timber for eighteen miles, enters the bay about three miles east of Santa Cruz, where a good wharf has been erected.

Castroville is another town which has been formed within a year or two, on the rancho of Rafael Castro, at the mouth of Aptos creek, about two miles east of Soquel landing, where a wharf five hundred feet in length has been built, from which a large quantity of grain, potatoes, and lumber is shipped to San Francisco. In October, 1867, there were four thousand cords of wood at this wharf awaiting shipment.

There are few scenes more strikingly Californian or more naturally beautiful than may be met with during a ramble through the redwoods of Santa Cruz. The peculiar and delicate cinnamon tint of the bark of these superb trees, which not unfrequently measure fifteen feet in diameter, towering from two hundred to three hundred feet in height, and sometimes straight and free from branches more than half of that distance, the dark green foliage, resting above as a huge canopy, impervious to the sun's rays, keeps the soil cool and moist, and forms a sort of hot-house for numerous varieties of delicate flowers, while in the less sheltered cañons, the magnificent madroña, the laurel, manzinita, sycamore, buckeye and birch, and the numberless varieties of underbrush, all varying in tint and form, comprise a picture of rare beauty. For its luxuriant vegetation and sturdy growth of timber, as well as its genial climate, Santa Cruz is indebted to its position, which fully exposes it to the moist and tempering breezes of the ocean.

About ten miles northeast from the town of Santa Cruz there are forty-five cylinders of sandstone, which were at one time supposed to be the ruins of an old building. These curious pillars are from forty to fifty feet in length, and from one to three feet in diameter, and hollow through their entire length. They rest, at their base, on a stratum of sandstone, but pass through a bed of loose sand. They have been formed by mineral springs containing lime and iron in solution, which, in their passage to the surface, deposited these minerals in the sand, concreting it into these cylinders. When the land was uplifted, and the source of the springs dried up, the sand, being exposed to the wind, was removed, leaving the pillars standing, until some of them fell from want of support. They form an interesting object in the topography of the county.

Among the valuable natural products of this county may be mentioned the chestnut oak, (quercus densiflora,) which grows abundantly in the mountain ranges. The bark of this tree contains more tannic acid. than any other that grows on the American continent. It is this peculiarity that causes the California leather to be so much tougher than

most other kinds. There are at present seven tanneries in Santa Cruz, which consume monthly about three hundred tons of this bark, in making 55,000 sides of sole, upper and harness leather annually, valued at $225,000, about sixty per cent. of which is sole leather. The best portion of the trees, after the bark has been removed, is converted into staves for flour and lime barrels, of which a large number are made annually; the balance of the tree is cut into fire-wood, of which several thousand cords are annually sent to San Francisco. The peculiarly rich soil of the lower hills produces a great quantity of hazel bushes, from which nearly all the hoops used by the powder-works and lime-burners are made. The powder company use 1,700,000, and the lime-works over 300,000, of these hoops annually, and large quantities are also exported to other places, without any apparent decrease in the supply of the material. These hoop poles sell at from $5 to $10 per thousand when split, and give employment to a large number of laborers. This adaptation of materials to appropriate purposes is illustrative of the spirit of the people who inhabit this county. There are many other sections of the State quite as rich in natural resources, and as conveniently located with reference to markets as Santa Cruz, but they are not inhabited by so enterprising a population.

The number of fish swarming in Monterey bay, is almost incredible. There is scarcely any description known on the coast, from the whale to the sardine, but is caught here. In 1863, an immense shoal of herrings, from some unknown cause, was stranded along the beach, on the Santa Cruz side of the bay. They extended for nearly three miles, and were spread to the depth of from six inches to nearly two feet over the entire beach. A whaling station does a profitable business here; occasionally a leviathan enters the bay, when the peculiarly transparent water allows him to be seen for miles floundering and battling with the swarms of parasites that feast on his blubber, until he is captured by the whalers. The sardines in this bay are more numerous and of better quality than are caught in many portions of the Mediterranean, of which thousands of dollars' worth are annually imported into the United States.

Copper ore exists in the Chelone and San Benito districts, near the center of the county.

Oil from petroleum has been made, to some extent, on the Seyente rancho, a few miles above the town of Santa Cruz, on the San Lorenzo river. There are several other localities in the county where petroleum is abundant.

Coal has been discovered about seven miles from Watsonville, on the Santa Cruz road, near the Seven Mile house, and at Lewis' valley, in the eastern portion of the county. There has been but little effort made to develope these discoveries.

Lime is one of the staple products of this county. More than one third of all the lime used at San Francisco-about 220,000 barrels, annually-is brought from Santa Cruz, where it is made from a large body of highly crystalline limestone found about two miles north-east of the town.

Gold, in both quartz veins and alluvium, has been discovered in several places in this county. In 1854, a boulder of auriferous quartz was found on Graham's ranch, which contained nearly $27,000 in gold. Quite an extensive mining district was located in the vicinity of this discovery, and small quantities of gold and silver were obtained from both quartz ledges and placers; but mining not paying as well as other pursuits, it was abandoned.

In 1863, some excitement was created by the discovery of gold in the sand on the beach of Monterey bay, between Aptos landing and the Pajaro river. This gold was in exceedingly fine scales, somewhat similar to that found nearly four hundred miles further north at Gold Bluff, in Klamath county. Being difficult to save, and not yielding much to the pan, it did not pay to work. Gold has also been found in nearly all the gulches in the vicinity of the town of Santa Cruz.

