The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-08-04

tinent that divides the waters or the
Atlantic from those OF the Pacific.
A somewhat different enterprise is
the ascent by rail of Pixies Peak. This
is by cog railway. From Manitou to
the summit IN eight miles and the as
cent above Manitou is seven thousand
eight hundred forty, feet. In going
the last two and one-fourth miles tho
rise in elevation is two Thousand feet.
In this part Of the trip, we reached
out OF the Car window and got snow
from the banks piled beside the road.
From the top, a grand panorama
was spread out extending for one hun
| dred fifty miles. The grandest part
OF this scene to me was an extended
view of the Sangre de Christie range OF
mountains snow capped for more than
one hundred miles.
California is a great state. Great
In wealth, in fruits and flowers, In
productions, and great is the vast ex-
tent Of It's arid lands.
Nearly the entire vegetation is un.
like that of Michigan. Live oaks,
olives, pepper trees, magnolias, English
walnuts, palms, lemons, oranges, red
woods, eucalyptus, and others are to
be found. Even the small plants are
different. Farming is not the same
problem rs In the East. / have been
out in the country and visited some Of
the ranches In the vicinity Of Stock
ton. Wheat, barley, and hay have
been ripe for two months, and yet
great areas are still uncut and will re-
main uncut for two months to come.
This is MOI one of those stories that
thrive without irrigation. (There is
more than one way to irrigate out
here.) I saw one combined machine
at work cutting wheat by steam
power. The cut was twenty-eight
feet wide. 1t was more Of heading
process as the grain was cut high.
The grain was cut, threshed, and
sacked as the machine progressed,
seven men being required. Near the
coast the grain Is bound, and then
| threshed by stationery machines, as
the fcggy weather prevents the thresh-
ing by the header process. After
sacking the grain, the sacks are piled
up In the fields and often are left for
several weeks without cover. You
must remember that there is no rain
from the lastlof April until the middle
or last Of October. Hay, they call 1t
hay, is cut and left In small punches
for weeks, before they draw 1t. Men
experienced In hay pressing told me
that it was ruinous way to do things,
as the hay becomes filled with dust,
and the life is taken out by sun and
wind.
They speak Of wheat hay and oat
hay. The latter being wild oats. TIE
hay is merely mixture Of several
things that have come up from previ.
GUS wheat seeding. There is no
timothy or clover as In Michigan.
The hay is of the color and consis-
fancy of our straw.
Alfalfa is coming into use AND to a
large extent In some localities. But
the poor method OF making the hay
partly spells the crop. BY irrigation
and on strong land, they raise four OF
five crops In one year, on same ground.
Sugar beet culture is one of the
great crops in the West. Large areas
in the vicinity OF Denver are planted
to beets. In the Provo Valley, near
Utah Lake. thousands OF acres OF beess
were looking we'll. But the place OF
all places where we saw beets growing
was In the vicinity OF Oxuard in the
Santa CLARA Valley. For miles and
miles and nearly the whole width OF
the valley, 1t was one great field OF
b,ets. They were harvesting beets In
this section. At Oxaard Is q factory
having a capacity OF 10000 tons pei
day.
There Is an immense amount OF
cru lie or heavy oil used on the country
roads. Some counties use as much as
twenty thousand barrels per year
This Is to keep down the dust. I saw
fine dust three inches deep on road
that was not oiled.
There are many things / would like
to say about the cities OF Denver, Salt
Lake City, Stockton, Sacramento
Pasadena, Los Angeles, and San Fran
cisco, but time does not permit. W.
were Ia Frisco, as they call IT, but two
days, but are going back to sper
several more. While In Salt Lake
City we had the pleasure OF hearing
. the great Mormon Tabernacle Organ
and we have been through China towI
In Frisco.
We were five days In Los Angelo
and the sole topic OF conversation OF
street, car, or cab was real estate. Ii
! my estimation the people have gen
, [ daft on the question. They are real
, estate-msd. The Los Angeles Time