CALIFORNIA 
AS A 
HEALTH RESORT. 
BY 
A. M. SHEW, M. D., 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
BOSTON : 
James S. Adams, Printer, 50 Arch St. 
1885. [From Proceedings of the Connecticut Medical | ] 
CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT.* 
By A. M. Shew, M. D. 
Gentlemen : — 
Circumstances beyond my control render it impossible for me 
to read, at the annual meeting, the regular Dissertation which I 
prepared several months ago in obedience to your appointment. 
In lieu thereof, I beg you to accept some thoughts respecting the 
climate of California, and its advantages and disadvantages as a 
health resort. I am the more desirous of giving you my impres- 
sions on this important subject, because you, as physicians, have 
it in your province to prolong the lives of many invalids by fur- 
nishing correct advice as to when and where to go, when a change 
of climate is desirable, and also to prevent useless and unneces- 
sary pain by dissuading patients from undertaking lengthy and 
tedious journeys, when suffering from incurable organic diseases. 
I have met so many sad instances of great suffering endured by 
invalids who were sent out here long after there was a shadow of 
hope of cure — when only the tenderest care of loving hands at 
home should have ministered to their wants — that I am convinced 
you can do as much good in this negative way as by the more 
positive recommendation to those who really need a change of 
climate. 
Let me, then, mention some of the principal disadvantages first. 
Under this head I shall not speak of climate, because California, 
with a coast line extending from north to south more than 800 
miles, with high mountains, well-sheltered canons, warm valleys 
and broad, sandy plains, offers every conceivable climate, from 
rigorous winter to soft and balmy spring. 
Nothing has surprised me more than the marked contrasts at 
comparatively short distances. At Los Angeles, for instance, you 
♦Read at the Annual'Meeting of the Middlesex County Medical Society, April, 1884. 2 
CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
look off twenty-five ’miles to the summit of the Sierra Madre 
range, where the snow-capped peaks gleam in the sunlight con- 
tinuously, while you are feasting on strawberries and tropical 
fruits, surrounded by roses, heliotrope and rare exotic plants. 
One other instance of this great contrast may be mentioned. 
At San Francisco, you require heavy under flannels and thick 
outer garments the entire year. The mean average temperature 
for January or July is about 50°. 
By simply crossing the bay to Vallejo, 20 miles, and passing 10 
miles into either Napa or Sonoma Valley, you reach a sheltered 
section, where the thermometer in the shade marks a temperature 
of ioo° during nearly half the year. These facts may explain the 
diversity of opinions which have been expressed by equally 
intelligent observers. One traveler crosses the continent to San 
Francisco, hurries through the State, barely catching glimpses of 
places along the line of travel, and returns home with an uncom- 
fortable impression indelibly stamped on his memory by the fogs 
or chill winds of San Francisco, and the execrably poor hotels 
along the route. Another journeys leisurely by the southern 
route to Yuma, Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara 
and Monterey, pausing long enough to feast on the oranges of San 
Gabriel, the strawberries of Pasedena and the grapes of Santa 
Clara Valley, until his mind is filled with wonder and delight at 
the fertility, warmth and possibilities of this youthful State. 
Of the disadvantages, distance claims our first attention. Three 
thousand miles over the Rocky Mountains, requiring a journey of 
six or seven days, is a serious obstacle, even to the strong and 
healthy. It should receive your most serious consideration. Do 
not venture to send patients suffering from advanced organic 
diseases upon this long and tedious journey. Heart troubles, 
spinal affections and acute lung diseases contra-indicate travel 
which involves distance, elevation and discomforts. On the other 
hand, experience shows that “ nervous ” people, who suffer from 
insomnia at home, are benefited by the continuous motion of 
railroad travel, and thus find rest after other treatment has failed. 
