History of the State of California Part 8

"The mean temperature of July, August, and September, at San Diego, only 3 53' south of Monterey, was 72. The mean temperature of the same months at Monterey was a little over 59; showing a mean difference of 13.

"This would seem to indicate that the cold ocean current is thrown off from the southern part of the coast by Point Conception, and the islands south of it; and consequently its influence on the climate of San Diego is much less than at Monterey and San Francisco.

"At Los Angeles, 40 miles distant from the coast, the mean temperature of the three months was 74; of the three autumn months, 67; of the three winter months, 57.

"At Suttersville, about one hundred and thirty miles from the ocean, and four degrees north of Los Angeles, the mean temperature of August, September, and October, was 67. The mean temperature of the same months at Monterey was 59; showing a difference of 8 between the sea-coast and the interior, on nearly the same parallel of lat.i.tude. A much greater difference would undoubtedly appear, if we had observations for the spring and summer months of Suttersville and the gold mines.

"These variations in the climate of California account for the various and conflicting opinions and statements respecting it.

"A stranger arriving at San Francisco in summer is annoyed by the cold winds and fogs, and p.r.o.nounces the climate intolerable. A few months will modify, if not banish his dislike, and he will not fail to appreciate the beneficial effects of a cool, bracing atmosphere. Those who approach California overland, through the pa.s.ses of the mountains, find the heat of summer, in the middle of the day, greater than they have been accustomed to, and, therefore, may complain of it.

"Those who take up their residence in the valleys which are situated between the great plain of the Sacramento and San Joaquin and the coast range of hills, find the climate, especially in the dry season, as healthful and pleasant as it is possible for any climate to be which possesses sufficient heat to mature the cereal grains and edible roots of the temperate zone.

"The division of the year into two distinct seasons--dry and wet--impresses those who have been accustomed to the variable climate of the Atlantic States unfavorably. The dry appearance of the country in summer, and the difficulty of moving about in winter, _seem_ to impose serious difficulties in the way of agricultural prosperity, while the many and decided advantages resulting from the mildness of winter, and the bright, clear weather of summer, are not appreciated.

These will appear when I come to speak of the productions of California. We ought not to be surprised at the dislike which the immigrants frequently express to the climate. It is so unlike that from which they come, that they cannot readily appreciate its advantages, or become reconciled to its extremes of dry and wet.

"If a native of California were to go to New England in winter, and see the ground frozen and covered with snow, the streams with ice, and find himself in a temperature many degrees colder than he had ever felt before, he would probably be as much surprised that people could or would live in so inhospitable a region, as any immigrant ever has been at what he has seen or felt in California.

"So much are our opinions influenced by early impressions, the vicissitudes of the seasons with which we are familiar, love of country, home, and kindred, that we ought never to hazard a hasty opinion when we come in contact with circ.u.mstances entirely different from those to which we have all our lives been accustomed."

These remarks explain the reason of the diversity of opinion expressed by persons who have visited California, in a very satisfactory manner.

The Italian climate of Los Angeles has received the praises of nearly all who have visited that city or its neighborhood. The thermometrical observations detailed in the above account seem to prove that much of the unfavorable opinions expressed concerning the climate is the result of hasty judgment, and a dislike of that which is different from that to which we have been used.

The soil of California has also been the subject of various and conflicting statements. Many of those who have spent some months in the country, and returned to publish their hastily gathered observations, either set down the soil as totally unfit for agricultural purposes, or, having been located in some garden spot the great portion of their time of residence there, p.r.o.nounce it unsurpa.s.sed for richness and fertility. As Mr. King visited California with the sole object of making accurate observations upon the territory and its resources, the statements of the character of the soil which are given in his report will carry greater weight than any other. He says--

"The valleys which are situated parallel to the coast range, and those which extend eastwardly in all directions among the hills, towards the great plain of the Sacramento, are of unsurpa.s.sed fertility.

"They have a deep black alluvial soil, which has the appearance of having been deposited when they were covered with water. This idea is strengthened by the fact that the rising grounds on the borders of these valleys, and many hills of moderate elevation, have a soil precisely like that of the adjoining plains.

"This soil is so porous that it remains perfectly unbroken by gullies, notwithstanding the great quant.i.ty of water which falls in it annually during the wet season. The land in the northern part of the territory, on the Trinity and other rivers, and on the borders of Clear Lake, as far as it has been examined, is said to be remarkably fertile.

"The great valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin has evidently been, at some remote period, the bed of a lake; and those rivers, which drain it, present the appearance of having cut their channels through the alluvial deposit after it had been formed. In fact, it is not possible that they could have been instrumental in forming the plain through which they pa.s.s. Their head-waters come from the extreme ends of the valley, north and south; and, were it not for the supply of water received from the streams which flow into them from the Sierra Nevada, their beds would be almost, if not quite, dry in the summer months. The soil is very rich, and, with a proper system of drainage and embankment, would, undoubtedly, be capable of producing any crop, except sugar-cane, now cultivated in the Atlantic States of the Union.

