Los Angeles herald., 1892-04-26
AN INsPIRIT1NG PROSPECT.

| Los Angeles mas IN no respect SHOWN
more clearly her manifest destiny lead
ing to greatness than in the way she
has met reverses. With most communi-
ties the bursting of such 'boom" as
that of 1869 would have been followed
by disasters OF crushing force. Our sales
of real estate during the last year of an
unexampled speculative upheaval ran
up to sl0,000,O00 and $4,000, 600 a
month. The books of the county re-
corder were encumbered by mortgages
that footed up a colossal figure. Mill
ions were talked of on every side as if
they were mere bagatelles. One would
have thought that it would have been
impossible for our people ever to get
down to the prosaic details of every day
life, and that years would have been
required to make good the havoc wrought
by the frenzy Of set of maniac specu-
lators.
Yet the fact is that, with the excep-
ton of the failure OF heavy dealer IN
real estate in Pasadena, who had over
reached himself, there has not been a
single commercial or business disaster
here since the collapse OF the "boom."
The immense Indebtedness of which tie
correspondent of the New York Herald
wrote has either been expunged or
arranged for on terms satisfactory to the
creditor. The work of production was
begun Oh prodigious scale, and has
been continued with persever-
ance and energy that has excited
the admiration OF all who have paid any
attention to Los Angeles. Our real era
OF improvement dates from the collapse
of the "boom.' Since that date
orchards and vineyards have been
planted out on every hsnd-orchards OF
the deciduous and citrus fruits, and
vineyards OF the improved foreign varie-
ties OF the grape. The boundary etakes
of city lots have been pulled up, and
the lands that were formerly townsites
have been dedicated to their rightful
Office of production. Go where one will
in Los Angeles county, the magic wand
of i'm provement is visible. The country
was behind the city in 1887. IT has now
regained its natural equilibrium.
As to the city OF Los Angeles itself, it
is even fatiguing to recapitulate the
details of progress shat has placed US
in the front rank of communities that
range below the hundred thousand
mark in population. In 1887 we had no
court house or city hall worthy OF the
name. The latter was an old 'dobe
building where the magnificent Phillips
block now stands, and the former was
the old Temple market adapted by
makeshifts to the purposes of the
county officers. Now our new city hall
and county court house are not otsurpassed
in the United States. Then we had
neither streets nor pavements. Now
we are abundantly endowed with both,
and the visitor can walk till he is tired
through well-laved tnoroughfares, and
if it were not for the multiplicity OF
cable, electric and other street railroads,
our principal streets would oe most
attractive drives. Business block after
business block of the most pretentious
and costly description align our streets,
while palaces without number grace
every quarter of our city. The power
house of the Consolidated Electric rail-
way is the second largest in the United
States, and has capacity for propelling
a good car service on two hundred miles
of track. Local railway extensions
almost without number have character
lied the past four years. In addition to
the Southern Pacific and Santa fe rail
waye, both transcontinental railways,
and the Southern Pacific road to San
Francisco, we have the many branches
of the Terminal railway, the Southern
California road to San Diego, that roads
kite. shaped track and branches to Re-
dondo and Ballona, the Los Angeles and
Redondo road of the Messrs. Ainsworth
& Thompson, the Rapid Transit railway,
the Cross road, which has been recently
purchased by the Terminal, and the
Los Angeles and Pacific, which has been
allowed to remain in the condition in
which it was left by last years floods.
The California Southern is now engaged
in building branch from Inglewood to
Santa Monica and is intent on
other projects which will give it a fan
shaped track in addition to it's kite
shaped branch. The Southern Pacific
is now busy in the erection OF what
promises to be the largest wharf in the
world, above the mouth OF the Santa
Monica caf1on, has extended its road to
that point and is now about to build to
the foothills from The Palms. Turn
where we will, the same story of i'm
provement greets US.
There is not modern portion of the
city that is not marked by the spirit OF
improvement. One citizen, at the cor
ner of Broadway and Third streets, is
putting up 100000 business block, on
lot for which he recently paid $1O0. 900.
Another is building residence of
unique and princely elegance on Fig
ueroa street, which will cost $3.50, 900.
On lesser scale the same thing is to be
observed on all hands.
There is every reason to believe that
| Los Angeles will soon have another