Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-04-17
FROM THE PACIFIC COAST.
SANDIEGo, March 3Ist.

OANDlES3O, MdEcH OlSb.
I arrived here last night, after
spending day at Riverside and fill
ing myself with oranges. 1t is beau.
tiful colony; miles of orange groves
fenced with Arbor Vitae Hedge, about
4 feet high and 2 feet wide across the
top, trimmed into the solidity of a
sod wall miles of avenues with 8
rows of trees, one at each side, and
one in the middle.
This city is on boom, and they are
grading the streets, and building up,
and as capitalists haven taken hold of
it, it is likely to be a city of some con-
siderable size. 1t is sanitarium, if
nothing else, invalids and pleasure
seekers are here in abundance. There
are as many as dozen hotels here,
one they claim cost $3.50, 900, one $780,
600 and one $4,000. Somewhat in adj
vance of the st. Clair and the Cont
mental, charges from 90 to $500 per
day. I am sitting on the veranda of
the Commercial Hotel, looking out
over the Bay, on which there is some
shipping craft. There is boat for
Los Angeles from this point every
five days. 1 leave this place on it to-
morrow evening. They claim to have
number ofmen here worth from one
hundred thousand to two millions !;
they have fOundries, machine shops,
Touring mills, planning mills, electric
light, and handsome residences, and
above all most remarkably salubri-
Gus climate. Persons move with elias
tic step. Among the old settlers there
is no hectic flush, and the native born
are strong and vigorous. The lame
walk, the blind see; and no persons
except one, and he is an evangelic
preacher of the Y. M. c. A. speaks
or thinks of dying, and they say
"Let us build three altars," one to
health, one to wealth and one to plea
sure. Our groves are filed with sweet
songsters, our waters with fish, our
mountains with the gold of Ophir, and
our cattle Craze upon thousand hills.
There are people here from all quar-
tiers of the globe. 1 met a number
from Boston, Cleveland, and New
York.
This hotel is named the CONNER
clal, and is run in every sense of the
word by a fascinating widow of 40,
who glides in and out among her $50
boarders, like fairy queen, here,
there, everywhere, with her bland
fascinating smile. Talk about this
beings heather Goddess land; here is
found every denomination, or scrap
of it, under Heaven: Episcopal, Cath
Ollie, Methodist, Presbyterian, Bap-
fist, Congregationalist, China, Africa,
and the Islanders Of the Sea. AS Cal
vim says, Presbyterianism is rather
scarce and has to be made go a good
ways around. At every little town
there is Y. M. c. A room, and young
men not ashamed nor to take hold of
the work. And although there are
drinking saloons, and gambling here,
there is less drinking by far than in
older eastern towns. Later: arrived
at Angeles yesterday and this morn
ing ran up here Pasadena to see
the country and visit DIR. Jno. Raude-
baugh formerly of Gettysburg, Penn.
found him living in true California
style, occupying handsome cottage
EMPOWERED in flowers and orange
blossoms, and fine practice to sup
port it. l wish you could see this To-
cality; it is not so easy to describe the
beauty of the town or colony. 1t is
laid out in plats of from one to five
acres and mostly planted in oranges
with evergreen hedge, and broad av-
enues; the whole make up is very
beautiful. We drove through hum
dreds of acres of grape fields. The
great beauty of all here, that nothing
every stops growing from cold wealth
err, consequently everything grows to
perfection. This is a land of large
Hotels and the country is full of visi-
tors, persons hunting health and COM
fort, regardless of cost; and it is a
happy-go-easy country, everything
laying around loose, everybody hon.
est never think of locking door or
shutting gate; no hogs roofing up
your grounds, nor cattle tearing up
your shade trees. Los Angeles has a
population of 200 as busy people as
you will find anywhere the city is
beautiful and compactly built. Socie-
ty is of the best no waiting on capt.
tai, it is here MS waiting on schools,
they are here no waiting on churches,
they are here. In all these southern
California has the advantage of many
other western States. II. A. F.