The San Francisco call. [volume], March 19, 1899, Page 20, Image 21

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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20
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
RUNNING TO WASTE
Tremendous Power and Untold Wealth Stored in the Great Watersheds
of California— What Is Being* Done to Control' Them. ;,'
• * \. j ■_ *
THE average flow of the Sacramento generates more than dou
ble the power of Niagara. 77_ -.•..'
The little Yuba, when-flooded with one-tenth Niagara's vol
ume. Is 50 per cent more powerful. - '"'-.,'" _,
At low market rates the mighty force of the Sacramento is worth
$1,605,280,000 a year. „ 7, ■'_"_ i "ii: ' : *7\
In the spring the Sacramento gets up sometimes. the theoretical
potency of seven j Niagaras, while the San Joaquin system wastes
•millions of horse-power. All the machinery in America would pro
vide a small Job for all the Sierra Nevada s streams
The western slope of the Sierra Nevadas sends down an aver
age annual water supply of 1,757,028,240,000 cubic feet, but it runs away
and people want rain. The Sacramento River drains off enough wa
ter yearly to flood that valley ten feet deep.
THERE are some remarkable things
to be told about California waters,
and the recent movement to do .
something toward saving and us- ,
ing them makes their telling
timely.
There Is ln general hut a very
Blight conception of the significance and .
the possibilities of the swarm of streams .
that ceaselessly rush down the mountain
slopes of the State to find the restless sea.
Few would guess that tho Sacramento
and San Joaquin would make three Niag
aras, when the spring floods have gather- '
ed In their channels, and that the incon
ceivable power generated by these waters
in their descent would turn every wheel
In America and leave a few million horse
power for Europe. t
These mountain streams are nature s
greatest gift to California, and the one
most lavishly wasted. There is a wide
difference between the theoretical and the
practicable possibilities of a water supply,
but the former are easier dealt with on
paper and they illustrate the latter.
The "floor" of the great central valley
of the State— the comparatively level plain
bounded by the base line of the foothills
—is 15,709 square miles in area. Of this
the floor of the San Joaquin Valley occu
pies 11,513 square miles, and the floor of
the Sacramento Valley 4196 square miles.
Now the water that flows through the
Sacramento Valley, taking the average
discharge of the Sacramento River for a
period of years, would yearly cover the
floor of this valley to a depth of 10.22 feet.
The average annual discharge of the San
Joaquin River system would similarly «
cover the floor of that valley to a depth
of about a foot and a half. The total
average discharge of both rivers would
cover the two valley floors to a depth of
about four feet.
It is not easy to comprehend the vast
volume of water that pours through this
central valley." Most of lt comes down
the western slope of the Sierra Nevada
Range, through thickly set water courses
that are wild and deep. The streams
pause and muster below, and all meet In
Suisun Bay. The whole drainage area Is
56.213 square miles, more than the area
of the State of New New York. At times
of greatest flood the streams . draining
through this central valley are estimated
to discharge a total of about 1,080,000 cubla
feet per second. The estimated average
discharge of the Niagara River is 275,000
cubic feet per second, or a little more
than a quarter of what all of the Interior
streams of California could show at their
best. This does not mean that anything
like this amount of water reaches the
lower courses of the Sacramento and San,
Joaquin. It ls merely an aggregate of
the estimated maximum floods of all the
streams, little and big.
The figures used in this article are
taken mainly from the reports of State
Engineer W. Ham Hall for 1880 and other
years of that period when an extensive
study of the State's water problems was
made. The estimates were largely made
by C. F. Grunsky and Marsden Manson,
two eminent engineers of the State. Other
data is afforded by reports of Government
engineers.
Taking the average of dry and wet sea
sons, the Sacramento River discharges
about 1.197,300,000,000 cubic feet a year. If
this water were put in a tank one mile
square at the base, the tank would have
to be over eight miles high.
