment of considerable sums of money. 
 The wages of common laborers and mechanics are very high 
 in California, and a large portion of the people are in hopes to 
 attain wealth, and many of them make a practice of engaging 
 in speculations, to do which they must borrow money. The 
 high rate of wages, the unsettled habits of the people, the 
 questionable character of land-titles generally, and the fluctu- 
 ating nature of our commerce, all contribute to keep the rate 
 of interest at a high figure. In San Francisco a peculiar 
 custom prevails of loaning money from " steamer-dny" to 
 "steamer-day." Steamer-day is the business-day which pre- 
 cedes the sailing of the steamer for Panama, which steamer 
 always carries away a shipment of about a million dollars. As 
 the steamer starts early in the morning, all the business in 
 arranging the shipments must be done on the previous day, 
 and then importers must send their money to the Eastern 
 houses from which they obtain their supplies, and they must 
 then dun their customers, the jobbers ; and the jobbers nnist 
 dun their customers, the retailers ; and the retailers must dun 
 every body. So steamer-day is a great day for the payment of 
 money, and as every body expects to get his money on steamer- 
 day, so he borrows promising to pay then. There are men 
 who make it a business to lend money from steamer-day to 
 steamer-day, a period of ten or fourteen days, the rate for that 
 period being from one to two per cent., almost invariably with 
 " collateral security" of merchandise, which is on deposit in a 
 warehouse, and is transferred by warehouse receipt to the 
 money lender. Nearly every body borrows and lends money 
 in California. It is no disgrace to lend money for high inter- 
 est, nor is it ever considered bad management for a mer- 
 chant to borrow and pay high rates ; that is, if the amount be 
 small or the term brief But as a general rule, the merchants 
 of California borrow altogether too much money. There are 
 not less than fifty mercantile houses in San Francisco, that have 
 paid more than ten thousand dollars each of interest on money 
 borrowed during the last ten years, and of one house which 
 
COMMERCE. 337 
 
 lately failed it was asserted that they had paid one hundred 
 and eighty thousand dollars of interest. It is a general prac- 
 tice among farmers to borrow money, and, if before harvest, 
 give a mortgage on the crops ; if after harvest, store the grain 
 in the lender's warehouse as security. One of the most profit- 
 able branches of business in the state is " grain commission." 
 The commission merchant has a quantity of ready money 
 which he loans to the needy farmer, who stores his grain with 
 the lender, and the latter charges about two per cent, a month 
 for the money, a dollar a ton per month for storage, and two 
 per cent, commission for selling. 
 
 § 241. Speculation m Land. — Speculation in land is one of 
 the most important branches of business in the United States, 
 and the increase in the value of land has been one of the main 
 sources of the wealth of the country. The American farmer 
 going into a new district, expects to purchase his land at a low 
 price and see it gradually rise in value, until it makes him, if 
 not wealthy, at least comfortable. Lands in Illinois which, 
 twelve years ago, were to be obtained from the government 
 at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, are now worth 
 thirty and forty dollars per acre ; and a similar remark ^Y\\\ 
 apply to most of the land in the Western states, though the 
 average increase has not been so great. This increase has been 
 one of the greatest inducements to the rapid settlement of the 
 Mississippi Valley. Unfortunately, California has not been per- 
 mitted to derive much benefit from this source of wealth. The 
 fertile valleys near the coast had been granted away in large 
 ranches by the Mexican government, and the American gov- 
 ernment refuses to sell the land in the mineral districts. 
 
 It appears to me a matter of the utmost importance to the 
 welfare of California, that the land in the mineral districts 
 should be sold. Not more than one acre in forty within 
 the limits of the mineral region is now occupied for mining 
 purposes, and not more than one acre in ten will ever be 
 worked. 
 
 § 242. N'o Paper Money. — There is no paper money in Call- 
 
338 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fornia. The Constitution of tbe state prohibits "banking," 
 and "the creation of paper to circulate as money." No bank- 
 notes have ever been current in this state or on this coast ; nor 
 are bank-notes used on any part of the coast betAveen Aca- 
 pulco and Sitka, and we are so far from the countries in which 
 paper money is current, that no attempt is made to introduce 
 it here. In our banks tliere are great f)iles of double eagles, 
 but no bank-notes are visible. Wlicrever you go, or whatever 
 you buy, you see only gold and silver ; people do not think of 
 paper. All large sums are paid in double eagles, and three- 
 fourths, if not nine-tenthsj of our coin is of that size, which is far 
 more convenient than the smaller coins common in other coun- 
 tries. A large proportion of our shipment of treasure abroad 
 is in double eagles, and nine-tenths of the gold coined at the San 
 Francisco Mint is in pieces of that size. In 1860, $11, 178,000 
 of gold were coined, and $10,899,000 were in double eagles. 
 The general character of our coin is large. No copper money 
 is current, nor can any thing be bought with a cent. The 
 smallest coin commonly used is a dime ; half-dimes are rarely 
 seen, and when used two of them are ordinarily put together 
 to make a dime. The general sentiment among the people is 
 opposed to the use of any coin less than a ten-cent piece ; they 
 like high wages and high prices, and think that the introduc- 
 tion of half-dimes and cents Avould have a tendency to make 
 us feel poor and to introduce low wages. Many retail dealers, 
 even in the sale of candies and fruits, will therefore not take 
 a half-dime, and not a few persons would be ashamed to oifer 
 to purchase half a dime's worth of any thing. A half-dime is 
 looked upon with more contempt and is far more rare in Cali- 
 fornia than a cent in New York. During the last three months, 
 for instance, though I purchase little articles every day, I have 
 not seen a half-dime. That coin is not made in our mint, nor 
 is there any demand for it. Tliree-cent pieces, coppers, and 
 nickels are never seen here except as curiosities, and are of no 
 value to make purchases. 
 
 § 243. OjJ^^ortimities for Investmc9it. — The opportunities 
 
COMMEKCE. 339 
 
 for investing money securely in California are few compared 
 with other countries, and the chief causes of the difference are 
 to be found in the defects of our land-titles, and the unsteadi- 
 ness of business. There is no place "where capital needs the 
 constant attention of a prudent manager more than in this 
 state. There are so many revolutions in business, that a brief 
 neglect may cause the loss of a fortune. It is a very unsafe 
 country for money left in the charge of agents. Their com- 
 mission is high, and they will usually give much less atten- 
 tion to a bailor's property than to their own. The interest of 
 money is too high for investment in state stocks. The bonds 
 of the state of California are all sold in New York, and the 
 interest is made payable there, and nearly all are held there or 
 in Europe. Most of these bonds bear only seven per cent, in- 
 terest annually, not half the current rates here. So of the 
 bonds of our towns and counties, for nearly every town and 
 county has its debt, the bonds are mostly held abroad, and the 
 interest is too low for the demands of capital in California. 
 There are then no state stocks that can be owned here, and 
 thus we are cut off from one of the best and most extensive 
 fields of investment. Labor is so high that we have few fac- 
 tories. The titles of farming-land are as a general thing inse- 
 cure. Farming, as a business conducted on a large scale, is 
 extremely uncertain. Our j^opulation is so small that the 
 market is easily overstocked, and freight to Europe and the 
 Atlantic states is so expensive, that a surplus can only be sent 
 away with difficulty ; and we are so remote that any shipment 
 is accompanied by many risks, for between the time when the 
 vessel sails from San Francisco and the time when she arrives 
 at Liverpool, there is an interval of three or four months, dur- 
 ing which period a ruinous depreciation may occur. The flue 
 tuations which occur in the grain market, have their })aralk'ls 
 in all other kinds of agricultui-al products : cattle, sheep, and 
 Avine. There is no title to mineral land save occupation ; and 
 mining on a large scale is more dangerous than farming. 
 Whenever any branch of business becomes so established ub 
 
340 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 to be periuanent and to yield a certain profit, capitalists abroad 
 will wish to take possession of it, and they can alFord to pay 
 more for it than we can, because our money is dearer than 
 theirs. A man in Xew York can afford to pay more for stocks 
 than we can in San Francisco. He gets his money for six per 
 cent, per annum while we pay eighteen. Whenever therefore 
 any large railroad or any extensive improvement, that will 
 certainly be permanently profitable, is established in California, 
 foreign capitalists will buy it up. We cannot compete with 
 them until our money becomes cheaper. Our ocean steam- 
 ships are owned in Xew York. Our river steamboats are 
 mostly owned by a large association, called the California 
 Steam Navigation Company, but the stock is very fluctuating 
 and dangerous as an investment. There is no purchasable 
 bank-stock in California. Most of the capitalists of San Fran- 
 cisco either invest their money in houses and lots, or let it out 
 at interest under bond and mortgage. The taxes are very 
 high in California, in no county less than one per cent, a year, 
 and in some places four per cent. Indeed, when streets are 
 repaired in the large towns, the taxes sometimes amount to 
 ten per cent, on the value of the property. There is a consid- 
 erable amount of French and Swiss capital invested in San 
 Francisco, most of it loaned on mortfrasre, and under the charcre 
 of French and Swiss bankers. 
 
 In no part of the United States is there so small an invest- 
 ment of capital, and so small an amoimt of real and personal 
 property held in fee simple, by individuals and local corpora- 
 tions, in proportion to the area, population and amount of busi- 
 ness done, as in the gold mining districts of California. The 
 custom-house manifests show, that during the last fourteen 
 years, we have exported $550,000,000 of gold, and no person 
 at all famihar with the business and history of the state, will 
 estimate the amount of exportation, not manifested, at less 
 than $150,000,000 ; and yet what is there to show in the min- 
 ing districts for all that immense wealth ? There are many 
 fine mountain roads, and yet they are few, and bad, as com- 
 
COMMERCE. 3-il 
 
 pared with the number that there should be; and even those 
 which we liave, are mostly private property, and are made the 
 means of levying severe taxes upon all travellers and merchan- 
 dise passing over them. The counties have no fine roads, no 
 large or durable bridges. There are great ditches — with a 
 total length of six thousand miles — and wonderful flumes, but 
 they are made as cheaply as possible for use, during ^a few 
 years — not more than five or ten — and in too many cases, 
 cheapness has not been found to agree with durability. Im- 
 mense labors of many kinds have been undertaken, but simply 
 with a view to present profit, and without conferring any per- 
 manent benefit, or beautifying the country. There is scarcely 
 an elegant county building in the state. The mining towns 
 contain many fire-proof brick buildings and elegant residences, 
 and yet any mining town set down in New York or Ohio, 
 would be considered a very shabby village. Wherever we 
 turn, in the mining districts, we see no investment of capital 
 at all commensurate to the wants of the state. 
 
 The whole policy of the federal and state governments, in 
 regard to the mineral districts of California, has been not to 
 enrich the state, but to benefit individuals who did not and do 
 not intend to be permanent residents, whose interests are ad- 
 Aerse to those of the state, and to whom no inducements are 
 ofifered to become permanent residents. Rather the induce- 
 ments are on the other side, and obstructions are thrown in 
 the way of establishing homes. The improvements which 
 should have been made in previous years are wanted, but the 
 capital is not so abundant now. The main body of wealth 
 has been transferred to the agricultural counties and commer- 
 cial towns. The "mining districts, mstead of growing richer, 
 from their immense treasures, are growing poorer every year, 
 all of them comparatively — many of them absolutely. 
 
 Miners come to capitalists residing out of the mineral dis- 
 tricts, and invite them to invest money in gold-mining enter- 
 prises. The investments would furnish employment to labor- 
 ers, increase the production of gold, and benefit the state in 
 
342 EESOUECES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 many ways, but the capitalists refuse because of alleged inse- 
 curity. Tlie miners must abandon their schemes, and leave 
 the wealth of the mines undeveloped, or obtain money in their 
 own neighborhood, at rates of interest two or three times 
 higher than those prevalent in larger cities, where undoubted 
 security is given. Hence, serious obstacles to the develop- 
 ment of all branches of industry, and to the establishment of 
 that well-ordered society, made up of permanent residents, 
 dwelling in homesteads fixed for lifcj-^vith a proper proportion 
 of women and children. The least of all the evils is, that the 
 mining counties contribute far less than they should to the 
 treasury of the state. 
 
 The main object of a government should always be to build 
 up a permanent, dense, intelhgent, industrious and moral pop- 
 ulation, skilled in the mechanic arts, and so employed that 
 their capital increases rapidly and regularly. Such is the con- 
 dition of all the most prosj^erous countries, and such would 
 have been the condition of California now, if she had been 
 properly governed. 
 
 If application be made to a San Francisco capitalist to buy 
 a gold mine, or loan money on the security of a gold mine, or 
 invest money in any gold mining operation, an offer of sale 
 will be received with the same refusal. A promise of ten per 
 cent, a month will not induce him to examine the proposition. 
 He will reply, that all gold mining is insecure. He treats 
 quartz-mining, ditching, hydraulic claims and sluice, alike ; 
 different as they are from one another, he makes no distinction 
 between them ; they are alike, and equally dangerous. If he 
 be asked how he knows that they are insecure, he will say 
 that he lost an investment some years ago, or, that this and 
 that friend of his lost investments in gold mines, and every- 
 body says they are insecure, and that is enough for Lim. He 
 cannot afford to travel through the mines and investigate the 
 matter. He can find what he considers safe investments in 
 San Francisco, in agricultural lands, from Sonoma to San 
 Diego, and in Washoe silver mines. There is now more San 
 
 I 
 
COMMEKCB. 343 
 
 Francisco capital invested in Santa Clara county alone tban in 
 all the gold mines of the state. There is scarcely a county 
 near the coast, between latitude 40° and 33°, in which there is 
 not a large amount of capital invested by non-residents, to 
 the evident benefit of the county. Although gold mining has 
 been the chief industry of the state for fourteen years, and 
 although Washoe is of late discovery, and has less population 
 than single counties of California, yet more San Francisco 
 capital is invested in Washoe silver leads than in all the gold 
 mines of the state. 
 
 There is a great difference of opinion among business men in 
 regard to the causes of this alleged insecurity. One will say 
 that the cause is in the want of fee-simple titles ; that the 
 ownership of mining claims depends upon possession, and is a 
 kind of personal property with a still weaker title, for a man 
 may lay his purse down, or let his horse go, and both will 
 belong to him in law for years ; but when he shoulders his 
 pick and blankets, and leaves his claim for three days in the 
 Avorking season, he has not the least interest in it. Another 
 consideration, how^ever, will show that this cause alone, al- 
 though it may contribute much to the general result, is not 
 sufiicient in itself to render gold-mining investments insecure, 
 even in any one case of note. Most of the valuable mines in 
 the world are held by mere possession, and abandonment or 
 cessation of work w^ould lead to a forfeiture of title. This 
 is the rule throughout the rich mineral districts of Spanish 
 America, in most of the countries of Europe, and even in 
 Washoe; and yet the value of these mines, whose title depends 
 only on undisputed possession, is almost as good as if held in 
 fee simple, for it is plain that so long as the mine is profitable 
 there will be no cessation of work. 
 
 Another theory to explain the aversion entertained by capi- 
 tal for gold-mining enterprises is, that the business is too un- 
 certain as to its profits ; that prudent business men avoid great 
 risks, and will not venture their principal ; and that they cannot - 
 invest in gold mines without the greatest perils, because it is 
 
344 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 impossible for them to know beforehand whether a mine con- 
 tains much rich ore or dirt. But if we look a little further at 
 this explanation, we sliall find that it has no good foundation. 
 It is not true that the prudent business man always avoids great 
 risks ; in other words, prudent business men often make in- 
 vestments wdth a probability that the entire investment will 
 be lost, but in clear view" of a possibility that an immense 
 profit may be made. 
 
 It is a mark of sound judgment and prudence in a business 
 man to avoid risks that may much endanger the loss of his 
 whole fortune, but he will not necessarily refuse to venture a 
 tenth part of his fortune, if he see a possibility — as of one 
 chance in five — of making a profit of a hundred-fold. It is 
 under the guidance of principles like these — stating the risk 
 in its least favorable aspect — that mining for gold and silver 
 is conducted throughout the world, to the great general profit 
 of those engaged in the business, and it is in view of princi- 
 ples like these that mines of all kinds have a certain market 
 value. They may be hidden hundreds of feet under the earth, 
 but there is a probability that a metalliferous vein, if tolerably 
 rich, and similar to other veins not far distant, and found to 
 be rich through a considerable extent, will also be rich in like 
 manner in other parts out of reach. There is such a chance 
 for profit that a high value attaches to mines where there is 
 not even a regular vein or layer of mineral to guide the miner. 
 For instance, cinnabar is not found in veins, but in masses, 
 usually connected with' each other by little seams. At New 
 Almaden, sometimes a mass of ore is found ten feet cubic, and 
 Avhen it is worked out, only a little seam indicates where other 
 masses may lie. Whether they do lie there is a matter no 
 way certain. The Enriqueta mine, which promised about two 
 years since to rival the Almaden, has fallen to the level of the 
 Guadalupe. Some rich masses were found ; and more may be 
 found, but nobody knows whether they will be, and so with 
 the ISI ew Almaden ; and though these facts are perfectly 
 understood, the latter mine is worth millions in the market. 
 
COMMERCE. 345 
 
 There is sucli a j^resumption of the richness of its unexplored 
 portions, that a man worth one hundred tliousand dollars can 
 be justified in venturing an investment of fifty thousand dol- 
 lars of it in New Almaden stock at the market price. Any 
 piece of property having a steady market price, promises se- 
 curity to justify the investment of money. This theory, there- 
 fore, is not satisfactory; it explains nothing. 
 
 A third theory adduced in explanation is the natural dis- 
 honesty of men, and the peculiar facilities with which dishon- 
 esty may be practised in gold mining. It is said that if a 
 mine is found to be valuable, the resident shareholders keep 
 the knowledge to themselves, levy heavy assessments upon 
 remote partners or stockholders, and take care that no divi- 
 dends shall be declared, by which policy all who do not know 
 the mine are at last driven to sell, and usually at a sacrifice. 
 The managers of the mine are, of course, either directly or 
 indirectly the purchasers. This system of management is 
 neither imaginary nor rare; it is familiarly known as "freez- 
 ing out," and is not confined to gold mining, but extends to 
 silver mines, and commercial corporations. In mining for gold, 
 however, there are greater opportunities and more speedy re- 
 wards for this kind of fraud than in any other kind of busi- 
 ness ; but whether the frauds are more numerous or greater 
 may well be doubted. Theft is another form in which dis- 
 honesty is dangerous to the owners of valuable mines. In all 
 those mining enterprises where considerable amounts of capi- 
 tal are invested, numerous laborers must be hired ; and in 
 California most of these men are strangers to their employers, 
 without family, permanent home, or any tie that can give se- 
 curity for their good conduct. The great value of gold as 
 compared with the space it occupies, gives the thief fine op- 
 portunities for seizing and hiding it. Neither placer nor quartz 
 mines are exempt from this danger. The laborer employed 
 in deep hydraulic claims, or far from the daylight in shafts or 
 drifts, cannot fail to see the large lumps or the rich portions 
 of the auriferous rock. He has abundant means of hiding 
 16 
 
346 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 enough every day to equal his wages, and as no one else saw 
 the piece previous to the time when he took it, it is almost 
 impossible to prove theft, even if found upon him. But it is 
 not customary to search laborers when they rea\'e their work, 
 for the honest men would probably not submit to the Jiumilia- 
 tion. Ill quartz mines the term " knocking down" is given to 
 the system of theft of rich bits of the rocks by the laborers, 
 and it is said that some mines where the rock is very rich, are" 
 plundered so extensively that they are far less profitable than 
 those wherein the metal is equally diffused through a wide 
 vein, so that the workmen can find no small pieces worth 
 stealing. To what extent the influence of such dishonesty — 
 the existence of which, as I have said, is recognized in the 
 popular speech — may go, we have no information or estimate ; 
 but I am satisfied that though they may be serious, they are 
 in themselves far from sufficient to account for the utter dis- 
 trust with which capitalists look upon enterprises for the de- 
 veloping of our auriferous wealth. 
 
 I have thus mentioned three theories which, in my view, 
 whether considered each separately or all jointly, are unsatis- 
 factory and insufficient to acc6unt for the evil. If there be 
 any other theory I have not heard of it, or it does not, occur 
 to me now. J have already spoken of the greatness of the 
 evil ; it strikes at the very basis of our prosperity as a state, 
 destroys the field of labor, drives our capital away, renders 
 trade unsteady, and contributes to deter immigration and to 
 make our mining population a set of wanderers. 
 
 There is something radically wrong in the financial and in- 
 dustrial condition of that country where the capital is not 
 invested in the main branch of industry. So it is in Cali- 
 fornia. Many important improvements are needed in the 
 mineral regions, but the money cannot be obtained to make 
 them. We send away $40,000,000 annually, because people 
 abroad are not satisfied with the security which we offer, 
 though we would, and could with advantage, pay three times 
 as much interest as it can earn in the Atlantic states or Europe. 
 
COMMERCE. 347 
 
 Great nnmbcrs of poor men seek employment, but the cnpital 
 is not here to pay them. The invested capital does not bear a 
 proper proportion to the population and labor. The lack of 
 regular employment makes business unsteady, population un- 
 settled, exposes the state to desertion at every cry of rich dig- 
 gings at Cariboo or Salmon River, and prevents immigration, 
 which we should by this time understand, is one of the great- 
 est sources of wealth and prosperity. It is, or at least, previ- 
 ous to the great rebellion, was a common assertion, that Cali- 
 fornia was no place for a poor man ; that it was far inferior to 
 the younger states east of the Rocky Mountains, in the proba- 
 bilities of steady employment, and the opportunities of grad- 
 ually acquiring a capital of five or ten thousand dollars, such 
 as a large proportion of those who were poor men in the states 
 in the Mississippi Basin, a score of years ago, have in that in- 
 terval collected together. 
 
 Is this complaint about the insecurity of the gold mines, as 
 a sphere for the investment of capital, true ? If so, why and 
 how ? Is it equally true about the quartz-mining, the placer- 
 mining and ditching ? Certainly it cannot be true in the 
 same manner, for the three branches of industry are very dif- 
 ferent from one another. If it be true, is there a remedy ? 
 These are questions which private enterprise has not solved, 
 and for the solution of which a good government should make 
 some provision. If we can but show how capital can be invested 
 securely here, it will be invested, and population, industry, 
 and the prosperity of residents and the state will swiftly follow. 
 
 § 244. Assurance. — The assurance of property against fire 
 on land and against wreck at sea, has come to be an extensive 
 branch of modern business. It is one of the chief channels 
 through which capital runs to the great centres of trade. It 
 is a legitimate, safe, and profitable investment. It is managed 
 on careful principles. All its operations are based on statistics, 
 collected in the course of many years. The premiums are 
 always set at such a figure that according to the ordinary 
 course of human events, the company must realize a profit iu 
 
348 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 the long run. The occasional losses are more than covered by 
 the regular collection of the premiums. The amount of the 
 premium is determined by the risk, and the risk is known from 
 long observation to within a very small percentage. 
 
 We have only two small assurance companies in California, 
 and nearly all our assurance business is done by companies of 
 the Eastern states and Europe, represented by agents here. 
 These agents do a very large and profitable business, a busi- 
 ness w^hich ought to be done by companies organized in our 
 own state. Not less than $600,000 are annually sent from 
 this state for assurance premiums, and the total losses do not 
 exceed $200,000, leaving a clear profit of $400,000, or sixty- 
 six per cent, to the assurers. These figures are not extrava- 
 gant estimates, made without a knowledge of the subject ; if 
 there be any error, they represent the profits less than they 
 really are, Nearly all the policies, for w^nch these $600,000 
 of premium are obtained, are issued on property in San Fran- 
 cisco, and the losses by fire in 1860 were $162,000, an unusually 
 large amount, the average during the previous five years hav- 
 ing been $105,000, or thereabouts. 
 
 The average j^remium paid is about one and one-half per 
 cent., the lowest being three-quarters of one per cent., and thts 
 highest three, or even four per cent., whereas one-quarter ol 
 one per cent, on an average would pay the losses. 
 
CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. 849 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. 
 
 § 245. Outlines of Constitution. — California is a state, and 
 a member of the United States of America, witli rights equal 
 to those of the other states. The sovereignty of government 
 is divided between the federation and the state, the former 
 taking precedence. Every officer of the state, before entering 
 upon the duties of his position, must take an oath to " support 
 the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of 
 the state of California." A double allegiance is thus imposed, 
 that due to the state authorities being secondary to that due 
 to the authorities of the nation at large. The Union has ex- 
 clusive power to regulate commerce, naturalize foreigners, 
 coin money, make treaties, declare war, make peace, and main- 
 tain an army and navy. Beyond these powers, the state is 
 sovereign. The state government is republican. All the offi- 
 cers of the government are chosen by the people. The legis- 
 lature is composed of two houses, which sit separately, and 
 the consent of both is necessary to the passage of any bill. 
 The longest term of office for any important executive or 
 legislative position is two years ; the members of the assembly 
 and many of the county officers being elected annually. The 
 voters thus have an immediate control over the government. 
 The judges of the Supreme Court and of the District Courts 
 are elected by the people, and the term of office is six years. 
 Suffrage is universal; that is, every sane, adult, Avhite male 
 citizen, not a felon, may vote at every election. No owner- 
 ship of property or payment of taxes is required as a qualifi- 
 cation for voting or holding office. 
 
350 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 246. Inferiority of Colored Persons. — All white male 
 citizens are equal before the law of California ; but negroes, 
 Indians, and Chinamen are not permitted to A^ote or to testify- 
 in the courts against white men. In a criminal case, one- 
 eiechth nearro blood and one-half of Indian blood, in civil cases 
 one-half of either, disqualifies a witness for testifying against a 
 white man. Slavery is forbidden by the constitution. 
 
 § 247. Laics Favorable to Debtors. — The laws of California 
 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, his tools, if a 
 mechanic, his horse and wagon, if a mechanic, and his library, 
 if a lawyer, are 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 home- 
 stead worth one thousand dollars. Such laws may prevent 
 much oppression of poor people, but they also protect and en- 
 courage much rascality. A man may own a homestead worth 
 five thousand dollars, and that may include a very elegant 
 dwelling. His household furniture, worth as much more, may 
 have been presented by some friend to his wife after marriage. 
 She may have a separate estate of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, and may derive an annual income of ten or twenty 
 thousand dollars from it, and both may live in an extravagant 
 style, and yet creditors have no hold upon him whatever. 
 There is no imprisonment for debt except in cases of fraud, and 
 that the laws are so drawn that it is almost impossible to prove. 
 One important class of testimony, admissible to prove a man a 
 thief or murderer, is not admissible if he be accused of fraud 
 in contracting a debt. In trials for obtaining money by fiilse 
 pretenses — the most common kind of fraud in contracting 
 debts — the oral testimony of witnesses, as to the representa- 
 tions made by the accused, is not sufiicient to convict ; there 
 must be some writing or token furnished by the defendant 
 
COXSTITUTIOX AND LAWS. 351 
 
 In many ways the debtor is fenced about, so that the laws seem 
 to have been devised by men who had had experience in swind- 
 ling creditors, and wished to secure tliemselves against trouble 
 in the future. Every i^recaution is taken against the creditor, 
 as tkough he were a public enemy ; while the men who do 
 not pay their debts are treated as thougli they were the soul 
 of the state, and as though their mode of doing business should 
 be encouraged at all costs. When a man gets in debt, he can 
 get out again without difficulty. Our insolvent law provides 
 that he has only to petition a court for release, set forth his 
 debts and assets, swear that he cannot pay his debts and give 
 up his assets. Unless the creditors can then prove that he 
 has committed fraud, either in contracting the debts or in con- 
 cealing his property from his creditors, he is entitled to be 
 released. He may go through this process repeatedly ; and 
 many cases have occurred of two discharges in insolvency 
 granted to one person within Uvo years. The favor shown by 
 our laws to debtors, is, I think, a grave error, and contributes 
 much to establish a dishonest tone in general society, and to 
 encourage dishonest actions. On every side can be seen men 
 who have swindled creditors out of large amounts of money, 
 and are themselves now living in extravagant, or at least 
 luxurious style. Such laws encourage habits of rash specula- 
 tion, with the expectation that riches will come wath success, 
 and no discredit or loss to any one save creditors, with failure. 
 Honest and prudent men suifer, business is throwai into disor- 
 der, and reckless adventurers and knaves get positions and in- 
 fluence which they never should have. 
 
