Show PRETTY PEN PICTURE Fanny B Ward and Her Journey to Ensenada THE BURSTING DAYS OF BOOM The Sad Sights Seen in Towns that Have Bern OvcrdoneThey Are Awaiting Another Boom BAJTA CALIFORNIA Mexico May 15 1SS9 Special Correspondcn ofTnElIcitAiit i > adays most people who visit the Caiuunia peninsula go down by steamer from San Diego to Ensenadathe former being the last town of consequence on the American side of the border and the latter the first on the Mexican side The distance between the two points is only sixtylive miles AN EASY JOUBNET between supper and breakfast but after the three thousand miles and more of water transit which your correspondent has lately undergone attended with perils by sza in the shape of equinoxial storms and spiii riles and such an excess of mal te mfr that ever since the sight of a ship or the sound of a whistle brings back the old I feeling of naus auwe will make this little jo j irncy overland First n few words about San Diego that ambitious city whose name Spanish for Saint James was first conferred upon it famous bay by Sebastian Vizcaino who surveyed it in the year 1002 Vizcaino was not the original discoverer however for tlrit distinction belongs to a Juan It d ri ucz Cabrillo and some other Ponu Mese navigators who came in liThe li-The modern history of the town dates bark to the days of Father Francis J uI pro Ssrra the good friar who founded the chain of missions that afterwards ext ex-t < udsl 1 away up into northern California Tin mission San Diego established in what is now known as the Oid Town and the present pueblo organized just fifty fur years ago nakingit the oldest municipality muni-cipality in the state Since ISH when California passed from M lean control to that of the American government the little lu g has brace i held its own though assay d > vu in tLe ex tromcst corner of the republic with no neighl os anywhsre and no back country coun-try to boast ot About lour years ago the Santa Fe railway made this point its western west-ern terminus and then an era of phenomenal phenome-nal development began In half a year the population increased from 3000 to 150000 electric lights illuminate it street railway lines cross it in all directions motor and horse sirs connect it with progressive suburbs a magnificent park of 1500 acres oinpies the heart of the town and vessels ol the largest tonnage can enter the landlocked land-locked harbor at low tide in perfect safety THE FAVORITE BOAST OF ALL of al San Diegoans is the beautiful bay and the perfect waters that belong to the latitude and so much has been said about it by the boomers that irreverent peisms from farther up the coast have out of sheer jealousy abreviated it into a byword by-word Occupving a commanding com-manding position with the sheltering nills behind it and the lovely bay in front the climate is certainly all that could be desired de-sired scarcely varying ten degrees from varto year with neither the excessive ii ats of Los Angeles the chilly winds and fogs of San Fran iscaor the malaiu of the aciji inns country It is popularly sup pi a cd in the north that a city so far south as this must necessarily bo intolerable in summer time but such is by no means the case with San Diego where light blankets are needed at night the whole year through and whichwith its ocean breezes and near by islands covered with hotels and I 1utttgcs is cmiiientlv fitted for a summer resort Great things are prophesied for the future fu-ture of this city it having the only harbor of Consequence the California coast except ex-cept that of San Francisco being nearest the Mexican border the southern terminus 1f all the Pacific railways and with a good dell tff fertile back country not yet thickly settled Just now the city is struggling under that deadly reaction that always follows an < overdone boom and business is com parath ely I dull But affairs are not so bad with San Diego as with most of her neigh bors and her healthy growth about v Viih we hear so much is slowly but surely progressing The fact is that injudicious booming has been the bane of all southern tlifornia There are towns of which the world heard a great deal a > ear or two ago each one according to real estate advertisers adver-tisers bound to become the metropolis of the coastthat are now practically dead nearly every other house placarded to let and property for sale at half its original or-iginal cost TREY WBKE BOOMED TO DEATH and those unfortunate citizens who have not money enough left to get away stand around idly with their hands in their pockets pock-ets waiting for another boom to come along uuil make them riei Without the necessity OT ijMoble labor Surdug southward from San Diego by private conveyance thy stage coach no longer makes regular trips itlis a pleasant afternoons journey to Tia Juana a funny little town situated the dividing line between be-tween the republics At first there are flowery fields on one hand and salt marshes 01 the other alternated by dazzling glimpses glimp-ses of the Pacific a strong cool breeze bringing the smell and almost sound of thee > the-e By the way it is a peculiarity of this section that the northers generally blow from the south and the rivers are said to i How bottom upwards meaning that the water sinks quckly In the ground leaving a few feat of sand on top Beyond National City which is almost near enough to be a suburb of San Diego and is connected therewith by motor the road gradually leaves the coast and nears the foot hills A few hours easy riding through fertile farming lands brings us to Tia Juana How this border town came by its cognomen Tia Aunt Juana iJauo history sayeth not but probably some influential Mexican had a female relative rel-ative of that name who once resided here and his frequent visits to Aunt Janes are thus commemorated Unromantic people insist that the real name of the valley val-ley is Jnot Tia Juana at all but Tijuan little turtle bestowed at an early day because be-cause of the numbers of small turtles that used to abound in it However it is Tia Juana today and doubtless will remain so JUI isnot much of a town more Mexican than American straggling half a mile or more along both sides of the line There aro the hotels one named after the town which may have been the identical abode of historic Aunt Jane the other big square woolen and unpainted un-painted looking like an immense dry goods box with windows in it so far as inns are concerned all the architectural i display of thc section seems to have been exhausted in the great Hotel del Coronado Coronado island opposite San Diego which is said to be THE LAUQKST HOTEL IX THE WORLD as it Is one of the most beautiful the majority ma-jority of the others being characterized by the severest simplicity inside as well as oat and in the matter of bed and board as well as adornments Wo put up at the Tia Juana