AGRICULTURE. 211 



sand miles ; and yet its bed for ten miles nearest the sea is dry 

 for six months of the year in ordinary seasons. Its waters are 

 used for irrigating San Bernardino, Riverside, Anaheim, 

 Santa Ana, Cocamongo, Jurupa, and Chino. 



San Bernardino has the best wheat land in the State south 

 of 35, and a considerable part of it is table land, a thou- 

 sand feet above the sea. Both the upper and lower plains are 

 well adapted to the cultivation of the vine and sub-tropical 

 fruits. 



The San Gabriel River ranks next to the Santa Ana in size 

 on the western slope of the Coast mountains, south of Monterey. 

 Near the main stream are San Gabriel, Monte, Nietos, San 

 Pascual, Santa Anita, and Wilmington ; on its branch, the 

 Los Angeles River, is the town of Los Angeles. About fifteen 

 miles from the ocean the San Gabriel breaks through a ridge 

 of hills, above which, for a distance of two miles, the river 

 disappears in the summer and fall, making its way under- 

 ground through a sandy plain, and then reappearing below at 

 the canon in the hills. This plain is covered with willows, 

 and is called the " Monte," which in Spanish means either a 

 mount or a forest. The earth here is moist, and is the best for 

 maize in the State. The soil in all the Coast valleys south of 

 35 is sandy, and at Los Angeles and Anaheim much of it is 

 nearly pure sand. After running a stream of water for a few 

 hours through an irrigating ditch, nothing save gray sand is 

 left in sight. On the bottom land below the hills, water 

 stands about ten feet below the surface, and artesian water is 

 obtained about seventy feet deeper. Artesian water has also 

 been found in the San Bernardino plain. The valleys of the 

 Santa Ana and San Gabriel contain many vineyards, and have 

 more large orchards of sub-tropical fruit than any other part 

 of the State. 



The Saticoy, or Santa Clara River, has a length of seventy 

 miles, and for forty miles nearest the sea its bed is dry in the 

 fall. The soil of its valley is sandy. 



