The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-11 00:00:00

m r 7 T ani 1,7 11

THE SUN,

ALTA CALIFORNIA ; OR THE
NEW GOLD REGION.
From the geographical memoir upon Alta Califor-
nia (the California acquired by the late treaty with
Mexico) addressed by Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont
to the Senate, at the last session of Congress, we
make a few extracts descriptive of the country :
Alta California is divided into two Fats the
Eastern and Western. The Eastern portion, lying
between the Rocky Mountains on the east, and the
great range of the Sierra Nevadgon the west, compre-
hends an area of about 500 square miles, and saving
the region around the Great Salt Lake in the north-
east corner, and a few green spots along the flanks of
the Western Mountains, is a howling desert of burning
sands, bald mountains, and is covered with evidences of
volcanic action. It comprehends five-sixths of the terri-
tory of California, as acquired from Mexico. The only
white settlement within its limits is the Mormon colony
near the great Salt Lake. The Great Basin is sur-
rounded by mountains on all sides, and the rivers
which flow into it from the mountains empty into '1
lakes the waters of which are evaported in the sun,
as a substitute for an outlet to the sea, or the streams
are absorbed by the sands of the desert; as, for in-
stance, Mary's river, after a course of 300 miles, sud-
denly sinks into the sands, its waters as thick and
bitter as bitumen, from the impregnations of its
volcanic trail. (See the journal of Mr. Bryant, who
went out to the Pacific by that route.)
The western division of California lies west of the
great range of the Sierra Nevada, and between it and
the Pacific Ocean. Excepting the Mormons, near the
Salt Lake, which trenches upon Oregon, in the
eastern basin, this western section is the only part of
California with which the army, navy, and settlers
from the United States have had anything to do. All
the accouunts we have had of California, from time
immemorial, apply to the slip of country flanking the
Pacific Ocean. 'We now come to the extracts from
Lieut.-Colonel Fremont :

to show its climate and productions, by the test of the
thermometer and the state of the vegetable kingdom.
VALLEYS OF THE SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN.
These valleys are one, discriminated only by the
names of the rivers which traverse it. It is a single
valley—a single geographical formation—near 500
miles long, lying at the western base of the Sierra
Nevada, and between it and the coast range of moun-
tains, and stretching across the head of the bay of
San Francisco, with which a delta of 25 miles con-
nects it. The two rivers, San Joaquin and Sacra-
mento, rise at opposite ends of this long valley, receive
numerous streams, many of them bold rivers, from
the Sierra Nevada, become themselves navigable
rivers, flow towards each other, meet half way, and
enter the bay of San Francisco together, in the region
of tide water, making a continuous water line from
one end to the other.
The valley of the San Joaquin is about 300 miles
long and 60 broad, between the slopes of the coast
mountain and the Sierra Neveda, with a general ele-
vation of only a few hundred feet above the level of
the sea. It presents a variety of soil, from dry and
unproductive to well watered and luxuriantly fertile.
The eastern (which is the fertile) side of the valley
is intersected with numerous streams, forming large

and very beautiful bottoms of fertile land, wooded
principally with white oaks; (quer cus longiglanda,
Torr, and Frem) in open groves of handsome trees,
often five or six feet in diameter, and GO to 80 feet
high. Only the larger streams, which are 50 to 150
yards wide, and drain the upper parts of the moun-
tains, pass entirely across the valley forming the
Tullare lakes and the San Joaquin river, which, in
the rainy season, make a continuous stream from the
head of the valley to the bay. The foot hills of the
Sierra Neveda, which limit the valley, make a wood-
land country, diversified with undulating grounds and
pretty valleys, and watered with small streams, which
reach only a few miles beyond the hills, the springs
which supply them not being covered enough
to carry them across the plains. These afford
many advantageous spots for farms, making some-
times large bottoms of rich moist land. The rolling
surface of the hills presents sunny exposures, shel-
tered from the winds, and, having a highly favourable
climate and suitable soil, are considered to be well
adapted to the cultivation of the grape, and will pro-
bably become the principal vine-growing region of
California. The uplands bordering the valleys of the
large streams are usually wooded with evergreen oaks,
and the intervening plains are timbered with groves
or belts of evergreen and white oaks, among prairie
and open land. The surface of the valley consists of
level plains along the Tullare lakes and San Joaquin
river, changing into undulating and rolling ground
nearer the foot hills of the mountains.