 The property owned by either the husband or ^vife before 
 marriage, and by gift, bequest, or inheritance after marriage, 
 belongs to each separately ; and the property acquired after 
 marriage, by oth-er 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 dov/'cr, and the husband has sole control of the com- 
 mon property, and may sell, without the consent of the wife, 
 
352 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 any of it except the homestead ; a deed or mortgage for which 
 without her signature and seal, is absolutely void. The hus- 
 band cannot convey his interest unless she conveys her in- 
 terest at the same time. The husband has the management 
 of the separate proj)erty of the wife too, but, if she desire it, 
 she may apply to a court and have the property placed in the 
 charge of any trustee whom she may select. For a valid sale 
 of the wife's separate property, husband and wife must join. 
 
 The laws of California, like the customs and trade, do not 
 favor the jDcrj^etuation of wealth in families. There is no right 
 of primogeniture. All children inherit equally. The eldest 
 son gets no more than the youngest. Public opinion runs 
 with the law. The rich man who should express an intention 
 to give all his property to his eldest son, merely because of 
 his seniority, would be hated. Entails are forbidden. A man 
 cannot tie up lands in the country for more than ten years, or 
 town lots for more than tvrenty. How different is all this 
 from the state of afiairs in Europe ! There, at least in some 
 parts of the continent, all the property goes to the eldest son ; 
 property is entailed in the family for many generations ; the 
 debtor is subject to imprisonment ; there is no release for in- 
 solvents ; the property of the woman is by marriage vested 
 absolutely in the husband, and does not revert by inheritance 
 to her blood relatives by her death ; the limitations for com- 
 mencing law-suits are very long, and sales, if not made at the 
 market price, or contracts, if made so that one party appears 
 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 Eu- 
 rope, as its loss in the second or third generation is certain in 
 the new states of America. 
 
 § 248. Tenure of Land. — Four-fifths of the land in Califor- 
 nia is owned by the federal government, which acquired it 
 from Mexico by treaty. This federal land lies in the mineral 
 regions, and in all the unsettled districts of the state. Most of 
 
CONSTITUTIOX AND LAWS. 353 
 
 it has been surveyed, and, with the exception of the land in the 
 mineral districts, is offered for sale at one dollar and twenty- 
 five cents cash per acre, in lots of forty acres, or tracts of any 
 size of which forty is a multiple. Tliere is no limit to the 
 amount wdiich one man may buy. Any man may occupy any 
 of the federal land. It is open to the use of the public. The. 
 tule land, of which there are about eight hundred square 
 miles, belongs to the state, and that is offered for sale at one 
 dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, but the payment may be 
 made in instalments at lono;: intervals. One-eisfhteenth of the 
 land has been given to the state for school puiposes, and this 
 is also for sale at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre 
 in instalments. 
 
 Most of the land held in private ownership in the state, is under 
 grants made by Mexico pre^dous 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 a number 
 are as yet undecided. The grants were for large tracts called 
 ranches, intended to be used chiefly or exclusively for pastur- 
 age, 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, containing 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 principality, 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 
 liere, and many of them are prohibited by our laws. We 
 have no 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 yeans. All conveyances 
 of real estate are placed upon record in a government office, 
 and without such record they are not valid as against persons 
 not parties to the conveyance. 
 16* 
 
354 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 249. Ownership of Minerals. — It has been a much dis- 
 puted questioD whether the owner of land, under a Mexican 
 title, owns the minerals in the soil. Under the Mexican law 
 he did not; but the latest decision of the highest court of 
 California is, that the owner of the land owns all the minerals 
 in it. The Mexican and Spanish law is unsuited to the Ameri- 
 can system. By law the mines are open to everybody. Any 
 man or woman, citizen or alien, white, black, or yellow, may 
 lay claim to an unoccupied tract of auriferous quartz or dirt, 
 and if his claim be not larger than is customary, he has a good 
 legal title so long as he may work it, provided that, if an alien, 
 he shall pay a license of four dollars per month. However, 
 although he may have a good legal title, the white miners in 
 some districts will not permit Chinamen to come among them, 
 and their legal right is of no value against the omnipotent 
 mob. There is no express law throwing the mines open to all 
 the world ; but the intent of the government is plainly to be 
 inferred from the debates of Congress, and the fact that no re- 
 straint has been placed upon mining. All the federal land in 
 the state, save that in the mining districts, is thrown open to 
 pre-emption for agricultural purposes ; but the mines are re- 
 served, and evidently for the miners, from whom the federal 
 government has never demanded any tax or share of the gold 
 obtained. The state legislature has imposed a tax of four 
 dollars per month on all alien miners, and has promised that 
 all who pay that tax shall be permitted to mine as freely as 
 citizens ; but that promise is not kept. 
 
 § 250. Titles of Mining {Jlai7ns. — The miners do not own 
 the land on which they work; they only have a right of pos- 
 session so long as they occupy it ; and their right is called a 
 " claim." The size of the claims varies in difl'erent districts, 
 and depends entirely upon the regulations or custom of the 
 district. Every district has a written code of regulations, 
 determining, among other points, the size of mining claims ; 
 and these regulations are recognized by the state as valid, so 
 far as they are not in conflict with the statutes or constitution. 
 
CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. 355 
 
 Quartz claims are usually two hundred feet long, following the 
 course of the lode. In some districts the miner holds one 
 hundred feet of ground on each side of his lode, so that he can- 
 not be disturbed by other persons in his vicinity ; in others he 
 holds only the width of his lode, and if another lode, or placer 
 diggings, be found within a few feet of his place of working, 
 other claimants may come so near as to interfere greatly with 
 his convenience. Placer claims vary in size, according to the 
 nature of the ground. On bars, a claim usually has a front of 
 fifty, a hundred, or two hundred feet on the river, and runs 
 back across the whole width of the bar. Tunnel claims have 
 a front of fifty, a hundred, or two hundred feet on a hill-side, 
 and run transversely to the middle of the hill, or entirely 
 across it, parallel with the direction in Avhich the tunnel is 
 commenced. Ivavine claims include the bed of a ravine for a 
 distance of not more than three hundred feet. Placer claims 
 not on bars or ravines, or in hills that must be tunnelled, are 
 usually rectangular, containing as much as one hundred or t^vo 
 hundred feet square. Persons who discover new placers or 
 auriferous quartz veins are entitled to two claims. 
 
 The method of getting a claim is very simple. The miner 
 finds a piece of unoccupied ground that suits him ; drives stakes 
 at the corners ; fastens on one of these stakes a piece of paper, 
 containing a written notice similar to the following : 
 
 "I hereby lay claim, for mining purposes, to a piece of 
 ground a hundred feet square, of which this is the northeast- 
 ern corner, the other corners being marked by stakes. 
 
 "John Smith." 
 
 He then goes to the mining recorder of the district, requests 
 him to record the claim in his book, and pays a fee of half a 
 dollar. In some districts the recorder must go out and look 
 at the claim, to see that it is not on ground previously claimed. 
 In other districts one of the stakes must have a piece of tin on 
 it, marked with the number which the claim has on the record- 
 er's books. In other districts it is necessary to mark the 
 
356 RE60UECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 limits of claims with a trench. But the common custom is to 
 require only a notice of the simplest intelligible form and a 
 record ; and by these the miner acquires a perfect title as 
 against all other persons, so long as he continues to work the 
 claim. But if he does not work the claim, he forfeits his title. 
 The time within which work must be done to preserve the title 
 good, varies greatly in different districts — from three days to 
 a month. The period is usually brief in proportion to the shal- 
 lowness of the diggings and the ease of working them. In 
 most districts no amount of work will secure a claim a<2:ainst 
 forfeiture. A miner may work his claim every day for years, 
 and then, if he deserts it for a day beyond the period allowed 
 in the mining regulations of the district, it is legally forfeited, 
 and may be taken by the first comer. There are certain classes 
 of diggings which can only be worked during half of the year, 
 and in these, claims are subject to forfeiture only during the 
 workable season. It is not expected that a miner will work 
 a dry ravine claim in the summer, or a bar claim in the winter ; 
 and the mining regulations, being based on reason, and well 
 designed for the convenience of the miners and the develop- 
 ment of the mining interest, impose no penalty upon such 
 actions as would be approved by industrious, prudent men. 
 There are deep diggings where all the claims cannot be worked 
 at once : those in front, or nearest the place where there is an 
 outlet for the water, must be worked out before the miner can 
 begin on those behind. In such cases, the claims in the " back- 
 ground" will not be forfeited until there is a possibility of 
 working them, even though years elapse. The mining regula- 
 tions impose no penalty for a neglect to do impossible things. 
 Among the claims which may be left unworked for a long 
 time w^ithout danger of forfeiture, are claims for mining pur- 
 poses to land occupied by other parties for tailings. A miner 
 may hold a tailing claim merely for the purpose of preserving his 
 tailings, and with no intention to wash the natural dirt; and 
 another miner may lay claim to the same place for mining pur- 
 poses, but he must Wixit until the prior occupant has removed 
 
CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. 357 
 
 his tailings, and until such removal the title is not subject to 
 forfeiture. And the prior occupant is under no obligation to 
 be m haste ; he can take the same time to remove the tailings 
 that he would have taken if no claim for raining purposes had 
 been made to the land. It is not necessary that the owner of 
 a claim should work upon it in person ; the labor of a hired 
 man is as good to maintain occupation and secure title as any- 
 other labor. In the Esmeralda silver district, work to the 
 value of seventy-five dollars secures the title forever, according 
 to the mining regulations. 
 
 A company of miners may take up as much ground as the 
 aggregate amount which they could take up separately ; and 
 when a company takes a claim, every member has an equal 
 and undivided interest in every part of it. When a chiim is 
 to be taken for a company, it is sufficient that one member of 
 the company should appear at the recorder's office, demand 
 that the claim be recorded, and offer to joay the fees. The re- 
 corder has no right to make any preliminary inquiries as to 
 who the people are, or where they live, or whether they live 
 at all. One man, finding a good tract of rich ground, may 
 write down the names of a dozen persons living at a distance, 
 and, without consulting them, have their names recorded as 
 members of a company owning a large and valuable claim, 
 and by such record their title becomes good. 
 
 In most districts a miner may hold only one claim by his 
 own original location, but an unlimited number by purchase. 
 In districts where there are both dry ravine and bar-claims, he 
 may at the same time hold one bar-claim and one ravine clahn 
 by original location, the former being workable in summer and 
 the latter in the winter. After having exhausted or abandoned 
 one claim, the miner may always take up another. 
 
 The manner of taking up claims in the argentiferous and 
 quicksilver districts, is the same as in the gold districts. 
 
 The water in the mineral districts is also subject to claim. 
 The streams may be diverted from their courses aijd used for 
 washing dirt, driving saw-mills, grist-mills, and quartz-mills, or 
 
358 RESOURCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 irrigating tilled fields. The first claimant has the prior right, 
 no matter fi)r what industrial purpose he wishes to use the 
 water. Miners have no monopoly of the water in the mineral 
 regions, nor even a prior riglit. There is no hmit to the 
 amount which a man may claim. He may take the largest 
 river in the mountains ; he may take a dozen of them and 
 hold them all. He may not only take all their water, but he 
 may take all the land necessary to use it. He may make res- 
 ervoirs covering: hundreds of acres. He may make ditches a 
 hundred miles long. All that is necessary to give him a pos- 
 sessory title to the water and land, is that he shoidd drive 
 stakes along the route of the ditch, post up notices of his inten- 
 tion, and commence work in building the dam and cutting the 
 ditch. However, while the custom of the country would per- 
 mit a man to become the owner of such extensive works, the 
 practical result is, that the large ditches are almost invariably 
 made by companies. 
 
 § 251. 2Iarriage. — Marriage, by the law of Cahfornia, is 
 a civil contract, which is complete with the consent of the 
 man over twenty-one years of asre, and of the woman over 
 eighteen. Xo ceremonial form, license, publication of bans, 
 consent of parents, blessing of priest, seal of magistrate, or 
 presence of witness, is necessary to give validity to the con- 
 tract. If either party be imder the age mentioned, then the 
 consent of the parent or guardian is necessary. 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, conviction of a felony, 
 and impotence. There has been much complaint that the law 
 renders divorce too easy, but the general opinion of California 
 is fiivorable to the law as it is. 
 
SOCIETY. 359 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 § 252. Population. — The total population of California is 
 reported by the census of 1860 to be 380,015; of whom 
 •333,530 are white, and 4G,485 are colored. This census, how- 
 ever, was not taken with proper care, and I am confident that 
 the total population is not less tlian 400,000, of whom about 
 340,000 are white, and 60,000 colored. Of the colored, 50,000 
 are Chinamen, 3,000 are negroes and mulattoes, and 7,000 are 
 Indians. Most of the Indians live far from white men, and in 
 a state of complete savageness ; the negroes are mostly in the 
 large towns ; the Chinamen are mostly in the mines and in 
 San Francisco. The details of the census have not yet been 
 published, so I must guess at them. I suppose that the white 
 population is made up of 155,000 men, 95,000 women, and 
 90,000 children or minors. Of the men, there may be 130,000 
 citizens and 25,000 aliens. The aliens may be composed of 
 12,000 Frenchmen, 3,000 Englishmen and Scotchmen, 2,000 
 Irishmen, 3,000 Italians, 2,000 Si)anish Americans and 3,000 
 Germans, &c. Putting white and colored adults together, 
 there are about 110,000 women and 200,000 men in the state. 
 The men are about equally divided between the mining and 
 farming districts of the state, but the proportion of women is 
 much laro-er in the latter than in the former. The minors are 
 about equally divided between boys and girls; and the chil- 
 dren, under ten years of age, have a large majority over those 
 between ten and twenty-one. Of the nativity of voters I 
 make the following estimate : 50,000 Americans from the free 
 states, 80,000 Americans from the slave states, 20,000 Irish- 
 
360 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 men, 15,000 Germans, and 15,000 miscellaneous, including 
 Canadians, Britons, Hungarians, Spaniards, Danes, &c. The 
 most populous counties, according to the census report, have 
 the numbers of inhabitants, and, at the presidential election of 
 1860, cast the number of A'otes, indicated in the following 
 table : 
 
 Cowniie^. Population. 
 
 Snn Francisco 56,805 
 
 Sacramento 24,145 
 
 El Dorado 20,562 
 
 Nevada 1 6.447 
 
 Tuolumne 16,229 
 
 Calaveras 16,302 
 
 Yuba 13,671 
 
 Placer 13,270 
 
 Butte 12,107 
 
 Totes. 
 14,415 
 7,542 
 7,049 
 6,965 
 ■5,547 
 4,815' 
 5,053 
 5,«24 
 4.438 
 
 173,538 
 
 61,653 
 
 The following is a statement of the population of the state 
 by counties, as rej^orted in the census of 1860 : — 
 
 Cormties. 
 
 Alameda 
 
 Amador* .... 
 
 Butte* 
 
 Calaveras* . . 
 Contra Costa. 
 
 Colusa 
 
 Del Norte .... 
 El Dorado*. . , 
 Fresno* . . . . , 
 Humboldt. .^ . 
 Klamath * . . . 
 Los Angeles., 
 
 Marin 
 
 Mariposa* . . 
 Meudociuo. . 
 
 Merced 
 
 Monterey . . . 
 
 Napa 
 
 Nevada* . . . 
 Placer* .... 
 Plumas* .... 
 Sacramento . 
 S. Bernardino. 
 
 White. 
 
 CoVd. 
 
 Total. 
 
 8,581 
 
 346 
 
 8,927 
 
 8.392 
 
 2,541 
 
 10,933 
 
 9.718 
 
 2,389 
 
 12,107 
 
 12,579 
 
 3,723 
 
 16.302 
 
 5,186 
 
 142 
 
 5,328 
 
 2,157 
 
 117 
 
 2,274 
 
 1,374 
 
 618 
 
 1,992 
 
 14,695 
 
 5,867 
 
 20,562 
 
 4,-025 
 
 580 
 
 4,605 
 
 2,502 
 
 192 
 
 2,6941 
 
 1,315 
 
 588 
 
 1,803 
 
 9,919 
 
 1,417 
 
 11,336' 
 
 3,042 
 
 292 
 
 3.334 
 
 4,215 
 
 2,028 
 
 6,243 
 
 2,881 
 
 1,086 
 
 3,967 
 
 1,114 
 
 27 
 
 1,141 
 
 4,147 
 
 592 
 
 4,739 
 
 5.454 
 
 61 
 
 5,515 
 
 14.236 
 
 2,211 
 
 16,447 
 
 11.104 
 
 2,1-66 
 
 13,270 
 
 3,730 
 
 633 
 
 4,363 
 
 22,761 
 
 1,384 
 
 24,145 
 
 4,860 
 
 694 
 
 5,554 
 
 i 
 
 Comities. 
 
 San Diego. . . . 
 San Francisco 
 San Joaquin . . 
 S. Luis Obispo. 
 San Mateo . . . 
 Santa Barbara 
 Santa Clara. . . 
 Santa Cruz. . . 
 
 Shasta* 
 
 Sierra* 
 
 Siski3-ou*:. . . . 
 
 Solane 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 Stanislaus.. . . 
 
 Sutter 
 
 Tehama 
 
 Tulare and 
 Buena Vista . . 
 
 Trinity* 
 
 Tuolumne*. . . 
 
 Yolo 
 
 Yuba. ... . . . 
 
 Widte. 
 
 CoTd. 
 
 Total. 
 
 3,785 
 
 541 
 
 4,32G 
 
 52,955 
 
 3,850 
 
 56,805 
 
 9,171 
 
 263 
 
 9,434 
 
 1,560 
 
 222 
 
 1,782 
 
 3,138 
 
 76 
 
 3,214 
 
 3,100 
 
 443 
 
 3.543 
 
 11,683 
 
 229 
 
 11,912 
 
 4,327 
 
 618 
 
 4,945 
 
 3,922 
 
 438 
 
 4,360 
 
 9,574 
 
 1,815 
 
 11,389 
 
 7.056 
 
 573 
 
 7,629 
 
 7,132 
 
 38 
 
 7,170 
 
 11.672 
 
 195 
 
 11,867 
 
 ' 2,022 
 
 203 
 
 2,245 
 
 3,358 
 
 42 
 
 3,390 
 
 3,288 
 
 756 
 
 4,044 
 
 4,059 
 
 579 
 
 4,638 
 
 3,318 
 
 1,807 
 
 5,125 
 
 14.277 
 
 1,952 
 
 16,229 
 
 4,679 
 
 37 
 
 4,716 
 
 11,557 
 
 2,114 
 
 13,671 
 
 333,530 
 
 46,485 
 
 360,015 
 
SOCIETY. 361 
 
 In the counties marked with asterisks the population is chiefly 
 occupied with mining ; and there is some mining in Sacra- 
 mento, Yuba, Del Norte, Los Angeles, Buena Vista, and San 
 Bernardino counties. Since the census was taken, the eastern 
 part of Calaveras has been oi'ganized into Mono county, and 
 the northern part of Napa into Lake county. 
 
 § 253. Nativities. — In January, 1848, thirteen years ago, 
 the total white population of California did not exceed 15,000 
 in number, of whom two-thirds w^ere Spanish American. Of 
 the 340,000 present white inhabitants, therefore, 325,000 are 
 immigrants or miners. Of the adult population not more than 
 one in twenty is a native of the state. The migration has 
 not been for a short distance. It was from one side of the 
 world to the other — a long and for most an eventful journey. 
 Of the children, about half were born in California. The aver- 
 age time that the immigrants have spent in California may be 
 six years. During the last twelve years not less than 250,000 
 persons wiio had made their homes in California for a year or 
 more, have left the state, and they are now scattered all over 
 the civilized world. The Americans in California represent 
 every state in the Union, and representatives from every state 
 may be found in many of the counties taken separately. In 
 the public schools of San Francisco during 1860, there w^ere 
 1,454 children born in the state of New York, 1,176 born in 
 California, 667 from Massachusetts, 245 from Louisiana, 194 
 from Pennsylvania, 149 from Maine, 72 from Missouri, 70 from 
 Ohio, 61 from Maryland, 49 from Illinois, 47 from New Jer- 
 sey, 46 from Rhode Island, 44 from Connecticut, 41 from 
 New Hampshire, 36 from Kentucky, and a few from Vermont, 
 Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, 
 Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, the District of 
 Columbia, New Mexico, and Utah. Of foreign coxmtries there 
 were 214 from Germany, 150 from Australia, 121 from Eng- 
 land, 77 from China, 54 from France, 51 from Ireland, 29 from 
 Canada, 27 from Scotland, 25 from Chili, 16 from New Zea- 
 
362 EESOUECES OP C A L I F E ITI A . 
 
 land, 13 born at sea, and others from Poland, Tahiti, ISTova 
 Scotia, New Brunswick, Cuba, Spain, West Indies, Russia, 
 Holland, Hawaiian Islands, Norway, Italy, Tasmania, Belgium, 
 Panama, Sweden, Switzerland, and Peru. The children from 
 Ireland, France, and Spanish America are few, because most 
 of them are sent to the Catholic schools. Otherwise the table 
 presents a pretty fair indication of the mixed character of the 
 population, and the brief period of its residence in this state. 
 The proportions are, however, not the same in all the counties. 
 The proportion of people from the maritime states of New 
 York and New England is larger in San Francisco than in any 
 other county ; whereas Missouri is the leading state in Sonoma, 
 Napa, Yolo and Santa Clara counties, which are agricultural. 
 Texas has probably furnished more citizens to Tulare county 
 than any other state of the Union ; and Illinois and Iowa have 
 furnished a considerable j)roportion of the residents of Siskiyou 
 and Shasta counties. 
 
 § 254. Liberal Tone of Society. — As a body, the people of 
 California are intelligent. It is very rare to find a white man 
 who cannot read. They have travelled far to reach this coast, 
 and the journey required from most of them a considerable ex- 
 penditure of money and an enterprising spirit. Many of them 
 had seen much of the world before coming to California, and 
 have travelled considerably since their arrival. They are in- 
 dustrious, energetic, brave, quick in speaking, ready to avenge 
 an insult, accustomed to carry pistols and knives, quick to use 
 them in quarrel, affable, unceremonious, and unreserved in their 
 intercourse with acquaintances or strangers. These remarks 
 will not apply to all individuals, but to the people generally, 
 as compared with the people of other states and countries. 
 The state has not yet had time to build up a national cbarncter 
 among natives, but the people are different from all other 
 people. They have much of the general traits of Americanism, 
 but the traits are more striking because so many of the popu- 
 lation are men, and men in the most vigorous period of man- 
 hood, and bold, adventurous men, who have seen strange ups 
 
SOCIETY. ~ 303 
 
 and downs of life, and seen nmcli of foreifrn lands and stransre 
 peoples. In their own state they meet and are thrown into 
 familiar intercourse with intelligent representatives of all climes 
 and continents. The consequence is, that there is no popula- 
 tion more cosmopolitan than the Californians. They have no 
 provincial stiffness ; there is nothing of the little village about 
 them. 
 
 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 ; nobody cares whether 
 he belongs to a distinguished family, has moved in a fashion- 
 able circle, or possesses wealthy or influential friends or rela- 
 tives. The great question is, "Is he or she well educated, 
 polished, and entertaining ?" Of course Californians are not 
 entirely above such considerations as govern society elsewhere, 
 but they are influenced by them flxr 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 occupations, and 
 some of the mechanical trades are now as profitable, on the 
 average to those engaged in them, as are the learned profes- 
 sions. 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. Besides, the changes are so rapid that our neighbor 
 who is poor to-day may be rich to-morrow, and the neighbor 
 Avho is rich to-day may be poor to-morrow. Again, California 
 is pre-eminently a country of business. People came here to 
 make money, and everybody tries to make it ; and in a state 
 w^here wages are high, and profits large, a man's business de- 
 pends to a considerable extent on the multitude of his friends, 
 so everybody wishes to make a friend of everybody else. The 
 millionaire in Europe may treat his tenant 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. 
 
364 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 In no part of the world is the individual more free from re- 
 straint. Men, women, and children are permitted to do near- 
 ly as they please. High wages, migratory habits, and bache- 
 lor 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, especi- 
 ally in a country where the women are in a small minority, 
 and therefore 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 the inhab- 
 itants are not permanent residents. A large portion of the 
 men in California hve alone, either in cabins or in hotels, re- 
 mote from women relatives, and therefore iminfluenced by the 
 powers of a " home." It is not uncommon for married women 
 to go to parties and balls in company wdth young bachelor 
 friends. The girls commence going into " society " about fif- 
 teen, and then receive company alone, and go out alone with 
 young men to dances and other places of amusement. In this 
 there is a great error ; too much liberty is allowed to the girls 
 in the states on the Atlantic slope, and still greater liberty is 
 given here, where, as they ripen earlier, they should be more 
 guarded. 
 
 The absence of restraint in society, the exciting character of 
 business, the mildness of the climate, the interesting associa- 
 tions of life, in a state where a man lives more and sees more 
 in a year than he would see in a lustrum in older countries, 
 have given the people who have resided here an attachment 
 for California. It has been observed that a large proportion 
 of those who have left the state, intending to spend the remain- 
 der of their lives in their native places, have returned, declar- 
 ing that they could not accommodate themselves to the slow, 
 quiet, dull ways of more antiquated states. 
 
 §255. Publicity of Life. — Life in California is very pubhe. 
 Many of the people live in hotels and at large boarding-houses. 
 Travellers are numerous ; theatres and balls are abimdant and 
 well attended; celebrations and festivals are frequent; the 
 
 t 
 
SOCIETY. 365 
 
 population is excitable; all take the newspapers, and all are 
 interested in the events of the day ; and the history 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 public festivities and attending places 
 of amusement. In no part of the United States is so much of 
 life public, and so little of it private. 
 
