USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The builders of a great city : San Francisco's representative men, the city, its history and commerce : pregnant facts regarding the growth of the leading branches of trade, industries and products of the state and coast > Part 2
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
wet-the former extending from April to October, giving a period of im- munity from storms, during which the traveler may take his pleasure in the broad light of day, or encamping under the starlight covering of the night, and rest assured that neither rains nor heavy dews will disturb him."
BEAUTIES AND GRANDEUR OF CALIFORNIA.
These are eloquent, winged words, but they do not exaggerate the real- ity. The world as a whole does not know the beauties and grandeur of the wonder land of California. When it does there will be as many pilgrims to its shores, its mountains and its valleys as there are now to those of Switzerland and Italy. It only takes thirteen days to reach San Fran- cisco from Liverpool or Havre; less time than it took in the old days of locomotion to go from one end of a European country to the other. San Francisco itself, with all that it has to attract the attention of the stranger, its magnificent ocean and bay, may well detain him for a time. Of course the first place to which his attention would be directed would be Yosemite, the mightiest of the world's wonders, with its waterfalls, perpendicular mountains and sublime peaks whose summits are lost in the clouds. On the way those giants of the vegetable world, the far-famed big trees of Calaveras, three thou- sand years old, over four hundred feet in full height, and with a basic diameter of ninety feet, will claim a full meed of admiration. The Gey- sers, the wonder of the Coast Range, and outside of those of Iceland and Colorado, wonders of the world, are situated, three hundred of them, in a wildly picturesque region within easy access of San Francisco. Santa Cruz and Monterey, only a few hours dis- tant from the Golden City, are on the Pacific on one of the most beauti- ful bays in the world. They together form the great bathing places of the coast, and are in one of the most
picturesque regions of the world. The big trees of Santa Cruz yield only to those of Calaveras. Paraiso Springs, which have been called the Carlsbad of the coast, are between grandly rising mountains, within easy reach of the Southern Pacific. They have wrought some wonderful cures. Highland Springs, in Lake County, are highly curative and surrounded by rugged mountain scenery. There is in the State over a thousand miles of the most beautiful and attractive mountain scenery in the world. Of these mountains Shasta is the most famous. It and half a dozen others are from 10,000 to 15,000 feet in height - their heads constantly wreathed in eternal snow. It has several beautiful lakes, the most renowned being lakes Tahoe and Donner.
LANDS.
Out of the total area of ninety-eight million acres there are twenty million acres of Government lands as yet un- entered and they are found in almost every county of the State. Eleven millions are suitable for the culture of the vine, oranges, lemons and ci- trus fruits generally; for the olive, for all the fruits of temperate climates for wheat, barley and cereals of all sorts, for the sugar beet, some for cotton and sugarcane. They can grow anything to be found in any other part of the United States, while the State is emphatically the home of the vine, the olive and the raisin grape as distinguished from any other portion of our wide domain. There are more of these Government lands available in the Southern sec- tion of the State than in any other. About three million acres are avail- able in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains where there are numerous living springs and where every available product of the valleys can be raised. Besides the agricul- tural lands there are fifteen million acres suitable for lumbering, mining and other purposes; and there are
.
15
CALIFORNIA.
large areas of private lands that sell all the way from $2.50 to $50 an acre -the latter in the neighborhood of towns. There is, therefore, a great field for settlers. Had we a popula- tion as dense as that of New York we would now have sixteen millions of people within our borders. Were it as dense as that of Belgium we would have seventy millions. Most of the State is well supplied by Nature with an abundant rainfall, and where this is lacking irrigation facilities are fast being abundantly provided.
The following figures of rainfall are from the best authorities. They represent the average: San Francis- co 23 inches, Sacramento 19 inches, San Jose 15 inches, Los Angeles 22 inches, San Diego 10 inches, Fresno 73 inches, Bakersfield 5 inches, San- ta Barbara 14 inches, Monterey 15 inches, Humboldt Bay 22 inches, Crescent City 34 inches, Shasta 38 inches.
