STATE A«.i;h ri Ti RA1 BOCIETY. l v -"> 



tlic plains of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, whose united Length 

 exceeded five hundred miles, with a width of from thirty to one hundred 

 miles, the soil unbroken by the plow, the foresl untouched by the axe, the 

 streams flowing unobstructed by dam or bridges. Throughout this wide 



expanse no towns or villages, no roads Dor pathways, no fence or ditch, 

 only herds of wild rattle and horses roaming in unguarded freedom, and 

 a few widely separated adobe buildings, in which half a hundred Mexican 

 families lived in solitary and isolated independence. 



Away across these valleys the Coasl Range of mountains seemed to lay 



like a wall between the plains and the approaches of the sea, forming a 



corrugated line like a blue ribbon against the western sky. Behind were 

 the dark forests and the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, and all 

 around, home on every breeze, the soft balmy air, odorous with balsam and 

 perfumed with the rich fragrance of myriads of foothill flowers. Snch was 

 this delightful land before we came here, and such was California when 

 the pioneer first found it, thirty-five or forty years ago. Look at it now! 

 A million of people live within its borders; beautiful towns and cities have 

 stuccoed our great valleys and given the stamp of progress to every part of 

 the State; wealth and luxury and abundance surround us. Our gold first 

 awakened the world and gave a new impetus to enterprise. Our wheat and 

 fruits and raisins and wine have made California a familiar word in every 

 market of the world. With a territory about equal to France, and a cli- 

 mate infinitely superior, and a productive capacity vastly greater, our 

 abilities to surpass the old and new worlds is left to us, and to those who 

 are to come after us. We need but to be true to ourselves, to be faithful 

 to our country, and to be obedient to God, and the future of California is 

 safe. 



