Year: 1876







OUR CLIMATIC ADVANTAGES


can be seen at glance from the fore
going figures. The freezing point is
very seldom reached, and the extreme
of heat is $50, while the average is
more favorable than in any other Sec
tion of this country, sufficiently cool
to preserve the energy and spirit of the
inhabitants, and yet not cold enough
to necessitate expensive houses and
| barns or large outlays for clothing.
Food, clothing and a habitation en-
brace the requirements of mankind.
The two latter absorb seventy-five per
cent. of the earnings of labor. These
are rendered necessary by the extreme
cold. A country therefore which re-
duces the cost of these to the mini
mum will soon be filled with popula-
ton. In Southern California a tent
will suffice for a dwelling during at
least six months of the year, and u
light wooden structure will satisfy the
most fastidious during the winter. OF
course the same conditions reduce the
cost of clothing. The third want,
food, no country can supply so bounti-
fully as Southern California. OF this
however we shall treat in full under
the heading of agriculture. While
the native grasses and winter grains
! flourish during the winter it cannot
be said to be with us the regular farm
ing season. Southern California by
force of circumstances was early driv-
en- to summer farming, and this, with
the rapid spread of fruit growing, led
| 10 the developement of our system of
IRRIGATION


an agricultural necessity, and, we may
say, blessing, that the people of the
States know nothing of, and which is
difficult to explain to them so clearly
that they can at once comprehend the
wisdom and energy which perfected
| it, and the immense advantages it
gives to those who have adopted it.
The average resident in the East sup
poses that irrigation means travelling
around with water pot sprinkling
young plants, or cutting open the
banks of river and allowing the wa
ter to flood the land. But it is merely
scientific and beautiful method of
handling crops, placing the farmer in
| absolute possession of his earnings
and rendering him entirely independ-
ent of the weather. If the Eastern
farmer could come out of his house
any morning and bring rain upon
his field or cause one to cease bv SIM
ply giving q command he would re-
gard himself extremely favored; yet
this is practically what our farmers
can do. Nature sends them down no
moisture from the clouds, they hold
the water upon the earth and let it up
OH the fields exactly when it is need
ed. With irrigation facilities then
farming is a mathematical certainty.
1t is evident though that so valuable
All appendage to a farm is not to be
had without labor and expense. The
nerve and skill displayed in develop
ing water in this section is not sur
passed by the bOldest mining opera
tions. The water supply with so linn
tied rainfall is necessarily far short
of the requirements, yet the progress
of the past two years leads to the con-
clusion that within a decade water
will be comparatively abundant. The
first and principle source of supply in
the past. has been the natural streams.
These however are small and few, the
bulk of their waters during the dry
season sinking into the porous soil
which cOmposes their beds as they
emerge from the mountain gorges.
Tho r,ri N pninaI OF nf T nc nnalac
and San Bernardino counties are the
Santa Ana, San Gabriel and Los An
geles Rivers, (the latter branch of
the San GabrieD. These streams
rising in the Sierra Madre Mountains
flow to the sea and supply more water
than is found in any other section Of
Semi-Tropical California. The Santa
Ana is the largest of them all and
though but partially utilized there
can be said to be 5000 acres of irri-
| gable loads upon it borders, of which
$4,000 are in San Burnadino county.
The san Gabriel River irrigates some
| 10000 acres and can be made to furnish
water to double this quantity. The
LosjAngeles River has been more full
ly utilized than any other and where
a few ranchmen formerly quarre.led
over the supply the city of Los Ange.
les is now furnished with an abund.
ance of the fluid; orchards and vine-
yards spread out mile after mile, and
yet there is still plenty for all. This
is owing to the fact that the water is
taken from the river bed before it
sinks, is conducted i'm fumes; and its
waste prevented by stringent regula-
tions. Smaller mountain streams and
springs supply many thousand acres
with water along the foot hills. In
addition to these sources there is an
other destined to play an even more
important part. We refer to


ARTESIAN WELLS


to which the public attention has but
recently been directed. Over the vast
interior Basin to the East of the coast
there is large rain and snow fall each
season, yet there are comparatively
no rivers to conduct it to tile ocean,
and it does not accumulate in lakes.
The conclusion is obvious that it sinks
Into the porous soil of the surface and
finds subterranean path to the sea !;
and this is supported by the fact that
fha oil i.h