272 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
It was soon found that the best conditions for citrus growth were 
on the benches, where there was less liability to the low temperatures 
that sometimes kill the trees in the valley bottoms. The first orange 
trees were seedlings grown in old San Bernardino, but it was not until 
the Riverside colony of 1870 was established that marketing of 
oranges began. The Bahia navel orange was first introduced at 
Riverside. The original cuttings, from Bahia, Brazil, were sent to 
Florida from Washington, but someone, whose identity is unknown, 
took two of these cuttings to California. One of these two and all 
the cuttings in Florida died, so that the present enormous business in 
navel oranges has grown from the slender beginning of a single cut- 
ting. The tree that lived may still be seen at Riverside. 
The principal factor in the orange business was an outlet to eastern 
markets, and after the building of the railroads production increased 
rapidly and finally attained the present great proportions. As the 
demand for water increased the methods of irrigation were improved, 
first by avoiding waste and then by careful application, so that in 
ordinary practice the volume used was diminished from 1 miner’s 
inch for 3 acres to about half as much.” In part of the region about 
San Bernardino artesian water is available. It flows under moderate 
pressure from the wells, but the heavy drain on this resource has 
reduced the volume and head of the water,so that the area in which 
flows are obtainable has greatly diminished. It was decreased tem- 
porarily by the dry period before 1900. 
Much of the water is used in orange groves, but large tracts of other 
fruits, vegetables, and alfalfa are irrigated. Grapes, beans, and bar- 
ley, which require less water and need irrigation only in dry seasons, 
are regarded as “dry” crops. Sugar beets are a very abundant crop, 
the refinery near San Bernardino using 40,000 tons a year. Oranges 
are available for a long period, the navels in winter and the Valencias 
in spring and summer. Lemons ripen practically throughout the 
year. In San Bernardino County vineyards cover 40,000 acres and 
give employment to many persons. (Turn to sheet 29.) 
Northwest of Colton is Cajon Pass (see fig. 66), a great break 
between the San Gabriel Mountains on the west and the San Bernar- 
dino Mountains on the east, which is utilized by the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe Railway and by the highway that crosses the Mohave Desert. 
Through it also passed the Mormon trail, much used by the gold seek- 
ers of 1849. The pass is due to erosion along several parallel faults, 
%9 A miner’s inch (in California) is the | or 1 foot deep over 18.1 acres in a year. 
amount of water that flows continu- | (The older miner’s inch was 1/50 second- 
ously through an orifice 1 inch square | foot.) Citrus lands require about 1 
under a head of 6 inches. It equals | miner’s inch for every 5 acres. 
‘11% gallons a minute, 1/40 second-foot, 
