The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1919-03-06
UNKNOWN
California Has Never
tH Attracted Settlers.
sfssipaturaI Resources Are Known
ampr Be There-Was Rejected by
z1ett~ the United States After the
War With Mexico.

Romantic Lower California again has
kcome into prominence through the In
( ktroduction in congress of a bill looking
to the purchase Of that unique penin-
ysula.
"Baja" California, rejected by the
SUnited States after the war with Mex
4ico as "the tail-end Of an earthquake"
i 1though recognized as rich in natural
resources, is least known, according to
Hthe few who have made a scientlhc
kStudy of the peninsula, of any area or
isimilar size in the western hemisphere
Lower California, romantically
Styled ''the mother of California" has
Figured in modern history for 400 years.
teat was in 1927 that the Spanish captain
1general, Fernando Cortez sent one OF
1Balboa's veterans, Alvera de Saavedra,
Ejfrom Tehuantepec, on the west coast
dof Mexico, with instructions to try to
4 find strait supposed at that time TO
sa1 form link in q route from Mexico, or
EA1NNew Spain, as it was then known, to
sas3he newly discovered Spice islands,
KNOWN to later generations as the Phil
slappines.
y
ent there have passed in review
- through the pages of Lower California's
I hhistory Spanish conquerors, Jesuits,
1eRominicans and Franciscans, and
Tblunderers from many lands; United
States troops during the war with
Mexico; filibusters, intent on setting
Aup an independent government and
Hastily, the cOntending factions for SUI
kpremacy in MeXicO's national admins
1fration since the overthrow of Porfrio
fDiaz as president.
1t was Diaz who bestowed on Lower
lCalifornia a title of ''pObre Baja Cali
fornia," descriptive of her condition in
recent years and which translated is
pf'Poor Lower California"
q DIaz' description fits the country just
las well as to its Typographical aspect
| land in some other respects, for it is
tagged peninsula, 760 miles long, vary
eling in width from so to $50 miles, and
oSraversed throughout its length by an
irregular range of barren mountains Of
E0lcanic origin, breaking off abruptly
6n the gulf side and rambling off in
Eeries of low hills to the Pacific coast
1t has been described by its most re-
cent explorer as "a land great in its
!. past and lean in its present. A lana
where the rattlesnake and the side
? winder, the tarantula and the scorpion
( multiply, and where sickness is un-
4 known and five-score years no uncom-
mon span of life. A land of strange
\ contradictions"
\ While territorial state of Mexico,
4 At nowhere touches other Mexican soil,
i being Separated from the mainland by
the waters of the Colorado river and
the Gulf of California. In 1910 the
1 population of the entire peninsula was
I given at 52,244. There is but one rail
1 road In the country, aside from
@swheezy" mine tramways, and that
S0ne. from Mexicali to Yuma, but 63
Smiles In length.
The peninsula is rich in mineral
fwealth, at least one of its silver mines,
lin the southern district, having been
\ {operated since 174S. Gold, silver, cop
lper, iron, coal, lead, gypsum and salt
lare found, and valuable marble for
4 building Is everywhere abundant. Min
ing experts agree that the mineral re-
sources have hardly been scratched.