Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-11-09
FIFTY SEVENTH YEAR
a California Letter.

ten in Long Beach, CALIFORNIA;
DEAR FRIENDS AT HONE: You can't
realize how hard it is to write a long
letter as will endeayoI to write to
you. 70 start with | will tell you
about a little trip took last week.
On Monday we went 10 Los Angeles
and that e, ening was spent with Mr..
Thomas, formerly of Lancaster. Tues
day morning we went to Pasadena
and took in the town. We went to
see the principal laccs and streets in
town where the people Of money live.
On Tuesday night we left for San
Bernardino and stayed there the rest
. of the night, San Bernardino is a
fine little place. Wednesday morning
we left for Highlands, the place for
regainng your health. We were
there all day Wednesday and visited
some Of the public buildings.
The orchards are fine in this local
ity, the ground being worth about
81, 900 per acre, while in Redlands it
is worth $1,000 per acre, and from
one acre they make about nine hum
dred to one thousand dollars per year
on the fruit, but the funny part of it
is that the crop isn't ripe until De-
cember or January and some Of the
trees have last years oranges on them
. yet, also the green ones Of this year
Some Of the farms are large. know
" a man who has farm Of forty acres
and was offered $4,000 for il but
would not sell as he said he made
more by selling the oranges. The
orchards are cultivated and you
can scarcely see any weeds in them.
Rains well they are so few that they
are Of no value so the people Lave to
& irrigaie, that isthcy pillow long ditch
n Is al over the ground between the
rows Of trees and turn the water into
them. The water costs too. For in
stance the right of water privileges
costs in Highland one thousand dol
lars but in Long Beach you can use a
two-inch main one hour for ten cents.
The lemon and orange belong to the
same family 50 when Seeding won't
bear any more they bud them to q
naval orange or naval orange TO a
lemon, il is all the same. saw the
largest date palm, the wonder Of
& Southern California, and it has over a
fsload Of fruit on it; some Of the fruit
was years old aud some of it was
green.
The oranges bring q cents pound
for seedlings and think ?! cents and
q upwards for the nayals. They pick
them before they are entirely ripe or
they would spoil quickly. The trees
are planted from l04 TO l0S to the
acre all in perfect rows and they look
fine There are also olive orchards,
but they don't pay as we'll as oranges
= Thursday we were in Redlands;
4 there they grow oranges, but where
there is one IN Highland you find two
two lin Redlands 1t is said that these
i laces are the orange cities Of Cali
fornia Us more fruit comes from there
than any other locality. hey get
1 their water from thc same source in
q the mountains. A dam is built across
gorge have forgotten how long
81 The dam is but the lake is about fifteen
miles long and very deep Highland
gets wa or from one branch and Red
lands from another Last year from
Rcdands over 800 caropds of fruit
was shipped
While in Redlands we took in
Smiley park II is n private park be-
longing To the Smiley Brothers who
are very rich They gave Redands n
public library, but the park is very
beautiful, the grading alone costing
| $50, 600 II is in the foothills. | will
say, because the elevation is num-
! Der of hundred feet, the drives are
! grand every thing is kept up in shape,
n flowers are growing everywhere and
Of all kinds
The walnut orchards are kept in the
~ same way as the orange orchards in
Regard to cultivation, etc, but the
mop has been gathered for this Year.
The day we were in the nut belt we
Il got % lbs which cost us 8 cents per
n pound. but now the nuts bring / |
cents per pound; the soft shells bring
one. half cent per pound more than the
u hard shells Three weeks ago we had
n what they call "Santa Ana, it is a
8 very hot, dry wind and that wind
y opened the walnut shells 50 the nuts
u came down. The crop Of nuts sold
4 last year from here was 80 carloads
Il They have machine which picks out
N the smaller ones and the nuts ar,
sorted into two grades first and see
Z ondi hut this year everything goes il
one grade as they are scarce.
Now | will tell about the climate
On the coast the mornings are cloudy
with fog but about s O'Clock or som,
times sooner the fog clears up, tn,
sun shines and through the day it i
"a warm, even in December and January
II but about I o'clock il gets cold and al
oyercoat Is about the right thing, bu
one feels the cold more here hecaus
II changes 50 rapidly. About 500 day
out OF a year are liac and the rest i
rains, hut only in winter. The white
81 here is like spring back there. w
have had two showers since | cam
n here, aud now The grass is just com
ing up and the flowers are blooming
Il The stock is turned out in winter
while i'm summer they have to fee
hay and grain. the same as they do i
winter back there. There are no
winds which bring dust and all kind
of disagreeable things with them. Th
"Santa Ana comes from the SAINT
Ana canyon For the past two year
the country has been almost withou
water, regular drouth. The land
sandy and good share Of il is full ,
alkali
Last saturday was invited to 9
on the ocean with the High school I
Long Beach So, early in the morI
inc, we went down to the wharf an
4 there at anchor was the Jerald c.,
sail hoat. but run bv n pasoline el