1849: Geary, the first postmaster; Leavenworth and Hyde, the first
alcaldes or mayors; Van Ness, Broderick, Turk, and McAllister,
recalling prominent men of those days. Spanish families like Sanchez,
Castro, Noe, Bernal, and Guerrero had also a place on the city map.
Indeed, every town has some native Californian names in and around it.
Don Victor Castro, said to be the first white child born in San
Francisco, died lately at San Pablo in the house he had built sixty
years ago. He was called the last of the Spanish grandees, those dons
who, before the Gringos came, had estates that stretched miles away
on every hand, and thousands of cattle with many Indian servants. Don
Victor built and ran the first ferry across San Francisco Bay.
Sacramento was laid out as a town for Sutter by three lieutenants of
the U.S. army: Warner, who was afterwards killed by Indians; Ord,
who was a general in the Civil War, while the third, in after years
"marched through Georgia" as General Sherman. Marysville was also laid
out by Sutter, and Stockton by Weber, who owned all the land around
it.
In 1849 Doctor Gregg and his party found Humboldt Bay. In 1851
Yosemite Valley was discovered by Major Savage and a company of
soldiers, who were out hunting hostile Indians. This band of Indians
was called the Yosemites, and their old chief's name was Tenaya, for
whom the beautiful lake is named.
Those who came to California before 1850 were called pioneers, and
many of them built up great fortunes. Among them were Coleman, the
president of the vigilance committee, Sharon, Flood, Fair, O'Brien,
Tevis, Phelan, and James Lick. Lick was a remarkable man, who gave
away an immense fortune; building the Lick Observatory, a school of
mechanical arts, free public baths, an old ladies' home, and giving
a million to the Academy of Science and the Society of California
Pioneers.
In later days the names crowd thickly upon each other. Among editors
and literary men the fearless and ill-fated James King of the _Evening
Bulletin_, J. Ross Browne, the reporter of the first convention and a
most interesting writer, Derby the humorist, "Caxton" or W.H. Rhodes,
Mark Twain, Bret Harte, the historians Hittell and Bancroft, and the
poet Joaquin Miller may be noted.
The governors of the state have been men remarkable as brilliant
speakers or lawyers and as wise rulers. In 1875, during the time of
Pacheco, the first native-born governor, the order of "Native Sons of
the Golden West" was formed, which now numbers over ten thousand young
California men. The "Native Daughters," a sister society, follows also
the idea of keeping the love of California warm in the hearts of her
children.
[Illustration: FALLEN LEAF LAKE.]
[Illustration: MOUNT SHASTA FROM STRAWBERRY VALLEY.]
OUR GLORIOUS CLIMATE
Not only a glorious but in many ways a wonderful climate is enjoyed
by the people of California's sea-coast and mountains, her valleys and
foot-hills. In no other state can one find so many kinds of weather
in such short distances. For instance, in Southern California you may
pick flowers and oranges in almost tropical gardens, and in an hour
find winter and throw snowballs on the high mountains overlooking the
roses and orange groves you so lately left.
Only in the mountains, along that granite backbone of the state known
as the Sierra Nevadas, are there four seasons, the spring, summer,
autumn, and winter common to most of the United States. So the Sierras
have a distinct climate of their own. The Sacramento and San Joaquin
river valleys have another climate peculiar to themselves, while south
of latitude 35 degrees the coast has less rain and is warmer than the
coast counties north of that line.
In the greater part of the state the year is divided into a dry summer
and a wet winter. The rains begin in October, and the first showers
fall on dry, brown hills and dusty fields baked hard by steady
sunshine since May. After these showers the grass springs up, and
the fields are green almost as quickly as if some fairy godmother had
waved her wand. An army of wild flowers, whose seeds were hidden in
the brown earth, wakes when the rain-drops patter, and the plants get
ready to bloom in a month or so. For this season, from November to
February, with little frost and no ice nor snow, is winter in name
only. Roses and violets bloom in the gardens and yellow poppies on the
hills.
People expect and hope for much rain in this so-called winter, since a
wet year assures good crops to the state. But the amount of rain that
falls is very uncertain. It does not rain every day, nor all day, as a
rule, and each storm seems different. Sometimes a "southeaster" blows
up from the Japan Current, or Black Stream, as the Japanese call the
warm, dark-blue waters that pour out of the China Sea. This current of
the Pacific Ocean flows along our coast in a mighty river a thousand
miles wide, and gives California its peculiar climate of cool summers
and moist, warm winters. The southeasterly wind ruffles the bay with
white-capped waves and dashes sheets of rain against window and roof.
