220 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



million five hundred thousand people. Lombardy practices the same 

 system, and is equally populous and prosperous. 



The mountain counties of this district have expended three million 

 three hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars in constructing eight 

 hundred and forty miles of ditches for mining purposes. If the same 

 amount of money should be expended in turning the Mokelumne, Cala- 

 veras, and Stanislaus Eivers, by canals and ditches, upon the three hun- 

 dred thousand acres now under cultivation in San Joaquin, would not 

 our county become a Piedmont or a Lombardy, with this system of irri- 

 gation ? Our half tilled farnis would be studded with cottages and vil- 

 las, and the wine press, a fountain of rural wealth, gush from every 

 acre; while our homes would be beautiful by the surroundings of per- 

 fected fruits and flowers and bounteous crops. 



RAILROADS, AND THEIR VALUE. 



This city and county are soon to be benefited by railroads. The con- 

 struction of the Stockton and Copperopolis Railroad is an enterprise of 

 necessity, and its completion but a question of a short time The Pacific 

 Eailroa(i, within two years, undonbtedl}^ will pass our doors and traverse 

 this State. Wherever railroads cut or traverse a country, the latent 

 resources are rapidly developed; real estate, traffic, and trade, and all 

 interests are largely benefited. One instance of the thousands which 

 exhibit the fact, is the wonderful growth and immense wealth of Chi- 

 cago, caused almost wholly by the agricultural productions of the great 

 West seeking this Queen City by railway communication. Heretofore 

 agricultural productions were almost worthless, for the want of rapid 

 and cheap transportation. In eighteen hundred and thirty-eight that 

 city exported thirty-eight thousand bushels of wheal ; in eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty-four there was exported seventeen million nine hundred 

 and twenty-five thousand three hundred and thirty-six bushels ; and of 

 corn and all grains, fifty million five hundred and fortj^-eight thousand 

 three hundred and forty-five bushels; of hogs received and slaughtered, 

 rising one million six hundred thousand; of cattle, three hundred thou- 

 sand six hundred and twentj'-two head. The construction of more than 

 three thousand five hundred miles of railroad in this State is a sufficient 

 proof of their value and convenience. If railroads, as manj- say. are det- 

 rimental to a country, why has England and continental Europe expended 

 over one billion five hundred million dollars in constructing over thirty 

 thousand miles of railway? What would have been the condition of the 

 Southern Confederacy^, even at the commencement of the rebellion, had 

 it been without railroad facilities to trans))ort its arms and supplies!" 

 These are but isolated instances. Like causes produce like results. Rail- 

 roads are the great physical agents of progress and civilization. It is 

 confidently ]n-odicted that within five or six years the Pacific Railroad 

 will be completed, and San Francisco placed within six days' travel of 

 ISIew York. Then, a native of the Celestial Empire can leave his rice 

 and opium, and in twenty daj's by steamer be back in the fogs and mists 

 of San Francisco; in twentj^-six days can partake, in New York, of oj-s- 

 ters and sourkrout; in thirty-six days lunch in London on plum pudding 

 and porter; and in a few hours more dine in Paris on frogs and bur- 

 gundy. 



