The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1899-12-21
SPICY LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
BY the Death of an Uncle Frank Ed
ridge Strikes 1t Rich and Turns
Farmer.
TULARE, CAL, Nov. %.

Farmer.
TULARE, CAL, Nov. %.
EnrOR TINES
As you were SO kind az to publish
nay other letter, perhaps another vii
snOt he uninteresting
Ii any of my friends wish to know
anything OF this country l will cheer
fully answer all letters that they
write.
Years ago my wife had an uncle
1who started overland for California
Fl was during the excitement" He
BANDED here with a clear conscience
and nothing more. He was IA hard
worker and IL mOney-saver. He died
about two years ago, a bachelor,
and a rich man. We were rememE-
cred and are now here to look after
ahaf fell to us through the kindness
~sf others. | am trying my hand at
ranch life at present. Have just fin
Eshed planting one quarter section OF
zapd and will begin this coming week
sSn another. Wheat is raised here
principally; no timothy or other
i<sr ass, such as is raised in the east.
a ib1tze alfalfa hay is raised and the
Aeasssoe is supplied by cutting wheat
.snd oats before it is ripe and feeding
sgx,insnt threshing.
Oak and Redwood are the principal
tjmb~srs grown here and both are a
aarass1 wood, not fit for the making
~sf 3 gricultural implements or wagon
work This stuff all has to come
from the east and is more expensive
sgiasnf Redwood trees of which SO
ag ueb has been written are about 60
szI Ees from us Tulare lake, which the
sfcheal boys can see on the map OF
u California, is a lake no more, it has
dried up and the bed is wheat field.
abis is a great country for bicycles, |
sEnd there are three or four times as
Em&0y used here as there. This is a
SANDY, level country, and a wheel
scaR be used nearly every day in the
gear
We are having our rainy season
which will continue until about next
April. We are also having lots of
very foggy weather, the fog lasting
for days at a time and so dense that
II person cannot see 100 feet away.
but it does not seem to effect per-
sen and neither of us, during our
ssght months stay here have had a
cold that needed attention.
hHW0nntry q few years ago had
"a "boom" Prices of farm land went |
up to about 800 per acre. Men
came here and purchased, made ii
payment, gave a mortgage, built
box house. Crops failed and prices
went down and they lost their places
and now can be seen plenty OF empty
h onses standing on farms and the
and rented. Land now is on a solid
in this section and sells
from $50 to $40 per acre for farm
land and from 800 to $500 per
acre for orchards and vineyards.
1 have been in three or four cities
tae size of Butler since / came and in
each the postoffiee building is made
with no front. Iron columns support
The upper walls You step into the
postoffice as you would step under
a varanda, and the letter case is ac-
any time, day or night to
person who has a lock box.
They have no snow here or ice and
no one suffers from this. but after
being here for three or four years the
people seem to suffer from the wind
that comes from the ocean or the
chilly morning air quite as much as
they did in the east, and while we
wear ordinary fall clothing the old J
settlers wear their overcoats and
furs.
Nothing is sold here by the bushel.
We went to the store the other day
and asked a clerk who was about 20
years old, for a bushel of potatoes
and he did not know how much to
give me. Everything in the grain
Line is sold by the pound and is also
quoted that way in the market re-
port sent out.
am not without acquaintance i'll
this far western state. j. F. Boyd
and family, of your place is Just a
few miles south of us. while north of