Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1922-01-12
NUMB Der 3

Mountains early one winter. gat stuck
IN the snow and had to abandon his new
car for the Balance of the winter. At
another time land this his wedding trip)
sand storm in the Owens Valley over
took them. Several times be had to
get out and shovel the sand from around
the wheels before they could proceed
AT the end of the trip of three hundred
miles the glass of the auto windshield
was so scratched and cut by the fierce
of sand so that it was no longer of use.
Less than a year ago, while on his way
to the Yosemite little over one hun
dred miles from here. they had a num-
Der of times 10 get out anG wipe the
snow from the wind shield so they
could see the way.
While on our beautiful ranch home in
southern California we certainly had
few discouraging experiences with the
weather. The first season | planted
four and quarter acres Of onions.
All went well until time TO harvest
them when up came an untimely rain
lasting several days, and 10 every onion
began to sprout, hence we got practical
~ nothing for our hard and expensive
summers work. We also had in five
acres of potatoes (spuds we call them)
and they proved on par With the onion
crop. The last season we spent on the
ranch was seven years ago, when my
health SO compet'y failed me. our
peach orchard of five acres lad it's first
big crop; but that year there was no
market for them. The canneries would
scarcely accept them as gift. SO our
only recourse was to dry them, hoping
that later on there would be a market
for dried peaches. we had tons of them
all pitted. sulphered and on the trays
in the sun drying, and they were a
beautiful lot, when up came what we
called a Santa Anna sand and wind
storm mot an hours notice for US to
protect the trays. In ten minutes the
whole lot was spoiled Utterly covered
with sand and all total loss At that
same time we had large patch of
beautiful tomatoes for my market wag-
on, gathering bushels of them every
day. The sand moved in such quantities
| that the heavy vines caught it and
held it 80 that little hillocks were
formed completely hiding the vines.
Some weeks later dug into one of
those fuounds and found quantities Of
fine ripe tomatoes, the green ones hav-
| ing rlpened in the warm. dry sand. so
! can say that ! raised that vegetable
under the ground and dug them like
potatoes. But let me remind my read
ers that such experiences will never be
known in that section again, for sand
storms are thing Of the past, as the
great areas of sandy acres are now
fields of beautiful green alfalfa. while
thousands of acres of fruit trees,
especially peach, cover vast tracts
where once was only sand. In place of
hot winds are cooling breezes coming
across the green fields. Land that in
those days was worth from $50 to 800
an acre now brings from FIVE hundred
to one thousand dollars.
Another serious obstacle we had TO
contend with was the ever present and
pestiferious pocket gopher. Every
morning the traps would have to be set
and every evening looked at. If we
did not we would not grow single
fruit tree, as their mission in life was
to eat off the roots of the young trees.
They would be driven onto our land
from the surrounding alfalfa fields, from
which they were driven by the irriga-
tion waters. But behold. as time vert
by we discovered their presence was a
blessing in place Of a curse, for the
run ways or tunnels which they made
became regular little acquaducts carry
ing the water from the alfalfa fields to
our orchards, thus saving us the trouble
and expense Of irrigating our trees.
The ground SQUIRRELS too were deprida-
tors on our hens nests. carrying off the
eggs, Eyes, even the nest eggs, while
the coyotes (wolyes) would carry of
our chickens.
VIM. GoLDswoRTHY,
In the Mountains of California.
ITO be continued