The great army of sufferers from dyspepsia, asthma, neuras- 
thenia, and convalescents from acute diseases, may safely, and 
with advantage, undertake the journey. I have been surprised to 
find that nearly all passengers overland weigh more and feel 
better at the end of the journey than at its commencement. CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
3 
While there are still many inconveniences and much room for 
improvement, yet the sleeping coaches and eating stations have 
been so greatly changed for the better during the past ten years 
that but little remains to be hoped for in this direction, 
When you have decided that your patient would be benefited 
by travel, you may safely follow this rule : If you consider him 
able to cross the Atlantic, you need have no hesitation in advising 
him to undertake the overland journey to California. 
Having tried both, I unhesitatingly give the preference to the 
latter ; and in this opinion 1 am guided as much by observation 
as by personal experience. 
The second disadvantage to be mentioned is that of indifferent 
accommodations for invalids after they have reached the Pacific 
Coast. 1 refer, of course, to the hotels or public houses. This 
objection, which at present is a serious one, applies to all Southern 
California, with the exception of Monterey, Santa Barbara and 
Sierra Madre Villa. There are many private houses where enter- 
prise, taste and skill have, in a few years, made the most delight- 
ful cottage homes to be found in America. Some of these are 
located in sheltered canons, where all of the tropical fruits are 
produced in abundance. Others spring up like luxuriant oases on 
the plains or near the ocean. Doubtless many invalids could find 
good accommodations and cordial greetings in some of the rural 
paradises. But these places are unknown to the seeker after 
health, and, when found, serve by contrast to make the defects of 
the public houses still more apparent. As this is one of the 
objections to Southern California which applies equally to all new 
countries, it should not be presented as a natural, but only as an 
artificial, defect, which time and money will obviate. 
You observe I have noted some exceptions to this general state- 
ment. At Santa Barbara two good hotels — the Arlington and the 
Elwood — offer comfortable accommodations for two hundred 
guests. Both houses are well situated and admirably kept. Here, 
too, may be found gentle and safe saddle-horses at reasonable rates 
for those who fancy this sport and are well enough to enjoy it. 
Perhaps the best small hotel in California is the celebrated 
Sierra Madre Villa, owned by Mr. Cogswell, the artist. It is situ- 
ated in the highest part of the foothills, 1,800 feet above sea-level, 
at the base of the Sierra Madre range, fifteen miles from Los 
Angeles. The wonderful developments, the peculiar charms and 4 
CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
the future possibilities of the country may lie seen while sitting, in 
January, on the well-kept lawns of the Villa, breathing in the per- 
fume of rare tropical flowers and feasting the eye upon the beauty 
of orchards, groves and vineyards of the valley. But it is at the 
quiet old town of Monterey, formerly the capital of California, 
that we find, in the “Del Monte," the ideal hotel. Taking every- 
thing into consideration, this hotel, with its fare, rates, appoint- 
ments, accommodations, grounds, drives, beach, pavilion for 
bathing, etc., etc., has no equal in the world. 
The Hotel del Monte is owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad. 
It is constructed in the modern gothic style, and cost, with its 
furniture and other appointments, a half a million of dollars. The 
house is elegantly furnished throughout, and is kept so scrupu- 
lously neat and clean that the visitor is sure to think it can have 
been opened but yesterday. Both hot and cold water are carried 
through the hotel, and there are numerous bath-rooms on the 
different floors free to guests. 
The site selected was in a lovely grove of pine, oak and cedar, 
the trees being sufficiently scattered to admit of the adornment of 
the grounds by means of drive-ways, foot-paths, lawns and beds 
of flowers. Under the direction of an accomplished landscape 
gardener, a corps of forty men is kept constantly engaged in 
embellishing the gardens, avenues and walks. 
Here and there are swings, croquet plots, an archery, lawn- 
tennis grounds, and bins of fine beach sand, the latter being 
intended for the use and delectation of the children who cannot 
await the bathing hour for the daily visit to the beach. The use 
of all these, as well as the ladies’ billiard-room, are free to guests. 
Driving and riding constitute two of the leading amusements of 
Monterey. 
