East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-01-02
ENDLESS SUMMER.
LETTER FROM j. IL. WOOD,
AT LONG BEACH, CAL.
Graphic Description of California Cit
les and Sccnes-Mecca of Umatilla
County People is Most Beautiful
Winter Climate on the Earth-Los
Angeles Vividly Described.

The following interesting letter
from Long Beach, Cal, is published in
this weeks Weston Leader.
1t is from ]. H. Wood of Weston,
and is int resting to Umatilla county
people. reoluse so many of them now
winter in southern California:
Long Beach, Cal, Dec. 90, 1904.
To the Editor of the Leader:
l started for San Francisco Novem-
ber 2T on the steamer Columbia. The !
voyage was nice enough until we
crossed the bar and were tossed about
upon the heaving bosom of old Ocean.
With the rocking of the boat queer
sensation seized upon me-often de-
scribed in the case of others. but
never understood until one himself
experiences it. l could not and did
not eat a single meal until we arrived
at San Francisco, December Six
days of fasting and emptiness. 1 was
faint and dizzy for two days after I
got ashore, and when 1 entered a
building it seemed to rock like a ship.
San Francisco is lively place. 1t
buzzes and huns with its congested
populace, like a hive of busy bees. 1t
is all jammed together-the residence
districts as we'll as the business CEN
ter-the streets are narrow and the
street car system poor. Soon after
arriving 1 was rudely awakened at
midnight. My bed shook and the VIM
dows ratified. 1t was an earthquake
and one sufficiently shocking Tor
me.
| / took a trip to Oakland with an eX-
cursion crowd and travelled about S4
miles for 81. After crossing the bay
/ took street car at Oakland and
went out to Berkeley. L never before
saw such magnificent buildings as
comprise the state university, and they
are surrounded by a beautiful land
scape. The grass and trees are green,
/ flowers a-bloom, and one is reminded
of summer time at home. The uni
versity has $500 students, and Will
liam Randolph Hearst gave this great
institution a theater that seats 10000
people.
Going to Piedmont I saw the finest
park of it's size, l presume. in the
world 1t contains about 40 acres,
lavishly beautfied. At Hayworth,
.about 15 miles from Oakland down
the bay, 1 saw the best orchard 1 had
ever looked upon. The soil there is
very rich and is valued at about $500
an acre. 1 refrained from buying a
quarter section.
My next jaunt was to Los Angeles
about 500 miles south of San Francis
co. We Travelled through San Joaquin
valley 200 miles long and 14O wide
They call it a farming country, but
could see nothing to Justify the de-
/; scription. The improvements seemed
to be many years old and the buildings
had a hard times look
Crossing a mountain range at nigh
we dropped down upon Los Angeles
in the morning As nearly as l car
see. the soil around Los Angeles il
, all sand. 1t doesn't look as though i
would sprout black-eyed beans, ever
with irrigation, and they are short o
water around Los Angeles, The!
, have to irrigate by means of aEtesiai
: wells Los Angeles has about 14O,
y 600 population and is kept up by tn
I people who go there to winter 1t i
a dirty town, and l got out of ther
= and went to Long Beach, 16 mile
o south of Los Angeles.
i Electric cars run from Los Angelo
e to Long Beach every 90 minutes, an
S the angels" come here on excursion
every Sunday from ten to fiftee
e thousand strong Its normal popula
f ton is about 5000 Long Beach
= a nice. quiet place on recreation
e clean city and dry one, where yo
: cannot buy glass of beer. The cit
+ water is artesian and tastes Of SUI
phur. It's good for a person-bette
than beer, perhaps. There is "A bat
n house here containing a pool Of sa
# water fresh from the ocean, and {
10 course one can also take dip in tn
o sea itself Summer weather obtair
= here i'm mid-winter. The mercur
" registers - above in the middle
the day But two inches Of rain hs
fallen in year, yet they raise a
'e kinds of vegetables and fruits on irr
le gated land, and the trees never drc
IN their leaves nor change their dress
re green. Strawberries and cream for
'r noteworthy and delicious portion
81 my daily menu.
Oh A pier 1000 feet long and rangir
from 100 to 200 feet in width, reach
Id out into the ocean like a great arr
er Its cost was sSOO,OOO.-J. H. Wood.