The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1909-09-09

Down in the Imperial Valley they cut
alfalfa ten times year and If a man
only had one or two hundred hogs
they would not mention it any more
than a man that had pig or two,for
they raise hogs by the thousands. Pig
weed grows six inches in diameter
We saw it,--but the heat goes way
below sea level. Iowa isn't in 1t.
They say they would defy any man to
drink water from the MIGRANTS when
the thermometer registers 1870 to 140,
but they like it; OF course they do;
they are on the other side OF the di.
vide. Nothing in all the west has so
impressed us as this contagious en-
thusiasm. Some get Disguised and
like the tourist from Kansas, say: Il
wouldn't give my 100 in Kansas for
think what that might mean. Los
Angeles has a population of $4,000, a
connection by electric lines running
2200 cars daily to Pasadena, San Pc
dro, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Whit.
tier, and other towns ranging in pop.
ulation from 5000 to 10000. Then
you begin to see that it isn't all boost
and tourist. There has to be some.
thing to make and sustain such cit.
les. The value of the orange crop in
southern California is 30 million dol
lars per annum. The orange grove
gives profit of from $500 to $4,000
per acre. 1t costs $3.50 to $500 per
acre to buy the raw land and $3.50 to
$3.50 to plant into oranges. The cost
of water varies, then there is the
spraying, pruning, cultivating and
waiting for the trees to bear II
Iowa farmers would take the same
care of their orchards as they do in
the west they might make as high a
rank as an apple state. The apple
orchard OF the northwest produces as
much per acre as the orange grove Of
California, as they claim that apples
produce from $500 to $4,000 per acre,
and Iowa was close competitor to
Idaho. which was first at the Horti-
SuiIuini i1Ahiuitioh 2 III oIudHd ldSL
year. Another thing we may learn
from the west, and that is to COM
bine. Both the apples of the north
and the oranges of the south are in
the hands Of the Fruit Growers asso-
citation. They are packed and sold
by them and this has made their sue
cess. l quote from statistics in
Southern California In four years
the association has sold so million
dollars worth of fruit and distributed
it to 1000 members, and mas only
lost in bad debts S3S1.45. In passing
| will tell joke on one of our fellow
townsmen touring just ahead of u.s.
They asked him over in Whittier if
ne didn't want to go down to the
packing house and he said no, he had
been in Chicago Omaha and Kansas
City, and he thought he didn't care
10. They kindly told him that here
they packed oranges, not hogs. But
Southern California has other things
than oranges. Their annual output
of oil is 80 million gallons. Then
there are walnuts, lemons, olives,
grapes, raisins and beans. If we
learned nothing else we certainly
know beans now, as we saw thous-
ands of acres of them. Everyone has
broad visions, they think and plan
for the future. San Francisco rising
out of her ruins of three years ago,
cleaner, better6 city; Los Angeles
bringing water 240 miles that in the
future they can support city OF two
millions, shows the spirit of the west
They are laying the foundation for
greater things; it is so everywhere
Any city of the coast would have ris-
en- out of the ruins just as San Fran
cisco has done. 1t is this boost" of
The west. They simply will not be
downed by fire, earthquake. drought,
or food. They believe in themselves
and in their country, and they are
bound to win. | have always been
prejudiced against California. | am
still. but | am trying to be just. | do
admire their spirit and | wish it
would get over the Continental Di-
vide and strike our great middle west
where crops never fail and panics are
not felt. We just crossed the Divide
rs | write this and the Spirit of the
Pacific has left me. We are going
east and home. g
Mrs. S. ]. Steddom,