The National tribune., 1903-03-26
ATTRACTIONS
OF CALIFORNIA.
Things That Win Interest the Grand
Army Visitors. ~
BY ERNEST HoRsrALL RypALL.

by ERNEST HORSFALL RYDALL.
After the long journey to the Pacific
Slope. after the meeting of the boys in
blue and the exchanges of fraternal greet
ings and remembrances in San Francisco,
the veterans will try to behold the wonder
full in California; they will inspect China
town, one of the great tourist-sights in San
Francisco. where 10000 Asiatics inhabit
four squares of the city; they will go to
Cliff House. to Golden Gate Park and
across the bay. They will then wander
away to the north or sou.h-to the fertile
fields of the north or the darkgreen or
chards of the south of California. At that
season of the year they will saunter by
the seaside and seek relief from the omnis-
Gent and omnipresent sun that glowers all
over this torrid land at that time of the
year. Some will venture over mountains
to the Big Trees, while others will seek
the classic precincts of the Sacramento
River and visit the thriving cities of
Stockton and Sacramento. Many will go
soutll--to the tourists paradise-Southern
California, the land of the horned toad
and the humming bird. Let me, as it
were, take the veteran by the hand and
save both his time and his money, using
both to the greatest advantage.
Taking the steamer from San Francisco,
time arrive at Los Angeles. some 800
miles away. He may get off at Santa
Barbara and visit the Santa Barbara Mis-
sion, that well-preserved monument of
by-g0ne age, when the Saxon with his
steam engine was absent from California
and the AngeluS rang out at eve to call
the unpaid Indian sons of toll from labor.
He will be well rewarded for this arrest
of his journey. Some 20 monks inhabit
these ancient premises, and these will
edify him with their recollections and their
exhibition of the antique curiOsities this
old monastery contains.
But Los Angeles is the objective point,
for Santa Barbara, compared with ii, is
only village. From here he will venture
to the various places of interest so well
advertised and freQuented in the locality.
Mount Lowe, with its inclined railway
that wonderful piece of engineering work
will claim his attention and admiration:
the old mission of San Gabriel will give
him a view of the historic past, and a
hasty glance into some of the novels in
the vicinity will show him the kind of peo-
pie that once alone tenanted the noun
tainS and wales of California; for around
these old mansions collect the descendants
of Indian squaws and Spanish soldiers who
still bear some of the hereditary character
istics of their ancestors. He will drive
around the palaces of the wealthy in Los
Angeles and visit the small parks; he will
see the importance OF wafer in a New
Palestine, and he may, if thoughtful. get
some faint idea of the future magniicence
of Los Angeles by riding about in an OBJ
seryatiOn car: but the beach, some :. IS
miles away, will fascinate him at that time
of the year, as it does most of the resi-
dent population. and en- route he will visit
the Soldiers Home, where 1000 battle
Scared veterans are receiving the benefac
tions of the United States Government.
No better advice can be given the vet
eran than-gO TO Catalina, an island some
20 miles from shore, where the soft ocean
breezes ever blow and where the balmy
air refreshes the mind as much as the
body. All kinds and sizes of fish are
awaiting his attention in the waters of
Santa Catalina-the ideal fishing grounds
of Southern California. He can catch the
gamy jewfish-that they say never eats
pOrk-or the deep-sea bass, either weigh
ing from 3 to 100 pounds he can shoot
the fying-fish or pursue the nimble wild
goat as it skips from crag to crag on that
seagirt lonely isle. He can take a tally-hO
ride and view the most beautiful maritime
and mountain scenery, or he can sequester
| in idleness at the beach with the. majority,
! for he is in the most romantic, out-of-the
way and secluded spot in all Southern
California. If he is an old man, and most
| veterans are. the beach will ctach him, for
| no matter how energetic the stranger is
| upon arriving at the island and how good
| his intentions. he will inevitably join the
aggregation of loafers in due time that fire.
quent the unique little crescent-shape
| beach at Avalon, the chief and only port
| of Santa Catalina.
Returning to the city, he will visit by
| all means the great ostrich farm at Pasa-
| dena and see not only few hundred
ostriches of all ages and sizes, but the
original American ostrich farmer and I'M
porter, Mr.. Cawston himself, the man who
Is years ago sailed away from Africa in a
small ship with four dozen of these strange
pegasi of the desert and brought them to
California to found the American ostrich
| industry. All that money and skill can do
has been done to make the place attractive
| to visitors; the barren corrals of the os-
\ triches are surrounded by unnumbered
| tropical plants; these. by flowers of every
hue and strange cacti, contrast with the
| harmonious appearance of these well-regu-
lated and preserved evidences of ianscape-
gardening skill. Hosts of ostriches will
advance toward the veteran. not to bid
him welcome to Southern California, but
to have their elongated necks filed with
| oranges; one can feed three dozen oranges
to one ostrich without the necessity of any
one saying next" The peculiar roll of
| the oranges down their long necks is quite
| interesting.
The ostrich chicks, with their yellow
striped necks will be found most interest
| ing; and visit to the incubatOrs on the
| farm will reveal the origin of ostrich
species in a most fascinating manner
Further down the great aisles are the
pens of the families; here are seen one
male and two female ostriches together,
walking up and down ceaselessly and
viewing with tender solicitude the mon
strous eggs in those great holes in the
ground they call by courtesy ostrich nests.
| Very likely genuine ostrich feather,
although of small size, will be given by the
enterprising management to each veteran:
it is not expected they will give large ones,
! for these are worth about n dollar each
| when just taken from the bird.
Here may be seen machine of great inter-
est-the solar motor. This is a contrivance
| that focuses the rays of the sun, throws
| them upon center cylinder and boiler and
| thus heats water, so that in one hour T.
| horsepower engine is operated by the de-
vice. 1t runs by itself all day and faces
the sun, for without the sun the machine
| is of no account; it has plenty to do, how
ever, in Southern California.
Passing onward, the visitor finds him
self opposite pen containing genuine wild
ostriches. These birds were brought at
great expense from Abyssinia, and were
mere chicks, or else they could not have
been caught; for the domesticated ostrich
has resulted from the young of wild os-
triches. Like a good many animals, it is
l.. hat L.,