The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-02-17
OUR CALIFORNIA LETTER.
SACRAMENTO CITY. January 81, 1855
TSnaeiaI Corros,,ors5orn,1

lOptcidl correspondence
California, the largest State in the Union
except Texas. is 700 miles long with an
average width of $50 miles The Sierra
Nevada and Coast Range of mountains run
parallel, northeast and southwest, the Ser
ras having an altitude of from 5000 to
Ia, 600 feet; the Coast Range from $500
TO 600 feet, and they are divided by a
number of valleys and rivers. the principal
one being the Sacramento valley. 200
miles in length and 40 miles average
width, through which runs the Sacrament
to river, a nayigable stream for about $50
miles from its entrance into Suisun bay. a
small bay at the head of the bay of San
Francisco.
Sacramento valley proper includes tha
counties of Sacramento, Yuba, Butte, Te-
hama, Colusa, Suffer, Yolo and Solane,
these being bordered by the mountain
counties of Amador, Ell Dorado, Placer.
Nevada Sierra, Plumas, Shasta, Trinity,
Mendocino, Lake and Napa, affording a
great variety of soil and climate, owing to
the difference in elevation.
The soil of the valley counties bordering
upon the Sacramento river is principally a
dark, rich adobe and alluvial soil. and well
adapted to the growth of cereals. Along
the foot hills varieties of soil from black
adobe to light sandy soil appears The
lower slopes of the mountains contain diff
ferent soil, some being sands, of light color.
others light clay, and much deep red CLAW
The SUBMITS are more rocky and volcanic
and the soils vary, some being clay hills.
sandy ridges, loamy meadows and deep
rich valleys in the very tops of the mount
aims, being the favor ts resort of large
herds of sheep and cattle during the sum
mer months
Along tie foo t-hills there is more or less
dense growth of fuel timber, principally
oak. The mountain sides are covered
with a growth of pine fir and oak
Astounding in game The climate of.
che valley is warm in summer and
lot cold, the thermometer rarely dropping
below 30 degrees above zero in winter
In June, July and August the mercury fire.
quently rises to 100 and occasionally ITO
degrees, but owing to the peculiar drvness
OF the air, and constant circulation of the
winds, which take off all perspiration and
cool the body, the heat is not oppressive.
and business in the towns and harvesting
In the fields go on as usual, a case of sun
stroke being very rare indeed. The mineral
BELTS in tue foothills and noun tains, the
gold once Astounding in the beds of all the
streams in ravnes and guches, on the
surface of gravelly plains, in the clay hills,
on the tops OF the mountains and in the
great veins of the rocky ridges Much still
remains and thousands of miners yet derive
remunerative employment digging it out,
but the old miners now caution the new
conner with the proverb: Gold is where you
find it.
Stretching along the foothills and up the
mountain sides to the altitude of 2. 500 feet
is what is known as the thermal belt" 1t is
In this belt where the warm air fingers when
the sun goes down, and to which the warm
air rises when the first rays of the morning
sun are thro Hn upon the valley Tender
plants and semi-tropical fruits are grown
IN profusion, as was fully demonstrated at
the Citrus fair held i'll Oroville, Butte Coun-
ty, in December last. This thermal belt is
also noted for itswonderful curative qualities
In lung and asthmatic complaints But very
little good Government or railroad land
near the railroads or rivers remain. Land
is worth from So to $500 per acre according
to location and improvements In the foot
hill region land is selling from So to $50
per acre. In the valley bordering on the
Sacramento river large ranches of from
LOCO to 60, ZOO acres have been the pre-
valling feature AS population comes in
these will be subdivided and on their rich
aliuvial soil thousands of small farms, the
homes OF thrifty families, will be estab-
llshed, but this can not be accomplished
until the population increases and there is
demand The population of this great
State is about 1, 500, 900, but it is capable
of supporting 10, 100000 people.
All this vast region of soil, water and
climate unsurpassed by any other, now in
vites population-not lazy, shiftless, i'm
pecunious persons such would soon starve
or be found begging-but men with brain
and muscle, and enough money to give
them fair start, enough to sustain them
while improving the lands, to make them
produce that for which nature intended
them-such men, if with families so much
the better, can find abundant opportunities
to secure at moderate cost such home as
will be pleasant and profitable man
with a family willing to help him, if he has
from 81 600 to S3, 900 in hand, is safe to
make beginning which, if he is judicious,
should lead him to prosperity
Notwithstanding the heavy rainfall that
is precipitated every winter in the Sacra-
mento valley, and which has always pro-
duced good crops Of cereals, except in the
year 1864, it has been demonstrated within
the past two years that in order to perfect
fruit to it's fullest extent, an abundance of
water during the dry or summer season is
beneficial
In the early mining days of California the
miners soon discovered the value and ne
cessity of perennial streams in their oper-
ationS, hence in localities where the water is
scarce in the summer seasons resort was
had to the construction of bitches
The bitches or canals with their artific ial
reservoirs along the summit of the mount
aims are now being utilized for irrigation
with profit to the ditch owner and farmer
There ara mineral springs in the foot-hill
ranges upon both SIDES of the Sacramento
valley that vie in their curative qualities
with the far-famed springs of Germany,
and are resorted to by invalids from every
section of the United States
Two branches of the Central Pacific rail-
road leaves S&cramento-one on the east
side of the valley, via Marysville and Chico
and the intermediate towns, the other on
the west side, via Woodland Willows and
Williams and intermediate towns uniting
at Tehama, the now head of navigation on
Sacramento river. From thence the road
is continued to Portland, Ore. this road
having been completed within the last
sixty days, opening up country wonderfully
rich in farming timber and mineral prod
ucts
Until the past five years the raising of
wheat and barley was the principal occu-
patton of the farmers of the Sacramento
valley, the grain being transported to
Europe on ships, but the completion of three
trans-continental railroads-the Central
Pacific, Southern Pacific and the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe with the prospect of
other roads soon coming, affording in
creased facilities and reduced rates of
transportation, has given wonderful i'm
petus toward raising fruit, and California
will soon be considered the garden spot Of
the world. The Sacramento valley has sup
piled nine tenths of the fruit sent East, and
the g Fruit Growers Union - an association
of farmers, in the year 1857 sold their fruit
in New York and Boston on the auction
plan, and with gratifying success 1t will
be tried in other cities this coming season,
with reduced rates of transportation, so
that sixty million of people in the United
States can afford to purchase these Califor-
mia fruits and the progress and develop