Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, a city and the county-seat of Santa Cruz county, California, U.S.A., on the northern headland of the Bay of Monterey, about 75 m. S. of San Francisco. Pop. (1900) 5659, (1123 foreign-born); (1910) 11,146. It is served by the Southern Pacific railway. Santa Cruz is a popular seaside resort. The site of the city, which spreads back over bluffs and terraces to the foothills of the mountains (2000-3800 ft. in altitude), is very picturesque, and the scenery in the environs beautiful. Hills nearly enclose the city, protecting it from the ocean fogs. Monterey Bay has a remarkable variety of fish; and there is a large fish hatchery near the city. Fruits in great variety are grown in the valley and foothills. The mountains are covered with one of the noblest redwood forests of the state - the only one south of San Francisco; two groves, the Sempervirens Park (4000 acres) and the Fremont Grove of Big Trees, 5 m. from Santa Cruz, have been permanently preserved by the state. A Franciscan mission was established at Santa Cruz in 1791 and secularized in 1834, but was later destroyed. A pueblo or villa called Branciforte, one of the least important of the Spanish settlements (now a suburb of Santa Cruz), was founded in the vicinity in 1797, and before the American conquest was merged with the settlement that had grown up about the mission. The flag of the United States was raised over Santa Cruz in July 1846. The city was chartered in 1876.