Diego county and on the west, by Kern and Los Angeles counties. The Sierra Nevada makes a short, easterly curvature on the northwest of this county, leaving a tract of wild desert and broken volcanic ranges on the north and east, nearly one hundred miles in length by one hundred miles in width, of which scarcely any portion is fit for human habitation; but, being rich in gold and silver, numerous mining districts have, from time to time, been laid out and partially developed. These mining districts are in the north of this great wilderness. The Slate Range, Washington, Argus, Telescope, Armagosa, Potosi, and several others, attracted some attention a few years since, but the country is such a miserable desert, without wood or water, that even gold, unless in large quantities, will not secure its permanent settlement. Nearly all of these districts have been abandoned, although some of them are known to be rich in the precious metals.

The whole of this great range of country presents the appearance of having been broken and torn by subterranean fires, which melted the hard rocks into rough, jagged masses, after which they were submerged beneath the ocean for ages, until their extreme roughness was worn off by currents of water charged with sand and gravel, when they were again elevated above the waters, covered with salt lagoons, drift sands, and great beds of gravel and mud.

The numerous beds of dry lakes and creeks found in all directions, mark where these upraised waters passed away. Here and there, the cones of extinct volcanoes, heaps of pumice, obsidian, and fragments of lava, boiling mud-holes, hot springs, and deposits of sulphur, show that the subterranean fires, which probably uplifted and depressed the country, have not entirely ceased their operations.

There is, probably, no portion of the State less inviting to the traveler, than this northern section of San Bernardino county. The vegetation is scant, and altogether different from that growing in the south-west corner of the county. The yucca (yucca baccata), the small-nut pine (pinus edulis), and western juniper (juniper occidentalis), are all that approach in size to a tree, and these only grow sparsely among the granite ranges along the Mojave, and at a few other places among the mountains. The yucca is the most abundant. This curious plant is a variety of palm; it grows from five to fifteen feet high, with a stem from six inches to a foot in diameter, having from two to five branches; its leaves, which resemble the blade of a bayonet, hang down the side of the stem, giving it a rugged, uncouth appearance. This tree forms a staple article of fuel over hundreds of miles of this country.

The sink of the Mojave, or Soda lake, lies in this section of San Bernardino county. The Mojave river flows from Bear valley, running through cañons, over and under the surface, for more than one hundred miles before it reaches the lake. This lake is about five miles wide, by about twenty miles in length. Although called a lake, it never contains any water, the whole stream of the river, during the rainy season, sinking beneath the alkaline soil as fast as it flows in. In 1867, the waters of this river were lower than they had been known for many years, notwithstanding the rains were heavier than usual. A number of new openings in the earth have been discovered along its course, through which the waters passed, leaving many springs dry that were never known to fail before. This fact corroborates our remarks concerning the gradual rising of the Colorado desert, referred to in the topography of San Diego county. The entire surface of this Soda lake is covered with carbonate of soda, to such a depth as to give it the appearance of a snow drift.

The great Death valley, in the north of this county, extends into Inyo in its northeastern corner. This frightful place, according to the surveys of Major Williamson, is from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet below the level of the ocean, while, but seventy miles west of it are clustered a number of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, many of which are from 12,000 to 15,000 feet in height. These facts will afford some idea of the wild confusion of mountains, cañons, and depressions that mark the topography of this portion of the State.

This valley, which owes its name to the melancholy fate of a large party of imigrants, who perished from thirst within its limits, in 1852, is one hundred miles long by twenty miles wide. For forty-five miles in length, and fifteen miles in width, along its center, it is a salt marsh, with a thin layer of soil covering an unknown depth of soft gray mud. The Amargoza river sinks into this marsh. The sides of the valley are steep and barren, a few mesquite, growing among the sands at its head, being all the vegetation to be seen. Its western bank is formed of gravel and hardened mud; on the east it is bounded by high mountains of slate and granite. There is no water fit to drink for many miles, and although there are numerous springs, they are all intensely alkaline. The whole surface of the valley, except the marsh in the center, is covered with sand and gravel, and is scarred in all directions with deep grooves, which appear to have been made by freshets, caused by heavy storms, or bursting of water spouts, that occasionally have done considerable mischief in the surrounding region within the past year or two. The heat of this valley is fearful during the summer.

An exploring party, who visited it in January, 1865, the coolest season of the year, found the temperature 90° Fahrenheit. When there is no breeze through the long cañon the air becomes so dense that respiration is painful and difficult. During the spring terrible gales of wind blow through this cañon in opposite directions, filling the air with salt, gravel, and sand, in clouds as black as coal smoke. Altogether it is as dismal and dreary a place as can be imagined. The Telescope mining district is located on the west side of this valley. There is gold in the gravel thereabouts, but there is no water to work it, or to drink.

