The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-07-16
IN CALIFORNIA.
From Relair lMdl Democrat.

Inc C0lorauo river Is Spduueu d1 1hC
Needles by cantilever bridge, with the
longest span in the known world. One
pier rests on the sands of Arizona and the
other on the soil of the Golden State. The
place is unimportant except as a natural
gateway that admits to an empire. This
point of entrance is not inviting. The land
is but a continuation of the sand flats and
sand hills of Arizona. Two hundred miles
of these sand seas wearies the eye and
makes the more enjoyable the restful scenes
that follow as you reach and pass through
the beautiful valleys perfumed by orange
blossoms and decorated with the lily and
the rose and the no less attractive vineyard
fruit grove, swept by the summer breeze,
tempered by the SHOWS from the white
crested mountains that wall the valleys on
either side.
This, the southern part of the State, is
mar excellence the land of fruit and flowers;
with climate that fills the wants of the
most exacting and is inhabited by people
who joyously and generously welcome the
stranger within their gates. The entire
State for the most part is composed Of
series of high mountains and broad and
fertile valleys, the latter made fruitful by
system of irrigation provided by companies
who bring the water, the melted snow,
from the mountains in canals and distribute
in bitches to the ranches below. The
water-right goes with the land and costs
annually about twelve shillings an acre.
The water is conveyed from the bitches to
the lots to be irrigated by shallow drains
or burrows few feet apart. The water is
turned on or off at pleasure, usually once
or twice month, by the simple device OF
raising or lowering an ordinary waste-gate.
The farmers prefer irrigation to rain, as it
is under control and reliable and is cheaper,
considering the lost during the rainfall, and
the further fact that it insures him profit
of from fifty to five hundred dollars an acre
on citrus fruit land. This land can be
bought unimproved for two hundred dol
lars an acre. The price Of the improved
varies with the character of the improve
ments-ordinarily from five hundred to on
thousand dollars-which sum pays fo
planting the trees, about 500 an acre
caring for them during their minority (tiv'
to eight years. and a fair percentage on th'
outlay. The lands devoted to farming ant
deciduous fruits are less profitable and ar
correspondingly lower in price, although
those devoted to apricots, prunes, plums
figs, grapes and olives are highly remuner
ative. The grapes raised are usually eithe
made into raisins by sun drying, during tn
three hundred sunny days and cloudles
nights there enjoyed, or converted into dr..
, and sparkling wines in the large wineries tina
flourish in the southern and central part o
the State. Here the purest and best Q
! three-year old clarets and kindred wine
! can be had in quantities to suit at fifty cent
. or less per gallon. The largest vinegar
and winery in the State, in the world,
is said, is that of Senator Stanford at Wins
The ranch that is devoted chiefly to crap
!, culture contains $4,000 acres and the pre-
: duct of the winery is millions of gallons.
q The largest city and the commercial EN-
|, porium of the South is Los Angeles 9Th
Augels) with population of 30, 900 enter
prising inhabitants, large business block
and handsome residences. 1t has subur
or residence town, Pasadena, few mile
distant, nestled in the slopes and surround
, ed by groves and plants that bloom in jar
uary and June, claim ed to be the pretties
town in the world.
Next in size and importance is San Die
g.. go, the most southwestern city of the Unite
States. 1t has fine har5Or and, with tn
completion of the Nicaragua Canal, its neal
ness to the Orient will give it advantage
as an entrepot not equaled by any city q
! the State. With temperature that rarel
varies many degrees in the year it is, o
rather its neighboring peninsula, Coronado
is the winter resort of the wealth and fash
: ion of the West Its famous hostelry
The Coronado, is a thing of beauty an
JOY as long as you reside within its luxul
ious walls, surrounded by palms, famed b
Pacific zephyrs, perfumed by the rose an
$ soothed by the warbling of feathered sons
n sters.
+ Sixteen miles distant, near where tn
9 cactus is on its native heath, and the orang
+ and lemon are rivals in luxuriance an
: beauty, is the boundary mark, planted whe
q California first acknowledged allegiance
: the national standard This mark is
$ stone wall three or four feet square; abor
e two feet high, surrounded by iron band
r On it stood short time ago fair daugl
: ter of Maryland and Alabama and 10y
; son of the former State, with one foot o
$ native and the other on foreign soil, an
e contrasted the intelligence, happiness an
) liberty of the one with the ignorance, d
n gradation and despotism of the other
San Barnadino, Riverside and Redlan
are among the smaller but no less attractiv
i cities of this picturesque Southland. The
f are only few years old and noted espe'
. tally as animated and growing centres, su
> sounded by fruits and flowers in amplei
# profusion-forcible reminders of veritab
Arcadia. Moving northward, where raj
is more abundant, he citrus fruits dimir
g ish and the deciduous and the cereals il