The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-04-27
= Pacific Paradise.

~ racine LAEAG 48C-
DEAR NEWS 81 write to you from |
q scene which ID truly one OF wonders. |
At present / am occupying, with my
family, q cabin near the summit Of
the Santa Curz range, more than goo
feet above the sea. / sit looking down
upon the whole circle of Monterey
Bay. Santa Cruz, Sequel, and
Monterey, are spread out beneath as,
as on map. They tell me that more
than a hundred miles of seacOast are
visible from this height. Numerous
ships and steamers are plainly wish
BILE, and good glass reveals to US
the mighty breakers beating against
Cape Pinos, fifty miles distant.
This plateau Is the despair OF the
meteorologist. At this height, 1900
to 2,4OO feet above the sea, frost Is
practically unknown, the soil is ex-
ceedingly fertile and productive, and
there is very little wind. The verdure
is evergreen, springs of pure water
abound, and there are no fieas or
mosquitoes, and scarcely any flies.
The air Is absolutely pure. The vast
slopes below US are covered with the
mighty redwoods. They look like
shrubs, and yet average 200 feet in
height. The summit plateau is crown
ed with gigantic live oaks, and the
botany is wonderful in its richness
and variety.
Eight miles to the south is the bare,
truncated cone of Iona Frista, the
highest mountain of the Santa Cruz
range, nearly 1000 feet high. shall
try for trout at its foot tomorrow.
One of my colleagues caught there
over 800 Of these beauties In one day
last week.
We are not alone here.
Farms are beng opened all about
US. For the grape, fig, orange. and
all the northern fruits, this is probably
the best soil and climate in California,
and some people, given up to die of
consumption, have ompletly recover
ed their health. There is a wonderful
softness and sweetness In the air. 1t
L. my first experience of a climate,
truly of perpetual spring. Crops
seem never to fail. Southern
California is completely pa-ched and
dried up this year. From this point
southwark, there Is neither grain nor
grass in the valleys. Many thousand
cattle and sheep have already persisted
of starvation; but here everything
moves on AS usual. The prospects
could not be better than they are
here, though the acreage is very
limited.
The unfayorable feature about these
Californian paradIses-for there
are several such-is that they
are neither extensive ner accessi-
BILE. The cost of making roads to
these SUBMITS is enormous. However
. stage road crosses this range, and
now the Dumbarton, san Jose and
Santa Cruz Narrow Gauge is slowly
working its way up the tremendous
gorges of the eastern slope. In anoth-
er year we shall be able to ride in an
hour from our home in San Jose to
this eminence. or all the Californian
sanitariums, 1 do not know of any
comparable to this, and Texpect to see
these mountains thronged with people
in few years.
1 am more than ever convinced
that Kansas surpasses California in
the production of cattle. The very
worst of Kansas drouth and hoppers
never seriously affected the growth of
prairie grass; but here there is no
grass this year over territory larger
than the whole State of Kansas, suf-
ficient to support a quarter of the
live stock. l see nothing but bank
ruptcy and ruin in store for the
southern half OF this state, outside
OF limited irrigated dis tricts. 1 learn
that near San Diego, great herds of
cattle have been driven over the
precipices into the sea, 10 save the
country from the stencil of their
carcasses. The rainy season has
practically closed, and sup pose nc
portion of the southern half OF the
state has had six inch es of rain.
j wish KansaRs would sow more
barley. Here it Is the principal
forage-crop, and am certain that il
will hardly ever fail in Kansas.
In answer to many notes of inquiry
will say again don't come t.
California to raise stock, or to live by
day labor, or In any case without CAPT
tai or an assured income. Ny owl
Experience has been most happy, Blu
the state swarms with desperate ant
needy adventures.
It is our vacation time. We hav
just graduated AZ from our 3-years
and 26 from the 2-years' course o
study. In two weeks more, shall
begin my usual tour among the insti
tutes, though 1 suppose the family
will spend a month or two here
Breathing this air, and looking upol
these sublime scenes, tired brains ant
sick bodies grows strong.
With love to many friends,
H. B. NORTON.
April 10th, 1877.