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TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



The principal towns are Merced, the county seat, 140 miles from San 

 Francisco; Plainsburg, Snelling, Hopeton, Merced Falls, Livingstone, Los 

 Banos, and Central Point. The town of Merced is situated on the line of 

 the Southern Pacific Railroad, and contains a population of between 3,000 

 and 4,000 people, and is steadily growing. 



Average Precipitation in Merced County. 



FRESNO COUNTY. 



In order that all whose attention has been turned toward this great 

 county may be as fully posted as possible, we quote from a letter written 

 by the editor of the San Francisco "Argonaut:" 



"A hasty trip to Fresno has confirmed the writer's opinion, formed and 

 expressed four years ago, concerning this part of our State. Every time 

 we pass through the great valley of the San Joaquin we note the constant 

 development of that region — new fences inclosing a larger breadth of land ; 

 an increased area of cultivation; new houses where there were none, better 

 and larger houses where there were cabins; orchards and vineyards newly 

 planted; ditches bringing water to new places; new colonies just planted, 

 and older ones extending; hamlets, where a year ago there were but broad 

 wheat fields; flourishing villages which we last recollect as hamlets; thrift, 

 progress, prosperity — the population rapidly increasing — wealth, comfort, 

 civilization growing on every side. 



"As we write, our senses grow alive to the recollection of such miles of 

 brilliant wild flowers; such hundreds of square miles of wheat fields; such 

 gorgeous views of breezy plains, clothed with grass and grain, over which 

 the sunlight played ; such glimpses of bay and river and distant snow-clad 

 mountain tops, fruit trees in their blossom, and alfalfa and alfilleria in their 

 bloom, that we are quite certain that we have seen one of the most promis- 

 ing parts of our altogether prosperous State. The future progress of this 

 valley, and the assurance that it will outstrip other localities in wealth and 

 population, is because it has not been cursed with Spanish grants and grasp- 

 ing, land-hungry, greedy speculators, and because it is divided into small 

 farms — colonies with twenty-acre and forty-acre holdings — upon every one 

 of which is an industrious working family. The soil is owned by the man 

 who tills it; they are nearly all Americans; and there is no other spot in 

 California where the signs of future prosperity are more promising. We 

 need not say future prosperity, for to-day the town of Fresno and its vicinity 

 are more prosperous than any other place in California, and we attribute it 

 largely to the fact of small farms and small farming. Four years ago, in 

 company with Bernard Marks, we visited the Central Colony, planted by 

 him. At that time we saw more than half a hundred families of ordinary 

 size living upon twenty-acre farms — industrious, poor, working families, 

 who had no other source of income than what came from the soil. We 

 visited again the same homes, occupied by the same people; saw better 



