The Portland daily press., 1888-01-14
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Some Cold Facts About tho Climate
as Cure for snvaiic;;.

[Charles Dudley Warner in January Atlantic.]
But it is seldom cold in the Needles and
the Mohave Desert-a shimmering alkaline
waste: $50 In March, and say 1902 to 1902 in
July. 1t does not matter The few people
in the far-apart stations live in houses that
have second detached roof, put on like the
fly of tent; and the heated, desolate pas
sage is proyidential arrangement to lower
the spirits of the traveller to the enjoyment
of the irrigated country recovered from the
desert in Southern California. 1t is a verit-
able paradise, as really such as the oasis of
Fayoum in Egypt. Heavens! how the hu-
man eye does crave the green color; how
grateful it is for field of barley, a straight
eucalyptus tree. vines and roses clambering
over the houses, the lustrous foliage of the
orange groves starred with globes of gold!
This is Paradise. And the climate? Per-
petual summer (but daily rising in price,.
There is no doubt of this when you reach
the San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena and Los
Angeles. Avenues of eucalyptus, pepper
and orange tree, two, three, four rows Of
them, seven and eight miles long; vast
plumed fields Of oranges; the vine stubs In
the grape plantations beginning to bud; bar
ley fodder the substitute for hay) we'll up
and verdant; palmettos and other semi
tropical plants, and all the flowers, and
shrubs and vines, gay, rampant vigorous,
er-blooming in dooryards, gardens, over
running trees and houses-surely 1t is sum-
mer There is snow sprinkled on the bare,
ashy hills, but everywhere in the plain is
water, from the unfailing mountain springs,
running in wooden conduits and bitches.
You can buy this water at so much an hour.
All you need to buy is climate and water
the land Is thrown in. 1t Is warm in the
sun,-the thermometer may indicate 70o; it
is even hot walking out through the endless
orange plantations and gardens that sur
round Los Angeles; but there is chill the
instant you pass into the shade; you still
need your winter clothing, and If you drive,
or ride in the grip-cars over the steep hills
you require winter overc0at. The night
temperature throughout California is invari-
ably in great contrast to that in the day
time; nearly everywhere fire is necessary
at night the year round, and agreeable near
ly all the year, even in Southern Califor-
mia. / doubt if it is ever pleasant to sit
out-of-doorS or on the plaZzas at night,
though it may be in the hotter months, in
the southern portion. But it is very confus-
ing TO the mind Of the newcomer to recon-
cile his necessity for winter clothing to what
he sees and almost feels; in short, to get
used to the climate. The invalid is thrown
off his guard by appearances; and l should
say that there is no country in the world
where person needs to use more care about
is bracing and life-giving l did not in any
part of the State, in walking or taking any
sort Of exercise, feel the least fatigue. A
''cold," therefore, for person in ordinary
health and condition, is not the dragging
nearly mortal experience that is apt to be in
the East. Then the browning advantage Of
the country, even If the climate is treacher
GUS and needs watching in its effects, is that
one can be out of doors all the time, nearly
every day in the year. Meantime, he can
eat oranges, if he is not particular about the
variety and get rich selling prospective or
real orange groves to Eastern people. But
he will never get over the surprises and con-
trasts of the country We went one day, by
rail, eighteen miles over the gentle hills,
from Los Angeles to its lovely seaport OF
Santa Monica. Fine hotel, charming beach
and sand bluffs, illimitable Pacific Ocean II
was not warm day nor cold day, just the
ordinary kind of day to sell q suppose one
could buy days climate there, or half 6
days. or swap off a morning for an after
noon with the real-estate brokers, and every
man and woman is real-estate broker, bu
we wore thick winter clothing, and carried
overcoats, which occasionally were needed
| Yet as many as seventy-fiye sane people
| were bathing In the Pacific Ocean as If it hat
been August! Flowers, fruits, summer
bathing, and winter overcoats,-you have Il
| get used to it,