Southern Pacific Company. Passenger Department

“ Walnuts, olives, oranges, beet-sugar and beans are the notable features of orchard and field in the region about San Buenaventura. The old mission, in excellent preservation, established in 1782, is still used as the parish church for that region. All the way from here to Santa Barbara and beyond, the traveler is continuously under the spell of the sea, for the track skirts the coast upon the bluff high above the booming surf, by ever-changing pictures of 12 clouds and sea and sky, with an occasional steamer or sailing craft to give them life. ”

“ It is backed by mountains that rise high above the city and shelter it from every wind, facing a channel and bay of remarkable beauty and calmness, with a temperature of wonderful equability, with groves of oranges and olives and lemons, with the tropic foliage of date-palms and bananas, magnolia, oleander and other graceful trees and shrubs, with unrivaled gardens of perpetual bloom and fragrance: easy of access, unexcelled for its schools and libraries, with social advantages among people of culture and cheerful living. ”

“ Through the valley, fertile and fruitful, parks of live oak and the seed farms—thousands of acres of sweet peas, of marketable bulbs, vegetable and floral—form the noticeable features. And these live oaks of California are marvelous. They are ever green like those of Palestine. Here are oaks that may have served as roofs to Indian council halls, with closely-lapping leaves that shed the rain and hide the sun, with branches that spread so wide and bow so low that they seem like great sheltering arms that both caress and protect. ”

“ In the snug Ojai valley, close by the Coast Line, where now a town bears his name, he came and made his home for many years. Here, beautifully framed by rugged mountains, is one of Nature’s sanitariums where crowds of health seekers come annually to enjoy the dry air, cooled to reasonable comfort by the nearness to the sea. Not far away, traveling by the direct Coast Line from Los Angeles, is Oxnard, site of a beet-sugar factory that sweetly influences the freight shipments with its large annual output of the finest sugar. ”

“ It’s the great Land of Out-of-Doors here, with sunny skies and a climate that invigorates all the year around, all the way across the mesas and tablelands of the Painted desert region, across New Mexico and Arizona, across sandy wastes and cactus-spread plains into the Californian oasis country, where water and wisdom have helped make a paradise for all who believe that Nature is the best of doctors. ”

“ If he’d counted all the things that set one wondering—things God-made and hand-made, things of sky and sea, of cañon and mountain, and field and forest—along this thirteen hundred miles of highway he would never have stopped at a mere thousand. Ten thousand would have been something like it, but modesty is a decent and not over-worked virtue, and ought to be cheered wherever seen. ”

“ Civic pride is evident everywhere; art galleries, a notable library, beautiful avenues, parks and homes, with an excellent car system reaching far out into its pleasant suburbs, all speak of culture, wealth and progress. Here the traveler may rest and think over his trip and consider his return journey, providing this western land so seemingly new, so ever green, so bustling with activity, so wide-awake, so climatically glorious, does not hold him, as it has held many others, in bonds that they would not break:
We have seen a world! ”

“ Powerful and comfortable steamers stem the torrent of the mighty river and at the rapids of the Dalles, close to the mystical, mythical Bridge of the Gods, a system of locks has challenged and overcome Nature’s mastery of her aquatic highway. Portland is famous for its hotels and hospitality, its fine streets and buildings, its clubs, its schools and churches. ”

“ Los Angeles, however, with all its charms, is only one small corner of Out-of-Door Land. The holy fathers of Mexico and old Spain found that out over a hundred years ago, when they started from Loreto, in Paja California, to make their mission pilgrimage up the Alta California coast. From San Diego and Los Angeles they headed northerly, establishing their mission stations a day’s journey apart. In sheltered valleys, on slopes that look far to seaward, by never-failing water courses, they planted the cross and marked out the boundaries of their holdings. ”

“ In San Francisco—righting itself rapidly since the great disaster of April 18-20, 1906—one may readily pass two weeks or more in diversified pleasure, entertainment and instruction. Here is a city of 500,000, eighth among the cities of the United States at the last census and in line for sixth place. Everywhere the demands of trade and of modern civilization are crowding the city. In its harbor the ships of war of all the nations of the world could float, with room and to spare. The climate welcomes the health-seeker and the man who would live out of doors all the year. ”

“ The climate is first, of course. You cannot overlook the novel joy of a region where on New Year’s day, they battle with roses instead of snowballs. In the country around Los Angeles they do that sort of thing as a fixed festival, but the same floral ammunition, and the blue sky and soft air are the winter characteristics of a hundred other places along this road that joins Los Angeles to Portland, passing through San Francisco—this Coast Line and Shasta Route. ”

“ Along here, at Occano and Arroyo Grande, enterprising seedsmen are growing peas, peas by the million, but they are sweet peas, whose value is in the blossom and not in the pod. It is a sight worth crossing many continents to look upon—a sweet-pea farm in full bloom. A resort near Oceano is El Pizmo beach, over twenty miles long and several hundred yards wide—as pretty a piece of sand stretch as uncle Neptune ever bade his ocean minions to build. ”

“ Within two years over 100,000 adventurous men came, and many remained to help upbuild San Francisco and California. Across the bay on the eastern shore is Oakland, third city on the coast, with its 175,000 people. It is a city of slopes covered with charming homes, spreading northward to the city of Berkeley, seat of the great University of California and noteworthy for its loveliness. ”

“ From Santa Cruz, northerly, the road runs through the Santa 34 Cruz mountains, a region of country homes and farms, famed for their table grapes, for their prunes and apricots and apples. The big redwood trees (sequoia sempervirens) of these mountains invariably attract the stranger. One can see many of these close by the train, but if the traveler has the time, the trip to Big Basin Park, a preserve set apart by the state, will show a forest display never to be forgotten. ”