"There are many beautiful valleys and rich hill-sides among the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, which, when the profits of labor in mining shall be reduced so as to cause its application to agriculture, will probably support a large population. There is said to be a rich belt of well-timbered and watered country extending the whole length of the gold region between it and the Sierra Nevada, some twenty miles in width. There is no information sufficiently accurate respecting the eastern slope of the great snowy range to enable us to form any opinion of its general character or soil. Some of its valleys have been visited by miners, who represent them as equal to any portion of the country to the westward of it.

"The great valley of the Colorado, situated between the Sierra Madre and the Sierra Nevada, is but little known. It is inhabited by numerous tribes of savages, who manifest the most decided hostility towards the whites, and have hitherto prevented any explorations of their country, and do not permit emigrants to pa.s.s through it.

Therefore, parties from Santa Fe, on their way to California, are compelled to make a circuit of near a thousand miles northward to the Salt Lake, or about the same distance southward by the route of the Gila. Although this valley is little known, there are indications that it is fertile and valuable.

"The name of the river 'Colorado' is descriptive of its waters; they are as deeply colored as those of the Missouri or Red River, while those of the Gila, which we know flows through barren lands, are clear.

"It would seem impossible for a large river to collect sediment enough in a sandy, barren soil, to color its waters so deeply as to give it a name among those who first discovered and have since visited its sh.o.r.es. The probability, therefore, is, that this river flows through an alluvial valley of great fertility, which has never been explored.

This conjecture is strengthened by the fact that the Indians who inhabit it are hostile, and oppose, as far as they can, all persons who attempt to enter or explore it. This has been their uniform course of conduct respecting all portions of the continent which have been fertile, abounding in game and the spontaneous productions of the earth.

"As this valley is situated in the direct route from Santa Fe to California, its thorough exploration becomes a matter of very great importance, especially as it is highly probable that the elevated regions to the north of it, covered with snow during most of the year, will force the line of the great national railway to the Pacific through some portion of it.

"The soil I have described, situated west of the Sierra Nevada, and embracing the plain of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, covers an area, as nearly as I can estimate, of between fifty and sixty thousand square miles, and would, under a proper system of cultivation, be capable of supporting a population equal to that of Ohio or New York at the present time."

If this account be accurate, the soil of California will yield a rich reward to the agriculturist, and become a strong attraction to permanent settlers, who are willing to trust to the more certain returns for labor spent in tilling it. It is agriculture, undoubtedly, which must give stability to the increase of the country, and, whatever may be the value of the gold mines, furnish California with her substantial wealth. Few cities or towns ever had a permanent prosperity which had not a neighboring country fit for agricultural purposes.

The quant.i.ty and quality of the present productions of California, other than her mineral wealth, is an important subject for inquiry.

Previous to the discovery of the gold, the exportable products consisted almost exclusively of hides and tallow; the inhabitants paying more attention to the raising of horses and cattle than to the cultivation of the soil. The reason is found in the general characteristic of the Californians--indolence. Horses were raised to gratify their pa.s.sion for riding; and cattle, because they afforded a subsistence at a very small cost of labor. As to what are, and what, by the character of the soil and climate, might be, the products of California, and how the wants of the people are to be supplied, we quote Mr. King's remarks:

"Beef cattle, delivered on the navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco, are now worth from $20 to $30 per head; horses, formerly worth from $5 to $10, are now valued at $60 to $150. The destruction of cattle for their hides and tallow has now entirely ceased, in consequence of the demand for beef. This demand, will, of course, increase with the population; and it would seem that, in a very few years, there will be none to supply the market.

"If we estimate the number of cattle now in California at 500,000 head, which is believed to be about the number, and the population at 120,000 for the year 1850--a low estimate--and suppose it to increase one hundred thousand per annum, there will be in the Territory or State, in 1854, five hundred and twenty thousand people.

"If we adopt the estimate of those well acquainted with the demand, of half a beef, on an average, to each inhabitant, it appears there will be a consumption, in 1850, of 60,000 head; in 1851, of 110,000; in 1852, of 160,000; in 1853, of 210,000; in 1854, of 260,000--making an aggregate of 800,000, which would absorb all the present stock, with its natural increase.

"This is a very important matter, as connected with the amount of supply which that country will ultimately require from the Atlantic States of the Union. There is no other country on earth which has, or will ever possess, the means of supplying so great a demand.

