Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-12-06
BernardinO.
Many VINEYARDS.


This is fine city and we stayed all
night here. About sixty-five miles from
Los Angeles we began to see life again.
II was fine drive and one could see
all sorts of vineyards. One vineyard
contained three thousand acres and
another watermelon field contained five
hundred acres. Say, they all had
stores in front of their houses where
they sold their fruits. There were
peaches, grapes, watermelons, canta-
loupes and Casaba pears. When we
struck this l thought we had struck
heaven and wanted to stop and eat
all they had and l surely laid away
some OF them. Mother had to sit up
all night and hold my hand.
In Los Angeles.
Now we are at, Los Angeles and it
surely is a great town. You would
think that you had struck New York.
Crowds of people throng the streets.
We stayed two days and took in the
sights and we went out to Long Beach.
That is surely a fine town. Right on
the beach here we saw the United
States fleet. Here there are airplanes
going in every direction and they go
right out over the ocean. Now we
started north to my brothers place
right straight through San Joaquin
valley. want to say right here that
San is a good name for the valley, if
they had left off the Joaquin. Now
this valley is 400 miles long and about
twenty to hundred miles wide. After
we left the mountains, the first town
was Bakersfield. Before we got there
II was desert and sand.
Oil District.
Bakersfield is an oil town. You can
see derricks all over the desert. They
make great ponds like they do in
Missouri to hold water. There are
about 100 acres in one of these ponds.
When we left Bakersfield we did not
run three miles until we were right
back in the desert. The paved roads
and the railroads run almost through
the center of this valley and you would
think it was a thriving town. Where
they have irrigation, they can raise
everything. Every house has shanty
along the road where farm produce Is
sold. This farm district only reached
back from the road few miles. 1t
looked to me as though they did not
have any grass except where they
irrigated. Most of the fields were
planted in orchards or melon patches.
There were also many vineyards. What
few cattle we saw were kept in pens.
They raise cotton, rice, peanuts and
everything.
In Iowa we use sand for roads but In
this valley they use straw. This brings
us to Sacramento. This is surely a
great town. The buildings in this
town are five. six and ten stories high.
They look funny. Now we hit Sacra-
mento valley. 1t is filled with wheat,
rice and fruit and is a nice valley.
The soil is red and is fine gravel.
We arrived at my brothers place
and had veal and salmon trout to eat.
You can tell the ladies' aid that such
feed makes me look like great big
toad. Well, guess l am about
through.
A Hold-Up?
l forgot to tell you about our hold
w. Well, when we We're going from
Provo, Utah, to Salt Lake City, there
was n car about 300 yards in front OF
us. 1t was raining and they stopped.
Three men got out of the car and each
man had gun. They came right
back towards us and told us to stop.
Say, Bridge, you could just imagine
the perspiration. l thought we were
liz for it but when they came up they
wanted to know If we had truck pass
us and / told them we had not. Then
they told us that there had been bank
robbed ut Salt Lake City and thai
they were sheriffs. Now, Bridge, when
got my breath it sounded like a loco
motive letting off her steam ana
mother said was as white as a sheet.
Mother was saying her prayers and
said that she thought about her aid
society friends. Please have this
printed in the paper for the benefit OF
my friends because l can't write all
of them.
Yours truly,
c. A. Dick and family.