Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz is comparatively a small county on the northern side of Monterey bay, with San Mateo on the north, and Santa Clara on the east. Its area is 437 square miles, and the population, placed at 12,802 in 1880, is now estimated at 32,000. Santa Cruz, a flourishing city of 12,000 inhabitants, noted as a seaside resort, is the county seat. Watsonville, in the Pajaro valley, one of the most fertile sections of the state, is the second town in size. Other places are Soquel, Aptos, Felton, and Capitola. The Coast range here comes down near to the sea, and its slopes and canyons, covered with a dense growth of redwood, furnish a source of wealth and employment to many lumbermen. The powder works near Santa Cruz, and extensive lime works and tanneries, also add materially to the prosperity of the people. The beet-sugar works at Watsonville are the largest in the United States, if not in the world. Santa Cruz annually sends large quantities of fruit to market, and thousands of acres of mountain land have been planted to fruit and vines during the last few years. The assessed valuation in 1889 was $11,160,230.

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