 § 256. Amusemeiits. — San Francisco is a city of public shows 
 and processions. Dancing is almost universal. The children 
 of every public school in our chief city must have picnics and 
 dances in May and at Christmas. Some of the Sunday schools 
 do without the dance ; others have as many as the common 
 schools. One has four dances every year. The regular dances, 
 picnics, and festivals of various schools and associations in San 
 Francisco, wuU average several for every week in the year. 
 Theatres and operas are most liberally patronized, in propor- 
 tion to the population. But perhaps the amusement which has 
 found the most favor in California is bilUard-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, containing 
 each from eight to twelve of the largest and most elegant bil- 
 liard-tables, at which men are constantly playing. The climate 
 along the coast is peculiarly favorable to dancing, for, as the 
 evenings and nights are always cold, it is as pleasant to dance 
 in the summer as in the winter. Among the other regular 
 amusements of Californians is that of "going east." About 
 ten thousand of them go to the Eastern states every year, to 
 make visits and see their relatives. Among the fashionable 
 places of resort in the state are the Yosemite Falls, the Mam- 
 moth Groves of Calaveras and Mariposa counties, the Alabas- 
 ter Cave in El Dorado county, the Geysers in Sonoma county, 
 the Sulphur Springs in Napa county, the Warm Springs in 
 Alameda county; and in September and October, when the 
 grapes are ripe, the towns of Sonoma and Los Angeles. Gam- 
 
366 KESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 bling was in 1854 commonly and openly practised in all the 
 towns of the state ; now it is prohibited as a crime, and is 
 practised only in secret, and is a rare offence save in the 
 mining towns. Horse-racing is common, and the state has 
 some of the best thorongh-bred horses in the world. Gam- 
 bling was from 1849 to 1854 a common public amusement in 
 all the towns and mining camps. In San Fi-ancisco a dozen of 
 the largest and finest halls on the first floor, with doors always 
 open to the street, and in several cases extending across whole 
 blocks and opening upon two opposite streets, were occupied 
 by gamblers, and were filled by crowds of people every day — 
 no exception for Sunday — from dark until long after midnight. 
 Fine bands of music and voluptuous pictures were among the 
 common attractions of these places, and some of the tables had 
 handsome women to deal the cards or gather in the money. 
 Gambling is now prohibited by law, but is practised oj^enly in 
 the little mining towns. 
 
 Some years ago bull-fights and fights of bears against bulls 
 were not uncommon, but they have gone out of favor, and 
 nothing is heard of such exhibitions now. 
 
 § 257. Licxurious Living. — The mode of living among Call- 
 fornians is luxurious. They all try to make the most of life. 
 Everybody wants a neat house, elegant tableware, fine ma- 
 hogany furniture, Brussels carpets, and a good table. In the 
 towns especially, the people live well, even the poorer me- 
 chanics and common laborers. Every man dresses in broad- 
 cloth, and nearly every woman in silk. The exceptions are so 
 few as scarcely to be worthy of notice. Gold watches are 
 worn by draymen and washerwomen. In every occupation 
 men get rich, and stingy men and misers are rare. 
 
 § 258. Health. — Of the Americans in California, 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 lips thin, their 
 mouths grim, their bodies tall, slim, and slightly bent in the 
 
 II 
 
SOCIETY. .?67 
 
 shoulders, thin in the chest, the voice loud, the enunciation 
 slow and clear, with little modulation. Tlicse general charac- 
 teristics of the nation, as compared with Europeans, are not 
 wantinjT in California. However, the Californians of the third 
 or fourth generation will be different from those of the present 
 day ; they will be a heavier, and healthier, and probably a taller 
 race. The tendencies in this direction are, I think, already 
 evident, in the forms and growth of the children ; and such 
 influences might be inferred from the vigorous development, 
 in this state, of the forms of animal and vegetable life generally. 
 Most parts of the state, especially those near the coast, are 
 very healthy. Indeed I do not think that in any part of the 
 world is nature more favorable to long life than in California 
 from Sonoma to Santa Barbara, within thirty miles of the ocean. 
 The regularity of the temperature, and the entire absence of 
 both extreme heat and extreme cold, with a clear sky, a dry 
 atmosphere, and a constant breeze, are the conditions most 
 favorable to health, and they are nowhere more happily united 
 than here. In the low land of the Sacramento and Colorado 
 basins, where the summers are very hot, and in the high land 
 of the Sierra Nevada, where the winters are very cold, the 
 health of the inhabitants is not so good. In many of the 
 mining towns, where much w^ater escapes from the ditches, 
 and keeps the earth constantly moist, and where new ground 
 is thrown up every day, fever and ague are common. That 
 disease prevails also in the moist lands along the Sacramento 
 and San Joaquin Rivers, and about the Four Creeks, in Tulare 
 county. Rheumatism is very common in the mines, and neu- 
 ralgia throughout the state. Whether this latter disease is 
 more common here than in the Eastern states, is a matter of 
 dispute, but certainly I never heard so much of it elsewhere as 
 I have heard in California. Diseases of the eyes are common 
 here, caused probably by the dust, the dryness of the atmos- 
 phere, the glare of the sun, and the evaporation of mercury 
 in open pans, by miners. The dense fogs which visit the coast 
 render the climate unfavorable to persons afflicted with con- 
 
368 KESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 sumption ; while I presume a residence in the mountains, high 
 above the sea, would be very likely to cure that disease, at 
 least in its early stages. 
 
 The American women of California are not healthy, as a 
 class. They are trained up in the dark and in idleness, as 
 though sunshine and work would ruin them. Pastry, pickles, 
 and sweetmeats form a considerable portion of their food, 
 and they are taught to abhor coarse strength and robustness 
 as worse than sins. Of course they cannot, as women, be 
 healthy. The girls are beautiful — beautiful as angels, but at 
 twenty-five the women begin to wither, and at thirty-five they 
 lose nearly every trace of physical beauty. The diseases pe- 
 culiar to women are very common, and whether from this 
 reason or some other cause, it is very frequent to see women 
 of thirty or thirty-five, who have one or two children ten or 
 twelve years old, and none younger. The native Californian 
 and Irish women have large families ; the American women 
 have but few, and yet there is no country where children are, 
 on an average, so large at birth (if the opinion of some experi- 
 enced physicians of my acquaintance be sufficient authority to 
 establish the fact), or where so many twins are born. It has 
 been remarked that a multitude of instances have occurred of 
 couples who, after having lived childless for ten, fifteen, or 
 twenty years in other countries, before coming to California, 
 in a year after their arrival here have had children. Travel- 
 ling and a change of climate will no doubt always have a favor- 
 able influence in this respect, but perhaps the extraordinary 
 productiveness of California may be perceptible here too. 
 
 § 259. Proportion of the Sexes. — There are not enough 
 women for the men in California. The relation between the 
 sexes is unsound. Unfortunate women are numerous, and 
 separations and divorces between married couples frequent. 
 No civilized country can equal us in the proportionate number 
 of divorces. Our laws are not so lax as those of several of 
 the states east of the Mississippi, but the circumstances of life 
 are more favorable to separation. The small proportion of 
 
 I 
 
SOCIETY. 369 
 
 women makes a demand for the sex, and so when a woman is 
 oppressed by her husband, she can generally find somebody 
 else who will not oppress her, and she will apply for a divorce; 
 whereas, in another state she would submit to much harsher 
 treatment and not demand a separation. The abundance of 
 money is here felt also. To prosecute a divorce suit costs 
 money, and many cannot pay the expense in poorer countries. 
 During 18C0 eighty-five divorce suits were commenced in San 
 Francisco, and in sixty-one of these, or three-fourths of the 
 cases, the wives were the plaintifi*s. During the six years from 
 1855 to 1860, inclusive, the number of divorce suits commenced 
 in San Francisco was four hundred and forty-seven, and in 
 more than three-fourths of the suits divorces were granted, 
 and divorces were denied in very few. Some of the suits were 
 discontinued or abandoned. The proportion is probably about 
 the same in other parts of the state. 
 
 § 260. Education. — The state has made a liberal provision 
 for education. Common schools, free to all white children, are 
 maintained by the public treasury, and the large fund provided 
 for their support is declared in the constitution to be inviolable. 
 The common schools in San Francisco are as good as any com- 
 mon schools in the world. Those in the country districts are 
 not so good, and yet will compare favorably with most country 
 schools. Boys and gii"ls are taught together in these schools — 
 an arrangement which is thought, by many parents, to be bad 
 for girls over twelve ; and therefore private schools for girls 
 have many pupils. The Catholics in San Francisco have their 
 own schools, and support them with their own money. They 
 dislike the common schools, because pupils are not required 
 to study the Catholic catechism there. The state constitution 
 provides that there shall be a state university, but it has not 
 yet been organized, nor is it likely to be for some years to come. 
 There are a number of high schools called "colleges" and "uni- 
 versities," mostly maintained by religious sects, but they have 
 not yet become so large or strong as to deserve special mention. 
 
 § 261. 'Vigilance Coinudttecs. — In the last chapter I spoke of 
 17 
 
370 - RESOUFvCES OF CALIFOKNIA. 
 
 the constitution and laws of the state, here I must speak of the 
 assumption of unconstitutional and illegal powers by the Cali- 
 fornians, in a manner unexampled in other parts of the Union. 
 The visfilance committees of San Francisco are famous the world 
 over. There were two of these organizations, one in 1851, the 
 other in 1856, the latter being a revival of the former. The 
 laws for the punishment of crime in California are so loose and | 
 so favorable to criminals, and the officers of justice have been so 
 corrupt, that the people have at several periods felt that the 
 only safe method of having justice executed, was to take the Jl 
 matter into their own hands. The vigilance committee of 
 1851 was in existence but a short time, and did nothing save 
 execute a few thieves. That of 1856 was the more important 
 organization by far, and a brief statement of its actions may 
 be necessary to a proper understanding of the character of the 
 people. Under the American system of universal suifrage, the 
 control of the government must fall into the hands of a polit- 
 ical party, which again must be managed by a few individ- 
 uals, and these, especially in large cities, are often base men 
 who make a business of politics. It is so in New York city; 
 and it was so in San Francisco in 1855 and the early part of 
 1856. The party then in power did not hesitate to elect to 
 high office men entirely unfit to be seen in decent society — 
 men of notoriously bad character, guilty of numerous crimes. 
 Many of the officers of elections were scoundrels, who, after 
 the polls were closed, threw away the genuine ballots and sub- 
 stituted others in their place, and thus declared their own men 
 elected to office. Such conduct was not the exception but the 
 rule ; it was practised in many districts and for year after year, 
 and the men guilty of it were patronized and protected by men 
 high in office. Among the ballot-box stuffiirs, one of the bas- 
 est and most prominent was James Casey, a man who had 
 been convicted in New York of grand larceny, and had been 
 punished by a term of imprisonment in the state prison. lie 
 had a little education, some experience in the management of 
 political meetings, much tact, and a ready tongue. In San 
 
SOCIETT. 371 
 
 Francisco he became a politician, and obtained the position of 
 inspector of elections in one of the wards ; and there he had 
 complete control of the ballot-box, and nsed it to keep himself 
 in office and elect his friends or those who paid him. In the 
 fall of 1855 Casey managed to be elected member of the board 
 of supervisors (which board has the same powers in San Fran- 
 cisco as the common council has in most cities), and this election 
 was conducted in such a manner that there was no doubt in the 
 mind of any reasonable man that the whole aifair was fraudu- 
 lent. This man Casey shot a San Francisco editor who had de- 
 nounced him as a convict, a ballot-box stnffer, and a scoundrel. 
 The shooting took place in the street in open day, and the 
 wound was mortal. The editor had made himself prominent 
 and popular by exposing various abuses, and no sooner was it 
 announced that he was shot, than a great excitement arose, 
 men collected by thousands in the street, and acted with a 
 passion little short of raving. The vigilance committee, Avhich 
 had been dissolved for six years, was reorganized. Out of 
 twelve thousand white male citizens nine thousand enrolled 
 themselves as members of the committee. They formed them- 
 selves into military companies, obtained arms, chose officers, 
 and established an armory and a fori. The governor ordered 
 them to disband, and threatened to use the military power of 
 the state against them, but they set him at defiance, invested 
 the jail, took from it Casey and another man, who had com- 
 mitted homicide, imprisoned them in their fort, and subse- 
 quently hanged them, after trying them secretly. The com- 
 mittee arrested a large number of persons on chai'ges of vari- 
 ous crimes, executed two others for murder, banished about 
 a dozen, and maintained their fort and their military organiza- 
 tion for eight months, during which time they were really 
 masters of the city. They inflicted no punishment with- 
 out trial, held all their trials with much deliberation, and 
 were in no haste to execute their sentences. The governor 
 tried to call out the militia of the state, but the people gener- 
 ally sympathized with the movement, so neither the militia nor 
 
372 EESOUECES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 the legislature would do 'any thing. A few troops were col- 
 lected in San Francisco, but the vigilance committee took them 
 prisoners and deprived them of their arms. The governor 
 applied to the federal government for assistance, but the au- 
 thorities at Washington decided that they would not interfere, 
 except at the joint request of the governor and legislature. 
 The governor was thus left powerless, and the committee 
 maintained their fort and their military organization, and really 
 had control of the city for eight months. No judicial pro- 
 cess was of any service to release a man whom they had im- 
 prisoned. They hanged a few scoundrels, drove others from 
 the country, frightened still more, destroyed the influence of 
 bad men, rendered life and property secure, gave good men an 
 influence in the city government, purified the elections, gave a 
 better tone to society, commenced a new era of decent man- 
 agement of the municipal finances, and gave resiDcctability to 
 the city. It is perhaps not more than proper that I should add 
 here, that I personally was neither a member of the vigilance 
 committee nor an advocate of its policy of setting the laws at 
 defiance. This viixilance committee transacted all its business 
 secretly, and no record of its transactions has yet been pub- 
 lished. It is universally understood that the whole control 
 of the committee was vested in a secret executive commit- 
 tee of thirty-three, who had been chosen at one of the first 
 meetings after the reorganization began, when there were 
 but few members present. After the time when they were 
 chosen, their names were never submitted for aj^proval to 
 the great majority of the vigilance committee, who joined sub- 
 sequently, nor were their names ever announced to the citi- 
 zens by authority, nor did they ever apjDcar in such a manner 
 that either the general public or the members of the vigilance 
 committee could know the names of this executive committee, 
 which was thus vested with an irresponsible and absolute 
 power. Tlie meetings of the executive committee were secret, 
 and the greater part of their proceedings was never reported 
 even to their constituents. When any military or other action 
 
 I 
 
SOCIETY. 373 
 
 was to be taken, nothing of the main purpose was communi-' 
 cated, save to a few oflBcers. The executive committee had 
 really an absolute power. Their orders were implicitly 
 obeyed. Whom they ordered into arrest, was arrested ; whom 
 they ordered into banishment, was banished. Their trials were 
 secret ; a counsellor was granted to the accused, but a coun- 
 sellor who was himself a member of the executive committee, 
 and of course bound to sustain his associates. The executive 
 committee exercised these great powers with great modera- 
 tion and wisdom, and without pay ; and all the men whom 
 they executed or banished, undoubtedly deserved all the 
 punishment inflicted on them. After the vigilance committee 
 was disbanded, the executive committee lost all its powers, 
 and returned to the position of simple citizens. Such is a brief 
 statement of the character of the vigilance committee of San 
 Francisco, an organization without its like in American his- 
 tory ; a secret society, ruled by a secret executive committee, 
 whose names were unknown to the i^ublic, and even to the men 
 pledged to obey them, whose meetings were secret, and of 
 whose proceedings no report was published either at that 
 time or since. The maintenance of the organization in defi- 
 ance of the law, was expensive and troublesome, and it is not 
 expected that it will ever be revived ; yet the temper of the 
 people is such that, rather than submit to the sway of ruffians, 
 who had power in San Francisco in 1855, they would certainly 
 re-establish the vigilance committee. 
 
 § 262. Lynch Executions. — Xo association similar to the 
 vigilance committee has ever been formed in California out- 
 side of San Francisco. There have been many executions by 
 lynch law, but there was no permanent organization, delib- 
 erate trial of the accused, and delay in the execution of the 
 sentence, which marked the proceedings at San Francisco. In 
 the interior, the lynching is always done by a mob ; they may 
 act without much noise, and give' the accused several hours' 
 respite before swinging him up, but it is only a mob after all. 
 The people come together in a state of excitement, and dis- 
 
374 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 patcli the offender while then* blood is still hot. These scenes 
 have been comparatively rare of late, but they happen at least 
 several times in the course of a year. In the year 1855, no 
 less than forty-seven men were executed by mobs in Califor- 
 nia, twenty-four for theft, nineteen for murder, one for arson, 
 one for rape, and two Indians, for being spies to watch the 
 movements of some white men who were making war on their 
 tribe in Xorthern California. In nearly every instance when 
 a man is executed by mob law in California, he gets his deserts. 
 There may be exceptions, of course, but all the probabilities 
 are against the victim. Though the mob are excited, they are 
 by no means unreasonable ; they frequently give a man a for- 
 mal trial, hear the testimony against him, and do not execute 
 him until a jury has rendered a verdict against him. Some- 
 times the execution is hasty, but in such cases either the crime 
 is great and indubitable or there is danger that the offender 
 will be rescued by the officers of the law. The method of 
 procedure at a lynching is simple. The people collect about 
 the place where the j^risoner is kept ; if he is in jail and the 
 jailor reflises to give him up, they break the door open with 
 crowbars, and take the ^^I'isoner out to a tree. If they have 
 leism-e, a jury is organized and put under oath or promise to 
 give the accused a fair trial. Some one, no matter whether a 
 lawyer or not, is appointed to examine the witnesses for the 
 prosecution, and another for the defence ; and after a brief 
 hearing of the testimony a verdict is rendered, and in nineteen 
 cases out of twenty, the accused must swing. Hanging is 
 always used as the mode of execution. The main excuse for 
 these lynchings is, that the law is so badly administered that 
 there is no security that a criminal will be punished ; but as the 
 population becomes more permanent, there is less foundation 
 for this plea, and the lynch executions become less frequent. 
 They are confined altogether to the remote places in the state, 
 and in a few years they wifl entirely ceafee. 
 
 § 263. Squatter J^eague. — There is now, and has for years 
 been, a squatter league secret society, with hundreds of mem- 
 
SOCIETY. 375 
 
 bers, organized for the purpose of defeating Spanish land 
 claims on which squatters have settled, and for the purpose of 
 resisting the ejectment of squatters when possible. This se- 
 cret society has the support of thousands of squatters who 
 are not members. In May, 1861, these squatters refused to 
 allow some trespassers to be ejected under legal process from 
 the Chaboya rancho near San Jose. Fifteen hundred armed 
 men collected to set the law at defiance, and when the gov- 
 ernor proposed to send troops, the squatters of Sacramento, 
 Sonoma and Marin counties promised to send two armed men 
 for every soldier. At one time there was serious danger of 
 bloodshed, but the affair was settled by grantijog some squat- 
 ter demands not at all consistent with the dignity of the gov- 
 ernment. This secret organization, and the seditious feeling 
 among a multitude of persons not members, still exist, and 
 may yet cause serious trouble. 
 
 § 264. Anti- Chinese Moh. — The white miners have a great 
 dislike to Chinamen, who are frequently driven away from 
 their claims, and expelled from districts by mobs. In such 
 cases the officers of the law do not ordinarily interfere, and no 
 matter how much the unfortunate yellow men may be beaten 
 or despoiled, the law does not attempt to restore them to their 
 rights or avens^e their wrono^s. 
 
 o o o 
 
 § 265. Deeds of Blood. — California has obtained a sad no- 
 toriety for its deeds of blood, and although the number of 
 these has very much decreased, still fatal affrays are common. 
 During 1855 a list was kept of all the, homicides in the state, 
 and no list has been kept since that year, and therefore I refer 
 to a time so remote for statistics. It appears, then, from the 
 records of that year, that five hundred and thii'ty-eight persons 
 died by violence. Of these three hundred and fifty-seven were 
 whites, one hundred and thirty-three Indians, thirty-two Chi- 
 namen, and three negroes. The number of Indians killed by 
 the whites was no doubt much greater, for the two races were 
 at war in various parts of the state, and the skirmishes, which 
 almost mvariably proved disastrous to the red men, were in 
 
37G EESOUECES OF OALIFOKXIA. 
 
 many cases not reported in the papers. Exclusive of the In- 
 dians slain there were four hundred and five homicides. In 
 many iustances no j^articulars of the killing were given, but of 
 those cases where the mode of death was well ascertained, 
 there were forty-seven executed by mobs, nine were executed 
 according to law, ten were criminals killed by sheriffs or police- 
 men in attempting to arrest or detain them, six were foreign- 
 ers killed by the collectors of the foreign miners' license, 
 thirty-two were killed by Indians, seventeen were killed in jus- 
 tifiable homicide by men who were compelled to defend them- 
 selves, twelve were killed in fights about mining claims, eight 
 were killed in fights at gambliug tables, sixteen were mur- 
 dered for purposes of robbery, and forty-six were found mur- 
 dered under circumstances that did not indicate whether the 
 motive was deliberate murder, sudden anger, robbery, or self- 
 defence. These homicides occurred in nearly equal propor- 
 tions in the four seasons of the year, and in the different popu- 
 lated districts of the state. The homicides of each year 
 between 1850 and 1855 were at least as numerous as those of 
 the last-named year, but since then there has been a great fall- 
 ing off, and now I think the number does not exceed seventy- 
 five in a year, exclusive of the Indians, of whom the yearly 
 average slain since 1856 has not been less than one hundred. 
 It may appear a very singular and rapid change, that the an- 
 nual number of homicides in a state should decrease eighty per 
 cent, within a period of six years, but it must be remembered 
 that California is in a condition of swift transition, and that 
 OUT society is far more stable now than it was in 1855. 
 
 Why is it that there are so many bloody affiays in Cali- 
 fornia ? The first and great cause is the high temper of the 
 people. The Americans are an arrogant race. Every man 
 thinks himself as good as his neighbor, if not better. Tney 
 are a people who will not be insulted. They consider harsh 
 words insulting. They are fond of using harsh words to one 
 another. Custom authorizes them to apply the word "liar" 
 frequently, and custom justifies a man called " liar" in repay- 
 
SOCIETY. 377 
 
 ing the epithet witli a blow; and the same custom justifies a 
 man who is attacked with the fist, in defending liimself with a 
 pistol or knife. In the mining districts, many of the men arc 
 constantly armed, so that the weapons of death are rarely out 
 of reach. The Californians are reckless of life ; and the men, 
 living alone, free from the influence of family and relatives, 
 are dissipated, and when heated with liquor and excited by 
 gambling, are easily provoked to settle every little quarrel 
 with blood. The wild condition of affairs in the early times 
 has been impressed upon our society, and we have not yet 
 been able to reform it altogether. The multitude of peojile 
 from the cotton states have introduced among us their views 
 and practices in regard to the use of deadly weapons, and the 
 leaven has attached itself to the mass. The majority may 
 have different opinions, but one quarrelsome man can compel a 
 dozen to carry arms for self-defence. Adultery is held by pub- 
 lic opinion to be a justification of homicide, and this is a fruit- 
 ful source of deadly quarrels. And then it is to be remem- 
 bered, too, that many of the residents of California are men 
 who have committed crimes in the Eastern states, in Australia 
 and Europe, and have fled hither to escape punishment. Such 
 persons, although they may form a small proportion of the 
 population, contribute to give trouble. As compared with the 
 total numlt>er of homicides, the assassinations for revenge, and 
 the murders for monef, are few. Previous to 1856, street 
 fights were among the institutions of San Francisco. It would 
 frequently be announced by conversation, or even by the news- 
 papers 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 Montgomery street, the main business 
 street, to see the fun. The belligerents, armed each with a 
 concealed revolver and a bowie-knife, would walk along the 
 street, and on coming near each other would draw their re- 
 volvers, and, with or without speaking, would commence firing. 
 The fight would be strictly one of self-defence on both sides. 
 In the use of deadly weapons, California resembles the Gulf 
 17* 
 
378 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 States far more than the North. The wild condition of af- 
 fairs in the early times has been 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 remarkable as 
 to attract attention all over the civilized world. Duelling is 
 forbidden by the law of the state, and is made punishable as a 
 felony by imprisonment for not more than two years, and if 
 either party be killed the survivor may be imprisoned not less 
 than one nor more than seven years in the state prison ; and 
 the constitution of the state provides that no person who has 
 been a principal or a second in a duel shall be allowed to vote 
 or hold office in the state ; 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 duelling, nor has any one been prevented from 
 voting or holding office for that reason ; on the contrary, many 
 of the duellists have until within a late date held offices amono- 
 the most honorable and profitable in the state. 
 
 § 266. JRdigion. — We have no accurate statistics of the 
 churches and church memberships in California. Of the 
 155,000 white men in the state, I presume that 10,000 are 
 communicants of some Protestant church ; 10,000 of the 
 Catholic church ; 2,000 are Jews, and 1,000 are Mormons, 
 making 23,000 in all, or 14 per cent. Of the other 86 per 
 cent., two-thirds never go near a church, and scarcely claim to 
 be Christians ; while the remaining third go to church occa- 
 sionally, some of them regularly. The principal Protestant 
 churches are the Methodist Church (Xorth), wliich has about 
 3,000 communicants, 60 churches, and 65 preachers ; the Meth 
 odist Church (South) has about 1,000 communicants, 20 church- 
 es, and 40 preachers ; the Old School Presbyterian Church has 
 1,000 communicants, 15 churches, and 17 clergymen ; the Xew 
 School Presbyterian Church has 500 communicants, 11 church- 
 
SOCIETY. 379 
 
 es, and 13 clergymen; the Congregationalists have 600 com- 
 municants, 11 churches, and 12 preachers; the Cumberland 
 Presbyterians have 800 communicnnts and 28 preachers ; the 
 Baptists have 1,000 communicants, 42 churches, and 30 
 preachers ; the Episcopalians have 600 communicants, 20 
 churches, and 18 clergymen ; the Unitarians have 100 com- 
 municants, with one church, and one preacher. The total 
 number of communicants, as mentioned in this list, including 
 women, who are a majority, is less than 10,000 ; but there are 
 many persons staying temporarily in the state, and claiming 
 membership in congregations in the Eastern states. 
 
 The Catholic priests claim to have 80,000 communicants in 
 their church ; and they have VO churches, and 15 priests. 
 The Catholics are more attentive to the forms of their faith 
 than are the Protestants. 
 
 There are many Mormons in California, but they are scat- 
 tered about, and have no meetings or church organization. 
 Almost the entire population of the town of San Bernardino 
 was once made up of them, but they abandoned the place, at 
 the order of Brigham Young, and went to Salt Lake. Such 
 Mormons as there m.ay be in the state, are generally consid- 
 ered to be industrious and good citizens. 
 
 There are 10,000 Jcavs in the state, and they have three 
 synagogues, and two rabbles. The Jews of California are di- 
 vided into two main classes, the German Jews and the Polish 
 Jews ; and in San Francisco each class has its own synagogue, 
 cemetery, and benevolent society. The German Jews are in- 
 fected by the progressive spirit of the age, and have adopted 
 a reformed ritual ; whereas the Polish Jews adhere to the old 
 forms and ceremonies. The Chinamen are, with the exception 
 of three or four score Christians, all Buddhists. Buddhism, 
 which has been called " the Christianity of the east," and in its 
 purer forms is not unworthy of the name, is with them a gross 
 superstition, accompanied by idol worship and meaningless 
 ceremonies, with no accompanying conception of high spiritual 
 truths. The Chi i>men have several places of worship in Call- 
 
380 RESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 fornia, where, at least once a year, puLlic ceremonies are held. 
 One of these places in San Francisco, a chapel about eighteen 
 feet wide, by thirty long, and twelve high, has at one end an 
 idol of life-size m a squatting position, painted with Venetian 
 red. Around this idol are placed banners and curtains of silk, 
 and boards with inscriptions painted and carved in Chinese 
 characters. In front of the idol is a table, on which are lighted 
 candles, sticks of incense burning without a blaze, and filling 
 the place with smoke, and various fantastically shaped dishes 
 of white metal and brass. On another table are placed flow- 
 ers, vegetables, and various articles of food, such as jjieces of 
 roast pig and chicken, fish, and other articles, the names of 
 which are unknown to Americans. The ceremonies are per- 
 formed by men dressed in long robes and acting as priests, 
 who march round the room, make genuflexions and bows be- 
 fore the idol, and occasionally kneel and recite forms of prayer. 
 Many of the Chinamen have in their dwellings little images of 
 Buddha, before which they keep tapers burning. Once a year 
 they go out in procession with music to the public cemetery, 
 where their dead are buried, and set a table there as a feast for 
 the spirits of the deceased. 
 
