Two years in California

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TWO YEARS

CALIFORNIA

MART CONE.

WITH ILLUSTBJLTIOWS.

CHICAGO:

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

1876.

Copyright, 1876,
Br S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.

KNIGHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS, CHICAGO.

Electrotyptd by A. ZEESE & CO.,
Chicago.

AC

/

TO

COL. JOHN MILLS,

THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY

THE AUTHOR,

WITH REGRET THAT THE TRIBUTE IS NOT

MORE WORTHY OF HIM AT WHOSE

FEET IT IS LAID.

s

PREFACE

THE "Star of Empire" that has been so long
traveling on its westward way has at last reached
the end of its journey, and taken a fixed position. It
stands over a fair land; the best, perhaps, all things
considered, that it has looked down upon in all its
course. Not that perfection is found even here. It is
the law in this world that good shall never be unmixed.
But, in the case of California, when the advantages
and disadvantages are laid in the opposite sides of the
balance, the former will be found to weigh down the
latter to a degree that is scarcely to be seen elsewhere.
There are just now important reasons for directing
attention to this comparatively new State. These are
found in the disturbances that are now prevailing in
the commercial and industrial interests in the eastern
and older parts of the country. The wheel of fortune
is revolving with unusual rapidity. Those who were
at the top yesterday are at the bottom to-day. To those
who are by these changes despoiled of home and of
goods, new conditions may be desirable, and they may
be looking with eager eyes to see where they can best
find other foot-holds from whence they can make a fresh

VI PEEFACE.

start in the race of life. To such — to all who for any
reason desire to go and seek their fortunes in the
West, California presents strong attractions. That
these attractions are appreciated by many is proved by
the fact that during the year 1875 sixty thousand
emigrants found their way into the State — a greater
number than had ever before gone in the same length
of time.

The permanency of first impressions is strikingly
shown by the very common impression in regard to
California. It was first known to the world as a gold-
producing country, and men are slow to learn that
while gold continues to be a very considerable product
it is far exceeded in value and extent by other indus-
tries. The gold product is now principally obtained
by quartz-mining, which requires large capital to con-
duct it. There is no longer any furor connected with
the business, nor are fortunes now made in a day.
Mining is conducted as a legitimate business, of which
the average yield has been, for the last few years, about
twenty millions of dollars per annum. As a bullion-
producing State, including gold and silver, California
has fallen into the second place — it is outranked by
Nevada, which, in 1875, produced more than twice as
much as the Golden State. But the increase in agri-
cultural products is more than an offset for the falling
off in this direction.

PREFACE. Vll

The increase in agricultural products has been so
rapid as to seem almost a marvel. Until 1861 flour
was imported for home use; now California yields
the largest wheat product of any State in the Union,
and is second only to New York in the production,
of fruit. The yield in wine for 1875 was ten mill-
ions of gallons. One-fifth of all the wool grown in
the United States is furnished by California; during
the current year it is estimated that the product will
reach the enormous amount of fifty millions of pounds.
Then, the possible industries are so many and various
that it would seem impossible for anybody to fail to
find something to suit his taste and his capacities.

There has been much that was partial and untrue
written in regard to California. The writer of the fol-
lowing pages lays no claim to infallibility, but does
claim that during the two years spent in California, she
made an honest effort to see things as they really were,
and has tried to describe them as they appeared.
Bought up by no corporation, never dead-headed, pro-
tected by insignificance from all ovations whatsoever,
there was nothing to cast a glamour over the eyes or
bias the judgment except so far as the loving-kindness
of friends brought content to the heart, and opened
pleasanter and fuller facilities for seeing and knowing.
Great care was taken to examine and compare testi-
mony, and sift out, if possible, the chaff. To what

Vlll PKEFACE.

extent the effort has been successful, those must judge
whose superior knowledge enables them to decide.

The author takes pleasure in acknowledging her
indebtedness to " The Natural Wealth of California,"
by T. F. Cronise, for valuable information embodied in
this work ; also to a lecture by the Hon. S. Garfield for
hints in regard to climate, and to The California Immi-
grant Union for the prompt and generous manner in
which they have responded to appeals for aid.

M. C.

Marietta, Ohio, April, 1876.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
Climate 1

Temperature at Olympia and San Francisco; difference in
climate between the eastern and western sides of the con-
tinent ; currents of air ; influence of the Pacific ; course of
winds ; influence of the Gulf stream ; Japan current.

CHAPTER II.
Rain-fall 9

Variation in rain-fall ; secret of the diversity ; effect of the
Pacific winds and mountain ranges ; blighting north wind ;
land and sea climate ; climate of San Francisco ; affected by-
situation ; trend of coast ; sea-breeze ; its delicious, healthful
properties ; balance between sea-breeze and sunshine ; rainy
season ; transparent atmosphere ; mean annual temperature
on the coast ; trade winds ; heat in the valleys ; absence of
thunder-storms.

CHAPTER III.
History 24

Signification of the term California ; discoveiy of the coun-
try ; of the bay of San Francisco ; Geography of the eigh-
teenth century; Spaniards on the Pacific coast; their mis-
sionary zeal ; establishment of missions in Upper California ;
patriarchal system ; mode of converting the Indians ; their
subjection to slavery ; their painful toil ; their scanty reward ;
wealth of the missions ; exports ; tallow and hides ; trade
with Boston ; luxury of the Spaniards ; dwellings ; idleness ;
decay of the Spanish power; impoverishment of the mis-
sions ; oppression of the Indians ; their rapid decrease ;
fading before the pale-faces.

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

Geography and Topography 41

Three parallel mountain ranges in the United States ; over-
land route to California; Platte river; Rocky Mountains;
rivers flowing into the Pacific ; Sierra Nevada mountains ;
their mineral wealth; valleys and peaks; Coast range;
scenery ; Monte Diablo range ; union with Nevadas and
Coast range.

CHAPTER V.
Southern California 52

Area of the State ; southern California ; San Diego county ;
Colorado desert ; dry lake and hot springs ; sudden issue of a
spring ; San Diego city ; the old mission ; prospects of the
city ; climate ; San Bernardino county ; Death Valley ; Soda
lake ; town of San Bernardino ; climate and products of the
country ; Riverside colony ; crops and irrigation ; Los An-
geles county; Americans and Californians ; orange culture;
value of the fruit ; cost of cultivation ; orange orchards ;
sheep raising; fruit farm; vineyards; German colony; San
Buenaventura; Santa Clara valley; oil regions; stranded
whale ; configuration of coast ; Santa Barbara ; oil spring in
the ocean ; thanksgiving sermon ; pepper tree ; olives ;
pickling olives ; making olive oil ; old olive trees ; church
architecture ; patriarchal grape-vine ; Santa Barbara ; adobe
houses ; population ; route by sea and land ; an old settler ;
San Luis Obispo; Salinas valley; rapid riding; California
stage drivers.

CHAPTER VI.
The Great Valley 100

The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers ; rain-fall ; drouth ;
crops ; Tulare lake ; irrigation in the Old World ; San
Joaquin King's River Canal and Irrigation Company ; facili-
ties for irrigation ; the Great Valley ; advantages of canals
and ditches.

CHAPTER VII.
Reclamation 110

Fertility of reclaimed lands ; tule lands.

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER VIII.

Northern California 114

The redwood ; Humboldt county ; a charming stage ride ;
Eureka; Mount Shasta; lower soda springs; a beautiful
dayspring; Castle rocks; Sacramento river; gray moun-
tains ; Pitt river ; stage robbery ; Mount Shasta.

CHAPTER IX.

A Ranch in the Upper Sacramento Valley . . . 127

Origin of the Kern ranch ; Sacramento valley ; cutting grain ;
sowing grain ; laborers ; wild oats ; cattle and hogs ; sheep
growing; products; climate.

CHAPTER X.

A Fruit Ranch on the Sacramento River . . . 186
Sending fruit to market ; prices of fruits ; tule lands ; daiiy
products; Chinese laborers.

CHAPTER XL

A Chapter for Tourists 143

Climatic conditions ; choice of seasons ; route to southern
California ; sights in San Francisco ; Cliff House ; Oakland ;
University of California; bay of San Francisco; Golden
Gate; San Jose; a trip to Monte Diablo; the Geysers;
chicken broth; Mount St. Helena; Pluton canon ;_ Geyser
canon ; Foss, the driver ; Pescadero ; Santa Cruz ; Ying, the
Chinaman ; Lake Tahoe ; cost of living.

CHAPTER XII.

A Chapter for Settlers

Necessity of energy and economy; fruit raising; large
ranch system; jute wheat sacks; cotton raising; rice
culture ; coffee ; tea ; dairy business ; sheep raising ; emi-
grating in colonies; skilled labor; security of property;
school privileges.

166

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Chinaman in California 177

Value of his help ; China self-civilized ; antiquity of its
civilization ; Chinese journalism ; Confucius ; his doctrine ;
false estimate of woman ; fidelity ; versatility ; Chinese
companies ; festivals ; new year ; Chinese theatres ; Chinese
temples ; gods and goddesses ; Rwau Tae ; mode of worship.

CHAPTER XIV.

A Trip to the Yosemite 196

Distance from San Francisco ; scenery by the way ; White
and Hatch's ; Clark's ; the Big Trees ; the Mariposa grove ;
"Alek"; solitude of the trees; Grizzly Giant; snow plant;
horseback riding; "Jocko"; music of the pines; Peregoy's ;
picturesque cavalcade; Inspiration Point; entrance to the
valley ; Yosemite fall ; El Capitan ; Legend of Tu-tock-a-nu-
lah; Bridal Veil fall; Cathedral rocks; Three Brothers;
Sentinel Rock ; Half- Dome ; Mirror lake ; vibrations of Yo-
semite fall; western exit from the valley; Merced river;
Vernal fall ; Nevada falls ; Cloud's Rest ; a disappointing
lunch; last view from Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome;
Captain Folsom, the guide ; parting praise of Alek ; origin
of the valley ; Hetch-hetchy valley ; expense of the tour to
the Yosemite.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of California

The Golden Gate

The Old Mission Church

Mirror Lake, Watkins' and Cloud's Rest

Bridal Veil Fall

Cathedral Rocks

Sentinel Rock

El Capitan (3,300 feet high)

The Devil's Canon, view looking up

Vernal Falls (350 feet high)

The Yosemite Falls

Alley in Chinese Quarter .
General View of the Yosemite
Plan of the Yosemite Valley
The Sentinels, Calaveras Grove .

A Monster

Nevada Falls (700 feet high)

Front

Frontispiece

Opp. Page 30

50

74

90

106

130

154

170

186

194

198

202

219

226

230

TWO YEAES UT CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER I.

CLIMATE.

TEMPERATURE and rainfall are the essential ele-
ments of climate. This twofold influence affects so
potently the conditions of life in California, that some con-
sideration of the subject, in the way of a preliminary,
seems quite in order.

That isothermal lines stretched across the continent do
not coincide with parallels of latitude is a fact well estab-
lished, and yet is more generally accepted than understood.
The northern end of the island of Vancouver, in latitude
51°, has the same winter temperature as Norfolk, Va., in
latitude 37°. In Olympia, at the head of Puget Sound,
latitude 49°, bouquets containing fifteen or twenty varie-
ties of flowers are gathered from the open grounds to
ornament the Christmas tables, and the inhabitants are
obliged to send to the Aleutian islands, eighteen hundred
miles away, to get their supply of ice for summer use.

San Francisco, in latitude 38°, has a mean annual tem-
perature of 56° Fahrenheit. All that is implied in this is
not at once evident. There are but eight degrees differ-
ence between the mean temperature of the summer and

2 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

the winter. Although there are occasional frosts, the
ground is never stiffened by cold, and ice is never formed
thicker than the glass of the window, while delicate exotics,
such as fuchsias, calla-lilies, verbenas, pinks, geraniums and
roses, continue to delight the eye and gladden the heart
by spreading out their beauty in the open grounds all the
year round. Even when the frost comes it does not seem
to affect the flowers and plants as it does elsewhere. Jack
Frost may sprinkle the rosebush all over with his white
crystals, and almost encase the pinks and lilies in a cover-
ing of white, yet when the sun has compelled him to with-
draw and has scattered his handiwork, the flowers hold up
their heads as proudly and wear their beautiful tints as
gaily as though nothing had happened. It may be that
enough caloric has been stored away in the earth about
the roots, while the sun was shining, to keep the plants
from being chilled, and they have, as a consequence, an un-
usual power of resistance.

In all climatic conditions the difference between the
eastern and western sides of the continent is so great that
there are few observers so superficial as not to inquire,
What occasions this dissimilarity? Why does nature smile
so much more benignantly upon the latter than the former?
The fact that said nature is of the feminine gender, and
ought not, therefore, to be expected to have any better
reason than " because " for any way of working that she
chooses, is scarcely philosophical enough for those who in-
dulge in the luxury of thinking. When the matter is in-
vestigated it will be found, as is often true, that where
there seems to be only a whim there is actually a reason.
In the present instance this cause is doubly blessed, for it

CLIMATE.

has two reasons for being. One of these is in the air, the
other in the water. Either of these forces working alone
would be potential enough to bring about great results;
entering into partnership and uniting their capacities, they
accomplish what seems to be almost a miracle. In the two
influences, the direction of the winds and the Japan current,
will be found ample reason for the great difference in the
temperature upon the same parallel of latitude, on the two
sides of the continent. Working with or against these
principal powers, there are many local causes, such as the
elevation or direction of mountain ranges, and the occur-
rence of passes or openings through them, which turn
aside or check, or increase, the strength of the winds, and
so occasion partial departures from general laws. Throw-
ing out of consideration these exceptional cases, it may be
we°ll to consider, more in full, the workings of the two
grand and overmastering causes.

It is well known that heat expands atmospheric air and
makes it lighter, and that the lighter air always shows a
disposition to rise above the heavier. Hence when the sun
shines vertically, as at the equator, the air becomes heated
and ascends, while the colder air from the north and south
flows in to fill the vacuum. If the earth were motionless,
there would be, consequently, surface currents from the
north and south toward the equator, and upper currents
from the equator toward the poles. But as the rotary
motion of the earth from west to east is communicated to
its atmosphere, and as in the equatorial regions, where the
process of rarefaction is most active, this eastward motion
is necessarily the greatest, the combined effects of this ro-
tary motion and the movement to and from the poles is
1*

4 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

to give the air-currents an oblique direction, those on the
surface tending from the northeast to the southwest, and
the upper currents from the southwest to the northeast.
But this latter wind will not be felt anywhere near the
equator, because it is an upper current, and so con-
tinues until, by a gradually cooling process, it parts with
enough of its caloric to come down and take its place as
a surface current. In the winter, when the sun is south
of the equator, this result will happen in about latitude
30°. In the summer, when the sun is north of the equa-
tor, this southwest wind does not come to the surface
below latitude 65° or 70°, unless it chance to meet with
some unusual obstruction. These several causes working
together — the action of the sun's rays, the turning of the
earth upon its axis and its revolution round the sun, to-
gether with the inclination of the earth's axis — would be
expected, reasoning a priori, to produce exactly such re-
sults as are actually found to exist, viz.: calms, variable
winds and vertical currents about the equator, northeast
winds from there to latitude 25° or 30°, variable winds
where the southwest and northeast winds strive together
for the mastery, and northwest winds beyond the scene of
conflict.

The Pacific ocean being larger than any other even,
spherical surface upon the face of our globe is, as a con-
sequence, less affected by irregularities and disturbances
from without. Like all great bodies, it has such confidence
in its own power that it can afford to be indifferent to
insults that may be offered by outside insignificance, and
remain placid under almost any provocation. Hence it is
able to show the legitimate influence of solar heat and the

CLIMATE.

earth's motion in producing atmospheric and oceanic cur-
rents. As the prevailing winds of the temperate zone are
westerly, that region which is blown upon by the winds
that come over this great, calm, placid and equable ocean
should have a milder and more equable climate than coun-
tries which have a different geographical position. Pre-
cisely this result is found to take place.

From the equator to latitude 12° or 15° there is but
little wind, and that is variable. From thence to latitude
25° the northeast trades prevail. In winter the upper
southerly currents begin to come to the surface at about
this point, and as they move in a direction opposite to the
northeast trades, they beat these back and produce a belt
of variable winds that extends to about latitude 32°. Be-
yond this limit, northward, the southwest winter winds,
which have now reached the surface in full force, sweep
forward regularly when not obstructed by surface eleva-
tions. These southwest winds, coming over the even,
tranquil surface of the great Pacific ocean, bring with them
the mild, equable temper which the ocean has imparted to
them, and make cool or warm, according to the needs of
the case, whatever part of the continent they reach. In
winter the ocean is warmer, and in summer cooler, than the
land contiguous to it, so that in either instance these winds
are messengers of comfort to those on the land, bringing
heat or cold according to the season.

As the sun moves northward over the equator, and
spring gives place to summer, the southwest winter winds
gradually die out, or, rather, go northward, leaving first
those places where they first appeared, which is about lati-
tude 32°. In the autumn their course is reversed, their

6 TWO TEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

journey commencing in the opposite direction. They strike
the earth far to the north, and come down, as the sun gets
farther and farther south of the equator, until they sweep
along the whole coast, as far as latitude 32° again.

The southwest winds having followed the sun in its
movement toward the south pole, the coast is clear for the
northwest winds to show their power. The}^ improve their
opportunity, and from June till October have matters pretty
much their own way. These winds come from a high lati-
tude, and over a small, cold ocean. As a consequence, they
are both cool and dry, and so have power over quite a
range of latitude, to modify the influence of a nearly ver-
tical sun, and reduce the temperature from what it would
be without their influence to a mean of about 64° in the
daytime, and make the nights especially cool and delightful.
When the wind, however, is directly from the north, and
comes down over the heated valleys lying inland, and has
no chance to be modified by the influence of the ocean, it
is a withering, scorching blast, that feels as though it had
come straight from the mouth of a furnace.

The other influence that cooperates with these comfort-
ing winds, and helps them to produce the delightful climate
of the Pacific coast, is the Japan current.

The nature and influence of the gulf stream in the
Atlantic ocean have been long understood. It is due to its
beneficence that Great Britain, lying between. 50° and 59°
north latitude, is redeemed from the cold and sterility of
Labrador, which lies, in part, in the same latitude. It
is a well-known and established fact that the climate of all
Western Europe is far more amiable and kindly than that
of countries lying in corresponding parallels of latitude on

CLIMATE. 7

the eastern coast of America, and that to the potent influ-
ence of the gulf stream this difference is due.

The power of the Japan current is as much greater and
more beneficent than that of the gulf stream as the ocean
in which it has its origin is grander and more placable
than that which is the home of the gulf stream. The
current takes its rise in the Indian ocean, being heated
by the vertical sun of the tropics, and flows northward
along the eastern coast of Asia, warming the countries
it finds on its way, and giving particular attention to the
comfort of those who dwell on the islands of Japan. At
length it comes in contact with the peninsula of Alaska
and the Aleutian islands. Breaking with great force upon
these obstructions to its onward movement, the current is
divided. After the division, one part moves northward
through Behring's Straits, and, probably, helps to make the
open polar sea. The other part comes down along the
western coast of America, hugging it closely, and gener-
ously imparting warmth and comfort as it flows along
toward the south. The region bordering upon Puget Sound
is blessed beyond any other by this beneficent power.
Twice each day, with the rise of the tide, immense quan-
tities of this warm water flow into Puget Sound through
the straits of Juan de Fuca, and, like the steam-pipes
through which steam is sent from a furnace over a house,
the tepid water continually dispenses its heat, and so warms
the country that flowers can bud and bring forth blos-
soms to beautify the Christmas tables; hence the climate
of the country is altogether unlike what its contiguity to
the north pole would make it reasonable to expect. But
the beneficence of the Japan current does not stop here.

8 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Like the apparatus in our congressional halls, it accom-
plishes a double purpose. That which serves for heating
in winter serves also for cooling in summer. There are
but two degrees difference in the temperature of the Japan
current in winter and summer. The winter temperature
is 50°, that of summer 52°. It is, therefore, greatly cooler
in summer than the surrounding atmosphere; and whereas
in winter it warms, in summer it cools, the region round
about.

So great is the volume of this Japan current, and so
economical is it in the use of its resources, that in all its
long journey the variation in the temperature of its waters
is comparatively slight. The distance between Queen Char-
lotte's Islands and San Francisco is two thousand miles ; yet
throughout the whole the difference in the temperature of
the water is but two degrees. Thus the entire western
coast of North America has an almost equal share in the
benefits of this mighty ocean stream.

RAIN-FALL. 9

CHAPTER II.

RAIN-FALL.

THERE is not the same equality in the amount of
rain-fall, or precipitation of moisture, on the Pacific
coast that there is in temperature. Going from the
north to the south, the amount diminishes in a direct
ratio. In Washington Territory and in Oregon the clouds
get into such a habit of weeping that it seems to be
their normal condition, but they "dry up" more and
more toward the equator until in southern California
they make but very stingy deposits.

It is pleasant to know that, though "the wind blow-
eth where it listeth," and seems to be altogether a law-
less thing, and the rain appears to come in an entirely
independent and irresponsible manner, when we look
into the matter we find that both are chained to the
chariot of Him who is above them both, and who has
ordained laws which they can neither transcend nor
transgress.

Even in the seven hundred miles through which Cali-
fornia extends, north and south, the difference is so great
as to excite inquiry in the minds of the most unthinking.

In Shasta city in northern California, between Novem-
ber and April, the rain-fall in 1871-2 reached eighty
inches, while in San Diego, in the southern extremity of
the State, during the same time, it was only ten inches.

There are seasons when it even falls short of this. San
1*

10 TWO TEARS IH CALIFORNIA.

Francisco, situated between the two extremes, has an
average rain-fall of twenty-two inches. Local causes
sometimes occasion a departure from general rules and
increase the disparity. In Hoopa Valley, Klamath county,
the enormous quantity of one hundred and twenty-nine
inches is reported to have fallen in one season, while at
Fort Yuma, in the southeastern extremity of San Diego
county, the average annual rain-fall is only about three
inches, and in exceptional seasons it is even less, while
there are said to be places in the State where there is
no rain at all.

It may be interesting to get at the secret of these
apparently strange differences.

That secret is bound up in the same bundle which
contains the mysteries in regard to the direction of the
winds, and the causes which control them. Untie the one,
and the other is found.

All the western portion of the continent derives its
moisture from the Pacific ocean. The wind sweeping over
the sea gathers up the particles of moisture and carries
them in its bosom until some extraneous influence is
brought to bear upon it to compel it to give up its treas-
ure. Then, as it goes hither and thither, it scatters these
riches, and therewith makes the earth glad and causes it
to bring forth, that it may give seed to the sower and
bread to the eater.

It is a well-known fact that the capacity of atmospheric
air to absorb and retain moisture is increased or dimin-
ished in proportion as its temperature is higher or lower.
The prevailing winds of the temperate zone coming from
the west, and sweeping, as they do, over the broad expanse

RAIN-FALL. 11

of the Pacific ocean, lap up the water, and carry it on their
wings until, as they go northward, they become so chilled
that they are obliged to deposit it. In winter, when the
sun is south of the equator, this point is reached at about
latitude 30°, where the deposition of moisture is begun,
and as the winds get cooler in proportion as they get
further and further away from the sun and toward the
north, the precipitation of moisture increases in a direct
ratio with the distance, until by the time Puget Sound is
reached the winds are found to be in an almost constant
state of precipitation. This deposit is in the shape of rain
in the valleys and lowlands, and snow in the mountains.

On the other hand, in the summer, when the sun is
north of the equator, the scene of this cooling process is
moved further north, and the region that has been so
generously supplied with rain during the winter gets none
at all in summer, because the atmosphere does not become
sufficiently cooled off to make any deposits until it gets
quite far to the northward.

South of latitude 42° summer showers are almost un-
known, saving in exceptional circumstances, where mount-
ain ranges attract clouds and cause precipitation. In the
Yosemite valley showers are frequent; even in the summer
months. Another cause acts in conjunction with the one
already mentioned. In summer, as has been before stated,
the prevailing westerly winds are often deflected, and
sometimes overpowered, by winds from the north. These
north winds not only have no moisture to spare, but they
are ravenously thirsty, and so gather up and appropriate
every particle of moisture they find on their way.

Any one who has been long enough in California to be

12 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

at all familiar with its climatic phenomena does not need
to be told of the withering, blasting effect of the north
wind. It not only dries up vegetable matter and sucks
the very life out of it, but animal life is also affected.
Even man, the aristocrat of creation, is obliged to succumb
to its influence. It penetrates the very marrow of his
bones, and makes him feel that his birthright renders him
an Ishmaelite indeed, whose mission it is to be at enmity
with his race. Any one who can show an amiable dis-
position, and be ready to do his needy fellow-creature a
kindness on the third day that the wind has been in the
north, may be set down as one among a thousand! For-
tunately these north winds seldom continue more than
three days in succession, or there is no knowing to what
horrible extremities the people would be driven.

On the banks of the Sacramento, in the month of May,
the writer saw the leaves of sycamore trees, which had
unfolded and almost reached maturity of size, scorched
and withered and killed, as totally blasted as though a
fire had been kindled beneath the trees and the flames had
reached and destroyed them. This was the work of a
north wind which had prevailed a week or two before.
And woe to the unfortunate sufferer who has a rheumatic
affection lurking anywhere in his bones! The north wind
will be sure to search it out and waken it into activity.
Let such an one get on the south side of the house, and bar
the door and shut the window, if perchance he can keep
out the enemy, for, if he do not, if he be once found, such
torments will rack his bones as demons might delight to
torture their victims with!

The two chief elements of climate, temperature and

RAIN-FALL. 13

rain-fall, have now been considered, and enough said to
show the general laws by which they are governed and
the influence they exert. There remain other facts and
considerations that go to show why the climate differs so
widely in the different parts of California.

There are many local causes, such as elevation, or pro-
tection by means of mountains, or trend of coast, or other
peculiarity that may affect a given locality. This is true to
such an extent that it is impossible to give any general
description of the climate of California that will be correct
and satisfactory. The locality must be defined if a true
and authentic account would be given; still, so far as it is
possible to generalize, it is well to do so. California may,
therefore, be said to have two climates, — the land and
the sea climates. The former is dry and hot from April
to November; the latter damp and cool. If one wishes
to know the climate of a given place, the first thing to
be ascertained is, to which of the two climates the place
is subjected. Those parts of the State that are contiguous
to the ocean are, of course, under the jurisdiction of the
sea climate, and consequently have no oppressive heat and
no disheartening cold. They are kept in a state of per-
petual comfort by the coolness and evenness of the ocean
temperature. The water along the coast, under the influ-
ence of the Japan current, stands at from 52° to 54° all
the year round. This equability is imparted to the atmos-
phere so that it is preserved from any great variation of
temperature.

In San Francisco the mean difference between the sum-
mer and winter temperature is only eight degrees. This
is only one of many marked peculiarities in the climate of

14 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

this queen city of the Pacific coast. Take it altogether,
the climate is quite anomalous and difficult to be under-
stood by those who have not had the chance of becoming
personally acquainted with its peculiarities. The ladies
wear their fur collars all the year, and gentlemen do not
give the moths an opportunity to make feasts of their
overcoats, because they are in almost constant requisition.
Even on our nation's birthday, a heavy blanket-shawl
would be essential to comfort if a ride in an open buggy
were indulged in. In such a climate it does not seem so
strange as it sometimes does in the sweltering heat of an
eastern Fourth of July, that our fathers ventured to allow
themselves to get warmed up and excited enough to pledge
"their fortunes, their lives, and their sacred honors" to
any cause whatsoever, if that cause was to be sustained by
fighting ! And yet, in this same place, where in July and
August you draw your fur collar about your neck as closely
as possible, and, if you are intending to cross the bay, put
an additional pin in your blanket shawl, delicate exotics
blossom in the yards perennially. There is no time when
you cannot gather a bouquet of roses, geraniums, verbenas
and pinks, while you see in almost every dooryard such
bunches of calla-lilies, with their large, trumpet-shaped
blossoms, arrayed in the color, if not the odor, of sanctity,
as would delight the imagination of an eastern florist to
even dream of. How are these two sets of circumstances —
these perpetual furs and perpetual flowers — these blanket-
shawls in July and greenness all the year to be reconciled
and accounted for?

San Francisco is in the debatable land where the sea
and the land climates always strive together, with victory

RAItf-FALL. 15

always inclining to the side of the former. It is situated
on a peninsula, with the ocean on the west and the bay
of San Francisco on the east, thus affording an unusually
good opportunity for the wind to sweep over it and do
whatsoever it pleases. The Golden Gate and the bay of San
Francisco are the only effectual break — the only facile
communication between the coast and the interior valleys.
In summer, when the valleys are heated up B,nd vacuums
are occasioned by the rising of the hot air, the cool wind
from the ocean, in its haste to rush in and fill the vacancies,
gets very much in earnest, and blows over the peninsula in
a tempestuous manner. The hotter it is in the valleys the
harder the wind blows, so that, when there is an incipi-
ent hurricane in San Francisco it may always be inferred
that they are having a hot time of it in the valleys. On
account of this connection between the ocean and the
interior valleys by means of the Golden Gate and the bay,
San Francisco is more exposed to the wind during sum-
mer than any other place on the coast. Even Oakland,
but eight miles distant, on the other side of the bay, has
a perceptibly milder and more propitious summer climate,
because by the direction of the coast it has some protection
from the power of the ocean winds. There are many
places on the coast for which nature has kindly provided
some shield by projecting a headland, or indenting a bay,
so as to secure at least partial immunity from the rough
blasts from the sea. Santa Cruz is one of these favored
spots. Situated on a cove in the bay of Monterey, it is
protected by headlands from the roughness of the ocean
winds, and made so attractive that it has become a place
of much resort, insomuch that it is called the Newport
of California.

16 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Following the coast down to Point Concepcion, it will
be seen that there is a sudden and sharp change in its
direction. Instead of the southeastern course it has kept
heretofore, it makes an abrupt turn and the trend is almost
due east for about seventy miles. As the sea-breeze is
from the west, it is apparent that while the trend of the
coast is in the 'same direction, the wind cannot strike it
fairly, and yet there can well be enough of its cool, invig-
orating influence felt to keep the land in a state of per-
petual comfort.

Santa Barbara is not far from the center of this favored
spot, and has the additional advantage of a southern ex-
posure, which secures an unusual supply of sunshine.

Perhaps the pleasantest characteristic of this coast cli-
mate is its equability. Along the coast it is never hot and
never cold. There are not many mornings in the whole
year when a little fire does not add to the comfort; indeed,
there are few mornings when you can really be comfortable
without one. Yet, as soon as the sun is up a little way, if
you can get yourself under its influence, its heat will be
sufficient, and the fire may be permitted to go out.

It may be laid down as a general principle, that when-
ever and wherever you get away from the influence of the
sea-breeze the weather will be warm in summer, oftentimes
intensely hot, except where the influence of the sun is coun-
teracted by elevation. In the mountainous regions there
are valleys so lifted up and protected that they have
climates secured to them so nearly perfect that only a de-
termined grumbler could find fault with them. There is
a large extent of country that lies between the jurisdiction
of the sea and the land climate, and is affected by both.

BA.IN-FALL. 17

The valleys opening into the bay of San Francisco are all
subject to this donble influence. The heat of the land
climate is so modified by the cool breeze from the ocean as
to result in a compound that is generally comfortable and

pleasant. .

The sea-breeze does not seem to be unduly inclined to
confine its attentions to the coast. Wherever there is a cleft
in the mountain, or an opening made by a river, it pours
through and uses its influence to assuage the heat of the
inland valleys. It comes in at the Golden Gate without let
or hindrance, and as it does nowhere else. It strikes vio-
lently against the Contra Costa hills on the other side of
the hay These hinder its further progress in that direction,
and it is thus deflected and turned aside. One part of the
divided current goes toward the northwest, the other
toward the southeast, in both cases following the course
of the hay. Hence at San Jose, below the southern ex-
tremity of the bay, the trade-wind or sea-breeze comes
as a northwest wind; and at Benicia, on the north end ot
the bay, it comes as a southwester. Spreading out like a
fau it finds its way into all the valleys and inlets that open
into the bay. Everywhere it is invigorating, everywhere
health-giving, except in cases where the lungs are diseased
or over-sensitive. Then places where it comes m its full
strength must be avoided.

The effect of the wind blowing so constantly in one
direction is curiously visible in the trees, which, being
unable to resist the constant strain, bend so continually
before the blast that they at length depart entirely from
the perpendicular, and show rather a grovelling disposition
for anything that was created to stand upright. Among

18 TWO YEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

the live-oaks in and around Oakland, there can scarcely one
be found that has maintained its uprightness in the face
of all this opposition. At the point where the wind has
fair and full sweep the trees look as though they had been
sent for and were going as fast as they could, and all in one
direction. Some of them are so nearly horizontal that it
does not seem as though it would be a very difficult thing
to walk up to the top of them.

As has been before stated, there is a sort of correlation
of forces — a balance in trade — between the sea-breeze
and the heat in the valleys. Whenever the sun shines with
unusual power, and heats up the valleys to an unwonted
degree, causing the rarefied air to rise and hurry away, the
cold air from the sea comes to fill the vacuum, and makes
the greater haste according as the vacuum is greater.
This interchange keeps everything in motion, and the wind
in San Francisco is a pretty good thermometer for the Sac-
ramento and San Joachin valleys. In September the sun
has gone too far to the south to succeed so well in heating
up the valleys, and the wind from the ocean has no cause to
interfere; hence there is a cessation of its activity, and in
that month there is a little touch of summer on the coast.
It is uniformly the hottest month in the year everywhere
on the sea-coast.

It is a misnomer to call the season winter that alternates
with the summer in California. It is a long, bright spring,
made so by the rains which are expected in November, but
do not always come until December. After a few showers
the hills put on their garments of beauty, greenness spreads
rapidly over their brown, parched sides, and everything
assumes the fresh, inspiring look of spring. The farmers

RAIN-FALL. 19

begin to plow and sow their fields; and the sooner the seed
is in after the rains begin the better. In almost every part
of the State, in an average season, a wheat crop is secure if
the seed is put into the ground in time to have the benefit
of the greater part of the winter rain. More rain falls in
December, as a general thing, than in any other month.
In January there are many bright days when the sky is so
serene and the air so pure that it seems to be, and really is,
a luxury to live. Vegetation grows rapidly all through the
month, and has but little conflict in doing so. There are
occasional frosts, but the ground is never stiffened by cold.

Then comes the period between the early and the latter
rains. This is sometimes longer and better defined than it
is at others, but it is usually measured by the month of
February. The latter rains are of vital importance to the
crops. The seed is now in the ground, or should be, and its
growth and maturity depend in great measure upon the
copiousness of these rains. If the latter rain is abundant,
the crop may be regarded as secure.

It will be inferred from what has been already said that
the rainy reason is not a time of perpetual rain. The fact
is quite otherwise. There are often many days in succession
without a drop of rain, and the brilliancy of the skies and
the purity of the atmosphere are something Wonderful, and
beautiful as wonderful. Those who have made their only
visit to California during the heat and dust of the summer,
it is safe to say, know but little of its beauty and its glory.

The air, purified by the rain, becomes so transparent
that distance seems to be annihilated. If it were really
true that the gates were ajar, it would seem as though
one could actually look within and see the heavenly city,

20 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

"Jerusalem the golden." It was the writer's pleasant
fortune to be in Oakland for the first time during this
season. These strange and wonderful appearances occa-
sioned a state of mind so bordering on ecstasy that the
tension was acute, and the effect from excess of pleasure
almost painful. Afterward, familiarity made this loveliness
less exciting; but no familiarity could ever make such
scenes so common that the heart would not lift itself up in
glad thankfulness to the great Creator, who not only made
the world beautiful, but so stamped His image on the hearts
of His children as to make them capable of appreciation.
Go where you will on the Contra Costa mountains and the
foot-hills back of Oakland, you always seem to look right
out of the open Golden Gate to the limitless ocean beyond.
Brightness and beauty are everywhere, above, beneath and
around you. Life has a new zest and a new meaning given
to it when you can breathe such air and look out upon
such loveliness; imagination is helped in its conceptions of
that "land of pure delight" about whose glories we can
only faintly dream here, but about which we hope to know
so much hereafter.

There are many of these halcyon days scattered through
the winter. In truth, during some winters they are the
rule and rainy days are the exception, for the rain has a
strong propensity to fall in the night, very benevolently
vacating when the night is past, and leaving the " sun to
rule by day." The conditions are more favorable for the
falling of the rain by night than by day. No matter how
heavily laden the clouds are, or how ready soever they may
be to discharge their contents, the sun is so potent that it
compels them to scatter, and take with them the moisture

EAIN-FALL.

21

with which they are charged. But in the night the sun is
out of the way, and the rain-clouds have the field all to
themselves. They improve their opportunity, and some-
times pour down the rain without stint or limit. The first
winter that the writer spent in California, there was not a
day when the rain was continuous, not a day a part of
which could not be pleasantly spent out-of-doors. But
that was an exceptionally dry winter, as the next was an
exceptionally wet one, during which there was at one time
three weeks with only four pleasant days in all the twenty-

one.

The mean annual temperature varies less in a given
range of latitude on the Pacific coast than it does on the
Atlantic. Going northward on the Atlantic sea-board, the
mean annual temperature is found to diminish one degree
for every degree of latitude. But on the western coast
there is a difference of but two or three degrees in all the
nine degrees of latitude between the mouth of the Colum-
bia river and Monterey. And this difference does not
always correspond with the difference in the latitude.
Local causes come in to modify natural conditions, and
exert other influences. In the interior the climate is
greatly diversified. Each valley and mountain side seems
to have one of its own.

The rains cease in April or May, and on the coast the
trade-winds begin to blow, but they are as yet only in their
infancy. Their mature strength is in reserve for July and
August, when they hold high carnival. The wind rises
every morning about ten o'clock, or a little later, and con-
tinues through the remainder of the day. As has been
already stated, September is the hottest month of the year

22 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

on the coast, because the trade-winds have ceased, and the
land is given over to the influence of the sun.

The mean temperature of San Francisco is 56°, it being
60° in summer and 52° in winter. There is scarcely any
fall of temperature during the night. Soon after the sea-
breeze sets in, in the morning, the mercury falls from 65°
to 53° or 54°, and remains very nearly stationary from
that time till the sun brings it up the next morning. This
operation is gone through with three- fourths of the days
during June, July and August. The nights are never
uncomfortably warm, as is shown by the temperature.
Blankets are in requisition every night in the year. In-
land the sun has a better chance for victory, and does not
show himself a very merciful conqueror. Away from the
reach of the sea-breeze the heat is sometimes terrific. In
the upper Sacramento valley, during the summer, the mer-
cury disdains to stop anywhere in the nineties, but goes on
up to 100°, to 110°, and even to 118° in the shade! Yet
even that degree is more endurable than a somewhat lower
degree in other places, on account of the extreme dryness
of the atmosphere and the coolness of the nights. There
being no clouds, evaporation is rapid, and very soon after
the sun is gone down the air becomes cool, and so refresh-
ing sleep can be obtained. In the San Joachin valley, also,
when beyond the reach of the sea-breeze, the heat is intense.
But, notwithstanding the intensity of the heat, sun-strokes
are nearly or quite unknown. There is no authentic ac-
count of any case of sun-stroke that terminated fatally.
Probably, the dryness of the atmosphere, already referred
to, has something to do with this immunity.

Another of the pleasant peculiarities of the climate of

RAINFALL. 23

California is, that there are no thunder-showers. There
being no clouds to hold the electricity, the country is secure
from the celestial pyrotechnics that occasion so much terror
among the weak-nerved in other parts of the country.
There is an occasional flash of lightning, and the rumble
of thunder is sometimes heard. But these come in the
winter, when they come at all, and are but distantly re-
lated to the terrific explosions which occasion alarm, and
sometimes death, elsewhere.

24 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY.

THE word California, so familiar to our ears, and so
pleasant, is of doubtful origin. There have been
many speculations in regard to it, and divers discussions,
which cannot be brought to any certain conclusion for want
of a firm foundation on which to base the theories brought
forward. A scholar, learned in Greek lore, suggests that
California is derived from the Greek words Kala-phor-nea,
which may mean either a beautiful young woman or a new
country, according to the exigencies of the situation.

Whatever the name may mean, or by whom compounded,
it is first met with in a romance, which was once very
popular, but is now almost forgotten, and was published at
Seville, Spain, in 1510, and entitled, " The Sergas de Es-
plandian," the Son of Amadis of Gaul. In this book the
word occurs three times. One passage reads thus:

uKno\v that on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called
California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was peopled by black
women, without any men among them, because they were accustomed to live
after the manner of the Amazons. They were of strong and hardened bodies,
of ardent courage, and of great force. The island was the strongest in the
world, from its steep rocks and great cliffs. Their arms were of gold, so
were the caparisons of the wild beasts they rode."

This romance was very popular during the quarter of a
century that elapsed between its publication and the dis-
covery of this country by Hernando Grixalva, one of the
officers of Cortez. It may be that said Grixalva thought

HISTORY. 25

he had found the wonderful island which was described
in the romance, and, therefore, gave it the name that of
right belonged to it, or he may have bestowed upon it
the popular title in order to arrest attention and excite
an interest in the country.

The territory which is now occupied by the State of
California was discovered and partially described in the
year 1542 by Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, a Portuguese by
birth, but in the service of Spain at the time. He also
discovered and named the Farallone Islands, which lie
twenty or thirty miles outside the Golden Gate, and are
known to modern dwellers in that region as immense
birds1 nests, where the sea-fowls go to lay their eggs, and
where, at certain seasons of the year, men follow them in
vessels and bring away their eggs by the hundreds of dozens.
Cabrillo also named Cape Mendocino, which, however, he
called Cape Mendoza, for his friend and patron the viceroy
of Mexico. The name was afterward softened down to
Mendocino, which it still retains.

For more than two centuries after the country was
discovered by Cabrillo the beautiful bay of San Francisco,
— the best harbor upon the Pacific coast and the second-best
in the world,— remained a sinus incognitus. It is so se-
curely land-locked, and the gate is so narrow through which
it is entered, that navigators, even when searching along
the coast for an inlet, passed and repassed without discov-
ering it. And it is a somewhat singular fact that when
it was finally found the discoverers came to it overland.
In 1769 Don Gaspar De Portala, governor of Mexico,
in company with fifty or sixty men, started from Sonora
to go overland to Monterey. The party went astray, and,

26 TWO YEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

going too far northward for the point which they were
seeking, came by accident upon this gem of the Pacific,
the bay of San Francisco. They could not, of course, take
in at a glance the full value of the prize they had found;
they could not fully measure its almost unlimited capacity
as a harbor in its wonderful security. But enough was
revealed to the discoverers to make them desire to honor
it as much as they could, by the bestowal of a name
which was much to them, because it was the name of
their patron saint. The new bay was therefore called
San Francisco, for their great leader and unseen guide.

