92 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



been warmer. The mean of the whole year is 54, a temper- 

 ature that requires heavy woolen clothing for comfort. For 

 vigorous, industrious men, the climate of San Francisco is the 

 healthiest and most agreeable in the world. I prefer it to all 

 others. But, to enjoy it, a man should have warm blood, full 

 veins, and active habits ; if he is weak or idle, he will find it 

 too cool for him. It is a climate that allows a person to be 

 out in the open air all the time ; no hour is lost because of 

 either excessive heat or excessive cold. Women do not like 

 the climate so well as men ; it is too cool for their less vigor- 

 ous constitutions and sedentary habits. 



San Francisco does not lie immediately on the ocean, but 

 only six miles from it, and where there is a great gap to let in 

 the winds and fogs. The nearer the Pacific, the denser and 

 more frequent the fogs, the stronger the winds, the warmer the 

 winters, and the cooler the summers. The great ocean is a 

 powerful equalizer of climate : as you advance into the inte- 

 rior, the range of heat and cold becomes greater. In the coast 

 valleys you can choose your distance. San Rafael is ten miles 

 from the Pacific, Petaluma twenty, Sonoma thirty, Napa 

 thirty-five, Suisun forty-five, and Yaca Valley fifty. Sonoma 

 Valley has a delightful climate, free from fogs and cold winds, 

 and yet blessed with a sea-breeze which tempers the heat of 

 every summer day to the precise degree necessary to the per- 

 fect happiness of a man who wishes to take life without exer- 

 tion, and the same may be said of Santa Clara, and many 

 other valleys along the coast. 



67. Hot Days. According to the self-registering ther- 

 mometer kept in San Francisco by Thomas Tennent, in the 

 twenty years preceding the 1st of January, 1872, the mercury 

 rose on 136 different days to 80. The average number of hot 

 days in a year is less than seven. In 1861, 18 62, "and 1863, not 

 one hot day occurred ; in 1864, and 1871, two each ; in 1869, 

 four ; and five years out of the twenty, had a dozen or more. The 

 largest number in one year was twenty-two, in 1855. In the 