This Is not very much, either, for In
many years the river beats this record by
a few hundred billion cubic feet. For the
whole year 1879-80 the average discharge
was 44.370 cubic, feet per second, and the
estimated quantity 1,402,886,000,000 cubic
feet. !
The Sacramento discharges between
three and four times as much water as
the San Joaquin. * Measurements or estl-j
mates of the flow of the separate streams
of the San Joaquin system where they
enter the valley show an average aggre
gate of 16,083 cubic feet 'per second. A
number of the smaller streams run dry
in summer; the average for the period of
August, September and October Is 3,927
cubic feet per second, while * for May,
June and July lt ls 40,4... The San Joaquin
valley receives an average yearly flow of
water from the. Sierra Nevada slope of
507,729,600,000 cubic feet, which, would,
cover an area of 18,248 square miles one
foot deep. *' '•
The whole western slope of the Sierra
Nevada range pours into the central val
ley an average mean yearly flow of 55,715
cubic feet per second, less the small flow
of Coast Range Creek, and this means
that tHe mountains give to the central
valley an average annual supply of 1,757,
--028,240,000 cubic feet, or enough to cover
an area of 63,024 square miles . one foot
deep. yy":
That looks like plenty of water If It
could be saved up and distributed when
and where It would do the most good.
As things are now, lt does much harm
while doing ' little good. The fall and
spring floods that rush down over the
lowlands work - tremendous devastation.
The lands subject to submergence at
extreme "high water are estimated at
2750 square miles, or more than the area
of Delaware, and every, acre of these
lands is marvelously fertile. 7*"-
The most* striking feature of all this
magnificent water supply is the Incon
ceivable power-latent in It. The might
as well as the majesty, of Niagara has
been the wonder of the world.: The Ni
agara is a babe beside the mighty Sacra
mento in its potentiality, though no one
would guess It to look at the- dirty, lazy
California stream and then at the awe
inspiring cataract.
It is estimated that Niagara has a the
oretical power, of 7,000,000 horsepower, of
which several hundred • thousand horse
power can be practically used. Accord
ing to eminent authority there is now In
use within a radius of 400 miles of the
falls 2,733,000 horsepower by : a population
of ,11,150,000 people. This Includes the great
manufacturing region of America. Within
a radius of 300 miles there is in use
1.967.000 horsepower by a population of
8,246,000.7 It is estimated that the theo
retical power of the falls Is equal to that
of* all the coal mined In the world dally
about 200.000 tons.
Now let us look at the Sacramento. The
great bulk of Its- water comes from the
high altitudes of the Sierra Nevadas. The
valley rainfall is low. It increases with
altitude until over a long portion of the
range It exceeds 60 Inches. The average
height; of the range is over. 8000 feet. These
mountain tops are storm gatherers,; and
the snows are piled deep.. . The drainage
area. of the Sacramento basin Is 26,187
square miles. The valley Itself occupies
but 4200 square miles. As most of the
water comes from high regions, it would
be a conservative estimate to assume that
all the water of the Sacramento comes
from an average elevation of 4500 feet. *-..
: Electrical" engineers assume that one
miner's inch of water, or one and one-half
cubic feet a minute falling 450 feet, will
produce one horse-power. If the average
annual flow of the Sacramento— 37,632 cu
bic feet per second— be assumed to come
from a height of 4500 feet, we have pro
duced 15,052,800' horse-power.. "With the
conservative assumptions here used, we
have in the Sacramento a steady average
potentiality year in and year out that is
moie than double that of Niagara. wan
Francisco uses 60,000 horse-power, at a
yearly cost of $7,200,000. At the value of
$100 a year per horse-power, we find the
Sacramento to be worth at least $1,505,280,
--000 a year for power alone if it could all
be used and sold. This is just the Sacra
mento and Its tributaries taken together.
The San Joaquin system is also mighty to
the extent of a few million horse-power.
