The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1859-03-09
THE PACIFIC SrATES-THE WEALTH OF
CALIFORNIA

| Aue dcluc OIateS-OFegOn Das passed
through the period Of tutelsge and assumed
its proper place as member Of the great
family ily-have already risen toimportance,
and with every revolving year this impor-
tance will be increased. The great tide Of
population from the Atlantic following the
sun in its course, having submerged the
Rocky Mountains. greets the Pacific, and
with the lullaby Of its placid waters will soon
be mingled the variant, iunumerable, but
not discordant voices of commerce, of trade,
of manufactures, Of agriculture and Of the
arts. Uenceforth the rehux waves from the
shores of either Ocean will meet on the in
,ervening plains, hill-tops, sides and valleys,
and the only rivalry that they will exhibit
will! be to see which can swell the hum Of
human industry the highest, will be to see
which can make two blades Of grass to grow
the more uxuriantly where but one now
thrives, to make one appear where now the
sands of the desert only are seen. In pass
ing. we cannot subscribe to the doctrine ad
vanced before the NewYork Statistical So
cety by Mr. Jay that the desert portions Of
America must forever remain waste places
On the contrary, we believe the skilful band
of science will find means to convert the
sands, tiguratively speaking, into waving
corn, into fertile groves, no longer entitled
to the app.lla,ion of oases. We do not
believe that Providence intended that these
wastes should ever remain permanently
useless, and we think that already we have
the key that will be the "open sesame" to
he change in the deep wells that have pen
etrated thousands of feet into the bowels of
the earth BY which its surface has been
flooded with the cooling, life giving element.
But let this pass.
1t must BE- deemed by the philosophers
student a most striking coincidence that,
with the appearance upon our Pac'lc coas.
Of great American communities, possessing
The untiring energies, the ambition, the tai
ents, the animus of the race, the most nu-
merous, the most ancient Empire of the
world, and one whose exclusiveness for thou
sands of years has shut it out, as it were,
from the rest Of the nations, has been thrown
open to the commerce. civilization and rei-
gion of Europe and America. These two
events-the appearance Of American States
upon the Pacific coast and the opening of
the old marts Of Eastern commerce. have
been brought about by causes having appa-
rently no connection with each other, and
vet that they will have most important
bearing upon the future, and especially upon
the future of our Pacific States, no one of
ordinary Intelligence will for a moment DENY,
Ere long-and at no distant day, Cor this
is the era OF lightnlng-San Francisco, AS
toria, and ports that now have no name viii
Sustain relations to Canton, Shanghai and
other ports OF China, as well as those Of ia
pan, such as Baltimore, Newly ork and Bos-
ton sustain to Liverpool, Havre and Lyons.
Steamships will ply as regularly between the
former, as between the latter and perhaps
the emigration from Asia to Western Amer
lea may throw that from Europe to the Eas-
tern States completely into the shade. This
may g i've birth to new ideas, possibly to
new measures Of public policy, that may |
change perceptibly the aspects of social and
political life in the respective countries.
Oregon and California are large enough.
each, for an Empire, The former contains
a greater area than frarce, equal TO Great
Britain and Prussia united while California
is larger than Spain, and half dozen of the
toIrraby sized kingdoms of Europe might
be carved out of it and leave space enough !
still for several States of greater area than
some OF the present members Of tie ConfeI-
eracy. Oregon is Comparatively undeveloped.
but its admission into the Union will, doubt
less, give it a great impetus, and both its
population and resources we may expect to
see now rapidly augment The products of
California, laying aside its gold crop, are al
read important and show the rapid strides
the State is making towards greatness and
power. 1t has ISL 900 acres of land in az
tual cultivation, besides its grazing lands
which amount to nearly two million of
acres. Last year it produced 3,5G3.66o
bushels of wheat, averaging nearly twenty
bushels 10 the acre; more than five million
bushels of barley, % to the acre more than
a million bushels of oats, million and half
bushels Of potatoes, sweet and white, from
thrty-three counties, averaging nearly a
hundred to the acre; $4,000 bushels Of
corn, averaging nearly fifty bushels per acre;
nearly three million pounds Of butter, a
million pounds cf cheese, with large crops Of
apples, peaches, etc, and a grape crop esti-
mated to be worth ss,OOO,OOo. Cotton,
,ice sugar cane, hemp, fax and other pro-
ducts will grow, it is said, in portions Of the
State.
From t.is rapid glance at our Pacific
States, it must lie manifest that il we expect
TO reserve the Union one and indivisible,
we must De Joined to them not only by the
ties of consanguinity, similarity of ideas and
but also by those Of intercourse
and sociaIity. To this end grest railroad
becomes absolutely indispensable, and the
nearest and most pleasant route, all things
considered, evidently must lie the one that
ought TO, and, palpabIy, in the end viii be
adopted. Our Southern Pacific Rail Road
scheme, under these thickening and cluster