HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 95 



of deep rich land is involved and the State is impov- 

 erished to an extent which must be looked on as a 

 multiple of any possible present profit. This outlook 

 naturally alarms all those who are not personally 

 advantaged by the operation. It is an interesting 

 fact that on these lands which are now being 

 destroyed, the farmers were the first miners, for they 

 found that it was easy to have wells in all their pas- 

 ture lots because the gold washed from the gravel 

 they took out in well-digging would often pay the 

 cost of getting the well. 



DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



From the point of view of demand and supply of 

 food products, a unique situation arose immediately 

 on the mining rush to California. A floating popula- 

 tion of perhaps a hundred thousand arrived within 

 a few months in a territory which had before sup- 

 ported perhaps ten thousand. This one hundred 

 thousand concentrated themselves in a district in 

 which hardly one thousand had hitherto resided and 

 they were at an average distance of perhaps two 

 hundred and fifty miles from the settlements with 

 which they were connected only by bridle paths and 

 cattle trails. The local population had largely joined 

 in the gold rush, leaving the old men and the women 

 to care for the ranches as best they could. 



The field opened to local production and the prices 

 which promised unusual reward can best be appre- 

 ciated by citation of the quantities and values of a 



