GENERAL SUMMARY. 431 
CHAPTER XIV. 
PRESENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
STATE. 
§ 306. General Summary.—Twelve chapters of this book 
have been filled with a detailed statement of the nature and 
characteristics of the resources, industry, and society of Caxt- 
ForNIA. In this chapter, I shall present a summary of their 
main features. 
We have, then, before us a state, lying in the midst of the 
temperate zone, on the western coast of North America; 
bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean, and on the other 
by a high range of mountains; reaching through nine degrees 
of longitude and three of latitude; with a coast-line eight hun- 
dred miles long, and a total area of about one hundred and 
sixty thousand square miles. The heart of the state is drained 
by two large rivers, which run from north and south, unite 
midway, and in their course to the sea form three large and 
deep bays, with secure and spacious harbors. On these bays 
aud their tributaries, there are nearly one thousand miles of 
navigable streams now used by steamboats and sailing-vessels. 
The climate near the ocean is the most equable in the world. 
At San Francisco, there is a difference of only seven degrees 
between the mean temperatures of summer and winter—the 
average of the latter season being 50° and of the former 57° 
Fahrenheit. Ice and snow are never seen in winter; and in 
summer the weather is so cool, that heavy woollen clothing is 
worn every day. There are not more than a dozen days in 
the year too warm for comfort at mid-day, and the oldest in- 
habitant cannot remember a night when blankets were not 
