A' u °^ V » ' * «>- o A^ '^^ '*rt^'* ^Sv"^' ,'^"■^ "^ • x^r. <* <^, ^^'^ o .V ^V .i"l> » ^fy>T^ T 'V" o • . , •*'o .4> 1 1 v-^;^ : ii ^W,' <&^'"\ '--^K-" ■3^^^'^'^^ "•'^K** %%r- ' Irrigation Diverting Dam in Tuolumne River. Water is Wealth" Here the Land Owns the Water STAmSLAUS COUNTY • f\ CALIFORNIJi Where all the Products of the Semi-Tropic and Temperate Zones Grow NOW the MECCJl of HOME SEEKERS An Irrigation Canal. Tuolumne River at Modesto. \0 ^ DEC as 1902 D. Of D. Where Orau.s^es Ripen for ThauksKivi" TO THE MAN of modest means seeking a home under California's bright skies, where he may actually sit under his own vine and fig tree, side by side of the orange and the lemon, the pomelo, the pomegranite, the almond and the prune; where the rose lends its beauty and its fragrance to the senses in winter no less than in spring; where modern social conditions obtain, the great cities of the State are in touch and opportunity presents for a comfortable living and eventual competence as the fruit of industry— to that man this modest booklet is dedicated. Rare opportunities open, too, for the investor, but it is to the home-seeker, as the more desirable, we address our- selves. The county of Stanislaus, California, today presents THE home-seekers' opportunity. Situated in the center of the great State, comprising the outlet of the San Joaquin Valley— a veritable X'alley of the Nile, 250 miles long and 50 miles wide — Stanislaus possesses exceptional advan- tages of location and incidentally of climate. Stretching Central across the broad plain from the first rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Location. l\-^Q east, her western boundary line rests on the sunmiit of the Coast Range. Modesto, her county seat, is but 115 miles south of San Francisco, 92 miles north of F'resno, 77 miles south of Sacramento (the State capital) and 30 miles south of Stockton, the figures denoting distance by rail. Her area is 800,000 acres, nearly seven-eighths of which are arable lands. The Southern Pacific and the Sante Fe transcon- tinental railroads traverse the center of the county, a branch, of the Southern Pacific skirts her -^ eastern and another branch her western foot- and I^ivers. hills. The Sierra railway, starting from the eastern l:)ranch, at Oakdale, places the markets of the rich mining counties of Tuolumne and Mariposa and of a portion of Calaveras, and the wonders of the famed Yosemite Valley, at her door. The Stanis- laus, Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers, the two latter navigable for six months of the year, run through her splendid acres, affording irrigation and drainage, and in a measure serving to regulate transportation charges. Stanislaus presents the typical California climate, about the same .weight of clothes comfortable all the year. The winter is short and mild, the rainfall at Climate, the county seat ranging from eight to twelve inches annually, snow unknown, frost infrequent and rarely damaging even to tender plants and the sus- ceptible orange blossom. Roses bloom in the open air as late as December and January, and in March resume blooming. The average temperature for November, December and January, deduced from early morning, noon and late evening observations, is fifty degrees; for June, July and August, seventy-seven degrees. Thunder and lightning are heard and seen rarely and from afar; tornados and cyclones are unknown elements. "Bright and clear" reads the weather observer's record almost uniformly, and balmy and bracing applies also save for occasional periods of a day or two in the height of summer. The heat, however, at these infrequent periods is drv and less distressing than that of eastern cities often when the thermometer registers twenty degrees lower. The nights are almost invariably cool enough to call for a blanket. The soil is a sandy loam on the plain between the Stanislaus and San Joaquin Rivers; heavier and with some adobe on the west side of the San Joaquin; a strong, red soil and adobe in the foothills. Products. It has largely been planted to wheat for twenty-five to thirty years, its yield affording Stanislaus primacy among the wheat-producing counties of the State. Where irrigation is practiced, however, all the products of the temperate and semi-tropic zones are produced. Her oranges, choice fruit that to see is to Soil and rf^ covet, are ready for the Thanksgiving market; her lemons leave nothing to be desired; olives, almonds, prunes and figs yield prolifically; pomelos (grape fruit) and pomegranites attain perfection; choice peaches, apricots and nectarines afford profitable crops; table and wine grapes meet every desire, while apples, pears, and in fact all the deciduous fruits, and garden and field prod- ucts of every