376 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



EXTREMES OF TEMPERATURE. 



Although the thermometer reaches as high as 112° in the mid-summer, 

 the heat does not cause much discomfort, or produce disease, because of 

 the lack of decaying vegetation and the extreme dryness of the atmos- 

 phere. The summer lasts from the latter part of May to the first of Octo- 

 ber, and during this season rain has been seldom known to fall. During 

 the fall and winter, warm and abundant rains appear, in storms of a few 

 days' duration, generally preceded by winds from the south. 



Snow is seldom seen, except in December and January, in the extreme 

 eastern portion, when it sometimes appears in a succession of fleecy hoods 

 upon the highest peaks. Only four times in the past thirty years has snow 

 covered the ground generally, and then it disappeared in the course of a 

 few hours. Light frosts occur during December and January, but do no 

 damage to vegetation, such delicate shrubs and plants as the oleander and 

 geranium flourishing abundantly in gardens with no protection. 



LUMBER SUPPLY. 



The eastern climatic belt consists of a large timbered region, which, of 

 itself, for grandeur, extent, diversity, and magnificent proportions, has no 

 parallel in the entire timber belt of the world, and which, although yield- 

 ing from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 feet of lumber, and 2,000,000 shingles 

 annually, is comparatively untouched. This entire belt, during the sum- 

 mer and early fall months, is occupied by the pastoral population, and 

 those engaged in that pursuit living in other counties, also drive their 

 flocks and herds to this great common. Being chiefly yet unsurveyed 

 land, they are occupied for pastoral purposes by a kind of common agree- 

 ment, each respecting the boundaries of his neighbor, and it is rare, indeed, 

 that a disagreement occurs, except when crowded by strangers from the 

 south, which in years of drought in that section of the State sometimes 

 occurs. 



TUOLUMNE COUNTY. 



Tuolumne County is situated on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada 

 Range of mountains, between the parallels of 37° 40' and 38° 20'. A line 

 drawn due east from San Francisco would cross the southernmost limit of 

 that county, and is distant from that city 150 miles; means of convey- 

 ance, 3 miles by steamer, 119 by rail, and 28 by stage. Tuolumne, strictly 

 speaking, is a mountain county. 



The character of the soil may be understood to be hilly and mountain- 

 ous on the whole, which renders a variety of scenery the picturesqueness 

 of which opens up a broad field for admirers of the grand and sublime. 

 The soil on the hillsides, mountain slopes, and the parallel chains of small 

 valleys along the many watercourses throughout the county, is very pro- 

 ductive; the valleys particularly produce a luxuriant growth of nutritious 

 native grasses, and, together with the rich verdure of the gentle slopes and 

 table lands, furnishes pasturage during the summer and fall months for 

 150,000 head of migratory stock — horned cattle, sheep, and horses — which 

 are driven from the lower or valley counties. This advantage, with many 

 equally as promising, and the salubriousness of the climate, renders every 

 condition favorable to those who seek permanent homes in the interior. 

 The temperature is quite equable, considering the geographical bearings 

 of the county, never falling below 20°, excepting in the more elevated 

 portions, or rising above 95°, unless in exceptional seasons. 



