88 



CALIFORNIA. 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



at the close of the fiscal year, 1886, a total of 

 1,247 prisoners, or 35 more than in 1885. At 

 Folsom there were 644 prisoners, an increase 

 of over 80 in one year. 



Southern California. A recent writer says : 

 " That California can much longer remain one 

 State, is not probable. The project of a divis- 

 ion has been widely discussed, and it is now 

 conceded that the work of separation can not 

 be delayed beyond a very few years. 1 he rea- 

 sons are based upon causes so deep-seated, and 

 dependent upon geographical and topographi- 

 cal, as well as climatic differences so radical, 

 that the union already works serious detri- 

 ment to the southern portion of the State and 

 retards its progress. Between the two lies a 

 great transverse range of mountains, the low- 

 est passes of which vary from 4,000 to 5,000 

 feet above the sea. It is this range, with the 

 absolute division it makes in the lines of trade 

 and travel, which, more than any other one 

 cause, is forcing them apart." 



The most wonderful growth of recent years 

 in California is exhibited in and around Los 

 Angeles. This place is a century old (it cele- 

 brated its centennial in 1881), and exhibits a 

 curious combination of the ancient and the 

 modern. It is from 350 to 500 feet above sea- 

 level. In 1854 the population of the town 

 was about 4,000, of whom only 500 were 

 Americans; the population is now about 70,- 

 000. Wine has been produced here for many 

 years, and some fine samples were sent to 

 President Buchanan in 1857. Now the county 

 contains 22,000 acres devoted to grapes for 

 wine-making, and produces 5,000,000 gallons 

 yearly. Other fruits grown in abundance are 

 oranges, lemons, figs, limes, almonds, peaches, 

 apples, cherries, guavas, melons, olives, pome- 

 granates, and quinces. The city owns the Los 

 Angeles river, and sells the water for irriga- 

 tion of orange-groves. It has cable street- 

 railways, an opera-house, a crematory, twenty- 

 nine churches, numerous schools and benevo- 

 lent institutions, and a free public library. It 

 is the seat of the University of Southern Cali- 

 fornia, founded in 1880. There are eleven 

 banks, nine iron-foundries, two flouring-mills, 

 five planing-mills, a pottery, brick-yards, and 

 establishments for the manufacture of soap, 

 cigars, ice, brooms, artificial stone, mattresses, 

 furniture, beer, pickles, candy, jewelry, hats, 

 lithographs, leather, and street-cars. Fifteen 

 lines of railway, either completed or in course 

 of construction, pass into or through the city. 

 There are two harbors, one thirteen and the 

 other twenty miles distant. The assessed val- 

 uation of property in the citv in 1887 was 

 $40,000,000, the real value being over $100,- 

 000,000. 



Immense quantities of honey, wheat, and 

 barley are produced in this part of the State, 

 besides corn, castor-beans, English walnuts, 

 and other crops. Most of the towns are 

 growing rapidly, numerous health and pleas- 

 ure resorts are being established, and there is 



a constant influx of settlers and capital. It is 

 estimated -that by 1890 Southern California 

 will have 1,000,000 orange-trees of bearing age. 

 In the production of grapes, the most impor- 

 tant of which is tbe t raisin-grape, the following 

 is the acreage in the five counties comprising 

 Southern California in the present year com- 

 pared with that of last year : 



Improved land for the business of cultivating 

 raisin-grapes is valued at from $100 to $500 

 per acre, the third year yielding $25 per acre, 

 the fourth year $50 per acre, the fifth year 

 $100 per acre, and when. the vines are in full 

 bearing, from $100 to $300 per acre. The 

 vineyards of California yield from six to eight 

 tons per acre in full bearing, while in Malaga, 

 the yield is less than two and a half tons to 

 the acre. Statistics show that California is 

 furnishing for home consumption a little more 

 than a third of the amount of raisins im- 

 ported. 



The petroleum and asphaltum supply of 

 Southern California are among the largest and 

 richest in the world. A single well in the Pico 

 Canon has produced within the past nine years 

 about $1,000,000 worth of oil, and is still pro- 

 ducing steadily. The peculiar feature of the 

 oil-wells of this section is their permanence. 

 Petroleum and asphaltum were discovered here 

 by the first Spanish settlers more than a cent- 

 ury ago, but no attention was paid to the oil, 

 while asphaltum was melted and used as roof- 

 ing. The oil region of Southern California 

 extends from the northern part of Santa Bar- 

 bara County, along the coast through that 

 county, thence a few miles inland through 

 Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, 160 miles. 

 From the San Fernando wells the oil is car- 

 ried in a pipe to Nevvhall station and refinery, 

 on the Southern Pacific Railway, and also 

 down the Santa Clara valley to the sea, at the 

 ports of Hueneme and San Buenaventura. The 

 oil from Santa Paula is conveyed in the same 

 way to Newhall and to the sea. The amount 

 of capital invested in the business of produc- 

 tion and development is about $3,000,000. 

 (See "California of the South," by Walter 

 Lindley and J. P. Widney, New York, 1888.) 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. The fifth Parliament 

 of the Dominion was dissolved on Jan. 15, 

 1887, and in the elections that followed the 

 government of Sir John Macdonald was sus- 

 tained, but by a greatly reduced majority. The 

 sixth Parliament met on April 13, elected Lt.- 

 Col. Joseph Alderic Ouimet speaker, and was 

 prorogued on June 24. The Government, 

 when it met Parliament, was composed as fol- 

 lows: Premier, President of the Privy Coun- 



