Year: 1870




The following is an extract from q


lecture recently delivered in Milwaukee:


California is worthy visit. The face


of the country indicates that the ranges


of mountains are the results of volcanic


eruptions. In some places they are so


regular that they seem to have been


formed of plastic material that flowed


down regularly. Over most of the noun


tains and valleys there is nothing that


we would call forests. In some places


we see parched and withered space as
| far as the eye can stretch There are
other spots where you think castle has
stood, and cannot believe it the home
of Indians Many theories are offered
to account for the absence of trees in so
many places.


The climate has remarkable phases
and effects. There is often a difference
of ten to fifteen degrees of temperature
from San Francisco TO across the bay


The changes seldom 70 to extreme heat
or cold. As you sit in the room one per-
son will come in and say he never saw
finer day, another will complain of a fog,
and a third declare there is no fog but
sky darkly overcast They all speak the
truth, but come from different points at
a short distance. ] do not doubt but
there are many places where on the
windward side Of hill your land is not
worth plowing and on the leeward side
almost anything can be raised In some
parts of San Francisco they say it is un-
safe to buy city lot on one side of the
street, because a wind may blow it over
to the other side the next day The eli
mate is good, but the locality must be
sought in reference to the object desired.
The extraordinary sizes of trees, etc,
are owing to many facts. The time Of
growth is after the rains have ceased,
during the cloudless weather and when
we should expect dearth. There is a
heavy layer of clay beneath the soil,
and the rain settles on this and keeps
the ground moist The secret ofsuceess-
full cultivation is in continued hoeing
and raking the soil, The loose soil acts
as a capillary attraction.


On one farm the lecturer saw oranges,
pomegranates, walnuts, apples and all
fruits growing together. All flowers are
blooming at season of the year when
you would be compelled to put on an
overcoat if you attempted to gather them.
He thought electricity one of the stimu-
lants, added to the soil, sun and air,
which produce the wonderful vegetation
Of the country.


The scenery was very wonderful, much /
of which was familiar TO all. Going into
ravine at sunset from a mountain the
scene was so impressive that silence
seemed the best medium through which |
to commune with the beauties of nature. /
He described the mountains in beautiful
language, following the streams, cas-
cades and rivers as they leaped down the 1
mountain, and dwelt at length on the /
Yosemite Valley.


The lecturer drew a striking picture Of
the famous California trees, speaking Of 4
ten that were only thirty-two feet in
diameter and some that were three hun
dred and fifty feet high, Two of them
standing side BY side in the church,
would FIJI it from wall to wall, On the
stump of one thirty two persons could
dance, forming four cotilions, and leave
plenty ofroom for musicians and lockers
on. If sawed up one would make 521,-
900 feet of inch lumber, and for two
thousand years, while the world had
passed through innumerable changes,
they had stood there, their branches
waving in the breeze.


In speaking Of the geysers he said that
in a canon less than a mile long he saw
more than three hundred jets OF steam,
that gave indications of what was pass
ing below. The earth near is 50 hot as
70 burn ones shoes. He placed a loco
motive whistle over eae stream and