Arizona miner., 1867-02-23
PROSPERITY AT OUR DOORS.

! There is no fact more apparent than that
Los Angeles county has been, as we might
say, sleeping while the central and northern
portions Ct the State have been progressing
with lightning rapidity In geniality of eli
mate this part of California has no equal. and
in fertility ofsoil it is not inferior TO the most
favored districts on the coast. The great
wants here have simply been population and
enterprise; and now that public attention is
being attracted hitherward, we are likely
to soon haye our full share Of both Of these.
When the large ranches shall have been divi-
ded up and sold in small tracts to industrious
cultyators, of the same class as those who
have made New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio
and Illinois what they are; and who have in
like manner built up all the Western States
by their patient toll, then will commence a
new and prosperous era for Los Angeles coun-
ty and this whole southern region. The signs
of rapid advance and growth are already
visible in the city Of Los Angeles, and this
healthy evidence of improvement must soon
extend to the adjacent country 1t is GER
tainly in need Of it. There are in this coun-
try hundreds of thousands of acres of land
lying fallow as on the day of creation, which
only need willing hands to cultivate them
and develop their wealth of fertility. Out
side of the improved suburbs of the city there
are leagues of good land which might be en-
closed and converted into vineyards and gar
dens, quite as good as the best now under
cultivation. The enterprise and hardy indus
try of the Northern farmers will vet change
this waste into blooming nurseries Of fruit
and flowers. San joaquin has scarcely as
good a soil as Los Angeles, and no other irri-
eating facilities than such as are afforded by
common wells and windmills to raise the wa
ter to the surface of the SOIL and yet it has
become one of the greatest grain and fruit
growing counties in the State Here is hint
and example to our population. If we have
not sufficient water for our purposes in natur-
al streams, we must set to work as other peo-
pie do and supply the deficiency by artificial
means. IL has been remarked by a gentle
man residing here for some years, that there
is not single reservoir built in the county,
to save surplus water which now sinks in the
sand or escapes to the sea. If the Los Ange-
les and San Gabriel rivers were in other re-
gions, further north, there is not a drop of
water flowing in those streams but would be
made useful over and over again, through the
simple continuance Of reservoirs built along the
line of the course. In this respect the Span
, ish Padres were far wiser than the present
, occupants of land here, for they constructed
reservoirs Of solid stone and cement near theil
Missions.
We learn that projects for building rail
roads TO connect northern California with tn,
southern counties, and thence to continue OF
to the Atlantic States, are seriously contem
plated in San Francisco and Sacramento
Both or either Of these roads, if built, will
converge to Los Angeles, as central anC
most convenient point on the great highwa,
, TO the East. Thence the road naturally seek
the most direct and feasible route over tn,
mountains, which is TO be found at the San
GorgOnia Pass, whose altitude is only 2,8Ot
feet above the level of the sea, and which af
iords an easy grade then it would cross tn,
5 desert in direct line to La Paz, and from
, there continue on through Central Arizon;
toward its eastern terminus. That such {
road will be built in the course Of few years
we entertain no more doubt than of the fact
that we are now writing. People here must
wake up to the necessity and Importance o.
4 this great enterprise, and aid its speedy ac
complishment by voice, and pen, and soliC
, contributions to the stock Wilmington Jour
nal.