The Yuba Is fourth In importance among
the streams that feed the Sacramento, but
it will do for an illustration. It drains an
area of 1329 square miles, and Its head
waters turn the big stamp mills of Ne
vada City and Grass Valley, supply towns
and Irrigate orchards, with small tax on
Its abilities. Like all those streams, its
volume varies greatly. Its extreme low
stage Is 500 cubic feet a second, Its mean
discharge perhaps 1500 cubic feet a second,
and in flood It runs 26,000 cubic feet a sec
ond. Thirty miles above the junction with
the Feather Its altitude is 2650 feet and
its grade 56 feet to the mile. It drains
high areas of Nevada, Sierra and Yuba
Counties. Now this little Yuba, when It
is flooded and discharging 2600 feet a sec
ond is generating a theoretical force of
10 350,000 horse-power, or 50 per cent more
than Niagara Falls. This Is on the as
sumption that all Its water falls on an
average 4500 feet.
The practicability of using economically
this Inconceivable reservoir of power is
another matter,' but nowhere on earth is
there so much available water power so
widely distributed. Nature seems to have
planned those mountains to that end.
High in the mountains are strung for 300
miles clustering lakes without number,
often set in amphitheaters of which the
exits may be dammed. Other amphlthe
ters are natural reservoir sites.. When he
was State Engineer, W. Ham Hall lo
cated seventy-three reservoir sites. The
United Stale's Geological Survey has lo
cated forty-four. California is already
the world's greatest field for electric
power transmission and holds the record
for distance at 80 miles. Power plants
will steadily multiply. Power is already
being brought to Stockton ,from the
mountains, and , an lnflnitesimally small
part of that mountain power will soon be
turning wheels in San Francisco.
C. E. Grunsky,' who has studied Cali
fornia, water 'problems' for many years
and who .has recently written three re-
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 1899.
ports for the Interior Department, says
of the California field for electric power:
"I expect to see electric power trans
mission have, a large development in Cal
ifornia. The natural advantages ■ are
many. The rest depends on commercial
-and Industrial; conditions.'- The climate,
gives one advantage, in that up ..t0 '3,000
* feet elevation ditches' can be kept open all
winter. " ; Topography -Is favorable in the
number of high spurs and ridges," to ' the
ends of which water can be easily taken
to secure a good fall. Nature bore does
a good deal toward storing water. It Is
stored in the form of snow, which melts
gradually later, and there are a great
many lakes and reservoir; sites which of
fer storage at high altitudes. ' In develop
ing water power- it Is easier to store and
control a small amount of water with a
high fall than a large amount with a low
fall. The Installation of high-head plants
Is cheaper than the Installation of low
head plants. In many ways California is
peculiarly favorable to the development
of electric power."
All this affords a graphic hint of the
possibilities of California waters. The
coast streams and those of Southern Cal
ifornia have mighty potentialities and
promises. In Lassen County, on the east
ern slope of the Sierra Nevadas, Is- Eagle
Lake, altitude 6115 feet, 1500 feet deep,
covering 85,000 acres and storing water
enough to Irrigate 600,000 acres of now
worthless lands lying below It that will
be rich when water comes. A 7,000-foot
tunnel is needed. Tahoe has a mighty
future, when, if ever, a tunnel shall tap Its
vast store of water at an altitude of 6,200
feet , and allow the water to be flumed
to where It can be used at high pressure.
The Yuba Water Company is ready to
supply power for a Holyoke near Cape
Horn.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains thus sup
ply enough water to flood the central val
ley of the State four feet deep yearly,
generate the power of several Niagaras
and provide the means for storing its
waters and for preventing or easing the
floods. It is estimated that in these two
valleys there are 12,000,000 acres of irri
gable land, easy to irrigate and that for
every square mile of Irrigable land there
are three and one-half square miles of
watershed with abundant rainfall.
