  The author wishes to express grateful appreciation of generous aid given in the preparation of this book by Herbert E. Bolton, Ph.D., Professor of American History in the University of California. Acknowledgment is also due to Dr. A. L. Kroeber, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Harvey M. Hall, Assistant Professor of Economic Botany, Dr. John C. Merriam, Professor of Palaeontology, Dr. Andrew C. Lawson, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, all of the University of California; Mr. John Muir, Father Zephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., Mr. Charles B. Turrill, of San Francisco, and many other persons in various parts of the state for their courtesy in furnishing points of information. For the sources used in the work, the author is indebted, in great measure, to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, and to the many writers from whose works quotations have been freely used. “NONE CAN CARE FOR LITERATURE IN ITSELF WHO DOES NOT TAKE A SPECIAL PLEASURE IN THE SOUND OF NAMES; AND THERE IS NO PART OF THE WORLD WHERE NOMENCLATURE IS SO RICH, POETICAL, HUMOROUS, AND PICTURESQUE AS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.... THE NAMES OF THE STATES AND TERRITORIES THEMSELVES FORM A CHORUS OF SWEET AND MOST ROMANTIC VOCABLES; ... THERE ARE FEW POEMS WITH A NOBLER MUSIC FOR THE EAR; A SONGFUL, TUNEFUL LAND; AND IF THE NEW HOMER SHALL ARISE FROM THE WESTERN CONTINENT, HIS VERSE WILL BE ENRICHED, HIS PAGES SING SPONTANEOUSLY, WITH THE NAMES OF STATES AND CITIES THAT WOULD STRIKE THE FANCY IN A BUSINESS CIRCULAR.” ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. |
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