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 (oreodaphne 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

and many other flowers are perpetually in bloom. All the grain and fruits which grow in other parts of the State, except the orange, olive, fig, etc., flourish here. The vine, however, does not thrive at points below an elevation of seven hundred feet above the sea.

The town of Santa Cruz, the county seat, is situated on the north side of Monterey bay, in a pleasant little nook or bend, formed by a spur of the coast range which projects about two miles into the bay. It is surrounded with high mountains on all sides except the southeast; on this side it is open to the bay, along which there is a stretch of beautiful, pearly white sea-beach. The view from the upper portion of the town, looking south, is magnificent: the waters of the capacious bay, nearly thirty miles wide, are pale blue where deepest, and shade into snowy whiteness as they approach the smooth sand. The town of Monterey, nestled in a similar nook on the opposite shore, looks like a huge flower-garden, the green foliage contrasting finely with the grey granite of the hills that enclose it, while the brown mountains, crested with a dark forest-ridge, form a bold, beautiful border. To the right is the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean stretching to the limits of the horizon, its surface smooth and bright as a mirror, or ruffled into billows by the winds-still grand, under either aspect.

The town is built on lands formerly owned by the old mission of Santa Cruz, (Holy Cross,) founded in 1791, which gives name to the county. Near the ruins of this old building, a handsome Catholic church has been erected. It is Mexican in origin, but has been reconstructed by its American possessors. Only a few of the old adobe. buildings remain, and, until quite recently, a double row of beautiful willows, which once formed the fence of the old mission garden, was growing in the center of the main street, but the march of improvement, and the expansion of the town, have caused the destruction of nearly all of them. There are good wharf accommodations, but the harbor is exposed to all winds except the north, which renders it dangerous for vessels during the winter; it is, however, the best harbor in the county.

The site of the town furnishes a notable illustration of the several elevations to which this portion of the coast has been subjected, during a comparatively recent period. It consists of three benches, which are from a mile to two miles wide, and extend through the valley. The first is thirty feet above the level of high water, the second is thirty-four feet higher, and the third is one hundred and ninety-nine feet still higher, showing a total rise of two hundred and sixty-three

feet. The business portion of the town, and most of the gardens and orchards, are on the lowest of these terraces. The old mission, and the tanneries, which form an important interest here, are located on the middle bench. The lime-kilns and several dwellings are on the upper one, from which a railroad to connect with the wharf from this point, is projected. The entire bones of a whale were found, about two years since, on the upper level, near the banks of the Soquel.

Opposite Santa Cruz, on the southern side of the San Lorenzo river, are the ruins of the old Mexican pueblo of Branciforte, which was originated as a substitute for the pueblo of San Francisco. During the past year, nearly one hundred new buildings, chiefly private residences, have been erected in the town, and gas-works have also been constructed.

The San Lorenzo valley, in which this town is located, is about twenty miles in length, running north-west and south-east, in several places narrowing to a mere channel for the river, between high hills; at others, opening into wide plateaus, which are very valuable for agricultural purposes. In this county, the chain of mountains which divides it from Santa Clara is called the Santa Cruz mountains, while that extending to the westward, and forming the blunt peninsula that projects on the south into the bay of Monterey, and on the north into Half-Moon bay, is called the Coast mountains. The head of this valley is only seven miles from the beautiful Santa Clara valley, but the whole of this distance is very mountainous and densely timbered with redwood. Shielded from the unpleasant winds which occasionally blow from the ocean, with a soil almost to the top of the mountains of exceeding richness, and a stream of pure water running through its entire length, capable of turning a large number of mill-wheels, it is not wonderful that it has become the seat of a busy agricultural and manufacturing population.

Pescadero is a flourishing town, about thirty-five miles north-west from Santa Cruz, and only fifty miles from San Francisco. It is located. on both sides of Pescadero creek, near its confluence with the Butano, about a mile from the sea-beach. The New San Francisco Water Company will take their supply from the head of the former creek. The valley in which this charming place is situated, contains about 4,500 acres of extremely fertile land, surrounded by high hills on all sides except the west, to which it opens to the broad expanse of the Pacific ocean. An idea of the quality of the soil in this valley may be formed when it is stated that a large crop of potatoes has been raised on some portions of it, for twelve consecutive years, without manuring.