Kernville is one of the most thriving towns in the county. There are upwards of a dozen important quartz ledges within a mile or two of the place, on several of which extensive mills have been in operation for two or three years-the quartz paying steadily and well.

The valleys and flats are cultivated to an extent sufficient to supply the local demand, but there is only one grist mill in the county. A large number of cattle and sheep are raised, and considerable lumber is cut. There are five saw mills in the county, capable of cutting 30,000 feet per day.

The resources of this county will not be developed until a railroad shall connect the southern counties with San Francisco, the great cen tral market for the coast.

COAST COUNTIES.

MONTEREY COUNTY.

Monterey county is the southernmost of the coast counties, according to the division of the State adopted in describing its topography. It is bounded on the south by the Pacific ocean, and San Luis Obispo county, on the east by Fresno and Merced counties, on the north by Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, on the west by the Pacific ocean. It averages nearly eighty miles in length, by about fifty miles in width, and contains about 2,500,000 acres. Seven hundred thousand acres are good agricultural land-less than fifty thousand of which were under cultivation in the summer of 1867. The greater portion of the county is devoted to cattle and sheep raising, much of the best land being still occupied by the original Mexican grantees or their assigns.

The population, at the close of 1867, is estimated at eight thousand five hundred, of whom nearly two thousand five hundred are children under fifteen years of age. There are a large number of Mexicans and native Californians in the county, but many large ranchos have been purchased by Americans during the past few years and subdivided into farms. This has caused many of the natives and Mexicans to lose their occupation as herders and shepherds.

The prominent features in the topography of this county, are the three branches of the coast mountains, which extend through it in a northwesterly direction, nearly parallel with each other and with the coast, dividing it into three belts of valleys and two of mountains. The Santa Lucia range extends along the coast line in an almost unbroken chain of lofty hills, from Mount San Francisquito, on the south

of the bay of Monterey, to Estero bay, in San Luis Obispo county, a distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. On the east of this range lies the great Salinas valley, and its branches. The Gavilan mountains separate this valley from the valley of San Benito and its branches, which are bounded by the main range of the coast mountains, of which Pacheco peak, in the northern corner of the county, is two thousand eight hundred and forty-five feet high-the general average of the altitude of the three ranges being from one thousand five hundred to two thousand feet. As will readily be conceived, such a configuration of the land in a section of the coast where the heavy dews and fogs from the ocean prevail during the summer, has a very beneficial influence upon vegetation. Nearly the whole of the eastern slopes is well timbered. The only pinery on the southern coast is in this county. The greater portion of the best agricultural land lies in the long valleys and table lands between these mountains. Most of the soil in the uplands is sandy or gravelly, but produces large crops of the cereals or fruits, when irrigated. The mountains, in a wide district on the northwestern side of the county, are of granite formation, which is very unusual in the coast range. This has a material influence on the soil of that section.

The Salinas river, after flowing through San Luis Obispo county, enters Monterey a few miles south of the old mission of San Miguel, nearly in the center of the southern border of the county, meanders through the Salinas valley for about ninety miles, and empties into the bay of Monterey, forming a navigable river for a short distance.

The San Benito river rises among the mountains near the Panoche Grande, one of the culminating peaks of the Coast Range, nearly in the center of the eastern border of the county, and flows for about sixty miles to the northwest, where it unites with the Pajaro, at the southern extremity of Santa Clara county.

The Pajaro river separates this county from Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara counties, and flows about forty miles in a westerly direction, until it enters Monterey bay.

The Carmel is an inconsiderable stream, which drains the hilly country north and east of the northern termination of the Santa Lucia mountains, and empties into Carmel bay. These are all the rivers of any importance in the county.

Among the most important of its valleys, are the Pajaro, which extends from the shore of the bay of Monterey to the foot of the Gavilan mountains, about ten miles, ranging from six to eight miles in width, and divided nearly in the center by the Pajaro river. This valley con

tains about ninety-six square miles, only one half of which is in this county. This land is exceedingly fertile, and almost level. On either side of it, for several miles, there is a range of low, smoothly rounded hills, well watered by numerous creeks, and but little less fertile than the bottom-land, which produces fine crops of wild oats, bunch grass, and a variety of clover and native grasses, where not under cultivation. The grape, peach, apple, wheat, corn, barley, and all the hardy fruits, grain and vegetables, thrive remarkably well in this soil. The black soil of the Pajaro has become famous for the wheat and potatoes it produces. The fogs and dews from the ocean are almost equal to rain, on the crops in this valley. Nearly the whole of this section has been settled by American and European farmers, and is in a high state of cultivation. Well tilled farms occupy the site of many an old cattlerancho, and, in place of the solitary old adobe casa, the valley is now dotted with cheerful rural villages, school-houses and churches. Surrounded by the three great branches of the Coast Range; the foothills, covered with fleecy flocks and herds of cattle; the lower ranges, thickly timbered with live oak, redwood, pine, and the beautiful madroña; the culminating peaks, brown, bleak and bare-the whole forms a delightful scene of agricultural thrift and prosperity. This beautiful valley was wholly uncultivated prior to 1850.

The Salinas plains extend south-east from the boundaries of the Pajaro valley. They cover an area of nearly 1,500 square miles, and contain many thousand acres of excellent grazing land. At present, most of it is covered by Spanish or Mexican grants, in large bodies, and is used for sheep and cattle ranges.

