Santa Clara County, California

Santa Clara is a valley county at the southern extremity of San Francisco Bay, with an area of 1,296 square miles, and a population of 75,000, against 35,039 in 1880. It is one of the most important grain and fruit producing sections of the state. San Jose, the fifth city in California, is the county seat, and is situated in the center of a magnificent valley; three miles distant is the town of Santa Clara, the two being connected by the famous Alameda. Other places are Gilroy, Los Gatos, Mountain View, Mayfield, New Almaden, and Milpitas. The resources of the county embrace cereals, fruits, wool, livestock, and dairy products. The orchards yield, without irrigation, thousands of tons of the choicest fruit every season, and vast fields of grain cover the valley for miles without a break. At San Jose is located the State Normal School, and on Mount Hamilton, 20 miles distant, is the world-famous Lick Observatory, with its great 36-inch telescope. The assessed valuation of property in 1889 was $52,000,000.

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