Then the wind changes, and all the clouds go flying to north or east,
while from the clear blue sky brilliant sunshine pours down to make
the grass and flowers grow. During the winter months the sun is strong
and warm enough to make out-door life delightful.
The farmer depends greatly upon the rainfall. In a wet winter the
moisture sinks far into the ground, but not so deep that the thirsty
little roots cannot find it in the summer. Early rains are needed to
soften the ground for November ploughing, and young grain and crops of
all kinds need rain through April. In the northern part of the state
the wet season begins earlier and lasts longer than in the south,
while the southeastern corner is an almost rainless desert.
In San Francisco the thermometer seldom falls below 45º in the winter,
the average for the season being 51º. Perhaps in January or February
the sidewalks may be white with frost in the mornings, or hail may
fall during some cold rain-storm. Once in five years or so, enough
snow falls to make children go wild with delight over a few snowballs
which are very soon melted. People can be comfortable the year round
without fires, and the clear, bright winter days with soft air and
warm sunshine are always pleasant enough to spend outdoors. This
ocean climate, due to the warm sea air, is enjoyed by the counties
facing the coast and San Francisco Bay. In the valleys of the interior
white frosts are frequent, and thin ice forms on the wayside puddles.
Once in a while killing frosts destroy fruit blossoms and cut down the
garden flowers and vegetables, but seldom do more damage.
[Illustration: "EL CAPITAN" (3300 feet in height).]
[Illustration: YOSEMITE FALLS.]
In mountain regions, above five or six thousand feet, the very cold
winter lasts six or seven months. Snow falls almost constantly and
drifts to a great depth. Small lakes are frozen and buried in snow,
and the trees are bent and weighed down with ice and sleet. Many of
the wild animals come down to the foot-hills below the snow-line to
spend the winter; but the bear curls himself up in his warm cave and
sleeps through the cold months. In this snowy zone of the Sierras,
about thirty miles wide, winter lasts from the first snowfall, about
the end of October, to the late spring of June. Then July and August
are months of glorious weather, with clear, dry air and a cloudless
sky. During the day the temperature of about 80 degrees melts much
snow, and the rivers carry it away in rushing torrents and falls of
icy water. In September the frost turns the leaves of all but the
evergreen trees beautiful colors of red and yellow. Indian summer
comes during September and October, when the days are sunny and warm,
and then the long winter sets in again. Peaks above eight thousand
feet are snow-clad on their crests and along their sides by deep
drifts the year round.
Along the Pacific coast in summer cool sea-winds, called trade-winds,
blow in from the ocean, and 60 degrees is the average temperature. The
farther you go inland from the coast, the hotter it gets, and the heat
is very great in the interior of the state. In the San Joaquin and
Sacramento valleys it is often over 100 degrees in the shade, though
this dry heat is not hard to bear, and the nights are always cool
enough for one to sleep in comfort.
Summer fogs are usual in the coast counties. The mornings are pleasant
and sunny till about eleven o'clock. At this time the sun's rays
grow stronger in the interior valleys, and the hot air rises while
trade-winds rush in from the cold ocean and fog settles down like a
thick, gray cloud over the bay and hills. July and August are cold and
foggy along the coastline, with strong west winds almost every day. In
September the winds die away, and sometimes a shower or two falls.
The rainless desert, or southeastern corner of our state, is the
hottest region of all. Here the sun glares down till sand and rocks
seem heated by a fiery furnace. Every living creature gasps and pants
for breath in the scorching heat. There are no trees, but only cactus,
that queer, prickly, thorny plant, often fifteen or twenty feet
high in these wastes of sand, and low greasewood bushes. Under this
vegetation snakes, lizards, and horned toads bask all day and search
for food at night. If travellers wander from the road in crossing the
desert, they are easily lost, and sometimes they die or go mad in the
terrible heat. There are no springs, and water stations are a long way
apart, so that lost people usually die of thirst. As the heat of the
sun's rays quivers over the burning sands, a curious sight called
a mirage is often produced. A cool, glassy lake or flowing river
bordered with green trees seems pictured in the air, and the hot and
weary traveller can scarcely believe that only sand and rocks are
before him.
