Imperial Valley press., August 21, 1909, Image 1

About Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current

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Imperial Valley Press.
vBl. ix.
FUEL GAS SERVICE
FOR VALLEY CITIES
Equipment of Gas-Making
Plant En Route to
El Centro
\
Work of Installation Will Begin Early
in September and Works Will Be
in Commission By First of Next
Year— Ample Capacity of. Container
. Assures Unexhaustible Supply.
By January 1, and possibly >sooner, •
th? Imperial Valley Gas Company will !
be prepared to give domestic gas ser- j
vice to patrons in the cities of El
Centro and Imperial.
The first carload of machinery for •
new plant, which is to ba located in
El Centro, left Cincinnati, Ohio, on '
Augnk 7. ~The equipment is furnish
ed by the Stacey Manufacturing Com- :
pany. This concern has supplied the
plants of the Domestic Gas Company
of Los Angeles, and other Southern ;
California points, which are conceded
to be the most up-to-date and satis
factory equipments in use in this, part'
of the Stan.. The type of plant was
selected after a caref' ' inrppction of
the various gas, plants > T/isT /is AnTO-j
les anu vicinity. . ;
The machinery will all be here by
September and work will begin im- j
mediately on its installation. The oil j
tanks and boilers of the Hciton Pow- j
er Company already Installed will he j
used, thus hastening the construction j
of the plant, which is to be located .
directly east of the power house. i
Two carloads of service pipes have .
been received, and the remainder of
the pipe' necessary to lay a ma,in from j
El Centro to Imperial and for service ■
systems in each of these towns will
arrive as rapidly as it can be used.
The container will have a capacity |
of 30,000 cubic feet of gas, and the j
plans give space for two more puri
fiers to be installed as the demand ,
for fuel increases. „ j
On September 1 an f xperienced gas :
man will arrive in El Centro to close !
contracts with patrons of the new j
gas company, and the indications are
that a large proportion of the house- i
'•oldors will take advantage of this
opportunity to obtain the most satis- ,
factory fuel for domestic use. ' j
: I
NUMBER ONE'S NEW BOSS
I
Appointment of Engineer Clarke An
Assurance of Brains in Mar.
agement. J
In the appointment of C. K. Clarke
as superintendent, the directors of
Water Company No. 1 have made
amends for many mistakes and given
assurance of at least present purpose
to put some brains Into the manage
ment of the company's affairs.
Mr. Clarke is a singularly capablo
engineer, who has had lonj; experi
ence in controlling water and is es
pecially efficient in handiln.'; men on
big work. ' He built the daai that put
the Colorado back Into Its bed arid say- ,
the Irrigation system of Imperial val- :
ley, and he accomplished that feat, to
tne amazement of the [qnglneerliig j
profession, by methods that wore,
jeered at and pronounced futile by
engineers of the United S'.a'.e.* Recla
mation Service. The high-collar, put
teo-legged engineers of Inat bureau
declared It impossible to close the
break. That wi3 partly because they
were incompetent to do tho> job thora
seWes and partly because thav -lid j
not desire to Hee the break closed.
Failure of the liuuorlal Valley recla
mation enterprise wui tin 'Unrest wish
of their hearts
Only three days b*far» the final!
closing, the supervising en«Ucnr of tho
Official Poper of Imperial County and City of 131 Centro.
EL CENTRO, CALIFORNIA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1909.
R. S. gleefully proclaimed to a gath
ering of his associates that Clarke's
dam was "the monumental failure of
the age." In less than a week that
dam was recognized throughout the
land as the monumental engineering
achievement of the age. The Recla
mation Service engineers ate their
crow In silence and confessed their
error by adopting the Clarke method of
choking the Colorado at Laguna Dam.
'There Is work enough to keep Su
perintendent Clarke busy putting the
canal system of Number One into good
operating condition, for if ever any-
I thing was bungled, neglected and mis
treated, that system has been so mis
1 handled. Clarke will earn the $400
1 a month allowed him as salary If the
[ directors supply him with the means
for carrying out his plans.
For one thing, he proposes to make
use of the fall of the land, which has
' been wasted In "drops," and cause
the ditches to keep themselves clear
!of silt. He Intends to have the ditch
! levees cleared of brush, ! weeds and
; trees and kept clear. Also he pro
poses to clear the payroll of idlers,
I shirkers and pensioners and see that
men paid for work show some chips. I
Clarke has been looking over the sys
; tenv and trying to find out what the
j men on the payroll ■' have been doing I
for their wages, and he has found a {
\ plentiful and significant dearth of
chips.
Tt will, take some time to put the
' system into efficient working order,
but it can be so improved that the
, owner of water stock can get water
j when and where he needs It, and the
! waste can be disposed of without dam
, age to.others.
BIG SHIPMENT OF HOGS
Twenty Qarloads' of hogs went out
of Imperial Valely yesterday for the
Los Angeles markets. An average of
ninety hogs to the car is allowed, so
this means an invasion of Los Ange
les by 'about 1800 porkers.
