THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



is worth one thousand dollars invested in an isolated lo- 

 cality." That the projectors had formed a very decided 

 opinion as to the most favorable location is evident in 

 the following: "We do not expect to buy as much land 

 for the same money in southern California as we could 

 obtain in parts of Colorado or Wyoming; but we ex- 

 pect it to be worth more in proportion to cost than any 

 other land we could purchase within the United States. 

 It will cost something more to get to California than it 

 would to reach the States this side of the mountains, 

 but we are very confident that the superior advantages 

 of soil and climate will compensate us many times over 

 for this increased expense." 



His circular had attracted the attention of a few men 

 of considerable means, and with these Judge North 

 set out for California to select the site of the under- 

 taking. With the rare intuition which eastern men 

 have frequently displayed in going to the West, the new- 

 comers selected a location which seemed quite preposter- 

 ous to the natives of the country. Planning the most 

 ideal development which had thus far been attempted, 

 they deliberately bought lands which had formerly been as- 

 sessed at a valuation of seventy-five cents an acre. These 

 lands then constituted a sheep pasture of inferior sort. 

 They were similar to the stretch of desert which the 

 transcontinental traveller sees in passing through Ari- 

 zona. After the winter rains they bore a short-lived 

 crop of wild flowers, but during most of the year they 

 offered nothing more attractive than sage-brush and 

 mesquite. The Mexican who owned them had not suffi- 

 cient imagination to perceive how the new proprietors 

 could realize a profit upon the modest sum of two dol- 



98 



