Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County has an ocean boundary of 65 miles, between Marin and Mendocino, with Napa County on the east, and San Pablo bay fringing a portion of its southern shore. Its area is 1,500 square miles, and its estimated population 37,500. The United States census of 1880 gave a population of 25,926. Santa Rosa, the county seat, is a city of great commercial importance, while the enterprise of its people has made it one of the most beautiful in the state, with great advantages in the way of schools and churches. Other towns of importance are Sonoma, which was settled by the mission padres in 1823, Petaluma, Healdsburg, Guerneville and Cloverdale. Sonoma, like Napa, is celebrated as one of the chief winemaking counties. Here the first thorough experiments were made in introducing choice foreign varieties of wine grapes, and for many years Sonoma took the lead both in quality and quantity of wine produced. She still takes third rank in the production of wine and table grapes. There has been a great increase in the acreage of grapes during the last five years, and much land formerly regarded as worthless has been shown specially adapted to the vine. Nearly all fruits do well in Sonoma, and the yield is large. Dairying, stock raising, wool-growing and lumbering are all important industries. For the first three, it is unsurpassed, because of the moisture that keeps the natural grasses green until far into the dry season. The redwood belt is extensive, and the great lumbering camps along the Russian river turn out an average of 1,000,000 feet per day. The county's assessed valuation in 1889 was $31,222,671.

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