Connected with the Amador valley, are two smaller valleys-the Alamo and Tasajera, both equally fertile. The whole of these valleys, and a considerable tract lying adjacent, were included in the rancho once owned by José Amador, whose name it now bears. This individual also gives name to Amador county, as will be explained when describing that county. Amador, in 1850, sold this property to Americans for a trifle. In 1866, one of his sons obtained a precarious living as a squatter among the hills that surround the valley in which he was born, and which, during the past three years, under American enterprise and energy, has produced upwards of a million dollars' worth of grain. Oakland, the most thrifty and important town in Alameda county, contains about 6,000 inhabitants. It is located in what was once a fine grove of 1,500 acres of evergreen oaks-the Encinal de Temescal of the native Californians-directly opposite San Francisco, from which it is distant seven miles. In appearance, the California evergreen oak resembles a large apple-tree, so that the city, looking as if built in a huge orchard, bears a charming contrast to the treeless streets of San Francisco. Scarcely any town in the State has made greater progress, during the past three years, than Oakland; the value of its real estate and the number of its inhabitants having nearly doubled within that time. Although not laid out as a town till 1851, it contains many elegant and substantial public and private buildings, has well paved streets; is lighted with gas, and is in a fair way of being amply supplied in a short time with good water. The excellence of the climate, the beauty of the surrounding scenery, and its proximity to San Francisco, have induced many doing business in that city to build their homes in the groves of Oakland, or among the hills around it. The College of California and other public, as well as several private educational institutions, are located here. The sons and daughters of the well-to-do citizens from all parts of the State and from Nevada, as well as many youth of both sexes from Mexico, the Sandwich islands, and several pupils from Japan, are educated here. The State asylum for the deaf and dumb, and blind, is situated near Oakland. This useful institution has been erected on a gently sloping eminence in the lower foothills of the Contra Costa mountains, commanding a splendid view of San Francisco bay and its surroundings. The proportions of the building are 192 feet front by 148 feet in depth. It is three stories and a half high, being 62 feet to the gables. and 145 to the top of the tower. Its exterior walls are built of a fine, bluish granite, found in the vicinity; the interior work being of brick. The style is what may be termed domestic gothic, with high, steep roof, large mullioned and transomed windows, tower and buttressangles of cut stone; a handsome porch, of the same material, adorns the center of the main front, all the interior fittings being of the most improved style for such establishments. Everything that Christian charity, and a generous liberality could accomplish towards alleviating the afflictions of its unfortunate inmates, has been attended to. The building and its furniture, when complete, will cost the State upwards of $175,000. Among other improvements in progress at Oakland, are the extension of the wharf, from the main land towards Yerba Buena island, a distance of three fourths of a mile; and the erection of the new State Mining and Agricultural College. Brooklyn, a thriving town, comprising the localities known as Clinton and San Antonio, separated from Oakland by San Antonio creek, is rapidly increasing in importance as a manufacturing center. In addition to the cotton factory located there, this is also the site of one of the largest shoe factories on the coast, as well as of a tannery, pottery, and last factory, which, collectively, give employment to a large number of men and women. Factories, like some kinds of animals and plants, appear to be gregarious, thriving best when considerable numbers are congregated in the same locality. There is scarcely an instance, on this coast, where a factory of any kind has been successfully established, but that it has been soon after followed by one or more others at the same place. This curious fact should operate to encourage every community to aid. in establishing these industrial institutions in their midst. The mill of the Oakland Cotton Manufacturing Company, is a twostory brick structure, 90 by 45 feet, with two wings 20 by 30 feet each. It contains 35 looms, and the necessary machinery for a first-class establishment. It is driven by a 45 horse-power steam-engine, and gives employment to about 100 persons, men and women, engaged in weaving or in making up into clothing and other articles, the tweeds, cassimers, and cotton-cloth produced. The first piece of cotton-cloth woven in the State, was made here in September, 1865. Since then, the works have been kept steadily in operation, turning out about fifty thousand yards per month, chiefly 4-4 cotton for flour-bags, and sheeting for the Mexican market. In November, 1867, considerable improvements, with an enlargement of the works, were commenced, for the purpose of manufacturing bagging material, of which upwards of $1,200,000 worth is annually imported and made into grain and flour sacks, at various points in the State. A little of the cotton used at this mill, is of California growth. Details, touching its cultivation in this State, will be found elsewhere in these pages. Fruitvale, situated about one and a half miles south-east of Brooklyn, in a charming little valley nestled among the foothills of the Contra Costa mountains, is, as its name implies, a noted place for fruit, nearly all kinds of which grow there with little labor, and of rare excellence. A number of the business men of San Francisco have their homes in or about Fruitvale. Alameda, a town two miles south of Oakland, is situated upon a peninsula nearly two miles wide, called the Encinal de San Antonio, lying between the San Lorenzo and San Antonia creeks. It was laid off as a town in 1852, and is now a thrifty place, containing many good buildings and about 1,200 inhabitants. San Leandro, the county seat of Alameda county, a pleasant rural town, with several substantial public, and many handsome private buildings, is situated near the San Leandro creek, about seven miles south of Oakland, on the edge of a fertile and well cultivated plain, the surrounding country being a succession of gardens and orchards, and grain-fields. It contains about five hundred inhabitants. Hayward's, six miles south-easterly from San Leandro, is a new