The Newtown bee., 1902-05-16

EXTRACTS FROM LETTER WRITTEN BY
 w. c. JOHNSON TO HOME FRIENDS.
 Since my last letter written home we have made a second visit to River side. Kate and drove over Saturday, April 19, and back on the following Tuesday. We left home about noon and drove over a new road called 1.-The Pass on to Riverside, following the large irrigating ditch much of the way. The day was fine and country beauti- full, and air fragrant with orange blossoms. l think it is called a two and half hours drive, but we drove slowly, and as Dan Mclean used to say, i've drove an hour in 40 minutes. Eh! what dye think O thatl"
 Reached Riverside about o'clock and found Mrs SchermerhOrn and Mrs Merrill glad to see us. MT Merrill has charge of the silk department in the largest store in the city. l called on Mir Munroe, now editor of the River side Enterprise, a hustling daily, and clean. MT Munroe was owner, few paper on which Reuben H. Smith worked when here, of whom he spoke very highly. The evening was pleas antly spent with our friends in talking over NewtOwn, straw rides, etc. They have a splendid home. A large, roomy modern house of their own building, situated in the residential part of the city, and we saw none better. There are houses with more gingerbread work on, but nothing showing more common sense in plan and work and finish.
 It was part of program that Kate dozen to drive to Coldwater Canyon for a, picnic. It is drive of p miles, but not wild drive. We went the entire length of Magnolia avenue and on out by the rGovernment Indian schools, through Corona and Temecu- la, and found. our picnic ground in a narrow canyon with stream of clear est cold water on one side and a pool of hot sulphur water near by, where | many batherS were enjoying them selves. Mrs Schermerhorn baked two | turkeys which. with the other good | things, made feast for us, and as we mountains on all sides,and this stream of melted snow pouring down from their peaks among the clouds, you can imagine we did justice to the cooks table, and kettle of coffee made right on the spot. We had four scatter and four horses to haul us over. MT Merrill, myself and three or four others walked up the canyon a mile or two. We caught sight of a few mountain trout, saw a gopher snake, about four feet long, but not much end. In color it reminded me of our common Streaked snake. They are harmless and we let it pass on. A fair sized rattler was lucky enough to hide in the brush and leaves before we could reach it, and we also ran across a rep tile built after the style of a lizard | only heavier, and about 12 inches long. This was about all the excitement we had. suppose the big game kept out of our path. We made our trip back to Riverside safely, and the following day, after MT Merrill and 1 had made trip through Chinatown, the-electric back to Redlands via Cotton. We stopped on the way to look over rig where the Riverside Water Co. were l boring for water in the artesian belt, | and gained considerable information. They have sunk several wells, one | being 300 feet deep and turning out a great quantity of water.
 The following day we drove up to the top of the Moreno grade. where we could look off over the Moreno valley, in fact all over the San Jacinto valley, which looks very beautiful as they have had good rains this winter, start ing up vegetation on all sides. Next fall, though, reckon it will be as brown as the road bed.
 On Monday of last week we went down to Los Angeles. The town was full of visitors, great crowd of tour iStS in for three days racket. The Supreme Court of Foresters of the United States met there, some Feder- atiOn of WOmen'S club for every state in the Union. Floral parades and other attractions were to make it a week for this city of over 125, ,OOO in- habitants, which 10 years ago could number only a few thousand. Tuesday we took trolley for Santa Monica, quite resort on the ocean, and spent nearly all day strOlling along the beach and lying in the sand. found bathing suit with sleeves and legs short enough and spent the best part of an hour in the great Pacific. The temperature of the ocean was about 63 degrees and l enjoyed the dip very much. There was quite breeze which made me feel bit chilly when out of the water, but not so but that l considered it great sport, and a day long to be remembered. have always lOnged to gaze upon the Pacific Ocear and dip in its waters,and l don't know but l would have cut through the ice if necessary to have the dip, though might have exclaimed as little Alec Smith did when a. hole was cut in the ice that he might be baptized ac cOrding to the customs of the Baptist faith by immersion, as he came uE after. the dip: "Pretty d-lish cold.' We ventured to order fish dime at what was called the best place fol such dinner. Everything was clear and fresh but they cannot begin tt come up to fish dinner on the othe1 side of the continent. They may have drawn clam through the kettle O. chOWder, but l don't think the clan
 was left in the kettle for we saw noth
 ing of it.
 The sea trout which we ordered wa!
 taSteleSS, and though said to be ius1
 caught, was too dry to ever spoil, anC
 1 don't know but that if had had m, eyes shut l might have thought I wal
 eating cork. However, the good peo
 pie out this way are not to blame fo
 the quality of the fish as they com,
 off from the Pacific coast.
 We have had some very nice shat
 out of the rivers up north, and WI
 have had oysters several times as ia
 and as good flavor as any we ever had
 They are being cultivated on th
 northern part of the coast, and we ar
 able to secure very nice frozen oyster
 from the Atlantic seaboard.
 They have a splendid beach alon
 here, nothing but sand and as smooti
 as a house floor, and as the tide wa
 coming in we had a very nice surf, bu not to be compared with the A tlantic