Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-05


that heaven and the Diety are quite ready
to applaud the acuRen Of the founder.
The humbug town of the order described
is there for the purchaser Of corner lot
to visit. The Improvements" were
made in order that the. founder
might be able to say: go cut
and look at the place. We are
not pack of swindlers, like this one CT
that one. We ask our patrons to go and
see for themselves"
fhe Visit is made. The maneuVering
SCENT drives the victim out-probably
with q pair Of horses-the flowers of COM
mandatory rhetoric are showered on the
geld senses of the visitor. aud the
chances are that, after listening to s
chapter Of word painting of the earthly
paradise, as we'll as the future CONNER
cisl metropolis the town is destined to
become, ne succumos and buys q corner
lot st 500 front foot or a villa site OF
the rate of 5000 an acre. When the
crash occurs the whole Beighborhood--
Queen Anne hotel and cottages, park and
sll the rest-WilI not sell so as to return
the investor O 1.-THE of his squaRdered
money.
The humbug town of the third-class is
the most dangerous, after all, to the
pockets Of the investor, and vast
amount Of thinking should be gone over
before an eastern man or woman with
money to spend should buy 1t in SUCH q
place.
FiRsT-CLAss FRAUDS.
or the paper cities of the frst-class, the
br&zon, swindling schemes ofSrobbery, in
which no attempt ct providing quid pro
quo has been essayed, the arCh humbug
Manchester is 8 monumental instance.
Has the reader ever crossed the Mojave
Desert or the vast Yuma tract Of sterile
wilderness in Southern California? II
not, he has missed an opportunity to be-
hold an example of the determination OF
desolstion" referred to in Holy Writ.
The Mojsve Desert is not as forbiddi1g
as the YOma Sahara, but q few hours Of
transit will incline the spectstor-him
who has been accustomed to green grass,
verdant foilsge and the ripple of flowing
water-to Yearn for momentary glimpse
of some of NATURES pleasant gifts to man.
Around, on every side. Is scene of
nskedness which leads him to think the
great mother had laid the face OF the
eartn 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 Madre intervenes,
out the atmospheric conditions are en-
tirely dissimilsr. Rain is almost IN
known. There is an occasional spring of
water and few ragged river beds trs-
verse the wastes Of sand. The slopes Ct
the Sierras rise bold and brI Wn and the
morning sunlight falls on their rugged
faces, bringing out the parti hues of the
various chemical constituents of their
composition.
The desert is sprinkled with sa3e brush
and occasional yucca palms inclined at an
angle by the wind storms. This Is G
shrub that will grow on the face OF
rock, without as much IS plant murmur
at the hardness or baroness OF its resting
place. A white scum Of alkali is sprin-
kled over considerable area of the
Motive 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 "0ld Baldy,n
a snow capped peak which rises up in
gaunt nRkedness near the Csjou pass.
The north side Of the sierra differs ms
terially from the southern exposure, ex-
cepting 8 few scrub jumpers, cacti and
the inevitable sage brush. The northern
slope is dry as bone and destitute of
any vegetable growth that will make life
endurSble.
THE ORIGINATOR OF THE FRAUD.
The father of the Manchester iniquity
was Simon Hsmberg. He bought tract
Of land-if the miserable area may be dig
Difed by the name-of the Southern Pacific
Railway Company, located at the foot OF
the bleak, inhospitable sierra here known
as the MERGED Mountains. In front ex-
tends the Mojave Desert in all It's barren
desolation. The distance from Los Ange-
les in q straight line is perhaps twenty
Eve miles, but in order to reach the "city
Of Manchester" (2) 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 1t was so
lsr removed and so difficult of access that
nquisitive purchasers would be deferred
from visiting the domain.
The exact price paid the railway COM
osny Is not known, but it WAS probably
not in excess OF couple of dollars an
acre. The railway obtained its title d.
rect from the United States.
The location, according to the United
States Land Office system of describing
government territory open to entry or
given out to corporations as grants, is in
section l, township 4, north range, Los
Angeles.
Hsmberg secured his site, and then he
caused a plot to be made. Streets we're
aid ont, house lots located and the'whole !
in the Registers office In the |
county courthouse at Los Angeles. The |
streets were all named on the plot. There |
we're Grant, KearneY, Quincy, Buffalo,
Albany and Boston streets, while the |
Maine Presidential aspirant and his sue
;essful rival, now seated in the White |
House, alike were honored by having |
ooulevsrds called after them by the en-
Hsmoerg. The Father of His |
Country, as is generally the case in these |
bogus affairs, also came in for recogni- |
ion.
The original purchase by Hsmberg was
aid into sixty-seven blocks of thirty-tWo |
OTIS each. These "citY lots" were 25 by
TX feet in their Dimensions Thara u-aro