But the needs of the time did not even yet call into
requisition this grand harbor. Six years more were allowed
to pass before any use was made of the knowledge so acci-
dentally or providentially acquired, or any steps were taken
to secure possession of this important point.

With the light of the present day shining around us, the
geographical notions of those who lived before us seem very
crude and almost comical. Even the wisest of the men of
the last century, were they now living, would need to go
to school awhile to get thoroughly posted in the geogra-
phy of the present day; and, going backward in the cen-
turies, the case waxes worse and worse. In the Odd
Fellows' library in San Francisco there is a copy of a map
of the world, published in Venice in 1554, in which the
continent of North America is represented as uniting
with Asia. The river Colorado is made to rise in the
mountains of Thibet, and then wander about in a bewil-
dered sort of way till it has traveled more than fifteen
thousand miles in getting across the continent, when it is
allowed the privilege of emptying itself into the gulf of

HISTORY. 27

California, the place for which it has been seeking so
long! Knowing where the river must disgorge, and know-
ing scarcely more than that, these geography-makers had
to do as the naturalist does with his bone when he has
but one — make up a whole that will fit the part already

With geographical knowledge in this mixed-up con-
dition it is not strange that California was for a long
time thought to be an island. After that error was ex-
ploded it was succeeded by another. The whole country
was said to be a peninsula fastened to the continent by
a " narrow neck of land." At length, in 1771, Father
Bogart published a book on California, in which he so
clearly demonstrated that it was a regular and inherent
part of the American continent, that its rank as such
has never since been called in question.

A high motive has wonderful power to lift up the
heart and bring about the best results in action. As the
stream does not rise higher than the fountain, so the
result is not likely to be better than the motive. But
the rule does not always prove true when applied to the
efforts and actions of men. Anglo-Saxons were brought
to the Pacific coast by the love of gold and the greed to
gain it. Yet they have done more in the short quarter
of a century during which they have been in possession,
to develop the resources and uncover the hidden riches
of the country, than the Spaniards did in the three cen-
turies during which they ruled over it. Moreover, the
Spaniards went to California professedly for the highest
and noblest purpose — to make Christians of savages, to

extend the boundaries of that kingdom whose symbol is
2*

28 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

the cross and the very genius of which is the ameliora-
tion of the condition of the suffering sons of men, the
lifting up of the hearts and lives of those who accept it
and live according to its requirements. Did they fail
because they mistook the genius of the hierarchy which
they sought to establish, and were themselves " blind
leaders of the blind?"

That these Spanish fathers had some of the "wisdom
of the serpent" is evident, for they very wisely adapted
their means to the accomplishment of their ends. These
followers of St. Francis, who confessedly wished to build
up a spiritual kingdom, thought it best to have a good
earthly foundation for it to rest upon. So the}' took
possession of the entire coast from the Golden Gate to
San Diego, and as there was no way of access to the
country except by sea, they controlled the whole. The
possessions of one mission extended to those of another,
so that no one could come to the coast to stay, or even
to trade, without saying to the fathers, "By your leave."

Although the Spanish government was not unmindful
of the desirableness of having this western coast of Amer-
ica attached to their dominions for worldly reasons, yet
the governing motive seems to have been, the conversion
of the natives to Christianity, or, perhaps it would be
nearer to the truth to say, to Catholicism. Very soon
after the discovery of the country efforts were made in
this direction. Collections were made both in Spain and
Mexico which, together with grants of" land from the
government, went to make up what was called "The
Pious Fund of California." This fund was originally in
the hands of the Jesuits. After that order had fallen

HISTORY. 29

into disgrace and been expelled from Spain, the fund
was passed over to the possession of the followers of St.
Francis, or the Franciscans as they are generally called.
There were no active measures adopted in furtherance
of the great design of converting the Indians of Califor-
nia until 1768, when Father Juniper Serra, a devoted
member of the order, was appointed president of all
the missions to be established in Upper California. He
lost no time in inaugurating his work. In 1769 the
first mission was established in San Diego, near the
southern boundary of what is now the State of Califor-
nia. This mission was but the entering wedge; mission
after mission was planted along the coast, until they
numbered twenty-two, and the whole distance from San
Diego to the Golden Gate was subject to their control.
The dominion of the missionaries was absolute. Both
spiritual and temporal matters were under their control,
and from their authority there was no appeal. They
constituted both church and state, and were at the same
time kings and priests. The absolutism of their sway
continued for sixty years. They waxed rich and power-
ful in the prolific and beautiful country which they
ruled. Each mission had its presidio or fort, in which
there were, or were supposed to be, a company of soldiers
for its protection. So absolutely was everything in the
hands of the fathers that there was not an inn or a
public table in the whole territory, even so late as when
the country came into the possession of the United States.
The wayfarer could stop at any of the missions or
among the inhabitants of the few small towns, and his
wants would be supplied. Food and lodging were given

30 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

freely, and a horse to ride to the next stopping-place.
It is even said that a vase filled with silver coin was
often placed in the room in which the stranger slept,
from which he was expected to take what his needs
required. Apocryphal as this statement seems, it is on
record as a grave, historical fact. On the other hand,
Dana says that, after accepting a meal or other hospi-
tality, when the offer to pay was made, the steward
uniformly answered, there was no charge, the food was
the gift of the Lord. At the same time it was quite
plainly intimated that the Lord would not be unwilling
to receive a gift in return. The result was, that the
recipient, being thrown upon his honor and his gener-
osity, generally paid two or three times what the receipts
were worth. Still, he could escape payment if he chose.

The fathers lived in all their missions in patriarchal
state. The Indians were their retainers, or worse yet, their
absolute and abject slaves. Some of the missions had three
or four thousand natives attached to them, and each had
all that dwelt in the vicinity. These shrewd old Spanish
padres had rather remarkable ways of making converts
to a religion the essence of which is, or ought to be,
peace and love. Horsemen were sent out armed with the
riata, with which cattle and horses were lassoed, and by
its skillful use the savages were caught, and compelled to
come into the church — compelled in a sense in which the
Divine Teacher never meant that guests should be gathered
to the feast. Eye-witnesses tell of men, women and chil-
dren being marched into church for purposes of confession
and worship, between guards bearing whips, by the touch
of which the worshipers were persuaded to hasten to the

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HISTORY. 31

house of God, — which to them in this way was made, in
truth, a refuge and a sanctuary.

These poor savages were thus reduced to a state of the
most abject vassalage. If they believed and showed their
faith by their work, they were fed and clothed; if they did
not, they were beaten and starved. They were taught just
so much learning and handicraft as would make them use-
ful to their masters; but they were taught nothing on
account of their own needs. The proofs of the skill they
acquired remain, and are seen in aqueducts and well-built
churches, in olive orchards and vineyards, in reservoirs
and alamedas. All this work was done by the natives.
The fathers furnished the brain, the Indians the muscle.
The fathers showed themselves wise in the wisdom of the
skillful general, who keeps himself out of the way of the
bullets, but lets his soldiers have their fill of fighting and
danger, and when the battle is over takes all the glory.

There seemed to be a natural incompatibility between
the Spaniard and work, — an incompatibility that was
invincible. The direst poverty, the most urgent need,
could not make him willing to labor: that must be done
by those less favored.

When all the disadvantages of the circumstances are
considered, it seems quite wonderful that so much was
done by the Indians under the supervision of the fathers,
and that what was done should have been done so well.
There were no saw-mills, where timber could be prepared
for building the houses, and no roads by which it could
be brought to the spot where it was wanted. In some
cases the timber was cut and hewn on the sides of the
mountains, in inaccessible places, and the poor Indians

32 TWO TEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

were obliged to carry it long distances on their shoulders.
The little machinery they had was of the rudest character,
and yet with all these disabilities the churches they built
continue until the present time to challenge the admi-
ration of beholders.

These churches are all built very much after the same
pattern. They are of adobe, or unburned brick, with tile
roofs, and are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
feet in length. The width is generally about one-third of
the length. They are ornamented within with rude pic-
tures and carved images, clothed in tawdry finery, with a
mixing-in of gilt and spangles, and are well calculated in
their subjects and treatment to work upon the imagi-
nations of the untutored and ignorant. The choirs of the
churches were made up of Indians trained for the pur-
pose. They were taught not only to sing, but to play upon
instruments. They were never paid for their labor, and
were taught that, as the fathers held in their hands the
temporal interests of the Indians, so they did also those
which were spiritual and eternal. If thejpKvere disobe-
dient, there awaited them not only stripes and imprison-
ment in this world, but torment and burning flames in
the world to come.

Thus the fathers were supplied with faithful laborers
at a very small cost. True, they were obliged to feed and
clothe their vassals. But in that genial climate there was
need of but little clothing, and that little, for the Indians,
was of the poorest quality. The men wore a coarse cloth
girt about the loins, and the women had but a single
garment, a sort of gown, also made of coarse cloth. Their
food was inexpensive. The only trade in the country was

HISTORY. 33

in hides and tallow, and beeves were often slaughtered for
the sake of these products. It therefore saved the flesh
from waste if it were given to the Indians. The meat of
the slaughtered cattle constituted their principal food.

At one time the twenty-two missions established between
the years 1769 and 1822 had dependent upon them and
subject to their control more than sixteen thousand Indians.

The palmy days of the missions were between 1800 and
1820. Their possessions in flocks and herds and horses
reached an extent that seems almost incredible. The mis-
sion of San Miguel, in 1821, had ninety-one thousand head
of cattle, four thousand horses, two thousand mules, one
hundred and seventy yoke of oxen, and forty-seven thousand
sheep. The other missions numbered nearly or quite as
many.

The only exports from the country were hides and
tallow. The former were called "California bank-notes."
The trade was principally with Boston, though occasionally
vessels came from Spain, from Australia and from the
Sandwich Islands. Dry goods and groceries were brought
in the vessels and exchanged for hides and tallow. Even
so late as 1835-6, when Dana went to the Pacific coast
"before the mast," there was no other trade the whole
length of the seaboard, and yet the Spaniards had been in
possession of this wonderfully productive country for nearly
three centuries.

To one who is familiar with the present state of affairs —
who knows the great amount of business done at different
points along the coast, and has seen the flags of almost
every nation under the heaven flying from the mast-heads
of vessels lying at anchor in the bay of San Francisco, it

34 TWO YEARS 1ST CALIFORNIA.

is interesting as well as strange to hear that in January,
1836 — that is, only forty years ago — there was but a
single vessel in the bay, and that was waiting for hides
to be brought from San Jos6, whither a part of the crew
had gone for them.

Dana gives a curious account of the manner in which
these cargoes were taken on board the ships. When the
hide was taken from the animal it was fastened down to
the ground at each of the four corners, to keep it from
shrinking while drying. When loaded on board the vessel
each hide was doubled lengthwise and carried on the head
of a sailor to the boat that was to receive it. Sometimes
this work involved wading out into the water a consider-
able distance. Not unfrequently a sudden gust of wind
would disturb the equilibrium of this nicely balanced
head-rigging, and off it would go quite away from the
line marked out, taking the poor bearer along with it,
if he had pluck enough to hold on, to the unadulterated
enjoyment of the bystanders, but great inconvenience of
the poor fellow who was most interested in the catastrophe.
The sailors were obliged to have caps cushioned with
padded wool, to protect their heads from the friction of
the hides, and save themselves from becoming " bald-
heads' ' before their time.

Vessels were sent out from Boston with all sorts of
notions to be exchanged for hides and tallow, and large
fortunes for those days were made by one or two Boston
merchants in this trade.

Dana represents the Spaniards and their Mexican de-
scendants as shiftless almost beyond description. There
was no working class among them. " They seemed to be

HISTORY. 35

a people upon whom a curse had fallen and stripped them
of everything but their pride, their manners and their
voices.1' It was a pleasure to listen to their sweet, soft
tones, even though not a word could be understood. The
women especially were blessed with that pleasant gift, a
voice low and musical. It was no strange thing to see a
Spaniard with the manners of a lord, dressed in fine broad-
cloth and velvet, with a noble horse completely covered
with trappings, upon which he sat with the air of a king,
when he had not in esse and scarcely in posse sl cent with
which to bless himself.

Strange to tell, a love of dress also prevailed among
the women! Nor was there always shown a nice regard
for the proprieties of time and circumstance. A woman
who lived in two rooms on literally a ground floor might
be seen issuing from her door arrayed in a silk gown,
satin shoes covered with spangles, a high comb, and gilt,
if not gold, ear-rings and necklace. Life was to the Span-
iards a long holiday without cares or duties. The few
trading-posts along the coast were in the hands of " Yan-
kees," who "had left their consciences at Cape Horn,"
married California wives, abjured the Protestant religion,
adopted the Catholic, and brought up their children both
as Catholics and Spaniards. Their abandonment of Prot-
estantism was compulsory if they wished to remain in
the country. Protestants had no rights. They could
not own real estate or transact business. There was no
manufacturing done, and no work of any kind performed
that could be left undone. Abounding 'in grapes as the
country did, they bought poor wine at a high price, which
was brought from Boston. They paid three or four dollars

36 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

a pair for shoes and ten or twelve for boots made out of
hides they had sold, and which had been twice around the
Horn. It is only by understanding to some extent the
character of this people that we are able to comprehend
how they could for so long have occupied a country of
capacities so nearly unlimited without developing some
of them, and showing how extensive they were.

Their houses were built of adobe, and generally had
tile roofs. They were all constructed after one model,
having but one story and one tier of rooms, without
fire-place or chimney, the work being generally done
in a small out-house built for the purpose; the windows
were grated and without glass, save in the houses of the
more wealthy. Except in these same cases the floors were
the unadulterated earth. But these Spaniards had one
virtue which they taught the Indians. They had great
regard for cleanliness. To this day this attribute or habit
is retained, and go where you will among the "greasers"
you will find their houses tidy and their earthen floors
swept as clean as a broom can make them, while the
yards share in the same blessing.

All the work in the families, as well as in the mis-
sions, was done by the Indians. As they were not paid
for their labor, and it cost so little to keep them, there
was no Spaniard so poor that he could not, at least, have
one or two menials to do him service.

At the time of Dana's visit, hides sold at about two
dollars each, and not unfrequently articles were given in
exchange worth less than half the estimated value of the
skins. In enumerating the hardships of his condition, hav-
ing to remain eighteen months on the coast of California,

HISTORY. 37

sailing up and down in order to get hides enough to load
a single vessel, Dana says: "Besides the length of the
voyage and the hard and exposed life, we were at the ends
of the earth, on a coast almost solitary, in a country
where there is neither law nor gospel, and where sailors
are at their captain's mercy, there being no American
consul or any one to whom complaint could be made."

What a change since then! and that was only forty
years ago! One can now make the journey in half a
score of days that then seemed so nearly endless, and can
find comfort and safety everywhere. Yet the writer of
that lament has not had time to fall into the "sear and
yellow leaf'1 that preludes the passing away. He may
yet be in the vigor of a mature manhood. Has Aladdin
been here with his wonderful lamp, or has our American
civilization made the ancient fables of genii and giants
seem actualities of common occurrence?

But the day of doom was nearing the followers of St.
Francis. The power of their patron saint proved insuffi-
cient for their protection when the time of need came. In
1822 the people of Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke and
put on one of their own making. The government being
moved nearer to the missions had a better opportunity to
become informed in regard to their wealth and the extent
of their possessions. Self-abnegation was not a character-
istic of the Mexican authority. Every party that came
into power, and their name was legion, filched something
from the fathers, who, in their turn, became reckless in
regard to the future, and careful only to secure what
good they could in the present while the means were
within their reach.

38 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Little by little their power and possessions were in-
fringed upon until finally, in 1840, there was a grand
swoop made by the Mexican government, which took pos-
session of the missions and all that pertained to them.
The fathers were then helpless and penniless. In 1845
the Mexican Congress sold the missions to the highest
bidders.

As is often true, the fathers suffered from their own
craftiness, and were taken in the net which they had them-
selves spread. As they had zealously kept out all foreigners
from the country, and as the Indians, like our southern
slaves, were chattels, not persons, and therefore not entitled
to representation, the inhabitants were not sufficiently nu-
merous to be properly represented in the Mexican congress.
So the politicians had it all their own way, and did not
consult the interests of those who had no influence in the
government.

The effects of the mission system upon the Indians
were evil, and that continually. What was good in them
as savages was crushed out by the abject slavery to which
they were reduced, while they took on in very scant meas-
ure what was really good in their Christian masters. The
California Indians are now classed among the lowest and
most degraded specimens of the human race. But they
do not always seem to have been of this type. Cabrillo,
who discovered the country, spent six months in what is
now Santa Barbara county, and has left on record the
names of forty towns and villages, or pueblos, that he
found in that region alone. Dwelling together in towns
always indicates some knowledge in a people of trade, and
regard for mutual rights. The Indians on the coast made

HISTORY. 39

canoes of the tule, in which they went quite a distance
out to sea; and they kept up a vigorous trade in fish,
abelone and other shells with those who lived in the in-
terior.

Father Juniper Serra, who founded the first mission in
1769, speaks of their number as being immense. He says:
" All those of this coast live very contentedly upon various
seeds, and fish which they catch from their canoes made of
tule, in which they go out considerable distances to sea.
They are very affable. All the males, both large and small,
go naked; but the females are modestly clad, even to the
little girls." That they had a glimmering idea of a future
state is proved by their burning the ornaments and weap-
ons of the dead with their bodies, that they might have
the articles to use in the shadowy land to which they had
gone. They expressed their idea of immortality by saying,
that "as the moon died and came to life again, so would
men come to life after they were dead." They believed
that the hearts of good chiefs went up to heaven, and
were converted into stars, so that they could continue to
watch over their people. There is abundant evidence that
they were not wanting in courage, — in the sturdiness with
which they stood up for their rights, and the bravery with
which they resisted the encroachments of the white man.
The country seems to have been thickly populated. Kit
Carson says that even so late as 1829 the valleys were
full of Indians; they were plentiful everywhere. They
were numbered for the first time in 1823, when there
were one hundred thousand eight hundred and twenty-
six. In 1863 there were only twenty-nine thousand three
hundred. There are probably not more than twenty

40 TWO YEARS Itf CALIFORNIA.

thousand now. "They are gone; they have all passed
by,1' leaving scarcely more than their names as me-
mentoes. Good taste has been shown in retaining many
of their pleasant titles. Colusa, Shasta, Yolo, Tehama,
Napa, are specimens of these bequests received either
from tribes or noted chiefs.

A mysterious law, which has within itself the power of its
own execution, seems to have decreed that civilization and
barbarism shall not dwell together. When civilization
comes, the savage must accept it or die! The latter pen-
alty seems to have been dealt out to the Indians with great
suddenness in California. In the valleys that were so
recently teeming with natives there is scarcely one now
to be found. They have vanished as the mist before the
clear shining of the sun. Some of them have been gath-
ered into reservations under the pretense of taking care
of them. But it is too often such care as the wolf takes
of the lamb that is in his power. They are made to toil
and raise crops, which are sold to put money into the
pockets of those who superintend the reservation, and the
poor Indian is allowed to live as he can. Even if one is
not particularly sentimental in regard to the Indian, such
wrong and oppression, and wholesale destruction, can
scarcely be regarded without pain. Their sixty years of
bondage to the fathers took from them their independence,
and crushed out whatever manliness there was in their
nature. Trained to depend entirely upon others, when
left to themselves they were like ships without rudders,
they drifted whithersoever the winds and the waves car-
ried them, and these have borne them to sure and swift
destruction.

GEOGEAPHY AND TOPOGKAPHY. 41

CHAPTER IV.

GEOGEAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHY.

THERE are three ranges of mountains within the
boundaries of the United States, all running in near-
ly the same direction, though not exactly parallel. The
Appalachian range lies on the eastern border. This chain
is made up " of a series of compact wrinkles of the earth's
crust," having within its limits no very high peaks, the
loftiest being not more than seven thousand feet. None
of the different lines of the Appalachian chain are im-
mediately on the sea- coast. In New England the nearest
is fifty miles back, and the interval gains in width going
southward, until in the Carolinas it has a breadth of two
hundred miles. The congeries of ranges belonging to the
Appalachian chain averages one hundred miles in width.
Extending west from this chain are the broken foot-hills
which form the eastern portion of Ohio and parts of Ken-
tucky and Tennessee. Pittsburgh is in this foot-hill coun-
try, and is six hundred and ninety- nine feet above the
sea-level. From this point to the mouth of the Ohio river
the descent is three hundred and seventy-five feet, the
level there being only two hundred and seventy-five feet
above the Gulf of Mexico. The Ohio river forms the east-
ern boundary of the prairie region, the garden of the
continent, of which nearly the whole State of Illinois can
be taken as a type.

Crossing the Mississippi, and still pursuing a westward

42 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

course, when the western border of Missouri is reached
there is a choice of two ways of continuing the journey,
either of which will advance the traveler on his way toward
the setting sun. He can follow up the Kansas or the Platte
rivers, both of them confluents of the Missouri. He may
travel up either of these rivers more than five hundred
miles, all the while ascending, but ascending so gradually
as to be scarcely cognizant of the fact. On either side
there is a vast plain, which abounds in nutritious grasses,
though destitute of forests except along the river courses.
These are " the plains " about which so much was said
in the early days of immigration to the Pacific coast.
These plains form the western side of the great cen-
tral valley of the continent; and whatever barrenness
they have is due to the insufficient rain-fall, which is
greatly less than it is in the immediate vicinity of the
Mississippi river. Only about one-third as much rain
falls on the western as on the eastern side of the val-
ley. This great American desert of twenty-five years
ago has lost its reputation for barrenness. Coal and iron
are found there, and when its need of water can be sat-
isfied it can be made "to bud and blossom as the rose."
Grain and vegetables and fruits grow in abundance when
the soil is properly irrigated.

Omaha, situated on the west bank of the Missouri river,
is one thousand feet above sea-level, and from there the
ascent, going westward, is continuous, though gradual. In
passing over the Union Pacific railroad, the first view of
the Platte river is gained just before reaching Fremont,
fifty miles west of Omaha. This river is a disappoint-
ment to most persons who see it here for the first time.

GEOGRAPHY AtfD TOPOGRAPHY. 43

It seems to be not so great or so grand as had been sup-
posed. It is said that in the days when emigrants crossed
the plains in wagons on their way to California, they were
sometimes obliged to dig pits in the river and let the
water settle into them in order to get enough for their
teams to drink. The average width of the stream is three-
fourths of a mile, and the average depth six inches, which
shows that it is very much spread out. The valley is
level and grand in its extensiveness.

The Union Pacific railroad follows the valley of the
main Platte river for three hundred miles, when it reaches
the North Platte, which it crosses on a long and sub-
stantial trestle bridge. The Black Hills are here seen in
the distance, but the traveler on the Union Pacific road
looks in vain for anything that will come up to his pre-
conceived ideas of the Rocky Mountains. Indeed, if he
follows the line of the railroad he will fail altogether of
getting any just appreciation of the majesty and grandeur
of this mighty range of mountains. He must leave the
line of the Union Pacific at Cheyenne and go one hundred
miles south to Denver, on the South Platte. From Den-
ver he must go westward, and, if possible, southward too,
and make the familiar acquaintance of the peaks of the
"snowy range," get into the near neighborhood of Pike's
Peak, and of Grey's Peak, and of Long's, the three prin-
cipal vertebrse of the back-bone of the continent, in order
to know anything about the peculiarities of the range or
the appropriateness of the name by which it is called.
The Rocky Mountains form the grand divide which sep-
arates the waters that flow into the Atlantic from those
that flow into the Pacific ocean. It is an interesting fact

44 TWO YEARS Itf CALIFORNIA.

that there is a point not far from Fremont's Peak called
the Three Tetons, from which can be seen, at the same
time, the beginnings of the Lewis or south fork of the
Columbia river, the Yellowstone, a confluent of the Mis-
souri, and the Green river, a branch of the Colorado.
Like children, that are sheltered under one roof in infancy,
then find their devious ways into the great world, and
take upon themselves each his own duties, and lie down
at last in far distant graves, so these rivers, starting
from one birthplace, run their courses in different direc-
tions and find different fates in the end. The Lewis fork,
after turning southward, and then westward, and again
northward, unites with the north fork of the Columbia,
and the two together joining their forces for the purpose,
break their way through the Cascade mountains that
vainly place themselves in the path to impede their pro-
gress. In the accomplishment of this great undertaking,
these united rivers, now forming a unit, originate some
of the grandest scenery in the world, and then go on
peacefully for one hundred and fifty miles to find the ocean
they have been so long seeking. The Yellowstone, taking
an opposite direction, after furnishing fields of delight for
the naturalist and a national park for the country, makes
its way to the Missouri river, and through that into the
Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean. Finally, the Green
river goes southward and westward till it reaches the
Colorado river, and having entered into partnership with
this stream the two go together to the Gulf of California,
and through that flow into the Pacific ocean.

The plateau between the Rocky and the Sierra Nevada
mountains has an average width of one thousand miles,

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 45

and Prof. Whitney says that it nowhere descends to less
than four thousand feet above sea-level. In this plateau
lies the Great Basin, in which all the streams within its
confines are lost because they can find no way out. The
Humboldt river is on the western side of the basin, and
is among the rivers that are obliged to sink because they
can no longer swim. The Wasatch and Humboldt mount-
ains are isolated ranges within the jurisdiction of the
Great Basin, or forming its eastern rim, and separating
it from the Colorado and the land which the river drains.
The Sierra Nevada mountains form the western border
of the basin.

As California is the objective point in the present writ-
ing, the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range mountains
are those which most concern us and with which we shall
have mainly to do. These two ranges of mountains give
to California its most marked peculiarities, and have hith-
erto been the sources of its chief wealth. The great gold
region is on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mount-
ains and the adjacent foot-hills. Everywhere in the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin valleys these two mountain ranges
are seen, forming the visible and distinct lines of boundary;
the Sierra Nevada range, with here and there a white-
capped peak, on the east, the less pretentious Coast Range
on the west.

The Sierra Nevadas are made up of a series of ranges,
which average about seventy miles in width. The Coast
Range consists of chains, which aggregate about forty
miles in width. There is a great and essential difference
in the structure and conformation of the two ranges.
The Sierra Nevadas can be traced in consecutive order

46 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

for a great distance. There are two lines of culminating
peaks that can be followed through the whole five hun-
dred miles over which they extend within the boundary
of California. In the Coast Kange the continuity is con-
tinually broken. Everywhere there are confusion and dis-
order. Each mountain seems to be the product of a local
cause and independent of its fellows. The minerals are
different in the several eminences, which are in close
neighborhood. There are peaks that elevate their heads
from fifteen hundred to eight thousand feet above the sea-
level, but there is no connection between them, and their
direction cannot be reduced to any mathematical line. In
the Sierra Nevada range there is, on the contrary, great
regularity in the elevations and depressions. Prof. Whit-
ney draws a line which he calls "the main axial line of
the State,1' which cuts through very near all the highest
peaks in the State from Mount Shasta on the north to
Mount Whitney on the south. This line thus extended
runs straight for five hundred miles. East of these cul-
minating peaks there is a series of lakes, the principal of
which are Klamath, Pyramid, Mono and Owen's. The
highest peaks in North America are found in the southern
part of the Sierra Nevadas.

The range is rich in mineral wealth beyond any other
locality known in the world. It has gold hidden away in
its secret places, which men are only beginning to find
ways of discovering and bringing to its proper use. The%
greater part of the ore that has been obtained as yet
has been found in the western declivity of the mountains.
In less than a quarter of a century the yield of the precious
metal from these fields has been nine hundred and fifty

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 47

million dollars, and they now afford thirty-seven per cent,
of the whole amount of production, and ten per cent,
more than Australia. Nor is gold all the wealth which
these mountains contain. In the range and its offshoots,
silver, copper, iron and coal are hidden away, waiting for
the ingenuity and industry of man to bring them forth
and convert them to use.

While these opulent mines lie beneath the surface,
there are upon it the finest coniferous trees that can be
found on the continent, or in the world. The habitat of
the big tree is here, and well up toward heaven. No air
less pure than that which rests away up a mile or so
above the fogs and miasms of the world would suffice to
give trees a circumference of over one hundred feet, and
a height of three hundred and more. Although this tree
has been found in so many localities, it is observed that
all have an elevation of from four to six thousand feet
above sea-level. Between the high mountains of this
region there are valleys interspersed, among which are
lovely nooks, where almost all kinds of fruit ripen, and
the grape delights to grow, and the climate is well adapted
to comfort, and conducive to health. The Sierra Nevada
range is not only unsurpassed in extent and altitude by
any other range in North America, but it is unequaled
in its wonderful scenery, as well as in mineral and vege-
table wealth. The Yosemite valley stands alone, peerless
among ten thousand; yet, every year new discoveries are
made of the wonders that are shut up in the high Sierras.

The wealth that has been brought out of these mount-
ains has revolutionized the commerce of the world, and
affected its civilization everywhere. In effecting this

48 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

change, wonderful energy and skill have been developed
in the explorers and workers. Yet what has been is only
a foretaste of that which will be. What prophet dare
predict the further mighty impulses that may be given to
the population of the globe by the influences that will go
out from this young member of our family of States?

The Sierra Nevada mountains — as the name is popu-
larly used — are limited to California, and extend from
the Tejon pass on the south to Mount Shasta on the
north, a distance of about five hundred and fifty miles.
The highest peaks are in the southern part of the range.
As is true of almost all high mountains, the central core
is granite. In the most elevated portion of the Sierra
this granite core is forty miles wide.

In both the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range the
mountain walls are often broken, and lovely valleys are
thrown in between the fractured parts. There are valleys
lying in the Sierra Nevadas from three to seven thousand
feet above sea-level, with climates so exhilarating and de-
lightful as to leave little to be desired. The valleys in
the Coast Range are not so elevated, but they are larger
and more lovely. The Coast Range has a way of furnishing
the conditions for vegetable growth to the very tops of the
mountains. Peaks three thousand feet high are covered
with a luxuriant growth of wild oats to the very summit.
In the Coast Range, and among its foot-hills, the red-wood,
that other member of the sequoia family, has its home,
and is found nowhere else. This tree, while less cele-
brated than its confrere the big tree, is more useful, and
when seen in the large groves in which it stands, is
scarcely less imposing.

GEOGRAPHY AtfD TOPOGRAPHY. 49

The loftiest peaks in the Coast Range are lt>wr compared
with the giants of the Sierra Nevada. Mount Hamilton,
fifteen miles from San Jos6, is the highest point seen from
San Francisco. It is only four thousand four hundred feet
high, ten thousand feet below the summit of Mount Shasta.
It is so surrounded by other peaks not much less elevated
that it is not easily distinguishable, while Monte Diablo,
which is not so high by nearly one thousand feet, is much
more conspicuous, because of its isolated position near the
break made in the range through which the bay empties its
waters through the Golden Gate into the ocean.

Going north or south from the central portion, the peaks
become more elevated, as if preparing to meet the range
of the Sierra Nevada on terms more nearly approaching
equality. In these extremities of the range there are peaks
that reach an altitude of eight thousand feet.

The scenery of the Coast Range is less grand than that
of the Sierra Nevada. The " line of beauty " prevails very
generally, and gives rounded outlines to the mountains
and gentle swells to the foot-hills. The valleys are more
influential in giving character to the scenery than the ele-
vations. Nowhere else can valleys be seen that are so
park-like. The tree that is oftenest met with is the oak;
and no one knows how beautiful an oak may be until the
specimens that prevail here are seen. Their limbs droop
with the graceful sweep of the New England elm, and
attain such magnitude that the trees seem to be crowned
with majesty and power. It would be a very cold heart
or a very critical eye to which they would not appeal
successfully for admiration. There are some single oaks
in the Napa valley, in the vicinity of Calistoga, that would

50 TWO YEARS Itf CALIFORNIA.

well pay one for going far to see. This grand and beautiful
tree is the burr- oak (Quercus macrocarpa). The trees do
not cover the ground thickly, but are scattered here and
there, as though they thought too much of themselves to
crowd together in herds like their common brethren. They
present the appearance of having been planted by a skillful
artist, who wished to produce the best scenic effect and
placed them just far enough apart to make them imposing.
Occasionally a live-oak is seen among them, which, being
much less grand and beautiful, looks as though it might
be glad to dwell in such grand company.

These Coast Range mountains occasion some confusion in
the minds of strangers on account of the great variety of
names by which they are called, as well as by their want
of connection with one another. The Spaniards must have
nearly exhausted the titles of their saints in getting de-
nominations to apply to the different ranges. They were a
very godly people, these Spaniards, judging by their famil-
iarity with and regard for the inhabitants of the spirit-
world. No name was given to anything that had not a
San or a Santa prefixed. Either a masculine or a femi-
nine saint must stand sponsor when anything was to be
christened.

Of the different ranges of mountains that belong to the
general family of the Coast Range, the longest, best denned
and best known is the Monte Diablo range, which extends
from Monte Diablo, thirty miles north of San Francisco, to
Los Gatos. It covers a territory about one hundred and
fifty miles long and from twenty to thirty miles wide.
This range contains the only coal mines that have as yet
been profitably worked in the State. It forms the western

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 51

boundary of the great San Joaquin valley. All the mines
of cinnabar or quicksilver that have as yet proved suffi-
ciently rich to pay for working are in the Coast Range
or the foot-hills adjacent.

The Coast Range inosculates with the Sierra Nevada
both at its northern and southern extremity. There are
spurs that cross from the one to the other range, and to
which they belong can only be decided upon examination
of their age. The Sierra Nevada range is entitled to the
honor of seniority according to the tests of geology. Near
Fort Tejon, in latitude 35°, the ranges close in on all sides,
and it becomes impossible any longer to draw a line of
distinction between the two great chains. So also on the
north, Mount Shasta seems to be the point where they
consolidate, though after a while they both spring up out
of the ground again, and under new names traverse Ore-
gon and Washington; the Coast Range taking the more
ambitious name of Olympian mountains, and the Sierra
Nevada exchanging its Spanish cognomen for the plain
English name Cascade.

3*

52 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA-

CHAPTER V.
DIMENSIONS AND DIVISIONS.

CALIFORNIA extends through more than ten degrees
of latitude, from 32° 40' to 42°. The length of the
State is seven hundred miles, and the average width, fifty.
It has a coast range equal in length to that included be-
tween Plymouth, Mass., and Charleston, S. C. The State
contains one hundred and sixty thousand square miles, an
area greater than that of New York, Pennsylvania and all
the New England States put together, and equal to Eng-
land and Ireland with a few of the smaller German prin-
cipalities thrown in. In variety of climate, soil and pro-
ductions it is scarcely equaled by any country or countries
of similar extent, so that it has within itself the elements
out of which an empire might be made.

Southern California is usually considered as extending
from 36° to the southern boundary of the State. It in-
cludes seven counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Los
Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and
Kern.

These counties embrace nearly one-third of the territory
of the State, and contain fifty thousand square miles, or
more than thirty millions of acres of land, three-fourths
of which is adapted either to agricultural or grazing pur-
poses. This is the very garden of the State. Here is the
home of the orange and the fig and the olive and the
pomegranate, the lemon and the almond, while there is

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 53

good reason to believe that the tea-plant, the banana and
the India-rubber tree will take so kindly to the soil that
their culture will be profitable. The one great want com-
mon to nearly all this region is water. Supply that to the
land in sufficient quantities, and there will scarcely be a
limit to the kind or extent of its productions.

San Diego, the southernmost of these counties, is in
itself so extensive as to be sufficient for a principality.
Although the Colorado desert covers one-third of its sur-
face, and mountains and canons four millions of acres
more, there are still left two millions of acres suitable
for farming or grazing.

The Colorado desert is a desert only for the want of
water. Treeless and arid as it is, the soil is rich, and
with a sufficient supply of moisture would be fertile and
fruitful. The delta between the Gila and the Colorado,
which is the very heart of the desert, seems once to have
been the bed of the rivers that now inclose it, they hav-
ing made for themselves new channels. The curious fact
that this delta is lower than the Gulf of California, into
which the rivers flow, will make it easy of irrigation.
Hence it is very probable that the time will come when
this desert will have the same history that some of the
deserts of other days already have — it will be among the
things that have been and are not.

Fort Yuma, a government post in the southeastern
corner of this county, is at the same time the hottest and
the dryest place in the State. The mercury reaches 122° in
the shade in summer, and the average rain-fall is three
inches per annum.

There are some strange phenomena in this part of the

54 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

county — indeed, there is much evidence to show that the
greater part of southeastern California is in an unfinished
state — that nature has not so far concluded the job of
"fixing up" as to be ready to turn it over to man for
use and occupation. Not a few of these strange things
it would well repay the curious to go and see. A few
miles southwest of Don Palmas there is a broad valley,
bounded by ranges of hills of hard-baked red clay, called
the Chocolate mountains. In this valley there is the dry
bed of a lake forty miles in circumference, and nearly
eighty feet below the level of the sea. This great basin
is separated by a level plain, about five miles wide, from
the dry beds of a number of creeks, which appear to have
been once connected with it. Nearly in the center of this
plain there is a lake of boiling mud, about half a mile
in length by five hundred yards in width. In this curious
caldron the thick, grayish, pasty earth is continually in
motion, hissing and bubbling, with jets of boiling water
and clouds of sulphurous vapor bursting through the tena-
cious crust, and rising high in the air with reports often
heard at a considerable distance. The whole region around
this lake appears to be underlaid with this liquid soil,
for the ground trembles under foot, and subterranean
noises are heard in all directions. Hot springs and sul-
phur deposits are numerous for many miles around.

In 1867 a large spring of pure, cool water began to
flow from a fissure in a high bluff a few hundred yards
from the station at Don Palmas, where there had been
no water before. This strange event was heralded by no
earthquake or unusual disturbance, and it was all the more
strange from the fact that none of the wells previously

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 55

sunk in different parts of the desert afforded sweet water.
In all cases the liquid was so impregnated with different
kinds of salts and alkali as to be unfit for use.

San Diego county entered the ranks of the bullion-
producing counties in 1870. Gold was found in the Isa-
bella mountains, forty-two miles northeast of the town of
San Diego. There was quite an excitement about these
mines for a time, the ore being pronounced of unusual
richness. A hamlet sprang up at once, as is usual in min-
ing districts, to which the name of Julian City was given.
Subsequent tests did not justify the first expectations in
regard to the richness of the ore, and many incipient
plans failed of execution for want of the necessary capital.
San Diego, the county seat and principal town in the
county, is the oldest settlement in the State. The first
of that series of missions which was established along the
coast by the followers of St. Francis was established here
in 1769. The new settlement was placed under the tute-
lary guardianship of their patron saint, San Diego, the
Spanish for St. James, and his name given to the mission
and to the bay near which it was situated. Afterward
the title suffered another repetition and was given to the
county.

The San Diego mission was one of the richest on the
coast. As the years passed the fathers waxed both mighty
and rich. Their flocks and herds were numbered by the
tens of thousands, as were also their horses and mules.
Their harbor, being the best then known on the southern
coast, attracted commerce, and made the town the center
of whatever trade existed. This was, however, very lim-
ited, the exports being confined to tallow and hides. For

56 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

some years there was no other harbor known, on the
coast. The bay of San Francisco was not discovered for
several years after the mission was established at San
Diego, and some time was allowed to elapse, even after its
discovery, before its value as a harbor was recognized.

San Diego was the general depot for all the business
on the seaboard. The custom was for vessels to sail along
the coast and gather up the hides which the other mis-
sions had to sell, and bring them all to San Diego, where
they were stored until enough were obtained to load a
vessel. Sometimes months were employed in getting to-
gether enough for a cargo. When Dana was on the coast
in 1836-7 it took a year and a half to collect a load for
the vessel upon which he returned to Boston.

The mission was surrounded by extensive gardens and
vineyards, which were cultivated by the Indians under
the direction of the fathers. The church buildings were
large and fine, at least for the period in which they were
erected. They are now crumbling away under the influ-
ence of "time's effacing fingers." In 1866 the bells that
for three- fourths of a century had called the Indians to
prayer and to labor, were taken from the belfry. Of the
gardens scarcely anything remains except the olive orchard.

The old town of San Diego is near the harbor of the
same name. Two miles distant is the new town, where
the government stores are kept. Some substantial resi-
dences and a wharf have been built here within a few
years. Notwithstanding the fine climate of San Diego, its
growth has been slow, mainly because of the depressed
condition of the agricultural interests in the region round
about. The want of water is the blight that rests upon

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 57

this otherwise surpassingly fine country. With the second
best harbor on the Pacific coast, and such a climate as
can scarcely be found elsewhere in the world, the place
has not kept up, in the race of progress, with other towns
which are in many ways less favored. Where no water
exists, or but very little, agriculture cannot flourish; and
without this for a basis, no place can really prosper. It
has been said of the San Diegoans that they live upon a hope
and a reality, and all their great expectations for the fu-
ture are based upon these two. They hope for a railroad,
and they have a harbor. The Texas Pacific railroad is to
make this place the point of approach to the Pacific coast.
But, though the railroad may do much, it is not probable
that it will bring general prosperity. There must be some
plan devised for irrigating the soil, and thereby advancing
agricultural interests, before the town will enjoy a health-
ful growth and assured well being.

Twelve miles south of San Diego is placed the stone
monument erected by government to show where the ter-
ritory of the United States ends and that of Mexico be-
gins. San Diego is five hundred miles from San Francisco
and one hundred and twenty-five from Los Angeles. At
present there is but little to attract persons to the place
except its rarely fine climate. In this respect, it is thought
by those who have tried other places in California, to-
gether with the principal health-resorts in Europe, to be
nearly or quite without a rival. To those who require an
equable, dry and sunny climate it cannot fail to be attract-
ive and beneficial. The average rain-fall is but ten inches
per annum, and there is never enough at one time to cause

58 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

it to be muddy. There is a good hotel for the accommo-
dation of visitors, in which the charges are moderate.

San Bernardino county is the largest in the State; yet
three-fourths of the ten millions of acres which it contains
consist of dry and desert-like valleys, volcanic ranges and
inaccessible mountains. In the Armagoza valley there is
fertile land and also good water. The Armagoza river
flows northward, and sinks in the northern part of the
county. This sink and the region around it form the
great Death Valley, than which a more fearful, uncanny
place can scarcely be imagined. It is four hundred feet
below the level of the sea, a depression greater than that
of the Caspian Sea, and nearly equal to that of the Dead
Sea. Only seventy miles west of this depression rise some
of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Death Valley was probably, at some time in the past, the
bed of a lake, the waters of which were heavily charged
with salt and soda. A large portion of the basin is in-
crusted with these minerals, which in some places are sev-
eral inches deep. The remainder of the surface of the
valley is composed of an ash-like earth mixed with a tena-
cious clay, sand and alkali, and is so soft that a man can-
not travel over it without difficulty, and beasts of burden
cannot cross it at all.

