The Shasta courier., 1866-12-15
The Gulf of California--Our Prospective
Possessions OH the Pacific.

By the treaty now in preparation which is
to settle the complicated Mexican question,
Lower California and the Gulf of California,
in addition to other northern Mexican States,
are to be ceded to the United States Gov
ernment in the consideration Of the protec-
ton extended to the Republic of Mexico, as
part of the arrangement entered into by the
Emperor Napoleon and President johnson.
In accepting Lower California and the Gulf
we gain most valuable possession equal
only to California itself. 1t is questionable
whether. in many respects, the Gulf and the
Peninsula may not prove quite as advanta
geous to our interests as the territory ac
quired by the Mexican war Heretofore
Lower California has been in a measure a
terra incognita. Now that it is about to be-
come part of the United States territory,
It's physical, geographical and political ad
Vantages become of some moment. The
possession of the peninsula of Lower Califor
MA will give us an additional territory on the
faclhc seven hundred and fftv miles lone.
extending from the mouth of the Colorado
river southwark to Cape ST. Lucas. and
from thirty to one hundred and twenty miles
wide. The entire area may be measured at
nearly two hundred thousand SQUARE miles
Under the misrule of the Mexican Govern
ment Lower California has, of necessitv
been comparatively unproductiye but it is
capable of vast improvement when subject
ed to the enterprise of our people, which can
make every acre yield tenfold its former
results, both in mineral and agricultural
.alth. The principal productions hereto
l.afc developed are gold. wine, pearls. hides
and tropical fruits of all kinds. In the
vicinity of La Paz there is gold mine of
immense wealth, as yet but poorly worked.
The temperature is varied, but not unfavor-
able to agricultural and other labor. In the
extreme south and i'll the northern districts
bordering on California the climate is most
agreeable. In the central portion or district
of Loreto tropical heats sometimes prevail.
The population which is composed of
mixed breed Indians, negroes and whites,
amounted in 1850 to about twelve thousand.
and has probably increased to fifteen or
eighteen thousand, at the present time
There are two principal cities, Loreto, the
capital, and LIE Baz. On the Pacific coast
there are numerous bays which might be
converted into good harbors for instance.
the bays of Sebastian, San Marina, Mag
delana and Ballenas.
But perhaps the Gulf may be regarded as
more valuable than the Peninsula. as with
the possession of the State Of Snaloa and
Sonora, it would give us some splendid sea-
ports on the west coast of the mainland,
affording immediate communication between
the Pacific and our Territories, especially
the golden Valley of the Colorado. The
port Of Guaymas is the principal one, and is
reported to excel that of San Francisco.-
We need not expatate upon the value of the
Colorado region. 1t is, perhaps, the richest,
in mineral productions in the world 1t is,
in fact, a vein of gold and silver, besides
possessing the finest pasture land on the Pa
cifc slopes. 1t is comparatively issolated
frnm our great centres now and altogether
unapproachable from the Pacific but when
we can command Lower California with its
three coast lines, and the Gulf with its fine
barbors and seapOrts, which we can connect
with Texas by railroad through this fruitful
Colorado region, who can put limit to the
wealth to be drawn from this whole district
of country?
Under Mexican rule Lower California
with all its advantages, is little better than
a waste, of no value to Mexico-a dead men,
Der of the body and barrier between US
and a large extent of the Pacific Coast As
part of the United States the waste will
soon be made to bloom as garden. and
every resource it contains will be amply de-
veloped The Gulf of California abounds
in pearls and corals, but the fisheries for
these articles are neglected. and yield but a
small moiety of their actual productiveness.
Fish of all kinds, including some of the
rarest and most delicate species. are obtain
ed in these waters. We can readily imagine
how American enterprise would convert all
these resources into valuable equivalents.
Such is portion of the advantages which
the treaty for the disentangement of the
Mexican skein, suggested by President
johnson and about to be confirmed as ac-
ceptabe by Napoleon AMI the Republican
Government of Mexico, will confer upon this
country 1t is to the interest of all parties
concerned-the United States, Mexico and
France-that these negotiations should be
speedily consummated.