 The wild Indians have no clearly defined religious ideas ; and 
 the tame ones, or those who hve among the whites, are so igno- 
 rant that their faith is little better than a gross superstition. 
 
 § 267. Call f or ?iianisms.— The Californians have introduced 
 certain words into the English language, or at least have adopt- 
 ed them in common use in the state, and a Ust of them, with 
 their 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. 
 
SOCIETY. 
 
 sal 
 
 Bar. — A low bank of sand or gravel, at the side of a river, 
 deposited by the stream. 
 
 Bummer. — An idle, worthless fellow, who does no work 
 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 re- 
 spectable, industrious man may become a " loafer" by making 
 idle, impertinent visits in business places during business hours ; 
 but the word " bummer" implies a low, lazy character. It is 
 probably derived from the vulgar German words Bummeln 
 and 7>?<??i77ie/er, which are about equivalent to "loafer" and 
 " loaf." Its origin has been attributed to Boehmen^ the Ger- 
 man name of Bohemia, a nation celebrated for the number of 
 its sharpers and adventurers. The Gipsies are called Bohemi- 
 ens in France, because of their roving lives and worthless char- 
 acter. " Bummer" is generally supposed here to be a Califor- 
 nianism. 
 
 Bummi7ig^ 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 caiion, a deep ravine, a nar- 
 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 caiiadas are to be found in that portion of the Unit- 
 ed States east of the Mississippi, but they are abundant in Cal- 
 ifornia. The Spaniards place the accent on the last syllable ot 
 cafion (can yone'), but in ordinary American usage the accent 
 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 escape. 
 
 Ih coyote^ a mining term, to dig a hole resembling the bur- 
 row of the coyote^ or small California wolf. 
 
382 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 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, &c. 
 
 Cvlor^ a visible quantity of gold found m prospecting. If 
 the prospector fluds one or more particles of gold in his search, 
 he says he has found the color. 
 
 To dry np^ a slang phrase, meaning to stop, fail, disappear, 
 become silent. It is very expressive 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 r.re in the banks and bars of creeks or rivers ; dry 
 ^^^(Oji^^QS iire in flats or the beds of gullies, which are dry the 
 greater portion of the year. 
 
 Espedientc, the original papers relating to some government 
 business, filed in a public ofiice. 
 
 Einharcadero (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. 
 
 Fuste (foos' te), a strong saddle-tree, made of wood and cov- 
 ered with raw cowhide, used for lassoing. 
 
 Gulch, a gully. 
 
 Ilahilltatlon^ from the Spanish habilitacion., a certificate, or 
 stamp on paper, which authorized it to be used for certain pur- 
 poses. To habilitate paper, to place the mark of habilitation A| 
 upon it. 
 
 To 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. 
 
SOCIETY. 383 
 
 To knocJc down^ 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. 
 
 Mecate (may cah' te), a rope of hair, used for tying horses. 
 
 Mochilas (mo chee' las), large leathern flaps for covering a 
 fuste. 
 
 JPlaza^ a public square in a town. 
 
 Playa^ 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 
 dirt near the surface of the ground. 
 
 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. 
 
 Rodeo (ro day' o), a collection of wild or half-wild cattle, 
 made for the purpose of separating or marking them. 
 
 Pecojida (ray co hee' da), a similar collection of horses. 
 
 Pancho (ran' tsho), before the Americans took California, 
 meant a tract of land used almost entirely for pasturage, rare- 
 ly 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." 
 
 Panchero (ran tsha' ro), a man who owns and lives upon a 
 ranclio. It is usually understood to mean a Spanish Califor- 
 nian> 
 
 Pancheria, an Indian hut or a village. 
 
384 EESOUKCES OF califokxia'. 
 
 Reata (ray ah' ta), a rawhide rope, used for lassoing. 
 
 Rubric^ a flourish, which Mexicans and native Cahfornian^ 
 append to their signatures, and which, in lact, they consider 
 as an important part of their signatures, and the most diflicult 
 to imitate or counterfeit. They often use their " rubrics" alone 
 as signatures. To rubricate^ to sign with a rubric. 
 
 Sluice, a wooden trough about fourteen inches wide, and 
 ten deep, and not less than thirty feet long, used for washing 
 pay-dirt. 
 
 Ground-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 diit 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. 
 
 SluiceSead, the quantity of water used in a sluice ; a 
 constant 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 Meed, 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, tom, rocker, or quartz-mill. 
 
 Tom, a wooden trough, from ten to fifteen feet long, for 
 washing pay-dirt. 
 
 Tom-Stream, or Tom-Head, the amount of water used in a 
 tom. 
 
 MocJcer, or Cradle, a machine resembhng a domestic cradle, 
 for washing pay-dirt. 
 
 Wing-Dam, a dam in a creek or river, running partly across 
 
SOCIETY. 385 
 
 its bed and then down stream so as to shut out the water from 
 part of the bed. 
 
 Vaquero (va kay' ro — vulgarly pronounced buc ca' ry), a 
 herdsman. 
 
 Zartja (zan' ha), a ditch for irrigating agricultural land. 
 
 Zanjero (zan hay' ro) a person whose duty it is to keep irri- 
 gating ditches in order. Among the officers of the city of Los 
 Angeles is a Zanjero. 
 
 § 268. Germans and French. — The Germans of California 
 have generally become citizens and permanent residents of the 
 state, and most of them have learned the English language. 
 They have gymnastic clubs and singing societies in all the 
 larger towns. Most of the brewers and professional musicians 
 in the state are Germans ; and the Germans occupy a large 
 place among the cultivators of the A-ine. The town of Ana- 
 heim, in Los Angeles county, was laid out by Germans, and 
 is almost exclusively populated by them. 
 
 The French in California, as a body, are not citizens, or per- 
 manent residents, and have not learned English. Some of the 
 largest bankers in San Francisco are Frenchmen, and the city 
 owes to Mr. Pioche, a French capitalist, some of its most val- 
 uable public enterprises, such as the Mission Railroad, the 
 Spring Valley Water Works, and the pleasure resorts of 
 Hayes' Park and the Willows. 
 
 § 269. Spanish Calif ornians. — The people of Spanish blood 
 in the state are mostly natives of CaUfornia, Mexico, and Chile. 
 As a class, they are poor and ignorant. The Mexicans and 
 Spaniards who came to California while Spain held dominion 
 of the country, brought few women with them, but took In- 
 dian women for wives ; and the descendants of these women 
 form a large majority of the Spanish Californians. Among 
 the wealthier families, the Indian cast of countenance has al- 
 most disappeared. Although the features are thick, the expres- 
 sion 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 hand- 
 
SS6 RESOmCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 
 
 some, tall, broad-shouldered, larg>^-boned, big-bellied, strong, 
 healthy, and long-lived. They grow fleshy as they grow old ; 
 and the same remark applies to the women. They are a good- 
 natured race, yery kind and obliging to their friends, but out 
 of place among Americans, who are too sharp for them in 
 trading. Instead of increasing in wealth with the develop- 
 ment of the country, the Spanish Californians have been rap- 
 idly o-roAving poorer, and now they 0A\m scarcely one-tenth of 
 the landed property which they had in 1848. Then they owned 
 nearly every thing ; now there is not a leading merchant or 
 millionaire among them. They regret the conquest of their 
 country. They lived in a very simple manner under the 
 Mexican dominion, but they were secure in their property, and 
 were the political masters. Xow they form a small and pow- 
 erless minority, among a people for superior to them in agri- 
 cultural and mechanical skill and business knowledge — a peo- 
 ple who are absorbing all their wealth, and who look upon 
 them and treat them as inferiors. Although some of the Span- 
 ish Californians are content with the change of dominion, yet 
 many hate the Americans, and hate them so bitterly that they 
 would resort to civil war if there were any hope of success. 
 Lideed, the condition of affairs, in some of the counties where 
 the Spanish population is most nmnerous, was near civil war 
 at various periods between 1851 and 1854. Most of the Span- 
 ish Californians live in the country ; their chief wealth is in 
 land and cattle, and the chief occupation of the poorer classes 
 is herding cattle. Their dwellings are adobe houses, usually 
 of one story, often with no floor save the bare earth, and with- 
 out chairs. 
 
 § 270. Chinamen. — The Chinamen in California are nearly 
 all very ignorant and very poor. Their number is about fifty 
 thousand, of whom more than half have been six or seven 
 years in the state. Most of them are engaged in mining ; and 
 the remainder are merchants, fishermen, washermen, and a few 
 are employed as cooks in hotels, and as farm laborers on farms 
 owned by white men. Most of them come from Southern 
 
SOCIETY. 387 
 
 China, and nearly all of them are members of five great com- 
 panies, called the Yung-Wo, the Sze-yap, the Sam-yap, the 
 Yan-wo, and Xing-yeung companies. Those companies have 
 each 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. Tlie 
 companies are benevolent associations, and take care of their 
 indigent and sick. Tliere are no Chhiese beggars in the 
 streets, and no 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 con- 
 tracts faithfully. The employers in these cases are either the 
 companies or associations of Chinese capitalists. The China- 
 men generally are very industrious ; indeed they are the most 
 industrious class of our population, and also the most humble, 
 quiet, and peaceful. 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. 
 
 In San Francisco, the merchants are usually in partner- 
 ships, with not less than three nor more than ten partners ; 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 
 portion of the food of the Chinamen in the state. They have 
 not learned to use bread instead of rice. Those who can af- 
 ford 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 compa- 
 
388 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 nies of two or tliree, and they have Dumerous little shops in 
 the streets of San Francisco, and in the smaller towns. They 
 sprinkle their clothes previous to ironing, by filling the mouth 
 with water and then blowing it over them. For ironing, in- 
 stead of a flat-iron, they use an iron pan with a smooth bottom, 
 and kept full of burning charcoal. There are not more than 
 one thousand Chinese women in the state, and nine-tenths of 
 them are prostitutes of the lowest class. The Chinese children 
 are few. 
 
 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 English words. All 
 the Chinamen in California adhere to their national costume, 
 with some slight variations. They wear their hair long, use 
 no white muslin or linen next the skin, and never put on a 
 dress coat or stove-pipe hat. In the cities, they ordinarily use 
 wooden-soled shoes, with thin cotton uppers. Instead of a 
 coat, they have a short blouse, generally of dark-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. Some of the poorer men find trousers of the European 
 pattern more convenient, and wear them. The miners gener- 
 ally wear coarse boots or shoes. 
 
 § 271. Indians. — The Indians are a miserable race, destined 
 to speedy extinction. Fifteen 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 whites made war on 
 them and slew them. Such has been the orimn of most of the 
 Indian wars which have raged in various parts of the state 
 almost continuously during the last twelve years. Scarcely a 
 month has passed since 1849, without some hostile encounters 
 between the red K^en and the whites in some parts of the state. 
 
SOCIETY. 389 
 
 At tins time the American residents of Humboldt county are at 
 war with the Indians there. The poor Indian, afoot, and armed 
 only with the bow and arrow, is no match for the rich Ameri- 
 can, armed with rifle and revolver, and mounted on a horse, 
 which saves him from fitigue, 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. Syphilitic dis- 
 eases and brandy have co-operated with the bullet and the 
 knife to make room for the white men. The Indians are fond 
 of strong liquor, and when they can get it, frequently become 
 habitual drunkards. The squaws drink as much as the 
 " bucks." Among a tribe of drunken men and women, matri- 
 monial constancy 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 this state, as well as 
 in other parts of the continent. 
 
 The Indians of California, with the exception of the Mojaves, 
 are supposed to belong to the general division of the Shosho- 
 nees, wliich includes also the Indians of Nevada Territory, and 
 a majority of those in Utah. They are physically and intel- 
 lectually inferior to their relatives in Nevada Territory, and 
 far inferior to the Indians who dwelt during the last century 
 east of the Mississippi River. The red men of this state hav^ 
 but a small share of the courage, military spirit, and intellect- 
 ual activity of the Shawnees, Miamis, 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 the white 
 men in battle. A few in the northern part of the state have 
 obtained fire-arms, use them well, and fight stubbornly, but 
 they are a small proportion. 
 
390 ESOURCES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 The Californian Indian men are about five feet and a half 
 high on an average, and the women four feet and ten inches. 
 They are 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 Cali- 
 fornian Indians have healthy constitutions, and formerly 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, and one that 
 I have never heard contradicted, though I have conversed on 
 the subject with men who have seen much of them, that the 
 wild Indians never take cold. During the winter of 1849-'50, 
 I lived near a tribe in the mines, in what is now Shasta coun- 
 ty, 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 very filthy 
 in their habits, and their houses are always filled with lice. 
 Their form of government is very simple. They have heredi- 
 tary chiefs who have very little power. The tribes are small, 
 and have no wealth, and no laws. Occasionally a member of 
 a tribe gives ofience, and some of the leading ones of a tribe 
 agree to kill him, and the sentence is carried into effect by way- 
 laying him and shooting him with arrows. Their rule is blood 
 for blood. They rarely keep men prisoners, but kill them im- 
 mediately after capturing them. Women and children are 
 held frequently as prisoners ; and one of the most common 
 
SOCIETY. 301 
 
 causes of war is tlic capture of women. They have no heredi- 
 tary slavery. They have no marriage ceremony, and the 
 duration of the marriage rehition 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 inten- 
 tionally killed soon after birth, and this policy w411, of course, 
 if continued, soon cause an extinction of the race in California. 
 In certain tribes on the northern coast, if a mother, having an 
 infjint child, dies, the child is buried with her. Most of the 
 tribes burn their dead, commencing the cremation in the even- 
 ing, and keeping up the fire all night, while the friends watch, 
 and the women relatives utter plaintive cries until daylight. 
 They have no religious ceremonies ; or no ceremonies to which 
 they attach ideas clearly reUgious. 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 beut, they beat time with their feet to 
 a monotonous song, which they sing with the 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. They are required to 
 do all the w^ork, and to attend to every want of their husbands. 
 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 consult them 
 about the management of public or private affairs. They are 
 bought as merchandise from the 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 within which its members move about. Eacli family has 
 a hut, and a cluster of these huts is called a rancheria. The 
 rancherias are usually established on the banks of streams, in 
 the vicinity of oak-trees, horsechestnut bushes, and patches 
 
392 KESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 of wild clover. Such places are generally on fertile soil with 
 picturesque scenery. The huts are made differently in difler- 
 ent places. In the Sacramento valley, the most common plan 
 was to dig a hole three or four feet deep and ten feet across ; 
 erect an upright post in the centre about six feet high ; lay poles 
 from the. edge of the hole to rest oA this post ; and cover the 
 poles with grass and then with 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 con- 
 venient to make a frame-work of poles and cover it with rushes 
 or tules. These huts may be deserted for a time, but are con- 
 sidered 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 an- 
 other to the open plain ; in another to the streams. 
 
 Their food is composed chiefly of acorns, clover-grass, grass- 
 seeds, grasshoppers, horsechestnuts, fish, game, pine-nuts, 
 edible roots, and berries. Tlie acorns of California are large, 
 abundant, 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 there. The acorns are prepared for eating by 
 grinding them and boiling them with water into a thick paste, 
 or by baking them in bread. The oven is a hole in the ground 
 about eighteen inches cubic. Redhot 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 tliree 
 inches deep. Then comes another layer of leaves, more sand, 
 redhot stones, and finally dirt. At the end of five or six hours 
 the oven has cooled down, and the bread is taken out, an ir- 
 regular mass nearly black in color, not at all handsome to the 
 
SOCIETT. 393 
 
 eye or agreeable to the j^alate, and mixed through with leaves 
 and dirt. For grinding the acorns a stone mortar is used. 
 This mortar is sometimes nearly Hat, 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. 
 
 Horsechestnuts are usually made into a' gruel or soup. 
 After being ground in the mortar, they are mixed with water 
 in a waterproof basket, into which redhot stones are thrown, 
 and thus the soup is cooked. As the stones when taken from 
 the 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 their hands, and eat 
 stalks, leaves, and flowers. They consider clover a great 
 blessing, and get fat on it. 
 
 The Indians rarely have salt and never spices, and most of 
 their food is such as a white man could not eat, unless reduced 
 to near starvation. In eating they use no.plates, cups, knives, 
 or forks, nor do they use any utensils in preparing their food, 
 save the mqrtar and waterproof basket. The pine-nuts, edible 
 roots, ajid 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 tules in the Colorado Desert, the wild Indians of Cali- 
 fornia 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 
 18 
 
394 EESOUKCES OF CALIFOKXIA. 
 
 with a covering of deer's sinews. The arrows are of reed, and. 
 have a head made of obsidian, which is a transparent, vitreous 
 substance of volcanic origin, in appearance very similar to a 
 coarse quality of glass. The arrow-heads are made two inches 
 long, half an inch wide, an eighth of an inch thick, with a very 
 sharp point and sharp edges. The head is ilistened in a split 
 of the shaft of the arrow by tying with deer 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 irritating 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 latter 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 Idlled maybe eaten with safety. I know that the Indians 
 do eat the meat of animals killed with poisoned arrows, but I 
 am not positive that the poison was prepared in this manner. 
 The poison of the rattlesnake is not injurious when taken into 
 a sound stomach ; it is only Avhen 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. 
 
 The Indians are very familiar with the habits of wild ani- 
 mals. They know precisely the character of the brushwood 
 and ravines in which the deer and bear hide during the day, 
 and the places to which they go to feed in the morning and 
 evening. In hunting deer and antelope, in places where there 
 is grass eighteen inches or two feet high, the Indian will often 
 hold the skull and horns of a buck deer before him, and thus 
 crawl within bow-shot. The Pit Ri\er Indians dig pits about 
 five feet cubic and cover them Avitli brush and grass, and thus 
 catch deer, hares, and so forth. For catching wild geese, vari* 
 
SOCIETY. 395 
 
 ous small and simple kinds of nets are used, and they are 
 knocked down witli clubs. Salmon are killed with stones and 
 clubs in shallow water, and are caught with spears. Tlieir 
 most ingenious spear has a head of bone about one inch and a 
 lialf 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 
 grasshoppers 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 wdtlf bushes, and commence at a 
 distance to drive the grasshoppers from all sides toward the 
 hole, into which 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 then 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. The obsidian knife is merely a piece of obsidian as 
 large as a hand and sharp on one side. The baskets are all 
 made of wire-grass, a grass w^ith a round jointless stem, about 
 a sixteenth of an inch thick and a foot long. The basket- 
 work made with this wire-grass resembles the texture of a 
 coarse Panama hat, and is waterproof. All the basket-work 
 of the 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 eighteen inches wide, open at the top. 
 The basket, carried on the back of the squaws, is used 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 
 
396 EESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 spear-heads of flint, 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 h)w degree of savagism. 
 They have no domestic animals save the dog, and that of a 
 very low 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, dej^end for their subsistence chiefly on culti- 
 vated food. They plant wheat, grass, pumpkins, and rausk- 
 melons. After the annual overflow of the bottom laud, a small 
 patch of ground is cleared off 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 musk-melons 
 are eaten fresh ; the pumpkins are eaten fresh, or sliced and 
 dried ; the wheat and grass-seeds are ground, made into a paste 
 with Avater and dried in cakes. The mezquit bean, next to 
 the cultivated grains, pumpkins, and squashes, is the most 
 important article of food with the Indians in 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, 
 they have all been influenced so much by intercourse with the 
 whites, that 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 neighbors. 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 grain-fields, orchards and vineyards. 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 dissipated in their 
 habits. They have all learned a vulgar dialect of the Spanish, 
 
SOCIETY. 397 
 
 and a few speak a little English. The younger ones know 
 nothing of any tongue save English and Spanish, but the elder 
 Indians, when talking with one another, prefer to use the lan- 
 QTuao^e of their fathers. 
 
 § 272. Cities and Tovms. — Below I have prepared a list of 
 the principal towns of Cahforiiia, with the number of voters 
 and inhabitants in each. The number of voters is ascertained 
 from newspaper reports of the votes cast at the presidential 
 election of ISGO; and then taking the vote as a basis, I guess 
 at the number of inhabitants. The proportion of voters to in- 
 habitants is larger in the mineral than in the agricultural 
 districts : 
 
 Towns. Voters. Population. 
 
 San Francisco 14,415 10,000 
 
 Sacramento 3,833 15,000 
 
 Marysville 1,871 7,000 
 
 Stockton 1,445 5,500 
 
 Nevada 1,423 4,500 
 
 San Jose 1,000 4,000 
 
 Grass Valley 1,292 3,500 
 
 Petaluma 822 3,500 
 
 Columbia 1,008 3,000 
 
 Placerville 964 3,500 
 
 Yreka 888 2,500 
 
 Los Angeles 795 3,500 
 
 Oroville 716 2,200 
 
 Folsora 629 2,400 
 
 Downieville 628 2,000 
 
 Sonora 598 1,800 
 
 "Weaverville 571 1,600 
 
 Santa Clara 539 2,500 
 
 Dutch Flat 500 1,500 
 
 Big Oak Flat 491 1,450 
 
 La Porte 479 1,420 
 
 Mokelumne Ilill 470 i 400 
 
 Vallejo 464 1,600 
 
 Forest Hill 457 1,300 
 
 Michigan Bluff 451 ],300 
 
 Georgetown 418 1,300 
 
398 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Towns. Voters. Population. 
 
 Santa Cruz 443 1,800 
 
 North San Juan 437 1,500 
 
 Shasta 374 1,100 
 
 Napa 379 1,500 
 
 Oakland 352 1,450 
 
 Diamond Springs 347 1,000 
 
 Murphy's 344 1,000 
 
 San Andres 328 1.000 
 
 Alleghany TowTi 319 960 
 
 Timbuctoo 309 1,000 
 
 Auburn 307 1,000 
 
 Shaw's Flat 301 950 
 
 Mariposa 230 700 
 
 This table is not offered as precisely accurate, but as a rear 
 sonable approximation, based upon the best materials within 
 reach. The vote cast does not represent the number of voters 
 in the town, but in the precinct, and this may extend four or 
 five miles beyond the town limits. The total number of peo- 
 ple residing in the towns is about 100,000, or one-fourth of the 
 whole population. 
 
 § 273. San Francisco. — San Francisco, according to the 
 census of 1860, has a population of 56,805, of whom 52,955 
 are white and 3,850 colored; but according to the estimate of 
 intelligent residents, the population is not less than 70,000 ; 
 and I shall adopt the latter figure as correct. There may be 
 40,000 Americans, 12,000 Irishmen, 5,000 Germans, 4,000 
 Britons, 3,000 Frenchmen, 2,000 Chinamen, and 3,000 miscel- 
 laneous. The Federal census classifies the jDcople according to 
 their ages and color, as follows : 
 
 White Males. — Under 1 year, 1,730 ; 2 years, 777 ; 3 years, 
 730 ; 4 years, 627 ; 5 years, 645. Total under 5 years, 4,509 ; 
 between 5 and 10 years, 1,842; 10 and 20 years, 2,915; 20 
 and 30 years, 10,184 ; 30 and 40 years, 9,390 ; 40 and 50 years, 
 2,581 ; 50 and 60 years, 842 ; 60 and 70 years, 162 ; 70 and 80 
 years, 36 ; 80 and 90 years, 2. Total white males, 32,463. 
 
 Wliite Females. — Under 1 year, 1,563; 2 years, 739 ; 3 years, 
 677 ; 4 years, 600 ; 5 years, 551. Total under 5 years, 4,130; 
 
SOCIETY. 399 
 
 between 5 and 10 years, 1,831 ; 10 and 20 years, 3,198; 20 
 and 30 years, 6,22(5 ; 30 and 40 years, 3,441 ; 40 and 50 years, 
 1,119; 50 and GO years, 484; GO and VO years, 122 ; '70 and 
 80 years, 52 ; 80 and 90 years, V. Total white females, 20,610. 
 
 Chinese. — Males of all ages, 2,168 ; females do., 448. Total 
 Chinese, 2,616. 
 
 Colored. — Males of all ages, 711 ; females do., 435. Total 
 colored, 1,146. 
 
 Reccqntulation. — "White males of all ages, 32,463 ; females 
 do., 20,610. Total whites, 53,073 ; Chinese, male and female, 
 2,616 ; colored, 1,146. 
 
 San Francisco is the chief commercial and mannfactnring 
 city of this coast. The vessels which entered the port in 1860 
 numbered 1,686, and had an aggregate measurement of 500,000 
 tons. Of the 1,686 vessels, 325 were from foreign ports, 115 
 from American ports on the Atlantic, 1,231 from American 
 ports on the Pacific, and 15 were from whaling voyages. 
 
 The first house was built in 1835, and the place was then 
 called Yerba Buena, Spanish for " good herb," apj^lied 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 with the rich- 
 ness and extent of the mines, and as adventurers began to 
 ari'ive 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 conflagrations 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 fine 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 
 
400 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 also filled in, and made the foundation for the busiest part of 
 the town. 
 
 In 1861, according to statistics published in the City Di- 
 rectory^ there were 11,265 buildings in the city : 9,308 of wood, 
 1,898 of brick, 47 of iron, 6 of stone, and 6 of adobe. These 
 buildings are thus classified according to their height : 
 
 Wood — one story, 4,034 ; two stories, 5,090 ; three stories, 
 180; four stories, 4 — 9,308. 
 
 JBrick — one story, 272 ; two stories, 1,125 ; three stories, 
 438 ; four stories, 59 ; five stories, 3 — 1,898. 
 
 Iron — one story, 8 ; two stories, 30 ; three stories, 6 ; four 
 stories, 3 — 47. 
 
 Adobe — one story, 1 ; two stories, 3 ; three stories, 1 ; four 
 stories, 1 — 6. 
 
 St07ie — one story, 1 ; two stories, 3 ; three stories, 1 ; four 
 stories, 1 — 6. 
 
 According to the same authority there were, in 1860, 800 
 grog-shops, 373 groceries, 288 lawyers, 276 tailor-shops and 
 clothing-stores, 248 boarding-houses,' 189 physicians, 179 
 brokers, 150 cabinet-makers, 150 butchers, 136 cigar-shops, 
 121 dry-goods stores, 120 carpenters, 95 barbers and hair- 
 dressers, 85 dealers in coal and firewood, 84 restaurants, 84 
 watchmakers and jewellers, 78 fruit-stores, 66 bakeries, 65 
 house and sign painters, 64 stove and tinware stores, 33 lum- 
 ber yards, 24 breweries, 20 auction-stores, 17 banks, and 8 
 assay-offices. 
 
