The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-07-15
-, prANT BRINGS PROSPERI-
IN TO THE TOWN OF LOM-
poe, CALIFORNIA.

nonn If the Sun God. Why the
historic Mission Lost Influence.
Iomnoc Cal, correspondence of
.,o New York Post says;
yves sir. about two-thirds of the
.,stard plasters of the United
-.o+oc call this valley home" said
na,,nocian.. 1T is not very aes-
|,o+;c to put it that way, but you
m note that this village has two
,.n,,s. eight or ten churches, and
~ air of prosperity, and that means
,.+ord We raise here about two
Minds Of the mustard used in this
country, and ship enough to make
y. hotter known than some cities of
es+,. times our size. Lompcc is hot
,s. We have no saloons; when
man Gets that yearning feeling we
Come and take a plaster with
NE.
rbare was more or less joking in
.bis which goes without saying;
f,,+ the fact remains that Lompoc
moisos about two-thirds of the mus
.,r5 used in the United States.
tn find it you keep to the right
an the way up the coast from Los
,rooIes to San Francisco, and it is
nearly half way. You pass Santa
barbara. with it's resemblance to
NanIes then Points Arguello and
Convention. and Immediately appre-
ciate the fact that in about an hours
ride Won have left the real Southern
california. Point Conception is the
,,,,rdorv on the coast, at least at
conta Barbara it is balmy and warm
.bonoh on the coast, but a short
time later YOU round the great cape
ord strike a cold wind, and note a
striking difference.
The train has for some time been
rushing along in a seeming river Oh
oold Sometimes the river appears
tn overflow its banks and spread out
for acres. yes, for miles, a real field
of the cloth of gold, apparently
winding its way around the world
90 far as you can see. The golden
river is the mustard in bloom. us
tufts Of blossoms rise, according to
season 70 a height of from four to
Eve feet a solid mass of brilliant
oolden-vellow, the most beautiful
thing to be seen in California, II
Won are fond of a blazing splendid
color which seems to be born OF the
sun god.
This river of gold, which environs
the track continues. until you reach
long. wide, deserted beach cut IN
the center by one of the big rivers OF
California, the Santa Ynez, which
rises back in the mountains some SIX
ty miles away. A splendid surf ten
or twenty feet deep comes pillng IN
and YOU can trace it several miles
across the entrance of the little val
ley. perhaps the finest display OF
surf to be seen on the coast.
The Station Called Surf.
And so they have called the sta
ton, with its one or two homes,
Surf. You change cars at Surf 10
go to LOmpOc, somewhere up in the
Coast Range, and take a little
branch line with fussy engine that
has the distinction of having hauled
more mustard plasters in embryo
than any other. 1t steams up the
Santa Ynez valley, wide opening
in the Coast Range, which leads up
through one of the most fertile re-
giOns in California.
In various parts of the state you
meet mustard and it's golden sheen
in March and April, but there 1t is
growing wild, racing up the sides
of steep canyons away from the main
range, filling little valleys, always
beautiful; but in the valley of the
Santa Ynez it is cultivated and
planted, not by the acre, but by the
square mile; in fact, you see but
little else, and the sight of hun
dreds of acres of golden mustard is
one to remember, for there is moth
ing quite like it, and the man who
invented the term field of the cloth
Of gold must have known such
HELD, or the poppy fields &c south
ern California.
The valley spreads out wider and
wider, merging into the hills, and
everywhere level and beautiful, the
santa Ynez in the center OverhoWlne
here and there with rivulets, doubt
less to irrigate the mustard. a
prosperous looking farm house is
seen now and then in the center OF
gold leaf a mile square-you car
think Of no other comparison-the
another ranch-house, surrounded by
the richest of green hues, still mus
tard, mustard before the flower has
appeared. On the hillsides the mus
tard sweeps upward like flame
covering the slopes, the blossoms
adding to the brilliancy g. the val
ley.
The Mission Fathers.
Possibly, it was this and the
charms of the valley that attracted
the mission fathers a century OF
more ago. They established the mis-