The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1922-02-23
WINTER VISITOR
WRITES ABOUT
CALF. FREEZE

Some idea ~ the unp sua-lv severe
cold weather that has visited south
ern California this winte", ran be
cleaned from the following EXCERPT
from a letter received by II. j. Hoy
per friend in California and forward
ed to another friends now spending
the winter in Lakeland:
Pomona, Calf, Feb. /, %.
Weather always being a good sub
ject to write about and for fear that
you may be misinformed by the re-
ports in some of the eastern papers,
you will allow me to write you a few
pages on some of the-of course UNI
usual-weather we have experienced
here this winter. As | have said to
Hattie. if we had experienced this the
first winter we were here, we would
be back in Iowa shoveling snow this
year. For a starter we had Santa
Ana Santa Ana is little Ari-
IONA sandstone. 1t neither bowls like
a billiards. nor roars like a cyclone,
but it makes a lot of fuss and noise
Just the same. And this one surely
did ii in fine shape and was accom-
panied by bushels of sand. The first
night we stayed out on Our sleeping
porch and it kept us awake part OF
the time and in the morning we We're
some sight. 1t kept up for about
three days and nights. Usually they
try to be damaging are only dis
agreeable. But this one did consid-
cradle damage Hundreds of telephone
poles were blown down and also hun
dreds of trees. Oranges were blown
from the frees and many were damag
ed by being whipped against the
trees. The shippers are very particu-
lar and will not ship oranges having
any bruises no matter how small. The
trees were heavily laden this year and
therefore the damage was not consid-
cred of much importance.
However they were to receive
another shock. Up to December 18th
we had practically had no rain worthy
of the name. But that evening it be
gan to rain and kept it up for about
two weeks and soon after the first
few days of rain the floods began
Through the orange groves the water
came down from the mountains and
through the fields causing all kinds
of damage along its path. Also or
the highways where in places there
we're rivers two or three feet deep.
finally gave I'D driving my own car
back and forth to Ontario and took
the bus They experienced much diff
iiculty in making the trip and often
had to detour. 1t rained Christmas
this was the first holiday since we are
~ t,h
Years day we had the same thing.
But the worst was yet to come
the freeze of 1922. Up until this
time we often heard the freeze of 1913
mentioned, but now we have expert
enced one and can talk of the freeze
of 1922. And the smudgei oh. my To
To the north of us are vast orange
and lemon groves and the thouNnds
Of Smudge pots were turned loose full
force. What an awakening in the
morning, The house was full, we
looked like negroes, our nostrils were
full and also our threats Driving to
Ontario with the smudge pots burn
ing on both sides of the roads and the
smoke so heavy that at times you
could barely see the length of the car
ahead of you. it was almost like driv-
ing through 'Hades' A number of cars
were in the ditch owing to the smoke
and one had to drive very carefully
This smudging was kept up for about
five nights. 1t required some house
cleaning and curtain washing to get
the house in shape again.
For the last few days it has been
raining, and in the mountains it has
been snowing-we had a few fakes
of snow in Pomona Sunday and it
sure looked good to me to see it snow
ing. Am enclosing a few pictures of
snow scenes in the mountains. Never
before have | seen our mountains COW
cred with snow like they are at pres
ent. Sunday | expect to take a trip
up into the snow and get a real taste
of it,
During the days of the freeze the
days were fine and the sun shone
bright and warm and the thermometer
reached the Is mark. What the dam
age will be it is hard to say at this
time, but about half of the crop is
lost. OF course, they will get a much
better price for what is left and prob
ably the orange growers will make
as much profit as if they had picked
the full crop. Most of the groves are
a rather sick looking sight with the
frozen leaves turning yellow and
brown. This will mean a lot of prun.
ing after the new growth comes out
in the spring. All we need now to
top this off is few earthquakes, then
we will have had asmple of every
thing. This will be enough on the
weather subject for this time. Nc
doubt after a few weeks of real Cali
fornia weather we will forget about
the discomforts and will be glad that