which are separated by an isthmus about half a mile wide. It was taken possession of by the United States, for military purposes, in January, 1864, and a company of soldiers have been stationed there since. This island, when first discovered, was inhabited by a tribe of Indians, who carried on quite a trade with the natives of the mainland, by means of large canoes. Not a relic of the race remains.

San Clemente, the most southern, lies about fifty miles from the main land, off San Diego county. It is twenty-two miles in length, by about two miles in width, being but little more than a series of rocky peaks, some of which rise upwards of one thousand feet above the level of the sea. It contains neither soil, vegetation, nor water. It is occasionally visited by seal-hunters, who make considerable quantities of oil from some of the animals found there.

CHAPTER III.

THE COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA.

Southern, Coast, Northern, Mountain and Valley Counties. Southern Counties: San Diego -San Bernardino-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo-Kern. Coast Counties: Monterey-Santa Cruz-Santa Clara-San Mateo-San Francisco-AlamedaContra Costa-Marin-Sonoma-Napa-Lake-Mendocino. Northern Counties: Humboldt-Trinity-Klamath-Del Norte-Siskiyou-Shasta-Lassen. Mountain Counties: Plumas - Sierra - Nevada -- Placer-El Dorado-Amador--Alpine-Calaveras-Tuolumne-Mariposa-Mono--Inyo. Valley Counties: Tehama-Butte-Colusa-SutterYuba-Yolo--Solano-- Sacramento-San Joaquin-Stanislaus-Merced-Fresno-Tu

lare.

The great extent and peculiar topographical features of California cause some districts within its limits to differ so widely from others in soil, climate, and natural productions, that it is necessary to make a classification of the counties into which it is divided, in order to convey a clear idea of its resources and capabilities.

The semi-tropical heat, scant vegetation, and broad arid plains of San Diego and San Bernardino counties, on the south, are as much in contrast with the cold, pine-covered mountain regions of Del Norte county, on the north, as the State of Maine is in contrast with Florida. The counties embracing the crests of the Sierra Nevada, which have a climate of almost polar severity, inhabited solely on account of their mineral wealth, cannot, with propriety, be classed with those among the foot hills, which are as important for their agricultural as for their mineral resources; nor can these be classed with those in the Coast Range, or with those in the great central valley.

This extraordinary diversity of climate and soil, the dividing lines of which are so difficult to define, enables California to produce in perfection the grains, fruits, and vegetables peculiar to all countries-the olive, orange, pomegranate, cotton, and tobacco, flourishing in close proximity to the potato, wheat, flax, and rye—and insures the growth of the finest wools in districts where the vegetation is of a tropical character.

The unavoidable difference in the form and dimensions of the fifty counties into which the State is divided, renders it impossible to make more than an approximate partition of its territory according to climate, or products, but as they are well defined and generally recognized, they are adopted in preference to making arbitrary lines.

SOUTHERN COUNTIES.

San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern counties, comprise what is generally considered Southern California. Although only six in number, these counties.embrace nearly one-third of the territory of the State. They contain above 50,000 square miles, or more than 30,000,000 acres of land, three fourths of which is adapted to agricultural or grazing purposes-much of it being the very garden of the State, producing the greatest variety of fruits, grain and vegetables.

The proportions of this important division of California not being clearly apparent through the above figures, we make the following comparison between them and some of the Atlantic States, because, although figures never lie, they do not always tell the whole truth: Massachusetts contains 7,800 square miles; Connecticut, 4,674; Rhode Island, 1,306; Vermont, 10,212; New Hampshire, 9,280; New Jersey, 8,320; Delaware, 2,120, and Maryland, 11,124; a total of 54,836 square miles for eight Atlantic States. These six southern counties of California contain nearly as much territory as all of those States, and a great deal more than either of the great States of New York, Pennsylvania, or Ohio. The present population of these counties does not exceed twenty-five thousand.

COAST COUNTIES.

Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino counties, located along the Coast Range, are classed under this head. They embrace only a small portion of the territory of the State, but contain the greater portion of its wealth and population, and are the chief centers of its trade, commerce, and manufactures.

