Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-12-24
A Kansas Mans Estima te.

We fnd, in the Wichita (Kansas)
Eagle, of December 18th, the fol.
lowing letter, descriptive of his
Southe rn California experiences,
written by Mr.. s. d. Davidson:
Perhaps 1t might be u little in.
terestipg to the readers Of the press,
and more especially to our friends
in Wichita, to learn after our long
absence something of our wherea-
bouts and whether we are in the
land of the living. For the pact
six weeks and since our arrival we
have been stopping In the city of
Los Angeles, and l have only time
and space now to say that this is u
fine growing city Of about eighteen
thousand population, full of sin
and business, surrounded on near
ly every side by splendid orange
and lemon orchards, the golden
fruit of which, now In the month
of December, is just beginning to
ripen. Notwithstanding they can
raise nearly all kinds OF fruit b ere,
yet the great specially Is oranges,
lemons and grapes.
Now what wish to get at more
especially IL trip We made last
week, In company with Villa M
and 8. Il. Marsh and wife, of New
ton, Mrs. B. M. Davis and daugh-
ter, Of Topeka, Kansas, and Mrs.
ID. We left here Wednesday MORN
ing, November 30th by the South
ern Pacific Railroad, arriving at
Cotton, a distance Of about sixty
miles, a small town east of this
city. From here we all rode in q
stage coach drawn by four white
horses, travelling through coun.
try of orange and lemon orchards
heavily laden with golden fruit and
grape vineyards, a distance of
about seven miles, when we reach.
ed the celebrated village of Rlv-
erside, OF about 1000 Inhabitants,
tolerably we'll built up, and quite
an active business, town supported
mostly by the fruit growing sur
rounding country. All the lands
for many miles up and down the
valley were owned by the River
side Irrigating Company, and are
laid out into small farms of from
five to forty acres each, a large por.
tion of which has been sold off to
settlers who have improved and
set them out to orange and lemon
trees and raisin grape vineyards.
1t has only been about six years
since these lands were pro perIy
supplied with irrigating water. II
will state right here one probably
we'll understood and significant
fact, that none of these or any
other Southern California lands
are of any value for fruit and vine-
yard growing without irrigation,
hence the. great outlay and ex-
pense to get water into the irrigat.
ing bitches for this purpose.
Our party took o drive down one
avenue about ten miles and re-.
turned through another. These
avenues are over one hundred feet
wide aud lined with four rows of
beautiful forest trees, and nicely
graded, making beautiful and
pleasant drives. The Riverside
Irrigating Company are selling
their raw lands, with water right
AOA Avtobp RV tlOM P6UU W HOOU
per acre. and lots of from five to 20
acres, all improved and set out to
orange, lemon orchards and vine.
yards, and small houses, at from
$500 to $1,000 per acre, according
to condition aud age of trees and
vines and bearing condition of the
same. 1t was wonderfully inter-
esting to our company. passing up
and down through these magnifi-
cent shaded avenues, to see on
either side for miles and miles the
beautiful golden fruit hanging in
large clusters upon the trees, in
many instances go burdensome rs
to ma ke 1t necessary to prop them
up. We found several land agents
here, trying us to invest, as prop.
erty they say is very cheap now,
but we could not see 1t. when they
ask $1,000 per acre for their inn
proved lands. reply TO them
that L Can sell them better and
richer lands iu Kansas for from SIS
to $40 per acre, but they say we
have not got the climate. SO you
see climate here Ia held very high
and sold by the acre.
Since We arrived here we have
had few showers of rain, but the
weather has been nearly every day
clear and beautiful, warm as sum.
mer, with cool nights, and we en-
Joy it muchly.
We are satisfied that Los Ange-
les is bound to be the metropolis of
Southern California.