In spots where there is least moisture, the surface is so
porous that a horse sinks half-way to his knees at every
step. Water can be obtained almost anywhere by digging
down a few feet, but it is so saline and bitter that it
can be used neither by man nor beast. There are no
traces of vegetation except a few clumps of useless shrubs
on the border of the valley, and no sign of animal life

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 59

except a black gnat, of which there are myriads, which
enter the eyes, ears and noses of travelers, and are annoy-
ing beyond description.

The valley derives its lugubrious name from the mel-
ancholy fate of a party of emigrants who, in 1849, perished
within its limits. The bones, bleached by the sun, and the
cooking utensils and other accouterments of the unfortunate
party are still met with in the valley. The company wan-
dered about, no one knows how long, in search of water,
and died because they found none.

This dreadful valley is one hundred miles long and
twenty wide. Along its center there is a strip of salt
marsh, forty-five miles long and fifteen broad. Over this
whole extent a thin layer of soil covers an unknown depth
of soft, gray mud. This is the sink of the Armagoza
river. There is a wide circuit of country round about
this valley in which no pure water can be found. Springs
are not infrequent, but the water is so bitter and acrid as
to be entirely useless.

The heat of this valley is fearful during the summer,
and even in winter it is very great. An exploring party
who visited it in January, 1869, found the temperature
90° Fahrenheit. When there is no breeze, the air be-
comes so dense and overcharged that respiration is pain-
ful and difficult. South of this fearful place is the sink
of the Mohave. The Mohave river rises in Bear valley,
and, running sometimes over and sometimes under the
surface for one hundred miles, finally disappears in the
earth, forming what is known as Soda lake. This is rather
a peculiar sort of lake, since there is never any water in it!
It is twenty miles long and five miles wide. Even in the

4

60 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

rainy season all the water that is brought by the Mohave
river is absorbed by the alkaline soil as soon as it reaches
the spot. The whole surface of the lake is so covered with
the carbonate of soda that it looks like an immense bed
of snow.

The southwestern part of the county is more attractive.
The best agricultural district in the county is located here,
and here is the beautiful valley of the San Bernardino river.
This valley is fifty miles in length and twenty in breadth,
with mountains on the north, south and east, which are
well timbered, and make a beautiful setting for the rich
lands which they inclose.

The present town of San Bernardino was laid out by
the Mormons in 1847, and according to the same general
plan that was afterward adopted in laying out Salt Lake
city. The streets cross each other at right angles, and
inclose lots which contain from one to five acres, so that
the houses are all surrounded by abundant space for
gardens. In 1856 nearly all the Mormons abandoned the
place and went to Salt Lake.

The San Bernardino valley contains thirty-six. thousand
acres, and has the advantage over most parts of south-
ern California in being well watered. There is not only
running water which never fails, but artesian wells have
been successfully bored. Flowing water, and that which is
good, is found by boring from one hundred and fifty to three
hundred feet. One of these wells will irrigate a consider-
able tract of land. Very good crops of grain are raised
without irrigation, by taking advantage of the conditions
of the season. If wheat and barley are put in the ground
in time to have the benefit of a considerable part of the

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 61

winter rain, a harvest of from forty to sixty bushels to the
acre can be gathered in time to put in Indian corn, so
as to obtain a yield of from sixty to seventy bushels per
acre, as a second crop.

Alfalfa, the Chilian clover, is cut seven times in the
year, and yields, in all, from ten to fifteen tons to the acre.
The semi-tropical fruits do as well in San Bernardino as
at Los Angeles, while land is cheaper and better terms
are offered to settlers. The climate is especially delight-
ful. Being seventy-five miles from the ocean, the climate
is more salubrious and grateful to many invalids than
that of places on or near the coast.

The Riverside colony is established near San Ber-
nardino. The company own eight thousand acres of land.
They have brought sufficient water down in a flume to
irrigate not only their entire tract of land, but much more
besides. This colony offers many inducements to settlers,
among which are an abundant supply of water, a post-
office, and a school-house.

Los Angeles county has attracted more attention than
any other part of southern California. The county seat
and principal town has the same name as the county. The
full Spanish name was Pueblo de Los Angeles (the city of
the angels). The name must have been given prospect-
ively, to be ready for a time that has not yet come, unless
we can suppose that the angels care more for beautiful
natural environments than for moral character; for, dis-
tinguished as the place is for the former, in the latter it is
considered below par, according to the not too high stand-
ard of California.

Los Angeles is one of the oldest towns in the State,

62 TWO YEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

and had laid aside its swaddling-clothes before San Fran-
cisco had any being. It is situated in a narrow valley,
which is bounded on the west by low hills that extend from
the Santa Monica mountains, about forty miles distant, and
on the east by the rising land of the San Gabriel plain,
through which the Los Angeles river flows. The old or
Mexican part of the town extends up the valley nearly a mile.
Here are still seen the original adobe houses, with their
flat roofs covered with asphaltum, and surrounded by broad
verandahs, in the common Mexican style of architecture.
But elsewhere the appearance of the town shows that the
Americans have appeared, and brought with them their
usual energy and thrift.

All through southern California a somewhat singular
distinction is made in the inhabitants. They are divided
into the two classes, Americans and Californians. Under
the former head are included all Anglo-Saxons, no matter
whence they came or how long they have been in the
country. Under the latter are embraced the Spanish and
their descendants, and all mixed races, of which there are
many. Under the old Spanish and Mexican rule the pure
Castilians constitute the aristocracy of the country, and
they are still first among Californians. The hybrid de-
scendants of the Mexicans and Indians have the additional
sobriquet of " Greasers " bestowed upon them.

Both the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers are by
courtesy said to flow into the ocean, and are so represented
on the maps; but as a matter of fact neither of them
reaches that grand receptacle, but both lose themselves in
the sand on the way. The San Gabriel after being lost
once finds itself again, and makes a second effort to reach

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 63

the ocean, but finally succumbs to destiny and the sand,
and goes down to rise no more.

In the valley of the Los Angeles the land produces
without artificial irrigation for a considerable distance each
side of the river. The surface is only seven or eight feet
above the water-bed, and the soil is of a loose, sandy
nature; so the trees send their fibres down till they reach
the water-bed, and from thence draw their supplies of
moisture. The arrangements for irrigation around Los
Angeles are quite extensive and complete. The mountain
streams are tapped, and the water taken hither and thither
to give drink to the grape-vines and to the orange trees.
These irrigating ditches form not an ungraceful part of
the scene as it appears in riding about from orchard to
orchard and vineyard to vineyard. The water is clear
and limpid, and runs along with alacrity as though in
haste to execute its benevolent mission.

It is not easy to conceive anything more beautiful than
the orange groves in this region in February and March,
when the trees are laden with their yellow fruit, which
shines through the rich glossy leaves of the trees like
golden stars in a dark sky. It is easy to transmute these
yellow oranges into yellower gold.

Los Angeles is at present the center of the orange-
growing business in California. The fruit will probably
do just as well in San Bernardino, but the experiment
has not been very thoroughly tried as yet. It does not
thrive well anywhere on the coast, the winds from the sea
being too cold. Even in Santa Barbara and the region
around, which is the best sheltered of any place on the
coast, oranges do not grow well except in protected places,

64 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

such as a cation inclosed by mountains or in some way-
shut in and sheltered from the winds. A few miles from
Santa Barbara Col. Hollister is trying the experiment in a
cailon thus situated.

But at Los Angeles the orange finds itself at home,
with but little to interfere with its constant prosperity.
The trees come into bearing at from seven to ten years of
age ; when they are twelve years old, and thence on, they
are expected to average twenty dollars per tree per annum.
The price of oranges in San Francisco ranges from twenty
to thirty dollars per thousand, the best sometimes being as
high as thirty-five dollars per thousand. It is rather sur-
prising to people coming from the east to find oranges so
near the place where they are produced selling at so much
higher prices than they do in New York and other eastern
cities. Los Angeles oranges are seldom retailed at less than
fifty cents per dozen, and oftener bring seventy-five cents.
As yet there seems to be no danger of the supply exceed-
ing the demand. An inferior kind of orange, brought from
the islands, retails in San Francisco at twenty-five cents
per dozen, and this is the lowest price at which the fruit
is ever sold.

It is easy to see what a mine of wealth an orange
orchard is at such rates. Sixty trees to the acre, and
allowing one thousand oranges as the average yield per
tree, would give a gross result of twelve hundred dollars.
But as a matter of fact, trees in well-kept orchards some-
times average fifteen hundred oranges each. But let us
take the lower estimate. It is found that one man can
take care of twenty acres. Add to his wages the expense
of picking, boxing, freight and commission, all of which

SOUTHERN" CALIFORNIA. 65

could not exceed three hundred dollars, and there would
be left a net gain of nine hundred dollars per acre. How
much surer and better an orange orchard is than a gold
mine ! For the former is absolutely beyond a contingency.
Although young trees are at rare intervals injured by
frost, when they have gained the strength and power of
endurance which two or three years of growth give them
they are entirely safe, and if the arrangements for irri-
gation are sufficient there is absolutely nothing to harm
them or come in the way of their yielding a full crop
every year.

Mr. Wolfskill, one of the oldest American settlers, has
a grove containing two thousand trees, which, when six-
teen years old, averaged fifteen hundred oranges per tree,
and has continued to yield about the same each year since.
Mr. Wilson has a grove of sixteen hundred and fifty trees,
some of which have borne as many as four thousand
oranges, and the average has been the same as in Mr.
Wolfskill's orchard — fifteen hundred to the tree.

As a compensation for the orange tree being so late
in coming into bearing, it lives long and continues to bear
to extreme old age. A tree in the vicinity of the San
Gabriel mission, twelve miles from Los Angeles, bore six
thousand oranges when it was in the neighborhood of
ninety years of age.

A gentleman in Los Angeles, in 1873, sold twelve hun-
dred dollars' worth of oranges from the trees on half an
acre. These trees probably received extra care, and some
coaxing, in order to bring about such results. Hitherto
but little attention has been paid to grafting. All the
orange orchards of which mention has been made were

66 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

grown from the seed. The market has as yet been always
good, and the price large for such oranges as were pro-
duced in that way; but I was told by an intelligent prac-
tical farmer, who has gone to Los Angeles within a few
years, and is starting there a large orange orchard, that
there is the same necessity and advantage in grafting
oranges that there is in the case of apples and other fruits.
It was his opinion that as the supply increased, the de-
mand would be more dainty and a better quality of fruit
required.

In order to show how the time required for oranges and
English walnuts to come into bearing may be tided over,
it may be worth while to state the plans and experiences
of the gentleman to whom reference has just been made.
In the year 1868 Mr. Wolfskill and his partner purchased
three thousand acres of land in the Los Angeles valley,
about four miles from the town. For this land they paid
from four to eight dollars per acre — an average of about
six dollars. In four years from the time of purchase, so
rapidly had land appreciated in that vicinity, thirty dol-
lars per acre could have easily been obtained for the
whole tract. A large orange orchard was set out, and
also orchards of English walnuts, almonds, and a locust
grove for a supply of timber. The land lies on both sides
of the Los Angeles river, and requires no irrigation. Ar-
tesian wells have been sunk and a sufficient supply of
water for watering stock, and other uses, easily obtained.
But, no part of the ranch is as yet productive. Mean-
while two families must have their support, and in one
of them there are daughters approaching womanhood
to be educated. The entire capital of the two partners

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 67

was invested in the land, except so much as was put into
a "band1' of sheep. These sheep are the bread-winners
while the orange and the walnut trees are getting ready
to take the burden upon themselves.

The sheep also buy the young orange trees and the wal-
nuts needed for planting the orchards. They are not pas-
tured on the ranch, but sent away under the care of
shepherds to El Monte and elsewhere, to get their living
off land that nobody owns — at least, nobody save that im-
personal sort of an owner, the United States Government.
During the last two or three years there has been no
more profitable way of investing money in California than
by putting it into sheep. He who had them was sure of
a large profit on his capital once, if not twice, in the
year.

A mile or two beyond the mission of San Gabriel is
Sunny Slope, the estate of J. L. Rose, president of the
Southern District Agricultural Society. This is confessedly
the finest place in the region. A ride through avenues of
walnuts, of olives and of oranges, while on each side of
the drive the water is running merrily along on its way
to do its duty in irrigating the orchards and vineyards,
brings the visitor to the house, which is shaded by tall
eucalyptus trees, and wide-spreading, beautiful pepper trees.
Standing on the front verandah one looks down a broad
avenue, overshadowed on each side by magnificent orange
trees. This is par excellence the orange avenue. It extends
a mile, with double rows of trees on each side. Mr. Rose
has in all between six and seven thousand orange trees,
but only a comparatively small part of them have come
into bearing. He has one hundred and fifty acres in vine-

68 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

yards, wherein grow one hundred and thirty-five thousand
vines, from which he made last year one hundred thousand
gallons of white wine and three thousand gallons of brandy.
A part of the crop that he sent to market last year con-
sisted of two hundred and fifty thousand oranges, fifty
thousand lemons, and twenty-five thousand poujads of
English walnuts. Besides these tropical fruits he raises
apples, pears and peaches in considerable quantities, and
in addition to all these, pomegranates, figs, nectarines,
apricots and olives.

The income from English walnuts is estimated at from
six hundred to one thousand dollars per acre; from olives,
at from two hundred to five hundred dollars; the vineyards
produce from ten to fifteen thousand pounds per acre. This
crop has never failed since vines were first set out by the
fathers nearly a century ago. But Los Angeles is too far
from a market for grape- raising to be profitable, except for
making wine. Those who do not make wine themselves
sell their grapes at the vineyards to those who do. The
fruit sells in such cases at from one dollar to one dollar
and twenty-five cents per hundred pounds. Mr. Rose
irrigates his orchards every six weeks, and plows and hoes
after each irrigation. This constant working is one of the
reasons of the abundant bearing. As water is a fertilizer,
the ground is kept rich as well as mellow. Weeds have
no chance to grow, to absorb the strength of the soil;
indeed, they do not seem to prosper in California; it is
one of the peculiarities observable everywhere. In the
northern part of the State, a spot of ground left unculti-
vated for a season is covered with an abundant crop of

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 69

wild oats. In the south the alfilerilla improves every
chance to get a foot-hold.

To show what the possibilities of southern California are
to the enterprising, industrious immigrant, it may be well
to give, in brief, the history of Anaheim, a German settle-
ment established in 1857. This village is twenty-four miles
east of Wilmington, eight miles from the sea, and three from
the Santa Ana river. Fifty men in San Francisco, of dif-
ferent occupations and persuasions, but all Germans, agreed
together to buy eleven hundred and sixty-five acres of land
in Los Angeles county, southwest of the town of the same
name. The site of the village was, at the time of purchase,
a dry, sandy, barren plain, no better than thousands of acres
lying around it. The leader of the enterprise was a Mr.
Hansen, of Los Angeles, a German of culture and ability,
who had lived many years in California and knew well the
nature of the enterprise in which he embarked. The land
was bought for two dollars per acre, and divided into fifty-
lots, with streets between them. Each lot contained twenty
acres. A town was laid out in the center with sixty
building lots — one for each shareholder and ten for public
purposes. The lots were all fenced by planting willows,
sycamores and poplars, and one half of each lot was set
out in grape-vines. With the first payment of stock the
land was paid for. For three years Mr. Hansen superin-
tended the improvements, while the stockholders continued
in the pursuit of their various avocations in San Francisco.
Indians and Mexicans were hired to do the work, and with
their help the vines were set out, and an irrigating canal
seven miles long was excavated, together with four hun-
dred and fifty miles of subsidiary ditches, and twenty-five

70 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

miles of feeders for them. These arrangements secured
the thorough irrigation of the whole tract.

Fruit trees of different kinds were also set out. In
1860 the assessments were all paid in. Each stockholder
had paid the amount of twelve hundred dollars. The lots
were then assessed, the value being fixed by the location
or other incident that affected their worth, and were
drawn by the stockholders. Whoever drew a lot that
was estimated at more than twelve hundred dollars paid
the amount of the overplus to him who had drawn one
worth less than that amount. The owners then took
possession, and went to work. In 1870 there were one
million grape-vines growing in the settlement, most of
which were in bearing. They produced annually four
hundred thousand gallons of wine and ten thousand gal-
lons of brandy. There were ten thousand fruit trees of
different kinds growing. Every one of the fifty lots con-
tained a comfortable homestead, and the village had a
population of about four hundred, and contained a good
public school, a post-office and a church. Each of the
lots was valued at ten thousand dollars, and could not be
purchased at any price.

The distance by the stage route from Los Angeles to
San Buenaventura is seventy miles; yet between the two
places there is no village and not even a post-office. The
latter place is the principal town in Ventura county,
which is a new county, set off from Santa Barbara in
1873. Those who named the county did wisely in abbre-
viating the unwieldy cognomen with which the town is
incumbered. This latter, to which the fathers gave so
extensive a title, was the seat of one of their missions.

SOUTHERN" CALIFORNIA. 71

The church and some of the other buildings still remain,
and are in a sufficiently good state of repair to be used.
There are three large and very old palm trees growing
near the church, the largest I saw in California. They
are from thirty to forty feet in height, and six or eight
feet in circumference. These and an olive orchard remain
to give their testimony in regard to the thrift and the
taste of those old Spanish padres. The palm trees look
very grand, growing up, as they do, straight and
limbless to the top, which is crowned with a large tuft
of palmetto leaves. The priests contrive to have boys
go up these trees and gather leaves for sacramental pur-
poses on Palm Sunday, thereby saving themselves from
the cheat that is practiced in our more northern climates.
San Buenaventura contains about one thousand inhab-
itants, and is steadily growing. Situated as it is at the
natural outlet of the wonderfully rich valleys of the Santa
Clara and the Ojai, it cannot fail, at no distant day, to be a
place of considerable importance. The valley of the Santa
Clara river contains the richest and best agricultural land
in the county. Here, as almost everywhere in southern
California, the only want is water, and this want has been
in part supplied by arrangements for artificial irrigation.
The soil of the valley is a rich, sandy loam, and is said
to require less moisture to perfect vegetation than many
other varieties. Wheat and barley have been successfully
cultivated, and the experiment, on a small scale, of rais-
ing sea-island cotton tried with success. The sugar-beet
grows to a size that is quite enormous, some having
reached the gigantic proportions of thirty or forty inches
in circumference.

72 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

A gentleman, whose official duty rendered it necessary
for him to make a careful examination of this lower Santa
Clara valley, says: "My impression is, that this valley
offers greater inducements to settlers from the east than
any other in California. Lands are cheaper, society is
growing up, schools are being established, the climate is
excellent and well adapted to almost every variety of pro-
duction. The valley is inclosed by ranges of mountains
on both its north and south sides, which protect it from
the cold storms and high winds, but being open to the
ocean toward the west it has the advantage of the sea-
breezes more than almost any other in California."

A ride up this beautiful Santa Clara valley, early in the
month of March, was full of interest to the writer, and
may in part account for the readiness with which com-
petent testimony in regard to its desirableness is accepted.
"Seeing is believing," and when one knows in part, evi-
dence in regard to the rest which falls in with the knowl-
edge possessed is easily credited.

A good team, a comfortable carriage, and pleasant com-
pany, are elements that make up about as desirable a
whole as the imperfect conditions of this world can fur-
nish. But when to these are added the brightest of bright
sunshine, the purest and most exhilarating of atmospheres,
and a temperature at the exact point of comfort, with
mountains and valleys and cultivated fields and orchards
in blossom to give beauty and variety to the scenery, it
would be a very churlish soul indeed that could not find
delight and satisfaction in such a combination. But it
was not a churlish soul whose experiences on that day
are to be narrated, but one determined to extract sweet

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 73

out of everything that had in it one particle of sweet-
ness. What wonder then that the happiness of that day
had a very unusual completeness !

In going up the valley we passed through the oil
regions that help to make this locality famous. Instead
of occurring in depressions and valleys, as in the eastern
States, where it requires pumps to bring it to the sur-
face, the oil here oozes out from the cracks and crevices
in the mountains, wherever there is a tilt in the dip or
a fracture or an angle. I do not speak after scientific
methods, but as things looked to common, every-day eyes.
Wherever the oil finds a crack out of which it can creep
it improves the opportunity. After going up the Santa
Clara valley some twenty or twenty-five miles, we crossed
over the mountains which divide it from the San Buena-
ventura valley, through the Santa Paula pass, and on our
return passed through the Ojai valley, and back to the
town by the side of the San Buenaventura river.

One of the curious sights that we witnessed during the
ride was a stream of oil which ran out of a crevice in
the mountain and fell into a creek which was on its way
to the San Buenaventura river. The rivulet, where we
observed it, was twenty or thirty feet wide, and in its
center there was a stripe of oil six or eight feet wide,
which, grimy black and unctious, kept on its winding
course, carried by the current hither and thither, as the
stream turned and twisted and curved in its onward pas-
sage. It looked like an immense serpent, with a capacity
for swallowing any impediment that came in its way. It
was an uncanny sight to the eye of taste, and an uncom-
fortable one to the eye that looked at things with a

74 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

regard to their pecuniary value; for what a waste it
was to have this oil running away and losing itself when
it ought to be creating values by being headed up in
barrels and afterwards refined!

The maestro of our company was at that time the prin-
cipal operator in oils in that region. The business, just
then, was in rather a depressed condition. It had been
found that, easily as the oil was obtained, it could not be
refined and put into the market at a price to compete with
eastern oils. But very shortly after the date of our ride
there was quite a revival in the trade occasioned by the
successful results of experiments in San Francisco, whereby
it was found that gas could be made from the crude oil
at much lower rates than it could be from coal. It there-
fore happened that the snaky stream of oil was soon
arrested, barreled and sent to San Francisco, to be turned
into bright and shining lights.

The pleasant town of Santa Barbara is thirty miles
northwest from San Buenaventura. The road connecting
the two places is singularly romantic and delightful. For
nearly half the way it lies directly on the beach, and the
horses trot along with the ocean surges bathing their feet.
When the tide is in, or coming in, persons traveling
with animals not used to the wash and roar of the waters
are sometimes obliged to stop by the way and wait for
hours till the tide goes out. The ride between these two
places is memorable to the writer, not only for its pic-
turesqueness and the beautiful ocean views, but also as
affording the first opportunity of seeing a whale. What
a monster it was! An immensa molis as truly as the
famous wooden horse of the Greeks. Wounded by a har-

BRIDAL VEIL FALL. Page 219.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 75

poon, but escaping its pursuers, it had died in the ocean
and been stranded here, thrown on the beach by the waves
that had not power to take it away again. There lay
the huge carcass, with the oil, set free by the hot sun,
oozing out in every direction. It was eighty feet long —
twice the length of a good-sized house — and so high, as
it lay prone on the sand, that standing near the side I
could not see over it. Like the curious Trojans examining
the votive offering of the Greeks, I walked round and
round it. It seemed impossible that one single life could
have animated so immense a mass of matter. Figures or
statements of measurement give no adequate idea of its
immensity. I could readily believe that not one man only,
but a whole family, might easily find accommodations in
its interior apartments, provided they would take the risk
of furnishing their own means of respiration.

The end of this pleasant drive was Santa Barbara.
It is only within a few years that this town and the region
around have excited the attention which they well deserve.
While mining interests were dominant the attention of
emigrants was centered in those parts of the State where
such interests were best advanced. But in the time back
of American occupation it was not so. The Aborigines
showed their appreciation of natural advantages, and their
adhesion to those conditions which guaranteed a healthful,
joyous life, by congregating in this pleasant region.
When Cabrillo examined the country along the coast, only
fifty years after Columbus discovered America, he found
no part of it so thickly populated as this. He spent six
months in what is now Santa Barbara county, and has
left upon record the names of forty towns and villages

76 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

that then existed within its limits. Thus more than three
hundred years ago a large population enjoyed the sun-
shine and the pleasant climate of this delightful country.

As Santa Barbara is attracting much attention at the
present time as a health resort, and as many are desir-
ous of ascertaining what its special claims are in this
behalf, a fuller statement of facts than usual will be given
of this particular section of the State. What has come
to the writer's knowledge, both experimentally and through
competent testimony, will be mentioned, after which a cat-
alogue will be given of the resources, in the way of soil
and productions, which make the place inviting to those
who, already blessed with health, seek here a competency
and a home. When an artificer is the possessor of knowl-
edge and skill, the result of his effort will be in propor-
tion to the resources at his command. Here were all
material and all power in the hands of the Great Creator.
Behold how skillfully the arrangements were made and the
combinations effected in order to bring about the desired
result, and fit up a great sanitarium, from which a voice
should go out to the sick and weary everywhere, saying,
"Come ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish," come, bask
in this sunshine and breathe this refreshing air, which will
warm without heating, and cool without chilling you!

But as to the means by which this desideratum is brought
about. First, from Point Concepcion to San Buenaventura,
a distance of seventy miles or so, there is a trend of the
coast toward the east. This direction of the shore gives it
a southern exposure, and spreads out its lap to receive
the sunshine. This is the only coast-line that faces south
between Alaska and Guatemala, The town of Santa Bar-

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 77

bara occupies nearly a central position in this line. Next,
the Santa Inez mountains, a branch of the Coast Range,
stretch across nearly or quite the whole seventy miles, par-
allel with the coast, and inclose a valley between them
and the ocean which has an average width of about three
miles. These mountains lift up their heads three thou-
sand feet toward the heavens, and form an effectual bar-
rier to all the harsh and inhospitable winds that would find
access from the north. Then, as if to make assurance
doubly sure, a group of islands are dropped in the sea,
having their length parallel with the coast, and lying
twenty-five or thirty miles out in the ocean. These islands
hold up a barrier of high hills, which says effectually
to any stray winds that come down from the Arctic and
are seeking a place of entrance, Hitherto ye have come,
but ye can go no further! Thus these faithful guards
keep watch and ward over the beloved land, and main-
tain it in a state of almost perpetual tranquillity.

As a worthy adjunct, the beach spreads out a level and
attractive carriage-way, where those who ride may sniff
the wholesome air of old ocean and watch its restless toss-
ings and ever-varying beauties. The arrangements for
sea-bathing are complete, so far as natural facilities can
make them. Spurs of the Santa Inez mountains come
down on each side, and lock in a little cove by reaching out
their protecting arms, about a mile and a half apart. How
could there be a nicer and safer bathing-place? For those,
however, who prefer more limited accommodations or
warmer water, a Bethesda is hidden away in a canon
four miles from the town, in which sufferers may wash
and be made better, if not entirely whole. The waters

78 TWO YEARS m CALIFORNIA.

of this hot sulphur spring are said to have power to drive
rheumatism from the joints, and expel other demons which
may have gained power over the flesh to torture and to
destroy.

These peculiarities of situation and environment secure
to Santa Barbara all the conditions required by those
who, on account of weak or diseased lungs, need an
equable, bracing climate, for it is warm without being
hot, and cool without being chilly. There is scarcely ever
a day when the most delicate invalid cannot be out-of-doors
some part of the time. Even in the rainy season, which
lasts from November till March, some portion of almost
every day can be safely and pleasantly spent in the open
air. That there cannot be many days of continuous rain
is clearly proved by the fact that the entire rain-fall
averages but twelve inches per annum. But a case is
made stronger by cumulative evidence. Dr. Brinkerhoff
went to Santa Barbara on account of poor health eighteen
years ago, since which time he has been a leading phy-
sician in the place. He says: "The heat of summer is
tempered by gentle breezes from the sea, the average sum-
mer temperature being less than 70°. The average winter
temperature is 58°. The changes of the season are
scarcely perceptible in temperature. Frosts are of rare
occurrence, and disagreeable fogs seldom prevail. There
are comparatively few days in the entire year when one
cannot sit out-of-doors without discomfort. The nights
are always cool and sleep-inviting. The softness and
general uniformity of the climate, its freedom from damp-
ness and sudden changes, the opportunity for diversion
and recreation, render Santa Barbara preeminently a de-

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 79

sirable place for persons suffering from bronchial and pul-
monary affections. Although many persons suffering from
these complaints have come here too late to receive any
permanent relief from the restorative effects of climate,
yet the greater portion of cases which have come under my
observation have been permanently relieved, and many in
a surprisingly short space of time have been perfectly re-
stored to health. Some ten miles from Santa Barbara, in a
westerly direction, in the bed of the ocean, about one and
a half miles from the shore, is an immense spring of petro-
leum, the product of which continually rises to the surface
of the water and floats upon it over an area of many
miles. This mineral oil may be seen any day from the
deck of the steamers plying between here and San Fran-
cisco, or from the high banks along the shore, its many
changing hues dancing upon the shifting waves of the
sea, and affording various suggestions both for the spec-
ulative and the speculator. Having read statements that
during the last few years the authorities of Damascus
and other plague-ridden cities of the east have resorted
to the practice of introducing crude petroleum into the
gutters of the streets to disinfect the air, and as a pre-
ventive of disease, which practice has been attended with
the most favorable results, I throw out the suggestion, but
without advancing any theory of my own, whether the
prevailing westerly sea-breezes, passing over this wide
expanse of sea-laden petroleum, may not take up from it,
and bear along with them to the places whither they go,
some subtile power which serves as a disinfecting agent,
and which may account for the infrequency of some of

80 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

the diseases referred to, and possibly for the superior
healthfulness of the climate of Santa Barbara.1'

About four miles from Santa Barbara, pleasantly located
in one of the canons of the mountains, are the hot sul-
phur springs which have become so favorably known.
If it is true of places, as well as of persons, that near-
ness and familiarity are the true test of greatness and
worth, then Santa Barbara must have the ring of the
genuine metal about it! Its number of admirers seems
to be equal to the number of its entire population, and can
only be estimated by taking the census!

A preacher, who has for some time been a resident of
the place, on one Thanksgiving day delivered a sermon
appropriate to the occasion to his assembled people. He
did not wander off to the ends of the earth for causes for
thankfulness, but showed his hearers what reason for cease-
less gratitude they had in being allowed to dwell in so
Paradisaical a place as Santa Barbara — a place of unpar-
alleled richness of soil, of unequaled salubrity of climate
— a place for which earth, air and sea did their best.
That little spot alone of all the earth seemed to have es-
caped when the earth was cursed for the sin of man!
After dwelling for some considerable time upon the fea-
tures of this perfectness, the thought seemed to occur to
the speaker that after all the taint of transitoriness which
pertains to everything earthly rested also upon Santa Bar-
bara and those who inhabit it. As, therefore, people could
not live there always, some inducement must be presented
to make them willing to leave when the inevitable sum-
mons came for them to go to heaven! Therefore he
endeavored to bring about a reconciliation between their

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 81

necessity and their desire, by a description of the pleasures
and delights of the new Jerusalem, remarking that inas-
much as it was a foregone conclusion that they would
sooner or later be forced to take their departure from the
land of delights in which they were now permitted to live,
it would be well for them to acquaint themselves with
the conditions upon which entrance to it could be obtained,
assuring them that the glories and wonders of the place
made it worthy of being earnestly sought after. The con-
clusion of the whole matter, as summed up by one who
heard the sermon, was that heaven was a very comforta-
ble place to live in, and very desirable to — those who
couldn't stay in Santa Barbara!

To the writer, personally, a sojourn there gave new
ideas of the possibilities of life. The atmosphere was so
pure and exhilarating, the sky so blue and serene, the
sunshine so bright and cheering, that mere existence
seemed a blessing rich beyond compare. Visions of beauty
and blessedness float before my eyes and fill my heart
with yearnings as I recall the experiences of those de-
lightful days. Whether I looked above, beneath or around
me, there was something to charm, something to comfort
and delight. The usual taint that affects all earthly things
seemed to be wanting, at least it did not make itself visible
to the eye. Sky, earth and air, all seemed to be absolutely
without a flaw.

Santa Barbara is the preferred home of the beautiful
pepper tree. Those who have only seen it further north
have no adequate idea of its possible loveliness and ele-
gance. The tree produces the white pepper of commerce,
but so far as I know, it is not utilized in this region, and

82 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

it ought not to be. Nothing more ought to be asked of it,
than that it should beautify and adorn, as it does, every _
place where it grows. With the graceful sweep of the
weeping willow it unites a refined and aristocratic look
which the willow does not possess. Then it is an ever-
green, and retains its handsome foliage to charm the eye
all the year round. The fruit hangs in large, loose pan-
icles all over the tree during the winter, and by its pretty
red color gives additional grace and glory to the effect.

There are many varieties of acacia that flourish in
California; and the eucalyptus, or Australian gum, is a
great favorite and much cultivated. These are all ever-
greens, and some of them beautiful; but among them all
there is nothing equal to the graceful, refined-looking and
beautiful pepper tree.

The olive, too, seems to be in as good as its native
element in this region. The leaf of the tree is long and
narrow, and not unlike that of the willow. It is bluish
green above, and on the under side of a lighter color, with
a silvery tinge which produces a very pretty effect when
the branches are tossed by the wind.

The fruit of the tree has been utilized from an early
day, and its cultivation is among the things that pay. It
may not be without interest to go somewhat into detail in
regard to this industry. In the Santa Barbara region the
olive is propagated by cuttings. These are made from ten
to fifteen inches long, and the thicker the better. The
slips are put into the ground perpendicularly about six or
eight inches apart. Everything seems to be delighted to
grow in the beautiful country around Santa Barbara, and
the olive is not an exception. These cuttings soon send out

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 83

roots and branches. After awhile they are taken up care-
fully and set out in orchards, being placed in rows twenty-
five or thirty feet apart each way. The trees grow slowly
at first, but begin to bear in four or five years. They do
not, however, produce a full crop until they are ten or
twelve years old. But as a compensation for their slow
growth and tardy maturity, they live and produce fruit to
a venerable age. A tree, that had lived through its three-
score and ten years, last year bore one hundred gallons of
olives. The average yield that is expected of an orchard
is about twenty-five gallons per tree.

For pickling, the olive is gathered before it is ripe,
though the nearer it is to maturity, and a consequent
change of color, the better and richer the pickle. It is
from the color of the fruit in this unripe state that the
shade "olive green" takes the name. When ripe, the fruit
is of a purplish, maroon color, and in both size and color
has a striking resemblance to the damson plum. For
making pickles, the immature olive is gathered and put into
vessels filled with cold water, which must be changed for
four or five successive days; or better yet, they are some-
times placed in casks through which the water is allowed
to percolate. The object of this process is to extract from
the olive a bitter quality that is always present. When
this process is completed the olives are put into a strong
brine, and in a few days are ready for use. Persons who
do not like imported olives often become fond of those put
up in Santa Barbara, on account of their superior richness
and excellence, which is in part owing to their being
allowed to become more nearly ripe before they are gath-

84 TWO YEAKS Itf CALIFORNIA.

ered. When the berry is to be used for making oil it is
allowed to ripen on the tree.

When gathered, cloths are spread under the tree and
the fruit is shaken off, and that which does not fall readily
is beaten off with rods or poles, which would seem to have
been the way in which olives were gathered in Palestine,
as can be inferred from the command, " When thou beatest
thy olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it
shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless and for the
widow.'"

After the fruit is gathered it is placed in a drying-room
or on shelves, where it is allowed to remain several days, in
order that the watery juices contained in it may evaporate.
The machinery now in use for manufacturing the oil is of
the rudest and most primitive character, and will probably
before long, when the rule of the Anglo-Saxon is fully
established in this region, give place to something better.
A circular stone bed is built, and upon this a stone is
placed to which a sweep is attached. A horse is fastened
to the sweep, and the berries being spread upon the bed,
they are crushed by the turning of the stone upon it.
Even this would seem to be an improvement upon the
Jewish method, which seems to have been to tread out the
oil with the feet. Thus the dying Jacob said of Ashur,
" Let him dip his foot in oil."

The stones or pits of the olive are not broken in the
first process of crushing. After the fruit is fairly crushed
the pulp is gathered up and put into coarse sacks or gunny-
bags, and submitted to pressure in a home-made, rough
sort of a screw. As the oil is extracted it is put into
vessels and allowed to settle, after which, without any

SOUTHERN- CALIFORNIA. 85

further process, it is ready for use. The result of the first
operation makes what is known in commerce as " virgin
olive oil." Its sweetness and purity are perennial. Time
does not harm it, and no change renders it impure. At
the old Catholic mission in Santa Barbara there is oil that
has been kept for years without losing any of its original
virtue. We have been in the habit of getting very little
of this "virgin oil" from abroad. The best is kept at
home for the rich and great to use, that they may have
unction given to their salads, and sweetness to any of the
viands into which oil enters as a component part.

A second pressure succeeds the first, in which many of
the pits are cracked and the pulp more finely comminuted.
The result of this is an inferior article of oil, such as is
generally brought to us for table use.

After this there is still another effort made to compel the
olive to give up its oil. The pulp is brought to a boiling
heat in large copper kettles, and then submitted once more
to pressure. An inferior kind of oil is thus obtained,
which is principally used for lubricating purposes.

In the good time coming, when the twenty thousand
olive trees already set out in southern California, and the
ten times as many more that will be set out, shall come
into bearing, and when new and better machinery, the
result of Yankee ingenuity, has been introduced, we shall
get our olive oil from our own dominions, and it will be
the pure " virgin oil," that will neither grow murky nor
rancid, and our salads will be no more spoiled by oil that
is common or unclean!

The profitableness of the olive as a factor for money-
making will be evident by the statement that sixty or

86 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

seventy trees may be set out to the acre, and that from
these there should be obtained about one thousand four
hundred gallons of berries. Olives are worth, sold in the
orchard, sixty cents per gallon, or when pickled, seventy-
five cents per gallon. Twenty gallons of berries yield
about three gallons of oil, which is worth from four to
five dollars per gallon wholesale. It is more profitable
to make the berries into oil than to pickle them.

There is an olive tree in Santa Barbara that is thirty
years old, from which has been made forty-eight dollars'
worth of oil each year for three successive years. It is
estimated that an olive orchard will yield about nine hun-
dred dollars, gross, per acre. Allowing half of that amount
for cost of culture and manufacture, which is an over-
generous estimate, and there remains a very handsome
income from the investment. It is a particularly pleasant
arrangement for those who have not much land — only a
town lot or two — to set out olive trees, which will not
only furnish shade all the year, but in the season pro-
duce fruit that can be turned into money.

The fruit in its ripe state is very nutritious, and people
can live on it for days without other sustenance; but it
has a bitter, acrid taste, which makes it anything but at-
tractive to the uninitiated. The olives of California are
said to be better than those of France or Spain, probably
because they have a better chance to absorb the sunshine,
and a richer soil from which to draw their nourishment.
There is a grove of old olive trees near the mission church
which was set out by the Spanish padres fifty or sixty years
ago. These trees are still a source of income to their
owners. This old mission church was established in 1786.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 87

It is about two miles from the wharf, on a plateau which
rises all the way, gradually, from the beach, until where
the church stands it is more than three hundred feet
above the sea-level. As these old Catholic churches are
all built after one general plan, it may be well to give a
more particular description of the one at Santa Barbara,
and " ab itno disce omnes"

The church is built of sandstone and adobe in the Moor-
ish style of architecture. It is quite imposing seen from
afar, wifch its two high towers and rather grand and
massive air. The walls are over five feet thick, and the
cement that unites the stones cannot be broken with a
pick. I make this statement, not from experimental knowl-
edge, but from testimony that I find on record. The
ancient tile roof has been replaced by one of shingles.
Tile roofs were not among the least curious things brought
to light and knowledge by the chance to see the handi-
work of the Spaniards. A cylindrical pipe, made of red-
burnt clay, not far from the size of an ordinary stove-pipe,
cut in halves longitudinally, and from two to four feet
long, is as accurate a description of these tiles as comes
to hand. Two of these are laid parallel with each other,
and a third is laid over so as to cover the space between
them. There are little gutters along the sides to carry off
the water. They are very clumsy looking affairs, and
would seem to be a heavy weight for any rafters and walls
to support. The adobe houses of the Mexicans are covered
with these tile roofs.

" The largest grape vine in the world " is another of the
meritorious things that Santa Barbara claims. This grows
at Montecito, about three miles from the town. It was

88 TWO YEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

planted toward the end of the last century by a Spanish
lady, who came from Sonora on horseback. There is a
bit of romance connected with it that gives a little addi-
tional interest to the wonderful vine. When the young
lady was about starting from Sonora her lover broke a
branch from a grape-vine and gave it to her to be used as a
riding-whip. The giver sanctified the gift to such an
extent that the lady kept the whip to the end of her
journey, and then, to make it a perpetual memento,
planted it in the ground. The vine took root and grew,
until its greatness astonishes the people. The trunk is
four feet four inches in circumference. After reaching
the height of eight feet from the ground, it sends out its
branches, which are trained on horizontal trellises that
are supported here and there by posts, and thus the vine
is made to cover an area of five thousand square feet. Its
annual yield for many years has been from ten to twelve
thousand pounds of grapes. There is a fig-tree near by it
to which some branches of the vine extend, so that the lady
who planted the latter could literally sit under her own
vine and fig-tree. The planter of the vine died not many
years ago, having done what but few are permitted to
do — entered a second time into her "teens." Report
says that she was one hundred and thirteen years old
at the time of her death; a striking proof that the cli-
mate of Santa Barbara is conducive to length of days.

The latest news in regard to this celebrated grape-vine
is, that it is boxed up and on its way to attend the Centen-
nial at Philadelphia, where all the world is to be gathered
together. But it will come stripped of its glory, and its
beauty will be henceforth only a memory.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 89

Santa Barbara, beautiful as it is for situation, is attract-
ive also to the fortunate ones who do not need to search
for lost health. The mountains round about it are charm-
ing at all times. They are especially so at evening, when
there hover and rest upon them the rosy tints and soft
azure haze that travelers say are seen in Italy and other
countries on the Mediterranean. One evening, when the
sun was setting, the mountains on the eastern side pre-
sented a picture which will be to me "a joy forever." I
wish that I could worthily describe it, so as to give even a
faint idea of its glory and its grandeur. The mountain is
corrugated, as all the foot-hills of the Coast Range are.
The sun, in going to its rest, shone in such a direction as to
make the diiferent points and projections cast their shadows
on the adjoining depressions. So the hill-side was necked
over with a rich green, which was now golden in the sun-
light, and then subdued and saddened by a shadow, like
life with its ever-varying shades of joy and sorrow. Upon
the top of the mountain there rested a mist — a soft azure
veil just dipped in the tint of the rose, which, while it
concealed nothing, softened the outline and spiritualized
the whole. I watched it far into the gloaming, and saw the
light go out gradually and gently, like the light of life to
the dying saint, changing every minute, yet each change
revealing some new beauty, till, finally, the brightness
faded away, and one star after another came out to see.
Meanwhile, near by was the ocean, calm as though it had
quieted itself for unwonted rest, catching and reflecting
the beautiful tints which the mountain-top threw down
to it.