BAROMETER OF BUSINESS
El Centro Station Shows Increase of
Shipments and Receipts In Year
The Southern Pacific station at El
Centro shows a general increase of
business for July over the same month
of last year amounting to fully twen
ty-five per cent. This station is now
one of the most important business
points of the Southern Pacific in
Southern California, employs the lar
gest force of men of any station out
side of Los Angeles, and has made the
best showing of increased earnings
of any Southern Pacific station in
Southeastern California.
During the past month of July there
were shlped from El Centro two cars
of honey, 208 cars of cantaloupes,
five cars of watermelons, forty-three
cars of hay, twenty-six cars of live
stock, six cars of brick, two cars of
shook and twenty-five cars of ice;
making a total of 317 full carload lots
shipped from this point during one
month. This is to be compared with
a shipment of 118 cars from this sta
tion in July of hist year, of which
seventy were carloads of cantaloupes.
The ticket sales have also made a
good record, and while the local sales
have fallen off from the record of
July, 1908, the "Inter-line" tickets
have made a great increase, showing
an advance on the total sales of $135.92
over the Banie month of one year ago.
A year ago hundreds of men and boya
had swarmed here to work In the
cantaloupe crop, which was fully three s
times the acreage of this year's crop,
and their going and coming Increased
the ticket sales. -*'} i^."
The "lnter-llne" ticket business for
El Centro station for the past July
shows an Increase of $867.40 over July
of 1908.
The shipment of live stock for the
past , July shows a twenty-five per
cent Increase over the 'same month of
a year ago. '
BUILDING CAMPAIGN
PLANNED FOR WINTER
Expansion of County Seat's
Business and Industrial
Districts
New Bank v and Office Block, Meal Mill,
Brick and Tile Works, Gas Plant
and Store Buildings Will Be Started
As Soon as Cool Weather Comes
—Public Library and Many New
Residences Also on the List.
El Centro Is -to have a busy fall
and winter, not only in commercial
lines, but in the general expansion
of the city. Building is to be main
tained on a scale equal to that ' of
the previous season, and by the ar
rival of another summer season, when
all lines of work generally lighten
and people seek rest and recreation
at outside points, this city will show
a growth that will' be highly satis
factory.
Even now, when affairs have reach
ed their low ebb of summer activity
extensive plans are being made for
work which is to start early in the
fall. By the middle of September ar
tisans will be engaged on several new
enterprises, simply a beginning of the
season's work.
F. B. Fuller, president of the El
Centro National Bank, is having plans
prepared for the erection of a two
story brick or terra cotta structure
on the northeast corner of Fifth and
Main streets. The first story will be
the home of the El Centro\ National
Bank, and the second story will be
arranged in suites of offices. Work
on this building may begin next
month. 1 .
Plans have been, prepared for the
erection of a $10,000 Carnegie Free
Public Library on the lots donated by
W. T. Bill, on the south side of Main
street, near Fifth street. It is ex
pected that work on this building will
begin early In the fall. The money
therefor has been deposited by the
Carnegie Library Commission in a New
York, bank, subject to use here as
soon as certain formalities have been
completed.
T. J. Douglass, a capitalist of Los
Angeles, who has owned business |
property in El Centro for the past.
year, has decided to improve his hold
ings, and this week has had notices
placed on the lots between the Court
House and the old postoffice 1 building
announcing that he will. erect a build
ing there to suit tenants. He has al- ,
so decided to erect a two-story^>ulld-
Ing on the north side of Main street,
adjoining the Thomas Beach block. It ,
Is probable that this will be a two- !
story structure of the same general
style as the Beach building. \
This fall a large building and sev- 1
eral smaller ones will be erected for!
the plant of the alfalfa meal milling
company.
H. H. Peterson Is to move his brick
making plant from Holtville to El Cen- j
tro, and proposes to erect a drying,
shed 200x200 feet. I
The Simons Brick Company, of Los
Angeles, Is also to enter this field and
establish at El Centro a plant for the
manufacture of hollow tile, and other
clay products. This will^ necessitate
the erection of several buildings. '
Several property owners here are
planning on the erection of substantial
cottages on residence lots this fall and
winter, and one of the , prominent
builders of San Djogo has plans made
for spending the winter In El Centro
and erecting several handsome bun
gulows, which he will sell on terms
♦ hat will be attractive to home-seek
era.
Within a few weeks work will start
on the erection at this place of the
imperial Valley Gas Company's plant,
and pipe-laying for the distributing
system for both El Centro and Im
perial will be under way.
Dr. Virgil McCombs has plans ma*
(tiring for the erection of a wing to
the Central Hospital, which will be
fully as large as the original build
ing.
NEW COUNTY MAP
H. Thenberg, deputy County Sur
veyor in charge of the office, during
the absence of Surveyor Perryf~ la
engaged in the preparation or a large
map of Imperial county, showing in
colors each tract of land under the
new survey. It, will be Issued early
In the fall.
SCHOOL SECTION PROBLEM
Land Office Declares Actual Occu
pants Will Be Protected. ,
Recent statements of* H. H.
Schwartz, acting Assistant Commis- !
sloner of the General Land Office, to
valley claimants indicate that the bona
fide claims of actual occupants of val
ley lands are to be protected against
the purchasers of school sections.
