Will you be kind enough to give your readers a description of California—the climate and resources of the different parts of the State, and the price of land to each; what places are best adapted to fruit trees, and what fruits grow there, and the amount of teachers’ wages?
Henry Johnson.
Answer.—The State of California is divided into three entirely distinct sections: the coast region, the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and the deserts. Owing to the irregularity of the surface, only about one-third of the State is arable, and in northern California the crops are wholly dependent upon the rainfall. In the southern part of the State the land is irrigated by numerous streams. The chief products of California are wheat, barley, fruit, timber, and gold; the raising of cattle and sheep is also profitable business. The coast region is fertile and beautiful, abounding in vineyards and orchards. The climate, varying from 51 degrees to 75 degrees in summer, and in winter seldom colder than 15 degrees, is well suited to the cultivation of such fruits as apples, peaches, pears, oranges, lemons, almonds, olives, and figs. In this region also, is the great gold belt, most of the mines being on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas. All of the gold, however, is not found here, as the earliest mining was on the southeastern slope, and the precious metal is distributed over the most of the State. The valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers occupy the country between the coast range and the Sierras. This fertile region is devoted to farming and grazing, and produces more barley than is raised in any other State, while its wheat harvests increased 133 per cent from 1860 to 1870. Here, during the rainy season, the mercury falls to 45 deg., and seldom rises higher than 85 deg. In the Colorado desert the difference between the mean temperature of January and July is greater, being some 45 deg., while the mean annual temperature ranges from 68 to 75 deg. Little land here is arable, owing to the lack of irrigation. California has an excellent public school system, closely resembling that of Massachusetts. In 1880 the average monthly pay of male teachers was $79.50; of female teachers, $64.73. Land in California is by no means cheap. The fruit lands are scarce, and for the most part in the hands of private individuals; when well cultivated and irrigated they sell for $150 to $300 per acre. Grain lands in Northern and North Central California sell for $50 to $100 per acre, though some at a great distance from railroads and rivers may be bought for $20 to $30. Grazing lands vary in price from $1.25 to $10 per acre, according to locality. There are fruit lands in Southern California, far from Los Angeles and any good market, which can be had for from $30 to $50 per acre.
THE “BRANDED HAND.”
Beaver City, Neb.
Please give an account of the “Man with the Branded Hand,” who died a few years since. Why was he branded, and what was the name of the miscreant who officiated?
B. W. Hawkins.
Answer.—The man who has become so famous was Jonathan Walker, captain of a small vessel off the Florida coast. He was born at Harwich, Mass., March 22, 1799, and died at Lake Harbor, Mich., April 20, 1878. June 23, 1844, though quite ill, and daily expecting death, he attempted to carry seven slaves to Nassau, in the British island, New Providence; but, when only a short distance out, he was challenged by the sloop Catharine, and taken back to Key West. There he was brought before a justice of the peace, and committed first to jail, and afterward to the filthy hold of a steamboat that carried him to Pensacola, where a new trial awaited him. This time, when he was imprisoned, a chain of half-inch iron secured him to a huge ring bolt, being fastened at the other end to a shackle around his ankle that weighed half a ton. Owing to his feeble health his sufferings were excruciating, but his further sentence read thus; “One hour in the pillory, pelted with unmerchantable eggs; one year in prison for each slave—seven in all; $600 for each slave, and all the costs; and to be branded on the right hand with a large S, by a redhot branding-iron.” But he bore his tortures without flinching, and lived to be restored to his family after much unjust litigation. We do not know who may have officiated at the branding; but Ebenezer Dorr, of Maine, was at that time the United States Marshal for that district. A beautiful monument to the memory of Captain Walker has been erected in Muskegon, Mich.