17 Mr Ralston the Money king of Calafornia sent an Agent
[FIGURE] with a coach & team to take us to the rail Road so we could visit
San Jose & the Country. Mr B Thompkins who accompanied us
was Mr Clerk in the Bank we were drove to the cars
which we took to there we met Mr Ralston coach in
waiting for us to take us through the various gardens, orchards, vine-
yards, & parks of the Gentlemen of that Country. There was one feature
of that country which was interesting we found the whole country
intersperced with a tree called the live Oak an Evergreen from one
foot to 6 feet through, those trees were preserved so that all the gardens
parks & grounds had the appearance of a hundred years growth looks
some like the oak openings of Ohio. In many parts also was a
vine or low shrub called poison oak which was much worse in
poisoning the flesh than poison Ivy. We visited NGeneral
garden & Grounds & vineyard, containing 160 Acres, 40 of which
was a fine vineyard, he watered it with Artecian wells which
he got in diging 70 feet. His grounds were vary tastefully aranged
they contained many tropical fruits, flowers, & shrubury among
which were many pepper trees & centaury plants, leaves 8 feet long
& 12 inches wide they Bloomed Evry 7 years instead of 100. Gen Nagles
had spent 2 years in France & in order to learn the best
process of manufacturing wine & Brandy. He had introduced the
best grapes & Esstablished the best distilary in the State. He made
100000 gallons of wine & 20000 gallons of Brandy Each year His
brandy was as clear as cristal No coulering whatever in init. He did
not sell his brandy but put it up into 1000 gallon casks untill it was
5 or 6 years old & had age then He said this Generation should
for once have the privilege of buying a pure article, it took 5 gallons
of wine to make 1 gallon of Brandy He paid $20 a ton for the
Mission Grape & $30 for the grapes He had imported. we went
all through his grounds & dined with him & when I left him
He shook me by the hand & said God Bless you
we next visited Mr Lathram's grounds & place. It contained
70 Acres of Fruits & Flowers He also had the finest stables & Har-
ness I Ever saw. We also visited Mr Atherton gardens &
orchards his son-in-Law accompanied us through his orchards of Apples
& Pears & vineyards. We then took cars & rode some 30 Miles to& there
Met Mr servant with a coach & 4 Horses awaiting us & we
drove to Mr Ralston Princely palace & was received with all the attention
that Princes could expect. He had a Telegraph from his bank in to his dwelling 20 Miles distance. He telegraphed to the family
to receive us kindly & make us Happy & they did so, his princely
Mansion did not cost less than a Million of Dollar & his
spent a quarter of a Million Dollar in furnishing it. The chairs were
made of the finest Ebony in China, spitoons & kindred vessels carved
out of the finest Persian Marble, the Room decorated with the finest
Marble statuary & bronze, Many cristals of a pure water from one to 5
inches in diameter. Chandeliers cost many thousands of dollars, in fine
the whole palace had more the appearance of a Museum than a private
dwelling it had its Turkish & Russian Baths besides scores of Baths con-
nected with bedrooms, had their 9 pin allies. Had a retort & made
their own gass to light their dwellings & barns, & their many mirrors
were large & costly & the surrounding grounds of 100 acres was cultivated
at a great Expense I almost spent felt like spending the night in visiting
the House & surroundings instead of Going to sleep. I became so dazzled
& Bewildered with the scenery, & attention of the last 24 hours & since
our arival in , that I felt to ask myself the question
Am I an Elder in the ? if
so, what has come over the world, that such a great change is
manifest to wards us? another thing, it was hard work for me to compr-
ehend that I was in Calafornia, a country built up in twenty years
while it had the Appearance of a centaury's gro^w^th. I felt to thank the
Lord that he had softened the hearts of the people & raised up friends
unto us. While we were taking supper the wating Lady of the House
was called away by telegraph to go 20 Miles by coach that night
to San Francisco, But we had the Freedom of the House. We visited the
grounds, stables, Bath Rooms, Boling Allies &c & had a vary plesant time
& finally herd music out of a penonna by turning a crank 75 M[iles]
