Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-18
CALlFORNIANS.
HOW THEY ARE LOOKED UPON BY
MAYOR WESTON.
Glowing Description of the State
by the WelI-Known Grand
Rapids Capitalist.

The Grand Rapids Mich Daily Demo
Graf May 9Th contains the following inter-
view with Mayor Weston, of that city.
about his late visit to California. Readers
of the RECoRD-UNIoN will remember that
Mr.. Weston visited Sacramento in the
latter part of April as one of the United
States Commissioners sent ont to inspect
and pass upon the twenty five miles of the
California and Oregon Railroad. That he
was delighted with California is evident
from his remarks to the reporter.
In speaking Of his late visit to the West,
Mayor Weston said
Two weeks ago to-day Senator Stanford
gave me as reason why California had
the best horses in the country the fact that
the pioneers, when starting for their long
and hard trip across the plains, selected
only the very best animals. From them
came the present California stock. The
same rule can be applied to the men, who
in lS49 and for ten years afterwards, went
to California for fortune and fame. They
were picked men of the United States, en-
terprising and intelligent. What impressed
me most was these men who vet largely
control the business of the Golden State
They are like the men of New York city,
which attracts the best blood in the coun-
try. If you cannot convince one in fifteen
minutes, you may as well quit. 1t takes
him but short time to make up his mind
what to do, and there is dash and daring
about his execution which never fails to
charm. He is liberal to others and TO him
self. He takes big chances, and many fall
by the way-side, but there is a disposition
to help others who fail, which you do not
find in New York.
'As a rule, the Californian lives well up
to his income, and does not wait until he
is broken-down man to get any benefit
from his wealth The piling up of fort
une to breed bad feeling among his heirs
is not the highest object of his life. You
cannot criticise him unkindly, for he rides
into your affections at 2:20 gait and
holds you spell-bound by his profuse hos
pitality. All you need is a good constitu-
ton to be agreeably entertained in Cali
fornia. They are the most liberal and
hospitable people on earth, and they never
allow business to interfere with hospital
ity. There are no single-furrow men
among them. Nothing short of a six-gang
pillow, with ten horses in front and pair
of spotted dogs behind satisfies them.
They look with contempt on farm of less
than 1000 acres At Vina | visited the
55,000-acre farm of United States Senator
Stanford, costing 100000 in an unim-
proved condition. 1t now has 3,500-acre
vineyard, the largest in the world; two
acres of wine cellar, in which
the cooperage alone cost 100000, and
capacity of 100000 gallons, and $4,000
head of fine blooded stock. A little further
down the Sacramento river wheat field
of 1900 acres forms an adjunct to his
Nina farm, while at Palo Alto he took us
to see his garden, which contains 900
acres, in residence and university grounds,
wheat fields, vineyards and stock ranges.
Here his famous horses are stabbed and
here he is building the grand Leland
Stanford Jr. University, to which he
gives a S2O,oO0,000 endowment, and of
which / will tell YOU more later. We
passed one wheat field of $4,000 acres, be-
longing to another investor; also one cattle
pasturage belonging to two men. Our
d
an achievement The Pacific slope has
one artificial water course for floating
lumber, built of plank, seventy miles long,
for the accommodation of one company.
One of our Grand Rapids firms, White &
FrIant, are about to erect one for tract
of land they purchased in California,
which viii be eighty miles long.
In performing my duties as United
States Railroad Commissioner, inspected
twenty-five miles of railroad over the
Siskiyou mountains, the boundary between
California and Oregon, on grade at times
of la feet. 1t rises and falls 800 feet
| said to C. p. Huntington, First Vice
President of the Southern Pacific Com
pany, that it was wonderful engineering
achievement. He replied: 1t is the
best we could do Just at present; we have
so many lines under construction But
soon we shall tunnel that range l re-
marked that that would be big job, the
longest tunnel in the world. Yes he
said, 1t will be, but l rather like big jobs.
expect to see our company build that be-
fore | die Everything is done on mag
nificent scale The Californian plays for
palace or poor house every time, and his
nerve, energy and intelligence make him
winner in majority of his ventures.
81 was impressed by the contrast be-
tween the country and its inhabitants. 1t
has lazy luxuriant, Italian climate; ma
ture is generous beyond limit. The soil
is the most fertile in the world. Combin-
ing these natural advantages with the
picked energy transplanted from the
Northeastern States, gives combination
which has produced prodigious results. A
remark dropped by Senator Stanford in the
same interview, that No man would labor
except to supply want suggested the
inquiry, viii the present prosperity of
California continue through the succeeding
generation, or will the same lethargy over
take it which has generally characterized
those countries where nature does so much
more than its share of the work. The
young men who went to California in the
sos developed the State and developed
themselves by creating an empire in new
and wild country thousands of miles be-
You'd the then limits of civilization, are
rapidly passing away. When | looked
over the fertile valleys, the granite hills
and broken streams of pure water in Ore
gon | could not help thinking that the
coming century of this republic would see
the center of population move north from
the Golden Gate to where nature presents
more obstacles. But this probably will not
trouble the present generation.
Z" If person has but two weeks to spend
in California and wants to see the most of
it, his best plan would be to stand still in
San Francisco and watch it go by. That
city is emphatically, the metropolis of the
Pacific coast There you meet the repre-
sentatives of every country and every class
in the State. Ii is more like New York
than any other city in the United States.
There is the same energy and intelligent
push. 1t is much more picturesque, about
as luxurious, more attractive in climate
and about as wicked. The other Califor-
MIA cities are merely large country vii
lagos. The whole State centers at the
Golden Gate, where you will find as fine
hotels, theaters and clubs as there are in
the United States.