176 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



the Atlantic States. The present charge for ten words from 

 San Francisco to New York is $2.5.0 ; to Vallejo or San Jose*, 

 25 cents ; to Sacramento or Stockton, 40 cents ; to Visalia, $1 ; 

 to San Diego, $2. 



130. Harbors. San Francisco Bay, one of the finest 

 bays in the world for the purposes of commerce, is about eight 

 miles wide and fifty long, reaching from 37 10' to 38. Its 

 entrance, called the Golden Gate, or Chrysopolis, is a mile 

 wide, between 37 48' and 37 49'. The peninsulas which 

 separate the bay from the ocean, are from six to fifteen miles 

 wide. The water on the bar is thirty feet deep at low water ; 

 inside much deeper, with excellent holding-ground, and room 

 for all the shipping of the world. 



Connected with this bay, are those of San Pablo and Suisun, 

 lying farther inland, on the course of the outlet of the waters 

 of the Sacramento basin. San Pablo Bay is nearly round, 

 about ten miles in diameter, and lies north of San Francisco 

 Bay, with which it is connected by an unnamed strait, about 

 three miles wide. Suisun Bay, about four miles wide by eight 

 long, lies eastward of San Pablo Bay, with which it is con- 

 nected by the Strait of Carquinez, which is a mile wide. Both 

 bays are deep, but the water in the strait is only sixteen feet 

 deep at low tide, and large vessels cannot ascend beyond it. 

 Benicia, on the bank of the strait, is the head of navigation 

 for shipping of the largest class, has a large and secure harbor, 

 accessible at low tide for vessels drawing twenty-two feet, 

 and at high water for those drawing twenty-seven. Five miles 

 west of Benicia, Napa River enters San Pablo Bay, making 

 Vallejo Bay, which is 400 yards wide and four miles long, 

 with a depth of 26 feet. Martinez, opposite Benicia, and 

 Oakland, opposite San Francisco, are cut oif from deep 

 water by mud flats. At Oakland a wharf has been built out 

 a mile and a half, to reach a point accessible by large vessels. 



The Bay of San Diego, twelve miles long, from one to two 

 miles wide, and crescent-shaped, running from the entrance, 



