276 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



from the southern coast ; that from the northern part of the 

 State is much cleaner in every respect. The best northern 

 wool brought to our market in any considerable quantity is- 

 worth 23 cents per pound ; the same quality from San Luis 

 Obispo, full of burrs, is sold for 1 6 cents. A little washed wool i 

 brought from Russian River Valley, but our woolen factories 

 have to wash and clean all their wool. Most of the best wool 

 of the State is purchased here, and the poorer qualities are ex- 

 ported. The condition of the wool is taken into account, as 

 well as the blood of the sheep. " 



198. Neat Cattle. The neat cattle have been decreasing 

 since 1860, in which year the number was 1,100,000, whereas 

 now it is 820,000, a decrease of nearly 300,000. Beef has 

 been unprofitable, and the sheep and wheat together have oc- 

 cupied large areas once occupied by cows. In 1853 the miners 

 stigmatized the coast as " the cow counties," but the name 

 is no longer applicable. The counties which have the most 

 neat cattle at present are : Fresno 119,000, San Luis Obispo 

 61,000, Tulare 58,000, Kern 59,000, Sonoma 45,000, Monterey' 

 37,000, Merced 34,000, Humboldt and Los Angeles each 27,- 

 000, Contra Costa 25,000, and Colusa, San Joaquin, Sacra- 

 mento, and San Diego, each 20,000. The true cow region now 

 is the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, where Fresno, 

 Merced, Tulare, and Kern have together 270,000 head, or 

 one-third of the entire stock of the State. 



199. Spanish Cattle. Many of our neat cattle are of 

 the old Californian breed, brought hither by the Spanish mis- 

 sionaries from Mexico, about 1770. At what time their stock 

 came originally to Mexico is not precisely known, but without 

 doubt it was in the seventeenth century, soon after the con- 

 quest by Cortez, and they must have been imported from 

 Spain. They are called " Spanish cattle." In Mexico, as sub- 

 sequently in California, they were allowed to run almost wild, 

 and they took something of the appearance of wild animals. 

 They have nearly the same range of colors as the neat cattle 



