Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-17
INDIO.
The Coming Sanitarium ON the
Colorado Desert.

Mr.. c. +. Sm,rr, General Freight and
Passenger agent, s. p. Co:
DEAR SIR:-Since your conve rsation
relative to proper site for a santa.
rum, and climate suitable for lung
and rheumatic troubles, I have visited
Indio, in San Diego county. This
town is only five hours ride from Los
Angeles, and on the Southern Pacific
Railroad.
Indio is part Of an oasis OF the Colo,
rado desert, a fertile plain from three
to eight miles wide and twenty miles
long. Shut in by the San Bernardino
and San Jacinto mountains, it enjoys
absolutely dry atmosphere, and has Al
most fertile soil, rich from continued
deposits OF vegetable and animal mat
ter.
This favored valley was once the bed
of fresh water lake, and the shells of
the mollusks are seen in every starta
Such heavenly climate you can
not imagine, for here the winds come
not, nor do the clouds mask the
beauty of the blue vault above. The
ocean breezes are warmed and robbed
of their moisture while passing over
the arid soils OF the desert. Winds
sweep through the San Gorgonio pass
and follow the line of the railroad
until they meet the curving San Ber-
nardino mountains, which turn from
their course across the desert to the
San Jacinto range. Here for miles
the sand winds blow in one grand
upheavel OF atoms, cutting down the
telegraph poles and grinding the
window panes, leaving Indio the long
neglected, the balmy breath of life.
The purity OF the air and the eter-
nal sunshine fill one with wonder and
delight. On every side the grandest
mountains, decked in their cloaks of
dazzling white, attract the eye, while
beneath your feet is the richest soil.
The majestic grandeur and the rich
coloring of hilltop and foliage is a
magnificent combination OF natures
work.
Everything should grow in Indio in
wild luxuriance, and one can scarcely
believe his eyes.
Why has such climate, SO salu-
lubrious, and a soil so rich, been
neglected. In all my travels 1 have
never enjoyed nor seen their SEM
blance. 1t was like the discovery of
some old masterpiece, filling me with
delight.
The Meteorological Department has
had station here for number of
years, and from their reports are
taken the following average thermo-
metrical readings for three months:
July, 1885 s25S deg 1895 deg. .a2lzz Z deg.
Apr, 1856 .6I2a deg. SO deg. .6i15 deg.
These months were chosen with re
ference to the seasons, and will give
you a fair idea of the genial warmth
of the day and the passing coolness
of the night.
Nature has accomplished so much
that there remains but little for man
to do.
Let me say one word more in re-
gard to it's possibilities as a health re-
sort. Here is eter al sunshine with a
temperature always pleasant; a per-
fectly dry soil, for rain is an unknown
factor pure oxygen dense atmosphere
and good water. What more can one
expect?
1t is the place above all others for
lung troubles and a paradise for the
rheumatic.
This oasis is we'll known to few, at
least, of our suffering ones, and the
letters which are received daily should
satisfy any one OF the necessity and
pecuniary success which would at
tend the erection and maintenance of
o hotel and sanitarium in Indio.
Considering the number of sufferers
who have been cured, have no hesi-
tation in recommending this genial
oasis as the heaven OF the afflicted.
At present the accommodations are
entirely inadequate to the demands
of physicians and their patients, but
We trust that the trifing inconveni-
ence will soon be remedied. l hear
thto hotel will be erected immedi-
ately; then let your sanitarium fol-
low and you will see blessing with
out disguise Knowing as we do how
untitled .the coast Of California is,
with few exceptions, for throat, lung
or rheumatic troubles, here, then, is
the climate and the soil which re-
quires such adornment only as the
human mind can devise to make it
the sanitarium Of this continent.
Before closing it would be well to
mention that Indio, being twenty feet
below the sea-level, that residence
in this locality would be great bene-
fit in heart troubles.
Yours truly,
(Signed) G. @. STEWART, M. D.,
1O9 N. First st., Los Angeles, Cal.