Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-26
SOUTH CALIFORNIA
NOT ARID COUNTRY
Wonderful RainfaHs Have Been Common Since
Even the Early Days ofMexican Occupation.
Stories of Los Angeles From the Long Ago
Written for The Herald by Colonel Joseph D. Lynch

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whether a season like the present, Of
copious rainfall, does most good or Ill
to Southern California. No one who
gives serious thought TO the subject
can long remain in doubt as to its i'm
mense benefit.
For the last decade or so the precipi-
tation has been away behind the normal
allotment. AS result tree growth has
been greatly retarded by the scant
rains, and this has been shown not only
i'm the orchards but in the forest
growths The effect of this pluvial
paucity has been to confirm the i'm
preston that this is an arid country.
To a considerable extent this is true,
but to extensive portions of Los An
geles, Ventura, San Bernardino and
Riverside counties 1t is not so in any
sense, in normal cycles.
One of the great discoveries in South
ern California during the last quarter
of a century has been that, with the
average rainfall in Los Angeles county,
good crops without irrigation can be
raised in very extensive regions south
of the Tehachapi. For years the coun-
ties named were wont to be grouped as
the "cow counties" simply because the
owners of the lands did not themselves
know their capabilities.
Not an Arid Country
7 ,,Iro hi m
began the raising Of wheat crops in the
San Fernando valley people laughed at
him. The first objection was the drouth,
according to the wiseacres who thought
they knew 1t all. The second was the
rust. In spite Of these opinions Mr..
Lankershim, and afterwards his SON
in-law, /. N. Van Nuys, raised splendid
crops of wheat in that valley year after
lyear. The former was really the pioneer
Of wheat growing for the whole state
of California. l remember his once
telling me that in the Sacramento and
Santa Clara valleys he always had to
fight rust at the beginning Of his ex-
periments as fully as in the Fernando;
and that, here as elsewhere, as the
lands were cropped the rust disap-
peared.
It is a great injustice to classify
the counties named as requiring irri-
cation for the raising of the cereals
whether wheat or barley, or beans,
beets or corn. In states in which the
word arid is never heard, such as New
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and
Missouri failures of crops occur fire.
quently. The spontaneity of the sun
and soil in Southern California is so
great that fifteen inches of rainfall
standard staple crops as thirty-three
inches go in the states named.
The average rainfall in the Los An
geles valley in normal cycle of say
fifteen years is as large as that of the
Sacramento valley. There is every
probability that the downpour this year
will be thirty inches, and that we shall
have a dozen or so wet years following.
BY that time the interests Of our peo-
pie will be so multiform that the word
drouth will have retired to "innocuous
desuetude.'
Taking the last sixty years or so,
we know that 1S49 was a famous wet
year, notwithstanding the absence of
exact chronicles. In 1S62-63 came
great dry spell, and that was succeeded
by good years till the famous drouth
of 1S76-77. Good years followed until
we had the phenomenal year of 1884,
when thirty-eight inches were register
ed. Though there is no cut and dried
rule to follow, why should we not look
for something of the kind now, when
long arrears are due and the weather
clerk is in a benignant mood? There
is nothing extravagant in entertaining
precisely that expectation.
In talking about the rainfall the fact
should not be forgotten that Angelenos
whose residence here dates back thirty
or forty years, were treated by the
native Calfornians to stories of the
wonderful rainfalls they always had
before the "Gringo" came. The land
marks, in Los Angeles and adjoining
phOW luoL ColiONo pASNiPitd-
tions were current here some time and
this goes to prove that there was some
basis of fact in these stories.
The fact that the farmer who under
stands his business can do we'll here
without irrigation is a most important
element in cur local situation, and, as
it has been demonstra ted it should be
generally known. When it comes to
raising the citrus fruits and alfalfa,
with it's eight to ten crops year, he
can well afford to pay for the water
which enables him to accomplish such
miracles.
The Modern Venice
Our recent storms have worked
mickle malice on the piers, pavilions
and abutments of the coast resorts, and
notably on the Modern Venice and the
improvements about Playa del Rey and
Santa Monica.
Thousands of our people have an idea
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