232 ELDORADO 



miles larger than the whole of Great Britain. It would 

 make twenty-four states the size of Massachusetts, 

 leaving 2781 square miles ; and the area of California 

 would make one hundred and forty-five states, as large 

 as the state of Rhode Island. The combined area of 

 Great Britain, Holland, Greece, Denmark, Brunswick 

 and Switzerland is 188,330 square miles, and has a 

 population of amout five millions. California is capable 

 of surpassing the density of population of any country 

 in Europe. It could sustain a population equal to the 

 present number of people in the entire Union. 



The natural resources, great mineral and agricul- 

 tural wealth of California, with her numerous bays 

 and harbors facing the Pacific Ocean, the direct and 

 easy steam communication with Asia and the Islands 

 of the Pacific, render her geographically one of the 

 most favorably located states of the Union. 



The loftiest mountains in the United States are 

 found in California, Mount Whitney, the highest in 

 the Sierra Nevada range, standing fifteen thousand 

 feet above the sea level. Mount Shasta lifts its hoary 

 head 14,440 feet into the clouds. The most gigantic 

 vegetable growth in the world is found within our bor- 

 ders. "Here stands the solemn sentinels of the forest, 

 the mighty trees of Mariposa, Calaveras and Tulare, 

 the wonder and admiration of all who behold them. 



Here, too, may be seen the famed valley and falls of 

 the Yosemite where a mighty sheet of water dashes a 

 distance of two thousand six hundred feet into the 

 valley below. High in the ridges of the Sierra, nest- 

 ling betwixt the precipitous and frowning walls of 

 dark and relentless granite, nature elevates her mighty 