Can you tell which season you like the best? You will find the one you
choose in some part of this favored state. It is always summer in the
south, and you may slide on the ice or throw snowballs all year in the
high Sierras.
SOME WONDERFUL SIGHTS
California is a wonderland where snowy mountains, mighty and ancient
forests, glaciers and geysers, lakes and waterfalls, foaming rivers
and the cliffs and rolling surf down her long sea-coast give new and
beautiful pictures at every place.
Through the whole state stretches the granite backbone of the Sierra
Nevadas with its highest crest or ridge at the head-waters of the
Kings and Kern rivers near Fresno. Here Mount Whitney and a dozen
other great peaks of the High Sierras or California Alps lift their
heads over thirteen thousand feet in the air. Here are to be seen most
magnificent panoramas of lofty peaks, deep cañons, towering domes, and
snow-clad summits. The finest forests, too, in the world grow on the
slopes of the Sierras, the immense pines and giant _sequoias_ of
the General Grant and other National Parks in this section being the
largest and oldest of all. Kings River Cañon is a rugged gorge half a
mile deep with the river rushing through it in thundering rapids and
cascades.
The well-known Yosemite Valley is the gorge of the Merced River and,
though only eight miles long and half a mile wide, holds the grandest
of all our mountain scenery. The mighty rock El Capitan, over three
thousand feet in height, stands at the entrance to the valley, and
across from it is Bridal Veil Fall, a snowy cascade so thin you can
see the face of the mountain through the falling waters. There are
many waterfalls, but the Yosemite is chief of them all. Here the river
takes a plunge of sixteen hundred feet, the water falling like snowy
rockets bursting into spray from that great height.
Then, for six hundred feet more, the torrent leaps and foams through
a trench it has cut out of the solid rock to the cliff, from which it
takes a second plunge. This Lower Yosemite fall is four hundred feet
high, the rushing waters turning into clouds of spray, which the wind
tosses from side to side. At Nevada Fall the Merced River leaps six
hundred feet at a bound, strikes a mass of rocks halfway down, and
breaks into white foam upon which rainbows play when the sun shines
through the misty veil.
Besides the grand Sentinel Rock, Eagle Peak, Clouds' Rest, and other
high mountains in the Yosemite Valley, many domes or round-topped
peaks like the heads of buried giants loom up, the most famous being
South Dome, Washington Column, Liberty Cap, and Mount Broderick.
But no one can picture this wonderful valley with pen or brush or
camera and give its real charm. You must see it yourself to know and
understand the beauty of great mountains and falling waters, of Mirror
Lake with its fine reflections of the surrounding scenery, and of the
rushing torrent of the Merced River in its swift coursing through this
mighty cañon of the Yosemite. Thousands of tourists and sightseers
visit the valley from May to October. Then snow begins to fall and
winter sets in, as it does everywhere in the high Sierras. Very deep
snow-drifts cover the ground, lakes and rivers freeze, and the great
falls are fringed with icicles, while a large ice cone forms at the
foot of the falling water. Many beautiful pictures may be found in
the valley in winter when Jack Frost is ruler of all the snow-clad,
ice-bound cañon.
Scattered throughout the Sierras are other valleys almost as fine
as the Yosemite. These are not often reached by the army of summer
sight-seers, but true mountaineers find them. One valley which has
fine scenery is the Grand Cañon of the Tuolumne, the gorge being
twenty-five miles long, with walls so high and steep that once entered
one must go through to the end. The Tuolumne River rushes, with
terrible force and speed, in cascades and rapids down the granite
stairway which is the floor of this cañon. The walls of the gorge
rise so high that the traveller only sees a tiny strip of blue sky far
above him, and the great pine trees on top of these cliff walls seem
only the length of one's finger.
It is supposed that all these valleys have been formed by glaciers,
which during the ice age, thousands of years ago, filled the cañons
and swept over the mountains. These masses of ice, moving very slowly,
ground and tore up the rocks under and around them till deep gorges
and steep, high cliffs were left in their tracks. Most of the glaciers
melted long ago, but on Mount Lyell, on Shasta, and a few of the
Sierra summits may still be found those ever-living ice-rivers, the
one on Mount Lyell being the source of the Tuolumne River.
California is rich in lakes, especially in the mountains where the
melting snows gather in every hollow and form lakelets in chains or
groups, or in one large body of water like Tahoe, Donner, or Tenaya
lakes.
