Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-05-02


and paper mills your Of agricultural
implements and your other industries, you add
put upon It than any other people of. California.
Stockton In proportion to her population. is pro-
double tho population of the city Of Stockton in the
believe It to be entirely true; You have to back
yo9 county possessing over $4,000 valuable acres.
ana water enough to make every acre OF 1t tribu-
I find, on Investigation, that Mr.. Mills
statements relative to tho manufactures in
Stockton are much within bounds. There
are two Touring mills, which produce 400
barrels Of flour each per day, much of which
finds its way across the Pacific ocean. All
over the Pacific Coast the fame of Stockton
flour is known, testifying to the superior
quality of the wheat OF San Joaquin county:
Immense manufactures for agricultural
implements, largo foundrics, planning mills,
carriage works, paper and wooden mills,
tanneries, wheel factories, etc., all attest
the enterprise and advantages Of this city.
NATURE TOOK HAND.
to do with settling the difficulty. The San
ing with San Francisco Bay, an arm of this
river extending to Stockton, and daily lines
of steamers ply between that city and San
Francisco. The tide GIBBS and flows at Stock
ton, so that there is never lack of water for
navigation as in rivers depending on mount
aims or feeding streams. Consequently,
railroad or no railroad, the county has for
all time means of reaching the world at
largo with her products, which no business
war can cut off. AS from one to two hun
dred thousand tons Of wheat reach the mar
ket annually from this county by water car
riage, it shows that the advantage Of the
river is duly embraced and appreciated: In
fact over 100000 tons Of freight 60 from
Stockton annually, by water to San Fran
cisco or beyond:
The soil of the county is varied, consist
ing Of deep sandy f,a aoa% H.; adobe or black
especially rich, comprising as it does re-
claimed swamp lands. 1t will produce two
crops of barley or alfalfa in a year, and forty
bushels Of wheat to the acre is O common
crop on tule land, while it sometimes runs
seventy.hve bushels Of wheat and one hun
dred and five bushels of barley. In fact,
there seems scarcely any limit to the wealth
Of the soil of this county: BY aid Of the
wonderful invention which cuts the heads
from the straw, and threshes 1t at the same
time, delivering the wheat III q sack upon
one end of tho machine, farming has been
conducted on an immense scale, single par
ties owning and working from ten to fifty
thousand acres Of land.
It can readily be seen that a few men
could control county, even so largo as to
have 500 900 acres. Fortunately there has
como an awakening, and it is dawning on
the best OF labor saving appliances, there is
more money in diversified industry, and rs
fruits, vines, vegetables, etc, grow in pro-
fusion in the San Joaquin Valley they are
now diversifying.
One man can handle an immense tract in
wheat, barley or pasture; when it comes to
fruit and vines, his profits are much greater
per acre and he does not need or desire such
large holdings. 1t is paro question OF
using less land in q productive manner, and
hence he does 50. For twenty years or more
grapes and fruits have been raised in this
county, yielding handsomely. Some Of the
most famous wines in the State are here
produced. But the mammoth ranches pre-
vented fruit or vine raising becoming gen
eral. How much this keeps country back
is shown by tho fact that out of $4,000 peo-
pie in the county, Stockton has over one
half. Lodi, An enterprising town fourteen
miles north of Stockton, has 200, and other
towns have, combined, at least 5000 more,
so that in this great county less than 10000
are tilling the soil.
With this change, and the cutting up of
these enormous tracts into small holdings,
there is room here for vast population. A
man can make good living in San Joaquin
County on ten acres devoted to vines and
fruit, and ono hundred acres is really
larger tract than any one man needs. Land
in the county ranges from $50 to $3.50 per
soil as the county or State contains, can be
secured. It is not always economy to buy
the cheapest land.
Mr.. Hatch, the President of the State
Board of Trade, and the greatest almond
grower in the country, and perhaps in the
in this county to put into almonds. These
nuts yield a profit of from one to two hun
dred dollars per acre, and Hatch has hun
drcds of acres already bearing, but evi-
IDENTIFY he could not forego having slice of
San JOAQUIN County, though he might have
elsewhere. 1t would have, however, proven
more expensive in the end if he had.
Profits on nuts, fruits and vines brought
to maturity range from 500 to $500 per acre
in this section. This is not guess-work, but
actual demonstration by old residents here
Intelligent handling of the land makes the
profit enormous.
Wonderfully flowing artesian wells arc
secured in all sections, and the farmer or
fruitgrower can be independent on the
water question if he desires. In fact very
little irrigation is required in this county.
wheat and barley require no irrigation,
in this locality. sta}lf tho enterprising citi-
zens do not propose to be caught mapping
when exceptional years come, and they have
formed an irrigation company and are con-
structing canal system capable OF supply
ing over 10000 acres with water It desired.
In boring for water both oil and natural
gas have been found near Stockton. The
impetus this will give to manufactures in
the city can hardly be predicted.
With q tax roll of less than five mills on
the dollar, with u death rate OF only ten to
the thousand, with mean average temper
ature of sixty degrees, and no day too hot
or too cold to work in the open air, there
seems to be no reason why residents of this
valley should not have all the comfort, pros
perity and happiness which pertains to this
life.
The people of Stockton are fully alive to
the situation. They have an active Board of
Trade which supplies all applicants with
full information about the county, have Or
ganized club to entertain visitors, and in
various ways are wide awake and enter
prising. The new era has dawned and they
propose to welcome those who wish to Join