St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-04-20
Letter From L. A. Laid.
Writes of Things ana Former vermonters
In California.

the dividing line between the 5. 2. rail-
way and the State for it looks to new
conner as it the railroad owned the
/ country and San Francisco was its main
ticket Office. 1t would give the people of
our town a surprise to find the B. g Nd,
laying track on Railroad street with the
intention of having ticket Offices and
waiting rooms there. The railway
question is one of the main issues of the
state election now pending.
The San Joaquin valley covers such
large area that it seems like a Dakota
prairie. The mountains and foot hills
on the West side are used for stock
raising and there are no living streams
on account of the nearness of the Santa
Clara valley and the ground that lies
too high for the water from the irriga-
ton canals is used for grain, mostly
barley, and is summer-fallowed every
other year. The stock men can use alfalfa
land to an advantage with their hill
pastures for calves and fat cattle to
market. The first step in changing the
country from grain raising was by the
building of the irrigation canals in the
| seventies by one Freelander who met f.
| nancial disaster with the celebrated
| Ralston and the works passed to the
control of the Miller Cattle Co.
| There are two canals on this side
starting near the head of the valley that
| parallel the river, one some rs miles in
| length with fall of one foot to the mile
and the other so miles in length with a
| fall of six inches to the mile. These
canals carry such large quantities of
| water that the alfalfa and trees are favor
able changing the climate. On the east
| side are streams that have their source
| in the mountains with snow and one, the
| Touloumne, has extensive irrigation
canals on both sides in Stanislaus and
| MERGED counties where large quantities
! of fruit of all kinds and sweet potatoes
are grown with alfalfa. Two firms con-
troll large tracts OF land. The Simon
| Newman Co., have a large depart
ment store at Newman, ware houses for
| grain at different railroad stations,
alfalfa ranches and large cattle range
on the mountains toward the Santa
| Clara valley.
The Miller & Lux Co., in competition
have started the town of Cuisine on
their own land six miles from Newman
with country store, bank, and $40, 900
hotel with the idea if there should be a
new county formed the public buildings
would be located there. With their feeding
| sheds where hundreds of cattle are
fed during the winter, alfalfa land, a
range on the San Joaquin river 60 miles
in length, bands of sheep numbered by
the thousands, the company's property
| is large. The junior member died but
! the senior member has kept the business
| from being divided and is a unique and
pugnacious character of dutch decent.
| Large hocks of sheep go from the Sac
ramento valley in the fall to the
mountain ranges and return in the early
| summer. l saw one band of 1900 that
| had goat with yard long horns and
| bell which led them with all the airs of a
| band master.
There is quite percentage of the land
/ where either the hard pan comes very near
the surface or has alkaE so that it is of
no great value. 1t is used for grazing
purposes and to grow sugar beets. For
fuel some coal is used but the gum trees
and poplars can be cut off few feet from
the ground and grow again very quickly.
| The water supply is from bored wells
with wind mills to lift it into elevated
tanks that hold nearly 5000 gallons.
| When the wind fails they use horse
power or some kind of an engine. Until
the advent of the creameries it was not
| very profitable for the small owners OF
land but now it is land ofcows, pigs and
poultry. There are two creameries that
send out teams every morning to gather
cream which" is either pasteurized and
sent to the cities on the bay or made in
to butter which is marketed in large tubs
| or plain two pound bricks. All dairymen
keep black pigs for the sun blisters the
white ones, feed them skim milk until old
| enough to turn into alfalfa fields and
from there into barley fields while the
grain is soft to finish fattening.
Modesto, 100 miles from San Francisco,
the county seat of Stanislaus County is
| the most like an eastern place of any city
I have seen. All the saloons except few
are on one street at a corner, the
town has elegant school houses, fine
large stores, wealthy banks, improved
streets and from the appearance of the
people you would think you were in a
thriving eastern community. If | may
be permitted to say Caledonia County
ought to be proud of one of its daughters
Mrs. Mary L. Adams of Waterford. a
former we'll known St. Johnsburv school
teacher, who has been factor in making
one western place a model New England
town. 1t was my privilege here to attend
an able and eloquent presentation of the
temperance cause by a lady lecturer OF
the w. c. T.U. There seems to be an
awakening to the evils of liquor by
the people on the Pacific coast.
At Turlock, Is miles from Modesto, ]
found several Barnet people, among
them Walter E. Stevens and Arthur S.
Hunt, who is superintendent of the
Light and Power company's plant.
Fresno, another interior city has a
population of some 10000, the metropo-
lis of this section in all particulars with
street cars of all kinds on every street
The county buildings can be seen up a
short street from the station and are
quite imposing with a gilded dome, but
would hardly equal the Massachusetts
State house. This is advertised as the
center of the raisin industry, but the
most interesting thing seen from the
sidewalk was a large number of native
sons and daughters studying in a bust
ness college.
The oil wells at Bakersfield furnish a
large field for operations of that kind
there being hundreds of derricks to be
seen from the cars with open reservoirs
to let the sand separate from the oil.
L 1sr,oc 70 do Tar