Sacramento

Sacramento, the capital of California, is on the east bank of the Sacramento River, at the mouth of the American River, 120 miles by water and 90 by rail NE. of San Francisco. The streets are laid down at right angles on a level plain. The business portion is built of brick, the dwellings of wood, with shade-trees and gardens. The principal public buildings are the state capitol (which cost about $2,000,000), the county court-house (formerly the capitol) and hospital, the post-office, a Roman Catholic cathedral, the Crocker Art Gallery, and the Masonic and Oddfellows' halls. The manufacturing factories include a number of flour and planing mills, carriage, box, and broom factories, foundries, potteries, spice-mills, and a cannery; and here are the shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad, covering 25 acres. Sacramento was settled in 1839 by a Swiss named Sutter, who built a fort here in 1841; but it was not till 1848, after the discovery of gold, that the city—at first as a canvas town—was laid out. Inundations led to the building of a levee in 1862. In 1854 Sacramento became the state capital. Pop. (1880) 21,420; (1890) 26,386.