The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-01-24
CORRESPONDENCE.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN WINTER.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN WINTER
1t g almost impossible to realize thai
it is Christmas time, Straw hi t. re
worn now almost as much as in the sum
mer. No fires are needed except lutte
mornings and evenings, Boys go with
bare feet as much as in July or August
People go bathing and picnicing. Or
anges are Just beginning TO ripen
Straw berries and guavas are filling the
markets in The older settlements. Far
mers are blowing and sowing their
grain. The larks fill the air with music,
One wonders, especially when he sees
how delightfully."- cool the summers are
how anybo who Can conveniently
change his location is wiling to live
anyw here else. am sure, it this coast
had been settled before the + lstern part
of the country, (the East here means all
beyond the Rocky Mountains,) it would
have been long, hard, slow work getting
people to go East at all. And then the
productions here are so much more
abundant. From $50 to $500 per annum
is the income from every acre OF good
land put out to fruit. People come here
and return diIpleased sometimes, but IL
is because of only partial knowledge
of the country. Before the LAID is cul-
tivated It seems very barren, produ ing
only the most unsghtly we, de, but the
same land turned over with the pillow,
Looks like garden; the soil pulver'zes
ut once and looks as if 1t had been cul l.
waited for years. 1t is very rich, and
produces every kind of crop at once and
10 abundance. IL you can sow Alfalfa,
that is California clover, you may cut
from six to ten ms annually, which sells
for from So to $l2 per ton. Some people
also object t. California because 1t has
too much sunshine and some because it
we have few days rain it is too cloudy.
Some are never satisfied, and never can
be. To them heaven itself will be too
bright, and TOO monOnOus with joy and
beauty. But taken all in all, the bright
warm winters, with its growth and songs
of birds, the cool, comfortable summers,
the fruits without end, and fl ,wers the
year around, ocean breezes and noun
tain scenery, rich lands and abundant
products, | cannot see how any one need
look any further for home of perfect
comfort and business locality in which
is assured.
To be sure many are seeing hard times
here now. BOoms have busted, and men
who visited here from the CAST and men
who live here, who invested in real es-
tate while it was at its highest, are I'M
able to sell at the high prices at which
they bought. Many paid only part
down, and they will lose their land and
and what they have pat into 1t, il they
cannot raise the money for the other
payments. Those who pail all down
will have to wait before they ran even
get the money which they put into their
purchases. But the reaction is only
temporary. The value is in the land
and more too. Let such now be patient,
and they will find in veal or two that
they have made profitable investments,
Take the city of San DIagO for instance
During the year the great Sweetwater
dam has been built making lake two
miles long and "A mile wide, with the
water from 20 to 40 feet deep. From il
pipes have been lad over 10000 acres of
the richest land in California, and now
it can all be irrigated and put out to
fruit.
Another great water system is just be.
ing completed, by which ten times the
amount of the Sweetwater lake is
brought fifty miles across country len
times as great in the rear of San Diago,
and another system as large proposes to
do the same for the immense country
extending fifty miles North from San
Diago. No man who has cultivated
lands under irrigation would be willing
again to be dependent on rains for fal IN
ing No draughts, no surplus OF water
ever interfere with perfect crops. You
can have just enough and just at the
right times. Beside these water systems
for San Diago, new railroad is al
most completed to Lakeside that will
make new route Est. Another is t.
be built at once down through Mexico,
and the Southern Pacific will within the
coming year build line TO the city.
These with the Santa Fe, which now
runs into the city, will make four lines
of railway connecting the city with the
outside world. These things with
the splendid harbor make the future OF
San Diago as sure as that of San Fran
cisco. 1t cannot but be one of the great
cities of the Pacific coast, and invest
ments in that region are sure to be pro-
htable.
The religious life and work OF South.
ern California is inspiring. Two years
ago the 10Th day of October, | organized
the First Congregational Church of San
Diago. Today we have some $50 mem
bers, paying salary of S2500 to their
pastor, and having an average congre-
CATION of not less than 500 people, Very
soon after beginning that work secur-
ed lots for second church in another
part of the city. They have church
built and paid for, and nice congrega-
ton and Sunday school. Then organ
it'd a mission in another part of The city
which will doubtless soon make third
church. Besides that, have helped or
gained five churches in the country
back of San Diago, all of which are do
ing well. In and about Los Angeles and
San Bernardino. the same story could be
told. We have about forty churches in
Southern California in five counties.
The very best people have been coming
to this country, and they have been
ready for every good work. Prosperity
and the blessing of God seem stamped
on everything in this country. 1t will
be garden in the years to come.
j. II. HARDWOOD.