The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-01-30
RECTIFY1NG NATURE.
How Sterile Plains Have Been Made Fertile
by Means of Irrigation-1he Artesian
Well Belt Of California Wonderful


How Sterile Plains Have Been Made Ferti
: by Means of Irrigation-1he Artesian
Well Belt Of California Wonderful
f Results Accomplished In
\ Two Years.
t Tulare lake, the great, shallow inlan
= sea of California, writes a correspond
. ent of The Alta California, is surround
ed by some of the richest farming land
of the state, but, taken as whole, i
t is about the least developed region t.
, be found between Siskiyou and Sal
Diego. The Southern Pacific railroad
runs on the east side of the lake at {
distance of ten to fifteen miles from it:
shores, and second road-the pro
posed Bakersfield and Antioch-ha;
= been surveyed between the lake and
the Southern Pacific. Hence the
country on this shore is better known,
and is filling up with population quite
fast. Tulare is large and rapidly
growing town-the most prosperous in
the county-and the land around it is
mostly divided up into small farms,
and is being planted with vines, fruit
trees, and alfalfa.
On the western shore of the lake
|
and also considerable governmcntland
not yet taken up, but there is no rail-
road on that side of the valley, and
though the land is rich, owing to it's
inaccessibility it is not so desirable.
Both shores of the lake, however,
would long ago have been thickly set
tied and prosperous farming districts
had it not been for the supposed lack
of water. After a rainy winter the
land will produce abundant crops of
wheat, but three years out of four it is
only good for pasturage, unless it can
| be irrigated. In natural fertility of
soil no region in the state can surpass
this about Tulare. There is a deep,
rich black loan, neither too heavy nor
too light, which with sufficient irriga-
tion will produce an almost endless
succession of crops without exhaustion.
By soil and climate the region seems
to be the natural home of the fruit tree
and the vine, possessing clear SUI
periority in at least the former re-
spect over the more sandy lands about
Fresno. DR.. Chaplin, the state in
spector of fruit pests, has testified to
the capabilities of this section as a
fruit-growing district, and has backed
his opinions in a practical way by
making an investment in lands here
abouts. West of the town of Tulare,
and for miles up and down the lake, it |
is one of the most beautiful valley re-
gions in the state. There is thick |
sprinkling of those magnificent oak
trees which would relieve any land
scape of monotOny, even did it not
have for background, as does this,
the majestic Nierra Nevadas, on whose
SUBMITS "a swaying line of snowy
white" now shows that the accumula-
ton of the winter SHOWS has begun.
In the spring these frozen floods will
be loosened and come down to feed
the creeks and rivers which, being d.
verified from their beds, bling wealth
and fairness to the land. There are
two important irrigating canals. one
at an expense of $50, 900,
besides the numerous artesian wells
which will be described presently
now engaged in supplying water 10 the
farmers of the immediate vicinity.
But first word about Tulare lake.
t is not the pestilential Dead sea
which it is sometimes pictured. Its
waters are strongly tinged with alkali,
,ut their touch is not the malignant
poison to animal and vegetable life
hat they are popularity supposed to
,e. The lake is we'll stocked with
ish, including perch, cat, and spe-
lies of trout, and the business of {
these tinny species for the
markets has become quite an industry.
Vast flocks of ducks also inhabit the {
axe, and at its southern extremity the {
'ot-hunters who kill game for the {
markets have recently been making as
Ugh as 500 day per man. They sta {
ion themselves in boats at dawn and {
usk at the mouths of the sloughs, and !
laughter the birds as they pass in and
ut from the lake. Sometimes the
irds fly in such immense focks as to !
bscure the rising sun, and gun q
ointed in any direction can not fail e
0 bring them down in heaps. A day a
r two before Thanksgiving party of 3
our or five hunters shipped to San C
Francisco over ton of ducks, being S
be proceeds of two days shooting, S
nd consignments of one thousand or 2
welve hundred pounds from the same /;
ONT are of frequent occurrence. This fl
portsman's paradise has been SO far Il
ut slightly invaded by the city gun q
lubs, and it may be well to say that n
ne obstacles in the road thither are 2
considerable. For example, the lake ft
so shallow on its shores that it is I
npossible to launch boat except by II
Raging it long distance, in doing h
hich the hunter must wade in mud il
nd water. But vegetable life flourish CT
, on the shores of the lake as thrifty W
) animal life does in its depths, and
lis year, the lake having receded,
,me OF the land over which its waves
5ed to roll was cultivated in wheat =.
i'd yielded abundant crops. Some =,
ears ago there was a small steamer 40 40
4 Tulare lake, but it has gone to de- 4;
W, and the vast sheet of water is now Il;
avigated only near the shore by snail :.
hitting and fishing boats. - =,
More interest has been excited in r
is section by the development of a +;
alter supply from artesian wells dur -
g the last two years than by any T.
her event in its history, and the facts &c
'out the great artesian belt of Tulare n ~
fxro l. II