This Ib the big field of effort that Is just
COST OF HONEYMOONS AT NEW YORK HOTELS
_ _ X BOUT ten thousand honeymoons
■ ■ A are spent in New York hotels
/ \ annually," said the manager of
/ \ one of the big hostelries. "We
•J- ■*■ gauge the figures very nearly
right I fancy. New York is the
Mecca for blushing brides and bride
grooms from the far corners of this coun
try. The city, with its gorgeous hotels
and amusement palaces, has no rival In
the affections of th*' newly wedded pairs
from out of town. We find our bridal
suites in constant demand.*,'
"Is a New York honeymoon too expen
sive for a man with a modest Income, or
can It be brought down to an economical
basis?" asked the reporter.
"That question need not be a vexed
one," replied the hotel man. "A honey
moon-here can be as costly as the purse
can buy, or It can be spent for an amaz
ingly small amount, if you will take. into
consideration the luxury afforded by our
modern hotels. For instance, not long
ago a young Western multi-millionaire
brought his bride here to one of our pal
ace hotels. It cost him $700 a day for. liv
ing expenses. He spent that amount with
the hotel people. :/ 77
"In the hotel at the same time were a
young couple from a New England town
whose dally bills amounted to $11, which
Included their meals In the hotel. Using
these figures, which are entirely accu
rate- one can rendDv see. that ______J______|
being entered by the new State organi
zation in the interest of conserving the
waters. - •
THE ENGINEER'S STORY.
Well. .yes. 'tis a halr-curlln' story— .
I would it could not be recalled. , --,{&
The terrible fright of that hell-tinctured night
Is the cause of my head bein' bald. . ;" .
I was runnin* the Git-There Express, sir;
.On the Yankee Creek Jerkwater line.
An' the* track along there was as crooked, I
• swear, -txyyyy.
'As the growth of a field pumpkin vine.
My run was a night one, an' nights on the
Yank '." £ i*. \-
War' as black as the coal piled back there
on the tank.
"We pulled out of Tenderfoot; station
.A day and almost a half late, Ly-Uyy::
An* every durn wheel was a-poundin' the steel
At a .wildly extravagant rate.
My fireman kep" pilin'. the coal in .
The jaws of the ol' 04.
Till the sweat from his nose seemed to play
yv.'y . through a hose
An" splashed 'round hi* feet on the floor.
As we thundered along like a' demon in flight,
A-rippln' a streak through the breast of the
/-_■"_•-. night.
As we rounded a curve on the mountain,
'. Full sixty an hour, I will swear.
Jest ahead was a sight that with blood-freezln'
fright .
• Would have raised a stuffed buffalo's hair.
The bridge over Ute Creek was burnin'.
The flames shootin' up in their glee;
My God! how they gleamed in the air, till
they teemed
Like fiery-tongued imps on a spree.
Jest snickered an" sparkled an' laughed like
they knowed
I'd make my next, trip on a different road.
In frenzy, I reached for the throttle.
But 'twas stuck, an' refused, to obey.
I yelled In affright, for our maddening flight
I felt that I never could stay. .
Then wildly I grasped the big , lever. :.. .
Threw her over, then held my hot breath,
An' waited for what I assuredly thought
Was a sure an' terrible death. :.";;:
Then came the wild crash, an' with horror
fringed yell •
Down into that great Aery chasm I fell. .
When I came to myself, I was lying
On the floor of . the bedroom; my wife
Sat astride of my form, an' was making it
warm -'-:*•
Fur her darling, you bet your sweet life!
My hair she had clutched in . her. lingers
An" was Jammin' my head on the floor.
Yct~X yelled with delight when I found that
my fright 7;' V
Was a horrible dream, nothing more.
>j"had wildly grabbed one of hey ankles, she
said. *
An' reversed her clear over the head of the
bed.
— Denver Evening Post.
FAREWELL.
"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
"I'm going a-golling, sir," she said. -.yn
"May I go with you, my pretty maid?"
"If you'll stop swearing, sir," she said.
"Ta-ta to you, my pretty maid;
Why, then I could not play," he said.
