Show w JOAQUIN MILLER Tho Great Stanford Estate ExGovernor Bidwcll Special Correspondence RED BLUFFS Cal April 6 As I am here almost in sight of the famous Stanford farm which Senator Stanford presented pre-sented t the state recently a part of the endowment of his great university it may b well t look in upon it Forty years ago this land was the property of a Mr Lessen after whom the snowy mountain peak to tho east of u Mount Ls sen was named But when the gold fever broke out the old mountaineer seemed to remember re-member having seen gold somewhere in the mountains and could no longer b content on his splendid land grant He sold his vast possessions worth 1000000 for 5000 t a neighbor and with the money in his pocket set out in the direction of Lessens Butt His only companions were h Mexican and Indian dependants who had lived with him and served him on the ranch His mutilated remains were found a few months later and buried at the base of the mountain which bears his name But the fabulous deposits of gold which the old trooper claims to have seen in the mountains have never t this day been found He was probably murdered by some treacherous Indian or Mexican for the few thousands of money which he carried with him The land when it came to Senator Stanford Stan-ford cost a square 1000000 in gold And here the great railroad king contemplated making the model farm of the earth But alas I for all the calculations of man I I stopped at the mean and dirty little railroad station there called Vina last year and was dismayed at the miserable set of whisky I drinking toughs that I found hanging about the place Senator Stanford had made the mistake of believing too much in his fellow m a laudable mistake but a fatal one in great enterprises He never had any control of this plague spot right here in ho heart of h model far And s it i no better than any of the other gin and poker tow this great valley wheat and wine But of course the great farm itself i about the first nature has done perfect I te ft place natre hI a that nature could do The whole broad region lay waiting for the plow Little mountain trout streams stole down through the meadow land under the scattered oaks toward the Sacramento river and the wild oats high as a hors back glistened i the sun ready for the reaper even without the suggestion of a plow In a little time the wild oats were turned 1 j I over and under the mountain streams were ed hither and yon in irrigating ditches and more than twenty square miles were set in I grapes I The great oak trees were left stand I I to record For they only lug am glad t recrd are I just abundant enough t afford occasional rig places for the laborers or shelter cat le from the hot su when they are in the fields And they are wide and generous trees full of birds especially doves and their broad green branches are smothered in moss I It i strange t see a train of freight cars stop here and take on a load of peanuts In fat I a old Californian a constantly meeting with just such surprises a this right along here in my own land Not long ago I saw a carload of English walnuts from little mining camp where the only fruit I had overseen over-seen hanging on any of the trees there were three men escaped convicts from Australia hanged for murder by a mob I But perhaps the greatest surprise in all this wondrous valley of wonders i the famous far of Gn Bidwell His little allotment of I lad on this earth i 65000 acres A good i and even great man I Bidwell but this i a i serious sin No man has any sort of right t s much la To say that he makes uo best possible a of it and beautifies every aero i hardly ijument in his favor When I see any one man monopolize s much land as th I see some of the good uses of death Gen Bidwell came here in 1843 He i a Ohio m has been in congress from this state and i universally loved Strangely enough this m told me that he came t California because n m in Missouri whither he had moved and located on a quarter I quar-ter section of land cheated him out of his j preemption claim of land Failing t get I 16 acres of land in Missouri he resolved to j get hold of something substantial in Califor j nm j nsGen Bidwells farm i a empire in itself not only in revenue and extent but in variety ety of products Everything indeed from peanuts up t pears and peaches and apricots i pnnt p I that would make your mouth water i taken I tat I from here in carloads almost daily t the markets of S Francisco and Sacramento Nuts of all lands fruits of a climes and i kinds grain of all sorts everything that t grows 1 No king n old ever had s much of i everything a this farmer her in the great I Sacramento valley JOAQUIN MILLER I |