"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 pass through it. Therefore, parties from Santa Fé, 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 shores. 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 Fé 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 quantity 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 passion 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.