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Ella M. Sexton - Stories of California
house he had built sixty years ago. He was called the last of the Spanish grandees, those dons who,
before the Gringos came, had estates that stretched miles away on every hand, and thousands of cattle
with many Indian servants. Don Victor built and ran the first ferry across San Francisco Bay.
Sacramento was laid out as a town for Sutter by three lieutenants of the U.S. army: Warner, who was
afterwards killed by Indians; Ord, who was a general in the Civil War, while the third, in after years
"marched through Georgia" as General Sherman. Marysville was also laid out by Sutter, and Stockton by
Weber, who owned all the land around it.
In 1849 Doctor Gregg and his party found Humboldt Bay. In 1851 Yosemite Valley was discovered by
Major Savage and a company of soldiers, who were out hunting hostile Indians. This band of Indians was
called the Yosemites, and their old chief's name was Tenaya, for whom the beautiful lake is named.
Those who came to California before 1850 were called pioneers, and many of them built up great
fortunes. Among them were Coleman, the president of the vigilance committee, Sharon, Flood, Fair,
O'Brien, Tevis, Phelan, and James Lick. Lick was a remarkable man, who gave away an immense
fortune; building the Lick Observatory, a school of mechanical arts, free public baths, an old ladies'
home, and giving a million to the Academy of Science and the Society of California Pioneers.
In later days the names crowd thickly upon each other. Among editors and literary men the fearless and
ill-fated James King of the Evening Bulletin, J. Ross Browne, the reporter of the first convention
and a most interesting writer, Derby the humorist, "Caxton" or W.H. Rhodes, Mark Twain, Bret Harte,
the historians Hittell and Bancroft, and the poet Joaquin Miller may be noted.
The governors of the state have been men remarkable as brilliant speakers or lawyers and as wise rulers.
In 1875, during the time of Pacheco, the first native-born governor, the order of "Native Sons of the
Golden West" was formed, which now numbers over ten thousand young California men. The "Native
Daughters," a sister society, follows also the idea of keeping the love of California warm in the hearts of
her children.
OUR GLORIOUS CLIMATE
Not only a glorious but in many ways a wonderful climate is enjoyed by the people of California's
sea-coast and mountains, her valleys and foot-hills. In no other state can one find so many kinds of
weather in such short distances. For instance, in Southern California you may pick flowers and oranges
in almost tropical gardens, and in an hour find winter and throw snowballs on the high mountains
overlooking the roses and orange groves you so lately left.
Only in the mountains, along that granite backbone of the state known as the Sierra Nevadas, are there
four seasons, the spring, summer, autumn, and winter common to most of the United States. So the
Sierras have a distinct climate of their own. The Sacramento and San Joaquin river valleys have another
climate peculiar to themselves, while south of latitude 35 degrees the coast has less rain and is warmer
than the coast counties north of that line.
In the greater part of the state the year is divided into a dry summer and a wet winter. The rains begin in
October, and the first showers fall on dry, brown hills and dusty fields baked hard by steady sunshine
since May. After these showers the grass springs up, and the fields are green almost as quickly as if some
fairy godmother had waved her wand. An army of wild flowers, whose seeds were hidden in the brown
earth, wakes when the rain-drops patter, and the plants get ready to bloom in a month or so. For this
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