SOIL — PRODUCTIONS — CLIMATE. 



11 



published depriving the padres of all temporal control, and giving it to commissioners. The 

 Indians dispersed, the padres gradually retired, and from that date these mission establishments 

 went into decay. Now they are wrecks, monuments of their pristine splendor, masses of 

 crumbling walls, with here and there occasional evidences of design and good taste in the 

 arrangements of parts and construction. The churches are generally in good preservation, the 

 bells of some are still hanging. But adobe walls soon melt before the southeasters of the 

 rainy season. 



By degrees these mission lands were passing into the hands of private individuals, a state of 

 things going on up to the time of the occupancy of this country by our troops, when the few 

 that were left were taken possession of in the name of the general government. Claims and 

 counter claims are now set up by individuals for this property, and while they are being adju- 

 dicated the squatter locates and establishes his pre-emption. The buildings are applied to 

 various uses ; a church is converted into a barrack ; the padres' apartments are used for stores, 

 smith shops, and stables, and even, in one instance, by a retail liquor vender. Cattle and pigs 

 roam at large in the orchards where once flourished the grape, fig, olive, peach, and pear, 

 pomegranate, and orange. The agricultural capacities of this country are unsurpassed in the 

 world. Its hills and mountain slopes afford rich pasturage. Its valleys and plains yield enor- 

 mous crops of cereals and vegetables, whilst the fruits of our Atlantic board, together with 

 many of those of more tropical latitudes find here a most genial soil and climate. 



According to the State census of 1852, there were in the countries along our route : 



Fanta Clara 



Monterey 



San Luis Obispo 

 Santa Barbara.. 

 Los Angeles 



Horses and mules. 



4,980 

 2,857 

 1,232 

 3,110 

 13,266 



Horned cattle. Grain. — Busbels. 



23,767 

 55,959 

 27,914 

 52,379 

 115,083 



670,697 



23,292 



6,006 



7,679 



53,289 



Cultivated acres. 



19,066 



3,117 



2,538 



699 



5,587 



In 1854, Santa Clara had 29,000 acres under cultivation, only one-tenth of her area of valley 

 land, and yielded 1,060,000 bushels of grain, besides vegetable products. Much attention is 

 paid to the cultivation of wheat and barley about San Jose, on the Pajaro, lower Salinas, and 

 in the vicinity of Los Angeles. The Mormons of San Bernardino county have been very 

 successful in their farming operations. Very heavy crops of corn are raised near the mission 

 of San Gabriel, in a district known as El Montg, a low bottom lying along the San Gabriel 

 river. 



Section 6. CLIMATE. 



The climate of the district along the route proposed is varied, owing to the localities, whether 

 exposed to the immediate influences of the ocean moisture or in a measure shut out from these, 

 by intervening ridges, which, by their altitudes and direction, with reference to the prevailing 

 winds, affect materially the amount of moisture deposited and the degree of temperature expe- 

 rienced. The seasons are two, the '^' rainy" and "dry." The former occupies seldom over 

 three or four months, and corresponds with our winter, and the latter embraces the remaining 

 months of the year. Working parties can be in the field throughout the entire year, and 

 their work will not be impeded by snows or frost. For the working and running of road after 

 comijletion, the climate and seasons are highly favorable. 



