Bancroft's Tourist's Guide Yosemite Part 22

It measures ten feet more each way than the Senate Chamber; has the same style of architecture, and closely resembles that room in its general finish and furnis.h.i.+ng, except that the desks and chairs are twice as numerous; the senators numbering forty, the a.s.semblymen, eighty. The upholstering of the chairs of this room is of green velvet. Very rich and heavy carpets of elegant patterns cover the floors of both rooms. The motto of this hall is, "Legislatorum est justas leges condere." Over the motto hangs a life-size portrait of General Sutter, the founder of the city. Still above the portrait, in a sort of arched niche, is a statue of Minerva, having a horn of plenty on her right and a California bear upon her left. A like statue similarly flanked, occupies the corresponding position in the Senate Chamber.

The State Library.--The State Library occupies the circular or elipsoidal projection midway between the north and south wings on the east side of the building, immediately over the Supreme Court rooms.

The Library Room is fifty-eight feet long by forty-six feet wide, and forty-six feet high. Its plan is unique. In the centre, a rotunda, rising straight up through, is crowned by a dome, whose top is sixty-three feet above the floor. A broad, circular gallery divides the room into two stories, each of which is itself again divided into two by a sub-gallery. The circular s.p.a.ce around the rotunda, contains nine equal alcoves. The peculiar outline produces a singular, and somewhat startling effect, which is, that when standing in the centre of this library, one cannot see a single book, although the shelves around him contain nearly thirty thousand volumes. Convenient stairs give easy access to galleries and sub-galleries; all of which are arranged in the same manner. Counting the different levels from which ascend the successive tiers of radial shelving, the library room is four stories high. The dome rests on twelve Corinthian columns, similar to those in the Senate and a.s.sembly chambers, already described. Still above the library, surrounding the rotunda, is a large circular room, devoted to the storage of papers, pamphlets, and congressional reports.

The Third Floor is eighteen feet high in the clear, and is divided into seventeen committee rooms, besides a large hall in the southwest corner of the south wing, which is provided for a cabinet and museum.

The Dome.--Over the inner dome, already built, will be erected the main or outer dome, one hundred feet higher, supported on ma.s.sive iron columns, and surmounted by Powers' statue of California, in iron.

The Grounds about the building, covering the four blocks donated by the city, will be terraced and sodded, set with native trees, beautiful flower plots, traversed by graveled walks, inclosed by a ma.s.sive and costly fence, and entered by gateways at the corners and at the centres of each side.

Over $1,000,000, in gold coin, has already been expended upon it, and it is more than probable that the better part of another million will follow the first, before Californians will witness the completion of their costly capitol, which is, however, as it should be, by far the n.o.blest building west of the Mississippi.

Although still unfinished, the Legislature took formal possession of the building on Monday, Dec. 6th, 1869. The Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Supreme Judges, and several other State officials, already occupy the apartments a.s.signed to them.

OTHER BUILDINGS.--The new Odd Fellows' Hall, the Savings Bank Building, two or three of the churches, the residence of Chas.

Crocker, and those of several other prominent gentlemen, equal the finest in the State.

HOTELS.--The Golden Eagle and the Orleans are the best. The former is newer, stands nearer the Capitol, and accommodates the legislators.

The latter is newly and elegantly furnished and is the great haunt of the railroad men. As for tables and beds, either will furnish you the best in the city. Each runs free coaches from the depots and wharves.

VIEW OF THE CITY.--No neighboring natural eminence affords any point of sight worth noting. From the Capitol dome, however, one has a view of the tree-embowered city, and the far-reaching, fertile valley, the gracefully winding, tree-bordered river, and the distant, snow-capped mountains, which form a panorama of beauty, shut in by grandeur, rarely to be enjoyed from as slight an elevation.

Stockton.

A trifle over one third of the way down from Sacramento to San Francisco, lies Stockton, the county seat of San Joaquin County, and in population, the fourth city of the State. It stands on both banks of a deep and wide slough of the same name, navigable the year round, and opening into the San Joaquin river, three miles west of the city.

It was named in compliment to Commodore Stockton, in honorable recognition of his prominent services in the conquest of the State.