 There are thirteen daily and tw^elve weekly newspapers, and 
 five monthly magazines, published in San Fi-ancisco. Of the 
 dailies, seven appear in the morning and six in the afternoon ; 
 seven are published in the English language, two in French, 
 two in German, and two in Spanish. Of the weekly papers, 
 one is an organ of the Methodists, anothe'r of the Methodist 
 Church South, another of the Congregationalists, one of the 
 Catholics, two of the Jews ; one is commercial, one is filled 
 with miscellaneous reading matter, another is agricultural, 
 another devotes itself to topics interesting to firemen and sol- 
 
SOCIETY. 401 
 
 diers, another to mining, and the last fills its columns ^vith 
 police reports. 01" the monthly magazines, three devote them- 
 selves to general reading matter, one is medical, and the last 
 Presbyterian. There have been Italian and Chinese newspa- 
 pers in San Francisco, but there are none here now. 
 
 The Germans, French, Italians, Swiss, Scandinavians, Chi- 
 nese, lUyrians, German Jews, Polish Jews, and Irish, have 
 each a benevolent society, organized mainly for the purpose 
 of rendering mutual assistance in case of illness. There is a 
 Protestant and a Catholic Orphan Asylum, a House of Refuge, 
 and an Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. The Masons, 
 Odd Fellows, and Independent Order of Knights, are other 
 benevolent associations established in our city. 
 
 § 274. Sacramento. — Sacramento City, the political capital 
 and second town of California, is situated near the centre 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 southeastern corner 
 of land formed by the junction of the Sacramento and Ameri- 
 can Rivers, at an elevation of thirty feet above the sea, and 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 figures 
 in the preceding sentence were correct previous to the flood 
 of 1861-62 ; whether they will be after it has passed away is 
 questionable. I write this vi^hile it still prevails ; and it is said 
 that, during the flood, gravel to the depth of twelve feet has 
 been deposited in the river-bed in front of Sacramento.) The 
 site is level, and in the midst of a wide plain, most of which is 
 bare of trees, and much of which is not cultivated. The 
 streets are Avide and straight, run w^ith the cardinal points of 
 the compass, and are designated only by numbers and letters. 
 Those parallel with the Sacramento are first, second, third, 
 and so forth ; those parallel Avith the American are A, B, C, 
 
 and so on. The main business part of the city is near the 
 18* 
 
402 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Sacramento, extending from first to sixth, and from 11 to L 
 streets. The houses and stores here 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 chiefly of 
 wood, neatly painted, and surrounded by gardens, and the 
 streets are lined with shade-trees, such as cottonwood, 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 lowest stage, that six inches of 
 mud are deposited monthly in the reservoir. The gas is made 
 from imported coal. A railroad twenty miles long connects 
 Sacramento with Folsom, which is connected with Lincoln by 
 another road of about the same length. A steamboat leaves 
 Sacramento daily at two p. m. for San Francisco ; thrice a 
 week, starting in the morning, for Marysville ; and at least 
 thrice a week for Red Bluff. Stages run daily to Marysville, 
 Auburn, Placerville, Coloma, Jackson, Stockton, and Fairfield. 
 The first settlement by white men on the site of Sacramento 
 was made in 1839, by John A. Sutter, a Swiss by birth, who, 
 after having served as a captain in the body-guard of Charles 
 X. of France, came to the United States, where he was Ameri- 
 canized. He afterwards came to California and Avas admitted 
 to Mexican citizenship. He obtained a grant of eleven square 
 leagues of land on the eastern bank of the 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 lie 
 dignified with the title of New Helvetia, Avhile 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 
 foothold in the Sacramento basin ; and it was a place of im- 
 portance, as the first point where the American trappers, 
 travellers, and immigrants, entering the territory from the 
 eastward, could obtain provisions, ammunition, and horses, 
 and rest secure against Indians. Sutter treated all comers 
 
SOCIETY. 403 
 
 witli the utmost generosity and lij^eranty ; no white man was 
 turned away because of inability to pay for food or lodging. 
 The first gold diggings were discovered about twenty-five 
 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 Ameri- 
 can, 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 was 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 off in October, 
 1S48, and the New Year's day following the building of the 
 first house (of logs), near the Sacramento River, was com- 
 menced. On the 8th January the lots were sold by auction, 
 and were described as lying in the town of " Sacramento." 
 The ford and its vicinity continued to be the chief place of 
 business until April, '49, when the bank of the Sacramento 
 was found to be much more convenient for purposes of busi- 
 ness, and the merchants and traders moved. Tiie town very 
 soon became the most important centre of trade and popula- 
 tion in the state, next to San Francisco, and it has continued 
 to hold the same relative position, growing with the growth 
 of the state, notwithstanding many severe disasters to which 
 it has been exposed. In 1851 there was a serious riot about 
 land titles ; on the 3d of November, 1852, the greater part 
 of the town, including six hundred houses, was destroyed by 
 fire, 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, and in December, 1861, and in January and 
 February, 1862. In 1853 the business part of the town Avas 
 raised about five feet, the streets being filled hi with gravel to 
 that depth, and a levee or embankment was built round the 
 city, extending about a mile along the bank of the Sacramento 
 and three or four miles along the bank of tlie American. The 
 flood of 18G1 an 1 '62 proved extremely disastrous. It filled 
 
404 EESOUECES OF CALIFOTwXIA. 
 
 every part of the city, was three feet deep in every street ; in 
 some places fifteen feet deep. Gardens were destroyed, fences 
 carried away, domestic animals drowned, furniture ruined, 
 and many of the people driA^en to take refuge in San Fran- 
 cisco and other towns not afflicted by the general scourge. 
 A long time will pass before the city will recover from the in- 
 juries inflicted upon it by the flood of 1861-'62. 
 
 The assessed value of the taxable property of the city is 
 about 87,000,000 ; the public debt of the city is 81,800,000. 
 
 § 275. Stocl'to?i. — Stockton is situated three miles eastward 
 from the San Joaquin River, on the bank of a navigable tide- 
 water slough, or creek (using the word in its British meaning), 
 which is eighty feet wide and eight feet deep." The town site 
 is in the midst of low, flat, tule land, which is intersected by 
 numerous sloughs. The population is about six thousand. The 
 town has a pleasant appearance. 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 irrigating 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 obtaining it in this manner. Stockton is nicknamed 
 " The City of Windmills," and indeed the name appears very ap- 
 propriate to the traveller who approaches the town on a windy 
 day, and at a distance sees little save a multitude of great arms 
 revolving furiously above and among the trees and house-tops. 
 
 Stockton is the debarking point for the travellers and mer- 
 chandise on their way from San Francisco to all parts of the 
 basin of the San Joaquin River, including the important 
 mining counties of Mariposa, Tuolumne, and Calaveras. The 
 entire population of the eight counties in the basin of the San 
 Joaquin River is, according to the census of 1860, 60,837, 
 scattered over an area of about 16,000 square miles. During 
 the winter, at least in wet times, the roads leading out of 
 Stockton are very muddy, but when the ground is dry, im- 
 
SOCIETY. 405 
 
 mense m agons are used in great numbers, hauling goods out 
 to the mining camps and to VisaUa. Some of these wagons 
 have bodies sixteen feet long and six feet high, and are drawn 
 by teams of eight or ten mules. Occasionally a smaller wagon 
 will be fastened on behind the larger one, and then at any 
 Bteep hill one wagon is hauled up at a time. During high 
 water, a steamer runs up the San Joaquin River from Stockton 
 to Fresno City, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles 
 by the river. A steamer runs every day from San Francisco 
 to Stockton, and stages leave the latter place every morning 
 for the principal towns of the southern mines. 
 
 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 Gul- 
 nac sold out to his partner, who would not give the rancho 
 up, and afterwards, when the place became important for its 
 commercial advantages, he became the founder and father of 
 the town, where he still resides. The name was selected in 
 honor of Commodore Stockton, who commanded the Ameri- 
 can 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 1862, 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 them. 
 
 § 276. llarysville. — Marysville, the third town in the state, 
 containing a population of seven thousand, is situated between 
 the Feather and Yuba Rivers at their junction. The site, 
 like that of Sacramento, is flat, and in the midst of the large 
 valley, and has been raised artificially above its natural level, 
 to protect the houses against floods. Marysville resembles 
 Sacramento, though smaller, and its residents claim that it is 
 the handsomest town in the state. 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- 
 
406 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 burg. Ill 1849 a number of persons went there, and the place 
 was called Yubaville. In January, 1850, the town w^as laid 
 off and named after Mrs. Mary Covillaud, the wife of the chief 
 proprietor. On the 31st of August and the 10th of Septem- 
 ber, 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 flooded in December, 1861, 
 and January, 1862. Marysville is at the head of navigation on 
 the Feather River. The distance by w^ater is about seventy 
 miles from Sacramento ; by the stage road it is forty-five miles. 
 From Marysville the counties of Nevada, Sierra, Butte, Plu- 
 mas, and Yuba, which contain an aggregate population of 
 67,977, obtain all their suj^plies of imported goods. Stages 
 run to the main towns of these counties every day. 
 
 § 277. N'evada. — Nevada, the fourth town of the state, cast 
 1,423 votes at the last Presidential election, and has a popula- 
 tion of about 4,500. It is the largest town in the mining dis- 
 tricts, but owes much of its importance to its trade. It is on 
 an important route of travel across the Sierra, and does an ex- 
 tensive trade w'ith the adjacent mining counties of Sierra and 
 Plumas. The immediate vicinity of Nevada is the most pro- 
 ductive quartz district in the state. The town of Nevada was 
 founded in 1849. Grass Valley, which lies only five miles dis- 
 tant, is nearly as large as Nevada. The latter jjlace is sixty- 
 nine miles distant from Sacramento. 
 
 § 278. Los Angeles. — The town of Los Angeles, formerly 
 called Pueblo de los Angeles, or the Pueblo de la Reina de los 
 Angeles — the town of the Queen of the Angels — is the largest 
 town in the southern part of the state, and has a population of 
 about 3,500. It was founded about 1780, and was built up to 
 nearly its present size previous to the American conquest. 
 The population was probably nearly as large under the Mexi- 
 can dominion as at present, but the finest buildings in the 
 place have been erected within the last tw^elve years. The 
 town is situated on the western bank of the Los Ano-eles 
 
SOCIETY. 407 
 
 River, wliere that stream breaks throngli tlie range of low 
 hills, twenty-five miles north of the bay of San Pedro. The 
 streets are mostly of good width, but they are not straight ; 
 they do not cross each other at right angles ; they 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 
 asphaltum. 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 are beautiful. There are 2,500 or 3,000 acres of bril- 
 liant green — the largest body of land in vineyard, garden, and 
 orcliard within so small a space in the state. The fences fix 
 the attention of the stranger. They are made of willow-trees, 
 planted from nine inches 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 
 zcirijas^ 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 officers of the town is the zaiijero^ whose 
 duty it is to take charge of the zanjas^ see that they are kept 
 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 nearly four equal classes, Americans, Europeans, 
 Spanish Californians and Indians. The Americans own most 
 of the houses and land in the town, the Europeans probably 
 do most of its trade. The town is the seat of the county 
 government, and the chief business place in this part of the 
 state. Its merchants trade largely to Salt Lake. Los Angeles 
 
408 RESOURCES OF CALIFORXIA. 
 
 has mail communication Avith San Francisco twice a month 
 by steamer, and twice a week by stage. It is also con- 
 nected with the main towns of the state by a line of telegraph. 
 The general impression upon my mind, after spending the last 
 week in September in the place, is that it is one of the most 
 pleasant places in the world, known to me, to visit. The lux- 
 uriant vegetation, with its semi-tropical character, is peculiarly 
 agreeable to the sons of the North. The *' chme of the sun," 
 " the land of the cypress and myrtle," " wliere 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 terrestrial paradise, and some of the most bril- 
 liant verses of Goethe and Byron have been inspired by ad- 
 miration of them. The. song of Mignon came vhidiy before 
 me as I walked through the gardens of the City of the Angels. 
 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 flowers of the temper- 
 ate zone. Julius Froebel speaks thus of Los Angeles in his 
 book Aus AonerlJca : " 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. Nature 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. Indeed, 
 when we seek in other lands for places like Los Angeles and 
 Southern California generally, we must turn our eyes to tlie 
 Levant. In the United States there are no kindred spots." 
 The town is situated on the banks of the Los Angeles 
 River, twenty-five miles from the ocean. The j^opulation 
 numbers about 3,500. The port of Los Angeles is San Pedro, 
 twenty five miles southward, where there are only a couple of 
 houses. 
 
 § 279. Petaluma. — Petal uma, situated on the flat bank of 
 the navigable creek of th.e same name, ten miles from San 
 
SOCIETi'. 409 
 
 Pablo Bay, has a population of about 3,500, and owes its pros- 
 perity to the trade of the valleys of Petakima, Santa Kosa, and 
 Russian River, and the plain of Bodega, which communicate 
 through this place with San Francisco. It is on the land mail 
 route which connects Mendocino and Humboldt counties with 
 the centre of the state. The houses are mostly of frame, and 
 n(me are more than ten years old, the town having been laid 
 oif in 1851. Petaluma sends more butter and cheese to the 
 market than any other town in the state. 
 
 § 280. San Jose. — San Jose may have about 3,500 inhabit- 
 ants. It is situated in the Santa Clara valley, ten miles south- 
 eastward from the bay, and fifty miles, by the stage road, from 
 the city of San Francisco. The town was laid out about the 
 beginning of the century, and many of the houses are of adobe, 
 and were built before the American conquest. The streets 
 are lined with shade-trees, and gardens filled with beautiful 
 fruit-trees and flowers pji-e abundant. The place is dusty 
 during the summer, but otherwise is very pleasant. There 
 are eleven hundred acres of orchard in the vicinity of San 
 Jose, more than in any other equally small district in the state. 
 One of the boasts of San Jose is the "alameda," which prop- 
 erly means " a place of elms," but is here applied to a road 
 three miles long, lined with willow and cottonwood trees. 
 The trees stand close together, and are of large size, so that 
 they form a dense shade. Unfortunately, the road under them 
 is extremely dusty in summer, and muddy in winter. The 
 port of San Jose is Alviso, seven miles to the north, on the 
 banks of the Guadalupe, or Alviso slough. 
 
 § 281. Santa Clara. — Santa Clara, three miles westward of 
 f^an Jose, and connected with it by the alameda, has a popula- 
 tion of about 2,000. It is a new town, and nearly all the houses 
 are of wood. The principal builBing is the old mission church, 
 erected in 1822. It is now used as part of a Jesuit college. 
 The mission of Santa Clara was founded in 17*77, 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 
 
410 EESOUPvCES OF CALIFOPwXIA. 
 
 there. Two years later this building was swept away by a 
 flood, and in 1781 a new church was commenced, half 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 present 
 church was consecrated in 1822. 
 
 § 282. Columbia. — Columbia, the largest town of the south- 
 ern mines, is sixty-five miles from Stockton. The place has a 
 population of about three thousand, and includes many good 
 brick buildings. The town was laid off in 1850. 
 
 § 283. PlacerHlle. — Placerville, though it cast only nine 
 hundred and thirty-foiir votes in 1861, is really, after Stockton, 
 the most important town in the state, and its population will 
 soon be proportionate to its business. It is on the main road 
 from Sacramento to \Yashoe and Esmeralda, and is the point 
 where travellers going eastward prepare for their trip over the 
 rugged portion of the mountain, and those coming westward 
 rest from their toils. It is also on the route of the great over- 
 land mail and telegraph. It may be that there is less snow 
 and an easier natural grade on the other roads across the Sierra 
 Nevada, but the Placerville road has been more improved than 
 any other. It is more convenient to the great body of trade 
 and travel from San Francisco and Sacramento. It has more 
 houses to accommodate and protect travellers, and, during the 
 winter, has more travel, and receives more attention, and there- 
 fore it is, for general use, the best road. 
 
 § 284. Yreka. — Yreka, the county seat of Siskiyou county, 
 the largest town north of Marysville, has a population of about 
 twenty-five hundred. It is situated at an elevation of fifteen 
 hundred feet above 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 mining district, and 
 founded on pay-dirt. The place is shut in by high mountains, 
 the Siskiyou ridge on the north, the Sierra Nevada on the east, 
 the Scott and Trinity ridges on the south, and the coast range 
 on the west. The town is shut in by snows during part of 
 
SOCIETY. 411 
 
 every winter, and there is frost in every month of tlie year. 
 Most of the merchandise sent out from this point, to mining 
 camps in the vicinity, goes on pack-nniles. The goods ini- 
 portedTby Yreka are hauled one hundred miles, from Red Bluff, 
 whidi is one hundred and seventy-five miles from Sacramento 
 by the river. The town is on the main road between the Sac- 
 ramento and Willamette valleys, and occupies a central position 
 in the basin of the Klamath River, and will therefore probably 
 maintain its importance. 
 
 § 285. Vallejo. — Vallejo, a town of about eight hundred 
 inhabitants, is situated at the mouth of Napa River, on the 
 northwestern side of San Pablo Bay, from which it is separated 
 by Mare Island. The town was laid out in 1850 by M. G. 
 Vallejo, for the capital of the state. He supposed at the time, 
 and so did the public, that he was a millionaire. He owned 
 large tracts of land, then estimated to be worth* several mil- 
 lions of dollars at least. Among his possessions was the Suscol 
 rancho, and he was induced to believe that if he would lay off 
 a town and make a liberal offer of land and money to the state, 
 the capital would be establishes there, and increase the value 
 of his land so much that he would profit largely by the affair. 
 The suggestion appeared reasonable, and he adopted it, offer- 
 ing much land and three hundred and seventy thousand dollars 
 in cash for the establishment of the capifal at Vallejo — the three 
 hundred and seventy thousand dollars to be spent in erecting 
 public buildings. The offer 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 immediately went 
 away. Senor Vallejo did not pay the money which he had 
 offered, and finally the capital was established at Sacramento, 
 where it is likely to remain. The business of Vallejo now de- 
 pends chiefly upon the United States navy-yard and dry-dock, 
 on Mare Island. The place is one Avhich may have much im- 
 portance in the future of Cahfornia. It has the followmg 
 resources : 
 
 J^'irsL — It is at the head of navigation of the waters tribu- 
 
412 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tary to San Francisco Bay for large sea-going vessels. It has 
 a fine harbor, jDerfectly protected against all winds, with good 
 holdingf-g-round, and extent enouo-h to accommodate all the 
 commerce which will ever visit it. That portion sufficiently 
 deep at low water for vessels drawing four fathoms, is three 
 miles long by a quarter of a mile wide, and for smaller vessels 
 the harbor is much larger. The best chart of the harbor is 
 'No. 61 in the II. S. Coast Survey Report for 1857, which re- 
 port can be found in all public and many private libraries. 
 The navigation to the harbor from the Golden Gate, a distance 
 of twenty-six miles, is excellent, the channel being wide and 
 deep, and the winds strong and regular. 
 
 Secondly. — The town is in the midst of a fertile district. 
 The country north of San Pablo and Suisun Bays is the richest 
 agricultural district of the state. The valleys of Petaluma, 
 Santa Rosa, Russian River, Sonoma, Napa, Suscol, Suisun, 
 and Vaca, form a collection which, for extent of fertile soil, 
 abundance of water, and mildness of climate, have no equal of 
 like extent in California. These lie to the northwest, north, 
 and northeast of Yallejo, while south and southeast lie the San 
 Pablo, San Ramon, Amador, and Diablo valleys. 
 
 Tliirdly. — Vallejo has a magnilicent site for a town. The pres- 
 ent village is built on the slopes of hills about a hundred or a hun- 
 dred and fifty feet high, w^hich rise from the harbor so gently, 
 that a heavily laden wagon can be drawn over without an extra 
 team. There are no deep gullies, and no sand. About half a 
 mile back from the landing lies a beautiful and very fertile 
 plain, called "Vallejo Valley," several miles wide and extend- 
 ing from the lower part of the harbor, upon which it opens, 
 northward to Suscol. I have never seen a city provided with 
 such a magnificent place for country residences as this. 
 
 Fourthly. — The town must be the main trading point of a 
 large agricultural population, Suscol is now one of the best- 
 tilled parts of the state. 
 
 FlftJily. — Vallejo has peculiar railroad facilities. She can 
 have railroads running almost the entire distance on level 
 
SOCIETY. 413 
 
 plains to Petal iima, Santa Rosa, Ileal dsburg, Sonoma, Napa, 
 Fairfield, Marysville, Sacramento, Stockton, Amador Valley, 
 Oakland, San Jose, etc. 
 
 SlxtJdy. — She has a climate similar to that of San Francisco, 
 where ice never forms and summer clothes are never worn — 
 precisely that degree of constant coolness most favorable to 
 continuous labor, both mental and physical. 
 
 Seve7ithly. — She has the U. S. Navy- Yard on Mare Island 
 at her doors, and must supply the laborers to do the work 
 there. This navy-yard must always be of great importance, 
 and the government works alone w^ill build up a considerable 
 town. Puget Sound is the only other point on the American 
 coast of the Pacific where a navy-yard can be established, and 
 a long time may pass before one will be required there. 
 
 JEigJitJily. — There is a possibility that the difficulties in the 
 navigation of the Sacramento River, below Sacramento City, 
 will make it necessary to connect that place and the valley 
 north of it with the deep water, by a railroad to Yallejo. 
 
 It is estimated that forty thousand tons of dirt are carried 
 down into the Sacramento River every day from the mines, 
 and the effect to fill up the bed of the river is proved by past 
 experience. The time must come wheii goods must be carried 
 from the bay to the central and northern mines by land, and 
 the sooner the preparations are made for this approaching 
 change, the better. That land shipment, when commenced, 
 must go through Vallejo. 
 
 Ninthly, — In San Francisco great damage is done to the 
 wharves by the shipworm ; in Vallejo the water is so fresh 
 that wharves and boats are secure against that scourge. 
 
 § 286. 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 the Sierra Nevada, spreads out into a number of 
 channels, and these again subdivide, and moistening a con^sider- 
 able district of rich soil, render it very productive. Visalia 
 has a population of one thousand five hundred, and is the 
 
414 RESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 largest town in the San Joaquin basin southward of Stockton. 
 It has now the trade of a radius of nearly a hundred miles,' 
 and having a central situation will no doubt maintain its rela- 
 tive importance. The town was overflowed with water sev- 
 eral feet deep by the great freshet of January, 1862. 
 
 § 287. Red Blujf. — Red Bluff, at the head of navigation 
 on the Sacramento River, one hundred and seventy-five miles 
 above Sacrjlmento City, is a place of about one thousand in- 
 habitants. It is the point at which the merchandise is landed 
 from the Sacramento steamers for Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity 
 counties, with an aggregate population of 17,114. Sometimes 
 the river is so low that the boats cannot reach Red Bluff, but 
 this is ia rare event. There have been attempts to remove ob- 
 structions above Red Bluff so that the head of navigation 
 should be at Cottonwood, but these attempts have hitherto 
 been vain. 
 
 § 288. Martinez, — Martinez is situated on the southern side 
 of the Straits of Carquinez, in a little valley. The population 
 is about six hundred. It is a quiet' pleasant village, where 
 trade is dull and life slow. It is connected with the world by 
 a steam ferry-boat, running to Benicia. It would probably be 
 a much more prosperous place if the title to the land on which 
 it is situated Avere clear, but it is claimed under three grants, 
 all of which have been confirmed, and nobody knows which 
 one will take it. The town has a peculiar climate, with the 
 same cool temperature as at Benicia, very much like that of 
 San Francisco, but fogs are rare, and the winds are broken by 
 hills. It is a climate similar to that of Oakland, without the 
 wind, and is tliei-efore very fixvorable to fruit. The sea-breeze 
 pouring through the Straits of Carquinez, keeps off the frost, 
 and some unexplained cause throws all the fog over to the 
 northern side of the strait, thus giving the fruit on the south- 
 ern shore an abundance of sunshine. The town was founded 
 about the time the gold was discovered. 
 
 § 289. Pacheco. — The town of Pacheco, or Pachecoville, is 
 one of the newest in the state, having been founded late in 
 
SOCIETY. 415 
 
 1858. It is built at the head of navigation of the Pachcco 
 Slough, and is the shipphig port of Pacheco, San Ramon, Di- 
 ablo and Taylor valleys. The distance to Martinez is four 
 miles, further than farmers like to haul their grain, when they 
 can avoid it. To bring the shipping point nearer to them, 
 Pacheco was built. The distance from Pacheco to the bay, in 
 a straight line through the tule land, is about four miles ; the 
 distance by the slough is six miles. The slough is bare at low 
 water ; at high water it is navigable for sloops and schooners 
 drawing six feet. In 1859 Pacheco shipped 180,000 sacks of 
 grain. The population is about six hundred. 
 
 § 290. Sidsun. — Suisun, a village of about sixty houses, is 
 on the western bank of the Suisun Slough in Solano county, 
 about ten miles in a direct line from Suisun Bay and sixteen 
 miles by the slough. 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 highest tide. It is surrounded 
 by tules, or salt-water rushes, groAving on land overflowed at 
 every high tide and bare at low tide. Two roads lead from 
 the dry land of the valley to the city — one of them a plank- 
 road, now in a very dilapidated condition. Most of the streets 
 are 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 enclosures 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 ofl" the town, 
 and who are now in litigation with each other about the un- 
 sold land. The place owes its importance to its advantages 
 as the shipping point of the valley. The Suisun Slough is 
 said to be the best slough in the state ; that means, that it is 
 wider and deeper than the sloughs through which vessels 
 reach Stockton, Sonoma, Naj^a, San Antonio, Petaluma, Pa- 
 checo, and Alviso. Vessels drawing nine feet of water can 
 outer the slough. The town is sixty-five miles from San Fran- 
 
416 EESOUECES OF CALIFOKXIA 
 
 cisco, with which city there is regular steamboat communica- 
 tion. The town is one mile from dry land, on the edge 
 whereof, immediately north of Suisun, lies Fairfield, which 
 is the county scat, and has about five hundred inhabitants. 
 Fairfield is on the route of the projected Benicia and Marys- 
 ville railway. 
 
 § 291. JBenicia. — Benicia is situated on the northern side 
 of the Straits of Carquinez. It was laid out in 1847, and for 
 a time it aspired to be the great commercial city of the coast, 
 which aspiration it did not abandon until as late as 1853. It 
 was twice made the state capital, and twice deserted by the 
 legislature. It has about one thousand inhabitants. The 
 houses are scattered a,bout 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 town site is composed of low bare hills. 
 The climate is very windy. 
 
 § 292. JVajKf. — Napa was laid off in 1848 by Xathan 
 Coombs at the ford of Xapa Kiver, on the road from Benicia 
 to Sonoma. In those days there were no bridges or ferries, 
 and the position of the ford determined the location of the 
 town. Now the ford is never used, but the investment of 
 capital has made the town permanent. If mere natural ad- 
 vantages were to be taken into account, the town would be 
 at Suscol, which is six miles nearer to the bay, and always ac- 
 cessible by small steamers, while at low tide the boats must 
 stop several miles below ISTapa. The population of the place 
 is about one thousand. The houses are of wood and brick, 
 and neatlv built. 
 
 § 293. Crescent City. — Crescent City is a seaport of six 
 hundred inhabitnnts, fifteen miles south of the Oregon line. 
 The place was founded in 1853, with the expectation that be- 
 cause 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 California. 
 Its founders, however, were disappointed in this expectation. 
 
