PESTO *? CALIFORNIA ■H^ EL CAPITAN. the majestic rock. 3.300 ft. in height, which stands at the entrance to Yosemite Valley on the Coulterville road for automobiles passing through Modesto. MOD E S T O 1 ne Automobile Gateway to Yosemite The county seat of Sunny Stanislaus. Pioneer in irrigation. A modern city or a new type. An agricultural city. A Lome city. COME TO MODESTO Designed and Published by MODESTO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Press of Bolte y Braden Co San Francisco ?/ J c^ Like a New England Landscape. MANY volumes of promotion literature are going broadcast to induce the homeseeker to settle in Cali- fornia, and the promises made can be realized in most instances if tbe reader -will look upon farming as a business which requires brains, enthusiasm, persistency and patience. Though the fields may be tilled twelve months in the year, and crops rotate with the seasons when water is turned from the artificial rivers, no bank accounts or credit will accrue to the shiftless or unthrifty. Nor will success come to him who waits upon the climate of the Golden State, despite its wonder- ful reputation. Man shall work in California as he labors in any other quarter of the globe and the proposition in the Modesto District becomes simple and clear when he reasons as follows: "I can grow an ear of corn, a potato, a melon, a pumpkin or a peach; I can raise a hog or a calf; as bountirully or as large as I have produced and can sell for as much as 1 have realized in middle-western or eastern markets. 1 here- fore I am on even terms. If any increment obtains by reason of mild and healthful climate, longer growing seasons, closer and better markets, and increased value to the lands as people settle upon them, I shall be ahead in this district. At the headwaters of the Tuolumne. Tbe facts set fortb in tbis booklet will convince tbe reader tbat tbe increment does obtain and in sucb degree tbat tbe Mo- desto District bas been listed among tbe tried and proven dis- tricts of California for more tban ten years. Its bistory is a record of acbievement and not a promise, a rapid rise but not in any sense a boom. MJtt^^/^JLj^&a, 1 Early history on the Stanisla Until 1903 every precious drop ran to waste. On the San Joaquin in the heyday of King Wheat. All the counties of the great San Joaquin Valley, with its 7,000,000 acres of tillable land, have mountainous areas, their easternmost boundaries lying well up in tbe Sierra Nevadas, the Alps of America, and tbeir western edges serrated in tbe Coast Range, tbe barrier to tbe great Pacific ocean, source of rains and sootbmg winds. Stanislaus, bowever, is nearest tbe open sea since tbis sunny county is east of tbe gap in tbe Coast Range at Suisun Bay and tbe Livermore Pass. Tbe elevation at Modesto is 92 feet, tbe lowest of any otber city save one in tbe great valley, and yet it is scarcely twenty miles to tidewater. A mere inspection of tbe geography of tbe San Joaquin Valley reveals tbe factors of superior climatic conditions in Modesto. Tbe prevailing trade winds blow over tbe Pacific from tbe northwest. Seeking tbe inland through the natural gaps opening off San Francisco Bay, these winds continue southeastward until swerved southward by the Sierras. Thus, they blow first over Stanislaus. In midsummer, one notices tbe cool essence of the sea. Nights are often too cool for the auto without extra wraps. Theatre goers wear top coats home. Some days in summer register above one hundred degrees for a few hours in the afternoon. The beat is dry — fine ripening weather for fruits and greenswards of alfalfa. Man and beast work at top speed every day. The sun exhilarates and the dews refresh. The sleeping porch is an invitation to the sea breeze at night. Health follows the zephyrs. \^Jl) The Almond blooms in February and gives the bee an early start. ? 1 If m A Jul The Franquette Walnut. Alfalfa everywhere but hardly a sprig to bale. ike bigb Sierras serrate tbe sky with a line of snow all summer long. The auto can reach leaping brooks, ferned can- yons and ragged peaks in a few hours from Modesto. ITetch Hetchy and Yosemite are not far away. The bronzed, bare sides of the Coast Range draw near on a clear morning and in- vite to a deer hunt upon the preserves of the Modesto sportsmen. One does not live in a flat country, save for level land upon -which to till 20 and 40 acre farms sufficient to make this a -wealthy region. The rivers are less than six miles apart and course their way to the sea in little tortuous, -wooded valleys of their own. Such