The coast line of the Pacific ocean, as seen from Mount Lowe is peculiarly fine. On a clear day many islands can be seen from the summit, where the eye can scan a distance of nearly three hundred miles along the shore. Some of the islands rise from the surface of the water only a few hundred feet, their surfaces being high table lands, which can be cultivated; others are mountains, the highest peaks towering 3,000 feet high, while others are apparently the rocky tops of submerged mountains.
Log Cabin, Mount Lowe Springs.
The position of Mount Lowe is such that with one sweep of the eye they will pass in review on a clear day (which in this region is the normal condition of the atmosphere), giving a panorama of ocean, island, mountain and canyon scenery which cannot be equaled on the globe.
[Looking from Mount Lowe Over the Valley.]
The San Gabriel Valley and the mesa lands lying between the Mission Hills and the ocean are choice bits of God's creation, as are also the interior valleys which radiate from them.
This stretch of fertile land, all of which can be seen from some point of view on Mount Lowe, already contains two hundred and fifty thousand people, and yet only a small portion of the soil is cultivated. It is capable of sustaining a population of several million from the products of the soil alone, not to say anything of its superior location for manufacturing and commerce. Probably before the new century is half a decade old more than a million people will have their homes here.
The portion of this region lying immediately at the foot of Mount Lowe is the most thickly populated section of Southern California. Directly underneath, within a few miles of its base, is the beautiful city of Pasadena, with its sixteen thousand people, and just beyond the Mission Hills, the metropolis of the southwest, Los Angeles, is located, with one hundred and forty thousand population. These two cities show a greater annual per cent. of development than can be found in any other portion of the United States. The upper or western portion of the San Gabriel valley is cut up into fruit farms, which look from the mountains like well kept gardens, and the whole scene is one of busy activity. These cities, towns, orchards and farms give added charms to the landscape.
Swimming in the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach on New Year's Day.