The value of real estate, both in city and country has appreciated at a wonderful rate during 1888-9. Espe- cially was this the case in the south- ern part of the State. In desirable localities in Los Angeles, land sold as high as a thousand dollars a front foot, and although prices went down with the decline of the boom, they are slowly creeping up again. Land values near towns from Monterey to San Bernardino, around the coast, more than doubled within two years. First-class vine or fruit lands near a city bring as much as five hundred dollars an acre, in some instances. In San Francisco during the past eighteen months there has been an appreciation of sixty per cent in the value of lands in the suburbs. There will be an increase of at least sixty thousand made to the population of the city during the next four years, and the necessity for finding space for this increased population will still further largely enhance values. Realty in any part of California to- day is a splendid investment.
The value of the products of Cali-
fornia this year is in round numbers two hundred millions of dollars, that is, one hundred and forty dollars for every man, woman and child in the State. If we add to this that of the raw material of manufactures we will have a total productof three hundred millions of dollars. San Francisco herself boasts of manufactures whose annual value is estimated at one hundred and seventeen millions of dollars. We raise this year forty million bushels of wheat. In fact, in a year when everything is favorable, we produce more wheat than any other State in the Union. Forty bushels per capita is our normal pro- duction of wheat. Apply this to the United States and we would have a total crop of two thousand six hun- dred millions of bushels, or more than five times the largest crop the the United States ever had. Even if we take a bad year in California, with only thirty-three bushels per capita, the result in the whole United States on a similar average would be more than three-fold the largest crop the country ever raised. Of barley we have got up to thirty bushels per capita. It is with us a most impor- tant cereal crop. Our wheat, four and barley reach all countries. In 1888 our wine product exceeded sev- enteen millions of gallons. This year the prospects are for thirty mill- ion gallons if nothing untoward oc- curs to the grape. We have emphati- cally the grape country of America. The value of our fruits sold last year was reckoned in round numbers at sixteen million dollars. Some of this was canned, some dried, some ship- ped East in a green state. It always commands good prices. We put on the market last year 1,000,000 boxes of raisins of very good quality. This year the product will probably be very much more. We are now a formidable competitor with Spain in the markets of the United States. We are especially famous for our ci- trus fruits, which will grow in most parts of the State. This year it is
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
estimated that we will have two mill- ion boxes of oranges for export.
The physical conformation of Cal- ifornia is quite simple. The Sierra Nevada Range running northwest and southeast along most of the east- ern border. The coast range under various names running parallel to it at a distance of about fifty-five miles. The base of the Sierras is about eighty miles wide, that of the Coast about sixty-five miles. The Sierras range from four to fifteen thousand feet high-the coast mountains from one to six thousand feet. The higher summits of the Sierras are, as their name implies, robed in eternal snow. The two ranges unite at Tehachapi in the sonthern part of the State and at the snowy Shasta in the north. Between lies the most fruitful and one of the largest valleys on earth, 450 miles long by 55 wide, known as the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Valleys, from the two great streams that drain its northern and southern portions respect- ively. It is the home of ali cereal grains, especially wheat, of the raisin grape, the orange and the lemon and all the finer fruits, while in its south- erly portion cotton flourishes over a wide area, and at some points it is thought that sugarcane can be made to mature. From an auriferous point of view it is the richest valley on earth or rather has been; for ere the plow of the farmer seamed its surface the pick of the miner sought out the gold hidden in the olden tertiary riv- er beds. Outside of these there are the rich coast valleys and the fertile southern country. San Francisco Bay, one of the finest in the world, and containing the metropolis of the coast and other rich cities, has around it an aggregation of lovely and fertile valleys such as those of Santa Clara, the garden spot of the State; that of Sonoma, as also that of Napa, both famous for fruits and wines and for their picturesque scenery and health resorts. Then there is the Klamatlı basin with pine, cedar and fir cover-
ed mountains and fertile soil; the valley of Russian River, that of Salin- as, and the various ones enclosed in the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, fam- ous for the richness and abundance of their fruit and grain lands and their mineral riches, and, though last not least, for their wealth in petrole- um.
Noble forests of redwood clothe the mountains from the borders of Oregon to those of Mendocino Coun- ty, and smaller ones the hills of San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, and especially the valley of the San Lo- renzo River. White and sugar pine, fir and cedar still clothe the interior sides of the northern Coast Range and the flanks of the Sierras. The oak, manzanita, nut pine, juniper, yew, walnut, cyprus, poplar, live oak, willow, sycamore, laurel, buckeye, cottonwood and other valuable varie- ties of timber are found all over the State, but especially in the monn- tains.
