The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-07-22
LOWER CALIFORNIA.
A LAND CONCERNING WHICH LITTLE
IS KNOWN.
The Gil eat Variety of misunderstanding
Crops Grown in the Few Fertile Places
"A Disastrous Mining Craze
The Schools.
NIulege Cor. New York SUM-

10Iulege Cor. New York SUM-
Probably no portion of the western
| hemisphere, is so little known as Lower
| California. To reach it requires dan
! gerous and difficult Quincy, to saoslst
! after one has arrived is still more dim
cult task, and to explore the country thor
oughly is impossible Wild beasts a2d
| wilder savages infest its desert sands ana
| painless forests, and a stupendcus noun
| tain chain throws up all Impossible wall
| from end to end along its center. Today
| Lower California is substantially the same
as when Cortez and his hardy crew sailed
| around it's unknown shores-the same
! trackless forests, uneXplOred mountains,
and uncultivated prairieS, except where,
| here and there solitary ranclman has
made the desert bloom by irrigation.
Lack of water is the bane of the PENN
| sula, but whenever irrigation is possible
| the strong virgin soil yields most luXuri-
antly. The few Insignificant rivers that
| come tumbling down from the mountains
| are all short, shallow streams, which are
| dry through the long hot summers, but
| become exceedingly dangerous torrents
| during the annual season of rains. There
! are several Copious springs IN the interior,
| but invariably the streams flow along
rocky course and are lost in subterranean
channels. In winter the rains are terrific,
| but of short duration. accompanied by
| tremendous tornadoes of wind which
| sweep every particle of soil from exposed
| Dositions into the sea- leaving the luckless
Tanchman the alternative of seeking pas.
lures new or plying his vocation on bed
OF bare rock.
The variety of climate is great. for
when at the point of the peninsula the
thermometer stands at 20 degrees above
zero, it is frequently down to freezing at
the head of the gulf. For about eighty
miles north of [ ape San Lucas the air is
always mild, tempered by gentle breeZes
from the sea; from that point northward
the heat is excessive, especially at / az
and LOretO but cooler at Mulege and to-
ward the line of the nited States. On
the Pacific side the temperature is uni
formly delightful, never falling below 90
degrees nor rising above 20 degrees. The
sky is like that of Naples the Beautiful
a deep, cloudless blue, except when gor-
geous sunsets flush the west with ruby,
violet and gold.
In the few fertile places amazing crops
are grown of corn, sugar-cane wheat.
orchilla, manioc, all manner of esCulent
roots excellent grapes, from which wine
is made similar to that of the CanarieS;
besides oranges, lemons. citrOns, dates,
olives, pineapples. and all other tropical
fruits. On several ranches horses, mules,
pigs, and black cattle are reared, and the
foothills feed a few wild sheep and goats.
peninsula from end to end, rises to an
average height of 1000 feet. its culminat-
ing peak, the hill of the Giantess having
an altitude OF 8 600 feet The range has
two extinct volcanoes and numberless
springs of hot water and bitumen Earth
quake shocks are frequent, and among
the unknown heights nature seems to
have located her secret laboratory.
The foothills are sprinkied with sage
brush and chaparral. and in the burning
deserts at their base cactus grows to an
extraordinary height. Coal has been
found at Santiago and some petroleum
on the Pacific slope There are gold
placers at Santa Cruz. Rosario. San Rafael
and the lately discovered field of Santa
Uertrudas 1t is believed that the noun
tains are rich in precious metal For the
purpose of making Il thorough survey of
its long neglected territory the Mexican
government has recently sent out COM
mission of expert engineers to report u ION
the resources of the PENINSULA
For centuries, gold, silver, pearls, and
precious stones have been the alIuring
phantoms which have beckOned fortune
hunters to these coasts A few years ago
reports were heralded to the world of
some wonderful placer mines said to have
been discovered in this remote district of
Mulege. 1t was asserted that shining mug
gets lay all around upon the surface, wait
ing only to be picked up, Mulege lies
southwest from Guyamas, and can only
be reached by journeying across the gulf
in one of the poorly provisioned craft that
Fly those stormy water. a crowd of eager
adventures poured down from Arizona,
Sonora chihuahua, and even from & lo-
RADIO and Nevada Their sufferings were
intense before they reached the eastern
coast of the peninsula, where they found
a dreary desert stretching out before
them.
Half dead from hunger and thirst they
plodded on, with the gold fever burning
in their veins, till the impossible mount
aims cut off further progress. And then it
came out that the story of placer mining
was delusion and snare, gotten up by
certain shOpkeeperS of Guyamas with a
view to reducing the goods on, their over
stocked shelves by getting up boom in
immigration. The scheme succeeded to
the extent that Guyamas gained con-
siderable increase of pOpulation-but not
of a character to benefit the town, for the
immigrants who returned in rags and
poverty from NIulege proceeded to the
prisons and almshouses, and have mostly
remained there.
Poor as Lower California is, and with a
total population of less than 80, 900, she
supports eighty primary schools. a normal
school, a female seminary, the Peninsular
college, and the Academy of La Paz. The
administration Of the territory is under
the immediate supervision of the federal
government, the chief executive being
Jefe politicO. who is appointed by the
president Ia az, the capital and only
city within its limits, consists of about
$500 Inhabitants. The wonder is not
that the population is small. but that any
should have remained in this dreary place. i
Government land sells for 3 cents an acre,
but purchasers are like angels visits-few
and far between