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ridge would devote their wonderful country to horticulture that it would 

 not be many years before the whistle of the locomotive would be heard 

 there? Plant your trees and the means of transportation will soon be found. 



There is no county in the State that has such a vast amount of water 

 available for irrigation — if that is desired — as Nevada County. A visit to 

 the southern counties would give you some idea of what water is worth in 

 that section. I noticed that a gentleman in Los Angeles who owned a sepa- 

 rate right, that is, not attached to the land, had been offered $1,500 for each 

 inch of water flowing twenty-four hours. From my examination of the 

 southern country I have no doubt that it is true, and that the water right is 

 worth every cent offered for it. What would the South Yuba Canal be worth 

 at that rate ? From the pamphlet lately published in this city I learn that 

 the canal can furnish 109,368,000 gallons of water daily; that an inch of 

 water every twenty-four hours is equal to 15,624 gallons. At the rate offered 

 in the above instance, the canal would be worth $10,500,000. There is no 

 limit to your water supply. The storage capacity of the reservoirs in the 

 mountains is 4,930,000,000 cubic feet. There are six hundred and twenty- 

 three miles of ditches, besides many other minor rights. 



The pursuit of agriculture would increase the value of your lands. Do 

 you think $30 or $40 per acre a high price for your land ? Do you know- 

 that an acre of uncultivated land in Los Angeles or Vaca Valley, and some 

 parts of Santa Clara, is worth from $300 to $1,000 per acre? Do you know 

 that these prices are cheerfully paid? And I assure you that in product- 

 iveness you can compete with those lands, acre for acre. What you want 

 is faith, and to faith you must add works. 



I often recur to a prediction made by an old and valued friend. In 1854 

 Gustavus Von Schmitdburg and I were mining partners near Grass Valley, 

 and often wandered on a Sunday morning over the hills. Once in our ram- 

 bles we came to the brow of a hill overlooking Penn Valley. That lovely 

 vale lay before us in all the beauty of its early Spring attire. Schmitdburg 

 gazed long at the scene, and finally he said: "Friend Maslin, these mines 

 will be worked out soon, then what shall we do? I will tell you, we will 

 plant grapevines." "Grapevines!" I exclaimed; "will this land produce 

 grapes?" He replied, "You will see the time when all these hills will be 

 covered with vines. In my country we cannot raise a ripe grape, and yet 

 we produce the finest of wines. There, we stake up the vine and pluck off 

 the leaves to let the sun to the grape. Here, the sun shines all the time. 

 My friend, California will be the great wine country of the world. We will 

 plant a vineyard!" I wish I had the time to pronounce an eulogy upon 

 that simple, honest gentleman. He was the flower of courtesy. He wore 

 his heart upon his sleeve, and his life was as good and just as his love for 

 his friends was firm and constant. He did not live to see his prediction 

 fulfilled but in part. California is already advanced as a vine producing 

 State. Her success is assured. Where others have sowed, you can reap. 

 You have, with Placer County, a soil and climate eminently fitted for the 

 production of grapes, either for table or wine, as the exhibit in the Pavilion 

 so forcibly attests. But you have not taken the place that is yours by right. 

 I have the faith of my deceased friend. 



The time will come when these hills shall be crowned with festooning 

 vines, when intemperance shall be banished from the land, and wine shall 

 be as water; when the orchards shall bear their golden fruit, and every 

 hillside shall be dotted with the homes of a contented and happy people. 

 Nor pen nor pencil can fittingly describe the glories of these mountain 

 heights. From base to summit a climate unsurpassed, a soil responsive to 



