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RESOURCES OF THE STATE.

THE State of California, with all the imperfections alleged against her citizens, presents one of the most remarkable instances of the rapid advancement of a State in all the elements of substantial prosperity and real wealth, which the world has ever beheld. With a climate unsurpassed for salubrity; a soil, the wonderful products of which have excited the admiration and attracted the notice of her sister States and Europe; a commercial position to control almost the entire trade of Asia and the Pacific Islands, and the inexhaustible wealth of a mineral region, in extent equal to the aggregate area of several States of the Union, who shall attempt at this day to picture the brilliant future awaiting her enterprising and energetic population?

A comparison of the present condition of California and its resources, with that of the different States of the Union, as set forth by the census of 1850, will exhibit a series of facts which will create surprise, and when the number of the population is considered, it will be found that it is far in advance of her sister States in nearly all the elements of civilization and of progress.

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The amount of land in the State of California, adapted to the purposes of agriculture, is estimated at forty-one millions six hundred and twenty-two thousand four hundred acres, exclusive of the swamp and overflowed lands, estimated at five millions, which, when reclaimed, will produce every variety of crops. The amount of grazing land is estimated at thirty millions of acres, making a total of seventy-six millions six hundred and twenty-two thousand acres of land suitable for agricultural and stock raising purposes.

*If properly drained, these lands could be applied to the culture of rice or other vegetable productions, and judging from the character of the soil immediately about them, they would prove highly prolific. And here, in passing, I will mention one incident in relation to the capacity of the soil for production, that may prove not only interesting, but useful in illustration of erroneous opinions heretofore expressed relative to lands on the San Joaquin Valley, and which, perhaps, has exerted as great an influence in preventing the permanent settlement of these plains as perhaps anything that has been urged against them. Towards the foot-hills of the mountains, to the west, is a low table of the valley, apparently destitute of water, either for the support of vegetation or animal life; in some parts, this land has a slight gravelly appearance, but this is not general. On one ranch situated on this plateau, there have been two full crops of barley harvested from the same piece of ground, and when I visited this place in October, the third crop was then being harrowed in, the whole having occurred within the term of two hundred and seventy-three days.-Dr. Trask's Geology of the State, p. 54, 1854.

TABLE,

Exhibiting the number of acres of Land under Cultivation in California, during the year 1856, with the amount of Wheat, Barley and Oats, raised thereon.

COUNTY.

No.Acres
under

Wheat.

Barley.

Oats.

cultiva'n Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels.

Alameda.

Amador

Butte.

Calaveras*

Colusa...

Contra Costa.
El Dorado..

Fresnot..

12,657

56,109 22,052 462,134 20,000 918,000 4,200 260,500
5,649 800 28,000 1,514 52,900 442 17,680
12,466 5,446 165,000 6,445 210,000 150 6,000
7,724 1,600 25,495 2,057 67,131 496
10,165 5,320 122,360 4,408 114,602| 323
8,611 301,385

16,940

9,800

2,265 135,900 548

10,960

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Humboldt..

4,000 1,000

35,000

500

16,000 1,500

50,000

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7,100 2,400 38,395 13,300 266,000 14,200 350,000 19,000 3,019 60,380 5,570 111,400 462 9,240

511,963 171,869 3,879,032 150,674 4,519,678 32,402 1,107,359

t Including the grain raised on the Indian Reservations.

48,190 2,600

81,362

500

16,201

100

2,200

TABLE,

Exhibiting the number of acres of Land under cultivation in California, during the year 1857, with the amount of Wheat, Barley and Oats, raised thereon.

COUNTY.

No.Acres
under

Wheat.

Barley.

Oats.

Alameda..

Amador

cultiva'n Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels.

52,583 14,000 252,000 29,350 1,174,000 3,474 156,365 7,509 1,245 31,125 2,342

58,550 410

8,200

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38,996 13,149|

85,000 24,442

50,000 253

Yuba

20,000 2,000

46,000 5,290 88,800 600 12,000

Totals.....684,267 164,642 3,205,484 216,991 5,088,330 44,966 1,201,405

* No grain raised.

TABLE

Exhibiting the number of acres of Land under cultivation in California, during the year 1858, with the amount of Wheat, Barley and Oats, raised thereon.

COUNTY.

No.Acres
under

Wheat.

Barley.

Oats.

cultiva'n Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels. Acres. Bushels.

Alameda...

Amador

56,000 12,803 256,060 24,044 721,320 5,412 324,720 7,509 1,476 22,140 1,828

36,560 300

7,500

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Stanislaus..

Sutter

Tehama

Trinity

Mendocino. 30,000 8,000 160,000 6,000
8,550 1,850 18,500 4,000
17,000 2,225 62,300 11,000
18,820 7,850 133,450 9,300 232,000
3,211 953 19,060 839

240,000 5,978

119,560

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36,000 300

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