landscapes provide settings for homes as beautiful as those one may leave behind wben he seeks a new environ- ment in wbicb to rear a family. Environment— that is the why of Modestos charm. If natural con- From the alfalfa pasture at close of day. ditions are a part of environment, then does not the geography or Modesto appeal ? If climate is a necessary element of envir- onment, then the healthfulness of Modesto is proven. If trie soil and its essential element, water, are factors of environ- ment, (and irrigation engineers say that trie soil types of trie Modesto District are best adapted to tne application of water — as typical sandy loams are in any region) tnen what more can one desire in his twenty acre farm ? Finally, if tne people are neighbors, — in- telligent, refined, social co-laborers, ■whose children are of high class Ameri- can type, then is not the social environ- ment an invitation equal -with that of the soil ? Study the geography of California, a domain -with a * .* " coast line reaching as far A village of alfalfa and type of inhabitant. as from New York to Florida, and encompassing the areas of Massachusetts, Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Ohio, with 1,072 square miles to spare, and you will realize the charm of Modestos geography. Live in winter and summer in the out- door and test in the sleeping porch the climate of this region. Peruse facts regarding the growth of this district in crops and wealth, and the supply of water which courses to the sea in artificial rivers, forty feet wide, and the next proposition is settled. ^Vhen one recalls that the era of $125 land, the min- imum one may expect to pay for first class land with water in California, has disappeared in the Modesto District, and home huilding values have hecome well established, he realizes that this condition is an index to the character of the people who settle upon the lands. Should he visit the community and note the beautiful homes and small farms, the easterners and middle- westerners who have "started" on $2,000 or less, the final query is settled. Just a little history to indicate how the producing power of soil can he multiplied hy the ingenuity of man, how wealth can he created in lands hy the conservation of moisture. The grasp of this fundamental of economy has created Modesto and the charms which her citizens would impress upon the world. The milk can is mightier than the corn bin in the Modesto district. It is not all work in the Modesto district. Ten years ago, the Modesto District was practically one wheat field of 82000 acres. The tourist looked from a car window upon the combined harvesters, great caravans moving in all directions, dropping in regular rows sacks of golden gram and piles of glistening straw. Grain laden wagons, coupled together and drawn by long teams raised frequent clouds of dust from the highways. The Federal census ranked Stanislaus as one of the leading grain producing sections of California in the heyday of cereals. Farmers boasted of ranches exceeding 1000 acres in extent. The soil finally rebelled against the lazy practices of the farmer. Humus refused to lie in the top soils. Nitrogen would not penetrate beneath the plow pan and the yield of grain did not always meet the expenses of "big farming. An inspiration came to the forefathers of irrigation in this district when they realized that thousands upon thousands of miners' inches of water ran yearly to waste and deposited their fertilizing silts in Suisun Bay. "Let us pour this water upon these lands," they said. And when one recalls how the Federal Government carries irrigating water in cement-lined canals in Arizona, Nevada, and portions of California, and with what care every precious drop is preserved, he cannot but realize that a tre- mendous economic calamity was enacted in Stanislaus when such an abundance of water, needing only a dam to turn it from its course, ran to waste. ~ x^ WM Grange Dam, the why of desto and her wealth. An invitation to the stranger. A benediction to her people. The forefathers of the irrigation scheme, succeeded, after thirteen years of litigation, in turning this -water into the lat- erals and ditches, and a new pulse awakened in the impoverished grain lands. The La Grange dam was completed in 1893 at a cost of $543,164, hut water -was not turned into the district until 1903. In that year, one rode through no alfalfa fields, orchards, melon or herry patches, nor admired any thoroughbred dairy cows capable of yielding from $80 to $120 each year in butter- fat. Farms were defined in terms of mile and half mile dimen- sions and clumps of trees indicated farm houses often more than a mile apart. In 1903, but 885 owners paid taxes m the Modesto Dis- trict. In 1912, the tax roll had increased to 2532, a gain in nine years of 186 per cent, and 1375 of the total assessments are -within the city limits of Modesto. In the same year, 39,777 acres of the total, 81,183 acres in the district, less than one-half received energy and fertilization from gravity water. The products water ed are as follows: Alfalfa Trees ... Vines Beans Corn Garden Grain Total . 