The San Francisco call., 1910-12-07
ORANGES Bring
PROSPERITY To
TULARE COUNTY
Visalia Fair Shows Wonderful
Success of Citrus Growers in
San Joaquin Valley
Splendid Towns, Schools and
Roads Result From Culture
of the Golden Fruit
lSpeoiol Dispotch 10 The Call
BY ARTHUR L. PRICE


touches had been put to many OF the
exhibits during the morning. and they
appeared TO better advantage today
than they did yesterday when the fifth
annual citrus exhibition OF this county
opened in VisaIia
The huge pavilion was filed all aft
eCnoon and evening with the people Of
Alsalia and the adjacent districts. Be
ginning tomorrow VIII come the many
excursion trains that are TO be run from
al parts OF the country. and from the
Tar sections Of the state to Visalia- In =
crest and attendance will increase
rather than abate. and as fruit COM
petitions begin Thursday, when the
judges commence their work, new and
more perfect fruit ought TO grace the
many sections OF the fair.
Nisalia is counting largely on the
san Francisco excursion which Is due
70 arrive Saturday morning. At the
same time en- excursion will arrive
from Los Angeles. OF these two ex-
cursions the Visalis Daily Times says:
EXCURSIONS MEAN MUCH
The excursions from San Francisco
and from Los Angeles mean much.
Each viii he composed OF representa-
tive businessmen and the educational
value of the big citrus display can not
southern businessmen will see and what
they VIII learn during the stay viii be
an eyeopener 70 the extent Of the cit
rus Industry in this county and the
commercial possibilities OF this com
r1onWealth."
There win be for the visitors more
than an exhibition Of picked and Sc
lected fruit tastefuly arranged and
greced with ferns and flowers and cleo
trtc lights Now in the Tulare citrus
district can be seen the perennial para
cox ~ citrus California oranges the
senitropical fruit ripe and golden on
the trees within sight OF the snow
belt on the east. far beyond and high
above the fertile foothills, rise the
snowropped Sierras.
TLLUsION PERFECT
II IS true that they were not so near
rs they appear 10 be. and many ridges
and lesser mountains intervened be-
tween the green clad slopes at the val
lev's edge and the white peaks that
cluster around Mount whitney. but the
illusion Of nearness Is perfect and the
picture of the white mountains as a
background for the semitropicaI foot
hills IS one 60 arouse the Imagination
The trip through the citrus belt from
Lemon Cove TO Portervilie Is through
e region Of prosperity. Porterville has
2 slogan which IL expresses by the ini-
tials p. P. P" The phrase, is, Porter
Eile people prosper" That phrase
night be applied TO any section OF the
citrus belt and TO the decidUous district
around Nisalie. and TO the north and
east Of the county. In fact all Of Tu-
lsre county is prospering in its various
ways.
The citrus belt along the foothills
stretches about 25 miles from north to
south and st points is several miles IN
width. where the enterprising farmer
leaves the foothills and plants his trees
IN the rich soil OF the plains. This
spread Of the orange district has had a
magical effect on land values.
LAND VALUES SOAR
Land that was valued at from 50 to
s. an acre 10 years ago is now held at
from $50 an acre up. Near Strathmore
IS q tract that was foreclosed not many
years ago by . large exporting firm Of
San Francisco on 2 mortgage Of IS an
acre. Now the land is valued at from
$50 70 $3.50 or 5000 an acre. and that
value IS considered the practical value,
not e boom fction.
The town OF Lindsay. which 10 or II
wears ago had about four business
buildings. now has a population Of
1900, splendid brick buildings, brick
grammar and nigh schools. q national
bank and concrete sidewalks, besides
the il packing houses which make it
what Il IS and from which were shipped
Il carloads Of oranges and lemons a
day during the season. making an ag-
regate shipment for this year OF 1900
cars for the season.
Lindsay ships about half the oranges
that 90 out Of Tulare county. There
the industry employs I 200 people dur
Ing the season. Most Of the help at
present IS migratory labor But with
tbe coming into bearing of other va
p. sties Of oranges than the Washington
naVel. which IS now the staple Of the
district. the season viii be extended
to cover eight months Of the year and
then z large permanent population of
workers Will have TO settle in the dis
trict.
POPULATION WILL DOUBLE
It is expected that the population Of
Lindsay will double in the next FIVE
years. Lindsay IS q type of the dis
trict. and is cited for the interesting
fact that II has been developed almost
solely by the orange. The other places
have an older career behind them
Exeter is a town OF some age. Visalia
Is the Oldest town IN the San Joa quin
valley south OF Stockton and Porter
willie Is an old town and was station
on the old Los Angeles-San Francisco
stage roau
To every place has come a new birth
with the development Of citrus culture
Everywhere there are homes Of the new
tvpe. bungalows and commodious
houses with broad vera ndas and exten-
sfve sleeping porches. There are new
high schools, new grammar schools.
new district schools and il the older
districts have old school houses now
IN use they are bonding themselves for
new structures
ROADS ARE ESPLANADEs
The roads leading to the towns are
espianades. lined with shade trees
paved with precision and frmness.
This is q change accomplished in half
e. generation. from the old style OF
country life to the new.
sixteen years ago there were only
2 few oranges grown in Tulare county
and those trees were house yard trees
Then the possibilities Of the foothills
for orange groves were discovered.
With that discovery came the new
Tulare county
The first experiments were made In
the foothills near Porterville. Then it
was seen that not only would the fruit
grow there, but IL ripened six weeks
Z fF'ter than the oranges south of the
TAhschspi The Tulare county fruit
could form and ripen in time to be sent
markets. for the nroHf-