Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-04-01

Before saying anything about San
Gorgonio Pass, will refer briefly to
| the desert palms. Before I left Los
Angeles my good friend Col. Warner
told me that somewhere in the desert
was found a fruit bearing species of
palm and asked me to procure plant
for him. was informed by one of
| the Seven Palmers that the trees from
which the station takes lis name
bear fruit, and as Ben Dettmer had
small one, l confscated it and sent it
to Col. w. by Col. III. My informant
stated that the palm bore its fruit on
a long tapering stem, and formed
| quite a noticeable feature of Indian
diet Since then happened to pick
up copy of Leslie's Popular Monthly
| for March, which contains an engrav-
ing of two species of Eastern palms,
one of which is known as
THE RAPHIA PALM OF MADAGASCAR.
The engraving resembles the desert
palm so greatly, and the fruit pod an
swers the description given ME by the
Seven Palmers as to form quite sing
ular coincidence. Leslie's letter press
description of the Raphia palm is as
follows: "The Raphia stands III the
front rank, a majestic and elegant
tree, giving wine, sago and a beauti
full textile fabric. The wood builds
their houses, the leaves thatch them,
or rather tile them. The fruit resem-
bles
A PINE CoNE,n
Just the description given me by the
Seven Palmers) "whence some call
the tree the pine palm. Its almond
shaped kernels when fermented, give
perfect brandy The clusters of
fruit are sometimes four and half
feet long, A gentleman whom [
met at Seven Palms told me that
| there is a cluster of these trees some
| thirty or forty miles distant, known
| as the Thousand Palms, and another
engaged in exploring the desert and
surrounding vicinity in the interest
of the Smithsonian InstituteS stated
that he had met with numerous large
groves in the adjacent caflons. The
tree forms handsome addition to the
park or garden. Here in San Bernar-
| dino there are several very handsome
ones which seem to flourish finely.
But | sha' INT palm off any more of this
on yeur readers.
THE SAN GORGoNIo PASS.
This splendid natural gateway of
commerce was wrapped in the shades
of night when passed through it en-
route for Seven Palms and I was
asleep, so that could not reasonably
be expected to know anything about
it when / reached the terminus. Af-
ter [ had been there two or three days
and was watching chance to get
back to Cotton py daylight on con-
struction train, it chanced that the
pay car arrived about 2 A. NJ, and
when l got up for breakfast at 6 A. NJ.
l was informed by Major John Mac
Rea, p. NJ, (Which it is Paymaster)
| that the car would start back at S A.
NJ. / asked him if | could ride. L
shall never forget the look he gave
me. However, he called the guard,
and mysterious handling and COM
plete Redistribution of the yagers,
double barrelled shot-guns, na re-
volvers and swivel-guns took place
and | was informed that out Of tender
consideration for the condition of the
commissary department at Seven
Palms L would be allowed to go as far
as Cotton. Now it would take about
two columns of the HERALD to give
the reader anything like an adequate
idea of the Pass. 1t lacks the gran
deur and magnificence of the path
hewed over and under and around the
Sierras. But to my way of thinking
it is
A BETTER ROUTE.
There will never be any need of snow
sheds, never any danger of avalanches.
Day in and day out, year in and year
out, the iron horse can meander along
the sinuosites Of this route, ascending
with ease the average grade of 115
feet, and descending the same average
grade with still greater ease. 1t would
be difficult to say too much in praise
of the pass, or too much in praise of
the far-seelng energy and the bold and
self.reliart faith in the future of the
men who have seized upon this great
opportunity, and with their own
means have pushed to it's present po-
sition the great work of securing a
rs.ns-continental line which will OBJ
viate any danger of delay in transpor-
tation, either in time of peace or time
of war. The policy, or, more properly
speaking, the lack of policy, which
would hamper their efforts, tie their
hands and bring the work to stand
still, is, to my way of thinking, the
silliest exhibition of stupid malevo-
lence and "monkey spite" that 1 have
ever been called upon to make pote
Of The ride from Seven Palms to the
Summit, travelling Westward, forms IL
curious study of
CLIMATIC CHANGES,
AS evidenced in the production of the
SOIL Two or three miles from Seven
Palms the several varieties of the
cacti show themselves; a little further
on, the broad, green leaves of the bur-
dock and the sheeny spikes of the
Spanish bayonet, just shooting up its
long central column of creamy white
flowers, mark the dividing line be-
tween utter sterility and soil trifle
more generous. Anon row of will
lows and cottonwood show where a
mountain stream has been used to fer
tilize the barren waste. An hour or
so brings US to Halls siding, where
the land begins to look as if it was in.