58 RESOURCES OP CALIFORNIA. 



43. San Francisco. San Francisco, styled figuratively 

 the Golden City, the metropolis of the finance, commerce, 

 manufactures, and fashion of the Pacific Coast of North 

 America, is situated in latitude 37 48', about the same dis- 

 tance from the equator as Richmond, Lisbon, Palermo, Ath- 

 ens, Smyrna, and Yeddo, and four miles from the Pacific Ocean 

 on the western shore of San Francisco Bay. The climate is 

 cool throughout the year, never cold enough to freeze, and 

 seldom hot enough to make light clothing comfortable. The 

 average temperature of January, the coldest month, is 49, 

 and of September, the warmest month, 58 Fahrenheit, the 

 difference being only nine degrees ; whereas the difference be- 

 tween January and July is 42 in New York, 25 in London, 

 and 30 P in Naples. No other city in the temperate zone has 

 a climate so equable as that of San Francisco ; none in any 

 zone has a temperature better suited for the growth of physi- 

 cal health and development, or for the intellectual and physi- 

 cal activity of man. The climate is so cool in summer that 

 sunny exposures are preferred for residences, and shade trees 

 are very few. In our parks^ and ornamental grounds we pre- 

 fer low, bushy evergreens, not tall, wide-spreading, deciduous 

 trees. The peninsula of San Francisco has a poor soil, and is 

 bare of trees. During the late winter and spring the surround- 

 ing hills are covered with green grass, but in the summer, fall, 

 and early winter, the adjacent country and the city itself have 

 a cheerless, dirty, yellow look. 



The people are mostly Americans by birth, but there are also 

 many English, Irish, French, Germans, Italians, Spanish- Amer- 

 icans, Scandinavians, Dalmatians, and Chinese. There are 

 French, German, Italian, and Spanish newspapers ; French, Ger- 

 man, and Chinese churches, and French, German, and Chinese 

 theatrical companies, which perform occasionally. The relig- 

 ions in which public services are regularly held are : Jewish, 

 Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, and Spiritualist. The city 

 has twenty-eight Protestant and ten Catholic churches, two 



