Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-17
Financial Institutions of
the Angel City Solid
Bulwarks of
Commerce

products of the soil assume large pro-
portions.
Again the discovery of petroleum
twenty years ago in Southern California
with the subsequent development of the
product I'm paying quantities, has made
it possible to build up our manufactur-
ing interests. Prior to the discovery of
petroleum our fuel was imported coal
and It was SO expensive that IL was im-
possible for our manufacturers to COM
pete: now our crude oil has entirely
supplanted coal, and at the prevailing
price of from 40 to 10 cents per barrel
we are placed almost on an equality
with Pittsburg and with cities located
III the natural gas area i'm the cheap
ness of our fuel. Cheap fuel has given
a wonderful impetus to the growth of
manufacturing interests in Los Ange-
les and Southern California, affording
employment to an ever increasing army
of workers until now the number of
our factories exceeds even our own
comprehension, and the end it not yet.
Business men from the east who visit
us take advantage Of the opportunities
offered to establish new lines of in
dustry and remain to give the members
of their families asld themselves the
benefit of more genial CLINE than they
have been accustomed to.
Growth Of Angel City
Thirty-siN years ago Los Angeles city
had about 1900 American inhabitants
and the remainder of its 5000 was made
up of native Californians ana others
from every nation under the sun. In
1880 there were 1900 persons here,
largely American: in 1890. 80, ,0OO in 1900,
102, ,OO0 and now, estimating from our
school census and the present number
of water consumers in the city, we
must have at least 100000 inhabitants.
We acknowledge. with many thanks,
that we are indebted for the energy dis
played by our people and to the pros
porous and successful men who have
come to us not only from the middle
west but from all over the country.
Each one of these men brought some
good idea of his own with him. ana
coming i'm contact with men of like cal
iber from other parts of the country,
blended into a community which works
harmoniously as a whole for the benefit
of the whole This is somewhat evil
denced by the fact that our chamber of
commerce, which has 2200 active mem
bers, is an institution which is certainly
not equaled in any city of the country
of more than twice the size of Los
Angeles.
A great project is sometimes vast
benefit to a city, even if it costs large
amount of money. Up to the present
time we have depended upon the valley
to the north and west of us for the sup
ply of water for Los Angeles city. and
SO far, without being bountiful, it has
been sufficient, though to say the truth
we use more water per capita than any
large city in the United States, prin-
cipally because we have so many lawns
and produce so many flowers. With the
growth of the city, however, and the in
crease of population in the surrounding
country has come the necessity for q
larger supply, and a project that we
have for bringing this water some 20t
miles is now being examined by some
of the most prominent water engineer:
in the United States. We believe thai
they will advise us that this project i.
entirely feasible and will approve the
plans laid down by our own engineers
The city has expended a good deal OF
money so far toward this end, having
purchased 100000 acres of land in a val
ley Immediately east of Mount Whitney
in the Sierra Nevadas, the highest wa
ter shed in the United States. Rights
of way have been secured from the
United States government and from
private parties 50 that if the undertak-
ing is approved all will be in readiness