34,383 acres 2,703 " 1,550 ' 106 307 219 v 509 * 3Q 777 i The McHenry Library, a $25,000 structure. Note the number or acres or alfalfa in tbe total acreage. "Good alralra land, 1. e. land that can nourish tne legume seven years without replanting is first class land for all other crops planted, climate conditions being seasonable, says the California farmer. Stanislaus land must be good alfalfa land when official reports indicate tbat tbis county yields one-tentb tbe total acreage produced in the Golden State. The Modesto District is adapted to the culture of this famous legume, else why sbould the yield increase 111 per cent in three years when the increase in tbe state, according to the Federal census, was but eigbt per cent in the same time ? Furthermore, if Stanislaus County ranks first in butterfat in 1912, witb 6,894,225 pounds, one- tentb tbe total production in the state, and one-sixtb tbe yield in irrigated sections of California, is there not a superior com- bination of fodder and good cows ? Since Modesto, a city of but 6300, shipped every day dur- ing 1912 $3060.75 worth of sweet butter to a metropolitan market only four hours away, besides a special baggage car of cream and poultry products, is it not to marvel that such a con- tiguous body of superior soil is located so favorable for products and markets 7 The following table shows how one may estimate the wealth of the district, if current yields and prices for 1912 are accepted : 34,383 acres Alfalfa, 8 tons per acre. 2,703 1,550 106 307 219 509 39.777^ Orchard, 7 tons per acre. Vineyard, 8 tons per acre. Beans, 15 sacks per acre. Corn, 1 ton per acre Garden, 15 ton per acre. Grain, 12 centals per acre. at 17.50 $4,813,620 at 25.00 473,025 at 10.00 124,000 at 3.50 5,565 at 30.00 9,210 at 6.00 19,710 at 1.75 10,724 $5,455,854 Modesto churches are busy on the Lord's day Presbyterian Church -with swimming pool and reading rooms. A A First Methodist Church The Cressey Building, type of Modesto business block. The average value per acre or all products grown is $137.16 — a conservative estimate. A remarkable dispensation of Providence when $1.25 worth or water will gross to each or the irrigated acres within the district $137.16! Under such a dispensation, what is an acre or Modesto land worth ? Solve the following problem: PROBLEM: Given one acre or land that will produce at a nominal cost — as in the growing or alfalfa, $137.16, capitalize this return as one capitalizes the returns from factories, from stocks and bonds, or the rents from houses or public buildings to deter- mine their worth, and what is an acre of Modesto land worth? ANSWER: $137.16 capitalized at 6 per cent, say, amounts BUILDINGS — To keep pace with the increase in population, Modesto homes and business blocks rise each month. During 1911, a large auditorium, bank, jail, business block and a large number of fine homes were comoleted. In 1912 were erected a beautiful theater for drama and opera and a number of new office and store buildings. Excavations were made for two new hotels. Early in 1913, ground was broken for a beautiful home for the Elks, inspec- tion made by the Federal government for a site on which to erect a post office building. The increase of $1,405,680 in the assess- ment roll of 1912, over that of 1911, is an index to the marvelous increase in buildings, business blocks and homes. For every dollar of valuation in the city's assessment roll, there is 81' 3 cents on deoosit in the Modesto banks — a remarkable demonstration of wealth. *& * 4 Under mild BxTei in sunny Stanislaus. to $2286. If one figures that it costs one-naif the gross income to take crops from tne land (and no California farmer in an irrigated area will admit so heavy a cost) then is an acre worth $1143.00. QUERY: Is it not to wonder tnat one can purchase an acre of such land at from $125 to $200 per acre, one-fourth cash and the crops to pay the remainder ? In 1912, the assessment roll reveals