PUBLISHER'S DEPARTMENT. 



WHAT COULD BE DONE WITH 100,000 ACRES IN KERN COUNTY, CAL. 



READERS of THE IRRIGATION AGE believe the 

 industrial problems of the United States will be 

 largely settled in Arid America. If that is so it be- 

 comes interesting to inquire in what localities the new 

 developments may be looked for. 



Obviously there must be many localities to come 

 into prominence in the process of making homes for 

 millions of people in orderto provide a real outlet for 

 surplus population and found a new civilization 

 worthy the name. 



These localities will be scattered through half a 

 continent, beginning in Kansas on the east and the 

 Canadian boundary on the north. But it is quite safe 

 to predict that California will continue to maintain its 

 place as the most attractive of all western common- 

 wealths to the multitudes of the East and of Europe. 

 CALIFORNIA'S POPULARITY. 



It is not difficult to understand the causes of Cali- 

 fornia's preeminent popularity. It has never lost the 

 glitter which the discovery of gold gave it in 1849. 

 The public has never outlived the first impression of 

 its sunny skies, golden fruit, luxurious vegetation and 

 winterless climate. Its proximity to the further and 

 greater ocean, which laps the shores of Occident and 

 of Orient, gives California a nameless charm in the 

 popular imagination. There may be other lands un- 

 der the wide arch of the western sky equally interest- 

 ing, but they are not equally well-known and appre- 

 ciated. California is to-day, and for some years must 

 continue to be, the irresistible magnet to attract 

 homeseekers into new and promising fields. 



THE BEST PART OF CALIFORNIA. 



But if it is indefinite to say that Arid America will 

 furnish a field for the solution of current problems it 

 is only less so to say that California will be a conspic- 

 uous place in that field. Next to Texas California 

 is the largest state in the Union. It presents every 

 climate to be found upon the globe, except that of 

 the equator. Eternal winter and perennial summer 

 may both be found within its boundaries. Surely 

 there is need of guidance for the settler who thinks 

 of making his home in California. 



The writer knows of but one place in the Golden 

 State where land is under irrigation and open to set- 

 tlement in sufficient amount to render it capable of 

 demonstration in a marked degree the possibilities 



of the policy of colonization in connection with our 

 industrial situation. This land is located in Kern 

 county which is in the southern third of California. 

 It is enclosed on three sides by the Sierra Nevada 

 and Coast Range mountains and is abundantly 

 watered by a stream taking its rise at the foot of the 

 glacier of Mt. Whitney. Here is a tract of 350,000 

 acres, varying in the nature of its soil, but everywhere 

 fertile and adapted to the higher forms of horticul- 

 ture and agriculture. 



The irrigation system includes more than a thous- 

 and miles of canals and ditches and yet is as simple 

 as the mill race a boy builds by the side of a brook. 

 It is turned out of the river into the canals by the 

 simplest of weirs and conducted by main and lateral 

 canals over the entire property. In many respects 

 this is the finest opportunity for settlers offered in all 

 California. 



WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH 100,000 ACRES. 



If it be true that an outlet can be found for sur- 

 plus population on arid lands, and that a scheme of 

 industry can be devised whereby these people can 

 become independent and evenly prosperous, then 

 surely the fact can be demonstrated to the satis- 

 faction of the public on say 100,000 acres of Kern 

 county land. In Kern county the farm unit may well 

 be twenty acres. An area of 100,000 acres would pro- 

 vide homes for 5,000 families, or 20,000 people, count- 

 ing four to a family. Whatever can be done by 5,000 

 families on 100,000 acres of Kern county soil we may 

 properly accept as truthfully representing the high- 

 est possibilities of Arid America. 



Practically just such an experiment will be made 

 between this time and August, 1894. 



WHAT IS BEING DONE IN KERN COUNTY. 



The Kern County Land Company is represented 

 in many large cities of the United States, Canada 

 and Great Britain. Its agents are directing the set- 

 tlements of homeseekers by every proper and active 

 means. Backed by ample capital and by the solid 

 merits of their proposition, they ought to accom- 

 plish the settlement of 100,000 acres of land this 

 year. It is not necessary, in order to get success- 

 ful and significant results, to try the experiment on 

 so large a scale. But it would have more influence 



