AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE.

train leaves the track of the Overland and
turns to the right, leaving the station build-
ing between ours and the Overland track.

At LATHROP our train stops 20 minutes
for supper, and then turns to the right, up
the. Great San Joaquin Valley The
general direction of our road, for the next
300 miles, is to the southeast.

San JOAQUIN (pronounced San Waw.-
Keen).—This valley embraces portions of
nine counties, and is larger than many
kingdoms of the old world, and far richer,
extending to Visalia, county seat of Tulare
county. The amount of grain and stock
raised in this valley, and the hundreds of
smaller ones tributary to it, is almost in-
credible, for a country so recently settled.
The valley is about 200 miles in length,
and averages about 30 miles in width;
comprising near 6,000,000 acres of the
richest’ agricultural lands in the State,
besides near a million acres of tuiles and
salt marsh lands, which, when reclaimed,
prove to be the most fertile lands in the
worle..

Moramno—is 5.5 miles from Lathrop,
important only, as many cther stations on
this road are, as a shipping point for
grain, with side-track and great storage
warehouses,

Ripom—comes next, 4.7 miles further,
near which the Stanislaus River is crossed,
and three miles more comes

Salida—another smail station, with
accommodations for shipping and storing
grain. From Salida it is'6.8 miles to

Modesto—the county seat of Stanis.
laus county. It was laid out in 1870, and
now contains a population of over 1,500,
while the county contains about 11,000
Agriculture is the chief occupation of the
people ;

Leaving Modesto, we cross the Tou-
lumna River, and in 4.6 miles reach Crrus,
asmall, unimportant side-track, 8.5 miles
from TuRLocKS, another- small station,
10.1 miles from CrEssEy, reached just after
crossing the Mercede River. Continuing
on 6.7 miles, ArwaTrr is reached. At
this station, as well as those we have passed
are large buildings for storing grain,
as grain-raising—wheat—is the only occu-
pation of the settlers. From Atwater it is
7.5 miles to one of the most important
places so far on the road,

Mereede—the county seat'‘of Mercede
county; population about 3,000; has many

fine buildings, including a $75,000 court

house’ and a large first-class hotel, the El

 

Capitan, Col. Bross, proprietor. There are
two weekly papers published in Mercede,
the Argus and the Hapress.

From Mercede it is ten miles east, to the
foot-hills and thirty to the western cdge of
the valley, ai the base of the Contra Costa
Range.

The county of Mercede is the richest in
the vailey; it had 860,700 acres of land
under cultivation in 1876, which yielded a
little over 4,500,000 bushels of wheat, be-
sides large quantities of barley, rye, corn,
peas, beans, potatoes, hay, tobacco, cotton
and many other kinds of crops The
county contains a population of 65,000,
most of whom are tilling the soil In this
county was raised the finest cotton in the
State. The value of these lands ranges
from $2.50 to $10 per acre.

The game is plentiful in the river bot-
toms and along the foothills. Irrigatin
canals convey water over a great portion 0
the land. Some of these canals are quite
extensive; one, the San Joaquin & King’s
River Canal is 100 miles long, 68 feet wide
and six feet deep.

For several years the greater portion of
the travel for Yo-Semite Valley and the big
tree groves took stages at Mercede, passing
over the route, via Coulterville or Mari-
posa, but a new route (see map, page 201)
has been laid out from Madera, 33 miles
further south, which, it is claimed, makes
the distance by stage much shorter, and
ovcr a better road However, we shall
give both routes in Annex No. 538, and
tourists can decide which they will take.
Should they go in on one and out on the
other route, little of the scenery will be
overlocked.

Mariposa—-county seat of Mariposa
county, is 45 miles east, reached by stage
from Mercede. This town contains about
1,000 inhabitants Onze it was noted for
its rich placer mines, but now quartz
mining is the principal occupation of the
peopie. In Bear Valley are the mills and
mines (or a portion of them) belonging to
the “ Las Mariposa Grant,” or the Fremont
estate, as it is usually called. The Benton
mills are on the Mercede River, about two
miles from thé town, reached by a good
dug road, down a very steep mountain. In
Mount Ophir and Princeton, mining towns
near by, are large quartz mills, belonging
to the estate and extensive mines.

Leaving Mercede, it is 9.9 miles to

Plainsbu a@ small station near
the crossing of Mariposa River, beyond