46 



California lias the only bit of truly teniiK'rati' climate where the monthly 

 temperatures are always iictwccii 50 degrees anil 7n degrees on the conti- 

 nent. The loim. (liy snninicr and mild, moist winter invite to a free, out- 

 d(M)r life, wliere men may take long breaths and live close to nature. Dr. 

 Jordan claims for California tliiec most valuable assets, climate, scenery 

 and freedom, and the claim may lie allowed m full, and to its items may 

 be added Stanford Tniversity and San Francisco Bay. The Oreg«Mi 

 province differs from the C'alifornian chiefly in having more rain, cloud 

 and fog. Here the coniferous forest reaches probably its highest floristii.' 

 and economic development. Fruit trees and vines are so luxuriant and 

 Xjrolific that an astute, though amateur scientist, conjecturefl the presence 

 of more radium than the average in the soil. Here the Columbia river 

 makes the only complete gap in the mountain barrier between the tropic 

 and the arctic circle. Here also the Strait of Fuca and I'uget Sound break 

 ;2(X) ndles inland. In the eyes of the geographer the better part of the 

 Pacific ]irovinces is water. The productive area is small, the great valley 

 of California being about the size of Indiana. The land is narrow and 

 rough and has no hinterland, but it forms a sufficient base for sea-power 

 on the Pacific and a strong but gentle grasp upon the Orient. 



And thus by a roundabout road I come finally to the core of the con- 

 tinent, the part of North America that really counts, around which the 

 other provinces sbind as natural and economic tributary vassals. The 

 Atlantic i>rovinces between the Laurentian heights and the gulf of Me.Kico, 

 between the sea and the critical line of the 100th meridian .stand out boldly 

 on every map. The area of the two is nearly 2.000.000 sipiare nnles, or 

 one-fifth of North America, and is half as large as Europe. The popula- 

 tion as about 90,000,(XX) or 70 jier cent, of the total of North America. 



This region is the most densely poptdated large area in the western 

 hemisphere and the most importaid. center of civilization outside of Kin-o])". 

 This preeminence is due to many ciuises, geographical and historical. 



(1) Position. It lies on the west side of the North Atlantic ocean 

 and north of the .\merican Mediterranean. The long, low coastline, with 

 many drowned v.alleys. and the number of navigable waterways wliicli 

 penetrate (lie interior render it easily accessible by water from the better 

 half of the world. 



(2) Struct II !■<■ (ind Uiliif. While its relief is sufficiently v.-iried. not 

 more than a tenth of it is t(H) ruggwl for cultivation. Four-fifths of it is 

 a smooth plain below 2,(tOO feet in elevation, almost everywhere arable 



