Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-20
LCopri9ht Secured An Rights Rcscrred.l Driven From Sea to Sea;
 Or, JUST A CAMPIN'.
BY 0. o. POST.

the year, not 6 green thing appeared upon wh ch to fasten the smallest hope of ever changing the waste into fertile fields of grass and grain.
 The settlers already there seemed upon the verge of starvation. But three or four inches of rain fell during the en- tire year, and for months at me the soil was unmoistened even by dew. Those who possessed a little money when they came had expended it in futile efforts to produce a crop, and all were now dependent for the means of subs stence upon small patches of instances from tour to seven miles from their claims.
 Even these patches had to be con- stantly guarded from droves of raven ous and half wild cattle belonging to the herdsmen who gave lite & tention, and who were lily dispo ed toward any attempts at inc 'osing or cultivating the land which, although seemingly little bet CT than a desert, at certain periods of the year produced a thin growth of wild alfalfa upon which their stock fed, being in the main driven to better pas lures as the dry sea on advanced. These patches of ground were made fertile by their nearness to Lake Tulare, and by being but little above the level of its waters.
 Veritable oases in the desert these | spots seemed, and upon them the set tiers raised the w bushels of corn and beans and vegetables which formed l their sole means of subsistence while prosecuting the wor, of redeeming their claims by the hcrculean task of digging an irrigating ditch upwards of twenty miles long, by means of wh oh they were to obta water from the r.ver above | them and convert the desert into garden.
 But ii these oases furnished garden spots for the settlers they were also de sired by the herdsmen. for 8 few of whose cattle they supplied pasturage the year round, and being W thout the means of fenc ng them in, the protec- 1 ton of the little crops meant a G ,n- stant watch upon the cattle. and one which cons, m d the ent re time oi some member of each family.
 Owing to the lack of feed, but few were able to keep teams. and that they continued the unr .ual contest for t eil homes eau only he understood when i, is known that of all the rich ia Ill n 7 land> of the Stat not an acre rema ned for presumption or purchase except at secondhand, and as rule, in large bodies. being he'd by corporat ons or individuals who claimed it under pre- tended grants from Snain or Mexico, given before Cal .fornia was cednd to the United States, OF by act of Congress since that time. So that this barren. sandy plfn offered the only hope for poor men in California of obtaining q portion of the inheritance of the race.
 Besides, they had confidence that. once irrigated, it would produce abund- dantly, and well repay all their labor, by future yields of flu and grain.
 All efforts to induce men with cap tai to invest in the enterprise of cutting the ditch and depending upon the sale oi water privileges tor rrimb rsements
 had failed t 6 idea that any amount
 of water could render the sand of the plains fertile being secuted as vision
 ary the land being judged not worth
 paying taxes upon and the settlers had
 undertaken the task themselves, all
 unaided, and had been two years al
 Hemmingway arrived in the com
 munity.
 So dreary and forbid ling was the
 outlook that he felt tempted to leave
 again immed' ately, but. knowing that
 no land remained open for pre- emptior
 elsewhere in the State, at last he de
 cided to stay and cast his lot with those
 who were SO manfully struggling tc overcome the difficulties by which they
 were surrounded.
 Guided in part by the advice of sucf acqua ntances as he had made since hi!
 arrival, he located a claim of one hun . dred and sixty acres. and made ar
 engagements to live for a time in tho fam ly of settler who was on clain
 adjoining his own, agreeing to pay ;
 small sum weekly for such food aD accommodations as they could offer. , Of the half dozen men who accom- panied Erastus to the Slough, not on' had the hardi ood to remain. All wer too much discouraged d by the outlook borhool or sought p aces for rent il 3 other portions of the country. When he had staked out his clain
 the country untl he found pasturage 9 and rancaer who was willing to 1e [ the colts run with his own stock unt 0 such time as the light rains, whic :. might be expected to fall few month t later, should revive the seemingly dea @ grass of the Mussle Slough country ,. He then returned to the Slough on fool b and went to work with his fellow-set d tiers upon the ditch, which was thei
 only hope.
 For weeks and months he worked i l. company with these men. many ( n whom had worked through all til ', weeks and months of the two previor - yeas; ill-fed--often without bread ( .t any kind for long periods at tim n ', sleeping upon the ground almost as fr a, quently as in a bed, working at nigl ,ss. as well as by day. their families caml 'r ing in wretched little huts at the laE watching the patches of vegetables an
 corn upon which their very existent
 depended.
 When the rain came and vegetatio l. started up, the colts were brought dow r. from their pasture and made to do
 portion of labor on the ditch; the