St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-25
The WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION
DUE TO RRiCA7i0g,
RIVERSIDE THE ORANGE CITY
But They Had q Frost i'm January
d and the Fruit Dropped-For-
mer Minhesotians FIourishing
Why Redlands ChuckIes
~ Over Riverside-No Killing
Temperature Has Reached
Them 1hns Far.

obeit." The name is derived from its
supposed resemblance to kite, but |
should say it resembles Ihore the figure
> placed horizontally. with the crossing of
the lines little east of the center. At
the point OF intersection is located the
handsome little city OF San Bernardino.
and all. or nearly all, OF the handsomest
towns in Southern California are To-
Gated on this line.
Our first stopping place was at River
side. which is sixty miles east of Los
Angeles. The name of Riverside is
suggestive of juicy golden oranges. but
tits equally the home of every descrip.
ton of semi-tropical fruit. 1t IS EN-
pnatically little city OF homes, having
one city-like'street, comprising three or
four squares of handsome and substan-
tlai business blocks. in which are some
fine stores. 1t also has four banking
houses, fifteen churches, public school
building costing $4,000. a Y. NJ. Z. A.
building which cost S25. 900, a free pub
lie library OF 10000 volumes and fine
opera house which cost $4,000. But
the pride of Riverside is its handsome
avenues. along which are many palatial
homes, emb0wereed in orange groves.
But OF all these handsome avenues, the
one par excellence is the far-tamed
Magnolia, so named, a friend Sug geSted.
from the conspicuous absence of mag
noiia trees along its Wayside.
Just imagine, if you can, boulevard
l5p feet wide and ten miles long, as
Level as floor. with roadbed almost
as smooth and hard as if paved with
asphalt, with beautiful residences on
either side set back 200 feet from the
street, i'll the midst of orange trees. all
bending under the weight of their
golden fruit; bordered by hedges OF
cypress trimmed to perfection, with
arches over the gatewavs, and in many
places trimmed i'll fantastic shapes:
the outer edges of the sidewalks Dor
dered with pines and eucalyptus trees
alternated with palms of immense size,
and through the center of the street, as
far as the eye can reach, the beautiful
pepper trees, covered with their red ber-
ries-and you can have some idea of the
incompatible beauty of Magnolia avenue
Riverside. | do not believe another
such drive can be found anywhere in
the United States, Or, perhaps, in the
world.
We met here Capt. NJ. ]. Daniels,
/ formerly state senator from Oimsted
county. who is president of the Orange
h Growers bank, of Riverside; also Mr..
IN. c. Youngloye, another Rochester
gentleman We are indebted to them
lsfor. a three-hourS drive through their
n fpI cfn
They both have lovely homes of ten
acres each on BrOckton avenue, planted
! to oranges and other citrous and de.
| eiduous fruits.
/. The people here are justly proud of
| their city, andgwould have you believe
that somewhere near this spot was To-
Gated the garden of Eden; and some of
the more enthusiastic Riversders will
| point out the Identical spot on which
| grew the famous apple tree from which
our grandmother Eve plucked the fatal
| fruit. But [ am inclined to doubt this,
however, as from the best information
we have our first parents were not suffi-
ciently clad to endure the chilling frostS
which even the good people of River
| SIDE must acknowledge sometimes fall
| upon this otherwise highly favored
| spot. They had frost here in January
which was unusually heavy, and sew
! eral lighter ones since, which injure d
| the oranges to SOch an extent that the
crop this year will scarcely be half
| what it Ould have been. The ground
| under the trees every in that re-
gion was literally covered with oranges
| which had dropped off OH account of
| the frost. They looked in every way as
| good as those still remaining on the
| trees, but were said to be worthless 1t
| seemed like shame to see such de-
struction. Some INSCRIPTIONS grower S
will box this frozen fruit and put it on
the market, but most of them, who are
/ anxious to maintain the good name
| which Riverside oranges have attained
| in the Eastern markets, will pillow them
under, preferring to stand the loss
rather than iniure the reputation of
| their fruit.
Riverside presents the most striking
! instance in Southern California of the
| marvellous transformation effected by
| scientific irrigation. The irrigation of
land, which 10 majority of the Ameri-
| can people seems like a new idea. and
| one that is only adopted as last resort,
| is in reality as old as history itself 1t
! has been practical in Egypt. in Syria
and other arid sections of the old world
| from time immemOrial, but never has
| been brought to such scientific rerfec-
| ton as hero in Southern California.
| Twenty years ago the country around
| Riverside was a barren and deSolate
| plain without house or tree, ana was
| considered almost as worthless as the
| desert of Arizona. 1t was assessed at IS
! cents an acre. and the owner actually
! appeared before the county board of
equalization and protested, claiming
that the assessed valuation was more
than the actual cash value of the land.
But by the ingenuity of man the waters
of the Santa Anna river have been
turned upon this arid plain, and the
desert has been made to bloom and
blossom AS the rose. Vacant land that
was considered dear at IS cents would
now be called cheap at $500 an acre.
THE REGION OF REDLANDs.
) But have detained you at Riverside
E1onger than had intended, and must
pass on to Redlands. This is much
newer station than the former, and. las it
comes as near being in the frostless belt
HaS.any portion Of Southern Calforni ait
is, and must ever remain, the section
par excellence for the culture of the
|ncitruS fruits. Speaking of the "frostless
/ belt" so called. | am OF the opinion
that il Is all myth-so far as California
is concerned. don't think there is any
section here that is entirely free from
occasional frOsts. OF course the mesaS
or higher lands are less subject to either
fogs or frosts than the lower valleys.
This is why the RedlaBders chuckle |
ostr the discontinue of their less for |
tunate ueighborS at Riverside. They
have never yet had killing frost, or |
one that has done much of any damage |
to the orange. But even this is no guar |,