San Andreas independent., 1858-03-20
From the San Francisco Times
Califcrnia-Its characteristics and
Prospects.

Under the above title, the Rev. Dr.
Bushnell has published pamphlet, in
which the geography, climate and resour-
ces of California, together with the condi-
tion of our people, moral, social and reli-
gious, present and prospective, are treated
with candor, ability and discrimination
displayed by few previous writer's on the
subject. Dr. Bushnell is well known to
many of our citizens, either personally or
through letter published on his return
from California, which, from the severity
of its structures, attracted no little atten-
tion at the time. Whatever injustice, if
any, may have been done US, however, in
that letter, the work under consideration
is certainly not only candid in its tone,
but liberal in all its illusions to our peo-
pie; while, for close observation, original
views, and a correct understanding of the
natural peculiarities and resources of the
country, Dr. Bushnell has scarcely an
equal.
Of such interest do we deem the work
that we should be glad to republsh it
entire, did not its length preclude US from
doing so. AS it is, we shall condense por-
tions of it, making such corrections and
alterations as our experience and judg-
ment may suggest, accompanying the same
with such copious extracts as will present
a complete view of the entire work.
The writer opens with the remark, that
whoever is desirous of travelling, whether
for health or pleasure, should seek Cali
fornia instead of Europe, for here he will
meet nature in new mood-so fresh and
strange, that it is like going back to child
hood. The most difficult thing to be COM
pretended by the newcomer is the eli
mate, or rather climates; for California
has variety of these, different even at
short distances, setting at variance all our
preconceived notions of the meteorological
effects of altitude, latitude and mountain
ranges.
This climactic diversity grows out of the
peculiar chorography of the country, and
the surrounding territory. Central or
middle California, being that portion of
the State lying between the head waters
of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin
and its eastern boundary and the Pacific
region some 400 miles long and 200
wide-is divided lengthwise into three
strips, of nearly equal width. First, that
next the Coast Range; next, that embraced
in the valleys of the rivers mention, being
about IS miles wide, and reaching from
the eastern base of the Coast Range to the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada and third
the latter Range, includingits lower slope
on the western side-a strip of country,
generally spoken of as the foothills, and
in which the principal gold fields arc To-
Gated
Now each of these strips, observes the
writer, has different climate, produced
by variations wrought in the rates of mo-
tion, courses, temperature and dryness of
a single wind, viz: the trade wind of the
summer months, which blows inward all
the time, only with much greater power
during that part of the day when the rare.
faction of the great central valley comes
to It's aid that is, from about 10 clock
in the morning to the setting of the sun.
Conceive such wind, chilled by the cold
waters that have come down from the
Northern Pacific, perhaps from Behring
Straits, combing the tops and wheeling
round through the valleys of the coast
wise mountains, crossing the great valley
at much retarded rate, and growing hot
and dry, tanning gently the foothills and
sides of the Sierra, still more retarded by
the piling necessary to break over into
Utah, and the conditions of the Califor-
MIA climate, or climates, will be under
stood with general accuracy.
The author next proceeds to describe
the winds peculiar to San Francisco du-
ring the dry season, blowing almost daily
with great force, and bringing up from
the ocean, banks of mist which is only
dissipated on encountering the heated air
some s or 10 miles inland The resi-
dents of this city have too just an appre-
citation of the character of these winds
and their accompanying fogs, to require
our following the writer through his de-
tailed account thereof. He speaks feel
ingly as one having experienced their
raw visitations and violent bufetings
Next the middle strip or Great Valley
is considered. Here the heat is intense,
and rarifying the atmosphere creates a
vacuum, which gives velocity to the cur
rent from the coast, while it raises the
temperature of the ground so high that
even in the latter part Of the spring there
is not sufficient cold left in it to condense
clouds, and hence further rains cease
A little later In the season and there is
not cold enough left to allow even the
phenomenon of cloud, and for months
none are seen, save by chance the skirt of
one booming over the western mountains.
Day after day throughout the dry season,
the sun glares down on the parched earth,
the thermometer often going up to llO0
and even higher, in the shade. The cool
ness of the nights, however, caused by
the sea winds sweeping through the upper
air of the valley ON the one side, and the
breezes from the Sierras on the other,
greatly mitigate the effects of what would
otherwise pspve debilitating and intol-
erable heat As it is, while the men
and animals suffer terribly from this
cause during the day, especially when
exposed to the direct rays of the sun,