OCR Text |
Show 3R through line of transit so soon as the Southern Pacific shall have connected its line of road from San Francisco to the Colorado River. The distance from Los Angeles to Santa Monica by rail is 12£ miles, and at the latter point a little town has sprung up. consequent upon the ad vantages of commercial relations, trausit or supplies, & c., from the north, the evidences of a good beach, convenient as a resort for the people of this section and such others as may be desirous of taking advantage of the more geuial climate of this part of the California coast Wilmington, until lately the point from which military supplies have been forwarded into Arizona, is at the head of a little lagoon or estuarr not navigable for large crafts, at the lower part of which estuary, by means of a breakwater lately built by aud under the direction of officer; of the Engineer Corps, after the plans of Lieut. Col. B. S. Alexander. Corps of Engineers, and in charge of Maj. 6 . H. Mendell, with Lieut Clinton B. Sears as assistant, has been partially opeued for navigation, so that several landiugs may be effected near the old town of Sau Pedro, to which it is understood the line of railroad will be carried at an earlr day. The route outward from Los Angeles was via the Cahueuga Pass lead ing into the San Fernando Valley, or plains, as they have been termed, 1 large grazing section, on the stage- road leading hence to Santa Barbara, an oasis in its way facing the broad valley. The buildings lie nestled in groves of magnificent oaks, the soil itself being a heavy, rich, dark loam, evidently capable of producing most luxuriant crops, could suffi cient water for irrigating purposes be had. It is not unlikely that, in some of the ravines leading back into the Jbothiiis, the search for artesian water would prove successful, and that it would be found suffi cient for the successful irrigation of a large part of the valley. Across the valley brings us to the old Mission of San Fernando, which was described by the earlier travelers to this region, near which has j been built a little valley town, by the name of San Fernando, at tbe present terminus of the line of rail leading from Los Angeles to iki* \ point. The remains of the old conduits for irrigation and other hydro graphic purposes, made by the Jesuit fathers with the aid of Indian j labor, are still visible, and attest the degree to which agriculture j was carried in those days by this rude kind of labor, guided by tbe padres, aud it is not difficult, after a closer inspection of the remains, to believe in the tales of wonderful fertility of the fields well watered and covered with foliage, and of the large herds of cattle and sheep reputed to have been the property of these early missionaries. The whole valley of San Fernando is one level plain of large extent, of a strong, naturally productive soil, as is evinced by the luxuriant j growth of herbage of varying size, that needs only the advent of a proper amount of water to bring it into the coudition of a garden. Much water falls in the neighboring mountaius, but it mostly passes oat of sight, except in the seasous of freshet, and under the beds of alluvium to the drainage of Los Angeles River. The Big and Little Tujunga and Pacoima Creeks are all streams of considerable size, varying in different seasons, but soon sink upou reading the plain. The storage of these waters in the vicinity of the mouth* of the caiious through which they debouch would serve to act as restf* j voirs sufficient in size and extent to hold the necessary supply w make fertile all the outlying lands, of which there are at least 150,0$ acres cnltivatable by irrigation. In this valley aloue were seen only W ranches, where but a few acres of land are cultivated. Fields of wheat barley, and oats were noted, lying between the two, where, without |