Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1921-04-07

must have a water system of thei
own this of course only applyin
where the general water system ha
not yet been established. Califor
MA is noted for its dry lakes an,
river beds. l have seen magnie
cent bridges spanning streams al
most dry. Some of these dry W
entirely q little later in the season
l have walked along the Los An.
geles river for miles and at presen,
there is only a small stream d
water, yet at times it is raging
torrent, destroys property, and
foods considerable region. Du
ring the past winter much worh
has been done in lining the banks
Of the Los Angeles with rock In or.
der to keep it from flooding the
surrounding country A railroad
was built on each side of the rivel
so that the rocks could be hauled
directly to where they were wanted
l mention this to show the nam
moth scale in which improve.
ments are carried on in that coun.
try. Passing on to the San Fer
nando valley you have a beautiful
region where there are many olive
groves. Looking from the cal
window I saw these words on q
sideboard: ''Mt. of Olives" Look
ing just beyond it you could see a
beautiful little mount which / sup
pose was named from Mt. Olivet Of
Bible history at the side of which
was the Garden of Gethsemane.
A short distance from here a con-
siderable stream of water was flow
ing out of the mountain side. AT
this particular point you could not
tell where it was coming from, but
later on / noted great water pipe
and it was simply carrying water
down from the mountains for irri.
cation purposes and other neces-
sary uses. The fume system is
often used to convey water from a
place where it is not needed, or is
unproductive, to where good use
can be made of it. My attention
was now directed to a vine-clad
house along the way and these are
very common out there for they
make beautiful residence out Of
a very cheap building. An old COW
with bell on her neck was an ole
fashioned sight which one scarcely
ever sees any more. That tlnkle
is like music to the ear OF the pi-
oneer, but in Iowa-never again
The country was now becoming 8
picture of desolation. 1t was
waste land stacked up. | wondered
if the Creator had stacked it up SC
as to not cover the good land Of
earth, but to get it on as little ter
ritory as possible. Near Ravenns
saw one carload of cattle and one
of hogs, the first l had seen since
leaving Ross last fall. In the coun.
try east of Russ it is exceedingly
rough and the railroad winds
around like q snake to get through
North of Lancaster the aban
doned shacks are in evidence ane
if one had to live in any Of these
the year through it would surely
be Living in Lonesomehurst." A
freight train passing to the south
east was made up Of sixty-fvc carr
and of these / took notice thai
twenty-three were oil tanks which
told the story that it was an OF
country. We reached Mojave {
little afternoon and the reader vii
remember that the desolate regiol
of which / have spoken is the Mo
jave desert, an almost barren basin
The Mojave river flows out of tn
San Bernardino range of mountain
and finally disappears from view
in the Mojaye sink. The boy
who went across in the recent wa
often speak of mo Mans Land
and l said if there was such a plac
in this country, we had surely jus
passed through it. This countr
was in marked contrast tn ono &