The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-10-09
A Letter From H. L. StoWell

little about this sunny corner of the
earth-will tell you few things we
observe. 1t is all so different from
the terrible things we read of in the
news dispatches from various parts
of the country-that it's hard to real
ize that this is part of the same
United States. The weather is so
beautiiul-and so much that is lovely
and charming to see and enjoy, { hat
we no longer wonder that thousands
of people come here for homes. Dur
ing the last five days the thermometer
has just touched 70 every afternoon
between 3 and o'clock, then in the
evening you need "A light ovcrcoat if
on the streets.
san Diego is a city on hills-likc
Seattle, only the hills are not so high
nor stecp-and also like Seattle il
spreads out over IA great deal of ter
ritory. 1t is mostly city of hotels
apartment houses and churches. with
many beautiful homes. You can ride
Tor miles in any direction and see
fine great apartment houses in every
block and nearly all seem well filled
We are very comfortably and pleas
antly located, close in near the heart
oil the city, easy walking distance of
the big public library, churches busi-
ness district and water front W.,
are only two blocks from the park
entrance where the 1915 exposition
Will be held. 1t is IA beautiful sight
oil l40O acres, part of it in fine con.
dltion now, and Il big force at work
getting the balance ready. The ear
ly mornings are glorious here. and
many people go up in the park to sit
on the benches in the warm sunshine
Yesterday morning we strolled up
there with the rest, and enjoycd the
sights and sounds, sitting in the
warm sunshine. We could look over
the harbor where two of Uncle Sans
warships were anchored, keeping an
eye on our Me Xican neighbors. with
also a great part of our city like
map spread before you. On the 9TH
er side several mountain peaks of Old
Mexico are in view When tired of
these views, we strolled along the
paths hedged with Towering shrubs
and trees, under tall palms with
hooking birds singing "A joyous song
in the branches. 1t all seemed "A
dream when we remembered the con-
ditions elsewhere. One of the first
things to impress a new conner here
is the great number of autos and the
rapid driving. You would think
everybody on wheels. Autos and
motorcycles think every known
that business must be the principle
industry, and keep more men at work
than any other thing. Garage and
repair and supply shops are scattered
all over the city and for miles outside
Never saw so much of any one thing
in town. The roads and drives
everywhere are the finest | ever saw
and there seems to be no speed limit
As soon as they get out of the crowd
ed district the drivers speed up from
20 to 80 miles an hour and even in
the most crowded section you need
eyes on four sides if you intend to
keep from being run down if you
cross a street The hard freeze last
winter was a serious blow to San
Diego and all this surrounding coun-
try. Friends have taken us on sever
al so to 60 mile auto trips through
the country and nearby small towns,
and we drove through orange and
lemon groves, where the ground was
yellow from effects of frost bite, and
valuless, in other sections whole or
chards seemed dead, not a green
thing on a tree, looks as if the trees
could not recover in two or three
years. In the meantime, the citrus
crop being destroyed. the principle
items of traffic are climate and tour
lists, and it's good thing San Diego
is prepared to care for all these
tourists for every day the trains and
boats pour them in here by the hum
dreds-and hey must all be fed
have place to sleep, transportation
must be provided for all the sight
seeing etc, and they leave a large
amount of money here, a vast amount
of building is going on and the per-
manent population increasing rapidly
Going back to the fruit question. |
have not seen a first class Washing
ton or Oregon apple in the city and
it, A car of Rogue River Winesaps
came in few days ago that were
just fair and some Johnathans from
Utah that were a good apple, but
small, they retail at $500 box, saw
one lot from Yakima, but poor stuff
culls, | thought that if | could have
a hundred boxes or SO of our kitti-
tas Rome Beauties, Johnathans and
Spitz here, could show them what a
good Northwest apple was like, same
waywith potatoes, the California po-
tatoes are black and poor looking
stuff, and sell cheap. | saw a sack
of White Oregon potatoes in groc-