The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-20
CBy ]. w. roley.)

Los. Angeles, Cal. March 60
There are always some practical peO-
pie in the world. fortunately enough.
who want facts and figures with refer
ence to countries In which they may
be interested. And to the end that
these people may nave something be
fore them with which to Judge of this
section of the United States. / went
down to the chamber of commerce the
other day and got some literature.
data, statistics and personal informa-
ton from Frank Virgins, the secre-
tary of tho chamber. Virgins is a
unique figure in Los Angeles, and has
about everything YOU want to know
at his wits end. And he differs from
Il good many men engaged in the
spreading of information in that he
Is temperate in his statements and
modest in his clamis. although firm
in the belief that Los Angeles is de-
stined TO be n OF the great cities of
tho world. And from the growth of
the city in the past quarter of a CEN
tury ] am inclined to think his faith
is We'll founded.
First then. we shall start out by
saying that thirty years Los Ang-
eles had a population Of 1l.000-
considerably smaller than either Far
go or Grand Forks of today. In twen-
" years ii had grown to 162,41?. From
800 to 1910. il increased from 1922
00o to more than 100000 and now ii
is estimated to have n population OF
100000. Think of a growth Of 1000
TO 100000 in thirty years and YOU get
some idea of the romantic transforma-
ton of this country in less than a
third of n century.
Los Angeles was founded in 1881
by a small band Of %colonists recruited
i'll the Mexican states of Sinaloa and
Sonora and brought here by a gov
eminent officer to found an agricul-
tural colony to raise produce for the
soldiers at the presidios. In 1890 the
pueblo had a population of 141. There
Were n European. Seventy-two Span
ish-Americans. seven Indians. twenty
two mulattoes and thirty-ninc Mesti-
EOS. In 1881, after forty years, the
population was only 40. In 1S47 it
in 1880 the census gave it 1871.
Business then was dull and tho place
was Il sleepy little southwestern VIII
lage. In 1885 with tho completion of
the Atlantic and Pacific railway
things began to stir. There was a
real estate boom. and the growth of
the city was rapid. And it has con-
tinued to grow and it's record for the
past thirty years I do not think has
been approached by my other Amcri-
can city.
Twenty-Five years ago there was not
n paved street in Los Angeles. People
got about in the mud someway. On
the present site of twelve story Sky
scrapers running into millions of dol
lars of value, COWS were pastured. Old
homes were where the liveliest busi-
ness thoroughfares are now. I was
talking with a young lady the other
evening" girl of little more than 20
and she told me her parents were
living when she was born on the site
Of the Pacific electric passenger sta
tion-a seven story building into
which all the suburban trains of this
vicinity run-and n of the busiest
stations. perhaps. of its kind in the
world. Thousands upon thousands OF
passengers take passage there every
minute in the day for Pasadena. South
Pasadena. Glendale, Tropico. Sierra
other suburban towns. And Yet n lit.
tie more than twenty years ago there
was a country home on it's site. and ali
about was pasture land. Now it is the
Very center of the business district
That is some transformation in n bit
over twenty years.
Today there arc seventy-fve miles
of paved streets, $50 miles Of graded
and praveled streets. $50 miles of sew.
CT. $50 miles of local street railwa,
lines, $50 miles of suburban railroad
lines. single. double and four tracked
banks with deposits Of $152, O00, 00(
and clearings last year of a little les.
than $1,000, 900. 900. assessed valuation
of s3S4.000,O 900 with building permit,
issued in 1911 of nearly $25. 600, 900
That sounds like the story of an Alad.
din's lamp, but the figures are from
the records and the town is here tc
prove them true.
And TO show what it is necessary tt
do to make room for the people who
will live here in another ten or fit
teen or twenty years. they are put.
ting in a ate supply for a city OF
1000, 900 people. To do that the,
have bonded for $4,000, 900 and the
last bonds have just been sold. and
this money has been and is being c
pended upon the construction of ar
aqueduct for n distance of 220 miles
think of of 220 miles of a%queduct
which would run from the Missouri
river to Fargo and leave fifty miles
over. This aqueduct will reach to
the Owens river up in Inve county
and bring an ineXhaustible supply OF
pure water through ninety-eight miles
Of covered concrete conduits. forty
miles of uncovered. twenty-one miles
Of open canal, twelve miles Of invert-