Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-05
SUCCESSIVE ERAs OF DEVELOPMENT.

in the development of Southern Cali
fornia. since the southern counties
ceased to be known by the contemptu-
Gus phrase, "the COW counties" The
first was when the Central Pacific rail-
way was completed to connection with
the Union Pacific railway at Ogden. At
that time the railway magnates adopted
the sagacious policy of stimulating i'm
migration to this coast by inviting here
such writers as Grace Greenwood, Mrs.
Calhoun and Charles Nordhoff. The
latter by no means confined his atten-
ton to Northern California. He went
thoroughly through the San Joaquin
valley, and embraced Los Angeles, San
Bernardino and San Diego counties in
his trip. His sketch of the Anaheim
colony was the first really successful
picture of that unique settlement that
the eastern people had seen. His i'm
pressions of California were first pub
lished in the shape of series of letters
in the New York Tribune. They were
afterwards embodied in book form, and
commanded large sale, to which they
were entitled from their literary merit
and painstaking collection OF facts.
Mr.. Nordhoff's book was pronounced
in many quarters to be tissue of ex-
aggerations. Hewas charged with seeing
everything couleur du rose. 1t was the
pleasure of the writer to meet Mr.. Nord-
hoff in Los Angeles five or six years ago,
and the New Yorker took occasion to
express his surprise at how completely
the reality of development in Southern
California had exceeded his anticipa-
tons. This is the exact truth of the
matter. What was thought at the time
to be mere literary hyperbole turned out
to be away behind the miracles which
have since been recorded all over the
southern counties.
Then came the Tom Scott boom,
which proved to be only fash in the pan.
1t carried Southern California along,
however, until the panic of 1873 threw
Scott and his Texas Pacific scheme into
darkest eclipse. That "boom" was a
for the greater one which
ensued when the Southern Pacific, hav-
ing pushed its San Francisco branch
south to Los Angeles, next carried it
into Arizona as the fret work on their
magnificent Sunset system. This was
genuine step in advance. 1t gave Los
Angeles the trade of the richest portion
of the ''sun-kissed" land, and the i'm
petus was felt Immediately and extens-
lively. The long depression which fol-
lowed the disastrous year 1S76-77, about
1880 began to disappear. and by that
date it was very apparent that a sub
stantial and rapid growth was ahead for
the Angelic city.
The real boom for Los Angeles, how
ever, set in with the advent of the Santa
Fe railway. fhe appearance OF this cor
poration gave US practically three trans
continental roads. We could then ship
our products east via the Central and
Union Pacific, by way of Lathrop, max
ing this road as distinctively Los An
geles as it was a San Francisco railway.
and we were the acknowledged terminus
VI bllC Cculd L z anu CuIlSCU IOulCEs ln6A
began an inrush of population almost
without precedent. Then also began
the foolish era of cutting up excellent
grape and farming lands into
corner lots, often twenty-fve' by one
hundred and fifty feet. That mad swirl
of speculation has happily passed away.
1t would be wrong, however, to assume
that it did no good. During that period
of hectic activity multitudes of
energetic and capable business men,
many of them with large means,
fiocked to Los Angeles, and they still
remain. here. Numberless enterprises
of lasting benefit were successfully
launched. The city was converted from
a nondescript place into a metropolis
with pretensions to extreme elegance.
We made good streets and built verita-
BILE palaces. Altogether, the boom was
beneficial. That there were some alb
the fact that it breathed into this city
the very breath of life and prefgured the
enduring and prodigious development
which will one day make Los Angeles
rival to San Francisco. If
the boom had draw backs it must not be
forgotten that before it subsided it en-
abled the city and county of Los Angeles
to show registration half that OF the
city and county of San Francisco.
Everything indicates that we are now
upon the eve of the greatest era of de-
Los Angeles has ever known.
The immense investments of outside
capital here, present and prospective,
show how high is the estimation in
which the future of this city is held by
those whose judgment has been ap-
proved by success in the past. The
prosperity of Los Angeles years ago,
when she was 'dobie but bustling
town, depended largely on her trade
with Salt Lake City. The indications
are that we shall very shortly again re-
new our close business relations with
that city, and that the abundant and
cheap coal of southern and southwest
ern Utah will vitalize manufactures, for
which we have the crude mate
rial in abundance. The mining inter
ests of Southern California are about
to receive splendid impetus. More
in promising fields will be