The southern part of the State, consisting of the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego, is in some respects one of the richest portions of California. With irrigation every product of the sub- tropics flourishes. The so-called Colorado desert, 140 miles long by 70 miles wide, is found in the southeast- ern portion of the State, but it needs only irrigation to make it fertile.
The two great rivers of the State, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, are each about 350 miles long and can easily be made navigable for a great- er part of their length. They are fed by a multitude of tributaries, the longest of about 120 miles, each com- ing from the Coast Range and the snows of the Sierras. A multitude of small streams flow to the ocean from the Coast Range south of San Francisco Bay, but generally of small importance. North of San Francisco Bay, however, they are generally deep, wide and rapid, such as the Russian, Eel, Elk, Mad, Klamath
17
CALIFORNIA.
and Smith rivers. The course of the Klamath is about two hundred and fifty miles. Tulare, Owens, Kern, Clear, Klamath, Tahoe, Mouo, Hon- ey and Elizabeth are all lakes of con- siderable size.
LEADING PRODUCTIONS.
California is especially rich in the metals-gold, silver, copper, tin, quicksilver and lead being the prin- cipal, although almost every descrip- tion is found in greater or less abun- dance. As to its primacy in the mat- ter of gold there is no need to refer; it is the principal quicksilver country in the world; copper is abundant though not as cheaply worked as in some of the other states, while the cheapness of England's tin renders it unprofitable to work California's de- posit, at least at present. It has great deposits of iron, but the cost of bringing the ore to market has pre- vented the successful development of them. It has large deposits of lignite coal, while its production of mineral oil, approaching 20,000,000 gallons annually, will in time be second only to that of Pennsylvania. It has in- exhaustible deposits of limestone and some of the best cement rock in the world. Its clays are suitable for the manufacture of the best description of pottery and brick. It contains vast deposits of sodas and salts suit- able for the manipulation of the chemist and the manufacturer, large and pure deposits of sulphur, while it may be said to contain in more or less quantities every known mineral.
Some of the best horses and cattle in the world have been raised in the State while it has been noted for the abundance of its fleeces and for the profits of sheep raising within its borders.
In the vegetable kingdom it pro- duces the best wheat, barley, hops, vines and deciduous and citrous fruits in the world. Cotton grows luxuri- antly within its borders, as also does flax, hemp, ramie, jute and to some
extent sugar cane. The mulberry in this State renders possible in the near future the development of a great and prosperous silk industry. Beet sugar will be one of its most profitable farming products. In the variety and luxuriance of its vegeta- ble products it is excelled by no land under the sun and approached by but few. Honey is one of its staples and is shipped both to the East and to Europe.
CALIFORNIA STAPLES.
We have elsewhere referred at some length to California's pro- ducts, but a synopsis here will be useful :
A leading miller calculates that on large tracts of land we can raise wheat at a dollar a cental or sixty cents a bushel. The profit from our wine, fruit and citrus lands, when the trees are in full bearing, does not average below a hundred dollars an acre, though much higher figures have been made. The olive is fast coming to be quite an important pro- duct of the State, and pays well. Sericulture is also assuming import- ance, and the production and manu- facture of silk will, no doubt, in days to come, take front rank. We now raise thirty-five million pounds of wool a year. We can raise flax, and the ramie fibre promises to be not the least important of our products. The sugar beet has succeeded very well, and as sugar from it can be manufactured at four and half cents a pound there can be but little doubt that we will supply the raw material to the whole country.
The lumber interests of California are amongst the most important of any other and are hardly realized even by her own citizens. The red- wood is one of the most useful and ornamental in the world, of giant growth, hard to burn, almost un- touched by decay even after a long series of years, and when polished resembling in appearance a piece of
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
colored marble. There are in the State over five thousand square miles covered by it, averaging in the opin- ions of practical men 100,000 feet to the acre. Some acres, however, go as high as a million and even two million feet. In the Eel River Valley large tracts cut half a million feet per acre. It sells in San Francisco at $20 a thousand feet jobbing. Be- sides the redwood, California pro- duces many other valuable trees, such as the sugar pine, fir and cedar and California laurel.
