GENERAL SUMMARY. 433 



versal use. Large rivers are turned out of their beds ; moun- 

 tains are pierced by tunnels ; hills are washed away ; and the 

 rivers roll thick with mud to the sea through summer and 

 winter. 



The silver-mines of the state were discovered onlv a short 



» 



time ago, and their value is not yet fully known ; but that 

 some of the ore is wonderfully rich, is established beyond a 

 doubt. The silver districts are in the basin of Utah, at an 

 elevation of five thousand feet or more above the level of the 

 sea, in the midst of a desert country. 



In quicksilver, Cahfornia is the richest country in the world. 

 There are extensive beds of sulphur, asphaltum, and plumbago, 

 and large lakes and springs impregnated with borax. 



The natural scenery of California is varied and grand. The 

 Yosemite valley is a chasm ten miles long, two miles wide, and 

 three thousand feet deep, in the heart of the Sierra Nevada, 

 without its equal in the world for sublime and picturesque 

 scenery. It has a dozen great cascades, the highest of which 

 has a fall of thirteen hundred feet. The Mammoth Trees are 

 the largest known growths of the vegetable kingdom. There 

 are likewise in the state mud-volcanoes, natural bridges, many- 

 caves, and numerous hot and mineral springs, some of which 

 throw out great columns of steam. 



The animals and plants of California are peculiar to this 

 coast. The finest group of coniferous trees in the world is 

 that of this state. The mammoth tree, the redwood, the 

 Bugar-pine, the red fir, the yellow fir, and the Thuja gigantea^ 

 all reach the wonderful height of three hundred feet; the 

 mammoth tree s^rows to be thirtv feet in diameter, the red- 

 wood twenty, and the others from eight to twelve. 



The grizzly bear is the largest and strongest indigenous 

 animal of the continent ; and the Californian vulture is, next 

 to the condor, the largest bird that flies. The sea near our 

 coast teems with halibut, turbot, mackerel, herring, sardines, 

 anchovies, and smelts.; while sturgeon and salmon are abun- 

 dant in our rivers. 

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