People in the East had begun to find out that southern
California had a mild, healthful climate and that, though the sands of
her rivers and rocks of her mountains were not of gold, still her
oranges, by aid of irrigation, could be turned into a golden harvest,
and that all her soil needed was water in order to yield most bountiful
crops.
As little land could be bought in small ranches, those wishing to settle
in the country chose the colony plan. A number of families would
contribute to a common sum, with which would be purchased a large piece
of land of several thousand acres with its water right. Each man
received from this a number of acres in proportion to the amount of
money he had invested. The first colony formed was that of Anaheim;
then followed Westminster, Riverside, Pasadena, and many others, and by
that time people began to come into southern California in large
numbers.
The overland journey was much longer, then than now, but quite as
pleasant. At twenty-two miles an hour the country could be seen and
enjoyed, acquaintance made with the plump little prairie dogs of the
Nebraska plains, and their neighbors the ground owls, which bobbed grave
salutes as the train passed by.
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