158 HISTORY OP CALIFORNIA. 



" The lands in the northern part of the Territory, 

 above the 39°, have not been explored or granted. 

 They are supposed to embrace an area of about twenty 

 millions of acres, a large portion of which is doubt- 

 less valuable for its timber and soil. 



" Comparatively few grants have been obtained in 

 the great valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. 



" This vast tract, therefore, containing, as is esti- 

 mated, from twelve to fifteen millions of acres, belongs 

 mostly to the Government. South of this valley, and 

 west of the Colorado, within the limits of California, 

 as indicated in her Constitution, there are said to be 

 extensive tracts of valuable, unappropriated land ; 

 and, on investigation, it will probably appear that 

 there are many of them in detached bodies, which 

 have not been granted. 



" I do not speak of the gold region, embracing the 

 entire foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, some five 

 hundred miles long and sixty miles broad, in connec- 

 tion with the public domain, which may be embraced 

 in the general land system for sale and settlement, 

 for reasons which will be hereafter assigned. 



" The survey of the public lands on a system suited 

 to the interests of the country is a matter of very 

 great importance. In the inhabited portions of the 

 Territory, the boundaries of Mexican grants, running 

 as they do in all directions, will render the system of 

 surveys by parallels of latitude and longitude quite 

 impracticable. 



" In all parts of the country, irrigation is desirable, 

 and its benefits should be secured, as far as possible, 

 by suitable surveys and legal regulations. Most of 

 the valleys are watered by streams sufficiently large 

 to be rendered very useful. It would, therefore, seem 