To the traveler from the east who makes Santa Barbara

90 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

the first stopping- place in southern California it has a very
foreign look. It is a little difficult to believe that the
protection of the tricolored flag is over this place also,
with its old adobe houses that look as though they had a
heavy burden to support in the clumsy tiles which perform
the office of roofs for them. The adobe of which these
houses are built is simply clay moulded into forms like
brick, though generally larger, and dried in the sun. All
the adobe houses in southern California have only one
story and one tier of rooms, so that there could be no
quarrel as to who should have front rooms. Many of them
are destitute of chimneys and guiltless of windows; some-
where, generally from a small room in the rear of the
main building, a stove-pipe can be seen emerging from the
roof, declaring the throne-room of the cook. Where there
were no windows, as in the poorer houses, the light of the
dwelling had to come in through the open door.

The Spaniards who built these towns seem to have
eschewed geometrical figures and held in abhorrence all
straight lines. Everywhere the streets are crooked, look-
ing, many of them, very much like some of the "ways"
in the "Hub."

It was curious to see the mixture of colors in the faces
of those met on the streets. With the normal white of
the Anglo-Saxon there was mixed almost every shade of
brown, yellow and black.

The population of the town is now about six thousand,
one half of whom are Americans. The gain of the latter
has been very rapid during the last few years. In 1865
only twenty-one Americans could be gathered together to
celebrate the birthday of our nation. Now the number of

CATHEDRAL ROCKS.
Pages 219 and 220.

SOUTHERN" CALIFORNIA. 91

voters is about equally divided between Americans and
Californians.

It is only within a comparatively recent time that the
benefits and advantages and delightsomeness of this Santa
Barbara region have been understood and appreciated by
any but those who were on the spot. Under the somnolent
influence of Mexican rule everything languished. The
accommodations were too wretched to attract strangers, or
allow of their staying even if they chanced to come. A
general lethargy prevailed, which checked all development
and all enterprise. But American energy has already
accomplished much, and promises more. Everywhere there
is evidence of the change — in the quickening of all kinds
of enterprise, in the improvements that are manifest in
making the crooked places straight, in the increased accom-
modations for visitors, as well as in their better enter-
tainment.

The variety of fruit that can be raised in this region is
very great. It comprises apples, pears, peaches, plums,
olives, almonds, apricots, nectarines, — in short, all the
fruits of the temperate zone, as well as of the semi-tropical
belt. Oranges do not do well, except in places where they
are protected from the winds off the ocean. The growth
of fruit-trees is very rapid. Peaches and figs sometimes
bear the second year and apples the third. The soil is
everywhere wonderfully rich and strong. There is one
thing, however, that must be made sure of— water. Like
emphasis to the orator, this is the first, second and third
requisite. Let the supply of this be sufficient, and there is
scarcely any limit to the variety or amount of production.
Extravagant as these statements may seem to those who

92 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

have not been there to see, they are very easily credible
to those who have.

As yet there are but two ways of access to Santa Bar-
bara— by steamer from San Francisco, and by rail from
the same point to Hollister and thence by stage. The stage
ride occupies about sixty hours, including a few hours1 rest
at San Luis Obispo. It is not unattractive to those who
have the strength to endure it. To the writer, who went
down by sea and came back by land, the latter mode of
transit seems much the more attractive of the two. The
hours of sea-sickness, and the almost total loss of time, so
far as any increments of knowledge were concerned, did not
make the sea- voyage acceptable at the time or pleasant in
the recollection; while in the journey by land there was
much that was interesting and that returns pleasantly to
the memory.

The views enjoyed in ascending and passing over the
Santa Inez mountains, just after leaving Santa Barbara,
are among the valuable possessions which will be retained.
After starting, the road leads along between the mountains
and the sea for about ten miles. Then the ascent of the
mountains is begun. The road goes through Gaviota pass.
As the stage winds slowly up the elevation magnificent
views can be obtained, made up of mountain and valley
and sea, the latter stretching off into the infinite.

They have a curious way of always changing the driver
and the coach at the same time on the Pacific coast. I
found this custom prevailing everywhere. Each driver has
his own coach, or one of which he has the exclusive propri-
etorship. When we made our first change after leaving
Santa Barbara, we were put into a very delapidated wagon,

SOUTHERN" CALIFORNIA. 93

which was minus a cover and everything else that was
necessary to comfort. The prospect of riding the greater
part of the night in this uncomfortable vehicle was not an
attractive one, especially as the clouds were throwing down
upon us occasional drops of rain, which, there was good
reason to believe, were only an earnest of what was coming
in the very near future; therefore, when at about four
o'clock in the afternoon we drove up to quite a comfortable
looking adobe house I was so urgently advised to stop over
and wait for a more comfortable coach the next day, that I
concluded to do so. The twenty-four hours1 delay gave me
an interesting experience.

Mr. Foxon, at whose house I stayed, is an Englishman,
and claims to be the oldest Anglo-Saxon settler now living
in California. He has been more than fifty years in the
State, and has lived where he now does since 1836. He
brought his family there the year following. There was
no settler or settlement near, and the household lived under
a tent while the father built the adobe house which they
now occupy. Some of his accounts of the doings in those
early times bordered so nearly upon the marvelous as to be
rather a tax upon one's credulity. Among many other
things that were passing strange, he told how upon one
occasion his house was surrounded by grizzly bears, and he
standing in the door, with his wife to help him load his
gun, had killed eleven of the monsters! He had often
been with Kit Carson in his exploring expeditions, and
shared his dangers and his hardships. He had also engaged
in enterprises under the leadership of Fremont. His wife
was Spanish, and in all the half- century they had lived
together she had not learned so much of his native tongue

94 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

as would enable her to ask or answer the simplest question.
Eleven of their eighteen children were still living, several
of them in the vicinity. They were educated at the Santa
Inez mission school, about eighteen miles distant. Mr.
Foxon's possessions extended over many leagues, and his
flocks and herds were numbered by thousands. A few
years ago, on account of a severe drought which killed the
feed, the family lost in a single season fifteen thousand
sheep and seven thousand cattle, and yet in the twenty-four
hours I stayed there, and the four meals I ate, I saw neither
milk nor butter, nor anything into which milk enters as a
compound, and no fruit of any sort. Neither did I see
anywhere around the house anything that looked like a
garden, or any preparations for raising vegetables for the
future. In answer to some questions having a bearing
upon the subject, Mr. Foxon said that it was too windy
to raise fruit; he had tried two or three times; had set
out trees, etc. Of course a Yankee would have found a
way to remedy this difficulty by seeking a sheltered place,
which must have been easy to find, where the surface was
so uneven and hills near by, or he would have constructed
a shelter to keep off the wind. Mr. Foxon said he supposed
they might milk a cow or two, and have milk and butter;
but they had sheep corraled near by, and if they had cows
they would be obliged to rise early to milk them and get
them out of the way before the sheep were let out, which
would be a trouble ; so they lived on meat and bread (un-
accompanied by butter) and eggs, and creamless coffee. But,
as if to make up for the quality, they increased the number
of their meals. Although the breakfast was not over till
somewhere between eight and nine o'clock, they had four

SOUTHERN" CALIFORNIA. 95

meals per diem, the last being supper at six. The extra
occasion was made up of tortillas and tea about four o'clock
in the afternoon.

I think I was quite a God-send to the old gentleman,
and he made the most of the blessing. In this retired
place it was something to have an attentive listener for a
whole day. How constantly he talked, and how much he
told me of the early times, the Indians, the bears and other
wild beasts! He did not think that the coming of the
Anglo-Saxons, and their settlement in the country, had
increased the content and happiness of the inhabitants.
As for their enterprise and improvements, what was the
use of them if people were happier without them? There
never were people that lived lives so easy, so full of con-
tentment and actual happiness as the Californians did when
under Spanish and Mexican sway. The delightful climate
and fertile soil made it easy to support life, and what they
had was shared by all who needed it. The coming of
Americans introduced selfishness, the greed of gain, and
all the thousand ills that follow in their train.

In an interval of rest in the conversation, when Mr.
Foxon went out for a walk, I looked around everywhere for
something to read. Not a book, not a newspaper, old or
new, was to be found; not even an almanac was visible.
It seemed strange to see people living so absolutely iso-
lated— cut off from all the interests that affect the race,
both in the past and present. Three sons and a daughter
were still at home. One of the sons bore himself with the
air of a prince, and when I came away, to assist me in
starting, bestowed upon me numerous little civilities in a
most gentlemanly and even courtly manner.

96 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

We reached San Luis Obispo, the principal town in the
county of the same name, about two o'clock in the morning,
and were allowed to rest until seven, when we started
onward again. We saw the old mission church which was
built in the early mission days, and gave name to the town
and county. Soon after leaving San Luis Obispo we crossed
the Santa Lucia mountains, a spur of the Coast Range,
and were then in the Salinas valley. This is a fine area of
land, about seventy-five miles long and from three to five
miles wide.

About one-half of the valley lies within the limits of
San Luis Obispo county. We crossed the Santa Margarita
ranch, belonging to Mr. Murphy, soon after descending the
mountains. This ranch has within its boundary twenty-
five thousand acres of land, and upon these acres roam
seventeen thousand head of cattle, all of which are owned
by Mr. Murphy. As we rode along in the stage a gentle-
man, who was well acquainted in that region, pointed out a
place that had been disrupted and thrown into confusion by
an earthquake not many years before. Large fissures were
made in the ground, which closed again with a suddenness
that allowed them to swallow up horses and cattle that
were feeding on the spot in unconscious ignorance of the
casualty that awaited them. Quite a number of horses
disappeared in this catastrophe, some of which left their
tails or their feet sticking out of the cracks so as to iden-
tify the cause and place of their departure. These were
their only mementoes.

Twenty miles north of San Luis Obispo we came to
the Paso Robles ranch. This lies on a beautiful level
plain, and includes ten square miles. The Paso Robles

SOUTHERN- CALIFORNIA. 97

springs are on this ranch, and are quite a place of resort.
There are two or three large buildings for the accommoda-
tion of visitors, and they seemed to be well filled when
we were there. The water in a spring near the house is
scalding hot, while in one but a mile distant it is icy cold,
but in both it is strongly impregnated with sulphur.
There was quite a civilized look around these springs, and
much was said in commendation of the healing power of
the waters. The greater part of this day's ride was
through the Salinas valley, and there was much to make
it attractive. The sun was bright and not too warm, the
air was pure and the sky cloudless. The country looked
like a grand park. Large oaks stood here and there as
a skillful landscape-gardener would have placed them in
order to get the best effect. There were no thickets, and
only trees enough to give beauty and variety to the scene.
The ground was covered with a luxuriant growth of alfil-
erilla, a native product, which is of a peculiarly soft and
pleasant green. Without looking at all sickly, it has a
yellowish tinge, which seems to give peculiar effect to
the variations of light — to the alternations of brightness
and shadow. This alfilerilla made the groundwork, then
the pattern was filled in with flowers, " whose beauty and
whose multitude rivaled the constellations." The Cali-
fornia poppy (eschscholtzia) was in full blossom, and with
its yellow petals shading off from a deep orange to a
light straw color, according to the variety to which it
belonged, covered oftentimes acres of ground. Sometimes
a whole hillside was one solid mass of molten gold, or
seemed to be, looking at it from a distance. Many sov-
ereigns might have had their meetings on places covered

98 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

with "cloth of gold'1 without any help from the uphol-
sterer. In other places purple prevailed, and over a large
extent of space this royal color was spread out. Again
flowers that were red or blue would possess the land, and
afford a chance for comparison as to which of the different
hues was most agreeable to the eye.

To one pair of eyes at least the solution was easy.
After seeing yellow hills by the score, and red and blue
and purple fields, there was something very restful in
looking at the soft, polished and comforting green, un-
mixed with anything that was flaunting or gaudy. The
summing up of the verdict was, although these bright
hues are beautiful for variety, yet if choice must be made
for common use, "green it shall be," for green suits the
eyes best, — another proof that, among things as among
persons, the brilliant and showy may please us as occa-
sional, but for every-day wear the quieter and more
durable are better.

Soon after leaving Paso Robles we came to San Miguel.
The old mission church is still standing and is in quite
a good state of preservation. The adjoining wing, which
was erected for the use of the priests, is now perverted
and polluted by being turned into a dram-shop, to our
personal regret and the increase of our fears.

Our driver had for some time been giving unmistak-
able evidence of having taken a great many drops too
much, and he now increased his potations and our danger.
He lingered over his cups and made an unreasonably long
delay. We finally started, and for the next ten or fifteen
miles ran such a race as would have left John Gilpin's
famous steed far behind. Up hill and down, through

\

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 99

rivers and quicksands, we went at a speed that seemed
to one unused to racing more than a two-forty pace.
We crossed the Salinas twice, splashing through each
time as though running for a wager or for life. When
we finally stopped at the next station for a change of horses
our poor team was all dripping with sweat, and every
muscle was quivering with the strain to which it had
been subjected.

We started on with fresh horses with almost equal
rapidity of motion, nor did the race end until we stopped
at the philosophically named town of Plato, and changed
team and driver. In all the eighteen hundred miles that
I traveled by stage upon the Pacific coast that was the only
"stage fright" I had — the only case in which I had any
cause to doubt the skill or competency of the driver.

In southern California especially, the drivers, as a class,
seemed to be intelligent, gentlemanly men, to whom it was
safe for a lady to trust herself, and upon whom she might
depend for any attention or help she needed.

The Atlantic and Pacific railroad, as now surveyed, will
pass through the Salinas valley, and when the fortunate
day of its completion comes this county will make rapid
strides in the race for prosperity. There will then be an
outlet for the products of the fertile valley of the Salinas,
and tillers of the soil will find out how much better than
gold-mines are the riches that honest toil can bring forth
from the ground.

5*

100 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER VI.

THE GREAT VALLEY.

THE Great Valley, or central California, is that part
of the State inclosed between the Sierra Nevada
mountains on the east and the Coast Range on the west.
It is about five hundred miles in length, with an average
width of fifty miles, and contains sixteen millions of acres
of land, more than half of which is tillable. Although
in configuration a unit, the valley is generally considered
as divided into two, the Sacramento valley, so called from
the river of the same name which flows through it, and
the San Joaquin valley, which is also named from the
river traversing nearly its entire length. The Tulare
valley is a continuation of the San Joaquin, and is named
from a large lake within its borders.

The two mountain ranges which bound the entire valley
come together on the north at Mount Shasta, and on the
south at Fort Tejon. The land thus inclosed is trough-
shaped, descending from each side toward the center.
The Sacramento river rises at the base of Mount Shasta,
and flows nearly due south throughout its whole course.
The San Joaquin rises in the south, and coming northward
meets the Sacramento, and with it empties into San Pablo
bay, which empties its waters through the straits of Car-
quinez into Suisun bay, and that again through some
unnamed straits into the bay of San Francisco. The min-
gling of the muddy water brought down by these rivers

THE GREAT VALLEY. 101

*

with the clear water of San Francisco bay sometimes pro-
duces very curious effects. When the wind disturbs the
surface of the water, as it almost always contrives to do,
some of the waves are clear and pure looking, while
others are dark and turbid, making the bay look mottled
and strangely variegated.

These two rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin,
are the only rivers in California that are navigable for any
considerable distance. The two valleys are the great
wheat-fields of the State. The San Joaquin has the ad-
vantage as to quantity and, probably, also as to quality of
land. It contains twelve thousand square miles, or seven
million six hundred and eighty thousand acres. The Sac-
ramento valley contains eight thousand square miles, or
five million one hundred and twenty thousand acres, being
less by about one-third than the former.

The northern part of the Sacramento valley, although
less fertile, has the advantage over the region further
south in a greater rain-fall. As far north in the State
as Red Bluff, there has never been an entire failure of crop
for want of sufficient moisture, while in the San Joaquin
valley it is thought not safe to expect to gather in harvests
more than four years out of every seven ! Rather fearful
odds for a farmer!

The annual rain-fall in the San Joaquin valley averages
about twelve inches. Stockton is at the head of the valley,
and the entrepot of its trade. It is one hundred and
seventeen miles by the river from San Francisco, with
which it is also connected by the western division of the
Central Pacific railroad. It is a flourishing place of twelve
thousand inhabitants.

102 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

These two great valleys suffer from two unfortunate
conditions, though in the one valley the misfortune is
greater than in the other. They have both too much and
too little water. There are about three millions of acres of
swamp and overflowed lands to be reclaimed, and the
greater part of the remainder needs an artificial system of
irrigation before the valleys can be brought up to their
highest state of productiveness. It does not require to be
demonstrated that farmers will not undertake tillage in a
country where the chance is very uncertain that the gath-
ering in of grain will follow the sowing. Sensible, thrifty
men will hardly take shares in a lottery where the blanks
are about equal to the prizes. For this reason, although
the San Joaquin valley has been open for settlement more
than twenty years, and is as fine a body of land as can be
found in the world for the growth of cereals, it is still very
sparsely settled, and much of it entirely unoccupied.

In 1868 there was quite an influx of immigration to this
valley. But the three succeeding years were dry; the rain-
fall was quite insufficient, and there was an almost, and
over much of the valley a complete, failure of crops, inso-
much that there was in many cases absolute suffering for
want of food. Sheep and cattle were driven off and sold
for whatever could be obtained for them, in order to save
them from death by starvation. The result was that a
large proportion of the immigrants left the valley and
sought places where, as they said, " it rained sometimes."
Multitudes went to Oregon.

The rain- fall in Stockton averages twenty inches. Fur-
ther south it is considerably less, and, of course, is not
sufficient to secure crops of cereals. In the years just

THE GREAT VALLEY. 103

mentioned it was scarcely the half of the usual amount.
Occasionally there is a year when the rain-fall is sufficient
to show the wonderful capacity for production which the
soil possesses when the conditions are favorable. The year
1872 was such an exception. In that season there were
twenty millions of bushels of wheat produced in these two
valleys, with less than a fourth part of the land under
cultivation, and much of that cultivation of the rudest
and most superficial character. Although wheat was the
principal crop, there were many other valuable products
raised in large quantities.

From the fraction of the San Joaquin valley that was
cultivated twelve millions of dollars' worth of wheat was
taken, equal in value to more than half the product of all
the mines in the State for the twelvemonth, while the
number of producers in the case of the wheat was not
equal to a tithe of those employed in getting the gold.

A writer says: "Nature or nature's God has done
ninety-nine parts toward making these valleys one of the
richest agricultural districts in the world; can man supply
the small remaining fraction?"

Upon examination, it appears that every facility has
been provided for doing what little remains to be done.
The valley of the San Joaquin declines toward the center,
and on the eastern side there come down from the Sierra
Nevada mountains innumerable streams, several of which
are large, fine rivers. On the western side there are few
rivers, and none of any magnitude. In the extreme south-
ern part of the valley there are three lakes, one of which,
the Tulare, is a large body of water, covering an area of
seven hundred square miles. Investigation has led to the

104 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

discovery that this lake is two hundred feet above the sea-
level, and that there is a gradual descent from it all the
way through the valley to San Pablo bay.

The question, can these rich lands, for which nature has
done so much, be irrigated in such a way and at such an
expense as to make crops certain and profitable, becomes,
therefore, an easy one to answer.

One of the advantages of living so far down in the ages
is, that we have secured to us the chance of learning from
the experience of those who have gone before us. Empiri-
cism is not a necessity in all directions. In this matter of
artificial irrigation experience has been ample, and the tes-
timony that can be made available is abundant. Systems
of irrigation have existed as far back as the authentic
history of man extends. There were canals in Egypt for
irrigating purposes before the pyramids were built. In
China, canals and ditches for this purpose were common
long before the time of Confucius. On our own continent,
apparatus for irrigation was in use before the incoming of
European population. When Cortez conquered Mexico he
found arrangements that had been made, at a great expense
of labor and money, for supplementing the rain-fall. There
is abundant reason to believe that Arizona, dry and barren
as it is, and barren because dry, was once a nourishing
agricultural region, with hundreds of miles of irrigating
canals and ditches, and a population numerous enough to
build large cities and towns. Even the Colorado desert,
that most arid of all wastes, the worst part of which is
comprised by the delta between the Gila and the Colorado
rivers, was not always the forlorn and miserable place it is
at present, and there is a fair promise that it will remain

THE GREAT VALLEY. 105

as it is no longer when the means for its irrigation are
made feasible. These statements are taken from a report
made by Mr. J. Ross Browne, who claims that he has per-
sonal observation for his authority.

Northern Italy owes its fertility and populousness to
artificial irrigation. There are twelve hundred miles of
canals in Piedmont, and four thousand five hundred in
Lombardy. It is an interesting fact that the increase of
population has been fifty per cent, greater in the irrigated
district of Piedmont than in the non-irrigated. Districts

o

that were formerly desert wastes are now populous and
productive.

But in China, where the density of the population makes
it needful to make the most of all possible resources, arti-
ficial irrigation has been carried to the greatest extent.
The great plain of China, which has an area of two
hundred and ten thousand square miles, is a vast network
of rivers, canals and ditches.

There is also a vast and complete system of artificial
irrigation in India. "The Ganges canal is, perhaps, the
largest work of the kind in the world. Its full capacity
is six thousand five hundred cubic feet of water a second;
the width of the bed is one hundred and sixty- four feet,
and the depth ten feet. The main channel is three hun-
dred and forty miles in length, and navigable throughout;
the branches are three hundred and sixty miles aggregate
length, and the distributaries three thousand seventy-one
miles. A carriage road is kept up on all the main and
branch canals, and the banks are planted with trees."

These facts show what has been done in the old world,
and the feasibility of meeting the needs of the case in the

106 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

new. It remains to be seen what steps have already been
taken, and what plans have been projected for doing what
is so evidently necessary for the prosperity of the State.

Men of enterprise and capital, most of whom are resi-
dents of San Francisco, formed a joint-stock company,
which was incorporated by act of legislature in September,
1871, under the name and title of "The San Joaquin
King's River Canal and Irrigation Company." The capi-
tal amounted to ten million dollars, which was divided
into one hundred thousand shares at one hundred dollars
each.

" The objects are, the construction of a system of canals
in the Great San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys in the
State of California, leading from the San Joaquin river, the
King's river and their tributaries, also from the Tulare
lake, the Kern and Buena Vista lakes, and waters flowing
thereinto, for the transportation of passengers and freight,
and for the purpose of irrigation and water power, and
also the supplying of cities and towns in the State of
California with fresh water for domestic purposes; also the
buying and selling of lands and real estate. This com-
pany's charter is to exist for fifty years. The preliminary
objects of the company are the construction of main canals
through Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus, San
Joaquin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, leading from
the above mentioned lakes and rivers, for irrigating por-
tions of said counties, and for affording navigation the year
round from Kern lake to tide- water near Antioch, a dis-
tance of three hundred miles."

The sources of supply are from the Sierra Nevada
mountains, where the melting of snow during the spring

SENTINEL ROCK. Page 221.

THE GREAT VALLEY. 107

and summer months keeps the rivers full at a time when
water is most required for the land.

Tulare lake, at its lowest stage of water, is rather over
two hundred feet above the sea-level, and covers an area of
seven hundred square miles. Six feet of water drawn off
its surface would suffice to irrigate five millions of acres of
grain and cotton. The average depth of the lake is from
twenty-five to thirty-five feet. There are no mountains or
hills intervening along the course of the proposed main
canal and the bay at Antioch.

The fall of the valley between the lake and tide-water
at Antioch is about fourteen inches to the mile ; and from
the foot-hills of the Monte Diablo range of mountains,
which bound its west side, to the San Joaquin river, the
transverse fall of the valley is from six to twenty feet to
the mile, so that the drainage is naturally perfect, and no
swamps and malaria can be created by its proper irriga-
tion.

The soil is of a rich brown loam along the west side of
the valley, and a sandy, rich loam on the east side. On the
west side wells have been sunk over one hundred feet in
depth through pure alluvial soil without any rock or
gravel.

The surface of the ground generally along the west
side of the valley is remarkably even, and unusually free
from rivers and water-courses, so the cost of construction
will be comparatively light.

The main canal from the lake to Antioch will have a
discharge of fifteen hundred cubic feet per second, and be
capable of carrying a depth of ten feet of water, with a
width of one hundred feet. The length of this canal will

108 TWO TEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

be one hundred and eighty miles. The company's charge
for water to the actual settler on each legal subdivision of
the public land is one dollar and fifty cents per acre per
crop of grain, cotton or grass.

On the east side of the valley the numerous streams
which have their sources in the Sierra Nevada mountains
come down well filled, and best filled when most water is
needed, for the hot summer sun, which dries the surface
in the valley, melts the snow that is stored away in the
mountains.

The value of these canals will be much enhanced and
their profitableness increased by the fact that they can be
used for transportation. The advantage of water over
land carriage on the score of cheapness is recognized the
world over; and in these days of railroad monopolies and
high tariffs, that advantage will have greater appreciation.

It is a somewhat startling fact that in the State of New
York, with its multiplicity of railroads and comparatively
low charges, in the year 1871-2 nearly one-third of the
entire tonnage which passed through the State going from
the west to the east passed over the Erie canal, which in
the minds of many has become almost a thing of the past,
so much more noise is made by the railroads!

A less amount of interest and energy in creating facili-
ties for irrigation than have already been expended in
building flumes and constructing ditches for mining pur-
poses in California would convert these great valleys into
one of the finest agricultural regions in the world. Crops
would then be certain, and when the husbandman sowed he
might be sure that in due time he would reap and gather
in his harvests.

THE GREAT VALLEY. 109

It will perhaps be a matter of surprise to those who
have not looked into the matter, to know that the aggregate
extent of mining ditches and canals built in California
since 1851 reaches the extraordinary figure of five thou-
sand three hundred and twenty-eight miles! And they
have been built at a cost of fifteen million five thousand
four hundred dollars! Some of these ditches cost from
five hundred to one million dollars.

110 TWO YEAES IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER VII.

RECLAMATION".

NOT only are these vast quantities of land to be irri-
gated in order to bring them up to their highest
producing capacity, but there are also three millions of
acres from which the water is to be drained before it
can be used for agricultural purposes. This land consists
in part of marsh land contiguous to the bay and its estu-
aries, and in part of tule lands which border the San
Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, and extend through a
considerable part of both valleys, forming a strip varying
in width at a greater or less distance from the river.

During the last three years much has been done toward
reclaiming both classes of lands. The success attending
these efforts has been very gratifying. The islands in the
bays of Suisun and San Pablo, and the delta formed at
the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers,
have been reclaimed or are now in process of reclamation.
This process consists simply in raising a levee or dyke
high enough to exclude the water, and, when the marsh
is salt, in freshening it by letting it lie till the rains have
washed out the salt. This operation may be quickened
by flooding the land with fresh water from artesian wells,
or any other source available. It has been found that
the second year after they have been reclaimed these lands
will produce alfalfa, and the third year abundant crops
of grain.

RECLAMATION. Ill

The yield of these moist lands in alfalfa, timothy and
the various grasses is enormous. Five tons to the acre
is considered an average crop, while as high as eight tons
in a single year is not uncommon. At fifteen dollars per
ton a very handsome profit can be made.

On Sherman Island some of the lands cultivated in
wheat yielded a profit of not less than thirty dollars to the
acre, while the average was twenty-five dollars. According
to official reports, eighty bushels of wheat to the acre
have been raised on some of these reclaimed lands. Sher-
man Island, which lies in the bight of the delta formed by
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers just as they enter
Suisun bay, has an area of sixteen thousand acres. It has
been reclaimed by building a dyke entirely around it.
The investment has been found to be a very profitable
one. Two crops even of potatoes can be raised in a season
with large results each time. The owner of a farm on the
island sent to New York for three barrels of early rose
potatoes, which had not then found their way to California.
By the time the potatoes reached him they had cost an
extravagantly high price. They were planted in January,
and in June were ripe and ready for digging. The farmer
let them remain out of the ground until August, when he
planted the entire yield of the first crop. He had another
prolific yield, which he sold at such rates as to give him the
largest percentage on the original investment that any
capital had ever returned to him.

Besides these swamp lands which Holland and other
countries have in common with California, there is another
class of lands which is peculiarly a Californian possession.
These are the tule lands, so called from the only product of

112 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

the soil — the tule (pronounced in two syllables). The tule
is a species of bulrush, and judging from the size it must
be the great father of all the bulrushes. It grows from
six to ten feet high; occasionally one more enterprising
than its compeers attaining the altitude of ten feet. The
tule is straight as an arrow, and without joints or leaves or
any appendage except upon the very summit, which is
crowned with a head not unlike that upon the sorghum,
only upon a reduced scale. These tules grow so luxuriantly
and thickly on the rich, swampy land that neither man nor
beast can make a way through them; they must be trodden
down and made into a sort of pontoon bridge and walked
over. During the fall or early winter they are often
burned. The fires made by the burning tules can be seen
miles away, looking not unlike the fires on the prairies,
except that the volume of smoke is greater and of a more
tartarean color. Woe to the laundress whose clothes are
on the line out-of-doors when the tules are on fire any-
where within a radius of ten miles! The soot comes down
in large flakes, which sometimes so fill the air as to resem-
ble a snow-storm, with the difference that each particular
flake seems to have been dyed in an ink-bottle. There is a
belt of these tule lands reaching all the way from Kern
lake to the Upper Sacramento. These, like the swamp
lands, are wonderfully productive when reclaimed. The
soil is frequently eighteen or twenty feet deep, and made
up of a compound of matted roots and decayed tules.
These are so thoroughly decomposed below the surface of
the living fiber, that cultivation, even the first year, is not
difficult. It is safe to calculate upon at least one-third

RECLAMATION". 113

more product from these reclaimed tule lands than from
the best valley lands.

It will be readily seen that the reclamation of these
lands, whether swamp or tule, will be of little avail without
a system of irrigation which shall include and cover them.
The nature of the soil will make irrigation an absolute
necessity.

114 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER VIII.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

THIS part of the State is well entitled to more atten-
tion than it has received. The law of compensation
which is found to prevail almost everywhere in this world
is not inoperative here. In some respects northern Cali-
fornia has the advantage over any other part of the State.
In the first place there is not the same or an equal de-
ficiency in the rain-fall, which in some places is double
that in San Francisco, and is more equally divided in the
times of falling. In addition to the reason assigned for a
greater rain-fall in a previous chapter, there is a local
cause which cooperates with the general one, at least in
the counties bordering on the coast, namely, the prevalence
of redwood forests, which have a remarkable power to
arrest moisture and condense it into rain. These redwoods
(Sequoia sempervirens) belong exclusively to the Coast
Range mountains. Two conditions seem to be essential
to their growth — the foggy regions peculiar to the Coast
Range, and an underlying basis of metamorphic sandstone.
They are not found where these conditions do not co- exist.
From the northern part of the State down to Tomales bay,
in Marin county, they form a continuous forest, increas-
ing in width northward. The redwood, though less in ex-
tent than its half-brother, the Sequoia gigantea, or big-tree,
has greater commercial value; indeed, in this respect it
stands at the head of the list of California trees. A red-

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 115

wood tree twenty-five feet in diameter contains forty thou-
sand cubic feet, and weighs two million five hundred
thousand pounds. The shingles made from a single tree
will load a schooner, and it is recorded that a man, after
building his house and barn out of the lumber of one
individual tree, had enough timber left to fence a garden
containing two acres of land!

These trees grow to a height but little less than that
attained by the other species of Sequoia. They grow two
hundred and even two hundred and fifty feet high. The
foliage is less like that of the cedar, and more like the
•hemlock, than is that of the big-tree. In those counties
in northern California which border upon the sea, saw-
mills are numerous, and the lumber-trade the absorbing
interest. Humboldt bay, in the county of the same name,
is the great center of this business. This bay, which is
two hundred and twenty-three miles north of San Fran-
cisco, is the best harbor found between Puget Sound and
the Golden Gate. "It is formed by two densely timbered
peninsulas, which inclose a very handsome bay about twelve
miles in length, and from two to five miles in width, its
shores thickly timbered with magnificent pine and red-
wood to the water's edge. The entrance to this bay is
about one-quarter of a mile wide, with eighteen feet of
water at low tide."

Of these northern counties Humboldt is on many ac-
counts the most attractive. It has a fine harbor, and the
only one in northern California. Some of the finest red-
wood forests in the State are found here. It has water
privileges, abundant and good, on the river of the same
name, which runs across it. There is unused power sufn-

116 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

cient to turn any quantity of machinery. It has good
grazing lands in abundance, which make wool-growing
very profitable. There is scarcely a doubt that sheep will
do better here than in any part of southern California.
But, as an offset to these advantages, and to bring things
nearer to an equilibrium, Shasta and Siskiyou will soon
have a railroad running through them from south to north.
The California and Oregon railroad is now finished and
in running order to Fort Redding, in the southern part
of Shasta county, and the parties who have it in hand are
hurrying it on to completion. And where the railroad goes,
there go, in its company, all the appliances of civilization.
Locomotives and tenders ought to be reckoned among the
tools for missionary operations; for they equalize the con-
ditions of countries; they carry peoples and ideas, and
scatter light wherever they go. Brigham Young set the
seal to the destruction of the "peculiar institution" among
the Mormons when he adopted measures for making a rail-
way to connect Salt Lake City with the remainder of the
world.

And yet there comes a doubt whether those who are
whisked through northern California and Oregon by the
iron horse will see as much beauty and enjoy as much as
a certain person did who came through in a poor, uncom-
fortable mud-wagon, or a series of them, with four horses
for locomotive power!

This ride was a part of an overland journey from Port-
land, and was made in the season of the year when the
country looked its best, being arrayed in its autumnal
garments. Enough rain had fallen to lay the dust effect-
ually, and even convert it into mud in many places. The

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

117

deciduous trees had put on their yellow and brown and
russet attire — a thing which they never do further south.
The air was pure and exhilarating, as it always is after the
rains begin. The day on which the journey was made
down the great Sacramento cafion stands out in the mem-
ory as one of the whitest of white days. In all the many
hundred miles of travel on the Pacific coast there was noth-
ing like that!— no day the glory of which was equal to the
glory of that, unless a day on the upper Columbia should be
excepted. Let no traveler think that he has really seen
California, and knows what it can furnish in the way of
scenery, till he has followed the Sacramento river from its
beginning near Mount Shasta down as far at least as Red
Bluff, where it begins to be so much like other rivers —
so orderly and manageable that it becomes navigable.

The Siskiyou mountains form the dividing line between
Oregon and California part of the way. Soon after cross-
ing these mountains we came to the pillar of stone, set
up to show where Oregon ends and California begins. Be-
fore long we crossed the Klamath river, and then the
Shasta, and were soon at Yreka, which is the northern-
most town in the State. The name is not a corruption
of the well-known Eureka of the old Greek, as might be
supposed from its resemblance, but is the name of a tribe
of Indians who formerly lived hereabouts. The town is
situated on a plateau four thousand feet above the level
of the sea, and is the center of quite a large trade, being
the place of interchange between miners and those who
furnish their supplies.

Within the last few months this town has come into
notice as being the base of operations in the war carried on

118 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

for six months or more between the United States, with
their immense military and every other kind of power,
and about two-score half-starved and half-clothed Modocs,
who made the lava-beds, not very far away, their high
tower and place of refuge. We are now furnished with
a new clause to our climax for Fourth of July use. We
have conquered the British, the Southern rebels, and —
the Modocs!

Poetic justice would seem to require that a hero who
with a handful of followers could keep a great nation,
with all its resources, at bay for so long should have other
reward meted out to him than to be strangled with a
halter !

One of the unpleasant things about the stage ride was
the necessity of traveling by night. As but one stage
started from Portland in the twenty-four hours, and the
driving was continuous, there was no escape from night
travel. Stopping by the way necessitated a twenty-four
hours' delay, and the starting again at the same hour at
which the stopping occurred. Hence it came about, " total
depravity" being inherent in inanimate things as well as
some animate, that the very places and things, the sight of
which was most desired, were almost sure to occur when
they had to be passed in the night.

In consonance with this fact, the nearest point to Mount
Shasta was passed in the darkness of the night, at which
time we went within seven miles of its base. This moun-
tain is the crowning glory of the mountain system in
northern California. It is the memento put up to show
the place where the two mountain ranges, that have been
approaching so long, at last effect their union. Mount

NORTHERN- CALIFORNIA. 119

Shasta is fourteen thousand four hundred and forty feet
high. Until recently it was supposed to be the highest peak
in the whole Sierra Nevada range, but late measurements
prove that Mount Whitney and other peaks in the south-
ern part of the State outrank it. But it is doubtful
whether any of them excel it in symmetry of outline and
beauty of aspect. During the weeks that I was in Van-
couver, always beholding the beauty of Mount Hood, it
did not seem that any other mountain could surpass, if,
indeed, any could equal it. But, like the unfortunate
wight who could be very happy with either were "t'other
dear charmer away," as often as I saw Mount Shasta I
was divided in my allegiance. During the three or four
months that I had previously spent in the Upper Sacra-
mento valley one of my great delights was watching this
mountain and seeing it in all its different aspects. When
the sun was scorching everything, as it has a way of do-
ing in that part of the valley, it was very refreshing to
look up to this peak, which, with its white garments reach-
ing away down as far as the eye could see, had so cool
and quiet and placid an appearance. It seemed like a
saint that is lifted above the strife and conflict of the
world by a serene faith in the high and the pure. Al-
though the mountain was more than one hundred miles
from where I was, so pure was the atmosphere that it
seemed quite near — so near that it would have been easy
to believe it could be reached by an afternoon's ride.
Looking at it from afar so long had created an intense
desire for a more intimate acquaintance. Yet this chance
must be lost, because we were to pass the nearest point
in the night. As there was no help for this and no change

120 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

possible, the best thing that could be done in the circum-
stances was decided upon. The lower soda springs were
only fifteen or twenty miles from the base of the moun-
tain, so a stop was made there, in order that a whole day
could be spent in viewing and admiring this snow-capped
mountain.

But here again this same "total depravity" of things
inanimate worked my loss. Waiting and watching all the
livelong day, not one glimpse of the mountain was vouch-
safed to my longing eyes — not the most indistinct vision
of the outline. An uncomfortable drizzle, which was nei-
ther a good honest rain nor an ethereal mist that could
be looked through, covered and concealed everything. It
was an impenetrable veil that was as effectual in obscur-
ing all surrounding objects as the darkness of night could
possibly be. For such a misfortune there was no remedy
within the reach of human might. So I turned from the
impossible to the possible, and tried to find out what I
could about the soda springs.

There are several in the immediate vicinity, differing
from one another in the kind and degree of impregna-
tion. Soda enters so largely into the combination in one
spring that the water is used instead of yeast or baking-
powder in the manufacture of bread. Flour mixed with
it rises quickly and nicely. Some miners, who were dig-
ging for gold not very far away, had their cabin near
this spring on account of the convenience of having this
water with which to mix their bread. In one of the
springs the water is so strongly impregnated with the al-
kali that if used unadulterated it gives the bread the yel-
lowish-green look so well known to cooks as indicating too

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 121

generous a use of soda. The water of the spring most
used for medicinal purposes is very pleasant to the taste,
unlike most mineral waters. There is a little acidity in
the flavor and a sparkle and freshness that makes it very
acceptable. The proprietor of the springs is a regular
Pike. He came from Missouri some twenty years or more
ago, and has lived here ever since. He is some forty-five
years of age, and never saw a steamboat or a railroad in
his life ! It was refreshing to see a man so totally unso-
phisticated— so unknowing in regard to the ways of the
world — one who belonged so thoroughly to a past age, and
had so much to anticipate ; for not many months will pass
before the iron horse will be running past his door, and
waking the echoes that have slept so long with its loud
snort. The Sacramento river here begins its long journey.
It is so small and insignificant that a man could almost
leap across it.

We started from the springs in the early morning, just
in time to watch the signs and the miracles that attend the
birth of a new day. How wonderful the sight would be if
repetition had not made it familiar! First, a faint light
appeared, the hills flushed, then brightened; soon the disk
of the sun came up, and object after object took upon itself
outline and form; then darkness fled away and everything
was revealed. A new day had come ! A new day, and one
that was perfect! There was no flaw anywhere in the sky
or the air. This was some compensation for the disappoint-
ment of yesterday. Mount Shasta looked its best; it could
not possibly have made any finer appearance. What a
day's ride that was which thus begun!

We passed Castle rocks soon after starting. These rocks

122 TWO YEARS Itf CALIFORNIA.

are formed by a spur of Trinity mountain, and are on the
right bank of the Sacramento. This range rises twenty-
five hundred feet above the valley, and has a ragged crest
of pinnacles and spires of a grayish color. In many places
the rocks bear a striking resemblance to castles, as we see
them pictured. Sometimes they looked in good repair, then
again they seemed as though time's busy fingers had disman-
tled them, and dungeon, warden and keep, all were gone.
It did not require much stretch of the imagination to sup-
pose that there had been days when there were giants in
the land and these magnificent castles were their dwelling-
places. There were turrets, minarets, spires and belfries;
nothing seemed to be wanting; and these walls and battle-
ments were of such a height as no knight in the olden
time, when knights were valiant and daring, ever scaled or
captured.

The Sacramento river, for the first hundred miles of its
course, is a very unruly stream, and refuses altogether to
be navigated by anything. Sometimes it goes along quietly,
between its high banks and under the shadow of great
trees, as though it were nursing itself and gathering
strength for some conflict soon to come; then it boils and
bubbles and tosses and fusses among the rocks and obstruc-
tions that come in its way. Sometimes it is required of it
to make its way through mountain passes, which it does
fearlessly, leaving banks along the gorge that it makes one
dizzy to look down from. Having performed a feat like
this, it runs on for miles, making long elbows and many
angles, as though it were not in the least bit of a hurry,
but had plenty of time to play if it chose, or cut up any
caper that chanced to come into its head. All the hill-sides

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 123

and mountains were covered with trees, the deciduous ones,
not yet in "the sear and yellow leaf,1' but arrayed in those
gorgeous dyes which they, as if preparing for their apothe-
osis, assume before their departure. There were enough
evergreens among them to answer for a background, of
which the deciduous trees were the foil and ornamentation.
With every variety of surface, hill, dell, mountain and
valley, abrupt peaks, shaggy and awful, gorges deep and
mysterious, each change coming without preparation, and
often without anything to give even the keynote to the
approaching entertainment, — it was a day of gracious sur-
prises and the most intense enjoyment. Then, in the dis-
tance was always Mount Shasta, grand and lonely, with its
head and sides covered with snow away down as far as the
eye could see. The clear sun shining upon it made it
almost too glittering for the eye. Sometimes there were
clouds resting midway between the top and the base, while
the summit loomed up clear and bright above all the mists
and obscurities.