—Life.
living here Is not so frightfully exorbitant
as our out-of-town friends imagine. These
two couples were at the most expensive
hotel in the city, which by no means in
sures the fact that it is the best. There
are some half dozen other hotels quite as
good and far cheaper. Of course, there
Is not the magnificent glitter. Besides,
the young people do delight in sending
the crested stationery from the fa— ous
hotel to dazzle the eyes of the home
folks."
Seven hundred dollars seemed a fabu
lous sum for two people to spend in one
day for living. W as the hotel manager a
rival of Munchausen, or did the Western
millionaire steal his Ideas of a honeymoon
from the magnificence of the "Arabian
Nights" ***
Investigation proved that the -young
Westerner had cultivated an unquench
able thirst for modern luxury, Fortune
had kindly relieved him of all thought
for the morrow, so without regard to
cost ho ordered what suited his fancy.
A glance at his bills and the following
items were, gleaned: '77 .
State chamber Waldorf- Astoria, per day.. s3oo 00
Private dining-room 50 00
Adjoining room for maid, electric con
nection*. .' • 13 00
Board for maid • 6 00
Mei-ilf-. wines, etc 100 00
Carriage, exclusive use... 10 00
Tips ••••• 5 00
Room and board for valet 10 00
Flowers for rooms : ,'*4 00
-Total ._._.................. 1700 00
FOUND A RICH HUSBAND
THROUGH AN ORANGE
Romantic Story of a Los Angeles Working Girl Who Has Just Married a
New York Capitalist. ' .
'.>-.;' • 'yyvy-'-y- • ■.. .... i_._i_
■>yy.. MARRIED. - -
STEVENS-MARSHALL.— At the
I home of Mrs. Sarah Newman, In
the village, of -Rose, N. V., Febru
ary '21, 1899, Joseph B. Stevens of
Rochester, N. V., and Miss Nellie
M. Marshall of Los Angeles, Cal.
The bride and groom are now on
a tour of the West Indies and will
be at home In Rochester In Jurte.—
Clyde (N. V.) Times. ■*-•-- .
AMID the snow-clad hills of West
ern New York, in a little rural
village, a fortnight ago there was
the consummation of a very pic
turesque romance. I One seldom
■comes across such a charming bit
of practical sentimentality in these pro
saic days. When Joseph B. Stevens and
Nellie Marshall were joined in wedlock on
the 21st Of last month another chapter
was added to a latter-day love story that
would be a veritable gem In the hands of
a literary artist. The philosophers who
agree that there is nothing graceful ln
the utilitarian, commercial and mechani
cal lives of people ln this generation to
Inspire the idyls of Tennyson, the love
songs of a Wordsworth or the dainty bal
lads of a Tom Moore may And some rea
son to reverse their opinion because of
the little affair of two hearts herewith
narrated. - *..'-'■'.•*•'■
The time of the opening act In this ro
mance was the winter of 1894-95. The
scene was the brown-painted wooden
orange-packing house of. the Fruit Grow
ers' Exchange at Azusa. The beginning
was prosaic enough. Hundreds of people
have done the same thing before, but
none ever had the romantic turn that this
act of , Miss Nellie Marshall's had.
Among the residents In the foothill
hamlet of Glendora, close to Azusa, in
Los Angeles County, several years ago
was Mrs. Agnes Marshall, widow of John
P. Marshall. She had two daughters,
Nellie and Emma, aged 15 and 13 respec
tively. Mrs. Marshall had a few, acres of
Intractable land near the foothills and a
pension of an army veteran's widow. She
and her daughters had com© from Kansas
City during 1890, shortly after Mr. Mar
shall's death.
Miss Nellie Marshall was a particularly
prepossessing girl. W hen she lived in
Kansas City, a child in short dresses, she
was queen of a school children's carnival,
and her rosy cheeks and sparkling black
eyes made her beauty remarked wherever
her mother took her. Among all the girls
In the eastern end of San Gabriel Valley—
Indeed, all that region— Nellie Marshall
was the undisputed beauty. But she
never seemed to know that. Her fresh
pink and white complexion, her chic little
chin, her wealth of hair— black as a
raven's wing— her soft, gentle expression,
her big, brilliant dark eyes, and especially
her graceful, petite ways were the chief
elements of her attractiveness. But her
beaming good-nature, her jollity and her
■ ... ...■.'.'• -
The state chamber In the Waldorf-
Astoria is the most costly in the house.
