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 q fruit bearing species of
palm and asked me to procure plant
I for him. was informed by one of
the Seven Palmers that the trees from
| which the station takes its name
bear fruit, and as Ben Dettmer had
small one, L confiscated 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 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 in the
front rank, majestic and elegant
tree, giving wine, sago and beauti-
ful textile fabric. The wood builds
their houses, the leaves thatch them,
or rather tile them. The fruit resem-
| bles
| PINE CONEu
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 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 Institute, stated
that he had met with numerous large
groves in the adjacent cafions. 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'n't 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 / 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 by daylight on con-
struetion train, it chanced that the
pay car arrived about 2 A. NJ, and
when got up for breakfast at A. NJ.
/ was informed by Major John Mac.
Rea, 2. NJ, (Which it is Paymaster)
that the car would start back at A.
NJ. I asked him if | could ride. 1
shall never forget the look he gave
me. However,, he called the guard,
and mysterious handling and a 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 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 snuosities Of this route, ascending
with ease the average grade of ll5
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 mu ch in praise of
the far-seelng energy and the bold and
self.reliant faith in the future of the
men who have seized upon this great
opportunity, and with their own
means have pushed to its present po-
sition the great work of securing
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 have
ever been called upon to make pote
of. The ride from Seven Palms to the
Summit, travelling Westward, forms
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; 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 a trif1e
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
| tanded for the sustanauoa of man and