The fruit lands now offered for settlement by the Crocker Land and
Water Company are situated in the very center of California. Besides
being so favorably located, they offer advantages which are not
possessed by any other lands in the State. The fifty-five thousand
acres, which are now for the first time subdivided, consist of virgin
pasture and wheat lands, which have become too valuable to be devoted
to their former use. They are now being irrigated by the most
expensive and magnificent irrigation system on the continent, by a
canal capable of carrying 4,000 cubic feet of water per second, and by
the artificial lake Yosemite, the most extensive irrigation reservoir
ever built in America. The water from this system is abundant and
continuous; it comes from the snow-capped Sierra, from the Falls of
the Yosemite, and will suffice to irrigate and fertilize hundreds of
thousands of acres more than are offered for sale.
These fruit and horticultural lands are situated in the warm belt of
the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, protected by sheltering hills,
traversed by natural creeks and surrounded by the grandest scenery
known to man. The famous Yosemite is almost within sight, and the
high-peaked Sierra can be reached in a day’s journey. The Coast Range,
with Mt. Diablo, is in full view, while the fresh breezes from the San
Pablo Bay temper the climate, and contribute to make it one of the
finest, most salubrious and most enjoyable in the world. Through the
irrigation water always at the command of the horticulturist, our
lands are being transformed into beautiful orchards, vineyards and
meadows. The peach, the prune, the apricot, the pear and the
raisin-grape are made to flourish, and the olive to produce its
valuable oil, the orange and the lemon their golden fruit. The
colonies already established are situated in the thermal belt of the
Sierra, in the finest citrus region of the State, in a district equal
to the best anywhere, and in a territory remarkable for its earliness
and productiveness. Every variety of temperate and semi-tropical fruit
is now growing within sight of the colonies,--the almond, the olive
and orange upon the more elevated land; the peach, the prune, the
apricot, the pear and the raisin-grape upon that of a more alluvial
nature. The Rotterdam Colony contains now over a hundred settlers from
Holland; other colonies are being established by English and American
farmers, by doctors, lawyers and professional men of every station in
life. The people whom we invite, and who have responded to our call,
are the most desirable, the most intelligent, the most energetic and
the most refined classes. They are now building up horticultural
communities of the most prosperous nature.
The lands we offer are situated six hours by railroad from San
Francisco. They are traversed by two railroads, and the principal
colony is only four miles from Merced City, the county seat, while
some of our land joins, and actually surrounds, that town. Our prices
are low, and our terms very reasonable. We offer various grades of
land, all eminently suitable for the highest state of horticulture, at
prices ranging from $75 to $175 per acre, with water.