The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-11-17
A FASCINATING LAND.
CALIFORNIA AS A PARADISE.
The Wonder, Of IT, Climate and the Variety of IT.
PtOduetiOss-Iu the Valleys Eternal Summsr
RGgas, while Histsr Is EathrOasd on the
Mountain Ptlks-COt qpsItOf the sta.s.

Special Correspondence Qlme IHitut0eneer.
Los ANGELES, November I'll have now
been in this part Of California for ten days
during which time I have made various
excursions into the adjacent regions. Com
ing down here from San Francisco l passed
through two Of the flmous wheat and WOO
districts Of the State, viz the Sacramento
and San joaquin Valleys. In these two
valleys you will see soma Of the principal
wheat and sheep ranches Of the State,
Both industries are carried on in large
way. Large bodies Ct land, backed by
capital, are employed in them. California
Is pre-eminently the land where farming
OF this sort 10 done on large scale. This
Is one Of the reasons why 1t is not a poor
mans country. In no State In the union
Ia land held In such immense bodies by
indiyiduals. The trouble from the States
admission into the Union has been the old
Spanish grants, many Of them comprising
oae and two hundred thousand acres, which
have been bought up by the bonanza men
Of high and low degree, on speculation for
very small part OF their present supposed
value. There are plenty Of capitalists In
California who own one hundred
thousand acres Of land, on which
they contrive TO pay as little tax as possible,
by of-etting their debts against their land
and not one acre Of which will they sell
except at figures absolutely prohibitory 10
smsll buyers. They eecape as much tax as
possible, In the way indicated, and make
big return on the cost of the land by de.
voting their ranches to sheep or wheat,
They either own the sheep themselves OF
else hire out the lands to pasture at the
rate Of three or four cents per sheep per
month. Either this or they will devote
the land to wheat on q largo scale, after
the manner OF the bonanza grain farms oi
Dakota. You will see number OF French
sheep herders, who own one to two thous'
aud nead OF sneep, (but no lands), drying
their fl ,cks hither and thither within GER
tain prescribed limits on one Of these biz
ranches, paying four cents per head pei
month for the privilege. You will see othel
parts CT the ranch that have been cropped
10 wheat, divided of, perhaps, into fields
OF one to two thousand acres each.
This is the way In which large part oi
the farming operations Is carried on, and
to modus operandi explains why 1t Is, agri'
culturalIy speaking, an undeyeloped STATE,
and also why II is not more prosperous
State. 1t has no small farmers, and small
farmers, or those desiring TO become such,
have really no chance in California.
Everything In the farming line Is on
90 large a scale-with 80 much land and SC
much money-that the man who aspires to
the ownership and tillage Ct quarter sec.
ton Of land Is crowded out.
THE CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA. s.,
You see Caliioenia did not come into the
Union as the States generally did. We
secured it by conquest, and at the end oi
the war with Mexico We agreed TO respect
the grants OF the great Mexican Dons who
had absorbed such tremendous areas oi
territory. This has really been curse en-.
tailed upon the State from the outset by
which she has, in spite OF her glitteripg
gold, and in spite Of her grand climate and
her capacity To produce o great variety OF
producta, handicapped her In the race of
progress as compared with other Western
States,
California has never been open to settle.
ment-to pre.emption claims-to fquatters
rights-to homesteading, &C., as the other
new States have been. The government
owned very little land that was really val.
liable. II had been granted away long be.
fore In huge chunks by the various thrift
less Mexican governments since the days
Of heSpanish Conquest to military chiefs,
10 iactional leaders and to monied Dons,
and we acquired the State with all these
mortgages, as 1t were, on her public do
main. .......-.
As you know, would.be land monopo.
list can only buy 100 acres OF land from
the Government in the. States where the
Government owns the land, but here ia
California It has been different all along,
The bonanza speculators Of this coast, who
had made their millions in ways that are
dark, or at least shady, could buy up q
Spanish grant Of 100000 acree, and as
many OF such grants as they could pay for,
and they have done so to an unlimited ex-
tent. This has been the curse Of the State
and It Is really the corner stone OF what Is
known as Dennis Kearneyism on this
coast. Kearney had really a big Leverage
for his agitation sgainst property holderl
in general because Of this gigantic land
monopoly.