The Placer herald., 1873-11-08
CORRESPONDENCE.
MENDoc1No CITY, October 30, 1878.

MHNDoc1No CITY, October &c. 1873.
Ed. HERALD:-
Often have been imbued with the good in
tention o. writing you few lines" but, like
many other good intentions, it was never car
red out. II this short correspondence will
serve as m apology, shall feel extremely
glad,
We live here in timber region; hence you
may know that the principal production of this
place is lumber. The busy and continual hum
of the saw-mills and the morning, noon and
evening whistles have become almost as famil
lar to our ears as the constant roar of the ocean
laving our western shores.
Times here dull or lively, as the demand
for lumber is good or bad. At present the de-
mand is not very great; consequently the times
are not unusually lively. The largest mill on
the coast is situated here, which, when running
at its fullest capacity, cuts from 80 M to 100 NJ
feet per day. 1t furnishes employment to about
100 men.
Mendocino City is situated Immediately on
the coast, upon a small arm of the mighty Pa
cihc, ordinarily called Mendocino Bay. Into
this bay empties Big River, or, as it is laid
down on the old Spanish charts Rio Grande.
The river, with its tributaries, gives access to
some of the finest timber on the Western Con-
tinent, belt of which, averaging twenty miles
in width, extending rs far south Santa Cruz
and as far north as British Columbia. The
trees are cut into logs and placed in the streams,
where they lie until the winter freshets carry
them to tide water, whence they are RATED to
the mill. The lumbermen of the coast look as
eagerly for abundance OF rain in the winter sea-
son as do the farmers Of the San Joaquin and
Sacramento Valleys or the m riers of old Placer,
for dry season makes them suffer NO little
amount
Though lumber is tho principal production,
on the coast will not be content to be ranked
last in agriculture. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that the whole strip of country bordering on
the ocean, from Humboldt to San Francisco, is
one vast field, which may be said to be divided
about equally in the production of potatoes and
oats.
Our trade is carried on chiefly by water. The
produce is carried to San Francisco and oth9,
points by vessels, principally schooners.
Wherever an inlet of the ocean affords any
reasonable facilities for shipping purposes
there, on the. bank, you may see waiting for the
next schooner, vast piles of railroad ties, posts
and tan-bark. In fact, railroad ties are manu-
factured to such an extent on the coast that
they have become, as it were = sort of coast
currency.
In picturesque scenery, the Mendocino for
ests and coast stand unrivaed. Looking from
an eminence the eye rests upon one immense
forest undulating rs the billows OF the ocean
and green as grain field in springtime. These
trees form canopy 80 dense that in some pla.
ces the suns rays never penetrate to the soil be-
meath. 1t is no uncommon sight to see in the
woods trees towering to an immense height,
and measuring, five or six feet from the base
| from twelve to twenty feet in diameter. Strange
| that so much marvel should be made OF the
Mariposa and CAlaveras trees, when gigantic
| trees are OF 30 rare occurrence elsewhere!
Game ia abundant. Deer roam in almos
countless numbers through the woods, whl'