The South The seven south counties have been widely advertised not only by systematic publication, but by the incoming tide of tourist sight-seers, and these factors have drawn here a progressive and a cultured people-drawn here chiefly by the same alluring characteristics that constitute the chief drawing charm of all California-sunshine, pure air, fruits and flowers. The south California region is a wonderland, no quesWonderland. tion about that. Here in the past thirty years has been developed a region of tremendous fertility, of prosperous homes, one big city of about 150,000 people and the center of a surrounding country nearly as large as all of England. Here is a region that beckons as all California beckons today to the people who love open air, who are weary of cold and ice and snow and slush and sleet, tired of being tightly housed four or five months of the year, who seek health and strength and fortune in a country of climatic comfort. Topographical This section includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara. The area of this region is about equal to that of Pennsylvania. The population, in 1880, was 64,371, or 7 per cent of the population of the State. In 1890 it was 201,352, or about 16 per cent of the population of the State. To-day it is about 400,000, or nearly onequarter of the whole population of the State. A glance at the map will show the reader best the topographical peculiarities of this attractive region, show the sheltering mountains that crowd the valleys and enclose these south counties in their sheltering arms. The center of this section, and the second city of California in population, is Los Angeles. Built near the site chosen by the Franciscan fathers for a mission in 1771, during the past twenty years Los Angeles has grown from a population of 11,000 in 1880 to 102,479 by the census of 1900. The present population is estimated at nearly 150,000. There are three leading features that have contributed to such growth. These are climate, soil and location. Any one of these advantages would be sufficient to build up a large city, but taken together they insure the future of CALIFORNIA SOUTH OF TEHACHAPI 173 the city as the metropolis of the southwestern portion of the United States. Upspringing The census of 1880 gave Los Angeles a population of The Magical 11,311. Business was dull, and there was no sign that the of Los Angeles. city was on the eve of a marvelous growth. Five years later, on November 9, 1885, the last spike was driven in the Atlantic and Pacific railway at the Cajon Pass, thus completing a new overland route. From that time the growth of the city was wonderfully rapid. The great real estate boom of 1885-7 is a matter of history, as is also the wonderful manner in which Los Angeles held up under the reaction that inevitably followed the collapse of the over-speculation at that period. Twelve years ago there was not a single paved street in the city. There are today over 200 miles of graded and graveled streets, over 20 miles of paved streets, 350 miles of cement and asphalt sidewalk, and 160 miles of sewers. Los Angeles has a complete sewer system, including an outfall sewer to the ocean. Los Angeles. The city possesses the great natural advantage of Exports of being located on the shortest route, by the easiest grades, between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The merchants of Los Angeles do a large business with a section of country extending from the eastern limits of Arizona to Fresno on the north. The principal articles of export are fruits, fresh and dried; potatoes and vegetables, beans, wine and brandy, wool, honey, canned goods, sugar, wheat, corn and barley. Wheat is sometimes shipped from one of the ports of Los Angeles county direct to Europe. As the commercial metropolis of the southwest, the city is becoming an important factor of wholesale trade, the merchants supplying the large territory extending from New Mexico on the southeast to Fresno on the north. Bank The banks of Los Angeles are noted throughout the Shown by the country for their solid and prosperous condition, with de- Clearings. posits aggregating $35,000,000. The clearings of the Los Angeles city banks for the year 1901 amounted to over $162,378,058, an increase of nearly 32 per cent over 1900, and of more than 100 per cent over 1898. For 1902 the Arteries of Trade. Spacious Flowers. bank clearings aggregated $245,516,112. The clearings. for the first six months of 1902 amounted to $118,895,060, as compared with $78,504,220 for the first half of 1901. Two transcontinental lines enter Los Angeles and work has commenced on a third, by way of Southern Nevada and Utah, which may shorten the distance from Los Angeles to Chicago over 200 miles. This company has been organized by a syndicate of capitalists headed by Senator W. A. Clark of Montana, who have acquired the Terminal railway as the Pacific Coast end of the new transcontinental line, which will open up to Los Angeles a section in southern Utah and Nevada that is marvelously rich in coal, iron, silver and other minerals. The company is known as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railway. The Pacific Coast Steamship Company runs vessels every few days from Los Angeles county ports to San Francisco