EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 789 



extending the production of mules. The horses and mules of Owens Val- 

 ley command a premium in the Los Angeles market. 



During the past year a good deal has been done in Owens Valley in ex- 

 tending orchards. It is demonstrated that this valley is particularly well 

 suited to apples, pears, peaches, quinces, apricots, nectarines, and prunes. 

 These fruits attain here such size, beauty of color, and delicacy of flavor 

 as is rarely equaled elsewhere. 



Experiments have been made that establish the fact that this is one of 

 the best regions on the Pacific Coast for the production of raisins. Wine is 

 produced of such fine flavor and bouquet that wine makers at Los Angeles 

 have bought and taken there quantities of it to mix with their own wines, 

 that were deficient in these qualities. It is now evident that Owens Valley 

 is destined to become a populous and rich region through its suitability to 

 the production of the articles above enumerated. The valley contains 

 three hundred thousand acres of land suitable to farming and fruit raising. 



Not one tenth of the land is yet under thorough cultivation, and only a 

 beginning has been made in planting orchards and vineyards. Cereals of 

 all kinds yield good crops, and are of excellent quality. It is the best 

 watered region in California. Streams flow down from the Sierra Mount- 

 ains at short distances apart, the entire length of the valley. These all 

 abound in trout. Springs of pure water are found all over the valley; 

 some of these flow large streams; one, a few miles north of Independence, 

 has a flow of not less than one thousand inches of water. Owens River, a 

 large and swift flowing stream, runs the entire length of the valley from 

 north to south, and discharges into Owens Lake. This river alone would 

 supply an abundance of water to irrigate the whole valley. Several ditches 

 have already been made that take water from the river; most of these are 

 in the neighborhood of the town of Bishop Creek, near the north end of 

 the valley. Near Independence, the county seat of Inyo, a canal is now 

 in course of construction that will irrigate about thirty thousand acres of 

 land. Most of this tract will be devoted to fruit and raisin production. 



Locators of land are now at work preparing ground for planting next 

 spring. Parallel with the canal just described, another was finished on 

 the other side of the river during the summer just past. This will irri- 

 gate about nine thousand acres of land. Settlers are now at work build- 

 ing houses and getting land ready for planting. 



No other part of California offers such opportunities for men of small 

 capital to get homes. Land that will produce the best of fruit, and excel- 

 lent crops of all other products, can be bought for $20 to $25 per acre; this 

 includes perpetual water right. The climate is among the best in the 

 world. Farm work is never delayed for an hour by excessive heat in the 

 warmest summers. There is rarely a time when plowing may not be done 

 any winter. The mountains afford an abundance of excellent fuel. 



The mining interests of the district are extensive and valuable. One mine, 

 the Union, near Keeler, the present terminus of the Carson and Colorado 

 Railroad, has already produced over thirteen millions of dollars. Cerro 

 Gordo, Darwin, Lookout, Panamint, Lee, Wild Rose, Coso, these are all min- 

 ing camps in the south end of Inyo County. These camps, and others in 

 the north end of the county, and all of western Nevada make a first class 

 market for all kinds of fruit, hay, grain, butter, eggs, beef, bacon, and all 

 other farm products. The home supply is not equal to the demand, con- 

 sequently farmers get better prices for their produce than rule anywhere 

 else in California. At the date of this report butter sells for 70 cents a roll; 

 eggs, 40 cents a dozen; chickens, $6 a dozen; potatoes, $1 50 per hundred 

 pounds; oats. 2 cents a pound; barley, If cents a pound; corn, 1| cents a 



