New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-24
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
xxx.
XXX.
CALIFORNIA-THE YOSEMITE.
BEAR VALLEY, Cal, Aug. IA, 1850


kft Sacramento on Monday morning !ast,
travelling BY stage to Stockton, AZ miles nearly due
ssuth. crossing the Mokelumne, and keeping fret
Ne Sacramento and then the San Josquin few
niles on our night, and Mount Di.ble conspicuous
Ain further west We traversed level, fertile
phip, sparsey wooded scar 6e rvers-a plain
which should be, but is not yet, densely peoped,
aad very productive. There are some hne
ssehsrd gardens near the cities, and might well
- many, but q good part OF the intermediate
country il uninclosed, and the residue mainly de-
voted to large ranches or loose and sovenly cattle
A.sbapdry), and in LEES degree to the growing Of
nall grain-Wheat and Barley. The stubble in
lieates good crops, but there 10 not . sufficient
area devoted to them. Uncertainty Of land titles
that paramount curse Of Calfornis-s assigned
- The cause Of this inadequacy Of cultivation,
which trust is not to continue.
Stockton 10 situated on . bayou Of the San
Joaquin, at the head Of regular steamboat nsviga-
tbl on that river which makes it the third city OF
California with Is, 600 inhabitants, and an extern
sive carrying trade. The better dwellings are in
seed part surrounded by fine gardens, well filed
With delicious fruit. 10 some Of them the print
I've, wide-spresding oaks have been preserved,
giving them an aspect Of beauty and GOODNESS most
grateful to those recently arrived from the Plains.
STOCKTON has the State Insane Asylum, and very
hteresting commencement of Cabinet OF Natural
Histoy; better still, she has an Artesisn Well
1000 feet deep, bored at cost OF $4,000, and
pouring forth copious and unfailiDg stream, some
f,et above the surface Of the earth. Deep it is,
i penetrstes only successive strata Of what appears
y be aluviAl deposit, never touching bedrock.
Artesian Wells are becoming co nmon in Calforns,
and trust yet to play an important part in the
development and extension not only Of her Agr-
cultural but also Of her Mining industry, now Grip
p,el Especially in the south) by the general
aesrth of water. / have suspicion that all the
water hitherto obtained by canals or bitches, 30
sxDensively constructed, could have been procured
hr cheaper by digging Artesian Wells, which,
However multiplied, could hardly fail, at the foot
q The Sierra Nevada to strike oopOus fountains at
- unreasonable depth
lief Stockton next morning in . carriage
viii friend who proposed to 80 through to Bear
Valley as miles) before seepng-a feat which
doubted the ability Of any span Of livery horses to
accomplish My doubt was misplaced: Good
Aerses an early start, careful considerate driving,
frequent watering, and the dry, bracing air Of
California, carried us through by a little after
10 p. NJ, and our team would readily have gone
ten miles further had We required it, Ijudge that
SIXTY miles Of just such roads would have been a.
Aasd drive in any State east of the Rocky Noun
tams
Our general course this day was east by south,
passing mainly over moderately undulsting prairie
sfvsIy unequal but generally Indifferent fertility,
and crossing successfully, at intervals Of about
twenty miles, the ANAL rivers Stanisaus, Tue
lunne, and MERGED, all flowing from the mountains
estWard into the San joaquin and all rendered tur-
Did BY the mining operations in progress on their
banks or in their beds The Stanisaus runs through
belt Of rather light and thin Oak, sometwo three
miles wide the others have few scattering Oaks,
md that il all. There is considerable husbandry-
nainly Of the ranchng order, near Stockton and
along the rivers aforesaid, but very little industry
q ANY kind on the naked prairies between them,
md not drop of running water, except perhaps,
\ spring or two under some of the low hills which
have tolerably steep side respectively. There
are . very few deep holes in some of the Winter
vster-courses at which cattle still find drink
though Of q bad quality. One settler from Masss-
sAusetts, who lives mainly by cattle-growing, in
armed us that he came around Cape Horn
eight or ten years since, has now about ninety head
Of cattle, which are fast increasing, and intends to
erect windmill this Winter, BY whose aid he will
- able TO have good garden Ut once and 6ne
fruit orchard within few years. (Wind-mills
l,cated over wells or other reservoirs of water,
,slich they raise for use in irrigation, are very
common in Stockton, and are rapidly going up
throughout middle California; He has TO 60
seven miles for his fuel fencing stuff, &c. on the
Stanislaus. His nearest neishbOrs, on the road We
travelled, are some five to ten miles distant, but
believe he has nearer. He is doubtless richer here
Than he was in Massachusetts, but cannot realize
tAat his family are happier more fayorably stu
sted for mental and moral improvement there
being no school within reach, and the children de-
sending for instruction on their New-England
mother alone. But their children will not have
New.England mothers-and what then fear
this csttleranching with long intervals between the
ranches, is destined to half barbarre many thou
sands Of the next generation, whom schools can
hardly reach, and to whom the sound of the
"church-going bell" will be stranger. Most of
80 ssriculturists of this region, however, came
here from Missouri, Arkansas, OF Texas-many of
them from Missouri or Arkansss BY way Of Texas
and do not seem to regard common schools IS
essential to civilized hfe
We crossed the MERGED GO miles from Stock