218 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



region, and will absorb the greater portion of the 

 travel thither ; but the overland route will always be 

 taken by those who have been accustomed to a coun- 

 try life, or have a thirst for adventure. It presents 

 the greatest variety of scenery — some of it of a cha- 

 racter not to be seen elsewhere ; and affords oppor- 

 tunities for studying nature in all h'er visible forms ; 

 and, though attended with toils and dangers, which 

 will daunt the feeble, it possesses the strongest at- 

 tractions for the lovers of variety, and the hardy ad- 

 venturer who has confidence in his own powers of 

 endurance. 



CHAPTER XII. 



RECENT EVENTS. 



Believing that every event which in any way 

 affects the interests or welfare of California is im- 

 portant to those who have watched her progress and 

 have been astonished at her rapid rise, we will in this 

 and a subsequent chapter, bring the narrative up to 

 the time of issuing this work. 



The city of San Francisco, in the midst of her 

 progress and prosperity, has been twice visited by the 

 destroying element of fire. The first calamity of this 

 kind occurred on the morning of the 25th of Decem- 

 ber, 1849. The fire consumed all that portion of the 

 city on and near the plaza, involving a loss, at Califor- 

 nia prices, of over a million of dollars. Fortunately, 