It is not of great size, but in magnificence
rivals the most famous bedchambers of
European palaces. "V.y.
The room is furnished and decorated
in the style of Francis I. The four-poster
bedstead, with Its canopy, is an exact re
production in walnut of the original in
the museum at Cluny. The cost of the
bed alone. is $3500. The prie dleu in the
room cost $1000. Draperies, carpets, tapes
tries and paintings frame ln rare bric-a
brac and make the room one of beauty
and splendor. .
Meanwhile the couple from New Eng
land were serenely content in their quar
ters at the Waldorf-Astoria. A pretty,
bright room, with adjoining bath and all
modern conveniences, cost them $4 a day.
Three meals, ordered Judiciously from the
elaborate menu, amounted to $6. The
combined tips of husband and -wife
reached the sum of $1, making a total of
$11.
Here Is the memorandum in the hus
band's notebook:
Room at Waldorf- Astoria, per day $ 4 00
Meals, three for two people 6 00
Tips to maid and waiters 100
Total $11 00
...*■...■ ■ . !----; ...
These two young people enjoyed the
public dining-room. Seeing well-dressed
guests at table was one of the sights of
their trips. There were music, lights and'
flowers galore in the hotel, which they
were at as much liberty to enjoy for their
$11 as the Western pair for their $700.
musical laugh made her even more pleas
ing among all who knew her.
Once when she was in Los Angeles on a
visit a florist, who had designed a chariot J
of red roses arid white carnations for the
great floral parade during la fiesta week,
vainly begged, pursued and finally offered
a good-sized sum of money to Nellie Mar
shall to ride In his floral chariot during
the parades, and thereby add to the at
tractiveness of the display.
The widow Marshall and . her two
-daughters, found their foothill property
unproductive without irrigation, and they
had no money to buy water with. Times
grew harder and more serious with the
little family. The girls left school and
went to work to do their share toward
paying off _ the mortgage on the home
place. The mother got out to work
with her horse and plow to save a man's
hire. Nellie* and Emma worked in the
apricot and prune drying yards in the
fall of 1894. They were -nimble workers,
and, throwing their whole soul into their
work, they each earned 75 cents a day at
cutting fruit and arranging it on the
wooden trays for drying out in the sun
shine.
When the orange harvesting season
came on ln January Nellie, like nearly all
the country girls In the locality, went
over to Azusa to pack oranges. For weeks
the Marshall family had looked forward
to that time, and it was considered a
thankful boon which the fruit shippers
were granting in permitting Nellie to
earn a few dollars there. By, faithful
work and deftness ln handling and wrap
ping the fruit and then "-placing it in a
box, according to Its particular size, the
girl could earn sometimes $1 a day. For
weeks she rose six days in the week at
5 o'clock, walked two miles to the pack
ing house, ate a cold bite of a meal out
of her basket at noon, and walked home
at night.
But there were times of jollity and joke
ln the orange packing house. Once dur
ing the noon hour while the girls were
resting some one proposed that lt would
be fun to write a lot of humorous and
sentimental messages on bits of paper
and to wrap the same ln with the oranges
they were that day packing for the East
ern markets. Some of the girls had heard
of such things, and it appealed to their
sense of a lark. The scheme was dis
cussed in whispers among the stacks of
orange boxes and the heaps of oranges.
Of course the foreman must not know the
girls' scheme, much less the superintend
ent at the packing house.
Several girls got pencils and wrote la
conic messages, as funny as they knew
how, on tiny pieces of paper. One or two
wrote couplets they remembered having
seen on valentines. The messages and
sentiments were signed by genuine or fic
titious names. That afternoon the little
papers bearing' the schoolgirl penmanship
were one by one stealthily tucked in
among the oranges and their tissue paper
wrappers.