SOCIETY. 417 
 
 The people at the liead of the Sacramento valley, knowing 
 that an attempt was making to cut off a large part of their 
 tiade, 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 very rugged, 
 and as the people of Crescent Cityhad not the capital to make 
 a wagon road, their goods had to be transported at much ex- 
 pense on mules ; and Yreka and vicinity continue to make 
 their imports arrd exports by way of the Sacramento River. 
 Crescent City, therefore, remains a small place, but it supplies 
 a district within a range of forty or fifty miles to the east and 
 northeast. Trinidad is a small seaport which is the chief 
 trading point of the miners in Klamath county. 
 
 § 294. Areata. — Areata is a town of eight hundred inhab- 
 itants, at the northern end of Humboldt Bay. It was founded 
 in 1850 with the exj^ectation that the miners in the basin of 
 the Trinity River would obtain all their imports through it ; 
 but the only means of conveying goods from Humboldt Bay 
 was a bad mule trail through a rugged country infested by 
 hostile Indians, so the trade continued to go by the way of the 
 Sacramento River. It is probable, however, that the current 
 of this trade will be changed within a year or two. A wagon 
 road is being made to Weaverville, a distance of eighty miles, 
 and the Indians have been driven away. At the present time 
 fifteen hundred pack-mules are used in conveying goods from 
 Areata to the various parts of Humboldt, Klamath, and Trinity 
 counties.' The name of Areata was adopted in 1860; previ- 
 ous to that time the town was called Union. 
 
 § 295. Anaheim. — Anaheim is the only German town in 
 the state. It Avas laid out by Germans, built up by Germans, 
 and is populated and owned by Germans. But it will never 
 have the foreign character which marks many German villages 
 in the valley states of the Mississi}>pi, 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 among the Americans, and most of 
 19 
 
il8 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 them speak English fluently. The English language will bo 
 the predomniant tongue, although German will long be cher- 
 ished. The number of residents is now three hundred, with 
 a certainty that they must rapidly increase. Anaheim is a 
 tract of land a mile wide by a mile and a half long, in the 
 valley of the Santa Anna River, Los Angeles county. It was 
 unoccupied, and supposed to be of little value in 1857, when 
 it was bought for two dollars an ^cre by a German company 
 of fifty members, mostly residing in San Francisco. They 
 were incorporated as a joint-stock association. Tlie land, con- 
 taining 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 convenient streets. The place was given 
 in charge of a superintendent, 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) all around the outer boun- 
 dary of the tract, and along the principal streets inside. Dur- 
 ing a large part of the time he hired fifty laborers. The total 
 expense for the 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 by lot among the members, 
 many of whom have now removed to the place and made their 
 home there. There are nearly six hundred acres lying vacant, 
 and the welfare of the vineyards requires that this land should 
 be cultivated, for now it is covered with ^Yeeds and brush, and 
 is the home of innumerable hares, squirrels, and gophers, which 
 eat the vines, young trees, and grapes. When cultivated and 
 irrigated, these pests will be drowned out and driven off, and 
 the labor of the vine-grower will be much reduced upon the 
 land now under tillage. When the whole tract shall be filled 
 with bearing vines, it will produce twice as much wine as the 
 town of Los Angeles docs now, and nearly as much as that 
 town will be able to produce when all its j^resent vines shall 
 
SOCIETY. 419 
 
 be in full bearing — for about half of its million vines arc still 
 less than four years of age. 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 f irther from 
 the snowy mountains) and iii the extent of rich land in its 
 neighborhood, and in its location near the direct line of travel 
 between San Pedro and San Bernardino, the latter being not 
 only an important place for its own trade, but still more for 
 its trade with Salt Lake. On the other hand, Los Angeles 
 has the start, the capital, the houses, the merchants, and all 
 those advantages which an old and prosperous town has over 
 a little upstart of a village, and Anaheim must long, if not 
 always, be a place of inferior importance, as compared with it. 
 
 § 296. Monterey ^ etc. — Monterey, which previous to 1849, 
 was the political ca23ital and commercial centre of the terri- 
 tory, is now one of the least important towns of the state. 
 .Most of the houses are of adobes. The population is about 
 one thousand. 
 
 Sonoma, which was founded in 1823, and was, up to 1850, 
 the most important town north of the bay of San Pal)lo, 
 has been gradually losing its trade and population ; but the 
 extensive production of wine in which its citizens are now 
 engaged, may bring it up again. The houses are mostly of 
 adobes. The tallest adobe house in the state, containing three 
 high stories, is in Sonoma. It was commenced in 1835, and 
 was never finished. After the walls had been erected, they 
 were covered by a roof which projected three feet on all sides, 
 and thus the building has remained. The walls are about 
 three feet thick. The old buildings of the Mission of San 
 Francisco Solano are in a very dilapidated condition. Sonoma 
 is ten miles distant from San Pablo Bay, but the Sonoma 
 Slougli is navigable to the Enibarcadero, which is only three 
 miles from the town. 
 
 San Diego has a population of about eight hundred. The 
 town once aspired to be the terminus of a railroad, which was 
 to cross the continent about latitude 32°, but such aspirations 
 
420 RESOTJECES OF CALIF OTlNIA. 
 
 are now pretty nearly abandoned. The harbor is good, but 
 the land in San Diego county is not rich, and it may be said 
 that the town has no brilliant destiny before it, at least not in 
 the near future. The Mission of San Diego was the earliest 
 in California and was founded in 1769. 
 
 In Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, nearly all the inhab- 
 itants are Spanish Californians, and nearly all the houses are 
 of adobes. Both are small, dull places, founded in the last 
 century, and the sites of old missions. The San Luis Obispo 
 Mission was founded in 1772, that of Santa Barbara in 1782. 
 
 § 277. Mining Towns. — Weaverville, Shasta, Oroville, 
 Quincy, Auburn, Downieville, Mokelumne Hill, Jackson, and 
 Mariposa, are large mining towns, and are the county-seats of 
 various mining counties, but they possess no features of suf- 
 ficient importance to entitle them to separate notice here. 
 The mining towns of California, as a general rule, are built in 
 canons, with irregular crooked streets. The main business 
 street runs through the middle of the canon and is densely 
 lined with stores, billiard rooms, liquor shops, restaurants, and 
 inns*. Many of those houses are of brick and fire-proof. The 
 dwellings are scattered about irregularly ; some are neatly 
 built and are surrounded with pleasant gardens ; the majority 
 are miserable little shanties or log-cabins, Avith no yard, flowers 
 or fruit-trees to give an appearance of home. The population 
 of these towns is not permanent. One year they are h«re, 
 next they are elsewhere. Li 1854 Oroville was laid out ; in 
 1857 it cast one thousand votes, and was the third town in the 
 state; in 1860 its glory had departed, and at least a dozen 
 towns have now a larger population and a larger trade. 
 
 § 298. General Remarks. — ^In taking a general view of the 
 towns of California, we perceive that all those of the most 
 note are exclusively American. San Francisco, Sacramento, 
 Marysville, Stockton, Nevada, Grass Valley, Placerville, Co- 
 lumbia, Petaluma, Yreka, Shasta, Sonora, Oakland, Yallejo, 
 Santa Clara, Downieville, Weaverville, Mokelumne Hill, Au- 
 burn, Oroville, Jackson, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, 
 
BOCIJETT. 421 
 
 Areata, and Crescent City, are American in their origin and 
 population. Not one of the old Spanish towns, save San Jose, 
 has gained any thing in population since 1846. Los Angeles, 
 Sonoma, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San 
 Diego have just about the same number of inhabitants now as 
 previous to the American conquest. 
 
422 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
 
 § 299. Introductory. — The topographical names of Cahfor- 
 nia differ much from those of other states in the Union, where 
 there is a disagreeable repetition of familiar names. Our peo- 
 ple have not attempted to immortalize Franklin, Jefferson, 
 Madison, Adams, Henry, Randolph, Clay, Cass, Benton, Web- 
 ster, 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, and strange to Americans. 
 
 The topographical names of the state are derived from three 
 languages — Spanish, English, and Indian. Most of the names 
 along the southern coast and about the bay of San Francisco — 
 districts which were i3opu]ated by the Spaniards long before 
 the Americans came to the country — are Spanish. The larger 
 rivers in the Sacramento basin were known to the Spaniards, 
 and were named by them previous to 1846. The mining dis- 
 tricts of the Sierra Nevada and the Klamath basin, and the 
 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. 
 
 § 300. Sacred Sj^anish JVatnes. — The Spanish names may be 
 divided into the sacred and profane. The first Spanish set- 
 tlers were Catholic missionaries, in whose almanac every day 
 is named after some saint, and in whose 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 
 
TOrOGKAPniCAL NAMES. 429 
 
 reached it. Thus it is that nearly all the settlements made by 
 or under tlic missionaries are sanctified. 
 
 The male saints have " San," tlie females " Santa" to pre- 
 cede their Christian names, as in English we have " St." 
 Some imeducated Americans corrupt the " San" or " Santa" 
 before certain Spanish names into " St.," and say " St. Fran- 
 cisco," " St. Lucas ;" but the more intelligent Americans ad- 
 here strictly to the Spanish spelling and pronunciation of 
 topographical names. 
 
 The Missions were all named from saints or sacred dogmas. 
 There are San Miguel, San Gabriel, and San Rafael (from the 
 three highest angels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael), San Juan 
 Bautista and San Juan Capistrano (St. John the Baptist and 
 St. John of Capistrano), 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 Carlos, Santa 
 Clara, Santa Barbara, San Jose (St. Joseph), Santa Liez Vir- 
 gen y Martyr (St. Liez the virgin and martyr), San Antonio 
 de Padua (St. Anthony), San Fernando Rey (St. Ferdinand 
 the king), San Buenaventura (St. Good Fortune), La Purisi- 
 ma Concepcion (the Most Pure Conception), Nuestra Senora 
 de Soledad (our Lady of Solitude), 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 (Mark), San 
 Simeon, San Joaquin (Joachim), San Nicolas, San Clemente, 
 San Lorenzo (Lawrence), San Leandro (Leander), San Pascual, 
 San Ramon, San Felipe (Phili]>), San Cayetano (Cayetan), San- 
 ta Marta (Martha), Santa Maria, Santa Paula (Pauline), Santa 
 Rosa, Santa Isabel, Santa Margarita, Santa Catalina, Santa Su- 
 sana, Santa Lucia, and Santa Gertrudis. Otiier Spanish sa- 
 cred names, not derived from saints, are Trinidad (Trinity), 
 Sacramento (Sacrament), Jesus Maria (Jesus the Son of Ma- 
 ry), and Nuestra Senora La Reina de los Angeles (Our Lady 
 the Queen of the Argels). 
 
424 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 § 301. Profane Spanish Names. — Among the Spanish pro- 
 fane names are Agua Fria (cold water), Agua Caliente (hot 
 water, or warm sprmg), Vallecito (little valley), Esperanza 
 (hope), Campo Seco (dry field), Garote, Ilornitos (little ovens), 
 Salinas (salt places), Alameda (a place of elms or cottonwood 
 trees), Saucelito (a little clump of willows, more properly 
 spelled Sauzalito), Bodega (a vault), Laguna Seca (dry lagoon), 
 Cienega (puddle), Merced (mercy), Buena Vista (good vicAv), 
 Contra Costa (the opposite coast, the shore opposite the bay 
 of San 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 (gold 
 diggings), 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 cottonwood), Pajaro 
 (bird). Coyote and Tejon (a badger). Some of these names 
 have been changed by the Americans. The Spaniards say, 
 el Rio de la.s Mariposas (the river of the buttei-fly), 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 Salinas. 
 The Americans drop the common Spanish nouns of rio^ hahia^ 
 and mision., and say Calaveras River, Sahnas River, the Mission 
 San Gabriel, etc. Though the plural form of Calaveras and 
 Salinas has been preserved, the singular has been adopted for 
 Pajaro 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. Cape Men- 
 docino was named after a noble patron of an early Spanish 
 navigator on this coast. Amador county and Amador valley 
 were named after Jose M. Amador, who was formerly manager 
 of the property of the Mission of San Jose, about 1835. He 
 lived in Amador valley, and in 1848 he went with a number of 
 
T O P O G K A r II I C A L N A 51 E S . 425 
 
 Indians to mine in what is now Amador county. Vallejo, Pa- 
 cbeco, Martinez, and Alvarado, are the names of prominent 
 men among the Spanish CaUfornians. Some Spanish names 
 have been changed into English. The American River was 
 formerly called el Hio de los Americanos^ because the Ameri- 
 cans entering California usually came down the banks of that 
 stream. The Feather River w\as called el JRio de las Plumas^ 
 the river of feathers. The "Plumas," after having been aban- 
 doned as a designation for the river, was given to the county 
 in which the river takes its rise. The Yuba River was called 
 by the Spaniards, el Rio de las ZTvas (the river of the grapes). 
 The ignorant Spaniards wrote the main word Uhas^ the h and 
 V being often confounded in the Castilian tongue. The Ameri- 
 cans gave the English pronunciation to the initial w, then wrote 
 it " Yubas," as they pronoimced it, and finally changed it to 
 the singular. Angel Island was formerly called la Isla de los 
 Angeles^ and Mare Island was called la Isla, de las Yeguas. The 
 town of Benicia was laid off in 1846, and was first called 
 " Francesca," one of the Christian names of the wife of M. G. 
 Yallejo, on whose land the town was to be built ; but in March, 
 1847, the name of the town of YerbaBuenawas changed to San 
 Francisco, and the projector of Beuicia, 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 Avere from 
 Sonora. The New Almaden quicksilver mine, for some months 
 after the nature of the ore was discovered, was called la 3Ii?ia 
 de Santa Clara. Its present name was derived from the great 
 quicksilver mine of Almaden, in old Spain. The Enriqueta 
 quicksilver mine was named after Enriqueta (Henrietta) Lau- 
 rencel, the daughter of the managing owner of the rancho at 
 the time the mine was discovered. 
 
 § 302. Indian Names. — The Indian names in California are 
 numerous. Among them are Siskiyou, Klamath, Shasta, Te- 
 hama, CcJusa, Yolo, Napa, Sonoma, Mokelumne, Tuolumne, 
 
426 KESOUKCIiyS OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Chowcliilla, Cahuilla, Suscol, Suisun, Cosumnes, Temecula, 
 Teraascal, Juriipa, Petaluma, Tomales, Yreka, Ukiah, Cuyama, 
 Cocomongo, Mayacmas, Bolbones, Giiilicos, Huichica, and 
 Hoopah. Most of these are the names of tribes of Indians. 
 The Mokehimne, Tuolumne, Chowchilla, Cahuilla, and Cosum- 
 nes Rivers were called by the Spaniards el Rio de los Moque- 
 lumnes, el Rio de los Tuolumnes, etc. The second syllable of 
 Moquelumne was changed by the Americans, to be spelled 
 with a h^ 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 Shasta were formerly written " Tla- 
 math" and " Tshastl.'* Sonoma, by some persons written " Zo- 
 noma" 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 In- 
 dians. I have not been able to learn whether his name was 
 given to him by the Spaniards, or was of Indian origin. Marin 
 county was also named after an Indian chief. Yreka is a cor- 
 ruption of Wi-e-kah, which means whiteness, and is the Indian 
 name of Mount Shasta, at the foot of which the town is situated. 
 § 303. American Names. — ]!^ow 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). Bigler, one of 
 the governors of the state, has been immortalized by having 
 his name affixed to a lake. The patronymics of Alexander 
 Humboldt and J. A. Sutter are affixed to counties. Trinity 
 River was so named because the white men who discovered it 
 in the mountains, supposed it emptied into the bay of Trinidad, 
 which had been discovered by the Spaniards several centuries 
 ago. Marys vilie was first called Yubaville, and then named 
 after Mrs. Maiy Covilland, one of the founders of the place. 
 Among the pioneer miners of Calaveras county were Murphy, 
 Angel, and Carson, and they became the eponyms (to use a 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 427 
 
 word coined by Mr. Groto) of the places where they stopped, 
 first called Murphy's Camp, Angel's Camp, and Carson's Camp, 
 now become j^ermanent towns, which have discarded the 
 " camp," and assumed the titles, " Murphy's," " Angel's," etc. 
 It is better to drop the s 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. Downie, ^yeaver, and Heald were the respective 
 eponyms of Downieville, Weaverville, and Healdsburg ; and 
 Folsom was named after the owners of the rancho on which it 
 was laid out. The knowledge o*r supposition of rich diggings is 
 indicated by some of the names of towns. For instance, Ophir, 
 Gold Hill, Quartzburg, Placerville, Oroville, Rich Bar, and Tin 
 Cup. Placerville was, in 1849, called Hangtown, because it was 
 the lirst place where 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 placers so rich that they measur- 
 ed their gold in pint tin cups. Many of the bars and camps in 
 the mining districts are named after the discoverers or first set- 
 tlers. 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 Mississippi Bar, 
 Ohio Bar, Iowa Hill, Michigan BlulFs, IlHnoistown, AUeghany- 
 town, 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 River, in such a position as to offer a very convenient 
 crossing to miners. Some of the mining camps are named 
 from tragic events which occurred there : thus there is a Mur- 
 derer's Bar, a Dead Man's Bar, and a Dead Shot Flat. The 
 following is a list of some curious names of mining localities: 
 
 Jim Crow Canon, Happy Valley, Ground-IIog's Glory, 
 
 Red Dog, Hell's Delight, Bogus Thunder, 
 
 Jackass Gulch, Devil's Basin, Last Chance, 
 
 Ladies' Caiion, Dead "Wood, Greenliorn Canon, 
 
 Miller's Defeat, Gouge Eye, Shanghai Hill, 
 
 Loafer Hill, Puke Ravine, ShirLtail Canon, 
 
428 
 
 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Guano Hill, 
 Rattlesnake Bar, 
 "Whiskey Bar, 
 Poverty Hill, 
 Greasers' Camp, 
 Christian Flat, 
 Rough and Ready, 
 Ragtown, 
 Sugar-Loaf Hill, 
 Poker Flat, 
 Wild-Cat Bar, 
 Dead Mule Cailon, 
 Wild Goose Flat, 
 Brandy Flat, 
 Gridiron Bar, 
 Hen-roost Camp, 
 Lousy Ravine, 
 Lazy Man's Caiion, 
 Logtown, 
 Git-up-and-git, 
 Gopher Flat, 
 Stud-horse Caiion, 
 Bob Ridley Flat, 
 One Eye, 
 Push-coach Hill, 
 Puppytown, 
 Mad Cafion, 
 
 Slap-Jack Bar, 
 Quack Hill, 
 Pepperbox Flat, 
 Nigger Hill, 
 Seveuty-six, 
 Piety Hill, 
 Hog's Diggings, 
 Brandy Gulch, 
 Liberty HiU, 
 Love-Letter Camp, 
 Paradise, 
 
 Blue Belly Ravine, 
 Sluice Fork, 
 Shinbone Peak, 
 Seven-up Ravine, 
 Loafer's Retreat, 
 Humpback Slide, 
 Swellhead Diggings, 
 Cayote Hill, 
 Poo diet own, 
 Tankee Doodle, 
 Horsetown, 
 Petticoat Slide, 
 Chucklehead Diggings, 
 Mount Zion, 
 Barefoot Diffsrinors, 
 
 Skunk Gi.lch, 
 Coon Hollow, 
 Poor Man's Creek, 
 Humbug Canon, 
 Bloomer Hill, 
 Grizzly Flat, 
 Rat-Trap Slide, 
 Pike HiU, 
 Port Wine, 
 Snow Point, 
 Nary Red, 
 Gas Hill, 
 Ladies' Valley, 
 Graveyard Canon, 
 Gospel Gulch, 
 Chicken-Thief Flat, 
 Hungry Camp, 
 Mud Springs, 
 Skinflint, 
 
 American Hollow, 
 Gold HiU, 
 Pancake Ravine, 
 Centipede Hollow, 
 Nutcake Camp, 
 Seven-by-nine Valley, 
 Paint-Pot HiU. 
 
 Plug-Head Gulch, 
 
 Butte county was named from the buttes or high hills on its 
 border. Cache Creek was probably so called because some 
 trappers buried or cached something on its banks many years 
 ago. JButte and Cache are words of French origin, introduced 
 into the English language by trappers. 
 
 Anaheim is derived from Ana, the Spanish for Ann, and the 
 German word Ae^m, meaning home — and the compound means 
 Anna's home. The Ana was suggested by the Santa Ana 
 valley, in w^iich Anaheim is built. 
 
 § 304. Etymology of " California.^'' — There is much doubt 
 about the etymology of the word California. Some authors 
 contend that it is a compound, derived from the Latin words 
 callda (hot) and fornax (furnace). Tlie name was first be- 
 
TOrOGRArniCAL NAMES. 429 
 
 stowed in the sixteenth centuiy, by Spanish navigators, npon 
 Lower California, the southern point of which reaches into the 
 troj^ics; and bemg a dry, treeless, bare, and desolate country, 
 it may well have appeared to them to be hot as a furnace. 
 Some persons, however, suppose the word to be of Indian 
 origin. The SjDaniards and Mexicans called the peninsula Baja 
 C<:/^//oryi?a, or Low California ; also, Antigua California^ or 
 Old California; and the coast further north, Alta California^ 
 or High California; also, Nueva California^ or New Califor- 
 nia. The two were called JLas Calif ornias^ or the Californias. 
 The state constitution was framed in 1849, and commences, 
 " We, the people of Cahfornia," etc. This, therefore, is t?ie 
 California, and the peninsula south of us is not meant or tliought 
 of, unless we use the adjective prefix, and say Lower Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 § 305^ Pronunciation of Karnes. — 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, ^is silent ; j and g^ before 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. (J^, before e and «, is hke " k." 
 X^, is " Hi" in William ; n is like " ni" in union. There are 
 no diphthongs in Spanish. Every vowel is sounded separately. 
 Words ending in a vowel in the singular, have the accent on 
 the syllable next the last ; those ending in a consonant, on the 
 last. In case any vowel has an accent marked over it, then 
 tliat vowel has the accent. The Spaniards of old Spain pro- 
 nounce the z before all vowels, and the c before e and ^, like 
 "th" in thick; but the Mexicans give them the sound of 5. 
 
 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 j and g^ before e and z, the same sounds as in English ; to 
 gu the sound of the English " w ;" and in putting the accent 
 on the first syllable — English fashion. The following may 
 
430 
 
 EESO URGES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 serve as a further guide to tbe proper pronunciation of some 
 of the names : 
 
 Spanish Xaines and Pronunciation. 
 Diego — dee ay go. 
 Suisun — soo ee soon. 
 Alameda — ah lah may da. 
 Sierra — see er ra. 
 Xevada — nay vah dah. 
 Mateo — mah tay o. 
 Monterey — mon ta ray ee. 
 Luis Obispo — ^loo eess o bees po. 
 Los Angeles — loce an gel es. 
 Yallejo — val yiiy ho. 
 Yallecito — val yay thee to. 
 Joaquin — ho ah keen. 
 Juan Bautista— hwan bah oo teestah. 
 
 Spanish Xames and Pronunciation. 
 Jose — ho say. 
 
 Jesus Maria — hay soos mah ree ah. 
 Puta — ^poo tah. 
 Tejon — tay hone. 
 Farallones — fah rahl yo nes. 
 Gabriel — gah bree ale. 
 Rafael — rah fah ale. ^ 
 
 Miguel — mee gale. 
 Pajaro — pah hah ro. 
 Coyote — CO yo tay. 
 Pacheco — ^pah chay co. 
 Cahuilla — cah oo eel ya. 
 Queretaro — kay ray tah ro. 
 
 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. Mokelumne and 
 Tuolumne have the accent on the antepenultimate and the 
 vowel short. Siskiyou has the accent on the first syllable. 
 Sutter is pronounced with the xi like " oo" in foot. Mokel- 
 umne is often mispronounced Mac al a my, and the Cosum- 
 nes River is not unfrequently called the Macosme. Folsom 
 is pronounced like the adjective fulsome. Yosemite has four 
 syllables with the accent on the antepenultimate (Yo sem i te). 
 
G E N E 11 A L S U M M A R Y . 431 
 
 CHAPTER X IT. 
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 STATE. 
 
 § 306. Geyieral Summary. — Twelve chapters of this book 
 have been filled with a detailed statement of the nature and 
 characteristics of the resources, industry, and society of Cali- 
 FOKXiA. In this chapter, I shall present a summary of their 
 main features. 
 
 We have, then, before us a state, lying in the midst of the 
 temperate zone, on the 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 three of latitude ; with a coast-line eight hun- 
 dred miles long, and a total area of about one hundred and 
 sixty thousand square miles. The heart of the state is drained 
 by two large rivers, which run from north and south, unite 
 midway, and in their 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 streams 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 57° 
 Fahrenheit. Ice and snow are never seen in winter ; and in 
 summer the weather is so cool, that heavy woollen clothing is 
 worn every day. There are not more than a dozen days in 
 the year too warm for comfort at mid-day, and the oldest in- 
 habitant cannot remember a night when blankets were not 
 
432 RESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 necessary for a comfortable sleep. The climate is just of that 
 character most favorable to the constant mental and physical 
 activity of men, and to the unvarying health and continuous 
 growth of animals and plants. In the interior, the summers 
 are much warmer than near the ocean ; while in the mountains 
 the winters are much colder. By travelling a few hundred 
 miles, the Californian can find almost any temperature that 
 he may desire — great warmth in winter, and icy coldness in 
 summer. 
 
 The rocks of the state are chiefly granite and tertiary sand- 
 stone; the former occupying the high mountains, the latter 
 the valleys. In former eras there were several, or perhaps 
 many volcanoes in the "range of the Sierra Nevada. Mount 
 Shasta was one of them, and it now has hot s^jrings on its 
 summit, and sends up sulphurous vapors. On the western 
 slope of the Sierra Nevada, about half way between the sum- 
 mit and the foot, are numerous bods of slate and veins of 
 quartz. The same formations are found in the Klamath basin 
 and in other parts of the state ; and in nearly every case they 
 are auriferous. There is scarcely a county which does not 
 contain gold. The districts which contain enough gold to sup- 
 port a mining population, have an area of about ten thousand 
 square miles. The gold-yield of the state is about forty-three 
 million dollars annually — more than that of any other country, 
 save the colony of Victoria, in Australia. 
 
 The number of men engaged in mining may be estimated at 
 eighty thousand. Our placers and auriferous quartz veins are 
 almost inexhaustible ; there are great mountains of gold-bear- 
 ing gravel which cannot be washed away for a century to 
 come ; and the quartz-lodes will last still longer. 
 
 The 2:old-minmQ: of California is conducted in the most 
 thorough and enterprishig 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 uni- 
 
GENERAL SUMMARY. 433 
 
 versal use. Large rivers are turned out of their beds ; moun- 
 tains are pierced by tunnels ; hills are washed away ; and the 
 rivers roll thick with mud to the sea through summer and 
 winter. 
 
 The silver-mines of the state were discovered only a short 
 time ago, and their value is not yet fully known ; but that 
 some of the ore is wonderfully rich, is established beyond a 
 doubt. The silver districts are in the basin of Utah, at an 
 elevation of five thousand feet or more above the level of the 
 sea, in the midst of a desert country. 
 
 In quicksilver, California is the richest country in the world. 
 There are extensive beds of sulphur, asphaltum, and plumbago, 
 and large lakes and springs impregnated with borax. 
 
 The natural scenery of California is varied and grand. The 
 Yosemite valley is a chasm ten miles long, two miles wide, and 
 three thousand feet deep, in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, 
 without its equal in the Avorld for sublime and picturesque 
 scenery. It has a dozen great cascades, the highest of which 
 has a fall of thirteen hundred feet. The Mammoth Trees are 
 the largest known 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 which 
 throw out great columns of steam. 
 
