Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-04-12
Our CaIlrornIa Correspondence


Los ANGELES, CAL, March 2, 1865.
messrs. Editors
Presuming that most of your readers
would be interested in letter from this
distant region venture to offer this for
publication.
address myself more Rarticularly to
those friends of mine who desire TO see
California, through my eyes, and ascer-
tain il the prospects are such as to
justify their coming cut As know
but little of other portions of the State,
my remarks will be principally confined
70 this section sAs 6farsas it is in my
power, / shall state the exact truth, the
advantages ndaidisadvantagesg For
myself, | am free to say, was disap-
pointed With Los Angeles. had read
description, in a work on Cslifor-
MIA, that made it perfect paradise
b The appearance of the es0Rn eiDforbid,
ding. There are long fo~ssof low adobe
buildiHessOn eitbsF side of the streets,
many Of them falling into decay, with
dirty, walnut-eolored children playing
about~-chickens gand dogs, and. lazy,
indolent Spaniards and Indians stand
ing, sittingI OF lying upon the ground,
summing themselves. There are, how
ever, quite q number of good Amer
lean houses and rbesutfll oyards--
But our own people are compare
lively few in number, and to con-
siderable degree have adopted Span.
ish habits and customs Until i came
here there was no kind of religious
worship but the RomanC Catholic, and
although the Americans all express
themselves as much pleased to have
Protestant service and a minister, it ID
hard to get them to attend church.
There ia NOT much difference between
Sunday and any other dsy-most of the
stores are open, and nearly as much
business ia done on that day as at any
other time. i.eai,sI 5. r. -.7s e -.,,ry s.,o..
We are cut of here, in O good meas
urs, from the outer world. We have
mails from San Francisco hut three
times q week.
And now, having spoken of the disad-
vantages, l may show you the other side
of the picture. In climate and scenery
this region cannot be surpassed in any
part of the world ,snoa i.a3 ga la gt.s.asa
II 10 mostly Q plain with an undulat-
ing surface terminating in hills that
gradually rise in. height back to the
mountains which enclose Los Angeles
on three sides. They again present
quite variety of prospect They are
rough and rugged in front, scanned and
SCARED by numerous ravines and can.
ons and dtdrmihate- ia points of various
degrees of sharpness. Beyond the frst
range is another whose more lofty peaks
are covered with spogr while all around
Us is smiling in summer verdure and
decked with wilderness Of bright flow
ers. -,l.rF -rsT-sI.., sFs. -. -sr.
The mountains appear bare. and ster-
lie, bat they furnish, abundance of tins
her ALL the wood we use for fuel is
brought from them-the plains being
! mostly destitute Of trees. 1
II Our winter is called the rainy season,
but it would be q great mistake to sup
pose il rained all the time. So far from
| II is it, that there is larger number Of
! clear days in winter than / ever saw
elsewhere. Weeks, and even for q whole
month, not drop of rain falls, and day
after day not q cloud is 70 be seen. The
sun shines out with q genial warmth,
and the air is balmy and sweet, the
1 anu bIC UiOOLut COFGT-
ing the hillsides and vallies with gor-
/ geous beauty. In such climate, and
surrounded BY such scenery, existence
\ Is q luxury.aG aa.4 raH z-ans
| TO give you some idea of the mildness
Of the climate, would inform you that
many plants and flowers which even, in
Southern Indiana, are house-plants, and
need careful attention to raise them at
NIL, grow here the year round, out doors
and onthsppeu ground. ===-.
Geraniums grow into trees Ten feet
high, and are never without flowers.
yenbenas, the Gala Ethepica, &c, also
flourish without spY care orsettention.
So we leave the ornamental for the
useful Almost every production of the
East fourishes here and many Of the
/ tropical fruits seem to hnd here con-
genial soil and climateO CIG seems
especially adapted to the cultivation of
barley and corn, oranges, lemons, figs,
eitrons, &c. Wheat does not do Wells
But the vine made from the grapes raised
here, is, / suppose, much superior to
that OF any other part Of then Emitted
States, and equal to any Of Europe. -