The herald., 1894-01-01
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This southern portion includes the
counties~of Inyo. San Bernardino, San
Diego, Orange, Los Angeles and Ven
tura, and parts OF the counties of Santa
Barbara and Kern. embracing an area
of about 1000 square miles.
1t lies between the Sierra Nevada
mountains and the Mexican boundary
line, with the Pacific ocean on its west
and the Colorado river and the Nevada
state line for it's eastern boundary, and
includes the extreme southwest corner
of the United States. Geographically,
it is between the 32d degree and 35th
degree parallels OF north latitude and
Hath degree and 12lst degree, longi-
tude west of Greenwich.
That there are three CALIFORNIA; is q
fact generally overlooked. The name
California was invented by o. de Mon
talva, Spanish novelist OF the six
teenth century. He gave it to sup
posed island ION the right hand OF the
Indies, very near the gates of the ter
restrial paradise" The Spanish ex-
peninsula OF California, which for nearly
100 years after ita discovery they sup
posed to be an island. With the extern
the year 1853 to the AID degree of lati-
tude they carried the name. Afterward,
when the outlying provincss Of Califor-
MIA was politically divided on about the
32d degree parallel OF latitude. the up
per portion was called Alta or Upper
California, while the peninsula became
known az Baja or Lower California. In
l84S Upper California was purchased Of
the Mexican republic by the United
States. and two years afterwards was
admitted as state.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The topography OF southern California
ia divided by the Sierra Madre, mount
ain range with an average altitude Of
1000 feet, into two great plaina. These
mountains, beginning in Ventura
county, run southeasterly into San
Bernardino county. There they culmi-
nate in three grand piles. Mount San
Bsrnardino, 10,I00 feet high, from
whose sum NIT point all base lines and
me mcridians are run in this section of the
state; Mount Grayback, 1l,725 feet
high, and Mount San Jacinto, over 5000
feet high. Turning round to the south,
they run 750 miles, terminating in the
headland of Cape st. Lucas, at the
southern end of the peninsula of Lower
California.
On their eastern side is portion of
the great plain or basin of the Colorado
valley, whose river drains q large part
of the territory between the Rocky
mountains and the Sierra Nevada. A
large portion of this basin within the
limits of Southern California is unin-
habitable, except along the valleys of
the Owens river, Mojave river and the
Colorado .vsr and Antelope valley.
West OF the Sierra Madre is crescent
shaped territory lying between the
mountains and the sea, including about
| 100000 acres OF the finest land and
climate on the face of the globe. The
horns of this crescent have their tips at
Point Conception on the north and
Point Iona on the south. These are
about 2l5 miles apart in straight line
from point to point. The bow of the
crescent-shaped land is about so miles
wide at it's thickest part, from San Pedro
to Banning. on the summit of the Sierra
Madre. IL is in this narrow strip of ter
ritory that very dense population will
be found within few years. The prin-
cipal attractions are, first, an equable
climate, and second, rich soil.
CLIMATE.
The climate OF Southern California in
cludes all kinds, from the burning sands
of the Colorado desert to the snow
crowned SUBMITS OF the sierras. In the
habitable portions the climate is mild
and equable. The greatest extremes
ever noted were minimum of IL de-
grees and q maximum OF l35 degrees.
The first occurred many years ago at
Keeler, Inyo county, on the occasion of
a yery cold wind off the submits OF the
Sierra Nevada in midwinter. The SEQ
ond happened at Santa Barbara several
years since during hot wind from the
Moaye desert. These were the lowest
and highest points that the ther-
mometer was ever known to
touch in Southern California
where anybody lives. Their durs-
ton was very short. The extreme
cold at Keeler lasted only one night.
The great heat at Santa Barbara was
only ior few minutes, while the wind
was at its strongest. The record OF
temperature in Southern California
shows that nowhere IS the mercury be-
low 80 degrees on more than eight days
in the year, nor above 80 degrees more
than any l6 daye, the average lowest
extreme cold being 26 degrees and the
highest ITO degrees. Theee extremes oil
cold last for only about an hour in the
early dawn, sometimes just long enough
to form a coating of ice quarter or hal.
an inch thick, never more than an inch
in the coldest spots, or sprinkle OF
hoarfrost on the lowlands. The great
est extremes of heat last only about an
hour, along about or 2 O'Clock in the
afternoon, and that in the interior val
eys only.
The effect of the heat is modified by