nals flocked in, and society was in a chaotic state. Self-preservation being the first law of nature, order became necessary, which could only be enforced by stringent measures, and was the direct cause of the formation of the celebrated vigilance committee, which soon assumed the proportions of a regular government, and successfully resisted the state authorities up to 1856, when they formally resigned, after having hanged several and driven hundreds of the worst characters from the state. The vigilantes held their courts and pronounced judgment which was speedily executed, while their judgment was often severe, it has never been charged that injustice was done, while such methods are to be deplored, the exigencies of the times demanded speedy justice and a general fear of the consequences of sin.

California is one of the largest states of the Union, being 750 miles long by an average of 200 in width, containing 155,980 square miles. The state is blessed with several fine harbors, the best being at San Francisco; the others at San Diego, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Bodega, San Luis, Obispo and Tomales; the first named being the best harbor on the Pacific coast, if not the best in the world. The bay is completely land-locked and of ample room to float the combined navies of the world.

California has but two prominent rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, both empty into San Francisco Bay, one from the northeast and the other from the southeast, both are navigable for considerable distance. There are two great mountain chains in the state, the Sierra Nevada and coast range. The state is interspersed with mountains and large fertile valleys. The principal mountain peaks are Shastar Tyndall, Brewer and Dana, ranging in height from 13,000 to 14,500 feet. The valleys have the appearance of having been at one time immense lakes that would compare with Lakes Superior and Michigan, having been drained into the ocean, left a rich sediment which accounts probably for the remarkable fertility of these valleys. The state is noted for its wonderful scenery, especially that in the great Yosemite valley, which is world renowned. The valley is about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco, at an elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level, in the center of the Serra Nevado mountains, hemmed in by almost perpendicular walls or cliffs, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. The great falls of Yosemite creek are the most wonderful in the world; the creek falls 2,600 feet in three leaps, the highest being 1,500 feet. Mt. Dana, which towers above and dominates the Yosemite valley, is over 13,000 feet high, and is easily ascended; from its summit a magnificent panorama of the Sierra Nevada range and Yosemite valley is obtainable. "The big trees" also attract much attention; these giants of the forest may be seen in groups, the most important being near Visalia. The common name for these trees is giant red wood; they vary in height from 100 feet to 400 feet, and in circumference at five feet from the ground, varying from 25 to more than 100 feet; one now

standing measures 104 feet in circumferance, and 376 feet in height, remains of fallen trees indicate that much larger trees have grown there. The other native species of timber are pines in large variety, black oak, ash, hickory, elm, beech, white cedar, spruce, fir, laurel, tamarack, cypress, yew, juniper, chestnut, acacia, poplar, cottonwood, walnut, maple, buckeye, and innumerable varieties of shrubs, the most remarkable being the "chaparral."

The wild animals of California are varied and quite extensive, although they are being gradually exterminated, especially those animals valuable for their fur or flesh.

The largest and fiercest of the animals of this state the grizzly bear is now almost extinct; next comes the black, brown and cinnamon bears, followed by the less harmful wolves, badgers, coyotes, foxes, wild cats, otter, beaver, gopher, skunks, martins, weasels, elk, deer, rabbits and other minor animals, probably the most attractive of all California animals is the sea lion, which frequents seal rock at Golden Gate in countless numbers, whose noise and gambols attract thousands of sight seers daily. Birds of every variety, indigenous to the varied climate, are in great abundance, the California quail and sage hen being remarkable for plumage and food qualities, other species being not unlike those found all over the Western States.

Fish in great abundance and variety are found in the rivers, bays and in the ocean, and their catch and preservation form the important industries of the state.

The precious metals are all found in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the northeast portion of the state, gold being the most prominent and found in greater abundance than in any other field in the world, the average annual output for thirty years being upwards of $20,000,000, approximating in the thirty years nearly $1,000,000,000. It is mined principally by placers, although some good quartz lodes have been discovered and worked. Quicksilver is largely used in placer mining, and is found near at hand in great abundance, and one mine has yielded as high as 3,500,000 lbs. quicksilver per annum, and is the largest mine of the kind in the world.

The volcanic character of California is manifest in the formation of the mountains, and there are occasionally earthquakes now of more or less violence, upheaving and cracking the ground. In consequence of this uncertainty, the traveler will see that the great majority of houses in California are of frame, or if of stone the foundation and upper walls are of unusual width and strength.

The state boasts of a very superior climate, the leading feature being the remarkable uniformity of temperature, the mean summer temperature of San Francisco is 60 degrees, and mean winter temperature 51 degrees; there are but two seasons, the dry and rainy, corresponding with the eastern summer and winter, the dry season being from May to November, and the rainy season from November to April.

Not much more than one-third of the state is adapted to agriculture, and only about one-half of that is being cultivated. In 1886 California had 3,104,640 acres of wheat, producing 36,165,000 bushels, valued at $26,400,450; 722,450 acres of barley, producing 16,038,000 bushels, valued at $10,424,700; hay,967,479 acres, producing 1,296,234 tons, valued at $10,564,307; other crops, 328,489 acres, producing crops valued at $7,076,300; a total value of crops amounting to $54,465,757.

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 345,828 head of horses and mules, valued at $25,098,644; 250,773 head of milch cows, valued at $8,275,509; oxen and other cattle, 692,267 head, valued at $14,194,447; sheep, 5,462,728 head, valued at $10,291,779; hogs, 1,047,842 head, valued as $4,836,000; or a total of 7,799,438 head of live stock, valued at $62,696,379, or a grand total of farm products amounting to $117,166,136.

