Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-01

hundreds of miles through wheat fields
and tule savannas, fed by innumerable
streams that tumble in cataracts down the
woody slopes of the mountains. Every
thing here has been projected on scale
| well BETTING this Garden OF the Gods.
The waters of the Pacific leave the State on
one side, while the snOw-clad nights OF the
Eastern Cordillera look down upon 1t from
the other The gates of the Yosemite open
into chasms as deep and precipltous as any
found elsewhere in the world. Up from
the champaign spring pinnacled buttes and
crested ranges with chimney-tormed rocks,
tall and impending, while here and there q
volcanic cone stands dark and lonely like a
sphinx on the desert, for even these fields
of desolation, over which the mirage
dances and the sand-storms sweeps, pos
sess something to charm the lover OF soil
tude as well as to interest the student OF
nature. How hardly can we find in other
countries anything more satisfying to the
artist. the tourist or the scientist, than is to
be seen here within the limits of CalitOr-
MIA. The Alps and the Andes enjoy a
well-deserved fame for the grandeur OF
their scenery, while the views along the
| Rhine and the Hudson amount to an en-
chantment. But California, if she fails to
combine all that is best in these, possesses
in her scenery so much that is diversified,
original and vast that it cannot fail to fill
| the appreciatiye mind with both admiration
and wonder
CLIMATE.
The most notable thing about the climate
of California is its division into a wet sea-
son and a dry, the former extending from
about the middle of November till the end
of April, though it often begins little ear
lier and continues for several weeks later
| During this season there are generally from
| TWENTY-FIVE to forty entirely rainy days,
which occur at intervals of two or three,
| hardly ever of more than four aor five, in
succession December and January are apt
to be the wetteSt months the rain for the
rest of the time falling in showers, with oc-
! casionally an entirely wet day. Very little
rain falls during the dry season, sometimes
not even a shower from one end of 1t to the
other. The injury caused by such pro
tracted drought is not so great as would at
| first be supposed, for, while the grass with
| ers and the streams dry up, and the dust
| accumuIates to fearful extent, these evils
are offset by many advantages. The roads
| though dusty are free from mud; outdoor
work goes on without interruption; the
| farmer may cut his grain at his leisure, as
! il takes little harm from standing for
week or two after being ripe. Neither the
hay nor the grain after being cut is apt to
| be injured by rain. Having been stacked,
or gathered into heaps, the grain can be left
to be thrashed, and the hay to be pressed
and housed, at any time before the wet
weather comes on. SO, also the viticult-
urist may leave his grapes on the vines, and
the orchardist his fruits on the trees, long
after they are ripe, gathering them when 1t
best suits their convenience. While the
| Ii, 70
before the next rainy season, 1t does not
lose its nutritious properties, cattle thirty
ing upon it almost as well as when 1t Is
green.
Except on the mountains and higher
foothills but little snow falls, nor does
much ice ever form in any part of Calltor-
MIA. The climate along the coast, and for
twenty or thirty miles inland, is mild and
equable, no extremes of heat or cold being
ever felt here Further inland the summers
are hot and the winters somewhat colder
than along this coast belt. Yet, in all the
valleys of California, except the more ele-
waited. apples remain On the trees and veg
| etablcs in the ground without freezing,
while flowers bloom the whole winter long.
Stock, with the exception Of mich cows
and work cattle, receive little or no fodder,
nor are any but work horses housed
ties in the southern part of the State that
have over 800 entirely clear days in the
course Of the year.
As the climate of California is 50 genial
and temperate, so is il little liable to de
structive tempests, violent electrical dis
turbances, or dangerous meteorological
phenomena of any kind. From the cy-
clones and Billiards that have of late
proved so disastrous to life and property in
the Eastern States, California is wholly eX-
empt while the number of deaths from
sunstroke and lightning does not exceed a
dozen. all told. BY the earthquakes, con
corning which so much has been said tC
her disparagement. not over a score OF
lives have been lost since the American Oc
cupation of the country-scarcely more
than one on an average every two years
The people Of this State know nothing OF
famincs. and little of floods, destructive in
undations and damaging droughts being o.
rare occurrence here. Another good pOin
about the Innate Of California IS its eX
IRENE healthfulness. In few other cOun
tries is the death rate 50 small. Endemic
diseases can hardly be said to exist here
while those of an epidemic kind general!
prove to be of a mild type, being not offer
attended with fatal results.
POPULATION, WAGES, COST. OF LIVING, ETC
California contains about 1000 o. inhab
itants, of whom nearly 100000 are China
men. OF these people about 10000 resid
in san Francisco, where the most OF then
are employed as domestics, or engaged IL
washing or manufacturing cigars clothing
boots shoes, slippers, etc. Halt as many
perhaps, live in tire interior cities an,
: towns of the State, where they are in Tx
manner employed. Fifteen thousand wOrl
in the placer mines, chiefly on their owl
account. Several thousand carry on gar
, dening, mostly in the vicinity Of the Ter
. Ger towns. \ few are fishermen, while
great many are employed in the canneries
at railroad building in the reclamation o
the tule lands, and in picking fruit grapes
berries, etc there being but few industrie
in the State but what employ some OF thes
people.
While the prices Of labor in California
, have been steadily declining ever since tn
memorable year Of -, the presence Of tn
. Chinese in the State has rendered to pre-
f cipitate the wages of the working classc
, in advance ofall other prices, the rates pal,
, for most kind of labor being now not niue
, higher in this than in the Eastern States
, The difference in favor of California, eX
ccpt in the case of some skilled branches
will not average more than twenty pc
cent. Cittllltil al III lAi4lNlSs lDi NAlii llt
, receive not over so per month and found
. the wear through Wages during the har
vest season range from SO to $40 per month
2 or - per day and found. In the cities com
: mon laborers receive from 81 10 to 81 pc
Z day, finding themselves. In the machine
! shops, foundries, and similar works dali
WAGES vary from 3 p TO s., these bein
, about what mechanics, miners. engineers
! teamsters, etc, are able to earn in Califor
MIA Good axemen and sawyers are in dc
l mand in the lumber regions at extra higl
wages. In the cannerieS cigar factorie;
: and other establishments where womer
, girls and boys can be employed to advan
) tage, the average earnings are not over S
per day, the usual length of days wor
in California being ten hours.
Although industrially 50 young Califol
MIA has made good progress in many line
of production, outranking all the othe
q States in the matter of gold, wine, WOO
quicksilver and barley; while in her wealt
of neat cattle and her product of whea
. silver and silk she occupies the fifth place
; She has also greater length of TELEGRAPH
g lines and railroads in proportion to popula
{ ton than any Of the older-settled States {
! the Union. the railroads completed with
= her borders measuring over 300 miles be
e sides several short lines in course of con
! suuction.
The total value Of the annual products {
; California amounts now to el100O0, 0'
! The people Of the State have on deposit j