Sacramento County California

Sacramento County. Organized in 1850. Bounded north by Sutter and Placer, east by El Dorado and Amador, south by San Joaquin and Contra Costa, and west by Solano and Yolo. Area, l,026 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, 523,708,990.

County seat, Sacramento City. Principal towns, Folsom, Gait and Mormon Island.

The resources of Sacramento are commercial, agricultural and mineral. The great river of the state affords navigation along the western border, and its several railroads centering in the principal city, give the county great commercial advantages. Agriculturally it possesses capacity of the most extraordinary character. One third of the area is subject to overflow, being the bottom lands along the river or the islands in the delta of the Sacramento, Mokelumne and San Joaquin Rivers, of inexhaustible and unparalleled fertility. This land requires reclamation by leveeing and draining to prepare it for cultivation, but when this is accomplished the productiveness is large, and crops certain.

Every variety of vegetables, cereals, grass and fruit grow in the greatest luxuriance and in perfection. The warm, sandy soil is well adapted to the growth of the mulberry, and the climate is favorable to the health of the silk worm, consequently the production of silk is a successful enterprise, and promises to be a great source of wealth at some future day, not necessarily distant.

The land not subject to overflow is moderately fertile, taken as a whole, and generally well adapted for grape growing. The county extends some six or seven miles into the foot hills of the Sierra, and successful cultivation has furnished the proof that these hills are the best for the production of wine of any land in the State. The Natoma vineyard near Folsom has obtained a wide celebrity from the excellence of its wines and brandies, and proves the capacity of that section and character of country.

The vineyards are in the midst of mines, for, throughout the foothills, auriferous gravel and auriferous veins are found. Mormon Island, Negro Bar, (now Folsom), Willow Springs, Sulky Flat, Michigan Bar, and several other places in the county were once famous mining localities, and still give forth considerable gold. Bars of the American River within six miles of Sacramento have been found to contain large quantities of the precious metal, and as it is obtained throughout this region wherever gravel is found, it most probably exists deep in the gravel of the Sacramento valley at the base of the mountains.

The country is particularly favored with means of transportation, having besides the river along its western border and among the islands, several railroads crossing it in every direction. The Central Pacific combining with what was formerly the Western Pacific, enters over the northern border and passing through the city of Sacramento goes southeasterly to the southern border, having forty-two miles of road in the county. The California and Oregon Railroad using the same track as the Central Pacific runs its trains fifteen miles in Sacramento, and the Sacramento Valley Railroad, twenty-two and a half miles long, lines at Folsom the Sacramento Valley and Placerville with ten miles of track within this county. The California Pacific crosses the river at Sacramento and enters the city, making an aggregate of ninety miles of main rail track within the county, with a large addition of branch and auxiliary tracks.

 The large volume and rapid fall of the water of the American River provides unlimited power for manufactures, which, when brought into use, with the aid of the railroads so conveniently located, will constitute an important source of wealth. This stream enters the county on the eastern border, near Folsom, where the Branch State Prison has been located by the Act of the Legislature of 1873-4. The Cosumnes, on the southeastern border will also furnish a great water power, giving to this central county unusual facilities for manufacturing. At present, the manufactures of the county are not as extensive as the agricultural and other resources and conveniences of market would warrant: but in the city of Sacramento area number of manufactories establishments conducted on a scale of grand enterprise. The soil of portions of the county has proven very favorable for the production of the Sicilian beet and a very successful sugarie has been established. The granite quarries, and the cobble deposits along the American River, constitute an unfailing resource, and furnish employment to a large number of men.

Officers: Robert C. Clark, County Judge; Hamilton C Harrison, Clerk; Charles V. Jones, District Attorney; Hugh M. LaRue, Sheriff; Matthew Clarkin, Recorder; Jesse A Stewart, Auditor; John Bellmer Treasurer; Joseph W. Houston, Tax Collector; Findley R. Dray, Assessor; Edward Murray, Surveyor; John P. Counts, Coroner; Henry S. Beals, Public Administrator; George R. Kelly, Superintendent Public Schools.

California Gazetteer | AHGP California

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875