When the day was waning and the light already so
dim that surrounding objects were to some extent obscure,
we came near to some high hills or mountains that were
very striking in their appearance. They were white and
destitute of vegetation. We saw them for a long time;
for, in going through a canon, in order to avoid going
over them, the road made almost their entire circuit. Pro-
fessor Whitney describes them as " the Gray mountains,
sometimes called the Marble mountains, a range that
stretches along the east end of the Cloud river. Some
of the points are three thousand feet high." When the
railroad reaches them, and transportation becomes possible,

6*

124 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

these mountains, or considerable parts of them, will proba-
bly go to San Francisco, to make marble fronts for banks
and up-town residences, where millionaires will hold their
courts and keep Chinese boarding-houses in their kitchens!

Darkness covered the land before we came to Pitt river,
which we crossed in a ferry-boat. This stream rises on
the east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, coming out of
the southern end of Goose lake with quite a parade of
noise and confusion. It has enough force, by the time it
gets to them, to make its way through the mountains, and
then flows in a southeast direction till it unites with the
Sacramento, to which it not only gives itself, but, woman-
like, its name also, although much the larger river of the
two, imitating, in this respect, the illustrious example of
the Missouri, which yields its title and its individuality to
the lesser Mississippi. We crossed the Pitt river not far
from its junction with the Sacramento. Although not very
wide, it is said to be absolutely unfathomable. With a
courageous moon, that was full and evidently determined
to do its best to make up for the absence of the sun, our
ride continued to be pleasant far into the night. A soft
glamour was cast over everything; outlines were revealed,
and the imagination allowed to fill in as it chose. The
country is such as is generally found skirting the Sierra
Nevada mountains. It is but little broken, and much of
it is entirely level, with grand old oaks scattered here and
there, as though nature had undertaken to show what was
the highest type of a landscape garden.

The road was smooth and good, and we traveled on
without let or hindrance. The only decided sensation ex-
perienced was when we drew near to a spot about twenty

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 125

miles north of Red Bluff, where the stage had been robbed
thrice within a short time. It is a point where the road
from Shasta comes into the one on which we were travel-
ing, and the gold brought over both routes is put into
the same coach. The robbers had, in all three cases, been
careful of the feelings and convenience of the white pas-
sengers, and had not molested them, being satisfied with
taking the express-boxes and relieving the Chinamen, when
there were any, of their surplus capital. But it was not
certain that such a state of mind was immutable among
the robbers, and it was not quite pleasant to be at the
mercy of the whims and oddities of men so lawless and
irresponsible. However, being by a chronic fatality a mem-
ber of that class of travelers who are proverbially easy
coram latronibus, the quiet of the occasion was not greatly
disturbed, at least in the case of the individual whose wel-
fare was nearest the heart of the writer. The dangerous
place was passed in safety, and at three o'clock in the
morning we drew up at the Tremont House in Red Bluff.

Our stage-ride was over; the railroad was now at our
service. That there was fatigue connected with the ride
was beyond dispute, but there had been ample compensa-
tion for all unpleasantness in the increased acquaintance
with the country and the enjoyment in seeing much that
was strange and beautiful.

Mount Shasta deserves a fuller description. Standing
as it does, with its head not much less than three miles
above the valley in which it is situated, it looks even
higher than it is because of its isolation. There is no
other peak near; it stands solitary and alone, the crowned
"monarch of all it surveys." The ascent of the mount-

126 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

ain is difficult, but not hazardous. At the base the
mountain is covered with trees, which continue to grow
until the altitude of from four to seven thousand feet is
reached. Some of these trees are immense pines six feet
in diameter and two hundred feet high. The sugar pine
is the grandest of them all. After reaching the height of
eight thousand feet these large trees gradually disappear,
but there is a species of pine that continues to grow for
still another thousand feet. After that there are no signs
of vegetation except the red snow.

Quite recently a weather-signal has been erected on the
summit of the mountain, under the direction of the Federal
Coast Survey.

RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 127

CHAPTER IX.

A RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY.

DESCENDING from generals to particulars sometimes
clears our ideas. The mind interests itself more
readily in and takes more kindly to an individual than a
species. Instead, therefore, of a general description of the
Upper Sacramento valley, a particular account of a ranch
will be given. As the writer spent three or four months
upon a certain one, there was opportunity to become thor-
oughly acquainted with the minutiae of its management.
These California ranches, consisting, as they often do, of
many thousands of acres, are conducted on a scale of mag-
nificence that would quite astonish practical farmers in
other parts of the country.

The word ranch is a memento of the early Spanish
occupancy. There are many of these reminders all over
the land. The names of mountains, towns and rivers are
frequently derived from the same language. Oftentimes
they are corrupted by English use, as is the case of this
one, which is a hybrid, but, as such, current everywhere,
together with its derivatives. Farm-hands are called
ranchmen. A man is ranching horses when he takes
them to pasture.

The ranch in question is located in the Sacramento
valley, near Red Bluff, which is at the head of navigation
on the Sacramento. It is in Tehama county, on the east
side of the river. The ranch was originally a Spanish

128 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

grant, but had passed through two or three hands before
coming into the possession of the present owner. It con-
tains sixteen thousand acres, in all of which there is scarcely
a rod of waste land. The valley here, as elsewhere, reaches
from mountain range to mountain range — from the Sierra
Nevada on the east to the Coast Range on the west, and
is at this point from thirty to forty miles wide. Both
ranges of mountains can be clearly seen in the winter
and early spring, when the atmosphere, purified by the
rains, is transparent, reaching up their snow-capped heads
to the skies, making it oftentimes difficult to tell where the
mountain leaves off and the heavens begin. As the sea-
son advances the snow melts from all the peaks except
Lassen's Butte and Mount Shasta. This last mountain
is the loftiest in the northern part of the State, being over
fourteen thousand feet in height. Although it is more than
one hundred miles north of Red Bluff, looking at it
through the clear atmosphere it seems to be a near neigh-
bor, and it would be easy to believe that a pleasant morn-
ing-ride would take one to it. It is a grand and refreshing
sight on a summer's day to view its cool and quiet de-
meanor as it looms up in the distance, clad in purest
white away down as far as the eye can see, its head serenely
lifted above the heat and dust that oppress and envelop
all below it. " Like a great rock in a weary land," it
seems to invite all to come and take refuge beneath its
shadow.

There exists in this locality a peculiarity which is often
observable among the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada
mountains. The land is neither timber-land nor prairie,
but is park-like, there being scattered here and there

RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 129

the grandest oaks that ever delighted the eye or made
glad the heart. They have the graceful sweep of the New
England elm and the magnificent size that the rich soil of
California enables them to attain. There is now and then
a live-oak to be seen among them, as if to make a little
variety. The trees are not so thick as to be serious impedi-
menta in the cultivation of the soil, which is often car-
ried on without felling them. There seems to be good
reason for the opinion that this whole Sacramento valley
was once a vast lake, inclosed between the two ranges of
mountains. Some great convulsion, of which there was
no witness, or at least none remaining to tell the tale,
opened the Golden Gate in the Coast Range and let the
waters flow out until none remained except in the more
depressed parts, and then there remained but the valley
and the river.

The ranch extends about four miles along the river.
The abundance of water which it possesses is one of its
best peculiarities. There is not a field in the whole ranch
through which there does not run a living stream. These
rivulets come down from the mountains through cafions
in the foot-hills, growing in size as they run along till they
get to the valley, when they wind about here and there
gladdening the earth and giving drink to the thirsty cattle
as they, rejoicing, go on their way to seek the river.
There is a flouring-mill of large capacity on the ranch,
the wheels of which are kept running by a never-failing
supply of water furnished by one of these streams.

Between three and four thousand acres are sown with
wheat and barley. The machinery used in harvesting the
grain works so fast that twelve hundred bushels of wheat,

130 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

that in the morning hold their golden heads erect in the
field, in the evening find themselves tied np in sacks ready
for the mill.

The grain is cut with "headers," which are driven
through the field, and cut the stalks about six inches below
the head. Each header is accompanied with a train of
three header wagons. The wagon is built with one low
side, and is driven along with this side so close to the header
that the grain is thrown into it as fast as it is cut. When
one wagon is filled another is driven up, which in turn
gives place to another, and so on in perpetual rotation.
These header wagons take the grain directly to the steam
thresher, which is driven about to convenient places in the
field. The whole process of threshing, cleaning, etc., is
gone through with on the spot, and the grain is at once put
into sacks. The wheat is so dry that no process or delay is
required to prepare it for the market. Being put into
sacks, it is left on the field a month or more if need be,
until it is entirely convenient to make some other disposi-
tion of it. There is no danger of a sudden shower to
occasion hurry in getting in the grain. There is no fear
of rain before the farmers' eyes all through the summer
months. Monsieur "Probs" would have an easy berth of
it in that region. The sky never leaks in harvest time.
Fifty acres per diem is the average amount cut through the
entire season of harvest. To carry on these operations a
force of forty horses and about thirty men is required.

The process of putting in the grain is managed as
follows. Plowing is commenced as soon as the rain begins
to fall. This does not occur until late in November, or
oftener in December. Fifty horses or mules and about

EL CAPITAN. (3.300 feet high.)
Pages 212 and 215.

RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 131

twenty men are employed from that time until March,
clearing the fields, plowing, sowing, harrowing and going
through with the various processes connected with plant-
ing. All of the machinery and implements are of the best.
The old-fashioned plow, that a man was compelled to hold
fast with both hands in order to make it "toe the mark," is
altogether discarded in this enterprising and progressive
country. No plow is used that does not at least cut two
furrows, and many cut three. Buggy and sulky plows, in
which a man may ride in a very gentlemanly way, are in
use, and they often cost one hundred dollars. From four
to six, and sometimes even eight, horses or mules are
attached to each. When a half-dozen of these teams are
driven in at noon or night, and released from harness, they
easily suggest the disbanding of a small army. The plow-
ing does not always cease with the putting in of the grain.
Hundreds of acres are plowed so as to be ready for sowing
before the fall rains begin. This is called "summer
fallowing," and is the surest way to secure a good crop.
These fields are "cultivated in;" that is, the grain is put
in with a cultivator, which can be done at any time during
the summer or fall, when convenience makes it desirable;
for nothing will harm the grain while it lies on the
ground. It stays there, safe and sound, waiting for the
rain that will come in the late autumn and make it spring
up. It will then have the whole period of the rains in
which to grow, and by the time they are over it is too far
advanced toward maturity to be harmed by their discon-
tinuance. As the rains sometimes delay their coming until
late in December, where so much ground is to be plowed, it
is difficult to plant all the grain in the ordinary way in

132 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

time for it to pass beyond the danger from drought before
the rains cease. Oftentimes a field is " cultivated in " after
harvest, without replowing, and a very good crop secured.

Labor is expensive. Men receive thirty dollars per
month and board for ordinary service. In haying and
harvest time there is an advance upon this price of from
fifty to one hundred per cent. At these prices men are
plentiful, though they are not the best specimens of the
article. Many of them are men who have been worth their
thousands of dollars, made in the mines; but by some move
of the capricious goddess their dollars have vanished, and
they are compelled to work for their daily bread. " Jail-
birds," too, not unfrequently light upon the ranch and
remain stationary for awhile.

The supply of laborers is generally quite equal to the
demand, and sometimes considerably exceeds it. No ar-
rangements are made for lodging them. Each one fur-
nishes himself with a pair of blankets, which he carries
about with him, and he has a wide range for selecting a
place where he will spread them and lie down to his rest.
The barn, the tool-house, the blacksmith shop, the granary,
are all open to him, and he can decide where to choose at
his leisure. If none of these places suit him, he can lie
down under the spreading branches of an oak and have the
sky for his coverlet.

On this ranch the men have their quarters in a house at
a little distance from that of their employer, where a China-
man, hired for the purpose, prepares and dispenses meat and
drink. Five hundred tons of hay are cut in a season. This
hay is not timothy or clover, but wild oats, which grow lux-
uriantly in all the region. No preparation of the field is

RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 133

necessary, no plowing, no sowing; the oats grow of their
own accord, and ask no pay for doing so. Even though a
field may have been tilled for years, if it is left vacant for
a season, instead of growing up to weeds and briars, as is
the naughty fashion in less favored lands, wild oats, which
seem to have been lying in wait all the time, are ready to
spring up and offer a fine harvest of hay of the best qual-
ity. The oats are cut before the grain is ripe enough to
shell out in handling. Before the country was settled and
the land brought under cultivation these wild oats grew
everywhere very luxuriantly, thus furnishing such pasture
for sheep and cattle as is not often found.

Six hundred head of cattle board themselves on the
broad acres in parts of the ranch not under cultivation.
These cattle require no attention in summer or winter,
except that two men, called vacqueros, a Spanish word
meaning herdsman, are employed to ride around and see
that they, in common with the hogs and horses, behave
themselves with a due regard to propriety; that they throw
down no fences and break into no fields. There are be-
tween forty and fifty miles of fence on the ranch.

Twelve hundred hogs find themselves subject to the in-
exorable law, "Root, hog, or — die!" They are most un-
gainly, villainous -looking creatures. They have not the
fear of man nor any other fear before their eyes. They
have evidently come from ancestors that were accustomed
to look out for number one. They abound in that valua-
ble quality, self-reliance, which makes them desirable. The
smooth, unctious, aristocratic-looking Chester whites are
not tolerated on the ranch. They were tried and found
wanting in the tact and energy needful for digging soap-

134 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

root and other esculents hidden in the ground, as well
as in a general understanding of the ways and means of
taking care of themselves. These hogs are driven in from
the fields and slaughtered for the market without any pre-
liminary feeding by way of preparation. They are brought
from their range in the green fields, and without warning
hurried to their fate.

Fourteen thousand sheep, under the care of shepherds,
crop the grass at their leisure, and at no season of the year
require shelter or feeding. There is a shepherd for each
two thousand sheep. He keeps an eye on them during the
day to see that they do not wander away, and at night
gathers them into a corral, or some protected place, near
which he sleeps in a tent or cabin. These sheep are not
expected to be all pastured on the ranch. A part are kept
on unoccupied lands, and in the summer, when the pas-
tures wither and dry up for want of rain, they are driven
to the mountains, where they are watched and cared for
by the shepherds.

Sheep-growing is a very profitable business in this re-
gion. The increase is very rapid; from eighty to one hun-
dred per cent, per annum being safely calculated upon,
with good care. With wool at present prices sheep easily
net two dollars per head. In this part of the State it is
customary to shear twice in the year; the first time in
April, the second in August. The fall clip averages from
half to two-thirds as much as the spring.

No kind of animal is ever sheltered or fed except the
working horses. These are kept on barley and hay. Be-
tween three and four thousand bushels of barley are fed
in a season. No Indian corn is raised, except for table use,

RANCH IN THE UPPER SACRAMENTO VALLEY. 135

and that is irrigated, as indeed all the garden and orchard
must be. The rains cease too early for these products to be
matured without artificial irrigation. No potatoes are
raised ; the supply is bought in Red Bluff, and is generally
brought thither from Oregon. Although so many cattle
roam over the pastures, not a pound of butter is made on
the ranch; that, also, is bought in Red Bluff. A single
cow furnishes milk for family use. By so much is this
household better off than many others, for oftentimes,
while hundreds of cattle are raised and kept on the ranch,
coffee and tea are drunk unblessed with cream.

The winters are very pleasant. Although there is more
rain than farther south, there are many days, and some-
times even weeks, in succession when there is but little or
none, when the sky is clear, the sun bright, and the air
pure and exhilarating. But in summer the heat is in-
tense. The mercury goes up to 112°, 115°, and even to
118° and 120° in the shade. The women and children, and
all that can, migrate to cooler regions. Many persons
have summer-houses in the mountains, twenty or thirty
miles away, to which they flee for comfort and safety.
Others go to " the bay," as they always say in speaking of
San Francisco, and remain there through the two or three
hottest months. The intense heat and luxuriant vegeta-
tion have the effect to produce malaria, which generates
chills and fevers. These ailments are not at all uncommon
in this region.

136 TWO TEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER X.

A FRUIT RA.NCH ON THE SACRAMENTO RIVER.

THE fruit of California is now known of all men, and
women too, at least in our own country ; but all do not
know it in its best estate. Most varieties are not im-
proved by age. To appreciate its delicate flavors and sweet
lusciousness, it must be eaten where it grows, and tasted
not long after it has left its parent stem.

It was my good fortune to spend several weeks upon a
ranch that is esteemed one of the best in the State for
fruit-growing. I thought myself happy to be there, not
once only, but thrice at different seasons of the year, and
have therefore had a chance to make myself thoroughly
acquainted with the various operations by which such a
ranch is carried on.

One of these visits occurred in the delectable season of
the vintage. Shall I ever forget those delicious black Ham-
burg grapes? The white muscats commend themselves to
the taste of many, and gain their preference; but as for
me, give me Hamburgers, black, juicy and rich, and I
will let who will have the others. The only fault I have
to find with them is, they tempt too strongly to over-in-
dulgence.

The ranch in question is situated on the Sacramento
river, about a score of miles below the renowned city of
that name. The land lying along the river between Sac-
ramento and San Francisco is considered as good as any

FRUIT RANCH ON THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 137

in the State for fruit-raising, and is principally devoted
to that purpose. The river affects the soil for about forty
rods back from the bank, so that to that extent the fruit
never fails from want of moisture. On the east side of
the stream a levee protects the country from the overflow
of its waters, from which there was formerly so much in-
convenience and loss.

San Francisco is the market for the fruit, as well as all
the other products of these ranches. Nothing is ever car-
ried to Sacramento, though so near.

The large boats that ply between that place and San
Francisco make but few landings, and do scarcely any of
the way business. Two small sized steamers come up and
go down on alternate days, and do a sort of general car-
rying trade. They go from ranch to ranch gathering up
the baskets and boxes filled with fruit, and leaving the
empty ones that are sent back by the consignees. Cross-
ing the river diagonally is about all the headway gained
sometimes for miles. As many as five thousand packages
are handled by the men on these boats during a single
trip, and the average number is about three thousand.

Apples, pears and grapes are shipped in boxes; most
other kinds of fruit are sent in baskets. In this shape
they are consigned to dealers in San Francisco, who, of
course, have a percentage on the sales. The baskets and
boxes are returned when emptied, as a general rule.
Sometimes, in exceptional cases, the fruit is sold in and
with that which contains it.

The ranch which is the subject of this writing was
bought some fifteen years ago by the present owner at a
cost of fifty-five hundred dollars. It was at the time of

138 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

purchase partially cultivated, and had beginnings of a fruit
orchard upon it. It contains one section of land — six
hundred and forty acres. The entire river frontage, about
sixty acres, is in fruit. Of this, fifteen acres are in grapes
and seven in pears; the remainder is divided between
apples, apricots, cherries, plums, peaches and figs. The
annual income of the ranch for the last few years has
been from eight to twelve thousand dollars clear of all
expenses.

Pears are the first fruit sent to market. These are
dispatched the last of May, and those sent earliest command
large prices, sometimes reaching as high as twelve cents
per pound. The Madeline pear is the earliest; it is a
very poor excuse for a pear, and later in the season would
not sell at any price. A box of pears contains forty pounds.
About two thousand boxes of this fruit are sent to market
in a season, which bring an average price of one dollar
and seventy-five cents per box. One hundred and fifty
baskets of plums are sold at one dollar per basket. One
hundred baskets of figs at from seventy-five cents to one
dollar and fifty cents per basket. Fifty boxes of quinces
at an average of one dollar per box; and three thousand
boxes of apples at an average of one dollar and twenty-
five cents per box. The receipts for cherries amounted to
five hundred dollars. The vineyard furnished fifteen
hundred boxes of grapes, the black Hamburgs averaging
one dollar and fifty cents per box, and the white muscats
two dollars. There were more than twice as many muscats
produced than there were Hamburgs.

This is the product of the sixty acres of river frontage.
There are five hundred and eighty acres of land to be used

FRUIT RANCH ON THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 139

for other purposes. From this amount two hundred must
be subtracted for tule lands, one-half of which is a lake,
the water being too deep for the tule to grow. Once or
twice since the present owner has been in possession, the
year being exceptionally dry, the lake has been so low
that the ground has been cultivated. The soil is unsur-
passed in richness. Such quantities of melons as were
grown on a small extent of space, and vegetables in such
numbers and in such multitudes, that it would strain the
faith of any who were uninitiated to believe. A system
of drainage is all that is needed to convert these tule
lands into the richest and most productive soil.

The residue of the ranch is devoted to dairy purposes.
There are kept upon it about forty cows, from which there
is a yield of one hundred pounds of butter per week.
This is sent to San Francisco, where it is sold at the
average price of thirty-seven and a half cents per pound.
The cows are not housed in winter, though they are fed
a part of the time. There are fifty acres of alfalfa, or
Chili clover, which is a species of lucern. This is won-
derfully productive. The cattle are allowed to feed upon it
from November until May, when they are turned off, and
after that three crops are cut for hay, one crop being
permitted to stand until the seed is ripe. This seed com-
mands a ready sale in the market, and averages the owner
about five hundred dollars per annum. About five hun-
dred dollars' worth of beef is sold annually, the cattle
bringing thirty-five dollars per head.

Of course, the master does not sleep while these pro-
cesses go on. He is a prompt and attentive business man,
and everything is kept up to the mark; but his is a life

140 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

wonderfully free from anxiety and that kind of fluctuating
between hope and fear that is so wearing. There never
has been a failure of crop, and apparently there is no
danger of it. As long as the blessed sunshine comes to
give richness to the pear and sweetness to the grape, so
long will the harvest be gathered in.

None but Chinamen are employed on the ranch. The
owner will have nothing to do with any other laborers,
because he finds in these faithfulness and obedience — quali-
ties which he looks for in vain in any other race. From
six to ten Chinamen are kept at work all the time. In the
season of gathering the fruit this force is sometimes
doubled. In the winter time — winter by courtesy — they
plow, prune, graft and transplant. There is no suspension
of operations on account of frozen ground or inclement
weather, though, of course, there is occasionally a rainy
day when nothing can be done. One of the Chinamen
has been employed six or seven years, and acts as inter-
preter and foreman. The laborers receive twenty-eight
or thirty dollars per month and board themselves.

The statement of a fact will show to what extent the
owner of this ranch trusts the Chinamen in his employ.
Three years ago he went east twice; the first time in
March, to accompany his family on a visit to their old
home in Ohio. In September he went again to bring them
back, and each time he was gone six weeks. During both
absences he left the Chinamen in charge on his ranch.
The whole business was in their hands. They gathered
and shipped the fruit and attended to whatever was needed.
Of course, as the fruit was consigned, there was nothing
to be done in the way of making sales. When the mas-

FRUIT RANCH ON THE SACRAMENTO RIVER. 141

ter returned he found everything in a satisfactory condi-
tion. The Chinamen had been faithful to the charge they
had to keep.

This ranch is one hundred miles from the Golden Gate,
and both the wind and tide reach it and affect the situa-
tion. There is enough of the influence of the trade-winds
during the summer to counteract the intense heat of the
sun, and it is very seldom uncomfortably hot. Here, as
almost everywhere in California, the nights are cool and
delightful.

142 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER XL

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS.

THERE is a time for all things under the sun. If
this is true as a general proposition, it is emphat-
ically so when applied to a visit to California. A very little
rehearsing of the climatic conditions will show the rea-
sons.

By courtesy the rains are said to begin in November,
but as a matter of fact there are seldom more than a
few showers in that month, which barely suffice to lay the
dust for a few days.

Rain sufficient to start vegetation cannot be depended
upon until December has well advanced. Two or three
weeks thereafter greenness begins to creep over the hill-
sides, and the earth puts on its spring attire. Again,
there is seldom much rain after April is past. A few
showers come in May, occasionally, but not enough for
vegetation to hold its own against the sun.

Sahara is not drier and more desert-like than are parts
of California after three, four, five and six months have
passed, during which a clear, unchecked sun has been
shining upon the thirsty land, drying up the juices of
plants and extracting every particle of moisture from the
surface of the earth, and down below the surface as far
as the heat can penetrate. The dust becomes something
fearful, and any kind of wheeled vehicle stirs it up and
so puts it in motion that riding is a pleasure to be en-

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 143

joyed at the risk of suffocation, or at least of a near ap-
proach to it.

Whoever, therefore, would see the country in its best
estate must do so between say the latter part of January
and the end of April. Every day after the last date will
detract from its beauty, and be so much subtracted from
the admiration and enjoyment that its meridian glory
would occasion.

There is no part of California, no place in it, which
tourists will be likely to wish to see, that cannot be visited
with entire convenience during the time specified, except
the Yosemite valley. On account of the great quantity of
snow that accumulates in this locality, a journey to it can-
not well be made until the end of May. After the snow is
melted, so that the trip is practicable, the sooner it is made
the better, because early in the season the streams are
fuller and the falls more wonderful than later.

Southern California should be seen in February or
March, if possible. The oranges will not then all have
been gathered, and everything will be looking its best.
The rain- fall is so much less in this part of the State than
it is farther north that, of course, it dries up sooner. Let
no one who visits this part of the State fail, either in going
or coming, to make the trip by land. It is better to go
down by sea and return by stage. The ride, to be sure,
will be fatiguing; but rest can be taken by the way, if
need be, by stopping over a day. After the ride is finished,
there will be great comfort in feeling that you have accom-
plished that for which you went — you have seen something
of the country. For how can you know anything about
the land by sailing past it on the ocean, especially if you

144 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

should chance to be sea-sick and lie in your berth all the
while?

After the southern trip you can take the others in
whatever order you please. You will probably make San
Francisco your base of operations, and you will find much
in the city itself to please and interest you. One of the
first places that you will visit will be Woodward's gardens,
where you will find among the native products some im-
mense " grizzlies " and huge sea-lions, or seals, as they are
more generally called. Ungainly and awkward-looking as
they are, you will discover a strange pathos in their brown
eyes if you regard them attentively enough. If you have
the time to spare, you can well spend a day there, and
then not feel willing to depart.

Your first ride will probably be to the Cliff House, to
see the seals and the Pacific ocean. This is a pleasant ride,
and you can take a carriage and have the privilege of
paying several dollars for it, or, if "of a frugal mind,"
you can go in the public conveyances for thirty or forty
cents. If you have not seen the Pacific ocean before, that
will be the great attraction — the grand sight for which
you will most care. But the seal rocks, and the seals
sporting on them, will also claim attention. There are
three or four of these rocks only a little way out in the
ocean. One of them is as high as a meeting-house; but
the great lubberly seals contrive to get up to the top of it.
These seals are protected by law, and really seem to have a
very good time of it. They come up on the rocks to sun
themselves, and here they squirm and squabble and bark
and play and fight. Those who go often to see them make
acquaintance with them as individuals, and even know

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS.

145

them by name. One monster of unusual immensity is
known as Ben Butler. What has secured this cognomen
for him — whether he is a manceuverer, a wire-puller, or a
defeated candidate who has run for the gubernatorial office
on an independent ticket, or shown a determination, by
"hook or by crook," to lord it over his fellow-seals — the
deponent knows not. At any rate, in whatever way he has
gained his celebrity, Ben Butler contrives to keep things in
motion in sealdom, and maintain a general interest, of
which he is the center. "There goes Ben Butler!" can be
heard every little while from some of those who are watch-
ing through their glasses; and even if he is not seen, it is
not always safe to presume that he is asleep, or that he has
given up the contest.

Either going to or coming from the Cliff House you
will stop at Lone Mountain cemetery, which is the prin-
cipal one belonging to San Francisco.

The Chinese quarters will be the most attractive be-
cause most peculiar part of the city. The sights and won-
ders visible among these very peculiar people are recorded
in another chapter devoted especially to them.

No one will fail to visit Oakland, beautiful Oakland, on
the other side of the bay. Although only eight miles
from San Francisco, it is so protected by a change in the
trend of the coast, and by the hills which break the force
of the wind, that the climate is much milder and more
desirable. It has, too, more of the sobriety and steadiness
of an eastern city than any other place in California. The
Sabbath is quiet and well observed, except that there is
sometimes disturbance occasioned by picnickers from San
Francisco passing through on their way to a pleasant

146 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

grove on the farther side of the city. Taking everything
into consideration, climatic conditions, social advantages,
educational privileges and religious opportunities, Oakland
is to-day the most desirable place of residence that can be
found in the State.

The University of California, with true western liber-
ality, opens its doors to all, without regard to sex, color
or condition, free of charge. This institution is located
at Berkeley, five or six miles from Oakland. The site is
as charming as can well be conceived. The grounds run up
on to the foot-hills of the Contra Costa mountains, and are
handsomely ornamented with acacia, eucalyptus and other
evergreens, with the beautiful pepper tree sprinkled in
here and there to give the finishing touch to the land-
scape. From every part of the grounds you can look right
out of the always open Golden Gate to the limitless ocean
beyond. The view alone is worth twice the journey neces-
sary to secure it. The buildings are of a fine granite
brought from Folsom, some thirty miles from Sacramento.

The live-oak grove in which Oakland is built has been
very tenderly treated. Not a tree has been cut down that
could be spared. Trees have even been left standing in
some of the streets, and the carriage-ways wind about
hither and thither in order to avoid them. But of course
this indulgence cannot be continued; as business and pop-
ulation increase, these hinderances to safe transit must be
taken out of the way. In Oakland the perfection of
beauty exists in the way of artistic combinations and
arrangements of flowers and shrubs and trees. The de-
lightful climate and rich soil render such things possibili-
ties when there are found the wealth and the taste to use

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 147

them. In the case of one delighted observer, at least,
nothing finer, or better, or richer, or more beautiful, is
expected to be seen until that better land is entered of
whose glories all the most excellent things here are but
types and shadows. Indeed, the sight of these has helped
the imagination in its endeavor to reach up to the full
expectation of that of which it has not entered into the
heart of man to conceive.

The bay of San Francisco is a very perfect sort of
product, look at it from what point you will — aesthetic,
commercial or climatic. It is the only break in the Coast
Range mountains between Puget Sound and the Gulf of
California, and the only water communication between the
ocean and the interior valleys. It is completely land-
locked, and is generally conceded to be the second best
harbor in the world. It is fifty miles in length, extend-
ing both north and south from San Francisco. It reaches
about forty miles below San Francisco, in a southeasterly
direction. The valley along its western border is one of
the finest in the State. Causing a break, as it does, in
the Coast Range mountains, the ocean wind comes through,
and, following the line of the bay, makes the inhabitants
of all the regions round about participants in the refresh-
ing and invigorating influences of the sea-breezes. The
average width of the bay is nine miles.

The Golden Gate, as the strait by which it is connected
with the ocean is called, is less than a mile in width
at the opening, and because it was so narrow it escaped
for centuries the scrutinizing eyes of the mariners who
sailed along the coast. There are sixty feet of water in
the channel. The arrangements for defense could scarcely

7*

148 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

be better. The gate-posts, both north and south, are bold
projections, which thoroughly and easily command the en-
trance. Point Bonita, on the north, has a light-house
upon it to illuminate the entrance to the bay. Fort Point
is placed on the southern projection, just in front of the
open gate. Only one mile and a quarter away a little isl-
and has been dropped, as though on purpose to furnish
additional guards to the entrance.

This island is called Alcatraz, and is bristling with ord-
nance from bottom to top, and is always ready to repel a
hostile invader. Northeast of Alcatraz, and also command-
ing the entrance, is Angel Island, the largest and most val-
uable of the three government islands in this part of the
bay. Still further from the gate, and east of these two, is
the island of Yuerba Buena, or Goat Island, as it is now
generally called. This is the coveted morsel that the Cen-
tral Pacific Railroad has been and is so anxious to swallow.
The road extends out into the bay three miles, a wharf
being built that distance in a direct line toward Goat Isl-
and, to which another mile would bring it. Of course it
would be better to have a place on terra firma on which to
receive and discharge freight than to construct warehouses
upon piles so far out in the water. The San Franciscans
are hostile to any such arrangements, because vessels could
enter the Golden Gate, go to the island, receive and dis-
charge freight, without saying "By your leave!"

The maximum rise of water at full tide at San Fran-
cisco is eight feet. The influence of the tide is felt as far
as navigation extends, both in the Sacramento and San Jo-
aquin rivers. At Sacramento, one hundred and seventeen
miles from the Golden Gate, the rise is two feet six inches,

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 149

and at Stockton, which is about equally distant, the rise is
not far from the same.

One of the pleasant expeditions from San Francisco
will be to San Jose. This is a beautiful town of ten thou-
sand inhabitants, about fifty miles from San Francisco, and
eight or ten from the head of the bay. The town of Santa
Clara is three miles distant, and the two are connected by
an alameda or avenue, on each side of which are large old
willows, planted by the Spanish padres connected with the
mission at Santa Clara nearly a century ago. The greater
part of the trees have borne the ills of life so heroically
that they are still vigorous. San Jose* can be reached by
two railroads — one each side of the bay. The court-house
in the town is said to be the finest building in the State
erected for that purpose. A beautiful picture is spread out
before the eye from the top of the dome. Orchards and
vineyards, groves and meadows, mountains and valleys meet
the vision, while tasteful houses and charming grounds in
the nearer space excite admiration.

The climate of San Jose is particularly attractive, espe-
cially in the winter. The winds from the ocean lose much
of their fierceness before they reach it, and yet bring enough
invigorating influence to make them acceptable and health-
giving. In summer the heat sometimes transcends the
point of comfort; still it by no means reaches the extreme
that it does in valleys shut out from the influences of
the sea. This upper Santa Clara valley is the most highly
cultivated valley in the State. A ride through it in March
will give a vivid idea of the capacity of the genial climate
and fertile soil of the country.

The New Almaden quicksilver mines are twelve miles

150 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

from San Jose\ These are the oldest mines of this ore in
the State, and the most productive. The ore is very rich,
yielding in some cases sixty per cent, of quicksilver.

A trip to Monte Diablo is among the things that will
pay. This mountain, although not very elevated, is very
conspicuous because of its isolation. Having become so
well acquainted with it in the distance, it was pleasant
to know it more intimately, though it was not the mountain
itself, but the view to be had from its summit that formed
the attraction.

We were a party of five, in which the feminines had
a majority of one. Our wagon was spacious enough to
accommodate us all, with our bundles and carpet-bags.
We started from Benicia at three o'clock in the afternoon,
and, crossing the straits of Carquinez in the ferry-boat,
were soon in Martinez. The hills carpeted with green,
the smiling fields that gave rich promise of harvests to
come, the voice of the meadow-lark, thrown in now and
then to give us a thrill of melody, were pleasant adjuncts
by the way. An hour's ride brought us to Pacheco, which
had rather a washed-out appearance. The winter rains
seemed to have been more copious than the needs of the
place required. Then we came to a little village called
Concord, and from there found a smooth and pleasant road
to Clayton, where we spent the night.

As everything depended upon our having a clear day
for the ascent of the mountain, the weather was a matter
of more than usual interest. There were ominous clouds
hanging round the horizon, and when we retired at night
we had many misgivings as to what might be on the mor-
row. During the night we heard the patter of rain upon

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 151

the roof and the hoarse voice of the wind in angry vio-
lence.

But the morning proved better than our fears led us to
anticipate. The face of the sun was clear and bright, as
though benefited by its recent washing, and the only trace
of the storm visible was the snow upon the top of the
mountain.

The summit of the mountain is about seven miles from
Clayton, and for half the distance we could keep our seats
in the wagon. As some of us had no great confidence in
our equestrian skill, we were glad to keep to wheels as long
as we could. Therefore our riding-horses were led till
we reached the end of the drive. Then came the time
of trial. Whether we should be able to retain our seats in
the saddle remained, in the case of some of us, a problem
to which the Q. E. D. could not be attached until the end
of the journey. To those who were at all at home in the
saddle there was nothing terrible in the ascent. It is
possible to ride all the way to the top, though in some
places the acclivity is so steep that walking is easier for
the tourist, and certainly more merciful to the horse. The
compensation for whatever fatigue there is, is ample nearly
all the time. Payment is not deferred until the work is
done. We had not gone up far before glimpses of the
valleys and the far-off mountains were an earnest of what
awaited us when the summit was achieved. There was one
brilliant part of the show that we could almost flatter
ourselves had been prepared for our special and particu-
lar gratification. The storm of the previous night had
left its traces on the trees and bushes, which were all
encased in ice. The sun shining upon them gave them a

152 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

brilliancy of appearance that was dazzling to the eye.
Diamonds and all kinds of precious stones seemed waiting
to be gathered as fruit from the trees. Clouds passed
over the sun now and then, and their shadows flitted
over the landscape, making it seem to fluctuate to the eye.

"Dark hollows seemed to glide along
And chase the sunny ridges."

When we reached the summit, such a view was spread
out before us as I never dreamed could be taken in by the
eye. On one side we looked out through the Golden Gate
to the boundless ocean beyond; the Farrallones lay there
like specks in the ocean; nearer was San Francisco, spread
out like a map, with every street distinctly marked. Val-
lejo, Benicia, Pacheco, New York, Antioch, and several
other towns could be easily seen. All this was viewed with
the naked eye. Think of seeing the whole State of New
York at a glance!

Prof. Whitney says: "From the summit of Monte
Diablo the view is panoramic, and perhaps unsurpassed in
extent. Owing to the peculiar distribution of the mountain
ranges of California, and the position of Monte Diablo in
the center of the great elliptic basin, the eye has full scope
over the slopes of the Sierra Nevada to its crest, from
Lassen's Peak on the north to Mount Whitney on the south,
a distance of fully three hundred and twenty-five miles.
It is only in the clearest weather that the details of the
1 Snowy Range ' can be made out ; but the nearer masses of
the Coast Range, with their waves of mountains and wave-
lets of spurs, are visible from Mount Hamilton and Mount
Oso on the south to Mount Helena on the north. The
great interior valley of California, the plains of the Sacra-

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 153

mento and San Joaquin, are spread out under the observer's
feet like a map, and they seem of illimitable extent. The
whole area thus embraced in the field of vision is little less
than forty thousand square miles, or almost as large as the
whole State of New York."

Of course no tourist will fail to visit the Geysers.
There are two ways of reaching them, by way of Healds-
burg and by way of Calistoga. The former route leads
past Petaluma, Santa Eosa, etc., to Healdsburg, and then
over "the hog's back" to the Geysers. It is well to go
one way and return by the other.

We left San Francisco at four o'clock in the afternoon
in the steamer, and in an hour and a half were on the
other side of the bay at Vallejo. The cars awaited us
here, and we were whisked through the beautiful Naper
valley more rapidly than we wished. This is one of the
most beautiful and fertile districts in California. It would
be difficult for the elements of fine scenery and charming
landscapes to enter into combinations that would surpass
what is here seen. Oaks, the magnificence of which could
scarcely be surpassed anywhere in the world, dot the land-
scape here and there, while orchards and vineyards and
fields of golden grain — golden at the time of our visit —
interspersed with "patches" of Indian corn, the first I
have seen in the State, make up a wonderful beauty of
shade and color.

Just at evening we reached Calistoga Springs, where we
remained all night. There is much that is attractive about
this place. Springs of almost every kind are found, hot,
cold and tepid. One spring seems especially designed for
the accommodation of the laundress. The water is soft

154 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

and clear, and just hot enough to make a good " suds."
That it may be applied to its legitimate purpose a wash-
house has been erected, where clothes go through the
process of purification.

When strolling about the grounds in the morning a
tasteful, rustic structure arrested my attention. " Nature's
Kitchen" was written over the door in large letters. It
seemed worth while to go in and see how the dame ac-
quitted herself when she ventured into the department of
culinary art. If she performed her duties as deftly in that
line as she does her work generally, there might be some-
thing learned from an investigation. The door was en-
tered. A comely youth seemed to be acting as the old
lady's adjutant. He asked if I would have some chicken
broth. The reply being in the affirmative, he proceeded
to dip some water from a spring which was bubbling and
boiling all the while, and, adding a little pepper and salt,
he presented the cup. It was chicken broth, sure enough !
and almost too hot to eat with comfort. In what subter-
ranean fields the chickens were fed, and how far under-
ground was the kitchen in which they had been prepared
and put in the pot, there was no witness to testify.

Near by was another queer sort of structure, which
proved to be a grotto made of petrifactions brought from
a petrified forest some five miles south of Calistoga. This
forest is on a ridge which separates the Napa and Santa
Rosa valleys, and was discovered in 1870. The examina-
tion that followed the discovery led to the finding of parts
of one hundred or more large forest trees in a state of
petrifaction. They were all prostrate, and seemed to be-
long to living species of coniferae. It is supposed that

THE DEVIL'S CANON. VIEW LOOKING UP. Pages 153 to 160.

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 155

the overthrow of the forest was occasioned by some erup-
tion of Mount St. Helena.

At seven o'clock in the morning we took our seats in
the coach and started for the Geysers. The tourists filled
three wagons that morning. These were open-covered,
four-seated vehicles, each drawn by six horses. The first
ten miles was through a farming country, and level a
great part of the way. Then we changed horses, and the
perils of the journey began. We commenced the ascent
of the mountains, and for ten miles wound along their
sides, rising higher and higher at every step. The road
is a marvel. It is cut in the sides of the mountains, and
follows all their windings in and out, turning angles as
sharp as the crook of one's elbow, with only about six
inches of leeway, and seeming, in places, not to have
even so much as that where the road is excavated in the
solid rock. As we ascended, the views became continually
finer and finer. We looked off over mountains that seemed
to rise one upon another, and to follow each other in al-
most endless succession. They were clothed with firs and
pines to their very summits. In the distance lay the Pa-
cific ocean, glistening in the sun and seeming near, though
seventy miles away. Mount St. Helena was the presiding
genius of the near landscape. Although only about four
thousand feet high, it overtops its compeers, and is the
observed of all observers. It was named for the Grand
Duchess Helena of Russia, by the gallant Russian who
first ascended it in 1841. He placed a metallic plate
upon the summit, to bear record of his ascent, and to re-
cord the name which he had bestowed upon the mount-
ain. The plate was afterwards taken possession of by the

156 TWO YEAES IN CALIFORNIA.

Geological Survey, and removed to San Francisco for safe-
keeping. We rested a little while on the top of the di-
vide, and then began our descent. If one has nerves, then
is the time to find it out. The drivers put the whip to
the horses, and down they go at the most break- neck
speed, sweeping around curves, turning angles sharply
acute, the hubs of the wheels almost touching the sides
of the mountains on the left, while on the right you look
down precipices two thousand, three thousand feet. The
eye cannot fathom the depth to which the giving way of
a tug, the striking of the hub against the rock which it
approaches so nearly, might precipitate the load of living
freight. Dark chasms seem yawning to devour you. At
last the race is over, and we draw up suddenly and un-
expectedly at the Geyser hotel.

