Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-12
FROM C0LFAX
Along the Nevada County
Narrow Gauge, through
CHICAGO PARK And GRASS VALLEY
TO NEVADA CITY.
A Wonderfully Beautiful ana PrOduc-
tive Section but only Par
italy Developed.
LEADING FEUIT SPBCfALITIES.
A Fine Field for CoIoEization-Ex-
cellent Fruit Lande at Mod
crate Prices-The Place
to Secure Homes.

celIent Fruit Lands at Mod
crate Prices-The Place
TO Secure Homes.
From Sacramento east along the main
line of the Central Pacific is distance Of,
fifty or sixty miles which the tourist
watches with eager interest as the swiftly
moving train unfolds the natural piano.
rama. After passing over twenty miles of
level plain land dotted by scattering
groves of stately oak, comes the gently
undulating rolling section known as the
foothills.
Every person who has traversed this
route remembers the beautiful vineyards,
orchards and homes that dot the hillsides
from Rocklin through Penryn, Loomis,
Newcastle and Auburn to Colfax, and
learned in establishment of the product
iveness of the cultivated fruit area, won
derful almost beyond belief From this
point up the mountain the ascent is rapid;
the hillside surface suddenly becomes
rugged and rocky, and the panorama of
orchard and vineyard is closed.
But, taking the Nevada County Narrow
gauge northward from Colfax, we pass
through a country equally as picturesque
and interesting, but only partially de-
veloped, and it is 10 the resources of this
section. and the possibilities here to be at
tanned, that we wish at this time to direct
attention.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The general surface, contrary to what
might reasonbly be expected, is not noun
famous but consists rather of a series of
hills or ridges, having gentle slopes and
extending with the water courses in a
westerly direction. This arrangement of
the country is such as to give great variety
to the products, those lands having a
southern exposure being adapted to fruits
and vegetables which mature early, or re-
quire long and warm season. while the
northern declivities are cooler, have more
moisture, and are best adapted to fruits
which require late start and are more
slow to rlpen.
These lands are, or were formerly as
rule, covered with trees or a thick growth
of chaparral, but which, when cleared,
prove unexcelled for such fruit purposes
as below mentioned. Between the hills
and ridges are various sized tracts of val
ley lands Astounding in springs and streams
and frequently nearly destitute of brush.
These lands are excellent for pasturage
and hay, but are not so well adapted to
horticultural pursuits.
VARIETY OF SOILS.
Soils depend much for their character
upon the underlying bedrock formation
and the general topography of the coun-
try. Around Nevada City and at other
places where granite comes to the surface.
it decomposes and becomes intermingled.
more or less, with alluyial deposit, forming
a soil which to the superficial observer is
seemingly sterile, but which experiment
demonstrates as rich in those chemical ele-
ments which are essential to the healthy
and thrifty growth of vines and trees.
Some of the most successful orchardists are
now cultivating lands of this class that
only few years ago were not considered
worth fencing.
A second variety is the loamy hillside
soil, which is commonly tinged a dull red
by the ferruginous ochre With which it
abounds. In its unimproved state it sup
ports thrifty growth of forest trees and
chaparral, but which when cleared has the
advantage of bsing free from stones and
easy to cultivate. In this soil fruit trees
and vines maintain healthy. rapid and
vigorous growth and attain maturity at an
early age
A modification of this variety is a soil
having an added mixture of rounded
powders and loose rock, uninviting in ap-
pearance, and until cleared of stones
annoying to cultivate, but which, when
subdued, is as desirable as any
A third variety is that in which the
slate rock occasionally crops out along the
surface, affording seemingly no induce
ment to the vineyardist, and yet the many
Furnishing vineyards in the Colfax dis
trict prove the fact that unexcelled quail
ties Of grapes and other fruits can be prof
itably raised on such lands, and that, too.
without any irrigation.
4 fourth and last class of very limited
area, however, is that of the barren bed
rock of the worked-out and abandoned
placer and hydraulic mines One who has
never visited these mines can form no ade-
quate conception of their forbidding as
pect, with their heaps of powders
and debris, and the grayish-white
bedrock, furrowed, scanned and bleach
ing in the sun. Nothing could APP
pear more utterly destitute and barren, not
even the unpromising plains of drifting
sand that abounded in the sub-tropical
region of this State. But like the sand
plains" these lands, desolate as they ap-
pear, are capable of wonderful transforms
ton, a remarkable example of which is
the vineyard and garden of John Dueray,
Just north OF Nevada City. This instance
demonstrates that it is only a question of
time when a large portion Of this land
will be redeemed from sterility, and made
10 produce an abundant supply OF fruit.
CLIMATE AND HEALTH.
In the section under consideration the
altitude governs the climate As the alti-
tude varies from 1000 TO 5000 feet above
sea level, we find a variation in tempera- /
ture, more especially during the winter or
rainy season. To the Eastern reader it |
may be stated that this begins generally in |
October and lasts uRtil June. The aver |
arge annual rainfall for the past thirteen |
years has been, in the section under con-
sideration, fraction over fifty inches.
Once in great while shower falls dur
ing the summer. Sixty-hundredths of an
inch fell in July, 1876, and eight-hun-
dredths of an inch in August, 1879, which is
the total record for the thirteen years end
ing with the season of 1886. During the
same term the average monthly fall fer
September has been so of an inch. In six
OF the thirteen years no rainfall occurred
during that month.
SSoW-EroRNIS.
Snow is not of such rare occurrence as in
the valleys and foothills, but winters fire.
quently pass without SO much as the sion
of a snowfall. At other times snow
comes to the depth of from two to six
inches, but rarely lasts mere than TWENTY
four hours, generally melting and dis
appearing as it falls. Last winter when the
biizzard-swept section of the Union east of
she Sierras was enjoying their sleigh rides.
spelling schools and skating carniyals'