It is as a gold producer that this State has been most famed. Very conservative estimates give its total gold production as one billion three hundred millions of dollars. Some mines, such as the famous Eureka mine at Grass Valley, have produced four to five millions. The yearly product is now about fifteen millions. Its yearly product of silver is about two and a half millions and increas- ing. Those who have studied the matter say that there is more gold in the famous blue lead and its continu- ations, etc., than has been raised on the whole coast since 1849. Besides gold and silver, California has large deposits of irou, copper, lead, tin and other valuable metals and minerals. The production of borax is large and steadily increasing, nitrate of silver is also found and sulphur in abund- ance. We used to produce more quicksilver than Spain and Austria together-as high as sixty thousand flasks a year, but low prices have re- stricted production of late years. We have, however, abundant resour- ces.
Along the coast there are whale and seal fisheries of considerable im- portance. Our Arctic whale fisheries are worth in good years a million and a quarter of dollars. We caught last year 847,200 cod, and the cod banks of the Atlantic sink into insignifi- cance beside those of the Pacific. The product of California salmon in a single year has run as high as 160,000 cases.
Not the least important product of the State is coal oil. In 1889 we handled 17,000,000 gallons of it. The supplies are practically illimita- ble.
PRODUCTS IN 1890.
The yield of all descriptions of natural products in California this year will be large, and although com- plete statistics have not as yet been gathered, sufficiently close approxi- mation to the truth can be made to furnish a few interesting paragraphs. In wheat ;and barley there have been few years outside of 1880, with a better showing than this. We count on a grain harvest, one of at least 24,000,000 centals of wheat, and 12,000,000 centals of barley. As to oats and similar grain the best that can be done under ordinary circumstances is to make an estimate based on annual receipts in this city. The honey crop will be good. Our wine crop cannot yet be reasonably estimated. Our wool crop will be greater than that of 1888. Our fruit crop has been very heavy and may be very well placed at a better figure than that of 1889. More green and dried fruit is being shipped, while the canned product will doubtless be equal to that of 1889. Our raisin crop is generally estimated at a mil- lion and six hundred thousand boxes; onr orange crop at 1,000,000 boxes.
A fair estimate of the value of pro- ducts for the present year may be thus given.
Wheat $36,000,000
Barley 13,000,000
Honey
1,200,000
Hay 3,000,000
Oats 2,000,000
Potatoes, etc.
2,500,000
Corn, rye, etc
500,000
Bran, etc. 500,000
Beans
1,500,000
Seeds, etc.
100,000
Total grain and root crops $60,300,000
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CALIFORNIA.
Cattle and sheep slaugh- tered
50,000,000
Gold and silver
17,000,000
Fruit.
19,000,000
Wine.
10,000,000
Lumber.
10,000,000
Dairy produce
8,000,000
Wool
6,000,000
Base bullion and lead. .
1,250,000
Other metals
1,000,000
Quicksilver
1,500,000
Hops
1,000,000
Coal .
400,000
Salmon.
250,000
Miscellaneous
5,000,000
Total
$190,700,000
Manufactures,
raw material
100,000,000
Total
$290,700,000
Here is the largest value the in- dustry of the State has ever been reckoned at-equal to about $207 per capita nearly.
TOTAL PRODUCTION OF THE STATE.
Where exact data have not been kept from year to year, the compila- tion of a matter of this kind is no easy task. We can, however, make an approximation sufficiently close for all practical purposes, and this will give us a better idea of the advance made by the people of this State than perhaps could large and learnedly- written volumes. The following rep- resents values of some of the more prominent articles, calculated accord- ing to prices in the year of produc- tion, and including the year 1889: Gold $1,364,300,000
Silver
31,000,000
Total product. $1,395,300,000
Wheat
745,000,000
Dairy products.
206,000,000
Barley
185,000,000
Wool
162,000,000
Lumber
97,000,000
Fruit
93,000,000
Quicksilver. 74,000,000
Wines and brandies. . 63,000,000
Base metals. 51,250,000
These with smaller products and the results of manufacture will give a total value exceeding six billions of dollars, a very good showing for so young a country as ours.
FRUIT.
California will, in future, be as well known for its fruits as it has been in the past for its gold. We may as well say is known, for already the fame of California fruit has tra- veled to every city of any size on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, to Australia as well, and soon will be diffused far and wide throughout Eu- rope. The State has thirty million acres of hill lands well suited to grape or fruit culture, though not much else. But any land in the State al- most, will grow fruit, while the re- turns are such as to throw into the shade those received from any other pursuit connected with the cultiva- tion of the soil. It has already as- sumed great relative importance agri- culturally. It is, of course, impossi- ble to arrive at exact figures regard- ing its value, but a very fair approx- imation can be made. The crop of 1889 and its value may be estimated as follows:
Pounds
Value
Green shipped by rail. 41.876,830
$2,600,000
Green by sea.
