Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-04-30
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.


To the Editor Of the KenneJec journal:
Twenty-one years ago these barren sand
hills which now are covered with population
of nearly 100000 souls, were chosen as the
most convenient place to land by the Forty
Miners" as they are now called. They con-
sisted of the pioneers who first reached Cali
forna after the discovery of gold. San Fran
cisco Bay had been frequently visited by YES
sells and affordng the finest harbor along the
coast, il was very naturally chosen as the place
to found a city. worse spot to build a city
upon could hardly have been selected but it
possessed advantages to shipping which other
places on the bay did not. These advantages
were deep water and easy access, and at that
time they were paramount to everything else.
For many years there had been a small Span
ish settlement here, around the Mission Do
lores. which is still standing with its adobe
walls and tile roof. Such was the COM
mencement of this city of steep sand hills,
whose barren tops had been swept for centu-
rics by such a relentless trade wind blowing
in from the Pacific that nothing could grow
except a few dwarf oaks and bushes. Now
its busy thousands are expending millions of
dollars in cutting down the hills and grading
the streets. Some of these cuts are over one
hundred feet deep, and that too in the midst
of the most populous portion of the city, leav-
ing fine mansions on dizzy heights and APP
parenty ready to topple down at the first
earthquake. But there is no help for it now.
ri: g nd limo
no matter how heavily the taxes fall upon the
people This is an earthquake" country.
and consequently the city OF San Francisco
presents peculiarities consequent thereto
| Very few blocks are carried above three sto-
ries in height, and most are but two. The
BUSINESS part of the town is built up princi-
pally of stone and iron, well anchored togeth-
err. Brick as a building material is at dis
count as unsafe in ''quakes." The dwellings
are almost all, from the most elegant mansion
to the meanest hut, constructed of wood, and
generally confined TO one or two stories. Or
namental fronts to buildings of all kinds char
acterize this city probably to a greater extent
than any other in the United States, and the
effect is very pleasing to the eye, making up
in grace and beauty what is wanting in grand
eur and solidity. Most of the better class of
dwellings are built in the suburban villa Style
and immense sums expended in ornament
ING the outsides of the houses. Yet the city
looks bare. Its hills though covered with fine
mansions are still sandy, barren hills, for
shade trees are wanting. The soil seems to
! bo fri 1ly 70 th!s of
ornamental trees, except the evergreens, in
Guiding the live oaks. Probably the winds
which blow almost continuously and often very
forcibly during the summer months have
something to do with this.
San Francisco is very peculiar city in sew
eral respects One is the climate. The tenn
perature is almost the same the year round,
but rather warmer during the winter when the
strong southern trade winds do not blow
The climate is so uniform that there hardly
appears to be any change of seasons, but one
unbroken stretch from year to year, with only
one division into the rainy and the dry sea-
sons each extending through about six months.
May, June, July, August and September are
rainless months, during which nearly every
thing dries up unless artiicially watered.
The hills and fields are brown and parched
with the drought, and in the interior of the
State the heat during the day is intense, but
, the nights are always delightfully."- cool and
refreshing. The air is clear and dry, and full
of vitality. People complain that they can not
e ''keep run" of passing time, one month is so
much like another, and that the years come
r and go with swfter step than in the east where
the seasons are SO marked. The most pleas
ant and beautiful part of the year here is the
Spring or the end of the rainy season. This
is the time to visit California and to avoid on
| the one hand the heavy rains of winter y and
on the other the hot and rainless summer when
r for months not even a cloud is to be seen in
the fearless sky. The refreshment afforded
by thunder storm is even denied here, and
gardens must be kept alive by watering Now
the air is full of the music of birds and deli
r catey perfumed with the odor of wild flowers
which cover the hills and valleys with car
pet mngling almost every hue and shade.
Such richness and softness of coloring cannot
be excelled, and its beauty is greatly enhanced
t by sky which rivals Italy.
No country or place has all to delight and
I nothing to fear. California is certainly under
a ban of terror which strikes to every heart
the fear of earthquakes. The people try to
theorize, to philosophse, and to reason away
fear. They say this coast is just on the edge
of an earthquake belt and the shocks will new
. er be VERY severe; that they have been felt
. here ever since the country was first known
and have never been fatal to life; that Cali
|, fornia is much safer with her earthquakes than
the Atlantic States are with their thunder and
lightning which kills hundreds of people every
year They hug these and many other con-
soling things to their breasts, but when
shock comes where are the fine spun theories,
where the confidence? They are gone in
second and every one is afraid, every one looks