Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-01-03

while other regions have been equally
generous in their vegetable gifts. All
the trees, grains, flowers and fruits that
have been brought us, whether from the
north, south, east or west, have at once,
and as II at home, taken root In our
fertile fields and gardens, and reached
out aifectionately leaf, blade, spirc or
tendril to bathe In our sunshine and
breathe our balmy air. Everything
planted has grown quickly and pro.
duced lavishly fifty, q hundred. and
even thousand fold, repaylng liber-
ally the superintendent OF man and the
tender care OF nature.
But our pre.eminence In the lines Of
fora, agriculture and horticulture Is by
no means the chief distinction Of this
State. Since lS49 California, taking all
sources Of production into the count has
undoubtedly poured into the channels
OF trade billion and half Of dollars In
the precious metals. The true amount
will probably never be known with any
approach to oxactness, so much gold
was carried of by thousands Of returning
Argonauts who made no registry OF
their finds" There is enough authcn.
tic data, however to make our estimate
a safe one.
| Speaking of the mineral wealth OF
California--and her iron and other
metals will ultimately be found to far
exceed in value her marvellous gold
yields Chronicle says;
But vegetable and animal wealth dc
not alone make up the sum of human
possessions, or alone satisfy human
needs. Without the useful minerals
man must have remained barbarian
Without the precious metals he could
never have reached his present degree
Of refinement. The hills and mountain,
of California supply metals and minerals
OF all kinds in the greatest abundance
We have mines Of silver, gold, nicke
and quicksilver. We have some Of the
richest deposits OF iron on the continent
We are amply supplied with copper ant
lead, while there are numerous deposits
of tin as yet undeveloped. Hardly on'
of the minor metals known to scienc.
can be mentioned that has not beer
found somewhere within the limits O
the State. As yet we are without true
coal. but large deposits OF 1t exist JUS
beyond our northern and southern Dor
dcrs, and there Is little doubt II will b.
, found In tho Coast Range or in tn,
, Sierras convenient TO San Francisco, ant
not far distant from the iron deposit
which are just being rendered available
Our San Francisco contemporary in
troduces Its cogently written editoria
review Of the situation by the remarl
that it is not necessary to 'gush' whei
speaking Of the possibilities Of Califor
mia. The truth Is that 1t would be yer,
hard indeed to gush when treating o
the future Of this State. 1t is curiou
fact that the development Of the Upite'
States has exceeded in Its completeness
and spendor the most roseate picture
ever drawn by the spread eagle orator
of the beginning Of this century. Tn
reality has far outstripped the mos
strained pictures Of the most turgi'
rhetoric.
When, little over ten years ago
Charles Nordhof wrote the series OF let
to-s to the New York Tribune, whicl
were afterwards embodied in his bool
on California, he was quite generally &C
cused of exaggcration. Perhaps, Il
writing of such regions as the San Jon
quin valley, he was little over san
guine, while in treating of such section
as Los Angeles county, he far underes
timated the immediate possibilities
!, Take his treatise on California for all j
nll, we can safely say that his utmos
expectations have been exceeded by til
developments of the past ten yeais
. When he was out here two years ago h
" informed the writer that he had not
" word to take back and he thought hi
y pictures were rather under than ovel
= drawn As a matter of sober verify, a
that Nordhoff ever predicted of Los Al
: geles county has already been infiitel
;, exceeded by the result He must POI
: sess very vivid pen. indeed. who ca
really prove himself capable of exaegel
ating the claims of California.