NORTHERN COUNTIES.

Humboldt, Trinity, Klamath, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Shasta, and Lassen counties, comprise Northern California. They embrace a territory extending from the fortieth to the forty-second parallel of north latitude, and from the one hundred and twentieth to the one hundred and twenty-fifth degree of longitude, west.

MOUNTAIN COUNTIES.

Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Mono, and Inyo, embracing the main chain of the Sierra Nevada mountains, are considered the mountain counties. They are comparatively small in size, and although containing nearly all the important gold and silver mines in the State, the whole territory of the ten principal mining counties is not as large as that of the pastoral county of San Bernardino.

VALLEY COUNTIES.

Tehama, Butte, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno, and Tulare counties, located in the great central valleys, between the Sierra Nevada and the coast ranges, are classed as valley counties.

SOUTHERN COUNTIES.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

San Diego county comprises the most southern portion of the State. It extends along the border separating it from the peninsula of Lower California, from the Pacific Ocean on the west, to the Colorado river, on the east a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. From north to south the county is one hundred miles in length. It is bounded on the north by San Bernardino county, on the east by Arizona, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and contains 8,500,000 acres, of which the Colorado desert covers about 2,500,000 acres, about 4,000,000 of acres are mountains and cañons, and some 2,000,000 consist of level plains and valleys along the Coast Range, or among the mountains, suitable for farming or grazing.

Two unnamed branches of the Coast Range, passing through the county from north to south, separate it into three divisions, which differ as much from each other in climate, soil, and topographical features, as if they were in different portions of the globe. The division bordering the coast line forms a broad belt, nearly twenty-five miles wide, a very considerable portion of which consists of level plains or gently sloping valleys, which are watered by the San Bernardo, San Diego, San Luis Rey, Margarita, Sweetwater, and other rivers, some of which are permanent streams, others dry up during the summer. The greater portion of the land in this division is adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes. Most of it is unoccupied.

The central, or mountain division, is very irregular in outline, and averages nearly forty miles in width. It contains extensive tracts of good farming land. The Santa Isabel district, about seventy miles easterly from the town of San Diego, embraces a number of broad valleys, or rather table lands, which lie between the two main ridges of the mountains, at an elevation of three thousand to four thousand feet above the level of the sea. The culminating peak of these ranges, Mount San Jacinto, is five thousand five hundred feet high. This district enjoys a delightful climate. The vine, orange, wheat, and barley, are among its products. It is the best agricultural district in the county.

The mountains are covered with forests of oak, cedar, pine and fir. Gold, silver, copper, and other minerals have been found in many places, in both ranges.

To the east of this mountain division, lies the great Colorado desert, extending to the borders of the State on the south and east. This desert, though treeless and arid for many miles along its northern and western borders, consists of a rich, fertile soil on the south and east. It is evidently a delta formed by the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers, which once flowed over it, but have cut a new channel for themselves in another direction, although this desert is still below the level of the waters of the gulf into which they both flow. This curious fact induced Dr. O. M. Wozencraft to entertain the idea that he could reclaim the greater portion of this land by cutting a canal from the Colorado, to irrigate it. This subject was before Congress, in 1858 and 1859, and received favorable action, but the project was never carried out, although it is entirely practicable, and will doubtless be accomplished some day.

This desert, shut off from the benefits of the sea breezes by the high peaks of the Coast Range, which condense all the moisture from the air before it passes their limits, is the hottest place in the State. The thermometer at Fort Yuma, located at its south-east corner, sometimes reaches 122° Fahrenheit, in the shade, during the summer; but this great heat does not affect the health of the inhabitants, or prevent them attending to their affairs.

Great changes have taken place in the topography of this desert district, within the past thirty years, and others are still in progress. In 1840, it was partially submerged by the waters of the Colorado. The New river, through which a portion of these waters now finds its way to the sea, had no existence until that year. A number of large lagoons remained for several years after that inundation. The north