The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-01-21
FROM SAN DIEGO TO FRISCO.
\ Pleasant Trip With Many lettings by the
Way.

Way.
FRIENDS OF The III. L. C.-In coming
again with a description OF my western
trip il reminds me OF the saying OF
angels visits" in 30 much as being
rather far between" minus the pleas
aniries OF the visit to you perhaps; yet
time is a factor to be considered in all
things, and mine is we'll taken up.
! left YOU at the pleasant little city Of
san Diego, on the southern coast of Cal
ifornia. From this place 1 started April
,, 1890 for San Francisco, stopping at a
few towns on the way, the fret being
Riverside, called 'the garden spot of Cal
ifornia." Here they raise the finest OF
oranges, clear, bright and delicious, owing
perhaps to the warmer climate, which
during the heated season becomes rather
unpleasant. The country is level and
they nave lovely drives. Magnolia-ave.,
j ssaid to be the finest in California. Ii is
about ten miles in length and very wide,
and beautifully ornamented on either
side with magnolia and other nice foliage.
From this lovely valley we look IN the
distance and see the snow-capped peaks,
among them "Old Badly" the highest
mountain in southern California which
can be seen from many points the dis
lance of a hundred miles.
After stopping again for a few DAYS at
los Angeles, the beautiful city OF which
I told YOU IN a previous letter. | started
northward over the mountains, going up
and down Here we passed over what is
called the loop" formed by the winding
around OF the railroad. This road is very
crooked and runs around on top of one
mountain, making a distance of about
one hundred and seventy-five feet to the
mile. and passing over the same track a
hundred feet or more above that just
passed over a few minutes before. You can
see three or four tracks below at the same
time, but II il the one road Just passed
over. This looks very dangerous travel
ing. I stopped one day at Bakers Field,
which Is fast becoming a great Tais;n in
dusiry. | took Il ride into the country to
see the great Bellview ranch. containing
10000 acres, where they raise thou
sands of horses, cattle and sheep, but
Ire now going into the raisin culture very
extensively, and also raising the wine
grapes.
I also stopped at Fresno, a nice little
.ity OF eight or ten thousand people,
whose buildings are of the best modern
architecture. Here | saw n Of the
argest wine vineyards in the world, also a
raisin vineyard said TO be the largest.
Nothing does well in Southern Caliior-
MIA without irrigation. but this seems a
very easy matter when once fixed for it.
Leaving here | do not stop until We
reach the metropolis of California the
rushing, pushing city OF San Francisco.
Here felt somewhat disappointed. as
many of the business building are not so
tine as | had expected to see in the Queen
CITY" OF the coast. However, some are
magnificent, and the Palace hotel is said
20 be the finest in the world. Here the
country is very broken. knob Hill" is
the nobby place of the city, where all the
nObbiest people live, and where there are
some very fine residences. The public
parks are very beautiful, with nicely laid
out drives and walks, and lovely little
shady hooks and statuary, and conserve
Dries, with flowers in abundance; also, a
oand-stand for music and seats TO accom-
mOdate thousands. Another part on
tains a playground for children, having
swings, spring-boards, 9oat-carts and va
rious things for the amusement of the
little 70. ks.
From the parks I go 10 the "Clift
House" on the seashore, n see the sea-
lions and seals basking in the sun on the
the rocks (which are called seal-rock), a
short distance from the shore. These
animals are so numerous they cannot all
find footing and SO crowd each other off
into the water and make q great deal of
noise, but they seem very tame.
We had the honor OF being admitted 10
Suffers place and on going in find the
ground very high, some three or four hun
dred feet above sea level, affording a fine
view of the ocean and of the surrounding
country, all of which is inexpressibly
grand. In the arrangement OF this park
much artistic taste Is displayed. There
are magnificent flower beds, representing
animals, birds, etc, and all over this rocky
mountain side are cut inches and these
contain statuary of innumerable variety,
adding a strange picturesqueness to the
scene.
Oakland, just across the bay, is a beau
tiful place to live, and is the residence OF
many who do business in San Francisco.
We take a pleasure trip by steamer up
the bay to an is and passing near Golden
Gate, the only inlet into the bay from the
ocean. There are government troops sta
toned on some Of these islands. / sup
pose 10 prevent foreign invasion.
We went aboard the Oceanica mail
steamship, carrying the mails between
San Francisco and Hong Kong, requiring
seventeen and a half days TO make the
trip. There were q number of Cinnamon
on board, which they would not let land.
There are now about thirty-six thousand
Cinnamon here. We took a trip through
Chinatown and saw many peculiar sights.
They occupy a good location in San Fran
cisco, and some are quite wealthy. The
poorer classes do business in very close
quarters and live in very small rooms, in
which they pack in beds together like
sardines in a box. This class have many
of their rooms under9round-low a. two
and three stories. The Chinese ave their
"Jop' houses or churches, also thesters
and places OF amusement. They are in
deed a very curious race, but apparently
honest.