The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-01-06
A WINTER PILGRIMAGE
Aniid sunshine, Fruits and Flowers,
Special Correspondence.

ment OF an excursion from that city to Orc
| vile to attend citrus fair. To a stenders
foot the display OF citrus fruit is a matter
OF interest in this region OF sunshine. but
the idea of an exhibit in the winter. of ten
der fruits. with oranges as the predominat-
Ing feature was 3 novelty indeed I said
exhibit in the winter because by consult
Zig the calendar find it is the season of the
| year when | have been accustomed to posi-
tive evidence of winter, but in this locality.
II did not consult the calendar. wenld
hardly style the month Ct December. win
tel.
On the principle that it isn't a good plan
to let any thing get away from you when it
Is in sight, I concluded TO become pilgrim
and Join the excursion, and that is hew t
! ind myself, at this holiday season. enioyitig
the beauties Of a cirtus belt, studded with
the choicest gems of nature This PILGRIM
age required journey by rail of 40 miles
! north OF San Francisco, and more lovely
December morning when we started-sun
| shining, thermometer above so deg.-ib
would be difficult to conceive. Though we
have come the distance north of San Fran
cisco which have named, this State is SO
immense that we are still in central Cali
1ornla When | said journey by rail, I
ought TO except the crossing OF the Straits
OF Carquinez. just In sight of the Govern
ment Navy Yard on Mare Island This was
accomplished by ferrying the train over
! intact To be in harmony with all things in
! California, this ferry was something i'm
! nense, exceeding IN proportions similar
| ferries in the East The boat was 425 feet
leng by 1l6 wide, having four tracks and
| capable OF carrying forty-four cars and two
| engines. In the river crossings at Detroit
| and Fort Huron, Mich. it is considered sat
! lsIactory TO push the GERS on the boat at
| one side OF the river and draw them of at
| the other, not Transporting the engine. but
| here the engine runs on the boat with half
| the train, and, lest it should be lonesome, a
! second engine pushes the other half on.
| and both engines, as well as the entire
train, glide rapidly across the straits, land
| ing us at Benicia.
1t has always been a matter of doubt to
me whether Benicla gained the greatest
reputation by at one time having been the
! abiding place Of John G. Heenan, yclept
| NBenicia Boy" who caused the American
Eagle to brIstle with pride years ago over
the meeting with Tom Sayers in the prize
ring, or by having two or three times been
the supposed capital of California, when
that cratic concern was, like Noah's dove
hunting for resting place. AT all events
1t is thriving city now, and I'll wager that
good many more of the present genera
zion have heard of the "Benicia Boy. :" than
the fact that the seat of government of this
State was located there 1t is almost inap-
propriate, however to refer to it as having
been the seat OF government, for, in those
days, that so-called seat was fitting about
| between Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco
Vallejo and Sacramento, until it was every
where little, but nowhere long.
A little over four hours ride brought the
pilgrims to Sacramento, where the dove of
| government finally located some thirty odd
| years ago, after having once or twice been
washed ashore to San Francisco, or else.
Where by floods. A halt of couple OF hours
| gave us a chance to hastily view the capltas
as We'll as che capitol of California The
capitol and the grounds have cost the State
two and half millions dollars, and while
the building is perhaps surpassed by two or
three similar structures in the country. the
grounds can take the premium over all
| corners, not excepting the National Capirol
grounds at Washington. Some eighteen
acres comprise the Immediate grounds sur
rounding the State House, and as there
Is no killing off of trees or leaves. or
flowers, or grass, in the fall, in order to give
nature chance to spread herself in the
spring, nature keeps right on with her
work the year around and double discounts
dollhouse landscape gardening. So Sacra-
mento leads the world Tor the United
States, which is about all of the world of
any consequence in capitol grounds
FAMOUS MINING CAMP.
1t was night when the pilgrims reached
| what was once a famous mining camp in
| California-Orovile Located on the south
| bank of Feather river, almost at the foot
OF Table mountain, lies this city of 2, 500
peopIe-as contented and uniformly pros
porous as any little city in the country. II
there are any really poor people here,
have been unable to discover them was
one OF party OF pilgrims who employed o
carriage to see the country, and seated on
the box by the livery-s5able driver was
quite struck when he pointed out large
sheep ranch as the property of his father,
and mentioned the business in which his
father was engaged in town. Ordinarily
| people in his station are not in affiuent cir
cumstances, but in Oroville they don't seem
to have any other kind. Like all live towns
it has newspapers, and here there are two
OF them One of them is a daily, while the
| editor of the other, not to be eclipsed in en-
terprise, acts as Secretary of the Board Of
Trade, and supplies all applicants by mail
or in person, with information concerning
the country. 1t is no use for any place to
| try to grow Without newspaper men. 1t
simply won't
This town was averitable '49er, and when
| the gold discoveries made California famous
the rush here was immense. Away back in
the sos it polled l, 800 votes, the third
largest vote of any city in the State, only
The population receded after the subsi-
dencs OF the gold fever until in 1880 it
was l, 500, since which time it has taken q
new start, and steadily increased until the
town now numberA as already stated
2, 500. There were at one time 5000 Chi
nese here, and there are still few hun
dred scattered about, but Orovile is now a
| business city, instead Of q mining camp
| the County Seat of Butte County, and
the center OF a wonderfully thriving agri-
cultural and citrus country For miles
| about the city the evidences remain of
| placer mining, but there is more "pav dirt"
now in oranges and other products than in
mining. The banks OF Feather river are
still wonderfully rich, but hydraulic mining
| has been stopped by law in the interest Of
! commerce and agriculture, as it fills up and
destroys the streams. The time was when
| boats ran to Oroville from San Francisco,
| but to see the mining debris in Feather riv-
er Tor where the river used to beg one
can scarcely imagine such a state of af-
| fairs. There are still valuable working.
mines in Butte County, but, on the
! usual California scale of big things, this
county is larger than Rhode Island and
| We'll up towards the size OF New Jersey, so
that there is room, outside of Oroville, for
| gold mining and still keep within the
county. After extracting literally millions
OF dollars OF gold from the ground, the citi-
zens of this county have now discovered
| Ulao unUOIu millions SG1l remain, IN the
shape OF soil which is so versatile that it
produces every thing ranging from grain
to nuts, and from fruit to gold. Though
this is central, and not as popularity sup
! posed Northern California it is only within
a few years that the people have become
aware that citrus fruits could be produced
here equal to any and superior to most
| Orange trees were few years ago quite
generally planted in door-yards as an orna-
ment, because they are evergreens, and
thus by accident after few years passed,
the people found that they did not know
their own resources The orange trees
began to bear until they become loaded
down, and as one goes about the city in
this (by the calendar) winter season
the luscious ripe fruit greets you on
every hand, Notwithstanding the immense
amount that has been plucked for the ex-
hibit This result has proven a revelation
and now, scattered all through the county.
orange groves are heing established and in
many cases are well advanced. In fact.
they claim 10 coo full bearing trees and
/ $4,000 more well along towards bearing,
within a radius of twelve miles of this city
AS the county only has %, 900 population,
and this includes business men, 1aborers,
miners and farmers, as well as fruit grow
ers, and land is cheap, there is no wonder
1 - 1~-LA l.