Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-24
"SOUTH CALIFORNIA.
STATE DIVISION FROM THE SOUTHERN
STANDPOINT.
Mrs. DR.. Jeanne c. Carr Offers valu
able Contribution to the Present
Discussion.


Jeanne c. Carr will be read with interest
at this time, when there is so much discus
sion upon the question of the division of
the State. While the RECORD UNION has
repeatedly announced its opposition to
such division it is willing to give the peo-
pie of the southern portion OF the State
fair chance to be heard. Mrs. Carr-is the
wife of DIR. Ezra 7. Carr, at one time State
Superintendent Of Public Instruction a
lady of marked literary ability and well
known in every part of the State:
EDS. RECORD UNION 1t seems a good
hour for one who has no vote, or per-
sonal interest in any candidate for Office,
to answer question asked with increasing
frequency by seekers Of homes in This Sec
ton, and by numbers of new settlers not
yet politically acclimated.
In almost daily contact with these in
quirers, am often forced to explain how
| know what | know or why I believe
that forces far beyond the politics or prefer
ences of the hour are building the State
of South California.
In the winter of 1S69-z0, and under most
favorable circumstances, | began at Los
Angeles study of the natural and social
history and conditions of this coast
Under the guidance of the now venerable
DR.. Lyman @. Draper, and the late Prof
Joseph Henry, similar studies in the State
of Wisconsin of the native and trans
planted races, their action and reaction
upon each other, the modifying influence
of climate and other natural conditions
upon social, industrial and even religious
development, had prepared me for the
richest enjoyment of this new field.
We were welcomed with the old. time
hospitality to homes where four genera
tons gathered around the hearth, and the
blood of as many races was creating new
type. Through Ex-Governor Downey, an
Irish gentleman who had married a
senorita of one Of the first families, we
made the acquaintance of Pho Pico, the last
OF the Mexican Governors, and listened to
the story of his experiences as a subject of
Imperial Spain, Mexico, and two Repub-
lies, and as the custodian of three import
ant missions. | found Eulalie Perez, the
first owner of Rancho San Pasquale where
Pasadena now stands, who had in the prac.
tice of her profession brought Pho Pico and
nearly all the venerable persons of local
distinction into the world, waiting for the
hand which should preserve the interesting
story of her life.
William Wolfskill and B. D. Wilson re-
sponded TO our inquiries with an mex
haustible patience, which our own early
and later experience enables US to appreci-
ate more and more, We traced at our
leisure the work of Father Zalyidea in the
neglected orange and olive groves of San
Gabriel Mission, and the now famous plan
tations and stables OF Sunny Slope and
Santa Anita. To reach the Wilson ranch
we sometimes traversed the Rancho San
Pasquale, now covered by Pasadena City
and the adjacent villages.
During Ten following years of residence
in Oakland and Sacramento was favored
with rare opportunities to become familiar
with the social, industrial and educational
conditions and requirements of every part
of the State and this opinion grew into a
certainty that at least tWo CALIFORNIA;, ap-
parently charged with different role, were
already working out the problems of their
development and destiny. For, as l first
knew them, Oakland and Los Angeles diff
fered as greatly in the tone and timbre
of their populations as Boston and New
Orleans. Nor has the difference lessened
in political significance during a marked
change in the social conditions of the
south.
Born and breed in the Green Mountain
State, and familiar with its political his
tory, II seemed marvellous to me that so
great diversity ofinterests and conditions,
and the desire, if not the necessity, of a
fuller representation of all the Pacific coast
interests, had not already led to the d.
vision of the State. In observing the eff
fects of climate upon population, won
dered, as Helen Hunt Jackson and more
superficial observers new to the land have
often done, whether the sun was not re-
sponsible for the apparent indifference of
the people to so momentous a subject.
I'm observing the industries Of South
California and studying their history said
Mrs Jackson, zone never escapes from an
und -urrent OF wonder that there should
be ~ industries there. Simply out of
sur ~ ne there had distilled into the old
Mex an and Spanish Californians an
orei ;lism as ine in its way as that made
in IL East by generation of prophets,
crusaders and poets. No wonder that to
them the restless, inquisitive, Unsuitable,
close-reckoning Yankee seemed the most
intolerahle of conquerors to whom they
might surrender. One can fancy them
shuddering even in heaven as they look
down to-day on his colonies, his railroads,
bis crops, their whole land hui ming and
buzzing with his industries"
But Mrs. Jackson forgot that when Italy
dipped her arched ard lovely foot into the
blue waters OF an untroubled sea, law, the
essence of civilization, was created Be-
meath the blue roof of an uncloaded sky.
where the flowers never persisted and eter-
nal summer smiled, there the Greek cities
clustered richly together, shining with
marble, and the very miie-stones on the
roads became works of art
Is il unreasonable TO believe that under
conditions not Incompatible III the gen.
eral welfare of the whole Pacific coast, or
specially of any portion South California
would realize higher ideal of social and
political life?
Ten years ago, yielding unwillingly to
the necessity Of softer climate tor nv
family, and TO the seductive charms of
fruit growing in the midst of unrivaled
mountain scenery, made home in new
settlement, which numbered one forty
miner, and not single native Californian
among its inhabitants. Here ! have found
an objfet lesson in the educational value of
if.government, and its relations to social
D rosperity.
All forms OF life are experimental: given
the necessary freedom and thousand val.
leys in South California would be bright
ened with homes, churches, schools, ike
those of Pasadena, Pomona and Riverside.
My pen is worn, and my mind often
seeks relief from the eager questions of
home-seekers from the Atlantic coast, who
should be informed Of the serious burdens
to be borne even in q natural paradise. 1t
should be honestly stated that our political
disadvantages al no distant day may be-
come intolerable burdens, and are already
serious discouragements
u should be clearly explained that irri-
CATION and forest planting and preservation,
which alone make irrigation possible, are
the chief factors of success in our attract
i've semi.tIopical cultures. That to secure
these without ruinous delay, and in ways
suited TO our conditions, we need home
the Senate of the United States, which we
have not. Nor are we likely TO have it,
while the State of California, with three
times the area of New England, and dou-
BILE the length Of coast line has two Sena-
tors against twelve for New England.
1t should be confessed that we have sac