mountains west of the Great Salt Lake, and runs westwardly along the northern side of the Basin towards the Sierra Nevada of California. It courses onward for three hundred miles, without "affluents, through a sterile plain, though the valley of its own creation is richly covered with grasses and bordered with willows and cotton wood. This remarkable stream will become of vast importance in the travel towards California, for, rising towards the Salt Lake, it pursues nearly the direct route towards the Pass of the Salmon Trout river through the gorges of the Sierra Nevada, where at an elevation of less than three thousand six hundred feet above the level of the Basin, the pathway descends into the Valley of the Sacramento, and penetrates the State of California only forty miles north of Sutter's original settlement.

The other known rivers of this strange and partially explored region, are the Carson, Bear, Utah, Nicollet and Salmon Trout, most of whose streams, furnished by the snowy peaks of the Sierra, are absorbed in marshes and lakes, or return by evaporation to the icy sources whence they sprang.

Such are the prominent features of this vast Basin or Table-land, in the interior of our continent, but as it is now separated by legislation from its former territorial adjunct, we shall pass at once to

376 PRESENT STATE BOUNDARIES

AREA

GEOGRAPHY.

the consideration of the present boundary of California. This, according to the XIIth article of the State Constitution, sanctioned by the act of Congress, commences at the point of intersection of the 42nd degree of north latitude with the 120th degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and runs south, on the line of the 120th degree of longitude until it intersects the 39th degree of north latitude; thence a straight line pursues a south-easterly direction to the River Colorado, at a point where it intersects the 35th degree of north latitude; thence, the boundary runs down the middle of the channel of that river, to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean and extending therein three miles; thence, north-westwardly, following the direction of the Pacific coast, to the 42nd degree of north latitude; thence, on the line of the 42nd degree to the place of begining, including all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adjacent to the Pacific coast.

The superficial area of the State is reduced, according to these boundaries, from the former enormous size, to one hundred and fifty-five thousand five hundred and fifty square miles, or ninetynine millions five hundred and fifty-two thousand square acres, exclusive of the islands adjacent to the coast.

The noble Empire State thus constructed lies west of the Sierra Nevada, and was wisely fashioned to avoid jurisdiction beyond the mountains. It is strongly contrasted in appearance with the sterility of the Great Basin. Crossing the SIERRA NEVADA at the PASS traversed by Frémont in February 1844, the traveller finds himself about four degrees south of the northern boundary of the State, and, as he looks westward down the slope of the mountains, the whole of California lies at his feet. The declivities of the Sierra, with a breadth of from forty to seventy miles, and a length from north to south of about five hundred, are heavily wooded with oak, pine, cypress and cedar, while innumerable small streams, rising in the melted snows of the lofty peaks, traverse their rugged sides. These rivulets descend through glens and gorges,-sometimes barren, sometimes luxuriant,—until they disgorge themselves into the Sacramento and San Joaquin. The first of these,-rising in the north at the base of the gigantic Shastl which lifts its snowy diadem fourteen thousand feet above the sea,-sweeps southward towards the thirty-eighth degree of latitude; while the second, oozing from the fens and marshes of lake Tulares, runs northward until it mingles with the Sacramento,-when both, swollen by their tributaries from

the Sierra Nevada, are finally discharged into the Pacific by the bay of San Francisco which bursts through a gap in a lower chain of mountains bordering the coast. This western Coast Range, averaging about two thousand feet in height, forms, with the Eastern Sierra Nevada, the intermediate sloping plain or valley which is completely drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin.

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

CONTINUED.

CONFIGURATION OF THE STATE

BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO AND

RIVERS OF CALIFORNIA-CHARACTER OF SOIL, ETC.
CLIMATE

DRY

CLIMATE IN SAN

PRODUCTIONS

DIS

RELATIVE STERILITY AND PRODUCTIVENESS
AND WET SEASONS -CAUSES OF CHANGE
FRANCISCO, COAST RANGE VALLEYS AND INTERIOR VALLEY-
AREA OF ARABLE AND GRAZING LAND
COVERY OF GOLD ITS POSITION -THE PLACERES-WASHING
THE MINES- CALCULATIONS AS TO THE YIELD
GOLD YIELDED BY CALIFORNIA -ITS QUALITY
POPULATION GROWTH

DIGGING

OF THE MINES

QUICKSILVER MINES-COMMERCE

OF CITIES-OLD PRESIDIOS-TOWNS-LAND TITLES-MISSION LANDS -CONCLUSION.

THE State of California, as at present formed by its constitution, lies chiefly between the Sierra Nevada and the sea. North and south, it embraces about ten degrees of latitude, from 32°, where it touches the peninsula of Lower California, to 42°, where it bounds on Oregon. East and west, from the Sierra Nevada to the sea, it will average, in the central parts, one hundred and fifty miles, and in the northern, two hundred. The whole State is thus, in truth, a single geographical formation or great valley, though commonly divided into the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento the two great streams which flow from the north and south until they meet near the centre of the State and wend their way to the ocean through the bay of San Francisco.

This beautiful arm of the ocean, which is pronounced by all geographers to be one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, was discovered about 1768 by a party of Franciscan friars, who bestowed upon it the name of their patron Saint. Completely landlocked, it is capable of sheltering the most extended commerce. Approached from the sea, a bold outline of coast scenery is presented to the observer. On the south, the bordering mountains descend in narrow ranges, lashed by the surf of the Pacific. On the north, a bluff promontory rises full three thousand feet above

BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO AND CITY.

379

the sea, while, betwixt these points, walled in by lofty cliffs on either side, a narrow strait, about a mile in width and five in length, with a depth in mid channel of forty and forty-five fathoms, forms the Chrysopolæ or Golden Gate. Beyond this, the wonderful bay of San Francisco opens like an inland sea to the right and left, extending in each direction about thirty-four miles, with a length of more than seventy and a coast of two hundred and seventy-five. The interior view of this lake-like estuary is broken in parts by islands, some of which are mere rocky masses, while others, green with vegetation, protrude from the water for three hundred or four hundred feet. The bay is divided by promontories and straits into three portions. At its northern extremity is Whaler's harbor, which communicates by a strait two miles long with San Pablo bay, a circular basin ten miles in diameter; at the northern extremity of this a strait of greater length, called Carquinez, connects with Suissun bay, which is nearly equal in size and shape to San Pablo, and into this bay the confluent waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin are emptied. A delta of twenty-five miles in length, divided into islands by deep channels, connects the Suissun bay with the valley of these rivers, into whose mouths the tide flows regularly.

On the bay of San Francisco is situated the marvellous city of the same name, which sprang up, almost "in a night," and was constructed of materials quite as frail as those of "the gourd." The town lies about four miles from the narrows or straits by which the bay is entered, on its west side, and on the northern point of the peninsula between the southern portion of the estuary and the Pacific. Its site is in a cove, faced and protected at the distance of two miles by the large island of Yerba Buena. The land rises gradually for more than half a mile from the water's edge, towards the west and south-west, until it terminates in a range of hills five hundred feet above the sea. North of the town is a large bluff, plunging precipitously into the bay, in front of which is the best anchorage.

The most important rivers of California are, of course, the San Joaquin and Sacramento. The San Joaquin, running from south to north, is represented to be navigable in some seasons for a greater part of its length, during eight months of the year. Its chief affluents, lying altogether on its eastern side, and pouring down from the Sierra Nevada, are the Lake Fork, Acumnes, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Mukelumne, Mariposa and Cosumnes. The Rio Colorado of the West forms part of the eastern State boundary, from the 35th degree of north latitude to the Mexican line, but it flows.