, 1898-09-16

\ ears Jay IDcy nave q '1aOS
Tournament something similar to
the Mardi Gras of New Orleans. They
have a large procession made up of ale
gorical floats, fire apparatus, private
carriages, (no business teams allowed
bicycles, equestrians, pedestrians troops
etc, everything trimmed With flowers
and greens. TO say 1t is beautiful does
not do 1t justice; you have to see it to
appreciate it, and remember it is on
New Years day when the east is pro-
badly wrapped in snow.
In the winter when the tourist season
is on the hotels, boarding and lodging
houses are filled to their utmost. The
Green, the largest hotel, owned by Col.
G. G. Green, of Woodbury., N. J., is
building an annex as large as the hotel
itself, doubling its capacity, and by the
time the season opens next winter it
will have about 400 rooms. 1t is mag
nificently appointed and well managed.
About three miles above Pasadena
and one mile from the mountains is
Altadena, where a number of million
aires have their winter residences,
among them Col. G. G. Green, of Wood
bury, N. j., Andrew McNally, of New
York, etc. Mt. Lowe, $500 feet high,
a mile or less distant, often covered
with snow, at its foot are these beauti-
full residences amidst the orange groves
in full bearing. In January one can
go up on Mt. Lowe and frolic in the
snow, and in less than half an hour
eat oranges from the trees or pluck roses
in Altadena or Pasadena, and in
another hour and a half battle in the
Pacific at Santa Monica or Long Beach.
Col. Green comes here in December in
his private car, has it sidetracked by
his house and has it covered with can
vas until he goes away again in the
spring to Lake Hopatcong or Wood
bury. The trolley cars run to the foot
of Mt. Lowe, a cable car runs up an
incline plane $500 feet to Echo noun
tain house, and another trolley car
takes you up to ali altitude of $500 feet
to Alpine tavern. They are continuing
the road now to the summit.
We are living OIL a ranch p miles
from Pasadena, II miles from Altadena,
II mile from the mountains north of
us and a quarter mile from the noun
tains west of us, and the great San Ga
briel valley stretching away east and
south of us to the sea. Old Badly, Mt.
San B~ernardina, Grayback and San
CoNliiNag IO1lN LhOOlAlAlI1O IO3ONO etIi1t
II 900 feet high, looming up so to 100
miles distant. These mountains are
covered with snow all winter and until
June or July when it disappears. Be-
tween these mountains on the west
and our ranch is the Arroyo Seco, a
deep, wide, rough, wild and weird
rocky, dry river bed or ravine, but
when it rains in winter it is a rushing,
roaring torrent. About a half mile
above us the Arroyo becomes very mar
row, only a few feet wide, where the
torrent has forced its way through a
crevice in the mountains. This is called
''The DEVILS Gate" A great many
tourists drive up to see it; it is in a
narrow but very fertile valley, called
La Carrada, between two ranges of
mountains. These mountains and the
Arroyo are the sportsmen's paradise;
they contain bear, deer, mountain lions,
wild cats and coyotes. The jack cotton
tail and brush rabbits, squirrels and
pole cats are a great nuisance here,
they are so numerous. The ranchers
poison them. :
Down at Catalina Island, 20 miles at
sea, off Santa Monica, is a very pretty
and popular resort called Avalon. In
the mountains oRSata~ sportsmen