Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-11

The greater pOrJlOn OF tlC Sd.le'
loupe crop is sent to Chicago. New
York and other eastern points in re
frigerator cars. As the Coachella val
ley melons ripen fully six weeks earlier
than those Of Rocky Ford, Colo, the
permanency of this remarkable indus
try is assured beyond doubt,
The grapes here are also placed upon
the market from four to six weeks
earlier than from other points. They
brought returns last season of some
thing over 500 per ton. This year
nearly 500 acres will be set to vines,
mostly malagas, as that variety has
been found to be the best shipper Tor
table grapes. -
The harvesting of broom corn is now
i'm progress. This with the sweet potato
crop to be gathered this month VIII
materially increase the financial re-
turns from Coachella. Sweet potatoes
yield enormously and bring fancy
prices. One grower has shipped such
quantities of this vegetable that he is
known as Sweet Potato BILL
The twenty-five acres planted to as
paragus made phenomenal growth
and proved a paying venture. The dry
air OF this locality insures entire tree-
dom from rust, which In many places
is "a drawback to asparagus .propaga-
ton. Grass" they call 1t there.
Poultry hdlSlU9 HlSo oJS
Celery culture and growing the
"tearful onion have both been tried
with such marvellous success that they
will be cultivated this coming year OH
a larger scale
Poultry raising is rendertd delight
full here, from the absence of mites,
dews and fogs, that are ever MIN
ORANGES to such an enterprise. AT
Coachella there will be something like
2OOO turkeys shipped for the holiday
trade.
Asparagus and eggplant in great
quantities, are among the shipments
being made at the present time.
1t would be quite impossible to tell
of all the productions of this fertile
region; one can barely mention them.
Alfalfa, perhaps the most valuable
product from its heavy yield and fire.
quent cuttings barley, oats and
wheat, giving wonderfully heavy crops,
of either hay or grain; corn, sorghum,
and other fodder plants that insure
cattle an abundance of green feed the
year through berries, figs and other
small fruits, all help to cover this
desert" with a wealth of greenery
both picturesque and remunerative.
Of the four towns in the valley,
Mecca, Thermal, Coachella and Indio,
Thermal Is the newest and is making
rapid growth. Indio is the oldest,
having been the desert division point
on the S. P. r. r. for many years.
Mecca takes the place of what was
formerly known as Wolters. 1t is near
Mecca that the government expert
mental date farm has been located.
Most of Shipping From CoachelIa
Coachella, the principal town and
business center, is the shipping point
of most of the products of the valley.
1t is here that the Coachella Valley
Producers association has its office.
Early in the summer, the Coachella
Valley Refrigerating company erected
an ice plant here, at cost of 500, ,O0e,
for the purpose of caring for perish
able productions. Coachella is small
place of 1876 inhabitants; most of the
people reside on small ranches out
side. The entire valleys population
is said to number about 1900.
In May, Lyon & Coggins, commission
men Of Chicago, New York and Puts
burg, constructed a commodious pack
ing house at Thermal, for the purpose
of handling the Thermal Unions big
crop of melons. The structure is 100
feet long, by 40 feet wide, with solid
foundation of cement. In connection
with the packing house Is cooling
house. in which the cooling agent Is
compressed air. The engine COM
pressing the air, forces it over an ice
box, and through the car, after 1t is
loaded, driving out the warm air, and
thoroughly chilling the fruit. The ice
boxes in the car are then packed, and
the train started out, on the regular
freight schedule, instead of on pas
senger time, as of the previous year.
The Coachella ice plant has a ca
pacity of twenty tons of ice per day,
with a daily refrigerating capacity of
ninety tons, and cold storage room for
1S carloads of fruit at once. Hereto
fore, ice has been shipped in at an
enormous expense. When the fruit
was chilled before shipping, it was
found to be fully prepared to stand
the long journey by freight. thus dis
pensing with the extra charge of ship
ping by express. The rate when the
fruit is sent out on scheduled pas
senger time is SO per hundred pounds,
while the freight charge is but 80
cents per hundred pounds.
Thermal is also i'm possession of an
ice plant that of the Armour Refrig-
Grating company. Last season the
cantaloupe crop at Thermal, consisted
of 900 acres, besides hundreds of acres
of alfalfa, grain and vegetables.
Cantaloupes for the Thanksgiving
and Christmas seasons, seems almost
incredible; however. such is the case.
The first melons of the fall crop were
shipped from Thermal on October 3.
by Glenn Bros, to Clifton, Ariz., with
frequent shipments following to Los
Angeles and other points. If this ex-
pertinent of winter melons is the sue
cess it now promises the marketing
season will continue throughout the
year. The Mermaid" brand under
which most of the cantaloupes of the
valley are shipped, is most appropriate
for land situated so far below the
level of the sea.
During the past year most of the
tent houses have been replaced by
substantial homes that will make
pleasant dwelling places for many
years to come.
The alluring charm of this valley
and its natural conditions have drawn
to it a refined intelligent and in
dustrious class of people, many of them
wealthy easterners who find the life
on the California desert altogether
novel and eXhilarating. During the
summer months there is a general
exodus to the coast to escape the heat,
but these residents do not care to
wander far; they are glad to return to