The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-02-03
FROM THE SANTA YNEZ
How Santa Barbara viii Get
Its Water Supply.
A GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT.
The Mountains to Be TunneI0d and Hid.
den Streams Turned Into The
Beautiful Valley.
A GREAT ENGINEERING FEAT.

p SANTA BARBARA, Jan. 30-Santa Barbara,
the beautiful little city of our southern
seacoast, is waking up. If anybody should
infer from this assertion that this small
southern town has long been wrapped in
slumber let it be frankly acknowledged
that the inference is not far from right;
but this slumber has been so sweet and
restful that it has wrapped the old city in
an enchantment of its own and made it a
haven OF peace for the weary, world-worn
traveller.
There are some who look regretfully
upon this awakening, fearing lest with the
introduction of new methods, new ideas,
new enterprise, the place may lose its in
divldual charm and be merged into the
busy, busting, monotonous outside world.
Such reasoning is short-sighted. Nothing
can ever destroy the beauty of Santa Bar
bara' S surroundings-the stately mountain
range purpling in the distance, the splen-
did sweep of the mesas, the tranquility
and loneliness of the fertile valley and the
city in its bosom, the vast expanse of
placid sea and the mountainous islands
floating on the horizons rim. Prosperity
never smiles on an idle people, and there
OF healthful activity.
This awakening is not in any one direc-
ton alone, but II is an all-around stir 1t
is not due to any one cause, but to varying
and combined influences. Santa Barbara
people have aroused to the fact that her
young men lack proper amusement and
recreation and are drifting on the tide of
countless temptations, and a fine amuse-
ment hall and gymnasium have been pro-
jected and are in a way to be speedily
realized. 1t has dawned upon the COM
munlty that for years past other Southern
California towns have been, by virtue of
their enterprise and organization, going
ahead of this, their senior in years and
superior in resources, and a Santa Barbara
Board of Trade, composed of the leading
business men of the place, is the result.
Summerland, her little neighbor on the
east, Is developing important oil fields,
and Santa Barbara is establishing and
planning factories to use their output.
Independent industries of various sorts
are founding, and there is even talk of
improving school grounds and beautifying
the exterior of churches.
The most important of all these pro-
gresSIve movements is a scheme for de-
veloping water supply that will provide
cOpIOuS supply for q city many times the
little towns present dimensions and irri-
gate the whole valley as we'll This project
is one of the greatest irrigation enterprises
ever undertaken in California. 1t is a
scheme whose success or failure is of the
greatest moment to the people of the city
as well as the valley; and although the en-
terprising local papers have made several
references to it, they have left it to THE
CALL to give a clear and intelligent account
Of this undertaking, which so deeply con-
Germs their citizens.
Back 6 Santa Barbara extends series
of mountain ranges, which for the most
part run parallel with the coast. The
nearest of these is the Santa Ynez, which
rises Immediately back of the valley. Back
OF this is the San Rafael range, majestic
sierra with peaks exceeding eight thousand
feet. Although these ranges fall apart
some twenty miles westward, to make
room for the fertile Santa Maria valley and
the productive uplands extending below
Santa Ynez, and the range of that name
again breaks into chains of hills nearer
the coast, encompassing the productive
Lompoc Valley; farther east they weld
into a ragged maze of mountain crests, for