All preconceived ideas of the Geysers were doomed to
be disappointed. The pictures in the Geography, of the
geysers in Iceland, had perhaps unconsciously been the
models upon which expectations had been formed; but
they proved very wide of the mark. Pluton river runs
along just in front of the hotel, and continues on its
winding way until it finds the Russian river, into which
it empties. The gorge through which it runs is quite
narrow, and is called Pluton canon. There is said to be
fine trout-fishing in this little stream, and some conveni-
ences are provided which are not always found in con-
junction with opportunities of the kind. There are places
where the fisherman, after having caught his fish, without
moving may cast it into a hot spring, and bring it out
done to a turn and ready for eating. Not very far from
the hotel there is a hot, acid spring, to the water of which, if

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 157

a little sugar be added, the perfection of hot lemonade is
produced. One visitor, that I know of, tasted the water
fresh from the spring, and a blistered tongue bore testi-
mony to its heat for several days. There is a bath-house
over a hot spring in Pluton canon, a bath in which is a
luxury to be remembered.

Geyser canon opens into Pluton at rather an acute
angle. We entered at the lower end, and soon the hissing,
shaking, roaring, and quaking began. The forces of Pan-
demonium seem to be released, and to have collected here
to try what they can do. Passing alum springs, sulphur
springs, black as the fabled Tartarean gulf, and many
other kinds of springs, we come to the Devil's Inkstand.
Whether he uses the ink for making records or not, other
people do. We were told that the register at the hotel
was kept with it, but in the case of one of our company
who tried it, it did not prove durable. The writing soon
faded, and after a while was obliterated.

The ground becoming hot, rapidity of motion is a neces-
sity, and yet each time you put your foot down with hesita-
tion, as though it might perchance get into the way that
takes hold on death. The air becomes oppressive, steamy,
thick, sulphurous. You gasp; you hesitate; you conclude
that this is one of the places in which it may be pleasant
to have been, but it is anything else than pleasant to be in !

The way is slippery and the slime is ghastly, super-
natural, infernal. The canon is so narrow that there is
scarcely any room to spare by the side of the creek that
runs through. We are obliged to go first on one side,
then cross over to the other, ascending all the while a
pretty steep grade. We come to a chair-shaped rock

158 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

which is called the Devil's Chair. Finding it vacant we
do not disdain to take a seat for a few minutes to recover
breath and wipe off the perspiration. Sulphur, and many
compositions of which you do not know the name, are
around you. Everything wears an unearthly look, and
you can easily persuade yourself that you have indeed
invaded the dominions of the Infernal Majesty, to whom
the whole region seems to be given up, and whose stamp
everything wears. Soon after we come to the Devil's
Pulpit. What he wants of a pulpit it would be difficult
to guess, unless it be in those times when he arrays himself
in garments of light the better to deceive his victims.
The Devil's Grist Mill, which he makes a great noise in
turning, is near by. But far above all other sounds the
Steamboat Geyser makes itself heard. The resemblance
to a steamboat letting off steam is perfect. This noise is
made by a column of steam rushing out of the side of the
mountain. It sometimes ascends to the height of three
hundred feet. Near this is the Witch's Caldron, as weird-
looking a place as can well be imagined. It is a black
hole seven or eight feet in diameter, and is said to be abso-
lutely unfathomable. It has been sounded to the depth of
twelve hundred feet without reaching bottom. The rock
is black in which the cavity lies, the mixture is black, and
it is boiling, bubbling, seething around, now rising to
within a foot or two of the top, then falling back, hissing,
steaming and howling as though it had been balked in
its efforts to accomplish a purpose. I looked down into
it almost expecting to see

" The eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongne of dog."

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 159

Undoubtedly they were there, but they were undistinguish-
able in the diabolical mixture that continued to " like a
hell-broth boil and bubble.'' In another place we found
the Devil's Tea-kettle. I wonder what kind of tea he uses!
There is much in our markets that might be sent to him;
it might not hurt him, and surely the tea-drinkers in
the world would be the better for its loss. Finally the
summit of the route is reached, over which streams the
tricolored flag, and we feel that we are once more in
our native country. There is a feeling of relief that we
have passed through the dominions of our arch-enemy and
— are safe!

These curious and wonderful processes are now decided
to be wholly the result of chemical action ; volcanic power
has nothing to do with them; the amount of moisture
affects the manifestations. Heat and chemicals are always
in the great laboratory, and when enough moisture is added
all the conditions for activity are met.

On our return we were so fortunate as to have a seat in
the wagon driven by Foss, whose renown is coextensive
with the fame of the Geysers. That ride was worth the
whole expense of the journey. Not a loud word was
spoken; not a crack of the whip was heard. The reins
seemed to be nerves to convey the will of the master to the
steeds, that seemed to delight in obedience. On we dashed,
bounding around corners and shooting around angles.
The heads of the leaders were often out of sight, so sharp
were the curves and so rapidly did we go.

Foss drives the last eighteen miles in an hour and
three-quarters. No accident, it is said, has ever happened
upon the road, notwithstanding it is driven over so rapidly

160 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

The cost of the round trip from San Francisco and back
is now estimated at sixteen dollars. When the writer
made the trip the cost was twenty-five dollars.

The beautiful beach at Pescadero is well worth a visit,
and pebbles picked up there will be among the valuable
trophies brought from the Pacific coast.

Pescadero is on one of the routes to Santa Cruz,
which place should not be omitted if it is possible to
reach it. It is the Newport of California. Being situ-
ated on a cove in the bay of Monterey, it is so protected
from the winds as to be a very desirable summer resort.
It is a place of considerable business also, being second
in this respect to San Francisco. Tanneries are especially
abundant, and a large amount of leather is manufactured.
One reason for this industry is the abundance of chestnut-
oak that abounds in the vicinity. The bark of this tree
contains more and better tannin than that of any other
tree. Large quantities of sole-leather are exported, which
on account of its superior quality commands an extra
price in the market.

The six weeks spent in Santa Cruz by the writer have
left many pleasant memories. The visit was made during
the months of July and August. The mornings and even-
ings were so cool that a little fire was almost always
needful for comfort, and even at midday a heavy shawl
was essential when riding in an open carriage. The rides
are delightful in the vicinity, and one should never be
finished without going to the beach and driving up and
down a few times. There was but one drawback to the
pleasure of riding, and whether that drawback should
come under the geographical head of climate or soil ad-

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 161

mits of doubt; for it was fluctuating — now on the earth
and now in the air. The dust was sometimes suffocating,
blinding, tormenting. The soil was entirely too free for
comfort; the laws of gravity seemed to have no dominion
over it.

It was here that acquaintance with Ying was made.
He had penetrated further into the arcana of the cooking
art than any other "Heathen Chinee" that it was my
good fortune to fall in with. Such appetizing viands as
he set before us — such combinations and excellent re-
sults — it was an uncommon thing to meet with. He was
caterer, steward and factotum in the establishment. The
mistress said, why should she give orders when he knew
so much better what was needed and what was best?
He was a rarely good laundress too. Snow is not whiter
nor glass smoother than the clothes that he sent from
his workshop. He sprinkled while he ironed. Putting
his mouth down to a basin filled with water, and sucking
in as much as convenient, he again emitted it in a fine
spray, making a noise meanwhile like an incipient steam-
boat, which could be heard over a considerable part of
the house.

Ying had the strange peculiarity of liking to have his
own way, and when told to do anything that he did not
want to do, he always took refuge in his imperfect under-
standing of the language: "Me not know." How could
he, poor heathen!

Ying adhered to the national customs in his dress.
His head was shaved, except a round place on the top
about the size of a saucer. The hair which grew upon
this portion was braided, and coiled about like a crown.

162 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

What the longitude of this cue would have been if it
had been allowed to stretch itself out there were no means
of knowing. Ying wore the loose, blue blouse that is so
generally seen in the streets of San Francisco, with loose
trowsers of the same color, made after the Turkish fash-
ion.

Forests of redwood abound in the region of Santa
Cruz, and are not among the least attractive things to
be seen. The old town of Monterey, the first capital of
California, is across the bay and easily visited.

No traveler should go to the Pacific coast and return
without stopping to see Lake Tahoe, one of the most beau-
tiful lakes in the world, as it is one of the highest. By
leaving the Central Pacific railroad at Truckee it can be
seen without fatigue, and without any great delay. It is only
fourteen miles from Truckee, and a good stage road, over
which there are daily coaches, makes it within easy reach.
Lake Tahoe is six thousand four hundred feet above the
level of the sea — higher than Mount Washington, that
giant among the peaks of New England. Estimates of its
size vary; by some authorities it is put down as being
thirty by fifteen miles, and by others twenty by ten.

It was cloudy the day we reached it, and the clouds
rested, not on the tops of the mountains which surround
the lake, but on their sides, while the summits stood out
boldly in the clear atmosphere. As though the lake said
to them, " Come rest on this bosom," they nestled closely
down, as if glad to find so beautiful a resting-place. A
pleasant little steamboat goes back and forth, carrying
passengers to the different parts of the lake. Never was
water so clear and so blue. We could look down forty

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 163

or fifty feet and count the pebbles on the bottom, and see
the fish glide along, and the water-snakes wound up in
their coils. The sky itself was not bluer than the water,
and the tint was particularly soft and bright. The lake
abounds in trout, which are of an unusually large size.

A ride in a row-boat, one pleasant morning, was par-
ticularly enjoyable. We went over to Cornelian Bay, and
along the first part of the way the lake was as calm as
a summer evening. The water which dripped from the
oars, falling into the lake, made little circlets which the
sun at once converted into rainbows. These spotted the
surface, and myriads of little rainbows danced hither and
thither, some larger, some smaller, but all gay and beau-
tiful. A breeze sprang up while we were out, and when
we returned there was another and different display. The
breeze roughened the surface of the lake, and the sun
shone in such a direction that the crest of each little wave-
let was converted into a brilliant diamond; thus they were
glistening all around, dancing here and there, and all dia-
monds of the first water!

The mountains stand round about this lake as they do
about Jerusalem, making such scenery as one does not
easily tire of seeing.

The line which separates California from Nevada passes
through the lake, so that a part of it is in one State and
a part in the other.

Donner lake, so well known for its sad associations,
is a beautiful little lake on the other side of Truckee,
and in full view of the railroad. It is well worthy of a
visit and a nearer acquaintance than can be had from the
railway.

164 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

The cost of living differs greatly in different parts of
the State. In San Francisco and Oakland it is about the
same in gold that it is in Philadelphia or Cincinnati in
currency. The charge at hotels is about three dollars per
diem; at boarding-houses, almost anywhere between ten
and twenty dollars per week. Many persons, to whom it
is convenient or desirable, rent furnished rooms and take
their meals at restaurants. The charges in restaurants
are less than in eastern cities. A breakfast or lunch,
consisting of a cup of tea or coffee, a mutton-chop or piece
of beef-steak, potatoes, bread, butter and pickle, can be had
for twenty-five cents. A certain person, in whom the writer
has a first-class interest, who was scantily blessed with
"filthy lucre," contrived to live in Oakland, during the
whole winter, at an average cost of five dollars per week.
Two of these dollars went for room-rent, and the remain-
der covered the cost of board, fuel, washing, and all other
needful things. To be sure, many things were sacrificed
that it would have been pleasant to have ; but the privations
were borne cheerfully, and amends were sought and found
in seeing and enjoying the charming grounds of Oakland,
which were a continual feast that never palled upon the
taste, and in an occasional visit to San Francisco, over the
waters of the beautiful bay. In making any such arrange-
ment, be sure and get a room into which the sun shines
a part of the day, and the larger the part the better.
The days are rare, in Oakland and San Francisco, when
it is really comfortable in the morning and evening with-
out a fire. But when the sun is shining, if you have a
room into which its beams can enter, you will always be
warm enough. The prices of some things essential to

A CHAPTER FOR TOURISTS. 165

living are less in California than the east, while of many
the cost is greater. Flour is both cheaper and better, and
the price of meat and fish is less; but fuel is very ex-
pensive. A considerable part of the coal used is brought
from England and Australia, and the remainder comes
from Oregon.

166 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER XII.

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS.

SOMETIMES an affirmative is best reached through a
pathway of negatives.

Those persons should not go to California with any ex-
pectation of prospering in material good who have not the
tact and energy and enterprise to succeed in "the States.1'

There is not one element essential to success elsewhere
that is not needed there ; the urgency of an increased need
might be emphasized. It is true in California, as it is in
other countries, that the easy places are already occupied.
There is a superabundance of clerks, book-keepers, teach-
ers, civil engineers and professional men generally.

It is no longer the fact that fortunes can be made in a
day in California, as they once were. He who would thrive
must do so there, as he would anywhere else, by patient
industry, by economy and by earnest endeavors. No one
should go there expecting, or even hoping, that in some for-
tunate moment he may come across a nugget of gold that
will prove a nest-egg out of which can be hatched a for-
tune.

But to one who goes expecting to endure hardship, ex-
pecting to toil, and especially expecting to save, the avenues
to comfortable living are many and sure. There is a
tendency to large expectation growing out of the influ-
ence of early mining operations, when money was made
rapidly, spent lavishly and all business transacted in a

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS. 167

grand way — when expenditures were on a scale of mag-
nificence that already seems almost fabulous, and marks
that period as having been literally the golden age. Al-
though the time is past, the influence of it still remains.
It is perceptibly diminishing year by year, however, as is
shown by the fact that dimes are coming into use, and
even half-dimes are sometimes seen, while only a little
while ago a man scorned to look at anything less than a
quarter. There is no better index to the precision in
trade and the economy in commerce which prevail among
a people than the value of the coins in use. The more
careful the expenditure the lower will be the denomina-
tions of the medium used.

At present it would seem that the first and strongest at-
traction is toward agriculture, in some of its numerous de-
partments. California is truly a paradise for farmers. The
summer is not spent in raising grain and other products
to be eaten up by man and beast in winter, while nothing
can be done; but the farmer continues steadily at pro-
ductive labor all the year round. Nothing requires to be
housed or fed except the working-horses, or possibly the
milch-cows, which will need to be fed a small part of the
time.

If near a market, or if a market is easily accessible,
fruit raising is one of the most profitable as well as
pleasant kinds of farming. Less land is required than for
raising grain. There does not seem, at present, any dan-
ger of the supply exceeding the demand, as is shown by
the price of fruit in the market of San Francisco. Most
kinds of fruit sell for more than they do in St. Louis or
Cincinnati. Even grapes, that grow everywhere so lux-

168 TWO TEARS 1ST CALIFORNIA.

uriantly and yield so abundantly, sell for more than they
do in St. Louis. Eight cents per pound — three pounds
for a quarter — is about the usual price, though they may
occasionally be found for five or six cents per pound.

The cultivation of small fruits is very profitable. Straw-
berries, raspberries and currants always sell well, and can
be easily cultivated if arrangements for irrigation are se-
cured.

There is beginning to be much doubt as to the profit-
ableness of the large- ranch system which has prevailed so
extensively in California. It is a well established fact that
very few of the owners of large ranches have become rich,
and in a majority of cases the original owners are poor
men now, their lands having passed into other hands.
Some of those who continue in possession are cumbered
with debt and troubled to know how to make the ends
meet. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. There
are owners who have the tact and energy to manage in
a way to bring in large profits. It is especially true in
the raising of grain that there must be land enough to cul-
tivate considerable quantities in order to make it profitable.
Labor is expensive, and machinery must be used as far as
possible in its stead. Steam and horse power must take
the place of horses. Such machinery is expensive, and
there must be large profits to make it pay. There is
probably no country in the world that admits of so varied
a range of agricultural pursuits, because there is no other
where it is possible to cultivate so great a variety of
products. It would only be telling what is already
known to write about fruits, grain, etc. Statements will,
therefore, be confined to some of the more recently tried

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS. 169

experiments and to some of the urgent wants not yet
met.

The wheat crop of California is handled in sacks. There
is but one grain elevator in the State. Boats pass down
the Sacramento and up the San Joaquin rivers loaded with
sacks of wheat, which are piled up many feet high and
lie uncovered and exposed. The immunity from rain
makes it safe to transport grain in this way. The sacks
thus used are made of jute, which is raised in India, taken
to Scotland and manufactured into bags and then brought
to California. Of course there must be a profit for the pro-
ducer of the jute, another for those who take the crude
material to Scotland, another for the manufacturer, and yet
another for the importer, by whom it is brought to this
country, and finally, if the sacks are not bought at first
hands, a profit goes into the pocket of the retailer. It is
not strange that all these items added together make a large
aggregate which it takes one-eleventh of the entire wheat
crop to pay. The cost to the State for sacks is about two
millions of dollars per annum. The price is about fifteen
cents per sack, but in times of scarcity it sometimes goes
up to seventeen or eighteen cents. Already something has
been done toward supplying this demand. A factory in
Oakland turns out one million of bags annually, and more
than a million are manufactured elsewhere in the State.
The jute is imported directly from India. The sacks can
be made for fourteen and a-half cents apiece and yield a
fair profit. Any soil and climate that will produce corn
will also produce jute. It is less difficult to raise than
cotton, and more profitable. Recently the experiment of
growing jute was successfully tried on Kern Island. The

170 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

man or men who would go into central or southern Cal-
ifornia and enter upon the business of raising jute would
be sure of large profits, and have a much better chance
to make a fortune than though they owned a gold mine
or shares in a diamond field. The value of the wheat crop
of 1875 in California was twenty-six millions of dollars,
which is only eighty per cent, of that of 1874, because of
the deficiency of rain causing a poor crop. To provide
sacks for such a quantity of wheat is an item of great
importance.

Cotton-raising has passed beyond the period of experi-
ment, and taken a position among established facts. Mr.
J. Ross Browne says: "Experiments made in the culture of
cotton show conclusively that this will soon become one
of the great staples of the Pacific coast. The area of land
suitable for its growth is, however, limited. It requires
moisture, heat and comparative exemption from frost. The
alluvial lands of the San Joaquin valley adjacent to Kern,
Buena Vista and Tulare lakes will, in all probability, prove
as valuable for cotton lands as the best lands in Georgia.
Cotton produces fiber in diminished quantity, though of im-
proved quality, when removed from a southern locality
further north. It never seems to be injured by the most
intense heat. When other crops, including even Indian
corn, are drooping under a blazing sun, the large succulent-
looking leaves of a cotton field will seem to enjoy the
congenial atmosphere. Cotton is decidedly a sun-plant."

California is particularly fitted for the growth of cot-
ton. The period between the late frosts of the spring and
the early frosts of the fall is longer than is required to
mature the plant, and the absolute immunity from rain

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS. 171

allows a long period for picking after the balls have ma-
tured, without any danger of damage by rain.

There being no rain in summer, weeds do not grow,
and the cotton has the whole strength of the soil. This is
particularly well adapted to cotton. Sandy soil is found
in the valleys and the adobe lands corresponding almost
exactly with the black lands in the South, which are re-
garded as normal cotton soil.

The staple produced in California is superior to the
great bulk of the production of the southern States.

Cotton, when it requires any irrigation at all, needs less
than half the quantity necessary for the production of
Indian corn. The expense of its cultivation does not ex-
ceed that of corn, while the profit is much greater, and the
cost of transportation is only a fraction of what it is for
grain. In the southern States it costs twelve cents per
pound to raise it; in California, not more than six or seven
cents. There is scarcely any plant that requires so little
moisture, and none for which irrigation is so well adapted.
The time may come when California will rank as the best
cotton-growing State in the Union. The Legislature has
done what it could to encourage effort in this direction.

Experiments in the cultivation of rice have been suffi-
ciently successful to warrant the expectation that this will
become one of the profitable crops of the State, when com-
plete arrangements are made for irrigation. Rice requires
so much water that nothing can be done satisfactorily in
the way of raising it until the natural supply of the essen-
tial commodity can be supplemented.

In Fresno county experiments have been tried in rais-
ing coffee with a good degree of success.

8*

172 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Tea has also been tried in Santa Barbara county and
elsewhere. Although its growth has been proved a pos-
sibility, it may well be doubted if it can be cultivated
with profit so as to compete with China and Japan. Labor
is so much dearer, and so much manipulation is required
in the preparation of the article, that the cost can scarcely
fail to be greater here than there.

Increased attention is being given to the dairy business.
The yield from this source was five million dollars for the
year 1875. The business is found to be profitable in what-
ever part of the State it has been attempted. In Marin
county, north of San Francisco, there are some fine dairies
in which large profits are made.

At present there is, probably, no branch of business
more profitable than sheep raising, whether tried on a
large or a small scale. A man who has sheep has also
credit, for it is known that twice in the year he is sure
of turning the product of his labor and care into gold;
that is, in those parts of the State where sheep are sheared
both spring and autumn. The chances for this business are
better in the northern than in the southern portion of the
country. There is more rain, and consequently the pastures
do not dry up so soon. Humboldt county is an attractive
point.

Sheep are often let out on shares; the wool and the
increase being divided equally between the owner and the
one who takes care of them. Hence in this business a
man can get a start without capital. But he must be
willing to "deny himself." For the time being he will
be obliged to turn hermit, and care only for his flock.
He must be with them by day and near them by night;

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS. 173

and if he goes to the mountains or on to the large tracts
of unsold government lands, it will involve complete iso-
lation. It is estimated that one man can care for two
thousand sheep. The profits are large and sure, and a
man may comfort himself by looking forward to the near
future, when he will have such an increase of means as
will enable him to make other arrangements if he choose.
With good care the increase will be one hundred per cent,
per annum, and there will be the wool besides.

The most desirable way of emigrating is to go in
colonies. Take your friends with you and you will have
society that suits you, and will thus escape the longing
and disquietude of home-sickness. Make up your mind
before going that there will be hardships and privations
to be endured, — there must always be in breaking up old
homes and establishing new ones, especially if means are
not abundant. Go in the fall, early enough to get in crops
before the winter rains set in; and be sure of water —
whatever else you lack, see to it that you have this sine
qua non. With it you can raise almost anything that
grows on the face of the earth; without it crops will be
uncertain and failures frequent. Either go where arti-
ficial irrigation is not necessary, or where it is provided
for by canals and artesian wells. These wells succeed
wherever tried, and on account of the constancy of the
winds they are easily worked by means of windmills.

There is also great demand for skilled labor. Mechan-
ics and artisans will find abundant occupation, and get
good wages. San Francisco does the lion's share of the
manufacturing executed in the State. With a population
of two hundred and fifty thousand, the returns of the last

174 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

year show that this city produced nearly three hundred
dollars' worth of manufactured goods per capita. The
kinds, number and amount of manufacturing done would
surprise those whose knowledge has not kept pace with
the growth of the city. There is almost no limit to its
industrial development. The principal drawbacks are the
high price of coal and iron. The cost of the former
ranges from nine to eighteen dollars per ton, giving an
average of about twelve dollars; the latter is at present
forty-six dollars per ton.

Do not establish your faith and found your expectation
upon any basis that has the lottery-principle for its support.
Be sure that there are many prizes and but few blanks
before you invest. Three crops out of seven will not do
for a farmer.

If you are blessed with sufficient pecuniary means to
enable you to live comfortably, and go to California for the
sake of having a pleasant home in a most salubrious and
delightful climate, Oakland or its vicinity would perhaps
suit you better than any other part of the State. You
would there miss but few, if any, of the religious and
social privileges to which you have been accustomed. If
the lungs are not quite sound, or there is any tendency to
sensitiveness in these vital organs, go further from the
coast — to San Jose, or, better yet, to Santa Barbara. If
climatic conditions alone influence your choice, undoubt-
edly the latter place is the one to which you should
direct your steps.

No one thing was more of a surprise to the writer than
the security there seemed to be to life and property. The
influence of the vigilance committees is still felt. On the

VERNAL FALLS. (350 feet high.) Pages 227, 228 and 229.

A CHAPTER FOR SETTLERS. 175

two ranches described elsewhere the doors of the houses
were not only left unfastened at night, but sometimes wide
open; and that with money left loosely in an unoccupied
room below stairs, while all the family slept above! It
was only by drawing bolts and turning keys in the doors
of the particular room occupied that the denizen of
eastern towns and cities could be sure of a sufficient
degree of safety to make sleep a possibility. Theft seemed
to be almost an unheard of thing in California.

Another of the notable facts is the attention paid to
schools. The schoolmaster is abroad everywhere in the
land. The best house in the small towns and villages is
frequently the school-house. The public schools in the
larger towns and cities do not seem to be one whit behind
those in eastern towns and cities. Seminaries for girls
are quite numerous, and many of them well conducted.
The oldest in the State, and one of the best, is in Benicia,
a very pleasant town on the straits of Carquinez. In the
days when the capital of the State was peripatetic, and
the quick-wittedness of school-boys was tested by their
ability to answer correctly the question, What is the cap-
ital of California? Benicia had the honor of being, for a
season, the place where the legislators gathered them-
selves together.

The want of religious privileges is sadly felt in the
rural districts and thinly-populated parts of the country.
The influence of the miners and early settlers was not,
and is not now, strongly felt in favor of the support of
churches and religious ordinances. Very often it is de-
cidedly opposed. The Sabbath is a holiday when visits
are made and social enjoyments sought for. Still, in these

176 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

respects there is constant progress, and there is only need
of the helping hands of those who go, to bring about a
better state of things.

The last word of advice to would-be settlers is this:
If you wish for full and reliable information in regard
to California and all or any of its interests, apply for
the same to the California Immigrant Union, No. 328
Montgomery street, San Francisco, and, if the writer may
judge from her own experience, you will be served
promptly, amply, and without cost.

THE CHINAMAN IN" CALIFORNIA. 177

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CHINAMAN" IN CALIFORNIA.

JOHN CHINAMAN is too important an institution in
California to be dismissed with a mere passing notice.
There is no question connected with the development and
present condition of the State to which the writer gave
more patient and unprejudiced attention than to this.
What has been the result of the immense emigration
from the "Central Flowery Kingdom" upon the material
interests of the Pacific coast? Have these almond-eyed
laborers been a help or a hinderance? Truthful answers
to these questions were sought for with diligence, and
every means of gaining accurate information called into
requisition. Personal observation and competent testi-
mony were arranged side by side and compared. Among
intelligent men there seemed to be no great difference
of opinion as to the beneficial results of their labors as
railroad builders, as miners, as gardeners, as agricultur-
ists, and as assistants in manufacturing establishments.

As to their employment in any of these capacities,
the verdict was almost always in their favor. That with-
out their help in these directions the natural wealth of
California could not have reached its present develop-
ment in a quarter of a century to come, was generally
admitted.

The old idea that Chinamen are specialists and imi-
tators only has generally been thrown aside by those

178 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

who come to know them well. There is need of but
little study of their character as a nation to show that
such notions of the Chinese are prima facie untrue.

In all the world's history, China furnishes the sole
and only example of a nation that has worked out its
own salvation from barbarism and come up unaided into
the light of civilization. Even ancient Egypt, the cradle
of the sciences, kindled its lights at the hearth-stone of
the race in western Asia. Greece borrowed light from
Egypt, and Eome transferred the firmament, all ablaze
with light, from conquered Greece to her own imperial
realm. But China, walled in by a cordon that was almost
impenetrable, grew up from a barbarism common to all
the nations into the full stature of a civilized country
from its own inherent power and genius, without help
from abroad or any imported influence. When Buddhism
was introduced into China, in the second century after
Christ, the people had already advanced beyond anything
that Buddhism could do as a civilizer.

Niebuhr made the assertion " that no single example
can be brought forward of an actually savage people
having independently become civilized." But China ac-
complished this impossibility without a model and without
a helper. What no European nation has ever done this
Asiatic people accomplished; and they were already well
advanced in their progress when Greece was dimly spell-
ing out its alphabet by the help of the flickering light
brought from Egypt; when our own Saxon ancestors were
clothed in skins and feeding on acorns; and when they
were worshiping Odin, and making huge wicker images
to be filled with smiling babes and rollicking children

THE CHISTAMAH IN" CALIFORNIA. 179

taken from their mothers' arms and burned in honor of
their god, the Chinese were already living in houses, obey-
ing the law of marriage, draining swamps, clearing jun-
gles and cultivating the ground thus reclaimed. Without
admitting the full extent of their claims to antiquity as
a nation, the laws of evidence require us to accept as true
the words found in their annals, dating back to the reign
of Fuh-hi, two thousand eight hundred and fifty-two years
before Christ. They not only admit their original barba-
rism, but show by historical records how they advanced, step
by step, from the starting-point. Fuh-hi himself gave a
new impulse to their progress. He found the people dwell-
ing in huts and caves, clothed in skins and living promis-
cuously together. He left them, at the end of his life and
reign, occupying better houses, wearing better clothing,
eating better food, and obedient to the law of marriage.
In the second century after Fuh-hi the cycle of sixty years
was introduced as a mode of computing time, and has been
in use ever since, more than forty-five centuries. No other
chronological era ever lasted so long. Two thousand years
before Christ, when as yet Troy and Athens were not, the
Chinese had an alphabet, rude to be sure, but still suffi-
cient for a purpose. They knew the properties of the
arch, observed and made records of solar eclipses, used
iron in the construction of bridges, and had some practial
knowledge of metallurgy, specimens in the workmanship
of which have come down to the present day. The Chi-
nese wall was built two hundred years before Christ.
There is a story current, though not altogether well authen-
ticated, that eleven centuries before the beginning of our
Christian era a chariot was presented to certain ambassa-

180 TWO YEAES IN CALIFORNIA.

dors which had box-compasses fitted to the wheels to direct
them on their homeward way. Whether this be true or
not, there is proof that the loadstone, and its power to
affect iron, was known to the Chinese long before the com-
ing of Christ. The daily newspaper, which we are accus-
tomed to look upon as a modern invention, is an old, old
story in China. The Pekin " Gazette1 ' has for five hun-
dred years been making its daily round throughout the
empire. It is an official paper, and upon all subjects
represents the opinions of the Government. At the com-
mencement of cold weather, or of the opposite, the high-
est officer or viceroy in the province assumes the winter
or summer cap, as the case may be; the circumstance is
noticed in the "Gazette," and is a signal for every man
under the government of said viceroy to make the same
change. In this way everything of which it is desirable
for the people to take cognizance is noticed. The " Gazette "
is racy and spicy, but in one respect must be quite in
contrast with some journals that we wot of; everything
must be true that appears in its columns, and the Chi-
nese Jenkinses can say nothing of ladies ! They are an im-
ponderable force in this empire, and unworthy of notice.
After the time of Confucius the advance of the nation
was more rapid than before. Among all the sons of men
there has been no more wonderful man than Confucius;
no other whose influence has been so lasting and so far-
reaching. Twenty-five centuries have only served to ex-
tend the range of his influence and increase its power.
During all these centuries his teachings have molded the
character and governed the lives of the most populous na-
tion the world has ever known. There is still no sign of

THE CHINAMAN" IN" CALIFORNIA. 181

desuetude in the customs he established and the principles
he taught. When a foreign dynasty seated itself upon a
conquered throne the systems of the conquerors were
thrown aside, and the moral science and civil polity of the
conquered were accepted in their stead. Therein was fol-
lowed the example of the Romans, who took for their
school- masters the very people whose national life they had
extinguished. Confucius was born in the year 550 before
Christ. Pope says of him:

"Superior and alone Confucius stood,
Who taught that useful science, to be good."

No higher morality can be inculcated than he exacts.
Among the great teachers that have come into the world
he is second only to Him " who spake as never man spake."
The difference between the former and the latter is the dif-
ference between the perfect skeleton clothed upon with
flesh and blood, with muscle, sinew and integument, yet
wanting vitality; wanting the informing soul and the liv-
ing, breathing, moving being, having all the former attri-
butes and added thereto the immortal spirit. Confucius
taught the " form of godliness," but it was lacking in power
because the spirit was wanting. He drew his motives from
well-being in this life only, never referring to the Divine
sanction or the rewards of immortality.

" What you do not want done to yourself do not to oth-
ers," he says, putting into the negative form the "golden
rule," which we have had from a higher Master. " When
you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you
do not know it, to allow that you do not; this is knowledge."
A kind of knowledge for which none is the worse for being
the possessor.

182 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

But Confucius made no pretensions to being a religious
teacher. On the contrary, he expressly acknowledges his
inability to give instructions in regard to a future state or
anything that concerned men after death. He said: "I do
not know what life is ; how then can I explain death or de-
clare what comes after?" The results are what might be
expected from the character of the instruction. While the
Chinese have advanced steadily in material prosperity, in
coherence as a nation and in the knowledge and applica-
tion of the useful arts, they have been, and are, spiritually
dead.

One of the chief misfortunes that resulted from Confu-
cius' ignorance of the Creator, and his plans and purposes
in the creation of man, was the false position he assigned to
woman. The consequences of error always fall most heav-
ily upon those who are the least able to resist them. There-
fore women have been, and are, the great sufferers on ac-
count of his mistake. Confucius did not place woman on
a common throne as the equal of man — his consoler and
inspirer; only Christ did that. He made her the hand-
maid of man, to minister to his pleasure and have for
her "sphere" whatever he did not want to do ; this was
the vitiating principle in the Confucian system. As the
fountain cannot rise higher than its source, the son can
never rise very much above his mother. Therefore the
status of woman is the true index to the grade of civil-
ization. What Confucius thought of women, and what the
character of his instructions was, may be judged by the
following extracts from his teachings:

u Moreover, that you have not in this life been born a male is owing to
your amount of wickedness, heaped up in a previous state of existence, hav-

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFORNIA. 183

ing been both deep and weighty; you would not then desire to adorn virtue,
to heap up good actions, and learn to do well ! So that you now have been
haplessly born a female! And if you do not this second time specially
amend your faults, this amount of wickedness of yours will be getting both
deeper and weightier, so that it is to be feared in the next state of exist-
ence, even if you should wish for a male's body, yet it will be very difficult
to get it!"

"You must know that for a woman to be without talent is a virtue on
her part."

" No one desires that your naturae, should be intelligent, or your abili-
ties of a high order. They only wish that your disposition be mild and
obedient, and that, in looking after matters, you be diligent and economi-
cal."

" Wives ! ye cannot but impress these words upon your memories. In the
male to be firm, and the female to be flexible, is what reason points out as
a proper rule."

Talkativeness on the part of the wife was among the
justifiable causes for divorce. If, as some people suppose,
the punishments of the other world bear some relation to
the errors of this, may it not be that the spirit of this
long-departed reformer is compelled to be one of the in-
visible throng who wait upon the lectures of Mrs. Stanton,
Miss Anthony, and others of that ilk? What repentings
he must experience, what fearful self-reproach! The very
corner-stone of the system of Confucius was obedience to
properly constituted authority. The will of the parent
was supreme; while life lasted, the child was subject to
it, no matter what age was reached. Then, by parity of
reasoning, as was the father to the family, so was the
emperor to the nation: the same obedience that was due
from the son to the father was due from all the people
to the emperor; he is their father, and they are his chil-
dren. In this submission, this habit of obedience, is the
secret of the stability of the government, and the long
continuance of the empire.

184 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Such are the people that come to the Pacific coast, and
such are the formulas which have molded their characters,
and by which they have been governed. Obedience and
fidelity are the two leading traits of the Chinaman at home.

"•They touch our country, and — "

do their characters change ?

R. W. Raymond, United States commissioner on mining
statistics, etc., in an official report says: "The Chinese put
but little faith in the promises of employers, and are apt to
stop if not promptly paid. They are the most reasonable
in the matter of wages, and the most unreasonably exact,
in the matter of payment, of all our laborers. Chinese
skilled miners are quite equal to those of any other race.
In some instances they surpass white men employed in the
same mines. The greatest superiority of good Chinese
miners over European miners is their fidelity. It is cer-
tainly true that they are far more earnest and faithful
than any other miners. In every department they enjoy
the universal reputation of conscientious fidelity. Apart
from every other advantage or disadvantage attendant upon
their employment, apart from the discrepancy of wages
even, this one attribute of fidelity to the interests of the
employer will certainly carry the day for the almond-eyed
laborers, if our white workmen do not recognize the danger
in which they stand, and avert it by more sensible means
than they have yet used.'1

Upon this one point of fidelity to instructions the testi-
mony among employers was quite uniform, no matter what
differences of opinion there might be in regard to other
matters. The stories with which we have been entertained

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFOKNIA. 185

in regard to Chinamen copying even the imperfections and
blemishes in a model, such as putting a patch on the elbow
of a new coat because there was one on the old one, but
illustrate this characteristic. Their work must be exactly
like the prototype which is placed before them.

A pleasant-voiced, nice-looking Chinaman was employed
as chambermaid (if the solecism may be permitted), in one
of the beautiful homes in Oakland. He belonged to quite
a retinue of servants, a half-dozen or more, and was the
only Asiatic. The others were all Europeans, and trained
for the particular department in which he or she was em-
ployed. But it was the testimony of the lady of the
house that none of the others at all equaled the almond-
eyed chambermaid in the faithfulness and perfection of the
service performed. After once becoming familiar with the
routine of his duties he needed no oversight or attention.
On the day that the drawing-room was to be swept and
garnished he did it, and did it so perfectly that the most
exacting requirement was fully met. And so of the parlor,
the library and the bed-chambers. He was never idle,
never absent, never forgetful. Whoever else might be
away from his post, he was always at his — "Faithful
found among the faithless."

It was the testimony of the owner of a fruit ranch
who had for a dozen years or more employed from six
to fifteen Chinamen constantly, that he would not have
any other laborers, for when he told a Chinaman to do a
thing he knew that it would be done, and done exactly
as he directed — an assurance that he would not feel in
regard to any other laborers.

This characteristic of faithfulness extends to and in-

186 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

eludes all contracts and bargains. The Chinese merchants
in San Francisco import thirty million dollars1 worth of
goods annually. This large business is conducted uni-
formly upon such correct business principles, with such
regard to promptness in meeting liabilities, and attention
to all the terms and conditions of contracts, that the
credit of no class of business men in that city stands
higher, if so high. They have not yet learned to be bank-
rupt and yet rich, and so to put themselves before the
eyes of the law as to have nothing and still seem to pos-
sess all things that they need.

A man who has lived more than twenty years in Cali-
fornia, and had to do with Chinamen in almost every ca-
pacity, as laborers, as renters, as transactors of business
generally, declared that he had never yet lost a dollar by
a Chinaman. When a Chinaman engaged to do a thing,
or to pay a price, there need be no anxiety — he would
surely do it.

That he is not a specialist and confined to one thing
or kind of labor is proved by the fact that in a multi-
tude of families a Chinaman is the factotum — the maid-
of-all-work. He bakes and broils, he sweeps and dusts,
he washes and irons, and does the multitude of things
required of a servant where but a single one is em-
ployed. Although often serving as cook even in hotels,
the evidence acquired on the subject is not sufficient to
convince at least one observer that in this department
John excels. Only in a single case was there seen any
proof of unusual tact or uncommon skill.

In the year 1870 it was estimated that one hundred
and forty thousand Chinamen had come to the Pacific

XHE YOSEMITE FALLS. Pages 214, 221 and 222.

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFOKNIA. 187

coast, and of these ninety-five thousand remained. And
still they come. In 1875 eighteen thousand arrived, the
largest number that ever came in a single year.

There are six Chinese companies in San Francisco,
each having its own organization, its own officers, and
its own place of meeting. These are in some sense mu-
tual aid societies. Chinamen can do as they please about
joining them, but so great are the advantages of doing
so that almost every one connects himself with one or
another. The initiation fee is from five to ten dollars.
There are some incidental expenses, so that the entire
cost of membership for ten years is from fifty to one hun-
dred dollars. A member may dissolve his connection with
the company to which he belongs at his pleasure. In re-
turn for what the member pays, the company take care
of him if sick, rescue him, if possible, when in danger,
and feed him when he is out of employment. No mat-
ter where he goes, or how far away, his company is still
bound to care for him. If he is oppressed or wronged
in any way, and makes complaint, he must be looked
after and his wrongs righted. When a member wishes
to return to China, a certain number of days before he
expects to start he must report himself to the company
to which he belongs and state his intention. The books
of the company are searched to see if he owes any man
anything; notice is also sent to the other companies to
learn if there is anything against him on their records,
and he must have a clearance before he can leave the
country. It is the custom, therefore, if a Chinaman owes
a debt, and there is any difficulty in collecting it, to send
notice to the company of which he is a member, who see

188 TWO YEARS 1ST CALIFORNIA.

that he pays it, at least before he leaves the State. Each
company has a hospital for the benefit of its members,
and some of them have temples for religious service.

The Chinese have many festivals and holidays; but it is
extremely difficult to find out what day they celebrate, or
why it is observed. There are very few who understand
English well enough to make explanations. When asked
about the nature of a holiday, the almost uniform answer
is, "All the same as 'Melican man's Fourth of July."
Fourth of July seems to stand to them as a generic term
for holiday. But when their new year begins, there is no
trouble in ascertaining what they are about, or why they
eat and are merry. This is the chief of their holidays, and
is celebrated with much parade and rejoicing. Their new
year is a week in beginning, and sometimes extends over
ten days. Like Easter, it is a movable festival, and, also
like Easter, its commencement depends upon a certain
conjunction of the sun and moon. The Chinese new year
begins with the first new moon after the sun enters the
sign of Aquarius, and may come at any time between the
twenty-first of January and the eighteenth of February.
The beginning of the new year is a grand event, and is
prepared for with great industry and parade. Some of
the customs connected with this season would bear trans-
planting, and would work no detriment to those who
claim a higher style of civilization. Business men over-
haul their books and close up all accounts; no debts
can go over and stand upon the records of the new year.
Great effort is made among debtors to pay up; but if it
is found to be impossible, the debt is cancelled and the
debtor goes free. But his credit is gone, and for the

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFORNIA. 189

future he is a dishonored man. Nothing can wipe out his
disgrace but the honorable payment of the debt after he
is no longer liable for it. Everything, also, is put into a
state of perfect cleanliness. Houses are scrubbed and put
into the best possible order; all garments are made as
clean and pure as soap and water, with a liberal expendi-
ture of muscular power, can make them. It is a time of
suffering and death among pigs and poultry, for to these
two orders of land animals Chinamen confine their atten-
tion. They have much affection for fish, and freely in-
dulge their taste for them. All work is given up, and a
general carnival prevails. So far as outside show is con-
cerned, the jollification consists mainly in the explosion of
fire-crackers. The authorities of San Francisco tried to
confine this performance to a single day; but although
there is more of it done on the first day than any time
afterward, the practice is continued through the whole
series of days. The usual economy of the Chinese seems
to be thrown to the winds on this festive occasion. They
go up into the verandahs and upper stories of their
houses, and after igniting the crackers throw down bunch
after bunch, which explode on the pavement below, and
keep up such frequent detonations that the effect is like
that of a constant discharge of artillery. By the time
night comes the pavement will be soft to the feet, from
the abundance of the fragments of the exploded fire-
crackers, and the feeling is like that of walking on
feathers. Men who d.ce pjiness to the amount of many
thousands of doll^iese t-igage with apparent zest in this,
to us, childish Jl.dsement. Of course this fire-cracker

190 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

burning is confined to the parts of the city especially
appropriated to the Chinese.