and rapidly improving town. It owes much of its importance to the fact of its being connected with the bay of San Francisco, by the Alameda railroad, rendering it the shipping point for an extensive agricultural district. Here is stored, ready for transportation, the grain produced over an area of forty or fifty square miles. To accommodate this business, a number of large warehouses have been erected at this place. In 1865, a brick granary, 223 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 20 feet high, was built here; but, it being found inadequate for the increasing crops, another was added to it during the year 1867, 306 feet long, 60 feet in width, and 25 feet high. The two have been found insufficient to hold the products of the district at certain seasons when the railroad is unable to carry away all that offers for transportation. At this place is also located the chief cattle-market of the Statethe property of an incorporate company styled the "Butchers', Drovers', and Stockraisers' Association," organized in January, 1866. In that year, 11,928 animals were sold here, valued at $182, 600. In 1867, the number of animals sold exceeded 20,000, valued at $500,000. Alvarado, a thriving village of several hundred inhabitants, is located about ten miles south from San Leandro, on the banks of Alameda creek. It stands about five miles from the bay of San Francisco, being in the district of swamped and overflowed land already mentioned. The chief occupation of the inhabitants of this place is the collection of salt, which forms in large quantities on the land overflowed by the waters of the bay. There are eighteen companies engaged in this business, whose works extend nearly twelve miles along the eastern shore of the bay, and afford employment to some one hundred and fifty men. The quantity of salt annually collected exceeds. 10,000 tons, of the average value of $8 per ton. The whole of it is collected and purified by solar evaporation. The salt-water is retained in reservoirs, during high tides, and evaporated in shallow ponds ranging in size from twenty to five hundred acres. Some of these salt-pondsformed mostly of earth-are located in swamps, which, though a few years since deemed absolutely worthless, are now valued at from four to ten dollars per acre; and, since the demand for salt is likely to extend as the fisheries on this coast increase, the value of these lands will no doubt continue to appreciate. The old mission of San José is situated in the southern part of this county. It occupies a handsome valley among the lower foothills of the Contra Costa range, facing the bay. A hamlet has sprung up around the old mission buildings, which being in good repair, are still used as a Catholic church. The old gardens and orchards are among the best in the district, a pear-orchard, planted by the missionaries, producing a large crop of fruit annually. About two miles from the old mission of San José, near the banks of the Agua Caliente (hot water) creek, in the midst of a beautiful grove of oak and other trees, are the Alameda warm springs. The fine climate and pleasant surroundings of the place, with its ready accessibility, render it one of the most popular resorts in the neighborhood of San Francisco. To the east, Mission peak, the culminating point of the Contra Costa mountains, attains a height of 2,275 feet, presenting with its angular outlines, its grassy sides, and patches of shrubbery, a grand background to the intervening landscape. From the peak, a fine view is obtained of San José, Oakland, and of the city and bay of San Francisco. The hotel arrangements, and the attention guests receive here, are highly spoken of by visitors, who are numerous during the summer season. The waters are medicinal, containing sulphur, lime, magnesia, and iron, in various proportions. Alameda county contains large quarries of granite, limestone and sandstone, suitable for building purposes. The quarry from which the stone used in erecting the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum was obtained, is situated on Pryal's ranch, about four miles from Oakland. The supply of this stone is exhaustless. A quarry of close-grained, greyish sandstone, has recently been opened about four miles from Hayward's. Nearly all the brown sandstone used in San Francisco, is obtained from quarries in this vicinity. In 1864, Mr. A. D. Pryal, owner of a large ranch about four miles east from Oakland, discovered a vein of auriferous quartz in the Contra Costa hills, which cross his lands. Some of the specimens from this vein were rich in free gold, and the mine opened under the name of Temescal, paid well for a short time, but the dislocation of the strata, a little below the surface, rendered its further working unprofitable. In 1862 and 1863, several small deposits of argentiferous galena, and other silver ores, were discovered in the Mocho and Valle Arroyos, among the spurs of the Monte Diablo and Contra Costa mountains. In 1856, extensive outcroppings of coal were found at Corral hollow, in this county, about thirty miles east from Oakland, and several attempts since then have been made to develop a number of veins in this vicinity. Prior to 1860, about five hundred tons of coal were sent to market; and in 1862, some shipments were also made, chiefly from the O'Brien mine. In 1867, a new company was organized, and the requisite machinery erected here, for the thorough development of what is supposed to be an extensive deposit of this mineral. Petroleum has been found at several points on the western slope of the Monte Diablo range. Alameda county contains seven grist-mills, capable of making 1,200 barrels of flour daily; but, having no timber fit for lumber, it is without saw-mills-its chief sources of wealth being its grain, fruit, and dairy products. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY. This county derives its name from the central range of the coastmountains, which cover a considerable portion of its surface. It is about forty miles in length, from east to west, and twenty miles wide, from north to south; but its outlines are very irregular, being bounded on the north by San Pablo and Suisun bays, and the San Joaquin river; on the east, by the western channel of that river; on the south, by Alameda county, and on the west, by the bay of San Francisco. It contains upwards of 500,000 acres, about 150,000 of which are good arable land, nearly 100,000 acres being under cultivation. This land lies chiefly in the numerous small valleys scattered through the Contra Costa and Monte Diablo ranges of mountains, which cross the county in a northerly and southerly direction. There are 100,000 acres of swamp |