Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1910-06-16
FROM CALIFORNIA
0. {. Crouch Sends An Interesting
Letter
BOUGHT FARM, $1,000 PER ACRE
Tell Their Alma Friends That the Latch String
Is Always Out.

The following letter from Our for
mer townsman, Mr.. 0. Z. Crouch,
will be read with interest by his Alma
friends. Mr.. Crouch was for some
time in the employ of Smith & Carr
and left Alma for California some
time in early April
Lindsay, Cal, May 21, 1910.
Mr.. c. j. Brown,
Alma, Mich.
Dear Sir: AS | promised to write
you when l arrived in California, |
will try to write few lines today, al
though but one month has passed
since we arrived and it has been
busy month for us all
We started from Alma on the sixth
OF April, and arrived at Lindsay, Cali
fornia, on the twentieth, just two
weeks from the time we started. Roy
and myself enjoyed the trip splendid
ly. We had our gasoline stove and
cooked and ate whenever we wished.
We always had something of interest
TO see. Everything in the car came
through in good shape. Even the
horse never lost a hair, although we
got several hard bumps in the switch
yards. thought everything would be
ruined.
Everything went smoothly until we
got to Ogden, Utah There we were
laid over twenty-four hours to have
new wheels put under our car. Leav-
ing Ogden came our principal sight
seeing. We crossed the Great Salt
Lake on the bridge, the bridge being
thirty-fve miles long. 1t took us
nearly all the afternoon to cross it.
After leaving the bridge then came
the plains and desert. Having an OBJ
servaton car and running slow we
had fine view of the country Last
winter was very severe in the west.
In crossing Nevada one could see
hundreds OF cattle, horses and sheep
lying dead in the pastures along the
track
Finally we came to the Great
Sierra Nevada mountains. They are
a great sight to one not accustomed
to seeing such things. We commenc-
ed climbing them at Reno. Our
train contained fifty cars with two
monstrous engines, one pulling and
one pushing. The scenery was splen
did with the massive snow sheds and
tunnels forty miles in length After
leaving the mountains we struck the
valley of the San Joaquin. 1t was
pretty sight. For miles and miles you
could see beautiful grape vineyards
and lovely homes until we reached
Tierna. Then came mostly mixed
farming and fruit growing lands until
we reached Lindsay This is a fruit
country nearly altogether, with or
anges, lemons, grapes, olives, peaches,
pears and nuts.
When we first went out in the
country it seemed we had certainly
struck the garden of Eden with its
beautiful orange groves lining the
road with palm trees and sometimes
olive or fig trees or some other kind
of fruit This is comparatively a new
country, although there are great
many groves that have been planted
for fifteen years. but it has been esti
mated that five thousand acres of
trees have been set out around Lind
say in the last two years and more
are being set out every day just as
fast as the trees can be procured
Farm land is advancing; every foot
runs from two hundred to four hun
dred per acre; orange groves from
FIVE hundred to two thousand dollars
per acre and even higher | bought
ten acres Of three-year-old trees for
which ! paid one thousand dollars an
acre and everybody says ! got bar
gain. 1t looks high but according to
the profits one derives after trees are
bearing it is not bad. 1t is very COM
mon to get from 81 900 10 S1,50O
worth of oranges per acre after trees
are in full bearing On my ten acres
the crop last year on two-year-old
trees was forty-six boxes. This year
we expect at least 500, after this year
we figure it will be on paying basis
Work is plentiful here. Wages are
good. | bought me a team and have
not lost a day since bought them
and get from FIVE TO six dollars a day
Farm hands get from forty to sixty
dollars per month. Living is high.
about one-thrd higher than in Mich
igan. There is certainly a great
chance for man TO make money in
speculation ~ this country. Every
body is hustling for the almighty dol
lar
This is an irrigated country. We
pump our water by electricity. 1t is
nice whenever we need a rain. All