Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-06-15
DISCOURAGED PEOPLE

lISiS toO- IithlN OF lhSul VINO invested
| their thousands while the boom was high,
and now see no way of realizing an interest
on their capital or Of getting it out again.
| There are lonesome people and homesick
| ones, stranded here by business interests. who
| have learned to hate the crude elements of
border life and to pine for the social pleas
| ures Of older communities. And there are
| disappointed tillers Of the soil, who sacri-
feed Eastern homes to come here, impelled
by hopes that have not been realized.
You ask what will settlers do with the
| products of their industry? Can they ex-
port the surplus grains, hay, fruits and
vegetables to foreign markets, or to Mexi-
| can markets outside of Lower California
without payment of duties and with profit?
Not to mention exports to the nearby
markets Of the United States. there is a
demand, at high prices, for nearly every
| thing lie can raise, in the Mexican cities
south of here-GUaymas, Mazatlan. San
Bias, ManzaniIlo and Acapulco-the ports
of those great States, Sonora, Sinaloa, ia
liscO, Colima and Guerrero. And here the
| Mexican tariff is of benefit to the settler
by shutting out competition from other
| countries. He can easily avail himself of
these markets by any of the steamers that
run regularly around the peninsula and
down the western coast of Mexico. Some
Of them receive subsidies from the Gov
| ernment, and all carry the mall-a practi-
cal demonstration that the Government
means to favor the colonist by bringing to
| him all her orders and taking away his
| produce.
As to the all-important question of water
supply, without which the best of soil
would be valueless: The story that it
seldom rains in Lower California and never
thunders, is a myth. l have known it to
rain week at a time, entirely out of
what is considered the rainy season.
THUNDER-sHowERs ARE NOT UNCOMMON.
The range of hills and mountains run
ming down the peninsula and rising into
peaks $1,000 and $1,000 feet high are ma
| lures store house for rain in summer and
SHOWS in winter, from which the adjacent
table-lands and valleys can be bountifully
supplied with water all the year around.
The hand of man is necessary to utilize
this great natural reservoir to make it
meet his domestic needs From ordinary
wells, with windmills, orchards and gar
dens can be irrigated to a considerable ex-
tent, and artesian water is obtainable at a
depth Of from five to twenty feet In
most places the winter rains alone suffice
for one good crop, and with irrigation mir
acles have been performed.
Those engaged in stock-raising assert
that these ranges are far preferable to
those of Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota and
Montana, where billiards bring suffering
and death to the cattle and loss to the
owners. In those northern localities a
yearly increase of IS per cent. is considered
exceptionally good, while here 90 per
cent. increase is the average. Grass is
plentiful, the varieties being wild oats,
wild clover, alfileria and mountain bunch
grass. Cattle also feed and fatten upon
many varieties of shrubs, with which the
foothills abound. Here, as in all northern
Mexico, the customary plan for herding
stock is to divide them into bands of 500
to 1900 each, locating each band at a well,
spring or running stream, and placing it
under the direct care of family, who
shall reside at this center as a part of his
duty. These bands have a reasonable
range allowed them, an occasional change
being made.
The same advantages of climate, food
and water apply equally well to the rear
ing of horses, mules, sheep and goats. The
horses raised are noted for their endurance
and the sheep are SAID to produce a wool
of remarkable evenness, there being no
severe storms to iniure the fibre.
FANNIE B. WARD.