STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 137 



the Union, which have a population of twelve million people. It extends 

 through ten degrees of latitude in the southern half of the temperate zone, 

 between the frozen north on the one hand, and the torrid south on the 

 other, and it has every advantage of geographical position. It borders for 

 a thousand miles on the great peaceful ocean, on whose shores more than 

 one third of the world's population dwells. This extended shore line has 

 two of the largest and best sheltered harbors of the world, which invite 

 and afford shelter for the merchant marine of all nations. The northern 

 half is bisected by two great navigable rivers. The San Joaquin, rising in 

 the south, flows north, and the Sacramento, having its sources in the 

 extreme north, flows south, till the two meet and pour their waters into the 

 bay of San Francisco. The valleys of these two streams form one of the 

 largest drainage basins of the continent. Its area is given in the United 

 States Topographical Reports as fifty-eight thousand square miles. These 

 valleys are of great beauty and fertility. They enraptured the Jesuit and 

 Franciscan Fathers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; they 

 extorted the highest praise from the American pathfinders and explorers 

 in the first half of this century; and they were so rich and beautiful that 

 they made the gold-seekers willing exiles from their native States. Flank- 

 ing these great valleys are two high mountain chains, running north and 

 south. On the west is the Coast Range, the rounded domes of which over- 

 look the Pacific Ocean for seven hundred miles; on the east are the Sierra 

 Nevadas, whose high crest and pinnacled peaks form the eastern part of 

 the State. 



Topography. 



From this physical conformation there is every topographical feature 

 known to earth. There are wide fertile valleys, for those who prefer the 

 lower levels, sloping uplands and foothills* for the dwellers at the moun- 

 tain's feet, and deep valleys and lofty elevations for those who love the 

 lights and shadows of the great mountains. 



Scenery. 



No other part of earth presents a more varied panorama of beauty and 

 grandeur, than is found in this Golden State. To the west the great sea 

 rolls her crested waves against jutting cliffs, or over pebbly beaches and 

 long stretches of glistening sands. The gently rounded domes of the Coast 

 Range, and the lofty summits of the Sierras, overlook picturesque valleys 

 and forest-parked plains. Shasta and Lassen, the silent sentinels of the 

 north, lift their heads into the regions of eternal silence. The great rivers 

 flow through the grain-laden valleys, shining in the sun like ribbons of 

 silver set in cloth of gold. Innumerable streams from their mountain 

 sources, dash through narrow gorges, pour in gleaming cataracts down 

 precipitous mountain sides, and whirl in silent eddies at the feet of wide 

 branching forest monarchs. Great woods darken the mountain sides, and 

 evergreen oaks beautify the valleys. 



Climate. 



But the varied and picturesque beauty of the State is not its most dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic. It is in its climate that it differs from all of 

 its sister States and Territories. Here in the wide valleys, and on the sea 

 coast, there is a continual succession of spring and autumn, leaving no 

 room for winter. It is hard for the eastern home-seeker to understand 

 that on the same parallel of latitude where he lives half of the year amid 



