The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-05-13
Don't Go West Young Man.
EVEN CALIFORNIA CANNOT COM
PARE WITH CAROLISA.

PARE WITH CARoLINA.
The Arid Plains and BoundIess Dcsel Is
of Western Texas, New Mexico and
ArizOna-COlifOrMiu Farmers Must he
Capitalists-The Attractions tf San
Francisco.
Correspondence News and Couricr.l
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, April S.-Tf the
dissatisfied farmers Of South Carolina
could cross the Continent as your cor
respondcnnt has done, they would be
more content with their own State on
their return home. From Western Tex
as to Middle California the tourist trav-
els over vast wastes Of arid land, which
is mostly unfit for cultivation. AS far
east as San Antonio, Texas, irrigation is
necessary, and even on the vast plains Of
that State, where it is usually supposed
that immense herds Of cattle Craze and
wax fat, your correspondent learned, to
his surprise, that ten acres Of pasture
land was necessary to maintain each
COW, and that, even with that area Of
pasturagc, the animals had to be fattcn-
cd before they would be fit for beef.
Across the boundleSs deserts Of West
ern Texas, New Mexico. Arizona and
South Californa the traveller looks from
the cars upon open eXpanses Of sterile
sand or rocks, with hills in view on Ell
thrr side, butgencrally without sign Of
human habitation, save only the Rail-
road stations ut long intervals. The eye
becomes fatiguod with the vast untitled
landscape, where no smoke arises from
settlers hamlet, where no water is seen
no cattle Craze, no plough furrows dis
turb tho dire monotony Of the view;
even cattle arc unseen and no tree grows
Your correspondent has been in ever,
county Of South Carolina, and nowhere
i'll her limits can bc found such abso-
lutely barren lands as the Southern Pa
cific Railroad traverScS for thousand
miles or more. In some places water is
carried by the engines in large tanks be-
cause it cannot be had in sufficient guam
titles along the line of the Railroad to
furnish the locomotives. One naturally
wonders how Railroad can live where
there is 80 little local freight or passen-
ger business, and were it not for the
large terminal traffic and transportation
such corporations could not survive.
persons there are who believe
that with Artesian wells water can be
obtained for irrigation, and that the
lands now so waste may then. become
productive; bnt your correspondent is
Of opinion that were such the case it
would require millions Of people to oc-
cupy these unreasonable tracts where
no timber grows. and many years Of
hard labor to convert this arid plain into
fertile farming lands and homes.
California herself, with great wealth
and portion ofvery productive soil,
does not offer inducements to the agri-
culturist which would justify prudent
man in moving from lands which. if less
rich. are more sure, from soils which are
always watercd by "the first rain and
the latter rain," to q country where rains
are always uncertain, where the seasons
are divided into the wet and dry. the wet
season being from September to April
and the dry from April to September,
yet with this strange popularity that
rains often fail to como in the season
when they are due and expected, and
sometimes put in an appearance against
all rules and when least to be looked
for. The phenominal growth of Califor-
mia and the wondrous wealth Of San
Francisco are due to causes which no
longer exist. From 1S49, when gold
was discovered in this State, until the
Pacific Railroads crossed the country,
lis city was the emporium of the whole
vast region from the Rocky Mountains,
west. Here all the business houses and
capital were
NESTLED ROUND THE GoDEN GATE.
The mines of Eldorado and Nevada
poured their treasures into this city, and
all supplies went hence to the miners
camp or to the rancho Of the farmer in
that boundless region.
Can any ono wonder Mt tho extraor-
binary development Of this city under
such forcing processes as these? n was
indeed marvellous. Ships from India,
China, Japan, Hawaiip Islands, Europe,
Australia and around Cape Horn. from
New York, Boston and Liverpool, filled
the splendid bay Of San Francisco.
Steamers northward to Oregon, south
ward to Mexican ports and the Isthmus,
connecting with other lines constwise,
and sometimes huge leviathans from
British ports, throbbed and painted
through these placid waters. Wealth