Imperial Valley press., 1914-11-13
JOHN BRETT ON
FARM PROFITS

How matter of $1,000, throug!
the wizardry Of Southern Californi;
ranching was turned into 100000 il
six years, by reason of the produc
tivity Of the land, the ready market
and probably good management i
disclosed by John Bretz, owner of :
famous apartment house in San Diego
through a letter that he has forward
ed to George Brookwell,
Bretz turned farmer in 1907 when
he was attracted into Imperial valley
and came forth with fortune. His
was the consistent game Of develop
ment which he declares can be en-
countered and won by any one who
desires to scratch the resources of the
southern end of the state. In partic-
ular he is a "booster" for the I'M
perial valley section.
Brookwell, it happens. is sales man.
ager for not only the town of Cali
patria and a vast amount of land sur
rounding this new community, but is q
lecturer, and he was addressing an
audience in San Diego when Brett
arose and verified statements of the
riches that are being made in that
desert" section. The following day
he sent letter conveying his personal
experiences. He wrote, in a plain
statement of facts, these paragraphs,
among others:
Il went into Imperial valley with
my family in 1907 and at that time
had $1,000 with which amount | pur-
chased so acres of land, fourteen
sows and fifty hogs.
'1n 1908 / bought another so acres
of land and thirty cows. l sold my
first fourteen cows for sos each
(S910) on terms, and my fifty hogs
for market price. also sold thirty
acres of land for 500 an acre (S3, ,O00)
or twice what it had cost me one year
previous. But, to buy the extra land
that | took over this year and the
cows, / had to borrow 81 200 from
bank. In ten months paid the bank
back the $1,2OOSand everything I had
was clear of debt.
''In 1909 l bought so more acres OF
land and two more strings of cows.
In 1910 / bought forty additional
acres of land and another string of
cows. In 1911 l sold $4,000 worth OF
cows and hogs. In 1912 / sold $4,000
worth of stock. In 1913 l sold $4,000
worth of stock.
"At the beginning of this year
sold $4,000 worth of stock and 200
acres of land at $500 an acre
(s6O,oOO). 49,. a..
~ row own the Vanderbilt apart
ments in Coronado and / am worth
not less than 100000 and all of this
was made in Imperial valley in about
six years from an original capital of
$1,000
Il am for Southern California; for
its ranching opportunities and espe-
cially for Imperial valley. Quote me
at any time, freely and frankly, be-
cause ! have been through it and
know.
"Yours very truly,
John BRETZ"
Through the office of Carl f.
Schader, founder of Calipatria and the
spokesman for owners of more than
$4,000 acres of land in a single I'm
rerial valley holding, Bretz has added
to his original letter the statement
that the "King's Basin" has never had
such year as that which is just start
ing. He calls attention to the fact
that while a considerable amount of
publicity attends the temporary drop
in the price of cotton, that the acre
age in that product is proportionately
nothing, and that even inclusive Of
that product Imperial valley has
broken its own record recently for :ts
percentage of successful people. No
place in the world approaches it in
this point, according to official figures
Baseball, FL Centre. Sunday. No.