The herald., 1897-06-14
THE 1ALE Of OLIVENHA|N

station OF tnat name, were sold to thtrt.
German families from somewhere nea
Chicago at about $45 an acre. A colon!
called Olivenhain (olive grove) hac
been laid out on paper, and the leader O
the concern was supposed to have com.
! in contact with some of the purchase
money. From none of the standpoints
of that time was the land worth S. ar
acre, and George A. Cowles, one Of the
largest landowners in Ell Cajon at thai
time, testified that it was not worth ri
cents. Lying on the same rainbelt as
that of San Diego, with the average
rainfall not exceeding ten inches, the
soil was gravelly, adobe loan, very
rich, but over 100 feet from water In
most places, in others twice or thrice that
while there was no earthly prospect Of
any water for irrigation in any future
that we make practice of recognizing.
The poor colonists on their arrival
were very indignant The citizens OF
San Diego were equally so and gave
them all the aid they wanted In the line
of expert testimony in the suit they
brought to set aside the sale and get
back the money. But some compromise
was made and the colonists went to
work and quit complaining.
And now comes the part that might in
terest some farmers who were not
swindled. The tale is one easily veri-
fled if any one doubts it. Almost every
family that settled there then is there
today. They have had not a drop Of
water for irrigation and most every drop
that has been used for domestic pur-
poses has been hauled in barrels from
the bottom of the canyon. The average
size of the farms is forty acres-a very
few little larger and very few small
er. The settlers have good houses.
most of them little ahead Of the or
dinary California ranch house, with sur
roundings in most respects neater and
more comfortable than those of the or
dinary unirrigated ranch in the best
sections of the state. They have gar
dens, orchards, vineyards and fields of
grain, corn, potatoes and many other
things on almost every place, beside a
chicken coop and pig pen. Almost
every place is type of the old style Of
diversified industry. and on every one
of them you can see what cannot be seen
on so many California places-"grub." 4"
They do not spend day going to dis
tant town for sack of potatoes, nor do
they raise pork to sell at cents on foot
10 buy bacon at 10 cents a pound to haul
back home.
There are those who will repeat the old
SANDER on the German. that he eats
what he cannot sell and what the pig
cannot utilize. Nothing is farther from
the truth, as any one who lives in Escon-
dido, San Marcos or the adjoining val
leys will quickly attest. On the con-
trary, these German colonists live bet
ter than most of the farmers who buy
all their food and depend upon selling
a large crop at high price to cover the
difference between buying and raising
it. The Olivenhainers have wine and
plenty of it; they have beer about as
steadily as any Germans; they have
good variety of substantial food and
plenty Of ii. When they buy anything
they have the money to pay for it and
more can be seen glittering in the purse
The local storekeeper has actually madr.
money out of them, and is one of the
most solid merchants in the country.
About the same time an American.
farmer from Dakota bought five hun
dred acres of better lard on a better
rainbelt ten miles southeasterly for fif-
teen thousand dollars; spent fifteen
thousand more on it, ard today a mort
gage of three thousand dollars takes the
whole. Does the reader want any more
instances? He will not have to go to
San Diego county to find them He
doubtless knows scores of farmers on
good land. with plenty of rain. and even
with water for irriga tion, who have gone
the same road, and who, in the mean
time, have not lived so very much bet
ter than the Germans either The Oliven-
hahn colonists owe nothing, but almost
every one of the Anne rican farmers who
has been closed out leaves his ranch
with a load OF other debt upon his
shoulders that he can never shake off
except through insolvency.
How is such a contrast possible? On
the one hand, men living for ten years
ard building up prosperous settlement
on an average rainfall of ten inches
drumming avs low as six last year,, haul
ing water in barrels to drink because it
is too deep to water in a we'll, and or.
the other men who had the pick of the
best land in the state. often with plenty
u "oeei ~ iiAiSdle, anu WllH rain
fall double that Of Olivenhein. Why
were the crops of Olivenhain last year
on only six inches of rain the best irt
San Diego county, and why did the col
onists send forth no wall for help, as the
farmers of the eastern slope of the
Rocky mountains have done with much
larger farms, ard twice the rainfall?
The answer is that they bought no
more than they could work, and they
worked it. No such plowing has been
Seen elsewhere in this part of the state.
They have spent no money unless they
had 1T; have hired no help; laid no ce-
ment sidewalks, ard built no opera
houses. They were grossly swindled
on the price Of the land, but instead of
crying, they went to work. Most of the
discomfort they felt was inspired by the
people of San Diego, who thought they
had been cheated. but, in the result, it
has made little difference.
The LESSOR of the colony is what can be
done by men who quit signing and go to
work. We do not mean to be under
stood that man should buy such land
at any price. 1t Is not worth five dol
lars an acre today any more than, it was
then. But IL men can live as we'll as
those colonists have done for ten years
under such conditions, what can be done
by an Americans farmer with good land,
plenty of water and plenty of rain, If he
would quit whining, cut off some of his
and go to work as those
people did at Olivenhain? California
\ IT, l.