SOCIETY. 57 



341 votes. Mokelumne Hill was for a long time one of the 

 leading towns of the State ; now it has very little importance. 

 Nevada and Grass Valley have suffered less decline than any 

 other gold-mining towns which were prominent fifteen years 

 ago ; the former had 3,986 and the latter 7,063 inhabitants in 

 1870. The mines in their vicinity are not yet exhausted. 

 From 1860 to 1864, when the main traffic across the Sierra 

 Nevada passed through Placerville, that was one of the busi- 

 est towns in the State. 



41. Inland Ports. Sacramento, at the head of naviga- 

 tion for large river steamers, and Red Bluff for small steamers 

 on the Sacramento, and Marysville for small steamers on the 

 Feather River, are the only places that could properly be 

 called river ports. The slough ports are San Rafael, Peta- 

 luma, Napa, Suisun, Stockton, Pacheco, Oakland, Union City, 

 Alviso, and Redwood. All these inland ports, save Union 

 City, Alviso, and Pacheco, have been supplied with railroads, 

 but Red Bluff, Suisun, Stockton and Petaluma have been 

 seriously injured by the railroad influence. Slough traffic is 

 still maintained, but it has lost much of its importance. 



42. Railroad Towns. Before the San Joaquin Valley 

 Railroad had been built, the towns of Empire and Paradise 

 were established on the Stanislaus River, and Tuolumne City 

 on the Tuolumne River ; but the iron track passed to the 

 west of them, and they were moved to the road. It is the 

 misfortune of Visalia and Shasta that they are not on the 

 main road passing through the middle of the Sacramento - 

 San Joaquin basin, and Yreka is in danger of being left at 

 one side, by the California and Oregon Railroad. The towns 

 which have derived the most benefit from the railroads, are 

 Oakland, Vallejo, Sacramento, Napa, Calistoga, Santa Rosa, 

 Healdsburg, Cloverdale, San Jose, Gilroy, and Salinas ; and 

 with the exception of San Jose, all were founded by Ameri- 

 cans. The railroad system of the State will probably, at no 

 distant time, reach the southern coast, and give activity and 

 population to many of the old Spanish settlements. 



