2 RURAL CALIFORNIA 



This rational explanation of the origin of the name 

 California is important because fanciful accounts of 

 the source of it have received such wide publication. 

 One of these is that the name was derived from two 

 Latin words "Calida" and "fornax" meaning "hot 

 furnace." Concerning this conception it need only 

 be pointed out that the name was actually recorded 

 when the Spanish discoverers had experienced only 

 the moderate temperature of a narrow strip of land 

 between two ocean areas and where they probably 

 found a beach fire very comfortable. They knew 

 nothing of the heat of the interior valleys, far to 

 the north of their landing place, of which the name 

 California has been supposed to be descriptive. 



The State of California is the extreme southwest of 

 the continental United States and its south and west 

 lines are parts of the national boundaries in those 

 directions. Among the United States, California 

 stands second in area which includes practically a 

 hundred million acres of the earth's surface. Ac- 

 cording to the reports of the United States Secre- 

 tary of the Interior, California has an area of 158,- 

 297 square miles or 101,310,080 acres, of which 156,- 

 092 square miles or 99,898,880 acres are land sur- 

 face (20,000,000 acres being described as "arable" 

 by the United States Geological Survey), and 2,205 

 square miles or 1,411,200 acres are water surface. 

 In addition to these water areas, claim is made to 

 jurisdiction over all Pacific waters lying within three 

 English miles of the coast. 



California lies between the parallels of 32 30' and 



