The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1903-06-02
BACK FROM CALIFORNIA
John MCKissick and L. l.. Haynes We're
Displeased with the Prospects in Southern
California Desert.

California Desert.
; Much interest is expressed by the peo
pie of this section in the irrigation
schemes of the west, and especially since
the purchase made by some of our citi.
zens of land near Empire in the southern
part of California, has attention been
drawn there. Some time ago John Nc
Kissick returned from that section and
l.. l.. Haynes came back Monday from
an extended trip over the desert. Both
in the project for speculation or home
making. For the benefit of those who
contemplate making trip to that would
be -haven-of-rest Mr.. McKissck talked
about the conditions there. "I do not
see," says Mr. McKissick, anything
that would draw capital either for the
purpose of speculation or for building
homes in that country. We left San
Francisco and by long journey over
the Central Pacific found ourselves six
hundred miles south of the Golden Gate
and two hundred miles south of Los
Angeles next to the Mexican line in a
hot dry desert. From the car window
| can be seen. as you pass through the
desert, large beautiful lakes surrounded
car at Empire you are grabbed by a
smooth tongued real estate man, a mem
Der of the Empire irrigation company,
and taken out to see country. AS yon
drive across a fiat, barren stretch of
country your lakes disappear and the
forests shrink to sparse but large speci-
mems of greese wood and one finds that
the rolling waves of heat have given him
perfect optical illusion of the mirage
phenomina.
| Where the large ditch that the COM
pany has dug enters the desert the land
is just at sea level but ii slopes away to
the west until the north erd is two
hundred and fifty six feet below sea
level. On the east IS range of mount
range of barren hills that act as re-
fector to the rays of a-torrid sun on the
| hot sands of a desert. At Empire is
salt works and the raw salt is gathered
from the surface of the ground where the
ocean has evaporated and left it c, ystal-
lied. From the main irrigation ditch
run small bitches to all parts of the seven
| hundred thousand acres of country
owned by the company. The surface is
ashley and no rock is present to obstruct
excavation. This is accomplished with a
steam shovel. The land can be home
steaded or bought for 81 IS per acre
un ler the desert land act. Water rights
cost from SIS to $40 per acre. Besides
| this the owner must build ridges around
his land at cost of about 81 90 per acre.
The irrigation is done by flooding. The
water is simply uubearable being
mixture of alkali, salt and herbs OF that
section. AT Empire is a distillery To fur
| nish water for the town and Every
| farmer would be compelled to build
| a distillery for his private use as the
water cannot be purified by filteiing.
Fall grains grow abundantly but spring
crops are failure. Fruits ca,not be
raised on account Of the extreme heat
and peculiar soil.
While there saw a band of 200 head
of cattle and they looked like skeletons
1t would be simply torture 10 take stock
| there. peculiar condition of climate
exists. At times in the year the ground
freezes but the average temperature is
lis degrees above zero. 1t was in the
cool portion of the year that Mr.. Pliter
secured his land and he is already tired
of his bargain. There are a number Of
Mexican Indians on the desert who build
their homes of adobe; they are almost
black. White people who have settled
there have taken on brown color equal
to that of greezer The Empire irriga-
ton company is composed of a number
of adyenturers that were laying around
Los Angeles two years ago. They had
partner to come from Australia with a
sack of money and on his credit sold
watered stock for the purpose of buying
Office space. There headquarters are at
the head of the ditch at Puma, Mexico,
and they hold large tracts of unirrigated
land adjacent to their ditch in Mexico.
The ditch runs 80 miles in Mexico before
| it enters the United States. There is
nothing whatever that I can see that
would prevent them from drawing stakes
as soon as the harvest is over in the
Empire desert and turning their water
onto Mexican soil, leaving the poor land
owners to hold the Sack after the snipes
have fed.
MIR. McKissick visited with DIR Gill
and Adrian Sweet while in Los Angeles
He found Col. Danford prosperous as
attorney for the Empire company.
Boys for Chsmawa.
Il