Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-04-02
I'LL TO HR nc AL.
Upper California.

The Southern and Eastern portions-ndeed
nearly the whole provinces except that part Dor
dering on the Pacifc-s scarcely more valua-
BILE than the lower province. Through the
Eastern section extends the chain of the Rocky
Mountains, broken into fragments, and convert
ing wide space of the country, through its en-
tire length, into waste perfectly uninhabitabIe,
producing very little vegetation and through
which the traveller, with danger and difficulty,
finds a casual and precarious path. West of this
chain lies a vast, sandy plain, nearly seven hnn-
bred miles i'll length, with width of one hun
bred miles at its Southern and two hundred at
its Northern extremity. The whole valley of
the Colorado is utterly barren and is described
by an American traveller as great burial-p!ace
Of former fertility, which can never return. Like
its branches the river is not navigabe. The
ella, which forms the Southeastern boundary OF
the province, is rapid stream, and its upper
portion flows through rich and beautiful valleys,
capable of supporting numerous population.
Ia the centre Of the Northern section of Upper
California lies the Timpanigos desert, between
four and five hundred miles square, and proba-
bly, the most utterly desolate region of so great
an extent upon the Western continent On its
Northwest border Marys river takes its rise, and
flows Southwestwardly about one hundred and
sixty miles, into its own lake, which is about
sixty miles in length and half as wide The
valley Of the stream has rich SOIL which, were
not the atmosphere too dry, would be well adapt
ed to agricultural purposes, and contains many
fine groves of aspen and pine, that shelter deer
elk, and other game.
The remaining part of Upper California
that which lies nearest the Pacific COASTS moi
only by far the best portion of the province, bu
one of the most beautiful regions on the face o
the earth 1t embraces the whole country drain
ed by the waters which empty into the Bay o
San Francisco. These are, first. beginning a
the South, the San joaquin, which rises in
lake called Bonaysta, in latitude SO deg, anc
about three hundred miles Northwest of the
mouth of the Colorado it runs thence N. Yves
some six hundred miles, with deep and tran
quill current navgable for two hundred and fifty
miles above its mouth, and through valley sly
hundred miles in length, and from forty to one
hundred in width bounded on every side b,
mountains, which thus enclose prairie surface
covered with tees which skirt the streams O
above 10000 square miles in superficial extent
Among the highlands which inclose this valley
are vast forests filled with the Hottest and fines
cedars and pines in the world, with every variety
of soil, fresh water lakes, and every element o
unbounded agricultural wealth, except a propi
tions climate From November to March the
whole valley is flooded by heavy and ipcessan
rains; and from April until autumn an intolera
Bile heat converts this vast fen of stagnant wa
tiers into the valley of the Shadow of Death
This evil, however, it is confidently asserted, i
susceptible of an easy remedy by draining thes
accumulated waters into the river
From the North flows another and much lar
ger river, the Sacramento, which, rising amon
the mountains that skirt the lower border of Ore
gon, flows for nearly three hundred miles throug
an open, level couptry, naturally fertile, and an
nually overhowed by the waters of the river
which thus, like the Nile, enriches and adorn
the region through which it runs; cut on tn
East side by numerous tributary streams skrte
) with timber, and striped upon the West by groves
: and lakes, and great saVannas, and presentin
t one of the richest and most beautiful regions o
the face of the earth. In the wet season Til
' river is navigable to steamers of three hundre
e tons for nearly two hundred miles above i
mouth and even in the dryest season, sma
boats, without difficulty, make their way for ovt
S one hundred miles to what is called the Fork
where the Sacramento receives its great WesteI