The Placer herald., 1870-12-24
Letter from Yisalia.
VIsALIA, December 18th, Is

VIsALIA, December 18th, 1870.
Editor Herald:-I arrived at this place
by somewhat circutious route from Para
disc City, few weeks agony acquaint-
ance here, therefore, is rather limited, as also
the information which can comm unicate in
regard to .his xegion. Our journey to this
place was through q treeless plain for dis
tance of one hundred and seventy miles, e1-
cepting small belt of timber on the San
joaquin, and larger belt at Kings river.
From Wards Ferry, on the San Joaquin,
to the nearly deserted town of Fresno City,
scarcely vestige of the old vegetation re-
mained, owing to the scanty growth during
the drouth last winter. Between Fresno
and Kingston. on Kings river, the country
is generally low and level and covered with
salt grass and wire grass; here, tens Of thous-
ands of cattle were seen--some of them were
dying for want Of water, or rather from
their having to travel so far to get it. The
country along the road from Kingston to Vi
sala, is also level and covered with salt
grass and occasionally by alfleria; this land
has been entered by stock men, but between
Kingston and Fresno, in the neighborhood Of
the Elkhorn Station (stage) is some good
land still subject to pre-empton, supposed to
be out of the reach of floods, and having
good water at depth of twelve feet
Southwest from Visalia in the direction of
Tulare Lake and within Railroad limits, land
can yet be pre-empted, some of it seems to
be of an excellent quality, and the probable
reason why it has remained subject to pre-
emption SO long is, that some are fearful that
the country will prove too dry for grain rails
ing without artificial irrigation; this opinion
has been gaining ground here lately, but it
would be unfair to judge the future by the
experience of the last two years, which has
been rather adverse to farming interests in
Southern and Central California.
Farming here, except on a small scale has
not been undertaken because stock-raising
was deemed to be more profitable.
This county is we'll supplied with oak
timber; oaks are intersperscd nearly through
out the whole extent of the delta formed by
the Cahuilla creek
Visalia, the County Seat Of Tulare, is sit
uated in the midst of magnificent forest trees,
so we'll concealed is it by the luxurant fo-
iiaGe, that stranger, on first sight, could
form no adequate idea of its extent or i'm
portance. Nisalia is an Incorporated town
Of one thousand four hundred inhabitants,
it is the center Of trade, in a sparsely popu-
lated district Of great extent, it has about
dozen good stores, several of which must
contain at least fifty thousand dollars worth
of goods each, three drug g-stores, eevcn ss-
looms, besides other store. and shops of minor
Importance, and the usual accompaniment
Of blacksmith shops, hotels, ETC., etc. Not
withdrawing its character for rowdyism, the
people of the place seem peaccable, kind and
well-dspossd toward strangers. The civil
zing forces are active here as in other places;
there are three church buildings, two or three
private schools, one seminary, under the
efficient management Of the County School
| Superintendent, Professor -, and two
newspapers. the tisdita Delta and Iularc
Times. People here are from ncarly all
parts OF the world-the majority Of the ner-
| chants are Israelites. The Chinese do a
goodly share of the gardening and vcnlmg
! Of vegetables, while primitive Calitornian.
(Digsers) may be seen as usual, standing at
street corners, and witnessing all the sights
with complacency. The majority of the vo-
ters in the county are from the Southern
States, or people who coincide with them il
their political opinions.
With sufficient rain this can be made one
! of the garden spots of California, and with a
Railroad connecting with the San Francisco
Bay, one may get goods for a reasonable
price; as it is, we have to pay two and a-half
and three cents per pound for freight from
Bantas, Railroad Station near Stockton.
Yours truly,
VITAL f.. BANGS.