The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-02-08

| siderable part of which is now the prop
erty OF the Land and Town Company.
They came originally from Hopkfnton.
n H., have remained here through
| prosperity and adversely, and are now
very wealthy.
Yesterday / visited the great Sweet
water dam which is now nearly COM
pleted. The Land Company has built a
| dam of solid masonry across q canon
| through which runs the Sweetwater
River, thus making reservoir which
| Will hold thousands of millions of gal |
| Ions of water, and which the company
| Will supply to the land owners for irri- |
| cation and for domestic PURPOSES. Ma
| tional City is now the terminus of the |
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad |
| system, and every one here gives credit |
| to the railroad for the wonderful growth |
| of San Diego and the surrounding coun- |
| try. The Kimballs donated tn the rail-
| road large tracts of land and harbor
| rights, to-day worth millions of dollars. |
| If the future of Southern California is
| what its friends predict, the Atchison
| road has a franchise here more valuable
| than that possessed by any railroad on
| the face of the globe. The business of
the road at this point is immense, far be-
| yond its present facilities for transact
| ing it. | had no idea until now what
| mighty corporation is the Atchison, To
| peka and Santa Ee Railroad. But the
| roa needs money--its road bed IS bad,
its freight and passenger service exas-
| peratlng. 1t can never serve the public
1 promptly and satisfactorily until it has
laid hundreds of miles of double tracks.
| 1t is
IMMENSELY RICH TODAY
in unproductlve property; property
which would be productive in the high
| est sense if the railroad had the ready
| money to carry out the needed improve
ments. My only fear for this railroad is
grounded upon the fact that it is too
great. | believe it could profitably ex-
pend in Improvements and extensions in
Southern California alone, within the
next year, $50, 900, 900, and perhaps by
SO doing keep jealous competitors out of
the field
| If you ask me upon what | base my
opinion that there is great future for
Southern California, my reply is that
it would take volume to set forth fully
and logicrlly the reasons which suggest
themselves to my mind. lean only hint
at few of them. First, it is one of the
| United States. To be an independent
commonwealth in the grandest and
most enlightened nation on which
L
Second, the climate. Thousands upon
thousands will settle in this State. bring
ing millions of wealth with them, and
making the valleys and hillsides smile
with beautiful homes, simply because
they cannot live anywhere else. All
, through the sunny hours to-day | have
been driven over the hills and along the
valleys in an open buggy, with June
breeze blowing, every slope green, flow
4 Il, l.,
cal with the songs of birds, and yet this
t is the middle of January. For a fort
night we have had no fire in our room,
and | am able to shave in the morning
| in my shirt sleeves without the slightest
, discomfort. We drive along the Coron-
ado beach day after day in this midwin-
ter season, without feeling the chill and
dampness which are often uncomforta-
BILE at the Atlantic beaches in midsum-
: | mer. Here there is a standing invita-
? | ton to come out of doors, and there is
/ no excuse for staying in close houses,
! breathing an artificial and poisonous at
: mosphere And this rare climate is to be
2 | enjoyed amid the grandest of scenery.
To the west the blue waters of the Pa
} | cific CLEAN in the bright sunlight, and
/ | the lazy breakers roll leisurely in upon
2 the beach with ceaseless musical muir
| | muir. To the east, noble mountains
Une lHe. some Oh tlle
g highest peaks capped with snow. To
the south, as we look far off over Coron-
f ada Heights, the lofty table lands of
5 Mexico lie enveloped in soft haze. To
4 the north our eyes wander from valley
f to valley. from hill to hill, from noun
S tain to mountain-a changing
/, SCENE OF BEAUTY EVERYWHERE
' Third, the natural resources of the
! country. Nearly all the semi-tropical
: fruits grow luxuriantly in soil that can be
irrig ated. Immense crops of grains and
S vegetables are raised in many parts of
9 the southern counties of the State The
(, | natural grasses are highly nutritious.
: and the climate is such that cattle and
S sheep require no shelter, but feed out of
: doors all the year.
Of course, there are many drawbacks
/, | which are never mentioned by the local
: papers and those interested in the sale of
: land. The question of irrigation is a
a | very serious one. and it is hard to under
stand where sufficient wafer is to be
5 found to saturate, for seven months in
S the year, millions of acres of fruit lands
g | The so-called rivers in this country are
insignificant underground streams, and
often not drop of water is visible in
their beds. All one sees in the place
where the river ought to be is a barren
: waste of sand and co5ble stones. This
! | is true of the Sweetwater River, where
: the land and town company has built
| the great dam. Mr.. KimbalI SAYS
! there will be an abundance of water
in the reservoir, but it is a mystery
where it is coming from. Then, too, the
orange crop is not a certainty every year
: in all localities. 1t is sometimes injured
by the scale bug and sand storms, for
Southern California is not quite perfect.
The growth of the fruit is occasionally
checked by frosty nights. The most
beautiful groves | have seen are in Riv-
erside, but during the week l stopped
there ice made to considerable thick
ness on several nights, and as drove
among the orchards / saw kettles of tar
. standing under the trees, and was in
formed that it was sometimes burned
for the purpose of generating clouds of
smoke, which rolled along the ground
and kept the frost away. The fruit
which is yielded by deciduous trees, is
in constant peril from the ravages of
birds, for the feathered songsters are
dear lovers of this genial climate. Rab-
bits and ground squirrels are quite de-
structiye TO crops In some localities. Of
the latter / have seen hundreds in field
at the same time, within stones throw
of where | was standing. In summer
the dust is exceedingly troublesome, and
much annoyance is experienced from
flies, fieas and other insect pests. In the
cities and large towns one sees an alarm
ing amount of wickedness of the most
fragrant types. OF course there are
many excellent people, but the danger
Gus classes are largely in the majority.
In the little city of San Diego it is
UNSAFE TO WALK ALONE
| IL oF