The San Francisco call., 1897-02-19
II Serves but to Add Beauty TO
the Exposition of Golden
Fruits.
Large Crowjs Journey to the Fiesta
Which Is Auspiciously Opened
to the Public.

Inside the pavilion oranges and lemons
were heaped in huge pyramids; outside
they were kissed by ripples and tufts of
snow, or had iclcles hanging upon them.
To say that the people of the upper
SonomH Valley were astoDished when
they awoke this morning exactly ex-
presses their feelings.
An old rancher who sat by the fireplace
in the hotel this morning after long
drive said he had lived in the valley forty
years and had never seen SO much snow
before, and the quantity was only about
one inch on the level. 1t gave the orange
trees which ornament the front yards of
Cloverdale residences a new beauty and
did not hurt the crop the slightest.
The crowds that attended the pavilion
seemed 10 greatly enjoy the novelty.
They pointed to the snow as another ex-
ample of the exceeding diversity OF Sonoma
Valley climate. Sleighs laden with merry
makers passed through drives orna men ted
by oranges. By noon the light fall OF snow
had melted and a gentle rain began to
fall. This Is the first spell of unfavora b e
weather that has yet descended on Clover
dates citrus fair. 1t is not regard d as an
evil one, however. Tue people take il
phllosophlcalIv, saying they cannot ex-
pect to have the weather bureau perpeIu-
ally on their side.
The weather did not decrease 10 any
| noticeable extent the crowds that came IN
excursion trains from other cities down
the valley. About noon long train ar
rived with enthusiastic excursionists from
Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburs aud
other towns. This crowd, wi tn the peo-
pie OF Cloverdale and its immediate vicin-
lty, completely filled the pavilion durin g
the afternoon and at night.
A decided novelty OF the day and exhi-
bltion is that while 1t was winter outside,
dozens of canary birds hanging AM
swinging in cages amid the piles of
| prunes, olives and golden fruit vied with
each other in their glad songs and filled
! the big hall with a chorus of melody
Flowers have been added TO the ties ia and
festoons in green, white and yellow now
sweep IN graceful curves across the scene
and the decorations are com plete. Some
of the decorations are comprised OF al
mond blossoms. Below them are the Iusc-
ious nuts of the previous blossomipg.
This evening A. w. Foster, president of
the San Francisco and North Pacific Rail.
road, said In regard to the citrus fair:
''The people of San Francisco would be
astonlsned if they could see this magniti-
cent display OF citru> fruit. II is the fin
est exhibit that has ever been made.
/ This section OF the valley is steadily pro-
! crossing year by year in the production of
| citrus fruits. l am surprised and IuI of
admiration at the quality. Southern
! California cannot raise any better oranges
| or lemons. Sonoma County should be
proud of the exhibit. The pavilion is
J also great credit to CloverdaIe" Gen
eral Passenger Agent r. X. Ryan of the
railroad company also expressed his ad-
miration and surprise at the excellence of
| the citrus exhibit.
a conference was held this evening by
! the executive committee of the fair and
General Passenger Agent Ryan. 1t was
! agreed that to- days excursion from Santa
| Rosa, Petaluma, Heaidsburg and inter
vening towns should be duplicated next
| Monday at the same rate of 81 for the
round trip from the two first named cities
/ and so cents from Healds burg Thi. was
done owing 10 the inclement weather to-
day.
Tonight one of the mum bers of the
musical programme by the CIoverdale
cornet band was entitled, "And the Next
Day 1t Showed"
John Comier of Cloyerdale presided.
and made the opening speech, and told the
story OF the resources Of the valley a dis
played above, below and around the hill.
Mr.. Conner introduced the principal
speaker of the evening, R. A. Thompson.
editor of the Santa Rosa Democrat.
Mr.. Thompson s subject was, the Evo-
The address was largely historical, begin
ming with Padre Altimira. the first Cali
fornian to settle in Sonoma, though he
was not the first Sonoma County farmer.
the Russians having preceded him at
Bodega.
When there was no other agricultural
gilt to bestow upon Sonoma. CIoverdale
crowned its products with citrus fruits.
said the speaker. The trees were frat
planted because they were ornamental
This gave nature her opportunity; size
did the rest.
-. A. Kleiser, an honored pioneer. still
among us ana here to-Cay, purchased IN
San Francisco in 1860 an orange plant for
which he paid $5. He set it out on the
present Captain Field place. 1t was after
ward moved to the Bowman grounds. It
is now thirty-four years old anu is in
full bearing. Other scattering trees were
planted in the town after this and all
fourished. Captain John Field was not
the first to plant oranges, but he was the
fret to plant them for profit. 1t was a
success. NJ. Menihan was not much be-
hind Captain Field, and now has highly
productive orange grove on a lot al Join
in his hotel.
"In 1893 the display of trees laden with
fruit was so conspicuous that it occurred
TO number OF citizens to have a citrus
fair. Colonel James B. Armstrong, who
was always an ardent lover of nature ana
its products, a brilliant writer on the
agricultural development of the State,
was especially interested. He was enthu-
sastic. An association was formed, of
which Colonel Armstrong was made presi-
dent, W. I. Brush vice-presiuent and G.
b. Baer secretary. The directors were
Captain John Field, Louis Holloway. l.
f. Shaw and Z. B. Wilson (mana er).
Behind the directorate were a mum ber of
ladies without whom there is no success
in such work. Among these were: Mrs.
J. A. Kleser, Mrs. i, E. Shaw, Mrs. w. T.
Brush. Mrs. II. Larrabee, Mrs. Louis
Holloway, Mrs. John Field. Mrs. II.
Gerkhardi, the Misses Lance, Miss LARA
bee, Miss Marshall, Miss Dominic and
Miss Minnie Potter.
"The fair took place on the 1st, I'd and 81
of February, 1898. 1t was great success.
The people of the Ststs, county and even
81 CIoverdaie were astonished at the
progress that ad been made. I greatly
stimulated the planting of citrus fruits.
The results Of that fair are before you
to-day-not only in the fruits exhibited,
but also in this splendid building in
which they are displayed. This leads up
to the building and its construction,
which is also an outcome of the fair OF
1898. Most of the organizers of that fair
were promoters Of the pavilion scheme of