the number and acreage of the intensive farms in the district as follows: Acres 1 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 and 100 120 160 180 over Number 86 164 159 61 269 42 85 205 46 67 90 33 28 52 95 The thousands of acres of alfalfa, orchards, vineyards, melon, sweet potato, bean and corn fields have yielded their wealth under the moisture of a natural run off of melting snows in the high Sierras. A reservoir of 30,000 acre feet has restrained but little of the abundant supply. The land owns the water forever. The total bonded indebtedness to cover the costs of building the immense dam, the main canals and laterals to cover the 81,183 acres amounts to $1,606,462.25 or $19.78 per acre. Compare this debt with that of any other district in the West, save one, whether built by the Federal Government, under the co-operative plan, or by private individuals, and it is the cheapest in operation. There has not been a foreclosure of mortgage in the Mo- desto District since the water was turned into the ditches. The total mean annual flow of the Tuolumne at the La Grange dam for a period of six years has been 2,130,000 acre Modesto a beautiful home city feet, enougk water to pour tne maximum amount of water necessary to cover 473,333 acres. Tne combined acre- age of tne Modesto-Turlock districts is 257,393, only 54 per cent of tne number upon which it is possible to pour tne maximum amount of irrigation. It is to marvel tbat Nature lay so fruitful an area at tbe base of so tremendous a watershed. And it is a fortuitous incident tbat Mo- desto, a pretty city sbould Farm life is not a return to drudgery. have teen set in the center of tkis great garden, a storehouse and a skipping point for the crops from root, vine, and tree. Tne coursing of silt laden water through the anaemic lands on the advent of irrigation brought a new pulse to a city that like all cities for many years the centers of grain growing areas had been at its highest development. In fact, the decline of the cereal producing humus in the soil followed the decline in the energy and enthusiasm of her people. Water and optimism go hand in hand and the same energy that turns wheat farms into fruitful gardens builds homes and business buildings in the city. Modesto followed the agricultural rise of its environs and so is like the house built upon a rock, in an economic sense. Instead of lines of workers to factories or shops, one sees the streets filled daily with automobiles and vehicles. The market basket with its exchange value, is more potent in the trade of the city than is the full dinner pail, and less sensitive to fluctuation of -wages, to increase or decrease of output. Since cream checks deposited every two weeks in the banks add to the credit of each depositor; one may draw checks often. Modesto does most of its business on a cash basis and boasts that no city in the state of the same population does more. Modesto has more than nine miles of paved streets, the greater number of blocks fringed with shade trees and strips of lawn. All sidewalks are of cement, the homes are set in gardens. A new and complete municipal water system is adequate for the needs of a population seven times as large as that of Modesto today. The sewer system has been enlarged to cover an area greater than the present city limit. The sewage is piped into huge antiseptic tanks far removed from the city. A modern fire department and police guard property and safety. Dry Creek a picturesque stream at the city gates. It is scarcely a naif mile from the business center to the Tuolumne river bridge, ana though the river is practically closed to navigation, steamers can tie at this bridge seven months in each year. The ruins of the Old Paradise mills which ground flour for twenty-five years in olden days, mark the former shipping point on this river. The former navigability of tne Tuolumne established early in the district s history a terminal rate with but a slight increase. Modesto is charged but seven cents per ton in excess today. Modesto owns forty six acres of palms. A city so favorably situated, with the favors of steam and electric roads, good highways, and direct communication with the sea is looked upon as a favorable site for manufactures. .But this beautiful city is of a new type,-an agricultural city, as sound commercially as any other municipality in the world. Since the development is of the community rather than the city, the ideals of the citizens are expressed rather in the build- ing of a home city with those charms which attract