The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-02-03
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:. 1HoH I'M lAcrYJo COAST.
nsrs Weather Oorsnade Deash a1a 1hs Zig
Hstsl-1As Great Iluns-Hso-
pie stu Coning-WsatA-
q Again.
San DIEGO. JAN. %. 1883.
I have made heroic effort to write
this letter withouta word about the
weather; but 1t IL . subject that will
not down. such an ever present won
der 1t IL, and 20 dominant . factor
withal In Southern California notorie-
ty. And then the object of these
sketches. II any they may claim. 10 to
make their readers acquainted with
this extraordinary region in all Its
moods and lenses. I think I wrote
last upon the heels ola four days down
pouf, and from the depths of unfathom-
able mud. All that passed away in
the twinkling Of an eye almost. and
these last have bean two weaks Of In.
comparable sparkling weather inwhich
the least bit Of fire Of mornings and
evenings was all :the artificial caloric
required-and for the last three days
even that could be safely dispensed
with. Take the fickleness Of your
April and add to it the temperature Of
your May, and you have the weather
here for the last three days-a strug.
gle between smiles and tears. difficult
to say in which the more bewitching.
But about month ago the tempera-
ture was unprecedented. Every eli.
mate, you know, il always having it,
unprecedented" weather.) On two
or three mornings . scum of ice was
visible on pools Of water, and further
north, at Los Angeles and Pasadena.
1t is whispered that the wagons ratified
over frozen ground awhile. 1t il claim
ed, however, that no damage was done
to oranges and other fruit. BY the
way, the orange trees out here have a
curious way Of bearing fruit at two
years of age. have Teen . HATEFUL
Of fruit on such q tree, and at three or
four years the trees are frequently
heavily loaded. If anyone comes to
San Diego expecting to get California
fruit for trifle or for the asking, he
will beidisappointed. The main reas-
on is that the retailers of fruit, like
everybody here, arr not satisfied with
. reasonable margin Of profit. They
can get outrageous profits 80 they
charge them. In very sight of River
side. the home of the finest oranges in
Southern California, where they can
almost be had for picking them up,
the fruit boy on the train has the i'm
pudence to cry: through the cars,
Riverside Naval oranges. four for
twenty-five cents!" About five humid
red per cent. of profit is the least that
will satisfy here, whether it be on a
q corner lot or q Riverside orange.
I have not yet gotten around to San
Diego's .'elephant"-Coronado Beach
and its great hotel. The beach is an
island almost circular in shape, con.
tanning eleven hundred acres, lying
three quarters of mile from SanDiego
connected Herewith by ferry. The
hither side is washed by the quiet
waters of the bay but the further side
is dashed by the surf Of the ocean. II
rises from twenty-five to fifty feet
above the water, and is almost per.
fectly level. Its soil is fertility itself, al
ls evidenced by the fact that park LAID
out in the center of the island onlylast
spring, is now q most beautiful COM
bination of lawn and luxuriant flowers
1t serves to show what can be made of
every foot Of the beach in q very short
time-and what undoubtedly will be
made oft. Nothing 10 more certain
than that it will sometime be one o.
the most magnificent spots en- the con-
tinent. The entire length Of every
street and avenue is already Set with
tropical trees which are growing fine
ly. The streets are named for thu
trees lining them, as Palm Street, Oh
i've Street, Orange Avenue etc. l said
awhile ago that Coronado was On
island. 1t Is rather . peninsula, be-
ing connected with the mainland by 8
narrow sand-dune upon which rail
road track is now laid, and over which
the Pullman cars of the Santa Fe road
will be run to the very doors of the
great hotel.
There are two "supplemental won.
ders of the world" to the patriotic San
Diegoan. And one of them is the
Hotel del Coronado. Thunder in the
very name, in there not? 1t is built on
the ocean side of Coronado, 30 near to
the sulf that the spray sometimes
dashes upon the lowest veranda. 1t is
built around an open court filled with
bluegrass. fountains, and tropical
plants. This court il about three hum
dred feet square. Viewed as q whole
the hotel looks like q many gabl ed,
domed and lowered city in miniature
"a decidedly mixed piece::of artitecture
I should say. 1t is built of redwood