The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1899-03-31
SOME DRAWBACKS.
Gen. Baker Writes Entertaining.
ly of California Features.
Many Ranches for Sale, But Advises q
Years Residence Before
Buying.
LETTER NO. 5.

billiards You will emerge from your
winter SHOWS like lot of frigid Klon
dykers You should pursue the ground
hog to his death, and have Lockerby in
dicted for his hyperborean antics. He
will be so elated with his standing as
prophet that he will begin to think he
is an Isiah or, better yet, a Jonah, and
will fool around with the muskrats and
corn shucks, to get up just such another
winter Put him in cold storage with
a chunk of ice on his head, or he will
ruin the climate.
But while you have been alternately
freezing and thawing we have been
consumed with fervent heat. For the
past week, the thermometer has stood
at from 80 to So in the shade. Mrs.
Baker and James Henry have been wad-
ing to their knees in the ocean and
would have gone clear in but for the
dread of sharks, which are quite plenti
full off the beach at Redondo just at this
time. Our boatman killed seven with
a club the last day we were there.
/ sometimes get tired of the ceaseless
sunshine and the clear turquois blue of
the eternal sky, and would like to walk
out and welcome good old Minnesota
blizzard just for "Auld Lang Syne". 1t
would help fellow to preserve his
identity, for sometimes lose myself in
these emi-tropical environments.
This is strange country, anyhow.
The rivers are all upside down, the
gravel on top and the water somewhere
underneath The summer vegetables
are all grown in the winter, and irrita-
ton supplies the place of rain. 1t is a
country where women grow feshy and
men become leane. 1t is land where
the roses forever bloom but where there
are no bed bugs. 1t is full of contra
dictions and incongruveties. Yet, after
all, you like the bloomin' land, for it
saves fuel and overcoats. But there is
something you won't like. You will
abhOr the everlasting dust. The arid
and thirsty plains look weary. You
will not like the sand storms which
come out of the mountains, and
sport along the villages in heavy clouds
of fine, dry sand and dust They are al
most as frequent as are the billiards.
with us These are some of the draw
backs to what is, perhaps, the most
equable climate in the world
hn iolnfi nf her
California is that of water. This is the
third year of..drought, and the time has
now passed in which they may reason
ably hope for rain this year. 1t looks
to me as though the farmers would
raise nothing but dust. The city does
not show the drought, for the streets
are watered and all the lawns and
flowers are abundantly showered. But
in the country it is desolation. The
dry season will work the most serious
hardship for many a California family.
In making purchase of ranch here
one must primarily take into considera-
ton the water supply even more than
the land. Of the seven counties
which comprise Southern California,
not one has an adequate supply of
water. They will tell you that they
have but I assure you that they have
not. They need larger navigation
systems. The long ranges of noun
tains possess wealth of water, which,
if properly bottled up, might furnish an
adequate supply. But years and great
capital are essential to that end. Local
ly, pumping plants are being put in,
and some artesian wells are joined. But
water, water, will be the continuous
cry for years to come.
have now been over Southern Cali
fornia pretty thoroughly. 1 find that
about every ranch is for sale. The rea
sons are not always obvious, but condi-
ditions make the business uncertain
and therefore improbable. No man
should come here and think of buying
under an experience and observation of
less than six months or year. When
he won't probably buy at all. have
Sdlu LII pIdIoO VI OhO Lulu
and | reiUerate even now all have said
as true. 1t is an old mans climate,
and any woman's paradise. She can
wear shirt waist all the year around,
which ought to make any reasonable
woman satisfied. If you come here for
climate you will be safe enough, but if
you propose to sell property in Blue
Earth county or abandon a paying bust
ness there to come here, you will pro-
badly live to deeply regret it. | wish
no one to do, SO by my advice. Should
you come you will encounter the slick
est lot of real estate dealers you ever
dreamed of. The Annanias Club is in
perpetual session.
For smooth. elegant, bland, unhesi.
tating lying, commend you to Cali
fornla dirt dealer. They are diamonds
of che first water and eighteen carats
fine. They will talk the wisdom teeth
out of your jaw and the money out OF
your pocket and make you feel as
as though they had done you most