The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1872-08-08


FRoRI 0ALIToRNIA>
CoLosA. July IL, -.
EDS. CoURER :-Since leaving your
city, on the 4th Of last June, have
travelled over q vast extent of Terrific
~, crossed two ranges of mountains !;
made three hundred miles Of my jour-
ney BY private conveyance, besides
stopping two days ut Salt Lake.
Before endeavoring to give you a
description Of what l saw, i will state
that the first thing that RULED my
temper, was the disposition Of the Rail
DAD Company to repudiate fair con-
tract. As you must know, before my
departure from Ottumwa, purchased
q through ticket and when got to
Council Bluffs the Railroad Officials
wanted me to pay them half dollar
for crossing the Bridge to Omaha, but
upon my demanding receipt, they
concluded to look to the d. Il M. for
their fifty cents. On our arrival at
that little town across the river, the
U. P. Railroad refused to give us lay
over tickets or check our baggage to
any point this side of San Francisco /;
but we beat them at last, by taking
charge Of our own baggage as far as
Ogden, where we left the U. p. Road
and wentovcr to see Brigham's family
q few days; could not stay long, as in
accordance with our r. r. ticket, given
us at Omaha, in lieu of the one purchas-
ed, we were allowed only six days to
make the trip. s
Again, on the Central Pacific, we
had moro trouble trying to get our
baggage checked to our destination,
which they positively refused to do
unless we would give up our tickets,
to which we at last had to submit.
When will "Uncle Sam" become
wise enough to keep controlling In
terest in Railroads that he furnishes
the capital to build? And in SO doing
guard the rights Of the public.
In my travels by private conveyance
found the Sacramento Valley about
forty miles wide and two hundred
miles long, and nearly as level as a
house floor; now and then q little un-
dulating, or cut up by streams from
the mountains which are constantly
leaving deposits, which form ridges
along their banks, SO that when they
overflow, as they occasionally do, the
Valley is pretty much submerged,
which does not NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the
crops, but makes the land very pro.
ductive.
The staples of this valley are wheat
and barley, mostly the former, which
would say comprises one-third of the
cultivated land in this vicinity, and as
q general thing, averages twenty-five
TO thirty bushels per acre; some years
| forty to fifty bushels, but some pieces
sown late this year, and deeply sub.
merged, will be harvested rather late
for this early climate. issi
Between the valley and the noun.
tains there is q range Of low hills
from five to ten miles wide, which are
good for nothing, exceptg CT xIlI9. These
hills arscoysred with low scrubby oak
some portions Of them SO rough tina,
it Is difficult grazing for even sheep
The grass in the mountains usually
comes from seed each year, and those
inaccessible heights are. the great store
houses, that furnish grass seed, by
washing down, to the over-grazed dis
tricts below.
Ihere are some valleys in the noun
tains, from three to ten miles wide and
ten TO thirty miles long, that arc very
rich and produce all kinds of fruits,
Vegetables and serials grown in the
States. / saw hundreds of acres OF
corn, where there had not been q drop
of rain since it was planted, that would
yield at least forty bushel per acre
The great secret is in the Ocean fogs,
that prevail here, that supply moisture
to Vegetation.
Much ofthe land near the coast is de-
voted to the culture Of grapes. ! saw
vineyard in Sonoma valley that COW
cred over two thousand acres; besides
thousands of acres of smaller ones on
the adjoining hills; this crop is said to
yield from three to nine tons to the
acre, which in the market usually sells
for $l5 to $25 per ton. Some of these
valleys are SO surrounded by noun
tains, that it is quite much labor: and
expense to make roads into them, and
they are now in high state of cult
walton and held at enormous prices.
In Napier and Patoluma counties,
in the vicinity of Railroads, land is
valued at $50 to $l75 per acre, and tax
cd at that rate.
Over near the coast nearly all the
land is under cultivation; even some
we would consider too rough for sheep
pasture is made to produce excellent
crops of wheat and barley, and the
Reaper is made to do good service in
harvesting.
Harvest hands usually command
from ~ to $3.50 per day; other farm
labor from s26 to $50 per month; even
at these low wages they have an ad-
vantage over the same classes in Iowa,
for they can buy more of the comforts
of life here, than there, for the same
money.
Below I give a few quotation of
market prices: Wheat, 10000 per
bushcl; Barley 4S@7Oc; Cows, $3.50
$50 per head; Sheep, $2,5O@$4; Hogs,
M@6 per cwt., gross.
Thousands of persons here are out
Of employment, and glad to work at
anything and everything, for just such