house and spend the sunset hour delightfully in its rambling old garden where linnets and larks make music and drooping pepper trees dressed in nqw leaves are just turning turn-ing their pendent clusters of tiny white blossoms into bunches of pink kernels Next morning we make an early start accompanied ac-companied by a couple of ruralu soldiers guards kindly furnished by the local powers for our escort and protetiou andji capacious lunchbasket stocked at the hotel with two days rations for the party The valley of the defunct Aunt Jane or of the little turtles as the case may bets beautifully fertile and highly culti vik 1 Them am great fields of corn wet and barley sIb tan Mal farmhouses s iroutdcd by fine garden and a gent gen-t j look of thrift and contentment j course of the morning we puss the ruins of a Jesuit I mission nearly two centuries old and the extensive rancho of Senor Aquillar Mexican Mex-ican who owns most of the country hereabouts here-abouts The sun is at the meridian as we toil up a series of low hills and presently we find ourselves in another valley equally fertile but not so well cultivated Right here beam Via lands of the Internatiom i company of Mexicothe great tract extending extend-ing southward more than three hundred miles and including half the peninsula which the Mexican government transferred a few years ago to a syndicate of America capitalists Here and there are houses with a squatter 110k > about them and patches of tilled ground but most of the colonists have settled around or below Ensenada Crossing another dividing ridge we lose tuht of the Tia Juan river but soon ford another and smaller stream which is more like a succession succes-sion of springs Later on we come to another an-other river which can be forded without difficulty and then enter the Carrizo valley val-ley narrower than that behind us but incomparably lovely The few families who reside in this secluded spot seem DELIMITED TO SEE TIt InEWI Though strangers wayside children cheer us as we pass and men and vomcu com out of their houses to shake hands and en quire the news afterwards bidding us a courteous adios Out of this Sleepy Hollow we literally crawl up a narrow pass terrifically steep where the spring rains have worn the road into appalling ruts Being obliged to walk while the carriage topples from side to side in a manner fearful to contemplate considering con-sidering what the descent may bewe divert ourselves by gathering some of the flowers which cover these wild heights in infinite variety Below this second divide we enter EI Vallfl de las Palma the Vallev of Palms one of the loveliest spots it has ever been my good fortune to behold By this time night has come and we journey moon lijht the till trees and bushes casting ghostly shadows We cross dry riverbeds streams rain upside down and lon s flt aO VY ficl30 stretches of bottomland and fields ol sweetsmelling alfalfa and at last tired and sleepy reach the little village of Las Palmas and another dry goods box of an hotel kept by a pleasant German family who give us a good supper and comfortable bedAt At the earliest peep of day a horn blown vigorously outside signals tho hour for arising Breakfast is quickly dispatched and sunrise finds us again on the road Almost Al-most immediately we plunge into a clear shallow stream the Palmas river afterwards after-wards following beautiful canon fringed with ferns and carpeted with greenest grass shaded by large frees and thick undergrowth un-dergrowth The stream zigzags through the narrow gorge so that we are obliged to cross it a score of times meanwhile keeping a sharp lookout for rattlesnakes which hero abound Before noon we come to Vallece tos Little valley where exGovernor iycrson and his brotherinlaw Seiior Se rauo have fine ranches fat cattle good residences res-idences orchards wheat fields a steam flouring mill and other desirable posscs ions Later we eater Burro canon a narrow defile where KNOIlMOts LIVE OAKs IX7CKLOCK their branches over head and a clear stream fed by innumerable springs winds in and out among the rocks and trees between banks that are like soft green plush strewn with wild i flowers In one ihet 3d i place the erratic i river i suddenly crosses the road leaps over a fallen tree into a natural basin and then diving under a mossy bank runs away and hides among the rocks and ferns By and by it reappears grown broader and noisier jumping over rocks aad making such a racket that we can hardly believe it to be the same modest 1 ttle ri u et whose quiet ginning we SiW I at the head of the valley Out of Burro callow we come into Guadaoupe valley where all along the river He long fields of rye and barley and it is easy to imagine that Camelot is at land especially as piles of gigantic white rocks somewhat resemble castle walls This valley is watered by its own river the Gu idaloupe which never runs bottom upwards but remains visible the whole year through Irrigation is not needed here and wonderful crops are said to be infallible The Flowers brothers own ranches here and at one of their houses we stop for luncheon The genial host added fresh milk and butter to our stock and tore and our soldier campaneros contributed tributed some savory ribs of lamb broiled over the coals on the point of a stick Around the Flower casa grow enormous ram trees 0 the fan variety tall banana bushes aud orange trees laden with fruit while on all sides as far as the eye can reach lie fields of young wheat like smooth green carpets Farther on we pass another deserted mis sion whose crumbling walls tell a me an holy tale of patient priests who toiled and prayed and taught the natives THE BEAUTY OF UOLIXES3 Ve can see how the land all around had been > laid out in fields and gardens before the cruel edict of banishment came and some old pear and apricot trees still bear fruit in their season Then we hurry on as twilight is approaching ap-proaching through miles of wheat and barley bar-ley fording a river every now and then passingscal tered ranches and long stretches of unoccupied country Then cvaies the long hills which form the last jivide then down down down now in almost total darkness A wavering moon comes out at last uncertain wheber to show her face or to hide it Le hind the clouds In any other country rain would fall from such a sky but here of course it cannot for months to come At last a glimmer of ocean is before us and its roar is again in our ears After leaving Sanzal one of the show ranches of the International com pany we drive so close to shore that some of > the fiercer breakers actually sprinkle us with their spray Then the road runs inland land a mile or two making way for a line of low hills Then old Neptunes voice is heard again and the twinkling lights of hcf 1i sa Snsenada tine new city of the sea announce an-nounce the journeys endFAVXIKB FAVXIKB WARD |