onterey, but by reason of the peculiar position of the bay
they passed it unknowingly, and by accident came upon the body of
water which has since been of so great importance to the commercial
life of California. Monterey Bay in time lost its importance, partly
because it was not thoroughly protected from the storms, and partly
from the lack of easy communication with the rest of the state.

Immediately after the acquisition of California and the discovery
of gold, the advantages of San Francisco Bay began to be appreciated,
and the little Mexican town grew rapidly. The narrow entrance to the
bay, which had for so long a time delayed its discovery, completely
protected it from the storms, while its long arms opened across
the coast mountains directly into the important valleys of the
interior. Ocean vessels could go up the bay and through the Strait
of Carquinez, while river boats could be used for many miles farther.
After the discovery of gold, ships from all parts of the world
found ample room and shelter in San Francisco Bay; and the incoming
miners, going by the water routes to Marysville, Sacramento, and
Stockton, easily reached the gold-bearing gravels of the Sierra
Nevada streams.

With the exception of southern California and a portion of the
northern coast, almost all the agricultural and mineral resources
of California are directly tributary to San Francisco. This place
is naturally the centre of home trade, of foreign commerce, and
of population.

[Illustration: FIG. 118.--SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Formed by the sinking of the land and flooding of a river valley]

Nature failed to supply San Francisco with one essential advantage,
namely, cheap power for manufacturing. There is no water-power
near and but little coal in the state. Since the coal has to be
shipped in from distant points, its high price has impeded
manufacturing. But now it appears that San Francisco is not so
badly off after all, for important deposits of petroleum have been
discovered in the central and southern portions of California;
and besides, processes have been invented for transforming the
unlimited water-power of the mountain streams into electric energy,
and transmitting this power to all the cities about the bay.

The early Spaniards founded the pueblo of Los Angeles in its present
location, because at this point the Los Angeles River carried an
abundance of pure water which could be led out in ditches to irrigate
the fertile bot