The Newtown bee., 1904-07-29

be cut IS inches through. The noun
 tain range of which am writing is no
 rocky, but rich soil from base to ton
 and wherever clearing is will be seel
 patches of barley, wheat or oats, an,
 occasional patches of corn or potatoes
 while the finest table grapes in thu
 United States are raised by the hun
 dreds of carloads. Peas, plums, peach
 es and prunes are raised and shipped
 In large quantities. Twenty-Five miles
 beyond Santa Cruz we descend from
 the mountain and stop at Los Gatot
 and are only seven hundred feet above
 the level of the sea. We here enter
 the Santa Clara valley and will follow
 along through it until we reach San
 Francisco, still 55 miles distant. We
 are now ten miles from San Jose,
 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TOWN
 in all this valley, and the county seat.
 The city covers an area of 20 square
 miles and outside of the business cen
 tre is one continuous stretch of or.
 chards and vineyards, and in fruits,
 prunes take the lead. When fruit
 culture was first introduced it was
 found that from soil ingredients and
 climate conditions there was no place
 in the state So we'll adapted to the
 growing of prunes as San Jose, and the
 town went wild over prune culture.
 Plums, pears, apples, apricots, peaches and cherries are also largely cultivated,
 while great deal of the valley. land is given up to the raising of wheat, and it being the season for harvesting, gave us fine opportunity to see the work going on to perfection. Our two days stay gave us ample opportunity to get good general knowledge of the place and also to meet many intelli- gent and cultured people, our tickets giving us the privilege to stop over where we please to the extent of 30 days, west of Chicago. Fifty years ago an old schoolmate and friend of mine left Newtown to make for him. self a name and a home in California. There are still goodly number of people in our town who, when I men, tion the name of David Belden, will recall him as boy of more than or dinary ability, and when the age time came for learning trade, apprenticed himself to learn the carpenters trade w3th Hiro m Doruoo 1oo of nrnoo,v,c Orchard. Faithful to his employers interests, studious in his habits, these traits served him we'll as time went on, until he became leading lawyer in the Golden state, and at the time of his death was judge of the Superior court, and 8 jurtst without his peer on the Pacific coast. He died about Is years ago, and his widow still lives in the beautiful home that is surrounded by trees and artistic adornment of his own planting. We were cordially re- cefved by her and when she found us to have been friends of her husband in the long ago, she was very glad to know us, and we had a pleasant chat of "reminiscences of the early days The following day we went to the beautiful Oak Hill cemetery and stood by the plain monument of Scotch granite that marks his place of burial. His memory is held in loving remem- brance by the people of the city of his adoption, which speaks louder than could any eulogy cut in brass or mar ble. Standing beside his grave and looking far across the valley, we could see on the top of Mt Hamilton, 14,- 444 feet above sea level, Lick observa- tory with it's 36-inch refractor, the second largest in the world, where those who are seeking new worlds to conquer can find any number with its aid.
 Trolley cars run in every direction and by their help we saw the city from every vantage point possible. Our longest valley ride was from San Jose to point 15 miles distant, through valley as FERTILE AS THE VALLEY OF THE NILE, whereon grew all manner of fruits pleasant to the taste and all manner of flowers beautiful to the eye. Bound ed on three sides by the Coast Range and the Santa Cruz mountains, and sloping gently toward the ocean on the south, and fronting on San Francisco bay, it has a water entrepot for the valley where many vessels come and go and help add variety and life the whole year through. Lines, lemons and oranges flourish, but are not much raised for commerce, because the soil and climate make the raising of other fruits more profitable. They have a bountiful water supply, the rain fall in the mountains being much larger than in the valleys. We must not for get to say that some of the greatest