Times-promoter. (Hernando, DeSoto County, Miss.) 1898-1970, 1908-05-29
MORE ABOUT CALIFORNIA
Love A. Dockery Writes Father About
American Tourists Mecca.
Los Angeles, May 10, 1908.

resort 25 miles south of here on the
Pacific. You can go anywhere on an
electric car, and at the rate of 40
miles an hour. This tramway system
is without an equal. You can ride
100 miles for $1.00 to and along the
coast or east to Pasadena and the
orange groves. Southern California
is one big play ground, all arranged
for the eastern tourist, Leave out
the tourist and the whole fabric of
orange groves, ostrich farms etc.
would fail. The climate and varied
topography from ocean through a
garden and up-to- date cities to noun
tains in less than an hour is a unique
combination. The tourist is always
a sure crop and these people know it.
Land values are up in the sky. Since
/ was here three years ago the city
has added so per cent to its census
they claim-but can see that fully
that much area has been added.
Cottages are sprinkled along all the
several lines leading from Los Ange-
les for 20 miles. An acquaintance of
mine paid $12 5000 yesterday for nine
acres of English walnuts and cheap
cottage Is miles out of town. You
see signs advertising half-acre lots at
$400 up, 20 miles from the city, and
maybe not house in sight, but they
are busy laying out cement side
walks, pipe and sewer systems and
etc. with perfect confidence. For in
stance, the new Los Cerritos addition
now consists of nice depot with ter
raced slope, sign boards naming the
imaginary streets and fine city hall.
Not another shingle for a mile.
am told that $50, 600 tourists spend
$40 day each every day in the year
in California and they come more
every year. After LEAKING this mar
row coast strip you find $500 miles Of
desert in width, extending from Brit
ish Columbia to Mexico, then the fer
tile valleys. San Francisco would be
as big as Philadelphia if she had the
same country to draw from. But this
policy started by Roosevelt of finan-
cling irrigation projects will change
all that. The tourist, irrigation, Gil
and the Panama Canal will make this
as populous a section as New England
in few years-a decade or two.
Ranch land around here that could
not be irrigated was worth say 81 an
acre 10 years ago-now it is worth
several hundred when divided up into
lots; the owners could have slept and
still got rich.
The way to make money is to own
a slice of coming country and stay
with it, probably for yourself, but
certainly for the next generation. We
need more people to handle our raw
product and they need land to live on
and for supplying them food. The
California people are having Mysteries
about Oriental immigration. After
all the orange and other fruits, nuts
and grapevines that / have seen re-
Gently planted are bearing, / wonder
where they will get labor to house
the yield. When you were young and
aggressive, you started too far from
the then growing country -now trans
portation facilities are such as to
make one place as near New York as
another.
I have read all my life about the
crowded foreign countries and have
heard about the Texas man who
moved west to avoid the crush when
he had neighbors 90 miles away but
never realized what that means eco
nomically as much as I onow. Nor
If could begin again would I start in
a country that did not expect to
make my permanent home. A long
residence in benighted Mexico with
occasional trips out gives me better
than an average idea OF our own
country. Land anywhere outside of
thickly settled communities is a good
investment. New York. is still com
sidered the highest type real estate. |
Lots Of Memphis goods from China go
to New York and down to Memphis
over railroad or transfer to another
steamer to New Orleans and then
high local freight rates.
A study Of map will show that
most Of the large cities Of the world
are on the coast around a good har-
Dor. Gulfport is the best gulf harbor