Los Angeles herald., 1890-03-23
CAN'T BE HELD BACK.

in all lines of business and development
than Los Angeles. Here and there he
may have struck town in the throes ol
a real estate excitement, in which the
last purchaser will hold the bag and the
seller will have the game; but, as a
matter of fact, there is not place ON
the American continent today III when
the streets are so crowded as in the
Angelic City, nor is there city OF like
population in which building improve
ments are being carried on on such a
scale of magnitude, nor, we may add,
country in which production is being
stimulated in such various lines.
And when this matter is looked into
it is not at all surprising that this should
be the case. For two years past the
country has seen an unusual and febrile
movement of population to Oregon and
Washington territory = regions which
are undoubtedly destined to Il
splendid development. The trains
of the Northern Pacific and Canadian
Pacific railways have been loaded down
with tourists and settlers to those re-
gions, in the measure of a boom, for
quite two years. And yet what is there,
outside OF rude plenty, the salmon
fisheries and limited coal mines, TO at
tract immigrants to that section?
When the enthusiastic settler lands in
Oregon-we select that State because it
is furthest advanced in development OF
the commonwesEhs north of San Fran
cisco-he finds that he has dropped
down into region of almost perpetual
rain-into the temperate zone equivalent
of the Isthmus of Panama. In the latter
territory it is rain and vaporized re-
sumption of rain all the time. The
Oregon farmer nine months OF the year
is up to his knees in mud, and he
ploughs in rubber boots and overalls.
This is the condition of the farmer OF
the Willamette Valley who, through
constant cropping in wheat for twenty
five or thirty years, has reduced the
yield of his land in that cereal to about
twelve bushels to the acre. Notwith-
standing such drawbacks, and the
fact that from Che beginning OF
the century away back to and
beyond the operations of John Jacob
Astor, which, gave birth to Astoria
the entrance of the harbor which leads
up to Portland is a death trap, Oregon
has advanced at splendid rate. Its
people have accustomed themselves to
regard rain, smut, mud and fog as bless
ings in disguise; and, with the assist
ance of the red apple and wheat, in con-
nection with the salmon canneries, Port
land bids fair to be a metropolis, with
Seattle, Spokane Falls and Tacoma
trooping in her rear almost as able
bodied as herself, the whole batch OF
promising towns rejoicing in almost the
most execrable climate on the face OF the
earth.
The contrast which Los Angeles pre-
sents to these candidates for local, trans
continental and international favor is
striking in the extreme, and when we
say Los Angeles we of course refer to the
more favored portions of Southern Cali
fornia as well. That our own attractions
have been great is shown by the fact
that in the last decade we have
grown at rate which has given
the City of the Angels Il greater
population than Portland, Tacoma,
Seattle, Spokane Falls and Port Town
send put together, with margin enough to
take in Sacramento or San Jose beside.
OF course there is an explanation for this
magical growth.
First, we have climate. The Riviera
of Italy is admittedly inferior in climatic
attractions to Los Angeles. The medi-
cal department of the United States
Army is on record to that effect, and the
meteorological records of the Signal Ser
vice prove il without The need oi learned
medical disquisition.
In the second place, in a comparison
of relative advantages, Los Angeles has
railway system absolutely unap-
preached on the Pacific Coast. We
already have two transcontinental rail
ways with termini here, the Santa Fe
and the Sunset routes; and can avail
ourselves, through these two roads, OF
all the ramifcations of the Atlantic and
Pacific and Texas Pacific railways, and
are withal as fully a terminus OF the
Central and Union Pacific systems as is
San Francisco. In addition, within. two
years at the outside, we shall have
the Utah Central with a termi-
nus on our splendid expanse of ocean
with a branch of the Denver and RiC
Grande railway-Jay Gould's pet west
ern transcontinental road-to prevent
the others from feeling lonely.
In addition to incompatible eli
mate, unapproached railway facilities
unsurpassed harbor advantages and q
geographical location suggestive OF illimit
able possibilities, this city is the center OF a
mining section which when even partially
developed, will recall the splendid treas
ure output of the Comstock lode in its
palmy days. Iron, copper, lead, tin, and
numerous other. ores abound in unlim
tied quantities within a short radius O
this city, plainly pointing out Los An
geles as one of the great smelling anC
manufacturing centers of the future
p. r.