326 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER X. 



COMMERCE. 



§ 233. General Adva7itages. — California is now the most 

 important commercial state on the shores of the North Pacific, 

 and it will continue to hold its present relative position. Near- 

 ly all the foreign commerce will be done by San Francisco, 

 which has advantages superior to those of any other place on 

 the coast between the Isthmus of Panama and Puget Sound, 

 or on the coast of Asia. Her only equal, m the waters of the 

 Pacific, is Melbourne. Several ports of China and Japan may 

 have as much shipping ; but the people of those countries are 

 only semi-civilized, and we shall take their trade, and make 

 them tributarv to us. 



In estimating the commercial advantages of California, we 

 must consider the yield of our gold, silver, and quicksilver 

 mines ; the produce of our grain-fields, vineyards, orchards, 

 and saw-mills ; the mineral resources of Western Mexico ; the 

 lumber and fisheries of Washington territory and Oregon ; the 

 gold of British Columbia ; the whale-oil and whale-bone of the 

 North Pacific ; and the industrial products of China and Japan. 

 California is in the position to be the common carrier for all 

 the countries bordering on the North Pacific. Between Puget 

 Sound and Valparaiso there is on this coast no port that can 

 prove a dangerous rival to San Francisco. As the population, 

 wealth, and industry of this coast increase, and as the foreign 

 commerce of China and Japan becomes more extended, the 

 trade of San Francisco must continue to grow in at least an 

 equal ratio. The increase, in every event, is certain. 



