Imperial Valley press., 1908-12-19

lue ldISGSJ IGCldlldJlOu uCN Cl- opment enterprise undertaken in the Imperial Valley region has been inaug- urated by a syndicate of capitalists, which has just closed a deal for the purchase of 10000 acres of land below the Mexican border from the Califor- mia Mexico Land & Cattle Co.,, for $S00,000, and incorporated with cap ital of $1,500,000 to carry out the project
 The syndicate is composed of fifty Los Angeles and San Francisco capi- talists, including most of the higher officials of the Southern Pacific, the chief owners of the C-M. ranch, Gen. M. H. Sherman. Gov. Gillett and w. F. Holt. Mr. Holt is president and general manager of the company, which is a guarantee of active and ef- fective work in the line of industrial development and an assurance to the stockholders of sound business pol 1 icy. The chief inducement to MT. Holt to go into the project was the opportunity for constructive work and for fixing up" an undeveloped bit of country. The project is a big one, and Mir. Holt expects it to keep him busy for the next ten years.
 The plans already outlined call for the expenditure of about half a mil lion for improvement of the land, To- cation of a town and establishment of industrial enterprises. Water will be taken from the c. D. Co.'S. main canal for irrigation, and the greater part of the tract will be cultivated and made to produce such crops as ] can be handled most profitably by the various manufacturing plants contem- plated, or disposed of in the Mexican market.
 It is probable that cotton which finds a ready market in Mexico at a price higher than the American figure, will be planted extensively and that the Egyptian variety may be selected. A planter of long experience in Egypt is coming from Cairo to manage the cotton end of the enterprise.
 The Mexican market for canned fruits and vegetables, upon which @ heavy duty is imposed when imported from this country, encourages the es- tablishment of canneries to work up the products of orchard and garden. There is a heavy tariff on manufac- tursd dairy products also but no duty on milk and cream. A creamery, mak- ing butter and cheese for the Mexican market, would be able to pay advanced prices for milk to dairymen on this side of the line, and the installation of such an enterprise, which is in- cluded in the plans of the company, would be of direct benefit to Imperial Valley settlers.
 The tract selected by the syndicate includes the best soil in the basin filled by the Colorado river in the course of its many excursions to the Salton Sink. It is the choicest large area of land in all the Imperial Val ley region, and but for the barrier of the international boundary it would have been settled long ago by Amer ican farmers. Under Mexican laws. the only possible system of settle ment or colonization is one that leaves control in corporation direct ly responsible to Mexico, and some plan of leasing or stockholding prob ably will be adopted to make it pos There is less difficulty in locating Europeans and Asiatics, however, and the problem of an adequate supply of labor will not be hard to solve.
 The line. of the Inter California railway, connecting Imperial Valley with Yuma, runs through the tract and provides for transportation of products, and it Is possible that a branch will be built to the Gulf be- fore the projected development is completed, giving ready outlet by wa ter to Mexican ports on the west coast.
 Another railway outlet is more than probable, as there are good reasons for believing that the Southern Pacific contemplates an important change in the route of the Sonora railroad, which is the northern section of the