Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1908-05-13
CALIFORNIA LETTERS
From J K MorreI and Others In
Correspondence With Michi-
gan Friends.
LAND OF EARTHQUAKE S
FIeas, Rdttlesnakes, Dust Storms
Drouths, Etc.-Living Very High
And Times Close.

The following letters from California
were written by friends and relatives OF
one of Gratiot Cos we'll known farmers
a resident of Seville township, and who
himself endorses every word of the let
ters. They certainly picture the west
ern state in any but an attractive style
to the man who has to hustle for his
livelihood;
Long Beach. Cal.
We are glad to know that our friends
think of us sometimes and that your
father and mother are so nicely located
in home of their own, though you
have to.drive to 90 and see them Roby
can go in every day.
Well, VIII, wonders never cease.
and will people of America never
know, when they are well enough of.
You know we were told we better
come to California, the land of sun
shine and warm feet, where gold is
found In the sand and dust of the
streets. ana live under your own vine
and fig tree and l can be with you, T"
and now he is couple of thousand
miles away from us. out of the
United States down in old Mexico }
and may not return to his land of
earthquakes, feas, horned toads,
rattlesnakes, dust storms, thunder
storms, drouths and cloud bursts and
washouts thrown In. Potatoes are
81. so a bushel; apples, if you can
get them, 81 20 bushel; chickens
81. 90 each and it costs Sl.2 to raise
them, where the roads have TO be
flooded with black odoriferous to keep
down part of the sitting dust, where
a bit of land the size of your barn
will cost from 5000 TO $50, 900, dol
lars, according to location. neither
fertility nor lack of the same ever
taken into consideration, usually the
lack of it, as we have found. 1t does
seem funny when man is rich enough
to own chicken or a COW, never a
pig. and would feed them corn, he al
ways feeds rolled barley and when
you go to the well for pail of water,
you have to call up the water company
and pay gold for little q inch pipe,
hitched to pipe which brings little
insipid water from pond way up in
the foothills somewhere, where the
Indians go in swimming, but most
of the dirt has got settled before it
gets down here. Most of the milk this
country has. comes from cows that
are psstured in Illinois or York state.
We did see little green last winter,
but after awhile it turned yellow
and we learned it was wild mustard,
miles and miles of it.
After tho winter rains, yes rain |
This country goes ny contraries. Rain,
rain, rain, when it does rain for
weeks and weeks, and you wonder if
Ii will never stop-but when it does
1T stops, and then none for months.
To make a hole in the ground You
take a steel bar and drill down Just
as thew do in sandstone quarries, the
ground is so hard We get potatoes
from Dakota flour from Wisconsin
and Minnesota and buckwheat from
Ohio: cheese from Wisconsin; canned
corn and other canned goods for York
state.
If you do not bring catarrh with
you you will soon have it in this cli-
mate so hot in the middle of the day
and cold winds from off the snow on
the mountains at night causes catarrh.
bronchitis and pneumonia. Chilly
evenings, and cold foggy morning
cause sore throat, rheumatism and
other like diseases
Times are very dull now so the
people have plenty time to sit around
and eat mince pie, minced from
yesterdays rations.
Phinnegan told Pat that this Amer
lea is foine coontry, Gold eagles roll
up hill with electric cars hitched be-
front, but the nip is to get the eagle. -
Perhaps you can find answers to
some of your question in this jumble
of words. The fact is we hardly
know how to answer intelligently.
We are well, in fact we have to be.
Hope you are well and contented at
least you ought to be,
Yours i II MorraII