Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-30

one uuulrel ana ulteel miles / i0unQ
fine country most Of the way. ] found Los
Angeles a lovely place Ii l. about the
size of Burlington situated on a plain.
surrounded by immense orange, almond.
olive and walnut groves A more beautiful
sight can hardly be found than an orange
orchard. tire trees loaded with ripe fruit
and filed with blossoms at the same time
] saw one orchard said 10 contain 900
trees all IN bearing. The revenue derived
from this orchard is very large. When !
left Los Angeles I turned my face north
ward again and a few miles introduced me
and my pony INTO an exceedingly barren
region. Day after day We t0iled on. now
over high, barren mountains and Occas sion
ally down into some little green valley.
About Two hundred miles brought me into
the great
san JOAQUIN VALLEY,
which l traversed for many weary DAYS. 1t
consists of a vast sandy plain, some three
hundred miles long by thirty to sixty wide.
This valley has been considered very fertile
and there has been great deal written in
it favor. Nordhofi thinks it Is - the gar
den Of California" and just the place for
the Eastern emlgrnnt TO make his fortune
and - live happy" ! think but very little
of 1t can ever be made available for agricul-
tural or fruit growing purposes. The diff
Guilty Is a want of rain or water for the
purpose Of irrigation Travelled forty
miles in one place without finding water.
After great many weary days travel | ar
rived in the vicinity of
TIE YOSEMITE VALLEY.
No one had been into the valley this season
and was told the snow was very deep vet.
- I : J !
through" / found snow drifts on the
route, some Of them perhaps twenty feet
deep, but4 canld ride my horse over them.
they were 50 solid. i surprised mine host
of the Yosemite House by riding into his
front yard the afternoon of the second day
from civilization. The wonders of the Yose-
mite ! shall not try 20 describe. Many
good writer has utterly failed. and it would
be useless Tor me TO make the attempt. | !
stayed IN the valley five days, and enjoyed
myself exceedingly. The various streams
forming the falls were very high, which
added much TO the volume of water form
ing the cataracts, that are such wonder |
tul feature of the valley.
Five days ride took me to this city,
which reached May LIST, having travelled
on horseback about seven hundred miles.
finally, think California Is oyerrated a.
an agricultural country, take II as whole,
but still there are large sections of the
State, that are the finest in the world for
that purpose.
THE GRAPES OF CALIFORNIA
| have not spoken of. They seem to be
Indigenous TO the country and will grow
anywhere to great perfection, where any
green thing1can grow, and grape and wine
growing. will likely become the chief fea-
ture of agriculture at no distant day The |
climate of Southern California is almost per-
lection and II is almost as good here. All |
who came to Santa Barbara |
while | was there, either improved very
rapidly or died very soon after their arrival |
Hotel accommo dations are yet deficient, but |
will not be long. ! find several Burlingto-
mans here, among them DR.. Curtis, Char
ley Grow. Oliver Goodhue and our mutual |
friend A. L. Hobart, al doing well. !