The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1919-01-22
EVERYTHING IS
Big IN CAL|FOR- )
N|A--EvEN LIARS
FORMER LOCAL RESIDENT
TELLS OF BEAUTIES OF LAND
OF HER NEW HOME.

Local friends of Miss Clara Moul-
ton and her sister, Mrs. Emma Lamb,
will be glad to- read another one OF
her interesting letters. This letter
was written to Mrs. ]. M. York, Of
Orleans. and is as follows:
Pasadena, Calf, Nov. 20, 1913.
Dear Friends:
~On Sunday morning at 7:30 we
s4rted for<S trip, Mrs. Conner, Mrs.
Phelps. Emma, the driver and myself.
1t was trifie chilly and found my
heavy coat was not uncomfortable.
We drove around and on the other
side of the mountains which we can
see at the north of us. The noun
tains certainly looked beautiful at
this time. the sun shone on them just
right; they looked to have large dim
pies in their sides; of course at this
time of the year they are all brown,
later in the spring after the rains
many of them are green and covered
with flowers. The cattle Craze on
some of these mountains and one won
ders how they manage to stick on;
YOU can see from the road where they
wind round and round and up and up;
of course many of them are so bars
nothing could live on them.
We drove to DEVILS Gate; they
have Just succeeded in selling their
bonds to build big irrigation dam
here. Our first point of interest was
when we reached Sylmar, this is only
a small station but here is located
the largest olive orchard in the world
(if you stay here long enough you
soon learn they have the largest ev-
erything in California, event to liars
| sometimes think, but this is really
SO, guess, If it had not been Sunday
we would have stopped and gone
through the plant; they make three or
four different grades of olive oil here:
They tell me that the best bottled
olives that we buy have to be picked
in bucket Of water; they bruise SO
easily and then turn black and spot
ted. Az along the way We're olive
orchards; it is time now to pick them
and the harvest will not be over before
christmas.
We next passed the oldest oil wells
in California; they have been pumping
oil from these wells for so years and
are still at it; there is not such a
great quantity but the quality is of
the best; almost pure oil when it is
DuulpGQ lItih hilC col oOAAC VI thCSC
wells are nearly on top of the noun
tains and one is lead to wonder how
they ever got their derricks and ma
chinery up those steep inclines. We
then came to the aqueduct which
supplies Los Angeles with water.
This is one Of the most stupendous
engineering feats of the kind known
(another California bigger thing);
this water is brought from back in
the mountains for $50 miles down
one hill and up another and finally
empties into what is called Owens
lake. A short distance from the
road we were on we could see where
there was a break in the pipe, which
by the way is nine feet in diameter,
and there was enough water pouring
from this break to soon make river
as large as Flat river. Farther along
on the road we could catch glimpse
Of this lake. Along here somewhere
our driver forgot himself and made
the wrong turn; think it must have
been from seeing the water, water is
such, an unusual thing to see except
in the ocean.
We kept on climbing until we came
to Palmdale which has an elevation Of
1000 feet, from here we passed
through Antelope valley which was a
barren desert; we did more climbing
and went through Mint canyon which
is also barren and a desert, nothing
growing but sage brush and cactus.
We saw a typical California bird
called the road runner, its proper
name is a mile long; it was about the
size of good sized bantam hen, and
they say they can outrun any horse
on the road; they are very rare and
almost extinct now. We kept on
climhng until we came to the summit
of n .quet canyon. When people
used tell about going up these
moun i'm trails / always thought they
went traight up the side of the
noun Pin, but really one winds around
and MSund, up and up, so gradual
that d scarcely realize you are go
ing ~ From the summit we coast
ed down for three and one-half miles
and had to have the hold backs on at
that; on one side towering above us
~ high atfimes the sun was obscured
were solid rocks, on the other side
beautiful trees and shrubs, many live
oaks, sycamores, etc., and below all
this little brook was vending its way
no one knows to where; it runs all
the way through this canyon; the. -
one reason this is such a popular
spot; as / said before one has to go q
long distance in order to see running
water. This is considered the most
scenic canyon in southern California
and / am indeed glad our driver made
mistake otherwise we would not
have had this trip; the whole distance
through this canyon, he had intended
tn drive in at the other end of the
canyon, have our dinner and then
drive through Santa Monia canyon
and to the ocean; this would have
given US a nice long ride beside the
ocean; am very fond of the ocean.
There are 81 curves in IL miles in
this canyon so you can imagine we
had some crooked path; fortunately
for my piece Of mind we did not meet
any cars coming up the grade; am
always on the down side and some
times it looked to me as though we
were altogether too near the edge
for comfort. can enjoy going up