The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-07-01

jelly 1907 ,ssss 81.
An Interesting letter From One
Of Our Old Townsmen, u. u } r.
Loberly 81 n:
The following is an extract from "a
letter received by Russell Moberly
from his father, John Moberly, June
10Th. Mr. Moberly moved from
Worthlngton to League City, Texas.
last April.
will give brief outline Of our
trip last Wednesday and Thursday. !.
Nh. Reiss. Nj. Cox and myself, all
newcomers, started out with the
.avowed intention of lear ming some
thing more Of the coast country and
its resources. ~.
Our first stop was at Hitchcock.
After careful inspection of the vine
yard and pear orchard Of Mr.. w Wheel-
or we took our lunch baskets into the
shade, and: we think fully demon
strated the fact to onlookers that our
wives were the best cooks in Texas.
At least, that would naturally have
been the conclusion from the way the
grub disappeared. After dinner a
surprise was sprung on his fellow
travellers by one producing a large
ripe watermelon, which had been in
geniously tucked in amongst our
bedding before starting from home.
When we could eat no more we shook
the table. clotl, and started out for a
stroll. i, s- s .1..s : Z: 5.
Hearing a racket about a car which
stood near, we went over to investi-
gate. We found three or four men
busily engaged in loading a car with
muskmelons and cucumbers, but not
too busy to answer questions. These
came thick and ssfastfor the purpose
of getting knowledge, and we did not
propose to let so good an opportuni-
ty pass without improving it. ses
The melons are shipped in crates
holding one bushel each. They load
into car about $50 crates, and they
are sold by the crate in Chicago mar
kets at prices then ruling in Chicago.
They would get 80 cents crate net
after paying all expenses. Cucum
bers pay equally as we'll put on an
early market in the North. This is
not an isolated case, but they are
shipping right along every day. =. !.
The next thing that claimed our
attention was the famous Stringfel-
low pear orchard, now owned by Mr..
Behring, of Galveston. We found
Mr.. Shumate, the present manager, a
very courteous and amiable gentle
man, who took pleasure in showing
ns around. They are starting an or
ange grove and have a fair prospect
of success. Although but two years
|old from the graft, many of the trees
were hanging full of oranges.
The pear crop in this vicinity is
not what it should be-. The late
spring frost caused many to drop, off.
Still there is quite a good crop in
some orchards, the Keiffer.. standing
the frost better than the Leconte, It
being later variety. .:4 :4-@ s.
Alta Iona was our next stopping
place. Here is located the large ar
|tesian vel whiehasupp lies-G Galveston
with pure,. soft water for culinary
and other purposes. The water is
run through pipes a distance of Is
miles into the city. Here also are
extensive picking works. They have
a vat capacity2of 5000 bushels of GU
cumbers, which, the manager told us,
would be enlarged this season. Af-
ter standing in brine certain length
of time the cucumbers are taken out,
picked and packed in glass jars and
the vats are filled again. The aver
age price paid for cucumbers, large
and small, is 40 cents per bushel; for
tomatoes SO cents. The tomatoes are
used for making catsup and for can
ming. This factory alone will drop a
great many thousand dollars into the
pockets of truck growers in that vi
cinity this season. -, 3: + ~. ~. .S...t-
Arcadia, the home of our county
commissioner from this district. was
next reached. Nothing of special in
terest here called our attention, and
we continued our journey. =.'~
Night came on while we were
about four miles from Alvin. We
stopped on the prairie any in few
minutes had the mules tethered near
by and the coffee pot boiling on q
bed of Goals from small sticks which
we had picked up along the wayside
After supper was served and the
ruins cleared away we were ready for
bed. This consisted of canvass
wagon cover doubled number OF
lStimes and spread evenly on the
ground. Another Of the same pat
tern was used for covering.
The noon of the night found III
still telling and listening to incident!
| of frontier life on the plains anc
across the mountains. After all hac
become quiet in camp we began tt
notice the little uneveness of tn.
prairie sod underneath. The humps
seemed to grow larger and harder al
Itime moved on. A change Of posi-
Etion would give respite for few mo
ments only, until Morpheus claimed
us for his own, when we forgot al
our woes, humps included. q.
The rising sun found us busily en-
1gaged preparing for a fresh start
| The city Of Alvin with her churcl
(steeples pointing heavenward coulo
/ be plainly seen in front, while to tn
left, at a distance of about four miles
co,1l1 hn aeen q llelt of timber Whicl