342 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



tance of from twenty-five to forty miles from the mountains. Hundreds 

 of thousands of acres in the mountains and hillsides afford abundance of 

 rich grasses the entire year for grazing. This section of the State has 

 always been preferred by the Spanish and American settlers, the climate 

 being more genial for raising the immense herds of stock than the 

 northern section. The old Spanish breed of cattle and horses, that have 

 continually grazed by the hundreds of thousands in these valleys since 

 eighteen hundred and fifty-five, have been reduced in numbers, and stock 

 of all kinds has wonderfully increased in quality by the introduction of 

 pure American breeds, and recently by pure blooded or thoroughbred 

 horses, Devon and Durham cattle, Spanish and French Merino sheep, 

 Berkshire, Suffolk and Essex hogs. 



One instance in regard to what this valley (San Joaquin) has pro- 

 duced this season, of wheat, is worth a moment's mention, from the fact 

 that three years ago this section was a wide waste, not supposed to be 

 worth the expense and time to cultivate. This section, called the Para- 

 dise country, lies between the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers, embracing 

 a territory of two hundred and thirty thousand three hundred acres in 

 one field of wheat. Fifteen bushels to the acre is the estimated average per 

 acre, or equal to about three million four hundred and fifty-six thousand 

 bushels. About an equal amount of wheat was raised this season in the 

 neighborhood of this truly Paradise. A nice little freight for a rail- 

 road. 



In the Alpine regions, dense forests cover millions of acres, producing 

 valuable woods for mechanical purposes and varieties of pines for lumber ; 

 also, minerals of all kinds, inexhaustible quarries of pure marble, quartz, 

 lime, slate and freestone. 



This State contains one hundred and fifty-four thousand one hundred 

 and sixteen square miles, or ninety-eight million six hundred and thirty- 

 four thousand two hundred and fort} 7 acres of land. Of this, sixty-five 

 millions of acres are adapted to agriculture and fifteen million to grazing, 

 the balance being mountain and swamp, or tule land. Under judicious 

 management, experience has demonstrated that almost all productions 

 of the soil that are raised elsewhere can be produced in California. This 

 fact is by this time undoubtedly well known to all observing and reading 

 persons, yet it is well for Californians to keep this fact before the people, 

 a la Sherman, who made an immense fortune by keeping his lozenges 

 before the babies. 



There are several magnificent features in these valleys (the San 

 Joaquin and Tulare) probably unsurpassed in the world. The unparal- 

 leled grandeur of the scenery; the soil and climate- the facilities for 

 irrigating the whole valley land at a small expense, comparatively ; the 

 many large rivers and scores of intervening streams that all spring from 

 the mountains and meander through the land, and empty their waters 

 into the San Joaquin and the Tulare Lake, have a fall from the base of 

 the Sierra Nevadas to the river and lake of about eight feet to the mile, 

 thus giving sufficient force to spread their waters over the plains, by a 

 system of canals and ditches. 



The picturesque scenery is on a scale grand beyond description. 

 Throughout all the Alpine region, hundreds of lofty peaks piled one 

 above the other, like stepping stones to other regions, varying in height 

 from four hundred to fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, 

 are truly sublime and majestic, surpassing that of Switzerland, which 

 for ages has been famed for possessing the largest body of elevated land 

 and the largest number of mountain peaks known, and the greatest 