Well-kept macadamized roads have been constructed a score of 
miles along the ocean, through cypress groves, and back over the 
mountain, and nearly all the time within the borders of the hotel 
company’s property. Coming to this beautiful place in January, 
from the snow and ice of New England, and finding oneself sur- 
rounded by shade trees, green grass and bright flower plots, it is 
difficult to shake off the impression that you are still in the mazes 
of dreamland, from which you dread to be awakened. After a 
stay of nearly three months I am convinced that, considering 
everything, — climate, hotel accommodations, sea-bathing and CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
5 
beautiful surroundings,— Monterey approaches nearer to the Ideal 
Sanitarium than any place I have ever visited. One of the dis- 
tinctive peculiarities of Monterey (also Santa Barbara) is its 
equable temperature, the mean averages for the month of Jan- 
uary being 50°, and July 65°. As a result, invalids and travelers 
from New York and New England come here to get warm, and 
occupy the hotel during the winter and spring, while the Californians 
dock to it from the hot inland valleys to cool off, during the 
summer. 
There is a steady tone in the atmosphere which enables and 
invites you to live out of doors beneath the clear, blue skies, with- 
out feeling the enervating effect of the heat further south. 
From January to December, year in and year out, the weather 
partakes of that delightful interlude known in the East and South 
as Indian summer. This is well shown by the fact that at his 
ranch in a small canon, seven miles from Monterey, Mr. W. W. 
Thompson has picked ripe strawberries from his vines every day 
during the past four years. 
What I have said respecting the climate of Monterey applies 
equally well to the Pacific Coast from Santa Cruz to San Diego. 
During what may be termed the winter months 50° will mark, 
on an average, the mean temperature, and water is never con- 
gealed. The very fact that many persons wear overcoats and 
sleep in blankets the year round, and that all field work from Janu- 
ary to December is performed by laborers in their shirt-sleeves, 
presents a better and more unequivocal illustration of the equa- 
bility of temperature, perhaps, than any other incident that might 
be presented. 
What is generally known as the rainy season commences in 
November and lasts two or three months. Many people who have 
never visited California erroneously imagine that during the “ wet 
season” — so called in contradistinction to the dry months — rain 
never ceases to descend. This popular error is corrected by 
glancing at weather tables, which invariably show that during the 
wet season in California there is not only less rain but more fair 
and beautiful days than in that portion of the United States 
between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean during the 
same time. 
The following figures, representing the mean temperature of 
January and July, and the average annual rain-fall (in inches) in 6 
CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
Mentone, St. Paul, St. Augustine (Florida), and also in San Diego, 
Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Monterey (California), afford a 
subject well worthy of consideration: — 
Jan. 
July. 
Rain-fall. 
San Diego, 
57° 
65° 
IO 
Santa Barbara, 
56 
66 
*5 
St. Augustine, 
59 
77 
55 
St. Paul, 
13 
73 
3° 
Mentone, 
30 
69 
23 
Los Angeles, 
55 
67 
18 
Monterey, 
5° 
65 
Cold with moisture leads to pulmonary diseases; heat with 
moisture leads to malarial fevers. From such diseases the coast 
of Southern California is remarkably free. The dryness of the 
atmosphere prevents malarial diseases, and is also a great relief 
to bronchial affections. 
You may ask, how can an invalid pass the time; in other words, 
what amusements and recreations are offered? Samuel Bowles 
once wrote of Los Angeles, that “It is the happiness of Paradise 
to breathe the air and to bask in the sunshine of Southern Cali- 
fornia.” To the confirmed invalid who has been for months im- 
prisoned by the rigors of an Eastern winter nothing more would 
seem desirable ; but it would hardly satisfy the convalescent who 
begins to feel the vigor and buoyancy of returning health. Here 
again the advantages of California are manifest. In all parts of 
the State the sportsman finds use for his gun and rod. Squirrels, 
rabbits, wild geese, quail, ducks and deer can be found near at 
hand; while larger game, such as panthers, lions and grizzly 
bears, abound in all the wooded mountains in the State. The 
streams are alive with trout and salmon, which can be legally 
taken after April ist. 