1,000,000
68,000
Dried, by rail.
32.804,130
4,300,000
Dried, by sea
750,000
46,000
Used for canning 62,500 000
2,500,000
Home consumption ... 100,000,000
2,500,000
Oranges (900 000 bxs)
2,250,000
Raisins (1,000,000 bxs)
1,250,000
Total
$15,514,000
Then it is estimated by a gentle- man who knows whereof he speaks that fully one-tenth of the whole crop goes to waste. The value of this in the market last year would not have been less than $1,000,000 making the value of the whole in the markets over sixteen million dollars. It has been estimated at higher figures, but
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
these represent the actual facts of the case as nearly as may be. The grower does not receive this sum but it is fair to estimate that for the fruit actually sent to the market he has received in return not less than twelve millions of dollars. The consumer, of course, pays a great deal more than the highest figure here given- probably not less than sixteen mil- lions of dollars. The value of the crop since 1880 may be given as fol- lows:
1880.
$3,000,000
1881.
4,000,000
1882.
5,000,000
1883.
7,500,000
1884
7,500,000
1885.
9,000,000
1886.
9,000,000
1887
12,500,000
1888.
13,250,000
1889.
.16,514,000
Here is an increase of about five- fold in the short space of nine years -- one absolutely wonderful and to be equalled in but few countries out- side of California. For 1890 the value of the fruit crop may be given at $19,000,000. The number of fruit trees in the State cannot be ex- actly told, but from data gathered during the past two years it may be given at ten millions. It was esti- mated that upwards of two million trees were planted in 1889.
PROFITS OF FRUIT GROWING.
The following facts gathered by the Santa Clara Board of Trade respect- ing fruit culture in that county bear out all that the JOURNAL OF COMMERCE has ever printed on the subject, and prove that California is well entitled to the credit of being the orchard of the United States.
The report gives Assessor's figures, showing that iu March 1889, there were all told over 1,500,000 fruit trees growing;in Santa Clara County, the profit on; which is'$1 per tree for all listed, or $1.50 for bearing trees.
There were then 11,000 acres in vines and 500 acres in berries. The price per acre of bringing an orchard into bearing is given as follows: First year-Breaking ground $3; leveling ground, $1; laying off, digging holes and planting trees, $6.50; cost of trees, $21.60; ten cultivations, $5; four harrowings or clod mashing, $1; pruning, $1.50; digging around trees three times, $1.50. Total first year, $41.10. Second year-Plowing, $2; ten cultivations, $5; harrowing or clod-mashing four times, $1; digging around trees, $1; pruning, $1.50; Total second year, $10.50. Third year-Plowing, cultivating, harrow- ing, etc., $8; digging around trees, $1.50; pruning, 82. Total third year $11.50. Fourth year-Plowing, cul- tivating, harrowing, digging, etc., $9.50; pruning, $2.25. Total fourth year, $11.75. Grand total, $99.85. As to profits the following samples are given: Ten acres of apricots (Mr. Righter's) at four years old yielded $75 per acre. At five, six and seven years old, including short crops, the average yield per year has been $1600; ten acres of apricots (Mr. Ro- deck) at five years old yielded $160 per acre; three acres of apricots (Mr. Snyder), at five years old yield- ed $800; twenty acres of prunes (Mr. Barnheisel) at six years old had yielded 88000; sixty-five acres of prunes (Richards and North)-fifty acres five years old and fifteen acres seven years old-yielded 86500; three acres of prunes (J. J. Peard) seven years old -- thirty tons -- sold for $1200. Five acres of apricots six years old (G. W. Worthen), $1,500. Two and one-half acres of apricot trees, five years old (Senator Conklin), $800. Ten acres peaches, apricots and prunes, four years old, $150 per acre (L. L. Nattinger). Larger returns than these are usual from older trees, and in some cases almost fabulous. We have authenticated statements of $600 per acre from prunes and $1200 per acre from cherries and $500 to $700 from peaches; but, although
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