The effects of this over-expansion on the young, vigorous, richly dowered community were, however, but temporary; the city of the Angels arose from temporary defeat to enter at once upon an era of growth and prosperity unexampled in the history of cities, and all but magic in its extent.

A dozen lines of railroad centre in the city, whose trade extends from Fresno on the north to the easternmost limits of Arizona. Eighteen years ago the city adopted a successful scheme of electric lighting, and its trolley system is one of the best in the United States. For the last decade the building trades have been rapidly growing. Building permits to the value of $23,000,000 have been issued, and in 1900 alone $2,700,000 was invested in new buildings.

The city has 200 miles of paved streets, 330 miles of sidewalks, and 160 miles of sewers; but its complete and perfect system of irrigation is one of its greatest beauties. The "Zanjero" has from its earliest years been an important municipal functionary, and the flowing of well-kept channels of fine water, in sparkling zanjos along the sides of the principal streets, adds to the beauty of roads and grounds, while through a system of new and beautiful parks the visitor can obtain some of the finest views in the world by simply driving about the city.

[ STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.]

If the traveller seek the suburbs he will drive for mile after mile through groves of orange and lemon, fig, peach, pear, and apricot orchards; he will see on one side of the town great sweeps of almond and walnut trees; on another, ranches planted in vineyard and olive. There are, perhaps, three million fruit trees growing in the district, half of which are in full bearing. The land bears, too, great crops of alfalfa, which in fertile places is cut from three to six times a year. Oranges, of course, are the chief export; but there are, besides, wine, brandy, wheat and barley, sugar-cane, and all varieties of fresh vegetables. If the tenderfoot hear that Los Angeles corn grows sometimes to a height of twenty feet, that pumpkins weighing four hundred pounds have been raised, or even that holes from which beets have been pulled are of a size sufficient for fence-posts, he need not doubt. There are three large beet-sugar factories, and in the county $100,000 worth of olives, and more than that of honey, are annually produced.

[ COURT-HOUSE, LOS ANGELES.]

The population of the city is cosmopolitan, as may be known from the fact that, in addition to the exceptionally good English papers of the city, organs in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Basque, and Chinese are issued. A large number of Chinese, several thousand, are engaged in raising vegetables or in domestic labor of the several kinds. As in all California towns, they have a residence section of their own, and are quiet, orderly, reliable, and useful.

Los Angeles is a city of churches, and its philanthropies are many; its educational advantages are remarkably good. At the head of a noticeably complete system of training stands the University of Southern California, which opened its doors in 1880, with Dr. Bovard as President. Its College of Medicine is a well-equipped institution, and its progress is identified with the name of Dr. J.P. Widney. An exceptionally fine normal school completes the training given by the public-school system, with its high schools and fifty-five grammar schools, all housed in buildings which might be the pride of any community. The buildings which house its free library system, its City Hall, and its County Court-House, are well conceived for their several purposes, and architecturally of great beauty.

[ IMPROVED HARBOR OF SAN PEDRO, PORT OF LOS ANGELES.]

But Los Angeles is above all a city of homes and of gardens. The mildness of the climate permits the most delicate plants and trees to flourish throughout the winter. Giant bananas, fan and date-palms, rise above the houses, and at Christmas are seen hedges of callas, geraniums ten feet high, heliotropes covering whole sides of houses, and such wealth of roses and orange blossoms as baffles description.