Santa Cruz County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter I Natual Features, Location Topography And Mineralogy 1893
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.
NATURAL FEATURES, LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND MINERALOGY.

THE county of Santa Cruz, (Holy Cross,) is centrally situated on the coast of
California, extending from the bay of Monterey northwesterly some forty miles,
by an extreme width of about fifteen miles, and it contains something less than
440 square miles, or 280,000 acres. It extends from the Pacific ocean to the
summit of the Santa Cruz range of mountains, a section of the coast range, which
separates it from Santa Clara county, on the northeast.

  It is bounded on the north by San Mateo and Santa Clara counties; on the east
by Santa Clara county; and on the south and west by the Pacific ocean.

  The southwesterly or ocean slope of the Santa Cruz range of mountains is
heavily timbered with redwood oak, fir, etc., thus making lumber one of the
important resources of the county. The numerous valleys drained by the San
Lorenzo, Soquel, Pajaro, Aptos, Valencia, and several other smaller streams,
embrace some of the richest and most productive lands in the State. Loma Prieta,
sometimes known as Mount Bache, is the highest peak of the Santa Cruz range,
being about 3,000 feet above the sea level. It is some twenty miles northeast
from the county seat, and is a conspicuous landmark, being visible many miles
out at sea. Its summit is often covered with snow in winter, although there is a
thermal belt along the foot-hills, above the level of the valleys, where frost
is hardly ever seen.

  The location of Santa Cruz, on the sea coast, gives the county an equable
climate in summer, as the daily sea breeze, coming directly from the ocean,
without being heated by passing over intervening land, has very nearly the same
temperature which it has on the sea; whereas this same breeze becomes gradually
heated more and more, as it passes overland into the interior. It is thus that
the immediate coast area of California, from its extreme northwest to its
extreme southwest boundaries, has the finest summer climate that can be found
anywhere in the world. Lying between the main, or Santa Cruz mountains and the
ocean, is a lower range, the trend of which corresponds with that of the
seacoast. More than three-fourths of this county consists of hills or rolling
lands and mountains, all of which are well timbered with pine, oak or redwood.

Large quantities of lumber are manufactured from pine, and redwood, most of
which find a market in San Francisco or San Jose, being shipped either by rail
or from several small coves and harbors along the coast. The Santa Cruz
mountains are well watered, and many streams flow through the canons directly
west into the Pacific, while a large number unite to form the San Lorenzo river,
which courses south through the middle of this remarkably fertile county, and
empties into Monterey bay.

MINERAL RESOURCES.

  Among its minerals that can be counted as a known source of actual wealth are:
gold, silver, bituminous rock, coal, mercury and lime, together with sufficient
building stone for local purposes. Placer mining is carried on along various
creeks when water is abundant, and generally yields fair wages to those engaged
in it. Placer gold has been found on Wardell and Major creeks, and Gold Gulch
near Felton; while accounts are given in the report of the State Mineralogist of
the gold found being coarse-grained, some pieces of which were worth from
twenty-five cents to ten dollars. Various attempts have been made to discover
the source of the placer gold, but thus far prospecting has met with but little
success, the great obstacle being the depth of soil covering the rock formation,
and the dense growth it maintains, both of which prove great hinderances; yet a
few mineral bearing ledges have been found.

  Auriferous black sand is worked in the San Andres hills, where gold was found
several years ago, and a company organized 'in 1886. This sand is the remaius of
an old sea beach, now forming dunes and hills of friable sand-rock and beds of
sand. The latter deposits contain these black sands carrying gold.

  Several small veins of coal have been discovered, and small quantities have
been mined about fifteen miles north of Watsonville, in the Santa Cruz mountains
and on the Corralitos creek, and croppings have been found on the Valencia creek
and also near Felton.

  The State Mineralogist reports, in 1888, that the bituminous rock deposits
were yielding large quantities of paving material. The total shipments for the
year are given at 8,182 tons. The industry is growing and becoming very
important, as the supply is practically inexhaustible, with a future demand
likely to be unlimited.

  Asphalt pavements properly laid are exceedingly popular in large cities, as
Washington, Paris, etc., although liable in winter to be injured by frosts,
while in California they are nearly free from this trouble.

  Bituminous, rock is formed by the discharge of liquid asphaltum, or "brea," as
it is called in Spanish, from springs upon sand or gravel, with which it
mingles, thus forming a conglomerate, from which the volatile portions are, in
course of years, thoroughly evaporated. It is thus by natural processes that a
composite material is formed, which, when subjected to a high degree of heat and
mixed with lime, and properly treated, makes one of the best paving materials,
at least in a frostless country, which has ever been discovered.

  The Californians, as well as the Americans in early times, especially in the
southern portions of the State, where lumber was scarce, adopted this method of
roofing their houses.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


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