AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE.

   

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are shipped by the hundreds of tons, while
the annual crop of wine and brandy pro-
duced is over 300,000 gallons.

Placerville contains a goodly number of
schools, and churches of almost every de-
nomination, including a “Joss House.”
The different secret orders are well repre-
sented, and two newspapers, the Democrat
and the Republican, make their appearance
every week.

Placerville is situated in what is known as
the FooT-HILLs as the chain of broken
land is called, which lies between the
Sierra Mountains and the plains, extend-
ing from Fresno county on the south,
through Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador,
El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Butte
to Tehama, on thenorth, comprising nearly
one-fourth of the arable land of the State.
The soil is altogether different from that of
the valleys, being generally of ared, gravelly
clay andsandyloam. In the little valleys
which are found among these hills, the soil
is generally a black loam—the product of
the mountain washings. Experiments,
however, have decided the fact that these
foot-hills are the natural vineyards of Cali-
fornia. In El Dorado and Placer coun-
ties, on these sandy foot-hills are now the
finest vineyards in the State, from which are
manufactured fine wines and raisins.
Here among these hills are as cozy
homes as one could wish to
have, where grain, vegetables and all
kinds of fruit are raised in abundance,
while thousands of acres are lying vacant
awaiting the emigrant.

The mulbery tree and the silkworm are
cultivated to some extent in the foot-hills,
and this branch of industry is lately re-
ceiving considerable attention.

Again we return to the TRANS-CuNTI-

‘NENTAL, which we leftat Brighton.

Florin—is four miles from Brighton.
The many new buildings the well-cultiva-
ted fields, the raisin grape vineyards, all
denote a spirit of progress in the settlers,
that would seem to say, “We have come here
to live.”

The traveler has probably noticed several
windmills along the road, before arriving
at this station. The CaLiroRNIA WIND-
MILL isa great institution in its way. It
seems to have been brought to a greater
state of perfection on this coast than any-
where else. From this place we will find
their numbers to increase until’we get to
the “Windmill City,” as Stockton is often
called, wherethey can be seen in great

numbers, in every direction. Many times
the water is pumped into reservoirs built on
the tops of the houses, resembling a cupola,
from which pipes take the water to the
different rooms throughout the house and
grounds; the waste water is conducted in-

to the gardens and fields for irrigating

purposes. These mills are numerous in
San Francisco and throughout the State.
From Florin it is 6.2 miles to

Elk Grove—Here, too, many recent
improvements are noticeable. In a clear
day the snow-capped Sierras, on the left
can be plainly seen, and away to the south
60 miles distant,

Mount U1as1o rising clear and grand
from out the plains, an unerring pilot to
those who wandered across these once
trackless plains that now are teeming with
life and industry. It is situated in the
Contra Costa range of mountains, and is the
meridian point in the land surveys of the
State. Elevation 3,876 feet. The view from
the summit includes the country and towns
around San Francisco, San Pablo
and Suisun bays, and the valleys of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. It
is reached by steamboats from either
San Francisco, Stockton or Sacramento.

The beautiful valley through which the
road passes is now spreading out before us,
and we begin to realize that nature has
done much for this “sunset land.”

MieConnell’s—is a small station 3.5
miles from Elk Grove. Near are large
fields, where cattle and sheep are fed and
fattened for market.

Before reaching the next station, we
cross Cosumnes River, which rises in the
mountains to the northeast. The bottom
lands are very wide, and covered with
both white and live oaks, and near the
stream with willows. The water gets very
high in the spring-time, and very low in
the summer.

Galt—a station with a few dozen build-
ings, large warehouses, big cattle pens, and
shutes for loading cattle and sheep—is 7.7
miles from McConnell’s. At this station
we find the

Amadore Branch Railroad,

Let us “change cars,’? and note the re-
sult. Leaving the station, our course is
north a short distance, and then northeast
towards the mountains, over a section of
country devoted pretty generally to stock-
raising—sheep principally.

Ciczkro—is the first station, 8.8 miles