Napa County, California

Napa County is in the central part of the state, with Lake County on the north and San Pablo bay on the south. It is over fifty miles long by from thirty to thirty-five miles wide, and has an area of 789 square miles. The population, according to the United States census of 1880, was 18,234, but it is now estimated at 20,000. Napa City, the county seat, is on the Napa River, in a beautiful section, and has many substantial buildings. Other important towns are St. Helena, the center of a rich wine-making district, and Calistoga, a famous health resort. The soil of Napa, largely made of volcanic remains, is peculiarly adapted to the choicest wine grapes, and the county stands at the head for the quality of its fine wines. There are now over 15,000 acres planted to wine grapes, and the yearly increase is from 500 to 1,000 acres. Of fruit-trees there are also nearly 300,000, the olive having been largely planted on the hill lands. Some of the largest wine-cellars in the state are in the neighborhood of St. Helena. The county produces one-third of all the wine made in California, and its main valley, the Napa, for a distance of thirty miles is almost one continuous vineyard. The other products are wheat, oats, barley, hay and quicksilver. It has many mineral springs, popular as health resorts, and its climate is unsurpassed for equability. The assessed valuation in 1889 was $14,970,181.

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Source: California State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1890, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Company, 1890.