Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-04-04
Another LETTER
FROM F. GERARD
Long Beach, Cal.
Mar. %, 1918

Friend Albert: Please accept our
thanks for the Reporter issue of Mar
14th, received on the goth. We saw
many familiar names and turned it
over to the Lipke family for perusal.
Their son Kenneth, is a soldier; clar-
ionetist in the 18th u. S. Infantry
band, Tiensin, China, and writes very
interesting letters home. Their daugh-
ter Kathrine is attending the Cum
mock School at Los Angeles.
The recent heavy rains caused a
food in the Los Angeles River, which
cut out 600 feet of grain field, broke
the Long Beach Gas main, flooding
the highway and rail road tracks.
During the food and until the gas
main could be repaired, gas was furn-
>ished from another source in INSULT
Gent quantity, causing the people to
Hooverize on gas for the time being.
The river with it's silt and muddy
water flowing into the Ocean near San
Pedro made the old ocean look dirty
for some distance out, this of course
is unusual. | remember once while
taking a Trolley Trip from Los Ange-
les the guide said 1--WE are now cross
ing the Los Angeles River which has
to be irrigated twice year" About
this time we went to Seal Beach to
see the seals (of which there are 100
[ should say) and was surprised to
see lemons on the beach, the San Ga
briel River flows into the ocean here,
and gave it the same muddy appear
ance as at San Pedro In order to get
better view of the seals we went UP
the river a short distance and lemons
were floating down, reminding me of
the saw logs coming down the Old
Wisconse in an early day, we thought
lemon grove must have been washed
out somewhere above.
The B. P o. E. benefit given the
Red Cross Society at the Municipal
Auditorium last Saturday, Melted the
society practically $500. The gross
receipts being 1891. 81 with about
800 expense. Wasn't that going
some?
The climatic Capital of southern
California is the title that has been
justly earned by the city of Long
Beach, from the fact of its ideal To-
cation in a sheltered of the in
denied Pacific Santa Catalina Island
protecting on the south, San Pedro
foothills on the west, Huntington
Beach and Newport Beach on the
east and the San Bernardino Range
Of Mountains on the north. The city
is five miles long and three miles wide
at it's back door on the north is Sig
nal Hill, which is as1andmark IN ap-
preaching the city from most any
direction by land or water. The city
has seven and one-half miles of beach
on the south, which before the era
of automobiles and good roads was
used for fast driving.
People coming west expect to find
the ocean west, but it is different
here, owing to the crescent shape re-
fered to above, the ocean is south,
thus we have the sunshine all day,
like setting the clock ahead one hour
to get more daylight Queer isn't
it? Yesterday four families from
Stoughton and one from GAINESVILLE
had little picnic by ourselves at
Point Fermin. We placed sprig of
Acacia at the head of the table for
memory's sake, and had a good time.
Long Beach claims a population of
$4,000 and is as quiet as Stoughton,
except the roar of the breakers on the
beach, where the tide GIBBS and flows
twice in twenty-four hours.
Spending the winter in Southern
California, Albert, is like having two
summers in one year, is the opinion
of your old friends,
Fro ord Hiatt Noro,J