The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-25
A WEALTHY CORNER.

It is misfortune that some of the rich
est of the smaller valleys of the Coast
Range lie off the main lines of travel and
are therefore practically unknown. A rea-
son for this is that these wonderfully rich
spots-each as large as some of the smaller
Atlantic States-are land bays let into the
mountains and backed by steep slopes
which railroad builders in sparsely settled
regions avoid. The San Juan and San
Benito valleys. whose remarkable attrac-
tions were fully described in yesterday g
CALL, are instances, and yet they are
among the wonders of the State. When
we keep in mind the wise old saying that in
locating their missions the Franciscans
"never made mistake" and that one
of their noblest missions was founded in
the San Juan Valley, we have sufficient to
look for something extraordinary in the
locality.
We find that it consists of these excel
lencies: remarkably fertile soil, an
abundance of purest water, delightful
climate, freedom from winds, fogs and
storms and ideal healthfulness. This does
not include the picturesque which with the
Franciscans was as important over CEN
fury ago as it is to-day among our most Gull
tured people. The ground attached to the
picturesque old mission of San Juan Bau-
tista has been under cultivation for more
than hundred years and to-day has a
fertility which to an Eastern farmer would
appear wonderful.
The two main valleys of San Benito
County-San Juan and San Benito-have
each their Distinguishing peculiarities.
The San Benito, which contains HOLSTER.
the county seat, and an intensely modern
and progressive town, is practically closed
against the immediate effect of the Pacific
trade winds. Its climate is very much like
that of the Santa Clara Valley, to which it
is joined by narrow opening in the noun
tains. The Santa Clara Valleys climate
receives certain modification from con-
tact with the bay of San Francisco, and
hence has slight ocean character that
the San Benito lacks. The San Juan Val
ley, on the other hand, though further re-
moved from the ocean than the San Benito.
opens upon it over the Pajaro Valley, and
thus has even more of a coast climate
than the Santa Clara Valley. Being backed
by very high mountains, however, it is free
from the winds and fogs of the coast, and
hence enjoys all the balmy effects of the
trade winds without any of their discom.
forts.
To the very high credit of San Benito
County it may be said that all the discov.
cries of its wonderful resources and all the
progress seen in their development have
been made by it's own residents, without
any assistance whatever from that agrees
sive energy and enterprise which have
been observed in other parts of the State to
have been put forth by newcomers from
the Eastern States. Hollister would be
taken for the smartest product of Yankee
industry and thrift, so beautiful have its
residents made it, and so modern is their
way of governing it. The quaint old town
of San Juan is very different, for its ancient
manana air of sweetness, comfort and re.
pose are as much part of its charm as is
the memory of the old Spanish times that
hovers over it. Those who have not seen
San Juan and come under the spell of the
infinitely soft and winsome graces which
constitute its charm and make it a strange
and picturesque slice out of medieval
times, have missed one of the very few OF
these rare pictures which the vandal hand
of progress has not destroyed in California.