The southwest corner of the county presents a much more inviting aspect. The finest portion of its agricultural lands is contained within this district. San Bernardino valley is located here. This beautiful valley is fifty miles in length by twenty miles in breadth, bounded on the east, north, and south by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, covered with timber. From these mountains flow innumerable streams of water, which cause the whole valley to appear like a vast garden by the willow, sycamore, and other trees, that grow along their banks. The Santa Ana, quite a large stream, passes through the entire length of this valley. As may be readily conceived, a region thus sheltered and watered must have a delightful climate. Two crops of grain are gathered regularly in this district. The alfalfa grass, which is a perennial here, is cut six or eight times each year. Most kinds of fruit and grain flourish here. There are many extensive vineyards and orchards, the products of which would be of great value if they could be sent to market. The surrounding mountains contain abundance of pine, cedar, hemlock, maple, and other kinds of timber. There are only two grist mills and five saw mills in the entire county, and these are located in this district. The present town of San Bernardino, in this valley, on the banks of the Santa Ana, was laid out by the Mormons in 1847, on the same plan as Great Salt Lake City. The streets are at right angles, and each lot contains from one to five acres, so that every house is surrounded with a garden, orchard, and cornfield. The town consequently extends over a large space. Nearly all the Mormons abandoned the place in 1856, and went to Salt Lake, but a few still reside here, who carried on quite an extensive trade with Utah for several years. South of this valley, to the line of San Diego county, there are extensive plains and rolling hills, on which are many farms and ranchos in a high state of cultivation. A canal, or zanja, some ten miles in length, constructed by the Lugos, years before the State was formed, supplies a portion of this district with water for irri

gation. All kinds of grain, and many varieties of fruit, are raised in perfection.

On the north side of the San Bernardino mountains, and about thirty-five miles from the town, in a wide plateau, or broad valley, are Holcombe and Bear valleys, which, from 1860 until 1862, attracted considerable attention. The gold mines, both placer and quartz, found here, yielded well for a time, after which operations were suspended, though within the past few months arrangements have been made to re-open these mines. Important discoveries of placer gold, or auriferous gravel, have been made on Lytle creek, about ten miles west from San Bernardino, towards the Los Angeles county line, near the Cajon pass, which is thought to be a rich gold mining district. Near the Morango pass, about thirty miles southeast from Holcombe valley, there are large deposits of copper ore. On the Santa Ana river, near the county seat, there are large beds of marble and alabaster. The county jail is built of this marble, and all the lime used in the county is made from it. The Temescal tin mines, discovered in 1854, (the only body of the ores of this metal found in situ in the State), are located in the Temescal mountains, about forty miles southerly from San Bernardino.

There is but one town, and few good roads in the county. The whole population does not exceed five thousand eight hundred. Quite an addition to the former number was made during the past year by settlers who have purchased lands, which are very cheap in this county.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

This, the most important of the southern counties, is bounded on the north by Kern; by Santa Barbara, and the Pacific Ocean, on the west; the Pacific Ocean, on the south; and by San Bernardino on the east. In outline its boundaries are exceedingly irregular. It comprises about 2,000,000 acres, nearly two-thirds of which are fit for cultivation or for grazing purposes. It contains about 14,000 inhabitants. Los Angeles is more progressive than either of the other southern counties. A number of ditches for irrigating purposes have been cut in various districts within the past year or two, which have caused large tracts of rich land to be brought under cultivation that otherwise were only fit for pasturage.

The Sierra Madre mountains pass through the county in a northwest and southeast direction, from thirty to fifty miles from the sea, not only forming the divide of the waters, but separating the fertile plains and valleys sloping towards the ocean, from the sterile, hot and

sandy desert, which stretches eastward towards the Colorado river. The Santa Susana mountains, a branch of the Coast Range, also cross the county, in a nearly east and west direction. Near Fort Tejon, in the northwestern portion of the county, at a point where the boundaries of Tulare, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties converge, the Santa Inez and San Rafael mountains, of the Coast Range, after traversing Santa Barbara county, unite with the Sierra Nevada, and form a great cluster of peaks and deep cañons. The line of contact between the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada is traced for many miles, running east or southeast, being marked by immense beds of dark colored, compact lava, from two hundred to five hundred feet deep.

The shore line of the county extends from Point Duma to Point San Mateo, about ninety miles, presenting a series of low bluffs and long sandy beaches. The bay of San Pedro forms the only good harbor there is in the county. On the shores of this bay are located the old and new towns of San Pedro and Wilmington, both of which are shipping ports of some importance.

The principal rivers in the county are the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana, which flow nearly all the year and connect with the ocean. There are a number of others which distribute water through the interior during the wet season, but rarely reach to the sea, and are generally dry during the summer.

The section of the county on the southwest of the Coast Range forms a series of plains and valleys which extend from Los Angeles plain to San Diego county, a distance of nearly fifty miles in length, by an average of nearly twenty miles in width, and comprise the most beautiful portion of the southern coast. The lower plain, containing the valleys of Los Angeles, San Pedro, and Anaheim, skirts the ocean, along which its border is from five to forty feet above the level of high tide, fringed, in some places, by a narrow, sandy beach. From the sea line it slopes gradually upward to the base of the foot hills, twenty-five to forty miles inland. The upper plain, or plateau, contains the San Fernando, San Bernardino, Cocomongo, Jurapa, and a number of other extensive valleys.

The soil and climate of the lower plains are remarkably uniform. The soil is a light brown, sandy loam, rich in vegetable matter, slightly more clayey near the bottom of hollows, and more gravelly on the dividing ridges between such hollows, but exceedingly fertile everywhere. The sea breeze, which springs up from the northwest between eight and ten o'clock A. M., during the summer, moderates the temperature and