THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 197 



water for irrigation makes itself felt everywhere, both in regard to the 

 size of the plants and their color. Water can be had in abundance at 

 a depth of from only twelve to eighteen feet, and windmills and reser- 

 voirs would do much towards a substitute for ditches. As we drive 

 through the valley and up the divide between El Cajon and the Sweet- 

 water valley, the view is very attractive indeed, on one side the many 

 well-kept vineyards of El Cajon, on the other, way below us, the narrow 

 and winding valley of the Sweetwater. 



The Sweetwater valley, or rather continuation of valleys, is much 

 smaller than El Cajon, perhaps only a quarter or half mile wide, but 

 it is more favorable to raisins, grapes or vegetation of any kind. Olive 

 orchards of good size trees, vineyards with large and yet growing vines, 

 cornfields and pastures, and the winding and shaded little creek in the 

 center of the valley, give the latter a freshness and beauty not sur- 

 passed anywhere. 



On our way on the railroad as well as through El Cajon valley, we 

 have frequently passed alongside of or under the now famous Cuya- 

 maca flume, carrying water to San Diego and Coronado. This flume 

 is a fine structure, running sometimes in the ground, sometimes again 

 on elevated trestle-work over the ravines, or spanning the gaps 

 between lofty hills. The whole length of the flume is thirty-six 

 miles, and the cost of construction was $112,000. Its size is five feet, 

 ten inches wide, and sixteen inches deep, but by an addition of two 

 more boards the depth of the water can be increased to three feet, ten 

 inches, a large body of water for this country, where water is com- 

 paratively scarce. The flume heads in a magnificent dam at the head 

 of San Diego river, and it would suffice to irrigate quite a large stretch 

 of country if the people were only willing to use the water. But the 

 farmers here have been so repeatedly told that the land absolutely 

 needs no irrigation, and indeed would be ruined by the same, that 

 the most of them now fully believe this to be the case. The water 

 is therefore not diverted anywhere along the route of the flume, and 

 even in El Cajon and other places, where the crop of almost every 

 kind of fruit would be doubled by judicious irrigation, no effort to use 

 the same is made. I could find no- one who irrigated, and as a con- 

 sequence the company that owns" the flume have not yet put in the 

 extra boards that would more than double the carrying capacity of the 

 flume. 



One of the most interesting places in San Diego county is the famous 

 Sweetwater dam. It takes only two and one-half hours to visit it and 

 return, and a trip to it will repay the trouble. We start out southeast 

 and cross to National City, only a few miles from San Diego, and 

 really a suburb of that town. National City is decidedly new, an 

 attempt at something grand, which it will take sometime to finish. 

 The most interesting thing there, in a horticultural sense, is the 

 olive orchards of Kimball Brothers. They are scattered in two or 

 three places, and comprise about fifty acres altogether. The trees are 

 as large as good size apple trees, bushy and silvery, and are heavily 

 laden with fruit. The land around each tree was checked up, each 

 tree having a little square for itself, and a Chinaman with a hoe was 



