Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....Calexico 1918
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Book Title: History Of Imperial County California

CHAPTER XXI
CALEXICO

BY F. W. ROACH

   LONG before the present generation was born it was ordained that Calexico
should exist, and that Calexico should become the capital of a great inland
empire. The plans that fate laid are being fulfilled, and the hopes of those who
have watched the city's growth with pride and joy are being fulfilled in a
measure beyond their most sanguine expectations.

   Climate, soil, abundance of life-giving water, sunshine every day in the
year, accessibility to markets and geographical location, all combine to
encourage and promote the agricultural, horticultural and stock-raising
industries that are growing steadily year by year, enriching thousands of
enterprising men who have been attracted to the section of country immediately
surrounding Calexico, drawn by the exceptional opportunities offered as an
inducement to greatest effort. Gradually the desert has been reclaimed; year by
year canals and laterals have crept across its face, and carried water to the
arid acres that ceased to be arid, and began producing crops of cotton, corn,
alfalfa, small grains of all kinds, vegetables, melons and fruit, with an
abundance of forage crops for the herds and flocks that have become famous for
their size and high grade. The great ranches and plantations that came with the
first efforts at settling and reclaiming the land have been divided and
sub-divided, each partition bringing more settlers, more workers and more
citizens to a happy and prosperous Valley. Settlements grew to towns, and towns
to cities, Calexico, the metropolis by right of birth, grew more rapidly than
the rest, and now is entering upon a new and its most remarkable period of
development. At the beginning of the year 1918 a carefully prepared census
showed the population to be a little in excess of 4000.

   Calexico originated in 1901, when the California Development Company
established engineering headquarters near the international boundary line
between California and the Mexican state of Baja California, or Lower
California. This was on the east bank of New River. The offices .of the company
consolidated with settlers in forming the little settlement just north of the
line in California. In 1903 the townsite was plotted and laid out in lots. The
rich, productive soil around the town was the first in the Imperial Valley to be
irrigated and improved, and the results proved the belief of the pioneers that
only the well directed efforts of man were needed to bring wealth and
prosperity. The country immediately tributary includes the productive section on
the west known as District No. 6, containing many of the largest and most
productive ranches in the Valley; District No. 7, adjoining the town on the
east, and on the south thousands upon thousands of acres of the richest land in
Baja California, which are leased from their Mexican owners and devoted largely
to the production of cotton and live-stock.

   Incorporated as a city of the sixth class in April, 1908, Calexico has
advanced steadily towards metropolitanism, and today it presents a pleasing and
often surprising appearance to those who visit it for the first time. Money
raised by the issuance of bonds, beginning with an issue of $20,000 in 1909, has
been wisely expended in paving the streets, building wide, substantial concrete
walks, providing a water system that is not excelled in the West, and a sewer
system adequate for a city of many times its present size. In the heart of the
city a tract of land was reserved for a park and civic center. This is being
improved and will in time be one of the most beautiful recreation grounds to be
found in the State. The Calexico Union High School, a magnificent building with
numerous smaller buildings grouped about it, and the Carnegie Library, are
located in this center, and in time it will contain the city hall, fire station
and other municipal buildings, and doubtless the federal offices that will be
required to take care of the growing business incidental to an important port of
entry and border city. For two years the imports through the port of Calexico
have exceeded those of Los Angeles, San Diego and Tia Juana combined.

   Since it was discovered a few years ago that the Imperial Valley was adapted
to the growth of cotton, this crop has been the leading one in both that portion
of the Valley lying north of the boundary line, and on the Mexican lands leased
and cultivated by Americans. The first crop of the Valley was sold to one big
cotton mill for $25,000. That was about seven years ago; conservative estimates
place the value of the 1918 crop of cotton in the Imperial Valley at
$13,000,000. The production this year will not be far short of 65,000 bales. The
quality of the cotton is unsurpassed, and buyers from all over the world are in
competition for the Imperial Valley product. The gins of Calexico and her twin
city, Mexicali, and the cotton compress located in the former, provide
employment for many skilled laborers.

   Among some of the other agricultural products are milo maize, broom corn,
rye, barley, alfalfa, rice and hemp. Sudan grass is gaining in popularity as a
forage crop.

   The cantaloupe industry is one of greatest importance to Calexico. For about
six weeks in the summer the cantaloupe sheds are the busiest section of the
city. Last year more than 4000 cars of the finest melons produced in the United
States were forwarded to the Eastern and coast markets, the earliest shipments
reaching New York, Boston and Washington nearly two weeks in advance of those of
any other section of the country. The lettuce grown on the ranches around
Calexico, shipped in iced cars by express, is also the first grown out of doors
to reach the tables of the Easterners, and is not surpassed in quality and
appearance.

   Calexico's claims to being the metropolis of the wonderful new inland empire
are based on the fact that the city is located in the heart of a district that
is the greatest in America in the following respects: It has the largest
cantaloupe acreage, largest honey production, largest ostrich farm, largest
alfalfa acreage, largest irrigated cotton acreage, largest unit irrigation
project, largest pumice mine, greatest turkey production, largest farm
production per acre, and largest average cotton yield.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

THE HISTORY
OF
IMPERIAL COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
EDITED BY
F. C. FARR

IN ONE VOLUME
ILLUSTRATED
Published by ELMS AND FRANKS
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918


Printed by Taylor & Taylor, San Francisco


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