The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-01-03
ONWARD TO THE PHILIPPINES.
nr. Charles E. Hoyes Writes From
the hid-Pacific to Home Friends.
the Editor of The Republican.

Early on November LIST we Weakened
and found ourselves at Yuma, Arizona,
and our train on the Southern Pacific
Railroad was crossing the great Colora-
do river into the Golden State" Cali
fornia.
The first things 20 attract our atten-
ton after turning out of our berths and
hurriedly dressing, were the scattered
grass huts of the Indians on the Yuma
reservation and the dirty squaws and
papooses themselves, who were coming
out rubbing sleep from their eyes. Then
our lonc overland train, pulled by the
big OH L.rning engine, plunged into the
desert again on its way to Los Angeles.
Nature has been kind TO Southern
California in many ways, but the lard
is crying for water, and men are rapid
ly supplying the best lands with the life
giving fluid, thereby turning barren
deserts into fields and orchards. You
have probably read how one such at
tempt was overdone here as follows:
/ ''Salton Sink" j. valley more than
one hundred feet below sea level: in at
/ tempting to irrigate this valley. from
/ the Colorado river, the whole river was
unintentionally turned from its course
into the sink and quickly formed a
large lake or sea" as it is called here.
/ The few houses in the valley and the
( railroad tracks were submerged and a
new road made on higher ground. A
7 few days before our arrival the break
in the river bank had been filed and
the waters again turned toward the Gull
of California, but the waters of the new
''Salton Sea" were tapping the railroad
as we passed and spreading over the val
ley twenty or thirty miles. Within a
few years this sea" will have evapo-
rated, and water brought from the Col
. orado, properly controlled, viii have
turned q sandy desert into fertile
+ valley, which will be divided into hun
dreds OF small farms, orchards and
town lots, in spite of the fact that the
great Colorado is above it on the east
and the Pacific on the west hundred
feet higher
| At 4 p. m, on the same day we arriv-
ed in the metropolis of Southern Cali
fornia, Los Angeles. The City of the
Angles, " as its Spanish name signifies,
is booming. Its population is now
lpl1t ON cold tp lr,-n
10000 during the last year At a re-
cent election a strip of country from
the city to the ocean was annexed,
/ making it a seaport. The country
around and from the city to the ocean
is being divided into town lots. We
passed thru one townsite, formerly
bean ranch, but now laid out in lots
with streets, pavements, parks, but not
house yet. Real estate agents are as
thick as bees and almost everything is
/ for sale but prices are generally in the
/ sky. A great future lies before the
/ State: its climate is worth more than
! its gold
/ Most of the people of this section
/ have come from the middle west and
eastern states, but there are emigrants
from every country of Europe, and
! few MeXicans, who cling to the Ian
guage and religion taught their fathers
by the Spanish missionaries before the
stars and stripes were hoisted over our
great southwest.
The writer spent two. weeks in PomC-
ma, typical young California city,
thirty miles east of Los Angeles. 1t
lies in broad valley at the foot of the
Sierra Madre mountains. Oranges,
lemons, English walnuts, pears, prunes,
apricots, grapes, sugar beets; alfalfa,
olives, ETC., are raised; barley is raised
on the hills during the rainy season
without irrigation, but the orange
groves are carefully irrigated with wa
ter from nearby mountain streams.
When we were there in November the
oranges were beginning to ripen, roses
blooming and the days warm frequent
ly 80 degrees-with cool nights, until
the rains began to fall, when cool
weather prevailed with a few frosty
nights, but the flowers and oranges
uninjured. While we were having al
most summer weather in the valley.
however, the mountains were covered
with snow, forming beautiful picture
indeed.
The care bestowed upon the orchard
here is astonishing. For example the
orange trees are planted in exact rows;
they are watered by irrigation bitches
every month, and after each irrigation
the ground between rows is carefully
raked over; fertilizer is sometimes APP
piled while in some groves peas are
raised between rows then plowed under;
grass is not allowed and the ground is
kept clean, mellow and moist; the trees
are kept carefully trimmed and sprayed
if attacked by insects Some even
cover their trees with canvas if frost
threatens.
Orange groves cost in Pomona from
$4,000 to $50, 900 per acre. Unimproved
u -