THE IKBIQATION AGE. 



309 



are constantly extending their possessions by lease or 

 purchase and in accordance with the increased product 

 the capacity of their factory is enlarged. 



Lime is an indispensible factor in the refining 

 process of the sugar and they have a very fine quarry near 

 Lampoc about twenty-six miles from their factory ac- 

 cessible to the Southern Pacific Eailroad. 



They have a railroad of twenty-five miles covering 

 the entire plantation for the delivery of the beet product 

 to the factory. The Southern Pacific and Pacific Coast 

 systems have spurs to the factory connecting them with 

 their main lines. 



Their irrigation project comprising seven pumping 

 plants and a gravity system with a capacity of 30,000- 

 000 gallons per day when all are in operation is suffi- 

 cient to furnish twenty inches per acre a year to their 

 whole plantation, and the system can be enlarged as 

 their holdings increase. It is necessary, however, to 

 irrigate only in extremely dry seasons. 



As an adjunct to their business, they have a gen- 

 eral merchandise store known as the Union Commer- 



distributing point, if not equal, is second only to that 

 of Santa Maria. 



In an interview with C. F. Twitchell, who owned 

 and laid out the first addition to Orcutt, he said : "Only 

 ten lots remain unsold in the addition, and I contem- 

 plate putting another addition on the market in the 

 near future. There is a demand for at least thirty 

 new houses at the present time, and there is a splendid 

 opportunity here for a man with the knowledge and 

 capital to engage in the banking business. Beside, in 

 the professional line, we need badly, a doctor and a 

 dentist. In the mercantile line, there is a splendid 

 opening for a hardware and tin store, and a practical 

 shoemaker will doubtless do a lucrative business." 



The population of the town is about 500 and has a 

 fine public school with about eighty-five pupils in at- 

 tendance. 



Mr. Twitchell came to the Santa Maria Valley 

 about thirty years ago from the state of Iowa, and he 

 IB counted among the few whose faith in the country 

 has been amply rewarded by the success which he has 



No. 9. One type of pioneer home, and two views of present style h omes in the North Platte Valley. 



cial Company, which is the largest and most complete 

 in the valley. 



Among the towns in the valley which have been 

 given impetus by this company and the development 

 of oil, are Santa Maria, Orcutt and Guadalupe. 



The transeient population of Santa Maria is so 

 great that for its accommodation a new and modern 

 hotel is imperative. 



Mr. A. L. Popp, a successful farmer and owner of 

 Santa Maria realty, whose father was one of the Cali- 

 fornia pioneers, is the gentleman who has undertaken to 

 supply this necessity. Ere this article has gone to press, 

 he will be ready to receive bids for a modern two-story 

 hotel building, seventy-five by one hundred feet. The 

 building will be modern in every respect, with baths 

 and all other appliances, so that the weary traveler or 

 the permanent guest can enjoy every comfort and lux- 

 ury to found in the hotels of larger cities. 



On the line of the Pacific Coast Eailroad and over- 

 looking the Santa Maria Valley is the town of Orcutt. 

 The growth of Orcutt has kept pace with the develop- 

 ment of the oil fields, until today its importance as a 



attained. Mr. Twitchell is known by his friends as the 

 father of Orcutt. 



On the coast line of the Southern Pacific Eailroad 

 in the southern end of the valley is located the town of 

 Guadalupe. 



The beet sugar and dairying industries both pay 

 their quota of tribute to this bustling little town which 

 is a distributing point of importance for these products. 

 Within a short distance of the town is located one of 

 the largest dairying industries in the state, the property 

 of E. J. Pezzoni. 



Mr. S. Campodonico, who is the representative 

 merchant of Guadalupe, excerises a paternal interest 

 in its growth and prosperity, and it is largely due to 

 enterprise and civic pride that the town has assumed its 

 present proportion and importance. 



Mr. Campodonico, as an example of progressiveness 

 to hip neighbors, has built an elegant and imposing resi- 

 dence here which would be a credit to any large city. 



About seven miles north of Santa Maria, just 

 across the line in San Luis, Obispo County, is the his- 

 torical little town of Nipoma. The Nipoma grant of 



