Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-05-19
y utoinq High IL The Air III California.
lRx B. ". Norr.s.l

icy y. w. NOfr0.J
fcountry. San Diego county Is about oil
mountains and the farther back from
the coast one goes the higher the
mountains until one drops down the
other side OF the range into the desert
now being reclaimed as the Imperial
Valley. The county is sixty miles wide
and extends seventy miles inland from
San Diego making It more than seven
1 times as large as Marshall county IN
Iowa, and yet tho total estimate al
acres which are at all tiflable when ir-
rigated is 100000, which IL only about
one third more than arc now beinG
titled in Marshall county and should
say that not more than a fourth OF the
tillable area is - yet being farmed %
that the country surrounding San
Diego for seventy miles inland contains
scarcely one third AZ much land actual
~ under cultivation as In Marshall
county, The rest Of 1t IL wilderness
without trees or grass that are OF any
value, but principally OF rock and
| chaparal peculiar to an arid climate.
This is the country which must pro-
duce all the business for San DieGo's
wonderful harbor until railroad can
be built farther into Arizona which
| Spreckels is now building and then 1t
will have to run 200 miles thru noun
tains and desert before 1t taps as much
arabic land as now lies between Mar
shalltown and Hampton.
| To see so wonderful city ana to
approach 1t out Of comparatively un-
inhabited waste Of mountains in an
auto as did and to travel again 100
miles straight inland without seeing q
spot capable Of sustaining more than
small village gives one an entirely
different conception Of what it takes
to make a town in the land Of climate
than 1t does in the land Of corn and
plenty.
sineIair's Pleasure Trip.
| Mr.. B. w. Sinclair. formerly Of the
Sinclair Tea & Coffee Company, Of
Marshalltown and now living in q
beautiful home on Point Iona in San
Diego, gave me 200 mile ride into the
wilderness OF mountains and desert
which shall never forget. Sinclair
| owns fertile farm Of alfalfa in the
irrigated district near Yuma, Arizona.
To reach it requires several days' Jour-
ney by rail roundabout via Los An
geles or overland. SO Sinclair keeps q
Ford runabout for the perilous noun
tain trip and he greatly enjoys COM
pany if for no other reason than to help
push thru the sand. He actually has
a waiting list Of friends in San Diego
who want the excitement Of the trip
as Robinson has at Grinnell with his
airship and when had made the trip
and returned to San Diego to see a.
many as three airships chasing one
| another thru the air over the govern
| ment's aviation field on an island in
the bay 1t seemed to me that safety
first would demand an airslip route
to Yuma
Extra Water For Dessrs DRIVING.
We made the 1877 miles in one day
but we started before the day began
and outlasted the days end. Hanging
around the car were huge canvas water
bags in case we got stuck and boiled
dry the radiator or had to spend sew
eral days on the desert. For fifty miles
we wound round and FOUND just such
mountain cliff roads as I had
travelled coming into town. honking a
horn for. blind corners and keying our
nerves for possible encounter with
an approaching car on road too mar
row for one. The Ford could turn
| around In It's tracks as It were and was
just the thing to take sharp corners.
Sinclair explained that his long car
could not make some of them without
backing hence he ratified along at
twenty miles an hour " hen the county
signs by the roadside advised eight for
safety.
A Wild Ride.
Finally we had assembled several
! thousand feet nearly to the top Of the
divide where Sinclair usually meets q
snow storm and says that 1t gives him
a twinge Of inconsistencies for Iowa, but
this time we found only light fall Of
snow on the road to make 1t nice and
slippery for that Ford car to take some
Of the down hill corners With one wheel
almost hanging over a precipice and
then we came into what Sinclair called
the scenic part Of the route. I never
expect to see it's equal until stop at
the Grand Canyon Of the Colorado. II
was OF the same formation of red. blue
and yellow granite, into which q
stream had cut chasm 1000 feet or
more deep. Out Of the perpendicular
walls of granite far above tne>river, so
far above that the river itself below
looked as narrow as tile ditch, q road
| had been blasted or cut In like a shelf.
| All around were the mountains OF coll
cred granite and ahead the canyon OF
closely. converging walls on which the
sunshine played in hazes Of rainbow
colors. You watch the scenery" said
Sinclair, "and III watch the car" and
just then he met stage from the
Imperial Valley country, jammed his
foot too hard onto a Ford clutch lever
and threw his car into low gear going