The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-04-08
ARIZONA.
Los Angeles, the Land qf Oran-
ges San Gabriel-FOrt Yu-
ma-Cassa Grande.

| m8-CaSSa OranOe.
Letter of Rev. o. c. Thompson to Spring Lake
| Republican,
| CASA GRANDE. ARIZONA,
March 9th, 1906
We arrived here, a party of six per.
sons, last evening. Ipresume you new
er heard Of this place before. A few
months ago there was no such place
and in q month more there will be nc
more of it except the station house, for
it is one of those towns at the end of q
railroad which move on as the road
advances. 1t is now quite q town and
sends out its loaded coaches to the cap
ital of the Territory every day, and
was dignified by a fragrant murder
just before we arrived. The law makes
no inquiries into such cases here. We
secured beds for our party at a dollar
q person for the night in the best no.
tel, kept by Mr.. and Mrs. Freon. Mrs.
Freon was one of our old Virginia
friends in the time of the war. She
| was then Miss Paulina Cushman, a
union spy in the rebel camps, while
her brother was in the rebel army. In
talking with her this evening she said,
"I did nothing then that am asham-
ed Of" and l believed her. The roof
and the floor of our lodging house
were of earth. We slept in rooms
without windows, or at least there
was no glass to cover the hole in the
side of the house, only a board prop
ped up with q stick, and the floor was
old mother earth, but dry and hard
and almost as smooth as if made OF
boards. The next morning we char
tered lumber wagon and visited the
ruins OIL know not what, about fif.
teen miles to the south of this. 1t is
all desert as far as the eye can reach,
nothing growing but cactus, sage
brush, musquite and grease wood.
The cacti, from 25 to 35 feet high, look
like telegraph poles scattered over the
arid plains. They are used sometimes
for rafters for their houses. There
are no trees except along the Colora-
do River. All nature is hushed all
over these desolatiens, no beasts, no
vermin, no birds, for there is no wat
er. About midday there bursts upon
our view, in the midst Of this desola-
ton, an immense ruin of some old
castle. This half demolished walls
were 40 or SO feet high, five feet thick,
made of concrete and divided into
small rooms by thick concrete walls,
with little opportunity for light or
air. 1t was four stories high. This
building was sometime in the dim
past, destroyed by fire, as the ends of
the joists still in the walls evidently
show. Our driver dug out some of
these with a pick which he brought
along for that purpose. These joists
were round poles, originally cut off
with q stone axe, or something equal
ly blunt. Who did this, and when
was it done? Who can answer9 This
building was said to have been here
when the Jesuits first came to this re-
gion, 25O or 800 years ago. On all
the region round there are broken
pieces of brown pottery, some of it
figured, some painted, and go plenti-
full that you might suppose a ware
house or factory containing this ware
had been destroyed here. How came
it here? Will some one tell us2
haye begun in the middle of my
story. Let mo 60 back to the begin
ming. A party, eleven persons, decid-
ed to make this trip of over 1900 miles
into the land of incognito. Agreeable
to an invitation of John Keyes, of vi
salia, an old Ohio friend from Tai
madgs, now postmaster, aud elder in
the Presbyterian church, whom l had
not seen for ever SO years. went in
advance to the place of his residence,
25O miles, and spent the Sabbath with
him, and joined the party when they
came along. San Joaquin valley, but
before we reach Los Angeles we cross
some high mountains. In climbing
up these we pass the loop" where
the road is made to cross itself, the
only such piece of railroad engineering
in the world. 1t was necessary to
make an ascent at one point of 80 feet
In order to get up
there without increasing the grade be-
yond the required amount, they tun-
neled through the mountain, then ran
along its side around a distant spur,
and came back to that place on the
top of the crest 7S feet above the tun-
mel, and went on their way rejoicing.
Soon after passing this we went
through the longest railroad tunnel in |
America.
Having arrived at Los Angeles we
began to look around this old Spanish |
town and take in it's queer things. |
This is the land of oranges. Our par
ty chartered two coaches and rode out
through the orange groves. One or
:hard that we passed through coler-
ed 40 acres and contained 1,S00 trees,
which yields q crop this year worth
$4,000. The heavy loaded limbs
hung over the path, so we picked the
ripe luscious fruit as we rode along.
This city has three ports on the Pacif-
c, all of which visited by railroad.
Santa Anna, 40 miles away, and itself
a few miles from the sea; Whining,
the port where business is now most
ly done, 20 miles from the city, and
Santa Monica, beautiful sea bathing
town, 18 miles away. We also visit
ed Sierra Madra villa, a beautiful
place on the side of the mountain near |
. 600 feet above the level of the sea.
1t is a great place of pleasure resort.
la ~ caonra roNv,c