Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-09


The visit is made. The maneuverins
agent drives the victim out-probably
with 3 pair Of horses-the flowers OF com
mendatory rhetoric are showered on th'
geld senses of the visitor, aud thu
chances are that, after listening to {
chapter OF word painting of the earthly
paradise, as veil IS the future CONNER
clsI metropolis the town is destined u
become, he succumos and buys o corner
lot at 500 front foot or villa site a
the rate Of $1,000 an acre. When the
crash occurs the whole neighborhood-
Queen Anne hotel and cottages, park AnC
sil the rest-Will not sell so as to return
the investor 1.-THE OF his squaadereC
money.
The humbug town of the third-clsss il
the most dangerous, after ali, to the
pockets OF the investor, snd 8 vSs'
amount Of thinking should be gone ovsl
before an eastern man or woman with
money to spend should buy 1t in such 6
plsce.
FIRsT-CLAss FRAUDS.
or the paper cities of the frst-class, the
brazon, sWindling schemes ofsrohbeTy, in
which no attempt .t providing quid pro
quo has heen essayed, the arch humbug
Manchester is monumental instsnce.
Has the reader ever crossed the Moiaye
Desert or the vast Yuma tract OF sterile
wilderness in Southern California? II
not, he hiss missed an opportunity to be.
hold an example of the determination OF
desolation" referred TO in Holy Writ.
The Mojsve Desert is not as forb!ddipg
as the Yoma Sshsrs, but few hours OF
transit will incline the spectator-him
who has been accustomed to green grass,
Verdant foliage snd the ripple Of flowing
Tater-to Yearn for momentary glimpse
OF some Of NATURES pleasant gifts to man.
Around, on every side. is q scene OF
! nskedness which leads him to Think the
great mother hsd laid the face of the
earth under an interdict and blighted the
perishable portions down TO the basic
sand and rock.
The distance to Los Angeles is not
great. Only the Sierra Msdre intervenes,
put tue atmospheric conditions are en-
tlrely dissimilar. Rain is almost uu-
known. There Is an occasional spring of
water and few ragged river bees ira
verse the wastes Of sand. The slopes Ct
the SierrAs rise bold snd brL wn snd the
morning sunlight falls on their rugged
faces, bringing cut the parti hues of the
various chemical constituents of their
composition.
The desert is sprinkled with sage brush
and occasional yucca palms inclined at an
angle by the wind storms. This is c
shrub that will grow on the face of q
rock, without as much as plant murmur
at the hardness or baroness OF it's resting
place. a white scum Of alksli is sprin-
kled over considerable area of the
moisve wilderness, fatal obstacle to
plant life, excepting certain tough and
useless specimens.
The promoter of the city of Manchester
selected site at the base of the sierra,
almost under the shadow Of "OId Badly"
a snoI-capped peak which rises up in
gsunt nskedness near the CAiou pass.
The north side Of the sierra differs ms
terislly from the southern exposure. ex
cepting few scrub jumpers, cacti and
the inevitable sage brush. The northern
slope Is drv as bone and destitute OF
any vegetable growth that will make life
endurable.
THE ORIGINATOR OF THE FRAUD.
The father of the Manchester iuiouity
was Simon Hsmberg. He bought tract
81 lsnd-it the miserable area may be dig
nihed blythe name-of the Southern Pacific
Railway Company, located st the foot of
the bleak, inhospitsble sierra here known
as the MERGED Mountains. In front ex-
tends the Mojave Desert in all its barren
desolation. The distance from Los Ange- |
les in straight line is perhaps twenty
five miles, bit in order to reach the "city
OF Manchester" % you will have to
travel By railway and on muleback more
than twice that distance from the City Of
the Angels.
Hamberg apparently selected the site
for two reasons. The first, because the
land, being absolutely worthless, was
cheap, and the second. because it was go
far removed and so difficult of access thst |
tuquisitive purchasers would be deferred
from visiting the domain.
The exact price paid the railway COM
psny Is not known, but it was probably |
not in excess OF couple Of dollars su
acre. The railway obtained it's title d.
rect from the United States.
The location, according to the United
States Land ONCE system OF describing
government territory open to entry or
given ont to corporations as grants, is in
section l, township 1, north range, Los
Angeles.
Hsmberg secured his site, and then he
caused plot to be made. Streets were
laid out, house lots located and the whole |
recorded in the Registers office in the |
county courthouse at Los Angeles. The
streets were all named on the plot. There |
were Grant, KesTDey, Quincy, Bu6alo, |
Albany and Boston streets, while the |
Maine Presidential aspirant and his sue
cessful rival, now seated in the White |
House, slike were honored By having |
bouleyGrds called after them BY the en- |
terp-ising Hfmoerg. The Father of His
Country, as is generally the case in these |
bogus affairs, also came in for recogni- |
ton.
The original purchase by HGmberg was |
laid into sixty seven blocks of thirty two |
lots each. These "citY lots" we're 25 By |
90 feet in their dimensions. There were
3172 lots in all.
FANCY WRITING.
The advertisements and circulars por-
trsying the almost supernatural charms |
OF a residence at Manchester read Ike |
extracts from Vsthek or any Of the clss-
sic volumes the contents OF which are /
standard examples of the power Of gor- |
geous descriptive word coloring.
It would be difficult to believe that sny |
one section Of the esrth On the face Of s.
in spots, benefcentlY favored world could |
contain and concentrate as many delecta-
BILE elements to make life worth living as
might, according to the announcement OF