Time will not allow me to do more than name some of the 
numerous springs which abound in all parts of the State. In 
variety, number and character, they are found in California at 
convenient points, occasionally grouped together so that the inva- 
lid may have the benefits of soda, sulphur, alum, magnesia or 
iron springs, hot or cold, while staying at one hotel. The waters 
of Paso Robles, Paraiso, Gilroy, Harbin, Byron, Seigler, and of 
other hot springs, are beneficial in the treatment of sciatica, rheu- 
matism, gout, paralysis (without organic lesion), and cutaneous CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
7 
complaints. The hot springs of Lake Napa, Sonoma, Los Angeles, 
Santa Barbara and San Diego Counties have no superiors in 
eastern States, while many of ihe cold sulphur, soda and chaly- 
beate springs of Napa Lake and Sonoma Counties excel those of 
Bethesda and Saratoga. They are all accessible, with good, small 
hotels, situated in the midst of some of the grandest mountain 
scenery to be found on the Pacific Coast. 
Perhaps the most celebrated of these are the soda springs 
located six miles northward from Napa City. 
These springs furnish a daily How of four thousand gallons of 
water impregnated with iron, soda, magnesia, lime and muriate 
of soda, with free carbonic acid gas, in such happy combination 
as to impart pleasure, health and physical improvement as the 
result of their use. From more than twenty of these springs is 
poured forth the article well known in the commercial world as 
“ Napa Soda.” 
The water is bottled and sold just as it flows, pure from nature’s 
laboratory, with all her sparkling freshness still upon it. 
The place is not what is usually termed a fashionable resort. 
It is a delightful spot in which to bathe, and hunt, and fish, and 
sleep, and dream, and rest, and forget the busy, whirling city, with 
its work, worry and disappointments. 
Perhaps I have said enough to indicate, in a general way, the 
advantages, and a few of the peculiarities, of California as a health 
resort. 
Many extravagant statements have been made by tourists, con- 
veying the impression that frost is unknown, that no fires are 
needed except for cooking, that it always rains at night, that it is 
never uncomfortably warm in summer, and various inaccuracies 
tending to give a false impression of the country. 
The residents of Southern California do not claim that their 
climate has no discomforts; but they maintain stoutly, and with 
reason, that no clime has fewer. I have noticed that the longer 
one remains in California, the stronger becomes his attachment, 
and the less his inclination to return to the changeable climate of 
New England. 
In closing, permit me to briefly indicate some of the classes of 
invalids which are benefited by coming to the Pacific coast. 
Persons having sensitive lungs, and those in the early stages of 
consumption, always find relief, and sometimes permanent restora- 
tion, in the warm, dry regions of Southern California. 8 
CALIFORNIA AS A HEALTH RESORT. 
So, too, sufferers from rheumatism, neuralgia, nervous prostra- 
tion and asthma. In fact, all the disorders in which out-door life 
is indicated may be treated in this dry, warm climate with a fair 
prospect of success. 
On the other hand, as you value the good will of those who 
look to you for advice, do not subject invalids suffering from 
chronic, incurable diseases to the discomforts of a long journey, 
when no radical benefit can be expected. The key to this climate 
is to be found in the fact that it has a warm sun and cool air. 
You may sit under the shade and pick ripening figs by day, and 
then retire to sleep under heavy blankets at night. The day 
furnishes warmth which is not debilitating, while the cool nights 
bring refreshing sleep. There is scarcely a day of the year a 
large portion of which may not be spent out of doors. 
Add to these advantages the choicest and most tempting array 
of fresh fruits and vegetables for every month of the year, and 
you have all of the requisites in a climate for invalids. 
Thus far only a commencement has been made in settling this 
great State. At no distant day, when it shall have been cut up 
into small farms and occupied by thrifty Eastern people, we may 
expect a veritable Paradise on earth, and such a Sanitarium for 
invalids as the world has not known.