OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. 321 



*' Balloon" from its lightness, and " Chicago" because they first 

 came extensively into use in that plice about fifteen years ago, 

 appears very strange to a carpenter familiar only with the old- 

 fashioned frames held together by tenons and mortices ; but 

 weak as the balloon-frame appears, it is really the strongest 

 kind of a wooden building ; and it is not unfrequently made 

 four or five stories high, whereas the heavier frame very rarely 

 reaches three stories. 



In the balloon-frame, the sills, instead of being eight, ten, or 

 twelve inches square, are only two or three inches by six or 

 eight ; and they rest on numerous studs, which again rest on 

 the ground. The sills are nailed together at the corners. The 

 studs are not morticed into the sills, but nailed upon them. 

 The lower joists stand upon the sills, and the upper ones rest 

 upon an inch board "let into" the studs to which they are 

 nailed. On the top of the studs is no heavy plate, but only a 

 board. At the corners two studs are put side by side. Each 

 stud is hoisted to its place separately, so there is no " raising." 

 Wooden houses are all covered with shingles. White pine, 

 imported from the Eastern states, is used to a considerable 

 extent for the frames and casings of doors and windows, and 

 for other inside-work ; and nearly all the doors and window- 

 sashes are imported ready made. 



Three-fourths of the houses in the state are of wood ; the 

 other fourth are of brick and adobes. Stone houses are very 

 rare. Brick buildinscs are numerous in the business-streets of 

 the cities and tow^ns. Every town of note has its fire-proof 

 brick stores, w^ith iron doors and window-shutters, and its 

 roof of brick laid in mortar. The bricks are made in this 

 state, and the lime is burned here. Brick buildings not con- 

 structed to be fire-proof, have shingled roofs. There are a 

 few buildings with fronts of granite, which for one house was 

 brouQ^ht from China, and that for others from the Eastern states. 



Stone houses are very rare in California ; it would almost be 

 possible to count all of them on the fingers. Nearly all the 

 dwelfings in the counties bordering on the coast, from Monte- 



14* 