No city in California has had a more gradual, steady and healthful growth. For many years it was the point of departure and the centre of trade for several of the richest mining regions, of which business it still retains, directly or indirectly, a full proportion. Its great source of prosperity and of wealth, however, is the immense grain-producing country, the famous San Joaquin valley, which surrounds it.

Last year, 1870, Stockton exported 94,152,000 lbs., nearly 50,000 tons, of wheat; and 3,160,500 lbs. of wool; 53,586 tons of hay, and nearly 160 tons of b.u.t.ter and cheese.

THE ARTESIAN WELL.--One of the points of vital interest to the inhabitants, if not to every tourist, is the great well, one thousand and two feet deep, seven inches in diameter, and discharging three hundred and sixty thousand gallons daily.

THE INSANE ASYLUM.--The chief architectural attractions of Stockton are the two large and fine buildings of the State Insane Asylum, occupying most extensive, beautifully planned, and tastefully kept grounds, in the northern part of the city. The inst.i.tution was opened in 1853, and has now about eleven hundred patients in care. It is the most expensive public inst.i.tution yet completed in the State, having cost nearly one million dollars. It is open to visitors at stated hours, except the female department, through which gentlemen are not allowed to pa.s.s, unless by special permission of, or in company with, the attendant physician. Superintendent and Resident Physician, Dr. G.

A. Shurtleff.

HOTELS.--Of the six or eight hotels in the city, only two rank as first-cla.s.s. The Yosemite House is emphatically _the_ tourist's home.

The moment you step upon the depot platform, or the steamboat pier, look out for the bluest eye, the fairest hair, and the most attractive face in the crowd, and ride home with their owner. He's one of the three McBean brothers, whose excellent management has made the Yosemite House so widely known and so increasingly popular. The Grand Hotel is the other first-cla.s.s house, and is conducted upon the restaurant plan.

ROUTES AND TEAMS.--If you want to know where to go and how to get there, ask for Robert C. Patten, or address him through box 91, Stockton P. O., and he'll make any desired arrangements for you, in the kindest way, the promptest time, and at the lowest rate.

From Stockton toward Oakland.

The Western Pacific railroad takes us first, to

Lathrop,

Nine miles west of Stockton. Here is the junction of the Visalia division of the Central Pacific railroad now open to

Modesto,

Twenty-one miles south, on the Tuolumne river. This is one of the present points of departure for the Calaveras Big Trees and the Yosemite Valley, whither stages depart daily.

Returning to Lathrop and continuing west about one mile thence, we cross the

San Joaquin River,

Broad, shallow and muddy, bordered by level reaches of tule lands, so low that a few feet rise in the river overflows thousands of acres, and makes the river sometimes nearly six miles wide. A necessity, resulting from this overflow, is the San Joaquin Bridge, which not only spans the permanent bed of the roily stream, but extends several miles across the low tule lands, whose submergence would otherwise completely stop all travel, except by swimming, wading, boating or flying.

Seven miles from Lathrop, we come to

Banta's,

A small freight and pa.s.senger station, whence tri-weekly stages connect for Hill's Ferry, forty miles.

Five miles further, through a fine agricultural country, brings us to

Ellis,

A small village cl.u.s.tered round the usual saloons and restaurants; whence six miles more and we reach

Midway,

Whose name will never be true till either San Francisco or Sacramento moves six miles nearer the other.

Seven and a half miles further, we suddenly plunge into a well-cut tunnel, about six hundred feet long, whose chief peculiarity is that we enter it in one county and leave it in another. It receives us in San Joaquin county, carries us under the boundary, and ushers us into Alameda county. Just after coming out from the tunnel, we whirl by the little flag station Altamont, whence we begin to enter upon the down grade, and roll through the

Livermore Pa.s.s,

Which is either a valley or a hill, according to whether one reckons downward from the higher summits on either side, or upward from the lower level at either end. Eight miles from Altamont we stop at

Livermore,

A rapidly-growing village in the beautiful Livermore Valley, forty-seven miles from San Francisco. From this station down to

Pleasanton,

Is only six miles, and they are _pleasant 'uns_ indeed. A thriving town, finely situated and beautifully surrounded.