Nellie Marshall was in the scheme.
She always participated in any girlish
lark projected In her bailiwick. She
wrote a dozen or a score of notes, all
substantially the same, as follows:
"These oranges were packed by a ro
mantic girl in the wild and woolly West.
If you wish- further information let Nel
lie Marshall, Azusa, Cal., know It."
The oranges went away in a carload lot
the following day, and in a few days the
girls In the packing house forgot about
their message-writing lark. Once *or
twice during the season other messages—
sometimes bits of comic verse, sometimes
a bit of innocent fun and other times ad
dresses only— were written, and, unknown
to the foreman, were tucked In with the
packed oranges. *.'.-. yy :-', '"•; ■■' ; "
The days of the orange shipments pass
ed. Carload after carload of the fruit
rolled away to the East. Winter merged
into spring. The girls at the packing
house never spoke more of the notes they
had sent to market with the oranges.
The season was drawing to a close. Nel
lie Marshall had left the packing, house
and had gone home to the Glendora ranch
to help her ill" mother.
Among the advertised letters at the
Azusa postoffice one day in May was a
letter for Miss Nellie Marshall. When It
was brought to the foothill home over at
Glendora every one there was surprised to
find that It was from one Joseph B. Stev
ens of Rochester, N. Y. -
Then the secret of the messages that,
the girls In the packing house had writ
ten for fun was recalled and told. Mr.
Stevens wrote that he had bought some
Los Angeles oranges, and among them
was a note from Nellie Marshall. His
curiosity was aroused, inasmuch as he
had relatives' in Pasadena, and he had
spent a winter In the San Gabriel Valley
a year previous. He politely asked " the
Information vouchsafed in the note he
had found wrapped among his oranges.
Now some conventional girls would
have tossed the letter from a stranger
Into the fire, and have blushed at the
memory of a schoolgirl epistolatory larK
Some mothers would have reprimanded
their daughters for writing notes Indis
, criminately to people. But Nellie Marshall
believed she saw an. honest young man
back of the letter she., had, and her
mother, after some mental debate, saw no
harm in at least a civil message n ™, n f '
ing receipt, of _ a letter from 3000 miles
away. '•'- ■■'". '*. „~_.-„
From that a regular correspondence
grew. At- flrst the letters- were brief ana
formal. Mr. Stevens, gave references as
to his reputation and family. He tola or
people, in Pasadena who* had known him
from his birth, and his parents for yea"
before that. When the summer of 1895
had slid into fall the letters between tho
little white house on the foothill ranch
and Rochester, N. V., became more fre
quent. Photographs were exchanged, and
at once there came a big fat letter with a
row of postage stamps upon the envelope,
showing that the correspondent in Roch
ester was charmed at the picture of his
California correspondent. ■ "<•■
Very quickly a cousin of Mr. Stevens
drove out from Pasadena and called upon
the Marshalls. Then the Marshalls were
invited to visit in Pasadena. Meanwhile
the mails between Glendora and Roches
ter were not neglected. Important let
ters shuttled also between Pasadena and
Rochester. More photographs were ex
changed and then came the period of gift
making.
In the winter of 1895-96 Mrs. Marshall
and her daughters sold their foothill
home and moved to Los Angeles, where
Miss Nellie became a clerk in a candy
store. Mr. Stevens came to Southern Cali
fornia, on a flying trip between his pro
fessional duties. One of the carriage
rides he took with Miss Marshall was a
drive to Azusa to the orange packing
house, where his flrst message among the
oranges a year before had he-en written.
When Mr. Stevens went back to Roches
ter he left a solitaire diamond ring on
the hand of his fiancee.
