Part 8 (1/2)
”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.