This county, in 1860, contained more sheep than any other county in the United States-and 100,000 cattle. They are not as numerous at present, but the breeds have been greatly improved, and the value more than doubled. The wool-clip for 1867, exceeded 350,000 pounds. There are few counties as well adapted for sheep-raising as Monterey county. The yearly increase of the flocks is from ninety to one hundred and ten per cent. No disease is known. The hills in the Coast Range afford pasturage, in seasons when the plains and valleys suffer from drought. At the close of 1867 there were 300,000 sheep in Monterey county, the most of which were of imported, or of improved breeds.

The valley of San Juan lies to the east of the San Benito, a spur of the Gavilan mountains, twelve miles east of Watsonville. It contains about twenty-five square miles of good bottom land, with a large tract of grassy hills adjoining. On the southeast side, on an elevation of

about fifty feet, overlooking the whole valley, stands the old mission of San Juan Bautista.

Carmel valley, on the extreme northwest, about three miles from the town of Monterey, and the San Antonio valley on the south, both sites of old missions, are famous for fruits. Figs, grapes, peaches, olives, etc., are cultivated, as well as the cereals.

The town of Monterey, the county seat, derives its name from Gaspar de Zunniga, Count de Monte Rey, given by Viscayno, the discoverer of the bay, in 1603. It is situated in a little nook of the mountains, on the southern shore of the bay, near its western extremity. Like all other Mexican towns, the streets are irregular, and most of the houses are built of adobes, over which, in this place, the most charming flowers grow from the ground to the roof-almost every house being surrounded by a garden. The beautiful Monterey cypress, (cupressus macrocarpus,) a favorite ornamental tree, is peculiar to this locality. It has not been found in any other part of the State, except where transplanted. On the eastern slope of the hills, the California laurel (orcodaphne Californica) and the madrone, (arbutus menziesii,) are large and numerous.

Pajaro, twenty miles north; Natividad, twenty-five miles northeast; San Juan, thirty-one miles northeasterly; Salinas, sixteen miles east; and San Antonio, seventy-five miles southeast; are each considerable towns, containing from one hundred to nine hundred inhabitants. There are good roads connecting these towns with Monterey. When the projected railroad between Watsonville, an important town in Santa Cruz county, situated on the Pajaro river, and San José, in Santa Clara county, shall be completed, and Monterey county is connected with San Francisco by iron bonds, much of the land now used for grazing will become too valuable for that purpose, and will be converted into grain fields, for which most of it is well adapted. Watsonville is about fifty miles from San José, and one hundred miles from San Francisco.

At present, Monterey county exports a large quantity of butter and cheese, grain, fruits and vegetables. Quite an important source of wealth to the county are the whale and other fisheries in the bay, and along the coast. Large quantities of pure white sand is shipped from the bay for the glass works at San Francisco, and for sprinkling the imitation stone buildings in that city. Monterey, also contains veins of gold and silver bearing quartz, of copper, lead and quicksilver ores, of asphaltum, marble, and of numerous minerals of commercial value, which will probably pay for development when transportation shall be more convenient, and labor less expensive than at present.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY.

Santa Cruz county is situated on the northern side of the bay of Monterey. It is one of the smallest counties in the State, but second in the importance of its manufactures, only to San Francisco. In outline, it is long and narrow, being about fifty miles in length, by from eight to thirteen miles wide. Its coast-line measures about fifty miles. The whole of the county lies between the summits of the Santa Cruz or Gavilan mountains and the sea. It is one of the most mountainous of the coast counties. Within an area of about 500 square miles, or 320,000 acres, it contains 40,000 acres of the richest bottom lands along the valleys of the various streams that pass through it, and 50,000 acres of fine agricultural land, which form the terraced plateaus, caused by the repeated uprisings of the land. These plateaus extend along the coast, the entire length of the county, and reach inland to the limits of the timber. This raised land varies in fertility, but is generally productive. The greater portion of the county-230,000 acres-consists of mountain ranges, much of which is adapted to grazing, and a large proportion is densely timbered with magnificent forests of redwood, oak, and pine.

This county is bounded on the north by San Mateo county; on the south, by the bay and county of Monterey; on the east, by Santa Clara county; and on the west, by the Pacific ocean. Its population, nearly all of whom are Americans, chiefly from the New England States, numbers about 11,000. In 1860, there were less than 5,000. Most of the best land in the county was originally covered by Spanish and Mexican grants, but these have been purchased by men of means, and subdivided into farms, which is the main cause of the rapid development of its resources.

The county is watered by several never-failing streams, which run from the mountains to the ocean. They are all short, with considerable fall, creating power sufficient for an almost unlimited number of water-wheels, to drive machinery. The chief of these rivers are the San Lorenzo, which passes through the county nearly in its center and empties into the bay of Monterey, near the town of Santa Cruz; the Soquel, which enters the bay three miles further south; the Aptos; the Sulsipuedes; and, still further south, the Pajaro, (bird,) passing between this and Monterey counties; and the Pescadero. The climate of this county is remarkably varied-places but a few miles apart differ as much in temperature and productions, as does the north from the south of France. Where sheltered from the sea-breeze, the rose