The sand along the coast in this county, formed by the erosion of the peculiar, white granite, so abundant in the vicinity of the bay, is remarkably well adapted for the manufacture of glass. Large quantities are collected and shipped to San Francisco, for this purpose. About eight miles north from the town of Santa Cruz, at the base of the Gavilan mountains, is an immense deposit of this white sand, which may be of considerable value when the manufacture of glass shall be more extensive in the State than at present. This sand contains a large proportion of glassy feldspar, in the composition of which there is upwards of twelve per cent. of soda-an important ingredient in the manufacture of glass.

The soil of the valleys of this county is very well adapted for the cultivation of leguminous plants, and a large proportion of the beans raised in the State is the product of these valleys. Flax also grows with great luxuriance. The table lands, where not cultivated, produce enormous crops of wild mustard, the seed of which is so much superior to that raised further south or north, that it sells for more than any other kind.

The crops in this county have never failed through drought. Its peculiar topography attracts so much fog and dew as to sustain vegetation in the absence of rain.

There are eight grist mills in this county, which made, in 1867, 28,000 barrels of flour; twenty-two lumber mills-twelve steam, and ten driven by water-capable of sawing 11,000,000 feet per annum; also, nine shingle mills, which make over 12,000,000 shingles, annually. Among other important manufactures are gunpowder and paper. The California Powder Works-the pioneer powder mill in the State-was incorporated in December, 1861, and commenced the manufacture of powder in May, 1864, with a capacity of two hundred and fifty kegs per day. In May, 1867, its capacity was increased to over six hundred and forty kegs per day, chiefly blasting powder, and during the nine months ending December 31st, of that year, 158, 500 kegs, containing twenty-five pounds each, were manufactured.

The San Lorenzo Paper mill made, in 1866, thirty-one thousand reams of straw paper, from straw grown in the vicinity, and about six thousand five hundred reams of newspaper. Owing to the flood of 1866-67, operations were suspended from January to June of the latter year. During the seven months ending December 31st, 1867, over thirty thousand reams of wrapping paper were made.

The manufactures of this county derived an important advantage from the great earthquake of 1865. That shaking increased the waters of all the creeks and rivers to nearly double their previous volume, during the dry season.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY.

This county is bounded on the north by Alameda and San Mateo counties, on the south by Monterey, on the east by Stanislaus, and on the west by Santa Cruz county. It is about thirty-five miles in length by thirty miles in average width, and contains over 1,050 square miles, or nearly 700,000 acres, of which about 300,000 acres are valley-the balance is low grassy hills, or heavily timbered mountains. The greater portion of this land is enclosed-large tracts in the mountains being fenced for their timber; about 300,000 acres are under actual cultivation, this being one of the most important agricultural counties in the State.

The increase in the assessed value of real estate in the county during the year 1866 exceeded $850,000, and from the large number of new settlers and the additional land under cultivation during the past year, the increased valuation for the year 1867 will probably reach $1,000,000

above that of 1866, making the aggregate assessed value of the real property amount to $5,000,000. This is far below the actual value. It contains a population of twenty-three thousand, of whom seven thousand are under fifteen years of age. The county derives its name from the old Mission of Santa Clara, founded in 1777. The present mission buildings were not erected until 1822, and these are not on the site of the original mission. Two previous structures were destroyed, one by a flood in 1779, the other by an earthquake in 1781.

Santa Clara county is not well watered naturally. So large a portion of it being in the great valley, it has but few streams. The Guadalupe and Coyote creeks are the only water courses of any importance within its limits. These have their source in a lagoon in Penetencia cañon, and after flowing a few miles among the mountains on the east, approach San José, and then unite and empty into San Francisco bay, near Alviso. An abundant supply of water is obtained by means of artesian wells, of which there are nearly one thousand in the valley-its geological formation being exceedingly favorable for boring. All the orchards and gardens about San José and Santa Clara are watered by this means. In 1856, one of these wells, in the vicinity of San José, was bored to the depth of three hundred and twenty-five feet, when the water rose in a solid stream, through a seven inch pipe, to the height of thirty-two feet above the surface. The great increase in the number of wells since that time has materially lessened the flow, and but few of them now force the water above the surface. Prior to 1860, the mammoth fountains these wells formed in nearly every garden and farm were among the attractions of San José. The flow of water was so great that ditches had to be cut to carry off the surplus. Few of the wells are more than one hundred feet deep.

The broad valley of Santa Clara, at the southern extremity of San Francisco bay, twenty miles wide, and extending upwards of thirty miles southward, is charmingly undulated with gently rounded hills, and beautifully diversified with clumps of oak and numberless farms, gardens, cottages, towns, and villages.

The peculiar geographical position of this county, in a broad valley nearly surrounded by mountains, causes it to enjoy an equable climate; but it is from ten to fifteen degrees warmer than that of San Francisco, being comparatively free from the cold winds and fogs which prevail nearer the coast. The greater portion of the soil on the lower plains is a rich black, sandless loam, called "adobe," which yields from twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. Many fields have been planted with grain for ten consecutive years without manuring—