The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-02-05

seated anyhow atop Of the hill that oF-
erlooks the Alessandro valley. 1t was
pretty sight, and the bread and but
ter, though plain, tasted good, and so
we sat there long, taking alternate bites
of provender and prospect, until the late
ness of the hour and a certain safety of
plain bread and butter warned us it was
time to move on. So We descended from
our lofty pedestal and resumed the road.
1t was a far cry to San Jacinto-how
far it was as the crow flies 1 canont pre-
tend TO say, but as the poor beggar halts
it was long, long, decuedly long, a good
quarter Of a century. The road, which, by
the bye, was fetloclS deep in dust most OF
the way, leads along one side of the val
ley-the San Jacinto valley-underneath
the huddle OF bluffs that lie between the
San Jacinto valley and San Timoteo Can
on, and are named on the map Bad
Lands" Bad enough they look, bald and
leprous, a mark for the monday sun
Under these our way went for hours to-
gether, while on the right extended the
floor Of the valley, bounded by low hills
or little mountains
And first came Moreno, sad example Of
faith misplaced-shan 1 say2-and mans
inhumanity to man. For Moreno at one
time had future. Men and women had
pooled their faith in that future, and had
come hither to live and TO bring up fam
lilies. The jackrabbit was speedily dis
possessed of his ancient tenure, the sage
brush and the chaInsical of the hills were
levelled to the ground, wide avenues were
delineated and sounding names bestowed
4b1F, fF1o
Of polysylabic signboards TO this day;
hopeful young orange trees We're duly in
stalled in regimental order, water was
called down from yonder heights, bask-
ing ten thousand feet high in the sun,
and an infant city laid down not far from
one Of the many freakish buttes that fea-
ture the plain, and then the good people
rested from their labors. Nature would
do the rest, they thought, and some fine
day the spiendOrs of Eden would nod
and shine about them, and the frequent
tourist would sigh out his heartfelt ap-
proval o'er the scene, straightway settle
down on the nearest eligible SITE ana
dump his well-lined pockets.
One element, however, the good people
left out of their calculations, OF, rather,
L~s--'AA~AN
certain general lack of the noble quality
of disinterestedness in the human species.
II they could but have foreknown It, there
was unquestionably a day coming when
the water that made green the valley
should no longer fork and send a moiety
Of its formulating wealth in their direc-
ton, but should pour all its scanted tri-
butte into-pockets better filled than theirs.
Even the waters of the heavens. alas!
obey the strongest pun. And so, in the
dire time of drought. this potable gold
minted itself no longer into those fragrant
Hesperidcan apples We call oranges. in
Moreno orchards, but favored the mill
lionares' acres to the north, beyond the
Bad Lands, in the prosperous city of Red
lands. l know nothing OF the legal as
poets of the matter. 1t seems a pity that
men cannot live and let life Perhaps the
golden age Will come again when we lit
tie breed Of men shall learn so to do as
we shall at length rightly discern the
truth, that it is as impossible for any
man, or group Of men, to flourish at the
expense of any other group of men, as it
is for one to life himself over the fence
by MS boot straps. Bat as yet We are
under the old dispensation, under the law.
not the Gospel And so the municipal
tragedy went on unchecked. The prom
Using green Of the orchards shrivelled in
the sun as the drought struck home. Dry
eyed. the rancher saw his homestead burn
with slow flame. While over the heights |
the sideways tinkled merrily, and the /
orange trees felt themselves lift and swell |
with vital juices.
Today the epitaph of Moreno is written /
in weather-blurrad characters upon a Ger
tain signboard on the heights. Hereon in /
large print were aforetime set forth in |
glaTng prospectus the merits of the val /
ley from citrus point of view. Ii was
fair. it was fertile. it was promising. And /
so it was; and so 1T is today, save for /
the little accident OF the water and the /
diversion of the same INTO another direc- !
ton by the little watershed of dollars. /
That signboard is a melancholy sight TO /
the retrospective wayfarer. The sluice- |
ways are as dry as a bone, and though |
the valley shows green and gold, it is not |
the sold Of the Hesperidean apple. but of 1
the homely alfalfa and of the dry stubble- |
field. Moreno has declined upon a hum |
bier agriculture.-Los Angeles Times.