 The animals and plants of California are peculiar to this 
 coast. The finest group 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 TJwja gigantea, 
 all reach the wonderful height of three hundred feet; the 
 mammoth tree grows to be thirty feet in diameter, the red- 
 wood twenty, and the others from eight to twelve. 
 
 The 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 flies. The sea near our 
 coast teems with halibut, turbot, mackerel, herring, sardines, 
 anchovies, and smelts ; while sturgeon and salmon are abun- 
 dant in our rivers. 
 
434 KEsorrwCES of California. 
 
 -There are 40,000,000 acres of tillable land in the state, but 
 not more than 1,000,000 acres are now cultivated. In 1860, 
 the aggregate product of grains and roots of annual growth 
 amounted to 14,470,000 bushels, being an average of twenty- 
 four bushels to the acre cultivated, and of thirty-eiglit bushels 
 to each inhabitant of the state. The crop of barley was the 
 largest, measuring 5,700,000 bushels; that of wheat, 5,000,000 
 bushels ; oats and potatoes, each, 1,500,000 bushels ; and maize, 
 500,000 bushels. The barley forms thirty-nine per cent, of the 
 14,470,000 bushels; wheat, thirty-four per cent.; oats and po- 
 tatoes, each ten per cent. ; maize, three per cent. ; and beans, 
 peas, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, and rye, one-half of one per 
 cent. each. 
 
 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 there 
 are no storms of rain and hail to destroy their grain and hay. 
 They need no barns. Barley thrives better than in any other 
 part of the world. The soil and climate are also particularly 
 favorable to the growth of wheat, which unites the valuable 
 qualities of whiteness, dryness, and glutinousness, to a greater 
 degree than any other wheat in the world. Our average crops 
 are also larger than in any other place where manure is not 
 used extensively. The yield of hops is large, and the focilities 
 for drying them, so as to preserve their strength, are better 
 than in any other land where they are cultivated. Our kitchen 
 vegetables grow to an unparalleled size. Nowhere else have 
 pimipkins been seen to reach 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 pounds, water-melons sixty-five pounds, 
 onions forty-seven ounces, Irish potatoes seven pounds, sweet 
 potatoes fifteen pounds, and so forth. Some cabbages and 
 beets haA'e spontaneously become perennials here, continuing 
 to grow from year to year, and remaining green throughout 
 winter and summer; and many of our kitchen vegetables 
 
 i 
 
GENERAL SUMMARY. 435 
 
 might be converted into perenniiils Ijy preventing them from 
 going to seed. 
 
 The abundance, excellence, and variety of our fruit aston 
 ish tlie stranger, though he may have come from the markets 
 of London or New York, which di-aw tribute from whole hem- 
 ispheres. No market on the globe surpasses ours in variety, 
 and yet it is not ten years since we began to import fruit-trees 
 direct from the Eastern states and Europe. Our mild winters 
 permit the trees to grow during nine or ten months in the 
 year, and they 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 apple trees which were 
 planted by the missionaries thirty or forty years ago, are still 
 in perfect health, and some of them produce as much as a ton 
 of fruit to the tree every year. The apple and pear seem to 
 have found liere their most congenial clime. There are no 
 worms in our apples ; no curculios in our j^lums or cherries ; 
 no Hessian fly or weevil in our wheat. The olive and the fig 
 grow luxuriantly beside the apple and the pear. We can pro- 
 duce olives better than any of the olive-producing regions of 
 the Mediterranean, because we have none of those storms of 
 thunder and hail and rain, which frequently destroy the crops 
 in southern Europe and Asia Minor. The vine i)roduces more 
 abundantly than in any part of Europe, and the crop has never 
 failed or been destroyed here, as often happens there. A yield 
 of one thousand gallons of wine to the acre is as frequent, pro- 
 portionately, in California, as of four hundred in France or Ger- 
 many. Our gardens are, in time, to be the most beautiful in 
 the world, resplendent with conifers and deciduous trees, with 
 the flowers of the temperate zone, and the luxuriant plants of 
 the tropics. The shrubs which in New York remain small, 
 and live only under shelter, as delicate exotics, are natu- 
 ralized in San Francisco, grow almost to tree-like size, remain 
 green throughout the year, and bloom during most of the 
 months. The rosebush is covered with flowers from January 
 to December. 
 
436 RESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Domestic herbiverous animals live and increase without 
 shelter, and without cultivated food. They 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 rapidly, and make more 
 honey than there is any record of their doing elsewhere. 
 Thunder and rain storms kill a large proj^ortion 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 ; common 
 laborers, from one dollar and seventy-five cents to two dollars 
 and fifty cents per day ; farm laborers, and men and maid ser- 
 vants, from twenty dollars to thirty dollars per month. Our 
 imports and exports of treasure are larger in proportion to our 
 population than those of any other state. Our chief city is 
 favorably situated for commerce, and its harbor always con- 
 tains vessels of the largest size from every sea. It has an un- 
 doubted supremacy in the commerce of the north Pacific. We 
 have no paper money, and no current coin less than a dime. 
 
 The inhabitants of the state, numbering nearly four hundred 
 thousand, represent in their nativities every American state, 
 and every continent, and every country of Europe, and many 
 of the countries of Asia and Africa. Our population is unsur 
 passed in inteUigence, experience in travelHng, and skill in the 
 arts. Our society is liberal in tone, and free in intercourse. 
 
 With many drawbacks, which have been set forth clearly 
 and unreservedly, California is still the richest part of the civ- 
 ilized world. It possesses most of the luxuries of Europe, and 
 many of the advantages which the valley of the Ohio had forty 
 years ago. It offers an open career to talents. In the few 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 437 
 
 years of its history it has astonished the world, and its chief 
 glories are still to come. The arts, the sciences, the refine- 
 ments of life, are to find a favored home in California. 
 
 Why is it then that the permanent population of the state 
 has not increased more rapidly ? Why have so many of the 
 early immigrants left her shores, never to iseturn, by their de- 
 parture depriving her of the greatest element of wealth ? Tlie 
 great cause is the mismanagement of land-titles by the federal 
 government, and the consequence is, that the people have been 
 unable to obtain secure homes, and therefore have gone to the 
 Eastern states, where they could find permanent residences. 
 This mismanagement has prevailed both in the mineral and 
 agricidtural districts, and has produced incalculable evils. 
 
 § 307. Sale of Mineral Lands. — The welfare of every civ- 
 ilized state requires a permanent population, a well-regulated 
 society, a steady business, and a secure investment of capital 
 proportionate to the industrial ability and production of the 
 people. These requisites are indispensable to all national pros- 
 perity. Their want, if long continued, must inevitably be fol- 
 lowed by national ruin. They are wanting in a large portion 
 of California. 
 
 In the moral and social, as well as in the physical world, 
 cause and effect are inseparably connected ; adequate means 
 never tail in leading to correspondent ends ; prosperity or ruin 
 comes not by mere chance, but is the necessary result of the 
 adoption of good or evil counsel. The iQ-regulated society 
 and unsound condition of business in our state, are traceable 
 mainly to the insecure tenure of our lands ; and as a necessary 
 means to attain social, commercial, and individual health, we 
 must have perfect land-titles. I shall speak first of the min- 
 eral counties. 
 
 It is a necessary consequence of the want of secure land- 
 titles in the mining districts, that the inhabitants should be 
 unsettled. There is nothing to fix them lq any one place, while 
 many motives impel them to frequent removals ; and the result 
 is, that a considerable portion of the mining population is truly 
 
438 EESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 nomadic iu character. Most of them have poor claims, or 
 none at all; and they enact laws, or establish customs having 
 the force of laws, that all claims shall be small, usually not 
 more than one hundred feet square. These small claims are 
 worked out in a month or two, or at most in a year or two, 
 and then the miner must go. Perhaps he will find his next 
 claim within ten miles, perhaps not within fifty. When he 
 gets a claim he may not be able to work it out ; he must not 
 only occupy his claim, but he must work it. If he absent him- 
 self from it more than three days, during the season in which 
 it can be w^orked, for other cause than sickness, it becomes for- 
 feit to whomsoever will seize it. In no case can he who mines 
 in the river-beds, banks, flats, or gulches consider his claim a 
 home for life ; in one case out of a thousand it may employ 
 him for ten years. Quartz and tunnel claims are more lasting, 
 and many of them will not be exhausted in a lifetime ; but the 
 miners employed in these are a small portion of the total 
 number. 
 
 The miner is not only not tied to his claim by ownership, or 
 the hope of long employment and lasting profit, but he is con- 
 stantly tempted by other tracts w^hich are open to him with- 
 out price. He may consider himself owner of all the unoccu- 
 pied land in the country. He can take and use any of it. No 
 one has a better title than he. Every unoccupied gully, flat, 
 hill-side, river-bar, river-bank, and quartz-vein is persistently 
 trying to seduce him. He can scarcely take a pleasure-walk 
 on a Sunday morning without seeing some place which invites 
 him to come there and settle, to desert his old home and make 
 a new one. And w^hen there is nothing to protect him against 
 such temptations, save his belief in the superior mineral wealth 
 of his first location, that belief may often be changed by a 
 very brief examination of the new place. He has no title to 
 the spot w^here he dwells, no substantial improvements, no 
 property of any kind save such as he can carry on his back at 
 one load. 
 
 The world never saw such a people of travellers as the Cali- 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 439 
 
 foriiians. There are now about 350,000 white inhabitants in 
 the state, ^nd more than 250,000 otliers have gone "home" 
 during the last twelve years, four-fifths of them never to re- 
 turn. Not one-fifth — probably not one-tenth — of the miners 
 of 1849 are now in the state, and it would be a difticult, and 
 perhaps an impossible task, to find a Californian mining town, 
 one-twentieth of whose population has been i^ermaneut there 
 since 1850. 
 
 In regard to the men leaving California, it must in fairness 
 be stated that many of them are actuated by a desire to be 
 with their families, and they see that it is much cheaper for 
 them to go to New York than to have their families come to 
 S m Francisco ; and there are cases where the families would 
 make very great objection, even overlooking the cost of pas- 
 sage, against moving to a land so far from all their relatives. 
 But, on the other hand, it must be considered also that all the 
 men who leave the state, do so seeing and acknowledging, be- 
 fore they go, that in climate, mineral resources, the profits of 
 labor and trade, the enterprise, intelligence, and generosity of 
 the people, the independent spirit of the poor, tlie democratic 
 spirit of the rich, and the frank friendliness of all, California 
 is far superior to any other part of the American Union, while 
 it has many advantages in other respects. Such an acknowl- 
 edgment, coming from men leaving a state with which many 
 of the most interesting associations of their lives are connected, 
 implies a great evil somewhere. Although some of them go 
 " home" because they cannot bring their families to Califor- 
 nia, yet this is not the fact in one-fourth of the cases ; they go 
 because they do not wish to live here, because they will not 
 live here. 
 
 Another evil effect of the want of secure land-titles, and 
 the consequent unsettled character of the population, is the 
 want of good houses and substantial improvements of all kinds. 
 The dwellings throughout the mines are, as a class, mere hovels, 
 even in the oldest and most thickly-settled districts. In the 
 towns it is necessary to have some substantial stores, as a pro- 
 
440 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 tection to the valuable goods kept in them ; but with these ex- 
 ceptions, and a few fine residences, even nominal "cities" are 
 collections of shanties, scattered about with little regard to 
 order, and fitted up w^ith little provision for comfort. 
 
 The wandering character of the population, and the want of 
 permanent and comfortable homes, render the mines an unsuit- 
 able place of residence for families. There are a few women 
 in the mines, and of these few a considerable share are neither 
 maids, wives, nor widows. The general proportion of adult 
 men to adult women, throughout the mining districts, is prob- 
 ably not less than three to one, and to married women, four 
 to one. 
 
 It sometimes happens that miners having wives in the east- 
 ern states have them come to live in the mines ; but in a con- 
 siderable proportion of cases this arrangement is not a per- 
 manent one. Anxious as the inexperienced wife may have 
 been to live with her husband, and willing as she might be to 
 share his privations, the result has often been that she found 
 life in the mines unsuited for herself and her children. There 
 are many good, virtuous, and intelligent women living in the 
 mines, and perhaps as well contented there as they would be 
 in any other part of the world ; but there are not enough of 
 them. 
 
 If there were no other evil than this scarcity of women 
 traceable to the present tenure of the mineral lands, that one 
 fact would be enough to settle the question that the mines 
 must be sold. The family is no less essential to the good order 
 of society and the prosperity of the state than it is to the hap- 
 piness of the individual. A community of American families 
 must have permanent homes ; they must own the land in fee- 
 simple ; and there cannot be a large community of families in 
 the mining districts of California unless the land there be sold. 
 
 The scarcity of women is again the first link in a great 
 chain of evils. Some men in the mining counties would like 
 to marry, but cannot find wives to their choice. They must 
 cither travel thousands of miles to get a wife abroad, or take 
 
SALE OF JIINEKAL LANDS. 441 
 
 some awkward girl just entering her teens, without education 
 or experience m society, and entirely incompetent to take 
 charge of kitchen or nursery. The scarcity of wives and mar- 
 ried women converts many men into tempters, and they must 
 cause much misery. And women, knowh.g that they are 
 scarce, and therefore in demand, are incited to calculate the 
 chances and the profits of fidelity and chastity as compared 
 with infidelity and intamy. Family quarrels often ensue, and 
 the state has a sad notoriety for the frequency of its separa- 
 tions and divorces. A trustworthy gentleman informs me 
 th.at, durmg a visit to a mining town in a remote part of the 
 state, about seven years ago, he was informed that there were 
 in the town one hundred and twenty-seven women, forty-niue 
 ot whom though married, were living with men not their hus- 
 bands The case is certainly without a parallel, in the state or 
 elsewhere ; but the condition of atfairs in this respect has 
 changed very much for the better since 1 855. 
 
 The want of families, and the comparative scarcity of intel- 
 ligent and good women, deprive the community of many of the 
 most wholesome pleasures and ennobling influences which are 
 found in other states. The man who has no wife or sweet- 
 heart to work for is improvident ; and, unchecked by such 
 public opinion as can reign only where well-regulated famUies 
 are numerous and society permanent, he gives himself up to 
 dissipation, feeling confident that none of his neighbors wiU 
 cut his acquaintance on that account. 
 
 As the peo|)le are among strangers, and do not expect to re- 
 main among them long, reputation loses its value, and public 
 opmion Its power; and thus forces of great influence in pre- 
 serving the good order of society elsewhere have compara- 
 tively httle influence in the mines. 
 
 The scarcity of families and the consequent unstable state 
 of society make servant-girls shy of the country, and the few 
 ^e,-e demand enormous wages-five and six times greater than 
 in New 1 oik. This m.ay at first sight appear to be a fact 
 of little importance, but it has really driven thousands of fara- 
 
442 EESOUIiCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 ilies from the state, and prevented thousands of others from 
 cominoC" 
 
 These various social evils chafe and foment one another, and 
 the consequence is, that the miners who have come to the state 
 intending only to remain a few years are not likely to change 
 their intention. It is of course the ambition of most men in 
 the country to have homes of their own ; to have wives and 
 families, to be with them and to enjoy their society. Since they 
 do not propose to become permanent citizens here, if married, 
 they do not bring their families with them ; if unmarried, they 
 do not marry while here. The necessary effect of this state of . 
 affairs is, that there is an exceeding anxiety to get away from 
 the country as soon as possible. A feverish excitement pre- 
 vails through the whole people. Speculation has risen to an 
 unexampled height. The game is, to make a fortune in a few 
 months or to be bankrupt ; and there are tens of thousands to 
 play at it. Men complain that they cannot enjoy life in the 
 mines ; that life there is a mere brutal existence ; and they be- 
 come desperate in their anxiety to leave it, to go elsewhere, 
 where peace and comfort, permanent homes and social order 
 prevail ; where numerous well-regulated families furnish agree- 
 able company for the married, and where numerous accom- 
 plished young ladies furnish not less agreeable company to the 
 unmarried. Most men in California do not live here to enjoy 
 life, but to make money, so that they may enjoy life in some 
 other country. Not that the people are parsimonious — far 
 from it ; but they are puffed up with extravagant expecta- 
 tions, or rather determinations. Unless they can earn very 
 large wages, they will not work at all. The merchant will 
 not be content with a regular business, paying ten times as 
 much profit as he could make with a like capital in the East- 
 ern states ; he must go into wild speculations, and risk every 
 thing upon a remote chance of making a sudden fortune. The 
 frequency of insolvencies, particularly in the towns, is inexpli- 
 cable, at first, to a man who comes here without understanding 
 the peculiar condition of our society ; and the same man, going 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LA>'DS. 443 
 
 through the raines, will be astonished to see that the mnch- 
 abused Chinese are the only class who are always industrious. 
 The miner will often do nothing for weeks and months, run- 
 ning up long bills for '* boarding," while he waits for rain, or 
 the completion of a ditch, or for something else to turn up. 
 lie is too high-minded to accept small pay, and would rather 
 be idle — at the risk of the boarding-house keeper and store- 
 keeper. His idleness is frequently called "prospecting;" he 
 travels about hunting for a place to work ; and this prospect- 
 ing may be said to employ nearly a fourth part of the raining 
 population. The consequence is, that a large portion of the 
 miners are always moneyless, or provided with an exceedingly 
 small amount of money. At other times they fall upon rich 
 deposits, and then try to make up in dissipation for past pri- 
 vations. And so the mining population comes to be an im- 
 provident one — imsteady, fond of gambling and other wild 
 amusements. The fact is that there is not in the whole world 
 such another reckless, thriftless, extravagant, improvident pop- 
 ulation as in the mining districts of California. 
 
 Another evil effect of our present system of land tenure in 
 the mineral districts, is to be found in the gradual lowering of 
 the general character of the population in the mining counties. 
 Most of the steady, prudent, economical men leave the state 
 with more or less money, while the dissipated, thriftless fel- 
 lows remain ; the latter class increasing in numbers, the for- 
 mer decreasing every year. The only means of fixing and in- 
 creasing the former class, and giving them the proper influ- 
 ence in our society, is to give them permanent homes ; and 
 this policy will at the same time drive away the wrecked spe- 
 cimens of humanity among us, and compel them to seek homes 
 in the Cimmeriim darkness beyond our borders. 
 
 It is one of the great evils of the tenant-at-will systetn, that 
 there is little security for the investment of capital. Land 
 should be the main stock of wealth and the main basis of 
 :redit, and the increase of its value with increasing popula- 
 :ion should be one of the main sources of riches in every new 
 
444 EESOtJRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 country ; but of tljis kind of property the mining districts are 
 deprived by unwise policy. As it is now, it is almost impos-: 
 sible to induce the capitalists of San Francisco to invest money 
 in, or loan money on, mining enter jorises ; they have learned 
 by bitter experience that there is little safety for money in- 
 vested in canals and quartz-mills, where there is no title to the 
 lauds save possession, which might be lost by abandonment or 
 forfeiture at any moment. The consequence is, that the per- 
 manent improvements in the mines are rare, in comparison with 
 the number which there would be if the mineral lands w^ere 
 sold ; and where money is borrowed to make such improve- 
 ments, extravagant rates of interest are paid. As a result of the 
 comparatively small amount of capital invested, and the lack 
 of security for large investments of money in mining enter- 
 prises, there is little demand for labor, and the state is full of 
 poor men anxious to get w^ork, but unable to find anybody to 
 employ them. The immigrants to a new country are gener- 
 ally poor men ; and, unless the state of business is such that 
 they can confidently expect to obtain profitable employment 
 on their first arrival, there is little encouragement for them to 
 come. In regard to the certainty of success upon first arrival, 
 California ofiers less encouragement to the immigrant than 
 many of the states in the Mississippi Valley, and will not ofier 
 more until the tenure of lands in the mines shall be changed. 
 
 The present policy drives away the money produced in the 
 state. Why do we send 840,000,000 of gold away every year ? 
 Simply because w^e cannot give good security for it. We have 
 nothing to give as security. We ofier to pay twice as much 
 interest as anybody else, and our ofier w^ould be gladly ac- 
 cepted, if there were a certainty that we would pay as w^e prom- 
 ise ; but there is no certainty, no security. The $50^000,000 
 shipped by California to New York last year, would have 
 drawn $6,000,000 yearly interest here, while it will draw only 
 $3,000,000 there ; and the $8,000,000 shipped to London would 
 have drawn $1,600,000 here, while it will draw only $450,000 
 in England; but the owners of the $40,000,000 prefer the 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 445 
 
 $3,450,000, witli the New York and London security for cap- 
 ital and interest, rather than the promise of $7,600,000, with 
 the danger of losing both capital and interest in California. It 
 is true, there is a natural drain of specie from countries where 
 labor is high, to those where labor is low, because the latter 
 import little and export much ; and of course, in this respect, 
 California must necessarily become tributary to China, the At- 
 lantic states, and Europe ; but, on the other hand, our relations 
 with the great centres of capital are so intimate, that we can 
 get all the money we want at California rates of hiterest if we 
 will but give perfect security for it, and pay the interest with- 
 out fail. It would be no light matter for us to owe a hundred 
 . millions, and pay California interest on it, to European capital- 
 ists ; but it would still be better than to do without the money, 
 without the improvements which it would build up, without 
 I the population it would attract, and without the fixed wealth 
 it would create. 
 
 Again, the present system exercises a most prejudicial efiect 
 upon the finances of the state, and bears very unequally upon 
 the citizens. The farming districts, where the inhabitants own 
 the land, pay heavy land taxes ; whereas mining claims pay no 
 taxes at all. The result is, that the taxation upon the men in 
 the valleys is about three times as heavy as upon those in the 
 mountains. The miners generally have no homes, and no fixed 
 property, and cannot be forced to pay taxes. Most of the 
 mining counties are deeply in debt, and many are going deeper 
 every year. The only way to equalize the taxation is to 
 sell the mineral lands, and compel the miner to pay a tax upon 
 his mine, as well as the farmer on his farm. 
 
 The proposed sale of the mineral lands is opposed by two 
 arguments : first, that it will lead to monopoly ; and, secondly, 
 that gold mining in this state is so precarious, that miners 
 could not afibrd to have permanent residences and support 
 families. 
 
 These two arguments are antagonistic to each other ; both 
 cannot be sound ; at least one of them must be fallacious. The 
 
446 RESOTJECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 " monopoly" argument presupposes not only that the persons 
 employed for wages to work the mines will earn enough to 
 support themselves and famiUes, but also that the monopolists 
 will make a large profit, otherwise their monopoly would not 
 last long. The " precarious" argument presupposes that only 
 a small portion of the mining land will continue for any con- 
 siderable time to pay a living profit ; and that therefore there 
 is little encouragement for capitalists to invest their money in 
 mining land. The " monopoly" argument presupposes the in- 
 vestment of large amounts of capital — the very thing which 
 the mines most need ; the " precarious" argument presupposes 
 that mining will be more profitable for a man who runs about 
 than for one who stays at or near one place. 
 
 All the great social evils which I have mentioned as pre- 
 vailing in Cahfornia, are traceable directly to the roving char- 
 acter of the people ; render the population permanent and you 
 necessarily cure the evils. It is admitted that our mines will 
 not be exhausted, and that the number of miners in the whole 
 state will not decrease much, if at all, during the next fifty years. 
 It is entirely safe to predict that Siskiyou, N^evada, Shasta, 
 Placer, El Dorado, Plumas, Sierra, Tuolumne, and Calaveras, 
 will be mining counties in 1950. Now if the mining is to be 
 continuous, why should not the miner be permanent ? There 
 is no necessity that he should be a nomad ; on the contrary, 
 his own pecuniary profit and the welfare of society require that 
 he should have a fixed residence, and not until he gets that, 
 can he be a valuable citizen. 
 
 But it is said the mining population cannot be permanent, be- 
 cause mining is a " precarious " business. Well, I should like 
 to know what business would not be " precarious," if conduct- 
 ed as mining has been in this state during the last ten years. 
 Here are one hundred thousand men, mostly without homes ; 
 not staying in any one place more than four months at a time, 
 on an average ; spending one day out of three in prospecting ; 
 refusing to work unless they can make big wages ; running suc- 
 cessively to Gold Lake, Gold Bluflf, Kern River, Fraser River, 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 447 
 
 Mono Lake, and Cariboo ; — how could any occupation be other 
 tlian precarious, managed in such a manner ? Of course min- 
 ing can be made precarious, and these fellows who are always 
 ruiniing about are tlie very ones to make it so. It will not be 
 made more precarious by permanence. If the five thousand 
 miners of El Dorado, and the four thousand miners of Tuo- 
 lumne, will just stay where they are, instead of changing places 
 with each other three times every year, they will not lose any 
 thing on the score of the precariousness of their business. I 
 venture to assert that gold mining in California, conducted 
 prudently, is not an uncertain business at all. A careful man 
 can, with a certainty, earn more than he could as a farmer on 
 the praiiies of Illinois, where farming is one of the least pre- 
 carious occupations in the world. The permanent citizen can 
 afford to mine prudently ; the nomad comes here to make his 
 " pile " in a few years ; he has no wife with whom to live joy- 
 ously, and, as a matter of course, his mode of mining is pre- 
 carious. 
 
 But it is said the capitalists will monopolize the mineral 
 lands ; and yet there is not a week that the honest miners do 
 not come to San Francisco to solicit capitalists to invest their 
 capital in mining enterprises ; and when such an iuA^estmentis 
 made to assist a canal or quartz-mill, all the miners in the vi- 
 cinity are glad, and property rises in value. Why is there 
 more danger of monopoly in mineral lands than in the agricul- 
 tural lands ? Are the former more sacred than the latter ? 
 Is it to be supposed that capitalists will buy up the minera 
 lands and then not work them, but let their money lie idle ? 
 Certainly not ; capitalists would be in no hurry to invest large- 
 ly at first in the mineral lands ; and if they should they would 
 employ large numbers of laborers, to the great benefit of the 
 whole country. And the same honest miners who have such 
 an abhorrence of " monopoly," — are not three-fourths of thera 
 determined to leave this land of unmonopolized freedom to re- 
 turn to the Eastern states, where capital is king, and where 
 there are no laws to prevent the rich men from monopolizing 
 
443 RE60UECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the whole country ? The assertion that the sale of the rain 
 eral lands would oifer dangerous advantages to capital, is 
 as much as to say that the sale would be followed by the in- 
 vestment of capital, and a general rise in the value of prop- 
 erty in the mines, and an increase in the amount of their pro- 
 duction. 
 