California abounds in fruit, and especially excels in oranges, peaches, apricots and grapes, which fruit is shipped in large quantities either green, dried, canned or in juice wine, etc.; the total value of which forms no small proportion of the state's farm product, and would place the entire product well on to $200,000,000.

The principal commercial cities of the state are San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego.

While California has not yet entered very actively into the movement for deep harbors on the Texas Gulf coast, yet there interests are identical with all of "The Great West," and in a short time they will add their influence to build up a western commercial Congress that will shake the nation, and insure recognition from the great National Congress at Washington. California has received almost her proportion of national appropriations, owing to the intimate commercial relations San Francisco has ever had to the great City of New York, these relations are being gradually shifted to a nearer and dearer relationship which is springing up in this grand Western Empire, to which San Francisco is destined to be what New York has been heretofore to the entire Union, dividing honors only with the Gulf port.

WHILE

CHAPTER VIII.

MINNESOTA-1680 TO 1889.

HILE Minnesota lays on both sides of the Mississippi, which river finds its source in the north central portion of the state, it is usually and in this history rated as Trans-Mississippi, or a portion of "The Great West."

It was first explored as far north as St. Anthony's Falls in 1680, by French fur traders, and the falls received their name by a Franciscan Priest named Louis Hennepin, after whom the county in which Minneapolis is situated was named. The French succeeded in establishing several fur trading stations in Minnesota about that time; the settlement of the state, however, did not commence until 1845. England became possessor of this portion of North America in 1763, the French having in that year ceded it to Great Britain.

The United States came into possession of this territory at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and was included in what was then termed the Northwest Territory, and which included Wisconsin and Illinois. In 1820, Fort Snelling was built, and two years later a mill was erected at St. Anthony Falls, where Minneapolis now stands. In 1823, the first steamboat ascended the river to St. Anthony Falls, and about the year 1830 a small Swiss colony settled near where St. Paul now is. In 1838 the Indian title to the lands east of the Mississippi River were extinguished, and in 1842 a settlement was effected at Stillwater.

The territory of Minnesota was organized by Act of Congress in 1849, the territory then containing 5,000 white population. Soon after the Indian title to the lands between the Mississippi and Red River of the North was extinguished, barring a few small reservations, the settlement of the territory then began in earnest, immigration being so rapid that Congress, in 1857, opened a way for the territory's admission into the Union, which was immediately acted upon by the people, and on May 11th, 1858, the state was admitted, and rapid progress was made in population, wealth and intelligence.

The boundaries of the state as established by the Act of Admission included 83,531 square miles, one-third of which is valuable timber land, including all varieties of deciduous trees found anywhere in the northern states, including valuable pine forests.

The state contains innumerable lakes of more or less importance, in fact about one-thirtieth part of the state's surface is covered with

water; the most important lake being Minnetonka lake, near Minneapolis, and White Bear lake, near St. Paul. The state contains several rivers, the most important being the Mississippi, Red river of the North, Minnesota and St. Croix, all of which are more or less navigable, there being within the state 1,350 miles of navigable streams. The waters of the state flow south into the Gulf, east into the great lakes, and north into Hudson Bay, the great divide being in the northwest portion of the state; this divide, the highest portion of which is a table land at an elevation of 1,680 feet, but not more than 100 feet above the surrounding country, nothing resembling mountains in the state. The streams have an unusual fall, and often flow over precipitous places, making waterfalls of such importance as to supply the state with abundant water power, the principal of which is situated at Minneapolis (St. Anthony Falls), where the largest flour mills in the world are situated, the combined output of which aggregate over 3,000 barrels per day.

Minnesota ranks well in the front of agricultural states of the Union. Spring wheat is the principal cereal, and in that commodity the state excels all others, and likewise in oats, excepting Iowa.

In 1886 the state produced 19,905,000 bushels of corn from 668,380 acres, product valued at $6,767,700 from 3,067,851 acres; 42,856,000 bushels of wheat, valued at $26,142,160, from 1,184,032 acres; 40,735,000 bushels of oats, valued at $10,183,750, from 367,601 acres; 8,455,000 bushels of barley, valued at $3,551,100, from 480,000 acres; 600,000 tons of hay, valued at $2,820,000, from 63,161 acres; 5,306,000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $1,963,220; other field crops, 39,374 acres, product valued at $246,480; or a total value of field crops amounting to $51,674,410.

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 390,458 head of horses and and mules, valued at $32,479,714; 433,966 head of milch cows, valued at $10,306,693; 489,886 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $9,974;076; 283,725 head of sheep, valued at $674,698; 549,793 head of hogs, valued at $3,254,775; a total of 1,947,828 head of live stock, valued at $56,689,956; or a grand total of farm products valued at $107,264,366.

Minnesota is also regarded as a health resort notwithstanding the long cold winters. The atmosphere is dry and bracing and the cold equitable. The summers are delightful, warm days and cool nights, and attract thousands of tourists during that season. Lake Minnetonka has become a very popular summer resort, and there are several very large and comfortable hotels situated about the lake where every creature comfort is supplied. Several excursion steamers ply about the lake for the accommodation of visitors, besides numerous sailing crafts and row boats.

The lake is reached by a moter line from Minneapolis, likewise