SIERRA NEVADA.
This Sierra is part of the great mountain range
which, under different names and with different ele-
vations, but with much uniformity of direction and
general proximity to the coast, extends from the pe-
ninsula of California to Russian America, and with-
out a gap in the distance through which the water of
the Rocky Mountains could reach the Pacifie Ocean,
except at the two places were the Columbia and
Frazer's river respectively find their passage. This
great range is remarkable for its length, its proximity
and parellelism to the sea coast, its great elevation,
often more lofty than the pocky Mountains, and its
many grand volcanic peaks, reaching high into the
region of perpetual snow. Rising singly, like pyra-
mids from heavily timbered plateaux, to the height
of fourteen and seventeen thousand feet above the sea,
these snowy peaks constitute the characterizing
feature of the range, and distinguish it from the
Rocky Mountains and all others on our part of the
continent.
That part of this range which traverses the Alta Ca-
lifornia is called the Sierra Nevada (Snowy Mountain)
—a name in itself implying a great elevation, as it is
only applied, in Spanish geography, to the mountains
whose summits penetrate the region of perpetual
snow. It is a grand feature of California, and a do-
minating one, and must be well understood before
the structure of the country and the character of its
different divisions can be comprehended. It divides
California into two parts, and exercises a decided in-
fluence on the climate, soil, and productions of each.
Stretching along the coast, and at the general distance
of 150 miles from it, this great mountain wall re-
ceives the warm winds, charged with vapour, which
sweeps across the Pacific Ocean, precipitates their ac-
cumulated moisture in fertilizing rains and snows
upon its western flank, and leaves cold and dry winds
to pass on to the east. Hence the characteristic dif-
ferences of the two regions—mildness, fertility, and a
superb vegetable kingdom on one side ; comparative
barreness and cold on the other.
The two sides of the Sierra exhibit two distinct
climates. The state of vegetation, in connexion with
some thermometrical observations made during the
recent exploring expedition to California, will esta-
blish and illustrate this difference. In the beginning
of December, 1845, we crossed this Sierra, at lat. 39
deg. 7.12, at the present usual emigrant pass, at the
bead of the Salmon Trout River, forty miles north of
New Helvetia, and made observations at each base,
and in the same latitude, to determine the respective
temperatures, the two bases being, respectively, the
western, about 500, and the eastern, about 4,000 feet
above the level of the sea ; and the pass, 7,200 feet.
The mean results of the observations were, on the
eastern side, at sunrise, 30 deg. ; the state of vege-
tation and the appearance of the country being
at the same time (second week of December),
that of confirmed winter, the rivers frozen
over, snow on the ridges, annual plants dead,
grass dry, and deciduous trees stripped of their foliage.
At the western base the mean temperature during a
corresponding week was, at sunrise 29 deg., and at
sunset 52 deg.; the state of the atmosphere and of
vegetation that of advancing spring ; grass fresh and
green, four to eight inches high, vernal plants in
bloom, the air soft, and all the streams free from ice.
Thus, December on one side of the mountain was
winter, on the other it was spring.
MARITIME REGION WEST OF THE SIERRA NEVADA.
West of the Sierra Nevada, and between that
mountain and the sea, is the second grand division of
California, and the only part to which the name ap-
plies in the current language of the country. It is
the occupied and inhabited part, and so different in
character, so divided by the mountain wall of the
Sierra from the great basin above, as to consti-
tute a region to itself, with a structure and configu-
ration, a soil, climate, and productions of its own ;
and as Northern Persia may be referred to as some
type of the former, so may Italy be referred to as some
point of comparison for the latter. North and south,
this region embraces about ten degrees of latitude—
from 32 degrees, where it touches the peninsula
of California, to 42 degrees, where it bounds on
Oregon. East and west, from the Sierra Nevada to
the sea, it will average in the middle parts 150 miles,
in the northern parts, 200; giving an area of above
one hundred thousand miles. Looking westward
from the summit of the Sierra, the main feature pre-
sented is the long, low, broad valley of the Joaquin
