The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-11-10
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
NXX
California---The Yosemite.

CallfoIQlc---1tlt 4OSSAAitOr
BEAR VALLEY, Cal, Aug. Ia, 1859.
left Sacramento on Monday morning
last. trsyeling BY stage to Stockton, 4o
miles ne arly due south, crossing the Moke-
luuue. and keeping first the Sacramento
and then the San Joaquin few niles on
our right. and Mount Diable conspicuous
,till further west. We trasersed a level,
fertile plain. spsrsey wooded uear the IL
vers-s plain which should he, but is not
yet, densely peopled, and very productive
There are some fine orchard gardens
near the cities, and n,ight well be d any,
but good part OF the intermediate conn-
r., is uuiuclosed, and the residue u waIply
devoted to large ranches (Or loose and
.lovebly cattle hu-bandry). aud in less
degree to the growing of small grain
Wheat and Barley. The stubbie indi-
oates good crops, but there Is not SUN =
cient area devoted to them. Uncertainty
Of land t,tles-that paramount curse OF
= Csliforuia-is at-i2ued Is the cause OF
this inadequacy of cultivation, which |
trust is not to continue.
Stockton is situated on bayou OF
the San Joaquin, at the head of regular
steamboat usyigstion oD that river, which
makes it the third city Of California, With
1900 iuasbitants, aud an extensive car
r,iuo trade The better dwellings are ID
good part surrounded by fne gardens,
well filed with delicious fruit. In some
of them the primitive, wide-sP spreading oaks
have beeu preserved, giving them an as
pect of beauty and GOODNESS most grateful
TO those recently arrived from the Plains.
Stockton haa the State lnsane Asylum,
and a very interesting commencement OF
Cabinet of Natural History; better still,
she has an Artesian Well 900 feet deep.
bored at cost of $4,000 and pouring
forth a copiogs aud unfailing stream,
some feet above the surface Of the earth.
Deep as it is, it penetrates Oh! successive
strata Of what appears TO be aliuvlal &C.
post, never touching bedrock ArtesIan
Wells are becoming con men in Callfor-
MIA, snd | trust are yet to play an imPor-
taut part 10 the development and ezteu-
sion not only of her Agricultural but al
20 of her Mining industry, now crippled
especially 10 the foatb) by the general
dearth of water have suspicion that
all the water hitherto obtained by canai'
or ditches, 80 expen7iVeiy constructed,
could have been Froeured far cheaper by
digging Aftesiun Wells, which, however
multiplied, could hardly fail. at the foot
of the Sierra Nevada, to strike copious
fountains at 90 unreasonable depth.
Il left Stockton next morning in
carriage with friend who proposed to
20 through to Bear Valley Us nies) be-
fore sleeping-s foat which doubted the
ability of auy span of lisery horses to ac-
compIisb. Ny doab: was misplaced.-
Good horses, an early start, careful, con-
sidcrste driving. frequent watering, and
the dry, bracing air of California, carried
us through by little after 10 p. IN. and
our team would readily have gone ten
miles further bal We required 1T judge
that sixty miles of just such roads would
have been as hard drive in any State
east of the Rocky Mountains.
Our general course this day was east
by south. passing mainly over moderately
undulatng prairie of every uneqosl but
generally indifferent fertility, and cross
Jog successfully, at intervals of about
twenty miles, the small rivers StaDi'lsus,
Tuolumne, and Merced, all flowing FROM
the mountains westward into the San Jo'
aouin, aud ell rendered turbid by the
mining operations in progress on their
banks or in their beds. The StanlsIaus
Tuus through belt of rather light and
thin Osk, some two or three miles vide;
the Others have few scattering Oaks,
and that is all. There 10 considerable
husbandry-manly Of the reaching or.
der, near Stockton and along the rivers
aforesaid, but very little industry of any
kind on tie naked prairies between then. {.
and not drop Of running water, except,
perhaps. spring or two under some OF
the low bills which have tolerably steep
side respectively. There are very few
deep holes 10 some of the Winter water
courses at which cattle still 6od drink,
though of a bad quality. One settler
from Mass achusetts, who lives mainly by
cattle growing, Informed US that be came
around Cape Horn eight or ten years
since. bss now about ninety bead of cat
tie, which are fast increasing, and intends
to erect wind mill this Winter, by
whose aid be will be able TO have good