sociETr. 409 



Pablo Bay, has a population of about 3,500, and owes its pros- 

 perity to the trade of the valleys of Petaluma, Santa Kosa, and 

 Russian River, and the plain of Bodega, which communicate 

 through this place with San Francisco. It is on the land mail 

 route which connects Mendocino and Humboldt counties with 

 the centre of the state. The houses are mostly of frame, and 

 none are more than ten years old, the town having been laid 

 off in 1851. Petaluma sends more butter and cheese to the 

 market than any other town in the state. 



§ 280. San Jose. — San Jose may have about 3,500 inhabit- 

 ants. It is situated in the Santa Clara vallev, ten miles south- 

 eastward from the bay, and fifty miles, by the stage road, from 

 the city of San Francisco. The town was laid out about the 

 beginning of the century, and many of the houses are of adobe, 

 and were built before the American conquest. The streets 

 are lined wdth shade-trees, and gardens filled with beautiful 

 fruit-trees and flowers are abundant. The place is dusty 

 during the summer, but otherwise is very pleasant. There 

 are eleven hundred acres of orchard in the ^^cinity of San 

 Jose, more than in any other equally small district in the state. 

 One of the boasts of San Jose is the "alameda," which prop- 

 erly means " a place of elms," but is here applied to a road 

 three miles long, lined with willow and cottonwood trees. 

 The trees stand close together, and are of large size, so that 

 they form a dense shade. Unfortunately, the road under them 

 is extremely dusty in summer, and muddy in winter. The 

 port of San Jose is Alviso, seven miles to the north, on the 

 banks of the Guadalupe, or Alviso slough. 



§ 281. Santa Clara. — Santa Clara, three miles westward of 

 San Jose, and connected with it by the alameda, has a popula- 

 tion of about 2,000. It is a new town, and nearly all the houses 

 are of wood. The principal building is the old mission church, 

 erected in 1822. It is now used as part of a Jesuit college. 

 The mission of Santa Clara w\as founded in 1777, and a church 

 was built on the bank of the Guadalupe Creek, at a place called 

 " Socoistika," the Indian name of the laurel-trees which grew 

 18 



