162 BESOtfRCES OF CALIFOKNM, 



CHAPTER VI. 

 COMMERCE. 



119- Situation. The commercial situation of California 

 is excellent. It is in the southern half of the north temperate 

 zone, in the midst of the western coast of a large and rich con- 

 tinent, at one end of the middle Pacific Railroad, on all the 

 lines of circumterraneous steam communication now in opera- 

 tion, and on the shortest and most comfortable line that can 

 be built to connect the main centers of wealth, population, 

 industry, and intelligence in Europe, Asia, and North America, 

 It possesses the best site for a commercial center between 

 Cape Flattery and Cape Horn, and it has the greatest accu- 

 mulation of capital, the largest body of people familiar with 

 the most profitable branches of trade and industry, and the 

 best system of rail communication. 



The foreign commerce of California, and the greater part of 

 its commerce with the Atlantic States, is conducted by San 

 Francisco. The Golden Gate on the sea side, and the Donner 

 Pass on the land side, are the doors through which the trade 

 and travel entering and leaving the State must go. It might 

 be difficult, if not impossible, to find another country so exten- 

 sive, possessing only one importing point on a sea coast more 

 than a thousand miles long, and only one notable importing 

 road on an inland boundary fifteen hundred miles long. Ore- 

 gon and Arizona send travelers, but no freight ; and Humboldt 

 and Santa Cruz sometimes send away lumber, but (except a 

 cargo or two of nitrate of potash received at the latter point) 

 have received no import*. 



