Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-01
LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
This Imperial Domain and
Its Products.
wHE PRICES OF OUR LANDS.
The Best Place in the World for the
Farmer to Pursue His Vari-
GUS AvOcatiOns.

The statements here following ar
made not for any purpose of belittlin
any part of the world, much less an
portion of the Golden State, but merel
to present plainly the facts concernin
Los Angeles county, her arabic area G
lands. the prices at which they are held
their various productions and the profit
of farming in this section.
To state the cost of land is far iron
telling the whole story. One has to lool
at what can be made out of any givel
investment and what speculative futur,
there is for the property under consider
alton. Some land is dear if one has tt
pay the taxes on it, and some land il
cheap at many hundred dollars per square
foot. In studying any section to gel
to the situation one must learn
what its lands will propuce, where its
market is, what facilities there are oi
reaching the markets and what its
products will sell for.
The matter Of facilities for reaching
the markets and their closeness to the
producer are prime factors in the prob
lem. 1t would be very hard to find any
other section SO advantageously situated
as Los Angeles is in these respects. Our
farmers find q market for nearly all they
produce here at home. Butter, eggs and
cheese; poultry, bacon and hams beef,
mutton, lamb and veal, are all imported
here as the local supply is far below the
demand of the population. The un-
initiated might suppose that fruits would
be drug in our markets. AS matter
of fact oranges and grapes for table use
are about the only fruits we produce
in excess of the home demand.
Peaches, apricots, apples, pears, cherries
and berries are imported into Los Ange-
les. There is a home market for all the
hay our farmers produce, and so there is
for all the wheat they grow. For barley,
whatever surplus may be raised, the
market is near at hand in the Territories
to the East. This condition is sure to
continue. The population of the section
is increasing beyond any parallel in the
history OF the human race. There is be-
sides an immense floating population
here winter and summer. These people
are tourists and visitors. So far as we
are concerned they are like the lilies of the
6eld-they toll not, neither do they spin.
They are non producers; and yet they
must be fed. They can consume as
much as do the hardest working people
in the land In five years from
now this section will not be
producing enough to prevent vast
sums of money from being sent abroad.
1t would not if the increase of population
were to stop, and at the rate this is going
on, no sort OF development will be able
to do it in ten, nor in twenty years. In
fact, as matters have gone with us, the
non-producing population is increasing
far more rapidly than the products of the
soil. This is an incident of the great
army of invalids, mostly people in good
circumstances, who come here in search
of the health or comfort which are found
in our matchless climate.
OUR TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
Any thoughtful person who will turn
to map of Los Angeles county will find
the city set near the center of a great
plain which stretches from twenty to
sixty miles in all directions, and
hemmed in on all sides, but that
along the ocean by a range of
high mountains which cut off rough
winds and at the same time act as a
great reservoir to store up water for the
fertilization of the millions of acres that
lie between their base and the ocean.
This plain is in the shape of great
horseshoe whose toe is at Gorgonio Pass,
in San Bernardino county, nearly 70
miles from the ocean, and whose open
side, 60 miles long, lies along the ocean
from the Malibu mountains, above Santa
Monica, to San-Juan-by-the-Sea down
near San Diego. Four streams from the
mountains flow through this plain from
the mountains to the ocean. From Los
Angeles as the hub OF the wheel, in all
directions like spokes radiate score of
railroads to all points in the county
Here is Santa Monica by the sea, l6
miles away, with two lines of
railroad between it and Los Angeles,
and the near prospect of two more
Roads run to the coast at Ballona, at
Redondo Beach, at San Pedro, at Long
Beach, and soon will run to Alamitos
Bay. This is all along line of coast not
twenty miles in extent, and all these
lines center in Los Angeles City. There
are two lines running up the San Fer
nando Valley, not counting the motor
road to Glendale. There are three inde-
peddent lines all along the San Gabriel
Valley, and two independent lines
traverse the whole length of the Santa
Ana Valley. There are five or six other
lines projected penetrating the several
parts of the area under consideration. In
a word the plain around Los Angeles
City is covered with q network of rail-
roads which reach all portions of the sur
rounding territory; and the beauty of it
is that three of these lines are of the
transcontinental order, which connect us
with all points in the East. Such trans
portation facilities are not known in any
other county in this State. The question
OF railroad monopoly has been solved for
all time to come i'm this part of the State
by the only possible solvent, competi-
ton. To make this situation impregna-
BILE, there is the ocean at the doors oi
Los Angeles, with the Port of San Pedro
and three or four other places at sixteen
to twenty miles from the city, where 8
wharf can be constructed and ship
ping done with great ease. When
we do produce q surplus of any sor,
of crops there will be no difficulty ir
getting them to the markets not only O
the American Union, but to those of the
wide world.
THE NET RESULT OF THIS.
To sum up all this, it appears tina,
here is city, Los Angeles, with nearly
100 900 population to feed. There are {
score of other centers of population
ranging all the way from $4,000 inhabi
4 tants, as IN Pasadena, to 5000, as in Po
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