The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-07-19

pines, which little 10 the north
west cover the mountains with ex-
tensiVe forests.
The road down the seawsrd slope
is q frightful one to a person I'M
used to these mountain grades. 1t
is narrow and steep. clinging like
a spiders web to the mountain wall,
with fearful chasms below. We at
last reach the little city by the sea:
after some twenty-five hours of dust
and WEAKNESS.
The old and the new here stand
in glaring contrast. The town in
general has bright, new painted
look; but turn into one of it's streets
and you are in the home of the past.
The adobe Mission church with its
tiled root, its altar decorated with
tawdry dolls, the low round col
umns of the long, deep Yeranda be-
fore the empty and disused monas-
tery-all these speak of a dead or
dying civilization. The library is
bound in rawhide, and the books
are q century old. Fat, sleepy, beg
nignant priests sit in its cool, dim
rooms, digesting huge dinners, and
dreaming yet of the conquest of q
world which is slipping from under
their feet. Orange trees bear ripe
fruit and blossoms together. Vast
fields of grain surround the city
Close beside it rises the great cone
of an extinct volcano, which 1 as
cended yesterday-an undertaking
which one seldom repeats. It is ont
of several similar mountains. ex
tending in a range twenty miles Il
the northward. The last of these il
the Moro Rock, an immens basaltrt
cone, completely surrounded by thu
sea. All these mountains are wood
ed with pine and live oak, and thu
wild oats are waist deep everywhere
Rains are abundant close by the sea
and crops seldom fail. Trou
streams abound, and the climate il
that of Sicily.
Land monopoly is the great ours,
of California. The great estates
often containing hundred thou
sand acres apiece, are seldom divid
ed into small tracts for sale, and ar
assessed at absurdly low prices
such as suggest fat brides from tn
great proprieters. The history O
land titles in California is a histor
of fraud, extOrtion, perjury an,
hsrdships almost without a parallel
People without number haVe bough
lands in good faith, spent the earn
ings of years in contesting forge
titles, and finally sunk into poverty
However, the long and cost
course of litigation is mainly at a
end. But at present, the exemptio
from commensurate taxation ems
bles. the great proprietors to hol
their lands at prices quite beyon
the reach of legitimate farming
The valley lands hereabout cannC
be purchased for less than 500 t
5000 per acre.
The Santa Lucia Range is cappe
with broad plateau equal to til
Santa Cruz summit. 1t has q ric
soil, q moist, healthful climate, Fl
Vorable to the culture of all ten
perate and tropical fruits, and abul
dance of timber and water. TIL
region was never included in IL
Spanish grants, and my friends So
that there is much government Ian
still subject: to homestead entr
But this is generally fenced into Il
Enclosures of the great cattle king
and the members of "Gideon
Band" "hunting for a home" can g
no welcome, obtain no informatiC
and find no survey stake, and SOC
. gives up the quest. Kearneyism
the inevitably rebound from sui
! far-reaching oppression and inju
. tice.
have made delightful acquaiu
ances here, and am powerfully II
3 pressed with the wonderful poi
bilities of this region. A day
the seaside, such IS 1 spent with
\ groupe of enthusiastic young tesc
ers, is an occasion to be long I
membered. Rich grain fields grow
+, down to the very edge of the sc
> cliffs, and the spray of the breakt
;. is scattered over the ripening bs
ley{ The rocks are followed in
- vast arches and caves, and the lit
n islets are black with the great her
= of sea-lions. Asue and mosquito
- are unknown, and the salt air
bracing and full of life. Grt
. herds of cattle are grazing on I
hills, half hidden by the de
growth of the wild oats. But I
= land is almost empty of poop
a Trade and improvement langui
The blight of land monopoly is
barrier to all healthful progre
The people are mainly renters a
laborers, discouraged, hOmele
hopeless. San Luis Obispo, q to-
smaller than Emporia, supports f
g" ty licensed grog shops. Eve
oy steamer brings q heavy freight
to fruit and Vegetables from San FRI
lis cisco to this land, which is able
Its produce the golden apples of
l Hesperides. The country is Pa
lis disc, but the one great curse ma
RS access to It almost hopeless.
Sleeping Beauty awaits the Fa
he Prince. II. B. NORTON
lee The Kansas Centenarian, Geo
IN Goethe, died at Wyandotte Sund
q. AGED 100 wars and fhrea monGha