New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-06-10

SAN BERNARDlSo.

pnshed out into the unbrokrn wilderness built Log
cabin. felled trees shot game and Indians, and led
Tor years lonely life. Bat the hardy adven-
turers Of that sort are nearly extinct. Many years
ago. before there was railroad across the CONT
nent ! fonnd on y iesolate Kansas prairie. about
forty miles from any village. family Of Bavarian
immigrants who evidently meant to grow up with
the country. They were living In dug-ont. cook
ing black scraps of buffalo meat over . smoky irs.
They had not begun 10 turn the soil. But around
them tho plain lay tho machinery and other ma
terials for brewery They had hauled this prop
erty-and not much else--.from tho Missouri River.
a. the foundation of their settlement. shrewdIy
judging that AZ the brewery was bniIr,
population and barley would follow. The art Of
making now ssttlsment has been still further Inn
proved In California. Hero they begin with .
whole series of municipal improvements. aad the
houses como afterward The town Of Ontario 10
one of numerous speculative ventures which
have been made on tho colony plan alt
along the fruit region extending from Los
Angeles southwa toward the desert--dry.
trseloss, sandy. forbidding land. in many
places nearly bare, In others covered with an ugly
growth Of sage and similar brush. useless without
artificial irrigation, but producing when water ID
applied the best quality Of grapes and oranges a.
we'll ~ other crops The founding OF colonies on
such lands SEEMS to have become recognized
branch of the real estate business. company
site including sufficient stream Of water,
lay out the town. open streets, construct rrgatng
works. and then sell the lots. When Ontario was
founded this last winter. on the western edge Of
San Bernardino County. the first enterprise of the
proprietors before there any housss-was to
start newspaper. AZ the town contained nothing
except boundary stakes, The Oatario Frat Groto~
took board, go to speak, at Riverside. where it is
still printed Tho next improvement was tho intro
ducton of the telephone close upon which fol-
lowed tho cornerstone of agricultural college.
When | saw Ontario recently broad street.
called Euclid-ave.. stretched through the brush
from tho railroad two or three miles back toward
Cucamonga Mountain. llotsl and depot voro
building A shantv and two tents, with. think. .
house or 90 la tho far back ground held tho settlers.
Since that time marriage has been ceisbratod in
the town; and dare say Mayor and Common
Council will bc elected before the end Of the ses-
son, for a great doaI OF tho land has been sold.
This method OF settlement Is highly practical and
convenient a region where the first necessity 10
irrigation Obviously it destroys the idyllic char
acter of country life Nothing could DO less roman
TIC, less attractive to the eye less consonant with
fsncies of rustic simplicity and peace. than one or
Theses patent lmprovsed colony towns, on burning
gray plain The plank hotel. the busy real estate
office tho unfenced rectangular lots. the water
pipes and electric wres tho dusty unshaded Streets
suggest nothing but trade. haste, push. cash and
feversh emulation. But I suppose there never
was a country in which there was 50 little poetry
about farming as in California Tho reality OF
farming is prosaic enough anywhere. but hero tho
appearance of it Is prosaio too. The husbandman
has become o contractor who runs variety of
huge machines and cleans out OF his farm all the
green corners tho wild bits of copse and howery
banks the clumps Of trees la the pasture. tho PFC
turesaue tangles of weed and blossom In which the
old hon hides her nest and tho family cat brings
I'M her litter There Is no emerald carpet under
the fruit trees Even the apple orchard has lost its
beauty by becoming ploughed Geld. The popu-
lar indifference to all trees. except those when
bear something to SELL nearly amounts TO dislike.
have had reps ated occasion To wonder this winter
at the destruction In the streets OF Santa Barbara
of ornamental timber like the pepper and tho
eucalyptus which bad boon carefully tended and
watsred for course OF years only to fall wheo
well grown by the wanton axe
When tho Morruons settled at San Bernardino
many years ago thoy planted great deal Of cotton.
wood They laid out thsr town q large scale
two or three miles from the deeayed Spanish settle
ment, or Old San Bernardno. as is IS now called;
they divided IL into rectangular plots they dug
irrigating bitches and every whore along the roads
they planted trees The coDsequence is that ia tho
spring Of the year. when the fields are green tho
country seems q mass of ve:dure The site Was
originally rough and unpromising. 1t Is eleven or
twelve miles from Riverside and foar miles from
the railroad Cotton being the nearest station.
The gravclly, b.ush-g grown wilderness touches the
very streets but there is limo OF thriving settle
ments running into one another between the rail-
s~g<r
road aud the mountains all created out OF the
wilderness by tho use Of water.-aDd II yon ascend
any OF the gentle hills which skirt San Bernardino
you will see far-reschina landscape Of waving
grain, shady roads. thick orchards. and vines.
There is something quite Eastern aud hone-likei ia
the aspect OF this coantry aud 1t may be taken as
sample of what "a very large portion of Southern
California will look like in few years. when the
colony towns instead Of being scattered here and
there. will cover all tho territory which there -
water to reclaim.
San Beruardiuo itself. upon a nearer inspection.
ia far from beautiful The MornioDs lett it long
ago and it differs In respect from other country
except In being uncoinmonly dirty.
There arc PORTIONS of it, with comfoI table looking
houses and brighs gardens, which wonld DO very
attractive bat for the prevailing untidiness. The
streets arc Uttered with rubbish. aud the irrisating
bitches are Often encumbcred with household ro-
fuse, dccaying vegetable matter. and tho sweepngs
of the shops There arc various aspects OF the
a debris question" In California. In the iegisia-
tive debates il is understood to refer to hydraulic
mining In municipal affairs 1t might perhaps 20
understood to mosn What shall we do with the TN
cans and Need we do anything about Sowags'
The sewage problem in Southern California mas
hsen GOOD deal neglected. and the hotel arraage-
msots ara often amazingly bad. The can question.
A., . .o,ntrv where the use of canned pro visions Is
which transccnds tho conceptions OF an
Eastern man, Is rather largo one. At Nordhoh
and elsewhere the beds Of the watcr-conrses arc
with old tins. But at San Bernardino
thu relies of expended provender fall where Prov
idcnce pleases and lie where they fall. Tho happy
inhabitants seem 10 be free from tho anxeties
" hch trouble their heater neighbors. Whether OR