Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-04
IMPERIAL VALLEY
FORGING AHEAD
FINANCIAL TROUBLES BEING
BRAvELY OVERCOME
cANTALOUPE RAISING. ALWAYS
TiCkLlSH BUSINESS
Old Order Rapidly Giving Place to
New, and Wild and WoolIy West
Soon viii Be Thing
of Past

perial valley is going ahead prodigious-
ly and seems about TO be entering on .
new era of prosperity. At the present
moment, in truth, there Is some stag
nation, principally in the real estaee
market. Also the past six months NAYS
been marked by untoward and unusual
weather conditions. These Two laets
are the mole hill from which noun
tain of slanderous rubbish has peeii
constructed to the hurt OF the coih-
Enunity.
AS matter of fact, the former draw
back may be laid at the door OF Lls
late lamented cantaloupe season. lnto
the business of raising musKmelonss;
one which angels and experiences
farmers approach with trepidatioh uh-
der the most favorable circumstances
many fools rushed last spring. ane
season was marked, first, by ovSrp -
duction. Then the railroads falleo 10
give adequate service, particularly In
icing the fruit en- route. Thirdly' am
bition to be the first grower on the
market caused several 10 snip greer,
and worthless fruit. Fourtnly-an,o
lastly-the financial depression; Inc
four conditions started lanusIiue VI
past we can look along its path and see
several wrecks that are pitiful and sew
eral that compel us, even In all cnar-
ity, to remark: ut served MIN right.
There was too little caution, too mucn
confidence.
Suppose that by some evil chance
the box makers of Los Angeles should
suddenly go broke. Suppose that all
their business should be swept away at
one fell swoop, and they should be left
with nothing but debts and their large
families. What an awful blow to the
rapid and encouraging growth of Los
Angelesl How her postal receipts and
lit, 1t1ni
Conceive, then, of the terrible blow to
the future prospects and present stand
ing of the valley that befell 1t when the
cantaloupe season went by the board.
Ell Centre FIourlshlng
In Ell Centre, the county seat, the
growth of the business, population,
bank clearings and interest con-
tinues apace. One who saw the
little struggling town year ago would
not now be sure that he was awake.
To be sure, Ell Centre Is a made-to-or-
der town, built up by three or four men
in the midst of a fat plain, with no
excuse for it's existence save that there
q jerk-water railroad, owning three
cars and five by six enPine. unloads
it's Holtville passengers SO that they
can flag a passing Southern Pacific
train to go out of the valley. Imperial
was less than four miles away, large.
fedllIly, BEOWihS, prosperous eS"A'
But FL Centre was conceived, born,
nurtured and made the county seat.
Imperial says by chicanery, and has
now grown to be q healthy stripping,
its municipal trousers hitting 1t about
the ankles and it's boyish waistband
becoming, alas. all too tight II pios
fair, If the courts decide that 1t won
the county seat election a year ago
by methods fairly honorable and eth
ical, to become the leading town of the
valley. A court house site has been
donated, blocks out of the way, In the
usual undesirable corner of pros
pectively populous subdivision. whose
promoters hope to make 1t the hub of
the universe when the court house Is
built. The county Is so young itself
that Ii Is to be doubted whether the
subdivision will take on it's rankest
growth for about eight years yet.
Meantime the county officials manage
TO draw their salaries in a temporary
building, which is about as convenient
as a stable and as comfortable as
public dance hall at 6 o'clock in the
morning. The postoffice has outgrown
it's quarters, which are now In the
least-used portion OF a hardware store
carrying a $4,000 stock in 12x14
frame shack. There are two delivery
windows and when the mall arrives the
line runs out into the street after two
persons are in 1t. That is-one at
each window, Of course.
Imperial Valley "Dry"
One of the prominent bankers of Los
Angeles, who is grub-staking young
fellow in the valley, warned the latter
at some length against the temptations
to a lonely young rancher held forth
by the saloon. Keep away from them,
my boy" he urged. "They look coy
and warm, and they offer you music
and lights and good fellowship. But
look out for 'em." The boy promised
faithfully For the past year he has
never failed to write to his friends who
might be induced to come down to visit
him, For heavens sake, when you
come don't fau to bring a suit case
plumb full Of beer. Plumb full"
Imperial county is dry, by an over
whelming majority.
So that is the reason, and the only
one, why most of the valley towns do
not exactly resemble Rhyolite when 1t
was three months old. There are the
same wooden buildings, the same COM
plicated system of sidewalkfng, where
by each property owner Is enabled to
build his own as part or his edince
i'll the form of a porch, and through
which wise provision every one con-
structs his at a different height and
width from every other one else, so
that a walk from one end to the other
may safely be expected to result in no
less than four minor accidents to toes
and one good fall full length. There
are the same misbegotten signs en-
treating you to "Step in and Look
Over Our Bargains" or 'Try the Mon
tana Cafe Coffee" or BUY Real Es-
tate of Ed Boyd" At night these ILL
shaped streets have the great White
way beaten mile over a muddy track.
The transparercies, made of cheap
muslin, leak light and on them the
paint runs gloriously until Gold Soda"
looks like landscape by Gait! The
Tour street lamps, never by any chance
gong simultaneously; and there are
the gay electric globes in every win
dow, surrounded by an admiring swarm
OF gnats and mosquitoes, who sacri-
nee their lives against the glass with
the abandon and reckless heroism of
Japanese apologizing to their forebears
Tor railing to be shot in battle! Thet
brilliant bottles of hideous colored mix
lures in the druggists window, re-
mlnding you of boyish days full of
paregoric and licorice sticks! The busy
corner grocery where twenty men are
congregated, two of them buying 10
cents worth of supplies each and
eighteen splitting in the general direc
tion OF a common spittoon whose days
appear to have been numbered for
some time, and whose septic condition
"ouid make DR.. Quint recoil in horror.
Times Are Changing
But these towns are fast changing. |
II you want to see a typical wild and
woolly western country village you can
see 1t in Calexico today, but you'll have
to hurry! They are widening the
Streets tearing down the shacks, put !