Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-04-12
THE NEW CALIFORNIA
A Vast Region Just Opening For
Development.
Sacramento Valley Destined to Rival
the Los Angeles District.
Wheat Land Being Given Over to
Oranges, Citrus and Other Fruit.

line at the base of Mt. Shasta, olives
and citrus fruit produced i'll prOfusion
in valleys SO fur north of San Francisco
that the idea of growing them there
was but few years ago considered an
evidence of unbalanced mentality, these
are the evidences of ii great change
which is taking place in the Sacremen-
to Valley and making it vcritable new
California.
Volumes have been written about the
orange growing country about Los An
gclcs, and the story of the marvellous
growth of that city ana the surround
ing region has been made familiar to al
most all Eastern readers. The sue
cess there has been prodigious and Is
evidence of what pluck and persistent
booming will do. The Los Angeles
people began with just one sure thing,
"a perfect climate. All else was bare
sand dunes on which to the ordinary
eye it would seem hardly possible to
grow anything. The eye of faith saw
| that with irrigation and planting the
place could be made a garden spot, and
this has come to pass. Yet the avail
able land in this region has been pretty
well taken up and new wOuld-be fruit
farmers looked in vain for new and
cheap lands on which to plant. So a
new Canaan was sought by the adven-
turous few, and the result of this
search is the new California of the
| fruit-grOwcr.
If you will take look at the map of
California you will see in the extreme
west two ranges of mountains, the ST.
ezra Nevada and the Coast Range run
ming parallel for nearly five hundred
miles. The SiskiyOu at the north and
the Tchachapi at the south link these
mountains together, forming an i'm
mcnse watershed within whose bounda
ries is Il vast basin. This basin, geolo-
Sists tell us, was at one time a great
inland lake and the decayed vegetation
| of centuries, washed by rains and
drawn by gravity, accumulated therein,
forming soil of great depth and I'M
equalled fertility. spread out in the
bottoms by the wash of mighty streams
These streams are there today; that
flowing from the south drains the val
ley named from it the San Joaquin.
From the north flows the stream that
Los BuenoS Padres deemed to pure and
clear that he called it Sacramento, and
this valley is the new fruit growing
country. 1t is one of the largest river
valleys in the world, and it is conserva-
lively reckoned that it is capable of
supplying population of six million
people, who can grow there every va
riety of plant known to the temperate
and sub-tropic zone. 1t has an area Lf
perhaps 10000 square miles.
|
boon long known. Through it a half
century ago roamed the vast herds of
the Mexican vaqueros who settled 1t
first, and gave way in later years to the
American ranchmcn. These in turn
were invaded by the wheat farmers,
who still hold sway in many portions.
Only few short years ago a man
might ride a horse for a day and not
ride off the domain of single wheat
farmer. Yet today these great wheat
farms are rapidly being cut up into ten
and twenty acre lots and planted with
fruit trees.
1t is only Il little ago that the first
orange orchard was set out in Orovillc
| Butte county, and the adventurous pro-
moters of the scheme We're freely criti-
ciZed as insane by almost everybody
| who knew of it. Oranges would not
grow on that soil. everybody knew
that. The frost would kill the trees, or
if it did not would ruin the bloom.
! Disaster of al sorts WAS freely pre-
dicted, yet these argOnautS in northern
fruit growing went on. prefcrring ex-
detrimental to nom progressive argu-
mcnt, expanding about $4,000. In
three years after planting. S25 GER acre
over and above the cost of picking and
planting was realized. This corpora
ton has today hu.1rcd acres in full
bearing, worth at least S15O,O00.
1t does not take the wise men of the
! East long to see q star of new COM
mercial prosperity rising, and they
have followed this portent to where it
stands above the Sacramento Valley.
The growing of citrus fruits here has
passed rapidly beyond the experimental
stage. for today statistics show already
upwards of a million trees in full bear
ing in this region. beside five hundred
thousand not yet bearing. and three
hundred thousand just planted. This
means only the beginning of develop
ment which is bound to have a cumula-
tive increase. The great farms still fill
Il SoOu portion or the valley.
In 1861 sixty thousand tons of green
fruit were shipped by rail out of the
Sacramento Valley, to say nothing of
the amount that went down on river
boats. against thirty-three thousand
tons from the balance of the state,
nearly double the amount. Other fruits
are wonderfully successful here too.
The Stanford vineyard in Tehama
County and the NatOma vineyard in
Sacramento County, comprising five
thousand acres, each claim the largest
output of any single vineyard in the
world. Near Corning. in Tehama
County are nearly five thousand acres
in olives. some in bearing for the first
time this year. One man in Orland,
fourteen miles south of Corning, has
siXty-hyeFures Of almonds in full bear
ing, most successful venture. But it
Is not the large growers alone who sue
coed. In the same town is an old
couple, living upon a single acre upon
which they raise oranges, lemons,
Strawberries, blackberries. and Belgian