One of the most beautiful lakes in the world is Lake Tahoe. It is six
thousand feet above sea-level, and the mountains around it rise four
thousand feet higher. On these peaks snow-drifts lie the year round
above the "snow-line," as a height over eight or nine thousand feet
is called. Nevada, treeless and barren, is on the eastern side of
Lake Tahoe, while the western or California side is green and thickly
wooded with beautiful pines. But the first thing one would notice,
perhaps, is the wonderful clearness of the lake water. As one stands
on the wharf the steamer _Tahoe_ seems to be hanging in the clear
green depths with her keel and twin propellers in plain sight. The
fish dart under her and all about as in some large aquarium. There a
big lake-trout shoots by like a silver streak of light, or here is a
school of hundreds of little fingerlings. Every stick or stone shows
on the bottom as one starts out on the steamer, and as one sails
along where the water is sixty or seventy feet deep. In the middle
the lake's depth is fifteen hundred feet and the water is a dark
indigo-blue. At the edge and along shallow places the color is bright
green, as at Emerald Bay, a beautiful inlet three miles long. Lake
Tahoe is twenty miles in length and about five wide, and its icy cold
waters are of crystal clearness and very pure.
Fallen Leaf Lake is a smaller Tahoe, and Donner Lake, not far from
Truckee, and now the camping-place of many a summer visitor, is the
place where years ago the Donner overland party spent a terrible
winter in the Sierra snows.
Clear Lake and the Blue Lakes in Lake County are delightful places
to visit, and in this county, too, are the geysers. Some wonderful
curiosities are seen here. You will find springs that spout up a
stream of hot water every few minutes, mineral springs from which
you can have a drink of soda water, and an acid spring that flows
lemonade. Alum, iron, or sulphur waters, either hot or cold, bubble
up out of the ground at every turn. At one spring you may boil an
egg. Other springs are used for steam baths and also hot mud-baths. In
Geyser Cañon is the strange place every sight-seer hurries to at once.
Such rumblings and thunderings, such hot vapors and gases come from
the cracks in the ground, that the Indians thought this was the
workshop where the bad spirit which white people call the devil used
to live and work. The deeper one goes into this cañon, the hotter and
noisier it gets. All round are signs telling where it is dangerous
to step, while the ground is hot, and boiling water runs by in little
streams. Steam rises from many pools, and the sulphur smell almost
chokes one. Another curious spring, called the devil's inkstand, seems
full of ink. Mount St. Helena, near here, is a dead or extinct
volcano, and probably there are fires in the earth under this region
which keep up these steam and sulphur springs.
[Illustration: NATURAL BRIDGE, SANTA CRUZ.]
Many of the Sierra summits are capped with volcanic rock, and Lassen's
Peak and Mount Shasta are extinct volcanoes. There are hot springs and
cracks from which steam and sulphur rise on both of these mountains,
and as earthquakes often shake the earth in different parts of the
state we know that underground fires are still at work. A great piece
of land on Mount San Jacinto in Southern California lately sank down
about a hundred feet, and cracks both deep and wide show that some
force from below gave a thorough shaking-up to that part of the state.
Mono, Owen's, and several other large lakes are the "sinks" into which
rivers flow and lose themselves in the sandy or marshy shores. These
lakes have soda or salt in their waters, and great stretches of dry
alkali lands around them. The famous Death Valley is a dry lake of
this kind where the sun beats down on the white alkali plain till it
is almost certain death to try to cross it without a guide. The
Salton Sea is a dry lake where almost pure salt is dug out, and great
quantities of borax and of soda are found in other beds, of dried-up
streams and lakes.
But to tell of all the curious things nature has to show us in
California,--of the forests of petrified trees, of the caverns cut out
of the ocean cliffs by restless waves, or of those in the mountains or
the Modoc lava-beds,--well, you will see most of them, let us hope, in
your vacations. A large book might be given to the wonderful sights
of this great state, and it may be your fortune to visit and so always
remember a few we have named.
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
Alta (äl´-ta).
Amador (am´-a-dore).
Alvarado (al-va-rä´-do).
Ayala (ä-yä´-la).
Bernal (ber-nal´).
Bodega (bo-d[=a]´-ga).
Cabrillo (ka-breel´-yo).
Calaveras (kal-a-v[=a]´-ras).
Carmel (kar´-mel).
