The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1884-11-07
MANKATo FREE Press
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER Z. 1884.
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
WESTMINSTER, Los ANGELES, Co., CAL.
Oct, IL, 1884.

"hA'S t'i oi1isiS ioi yoeA
paper. i
In this letter will speak mainly of
Westminster and vicinity, as | know
more about this place than any other;
and want to emphasize the fact that
what is true in one place in CAL, may
not apply at all to others, only a few
miles distant. In fact almost every
ranch has its popularity. Therefore
do not apply my description of West
minister to all of southern California.
These peculiarities are on account OF
soil, distance from the ocean, altitude
aud exposure to winds ana frosts.
Westminster is christian and tenn
perance colony, and ten or twelve
years ago the country for miles around
was an unbroken plain, with not a tree
or a house in sight. The village Is
small, but as the ranches are also
small, varying generally from ten to
forty acres, the neighbors are not far
distant. There are, however, large
stock and grain ranches outside the
colony, containing thousands of acres.
We are situated about four miles from
the ocean and thirty southeast of Los
Angeles. We can see the electric lights
in that city. AS we look around VIC
seem to be hemmed in by distant
mountains, some of which were snow
capped until September; but the
mountains on the ocean side are OH
islands about thirty miles from the
coast. The mountains visible are from
fifteen to seventy miles distant. We
intend taking trip to them soon.
The air here is much more moist than
farther inland; the dews are like fine
rain, and quite often the sun is clouded
| ma Pt nf thn tnnPnInU. hIlt fhn
takes up the moisture.
These heavy dews refresh vegetation
| very much, and most people enjoy the
cloudy mornings. We have had no
rain since the first week in June until
the first of this month, and then the
soil was wet only an inch or so. AS
the ocean breeze passes over the
country inland, 1t soon imparts all its
moisture to the thirsty soil, and upon
the foot. hills and mountains there is
scarcely any dew. Even at Santa Ana,
only six miles east, there Is quite Il
noticeable difference, less moisture,
much more heat and crops need more
irrigation. Here many never irrlgate,
although the majority do more or less.
Our soil is moist, water is quite near
the surface, and this renders irrigation
unnecessary on many ranches. The heat
is nothing like as oppressive as ill
Minnesota. | have felt nothing of Il
sultry or smothering heat although l am
told that what are called Santa AnA's |
are disagreeable, being hot, dry dust
storms, but we have had none this |
season.
The breeze is cool and invigorating. |
The nights are decidedly cool. We |
enjoy having two thick comforters and |
spread over us, sometimes We take one
OF, and little fire is very agreeable |
IL the evenings. | thank God many |
times a day for this wonderful climate,
there is something So restful and yet |
50 invigorating i'll it. 1t is cool but not |
cold, warm but not hot, moist but not |
rainy or malarious, breezy but no
hurricanes, thunder storms or cyclones,
and by the way, even the earthquakes
have left and gone east. Who could |
be dissatisfied with such climate? 1t |
has given me health, and the words OF
Il song express my mind exactly 81 feel
like singing all the time"
No doubt you are asking what do |
people depend on for Il living? Some |
on stock and dairyIng. Butter ranges |
from % to 10 cents per pound. Alfalfa,
a species of clover is grown and gives |
from four to six crops year, and from
one to two tons per acre at each cut |
ting. 1t is good feed. Hens are also |
very profitable and some depend on
them entirely. Eggs now bring forty |
cents per dozen and have been higher. !
Hens are worth six dollars per dozen.
Considerable corn and barley is grown.
One man from a four hundred acre
farm sold this fall six thousand dollars |
worth of corn. Corn yields immensely |
on low land, or on higher if irrigated.
| measured corn stalk in my garden,
it was fourteen feet high, and the corn |
was nine feet from the ground. Barley |
yields well, it is quite often cut a
little green and used as hay. Sorghum |
is grown extensively. Then there are
fruits and vegetables and l cannot do |
Justice TO these things. Every ranch |
mas it vineyard and fruit orchard, its
immense squash, melon and potato
patch, also sweet potatoes and some
times peanuts. Nearly all vegetables
do well. The choicest varieties of |
grapes grow to perfection. | have |
measured some Muscatel (raisen) |
grapes, that were 81 inches around,
they are light green IN color, and are |
sweet and delicious. Tons of these
grapes are dried in the sun for raisins
and tons are shipped fresh. am
drying Il few for our own use. The |
Black Morocco and the Flaming Tokay |
are even larger than the Muscatel.
Then there are the Black Hamburg,
Sweet Water Rose of Peru, Mission
and many other varieties. L wish that
| could give you sample SO that you
could judge Tor yourself. Westminis-
ter Is noted, even in California, for the
size and flavor of its fruit. Other
fruits that are largely grown are peaches
apriCots, nectarlnes, prunes, plumes,
ounces, Qmeasured ounce the |
other day and it was l59 inches around)
figs, pears, apples. Figs have three
crops. Pears a delicious The apples
in California are not generally good,
but Westminster apples are as good
as | ever saw in Michigan. With irri
CATION we have strawberries the year
round. am just making second crop
garden. The second crop of potatoes
is almost ready for USE.
disadvantages. Candidly, / have not
found any for myself, but l can see
that there are some for farmer. The
great drawback in Westminster is that
there is some alkali in the soil, and
when it is irrigated this comes to the
surface, and if it is in too great excess
it kills vegetation, except salt grass
and some weeds. There are streaks of
this kind of soil on almost every farm.
Trees and vines are not as much
affected by it as other things are. But
Bermuda grass is found to do well on
the worst alkali, and it is being extern
sively planted and all such land will
make good pasturage. A disadvantage
to those who grow fruit for sale is Its
low price. Grapes that bring % cents
per pound in Minneapolis only bring
the grower one cent per pound, and
yet the yield is so enormous that they
pay at that price. But prices are
gradually rising; few years ago they
could scarcely be sold at any price.
With increased facilities for shipping,
canning, drying, ETC., profits will be
better. The dust is not as annoying as
/ expected, although when travelling
with the breeze it is somewhat
disagreeable.
Oranges and lemons are not grown
here to any great extent, although
many have them; there is too much
moisture, and sometimes too much
frost for them to do well. Three or
four miles east of us there are large
groves, and they extend to the foot
hills, must tell you of them some
other time. But Westminster pos
sesses one great advantage that amply
compensates fol the inability to grow
oranges. There is splendid water bub-
bling up one very ranch, while in many
places people use water from the irri-
eating bitches, and others use impure
water from the wells. In this tenn
perance colony, at depth of 100 feet,
there is vast subterranean river of
pure, clear water, and when pierced
by boring it bursts up with grelt force,
some wells flowing constantly SO as to