Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-08-06
CALIFORNIA LETTER
FROM THEO. CALVIN.
1929 Sumner Place

Eugene Whitmore and wife; my
dear comrade and friend: AS l
promised to write you after arriving
here I will now try and be as good as
my word.
Will say in first place that my
wife and I are feeling fire and dandy.
After we first got here we both had a
terrible cold and 1 was in bed two
days with my old pains. but am all
right now. When coming here We
got on main line at Dakalb, Ill. and
never changed cars until we arrived
at Los Angeles. We could have
stopped off any place We wanted to
but will do our stopping off on our
way home. We came on the Union
Pacific to Ogden; from there we
took the short cut from Salt Lake
to Los Angeles. There is not as
much nice scenery on this road as
some others. It rained to beat the
band while we were crossing the
Rockies and clear to Salt Lake. Go
ing from Salt Lake on this route to
Los Angeles is some of the most God
forsaken country l ever saw. We
had TO cross $50 miles of desert; moth
ing but sand and very little sage
brush, little cactus and a very little
greasewood brush, About 40 miles
of this sand was as fine as -four and
drifted like snow. They had to shut
all the windows in the cars and then
the fine sand came through the cracks.
The drifts never melt, but keep
piling upon the railroad tracks. Los
Angeles is quite nice city but the
business part is small compared with
the size of the city. It has so many
surburbs it takes i'll the corporation.
They say Los Angeles has about 90,
600 autos and nearly as many motor
cycles, and it looks to me as though
everybody uses them every day and
then the street cars make pedestrians
look a little out. We hear Of ac-
cidents nearly every day.
Since coming here we have been on
the go nearly every day. My son-in-
law has good auto and he loves to
burn the gasoline and we are willing
enough to let him, and you know it
is nice to be satisfied. In the first
place they have the incest roads here
I ever saw. all nice boulevards and
very hard and smooth, which run all
through the foot hills and clear up to
the mountains and ocean. This county
bonded itself outside of city for
So, 800, 900 for these roads. These
canyons and foot hills are all filled
up with beautiful little towns,
beautiful residences, yards and drive
ways, with palm trees galore and
many nice groves Several days we
have taken drives of 40 to 80 miles
through these places. On our drives
we have passed vineyards from small
ones to 2, 800 acres and fruit orchards
of all kinds The oranges are no
good this year on account of the
freeze last winter; we can see quite
lot on the trees and on the ground
but they are no good. The apricots
are quite plentiful and getting ripe
Peaches will be fair crop and few
are ready for market. Now methinks
1 hear you say: How do you like it
all2 What do you think of it?"
Now let me whisper in your ear; |
wouldn't give old Grant county for it
all. Everybody who lives here is q
boomer and has a good word for
every thing and every place. Of
course there are beautiful places here
and wealth untold but it was never
made by farming or raising fruit.
We have autoed all over and around
these parts and [ have had nothing to
do but look and take in the sights
clear up to the mountains, and | have
noticed all the vacant land is plotted
out in lots and signs up for sale;'
also on many of the nice residences,
for sale and all ask a big price,
sale or no sale. The most of the big
sales of fruit farms are made to
tenderfeet, as they call them, from
the east. Nearly every man here is
land agent and you know all land
agents are noted fer truth and
veracity. How they can make big
money on fruit growing can't see.
All has to be irrigated and Guilt
waited, fruit or no fruit, every year,
and then every other year they have
to fumigate every tree by putting
cover of heavy canvas over every tree
separately, and burn their poison to
Kill the insects that prey on the trees.
If we were to go to all that trouble in
Wisconsin we could skin them alive
on many kinds of fruit. | see IN the
papers you have had very warm
weather back there The warmest
day we have had here in Los Angeles
was SO in the shade. We have cool
nights; every night the breeze comes