The Press., 1884-06-12
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
Los Angeles, Cal, May 91, 's4.

month in California, will endeayor to give yonr readers short sketch of the good and the bad, the advantages and d S. advantages of the country as l see them. Los Angeles is built upon as many hills as the city of Rome, and as you stand III the lower part of the city and look toward the. mountains the buildings seem to stand one upon the roof of another, and the city ap- pears 10 be built upon the side of a noun tain of snow, and yet snow is thirty miles away. The principal streets are as we'll built and as handsome as Main, street in Springfield, and the old adobe houses are fast giving way to handsome blocks and elegant dwellings,. The beauty of the city is greatly enhanced by the shade trees and flower gardens, which abound in all its streets. The principal shade trees are, sycamore, eucalyptus, pepper, palm, cy- press, orange, lemon and fig. There are palms here which measure thirteen feet in circmuft renee three feet from tie ground Mallow, which grows around every eastern farmhouse and is known as cheese weed, grows here in neglected places seven feet high. Passing up Main street saw q cac- tus of the prickly pear variety growing on the sidewalk next the curbstone, which measured four feet in circumference oiie foot from the ground, and was sixteen feet high, and one of the leaves winch had fallen and lay upon the ground was twen- ty-fiye and half inches long and twelve wid,.. These are not random guesses, but actual measurements which I made with rule and line. Everything that grows ia diciteS richness of soil that cannot be surpassed ill the world. Fertilizers are mot used here tJ enrich the land, or fo1 growing crops, but the surplus from aths- stables, both in the city and country, are carted out to mend roads with, and as the roads areadry it proves to be very good article for the purpose.
 The climate, while 1t may not be abso- lutely perfect in all respects, is probably, all things considered, as good, If not bet ter, than any other in the world. Para dena is lovely village nine miles north east from Los Angeles, and IS reached by stage over rough and uneven road wind ing among the foot hills, and by fofdiAg the San Gabriel and the Arroye Leca riv- CTS. Tie road was badly washed out by the winter rains, and has not yet been re- paired. About one mile west of the vil- iaee the foundation is laid for the far-faln- ed Raymond Hotel, which was to be, but is not, because the proprietor conclud d the elephant was too big for the amount of forage he would gather there so the click of the trowel and the sound of the hammer have ceased, and huge piles of brick and about two hundred thousand feet of lumber are all that remain of the enterprise v &- 4
 Paradena seems to be the home of the orange, and it is cultivated more extensive ly here than in any other place have yet visited. The place is inhabited by wealthy people, who improve the advantages that nature gives, and make themselves homes second to none in richness and beauty in the state, and it ought to be an earthly paradise to all good people who live there, as there IS not saloon in the place where liquor is sold, all deeds of sale having prohibitory proviso.
 Nearly all the dwelling houses in south ern California are built without cellars, and the sills are bedded in the ground like railroad sleepers, and the house set up from two to five feet from the ground, and are mostly one story-from nine to fifteen feet between joints. Farmers and ranch men are now busy with their having, which looks very odd, as almost the entire crop is barley cut just before the grain is ripe not an acre of grass in all the land exc pt wild grass, such as foxtail and burr clover, which grows upon the ranches and unim- proved land.
 New potatoes, cherries, straw berries and tomatoes are in the markets, and there is enough of every thing that any one can wish for, for those who have money to buy.
 Yet while there is so much to commend and enjoy, there are serpents of no small dimensions, which run at large. Califor- mia IS cursed with more saloons to the square rod than any place I was ever in except Arizona and every thing is ruled and run by rings and monopolists who own the land, lumber and railroads, and are too sharp to cut prices, but invariably exact the largest possible amount of mon ey LOT the least return.
 If the state has any Sunday laws they are not enforced, and those who observe the day do so from principle, or force of habit. The church going people are more punctual in their attendance than they are in the east-perhaps they are more con- scientious, or it may be because they have more pleasant Sundays; whatever the mo- tive may be, l am sure 1t is not to display the latest fashion. Those who have no scruples about the observance of the day ride out into the country, go to picnics, lounge about the saloons, attend the thea ter, or look after their own secular affairs, just as their fancy may lead.
 This IS place where those who have plenty of money can live and enjoy the pleasures of this life, and the good of their fortunes and their labor, but would ad- wise those who have no money to think twice before they come. Laborers usual ly get little more for their work here than they do in the east, but the cost of living is greater. A house of four or five rooms rents in the city for twenty-five dol lars month, and in the country for if teen. Wood is ten and twelve dollars a cord, and coal one dollar per hundred pounds-and the poorest kind of soft coal at that Most of the people in the coun- try burn grease roots, which are dug from the mountains and sold for four and five dollars load yet the cost of fuel is not so great as would appear from these fig ures, as the climate is so mild that very little is used except for cooking purposes. In other respects living is about the same as in the east Meat is little cheaper, and sugar much dearer. Many people are coming in from the east every day, and business with the land agents is very brisk, and sales have been enormous during the winter and spring, and it is only matter of time when Southern California will be filed with eastern people. The question has often been asked, if California has so much that is rich, attractive and desirable, who have people been so long in finding 1t out? an answer to which will t1y to give Ill me next letter. ~ G. l.. T.. |
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