204 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



to see, extends away down the valley for sixty miles, over slightly 

 rolling hills, over level mesas with their dark-green orchards and vine- 

 yards, over the steeper hills, over the lofty Sierra Madre range in the 

 northwest. If we turn to the right we are immediately met by the 

 snowy peaks and the bare walls of the San Bernardino range, here and 

 there cat by the canons and gorges of the tributaries of the Santa Ana 

 river. 



The business part of Redlands is as neat and tasty as any, brick 

 blocks and cement sidewalks, horse cars, and water under pressure. 



No explanation is required to be made of the quality of the Red- 

 lands climate and soil. A trip over the settlement will reveal all to 

 any one with open eyes. Orange orchards, young of course, but 

 thrifty, on every side, alternating with Muscat vineyards, according to 

 the taste of the owner; beautiful homes of the horticulturists, the 

 stately mansions of the bank presidents and those that became wealthy 

 quickly, and the grand view common to all, these are some of the 

 good things this settlement enjoys. The water for irrigation is all 

 under pressure, either coming to the surface in open flues or in iron 

 pipes. The orange orchards are being irrigated everywhere, in a way 

 which should make a San Joaquin valley man stare. Iron pipes are 

 laid all over the orchard, and at the beginning of every row of trees 

 there is a faucet. These faucets are all opened at the same time, and a 

 tiny stream of water issues forth and runs on each side of the young 

 orange trees down to the other end of the check. It is left to run for 

 several days at a time. At the other end of the check the water is not 

 wasted, but runs into a little wooden spout at every row of trees and 

 through the same into a cement ditch which carries the water to 

 another place. The system of irrigation is simply perfect; if it were 

 not so, the land could not be irrigated. With this system there is no 

 waste, no weeds, no malaria, no hoeing nor other work of any kind. 

 Irrigation is here as easy as the washing of your hands in a patent 

 washstand: you open the faucet and let the water run. The general 

 opinion by people not acquainted with the colony is that water here is 

 very scarce; this is a mistake. There is water enough to irrigate all 

 the land; most of it is now only running to waste to the sea; to be 

 utilized it must only be stored. The Bear valley reservoir, when per- 

 fected, as it soon will be, will hold water enough to irrigate over 

 twenty-six thousand acres of ground, which is about all the irrigable 

 land tributary to Redlands. There are other reservoir sites in the 

 mountains, and the possibilities of future irrigation can hardly be 

 comprehended. Although young, only four 3^ears old, the upper San 

 Bernardino colonies produce already considerable quantities of fruit. 

 Six thousand acres are now under cultivation, eight hundred of which 

 are in Muscat grapes, the Balance mostly in oranges and other fruits. 

 Last year they produced fifty carloads of grapes and forty carloads of 

 raisins, and altogether about 149 carloads of fruit, dried or fresh. No 

 better showing could be expected of any place, and there is no better 

 advertisement of the resources of the country, 



I have yet a thing to add, a thing to praise. Everywhere in the 

 South magnificent drives are laid out, avenues are planted with shade 

 trees, evergreens and palms, street cars take you everywhere, and the 



