30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



placer deposits and quartz ledges the usual quantities of the precious 

 metals, had extended his discoveries and developed new regions of 

 unusual richness, and was confident in the ])roHpect of a year of un- 

 equalled prosperitj'. The mechanic, the manufacturer, and all other 

 classes of the community dependent on the two former for encourage- 

 ment and support, had received a corres]-»onding impulse, and were 

 looking forward to the new year cheei-ed with contidence and liope. 



Under the judicious and economical management of our immediate 

 predecessors, the financial condition of the society had been much 

 improved. A portion of a large debt which had been allowed to accu- 

 mulate against the society iduring a series of previous years, had been 

 cancelled. A change of administration had, to a certain extent, checked 

 the increasing dissatisfaction and want of confidence, so prevalent in the 

 community toward the society and its management. Under these 

 circumstances, and with reliant expectation of material aid from the 

 State, the Board met on tlie ninth of February, and by unanimous vote 

 resolved to hold a general fair of every department of industry of the 

 State in the following September. 



The Legislature, then in session, contvaiy to our expectations, and, as 

 we think, acting upon a very short sighted policy, withheld the usual 

 apj)ropriation for the payment of premiums. The much hojted for rains, 

 which had been deferred during the winter, failed to fall in the spring, 

 and it soon became veiy evident that all the industrial interests of the 

 State, which had but a short time before seemed so promising, must suf- 

 fer materially, if not prove to a great extent a failure. The Board, 

 therefore, rather than risk a general fair, with so poor a prospect of a 

 creditable exhibition, and with almost a certainty of a financial disaster, 

 reconsidered its former action, and determined to conform its operations 

 strictly and rigidly to tlie circumstances in which the State and the 

 society were placed. The law, however, establishing the society and 

 creating the Board of Agriculture and defining its duties, as well as the 

 tenure by which the society holds some of its most valuable property, 

 required that a fair of some description should be held. In an ordinary 

 season, to select one branch of industrj^, however attractive or impor- 

 tant, and bestow upon it the patronage and encouragement of the society, 

 to the neglect of all others, would be as unwise on the part of tlie Board, 

 as it would be unjust to those branches neglected. The eftects of the 

 drought, however, upon the cereals, and all the various crops of the hus- 

 bandman; the scarcity of grazing for stock, compelling the owners of 

 cattle and sheep to drive their herds and flocks to distant portions of the 

 State and out of the State for subsistence; the empty Treasury of the 

 society, and the general scarcity of money among the people, admonish- 

 ing the Board of the propriety of a light bill of ex])enses, all plainly 

 "indicated the chai'acter the fair should assume in order to render it, 

 even in one department, a success. 



It was evident that no other course than the one pursued could, with 

 safety to the existence and future prosperity of the society', be adopted, 

 and even as to this, the Board was in doubt. 



At this period of affairs, the citizens of Sacramento, with a liberality 

 equalled only by their enterprise and perseverance, came forward, and, 

 by subscription, placed at the disposal of the Board over five thousand 

 dollars, to be awai'ded as purses and premiums for a hoi'se show. 



The sum of six thousand nine hundred and thirt}' dollars were offered 

 in ])remiums a!id ])urses, so distributed as to render the exhibition a 

 feature of attraction and a lesson of usefulness to tl\e admirers of all 