the lover ot home. Modesto has no submerged tenth, no section in which the poor or improvident live. There is no quarter given to the laboring class which most cities deem necessary to a live town. Nor is it a city of capitalists, for the man of money is the retired farmer or the intensive farmer who has sufficient means to purchase a home besides his twenty or forty acres. the district into a garden. An environment that makes good citizens. The tanks have on deposit more than three million dollars sub- ject to check and in savings accounts, an indication of the gen- eral prosperity of this district. The school gardens bloom in summer as well as in winter. The Mission-style, cement, school buildings are constructed on the most approved plans and are furnished with modern educational equipment for all grades of scholars, including commercial courses and domestic science classes. Like Des Moines and Galveston, Modesto is governed by a commission. This is in keeping with the communal develop- ment of the district, both in irrigation and agriculture. There are forty-six acres of parks in the city, all under the control of the Women's Improvement Club. The tax on improvements in the Modesto District, collected to assist in the expenses of irrigation were voted off in May, 1911. This move not only distributed more justly the irriga- tion tax, but also invited outside capital to invest in income buildings. The assessment roll in the city increased in 1912 to $3,834,395, a gain of $1,405,680 in one year. The tax rate is $1.85 and 1375 taxpayers pay it. Pair . residence street. Six passenger trains pass through Modesto to San Fran- cisco each day; returning, these trains continue to San Joaquin Valley points and to Los Angeles. The Modesto Interurhan connects at Empire, rive miles away, -with all local and trans- continental trains or the Santa Fe. This gives direct connection with the gold producing region or Central California from which almost eight hundred millions of gold have heen taken since the days of 49. I he 1 idewater G? Southern Electric road runs frequent cars to Stockton, and surveys already completed -will connect Modesto with all the important towns down the great San Joaquin Valley. One may ride on an electric car from Modesto to Sacramento, the state capital, eighty miles away, and as far north as Chico in the northern Sacramento Valley, 200 miles distant. 1 he entire road from Sacramento to Modesto, is macadam- ized under bond issue and is as smooth as any city pavement. 1 he new State High-way passes southward through Modesto, and work has begun toward the completion of a city street through the entire length of the valley. 1 he Modesto and the Stanislaus creameries, two sanitary plants, made three million pounds of sweet butter during the year, or an average of 4,081 squares daily. Sold in the grocery stores of the San Francisco Bay cities, the market place of almost one-half the total population of California, at an average selling price of 75 cents per square, Modesto furnished $3060.75 worth of butter every day. The Tuolumne. It is scarcely a half-mile to the city's center. CITY OF MODESTO Assets and Liabilities—June 30th, 1912 ASSETS Capital Assets. Treasurer s Bond Issue Funds 94,225.38 Fire Department 4,206.66 Street Intersection 10,795.87 Sewer Improvement 1.592.80 ^Vater Improvement 252.17 Water Improvements and Extension 76.721.20 McHenry Library 656.68 Real Estate 3,050.00 Buildings 3.000 00 Furniture and Fixtures 1,795.77 Police and Fire Department Equipment 14,24100 Streets and High-ways Equipment 15.312.75 McHenry Library Equipment 28,990.11 Water Department Equipment 103.297. 14 Total Capital Assets 263.912.15 Operating Assets Revolving Fund— City Clerk 50.00 Current Funds — City Treasurer 6,349 57 Dues on Tax Sales 922.99 Interest Uncollected 36165 Supplies 300.00 Total Operating Assets 7.984.21 Public Property Assets Streets, Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks 299.151.26 Sewers. 21.08 Miles 118.994.40 Total Public Property Assets 418,145.66 Total Assets 690.042 02 LIABILITIES Capital Liabilities Funded Debt 270.000.00 Bonds— Municipal Improvement 127.385.00 Bonds— Water Improvement 30.865.00 Bonds— Street Improvement 29,250.00 Bonds— Water Extension 82.500.00 Total Capital Liabilities 270,000.00 Current Liabilities Interest Accrued on Bonds 3.456.61 Total Current Liabilities Total Liabilities Surplus Assets Over Liabilities 273.456.61 416.585.41 (13 < LIBRARY OF CONGRESS III!!! !■!!! ill'. !!!!! 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