316 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



winter. The average for the winter months during the daytime being 

 about 50° or 55°. 



The healthfulness of Benicia is proverbial. While it is hardly possible 

 to state exactly the death rate of the population, because statistics for a 

 number of years are not available, yet recent inquiry shows that it can 

 vary little from thirteen per thousand, a rate surprisingly low, even for a 

 village. Besides, even this statement does not correctly set forth the facts, 

 because the place has always had a remarkable exemption from epidemic 

 diseases of every nature, and even when they appear, they quickly die out. 



Perhaps no more instructive statement could be made than the following: 

 During this summer there have been, so far as can be ascertained, but 

 three cases of summer complaint or cholera infantum, and but one death 

 from such a cause. While fine climate is a heritage of a large part of 

 California, few places can show such proofs of healthfulness as Benicia. 



VACAVILLE — CLIMATE, ETC. 



Vacaville township is the political subdivision of Solano County, occupy- 

 ing its extreme northwest corner. It lies along the eastern slope of the 

 main chain of the Coast Range, commencing at the southern extremity of 

 that portion of the range which bounds the Sacramento Valley on the 

 southwest, and extending northerly to Putah Creek, a distance of fifteen 

 miles, with a width from east to west of about six miles. 



The summit of the Coast Range bounds it upon the west, while its east- 

 ern border is formed by the western line of the great Sacramento Plain. 

 It comprises Vaca, Laguna, and Pleasant Valleys, and the foothills of the 

 main Coast Range which surrounds them. 



It contains some sixty thousand acres of land, of which fifty thousand 

 acres are susceptible of cultivation, and the remainder is of value for 

 mountain pasture. One fifth of the land is mountainous, rising in places 

 to an altitude of three thousand five hundred feet; two fifths are composed 

 of low rolling hills, eminently adapted for horticultural purposes, and the 

 remaining two fifths are small, level valleys, of which the Vaca is by far 

 the largest and most important, containing some six thousand acres. 



The soil upon the hills is generally a light, sandy loam, formed by the 

 disintegration of the sandstone bedrock, which underlies the whole region, 

 mixed in places with decayed basaltic rocks, which radiate in the defined 

 lines of ancient lava streams from Putnam's Peak. This is an old volcanic 

 formation, rising to an altitude of one thousand five hundred feet from the 

 low foothills at the head of the Vaca Valley. 



The soil of the valleys is an alluvial deposit from the hills, and com- 

 posed to an enormous depth of similar materials. No portion of the town- 

 ship is of a lower altitude than two hundred feet above high water, and 

 the average elevation of the low hills and cultivated mountain slopes is 

 about four hundred feet. 



The climate of Vacaville Township in the winter rarely reaches a tem- 

 perature of 30°, and the lowest recorded is 21°. This is largely due to its 

 elevation above the sea level, and to the shelter afforded by the surround- 

 ing hills against chilling winds. Tomato vines frequently remain green 

 and growing the entire winter, and grapes have remained on the vines in 

 palatable condition till late in January. But perhaps its extremely mild 

 and equable character may best be expressed by saying that the orange 

 thrives here as in its native home. William Pleasant, a prominent horti- 

 culturist, says: "I consider, after an experience in fruit culture at Vaca- 

 ville of twenty-five years, that the Vaca Valley is better adapted to the 



