The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-06-02
ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT.
Arkansas and California.


 from MT. R. s. Morgan, 8 gentleman formerly resident of Arkansas but now travelling in California. We rec ommend it's perusal to all, especially to those afflicted with California fever:
 DEAR SIR:-After so long time again pen you few lines. Ever since I wrote my last letter I have been travelling and have become pretty we'll acquainted with the western slope, it's climate, productions, etc. The north western portion of Washington Terri tory is covered with heavy forest. The southeast is most hilly and bar ren, but it contains some good timber. It is wet in winter and spring and dry in summer. The principal production is lumber. Oregon is divided by the Cascade mountains, running north and south. Eastern Oregon is very dry. It seldom rains, and when it does there is more or less hail or sleet with 1t. Snow falls from four to eight feet deep, and in some localities there is frost nearly every night in the year. Stock raising is the principal occupa- tion in east Oregon, for it is too cold for farming to be profitable. West of the Cascade range the climate is differ ent. It rains most all the time and the trees are all covered with long, heavy moss. The old settlers do not call it rain, they call it Oregon mist; but no matter if it be mist or not, it falls fast enough to wet person through unless he wears gum clothes. Yet they raise fine grain and fruit, but much of it is lost on account of wet weather.
 I find California quite different from Washington Territory and Ore- gon, for the climate changes so sud- denly that it makes one feel like step- ping from one climate to another. 1t keeps you changing coats all the time, provided you have got them to change. Northern California is moun- tainous and covered with timber. The occupations are lumber and mining. Going south as far as Tehama county, you come to the edge of Sacramento valley. Then you go south through Tehama, Colusa, Yolo, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. Those counties embrace the principal if not the whole part of the great grain region of California. The Sac- ramento river runs through the heart of the valley. Passing down on the west side of Sacramento City, but ly- ing east of Sacramento valley is the Sierra Nevada mountains, and along the foot hills near the valley are some very fine orchards and vineyards which seem to be very productive, from the fact that they have some very fine cellars. Among them are Senator Stanford's, Fitch's and others, but going south from Stanislaus county to the southern part of Cali fornia everything is cultivated and raised by irrigation, and the principal productions are fruits of all kinds that are raised in an almost tropical cli- mate. These fruits are not of the best quality and do not compare with those raised in Arkansas, which can beat California in apples, peaches and many other varieties.
 But returning to the wine cellars I spoke of along the range of foothills east of the valley. I had occasion few days ago to visit Lincoln, in Placer county, near Shoes wine eel lars, and while there met MT. G. Bo- melli, formerly of Fort Smith, Ark, who is manager of the Fitch winery, which is the largest in Placer county. Mir. Bomelli invited me to his cellar, and after we arrived we sampled his wine, and found it excellent and of the finest quality. The following arr ticlc in regard to Mir. Bomelli's effi- ciency as wine maker, clip from a San Francisco paper:
 "To complete the variety of indus- tries being carried on in and about Lin coin, the wineries should be men, tioned. Of these there are several, and the wine they produce is of good quality and many different varieties. The Fitch winery, better known as the old Nickerson ranch,' which is the largest in Placer county, is located near Lincoln. For a number of years past wine has been made on this ranch, but it was not until of late, when MT. Fitch imported Glovam Bomelli, an Italian wine- maker of con- siderable experience and repute, that superior quality of claret and other wines was obtained"
 There are many in Fort Smith who remember MT. Bomelli. He started a vineyard in partnership with James Brizzolara, near Francis Donohoe's farm, south of Fort Smith, several years ago. In conversation with Bo- melli few days ago asked him what he thought of the vineyard he started in Fort Smith. He answered, posi- lively: "I think it paying invest ment; but you see when I first came to the United States to start a vine- yard, Fort Smith was the first place