The Chinese theatres are in full blast all through the
holidays. The doors are opened at seven o'clock in the
morning, and the play begins soon after. An intermission
at noon gives time for dinner; after which the play is
resumed, and with the exception of a couple of hours —
from five to seven o'clock in the evening — it is continued
until eleven. It does not seem to be considered essential
to hear the whole play; but the spectators come and go
to suit their convenience, apparently well satisfied with
the snatches they get in that way. During these holidays
the Chinese women are allowed the privilege of attending
the theatre. The gallery is reserved for them, where
they sit entirety separate from the men. They do not,
however, take any part in the performance. The roles
which should be taken by women are assumed by men.
The dress is very gorgeous, and is said to be after the
cut and fashion in use in China before the country was
conquered by the present reigning sovereigns, the Mant-
choo Tartars. This conquest took place two hundred years
ago, and at that time the people were compelled by the
conquerors to assume their present costume, including the
shaving of the head, except the part on the top, which
furnishes the hair for the long cue, which they still so
universally wear.

The Chinese have not advanced beyond the ruder stages
of the "mimic art.1' They bo*ne » no aid from scenery,
and have no division into acts ahtors ^nes. When a play
once begins, it keeps right on to the ^sr-off end. There
are no curtains, which involves the necessity of doing

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFORNIA. 191

whatever is done openly — in the very face and eyes of
the audience. A man is killed in a combat, or is decap-
itated in obedience to an official sentence. The poor de-
funct lies dead upon the stage until he gets tired of his
deadness, when he gets up and deliberately walks off,
without even having the grace to carry his head in his
hand.

But of the appointments of a Chinese theatre, the
music is what lingers longest in the memory. The or-
chestra consists of a row of men, who sit on the stage
back of the performers. Each one is armed and equipped
with the instrument that will make the greatest possible
noise. Gongs, cymbals, and many strange instruments
with unknown names, but of wonderful capacity, make up
the collection. The efforts of the performers are never
intermitted. When the stage-actors wax warm, and show
their excitement by increased loudness of tone and more
exaggerated action, the sympathy of the musicians is ex-
hibited by intensified effort; the gongs thunder, the cym-
bals reverberate, and all the instruments seem to do their
best to outdo any Pandemonium of which the most im-
aginative ever dreamed. If one can go to a Chinese the-
atre and not have his ears tingle for a week after, he
must have put his nerves to sleep beforehand with some
powerful anodyne. Yet go by all means. There is noth-
ing in the Chinese quarter in San Francisco that pays so
well.

The temples, also, are places much resorted to during
these holidays. Of these there are several in San Francisco,
but one outshines all the others in the number of its gods
and the grandeur of its appointments. All are Bud-

192 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

dhist temples, Buddhism being the religion of the common
people, to which class the Chinese who come to this country
generally belong. The most noted temple was fitted up by
Dr. Li-po-tai, a distinguished physician in San Francisco,
with the aid of other rich Chinamen. The Chinese show
the same disregard to show and outside appearances here
that they are said to at home. These temples are in alleys
that are absolutely frightful in the character of their
buildings and the people. The best temple is in the third
story of a brick building, to which access is gained by
an outside, rickety stairs, that shakes under the tread.
There are numerous gods and goddesses in the temple,
some fourteen or fifteen in all in the different apartments.
In one corner of the room first entered a gong is placed,
over which a bell is suspended. Near these is an oven in
which prayers and gifts are burned, or rather the repre-
sentatives of prayers and gifts printed on paper, and
bought of a priest who has a room near by. As these
papers are lighted and put into the oven, the gong is
struck and the bell rung to call the attention of the spirits
who are to receive them to the offerings made.

The Chinese gods and goddesses were all once living
persons who performed some worthy deed for which they
have been deified. In the main room of the temple there
are three gods, life size, sitting behind an altar. The cen-
tral one is Joss, the supreme deity. The one on his left
is the god of war, the special patron of the Ning Yung
company, one of the six companies already described. His
name is Rwau Tae. He lived about sixteen hundred years
ago, and his history shows that the Chinese have both the
power to do and appreciate what is generous and noble.

THE CHINAMAN IN CALIFORNIA. 193

Rwau Tae was a soldier and a commander in early life,
and was almost always victorious when engaged in battle.
He was also kind and merciful, as well as brave, and con-
quered the hearts of his enemies by love and kindness after
he had conquered them in war. When the strife was
over he resigned his command. The Emperor was his
personal friend, and importuned him to accept civil office,
but Rwau Tae refused. He joined the order of Devoted
Brothers, whose business it was to tend the sick, to heal the
wounded, and to succor the distressed. In a few years a
rebellion broke out in the empire, and like another Cin-
cinnatus, Rwau Tae was called from his retirement to com-
mand the army of the empire and save the country. He
succeeded in suppressing the rebellion, the rebels were
defeated, but the leader escaped and a large price was
offered to any one who would bring him dead or alive to
the Emperor. All subjects were also forbidden to harbor
or help him in any way.

Rwau Tae returned to the brotherhood and again de-
voted himself to works of mercy and charity. One day
there came to him a poor man, who was sick, wounded,
ragged, and in need of all things. Rwau Tae recognized in
him the leader of the rebellion, but feeling that the claim
of humanity was superior even to the command of the
Emperor, he took him in and healed his wounds, relieved
his distresses, and, when he had fully recovered, sent him on
his way with the means to supply his future wants. Then
he put his own affairs in order, arranged his property and
estates, went and confessed his disobedience to the Emperor,
gave himself up to suffer the penalty of the violated law,
and was beheaded. But while the Emperor would not suffer

194 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

a broken law to go unavenged, he could appreciate the fine
humanity of the man and his honorable regard for his
duty as a subject. He, therefore, ordered his name to be
added to the nation's list of deified heroes, and he has ever
since been worshiped as a god.

The goddess of mercy is in another room in the temple
above mentioned. This image was brought from China
three or four years ago, by Dr. Li-po-tai, at a cost of eight
thousand dollars. The story about her is this: She was a
fine young woman, who, to escape a disagreeable marriage,
left her father's home and took refuge in the house of a
religious sisterhood. Her father burned the buildings, but
her prayers saved the occupants. She has it for her benev-
olent mission in the other world to look after the souls
of those who have no friends here, or who have friends
that are unmindful and neo-liaent.

This goddess is arrayed quite gorgeously, and has dia-
monds in her eyes for pupils, and a diamond in the center
of her forehead. She is very popular among the Chinese
and has many supplications made before her.

In one corner of a remote room in the temple there
stands the most cadaverous, woe-begone, forsaken-looking
being that could possibly be imagined. It is a man who
has lost his soul ! He brought this calamity on himself by
some misdoing in this life. He is constantly in pursuit
of this lost soul, and sometimes is just on the eve of grasp-
ing it when it eludes him, and he still goes on in the
restless search.

There is no stated hour for worship in the temple. The
Chinamen come in at their pleasure or convenience, and go
the rounds of the gods and goddesses, joining their hands

ALLEY IN CHINESE QUARTER, SAN FRANCISCO. Page 192.

THE CHINAMAN itf CALIFORNIA. 195

in front and bowing three times before each. Incense
sticks are constantly burning, and the air is loaded with
perfume. Colored candles, sometimes a yard or more in
length, are burned before the idols. These are the offer-
ings of different individuals.

196 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

CHAPTER XIV.

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE.

THE Yosemite valley is in a straight line about one
hundred and fifty miles from San Francisco. The
direction is a little south of east; by any road that can
be traveled the distance is about two hundred and fifty
miles. It is near the center of the State, taking it length-
wise, and near the center of the Sierra Nevada range of
mountains, taking it from east to west. The range in this
place is about seventy miles wide.

We, a party of nine, took our seats in the cars, at the
end of the ferry across the bay from San Francisco, on
the afternoon of a June day, when June days are long-
est. Modisto was the terminus of the railroad, and we
spent the night there, and took the stage at five o'clock
the next morning. We had our first look at the Tuo-
lumne river just after starting.

All the morning our road was through the San Joa-
quin valley. A more dreary, desolate, forsaken-looking re-
gion cannot well be conceived. One of the most fertile and
fruitful parts of the State when blessed with a plentiful
supply of water, it now, in consequence of excessive drouth,
seemed to have the very pith and marrow dried out of it.
When we came to Snelling, on the Merced, we looked
eagerly at the river. It was our first chance to see this
" river of Mercy." It was running along quite demurely
on its way to find the San Joaquin, and seemed altogether

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 197

unconscious of the wonderful interest it excited further up
and nearer its source.

After passing through Bear Valley we entered upon the
celebrated Mariposa tract and crossed it diagonally. Ev-
erywhere there were signs of gold-digging, which makes
sad havoc with a country, whether looked at from an aes-
thetic or agricultural point of view.

This Mariposa grant originally comprised seventy square
miles, and at one time was said to make John C. Fremont
the richest private citizen in the world. The lawyers have
probably reaped the greater part of the golden harvest it
has produced. Litigation in regard to it has been constant
and continued for many years.

As the day wore on we had more interest in the way of
scenery. There were valleys with oaks and pines scattered
here and there, and hills the sides of which were covered
with chaparral, or " devil's acres," as it is somewhat pro-
fanely called. Chaparral is a generic term used some-
what in the sense of thicket. A chaparral is generally
made up of bushes of various species, such as the Cali-
fornia lilac, grease-wood and other shrubs.

It was ten o'clock when we reached White and Hatch's.
Pleasant haven of rest! The blessing of many a weary
traveler has been bestowed upon this house, in considera-
tion of the comfort and refreshment enjoyed within its
walls. How clean and cool everything looked! Were
there ever beds so restful! It was worth while to be so
tired in order to know the blessedness of repose so de-
lightful.

In the morning we had a chance to appreciate the
sylvan beauty of the place. There was a hill near, on

198 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

which were huge rocks overgrown with moss. There were
dark pines and fir trees on every side, which seemed to
emulate each other in trying which could reach its head
nearest to heaven. The sky wore a much more benign
look than it did the previous morning. Why should it
not? We were lifted three thousand feet above the fogs
and miasmas that infest the face of mother earth.

At eight o'clock in the morning we started for Clark's.
The trees on every side as we went our way were of grand
size and proportions. They quite cast into the shade those
we had seen and admired the day before. We continued
to ascend until we were twenty-eight hundred feet above
White and Hatch's, and more than a mile above the level of
the sea. We were certainly on the road to an apotheosis.
But we were not to take our seats among the gods yet. Af-
ter crossing the divide between the Chowchilla and the
south fork of the Merced we began to descend, and before
we reached Clark's had gone down seventeen hundred feet.
At Clark's we were on the same level with the Yosemite
valley, four thousand feet above sea-level, and only twelve
miles in a direct line from the goal of our hopes. Had we
the wings of a dove we could have flown there by making
just that distance. As we had not we were obliged to ride
twenty-four miles, and go up and again down in order to
reach the place. The first ceremony at the end of each ride
was to be swept down. Somebody, broom in hand, was al-
ways in waiting to make free again the soil that had set-
tled upon our garments. Clark's is a very comfortable
place, where pleasant rest may be enjoyed. We stayed over
a day here in order to visit the big-trees.

When the news of the wonderful big-trees of Califor-

,

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 199

nia reached England, the botanists who investigated the
matter decided that they were sui generis — not belonging
to any known genus. Therefore, without a very nice
appreciation of the claims of the country that produced
them, they bestowed upon them a name derived from
that of the "Iron Duke" — Wellingtonia. Subsequent ex-
amination proved them to be so like the already known
redwood as to have a legal right to be included in the
same genus. The specific name gigantea was added, and
the name stands Sequoia gigantea. The age of these trees
would seem sometimes to have been greatly overestimated.
One of the largest and apparently oldest in the Calaveras
grove was cut down and the concentric layers counted,
by which it was proved to be thirteen hundred years old.
The height is not so great as that of some of the euca-
lyptus trees in Australia, which often reach the altitude
of four hundred feet, and one of which is reported to
measure four hundred and eighty. The tallest of the big-
trees which has yet been measured in the Calaveras grove,
the Keystone State, is only three hundred and twenty-
five feet high. But, taking height and thickness both into
consideration, no tree has ever been known to equal the
big-trees. They are always found in groves, but they are
not exclusive — they allow other species to grow among
them. Pines, spruce and cedars seem to feel no embar-
rassment at being found in the company of their betters,
to which they in fact serve as a foil to set them off and
show how much bigger they are than common trees. The
Sequoia gigantea has as yet always been found within
two degrees of latitude thirty-six and thirty-eight north,
and at an elevation of from six to seven thousand feet

200 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

above the level of the sea. There are three groves north
of the Mariposa, and four south of it. The Mariposa
grove was discovered in 1857 by Mr. Clark. There are
about six hundred trees in the grove, or groves, for it is
in two divisions. There are trees in the Calaveras grove
that exceed any in this in height, but in diameter some
in the Mariposa carry off the palm. The Mariposa grove
alone belongs to the State of California. The grant com-
prises a tract two miles square, and was given by the
United States Government to the State; this, "together
with the Yosemite valley, with its branches and spurs,
an estimated length of fifteen miles, and in average width
one mile back from the edge of the precipice on each side
of the valley, with the stipulation, nevertheless, that the
State shall accept this grant on the express condition that
the premises shall be held for public use and recreation,
and shall be inalienable for all time."

So much in the way of preliminaries and elucidation
of matters in general. Through the greater we come to
the less and reach the account of our own particular ex-
periences and impressions. After reaching Clark's we
were to say good-bye to wheels and trust ourselves to the
tender mercies of horses, holding the reins of government
in our own hands, though in my case they proved to be
rather the symbol of power than the real thing. As soon
as breakfast was over the horses were brought out, and we
prepared to mount. This was a trying time to me. It
was the one particular event that had been before me as
a dread and an uncertainty ever since the journey was
decided upon. I had bespoken a gentle horse. When my
turn came to mount, a smooth brown mustang was brought

A TEIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 201

up and formally introduced as "Alek." He belonged to that
class of sovereigns for whom one name is sufficient. In a
few minutes the impossible was accomplished; I was fairly
mounted. Whether I could maintain the eminent position
assumed was the problem which the future was to solve.
By holding on to the "horn" with an intensity that knew
no relaxation I remained seated when Alek started, and
we at once took the place which henceforth knew us in all
our journeyings— in the rear. Alek was determined to
let his moderation be known, and we were in danger of
either retarding the progress of some gentlemen benevo-
lently inclined, or being left quite to ourselves in the
background. I could not spare enough energy from the
continued effort to "hold on" to give him any persuasive
touches of the whip, and he seemed intuitively to divine
the true state of the case. It was a rarely beautiful morn-
ing; the sun was clear and bright, and would have been
too warm had we not been shaded by the trees that over-
hung the trail. We were above all fogs and miasmas, and
breathed a most exhilarating atmosphere, which of itself
would have sent hope and delight tingling through the
veins. Our way led us up higher and higher until we
were more than a mile above the level of the sea, and
then we found the Big Trees! We entered the upper
grove, and on the west side. Our first halt was made
when we reached the Prostrate Monarch. The first feel-
ing upon seeing the trees was that of disappointment;
but when we had clambered up the side of this prostrate
monarch and found ourselves standing thirty feet in the
air, higher than the eaves of most two-story houses, while
the tree lay flat upon the ground, we began to think that

202 TWO YEARS IN" CALIFORNIA.

the Titans had left their representatives behind them, and
that the trees had not been overestimated. The bark is
tan color, and from fifteen to twenty inches in thickness.
It is of a loose, spongy texture, and when cut transversely
is used sometimes for pin-cushions. There was pain al-
ways mingled with wonder and pleasure in looking at
these monsters, for not one of them all is perfect. The
fire has scathed them and more or less injured their ap-
pearance. This was done before the groves were known
to white men. The Indians were accustomed to kindle
fires in order to burn the underbrush, and so facilitate
their hunting operations. It is a sad pity that they are
so marred. We found a spring at the very roots of one
of the largest trees, and the water was deliciously cool
and refreshing. We spread our lunch near by, and ate
under the shadow and protection of one of these great
kings of the forest. Like most of the coniferous trees on
the Pacific coast, the big-tree sends out no branches for
a great distance from the ground — sometimes one hun-
dred feet or more. The tops of many of them were
broken off, showing that decay had already begun. There
was something almost fearful in the stillness that reigned
in the grove. No note of bird or hum of insect was heard.
The silence was as profound as that when the primeval
earth, all dressed in beauty and arrayed in glory, waited
in silent expectancy the coming of its lord — the creation
of man! Our guide was a backwoodsman, accustomed to
roaming the forests and camping out for weeks in the
wilderness; but he said he would rather stay alone through
the night anywhere he had ever been than in one of these
groves. There was something awful in the solitude. Oc-

So,uth Canon.F.tll

t.Starr King

Cathedral Spii
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PLAN OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. Page 215.

A TKIP TO THE TOSEMITE. 203

casionally, when a breeze suddenly woke up, there would
be heard a sighing among the pines, and the big-trees
with their hoarser wail would supply the bass, and make
such a chorus as the ear might listen for in vain any-
where else in the world.

After lunch we mounted our horses and started for the
other grove. On our way we rode from end to end through
the trunk of a tree, that had been burned out and was ly-
ing on the ground. Through another, that was standing
and had also been burned out, we rode in regular pro-
cession. The Grizzly Giant outranks all others in the
grove in magnificent proportions. It is ninety-three feet
seven inches in circumference, and sends out a branch
ninety feet from the ground that is six feet in diameter.
This tree is, like the rest, much injured by fire. There
were ten of us in the company. We arranged ourselves
around the Grizzly Giant, sitting on our horses and bring-
ing them head and tail together as closely as we could, and
thus we reached about half way round the tree. The
Queen of the Forest is less injured by fire than most of
the other trees, and is great and grand enough to deserve
the name it bears.

The trees seemed to grow in size every hour that we
spent in looking at them. The first disappointment soon
gave place to wonder that increased constantly. Before
we came away, they by their actual presence surpassed
all expectation or imagination. There are no words that
can worthily describe them; for before they came in view
there was a want of language to express the feelings of
awe, of wonder, of might and majesty that were awakened.

The wood is of a color like our eastern cedar, thouo-h
10

204 TWO TEARS m CALIFORNIA.

somewhat lighter. It is inodorous, at least when dry,
and is said to be very durable. In the groves further
south the young trees are cut, taken to the mills and
sawn into boards. The Mariposa grove is protected by a
very watchful guardianship. Our guide did not dare so
much as peel off a piece of bark, being forbidden by his
oath of office; but one of the men with us had no such
impediment in his way, and helped us to wood and bark.
Mr. Clark is the guardian appointed by the State to take
care of the grove, and also of the Yosemite valley. Other
men, called commissioners, are united with him, but he is
the acting quorum.

The sun had gone far on its way toward the west when
we set out on our return. What a day it had been ! What
new sensations had been awakened! What surprise, what
wonder, what admiration! A new element had come into
our lives, to be separated from them again nevermore.
Here we first saw the wonderful snow-plant. This beau-
tiful thing does not derive its name from its color, for
that is in strong contrast to white, but from the fact that
it pushes its way up through the snow, as though that
was its native element. The whole plant is a bright red —
not flame color, not blood color, but sometimes one and
sometimes both. It is veined and shaded in its hue; it
grows from eight to twelve inches high, and, like the
goddess who burst upon the world full-armed, it comes
up out of the ground equipped and perfect. The grow-
ing seems to be all done in the secret places of the earth,
before it exposes itself to view. First the head or top
pushes up and presents itself; then it keeps on rising,
rising, till it stands up erect, a full-grown plant. The

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 205

little florets are arranged around the stalk like the flowers
on mullein. When it first appears above the ground
there is a long, narrow leaf, which is also red, wrapped
carefully around each floret, to protect it while pushing
its way up into the free air. This official duty done, the
leaf twists itself about the stalk so as not to obscure the
beauty of the flower and let it have a fair chance to be
seen. This was the most curious plant that we saw dur-
ing our trip. It seemed to grow abundantly all around
the valley of the Yosemite, but we found none in it.
At Peregoy's a dozen could be found under a single
pine tree. The botanical name of the plant is Sarcodes

At eight o'clock the next morning we again mounted
our horses. A ride of twenty-five miles would bring us
to the Yosemite. Mentally, I was in a better condition
than at starting on the previous day; because of the
facility with which the mind becomes accustomed to dan-
ger, I could trust myself in my perilous position on the
back of the horse with diminished trepidation and alarm.
But physically! Ah, well! what boots it to tell of the
wounds and bruises? Alek seemed by this time to have
clear and settled convictions in regard to his rider. That
I had not much will of my own was self-evident to him,
and that I did not dare assert what little I had in the
face of opposition was equally apparent. These first im-
pressions were not effaced throughout all the ten days
that we afterward journeyed together. Another convic-
tion was equally well fastened upon Alek's mind. He
was conscious of having the advantage on the score of
that practical knowledge which was necessary for the

206 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

emergencies to come. I went over to his opinion before
we had been fellow-travelers very long.

We — that is, Alek and I — always guarded the rear
of the party, to see that no evil came upon them from
behind. It is only another proof that good deeds are not
always recognized and rewarded, that our services in this
respect were not appreciated, or, if they were, it was with
the silent thankfulness with which the earth receives rain
from the clouds. There was nothing said about it!

There was no great exuberance of spirit in starting,
such as there had been the day before. The damaging
effects of the fifteen miles' ride of the previous day were
rather sedative in their influence, at least so far as the
spirits were concerned. We crossed the south fork of the
Merced just after leaving Clark's. It is quite a respect-
able little river there. Then we took our winding way
up the hill. Our party had gained three by accretion, so
that with our guide and pack- mule we made quite a cav-
alcade. This pack-mule was a real character in his way,
and deserves from a veracious historian more particular
mention. He was a dumpy little fellow, compactly built
and well put together. His strength must have been great
in proportion to his size, for on his diminutive body was
packed all the luggage that belonged to our party of
twelve. To be sure, there were no Saratoga trunks, but
there were in the company four ladies fully equipped for
a trip of ten days.

The name of this enterprising mule was "Jocko." How
he would grunt as bag after bag, satchel after satchel,
was brought out and placed upon his back! The girth
was with each parcel drawn more and more tightly. Such

A TKIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 207

long breaths as he would draw while the process was
going on, as though he felt doubtful whether he should
ever have another chance to innate his lungs. But Jocko
was very much of a philosopher, and submitted to the in-
evitable, when fairly proved inevitable, with great resigna-
tion. When he was once loaded, and matters were settled
so that he knew what to depend upon, he accepted his
burden and set off as briskly, and apparently in as good
spirits, as though he were starting on a long-desired
pleasure trip. He gave evidence of taste and cultivation
in the course of the journey. Like the rest of us, he
sometimes grew tired, his spirits nagged, and his steps
became slow. But if the voice of our sweet singer was
heard, charming us with some melody, Jocko pricked up
his ears and started on with new life and courage, as
much as to say: "If you would have a mule carry a
pack and travel with ease and diligence, you must do
something to keep up his spirits." He had judgment,
too, and a mind of his own, as mules generally do.

On one occasion during the journey he chanced to be
about midway in the procession. There was a narrow
place in the trail, with large rocks on each side, through
which those that were before Jocko passed without trou-
ble. When he came to the narrow pass he made up his
mind that there was not sufficient room for him, with his
pack extending on each side like very substantial wings.
So he stopped, and, putting on a most determined look,
said, as plainly as he could, "You'll not get me through
there till you have taken my pack off." He did not
mean to jeopardize what was intrusted to him. Like all
noble natures, he felt bound to be faithful to a trust.

208 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

The guide tried in vain to make him go through. Even
the logic of blows was not sufficient to persuade him to
make the attempt. It took the united strength of two
or three of the party to conquer his will and get him
through the pass.

On we went in single file, winding our way up the hill —
up — up. Still up our way led us, till we were on the
divide between the South Fork and the main Merced
river, seven thousand feet above the level of the sea.
There we found only the tamarack and the noble fir, which
grow nearer to heaven than any other trees. We had our
pay as we went along for the fatigue we endured. What
we saw and heard by the way would have been sufficient
compensation had there been nothing beyond. We looked
out over an apparently endless range of mountains. They
stretched away off as far as the eye could reach, and the
air was so clear and pure that the view seemed almost
boundless. Range upon range, mountain upon mountain,
rose up to point the thoughts heavenward, and everywhere
they were covered with trees whose majesty and magnifi-
cence made the sight rarely beautiful. The sighing of the
wind in the tops of the pine trees was something that af-
fected me strangely. It stirred up all there was within me
that was good and gracious, and made me wish to fall fur-
ther and further in the rear, so as to be all alone, with
" God o'erhead." I should never weary of this " harp of a
thousand strings," played by an unseen hand, that knows
so well how to touch it. Oftentimes there was a sort of
refrain. The tune would be started on one hill-top, and the
sound would spread and deepen and widen until all the
trees on all the mountains joined in the chorus, and there

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 209

went up to heaven a universal anthem, harmonious and
grand. There was room in my heart for only one regret —
that I could not stop and look and listen till I was sat-
isfied. I must hurry on or I should be left too far behind.
At twelve o'clock we reached Peregoy's, the half-way
house, and were fifteen hundred feet above the Yosemite
valley. " Peregoy's " is a name that falls pleasantly on the
ears of travelers to the Yosemite. Is it shockingly low and
material to commend a place because you find nice things
to eat there? Should pilgrims, on their way to worship at
the shrine of the grand and the beautiful, stop and rejoice
in cream pies and juicy steaks? There is a carnal body as
well as a spiritual, and while we are of the earth we must
be earthy enough to feed the bodies that would perish
without eating; and if we must feed them, what harm in
desiring the best to do it with?

The mountain-air, riding and the strangeness of the con-
ditions wake up the servants of digestion and make them
very clamorous. All sluggishness is gone. The office of
food is magnified. Eating is an important fact. This is
understood and provided for at Peregoy's. There is no
style, there are no printed bills of fare or change of cloth
at dinner, but everything is good and enjoyable. There
never were such steaks and such mutton-chops; and as for
the cream pies and wonderful cakes, they would be fit com-
pany for the nectar of the gods at the feasts in Olympus.
The name of Peregoy lingers pleasantly in the ears of trav-
elers. May the genius that presides over that kitchen feel
the richness that comes from being blessed by thousands,
who are made stronger and happier by the ministrations
of her hands!

210 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

The air is so pure at this point, and so free from any
corrupting influences, that meat can be kept ten or twelve
days without any application of salt. But there was no
chance to try any such experiment while we were there;
we helped put all provisions beyond a peradventure as
to their future. It was the original intention of our
party to go no further than Peregoy's the day we left
Clark's. But after dinner and a rest of three hours we
were so much refreshed that there was a unanimous vote
to go on and get into the valley the same night, and be
there ready to celebrate our national birthday on the
morrow. So we started on quite cheerfully and cour-
ageously. We had twelve miles before us, and to those
of us who were unaccustomed to the saddle it was a
large addition to make to the twelve already traveled.
We went on still ascending till we were seven thousand
four hundred feet above the ocean, more than three thou-
sand above Clark's. In many places the trail led up the
mountain as nearly perpendicularly as earth would stay;
then it was rocky and rough, which seemed to add to
the danger as well as the toilsomeness of the ascent.
Something was gained by making the trail zig-zag, like a
Virginia fence. I was interested in watching Alek, and
seeing how thorough was his knowledge of the laws of
gravitation and equipoise.

He would go to the very farthest verge of the angle,
so that his head and almost his entire body sometimes
would project beyond the path; then, making a fulcrum
of his hind legs, he would turn himself with gravity and
deliberation, go on to the next angle, and so repeat the
process. At first, not having learned to confide entirely

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 211

in his wisdom and judgment, I pulled the rein to pre-
vent his going out of the track, as I thought he in-
tended. He never paid the slightest attention to my
efforts, and I soon concluded it was better to content
myself with being a shadow behind the throne and give
up all power and authority to him, devoting myself with
a single eye to the one business of keeping myself on
his back. To this determination I adhered ever after.
The appearance of the party was often very picturesque,
viewed from the rear, which was always my standpoint
of observation. The whole party wound their way up the
hill one after another, some on one level and others on
a higher, the different hues of the costumes distinguish-
ing each from the other as they were now lost to sight
and then appearing again, like the pieces in a kaleido-
scope. The zig-zag of the trail increased the effect and
strengthened the appeal to the imagination, making it
easy to set one's self back in the stream of time to an
era which antedates the birth of railroads and coaches,
when brave knights went to the rescue of fair ladies, on
gallant steeds, with spear and breastplate. Sometimes a
song would be started, and one after another would join
in until the chorus was swelled by the voices of all the
company. The tones lingered in the valleys and were
echoed by the hills, until Nature herself took up the
refrain and seemed to complete the harmony. Brave
little Jocko usually took precedence, as though the supe-
rior value of his cargo entitled him to that distinction.
So we went on, rather flagging as the day advanced, till
we came to Inspiration Point, where we were to have
our first view of the remarkable place we had come so

212 TWO YEAKS IN CALIFORNIA.

far to see. As we neared the spot, silence fell upon the
party — all were busy with their own thoughts. Faith
was soon to be turned into sight. With our own eyes
we should soon verify what had been told us of this
wonderful valley, like which there was said to be no
other. That supreme moment, desired so long, hoped for
through years, was near at hand. Then there was, after
all, a vague uncertainty as to what the sight would be
to us individually. Would our hopes or our fears be
realized? The veil would soon be lifted, and we should
know for ourselves — no longer see through the eyes of
others. We dismounted at a little distance, and were
soon on the edge of the precipice. There it was — this
trough hewn out of the mountains. Awe-struck I stood,
mute, and almost immovable. I should have been glad
to be all alone in this first interview with God manifest
in so wonderful a way. The whole valley lay spread
out like a map beneath us. El Capitan stood out most
prominently, for it was exactly before us. The Half
Dome also arrested attention whenever we looked to-
ward the upper end of the valley. We did not know
until afterwards all the different points. It was the
grand whole that bewildered and overwhelmed us. What-
ever of majesty that is made up of imaginable strength
and massiveness was there. Whatever of sublimity, in-
conceivable height and unsounded depth can give was
there.

But the sun was nearing the western horizon. We
could not satisfy ourselves with looking, for we were yet
six miles from our place of rest. Not six ordinary miles.
One would have very little idea of distance in and about

A TRIP TO THE TOSEMITE. 213

the Yosemite who did not go beyond the common no-
tions of miles and measures. Like everything else, the
miles are on a scale of magnificence that dwarfs all
common conceptions.

We began the descent of the mountain after leaving In-
spiration Point. We had been climbing up nearly all the
way from Clark's only to be obliged to descend again. The
grade from the top of the mountain down into the valley
was much steeper than any we had previously had. It did
not seem possible for the rider to keep the center of grav-
ity within the compass of the horse's ears. There was con-
stant expectation of being required to describe a tangent or
a parabola in falling over his head. These mustangs are
wonderfully wise and skillful in their day and generation,
and possess remarkable presence of mind into the bargain.
Others might be thrown off their balance, but not they.
They always know exactly where to put their feet and how
to carry not only themselves but their riders. The sun
had disappeared from the heavens and the moon taken its
place when we reached the foot of the mountain and en-
tered the valley ; so we had our first near view under the
witchery of moonlight. But alas for poetic phantasy! I
was so tired that all power of emotion was gone. As soon
as we reached the hotel I deposited myself upon the bed,
supperless, and suffering in every joint and limb. Did ever
sinews so ache or muscles feel such soreness? The very
bones seemed to have found a way to make their grievances
felt.

We had some celestial pyrotechnics and a nice shower in
the morning in celebration of Independence Day. Some of
our company joined in the services and contributed a patri-

214 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

otic song or two. We attempted no going abroad during the
morning, but sat in the front porch and rested and watched
the Yosemite fall, which seemed to be exactly opposite, as
it does everywhere within half a mile above or below. We
were too late in the season to see the fall at its best. The
Yosemite creek, which forms it, rises in the Mount Hoff-
man group of mountains, about ten miles north of the val-
ley. Being fed by snows, it does not retain its fullness
long after this has done melting; but the great height of
the fall makes it wonderful, even when the volume of water
is not great. The whole descent is twenty-six hundred
feet, but it is not all made at one leap. The water falls
over a granite precipice sixteen hundred feet, where it
meets a projecting ledge; then for six hundred feet, or what
is equivalent to that in perpendicular descent, it falls in a
series of cascades, and finally gathers itself up and makes
its last plunge of four hundred feet. This, so far as is
known, is the highest fall in the world, and is sixteen times
the height of Niagara. It was very strange and curious to
see the way the wind toyed with it. It was the uppermost
sheet with which it seemed to like best to play. Sometimes
the water was spread out, stretched from edge to edge, as
if to see how wide it could be made; then it was brought
close together, and looked like a film or mist — a something
altogether supernatural. At times it was separated in the
middle, and the divided parts hung down, with quite a
space between, and danced hither and thither, one part
chasing the other; sometimes coming almost together, and
then separating again, as though a hand held each fast at
the top, with the intention of showing it off, like a merchant
displaying his goods to a customer. Then - again the water

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 215

was gathered up and became all depth and intensity. Thus
all the time, during the two or three days we were there,
the fall kept changing, never looking twice alike, yet very
beautiful in all its phases. The moonlight gave a new
witchery to it, which was as beautiful as new. After lunch-
eon we mounted our horses and retraced the steps of the
night before, in order to see by daylight what we had seen
so partially by moonlight.

For the sake of clearness I will begin the description
of the valley at the western extremity, where it is en-
tered by the different trails. The valley lies nearly east
and west, opening toward the west. The Coulterville
trail comes in on the north side and the Mariposa on
the south side of the valley and of the Merced river.
This is the narrowest part of the valley, it being scarcely
a half-mile wide, while the rocks on each side are more
than that in height. In some places there is scarcely
room for the narrow trail between the river and the
mountains. Entering on the Mariposa trail, the first ob-
ject that arrests and fixes the attention is "El Capitan.1'
This is an immense mass of granite, more than half a
mile high, which makes a sharply-cut, almost rectangular,
corner at the beginning of the valley on the north side.
No words can give any adequate idea of its majesty as
it stands there, a solid cliff of stone, with its top three
thousand four hundred feet above the valley. The front
face is not quite perpendicular, as the top projects over
the base about one hundred feet. We, standing at its
foot and looking up to its summit, seemed the least of
all little things. I felt like bowing down to the earth
and saying, with hushed voice:

216 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

"Great God! how infinite art Thou,
What worthless worms are we."

The granite is a light gray — lighter than the Quincy
granite. The great face of the rock is bare, except that
some trees were growing on two or three ledges at dif-
ferent heights. Seen from the valley, they were very
diminutive, but are really good-sized pines. Near the
corner of El Capitan there is a recess where the Virgin
Tears fall is seen earlier in the season, but it was dry
when we visited it. On the side of the rock facing south-
ward and toward the valley there is drawn or cut the
distinct outline of a man lying in a recumbent position.
Some of our party having eyes saw not this image and
superscription, but to the greater number it was a plain
and real thing. Subsequently we learned whose these
form and lineaments were, and why they were graven
upon the rock. To assist in keeping the memory of
Tu-tock-a-nu-lah in perpetual remembrance, I shall re-
hearse the legend, abbreviating the story as I find it in
print:

This majestic rock was the throne of Tu-tock-a-nu-lah,
who was a fit man for such a seat. Here he reclined
while he administered laws to his people. Just and upright
in all his ways, he allowed no oppression among his sub-
jects. He was also strong and brave. No foot was so
fleet as his; no arrow so true to its mark as the one sent
from his bow. He could overtake the swift- footed deer
in the chase, and his arrow found the heart of the bird
in its flight. Even the grizzly bear was conquered by his
strength, and forced to yield to its victor. Tu-tock-a-nu-
lah lived so near to the Great Spirit, and was so loved

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 217

by him, that at his intercession rain was given to nour-
ish the earth; the sunshine came to brighten the flowers
and make the trees raise their heads every day nearer to
heaven. So his whole care was for his people, and they
were blessed under his reign. He was to them as a ben-
efactor and a God. But to this mighty man there came
a change. Stout as his heart was, there was in it a spot
of tenderness. One morning, as he chased the deer from
its cover, a vision appeared to his eyes — a maiden, fair
as the morn, glorious as the sun and beautiful as the
evening cloud, sat on the top of Tissayac, the Half Dome.
Her hair was flaxen, with the tinge of gold upon it. She
was not dark and swarthy, like the maidens among his
people, but her face was like the white lily, with the
blush of the rose upon her cheeks; her eye was the deep
blue of the sky, and changeable as the clouds at evening —
now deep, then pale it grew, as she looked down upon him
from her high seat, four thousand feet above. To see her
was to love her. He knelt down before her, as if to wor-
ship, and stretched his hand upward to entreat her favor.
Love and pity were in her eyes as she regarded him.
Then she spoke low, in a voice as sweet as the voices of
the morning, and called his name twice: " Tu-tock-a-nu-
lah! Tu-tock-a-nu-lah!,, and was gone. To him the sun
seemed to go out when she disappeared. After that he
had but one thought, one care — to seek the lost Tissayac,
his vanished love. Morning and night he sought her, and
at noon he gave not up his quest. He forgot his people.
He ceased to care for their interests. He no longer of-
fered prayer and sacrifice to the Great Spirit. Offended
at this neglect, the Great Spirit failed to send the rain

218 TWO YEARS IK CALIFORNIA.

and did not give the sunshine. The grass withered, the
flowers faded, and even the trees showed signs of suffer-
ing; the earth was dry and parched; the sound of sighing
was heard in the tops of the pine trees. Tissayac saw
and lamented this desolation. She knew that it was for
her sake. She threw herself prostrate upon the top of
her high home on the mountain and entreated the Great
Spirit to be merciful, and send again the rain and the
sunshine. The Spirit came, in majesty and terror, to an-
swer her prayer. The mighty mountain was rent in twain,
and the one half remains to this day as a witness to the
wonderful answer vouchsafed to the prayers of a pure
maiden.

This Half-Dome is still a marvel in the eyes of the
people. The snows were melted in the valley, and the
water came pouring down its sides. They formed a
river — the river of Mercy, — which has ever since con-
tinued to flow through the valley. Then Tissayac took
her flight, and was seen no more. But as she flew over
the lake which bears her name the down from her wings
dropped along the shore, and there sprang up white vio-
lets to gladden the hearts of all that should ever visit the
lake. Tu-tock-a-nu-lah could not exist without Tissayac.
He followed her from the valley, and was never seen
again. But before he went, with his hunting-knife he
cut in the rock whereon his throne had been, the outlines
of his noble head and manly form, — not standing erect,
as in the pride of strength, but almost prostrate, to show
that even he had succumbed to a power mightier than
himself; and he left the picture there, that all men might
see and know that how brave and how swift soever they

THE SENTINELS, CALAVERAS GROVE.
(Each over 300 feet high.) Page 199.

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 219

may be, there is a very little archer who can conquer
them by one dart from his quiver, and then — a woman
may lead them ! It is a pity that this fine Indian name,
Tu-tock-a-nu-lah, which belonged to the rock, should have
given place to the comparatively vulgar one of El Capi-
tan, which is simply the Spanish for " The Captain." This
wonderful mass of solid granite is nearly two-thirds of a
mile high. It is the beginning of the wall of the valley
on the north or left-hand side as you enter. On the op-
posite or right-hand side are the Cathedral rocks, and The
Three Graces. Over the face of Cathedral Rock pours
Bridal Veil creek, which rises a few miles southeast of
this, and was an insignificant stream where we crossed it
afterward, when going to Glacier Point. But the fall
shows what grand results may be brought about by in-
significant instrumentalities, when taken in hand by the
Great Artificer. This little stream is led along by the
hand till brought to the verge of this rock nine hundred
feet above the valley; and then, in tossing it over, it is
made such a thing of beaut}7- as rarely blesses the eyes of
mortal man. The water is no longer water; it is spirit-
ualized, glorified; it comes over the shelving rock, white,
ethereal as the mists of the morning, lighted up, irradi-
ated by the rainbows that dance hither and thither, up
and down, like myriads of iris-winged fairies. Of all the
beautiful and unique things in Yosemite, to my eyes there
was nothing so beautiful as the Bridal Veil fall. The
falls of the Yosemite are more stupendous, the Vernal
grander, and the Nevada more majestic and over-awing;
but for the purely beautiful, that which soothes and sweet-
ens and enchants the soul, there is nothing like the Bridal
10*

220 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

Veil fall. Near the top it is pure gossamer, misty, and
ethereal as a dream. There is nothing to which to liken
it, for there is nothing like it. The veil of gossamer that
conceals yet reveals the face of the bride has more the
taint of earth npon it than this. Lower down there was
every changing tint of the rainbow; now concentric and
connected, then broken into a thousand fragments, that
chased each other up and down and around like frolic-
some children. Altogether, it was bewilderingly fair and
lovely, a vision of beauty varied and ever varying, that
can never fade away. To me it would have more mean-
ing as a type of some of the beautiful things in the para-
dise above, than streets of gold or gates of pearl.

Turning an obtuse angle from the rock over which
falls the Bridal Veil creek, we face the Cathedral rocks,
not so high as El Capitan, nor so grand. They are enough
like a cathedral to justify the name, especially when seen
in connection with some rocks called Cathedral spires.
These have different aspects, according to the points from
which they are viewed. Sometimes they seem to be con-
nected with Cathedral Rock, and really form the spires to
that grand simulacrum of a cathedral such as never man
built; then again they stand distinct and alone. The walls
of the valley are of course continuous ; it is only the prom-
inent and peculiar peaks that are named.

Passing up the valley on the north side, beyond El
Capitan, there are The Three Brothers. There is no
danger that these brothers will not dwell together in
unity; they are bound together by a bond which they
cannot break, and which renders discord impossible. They
are not all of the same size, though, so far as has trans-

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 221

pired, they are of the same age. Looking at these rocks
from below, they are said to resemble three frogs in a
row, ready to try their skill at leaping. This is thought
to have suggested to the Indians the name of " Pompom-
pasus," which means " Leaping-Frog Rocks."

