To the golden land; sketches of a trip to Southern California . He met us with his team at Wildomana small roadside station, and with hearty welcome con-voyed us to his mountain home. Our route rose througha wooded glen till, at 1700 feet above the sea, SantaRosa Ranch lay before us ; verdant valleys, edged byrolling hills crowned with evergreen oaks, and amongstwhich scattered boulders of enormous size lent addedpicturesqueness to the scene. Santa Rosa is one of thefew remaining upland cattle-ranches of the county. Itcovers 47,000 acres, 15,000 of which have been recentlysold to a land compan
To the golden land; sketches of a trip to Southern California . He met us with his team at Wildomana small roadside station, and with hearty welcome con-voyed us to his mountain home. Our route rose througha wooded glen till, at 1700 feet above the sea, SantaRosa Ranch lay before us ; verdant valleys, edged byrolling hills crowned with evergreen oaks, and amongstwhich scattered boulders of enormous size lent addedpicturesqueness to the scene. Santa Rosa is one of thefew remaining upland cattle-ranches of the county. Itcovers 47,000 acres, 15,000 of which have been recentlysold to a land company. The remaining 32,000 acres amuses himself with farming, running between2000 and 3000 head of cattle, and growing a certainquantity of grain. His pretty ranch-house, set by somesprings on the edge of a charming ravine, opened itswelcoming doors to us just as evening drew nigh. Stand-ing upon the portico, amidst roses and flowering shrubs,the cultivated fields in front of us, the hills, covered witha rich greensward rising beyond, and groves of noble. w TO THE GOLDEN LAND. 65 evergreen oaks filling in the picture, we might easily havedreamed ourselves into the belief that we were gazing ona Devonshire scene in midsummer. A glance at theshadowy palms, however, and at the orange-trees ladenwith their golden fruit, recalled to us the fact that we werein California, 1700 feet above the sea, in February,innocent of great-coats, and armed with hats onlyagainst the sun. The voices of the children of the house,mingling English and Spanish phrases, broke in upon thesilence with odd effect, fitting in with the cooing of dovesand croaking of noisy frogs ; but all forgotten when abarbaric gong called us to dinner and to the presence ofa Chinese cook and serving-man, whose clear-cut asceticface (different, indeed, from the ordinary coarse Mongoltype) reminded one of a Roman cardinal. We spentthe two next days in driving round our hosts domain,thoro-bush, thoro-brier, over many a sw
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidtogoldenland, bookyear1889