 This "monopoly" argument has been used for years, and 
 the miners have come to believe it without ever examining it 
 or seeing its absurdity. Instead of caj^ital driving poor men 
 out of the mines, it would bring them in ; it would create a 
 demand for labor ; and the ten thousand men who are now in 
 the mines, anxious to obtain permanent employment, would 
 then get what they have been seeking in vain during the last 
 four years. If capitalists buy up mining lands, of course they 
 will do it with the intention of digging for the gold, and to do 
 that they must employ laborers. This kind of labor is not dis- 
 honorable ; it is such labor as most of the mechanics in Cali- 
 fornia, as well as elsewhere, are engaged in all their lives : that 
 is, labor for a fixed salary. It is just such labor as is done 
 now by a large portion of the quartz, and hydraulic, and tun- 
 nel miners, who consider themselves quite as independent, and 
 their occupation as honorable, as if they were cabinless and 
 claimless surface diggers. The labor for fixed wages will not 
 be unprofitable ; on the contrary, it will remove all precarious- 
 ness from the workman's mode of life, and will give him a 
 good and certain income, with which he will always be able to 
 live comfortably. It is not improbable that wages would rise 
 after a sale of the mineral lands. Of course, every purchaser 
 would wish to open his claims at once, and workers would be 
 in demand. The great danger, if the mineral land were oflered 
 for sale, would be, not that too much capital, but that not 
 enough would come into the^ mines. Just in proportion to the 
 amount of land sold would be the amount of benefit done to 
 the state. If none were sold, the present state of affairs would 
 continue, and the greatest enemies of the sale could not say 
 that any harm had been done ; if a little were sold, the change 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 449 
 
 would be but small ; if much were sold, there would be a 
 great increase in the value of mining property and in the de- 
 mand for labor. The result of a wxsU-managed sale, or dona- 
 tion system, would be that the present miners, and not distant 
 capitalists, would come into possession of the richest places, 
 and that every man in the state could, at a trifling cost, obtain 
 a claim that would furnish him with profitable employment for 
 many years. There are certain places in the mines where the 
 claims are mostly in quartz-veins or deep banks, which will 
 require many years to work them out, and there the popula- 
 tion is comparatively stable. Of these places, Grass Valley 
 and North San Juan may be taken as examples. The traveller 
 sees at once, on approaching them, that there are more com- 
 fortable homes, more families, and more peace and sobriety 
 among the inhabitants, than in the majority of the mining 
 towns. The difterence is a very great and important one, and 
 if it can be removed by elevating the other towns to the level 
 of those two, the sooner the better. 
 
 The " monopoly" argument was used in Illinois, against the 
 sale of the mineral lands there, and prevailed for a time; the 
 consequence was, the population was made up of vagrants, and 
 the dwellings were all shanties, and society was no society at 
 all. Finally the lands were sold, and the result was a great 
 benefit to the people and the mining districts, in every social 
 and industrial respect. 
 
 It may be objected to the sale of the mineral lands, that 
 " the wisdom of our ancestors" has deteniiined that mines 
 should always belong to the government, and be open to all 
 persons willing to work them. The objection may be recog- 
 nized as a good one when that policy is proved to be wise by 
 evidence and argument — not till then. The reason of the an- 
 cient policy was, that most of the land was owned by ignorant 
 and unenterprising people, chiefly nobles, who, if they had 
 owned the minerals, would have allowed the natural wealth of 
 the land to remain undeveloped. But that state of affairs does 
 
 not and never can exist in California. On the contrary, no- 
 20* 
 
450 RESOUECES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 body can so safely be trusted to get all the gold out of a tract 
 of laud as the fee-simple ovvuer of it. 
 
 The federal government has refused to sell the mineral 
 lands to the state, and the surveyor-general has instructed 
 his deputies not to " sectionize" the land in the mineral dis- 
 tricts, or within several miles of where any miners are at work. 
 The truth is, that a large part of the land in the mining re- 
 gioTi contains so little gold that it never can pay the miner, but 
 is well suited for agricultural and horticultural purposes. Cali- 
 fornians confidently expect that some of the finest fruits and 
 wines of our state — and that is as much as to say of the whole 
 world — will be produced in the mining counties, within five 
 years from the present time ; and the government should pur- 
 sue such a policy as will encourage the occupation and cultiva- 
 tion of all the land suitable for such purposes. 
 
 If the sale were once determined upon, undoubtedly diffi- 
 culties would arise as to the manner of carrying it into execu- 
 tion ; but these would be of little import, as compared with 
 the evils caused by the present system. The whole mineral 
 district should be surveyed at once, and sold in lots to persons 
 who will live on, or work them, varying in size, according 
 to location and supposed mineral wealth, from one hundred 
 and sixty to eighty, forty, twenty, ten, five, two and a half, 
 and one and a quarter acres. Perhaps it would be advisable 
 to grant at first no lots where many miners may be at work 
 within a small space. Large lots of ten, twenty, and forty 
 acres, now unoccupied, and which would long remain unoccu- 
 pied under the present system, would find abundant buyers 
 should the government propose to grant the fee-simple. 
 
 The ofier of the mineral lands of the state, comprising about 
 10,000,000 acres, for sale, would present one of the greatest op- 
 portunities in the world for large numbers to secure great and 
 certain wealth at a small immediate outlay ; and not only every 
 man now in the country, but every one who has been here, 
 would exert himself to the utmost to become the owner of a 
 tract of land, the mines of which would probably clothe him 
 
SALE OF MINERAL LANDS. 451 
 
 and his sons, and his sons* sons, in wealth, and which, if it were 
 barren in gold, would still keep him in comfort with its agri- 
 cultural products. From the moment it is known that the 
 mineral lands. will be sold, California's regeneration will begin. 
 Californians will then determine to make this their permanent 
 home ; money will be saved ; and at the time of sale, every 
 man will seek to become owner of a tract of mining land, 
 which shall enrich himself and his children. After the sale, 
 titles being secure, comfortable houses will be built, wives 
 will be sent for, minmg will be conducted economically and 
 steadily, claims will be worked which now will not pay, our 
 population will increase, and so will the yield of our mines ; 
 the capital produced here will be retained ; other capital will 
 come from abroad, to obtain secure investment on safe titles ; 
 poor men, coming from abroad, will always obtain employ- 
 ment, and thus can get a start ; railroads and turnpikes will 
 be made ; land will rise in value ; the state will obtain its rev- 
 enue honorably by the taxation of capital ; society will be- 
 come permanent, and public opinion powerful ; dissipation will 
 diminish ; and California, instead of being socially the worst, 
 will become the best state in the Union. 
 
 The question of the sale of the mineral lands is then the ques- 
 tion of the future of the state. The advocates of the measure 
 may not succeed this year, or the next ; but they will, they 
 must, succeed finally. The fight is between the permanent 
 interest of California on one side, and, on the other, the tem- 
 porary interests of some roving miners, who care nothing for 
 the state, save to get its gold and then leave it. As for all the 
 unmarried Americans (whatever their occupation) who may 
 come hither to spend a few years — to carry away our gold if 
 they are successful, or to remain with us as human wrecks if 
 they fiiil — all these are no better for California than so many 
 Chinamen ; I call them " white Chinamen." They will not be- 
 come permanent citizens ; the yellow Chinamen cannot ; so 
 there is not much difference between them. If there is any 
 legal, constitutional, and just measure by which we can drivo 
 
452 EESOTJRCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 the white and the yellow Chinamen out of the country to- 
 gether, and obtain white, permanent Californians in their stead, 
 I, for one, shall be heartily in favor of it. "California for per- 
 manent Californians," is the proper motto for every faithful 
 citizen of this state. We must have a political war ; the per- 
 manent Californians must conquer the rovers, and compel them 
 to settle down or leave. The great question is not whether 
 we shall produce much gold or little ; it is whether we shall 
 have social and industrial order or disorder, which is equiva- 
 lent to the question of ilie permanency or vagrancy of the 
 population. I am confident in the belief that the sale of the 
 mineral lands would cause a considerable increase of our gold 
 yield ; but no matter how great a decrease might ensue, state 
 policy requires that the sale should be made, in any case. The 
 gold now dug does little benefit to California ; it slips through, 
 like water through a sieve ; and serves only to attract the 
 vagrants who visit the state merely to despoil it. All the 
 money under heaven will not pay for maintaining a system 
 under which three-fourths of the people of a large district 
 are vagrants, that is, rovers, and where six-sevenths are men. 
 
 It is not unreasonable to assume, that if the present system 
 of mining titles be maintained, there will be very slow change 
 for the better in the vagrancy of the miners and the inequality 
 of the sexes during the next ten years ; and I do not hesitate 
 to say that, rather than the present state of afiairs should con- 
 tinue, the state government should take efiective measures to 
 put a sudden end to all gold mining in the state, by declaring 
 it a felony, and making it punishable by severe penalties, so 
 that thereafter the people of California would turn their atten- 
 tion to such pursuits as farming, horticulture, and stock-raising, 
 which contribute to the lasting profit of the state as well as 
 the temporary profit of individuals. 
 
 California may be compared to a maiden who has been reared 
 to love the paths of purity and peace, but who has been intro- 
 duced of late into a corrupt society, and is now surrounded by 
 men who wish to dishonor her — enjoy her for a short time, 
 
MEXICAN GRANTS. 453 
 
 and after gratifying the base impulses of the moment, to have 
 no further thought about her welfare, but to desert her for- 
 ever, careless whether their desertion prove her ruin or not. 
 Froni these men her virtuous soul turns with indignation and 
 abhorrence. She welcomes no suitor save him who comes 
 offering his whole heart in a life-long union, under solemn 
 promise that she alone shall be loved and cherished by him. 
 
 Now let us turn to the manner in which the land-titles in 
 the agricultural districts have been managed. 
 
 § 308. Mexican Gra7its. — Upper California, when con- 
 quered by the Americans in 1846, contained about five thou- 
 sand Mexican inhabitants, who, with their fathers and grand- 
 fathers, had lived here sixty or seventy years. Their chief 
 occupation and the main source of their wealth were furnished 
 by their herds of kine, horses, and sheep. Most of them dwelt 
 in the country, upon ranches which had been granted to them 
 for purposes of pasturage by the Mexican government. They 
 held their lands under written titles, supposed to be, in most 
 cases, legally perfect under the laws of Mexico. The govern- 
 ment of that country never questioned or denied the validity 
 of such grants as those held by the Californians. The grants 
 were made to suit the habits and wants of the people. The 
 Californians owned large herds, which were never fed on cul- 
 tivated food, never kept in fields, nor placed under shelter. 
 In a country where an almost unbroken drought reigns from 
 May to November, and where cattle get no food, save wild 
 and indigenous grasses, much more land is required to sustain 
 a cow, than in those lands where careful cultivation and fre- 
 quent rains provide a regular and certain abundance of food 
 through the year. A fertile soil, like that of a large portion 
 of the Mississippi valley, will sustain five or six head of cattle 
 to the acre,; but here three acres of uncultivated fertile land 
 are necessary for the support of one cow. Herds of thou- 
 sands of kine were not uncommon in California under the 
 Mexican dommion. To accommodate these cattle, great tracts 
 of land were necessary. The public land was granted not by 
 
454 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. - 
 
 the acre, as in the American states, but by the square league 
 (containing four thousand four hundred and thirty-eight acres), 
 which was " the unit of measurement" in granting public land8 
 outside of the towns. The government granted away its lands 
 willingly, and without compensation ; no pay was required ; 
 the only condition of the grant was, that the grantee should 
 occupy the land, build a house on it, and put several hundred 
 head of o.ittle on it. Whenever he promised to comply with 
 these conditions, he could get a grant of any piece of public 
 land, of eleven square leagues or less, for which he might pe- 
 tition. It was a grand Mexican homestead law ; and the 
 chief complaint made about it was by the government, that 
 the number of applicants for grants was not greater. The 
 grants were not made according to the American land sys- 
 tem, which would have been entirely unsuited to the wants 
 and habits of the Mexican people. The public lands in Cali- 
 fornia were never surveyed. I do not know whether a Mexi- 
 can surveyor was ever seen in California ; I feel confident 
 that no ranch was ever surveyed, and its boundaries described, 
 with bearings and distances, previous to 1846. The descrip- 
 tions of the land granted were very vague. In most cases a 
 certain number of leagues were given, within well known 
 natural land-marks, which might include a district of fifty or a 
 hundred miles square. Li such case, the grantee could locate 
 his ranch at any place within the limits. Sometimes a grant 
 of so many leagues was made, at a place to which a name had 
 been affixed by the Indians or Californians, and then the 
 ranch included that spot; sometimes a ranch was described 
 as bounded on one side by a range of moimtains, on another 
 by a river, and on other sides by I'anches of older date. The 
 Californians did not quarrel about their boundaries. If A's 
 cattle crossed to B's ranch, for better pasture in the summer, 
 B's would probably go to A's at another season. The herds 
 were not closely kept. The cattle roamed about almost in a 
 wild state, often unseen of man for months. So wild were 
 they, that though they knew very well that a man on horse- 
 
MEXICAN GRANTS. 455 
 
 back was a superior animal and tlieir master, yet tliey consid- 
 ered a man on foot as a base and fero<;ious beast, and attacked 
 him as they would attack a wolf. Their owner knew his 
 property only by the brand placed on them when they were 
 calves. From the time when the redhot iron burned into 
 their flesh, they roamed untouched by the hands of man, until 
 fate decreed that they should be slaughtered to furnish fresh 
 meat for their master's household, or hide and tallow for for- 
 eign commerce. Evidently this people, with such habits and 
 such occupations, did not need to have their lands precisely 
 described. Most of the titles were legally valid under the 
 Mexican law. There was no motive to commit fraud, because 
 land was of little value, and great tracts of rich soil were, up 
 to the time of the American conquest, open to every pe- 
 titioner. In most cases the actual occupation took place pre- 
 vious to 1 840, and had never been interrupted. This occupa- 
 tion, the most conclusive proof of good faith, and an equitable 
 title in itself, was notorious, and susceptible of proof by hun- 
 dreds of witnesses. The paper titles were mostly of indu- 
 bitable genuineness, written by the hands of well-known of- 
 ficials, bearing regular numbers, referred to in public lists of 
 land-titles, and mentioned in government documents of various 
 kinds. The proof of the genuineness of the title-papers, the 
 good faith of the claimants, and the equitable validity of the 
 claims, in nine cases out of ten, was abundant, and, to any man 
 at all acquainted with the subject, indubitable. It was then 
 evidently the duty of the government of the United States to 
 provide for the summary examination of the documents, and 
 in every case, where genuine title-papers were found with 
 ancient occupation, to order a survey for the establishment of 
 boundaries, giving to the claimant at least a prima facie rec- 
 ognition of title, subject, perhaps, to investigation in the courts, 
 if any person should see fit to assail the validity of the grant. 
 But the federal government pursued a policy very difterent 
 from this plain duty. It delayed action through 1848, 1849, 
 and 1850 ; and first, in 1851, passed an act nominally to " set- 
 
456 EESOUECES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 tie" private land ciaims in California, but really to unsettle 
 them and the whole country, and keep them unsettled. That 
 act provided for the organization of a court, or land commis- 
 sion, to try these claims ; declared every grant of land in Cali- 
 fornia to be legally void, though it might be equitably good ; 
 and provided that every equitably good claim should be lost 
 to the owner, unless he should sue the United States in that 
 court, and gain the suit there or on appeal ; and that there 
 should be an appeal to the United States District Court, and 
 thence to the United States Supreme Court. In all these 
 courts the claimant was to be opposed — that is, persecuted — 
 by a law agent appointed by the United States, with instruc- 
 tions to contest every claim to the utmost. The land com- 
 mission organized in San Francisco, on the first of January, 
 1852, and continued its sessions until the third of March, 1855, 
 when it expired by limitation. It had received eight hundred 
 and thirteen petitions. The owner of land, under grant from 
 Mexico, was compelled to petition the government of the 
 United States for the privilege of keeping it. Of these eight 
 hundred and thirteen petitions, some were for lands which 
 had never been occupied ; in some cases there were two or 
 three petitions from different persons, claiming the same piece 
 of land under the same original grant. In some cases the 
 original grantee had sold out a large ranch to a number of 
 Americans, each of whom presented a petition for his piece ; 
 and, in perhaps twenty-five or thirty cases, the title papers 
 were forged ; leaving about six hundred original ranches, which 
 had been held under indubitably genuine written title and no- 
 torious occupation. 
 
 Thus there were eight hundred and thirteen important law- 
 suits, involving the titles to ten million acres, — ^nearly all the 
 private lands in the state, — to be tried in one court. This tri- 
 bunal had three judges, — good lawyers, and industrious, honest 
 men. No serious complaint has ever been made against any 
 of them. They did what they could. When, at tlie end of 
 three years, the time came for them to close their court, they 
 
MEXICAN GRANTS. 457 
 
 had dispatched all the cases. The trials had been fair, the 
 hearings deliberate and public, tlie opposition on the part of 
 the Uuited States law agents stubborn. All the law agents 
 wei-e competent men, and no one can justly complain that the 
 interests of the United States were neglected by any one of 
 them. The claimants had been kept in litigation three years ; 
 they had been compelled to bring numerous witnesses from 
 remote parts of the state, to pay for interpreters, to fee law- 
 yers, at rates nnheard of before in the Avorhl, to dance atten- 
 dance upon the court, and to leave their homes and their busi- 
 ness for months at a time ; but this was not enough. In every 
 case where the laud commission confirmed a claim, the United 
 States government ordered an appeal to be taken to the 
 United States District Court. This was nominally an appeal, 
 but really an order for a new trial. Every question of fact 
 and law was opened anew. Witnesses were again examined ; 
 the whole case was tried as in the original proceeding. There 
 are two United States District Courts ; one for the northern 
 and another for the southern part of the state ; each being the 
 appellate court for all the lands within its own jurisdiction. 
 Each of these two courts had other business besides land 
 suits ; and in the northern district, where the most important 
 cases lay, the court had almost as much admiralty business 
 alone as the judges of federal districts in the Atlantic states 
 have to manage. Both these Californian district judges were 
 good men. In these courts, too, the " interests of the United 
 States" were protected by able and industrious lawyers, in- 
 structed to oppose the Mexican land claims to the utmost. 
 Seven years have elapsed since the first case was appealed 
 from the land commission, and there are now a number of 
 cases still undecided in the District Courts : but in most of 
 the cases decided, the claims of the Mexican grant-holders 
 were confirmed a second time. The federal government, still 
 not satisfied to let the claimants enter their lands, ordered ap- 
 jieals to the United States Supreme Court at Washington. 
 This order was not accompanied by any proper provision to 
 
458 EESOUECES OF CALIFOENIA. 
 
 pay the clerks for making out the transcripts ; and as the ap- 
 peal could never be decided, and the claimant never get a per- 
 fect title, until the transcript should be sent up, and as the 
 transcript never could go up until the clerk had received his 
 fees, so the claimant was often compelled to pay the expensed 
 of the transcript, amounting in some cases to several hundred 
 dollars. This was an expense which custom and law impose 
 upon the appellant, but in these cases the United States made 
 no provision for repaying the respondent, although he was 
 compelled to advance the money. After the appeals had been 
 taken to the court of the last resort, the United States Attor- 
 ney-General ordered the appeals to be dismissed in about four 
 hundred cases, and in about forty cases the United States 
 Supreme Court have given judgment in favor of the claim- 
 ants, making four hundred and forty claims finally confirmed. 
 About one hundred and forty claims have been abandoned 
 by the claimants or finally rejected by the courts, and this 
 estimate would leave two hundred and thirty cases still be- 
 fore the courts for adjudication upon their merits. 
 
 I have said that four hundred and forty cases have been finally 
 confirmed, but final confirmation is not equivalent to final settle- 
 ment. Up to 1859, it was supposed that when judgment 
 on appeal had been rendered in private land claim, by the 
 United States Supreme Court, in favor of the claimant, the liti- 
 gation between him and the federal government, so fiir as 
 that title was concerned, was at an end. But a new law was 
 passed, requiring the surveys of the Californian ranches to be 
 snbject to review by the United States DistrictCourts. The 
 exact boundaries of the claim could only be determined by a 
 survey ; and in large ranches, where the boundaries were not 
 clearly defined, the location of the ranch became a matter of 
 very great importance, often involving values of tens and even 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
 
 The consequence of the new law was, that four hundred 
 and twenty out of the four hundred and forty finally con- 
 firmed claims, are thrown into the courts again ; their settle- 
 
MEXICAN GRANTS. 459 
 
 meiit is postponed for an indefinite time ; the owners are 
 burdened with new Utigation, with indefinite deferment of 
 their liopes, with increased costs ; and the country is again 
 cheated out of quiet titles, permanent settlers, permanent im- 
 provements, and all those blessings of inestimable value which 
 come only with numerous fixed and happy homes, and the 
 best regulated social order. 
 
 While the government has thus, during twelve years, not 
 simply refused to confirm the land-titles granted by Mexico, 
 but made bitter and unceasing war upon them, and compelled 
 the claimants to bear the expense of the warfare, these claim- 
 ants have had to sufifer from the assaults of other and still 
 more dangerous and vexatious enemies — the squatters ; who, 
 while ostensibly left without countenance by the law, were 
 really often engaged in an offensive and defensive alliance 
 with the officers of the government. The squatters took the 
 land, occupied it, drove away the owner's cattle, cut down 
 his trees, fenced in his springs, paid him no rent, paid no 
 taxes, by their influence forced him to pay the taxes on the 
 land they were occupying, and assessed the taxes at most ex- 
 orbitant rates. This system was not rare, but frequent — it 
 was practised on not one, but a hundred ranches. And then, 
 with the money derived from the land thus obtained, they 
 paid lawyers to appear in the name of the United States, 
 contest the owner's title, and delay a decision ; and, after 
 decision, to get up a contest about the survey and delay a 
 settlement of the boundaries. I do not mean to say that every 
 Mexican claim is good, or every squatter wrong ; my purpose 
 in this article is only to complain of the vast injustice done 
 to the owners of honest and legally valid claims, which are the 
 great majority of all presented to the c)uits. 
 
 It is fourteen years since Americans became the rulers of 
 California, and land-titles are no nearer a settlement than they 
 should have been twelve years ago, if a proper system had been 
 adopted. The great question about the boundaries, which 
 should have been the main subject of action, is now just where 
 
460 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 
 
 it was then. The claimants have sold two-fiftlis of their land 
 to pay the expenses of litigation-^that is said to be a modest 
 estimate by those familiar with the subject — and they are not 
 yet done. They have been despoiled of two-fifths of their 
 land, deprived of the possession of a large portion of the re- 
 mainder, and prevented from selling it while they saw its 
 value, in many cases, decreasing steadily with the decay of 
 business consequent on the exhaustion of the richest placer 
 mines. 
 
 The injury done to the country by the delay in the settle- 
 ment of the land-titles is, to a considerable extent, irreparable. 
 That delay has caused us to lose, or has prevented our gain- 
 ing, a population of a million citizens, of the most valuable 
 class. Two hundred thousand men have left our state forever 
 — half of them because they could not get permanent homes 
 here — and they prevented as many more from coming, who 
 would have come if they could have had certain land-titles. 
 Not less than fifty thousand men have left us because of the 
 unsteadiness of business and the lack of employment, caused 
 by want of unquestioned ownership of the soil. Thus I esti- 
 mate that the delay in settling our land-titles has cost us two 
 hundred and fifty thousand men, representing a total popula- 
 tion of one million persons. The golden flood, the grand 
 rush of business, the unexampled prosperity which passed 
 over the state from 1849 to 1853, has passed away forever ; it 
 is too late to repair the damage ; fifty years of peace and 
 justice cannot place California where she now would have 
 been, had justice and sound policy been adopted twelve years 
 ago. 
 
 Thus I have explained the reasons which caused the deser- 
 tion of California by many of the best^men who have ever 
 visited her shore. Fortunately, every thing in California is 
 gradually becoming more stable ; titles in the n^gricultural dis- 
 tricts are gradually being settled ; and it is now almost estab- 
 lished beyond a doubt, that within a few years the federal 
 government must sell a considerable portion of the land in 
 
MEXICAN GRANTS. 461 
 
 the milling counties, at least those counties not occupied by 
 miners. The mining, the agriculture, the commerce, the 
 population, and the wealth must continue to increase, and her 
 name shall be glorious in the records of industry and on the 
 pages of universal history. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THK PROPORTIONS OF THE SEXES IN CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Alameda. . , . 
 Amador . . . . 
 
 Butte 
 
 Calaveras. . . 
 
 Colusa 
 
 Contra Costa 
 Del Norte. , . 
 El Dorado 
 
 5,489 
 6,151 
 7,770 
 10,088 
 1,54.3 
 3,395 
 1,050 
 
 rresno::.:;;::;;:::;:::;::;: "'?u 
 
 Humboldt .*.','.'.' 1791 
 
 Klamath i'o77 
 
 Los Angeles .".'.*.'!.'.*.'.*.'.".'."' 5 1 12 
 
 Mariposa / o'o or 
 
 Monterey 
 
 'Napa 
 
 Nevada 
 
 Placer 
 
 Plumas 
 
 Sacramento . . . . 
 
 Santa Barbara, , 
 
 San Bernardino. 
 
 Santa Clara. . . , 
 
 Santa Cruz 
 
 San Diego 
 
 San Francisco. . . 
 
 San Joaquin. . . . 
 
 San Luis Obispo. 
 
 San Mateo 
 
 Shasta 
 
 Sierra 
 
 Siskiyou 
 
 Solano 
 
 Sonoma 
 
 Stanislaus 
 
 Sutter 
 
 Tehama 
 
 Trinity 
 
 Tulare 
 
 Tuolumne. . . . 
 
 Yolo 
 
 Tuba 
 
 Mann , 2 339 
 
 Mendocino 2*037 
 
 ^^^^^ed ' 'soo 
 
 2,708 
 3,445 
 11,457 
 8,507 
 3,284 
 14,738 
 1,816 
 1,482 
 7,426 
 3,148 
 850 
 33,990 
 6,131 
 1,098 
 2,211 
 3,295 
 9,793 
 6,252 
 4,681 
 7,425 
 1,60GJ 
 2,390 
 2,997 
 4,469 
 3,456 
 
 12,575 
 3,196 
 
 10,255 
 
 Total 
 
 '239.856 
 
 3,059 
 2,101 
 1,967 
 2,458 
 622 
 1,790 
 291 
 3,671 
 225 
 777 
 143 
 3,509 
 918 
 758 
 808, 
 314 
 1,597 
 2,003 
 2,081 
 2,312 
 567 
 6,954 
 1,362 
 1,022 
 4,399 
 1,704 
 399 
 21,636 
 3,178 
 672 
 935 
 1,023 
 1,537 
 1,306 
 2,446 
 4,357 
 594 
 970 
 1,005 1 
 639 1 
 1,159| 
 3,488 
 1,493 
 3,180 
 
 8,548 
 8,252 
 9,737 
 12,546 
 2,165 
 5,185 
 1,341 
 15,515 
 999 
 2,498 
 1,220 
 9,221 
 4,303 
 3,097 
 2,905| 
 1,114 
 4,305 
 5,448 
 14,1.38 
 10,819 
 3,851 
 21,692 
 3,178 
 2,504 
 11,825 
 4,912 
 1,249 
 55,626 
 9,309 
 1,770 
 3,140 
 4,318 
 11,330 
 7,558 
 7,127 
 11,782 
 2,200 
 3,360 
 4,002 
 5,108 
 4,615 
 16,063 
 4,689 
 13,435 
 
 98,149 338,005 
 
 8,927 
 10,930 
 12,106 
 16,299 
 2,274 
 5,328 
 1,993 
 20,562 
 4,605 
 2,694 
 1,803 
 11,333 
 6,243 
 3,334 
 3,967 
 1,141 
 4,739 
 5,521 
 10,446 
 13,270 
 4,363 
 24,142 
 3.543 
 5,551 
 11,912 
 4,914 
 4,324 
 56,802 
 9,435 
 1,782 
 3,214 
 4,300 
 11.387 
 7,b29 
 7,169 
 11,867 
 2,245 
 3,390 
 4,044 
 5,125 
 4,6.38 
 16,229 
 4,716 
 13,668 
 
 379,994 
 
A. ROMAN & CO. 
 
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