Washington telegraph., 1849-03-21
CALIFORNIA.
The Country and Climate-Ihe Ma'scs;
Dry and Wet Diggans -AdDtcc to
Enzieronts- Routes, 8.c., DC.

.
California, in accordance with the re-
quest of large number Of persons deslr-
ing reliable information in reference to
California delivered lecture i'll the lab
ernacle on the 10th ult., from a copy OF
which as reported for the Tribune, we
make the following extracts Ihe lee
ture was divided as follows:
FirSt-The face of the country, eli
mate, productions of California, its health
price of freight, launches, government OF
the country, &C., &c.
Second-The mines, manner of pro-
curing the gold, average quantity per
man, probable supply, wet and dry Dig
gings compared and some instances OF
success within my own personal observa-
ton.
TAard-Advice to Emigrants to Cali
fornia, articles necessary for an outfit, &C.,
&C.
Fourth-The different routes to Cali
fornia, the expenses of each, with tull
particulars of the route through Mexico
lover which l travelled on my return
from San Francisco,) with distances, ex-
penses and manner of travelling i'll Mexl-
CO, and which is the most advisable route.
Under the first general division of my
subject, / will remark that the soil is gen.
orally good and capable of producing all
the ordinary grains. 1t is a good wheat
country. The red worm which destroys
SO much of the wheat here, is unknown
in California, SO far as my knowledge ex-
tends When | first went to California,
in the month of January, 1S47. land at
Bodago, which is about thirty miles north
of San Francisco, was worth two dollars
an acre only-when l left, it was worth
twenty dollars an acre. San Francisco,
or Yerba Buena, as we called it, stands as
YOU know, on the large and beautiful bay
of San Francisco, and contains the most
magnificent harbor in the world, and the
only safe harbor in all Upper California,
except San Diego. All the navies of the
world and its commercial marine could
ride in perfect security and repose on It's
bosom The harbor is entered from the
ocean by a narrow passage about one or
two miles wide, with high bluffs on each
side This bay extends about sixty miles
to the east of the town of San Francisco,
and about one hundred miles to the north
west, and is from five to fifteen miles wide.
the town is four or five miles from the
ocean. In January, 1047, there were
about six hundred inhabitants IN San
Francisco. In April last, just before the
gold placers were discovered, there were
about one thousand inhabitants there
There were, in May and June, only
few women and children, the majority OF
the population having gone to the mines.
When [ lefr many had returned. The
town was filled by emigrants arriving from
Oregon, Sandwich Islands, Valparaiso and
all the neighboring places. There are
several other towns on the bay. The
principal ones are Sonoma, San Raphael,
Clara and San Jose. have visited all
these places, but my residence has been
at San Francisco from January, 1047, up
to the 10th day of December, l840.
In relation to the climate of California,
can safely say that it is not an unhealthy
country. Fever and ague is somewhat
prevalent along the banks of some of the
rivers but l hazard nothing III saying
more healthy than the valley OF the Mis-
sissippi, or the State OF Illinois. am
often asked about the {" sickly seasons"
There is that what is called "rainy
season." which lasts about tour or five
months-from November to April-and
continued exposure, want OF food and IT.
regular habits would OF course, In rainy
or dry season, strongly predispose to dis
ease, and during all seasons it is necessary
to exercise ordinary prudence and care IN
relation to health. During the dry sea-
son as it is called, the climate is clear and
delightful. The atmosphere is bracing,
and though sometimes warm, is not weak
ening to the system, as 1T Is IN some OF
our southern States. / would remark,
however, that in the Summer season
heavy fogs are prevalent on the coast
The River Sacramento and San Joaquin
are the great rivers of Upper California.
The Sacramento is a most beautiful
stream. At its mouth it is about two
thirds as wide as the East River at Ful-
ton Ferry. There is a small island in the
middle of the river, at its mouth. 1t has
a middle bed, and is navigable for three
or four hundred miles above its mouth
[ have never been on that river above
Suffers, which is about one hundred and
fifty miles above San Francisco. 1t is
navigable for ships drawing eight feet, to
the mouth of the American Fork, and a
small steamboat drawing two or thee
feet ofwater could 60 two hundred miles
still farther up. A branch of the Sacra-
mento called the American Fork" emp
ties into the Sacramento, about 150 miles
from its mouth. Captain Suffers Mill
is 40 miles above the mouth of, and on,.
the American Fork This is the place