Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-07-31
/ COLONIES IN CALIFORNIA
a PICTURESQUE FEATURE OF PA
CIFIC COAST LIFE.
The Anaheim Colony-Dihiculties En-
countered by the Early Squatters
The Cultivation of Fruit.

The Cultivation of Fruit.
One of the most interesting features of
Southern California, to one who visits it
for the first time, is the colony system,
which has done so, much to develope tho
country and to demonstrate the capabili-
ties of the soil and climate. Los Angeles
is the centre of a large number of colonies,
all of which have made great progress,
while the last few years have seen imita-
lions of these started on several other
counties with equally good results. The
colony system has manifest advantages
in a country where water for irrigation is
indispensable. No man, unaided unless
he be large capitalist, can develop Q
water supply sufficient even for small
ranch. The principle of cooperation
holds good here and has been adopted
by all these colonies. Without water the
land in most of the southern counties is
worthless save for the growing of grain;
with water it will produce beautiful
crops, and The fruits of the tropical and
temporal. Ssf.nes flourish equally well.
Hence, tl5aerst requisite for the success
of any colony is full supply of wafer.
Given this, with fairly good land, and it
is the fault of the managers if colony
1oes not thrive like green bay tree.
Perhaps the oldest colony in Southern
California is Anaheim, about twenty live
miles from Los Angeles. 1t was started
On the cooperative plan by Germans
nearly thirty years ego. Nothing could
be more forbidding than the stretch of
cactus-covered country which they Sc
lected and obtained for small sum, be-
cause the owners of the ranch supposed
that it was the poorest land on the place.
Even the cattle gave this tract wide
berth, and in the estimation of men who
held the land as valuable only for the
growing of grain or the grazing of cattleit
was as ill adapted for the making OF
homes as a slice of the Colorado or Mo-
lave desert. But these German colonists
were not frightened by the cactus grow
ing in great clumps on the sandy soil,
nor by the doleful predictions of failure
which they heard on every side. They
parceled out the twenty acre plots by lot,
and each man set to work to develop his
domain. They were mainly men who
had been bred to wine making, and they
naturally chose the grape as their CHIEF
reliance. The years brought many
changes. Other colonies started in what
was originally regarded as little better
than desert; the railroad came to them
about one-half of the original settlsg9'
paysA fee c crept slowly SLOWLY,
: her. SUI The Chilly air. o;U" sbe
X; o at IN with sickening PAM
y Tho wet grass. -. rock
last she creepSS SOME T water lie: INC ~
y lie road j. She bathes her iain'
o,,, and waits an come, p,ai the bell Nov
chi Niesrer and nearer nia Gem Gem. as she ROUNDS
nc h IN IN the road, sl lOok c Gem. Good
me ecSkel GEM ouke'
old dsnFt olds out her empty ,Ps carrota
Why e abe should pass by, ;st nI her nose
What II ~ drawing near, nc - empty she
IN ms; a. palm. Finding II w; SbF ali her
to sylviay but-leapins w tha back b Of
turns away s,yia fails upon inc
s tire KIND brute: to look around ne Ol{
Hardly stcPplhSs sylvia lays her err h err
Gem moves o. sboSlder, her bare al
u around III the cows sO11 h'0 the little her her
4 " Slowly, how s;o"1 Here old Gem stol
moves '';te = tender clump oi tSe cows ST
" II oa u,s with her fists upon
a. she .o~ starts She H1 g faint F naolap
q i 30 s. SING dark; her arms
sr Is y falling. of running stirs her s %"''
Ri n ;s.ss, ;ss ~ y; Ss1I s's
wsshsa sylvia S Sres' b sss owe over
' S@ f msn ss;%sai Ess t. Then
me throb to- Of p ptifes her heart. ,,naa Is
tier sob e ~