Before Imperial Valley was ever heard
of as a settlement the Southern Pacific Railroad was granted every other
section of land lying between parallel lines for twenty miles on each
side of its right of way, this grant being made by Congress to encourage
the building of transcontinental railways in the days when there was no
railroad across the continent. This concession included all of the
district lying north of the third parallel in Imperial Valley. In order
to settle up this country it was necessary to build the main canal, with
its hundreds of miles of laterals, and as there was no way by which this
could be done except by the sale of water stock unless he desired to use
the water upon his land, the Southern Pacific not being willing to
purchase the stock for these alternate sections, it was too heavy a
burden upon the even numbered sections, they constituting only one-half
of the acreage. This part of the Valley consequently lay idle until four
years ago, when an association purchased all of the lands of the
Southern Pacific in the Valley and immediately advanced $300,000 in
cash, which, with the addition of the stock sold for the even numbered
sections, permitted them to form mutual Water Company No. 3 and build
the necessary canals and laterals, which were started four years ago and
are now a complete unit.
Four years ago there was no land
under cultivation in this district. Today we have upwards of 70,000
acres under cultivation. The soils and climate of the North End are very
similar to those of other parts of the Valley, the North End lands
having possibly a little more slope towards the sea, on account of being
in what is known as "the neck of the Valley."
Since that time, two thriving towns
have been built, Calipatria, with over half a million dollars' worth of
buildings, and Niland, with many good, substantial buildings, and having
at the present time under construction the finest bank building, and
seven concrete stores, in the Valley. The Salton Sea, later named the
Imperial Lake, is in this district, our lands bordering the sea. This
somewhat tempers the extreme heat in the summer and also the colder
winds of the winter.
As an illustration of the wonderful
settlement of this North End, we have three large warehouses in
Calipatria, the Balfour-Guthrie Company, the Globe Mills, and Newmark's.
These warehouses could hold but a portion of the barley crop harvested
last spring, and the manager of the Globe Mills told me that they were
now emptying their large warehouses here for the third time this season.
We have every convenience of older
communities, such as electric lights, electric power, telephone system,
water systems, and every kind of mercantile enterprise is represented by
from one to three or four modern stores. We have two strong banks and at
the present time plans have been approved and material is arriving for
the construction of the largest and most complete railroad depot east of
Pomona and west of Phoenix. The railroad companies never build anything
on sentiment. They would not build this kind of a depot if the business
of the country did not justify it.
Again, there is a vast acreage of
splendid farming land southwest of here which is now tapped by a branch
line from Calipatria to Westmoreland, which will be later extended to a
connection with the San Diego road. The rights of way have been secured
and the work laid out to build another branch east and south some 23
miles, giving to that vast territory an outlet and bringing the business
of both sections to Calipatria.
As an indication of how the country
has improved and the possibilities of improving this "Valley of the
Nile," some of the wonderful crops grown here might be cited. For
instance, we have records here of alfalfa yielding twelve tons to the
acre. W. A. Kennedy, who took a piece of raw land three years ago,
sowed it to alfalfa two years ago, and recently received $5000 in cash
for a hundred days' pasturage on 160 acres. There are thousands of acres
of alfalfa-land here now rented from $20 to $25 per acre per year, and
when we think that only three short years ago this was a desert, the
mind can scarcely comprehend the possibilities for the future.
Here we are successfully growing
cotton, alfalfa, barley, Milo maize, potatoes, onions, cabbage, lettuce,
cantaloupes, and all the vegetables grown in a semi-tropical country,
and growing them very profitably. Men are even known to raise crops in
one season that sold for more money than the land cost them.
Calipatria is an unincorporated town,
controlled by a business men's association, comprising forty-three
active business men as members. We have three churches, a Catholic, a
Congregational, and a Seventh Day Adventist. We have a $35,000
schoolhouse and the trustees are now securing plans for an addition to
it, as we have 193 scholars enrolled and our buildings are not large
enough to accommodate them. We are also at the present time putting out
petitions for a union high school.
The North End comprises a territory
about eighteen by twenty miles, of which Calipatria and Niland are the
two towns. Niland is located at the junction of the Imperial Valley
branch and the main line of the Southern Pacific, and is destined to be
a good town in the no distant future; and Calipatria, situated in the
center of this enormous agricultural district, is destined to be one of
the largest towns in Imperial County within the next five years.
Our water system of the district is
probably one of the most perfect in the United States, as for every
delivery-ditch, or lateral, there has been built a corresponding
drainage ditch, which forever prevents this land from becoming
water-logged, or raising the water level to a danger point.
If three short years of settlement
have brought about all these things mentioned, what can we expect this
to be in ten years from now? With more intense cultivation, with the
large tracts being cut up into small acreage (140 ten-acre tracts have
been sold around Calipatria) it will mean a population in ten years from
now greater than the entire Imperial Valley at the present time.
Land values have doubled and trebled
in three years, some of the lands having sold as high as $300 an acre
that three years ago could have been bought for $75 to $100.
Imperial County is blessed with one
particular thing, and that is good health. There is only one practicing
physician in the North End of the Valley, and if it were not for the
visits of the stork he says that he would have to move out. We have no
malaria, typhoid, or malignant fevers, and while we do have the ordinary
hot summers of the low elevations, yet having no humidity, it causes no
bad effects, but on the contrary makes vegetation grow prolifically.
We are feeding upwards of 15,000 head
of cattle now in the North End of the Valley, about 12,000 head of
sheep, 3000 head of goats and thousands of head of hogs. It is the
paradise of the poultry raiser, on account of the dry climate and
abundance of green feed the year around. Imperial County is one great
big family, all working in harmony for the whole Valley, and is destined
to be the greatest agricultural community in the world; and while only
an infant, it has already taken the lead in the state as the greatest
producer of butter, hogs, cattle, turkeys, alfalfa, cotton and milo
maize, and this all in the short time of seventeen years.