AND PACIFIC COAST GUIDE. 249 was first settled by the Jesuit missionaries, in 1769, and is the oldest town in the State. It is a port of entry, and the county seat of San Diego county. It is situated on San Diego Bay, which, for its size, is the most sheltered, most secure and finest harbor in the world. The bay is 12 miles long and two miles wide, with never less than 30 feet of water at low tide, and a good, sandy bot- tom. By act of Congress, it is the western terminus ofthe Texas & Pacific railroad, but when that road will be built, if ever, isa problem, the solution of which, all the citizens of San Diego, about 5,000 in num- ber, are exceedingly anxious to have demonstrated, and there is little question but what they would all elect to have it built without delay. The city is connected by steamer with San Francisco, 456 miles north, and by stage to allinland towns. It is 14 miles north of the dividing line be- tween Upper and Lower California, and is destined to make a city of great importance. Tropical fruit of every variety is produced in the county, and the climate is one of the finest in the world, the thermometer never falling below 40 deg. in the winter, or rising above 80 deg. inthe summer. The country is well timbered and well watered, producing large crops of all kinds of grain, fruit and vegetables. Gold, silver and tin ores have recently been discovered, which promise at this time to be very extensive and-»profitable. Several quartz mills have been erected. Two weekly papers are pub- lished at San Diego—the World and Union. San JUAN CapisTRANo, is a quiet, sleepy, conservative old town, twenty-four miles from Santa Ana, situated in the center of a beautiful little valley, hemmed in on three sides, in a variegated frame-work of emerald hills, with the broad Pacific Ocean on the west, gleaming like a mirror at mid-day, and glowing like a floor of burnished gold at sunset: Here is located the old mission, which gave its name to the town. It was founded in 1776, and is situated on an eminence, commanding a view of the surrounding country, with ex- , tensive orchards of orange, lemon, olive | and other trees, planted nearly 100 years ago, which continue to bear abundantly. To the south of the town is the Rancho Boca de la Playa, of 7,000 acres: Rancho Neguil, of 12,000 acres, and the Rancho Mission _ Viejo, on the east, of 46,000 acres. These _ ranchos include a great deal of good agricul- - tural land, but now the greater portion is | used for pasturage. a ne ee en Sen en GosPpEL Swamp—This singularly pro- ductive region is situated a few miles north of west from Santa Ana, the soil of which is very similar to that about the “ Mussel Slough” and Lake Tulare, heretofore noted. The soil is wholly composed of the richest sedimentary deposit, the decomposition of vegetable matter that has been going on since the creation of the world. In this section, all kinds of vegetables attain im- mense proportions, so large that we dare not givethe figures. This isthe pumpkin’s home. Pumpkins weighing 320 to 340 Ibs. are not uncommon in this region. A single vine produced in 1877, 1,400 lbs. of pumpkins | without any further care than putting the | seed in the ground—and it was a poor year | for pumpkins at that. Corn is the princi- pal crop, in gathering which they find much difficulty, owing to the height of the stalks. If some enterprising Yankee | would invent a portable elevator with a graduated seat and revolving buckets for holding the ears of corn, he could find in this section an extensive field in which to operate. Returning once more to Los Angeles, and for the dst t¢me, we take our old seat, and start for SunRIsH, at Yuma. [See Time Table, next page.| Leaving Los Angeles, our course is south about one mile—on the track we have been over several times—then to the left, and finally due east, crossing the Los Angeles River, just beyond which is the 80-acre vineyard of Mr. Sabichi, and follow up a little valley. On the right are low, rolling grass-covered hills, around which are many little cottages nestling cosily beneath a wreath of foliage, consist- ing of orange and other fruit-trees. We are now on an ascending grade, and shall continue to be, for the next 80 miles. To the left, about four miles, is located | Pasapena—(Key of the Valley)—quite commonly known asthe “ Indiana Colony,” a new and beautiful settlement northeast from Los Angeles about seven miles, and three miles from the old mission of San Gabriel. Five years ago this position was occupied only by the one adobe house of a Spaniard, Gartias, who once owned the ranche. A company of eastern men, largely from Indiana, purchased the tract, with an abundant water privilege arising in the Arroyo Seco Canyon, and nearly every one of the sub-divided tracts of 714, 15 or 30 acres each was taken within a year by actual settlers, and these, almost without