Sonoma County California
Sonoma County. Organized in 1850. Bounded north
by Mendocino, northeast and east by Lake and Napa, south by San
Pablo Bay, and southwest and west by Marin and the Pacific
Ocean. Area, 1,400 square miles. Assessed valuation of property
for 1874, $16,800,825. County seat, Santa Rosa. Principal towns:
Bloomfield, Bodega, Cloverdale, Donahue, Forrestville,
Guernville, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Sonoma. The
resources are agricultural and mineral. In the first, including
fruit culture and vine making, Sonoma ranks among the leading
counties in the Stater and in the latter recent developments
indicate an unexpected and enormous wealth. The fertile valleys
extending north from San Pablo Bay, with the lovely climate of
perpetual spring and summer, attracted to this section the
earliest Spanish settlers, and it possessed a considerable
population when the country came into the possession of the
Americans. The many attractions drew hither the first
immigration of our own people disposed to make permanent homes
in the country, and it consequently became, and continues to be,
one of the most populous counties of the State. It is the
leading grape-producing county, and the wine, champagne, and
brandy of Sonoma have obtained a wide and deservedly high
reputation. In the production of wheat, oats, corn, and
potatoes, it is also among the foremost. The northwestern
portion is mountainous, and well covered with forests, the
principal trees being redwood, oak, laurel, and madroflas. In
the northeast are high volcanic peaks and precipitous ridges,
where subterranean fires still manifest their presence. Boiling
springs, the most noted being the Geysers, sulphur springs and
beds of that mineral, are numerous in this section. The Russian
River, the largest stream in the county, enters from Mendocino,
and after a winding course of more than eighty miles, empties
into the Pacific Ocean. The large valley and gently rolling
hills bordering this river and its tributaries constitute the
principal agricultural region, and in no part of the world can a
superior be found. Mark West, Santa Rosa, Green Valley, and Dry
Creek are branches of Russian River, the latter entering from
the north, and all flowing through valleys of great fertility
and exceeding loveliness. The Sonoma Valley, giving name to the
county, combines every feature of attraction that climate, soil,
and scenery can give. This is the great wine-producing section.
Valley and hill are covered with the graceful vines, and from
them come the wines and champagnes which have already obtained a
wide celebrity. The Walhalla is a considerable stream in the
northwestern part of the county, emptying into the ocean, and
the Sonoma and Petaluma are small creeks flowing into the bay of
San Pablo. These afford water communication with San Francisco.
The western coast possesses several good lauding places, but no
enclosed, safe harbor. The San Francisco and North Pacific
Railroad traverses the county from the Bay at Donahue, to
Cloverdale, near the northern border, a distance of 56 miles,
always in a very fine section of country, and thus opening it to
travel and business in the most convenient manner. The Marin and
Sonoma Narrow Gauge Railroad is proposed to connect at San
Rafael with the North Pacific Coast Railroad, and run via
Petaluma, Donahue, and Sonoma, to Suscol, in Napa County, where
it will connect with the Napa Valley branch of the California
Pacific, and give railroad communication with all lines now
constructed. Another is also proposed from Santa Rosa to
Guernville, and these, when completed, will establish a system
of great convenience to every interest. The mineral resources of
Sonoma were but slightly regarded prior to 1874. Several
medicinal springs were known, and, with the Geysers, were places
of fashionable resort. People were familiar with the beds of
sulphur in the mountain called Sulphur Peak, and veins of
cinnabar had been found, but little attention, however, had been
paid to them. In the last year mining developments have been
carried on with much energy, and the county is now known to
contain quicksilver, chromic iron or chromite, copper, gold,
silver, sulphur, valuable stones for jewelry, building and
paving stones, and other minerals of importance. The chief
mining interest centers in quicksilver, and Cinnabar District,
or Pine Flat, on the north-eastern border of the county, is the
seat of greatest operations. A large number of locations have
been made, the most noted being Sonoma, Annie-Belcher, Oakland,
Missouri, Rattlesnake, American, and Great Western. There are
also many others quite advanced in development, in this and Lake
County, the quicksilver region being in both counties, and
extending northwesterly from St. Helena Mountain to near
Cloverdale, and supposed to reach through Mendocino, to the
ocean. A large number of furnaces and mills have been
constructed, and the flow of quicksilver has already commenced.
Another important industry is the mining of chromic iron ore,
usually called "chrome," which is obtained in large quantities
near Cloverdale, at a slight expense, and is sent by rail and
steamer to San Francisco, whence it is shipped to various
manufacturing centers, where it is used in the arts pertaining
to colors. These mineral developments, together with the
agricultural, timber, and other resources, invite wealth in a
variety of forms, and offer opportunities for labor, and the
investment of capital, perhaps not surpassed in any equal area
in the world.
Officers: A. P. Overton, County Judge; John T, Fortson, Clerk;
William E. McConnell, District Attorney; Edward Latapie, Sheriff
and Tax Collector; Ben S. Wood, Recorder and Auditor; G. T.
Pauli, Treasurer; W. C. Gaines, Assessor; C. B. Scott, Surveyor;
John Holman, Coroner; (vacant). Public Administrator; A. C.
McMeans, Superintendent Public Schools.
California Gazetteer |
AHGP California
Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled
by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875
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