46 



California has the only bit of truly temperate climate where the monthly 

 temperatures are always between oO degrees and 70 degrees on the conti- 

 nent. The long, dry summer and mild, moist winter invite to a free, out- 

 door life, where men may take long breaths and live close to nature. Dr. 

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

 and freedom, and the claim may be allowed in full, and to its items may 

 be added Stanford University and San Francisco Bay. The Oregon 

 province differs from the Californian chiefly in having more rain, cloud 

 and fog. Here the coniferous forest reaches probably its highest floristic 

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

 prolific that an astute, though amateur scientist, conjectured 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 Puget Sound break 

 200 miles inland. In the eyes of the geographer the better part of the 

 Pacific provinces 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 Nortli .\iiicri(ii that really counts, around which the 

 other provinces stand as natiual and economic tributary vassals. The 

 Atlantic provinces between the Laurentian heights and the gulf of Mexico, 

 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.(KKi,0(K) square miles, or 

 one-fifth of North America, and is half as large as Euroi)e. The popula- 

 tion as about 90.000,000 or 70 per cent, of the total of North America. 



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

 hemisphere and the most important center of civilization outside of Europe. 

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



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

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

 many drowned valleys, and the number of navigable waterways which 

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

 half of the world. 



(2) Structure and Relief. While its relief is sufficiently varied, not 

 more than a tenth of it is too rugged for cultivation. Four-fifths of it is 

 a smooth plain below 2,000 feet in elevation, almost everywhere arable 



