The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-02-23
An Interesting Letter from California.

write you few lines this morning, as l
had promised to write. 1 will give you
a little account of a trip to Arroyo
Grande.
. Mr.. Whaley and I took trip last
Thursday to Arroyo Grande. Arroyo
Grande means sbig creek" Their big
creeks here are from 8 to 10 feet wide,
and from 6 to s inches deep. Our con-
.veyance was single seated sulky, and he
weighs two hundred pounds, that left one
of us with much room. Three miles
above here is the famous Santa Maria
River, about which I have heard 80 much
talk. It is about ten feet wide, and goes
dry in Summer. It grows rapidly during
a big rain, and some times gets to be a
mile wide. / was told that some of the
rivers here are wider at the head than at
the mouth. This. they say, is caused by
the water soaking up in<the sand before
it reaches the ocean: This is not my
tale, and if after while you find it to be
mistake, don't blame me. Four miles
north of the river is small town called
.Nipomo, which means the foot hills. 1t
is new place, but is building up very
rapidly. The soil is very rich but adobe,
and consequently the streets are very
muddy, which makes it not a very de-
sirable place in winter. It has produced
80 sacks of wheat to the acre, the sacks
averaging 96 pounds each.
, About two miles above Nipomo we
struck sandy soil again and moved right
aloug. The squirrels here are q great
curiosity to me, and I wanted to stop
every few minutes to throw at them.
Sometime you can see lOsor l5 playing
around at once. We have jack rabbits
and quail by the thousand. These jack
rabbits are about the size of fox. Moth
ing but grey hound can catch one.
Half way between Nipomo and Arroyo
Grande we had beautiful view of'the
Pacific. Its about Eve miles away. We
could see the steamers moving slowly
along towards the great city of San Fran.
cisco, place which; I expect to visit be.
foreI am here much longer. We reached
Arroyo Grande about o'clock. 1t is
about 16 miles from Santa Maria. and is
beautiful little place. The population
is about 600. The soil is very fine, and
produces a great variety ofcrops. About
the FIRST man you meet is Real Estate
agent with a handful of tickets contain
ing the following: aAr-oyo Grande Val
ley produces go to S0stous of carrots, per
acre; 40 to so tons ofsquashes, per acre
60 tons Of cabbages, per acre; % tons Of
beans, per acre; 300 sacks potatoes, per
acre; 270-pound squashes, 10O.pound
'beets, 5 pound onions, 10-poand potatoes,
Irish. We challenge the world to equal
this record"
Arroy. Grande Valley is in the south.
western part of San Luis, Obispo Coun.
ty. The climate is as nearly perfection
as possible; in many sections frost is
and land is advancing rapidly.
After reading this wonderful statement,
I asked the agent what land was worth,
and he says, "oh, cheap. from $3.50 to
$500 per acre." One man, he says, re
fused 81 900 per acre the other day, but
it is not all that way. From the above
you see that
Real estate is very high,
And real facts you cannot buy.
I did not see the. 27O pound squash,
but saw one that weighed 140 pounds,
and saw also the pound onions. They
raise pumpkins here that two men can't
put in o wagon. If a man owns ten
acres of this land he is rich-can begin
to make money right away. The first
year he sets out his trees and plants
beans between them; he can gather his
beans the first year, and then in three
years his trees will be in. The bean crop
is very profitable. One farmer last year
raised 2 tons of beans per acre, and re-
fused $500 per tor Tor them, which
makes $4,000 per acre. The labor and
all other expenses cos. about $4,000 per
acre.
I think some Of the young men from
South Carolina had better come out and
word on the farms here. They can get
from s25.OO to $500 per month and
their board the year round. The cloth.
ing here they wear on the farms would
cost in South Carolina about l5 cents per
yard-about 25 cents here. think it
would be much better than going into a
store at $500 per month and board
themselves. Idon't think the farm work
is any harder here. 1t is most all done
by machinery. A young man could
save up his money and watch his chances
and invest in lands and be in few years
Independent. I Iam told it is no trouble
to get a jobif q man will work. He Is
making money and learning their art OF
farming at the same time.
Iguess it would look strange to you to
see men walking around with their coats
off, but that is the case. I saw wheat all
along on the way from 6 to 8 and 10
inches high, and in the Arroyo Grande
Valley saw some volunteer wheat two
feet high. We returned Friday after
noon.
The young ladies Of the Y. W. @. I. U,
had invited me to attend their meeting,
and of course did so, and spent a very
evening. There were from
$50 to 300 persons present. Can you
beat that for a turn out? We only have