of
considerable mining interests.

=The Pacific Coast Lowlands.=--Climatically this region differs from the
rest of the United States in having a rainy and a dry season--that is,
the rainfall is wholly seasonal. In the northern part the rainfall is
sixty inches or more, and rain may be expected daily from the middle of
October to May. In central California the precipitation is about half as
much, the rainy season beginning later and ending earlier. In southern
California there are occasional showers during the winter months,
aggregating ten or twenty inches.

The level valley-lands have no superior for wheat-farming, and in but
one or two places is the rainfall insufficient to insure a good crop. In
the San Joaquin and southern valleys of California the harvest begins in
May, in the Sacramento Valley in June, and in the Willamette and Sound
Valleys of Oregon and Washington in July. The wheat goes mainly to Great
Britain by way of Cape Horn. It cannot be safely shipped in bulk, and
the manufacture of jute grain-sacks has become an important industry in
consequence. The yearly wheat product of this region is not far from
eighty million bushels.

Fruit is a valuable product of the foot-hills of the Sierras, and in
southern California oranges, lemons, and grapes are now the staple crop.
In some cases the average yield per acre has reached a value of five
hundred dollars. Some of the largest vineyards in the world are in this
region. The Zinfandel claret wine and the raisins find a market as far
east as London, and considerable quantities are sold in China and Japan.
The navel orange, although not native to California, reaches its finest
development in that State. A large part of the fruit-crop of California
is handled at Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. It is
transported in special cars attached to fast trains.

Wool is an important crop. In the northern part the sheep thrive best in
the foot-hills. The valley of Umpqua River, Ore., produces nearly
seventeen million pounds of wool yearly, the staple being an ordinary
variety. California produces nearly as much of the finest merino staple.
A considerable part is manufactured in the mills of the Pacific coast.
The Mission Mills blankets made in San Francisco are without an equal
elsewhere.

The discovery of gold by John Marshall in 1848 resulted in a tremendous
inflow of people to the gold-fields of California. It also was a factor
in the acquisition of th