The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-07-30

One Of the most prominent features
| Of the recent trip or the National Ed
itoriai association To the Pacific coast
which, perhaps, attracted more at
tcntinn than any other. was the
startling suddenness OF landscape
changes At one moment the train
would be speeding over sandy wastes,
dry. barren and utterly forbidding.
Then suddenly sharp dividing line
would be crossed into a region of
comfortable homes. thrifty orchards,
VINEYARDS and green fields with every
appearance of bountiful prosperity.
| Thus when California was 6rst en-
tered at the Colorado river, the jour
ney for many miles thereafter lay
through ! veritable desert, parched
and burned until eyes actually achcd
from gazing at it, But with scarce
ly moments warning there stretch
ed out the lovely San Bernardino
valley, a veritahle garden of the gods,
with its tens of thousands of mag
niticent orange groves, raisin vine
yards. and orchards OF every variety.
The contrast between this smiling
valley, perfumed by millions of
flowers, and the dreary waste Just
left behind, was sharper than pen can
describe. A haunting depression
accompanies the desolation of the
desert followed by delightful reac-
ton at such vision of beauty as the
fruitful San Bernardino valley, with
its silvery streams, artesian fountains
and evidences OF prosperity on every
hand
Going northward from Los .Ange-
les, a like transformation scene oe-
ours. Soon after passing through a
long tunnel, leaving the flower deck
ed Los Angeles valley behind, the
train enters the Mojave desert and
for hours moves across it's monoton-
ons, dead level surface, relieved only
by ugly cactus and Yucca palms.
Then surrounding wild and for
bidding mountain range, swiftly the
travellers descend into the Kern Riv-
er valley, stretching its fertile floor
away to the north and west far as
the eye can pierce. Here are some
of the most remarkable features of
life and enterprise in the Golden
State. The irrigating canals of the
south, of ten to twenty feet in width,
seem puny By the side Of the great
waterways eighty, one hundred and
one hundred and twenty five feet in
width that exist here, carrying life
! giving waters over the thirsty plains
to hundreds OF thousands of acres
and bringing prosperity to all. Here
in one single ownership are 60,0oD
acres of alfalfa, upon which tens Of
thousands of cattle and sheep are
fattened for the market and vast
herds of hlooded horses reared for
the track and road. Here the re
nowned j. B. Haggin horses obtain
that health and stamina which have
made their good qualities known the
world over and here are the choicest
strains of cattle, sheep and hogs.
The eastern farmer cuts single
crop of hay from his fields and
boards it carefully in barns, while
here are fields from which three to
six crops are cut annually for dozen
or fifteen years without impairing in
The least their productiveness and
Welding from two to three tons Of
cured hay per acre at each cutting.
Here are great stacks of hay, hun.
dreds Of feet long, containing 800 to
1000 tons, standing the year round
without shelter and without damage.
Here, too are seen orchards Of
peaches and other fruits, the trees
less than three years old, but heavily
laden with fruit; vines not two years
old promising an abundance OF gold
en- clusters, and comfortable homes,
emhowered in shruhbery and flowers,
where less than three years ago was
an uninhabited, uneultivated wilder
ness. Every where network of ca
nails shows the moving force of all
this enterprise, and their hanks mark
sharply the dividing line between
desert and garden All the sue
cessive steps in the suhjugaiion Of
the wilderness, from cutting be first
furrow to the lovely home surround
Ell with all the improvements that
taste can suggest and means supply
are here tn he seen.
i is, indeed, yeritahle transfer
nation scene, of greater magnitude
than elsewhere, but typical of what
is going on in every portion OF the
arid west.
1t must be conft ssed tHat in the
genial climatic conditions OF Caliiur-
MIA the rapid changes effected seem
little less than magical.