description, are prolific in yield and from excellent to choice in quality. The demonstrated profits of the products we have enumerated, and of dairying, alfalfa under irrigation affording green feed all the year around, led the land- owners of the central portion of the county to co-operate to render irrigation available to all. Two hundred and sixty thousand acres Iving between the Irrigation for 260,000 Jicres. Stanislaus and the San Joaquin Rivers, and bisected by the Tuolumne River, will as a result within a few years comprise one great garden spot. A completed irrigation system owned by the land embraces 176,000 acres at this writing, and although the system has been operated hardly more than a year 20,000 acres are in alfalfa, fruits and garden products. A year hence 80,000 acres addi- tional will be under irrigaticjii ditches. These irrigation systems are comprised of the Turlock and Modesto Irri- gation Districts, organized under the Wright Act, the former embracing 170,000 acres lying between the Tuol- umne and San Joaquin Rivers and the latter 82,000 acres lying between the Tuolumne and the Stanislaus Rivers. The Tuolumne River is the source of supply for both dis- tricts. This stream has a watershed second only to that of one other river of the State, carries a vast volume of water and is never-failing, fed by the perennial snows of the Sierras. The water rights of the districts take prece- dence over all others save that of a mining company possessing a very limited appropriation. The water is taken out of the stream, on either side, by means of a concrete weir dam, constructed jointly by the districts at a cost of p50,000. It is located just above the historic mining town ing Dam. of La Grange, in the foothills of the Sierras, 32 miles distant from the centers of the districts, and constitutes one of the greatest • and most spectacular structures of the kind in the world. It is 327 feet in length, 97 feet through at the base and 12 feet through at the crest, 127 feet in height, arching up stream. This dam has now been in place 8 years, and is as enduring as the everlasting, rock-ribbed hills into which it is keyed. The Turlock District canal system comprises 22 miles of main canal, 74 feet in width at the bottom and designed to carry a maximum depth of 8 feet of water; 2 main laterals, aggregating 35 miles, 40 feet in width on the bottom; and 6 sub-laterals, aggregating Canals. 80 miles in length, ranging from 18 to 30 feet in width, floor measurement. The main canal of the Modesto District system, partially completed, is 62 feet in width on the bottom, and will supply 90 miles of laterals ranging from 18 to 40 feet in width. This sys- tem will be completed within a year from date — Febru- ary, 1902, The Turlock District system represents a bonded indebtedness of |1, 200,000, at 5 per cent, the bonds running 40 years, no part of the principal payable until 1922. The Modesto District system represents a bonded indebtedness of 11,100,000, at 5 per cent, no part of the principal payable until 1922. The tax to defray interest and maintenance averages 45 cents per acre in the Turlock District and about 52 cents in the Modesto District, the property embraced in the city of Modesto paying two-fifths of the Modesto District tax, which would otherwise be 80 cents per acre. After 1922 one-twentieth of the principal of the bonded indebtedness will be pay- able annually; or the bonds may be refunded at lower interest. The sandy loam of which the greater portion of this great body of 260,000 acres of land is comprised, affords every advantage for intensive fai niing. Garden products are produced in abundance; oranges, ^^^ ^^^S^^ lemons, nuts, peaches, apricots, prunes, to JHfalfa. pears, nectarines, figs, olives and table and wine grapes yield in gratifying qual- ity and quantity; while alfalfa finds its home, yielding 5 crops of lyz tons to the acre annually, and affording pasturage after the curing season. Dairying is becoming a very prominent industry, because of the favorable conditions and excellent profits. Twenty acres in alfalfa will support 30 cows, — - — ^ and one man at a salary of 135 per month will Dairying. milk and care for the herd. The milk will bring at the creamery from |i4.50 to |;7.00 a month per cow, according to the grade of the cow. The skimmed milk, returned and fed to calves and hogs, will aftbrd an income sufficient to meet expenses, leaving the returns from the creamery net profit. The land can be purchased in small tracts at from |25 to |40 per acre, and can be graded, checked and planted to alfalfa for from IB to 110 per acre — for 16 if a man does the work himself ; 110 under contract. Planted in the fall, alfalfa attains a fine stand by spring, and is good for 7 years without