Los Angeles herald., 1890-11-13
THURsDAY, NoyEMBER 1s, 1890.
WHAT WILL MAKE THIS COUNTRY
,A RICH.


The HERALD has occasionally called
attention to the great disparity which
exists between the prices of city real
estate in Tacoma, Seattle and Portland
and those which prevailed even during
the heighth of the boom in Los Angeles.
In these northern cities the figures have
been from 80 to 100 per cent. higher than
any which have been recorded here.
And yet there has been no reason why,
to employ an ordinary simile, the boot
should not be on the other leg. Coal,
timber, wheat and iron, and navigable
waters, have been the great attractions OF
that region, with salmon thrown in as
make weight. OF timber we have little,
and perhaps even less of coal; but in
oil measures we are really as rich as are
the people of Pennsylvania, with natural
gas an inevitable corollary as soon as
our people shall learn to be enterprising.
In iron, copper, tin, and other OF the
base metals, Los Angeles is incompar-
ably richer than any of her north
ern rivals. In the precious metals
no region on the American con-
tinent is richer than the country
which is Immediately tributary to Los
angeles. Within five years the section
around Darwin and Panamint, to say
nothing of points very much nearer,
will be the scene of the most remunera-
tive mining enterprises on the Pacific
"divide."
/. Butwe do not care to dwell upon
sources OF wealth which are as yet but
partially exploited. The old Spanish
adage ran that man could get rich on
an iron mine. Iron is to be found in
incalculable quantities within less than
fifty miles of Los Angeles. A man could
make a living on a silver mine. still ran
the saw. Silver is within twenty miles
Of the city OF the angels, and ramifes
all through the American continent be-
hind us till the Kansas and Texas lines
are reached. And the tertiary PROPOSE
tion of this old Spanish aphorism ran,
that a man would grow poor on a gold
mine. Fortunately, gold mines are not
within the immediate mining prism of
this city.
And yet we have mines Of gold galore
that is, mines which will yield the
'trascal counters" more quickly than
even an Iago could gather them. 1t has
been the grateful Office of the HERALD to
tell the stories of the wonderful and
manifold productiveness of this region.
The fascinating narrative of semi-trop-
ical yield has been often related in these
columns, and we do not propose to dwell
upon it now. 1t nevertheless gives us
great pleasure to note some Of the pro-
sale facts which signalize the growth of
a great section. A country caught in
the very act of exploitation-in process
of CESSATION, as it were-is always most
interesting.
Take, for instance, the English walnut
business, and, as an exemplar, let us
take the country around Rivera. In
this section everybody is happy.
There is no difficulty in raising
crops of the cereals. Corn would
grow there to height which would
amaze an easterner. And yet the
ground dedicated to corn is being stead
lily restricted, because other crops are
very much more remunerative.
For one case in point take English
walnuts, and the twenty-nine acres of
Mr.. Louis 7. Becquette will point the
moral as well as any other. Off of this
tract Mr.. Becquette netted this year just
$4,000. To stimulate his boy. and to
teach him that money could be pro-
duced from the ground-a lesson that
/ too many American boys need to learn
Mr.. Becquette gave the youngster the
gleanings from the crop, and yesterday
morning he handed his hopeful son
> and heir check for $l69-a sum which
represents only one-half of the amount
the boy will receive from his gleanipgs.
Even the fair Ruth of scriptural narra-
tive could have afforded to CLEAN in such
field.
The farmer of Iowa and Kansas would
look with wonder on the statement of
such facts, which are the merest prosaic
realitv hereabouts. We are not now
telling the tale of men making from
$500 to $500 an acre from oranges,
French prunes, or other specialties of
that kind. We are simply giving the
.facts Of where an ordinary farmer
chooses to dedicate his corn lands to the
raising of English walnuts instead of
the cultivation of cereal which the
farmer can scarcely live and raise in the
Mississippi or Missouri valley.
THE marriage of Mr.. Hancock Ban