first volume, but he has also endeavored to make such improvements in its arrangement, and such additions to its general plan, as would still further increase the usefulness of the work and make it a valuable manual of reference to every resident of the State. The list of the offlcers and the data of operations of the different branches of Government, Federal and State, have been prepared with care and will be found very complete and reliable. The abstract of the eneral laws of the State, one of the new features of the present volume, is a useful source of information for every resident of the State. In the department of the Resources of California, a reliable abstract is presented of the progress and present condition of the different branches of our home industry, together with a variety of useful facts connected therewith. With this brief explanation, the editor again submits the "results of his labors to the attention and consideration of the public, and only asks that indulgence for any defects existing therein, that is reasonable upon due appreciation of the numerous difficulties usually attendant at the commencement of similar undertakings."
The thanks of the editor are respectfully tendered to the officers of State and the heads of departments, Federal and State, to the different county officers, and to his numerous contributors and correspondents throughout the State, for important and valuable information. He would express his obligations particularly to Hon. F. Forman, Hon. A. J. Moulder, G. W. Whitman, Esq., B. F. Washington, Esq., T. J. Henley, Esq., C. L. Weller, Esq., Charles Forman, Esq., A. A. Sargent, Esq., A. B. Paul, Esq., J. S. Skinner, M. D., J. J. Warner, Esq, H. H. Moore and C. Ferguson, Esqs. To H. Gibbons, M. D., for his valuable series of meteorological tables on the climate of San Francisco, and to Thomas M. Logan, M. D., of Sacramento, for an important article on the climatology of California. He would also again express his thanks to Messrs. Valentine & Co., to whom the typographical department was intrusted and to whom the work is much indebted for the exceedingly attractive appearance which presents.
The editor of the STATE REGISTER hereby invites the correspondence of those who may be friendly disposed towards the enterprise in which he is engaged. Their correspondence shall at all times receive his most respectful attention, and any suggestions which they may deem it necessary to make, relative to this or future volumes of the work, will be promptly considered. Communications to be addressed “Editor of the STATE REGISTER, San Francisco, Cal.” The REGISTER for 1860 will be issued early in January of that year, if sufficient encouragement be extended to the present work to warrant its publication.
SAN FRANCISCO, December 15, 1858.