CALIFORNIA.
THE COUNTRY AND ITS RESOURCES.
The country lying between the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Ocean, and bounded at the north, though somewhat indefinitely, by the Oregon Territory, and at the South by the Lower California, confined by the late treaty of the two neighboring Republics to the line three miles south of San Diego, is known as Upper California, a country now engrossing the attention of the civilized world with its future importance. There is no other instance known in history where a country just emerging so to say, from obscurity, immediately acquired such complicated and multifarious relations, not only to the nation of whose territory it is only a small portion, but to the whole civilized world, as California has. In view of these various relations, we propose here to consider the subject of Upper California.
Before California can answer all those expectations, the realization of which the world with good reason looks for, an increase of population must be secured for her. To effect which it will not be very difficult, if to its natural advantages, the government of the Union will add its efforts to promote by every legislative and administrative measure the influx of new settlers. But in all its proceedings, liberality should be its motto, and none of that miserly policy that is afraid of losing an acre from its lands or a dollar from its treasury.
California holds in its bosom resources that no other country can boast of comprised in so small a territory—its mineral wealth, its agricultural capacity, its geographical position, conspire to make it in time one of the most favored lands. And it will lie in the power of the government either to accelerate or retard the unfolding of its future importance. When considered in point of mineral productions, if allowed to be developed by capitalists, California is capable of becoming an important centre of the commerce of the Pacific. Here we find in the neighborhood of the Clear Lake, about a hundred and twenty-five miles north of Sonoma, Lead, Copper, Sulpher and Saltpetre; on the South side of San Francisco Bay, Silver-mines have been found in the vicinity of Pueblo de San Jose; Quicksilver mines which are pronounced to be richer than those of Spain, are already being worked to a great profit in the same region; Coal strata have been also found in the coast range of mountains near Santa Cruz, in the neighborhood of the Mission of San Luis Obispo, and near San Diego. California Coal seems to be in the intermediate state between the anthracite and the bituminous; it is not as hard as the former nor so soft as the latter; it burns more easily than the first, and does not give out so smoky and unpleasant a flame as the second; it ignites easily and burns with a very pleasant flame without much smoke. Iron is scattered through the mountains of the country, and we have no doubt that a workable mine of it will before long be discovered. We mention not the gold washings that are being worked so successfully at present, for as respects their duration and the developement of the industry of the country, they scarcely deserve the attention of the economist be they ever so rich; as all other mines are more beneficent in their influence to the progress of a country than gold mines. These will become the means of advancing the prosperity of the country only when a regular system of mining by sinking shafts into the rocks shall commence, which it is to be hoped will be done ere long.
The labor expended in working these various mines would give a firm support to the agriculture of the country, which at this day is totally neglected. There is no country, probably, where the soil is so grateful to the hand that cultivates it. There is almost no plant, grain, or fruit that cannot be raised here. Rye grows wild on the skirts of the gold region towards the Sierra Nevada; oats cover completely the coast range of the mountains; wheat and corn grow luxuriantly on all the plains, notwithstanding it rains only in the winter season; potatoes, onions and every other kind of garden vegetables with very little care grow to a very large size and of excellent flavor. Some of these vegetables can be kept growing all the year round, such as onions, peas, and some others. Every description of fruit trees seem to be natural to the soil, for they attain here a great perfection. The apple, the peach, the pear, the apricot, the fig, the cherry, the plum, the grape, the pomegranate, the citron, the orange, the olive, the currant, the gooseberry and various other berries are found here either cultivated or in a wild state. The inhabitants of the country have not done much towards the culture of any fruit trees or shrubs; and that is the reason the quantity of any fruit is very limited, when compared with the wants of the population and the capacities of the soil. Knowledge and industry with very little exertion would increase the quantity not only to supply the wants of the country but even to a super-abundance. The pear and the olive seem to have been the favorite fruit with the Priests of the Missions, as they have raised them in large quantities and of excellent quality. The California