Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/205

 CALIFORNIA

171

CALIFORNIA

from which are fed most of the rivers and streams of California. The combined valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers are approximately 500 miles long, and have an average width of 50 miles. This area, the surface of which is quite level, is one of the most fertile regions in the world.

In addition to those already mentioned, the divi- sions of the mountain ranges form numerous smaller valleys. The principal of these are Sonoma. Napa, Ukian, Vaca, Contra Costa, and Alameda valleys in the north: and Santa Clara, I 'ajaro, and Salinas val- leys in the south. South of the Tehachapi Range, in Southern California, ir another low-lying stretch of country which has become the centre of the citrus industry and the home of a large variety of semi- tropical fruits. In the south-eastern part of the State and east of the mountains is the low-lying desert region consisting of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. Owing to the great height of the Sierra Ne- vada Mountains and their comparative proximity to the sea, the numerous streams, fed from their glaciers and perpetual snows, afford abundant water-power throughout their steep descent to the sea. This pow- er is utilized for generating light and operating mills and factories.

California has one of the finest harbours in the world, San Francisco Bay, capable of accommodating the combined navies of the' world. There are five other bays forming good harbours, San Diego, San Pedro, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, and Monterey bays. The 800 miles of California's length from north to south are equal to the combined length of ten States on the Atlantic seaboard; the northern line of Cali- fornia is on the same latitude as Boston, and the southern line is that of Savannah, Georgia. The en- tire State is subjei I to the beneficent influence of the •la pan Current. The climate is equable; except in the high mountains, snow and the extremes of cold, experienced in the same latitudes on the Atlantic Coast, are unknown. There are, in reality, but two seasons', the wet and the dry. The wet or rainy sea- son lasts from about September to April, during which the rains are occasional, alternating with clear weath- er. During the entire summer the winds from the west and south-west blow over the coast, keeping the weather cool, and not infrequently bringing in cold fogs towards evening. But it is chiefly in the balmi- i its winters that the climate of California excels. It is never too cold to work outdoors, and the citrus fruits, semi-tropical as they are, grow to perfection throughout the valleys of California. The records of the climate left by the early Franciscan missionaries who evangelized California are duplicated by those of the Government Weather Bureau of to-day.

Population. — The population of California, ac- cording to the United States Censusof 1900, is 1,485,- 053, "i- 9.5 per square mile. This figure constitutes an increase of 22.7 per cent upon the population of 1890. The following table, taken from the United States Census of 1900, exhibits the population of California in each census year since its admission into the Federal 1 Ihion, its rank among the States in point of population, and the percentage of increase in its population during the period of ten years between each census:

Year

Rank

Population

Percentage of Increase

1850

29

92 597

1860

26

379,994

310.4

1870

24

560,247

17 )

1880

24

864,694

54 3

1890

22

1,208,130

39 7

L900

21

l,485.o:,H

22 7

The census of 1900 also presents the following de- tails of population: (a) White. 1,402, 727: African, 11,045; Indian, 15,377; Chinese. 45,753; Japanese, 10,151. (b) Native-born. 1,117,813; Foreign-born, 367,240; (c) Males, 820,531 ; Females, 664,522. The estimated population of California (January, 1907) is 2,217, 897, an increase of 732,844, or 49.3 per cent since the census of 1900.

Resources. — Agriculture. — The soil of the State of California is rich and highly productive. It consists for the most part of alluvial deposits. This is espe- cially true of the delta lands of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Much of the so-called desert land consists of a rich subsoil covered with but a thin crust of sand. The value of irrigation in making this desert land productive, as well as in enriching the soil by bearing to it the washed-out life-principles from the uplands, is almost incalculable. The soil readily re- sponds to the plough, and there is no hard, tough sub- soil to be turned and mellowed. California has ap- proximately 4il. (K), 01)11 acres of arable land. To this must be added fully 10,000,000 acres of its so-called desert land, which needs but the touch of water from its irrigation systems to make it as productive as the valley or farm lands. The remaining 50,000,000 acres of California's domain, the mountainous and desert acreage, afford pasturage for millions of cattle and sheep. The chief products of the soil of Cali- fornia are hay, grain, fruits, wines, lumber, dairy produce, and live stock. It may be safely said that, in the combined value of these products, California is the richest of the United States. Ships loaded with her grain at San Francisco Bay carry their precious cargoes to every port in the world; her fruits, packed in special cars and shipped by fast freight, are the first choice in Chicago and New York, and find a ready market in London; her wines have given a standard of excellence to American wines, and "American wines" means "California wines" the world over.

The total value of all California's agricultural prod- ucts, according to the census of 1900, was $131,690,- 606. The value of the output in 1906 reached the total of .$213,000,000. The following table presents the total output of agricultural products in detail for the year 1906:

3,000,000 tons 900,000,000 feet

54,390,000 pounds

21,015,000

13,938,000 180,000,000 100,000,000

41,000,000

50,000 gallon 6,500,000 Bushels

1 2.800,000 I ids

MOD

4,700,000 centals 41,000,000 -aliens

Asparagus 23. 000.1100 pounds Hay

Almonds 4,200.000 " Lumber

Apricots 585,000 " IVars

Apples 132,455.000 " Peaches

Beans 125.000,000 " Plums

Barlev 24.000.000 bushels Prunes

Brandy 4,070,002 callous Raisins

Citrus other

fruits IS.220,000 boxes dried Canned fruit

fruits ,t 4,475,751 cases I He.- oil

veg. Potatoes

Corn 2,000,000 bushels Walnuts

Cherries 5,382,000 pounds Wool

Figs 45,000 " Wheat

Grapes 73,224.000 " Wine

Hops 73,000 bales

The total annual output of fruit from California farms is $40,011(1.(11111. and this is made up of all known fruits that grow in temperate and semi-tropical cli- mati s. In the year 1906 there were 30,000,000 fruit trees in California; this figure does not include nuts, figs, olives, or berrie8. Six million of these fruit trees belong to Santa Clara Valley alone. The principal fruit trees are as follows: apple trees, 1.(1011,1111(1: api cot trees. 3,500,000; cherry trees. 1,000,000; peach trees. 4,500,000; pear trees, 2,000,000; orange tre

0,000,011(1; lemon trees. 2,000,000. There are 272,500 acres of land devoted to the cultivation of grapes: 250,000 for wine, and 22,500 for table grapes.

Industries mi, I Manufactures.- The total value of the output in manufactures in 1900, according t" the census, was $302,874,761. In 1900 it amounted I • $400,000.0(10. The chief elements contributii California's success in manufactures are an abundance