Castro (kas´-tro).
Cortes (kor´-tez).
Coloma (ko-lo´-ma).
Diegueño (de-[=a]-gw[=a]n´-yo).
Farallones (f[)a]r´-a-lones).
Figueroa (fi-gwa-ro´-a).
Franciscan (fran-cis´-can).
Galvez (gal´-ves).
Gringos (gring´-gos).
Guerrero (gur-r[=a]´-ro).
Junipero Serra (h[=u]-nip´-er-o ser´-ra).
Klamath (klam´-eth).
Los Angeles (los an´-ga-lees).
Marin (ma-rin´).
Mariposa (mar-e-po´-sa).
Martinez (mar-tee´-nes).
Mechoopdas (me-choop´-das).
Mission Dolores (mis´-sion do-l[=o]r´-es).
Modocs (mo´-docs).
Monterey (mon-ta-ray´).
Noe (no´-a).
Ortega (or-t[=a]´-ga).
Pacheco (pä-ch[=a]´-ko).
Padres (pa´-drays).
Palou (pa´-loo).
Pio Pico (pe´-o pe´-ko).
Placerville (pl[)a]s´-er-vil).
Point Reyes (rays).
Pomos (po´-mos).
Portola (por-to´-la).
San Antonio (san an-t[=o]-ni-[=o]).
Sanchez (san´-ches).
San Carlos (san kar´-l[=o]s).
San Diego (san de-[=a]´-go).
San Fernando (san fer-nan´-do).
San Francisco (san fran-cis´-co).
San Gabriel (san ga-brell´).
San Jacinto (san ha-sin´-to).
San Joaquin (san waw-keen´).
San Jose (san ho-say´).
San Juan Bautista (san wawn ba-tis´-ta).
San Juan Capistrano (san wawn kap-is-tra´-no).
San Luis Obispo (san loo-is o-bis´-po).
San Miguel (san mig-gell´).
Santa Barbara (san´-ta bar´-ba-ra).
Santa Catalina (san´-ta kat-a-lee´-na).
Santa Cruz (san´-ta krooz).
Santa Lucia (san´-ta loo-she´-a).
Santa Ysabel (san´-ta [=e]´-sa-bel).
Santa Ynez (san´-ta e´-nes).
Sausalito (saw-sa-lee´-to).
Sierras (see-er´-ras).
Siskiyous (sis´-ke-yous).
Sonoma (so-no´-ma).
Sutter (s[)u]t´-ter).
Tahoe (tä´-ho).
Tamalpais (tarm´-el-pies).
Tenaya (te-ni´-ya).
Tulare (too-lar´-ee).
Tuolumne (too-ol´-um-ee).
Ukiah (u-ki´-ah).
Vallejo (väl-y[=a]´-ho).
Viscaino (vees-kä-e´-no).
Wawona (wa-wo´-na).
Yerba Buena (yer´-ba bw[=a]´-na).
Yosemite (yo sem´-e-tee).
abalone (ab-a-lo´-nee).
adobe (a-do´-bee).
alcalde (al-kal´-day).
arrastra (ar-ras´-tra).
burro (boo´-ro).
cañon (can´-yon).
carne seca (kar´-n[=a] s[=a]´-ka).
cascarone (kas-ka-ro´-na).
chaparral (shap-per-ral´).
coyote (ki-o´-tee).
corral (kor-ral´).
debris (day-bree´).
el toro (el to´-ro).
fandango (fan-dang´-go).
frijoles (free-yo´-lays).
galleon (gal´-le-on).
madroño (ma-dron´-yo).
manzanita (man-zan-ee´-ta).
mantilla (man-tee´-ya).
mahala (ma-ha´-la).
mesa (m[=a]´-sa).
mustangs (mus´-tangs),
presidio (pr[=a]-se´-de-o).
pueblos (p[=u]-[=a]´-blos),
ranche (ransh).
rancheria (ran-sha-ree´-a).
rodeos (ro-da´-os).
senora (s[=a]n-yo´-ra).
senoritas (s[=a]n-yor-ee´-tas).
sombrero (som-br[=a]´-ro).
sequoias (see-kwoy´-as).
serape (ser-ä´-pay).
teredo (te-r[=e]´-do).
temescal (tem-es-kal´).
tortillas (tor-tee´-yas).
tule (too´-lee).
vaqueros (vä-ka´-ros).