and San Diego. Through Los Angeles pass daily the through overland trains of the Southern Pacific Sunset Route, and here is the western terminus of the vast Santa Fe system. Northerly from Los Angeles extend the two main lines of the Southern Pacific, one reaching San Francisco by the picturesque coast line by way of Santa Barbara, the other over the Tehachapi Pass through the fertile San Joaquin valley, one of the great grain and fruit producing regions of the world. Branches of these two great railway systems extend in all directions throughout the southern counties, affording frequent communication between hundreds of outlying towns that are fast growing into cities. The homes of Los Angeles form the city's most strikEmbowered in ing feature-homes of artistic architecture, surrounded by palms, orange trees, wide stretches of lawn, and fragrant flowers. Everywhere, everything tells of the outdoor life that is possible all the year round. At Christmas may be seen hedges of calla lilies, geranium bushes ten feet and more in height, and heliotrope covering the sides of a house, while the jasmine, tuberose and orange make the air heavy with their delicious perfume. Giant bananas wave their graceful leaves in the gentle breeze, and often CALIFORNIA SOUTH OF TEHACHAPI 175 ripen their fruit; the fan and date palm grow to mammoth proportions, and roses of a thousand varieties run riot. A majority of the residences stand in spacious grounds, a lot of fifty by one hundred and fifty feet being the smallest occupied by a house of any pretension. Many have from one to five acres of ground, all in a high state of cultivation. Along the sides of the streets shade trees are the rule, the favorite varieties being the graceful pepper which grows to a great size, the eucalyptus and the grevilla. Everyone keeps out of doors. Open Air. The horses here have a busy time of it, and driving Life in the and horseback riding have long passed the luxury phase -they are necessities. The bicycle agents sell more wheels in proportion to the population than in any other city in the world. The miles of smooth streets, the inviting shade trees, the alluring wayside hotels, the hundreds of valley and mountain resorts through all this region, all invite excursions afoot, awheel, by carriage or automobile. Street System. The street railway system has recently been consolidated and perfected so that now there are somewhere near two hundred and fifty miles of track, nearly all fitted with the most modern electric equipment. In addition to the local electric lines, suburban electric roads extend from Los Angeles to Santa Monica, Redondo and Long Beachall little cities by the sea-Pasadena, and Altadena, Al- A Perfect hambra, San Gabriel and other attractive points included Railway in a radius of fifty miles of the city. This suburban system will soon comprise over six hundred miles of electric railway. Hotels are the best, and there are countless apartment houses and boarding houses, where living is good and reasonable. The principal hotels are the Van Nuys, Westminster, Angelus, Hollenbeck and Nadeau. As the figures of population indicate, the growth of recent years has been marvelous; the building in the business and residence districts both is going forward rapidly. During the first six months of 1902, the value of buildings erected in Los Angeles amounted to $3,390,000, and for the entire year $9,612,331. In matters of climate and of soil products, what is The Land of Model true of Los Angeles county is true of a large portion of Temperatures. the counties of this region. The following table shows the average maximum and minimum temperature in Los Angeles for the twenty years from 1880 to 1900, the figures being furnished by the United States Weather Bureau: The Mecca of the Mick and The lowest temperature recorded during this entire period was 28 degrees, and during the entire period of twenty years, there were only six periods in which the temperature fell below the freezing point. Even on these occasions this temperature was maintained for only a limited time, generally in the early morning. In considering the summer temperature, it should be remembered that the climate of California is so free from moisture that, as stated, a temperature of 100 degrees here is far more comfortable than one of 80 degrees on the Atlantic coast. This is proved by the fact that farm laborers continue to work in the open fields during the hottest periods, while sunstroke is unknown. In "California of the South," Dr. Walter Lindley writes as follows in regard to the influence of this climate upon invalids: "The cases which may hope for benefit by coming to Worn. California, are, first and foremost, the feeble and invalid from whatever cause; those who find the drain upon vitality in a harsh climate too great for them; who have need to spend a considerable portion of each day in the open air, yet who in their own climate are prevented from so doing by the inclemency of the weather; those who need clear skies and sunshine, to whom the refreshing sleep of a cool, bracing night is a necessity after the warmth of the summer day; those to whose enfeebled digestion or to whose capricious appetites a market stocked with fresh vegetables, fruits and berries, every month in |