406 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



ALAMEDA COUNTY. 



From the " Oakland Tribune." 

 By William R. Davis, Mayor of Oakland. 



No stranger realizes, and few residents understand, how Oakland has 

 such an equable and delightful climate compared with that of San Fran- 

 cisco, although Oakland is only 6 or 8 miles, just across the bay, east of 

 San Francisco. 



Below is a diagram, which, with a few words of introduction, will at once 

 speak familiarly to the reader. To the westward of us, some 12 or 14 

 miles, is the Pacific Ocean, beating against the feet of the first row of Coast 

 Range hills. The Golden Gate is a pass through this first row of hills, 

 being about 6 miles long and over a mile wide. The bay of San Francisco 

 and the ocean connect through this channel or gate. At the inner or east- 

 ern end of this channel, the western bay shore lines turn northward and 

 southward, substantially parallel with the ocean shore line, San Francisco 

 being on the northeastern corner of the peninsula, south of the Golden 

 Gate, and between the ocean and the bay. This peninsula is of about the 

 same width, from bay to ocean, as the distance eastward from San Fran- 

 cisco across the bay to Oakland — say 6 miles. On the Oakland side the 

 land rises from the bay level, on the gentlest slope, back to the second row 

 of Coast Range hills. This slope extends from Berkeley on the north (a 

 town of 5,000 inhabitants, where the University of California is located), 

 down in a southeasterly direction to, and far beyond, the Alameda and 

 Santa Clara County line. The soil of this slope is generally a warm, sandy 

 loam; fertile, and easy of cultivation, and now produces almost every berry, 

 fruit, plant, tree, cereal, vegetable, shrub, and flower, grown from Oregon to 

 Arizona. From Berkeley, on the north, to the county line, on the south, 

 is about 35 miles. This slope varies in width from 3 miles on the north- 

 ern end, to more than twice that width as you proceed southward. At 

 Oakland its width is approximately 5 miles. 



The elevation of this slope, before reaching the rolling foothills, is in the 

 body of the city from 20 to 40 feet above the tide level. The eastern part 

 of Oakland is upon the rising ground of the foothills. The two rows of 

 coast hills above mentioned, run nearly parallel, from southeast to north- 

 west, and both lie substantially at right angles to the route of the trade 

 winds, or prevailing sea breeze, coming off the ocean from the southwest, 

 during the summer and fall months — from about the latter part of May, 

 to the middle of September. We are now ready to proceed to the consid- 

 eration of a matter, the importance of which cannot be overestimated. 

 Taken with the conceded advantages of location, transit, educational insti- 

 tutions, good order, freedom from debt, wealth, resources, and soil, it makes 

 Oakland the most desirable spot for habitation on the Pacific Coast. If the 

 point is new, that will not detract from its importance. 



Let us now look at the diagram: 