resowing. With a few acres in alfalfa, and a few cows, a family is assured of a living within a very brief period. There is a creamery at Ceres and a model |;10,000-cream- ery at Modesto, with skimming stations here and there. Another product providing a ready and early source of income is the sweet potato. It is produced to perfec- tion in this sandy soil and by aid of irriga- tion, the crop maturing in four months. Money-maker. The yield is from eighty to two hundred sacks to the acre, commanding an a\'er- age price of about ninety cents per sack. Land produc- ing sweet potatoes is invariably choice land for peaches, which are always in demand by the canneries at prices affording net profit of from seventy-five dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. Melons, beans, corn and like products yield al)undantl\-. Within 5 years, land prices will double, and in 10 years triple. Owning the water, as it does, in per- petuity, the source exhaustless, the supply boinitiful, within 20 years the land and water right will inevitably command ^200 per acre. Lands in the southern part of the State for which water right and water alike must be bought at high prices, com- mand this figure and more; and in our own county, alfalfa land for the irrigation of which |;2.50 per acre has been paid Land Values will Double in Five Years annually for many years, brings from |80 to 1100 per acre. With every advantage possessed by the southern part of the State, and the added advantage of ownership of the water, the tax for interest and maintenance nominal, this land will assuredly reach |;200 per acre within 20 years; planted to oranges, lemons, nuts or other permanent fruit products in demand, correspondingly higher prices will obtain. 10 In additon to Modesto, there is comprised in this body of 280,000 acres of land the little towns of Ceres, , Turlock, Hickman and Salida, all with ex- cellent schools, churches, warehouses, gen- Jtd vantages ^ eral merchandise and other stores. These are all on railroad lines, and to them may be added the new railroad stations of Clauston, Empire, Hughson and Elmdale. The thriving litde town of Waterford, and the village of Montpellier, are on the border. 11 The school system of the county ranks seventh of the fifty-eight school systems of the State. The Modesto Grammar Schools employ eight teachers and the High School three, the pupils of both grades numbering 450. The graduates of the Modesto High School and of the Oakdale Union High School are admitted to the State University and to Stanford University without examina- tion. Modesto is a modern town of 2300 people, one of the best laid out, best built, cleanest and most attractive little cities in the United States. It owns and operates the waterworks, the water pumped from a subterranean river; is completely sewered, and owns and operates an electric street-lighting system. All church denominations are represented. Its business blocks are largely two- story brick buildings; a granite and pressed brick fire- proof bank building, of three-stories, constructed at a cost of |45,000, is the finest building of the kind in this part of the State; its principal hotel is a three-story brick representing an investment of 135,000. Its homes are uniformly neat and comfortable, often pretentious, well- kept lawn and gardens the rule. The assessed valuation of real and personal property in Modesto is |1 ,000,000. Oakdale, twelve miles east of Modesto, is the second town of Stanislaus in population and importance. On the eastern branch of the Southern Pacific, Thriving the starting point of the Sierra Railway, sur- Oakdale. rounded by the rich bottom and bench lands of the Stanislaus river devoted to orchard and garden, 5000 acres of land under irrigation ditches, with a vast acreage of wheat land tributary, Oakdale is a pros- perous and prospering town. Her schools are second to none; her business buildings are permanent l)rick struc- tures; her homes reflect her prosperity and the enterprise of her people. Ouite a large acreage, comparatively, in and about Oakdale is devoted to oranges and a smaller acreage to lemons, both yielding handsome profits. Almond, prune and olive orchards afford work tor young and old in the harvest season. A creamery denotes another of her industries, and a flour mill of daily capacity of 150 barrels, the capacity fully reached, marks still another. Light and power are transmitted from an electric plant on the Stanislaus river at Knight's Ferry, 12 twelve miles distant in the Sierra foothills. Great ware- houses line the railroad tracks. A bank does a fine business. Knight's Ferry was in early days the county seat. Toda\', a village in the foothills, crowned with orange groves, orchards of deciduous fruits and nuts, and