olive is among the largest known, and in flavor surpasses that of France; the varieties of the pear are numerous and delicious in quality. The grape vine grows throughout the country, from the extreme north down to San Diego. Excellent grape is produced at Sonoma, at the Mission of San Jose, and some other points. The best however, or where it was made the best use of, is that of the Pueblo de los Angeles. The wine produced there by several vine growers is of excellent quality; in the opinion of many judges in the matter, it is superior to any wine that Spain or Portugal can produce. Its color, its flavor and its strength are sui generis; it wants only to be known to be sought after by amateurs; and there is no doubt but its culture and the exportation of it will extend rapidly with the increase of commerce on this coast. The most celebrated wine at present is that made by M. Vignes, a French gentleman who settled in the country some fifteen years ago and was the first to plant a vineyard in this region. There are two qualities of it, red and white; the latter is more inviting than the former by the very beauty of its color. The growing of the grape vine and of the olive may be made a very profitable branch of foreign commerce, if there were men to attend to the business; settlers from the South of Europe could develope this branch of industry to great advantage, and could not fail to make themselves opulent. There are in the country appropriate spots for the culture of rice and the sugar cane: the former could be easily raised on the overflowed lands of the San Joaquin and on the creeks of San Francisco Bay. Cotton even might be raised here, but we think one could employ his time more profitably in some other business, as cotton is so cheap elsewhere. Hemp grows wild in different parts of the country.
There is yet another branch of industry at which we have not heretofore so much as hinted, but which would prove for California one of the richest mines of which she could boast; we mean the raising of sheep. The climate of the country and much of its surface are admirably adapted for the purpose; in fact, as it proved a source of wealth to New South Wales, it would be equally so to California; a great similarity of climate of the two countries guarantees the result. In this way every portion of the country would be turned to advantage; the mountains now lying barren would be a grazing ground for the sheep; and the valleys now trodden exclusively by cattle and horses would be given up to the plough, and there would be no more livestock raised than the actual wants of the country require. Merino rams could be easily procured from Oregon, Peru, or even New South Wales, to improve the native breed of the sheep. He who enters upon this business the first will lay the foundation for a colossal fortune which he can realize in a few years.
The face of the country being broken up into mountains and having large valleys separating the two coast ranges of mountains into the sea coast range on the west, and the spurs of the Sierra Nevada on the East, offers an ample ground for the shepherd and agriculturalist. The valleys south of San Francisco Bay lie almost parallel with the sea coast, gradually receding with it in a South-east direction. This gives an opportunity for the North-west winds, which prevail on the coast, to sweep over them, and thus temper the heat of the sun, renovate the air, and carry away over the snowy mountains any miasmata that might be suspended in the atmosphere, and which if left undisturbed might prove a prolific source of disease. This accounts for the extreme healthiness of the sea coast of California. The portion of the country that is less salubrious than the rest of it is confined between the Sacramento and the San Joaquin; fevers seem to be dominant there, yet even there people can get acclimated and enjoy good health for years. In point of climate San Francisco and San Diego present a striking contrast. The former being so much exposed to the North-west winds has a very disagreeable temperature; but it is nothing more than disagreeable, as fogs and winds have their periods there; it is however, far from being unhealthy; with ordinary care and prudence, one in a few months gets acclimated, and cannot but enjoy perfect health. Its winter, notwithstanding the rains, is more agreeable than its summer, when fog and chilling winds prevail. This climate extends only the length of the bay; it improves as we recede farther south. On the contrary, in San Diego the climate is most delicious and equable; neither enervating by excessive heat, nor disagreeable on account of Northern blasts. Rains are scanty, yet vegetation is luxuriant wherever the soil is good.
We may observe here in regard to the climate of California in general, that for the sake of health, summer dress should be entirely dispensed with; the nights throughout the coast are cold, and every new comer is more liable to suffer through neglect of this precaution than even the natives. Woolen dress is never oppressive here, but always beneficial. Strangers, if they suffer, owe their illness to the oversight of this fact, together with the excesses that some of them commit.