Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-05-11
A LOOK AT LOS ANGELES
MARKED DEGENERATION or A oMce
PROSPEROUS PLACE.

mo Boon wss Oaly Tsopssasy. go shs
Rssesios nss ~ fn-soas se ~ rrssh
of Ostrich Farming. ard I've Rsilsesss
About Ostrisssss.
Especial Corespondescsl
Los ANoELEs, May 2.--This is not the
Los Angeles Of two years, or even one
year, ago. Then the town was in q tu-
multi Of prosperity. A boom from tho
east had swept over southern California
and the storm center was this City Of
the Angels Eastern capital joined in
here and eastern men fiocked to this Sec
tion BY the thousands Real estate
jumped to points far beyond Its intrinsic
value, and buyers were both reckless
and numerous. The spirit of specula-
tion was abroad, and land was the one
marketable commodity. ltseemed that
people couldn't get enough OF II. Like
Col. Sellers eye water, the more they
had, the more they wanted. The result
was that out near the foothills, miles
away from town, farm lands were cut
up into city lots and freely sold. The
transactions in real estate were some
thing enormous. Shrewd men made
lots Of money by quick turn; they spent
1t freely, and for time no city in the
wide world throve as did Los Angeles
Business Of all kinds participated in the
fictitious glory of the land. Not store
or dwelling was vacant in the entire
town, and the supply by no means
equaled the demand Buildings flew up
to accommodate the incoming crowds in
search Of the golden fleece and great was
tho joy Of the residents.
But tho reaction came with startling
suddenness. Quickly as the boom ap-
peared, just 80 quickly did 1t vanish.
The bottom fell out Of the bucket in
month, and the hectic, unnatural flush
Of yesterday turned into severe and
settled state of the blues. It need not
be said, however, that Los Angeles is
now dead or even sleeping. The boom,
while it lasted, helped not little. II
gave such an impetus to building, and
SO urged the march Of improvement,
that this vicinity is much larger and
finer and richer than IL was three years
ago People from the east have erected
elaborate homes here. Business men
have invested largely in lasting improve
ments, and there is certain stir and 60
to the community that argues well for
the future. But the struggle is going to
be a mighty hard one. A walk through
tho streets Of Los Angeles reveals an
alarming array of "To Let's" and the
real estate offices not forever closed are
alluring in their proffer OF splendid lots
and fine lands for astonishingly small
sums Of money. Sellers, however, are
many and buyers few.
For my part cannot see how Los An
geles can ever hope to be really great, in
q manufacturing or even commercial
sense, nor can the many men in all con-
ditions Of life with whom have talked
give any reasonable hope for that wished
for consummation. They have here
neither wood nor coal, and there Is no raw
material to be developed by the skilled
artisan. A beautiful appearing farming
country in winter, yes, and climate as
lovely as poets dream, but water is
fearfully scarce, transportation is incon-
venient and costly, common labor is
high, and the vicisstudes of the farmer
many. Nothing can be grown except by
irrigation. Oranges will not produce
until they have had five years growth.
Wheat is an unknown quantity except in
certain valleys, and the dreamer who
thought California land Of milk and
honey, where the fig and tho palm, the
olive and the date, merely awaited his
plucking, finds this to be weary work
aday world after all.
drove yesterday out to Kenilworth-
where is located the ostrich farm--Ivan-
hoe and Glendale, and talked with the
smaller colonists of that delightful To-
cality. Nothing could be more charm
ing, nothing seemed more prosperous.
The foothills were deliciously green. the
valleys abundant in the promise of rich
harvests.
"You SEQ our country at its best" said
Granville Buechamp the ostrich farmer,
to me; "at its very best. am resident
Californian, my interests are all here,
and here in this beautiful state l expect
TO end my days But it is not continu.
Gus sunshine, believe me. There are sew
eral months during our dry season when
all is brown and bare and water is a lux
ury as well as a necessity. During last
season water was SO scarce that had to
pay s. IA day for water privilege, and, as
my farm and birds need much OF it. the
expense was greater than can stand.
AS result am going to move from
here to San Monica, on to the coast, to a
point where one Of the little rivers of
California empties. There can perhaps
mako it pay, although ostrich farming
in this country can never be very remu.
nerative, unless on a large scale. II
two or three men with ample means
found an inexpensive tract, rich
in alfalfa, and imported lot OF
first class birds from the Cape and
could afford to wait until nature brought
the returns, money could be made. do
not make money, nor do either of the
other two ostrich farmers in California,
but like tho novelty of the occupation,
1t is healthful and interesting. do not
know why like it, for the ostrich is a
mean and vicious bird. 1t will as readily
attack and kill the man who feeds il
every day as the stranger. 1t kicks for
ward and does all its damage with its
long, iron like feet. The ostrich pro.
duces remarkable feathers when four
years old, and then it is good for feath-
ers annually until it dies, and it lives to
great age. have some here that are
forty years old. There are about fifty in
oil on my farm. The male bird matches
as well as the female. The two divide
the time in sitting on the eggs. We do
not use all the eggs for Matching, Some
times we eat them; one egg is a good
meal for four people. Come and see tho
birds"
They were queer lot, with thin