Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/612

 606 CALIFORNIA flax seed, 551,773 tons of hay, 34 bales of cot- ton, 11,391,743 Ibs. of wool, 7,969,744 of butter, 3,395,074 of cheese, 3,693,021 gal- lons of milk sold, 1,814,656 of wine, 625,064 Ibs. of hops, 31,740 of flax, 3,587 of silk co- coons, 294,326 of honey, and 4,903 of wax. The flora of California is remarkable for con- taining the largest and most beautiful conifer- ous trees in the world, including the mammoth tree, redwood, sugar pine, red fir, yellow fir, and arbor vitse, which attain to unparalleled sizes. A great part of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, the Colorado desert, the E. slope of the coast mountains, and the Coast range S. of lat. 35 are treeless. Fine forests exist on the Sierra Nevada and the W. slope of the Coast range N. of 35. The timber of the Sierra is chiefly spruce, pine, and fir ; that of the coast, N. of 37, redwood, and S. of that latitude spruce and pine. There are fine groves of oak on the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada and the coast valleys. The most remarkable of these trees are the mammoth tree (sequoia gigantea', Endl.), found only in California, and the redwood (sequoia sempervirens, Endl.). The former has been found only in small groves on the Sierra Nevada, at a height of about 4,500 ft. above the sea level. The first known speci- mens were a cluster of 92 within a space of 50 acres, in Calaveras co., since become a resort of tourists, and named Big Tree grove. Five or six other collections of them have been found : three in Mariposa co., containing 134 trees over 15 ft. in diameter, and nearly 300 smaller ones ; one in Tuolumne, and one or two in Tulare co. In all these groves there are many trees from 275 to 376 ft. high, from 25 to 34 ft. in diameter, and of exceedingly graceful proportions ; and some of the largest that have been felled indicate an age, by the ordinary mode of reckoning, of from 2,000 to 2,500 years. The dimensions of one tree in the Tulare group were, according to measurements made by members of the state geological sur- vey, 276 ft. high, 106 in circumference at base, and 76 at a point 12 ft. above the ground. The redwood, which bears a strong resemblance to the mammoth tree and is sometimes mistaken for it, frequently grows to a height of 300 ft. and a diameter of 15 ft. It is found on the plains or mountains near the ocean, and grows in large dense groves. The sugar pine (pinvs Lambertiana) is a magnificent tree in size, and one of the most graceful of the evergreens. It grows about 300 ft. high and 12 ft. in diameter at the base. The wood is free-splitting and valuable for timber. It is found in the Sierra Nevada. Instead of emitting the resinous sub- stance of the ordinary pine, it furnishes a sac- charine sap, which by evaporation becomes granulated and crystallized, and has very much the appearance and taste of common sugar. The Douglas spruce (pinus Dourjlasii), the yel- low pine (P. trachyptera), and the white cedar (libocedrus decurrens) are all large trees, grow- ing more than 200 ft. high and 6 or 8 ft. through at the butt. The nut pine (P. edulis), the cones of which contain edible seeds about the size of the kernel of a plum stone, grows on the coast mountains and at the base of the Sierra Nevada, and is of little value. The California white oak is a large, low-branching, wide-spreading tree, with a crooked trunk, and is of no value except for firewood. Among the other trees and shrubs are the evergreen oak, madrona, manzanita, willow, sycamore, bay tree, cottonwood, horse chestnut, live oak, spruce, fir, cedar, and various other trees of commercial value. The almond grows wild in the coast mountains in Santa Clara co. A wild coffee tree, bearing a berry much resembling the real coffee, grows in Calaveras co. Many species of California trees and shrubs, which bear a strong resem- blance to species found in the Atlantic states and Europe, are not the same, and many of the trees of other parts of the continent do not grow here. The botany of the state general- ly presents peculiar characteristics, offering a highly interesting field for scientific investiga- tion. Of the native quadrupeds of California, the grisly bear is the largest and most formi- dable. It grows to be 4 ft. high and 7 ft. long, weighing 2,000 Ibs. when very large and fat. Other quadrupeds are the black bear, cougar, wolf, wolverene, wildcat, coyote (an animal between a fox and a wolf), moose, elk, ante- lope, mountain sheep, deer, lynx, fox, badger, raccoon, marmot, hare, rabbit, squirrel, &c. Of fur-bearing animals, the sea and land otter, seal, beaver, and inuskrat are found. Of birds, tin 1 most remarkable is the California vulture (ca- tliartes Calif ornianus), the largest rapacious bird of North America, and next to the condor the largest flying bird in the world. Its total length is about 4 ft., and its width from tip to tip of the outstretched wings 10 ft. or more. Other birds are the golden and bald eagle, tur- key buzzard, hawks of various kinds, gerfalcon, owl, raven, shrike, robin, thrush, lark, magpie, jay, woodpecker, humming bird, swallow, grouse, curlew, goose, duck, penguin, pelican, albatross, and various other game and sea birds. Of fishes, there are the sturgeon, bass, mackerel, codfish, crawfish, blackfish, halibut, sharks, trout, salmon trout, smelts, sardines, salmon, clams, oysters, lobsters, and crabs. In the San Joaquin valley and on the S. coast are exten- sive ranches where large herds run almost wild, the cattle being branded to indicate ownership. Among the many remarkable natural curiosi- ties of California is the valley of the Yosem- ite with its surrounding cascades and mountain peaks. It is situated in Mariposa co., on the W. slope of the Sierra, midway between its E. and W. base, at an elevation of 4,060 ft. above the sea. It is 140 m. in a direct line a little S. of E. from San Francisco, but about 250 by any usually travelled route. Here, within a spa<;e of less than 20 m. long and 10 m. wide, is probably presented more grand and beautiful scenery than is found in any similar area in the world. (See YOSEMITE.) By act of con-