The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1909-01-14
CLIMPSES OF THE
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
This Once Barren Desert Is
Being Made to Blossom
as the Rose.
L. G. Stenquist Tells of the
Place He is Located in
California.

! /
write you when we got settled in our
new home, but as I was quite busy
during the summer months caring for
our young orchard I had almost for.
gotten my promise and it is so hard fol-
me to start writing anyway. was
reminded of my promise, however,
when ! read Mr.. Hyatt's and Mr.. Bells
letters about Oregon.
shall not in this letter attempt tc
discuss the merits or demerits of the
coast country but will confine myself to
telling your readers few things about
this part of California as see it. We
have today, the second day of January,
but it is hard for me to realize that it
is this time of year with flowers every
where, the grass green and the weather
spring-like. 1t seems almostimpossible
to think of Christmas time without
snow and cold but the calendar says it
is SOFT must be so.
We are located in the San Joaquin
valley, the largest valley in the state
and almost in the geographical center
of this great state. This valley is 25C
miles long with an average width of
about fifty miles. It looks very much
like the Red River valley of the North.
Wheat and other small grain growing
is carried on, on a large scale, but soil
and conditions are widely different from
the Red River valley for while some OF
this land is rich and fertile, some is
veryIpoor and full of alkali and is prac-
tically worthless except for grazing and
here you can see large herds of cattle
feeding on the so-called salt grass OF
alkali grass. It looks worthless to me
but cattle seem to do we'll on it fol-
they are looking sleek and fat. The
newcomer to California is somewhat
disappointed when he first sees those
deserts at least I was for had inn
agined to see nothing but gardens and
groves Of fruit trees and flowers. but
California is a great country Of ex-
tremes as well in scenery as in climatic
conditions.
We will suppose that we are travel
ing on a railcoad train now speeding
over almost insurmountable mountains
with snow-covered tops and rocky and
barren sides, but in few minutes. you
will be descending into the foothills and
scenery around you will change as by
magic into blooming flowers and gar
dens and perhaps an orange or lemon
grove and instead of snow and cold
the climate around you has changed to
balmy and mild summer, as you speed
into the valley below it will become
almost tropical, if in midsummer and if
in winter you will find it spring-like
with green fields and blooming flowers.
But 10! now in shorter time than it takes
me to tell you the scenery has again
changed and instead of orange groves
and vineyards you are now speeding
into an alkali swamp and you can see
nothing but salt grass and white alkali
spots for miles and miles except now
and then herd of cattle grazing in
pastures containing thousands of acres.
but in another hour the scenery has
again changed around you. We are
now approaching thrifty farming dis
trict with large fields of small grain
such as wheat, barley and oats. Those
farms or ranches. as they are called
here, are generally of large size running
three hundred up to several thousand
acres but we will go little further and
now we are in a fruit-growing district
again. Here on our right is a fine
peach orchard and on our left is one OF
apricots, on little further is prune
orchard and over yonder is a large field
of grapes and so on indefinitely.
Lindsay is located on the foothills Of
the Sierra Nevada mountains. Al
though we are on the edge of the valley
we can see the snow clad mountains
hanging almost over our heads. This
is what is called the orange belt and the
orange growing is the principal indus
try in this district, although any kind
of fruit will grow here. Lindsay is
only small place of about one thous-
and inhabitants, but is growing fast as
you will see by the following figures of
of oranges from this stati N
in the last seven or eight years. These
figures are taken from the railroad
company's shipping books and do not
include lemons, grapes or any other
Kind of fruits shipped from this station.
There were quite q number Of cars Of
table grapes shipped from here this
summer and some peaches but l have
not the exact number at hand.
The total number cars of oranges
shipped from this station in the last
seven years is as follows: 1902. 351;
1903, 442; 1904, 556; 1906, 595; 1906, 756;
1907, l072. The shipment for this
season is not completed as yet but has
been estimated to reach fifteen hundred
carloads but the crop is considerable
lighter than in former years 90 don't
believe it will reach quite those figures
but you win note that the growth has