The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-03-19

we We're taken out about a mile from
land in the ocean and anchored to
Kelp, a sea weed, and fished in water
$50 feet deep. We had dandy luck.
Caught forty eight one. day, weighing
from ten to twenty pounds, principally
rock cod, ~sheehead, sculpins, aIbicore.
n barracuda, and they are sure n
eating, but / prefer the Perham catch.
Just a word about ships in harbor.
which has been selected as the perma-
nent base for the Pacific fleet of tor
pedo boats and torpedo boat destroy
ers, and they expect to have a navy
yard and dry docks in the near future.
Cat least by 1879. The feet stationed
here consists of one cruiser, one sup
ply ship, n sea-going tug, two tor
pedo boats and destroyers and two
submarines. This feet is under com
mand of a commodore whose flagship
is stationed here.
Sailing vessels from many ports are
here. l saw n the other day from
Holland, loaded with cement principal
ly, and 1T is said it would take thirty
day to unload, it was 1874 days in MAX
ing the trip over.
Uncle Sam has an experimental fly
ing school here, under the, direction of
Glen Curtis and nearly every day n
can see the machines in the air. There
are two kinds, n the hydroplane and
the other the aeroplane. The hydro is
a sort of ~anphibious, flies either on
land or water, or rather above either.
1t is shaped sort of sled fashion. I
have seen 1t land on the water as
easy as any duck, then rise and sail
off into space as gracefully as any
bird.
They all carry passengers here, now
-$25 for a flight and quite a number
are availing themselves of the danger
u novelty. / was talking with a gen.
tleman the other day that had just
been UP with Atwater, the noted avi-
ator. This gentleman said the sensa-
ton was like gliding along a good road
In an auto, could not compar it to
anything more like it, but the coming
down sensation was, thrilling. Flying
machines here are as common as kites
and the children think as little of one
as the other.
The Mexican line is only fifteen miles
from here, but now the people are not
anxious to cross the line, though tour
ing cars make daily trips to Tia Juana,
Mex, the nearest Mexican town.
Though they are warned to keep away.
some are foolhardy enough to go and
take chances. l was there about a
month ago and while there is a great
deal to interest one, it is not safe to
cross at this time. They have q stand
ing army at Tia Juana, pronounced
(Tiewana). One can not tell how to
pronounce a great many of these Mex
lean places by their spelling. Here
is where bull fighting was one of the
pastimes, e ago. The old bull pen
was burned during the last uprising.
but to amuse tourists, they expect to
erect another n as soon as Madero
is dethroned. ..
We were shown a number of build
ings that had been used as targets dur
ing the last unpleasantness. One
building had twenty holes, caused by
an apparent AS bullet. They keep
these for the tourist to admire. We
were shown a large stone in front Of
one curio store where the first man Of
the town of Tia Juana was killed.
About 400 people were killed at the
time.
While there we partook Of a Span
ish- Mexican dinner, and I assure you
it was a hot one-tamalies, chili-con-
carnie, and not knowing Spanish, can
not tell you what we had, but it was
not such a dinner as mother used to
make" Never again for me.
The people of California are very
congenial and obliging, most of them
retired and free from care. It is sur
prising how many North Dakota peo-
pie are here, but they are sure here.
A number of suburban towns are
thrifty. National City and Chula
Vista are on the boom and If you want
to buy an acre of improved land you
are asked to pay $4,000 for it. This
would consist Of lemons principally.
that bring you in for each month Of
the year about $50 net; good interest,
maybe.
One can build a very fine house for
from $4,000 to $4,000 on account of the
climate. Anything is livable in the
shape Of a house and some very fine
people are living in homes here, that
in North Dakota, they would not ex-
| pect t. winter a COW in. Shingles on
, the outside only and one coat of plas-
ter on the inside constitutes a finish
for a house.
Meats are high. A good steak. 80
cents a pound; milk, Is cents per
quart; butter, As cents per pound; eggs,
35 cents per dozen. Vegetables are
cheap.
Lemons T picked for size, ripeness
not considered. Every picker has a
ring on his thumb and before a lemon
is cut from the limb, it is measured.
Slow work, Apples are raised back in
the mountains.
We will leave here about March IL.
and expect to arrive at home, in Daw-
son, about April 1. Yours truly,
| S. z. Kepler.