The course of true love, as the poet
says, never did run true. In this case it
ran over boulders so huge and surged
curves so sharp that many a stream of
love would have spent itself among the
rocks before it reached the broad and
smooth river of matrimony. Mr. Ste
vens* parents had hopes for marriage in
another direction, and both they and Mrs.
Marshall objected to a marriage with a
young lady under 18. Some impatient let
ters went between Los Angeles and Roch
ester. Then the letters grew more infre
quent. Then shorter. Finally they
ceased, and there was a return of former
gifts. Each resolved to forget the other,
and each thought their romance closed.
Mr. Stevens inherited a large fortune in
the fall of 1896, and he went to Europe
with bis sisters. While in Italy In the.
winter of 1896-97 he met an old school-*
mate of his from Rochester, who was
traveling with her parents. . Before he left
for America he was engaged to marry
her. Meanwhile Mrs. Marshall had died
and her daughters went to live in the
family of an uncle in Ventura, where
Miss Nellie was employed in the •fflce of
a nursery concern.
The marriage of Mr. Stevens and his
affianced was fixed for the early summer
of 1897. He built a beautiful home at Vlck
Park, in Rochester,- and was planning for
Its furnishing with all that. wealth could
buy, when his promised bride took 111 and
died with pneumonia. He was almost
crazed with grief, fHe went to Mexico
and Cuba and sold the home he had built.
A year ago he came out to Los An
geles. Very naturally his mind went back
to his last former visit in .Southern Cali
fornia. His relatives in Pasadena told
him they had lost track of Miss Nellie
Marshall after she" had moved away from
Los Angeles. The candy-store where she
was once employed behind the counter
had changed hands, and no one there
could answer Mr. Stevens' adroit ques
tions concerning Miss Marshall. Some one
said she had married and moved away to
San Francisco.
He had given up his quest (for simple
curiosity) after Miss Marshall, when he
happened to run across a picture of her
In a showcase In a photographer's gal
lery. All his old-time love came surging
back. He renewed his inquiries and he
came across a friend whom he had piet
In Los Angeles two years before,, and
then he learned that Miss Marshall was
In Ventura. . : . "
The next chapter In the romance covers
several, weeks In the spring of 1888. Mr.
Stevens ' .went to. .Ventura and wandered
about the town until he met Miss Mar
shall. He renewed his suit and was final
ly accepted. Miss Marshall visited at the
home of his relatives in Pasadena. A
date for the wedding was set last June, i
but suddenly there came the news of the-*
death of Mr. Stevens' .-brother, with
Shafter in Cuba," and he had to hasten to
Florida. ' •..-*-*-
Letters passed between" Pasadena and
Rochester daily for -weeks. Mr. Stevens
planned a dozen times to ! come to Cali
fornia and claim his bride, but he had
securities that the war demanded his con
stant watching. 7:. Last. November Miss
Marshall and her sister, went East to
visit an aunt at Rose, N. Y. There Mis*.
Marshall was stricken with the grip early
in December,; and for weeks she was
alarmingly ill. -
She recovered measurably in February,
and at the earliest opportunity she and
Mr. Stevens were married. It was a sim
ple wedding at the home of the bride's
aunt on a New' York farm. In the* hour
of their joy the bride and groom did not
forget the romantic way they became ac
quainted." Amid the many..telegrams of
remembrance sent* to California that day
was one to Mrs. Joseph B. (Stevens' girl
associates In the Azusa packing-house
reminding them of the day, almost four
years to a day previous, when the senti
mental notes, were scribbled and wrapped
ln with the packed oranges,'.
Joseph B. Stevens Is an -only surviving
son 01 the. late ex-State Senator Lucius
M. Stevens of Brooklyn.* His uncle on his
maternal side was . William . E Dodge a
millionaire banker-philanthropist in New
York City tventy # years ago. Mr Stevens
was graduated from Yale; four or five
years ago and was a lawyer in Rochester
until he Inherited large property Interests
stocks and bonds, which now require his
whole attention. He and his bride haveL
gone on a tour of Porto Rico, Cuba and
the Bahama Islands. .