State Agricultural Society. 391 



ing, fifty-eight. Hon. John S. Bradford, now of Springfield, Illinois, was 

 elected to the Assembly. At this session, Sonoma County was organ- 

 ized, and included the whole of the County of Mendocino. The county 

 seat was at the Town of Sonoma. Following were the names of the 

 first officers: Robert Hopkins, District Judge;, H. A. Green, County 

 Judge; Israel Brockman, Sheriff; 11. B. Butler, Clerk; R. A. Maupin, 

 District Attorney. 



In eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, Mendocino was segregated and 

 the present boundaries of this count}' were established. It is fifty-five 

 miles long by an average width of twenty-five miles, comprising an 

 area of about eight hundred and fifty thousand acres. Its western 

 boundary is the Pacific Ocean. Its southern boundary is partly Marin 

 County, and partly the Bay of San Pablo. On the east it is bounded 

 by the Counties of Napa and Lake, on the north by Mendocino. 



ITS TOPOGRAPHY. 



Sonoma County, as we have said above, is bounded on the west by 

 the Pacific Ocean. The land along the shore is not rugged. It pro- 

 duces natural grasses, and may be cultivated almost to the water's 

 edge. The hills along the coast are open and rolling, upon which the 

 sea fog keeps vegetation green the year round. As a grazing and dairy 

 country it cannot be surpassed. The soil is sandy and of unusual depth. 

 The hills, where not used for grazing, are cultivated in potatoes or oats, 

 for which the soil seems to be especially adapted. This section is 

 known as the Bodega country, named from Bodega Bay, a shipping 

 j)oint which affords safe anchorage for vessels of considerable size. 

 The principal products of the Bodega countiy are potatoes, oats, butter, 

 cheese, poultry, and eggs. As in all other countries where dairy pro- 

 ducts are a specialty, the people are prosperous, and have coin ahead. 



THE LUMBER DISTRICT. 



North of this dairy section, which embraces about one half of the 

 coast line of the county, the hills are heavily timbered with redwood. 

 This magnificent tree grows along the coast as far inland as the influ- 

 ence of the sea fog extends, upon which it seems partly to depend for 

 moisture and a vigorous growth. There is no finer sight than a fog 

 creeping through a forest of redwoods. The trees grow straight for 

 hundreds of feet, and then branch out in the sunlight; the fog seems 

 to entangle itself in the foliage, and the spongy leaflets absorb 

 the grateful moisture. The timber belt of Bodega extends north of 

 Bodega Ba}^ for about thirty-five miles, and inland for about fifteen 

 miles. It embraces not less than one hundred and fifty-four square 

 miles of timber land, which will cut, at the lowest estimate, two hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand feet of clear lumber to the mile, leaving enough 

 standing for fuel, fencing, railroad ties, etc., for a hundred years to 

 come; besides hundreds of acres of oak timber, which produces tan 

 bark, and the raw material for charcoal, of which a great supply is 

 made in this county for the San Francisco market. There are a number 

 of mills along the coast which manufacture lumber and ship direct to 

 the San Francisco market in small vessels, which are loaded at the mills 

 without danger, except during heavy storms. 



