394 LAND TITLES MISSION LANDS. 



and probably many more, will prosper permanently because they 

 are admirably situated to aid in the development of the interior of 

 the great valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. If this valley 

 is to be annually deluged and converted into a lake, as it was last 

 year during the rainy season, the agricultural prosperity of Cali- 

 fornia must be seriously affected, and the rising cities will probably 

 suffer with it, unless the placer es and the mines shall continue to 

 pour their bountiful supplies into the hands of all who seek them. 



The old Spanish and Mexican towns and villages, will in all 

 likelihood continue to assert their importance. The chief of these 

 are the ancient Presidences or Presidios of San Francisco, Monterey, 

 Santa Barbara and San Diego. In all of these, Europeans and 

 Americans are already establishing themselves as residents who de- 

 sire to make California their permanent home. The old pueblos of 

 Los Angeles, situated about eight miles from the mission site of San 

 Gabriel; — of San Jose about fifteen or twenty leagues from the bay 

 of San Francisco, near Santa Clara ; — and of Branciforte about a 

 mile from the mission of Santa Cruz, and a mile and a half from 

 the bay of Monterey, — are still in existence, and having been 

 built on well selected sites, may flourish long after the fragile cas- 

 tles erected in the golden region have passed away like the scenery 

 of a drama. The Monks, every where, possessed an instinctive sa- 

 gacity for nestling in the best locations, and time will doubtless do 

 justice to their discretion in California. 



The increased value of land of course indicated to our govern- 

 ment the necessity of promptly examining the titles of property in 

 California ; and accordingly, Mr. W. Carey Jones, a lawyer ac- 

 complished in the Civil and Spanish laws, was despatched thither 

 by the authorities in Washington, to examine the grants from the 

 Spanish and Mexican governments. His full, learned, and satis- 

 factory report has been published by congress, and declares that 



mento, a few miles below Sacramento City ; Webster, on the east bank of Sacra- 

 mento river, nine miles below Sacramento City ; Suisun, on the west bank of the 

 Rio Sacramento, 80 miles from San Francisco ; Tuolumne City, at the head of navi- 

 gation of the Tuolumne river ; Stanislaus, on the north bank of the Stanislaus river ; 

 Stockton, situated on a slough, or sloughs, which contain the back waters formed by 

 the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin ; New York upon the Pacific, loca- 

 ted at the mouth of the San Joaquin ; Benecia, on the Straits of Carquinez, 35 miles 

 from the ocean ; Martinez, opposite Benecia ; Napa, on the banks of the Napa creek, 

 40 miles north of San Francisco ; Sonoma, in the valley of the same name, three 

 miles from the Sonoma creek ; St. Louis, on the Sonoma creek ; San Rafael, on the 

 north side of the Bay of San Francisco ; Saucelito, on the Bay of San Francisco, at 

 the entrance of the harbor. 



