RURAL CALIFORNIA CHAPTER I THE PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC SETTING OF CALIFORNIA THE name "California" was probably first used as a geographical designation by some Spaniard, now unknown, soon after the discovery of the peninsula of Lower California by Ximenes in 1533. As this peninsula is widely separated from the mainland of Mexico by the Gulf of California, it was natural that the early explorers should conclude that they had alighted upon an island. As there had been published in Spanish about 1500 a heroic novel describing the deeds of an imaginary knight who received assistance in his adventures from the queen of an imaginary island of fabulous wealth which the ancient novelist called "California," it was natural enough that the name should be applied to this new country which was supposed to be an island. This conception was widely accepted and sixteenth century maps. of the possessions of the Spanish Crown in the new world record the name California upon an insular area with its southern portion well enough defined and its northerly extension indefinite. 1 This rational explanation of the origin of the name California is important because fanciful accounts of the source of it have received such wide publication. One of these is that the name was derived from two Latin words "Calida" and "fornax" meaning "hot furnace." Concerning this conception it need only be pointed out that the name was actually recorded when the Spanish discoverers had experienced only the moderate temperature of a narrow strip of land between two ocean areas and where they probably found a beach fire very comfortable. They knew nothing of the heat of the interior valleys, far to the north of their landing place, of which the name California has been supposed to be descriptive. The State of California is the extreme southwest of the continental United States and its south and west lines are parts of the national boundaries in those directions. Among the United States, California stands second in area which includes practically a hundred million acres of the earth's surface. According to the reports of the United States Secretary of the Interior, California has an area of 158,297 square miles or 101,310,080 acres, of which 156,092 square miles or 99,898,880 acres are land surface (20,000,000 acres being described as "arable" by the United States Geological Survey), and 2,205 square miles or 1,411,200 acres are water surface. In addition to these water areas, claim is made to jurisdiction over all Pacific waters lying within three English miles of the coast. California lies between the parallels of 32°30′ and |