ALAMEDA COUNTY Transcribed by: Linda Jackson 5/19/2008
The Ideal Place for Your California Home
by Henry Anderson Lafler
A
RESIDENCE ON THE HEIGHTS OVERLOOKING OAKLAND AND SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Imagine a sunny and well-watered land of plains, hills and valleys, in area more than one-half as large as the State of Rhode Island, and lying on the east shore of the beautiful Bay of San Francisco -- that is Alameda County. It is California's third county in population and taxable property--only the County of Los Angeles and the City and County of San Francisco showing greater totals in these particulars. Like all Gaul, the county may be divided in three parts:
First--A wonderfully fertile plain, with cities, towns, streams, farms and orchards, its western side forming for forty-seven miles the shore line of San Francisco Bay, and its eastern side terminated by hills. This plain contains something less than one-third of the area of the county.
Second--Bold ranges of grassy hills on which roam thousands of cattle and where other thousands of deer find safe retreat. These hills occupy more than one-third of the area of the county.
Third--One large valley and many lesser valleys among the hills, each with its perennial stream, its heavy-fruited orchards, and wide vineyards, yielding wines that rival the vintages of France. These valleys equal something less than one-third of the county.
Thus Alameda County is a region of widely diversified scenery. Plains that front on the great harbor, with their orchards of oranges, lemons, apricots, apples, peaches, cherries, walnuts, almonds, nectarines and many other tropical and sub-tropical fruits, have a peaceful, old-world charm that accompanies intensive cultivation and happy rural homes. The hills which look across the plain to the beautiful bay and toward the Golden Gate, are, in places, very rugged, and wooded with live oak, laurel and sycamore. Trout streams wind their way among the hills, and within the boundaries of the county are canyons, dark with redwood trees.
The fact that the orange and lemon flourish in Alameda County proves that never does the
ALAMEDA COUNTY HAS A SUB-TROPICAL CLIMATE, AS MAY BE SEEN FROM THIS
TROPIC GARDEN IN PIEDMONT
THE FOLLOWING MAP SHOWS ALAMEDA COUNTY AND THE DIVISION
OF ITS AREA INTO PLAIN, HILL AND VALLEY. ALONG THE BAY ARE
EXTENSIVE LEVEL LANDS; IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER ARE THE
EASTBAY CITIES; IN THE NORTHEASTERLY PORTION IS THE LIVERMORE
VALLEY; INTERVENING ARE MANY SQUARE MILES OF HILLS.
CITY HALL, OAKLAND, LOOKING ACROSS LAKE MERRITT
temperature, winter or summer, fall to a point that is dangerous to delicate foliage. But, on the other hand, unlike many other regions where the orange and lemon flourish, never does the climate of Alameda County reach extremes of heat. The waters of San Francisco Bay are cool, and even on the sunniest day of the year there is a lingering coolness in the air from the wide spaces of the Bay. The fogs which gather along the coasts of the Pacific and roll over the sea-fronting hills seldom penetrate as far inland as the borders of the county. Even when fleecy fog gathers along the levels nearest the Bay, it usually has lost a large part of its dampness and chill. For a climate that conduces both to work and play--which is never so warm as to be enervating and never too cold for comfort--it is confidently affirmed that the climate of Alameda County realizes the absolute ideal.
FOLLOWING PHOTO: GRACEFUL DATE PALMS AT PALMDALE, MISSION SAN JOSE.
THIS PRIVATE ESTATE CONTAINS SOME OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF TREES, FLOWERS AND SHRUBS FROM BOTH TROPIC AND TEMPERATE ZONES.