In a letter from Mr. Schwartz to '
James E. Cannon, of Imperial, the
statement is made:
"I beg to advise you that it is not
the' intention of this office that claim
ants by purchase from the State of
sections 16 and 36 shall be permitted
to take the lands included in the
lines of bona fide claims of actual
occupants, which are required to be
protected by the Act providing for
the resurvey; and, on the other hand,
it is not the intention of this of- ;
fice to deprive a bona fide actual oc- '
cupant of his land in favor of some
one who subsequently jumps the same,
because of the mere fact that he may
be claiming under a title from the
State. :;i
"This office will endeavor, to adjust
all the unfortunate difficulties in the
valley in accordance with the princi
ples of equity and justice to all par
ties concerned." J
POST OFFICE MOVES
El Centro Now Has Handsomest Pos
tal Equipment In Southeastern
California.
El Centro has a new postofflce — one
that, is in keeping with the importance
of this city.
Postmaster Miller and his assistants
labored all of Tuesday night in mak
ing the transfer of the postofflce from
its old quarters in the Brown building
on the south side of Main street to
the west room of the Thomas Beach
block, at the northeast corner of Main
and Sixth streets, adjoining the First
i National Bank and opposite the old
location.
The new fixtures arrived early this
week and were quickly put in place.
The boxes are arranged in the shape
of a large V, with the base forming
the general delivery window. Three
hundred and thirty-six combination
j lock boxes have been placed, and pan
els are in position to be replaced by
I nests of boxes as further expansion
I calls for them. A deep lobby gives
ample room for the public.
The boxes are flnlsfted in weather
ed oak and with oxadlsed metal doors
and locks. A targe oa* uesK has oeen
placed, in the lobby for the .use of
patrons of the office. Convenient mail
racks for the sorting of mail for the
"star route" to Sllsbee have also been
placed In the office, and Postmaster
Miller is having a' private office ar
ranged. The room Is well lighted by a
skylight and the plate glass front on
Main street. The entire equipment
represents an outlay of about $1200.
The El Centro postofflce Is now
serving more than 2000 patrons and
each quarter since Its beginning hafl
showing a substantial tncrease in busi
ness.
No. 20
BEST COTTON REGION
IS IMPERIAL VALLEY
Crop is Absolute Demonstra
tion of Advantages of
Soil and Climate .
Expert Inspection of Five Hundred
Acres of Growing Cotton Dispels All
Possible Doubt of Success — Late
Planting and Frequent Irrigation
Produce Best Results.
Cotton has advanced so far Ik
growth that the quality of the pros
pective crop is no longer a matter ot
theory or opinion, and the quantity
may be estimated approximately. "It
can be said with absolute certainty
that conditions of soil and climate in
Imperial Valley are adapted perfectly
to the production of the finest quality
of cotton in .quantities far exceeding
the average yield of Texas fields.
Last Sunday an inspection of some
of the cotton plantations in the neigh
borhood of El Centro and Meloland
was made by a' party of Texas cot
ton men, accompanied by a represen
tative of the Press, and the Texans
declared that they never had seen
cotton growing so well anywhere else.
Not only the thrifty growth of the
weed, but the fine quality of fibre
in opened bolls amazed them.
The party inspected fields aggre
gating more than 500 acres and ar
rived at some conclusions regarding
the time for planting, methods of cul
tivation and frequency of irrigation
that are not precisely in accord with
the theories previously held. It waa
found that cotton in this region re
quires more water than the experts
thought it would stand. Irrigation
once a week does not appear to be
excessive. The ' best looking fields
are those which 1 have had j the most
frequent and regular Irrigation.
It is the opinion of the Texans that
late planting is preferable, and that
the fields planted in June will give
the largest yield to the acre. Also
it was found that medium" hard land
made a better stand than the soft,
sandy land.
At Meloland, J. R. Loftus has 240
acres in cotton. The early planting
shows good results, but the later plant
ing promises the heavier crop. In the
field south of the railroad, planted
early, the lower bolls are open and
the locks ready for picking. The lint
is perfectly clean and white without
a trace of stain. On an average there
are fifty matured bolls to the stock,
and the plants have at least six weeks
more to grow and make cotton. The'
stand is not perfect, as there are soft
spots in the field which failed to pro
duce anything. The field evidently
needed more water to keep up a steady
growth.
The later planting north of the rail
road track is in splendid condition,
showing the beneficial effects of plenty
of water.
Chris Beck's eight acres east of the
Loftus field indicate that the sandy
soil In that district is not suitable
for cotton. The best growth Is in the
hard spots.
The most systematic and compre
hensive experimental planting has
bpen done on the Wllsle ranch west
of El Centro. One hundred acres
have been planted In sections at dif
ferent times. The earliest plantation
is now matured and ready for the
pickers, and there is an average of
2." open bolls to the stock close to
t he ground. The stand Is not so even
as It should be, but It Is safe to es
timate the yield from that patch at
a bale to the acre. The later plant-
Ings are making more cotton, and If
the June patch Is kept growing and
(Continued on ..'age 3.)