03/29/2024
The following very interesting sketch appeared in the San Francisco Post in July 1877 and to peruse it is all that is required to cause one to see how fully and beautifully it describes familiar scenes in Lake County: (PART 1)
Lake County, so called from its numerous lakes, was organized in 1861. It covers an area of twelve hundred square miles, and is sixty miles long and twenty miles wide. It is situated between two ranges of mountains--the Bear of the east and the Mayacamas on the west. The first white settlers were two stock men, named Kelsey and Stone. They located in 1847, and were killed by the Indians in 1849, in the vicinity of the present town of Kelseyville. The population of the county is about seven thousand, and the assessed valuation of property $2,750,000. The county is very mountainous, the only available farming and grazing lands being contained in the numerous small valleys. The cereal productions are a little in excess of the amount required for home consumption. Considerable attention is given to stock raising and mining. The principal minerals are quicksilver, sulphur and borax. Fruit growing and viniculture are yet in their infancy. A number of dairies produce large quantities of butter and cheese. A large yield of hops is expected this season. Nature has done much for the county; has bestowed with liberal hand towering mountains, grand lakes, and thousands of phenomenal and mineral springs. It is the sanitarium of the Pacific. The climate is mild and even; the heat in the summer never oppressive, with cool evenings and mornings. In the winter snow fall on the mountains but rarely in the valleys. (History of Lake County 1881)
