Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1914-04-25
BY WARD MORTON

out the tangles IN Los Oleave-us, san
Lew-eeze, ODees-po, Hole-on (tor Jo-
lon), and a few other Spanish ran
dangoes. The language is like some
OF the trees we saw near Los OllNos
They are short and knotty and
knarled so much that they remind one
OF Dores illustrations IN Dante's IN
ferno, only the trees were real ana
the pictures were all Imagination. III
would not do Tor a man VINO lmDlDes
freelV TO take a walk through TINS
part of the country on summer 5
evening. he sure would have the
um-Jameses. these trees are SO
knarled That when given limb starts
out on a straight ana narrow PAIN II
becomes intoxicated with the climate
and begins all sorts OF contoruons. IL
ends up by going four times arouhu
the trunk, jumps up INTO the SKY d
few feet and then dives down toward
the trunk to curl around ike the
smoke from Dutchman's pipe.
After YOU have ridden through TINS
section OF knarled trees Tor DAY or
two you begin to get the habit ana the
first thing you know you are twisting
your eye teeth around your tongue
In an effort TO see straight.
At Edna, however, we were treated
better. She's fair. There we got our
first glimpse OF the Pacltlc ocean ana
California oil wells. Both IN the same
locanUy. We did not know we were
so near the ocean, but we suddenly
became aware OF change IN the at
mosphere. 1t was cool and moist ana
one OF our party whl1Ied the SAT- ar.
Within a mile farther we turned
around a point OF ground ana thefe
before us was the Pacific. humph!
1t isn't III 1t with the Atlantic; IL Is
rightly named. 1t is pacitlc-so lazy
and motIOnless as compared with the
Atlantic, that one thinks ne is gazing
on Lake Michigan. The ocean roar Is
absent and there Is no swell and break
to the waves such as we see at Al
lantIc City, for instance. 1t Is peace
full and calm, and we guess that Is
where the fellow got his inspiration
to write Rocked in the Cradle OF the
Deep-calm and peaceful be my sleep,
etc" The oil wells and their sur
roundings were Just as nasty and
smelly as those at old Bradford, Pa,
where some OF US spent our boyhood
in the days when OIL wells were real
curiosIties. Our roadway ran along
the shore of the great Paclilc 1or
many, many miles and the view was
tine. Before running into Santa Bar
bara, we ran through orange and
lemon groves until the novelty Of the
sight wore oil.
Thursday, September 10, we started
at 600 We were nearing the end OF
our journey ana were anxious TO get
along, hence the early morning start
We had $50 miles Of misery today
More poor roads, steep grades
through the mountain passes, dust
ruts, clustering sunshine, tire troubles
engine didn't pull, miserable drink
ing water, tired nerves and anxiety
over the near-end Of the tour. The
farm houses that we saw are poor
the section is dust-dry, burned ano
Misunderstanding, and yet the natives
told US that that was the kind OF
weather they needed in order to get
their bean crop through all right.
Speaking of beans-we saw one
bean field that contained 10000 acres
of the hearty food stuff. Michigan anc
New York think they are some beans
but think of this, 10000 acres! They
do not have any rain in this section
from May until October-and they say
they don't want any Maybe they
don't, but we doubt it. They need il
whether they want it or not.
Not far out of Santa Barbara we
saw a building with large sign OF
it reading Temple of Industry" II
was a little bit of building just
about big enough for bodybuilding
vet the people in California believe il
boosting, not knocking, so they cal
any old kind of building temple
We passed through Carpenturia
Ventura, FL Rio, Calabasas and wher
between this town and Hollywood
which is a suburb of Los Angeles, we
decided to camp for the night. In
looking for a place to pitch our tent
we came upon a deserted house anC
the weather was so warm that we laic
our blankets out on the porch and laic
ourselves down on the blankets (just
like Arabs) and went sound to sleep
Had a police officer seen us he would
have arrested us for tramps and va
grants without a place to stop. This
was another case where we had Z
bread and milk supper that was more
than satisfying.
Friday, September 20, we were vi
early and ran into Los Angeles
where we had some vulcanizing done
and while waiting for it we took il
the town. The city is a busy one
modern and enterprising with CAPT
tai f.. 1t was a thorough surprise tC
us to find that it is already one of the
big towns of the country. Her popu
lation is 100000, and it is growing by
leaps and bounds. 1t is not so super
latively beautiful from a physica
point of view, except in spots anC
there are many streets and sections
where it looks as ugly and ill-kept al
some older eastern city, but the ma
tives are great boosters and the!
make the most of their one great fea
ture-climate They have business ac
tivity too, and the retail stores are al
well put up as any of the eastern ones
with a very few exceptions, likt
Wanamaker's Philadelphia store
Nothing in the line beats that or ever
equals it.
At $50 we were on our way owe
the last lap of a $500 mile tour. Fo
a few miles out of the city the road