Dear American, with all its family: I shall tell you something of our drive today. Mrs. Davis, whose husband used to have a butcher shop in Myrtle Point, came over after Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and myself to take us to Happy Valley to try to sell us some property [Editor note: Albert and Bertha Davis]. We told her before she started that she did not need to do so for we would not buy, but she said her company wanted her to take us out so we started at 9:00 a.m., returning at 5:00 p.m. and no buy. We had our ride of 135 miles, a free dinner, and a real good time. They had some 10,000 acres there but about 2,000 is hills and they have sold about 3,000 acres; the rest is divided up into tracts to suit the buyer from lots 50 x 150 for $450 up to $1,200 and from one acre to as many as a man wants from $600 per acre to any price, owing to locality and condition. The company builds cement sidewalks and curbs, and pipes water in two pipes to your flue, one for irrigation and one for domestic purposes.

There are many buildings going up, and it looks like a good buy, even for a poor man, by getting a hold of the property by paying a little down and keeping up the payments for the balance. The land is very productive. One does not have to take any person’s word for it as the crops show for themselves that the soil will produce well, and almost anything that a person wants to raise. Alfalfa, barley or grain of any kind, and peaches, oranges, grape fruit, and all kinds of berries and vegetables. They are also making a great success in the chicken business. The water costs about $12 per year per acre. The property was just thrown open last year, March 28, and it shows great progress. The place is about 5 miles this side of Riverside.

We drove on down into Riverside and went to the mission for a few minutes. We were there the wrong day to get in, so we looked at the old relics around the mission.

They have a collection of old bells, the old Bell of Liberty, and the Imperial Temple bell, and a carillon made in 1814. It was on the truck they hauled it on.

We saw the old ox cart and the yoke and leathers to protect the ox shoulders when it rained. The wheels were sawed off and the end of a log about six inches thick and about four feet in height. There was a piece mortised into the center for a hub and the chime bells, I believe, were twelve in number.

There are so many interesting and curious things for one to see here. I saw the first naval orange tree that was planted in California, the mother of all navals. It was brought from Bakia [sic; Bahia] to Washington, D.C., in 1870 and on to Riverside, California, 1873. It has been here for over 50 years and has a high iron fence around it and a lot of fruit on it.

I notice I forgot to give you the name of the company that has the land in Happy Valley. It is the John P. Mills organization.

Uncle Tommy