Mesa free press. [volume] (Mesa, Ariz.) 1892-1901, 1897-12-03

during the past six months, netting
growers for all grades $3.50 per 100
pounds.
q. S. Grant, Jr., announces that he
is a:responsive" candidate for u. S.
Senator. He says in an interview, that
heis entirely at the service of his party
! in the matter. His declaration means
that San Diego county will next year
pledge her Republican legislative can
didates for him.
There are over 200 different species in
the collection of cacti in the greenhouse
at East Side park, in Los Angeles,
which is probably the finest in the
country. Mr.. E. J. Buell. of Encinitas,
also has fine collection, according to
the Oceanside Blade. One plant is
said to be over 100 years old.
Miss Maude Resse Davies, a Los An
geles girl, will be the soprano solist of
,Sousa's band the coming season. Miss
Davies has been studying in Paris, a
pupil of Gradadella and favorite of
Massenet and Bamberg. A recent
Paris letter in Harper's Bazaar gave a
very fattering notice of this young
lady's debut.
1t is settled that Ventura lis to have
one of the largest beet-sugar factories
on the coast. The contract has been
signed and the Oxnards have COM
menced work. The right of way for a
branch railroad from Montalvo on the
Southern Pacific railroad to Hueneme
wharf is being secured. Engineer Hood
and HI. E. Huntington have been on the
ground for several days and it is stated
that 200 men will soon be put to work
bridging the Santa Clara river between
Montalvo and the sugar factory site.
Another com plication has arisen in
connection with the project for the
Improvement of San Pedro Harbor in
California that threatens to delay the
advertisement calling for proposals until
Congress meets and makes further pro-
vision. 1t has been discovered the act
makes no provision to defray the ex-
pense of the advertisement, and the war
department is now seeking for some
means to carry out the intent of Con-
gress that shall be within the law.
Col. j j. Ayers. ex-state printer, and
for years one of the editors and owners
of the Los Angeles Herald and Los An
geles Express, died at Azusa, Nov. IL.
He had been suffering from complied
ton of diseases for some time. He
founded the Calaveras Chronicle in
1852, the Oldest paper in California, and
was also one of the originators of the
San Francisco Call. Col. Ayers was a
printer by trade and probably the old
est living newspaper man in point of
service in the state. His work on the
Express. extended from 1875 to 1883, be-
ing for the next four years state print
er. He associated himself with Joseph
D. Lynch in the publication of the Her
aid in 1887, and retired in 1894.
The California millionaire, Mr..
Dixie W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara,
owns the most costly saddle in the
world, which is now valued at e700. 1t
was made in Mexico, being of "a typical
pattern. with the high. pommel and
we'll followed seat which are distinc-
tive of Mexican saddles. 1t is made of
fine embossed leather, ornamented with
silver buttons and rosettes, while the
pommel is encased in silver. The stir
rups are faced and edged with silver
half an inch thick, and most beauti-
fully carved and chased while the sad
die tree is hung with silver rings. Year
by year some new piece of silver is ad-
ded to the saddle by the owner, and be-
fore he has finished with it he will
have added some hundreds of pounds
more in value. A high silver mounted
Mexican saddle was made in Great
Britain Costing e270) for the Mahara-
jah CANA Singh. The most remarkable
saddle ever made was one for the
famous jockey, Archer. 1t weighed
exactly 1907, and the pigskin had to be
scraped down with, glass until of the re-
CURED hickness-about an eighth of
an inch.
I. D. Stone, Hector Angel and Gail
Lewis, recently returned from Yuma
across the desert, report that the over
flow of the Colorado river last summer
was considerably higher than for some
years past. 1t filled the New river
channel and for some time flowed into
Salton lake. All the lagunas in the
New river bed, that have been dry for
several years, are now filled up and re-
stocked with fish. Cameron lake is
swarming with fish, and, as conse-
quence, water fowl are there by the
thousand, especially the great white
pelican of the Gulf or Lower Colorado.
He estimated one flock of these magni-
fcent birds to number five thousand.
There has been a rank growth of desert
weeds and grasses and the mesquit
bean crop is phenomenal, SO that stock
will get fat there this winter. A singu-
lar thing in connection with the over