288 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



capital of California. Latitude 38° 35' N., longitude 121° 30' W. Dis- 

 tance by rail from San Francisco, eighty-three miles. The city is located 

 on an extensive plain, on the east bank of the Sacramento River, imme- 

 diately south of its confluence with the American River. 



The streets are wide, and cross at right angles; those running east and 

 west are designated by the letters of the alphabet, and those crossing them, 

 north and south, are numbered, commencing at the Sacramento River. 

 The business portion is built of brick, and the residence portion of wood. 

 Shade trees are abundant, and almost every residence yard is lawned and 

 planted with orange trees, palms, and ornamental plants. The climate is 

 semi-tropical, and in the open air in the year around there is a luxuriant 

 growth of trees and flowers. 



The first railroad in California, extending from Sacramento into El 

 Dorado County, was formally opened on February 22, 1856. Work on the 

 Central Pacific Railroad was inaugurated at Sacramento January 8, 1863, 

 and the last spike was driven May 10, 1869. Sacramento is on the line of 

 the California and Oregon, Western Pacific, Central Pacific, California 

 Pacific, and Sacramento and Placerville Railroads. All these roads are of 

 the Southern Pacific system, the shops of which are located in the city, 

 covering twenty-five acres of land, and furnishing constant employment to 

 about two thousand men. The company's hospital is also located in the 

 city. A line of steamboats run to San Francisco on the Sacramento River 

 and the bays, and another as far up the same stream as Red Bluff. The 

 Sacramento River is spanned opposite the city by a railroad and wagon 

 bridge, connecting it with the town of Washington, Yolo County; and the 

 American River is bridged on the line of Twelfth Street, and also by a rail- 

 road bridge a short distance above. All the bridges in the county and all 

 roads are free. 



The capital of California was permanently located at Sacramento, Feb- 

 ruary 25, 1854, and in 1869, the present capitol building was completed, at 

 a cost of about $3,000,000. The building is the finest in the State. In the 

 Capitol Park are also the Exposition Pavilion of the State Agricultural 

 Society, and the State Printing Office, in which are printed, in addi- 

 tion to the usual work for the State, the text-books for use in the public 

 schools. The State Agricultural Society has also an extensive park for the 

 exhibition of stock, and one of the finest race tracks in the world. The 

 State Fairs are annually held in September. The Masons and Odd Fellows 

 have each imposing temples, in which their lodge-rooms are located. The 

 United States government has purchased a site for a Post Office building, to 

 be erected immediately, for which an appropriation of $100,000 has been 

 made. The County Court House (formerly used for a State Capitol) cost 

 $200,000; and a brick and iron Hall of Records has recently been com- 

 pleted at a cost of $50,000. The County Hospital, built on the pavilion 

 plan, can accommodate one hundred and seventy-five patients, and cost 

 $75,000. 



There are in the city twenty-seven hotels, one national and three com- 

 mercial and savings banks; three daily, two semi-weekly (German), four 

 weekly newspapers, and three monthlies, and seventeen churches. The 

 Catholic cathedral, now in course of construction, will cost $250,000. There 

 are also twelve public school buildings, three colleges, four private schools, 

 and one art school. 



The State Library contains some sixty thousand volumes; and the free 

 public library, of twelve thousand volumes, is maintained by a small city 

 tax, and with the two-story building in which it is contained, is the prop- 

 erty of the city. The Order of Odd Fellows maintain a library of about 



