The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-01-02

sands have done so, and thousands more
are certain to follow their example when
the facts become more fully known.
1t is quite true that to the newcomer or
TO the man accustomed TO the level, easily
cultivated valley lands, these foothills are
not particularly attractive when seen in
their pristine condition. They are ire
quently rendered all the more inattract-
i've by the sharp contrast afforded be-
tween the tangled growth of brush that
covers them and the orderly rows of trees
and vines and the mellow, well-cultivated
soil OF the orchard or vineyard of some
industrious settler who has by few
years of hard work reclaimed a goodly
tract. SO sharp is this contrast and so
different IN appearance is the soil itself
that many refuse to believe that the set
tier has not selected the choicest spot in
the section, and has not hit upon local
lty which possesses a better and more
fertile soil than that surrounding his To-
cation. They are scarcely to be blamed
for their SkepticiSm, for the contrast is
indeed wonderful. The soil that has been
burned and baked until it is almost of the
consistency of stone, becomes under cult
lyation soft and mellow, takes on a diff
ferent hue in fact, and its character seems
so entirely changed that even those who
have been mostly instrumental in pro-
duclng that change frequently are
scarcely able to credit the testimony of
their own senses.
1t has been amply demonstrated that
the fruits of the foothills are far more
choice in quality than the bulk of those
produced in the valleys. They may not
yield so abundantly nor may they attain
such enormous size, but in all the good
qualities that should pertain to the choic-
est products of tree and vine the fruits of
the foothills excel. The superior excel
lence OF the orchard products of this por-
~ tha TOT
IN the Eastern market, and the mount
ain trults," as they are more or less err
rOneously called, are held in high favor
and bring proportionately high prices.
1t is these lands that present the best
opportunities for settlers whose energy
and enterprise exceeds their cash capital.
Offered on long time for only few dol
almost any of them-the man of small
means certainly cannot do better than to
secure so or 100 acres. Not infrequently
the wood that may be cut and sold from
such track will be more than sufficient
to pay the first cost, and it must be re-
mote locality, indeed, where a market
cannot be found for hrewood. By clear
ing up the brush gradually and planting
as rapidly as there is space for trees and
vines the settler will in few years be in
possession of property that will readily
sell Tor many times the entire outlay 1t
Is an absolute lacC LnaJ 1OOth1ll lands so
densely covered with brush as to be
almost inaccessible, and sold for less than
50 an acre, have, through the individual
efforts of industrious settlers, been made
worth from $500 to $500 an acre inside of
five years from the time the first stroke
Of work was done. Numerous examples
of this sort may be encountered in the
foothill region of Placer and other coun-
ties. No man should hesitate, therefore,
because of its apparently forbidding APP
pearance, to undertake the reclamation
of foothill tract that is at all cultivable
when cleared of chaparral.
What h2s been set forth in this sketch
will have been said to poor advantage if
it has not been demonstrated that the
popular ideas that there are no cheap
lands in California and that this is no
State for poor man. are not utterly and
entirely fallacious. With the advantages
offered by the Southern Pacific Company
the energetic settler can make a START
here for less actual cash outlay than in
any other part of the country. Their
method of sale presents superior advan-
tages even to the much-praised Govern
ment land laws, and SO long as their pres
ent course of action shall continue the
landless man has only himself to blame
for his condition.