Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-12-26

To The Gazette: The Leader publish
ed In stanislaus county. Cal. almost In
the heart OF the San Joaquin valley.
lately printed. under scare heads.
bright little sketch of the work of
detectives in trying to trace an un-
usual output OF gold from that VI
cinity. which is on the east side Of the
valley. and well watered by a ditch
taking water from the Stanislaus river,
once famed as one OF the richest gold
mining regions OF the Golden State.
No arrests were made, as the gold was
in doing that which has been the
found TO be genuine. and bore the
stamp of the mint at San Francisco.
The writer further stated that this
gold was obtained from butter-fat,
from cows fed alfalfa which had been
irrigated with this presumably gold
bearing water. In short, the COW,
the alfalfa and the water, in some
mysterious manner, had succeeded
dream and the failure of the alchem-
lists OF all past ages; they had turn
ed base things into the most precious
OF metals. This "skit" was copied by
country and city papers as. good
Joke. which 1T was, thus proving the
truth OF the proverb as to true words
being often spoken in jest.
Let us look backward a little. In
Between the Gates by BENJAMIN T.
Taylor, the once well-known poet, are
found these words, written about
1873:
when the mines shall be impcver-
ished and the men who worked them
pass into tradition, . the sea-
sons will turn miners, and silver and
gold viii grow from the ground over
countless acres now lazily sleeping
in the sum-"
Now Mr.. Taylor was not posing as a
prophet. but giving his closing i'm
pressions Of California after a tour
Of the state. of which he wrote in a
way that has been equaled by few
and excelled by none" what hath
God wrought In the brief years since
these words of the poet were writ
tent The water that then roared from
the hydraulics, moving mountains and
dropping them beside the great rivers
in deposits which now form the rich
est gardens known, has been trained
20 q nobler work. Harnessed as it
starts from the eternal SHOWS OF the
mountain, II lights every home. and
turns many a wheel in the cities OF
the state. Then flowing gently forth
across the great plain where once the
countless herds of Spanish cattle
roamed I'm freedom 1t works miracles.
The Iong-horns are gone. and gentle
dairy cows chew their cuds in peace
beside great stacks of alfalfa. The
old wheat farms, the size of some
old-world kingdoms, then inhabited
only by herds of mules and a few
blanket men," are now the happy
homes of thousands Of men, women
and children, who literally as well as
figuratively sit under their own fig
tree and vines. Aye indeed, those mi
ners of earth, sunlight and water,
are. giving California more wealth
than the old-time prospectors ever did,
not only in minted dollars, but in
things OF far more value than the
dross that half the world worships
and the other half wishes for.
1t is said that too much under
ground water is not good for alfalfa,
but here in California they flood the
surface just as soon as they cut II
OF as often as they get around TO 1t,
generally at least once a month in
the kTOWluk cGacOns APAh
TO October And here where the sun
nv skies are ideal for curing the
hay they are trying out a new
plan in saving IL that so far seems
TO have much merit. The green al
falfa is hauled right 20 the mill be-
fore IL even willis. If possible, where
II is forked into a large cutter, set
20 cut both fine and fast. Thence
the "fine-cut' passes into large,
long. steam-heated roller, which re-
wolves rather slowly till the thor
oughly-dried leaves pass out at the
lower end OF the big cylinder, ready
for shipment east or west. Some
times II is passed on through an
other mill that grinds IL still finer.
thus fitting II to be made into "the
stan OF life" which. according to
some papers, it is to be in the fu-