Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-23
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Richest Part of the State Of
California.
FORMERLY A LAKE
COUNTY rs THE FIRST IN THE
COUNTRY IN MANY RESPECTS.
Tho Land of Great Farms - Growing
Too Valuable for Grain-Cultiva-
ton Of Asparagus
BY WILLIAM T.. CURTIS.

b1 WILLIAM 4. CUhIlS
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
STOCKTON, Cal, September 15 1905.
As we come out of the Yosemite, follow
ing the MERGED river, we enter the famous
San Joaquin valley, the richest part of Call
fornia, and, with the exception of the va
ZOO Valley of the Mississippi. perhaps the
most fertile spot on the hemisphere 1t is
a vast basin which was formerly a lake,
40 miles long and averaging sixty miles
wide, with desert at the southern end and
a swamp for its northern boundary. The
biologists call 1t ''sea-trough," and 1t has
received the silt and decaying vegetation
washed down from the Sierra Nevada noun
tains on the east and the Coast Range on
the west for ages, until what Is known as
the delta region has been covered with
soil of immeaSura BILE depth ana richness. II
says a little toward the center and Is
drained by two great rivers-the Sacra-
mento from the north and the San Joa-
quin from the south-with innumerable trib-
utaries They meet and flow together into
the bay of San Francisco. The swamps,
or 'tules." they are called In the north
ern part of the valley. are being reclaimed
by interesting processes and converted INTO
meadows and farms of unsurpassed fert1l-
ity 1t will not be long before that entire
region Is drained and made ready for asrl-
culture. and the alluvial Landslide tule
swamps-great beds of peat covering not
less than 10000 acres, which were regard
ed as worthless until recently, will. within
the life of the present generation, have per-
haps higher value than any farm land in
the United States, if not In the world.
Retaining the Land.
These lands have been reclaimed In Gu
rious manner. Big bitches are dug at fre-
quent intervals and smaller bitches inter-
sect them then the water is squeezed out
of the soil by running over it heavy rollers.
similar to those used in laying macadam or
asphaltum pavement The land, being on
the same level or lower than the rivers, Is
protected from oyerfiows by huge dykes or
levees, like those of Holland. When the
water has been squeezed out of the soil
into the bitches 1t is pumped back into the
river over the dykes and the same bitches
are afterward, when the crops are planted,
used to distribute water for subirrigatlon.
The reclaimed land surrounded by these
big bitches, is thus divided into tracts
called islands, which are now being planted
to wheat. barley. beans, potatoes, aspara-
gus. onions, chicory, alfalfa and other
grains and garden truck and are used for
pasturing dairy cattle. Before the land is
plowed it is 50 soft and miry that the horses
that draw the plows are shod with shoes
fifteen inches in diameter. made like
wheel The hub Is Of steel and fits over
the hoof The spokes are of hickory or
some other hard wood and are held firm
by steel tire. After the land has once
been plowed the sun sucks the moisture
out of it, and the surface becomes dry.
When water is let in through the bitches,
however, 1t soaks it up rapidly. like a
sponge, and keeps the roots of the plants
constantly moist producing enormous crops
of everything that IS planted
The Premier County.
The census returns include 2,T44 counties
In the United States where agriculture is
practiced and give comparative statement
of the rewards OF farm labor. They show
that San Joaquin Is the banner barley
county OF the Union, ranking first in acre
age, output and profit; yielding 3,467, $50
bushels and returning an average profit Of
$12.3S per acre
San Joaquin also ranks first among the
2,744 counties IN the production OF wheat
having produced 4,192,72I bushels-a yield
of IA bushels and profit of 1851 per acre
to the farmer.
San Joaquin also ranks first In potatoes
showing an average profit of S62 % per
acre, or 1896 more than any other county
IN the United States.
San Joaquin is also the banner bean coun-
ty of the United States yielding an average
OF 35.5 bushels and a net profit of $500 per
acre. which is said to be double that of any
other county In the United States.
Thirty years ago Missouri was the great
est grape-producing state but according to
the census of 1900 San Joaquin county pro-
duces twice as much wine Missouri ILL
nois and Michigan combined.
San Joaquin IS the banner asparagus coun-
ty OF the Union. also, and ranks high In all
other vegetables
You never heard such Dragging! Los An
geleS is a tlmid, biushing violet In COMPARE
son to Stockton and other towns up this
way-but 1t is a good thing to have some
thing to brag about.
Down in the southern part of the valley Is
Fresno, the raisin city, surrounded by vine
yards and orchards, and producing an aver
age OF 100000 pounds of raisins every
year. 1t is the country of figs. also which
are becoming a very valuable staple, now
that the people have learned how to cult
vate them.
Next come the great oil regions of the
state, and beyond them the desert.
Land of Big Farms.
As we leave the canyon of the MERGED