Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1907-01-31
A California ler

uary 8, 1907. Dear Ladies of
the Aid: We located at this
place in September, as / wrote
you we intended. Mr.. Friend
has a good position, we like the
school, our neighbors, and are
pleased in general with this
part of California. 1t is said
that every variety of climate
in North America can be dupli-
Gated somewhere in this state,
and with the great variety of
industries, it seems one could
be suited someplace. AS the
temperature of the Pacific is so
nearly the same throughout the
year along the coast, we have
no very marked change of eli
mate here, except that we have
ram in winter. Thhe rainfall
of the state increases from
south to north, the average
yearly rainfall at San Diego in
the southern part being 10
inches, at San Francisco 23
inches and at Eureka and other
northern points as much as 46.
If one has never visited this
place, it is not easy to picture
it as it is, from a glance at the
map. San Francisco Bay is
much larger than many sup
pose and is dotted with islands,
Mare, Goat, Angel and others.
The only entra &c to the bay
from the cce* !. IS iolden Gate,
one mile wide. The bay ex-
tends to the southeast about 40
miles, and to the northeast
something like Is miles, form
ing an immense peninsula on
each side of the Golden Gate.
On the southern peninsula is
San Francisco, surrounded ex-
cept on the south by the waters
of the bay and ocean. On Goat
Island is the naval school and
at Mare Island the navy yard.
We are across the bay to the
northeast. 13 miles from San
Francisco. All tho towns along
the bay are filled with refugees
from that city, and such time
as we had house-h hunting! 1t
looked for awhile as il we
would not dnd a house at all,
but we did finally find a small
one on a prominence overlook
ing the bay. Not much of a
.ouse but the surroundings are
simply beautiful. 1t is called
Marine View" and rightly
named, for the picture before
me is a perfect panorama of
watercraft. Up the bay, to
the right, winding like great
white swans down the Sacra-
mento, come the river steamers,
out into the bay and across to
San Francisco, the ferries from
the towns on this side running
across some everv hour; gov
ernment tugs, fishing schoon-
ers, foreign vessels from all
most every nation under the
sun, and an occasional warship
going up the bay to the Mare
Island navy yard. and along
with this, on the opposite side,
| see the stern walls Of San
Quentin, the only black spot on
the picture. Is 1T not a marine
view? But a shadow creeps in
occasionally and | get to won
dering if we should have a hard
quake 1--WE pay no attention to
little ones) whether we would
go over into the bay or down
the hill on the other side. And
talk about the wind wailing
around the corners of the house
during a blizzard! 1t is "rag-
time" music compared with the
mournful sound of the fog
horns. But thereby the mar
liner is warned and we'll be
content.
Richmond and Point Rich
mond together are a growth of
about six years and have some
1000 inhabitants. The S. P.
r. R. runs through here and it
is also the terminus of the San
te Fe. There are several brick
plants, a brickette plant, a
match factory nearby, a winery
in construction, and Rockefeller
has an oil refinery and employs
about 1900 men. The oil is
piped in it's crude state from
the oil wells at Bakersfield and
the refining and loading is done
at this place. He has a piel
built out into the bay to accom-.
modate deep sea vessels and
suppose that cargoes of oil are
loaded here for nearly every
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