THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 189 



town. It takes a gang of men to receive, weigh and unload them. In 

 another department we see the large stemmer and grader, which runs 

 by steam, and stems and assorts from thirty to forty tons per day, the 

 clean and uniform raisins running out in a continuous stream, each 

 grade in separate boxes. There is a restless activity on every side. 

 The large raisin crop this year is very large; it must be handled in a 

 few months, and every grower and packer is pushing the work to his 

 utmost ability. 



When we consider that most of the crop, which this year will reach 

 five hundred thousand boxes, comes from the country immediately 

 surrounding Fresno City, and that the San Joaquin valley is 250 miles 

 long by 75 miles wide, almost all the land capable of being highly 

 cultivated and of producing abundant crops of one thing or another, 

 then alone can we realize what the future has in store for this wonder- 

 ful valley, an agricultural empire in the very center of California. 



FROM LOS ANGELES TO SANTA ANA. 



We are fairly out of Los Angeles when the character of the scenery 

 changes. The railroad here runs through one of the most fertile 

 counties in the State, the rich bottom lands being formed by the 

 deposits of ages from the overflow of rivers and creeks from the Sierra 

 Madre range. Not an acre of waste land is to be seen anywhere. 

 Everything is clothed in the softest green, and only in the far distance 

 are seen the hills and higher mountains of a brownish violet color, 

 with the boldest outlines against the sky. A more diversified farming 

 district is seldom seen. Orchards of prunes, walnuts, apples and figs 

 are met with on either side of the track, here and there expansive 

 vineyards with their characteristic green, or groves of straight and 

 stately gums, like immense square blocks of verdure, planted all along 

 from the nearest fields to the far distant hills. We pass in succession 

 Ballona, Florence, Downey and Norwalk. The country around the 

 two latter places seems especially attractive, orchards as far as we can 

 see, vineyards and native pastures. We pass villages and farmhouses, 

 here and there a more pretentious villa, and, in some spots more lovely 

 than the surrounding, many a mansion has been erected with luxury 

 and taste. 



We are soon in Orange county, and the scene changes some, the soil 

 being, if possible, more fertile. We pass large orange groves of the 

 deepest green, and immense fields of corn, squashes, pumpkins, pea- 

 nuts, beans, and here and there walnut groves and plantations of 

 young fig trees. Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana come in quick suc- 

 cession; we are in the center of a raisin district of the very greatest 

 interest. We can hardly realize the change. Not having been here 

 since the boom, everything seems almost new. Santa Ana has grown to 

 be the queen of the valley, and is undoubtedly, together with its two 

 sister cities, Orange and Tustin, one of the most prosperous as well as 

 lovely places to be found in the beautiful South. As we board the 

 street car and ride up town from the depot, we realize the change even 

 more. On every side are signs of wealth and refinement, of new ideas 



