GKNEEAL SUMMARY. 431 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PRESENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 



STATE. 



§ 006. General Summary. — ^Twelve chapters of this book 

 have been filled with a detailed statement of the nature and 

 characteristics of the resources, industry, and society of Cali- 

 fornia. In this chapter, I shall present a summary of their 

 main features. 



We have, then, before us a state, lying in the midst of the 

 temperate zone, on the western coast of North America; 

 bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean, and on the other 

 by a high range of mountains ; reaching through nine degrees 

 of longitude and three of latitude ; with a coast-line eight hun- 

 dred miles long, and a total area of about one hundred and 

 sixty thousand, square miles. The heart of the state is drained 

 by two large rivers, which run from north and south, unite 

 midway, and in their course to the sea form three large and 

 deep bays, with secure and spacious harbors. On these bays 

 and their tributaries, there are nearly one thousand miles of 

 navigable streams now used by steamboats and sailing-vessels. 



The climate near the ocean is the most equable in the world. 

 At San Francisco, there is a difference of only seven degrees 

 between the mean temperatures of summer and winter — the 

 average of the latter season being 50° and of the former 51 ~ 

 Fahrenheit. Ice and snow are never seen in winter ; and in 

 summer the weather is so cool, that heavy woollen clothing is 

 worn every day. There are not more than a dozen days m 

 the year too warm for comfort at mid-day, and the oldest m- 

 babitant cannot remember a night when blankets were not 