"It is now a well-established fact among the immigrants to California, that oxen possess greater powers of endurance than mules or horses; that they will perform the distance with loaded wagons in less time, and come in at the end of the journey in better condition.

"Cows are now driven in considerable numbers from Missouri, and the time cannot be far distant when cattle from the Western States will be driven annually by tens of thousands to supply this new market.

"If California increases in population as fast as the most moderate estimate would lead us to believe, it will not be five years before she will require more than one hundred thousand head of beef cattle per annum, from some quarter, to supply the wants of her people.

"It must not be supposed that salt provisions may supply this vast demand. Those who have attempted to live on such food, during the dry season, have been attacked with scurvy and other cutaneous diseases, of which many have died.

"There is no climate in the world where fresh meat and vegetables are more essential to human health. In fact, they are indispensable.

"It must not be inferred that cattle driven across the plains and mountains, from the Western States, will be fit for beef on their arrival in California. But one winter and spring, on the luxuriant pastures of that country, will put them in a condition which would render them acceptable in any Atlantic market.

"These grazing grounds are extensive enough to support five times as many cattle as may be _annually_ required; therefore, there will be no scarcity of food for them.

"I am acquainted with a drover who left California in December last, with the intention of bringing in ten thousand sheep from New Mexico.

This shows that the flocks and herds east of the Rocky Mountains are looked to already as the source from which the markets on the Pacific are to be supplied.

"The climate and soil of California are well suited to the growth of wheat, barley, rye, and oats. The temperature along the coast is too cool for the successful culture of maize as a field crop. The fact that oats, the species which is cultivated in the Atlantic States, are annually self-sowed and produced on all the plains and hills along the coast, and as far inland as the sea-breeze has a marked influence on the climate, is sufficient proof that all the cereal grains may be successfully cultivated without the aid of _irrigation_.

"It is quite true that _this auxiliary_ was extensively employed at the missions, and undoubtedly increased the product of all crops to which it was applied, as it will in any country on earth if skilfully used. This does not prove, however, that it was _essentially necessary_ to the production of an ample reward to the husbandman. The experience of all the old inhabitants is sufficient evidence of this.

If their imperfect mode of culture secured satisfactory returns, it is reasonable to presume that a more perfect system would produce much greater results. There is abundant evidence to prove that, in the rich alluvial valleys, wheat and barley have produced from forty to sixty bushels from one bushel of seed, _without irrigation_.

"Irish potatoes, turnips, onions, in fact all the edible roots known and cultivated in the Atlantic States, are produced in great perfection. In all the valleys east of the coast range of hills, the climate is sufficiently warm to mature crops of Indian corn, rice, and probably tobacco.

"The cultivation of the grape has attracted much attention at the missions, among the residents of towns, and the rural population, and been attended with much success, wherever it has been attempted. The dry season secures the fruit from those diseases which are so fatal in the Atlantic States, and it attains very great perfection.

"The wine made from it is of excellent quality, very palatable, and can be produced in any quant.i.ty. The grapes are delicious, and produced with very little labor. When taken from the vines in bunches, and suspended in a dry room by the stems, they become partially dry, retain their flavor, and remain several weeks, perhaps months, without decay.

"Apples, pears, and peaches are cultivated with facility, and there is no reason to doubt that all the fruits of the Atlantic States can be produced in great plenty and perfection.

"The gra.s.ses are very luxuriant and nutritious, affording excellent pasture. The oats, which spring up the whole length of the sea-coast, and from forty to sixty miles inland, render the cultivation of that crop entirely unnecessary, and yield a very great quant.i.ty of nutritious food for horses, cattle, and sheep. The dry season matures, and I may say cures, these gra.s.ses and oats, so that they remain in an excellent state of preservation during the summer and autumn, and afford an ample supply of forage. While the whole surface of the country appears parched, and vegetation destroyed, the numerous flocks and herds which roam over it continue in excellent condition.

"Although the mildness of the winter months, and the fertility of the soil, secure to California very decided agricultural advantages, it is admitted that _irrigation_ would be of very great importance, and necessarily increase the products of the soil, in quant.i.ty and variety, during the greater part of the dry season. It should, therefore, be encouraged by government, in the survey and disposition of the public lands, as far as practicable.

"The farmer derives some very important benefits from the dry season.

His crops in harvest time are never injured by rain; he can with perfect confidence permit them to remain in his fields as long after they have been gathered as his convenience may require; he has no fears that they will be injured by wet or unfavorable weather. Hence it is that many who have long been accustomed to that climate prefer it to the changeable weather east of the Rocky Mountains.

"As already stated, the forests of California, south of lat.i.tude 39, and west of the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, are limited to detached, scattering groves of oak in the valleys, and of red wood on the ridges and on the gorges of the hills.