Los Angeles herald., 1893-01-01


connection with the waters of the At
lantic at Galveston than any other point
farther north.
With Mexico, Central and South
America, Australia, Polynesia, India
and China at its very doors, Los Angeles
at once becomes the highway OF CON-
merce, either in its eastward or west
ward flow.
Through its gates will be carried the
silks and teas of China and Japan, the
sugar of Hawaii, the wool and coal of
Australia, the ores of South America
and the spices and woods of Central
America. In return will come the ma
chinery and manufactured products OF
the east. Los Angeles holds the key to
the commercial supremacy of the south
west.
No less brilliant is her manufacturing
outlook. The possibilities in this direc-
ton have never been sufficiently or
thoroughly understood. As population
increases and home consumption grows,
the number, variety and output of home
factories have not kept pace with the de-
mand. The great reason for this has
been the lack OF cheap fuel. The
development of local petroleum fields
will remove this objection. Los Angeles
county has an inexhaustible supply of
this fuel, which can be laid down at the
furnace doors in the city as cheap as the
cheapest anywhere else.
The successful application of crude
petroleum to the smelter at the Temes-
cal tin mines is a hint of the possible
development in that line. Los Angeles
is the center of great mining region.
Gold, silver, lead, copper, antimony and
iron are produced within the borders of
Southern California In fact, the min
ing region tributary to Los Angeles is q
very large one.
The earths, such as kaolin and clay
much of the latter with high percent
ages Of aluminium, suggest the manfact-
/ ures possible in those lines. Indeed, the
pioneer works have already been estab-
lished.
For the fruits there is fair but in
creasing supply Of canneries and olive
oil mills.
Not only as commercial and manu-
featuring center will Los Angeles event.
ually become famous, but her climate
will continue to make her and her sub
urbs one of the chief sanitariums of the
world.
HISTORY OF THE CITY.
The story of the founding of the City
of the Angels is a dull and prosy tale.
1t was plain, official business transac-
tion. No halo of glory or glamor OF
romance surrounds it. The facts are
not obscured by tradition nor forgotten
in fables. They are all on record in the
dry reports of the officers who had the
matter in hand. These records will be
81 IT,,
GENERALS office, in San Francisco, and
in the public archives of Mexico. They
give minutely every detail, the motives,
the actors in the scenes, the recruit
ing, the fatal journeys, the founding.
the gamut. and the successful growth of
the little colony. To the student, who
can read Spanish and has time to un-
roll and pore over these documents,
now little over century old, there is a
charm and compensation for and in the
work, for he is drinking at the fountain
of history.
The Spanish had two main obi cts in
their occupation of Alta California. One
was to resist Russian encroachment
from the north, and the other was the
christianization of the aborigines. Sc,
in the year 1859, the same year that
Daniel Boone first entered the wilds OF
Kentucky, Don Gaspsr de Portola ex-
tended the Spanish dominion of Cali
fornia northward from the peninsula to
the Golden Gate. He was then gov
ernor of peninsular California.
Accompanied by priests of the estab-
lished church, he jourueyed overland
from Loreto, on the gulf OF California
northward to San Francisco. On eul-
try day in August, after having enjoyed
an antelope hunt on the Laguna ranch
they camped about where Sonora
town" now is. Here the priests cele.
brated the mass of Our Lady, the Queen
of the Angels-Nuestra Sonora, Ia
Reyna de los Angeles. Hence this spo,
was ever afterwards marked in theil
minds by the memory of the religious
exercises here held on that day. and &c
it came to be called, and thus the
pueblo here founded IL years later got
it's name. 1t was not named, as many
suppose, from the excellency of its
climate, for Portola came frome mildel
cline nearer the tropic of Cancer. Portols
continued his journey northward an6
unfurled the Spanish banner at Monte
rey.
A fort was established at San Fran
cisco, one at Monterey and another al
Santa Barbara, and a fourth at SaI
Diego. pueblo was founded at Sar
Jose and missions were planted al
along the coast.
These pioneer outposts of European
civilization depended for supplies upor
ships, which were supposed to arrive a.
least once year from San Bias. These
suprositions were frequently violen
and always vexatious. Once their de
lay was GO great that Junipero Sierra, th'
president of the missions, WAS almos
persuaded to abandon San Diego, ant
again the ship failed to appear ant
soldiers were forced to live on milk
what acorns they could get from the ma
tives and edible herbs they coul(
gather.
The repeated occurrence of thes'
hardships made apparent the necessit,
of rendering Alta California indepen
| dent. So, in 1774. when Don Felipe d.
Neve became governor of both the Cal
ifornas he was instructed to look W
suitable agricultural lands to colonize
When he came north the next year be
reported that he had found two sucl
places, one at San Jose, on the Guada
lupe river, and one at Los Angeles, Oh
: the Porciuucula river, and asked 70
orders. Without waiting for an answe
! he proceeded to found the pueblo of Sal
Jose.
But when it came to founding tn
: lower pueblo at Los Angeles he waite'
! for the royal commands, and made
elaborate nraparatiOna