The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1922-04-29
John B.SIater Tells
About California
Fruit Country South of Los
Angeles Presents Inter-
esting Problems

San Diego, CAL, April 24-Dear
Examiner: Getting out of Los An
geles is about as exciting as the ar
rival at or the escaping from the big
berg. We travelled its streets for
four hours in search of hotel accom-
modations without success. Conclud-
ing, finally, we were wasting too
much time, we resolved to pursue our
journey southwark and we were an
hour finding the urban exit. A de
tour took US to the top of a high
hill from which, during the day, the
level country to the south could be
seen, but at night this great pano-
rama of citrus groves was hazy
sea of darkness. To get our bear
ings we stopped at the crest Of the
rise and took observations. For Is
miles we could see the road ahead of
US plainly outlined across the country
by the glow of what appeared to us
to be thousand automobile head
lights. For miles we saw them di-
rected toward US, then an angle
would be described for a mile or so
to the right or to the left, but rne
road kept a general course south
ward. Having made a mental pic
ture of the view we dropped down
to the paved highway, trusted to
luck by following the crowd and,
though inky darkness hung from the
sky, the road was as brightly il
lumined as if electrfers had been
set as numerous as telephone poles
along the way. Along this line an
occasional town with an enlarged
scope of lighting was indicated on
the landscape, and in one of these
towns we hoped for hotel accommo
dations.
So strangely inhuman has been the
transformation from what we once
termed "man's humanity to man."
that we could not understand the
congested condition of society here.
That which we could not find il. Los
Angeles was as remote in the coun-
try towns. Forty years ago one
could travel the width and breadth
of the land and find a welcome in any
farm house on the way, but here, at
each place we called, the boniface
met US graciously and said his house
was full. Everyone seemed espec-
tally good to give information, and
our hopes rose when we reached
Anaheim. This is the German in
depreciation of the home of Anna,
and had it's beginning here in Ger
man settlement a half century ago.
1t is one Of a group of small cities
of from three to five thousand people
within a radius of a dozen miles or
so, including Santa Ana, Orange,
and one or two smaller places. The
town is we'll built and in it's night
dress presents a metropolitan appear
ance. One man, especially obliging,
offered his room, but on reflection,
told us there had recently been a
hotel opened at Orange; that the
town was a miles away, a little off
the Travelled course and few knew
about it and he thought it possible
to get room there. We took his
tip and chugg-chugged out of town.
A little way out, the dust had blown
over the pavement and in the dark
ness by mistake, we took dirt road
which landed us in the sand to the
hubs where it seemed we would not
sleep in the unidentified Orange ho-
tel Fortune always smiled on US,
however. 1t was our first mishap
since leaving home. A gentleman
with his family returning from
church, observed US, hitched his
emergency rope to Henry and pulled
US out. Refusing remuneration be-
caues it was the Sabbath he quoted
from the Bible the story of the OK
in the pit.
At Orange we found the hotel to
which we had been directed. 1t
was a three-story wood structure,
imposing in its architectural outline,
with large rooms, and lobby spacious
enough for an old-time town meet
ing hall. The guest room to which
we were assigned was 22x26 feet
and a 16-foot ceiling, as large as
four rooms in a modern hosiery.
Built in the early '90s, the building
had lain idle for 20 years.
When the morning dawned we look
ed upon the new scenes as in case
where one had been transferred
from one planet to another in his
sleep. We had travelled for days
through mountainous and valley
countries. Here we found ourselves
in a wide fiat plain, once a DESERT
but now fresh in the middle of winter
with the verdure of spring and the
summer fragrance of the blossom
and the fruit of the orange. Water
was abundantly supplied through ir-