“ In Portland is the constant stir of progress and commercial development—it is in the air. With the completion of a forty-foot ship channel from the city to the sea, to which end surveys are being conducted by the government, the largest vessels will have no difficulty in making Portland. Business enterprises of all sorts thrive; the building up of attractive suburbs, and of seaside resorts such as Long Beach and Yaquina bay—all these mean that here is a city of 160,000 people that will bear watching. There is no use hurrying through Portland; there is too much to be seen and done ”

“ The new railway station of the Southern Pacific has been built close by the Potter, and the city grows close about it. The hotel grounds are elaborately laid out, running down to the long boulevard that fringes the stretch of perfect ocean beach. Close by is a well-equipped bath-house, with the ocean itself as an annex for more ambitious swimmers. The population of Santa Barbara and suburbs is made up very largely of people world and climate-weary, driven by stress of storm or cold from more rigorous climes. ”

“ Crowds gather here every summer and the place is fast winning recognition as a winter resort; a modern city for health and recreation in season. Fishing sportsmen make their headquarters here, too, salmon fishing being one of the sports that attracts them here especially; the salmon being a fighting foe that makes the sport fully as attractive as tuna or tarpon in other better-known fishing grounds. Capitola, Santa Maria del Mar, Seabright, the Twin Lakes park, and other points close at hand, connected by electric railway, are all attractive spots where the idler may spend weeks of enjoyment. ”

“ The fast-growing city, with buildings going up everywhere to replace those lost in the big fire, is the heart of the state. Real estate sales and clearing-house figures, assessor’s valuations, all show the city’s present progress. Still westward across the Pacific to the Philippines, to Japan, to the Orient; southerly to Hawaii, to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia; northerly to British Columbia, the Alaskan archipelago, Cape Nome, and the gold region of the Klondike, the advancing commercial movement tends. ”

“ The place has ever been a favorite winter resort for health tourists, and in summer Californians have long frequented this beautiful coast city, with its remarkable stretch of bathing beach and its charming walks and mountain drives, its opportunities for athletics and all out-of-door sports. ”

“ At Oregon City are the falls of the Willamette, where the power of the river is harnessed for the use of many factories. A ship canal has been built around the falls. The Willamette valley is one of the most fertile and most beautiful river regions of any land, stretching southward from Portland across eight counties and occupying four million acres of rich land. It is a natural center for dairying and diversified farming. A total failure of crops has never been known. ”

“ Around Oroville and along the Feather river may be seen that marvel of gold mining, the electric dredger. These monster burrowers are here eating their way steadily into the gold-bearing soil. In many places this work is going on industriously in the center of profitable bearing orchards, but the gold from within is found by this process to yield to greater profit than the golden fruit produced by trees on the surface. And then from Sacramento the great valley broadens out. To the north is the vast orchard region of Sutter county, and the great granaries of Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties ”

“ Here are all sorts of opportunities for recreation, chief among them being the eighteen-hole golf course, laid out on the oak-shaded hillside fronting Monterey bay. You can play golf here all the year. The activities of the sport never prove fatiguing nor even irksome, the temperature is never too high, cool breezes from the sea are always present, and disagreeable weather never interferes with a game. The links, only a short distance from the hotel, are the finest on the coast, if not in the country. The greens are kept in the best possible condition ”

“ The well laid out city is finely built, with many shade trees, well made roads, excellent water system, electric light and gas. In location it resembles Los Angeles, though it is nearer the ocean. The summer temperature has a maximum of ninety-four degrees; the winter minimum is thirty-two degrees. Lemon and orange trees thrive and roses bloom the year around. ”

“ There are plenty of fish and wild life abounds. There are many canoe clubs at Portland and during the summer the Willamette is crowded with the fleet of light craft while trips up and down the river are in great favor, sometimes extending for days and covering a voyage of one hundred miles, the distance by river between Portland and Albany. From Portland to Salem the capital city, a steamer plies the fifty miles of waterway. House boats, often of luxurious design, are in high favor on the quieter reaches. ”

“ The sanitary value of these wonderful founts of healing was recognized long ago, and every season seekers for health come to be cured, as the sufferers of France make pilgrimage to Lourdes; the dry air, the sunshine, the healing waters from Nature’s laboratory soon make the patient feel as good as new. ”

“ Here is the soft air and 38 blue sky of Italy, the views of Naples, the hills of Rome, the winter climate of the Riviera, and people who, in the face of severest stress have shown themselves possessed of the combined attributes of New England energy and Oriental luxury.
MISSION SAN CARLOS DEL RIO CARMELO. NEAR HOTEL DEL MONTE AND CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
Things are moving here, and busy men are learning only of progress, of advances in value, of chances for investment while over all and around all, is a climate of comfort, of chances for out-of-door exercise and daily pleasures all the year round. ”

“ During recent years there have been many gold strikes, and to-day all through these ranges prospectors and expert agents for mining capitalists are searching and locating the precious metal. The famous North Pole mine, for example, ranks among the largest and is valued at over fifteen million dollars. At Cottage Grove, the road first touches the picturesque Willamette river, following its course to Eugene—seat of the University of Oregon—crossing it at Junction City, touching it again at Albany—a big shipping point for luscious Oregon prunes ”

“ Its extinct volcanic summit rears itself 2,590 feet above sea level, as one looks across the bay from the city. Up its slopes runs a railway that is a marvel of engineering construction. It’s quite the popular thing to hie away to the eyrie tavern on the crest of this mountain, there to be alone with the sea and sky and one’s thoughts. Gertrude Atherton’s latest novel was written amid these surroundings. Around the base of this mountain are sheltered slopes on which are the homes of San Francisco residents; across the bay, by Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, the home district runs. ”