vineyards, her fruits and wines famed at home and abroad. Land is cheap; the soil, the strong, productive red variety; water for irrigation is at command for the surrounding country, and with the development ot Knight's Ferry and La Grange 13 the new era California has entered upon the citrus and deciduous fruit and nut industries will attain marked proportions. Across country some miles is La Grange, like Knight's Ferry an early-day mining town. Oranges and lemons excelled nowhere on earth may be seen here as at Knight's Ferry. Similarly in the foothills, though on the Tuolumne river, the soil and climate are similar. Some placer mining is still carried on, but the principal industry is wheat-raising. These lands, too, are to be in demand for citrus and deciduous fruit and nut purposes, grapes, etc. County Hospital. The western portion of the county, known as the West Side — west of the San Joaquin River — embraces the towns of Newman, Crow's Landing and The Great Grayson. Newman is the metropolis, third West Side. town of Stanislaus in population and busi- ness. The river is navigable to this point for iS months of the year, and the West Side branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad passes through the town. The center of an area, in Merced and Stanislaus Counties, of 15,000 acres of land devoted to alfalfa, Newman is mani- festly thriving, the creamery and stock-raising interests 14 large and profitable. In addition to these she has a large area of strong wheat land as a resource. But little atten- tion has been given to horticulture, only sufficient to demonstrate that soil and climate are well adapted to olives and most deciduous fruits, and to citrus fruits. The creamery interests provide regular and comfortable incomes tor the small farmers, and land in alfalfa is worth from $S0 to 1100 per acre. In all likelihood the canal corporation will shortly extend its ditches to embrace new land. The schools are excellent, several religious denominations are represented, the principal firms have brick buildings, and a national bank is projected. Modesto High School. Crow's Landing is also in the West Side irrigated belt, on the line of the railroad, a comparatively small town but growing steadily. The JHfalfa Rents for dairy industry, stock and poultry, $IO per Jtcre. afford a degree of prosperity that is self-evident. [Writing of poultry, we are reminded that a lady near Modesto, who engaged in poultry-raising to afford an object to keep her out of doors more or less, for her health's sake, realized over |1200 net last year, starting the year with 500 hens.] 15 Land in alfalfa rents for from |S to 110 per acre, the lessee paying the water rate. Grayson is on the river, some miles north of Crow's Landing and out of the irrigated belt. There is promise, however, that the canal will soon be extended to embrace Grayson, now the trading and river shipping point for a large area of wheat land which, with adequate rains, yields notable crops, attested by the fine ranch homes and by plethoric pocket-books, notwithstanding frequent losses for lack of rain. With a strip of irrigated land to fall back on, the Grayson rancher will ask nothing more. We have written a plain statement of existing and assured conditions in Stanislaus County. Personal in- vestigation will verify all we have Come and See expressed, and that personal investi- For Yourself. gation we not only inxite but urge. Vou will find, in addition to what we have stated above, that the county has 10,000 population, the assessed valuation of the real and personal property is 112,000,000 and that values are increasing— that the trend is upward and will soon be pronounced. Enhanced values will surely make competencies and fortunes within a few years. It is not deprecation of any of our sister counties to say that Stanislaus today offers more and greater advan- tages to the home-seeker and the investor than are to be found elsewhere in the State. The new irrigation systems, the water owned by the land, presents an ideal condition; and now, in the inception of development under them, prices are ruling not much higher than the prices based on wheat production, but ihe trend is steadily upward and will be for all time to come, the enhancement worked during the next few years. "Water is wealth," and Stanislaus has the water, and on her land. Settlers are coming in daily, business and j-esidence property is in demand, and up and down the State is heard — " Modesto is the coming town." Ask the train conductor for a stop=over at riodesto. The Stanislaus County Board of Trade will cheer- fully answer any and all queries. Address, Secretary Board of Trade, Modesto, Cal. ^ r.r.IMPSE AT THF. COURTHOLSK. 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