and Sacramento rivers—the two valleys forming one
—five hundred miles long, and fifty broad, lying
along the base of the Sierra, and bounded to the west
by the low coast range of mountains which separates
it from the sea. Lone; dark lines of timber indicate
the streams, and bright spots mark the intervening
plains. Lateral ranges, paralleled to the Sierra
Nevada and the coast, make the structure of the coun-
try, and break it i.:;to a surface of valleys and moun-
tains—the valleys a few hundred, and the mountains
2,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea. These form greater
masses, and become more elevated in the north, where
some peaks, as the Shasti, enter the regions of perpe-
tual snow. Stretched along the mild coast of the Pacific,
with a general elevation in its plains and valleys of
only a few hundred feet above the level of the sea
—and backed by the long and lofty wall of the
Sierra—mildness and geniality may be assumed as
the characteristics of its climate. The inhabitant of
corresponding latitudes on the Atlantic side of this
continent can with difficulty conceive of the soft air
and southern productions under the same latitudes in
the maritime region of Upper California. The sin-
gular beauty and purity of the sky in the south of
this region is characterised by Humboldt as a rare
phenomenon, and all travellers realise the truth of
his description.
The present condition of the country affords but
slight data for forming correct opinions of the agri-
cultural capacity and fertility of the soil. Vancouver
found, at; the inisaion of San Buonaventura, in 1792,
latitude 34 deg. 16 min., apples, pears, plums, figs,
oranges, grapes, peaches, and pomegranates growing
together with the plaintain, banana, cocoa-nut, sugar
cane, and indigo, all yielding fruit in abundance, and
of excellent quality. Humboldt mentions the olive
oil of California as equal to that of Andalusia, and
s wine like that of the Canary Islands. At present
bat little remains of the high and various cultivation
which had been attained at the missions. Under
the mild and paternal administration of the
" fathers," the docile character of the Indians was
made available for labour, and thousands were em-
ployed in the fields, the orchards, and the vineyards.
Jet present, but little of this former cultivation is
seen. The fertile valleys are overgrown with wild
mustard ; vineyards and olive orchards, decayed and
neglected, are among the remaining vestiges; only in
some places do we see the evidences of what the
country is
capable. At San Buonaventura we found
the olive trees,
bending under tsheanweLiguhist
of neglected fruit: ;
in Janaunacrly,
the
m
Obispo (latitude 35 deg.) is still distinguished for the
excellence of its olives, considered finer and larger
than those of the Mediterranean.
The productions of the south differ from those of
the north and of the middle. Grapes, olives, Indian
corn have been its staples, with many assimilated
fruits and grains. Tobacco has been recently intro-
duced, and the uniform summer heat which follows
the wet season, and is uninterrupted by rain, would
make the southern country well adapted to cotton.—
Wheat is the first product of the north, where it
always constituted the principal cultivation of the
missions. This promises to be the grain-growing
region of California. The moisture of the coast seems
particularly suited to the potato and to the vegetables
common to the United states, which gruw to an
extraordinary size.
Perhaps few parts of the world can produce in such
perfection so great a variety of fruits and grains as the
large and varied region enclosing the bay of San
Francisco, and drained by its waters. A view of the
map will show that region and its great extent, com-
prehending the entire valleys of the Sacramento and
SaKterea,/(1,. eb,c whole western slope of the
411c17.4_, PY-liaa,A-Irteral phrases fail to give precise
ideiVii mound to tha note:, to kiay puma

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 11, 1849.

the purse away, for it was not found upon him The
lady who had been robbed knew nothing of the mat-
ter, so neatly was the business executed, till informed
that she had no purse, which she soon found to be
the case. The purse contained about ten shillings.
As Lee was conducting the prisoner from the station-
house, one of his associates walked up and asked the
prisoner whether he had got the purse ? " No," said
the prisoner, " I rigged that, and no mistake."
The LORD MAYOR—Do you wish to say anything,
prisoner ? The prisoner—Anything ! No, not I.
Committed.