266 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



those which are in ruins make them well worthy a 

 visit to the lover of the antiquated. 



The usual attendant of the American enterprise, 

 the printing press, has found its way to California, to 

 contribute to the information and convenience of the 

 people. Several papers are in extensive circulation 

 in the cities and towns, and projects for others have 

 been formed. The principal are the Alta Californian, 

 the Pacific News, the Courier, and the Placer Times. 

 The three first are published in San Francisco, and 

 the last at Sacramento. 



The want of facilities for transportation must be 

 severely felt in the interior settlements of California. 

 Steam vessels of the swiftest and most commodious 

 character are the means of easy communication and 

 transportation between San Francisco and the towns 

 on Suisan Bay and the Sacramento, as far as Sacra- 

 mento City. Communication by the same means will 

 doubtless, soon be established between the different 

 ports on the coast. But railroads and canals are 

 requisites for increasing the social communication and 

 drawing the people of all parts of the State more 

 closely together. These, however, will not be long in 

 demand, after the State has been admitted into the 

 Union. The companies for such purposes will feel 

 secure in their charter, and receive assistance from 

 the government. There is nothing more efficacious 

 in binding a people together and maintaining peace 

 and harmony of action, than the mechanical facility of 

 communication. The Atlantic States of the Union 

 afford plentiful illustration and evidence of this asser- 

 tion. Mark the differences of habit and sentiment in 

 those States, where the means of intercourse between 

 the inhabitants are comparatively few and far between. 



