Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-03-14
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
Mr.. Editor.

West Lake being the best developed.
The beautiful lake which gives it its
name, in the center, framed with
lawns ana trees and every sort of
Towering shrub and plant that one
could conceive of, and what wealth
of bloom in midwinter! We sat by
the waters edge and listened to the
songs of birds and drank in this bright
and charming picture, wishing in the
mean time that our Eastern friends
could be suddenly placed here to view
the scene with US. The East Lake
lovely lake in the center, only it has
more of stately palms and other trees
with less of bloom excepting in it's ex-
tensive Conservatives. But the Ely
sian, the largest park, will : be the
most remarkable when completed, for
nature with lavish hand has crowned
it with hill and dale and every variety
of beautiful and striking scenery. AS
this is too extensive to do on foot we
took a no ride to the summit of
one of it's loftiest hills. The roadway
winds in sinuous curves, and from
dizzy heights we have glimpses of the
scene below, which appears as whole
when we reach the highest point. The
city EMPOWERED in verdant shade, the
country beyond with the lofty noun
ain peaks for a background on one
side, and the glistening waters Of the
Pacific twenty miles away on the
other, then dissolving views of the
picture during our descent. We con-
tinued our drive through some of the
beautiful residential portions of the
city. One of the interesting sights
here is the oil wells, of which there
are more than a thousand within the
city limits. This useful fluid is pump
ed from depth of twelve hundred
feet below the surface, some of the
wells yielding fifty barrels day. 1t
must be quite resource of wealth,
but they disfgure a portion of the
city which would otherwise be very
attractive.
One of the many delightful side trips
from here is to take an electric car
ride to Pasadena, and from thence by
tally no through Orange Grove Ave-,
the finest street in that beautiful city,
out through the San Gabriel valley,
visiting the old Mission which gives
the valley its name, and from thence
to Lucky Baldwin's Ranch, small
farm Of only fifty six thousand acres.
every variety of fruit trees that can
be made to grow in this wonderful
one orchard of each trees be-
ing in bloom. Of these trees We were
told that the earliest to bloom were
latest to fruit. We saw one vineyard
six hundred acres of grape
vines. / was not able to recognize
grape vines in California, for the run
ming vines are all trimmed off at this
time of year, leaving nothing but the
trunk about two feet high, and they
are not trellised. We lunched at
hotel, the lakewood, and
visited his park, which is an ideal one,
the owner prefers San
[ suppose is his diversion from city
life. We drove through long ave-
nues of Eucalyptus trees, through
wood where dozens Of peacocks were
roaming about, past long stretches Of
live oaks. But after all we saw sup
pose only small corner of this re-
Another pleasant trip from here is
to Redondo Beach, distance of
twenty miles by rail. This was our
first bow to the Pacific. We took
great pleasure in watching the surf roll
up wave upon wave and break on the
shore, also such quantities ofsea gulls
sailing SO gracefully through the air
Or riding on the crest of the waves.
We wandered along the shore picking
up shells and other curios, and watch
ed the landing of the fishermen to see
if their luck had been good or ill.,
This beach, like the others, has its
famous hotel with beautiful grounds
adorned with trees and shrubs and
flowers. Near this we saw five acres
of carnations in one bed. They said
they found a market for their carna-
lions as far east as New York and
Boston. With the fragrance and
beauty of this scene, will leave you
for the present. A TRAVELLER.
Give the children a drink called Grain-O.
It is delicious, appetizing. nourishing food
brink to take the place of coffee. Sold by all
,rocers and liked by all who have used it be-