The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-10-04
FROM CALIFORNIA.

FROM CALIFORNIA.
An Interesting Letter from Lieut.. John A.
sgs sTowers,. OF the U.'s:sArtiuery. r;
The following letter vas written by
our former young townsman,, Lieut.. John
4. Towers, to bis father, Mr.. A. B. Tow.
ers, who has kindly given it to us for
publication. We know it will be read
with interest bY.cur many readers; 50
Preside, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL,
f;Augustt12, 1883.
MY DEAR FATHER: promised to
give you some account Of my recent. trip
with the Light Battery, so just prepare
to be bored, for I must say that from the
days of schoolboy compositions, I have
realized that. composition was mot my
forte I seem to have the idea all right,
but when I try to express it, the case Of
the Irishman and the flea comes up, and
it isn't to be found. But to begin.
We left the Presidio on the afternoon
of June 15-we being Light Battery
aK.," 1st Artillery-equipped ifor the
field. In personnel the Battery consisted
of Capt. Andrews, commanding; Lieut..
Rafferty,, itinerary, is in charge of route
and taking Of data for q map of the
country traversed; Lieut.. Hubbard,
Quartermaster and Commissary; myself,
Chief of the 1st Platoon; Lieut.. Peck,
Chief of the End Platoon; DR.. Walker,
Medical Officer of the expedition, and
about 65 enlisted men; last, but by no
means least, come Louis and Jim, the
officers servants. In materiel, we had
four field pieces, each with its caison,
four army wagons for supplies and bag
gage, one ambulance for the sick and
wounded, and one cart for general pur-
poses. In live stock, We had fifty horses,
twenty mules, and one dog. We en-
barked on q fiat boat, and we're towed
over to Sauceliso, a small town on the
Northern side of the bay, the terminus
of the s. E. and North Pacific r. B.
After disembarking here and getting
about q mile and half out of town, it
was pretty late, SO We went into our first
camp. The chief difficulties about this
camp we're, that it was hard to get good
water for the animals, and our tents
being on a hillside, We we're inclined to
slide oFour cots at night. Our plan Of
operation for the day was-reveille at 4
a. M, breakfast at 5, and break camp at
s. We usually arrived at our next camp
near noon, and stayed there until the
next day:
Louis, the Chinaman, whom we had
picked up for cook, proved to be a jewel,
and the bread and cake that he made
with only 8 sheet Iron stove and d Dutch
oven, were simply delicious better could
not be found at Delmonico's, or any.
where else. So with Jim to wait on the
table and do the rougher work, ne man.
aged to exist very comfortably. Soon
after leaving Sancelito, we left what
might be called the San Francisco cli-
mate region, where fogs and winds occur,
and entered what Peck termed a white
mans country, this meaning country
where you didn't have to sit by fire
and wear oyercoats all during the SUN.
mer. All through our trip the weather
was warm during The day, but we always
had cool nights, 30 that blankets we're
never superfuous. We reached San
Anseleno on Saturday and stayed over
till Monday, Gen. Howard having direct
ed that we should not march on Sunday.
Monday morning early we passed
through San Rafael, a nice place for peo.
pie from San Francisco. to spend their
summer, as the men who have to be in
the city at business all the week, can
come over Saturday evening and stay
until Monday with their families.
Two days march brought us to Pata-
luna, thriving town of about 5000
inhabitants, There are wooden manu-.
factories in the town, but the principal
object of interest that we visited, was an
immense fruit canning establishment.
Usually a visit to place Of this kind
makes one disinclined to try to put up
fruit, but in this case, precisely the
opposite effect was produced. We we're
taken over the entire establishment, and
found everything as clean and neat as a
pin, no private kitchen could be more SO.
Some idea of the immense amount OF
business done can be formed from the
statement that last season they canned,
Of cherries alone, 100000 pounds.
They employ over 400 operatives, and
have all the fruit they can put up
engaged beforehand in New York.
White labor is used in picking oyer the
fruit, but in cooking, canning, ETC., Chi.
,nese are employed. In the warehouse.
where they have hundreds Of thousands
of cans at once, Chinese are used entirely,
as white men would be sure to get the
different kinds mixed up-the Chinese
never do. One Of the proprietors very
kindly sent us large quantity of his
various kinds of goods, and we found that
the opinion formed about the fruit from
going over the establishment, was well
founded. Our route was leading us
through the Sonoma Valley, one of the
most beautiful and productive of the
many to be found in this State, and we
we're delighted with it. The principal
industries are the raising of cattle and
fruit, both of which are very successful.
From the bay to Ukiah, our objective
point, we were between the Myacmas
and one of the Coast Ranges, really one
large valley, but subdivided into many
smaller ones by ranges of foot hills. II