On the opposite or south side, on the right hand, we
next come to Sentinel Rock. I shall never forget how I
felt when I first saw this cliff. It was dark when we
reached the hotel, and in the morning, when I stepped
out on the verandah, this was the first thing that met my
view. It looked like a part of the everlasting hills that
had been and was to be forever. It stood there, a grand
mass of rock, stretching away up almost as far as the eye
could reach, and then on the top was a slender obelisk
still rising heavenward. It would seem as though a sen-
tinel on the top of that rock could see into the very gates
of heaven. "Wonderful! wonderful! wonderful!" I said,
over and over again to myself. I could find no other
word; there was room for no other feeling.

At Black's hotel we seemed to be exactly under the
shadow of this great rock. The center appeared to be
directly over us, and so it did for half a mile going up
or down the valley. I noticed the same fact in regard
to Yosemite fall. For a mile we seemed to be exactly
under them. I suppose it was the effect of the exceed-
ing great height. They were lifted so far above us that
they seemed to be just in front for a long time. At
Black's we were about midway in the valley; there being
three miles above and three below. Behind the hotel
Sentinel Rock raises its high head, as though it would
penetrate the heavens. In front are the Yosemite falls.

222 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

These we watched at our leisure as we sat on the front
verandah. We went over one day and climbed the rocks
to the top of the lower fall. If " familiarity breeds con-
tempt," as the old copy used to affirm, it is only true of
small bodies. Nearness intensifies the greatness of the
truly great. It was always so in the Yosemite — the
nearer we came to any of its wonders, the grander and
more incomprehensible they seemed. Looking at the Yo-
semite fall from our hotel, a mile or two away, it was
hard to believe that it was really twenty- six hundred
feet — almost half a mile — high. But when we came
near and saw how great the height of the lowest and
shortest fall is, we could believe in the magnitude of the
whole. In other words, by dividing these unaccustomed
heights and depths into fragments they were brought
within our comprehension, and by taking in a part at a
time we were enabled at last to grasp the whole. I do
not know what magnitudes they would have attained had
we remained long in the valley, for every day they grew
in size and grandeur. The mind seems to require time
to adjust itself to such unaccustomed heights, depths and
dimensions — just as the eye, when it has been closely
observing minute points, has to readjust itself before it
can take in large objects.

The view from the top is said to be very fine, and I
can well believe it. Crossing the river again on a bridge,
we came to a saw-mill which is turned by the Yosemite
creek, which, after making a water-fall that astonishes the
nations, and surpasses all others in the world in height, —
a water-fall which fills the eye of the beholder with
wonder and the heart with delight, — is not above the

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 223

homely task of turning the wheels of a saw-mill in aid
of man's invention and for his convenience. It seemed
like harnessing the war-horse, with his arched neck and
graceful form, to the dray, and making him do the work
of an ordinary cart-horse. Yet there is the same lesson
taught as by the angel who could fold his wings and
prepare a cake for the servant of God, faint with hunger.
That is the most excellent beauty that finds its end in use.
Two or three miles above Hutching's the valley loses
its regularity. What had been a unit becomes triune.
There are three narrow valleys instead of one. The river
Merced runs through the middle valley. The Tenaya fork
of the Merced finds its way through the northern valley, and
the Illoulette through the southern. The North Dome is in
the northern valley. It is an exceedingly high point, which
is, as its name indicates, dome-shaped. The Half-Dome,
on the other side of this narrow canon, is the all-pervad-
ing presence of the Yosemite valley. Go where you will,
look at the valley from what point you may, this wonder-
ful Half-Dome is always visible, always grand and impos-
ing. It is the highest point in the walls of the valley,
outranking El Capitan by six or seven hundred feet. Its
top has never been trodden by the foot of man. Since
Tissayac forsook it, it has remained solitary in its grandeur.
Nature has reserved one place at least for a shrine, which
man's profane feet have been unable to penetrate. On
the side toward the Tenaya canon it is exactly vertical
for two thousand feet from the summit. It has the ap-
pearance of having been a perfectly rounded and complete
dome, which by some strange convulsion has been split in
two and one part lost. It has an appealing look, and can

224 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

never be seen without the question arising, "Where is
the other half?" The impression of this Half-Dome is
one of the many that every visitor to the Yosernite will
carry away and retain as a permanent possession. It is
so unique, so wonderful, and tells so unmistakably of con-
flict. Not so massive as El Capitan, it is more suggestive
in regard to great changes and powerful forces that have
existed which could rend asunder masses of granite that
look as though they would be a safe foundation for the
heavens to rest upon. When did this fearful catastrophe
occur? By what means was it brought about?

Going on up the north canon, through which the Tenaya
fork runs, we came to Mirror lake, which is merely an
expansion of the creek. This little lake is remarkable
only for the perfect shadows of the wonderful mountains
and hills which surround it. All these are reflected with
great faithfulness. You look from the original to the
picture, and scarcely know which is which. But there
is no merit in this; any other water would do just the
same thing, if it had the same thing to do. The remark-
ableness was in the originals, not in the drawing. How-
ever, our opportunity for seeing it was not of the best.
We neither saw it at the charmed hours of sunrise or
sunset, which are said to be the times when it is finest.
In fact we did not see it when the sun was over it, for
the sun was out of sorts that afternoon, and did not show
his face at all. Although we had a maiden in our party
with brow as fair and cheek as rosy, eye as blue and
hair as auburn as the fabled Tissayac, even she had not
power to make the sun come from behind the clouds and
show us the light of his countenance. So our party pretty

A TRIP TO THE TOSEMITE. 225

generally voted the lake a humbug, and our member from
Vermont declared that he could find more respectable frog
ponds at home ! But to my eyes the shadows were strange
and weird enough to pay for twice as long a ride as we
had taken to reach the lake. The echoes, too, are said
to be wonderful, and some of the company went out on
the water and gave utterance to sundry unearthly sounds ;
but the remarkable echoes were gone away from home,
or were too sound asleep to be waked. We heard no bet-
ter response to the noises than could have been heard
among any common hills.

Mirror Lake was the terminus of our explorations up
the Tenaya canon. We returned to our hotel, riding half
the way through fields of fern that grew to the aston-
ishing height of eight or ten feet. We gathered some
very pretty flowers as we rode along, and brought them
away as trophies. We returned to the hotel and resumed
the pleasant task of watching the Yosemite fall. We
could never tire of looking at it any more than the wind
could tire of playing with it. One of the strange things
about this fall is its vibratory motion. There is so much
water that it does not break up into spray, but, while it
is scarcely forty feet wide when it pours over the rock,
it widens out to three hundred when it alights upon the
projecting ledge which makes the base of the first fall,
and this great mass of water swings back and forth from
east to west, through a space of a thousand feet in width.
As the water falls over, there are masses that whirl
around like rockets as they descend. This is thought to
be owing to the air that is caught and mixed up with
the water. The Indians called this fall Yosemite, or Yo-

226 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

hanu-e-ta, which means " The Great Grizzly Bear," which
to them has more of power and awfulness than anything
else in the world; for, after death, if they have been bad
Indians, they become grizzly bears, and are compelled to
live among the snow on the mountains.

At ten o'clock in the morning we started for Snow's,
at the upper end of the valley. Until a short time be-
fore our visit there was no way of egress from the val-
ley but to return and pass out at the western extremity.
But a trail had recently been made by which there can
be an exit from the upper end of the valley. As we in-
tended to go out that way, we had to take a last look
at all this part through which we had been. We passed
Glacier Point on our right. This rock is the angle
formed by the south cafion entering the main valley, and
from its summit there is the finest view to be had from
any point. We kept the middle canon, through which
flows the Merced river. The recollection of no part of
the trip gives me so little satisfaction as this ride up the
valley. The scenery was so wild, so wonderful, and in
some places so grand, that I would have liked to give a
day to each mile, instead of hurrying through and seeing
the whole in a few hours. But as we rode Indian file,
and there were twelve of us, with the guide thrown in to
make up the baker's dozen, no one could stop without de-
ranging the whole procession, and there was nothing to
be done but to go on and try to be satisfied with glimpses
when we longed for lingering looks.

There is no sort of a performance that this Merced
river is not capable of. Now it goes along gravely, like
a respectable, well-behaved river; then it makes a leap of

A MONSTER. Pages 201, 202 and 203.

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 227

a hundred feet or so at a single jump, and again, tum-
bling, tossing, foaming like a mad creature, it goes over
or around rocks as large as a house. Sometimes, after ed-
dying, bubbling, boiling away as though an immense fire
were under it, it suddenly changes its mood, and runs on
with a hop, skip and jump, as though, after all, it was
only in fun.

Whatever of wildness one can imagine, whatever of
picturesqueness the fancy can paint, whatever of gro-
tesqueness the thought can conceive — all can be seen in
or along this river. These antics of the stream were not
performed in silence, but were all set to music. Some-
times the rush and roar made a noise almost deafening;
then, with the nicest diminuendo, it changed to a pleasant
humming that soothed while it pleased.

Personal matters claimed a part of our attention and
sometimes absorbed our interest. The trail led over
rocks, and through rocks, and between rocks. We had to
scale almost perpendicular heights and go down into appa-
rently unfathomable depths. Any grades that we had had
before seemed easy in comparison. The beautiful azalea
that ornaments so many places in the valley was not
wanting here. It grows larger, is more graceful, and the
blending of pink and white in its flowers more beautiful,
than anywhere else. Its beauty seemed to soften the gen-
eral roughness of the scene. We reached at length
Register Rock, where we dismounted. Near by is Lady
Franklin's Rock, from which, looking upward, there is a
good view of Vernal fall. Our guide told us that Lady
Franklin came here and sat many hours in a seat which
is still called by her name. From here we could have

228 TWO TEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

walked across the gulch, ascended the stairs by the side
of the falls, and been at Snow's in a little while. But,
not wishing to lose any part of the wonderful scenery,
we rode around two or three miles, and reached Snow's
in a nice little shower.

After eating a dinner prepared by the hands of the
enterprising Vermonter who presides over the "La Casa
Nevada hotel," we started out to see the falls. We were
between them at Snow's. The Nevada fall is half a mile
above; the Vernal a little more than that below. We
made our first visit to the latter, walking by the side of
the Merced river all the way. In two miles, measuring
from the top of the Nevada falls, the Merced descends two
thousand feet; so that, after subtracting seven hundred feet
for the Nevada fall and three hundred and fifty for the
Vernal, there are still nearly a thousand feet left to be
divided among lesser falls, cataracts and cascades. Many
of these would be remarkable if they were not eclipsed by
the greater wonders in the vicinity. Before reaching the
cliff, the plunge over which makes the Vernal fall, the
Merced gathers itself up into half its usual width, by way
of preparation for the great leap that is before it. Then
spreading out again just as it reaches the cliff, so as to
make the most of itself, with all the power and impetus \
it has accumulated, it plunges over. The ledge over which j
it falls meets the northern wall of the valley at right an- '
gles, and, as if to furnish every convenience for seeing the
wonderful fall, a parapet of granite breast high is placed
on the south side. It projects over the fall, so that one
can stand in perfect safety and look into the very face of
the descending water. On the south side a staircase leads

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 229

down to the bottom of the fall. The descent is safe, and
when down one can see into the very secrets of the water-
fall. There is a grotto here, in which ferns and the del-
icate maiden-hair grow in luxuriance. The sun never
shines in there; but what do they care for that? They
are fed constantly on spray from the fall, and now and then
a rainbow is served them by way of dessert; and their
diet seems to agree with them. A softer and more beau-
tiful green never was seen than that which they exhibit.
One needs to gather one's senses about him when down
in this chasm. The roar of the fall is deafening. The
spray is everywhere. It fills your eyes and mouth, it
creeps in at your ears, and it rests upon your face. The
mists are about you like wreaths of smoke ; you can hardly
see through them. Feelings of awe, almost of dread, creep
over you at this wonderful manifestation of power. But
we were unfortunate in one thing — the sun refused to
shine; so we did not see the rainbows. I shall, therefore,
borrow the description given by a friend, who was there
at a more propitious time: "We pass down an easy flight
of stairs, which have recently taken the place of a rickety
ladder, and reaching the landing, we pause to look up and
around us. We find ourselves in a beautiful grottd, formed
by a huge overhanging boulder, known as Arch Rock.
This spot has never known the sunlight but by reflection.
From every crevice and cranny droop the most exquisite
bunches of ferns, among which is the delicate maiden's
hair. The rocks are covered with patches of bright en-
ameled moss, and the whole is kept constantly bathed in
spray from the fall. As we pursue our way carefully
down the uneven path, among rocks slippery with moist

230 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

earth and dripping moss, through an atmosphere of mist,
which hangs about us like gossamer and fills the gorge,
looking over our shoulder we realize that we are in a halo
of glory. The entire background is one immense shim-
mering, sheeny curtain, resplendent with prismatic hues.
There are rainbows to right of us, rainbows to left of us,
rainbows encircling every tree and behind every rock. The
fall itself is spanned by two clear and inexpressibly beau-
tiful bows. All of them are perfect, not mere broken
arches. One lies at our feet, or rather encircles them;
rising upward, another spans our entire form. They sit
on our foreheads; they encircle our eyes."

Loth to leave, yet compelled to go, we retraced our steps
back to Snow's, and from there went to the Nevada falls.
The ledge over which the Merced river falls here reaches
entirely across the canon, meeting its two sides at right an-
gles. The fall does not cover the whole width of the cliff,
although it is one hundred and thirty feet wide. On the
north side there is room for a trail, over which we after-
ward went as we passed out of the valley. The Nevada fall
is twice the height of the Vernal, and is the grandest of
all the falls in the valley. The Yosemite is higher, the
Bridal Veil more ethereally beautiful; but in this height
and volume unite to make grandeur that astonishes and
sublimity that overwhelms the mind. It will be remem-
bered that both the Yosemite and Bridal Veil falls are
made by comparatively insignificant creeks that come over
the walls of the valley. It is only in the Vernal and Ne-
vada falls that we see what the Merced river itself can do
when it takes it into its head to make a leap. There is an
obstruction on the north side of the fall which causes a di-

NEVADA FALLS

(700 feet high.)

Page 230.

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 231

version of a considerable volume of water, and makes it
tumble by itself in frolicsome cascades, that come leaping
and dancing down the rocks. There is no difficulty in
going up to the very foot of the fall, and we stood there
gazing at its magnificent power and listening to its stu-
pendous roar until we were fairly drenched with the spray.

This was the end of our sight-seeing in the valley; but
there remained some outside wonders for us to visit.
After being very compactly stowed away in our inn during
the night, we were up with the sun, to be ready for an
early start to Cloud's Rest. This is a point but newly
opened to tourists. The trail had been finished but a
short time, and only three or four parties had gone there
before us. Now came the hardest climb of all; we were
obliged to go Up the almost perpendicular ascent of the
cliff to the north of the Nevada falls. We thought we
had seen steepness before, but this quite cast in the shadow
everything else. It seemed to go straight up, and we felt
as if we had been ordered to charge upon a fortress that
had been founded and built for the express purpose of
keeping out all invaders. But nothing in the way of
climbing was impossible to Alek and his compeers. If the
Titans had had these mustangs to mount and carry them
upwards, there is no knowing how far they would have
gone in their attempt to scale the heavens. Up, up they
went, with their heads almost at right angles with the
earth, always finding some sure place in which to put
their feet.

I gave myself no concern about my horse. I let him
have the entire responsibility of keeping in the path of
rectitude, and gave myself again wholly to the task of

232 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

trying to keep on his back. Before long this effort became
too wearisome to be endured. I dismounted, threw the
bridle over his neck and let him go. Walking was easier,
and I had more chance to look about me. The Nevada
falls were in full view on the right nearly all the time.
On the left hand a grand mass of granite, isolated and
apparently perpendicular on all sides, reared its majestic
head more than two thousand feet above its base. This is
the Cap of Liberty, called also Mount Broderick. Inacces-
sible as it looks, it is not altogether so. Persons with stout
hearts and strong sinews have climbed to the top. On the
south Mount Starr King makes a splendid monument to
one whom all California loved, and whose untimely death is
still lamented. After fairly reaching the top of the ledge
the trail presented no uncommon difficulties. Cloud's Rest
is the highest of the points attainable to the tourist in or
around the Yosemite valley, being ten thousand feet above
the level of the sea, and four thousand above the valley.
Think of it — nearly two miles straight up in the air above
the daily life of common mortals ! There is no difficulty in
the ascent except that the attenuated atmosphere- makes
breathing laborious. The view was fine as well as extended.
On one side we looked down into the Yosemite valley,
which lay spread out like a map below us. There seemed
a strange influence over and around us. The canopy above
us did not wear its usual look, but was of a deeper blue
and grander aspect. We felt that we were nearer heaven
than we had ever been before. But the time of our
transfiguration had not yet come; we must return to
sublunary things. We mounted our horses and set out on
our return, retracing the steps we had taken in going.

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 233

For three miles we went through the "little" Yosemite
valley, which is two thousand seven hundred feet higher
than the Yosemite valley proper. This, too, is hemmed in
by columnar walls of granite, and is only "little" because
the other is greater. It is beautifully shaded by fir and
pine trees, with tamaracks interspersed, and is carpeted
with the greenest of green grass. This valley extends to
the upper edge of the Nevada falls.

We found our mule Jocko and the lunch all safe and
waiting for us on the bank of the Merced river, just above
Nevada falls. It was then one o'clock, and we had been
riding since six in the morning. Of course lunch was a
matter in which we felt a lively interest. The company
assembled and seated themselves on the grass under the
shade of overhanging trees, with the murmur of the flow-
ing river sounding in our ears. The lunch was opened.
Blank astonishment and indignant surprise took the place
of pleasant expectation. Truly, our thrifty Vermonter at
La Casa Nevada, like Mrs. Gilpin, had a " prudent mind."
The lunch, which had been paid for "sight unseen" was
both meagre and poor, and caused the only burst of
indignation shown by our good-natured party during the
whole expedition. But anger was useless and resentment
was vain; neither would multiply our loaves or butter our
bread. So after sitting on the bank of the river for a
while, watching the river get ready for its great plunge
just below, we mounted again and started for Peregoy's.

The sun had found its rest before we reached ours.
Supper was soon ready, with its toothsome viands. The
cream pies that had haunted the memory of some of our
party all the time we had been gone, were not wanting.

234 TWO YEARS IX CALIFORNIA.

The next day was Saturday, and in the morning we
went to Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome, which gave us
a ride of twelve miles. On our way we crossed Bridal
Veil creek only half a mile above the fall. Even so near
its transfiguration it is an innocent, insignificant-looking
stream. Glacier Point is on the south side of the valley,
just in the angle where it branches into three. The view
from this point is by common consent the finest to be had
of the entire valley. The Nevada, Vernal and Yosemite
falls are all in full view. The Bridal Veil fall, being on
the same side, is hidden by some projecting peaks. The
great South or Half Dome looms up and arrests the eye
at every turn. Mirror lake shines in the distance. Lem-
on's orchards, which are quite large and contain full-
grown trees, look like patches of shrubbery. Men in the
valley look like insects, and even horses can scarcely be
distinguished, except when in motion; yet every feature,
every lineament of the valley is distinctly seen. A project-
ing rock affords a place where the beholder can go to the
very verge and look into the secret places of the valley,
if the nerves can be trusted; but one scarcely wishes to
stay there long; the head grows dizzy, and the heart aches
with the fullness of its emotions. With a lingering gaze,
and with such feelings as arise when we take the last look
at the face of a dead friend whose influence has ennobled,
whose aspiration has elevated us, we turn away. But
this look is not our last; we are to have one more view.
A ride of about a mile brought us to Sentinel Dome.
This point is farther back from the edge of the valley, in
the rear of Sentinel Rock. From here, also, we had a view
of all the principal falls except the Bridal Veil, and of

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 235

all the prominent peaks; but the sight is less clear and
distinct than from Glacier Point. We strained our eyes
to see what we feared we should never see again; then we
turned to go; and this was the last. This magnificent
vision must henceforth be a memory, a picture that will
endure while life lasts, and always be the symbol of power,
of grandeur, of glory, and of immortality!

Our Sabbath at Peregoy's had an added pleasure in
the arrival of a large party bound for the Yosemite val-
ley, among whom we were glad to recognize those whom
we had known in other days, whose presence was a de-
light. There was a preacher among them, who added to
the interest of the occasion by holding an evening service
and delivering an appropriate sermon.

Our return was over the same road that we went, and
was without incident or adventure.

Thus ended this memorable and interesting trip. I do
not know anything for which I would barter the experi-
ences it brought into my life, if there could be secured to
me no chance to replace them. To be sure there were
fatigue and hardship connected with it; but when one is
paid down for all that is suffered, and paid so amply, it
would surely be unreasonable to complain.

The circumstances were propitious. Fellow-travelers
were not only agreeable, but generally disposed to take
things as they came, and make the best of them without
fault-finding or complaint. We were fortunate in our
guide; Captain Folsom was familiar with all the localities,
and ready to tell what he knew to those who wanted to
hear. He was one of that military company which fol-
lowed the Indians into the valley in 1851, and therefore

236 TWO YEARS IN CALIFORNIA.

among the first white men that saw it. He has spent
much of the time since in guiding visitors in and around
the locality. Always obliging and considerate, he is es-
pecially so to ladies. Captain Folsom is the prince of
guides! Let those who would see the Yosemite aright
secure his services, if they can.

I cannot close my narrative without also saying a good
word for Alek. I dare not commend him for his swift-
ness, but there are those who believe in the old maxim
that safety is better than speed. To such his services
would be desirable. I am not sure that I can truthfully
say I think his judgment infallible; at least, I should
not compliment myself in doing so. I am quite sure that
to this day he looks upon me as a chicken-hearted indi-
vidual who habitually carries her heart in her mouth
and does not dare say her soul is her own if anyone
asserts to the contrary. Differing widely in opinion on
this point, as I did, I never could persuade him to change
his views and come over to my belief. But even this
error only shows how much persistency he has, and how
great a regard for that jewel, consistency. At any rate,
I forgive him his mistake, and remember gratefully that
he carried me safely over frightful places — up and down
perpendiculars that the uninitiated would have pronounced
impossibilities of accomplishment. May his life be long
and his shadow never grow less! and may his last days
be spent in green pastures through which run streams
of living waters, so that he may eat and drink at his
pleasure until he lies down to rest with "the kings and
conquerors of the earth!"

No one can see this wonderful valley, or even read an

A TRIP TO THE YOSEMITE. 237

account of it, without wondering how it was formed —
without asking by what catastrophe this chasm, which
crosses the general depressions of the mountains at right
angles, could have been caused. There have been many
theories in regard to its formation; but Professor Whitney,
the State geologist, is perhaps better entitled to credence
than any who have written upon the subject. After
stating the three ways in which valleys are formed, viz.:
by erosion, by fracture, and by subsidence, he shows con-
clusively that this valley could not have been formed in
either of the first two ways, and must, therefore, have
been caused by the third — subsidence. Something gave
way beneath and the valley sank down. In other words,
the under-pinning broke and the bottom dropped out.
The middle part was swallowed up, like Korah and his
troop. Subsequently the wash from the mountains in part
filled up the opening and smoothed over the surface.
There is evidence that the cavity was originally filled with
water. But when the glacial period ended, and the time
for drying came, the water diminished, the valley filled up
until only a narrow channel, in which flowed the Merced
river, was left, and the present conditions were obtained.
Until recently the Yosemite valley was believed to be
altogether unique — the only one of the kind in all the
wide world. But another has been found in this wonder-
ful region, so like it that there seems to have been one
model for both; only the scale is diminished, as though
Nature had tried her 'prentice hand on this before attempt-
ing the greater Yosemite. This smaller valley is sixteen
miles northeast from the Yosemite in the high Sierras,
and on the Tuolumne river. It is called the Hetch-hetchy.

238 TWO YEAKS IN" CALIFOKNTA.

It is about the same height above sea-level as the Yosemite.
The valley is three miles long, extending, like the Yosemite,
from east to west. The walls are not so high as those of
the Yosemite, and everything is on a smaller scale.

There have been many improvements made in the
modes of reaching the Yosemite valley since the visit was
made of which an account has been given. By four dif-
ferent routes the wheels of carriages now carry the tourist
from the terminus of the railroad to the door of any of the
hotels in the valley. In consequence of improvements in
roads it can be visited earlier in the season. The time
required for the trip is also less. The valley can be
reached in three days from San Francisco. But let no
one who wishes to see the valley well stay there less than
a week, and if the one week can be multiplied by four the
visit will be all the more satisfactory.

The expense of the round trip from San Francisco and
back is estimated at sixty dollars, though it would probably
be best to allow a little margin for extras. There were
three thousand visitors to the valley during the year 1875.

PUBLISHED BY S.C. GRIGGS 6- CO., CHICAGO.
ANDERSON'S NORSE MYTHOLOGY; or The Religion

Of OUT Forefathers.— Containing all the Myths of the Eddas carefully
systematized and interpreted, with an Introduction, Vocabulary and Index. — By
R. B. Anderson, A. M., Professor of Scandinavian Languages, in the University
of Wisconsin. Crown 8vo, cloth, $z 50 ; full gilt, $3 00 ; half calf, $5 00.

"Professor Anderson has produced a monograph which may be regarded as
exhaustive in all its relations." — The New York Tribune.

"A masterly work. . . No American book of recent years does equal credit
to American scholarship, or is deserving of a more pronounced success." — Boston
Globe.

"I have been struck with the warm glow of enthusiasm pervading it, and with
the attractiveness of its descriptions and discussions. I sincerely wish it a wide
circulation and careful study." — William Dwight Whitney, Professor of Sanscrit
and Comparative Philology, Yale College.

"I like it decidedly. A mythologist must be not only a scholar but a bit of a
poet, otherwise he will never understand that petrified poetry out of which the
mythology of every nation is built up. You seem to me to have that gift of poetic
divination, and, therefore, whenever I approach the dark runes of the Edda, I shall
gladly avail myself of your help and guidance."

Yours truly, F. Max Muller, University of Oxford.

"We have never seen so complete a view of the religion of the Norsemen.
The Myths which Prof. Anderson has translated for us are characterized by a wild
poetry and by suggestions of strong thought. We see images of singular beauty
in the landscape of ice and snow. Sparks of fire are often struck out from these
verses of flint and steel." — Bibliotheca Sacra.

"Professor Anderson is an enthusiastic as well as an able scholar ; and he
imparts his enthusiasm to his readers. His volume is deeply interesting as well as
in a high degree instructive. No such account of the old Scandinavian Mythology
has hitherto been given in the English language. It is full, and elucidates the
subject in all points of view. It contains abundant illustrations in literal and
poetic translations from the Eddas and Sagas. . . Professor Anderson's inter-
pretations of the myths throw new light upon them, and are valuable additions (as is
the whole work) to the history of religion and of literature. . . It deserves to
be welcomed, not only as most creditable to American scholarship, but also as an
indication of the literary enterprise which is surely growing up in our North-western
States." — The Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review.

AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS.-A

Historical Sketch of the Discovery of America by the Norsemen in the 10th cent-
ury. By Prof. R. B. Anderson, of the University of Wisconsin, with an Appendix
on the Historical, Literary and Scientific value of the Scandinavian Languages.
Price, 12mo, cloth $1 00

"A valuable addition to American history. The object is fully described in its
title page, and the author's narrative is very remarkable. * * * The book is
full of surprising statements, and will be read with something like wonderment." —
Notes and Queries, London.

PUBLISHED BY S.C. GRIGGS & CO., CHICAGO.
PRE-HISTORIC RACES OF THE UNITED STATES.

By J. W. Foster, LL.D., Author of u The Physical Geography of the Mississippi
Valley," etc. 415 pages, crown 3vo, with a large number of illustrations.

Price, cloth $3 50

Half calf binding, gilt top 6 00

Full calf, gilt edges 7 50

" One of the best and clearest accounts we have seen of those grand monuments
of a forgotten race." — London Saturday Review.

44 The reader will find it more fascinating than his last favorite novel." —
Eclectic Magazine, N. Y.

11 The book is literally crowded with astonishing and valuable facts." —
Boston Post.

11 It is an elegant volume and a valuable contribution to the subject. * * *
Contains just the kind of information in clear, compressed and intelligible form,
which is adapted to the mass of readers." — Applet on1 s Popular Science Monthly.

44 The book is typographically perfect, and with its admirable illustrations and
convenient index is really elegant and a sort of luxury to possess and read. * *
Dr. Foster's style reminds us of Tyndall and Proctor, at their best. * * He
goes over the ground, inch by inch, and accumulates information of surprising
jnterest and importance, bearing on this subject, which he gives in his crowded but
most instructive and entertaining chapters in a thoroughly scientific but equally
popular way. We have marked whole pages of his book for quotation, and finally
from sheer necessity have been compelled to put the whole volume in quotation
marks, as one of the few books that are indispensable to the scudent, and scarcely
less important for the intelligent reader to have at hand for reference." — Golden
Age, New York.

A MANUAL OF GESTURE. — With over 100 Figures,
embracing a complete system of Notation, with the Principles of Interpretation
and Selections for Practice. By Prof. A. M. Bacon.

Price $1 75

44 Prof. Bacon has given us a work that, in thoroughness and practical value,
deserves to rank among the most remarkable books of the season. There has in
fact, been no work on the subject yet offered to the public which approaches it for
exhaustiveness and completeness of detail. * * It is of the utmost value,
not merely to students, but to lawyers, clergymen, teachers, and public speakers,
and its importance as an assistant in the formation of a correct and appropriate
style of action can hardly be over-estimated." — The Philadelphia Inquirer.

44 Prof. Bacon's Manual seems expressly arranged for the help of those who
study alone and have undertaken self-instruction in the art of persuasive delivery.
The work in the hands of our ministry, well studied, would have the effect of
emphasizing the living words of the Gospel all over the land, and making them
two-edged with meaning."— The Chicago Pulpit.

PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS fr CO., CHICAGO.

GETTING ON IN THE WORLD ; or, Hints on Suc-
cess in Life.- By Wm. Mathews, LL.D., Professor of English Literature
etc., in the University of Chicago. Beautifully printed and handsomely bound. '

Price, i vol. iamo., Cloth $2 25 I Half calf binding, gilt top..... $3 5o

The same, gdt edges 2 5Q | Full calf, gilt edges ...... ._ \ ^

Contents : — Success and Failure — Good and Bad Luck— Choice of a Pro-
fession—Physical Culture— Concentration- Self -Reliance— Originality in
Aims and Methods — Attention to Details — Practical Talent — Decision-
Manner — Business Habits — Self-Advertising— The Will and the Way —
Reserved Power — Economy of Time — Money, its Use and Abuse — Mercantile
Failures — Over- Work and Under-Rest — True and False Success.

"A book in the highest degree attractive, * * and which will be sure to pay
in dollars and cents many times over the cost of the work, and the time devoted
to its perusal."— Lockport Journal, New York.

11 It is sound, morally and mentally. It gives no one-sided view of life ; it does
not pander to the lower nature ; but it is high-toned, correctly toned throughout.
* There is an earnestness and even eloquence in this volume which makes
the author appear to speak to us from the living page. It reads like a speech.
There is an electric fire about every sentence."— Episcopal Register, Philadelphia.
" There is no danger of speaking in too high terms of praise of this volume.
As a work of art it is a gem. As a counselor it speaks the wisdom of the ages. As a
teacher it illustrates the true philosophy of life by the experience of eminent men of
every class and calling. It warns by the story of signal failures, and encourages by
the record of triumphs that seemed impossible. It is a book of facts and not of
theories. The men who have succeeded in life are laid under tribute, and made to
divulge the secret of their success. They give vastly more than * hints ;' they
make a revelation. They show that success lies not in luck, but in pluck.
Instruction and inspiration are the chief features of the work which Prof. Mathews
has done in this volume."— Christia?i Era, Boston.

THE GREAT CONVERSERS, and Other Essays.-

By Wm. Mathews, LL.D., author of " Getting On in the World."

i volume, i2mo., 306 pages, with Map, price $1 75

" As fascinating as anything in fiction.''''— Concord Monitor.
" These pages are crammed with interesting facts about literary men and lite-
rary work." — New York Evening Mail.

" They are written in that charming and graceful style, which is so attractive
in this author's writings, and the reader is continually reminded by their ease and
grace of the elegant compositions of Goldsmith and Irving."— Boston Transcript.
^ " Twenty essays, all treating lively and agreeable themes, and in the easy,
polished and sparkling style that has made the author famous as an essayist. * *
The most striking characteristic of Prof. Mathews' writing is its wonderful wealth
of illustration. * * One will make the acquaintance of more authors in the
course of a single one of his essays than are probably to be met with in the same
limited space anywhere else in the whole realm of our literature."— The Chicago
Tribune*

PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS & CO., CHICAGO.
THE WORLD ON WHEELS, and Other Sketches-

By Benj. F. Taylor. Illustrated, i vol., i2mo. Price, $1.50.

" Full of humor and sharp as a Damascus blade.1' — Presbyterian, Phil a.

" The pen-pictures of B. F. Taylor are among the most brilliant and eccentric
productions of the day. They are like the music of Gottscharlk played by Gotts-
chalk himself; or like sky-rockets that burst in the zenith, and fall in showers of
fiery rain. They are word-wonders, reminding us of necromancy ,*with the dazzle
and bewilderment of their rapid succession.1'- — Chicago Tribune.

" Reader, do you want to laugh ? Do you want to cry ? Do you want to
climb the Jacob's ladder of imagination, and dwell among the clouds of fancy for
a little while at least ? Do you ? Then get B. F. Taylor's World on Wheels, read
it, and experience sensations you never felt before ! * * It is a book of k word
pictures,' a string of pearls, the very poesy of thought." — The Christian, St. Louis.

"Another of Benj. F. Taylor's wonderful word-painting books. * * In
purity of style and originality of conception, Taylor has no superiors in this
country. The book before us is a gem in evsry way. It is quaint, poetical, melo-
dious, unique, rare as rare flowers are rare. He has an exquisite faculty of illustra-
tion that is unsurpassed in the whole range of American literature.11 — St. Louis
Dispatch.

OLD-TIME PICTURES and SHEAVES of RHYME.

By Benj. F. Taylor. Red line edition, small quarto, silk cloth, with eight fine
full page illustrations.

Price... $2 00

The same, full gilt edges and gilt side 2 50

John G. Whittier writes : — " It gives me pleasure to see the poems of B. F.
Taylor issued by your house in a form worthy of their merit. Such pieces as the
1 Old Village Choir,'' " The Skylark? l The Vane on the Spire? and ' June?
deserve their good setting. * * I do not know of anyone who so well reproduces
the home scenes of long ago. There is a quiet humor that pleases me.11

" Unless it be Whittier, we know of no American poet so sweet, tender and
gentle in his lyrics as B. F. Taylor. No writer of to-day sings the praises of rural
life and scenery as eloquently, and we do not wonder that many of his poems have
become classic. The holiday volume of his happy verses, Old Time Pictures and
Sheaves of Rhyme is a very eloquent and daintily bound volume, and comes from
that growing and reliable publishing house of the West, S. C. Griggs & Company,
of Chicago. Taking up this handsomely printed book, we have to linger on the
delightful imagery and graceful diction of its pages, glowing as they are with pure
and tender thoughts, and the earnest, indescribable music of sunny fields and rural
joys. * * No one can read it but will be the better for so doing." — The Albany
Morning Express.

PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS &> CO., CHICAGO.

PICTURES OF LIFE IN CAMP AND FIELD-By Benj

F. Taylor, Author of "The World on Wheels," "Songs of Yesterday," etc.

i2mo, cloth tfT ,_

pi.50

"The descriptions are singularly brilliant."— New York Sunday Times.

"The book will greatly interest large classes of readers."— Boston Gazette.

"A volume that embalms such stories of the nation's sorest hour of trial, cannot
lack for thrilled and tearful readers."— Chicago Tribune.

"The war annals of ancient or modern times, from Caesar's campaigns to the
Franco-Prussian war, will furnish material no more beautifully wrought up than
this, by the word-artist of the Great Rebellion."-^™ England Journal of Edu-

cation.

"Every letter is replete with pathos ; every description is a power, and most of
the anecdotes touching in the extreme. It is almost impossible to say which of these
letters is best, but taken as a whole, they have formed a book that will live.—
Chicago Times.

"The beauty of diction, amazing life-likeness, stirring action and rich coloring
Of these word-pictures of camp and field, have had a deservedly popular reception.
. . . The art of the writer of these letters*is marvelous. . . Their correctness
as to facts is seldom to be Questioned, and the beauty of the descriptions never."—
Syracuse Journal.

PATMOSjor, The Kingdom and the Patience.-By

J. A. Smith, D.D., Editor of the Standard. Square i6mo, cloth, $1.25.

"It merits universal circulation."— Christian Standard, Philadelphia.

"A book for the improvement of the heart."— Christian Guardian, Toronto.

"Admirably calculated to challenge the Christian reader to utmost doing and
enduring for the sake of the Master."- Watchman and Reflector, Boston.

"No one can read the nine chapters which the volume contains, without receiv-
ing a new inspiration to faithful service in the cause of Christ."— Zion's Advocate.

"To earnest seekers for higher spiritual attainments the author has rendered a
service at once great and beautiful. Originality of thought, beauty and purity of
expression and graphic delineation, are among its marked features."— National
Baptist, Philadelphia.

THE TRINITY.— By Rev. F. H. Burris. With an introduction by
Joseph-Haven, D.D., LL. D. i2mo, cloth, $1.50.

"One of the most unique, sincere and thorough discussions of the subject of the
Trinity, which we have ever seen ... we commend its perusal to all our
brethren."— American Wesleyan, N. Y.

"A thoughtful and very interesting book. . . . Much that he says is forcible
and inciting to renewed thought."— Christian Union, N. Y.

PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS & CO., CHICAGO.
PH-ILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION.-

By Rev. J. B. Walker, D.D., with an Introductory Essay by Calvin E. Stowe,
D.D. A new edition, with supplementary chapter by the author. Sixty-seventh
thousand, i vol. nmo. Price, $1.50.

11 Though written with great simplicity, it is evidently the production of a
mastermind. * * and few works are more adapted to bring skeptics of a certain
class to a stand. * * It is the disclosure of the actual process of mind through
which the author passes, from the dark regions of docbt and infidelity to the clear
light and conviction of a sound and heartfelt belief of the truth as it is in Jesus.

" There is in many parts of this treatise, a force of argument and a power of
conviction almost resistless.

"It is a work of extraordinary power. * * We think it is more likely to
lodge an impression in the human conscience, iti favor of the divine authority
of Christianity, than any work of the modern press." — London Evangelical
Magazine, England,

" No single volume we ever read has been so satisfactory a demonstration of
the truth of religion, or has had so strong a controlling influence over our habits
of thought. * * No better book can be put into the hands of the honest and
intellectual skeptic. It is overwhelmingly convincing to reason, and leaves the
doubter nothing but his passions and prejudices to bolster him up. * * Every
minister's library should have a copy." — The Methodist Protestant, Baltimore.

" It fills a place in theological literature which no other book does. It is the
style of the argument which gives power, imprsssiveness, and perennial freshness
to this production. * * We have found in pastoral experience that we could
place no better uninspired book than this in the hands of intelligent doubters, or
in the hands of new converts, for their aid and guidance. Those who are not
familiar with it, will do well to procure a copy and study it carefully. It is worth
more than some large libraries to those who read for their profiting.'" — The Christ-
ian at Work, New York.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; Or Phil-
osophy of the Divine Operation in the Redemption

Of IVI 3. n . — Being volume second of " The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation."
By Rev. J. B. Walker, D.D. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. Price,
$1.50.

" The author's former able works have prepared the public for the rich treas-
ures of thought in this volume. It is a book of foundation principles, and deals in
the verities of the gospel as with scientific facts. It is an unanswerable argument
in behalf of Christ's life, mission, and doctrine, and especially rich in its teachings
concerning the office and work of the Spirit. No volume has lately issued from the
press which brings so many timely truths to the public attention. While it is
metaphysical and thorough, it is also clever, forceful, winning for its grand truth's
sake, and every way readable. The author has wrought a great work for the
Christian Church, and every minister and teacher should arm himself with
strong weapons by perusing the arguments of this book. It is printed and bound
in the exquisite style of all publications which issue from Messrs. S. C. Griggs & Co.'s
establishment." — Methodist Recorder, Pittsburgh.

PUBLISHED BY S. C. GXIGGS & CO., CHICAGO.

ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER, For Deliberative Assemblies.-
By Major H. M. Robert, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Pocket size, cloth, 75 cents.
This book is far superior to any other parliamentary manual in the English
language. It gives in the simplest form possible all the various rules or points of
law or order that can arise in the deliberations of any lodge, grange, debating
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plete in itself, and as easily found as a word in a dictionary. Its crowning excel-
lence is a "Table of Rules relating to Motions," on two opposite pages which
contains the answers to more than two hundred questions on parliamentary law,
which will be of the greatest value to every member of an assembly.

" It should be studied by all who wish to become familiar with the correct
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versity.

"It seems much better adapted to the use of societies and assemblies than
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of the Illinois Industrial University.

" I shall be very glad to see your Manual brought into general use, as I am
sure it must be, when its great merit and utility become generally known.— Hon. T.
M. Cooley, LL. D., author of ' Cooley's Blackstone,' " etc.

" After carefully examining it and comparing it with several other books having
the same object in view, I am free to say that it is, by far, the best of all. The
'Table of Rules ' is worth the cost of the work."— Thomas Bowman, D. Z>.,
Bishop of Baltimore M. E. Conference.

" This capital little manual will be found exceedingly useful by all who are
concerned in the organization or management of societies of various kinds. . . .
If we mistake not, the book wdl displace all its predecessors, as an authority on
parliamentary usages."— New York World.

"I admire the plan of your work, and the simplicity and fidelity with which
you have executed it. It is one of the best compendiums of Parliamentary Law
that I have seen, and exceedingly valuable, not only for the matter usually
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greatly to adapt it to common use."— Dr. D. C. Eddy, Speaker of the Massachu-
setts House of Representatives .

MISHAPS OF MR. EZEKIEL PELTER. -Illustrated.

12mo, cloth $1.50.

" So ludicrous are the vicissitudes of the much-abused Ezekiel, and so much of
human nature and every-day life intermingle, that it will be read with a hearty zest
for its morals, while the humor is irresistible. If you want to laugh at something
new, a regular side-plitter, get this book."— The Evangelist, St. Louis.

" We have read Ezekiel. We have laughed and cried over its pages. It grows
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we decidedly like and commend it."— Pacific Baptist, San Francisco.