Perris Valley Museum Historical Archives

Perris -Valley
Riverside CountY'
CALIFORNIA
PUMPING PLANT ON THE FIRTH TRACT
t.An expanse of Valley girt round by foot hills and
majestic mountains,---a panorama of agricultural
wealth and scenic grandeur.
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MAP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SHOWING THE RELATIVE LOCATION OF THE PERRIS VALLEY AND THE TOWN OF PERRIS
LOCATION-The picturesque and fertile Perris Valley is in the western part of Riverside County, California. The distance
from the central part of the Valley to the City of Riverside, the County Seat, is eighteen miles; to San Bernardino, twenty-five
miles; to Redlands, twenty-two miles and to Los Angeles, Seventy-five miles. In a south-westerly direction it is only thirty-five
miles to the Pacific Ocean.
Perris Valley
c.A HOME LAND
One of the Many Alfalfa Fields
You'll Like Perris Valley
Where the Soil, Water and Climate, combined with
Industry and Good Management
Insure Success
TOPOGRAPHY
PERRIS V ALLEY has an approximate area of 25,000 acres of firstclass land, and is nearly surrounded by foothills and mountains. The
surface contour of the land is remarkably even, so that it needs very
little leveling- for irrigating. The elevation is 1500 feet above sea level.
Eastwar d is a magnificent view of the San Jacinto range of mountains,
,yhich rise to an elevation of 11,000 to 12,000 feet, and this range of
mountains is the great watershed and the source of the water supply
for irrigating the lands of the Valley_ Beyond the foothills to the
north are the Sierra Madre and San Bernardino ranges of mountains.
These mountain ranges with their snow-clad peaks complete the landscape of the VALLEY, owned by no man, but the common heritage
of all.
Published by the Chamber of Commerce
Perris, California
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Grow Alfalfa and HOi8
A PERRIS V ALLEY HOG RANCH
Climate
p
erris Valley has the Southern California climate. There are no
extremes of heat and cold, and with its summer nights always 1'P,freshingly cool, it has nothing but delights for the dweller within its
bounds. The elevation and the short distance from the Pacific Ocean
~ive it a modified and healthful climate. An invigorating atmosphere,
pure water, and abundant sunshine are characteristi c of the Valley.
Transportation and Towns
T he town of Perris is a well-settleil community of about 700 population. It is on the Santa Fe R. R. at the junction point of the
San Jacinto, Lakeview, rremecula and Elsinore branches. It has a
number of fine brick business blocks, a bank, drug store, hardwarA
stores, clothing stores, general merchandise "tores, etc. There are
~everal churches, a union high school, a grammar school, a weekly
newspaper, a city water system, electric lights and power, a storage
ice plant, and a telephone system which connects the town with the
farms of the valley, with the city of Riverside and other Southern
California cities.
Puanp the ' rVater
A Wealth
of Water
THE DR. MINNEY RANCH- 2oo Inches of Water
1'he other towns and shipping points in the Valley are Alessandro,
Val Verde, An d.erson, Ethanac, Menifee ami Lloyd.. Every part of
the Valley is real close to some shipping point. 'l'here is a good train
Dervice to and from Riverside ana Los Angeles.
'1'he Pacific Electric railroad is now completed from Los Angeles to
San Bernardino and connects with Riverside and Redlands. This
electric railroad will within a few years undoubtedly be extended into
and through the Valley.
Market
T he Los Angeles market is close by, ana this is supplemented by
markets of Riverside, San Bernardino and Redlands. The location and facilities for marketing the products of the Valley are excellent. With the rich and productive soil, with water and climate,
with the sure and steady returns from his six crops of alfalfa, from his
vegetables, his deciduous fruits, his hogs, his cattle, his poultry, milk
and eggs, the farmer of Perris Valley with proper management has
every favorable condition possible to help him to win success anll
ind ependence.
Dairying' is Profitable
ON THE POORMAN DAIRY RANCH-Over 200 Cows
More creameries will be built to meet the needs of the dairy interests, an alafalfa mill is now a pressing ne cessity, and canneries for
deciduous fruits and vegetables will be required in the near future.
The Soil
T
he soil is a silt with an admixture of decomposed granite aml vegetable humus. It has been washed down from the surrounding
foothills and mountains for ages past. There is no better soil for
alfalfa and deciduous fruits anywhere. Ninety~five per cent of the
soil of the Valley is easily tined and ranks with the very best in our
state, With the abundant water supply it will produce any crop or
product adapted to this climate. In the main part of the Valley i,;
more of the silt soil and less of the decomposed granite soil, aml here
are found scores of well-developed and fine alfalfa ranches. ,]'lle
most successful and prosperous alfalfa ranches are stocked with
dairy cattle, hogs and poultry.
Successful Fnnninif
THE HALL BROTHERS ALFALFA AND STOCK RANCH
The Water Supply
N ot many years ago it was dis covered that the Valley has an
abundant supply of underground water for irrigatin g the land. This
water is of the purest quality for domestic use. Nature has abun(tantly blessed this land. The power for pumping the water is the
electric motor and the gas engine, which uses the inexp ensive distillate and even cheaper grades. Pumping water for irrigating haR a
number of advantages over the ditch method. You apply the water
when it is needed, and do not wait your turn 'while the CTOP is suffering. You are quite independent in this respe ct. The noxious weed
:ceed from any negligent neighbor '8 farm can not he rarried onto
your well-kept farm through an irrigating ditch.
Alfalfa and Dairy Farrning
Alfalfa has become the standard forage plant of the world , and it
if; a success in the Perris Valley. Properly tended fields may he
cut six times eaeh year, and "vill yield from eight to ten tons per
The Monthly Cream Check
A PROSPEROUS PERRIS V ALLEY DAIRY RANCH
acre, and the average price of baled alfalfa, F . O. B. Perris has been
over twelve dollars per "ton. The name" alfalfa" means" the best of
fodder." It is the most valuable forage plant and the oldest known
to man, having been grown for over twenty centuries. Alfalfa does
not rob the soil, but is a valuable crop for restoring nitrogen
through the roots to the soil and thereby increasing its fertility . Alfalfa as a fodder has been tested many times at agricultural school<;
and experiment stations, and in every case has shown to he the peer
of all stoek foods. See Farmers' Bulletin 339.
Many localities now have alfalfa meal mills whi ch grind the alfalfa into meal ani!. ship it to nearly every section of our own
eountry and abroad. It is unexcelled as a food for horseR , mules.
E'heep, stoek and dairy cattle , hogs and poultry.
There is no erop that gives a better, quieker, surer cash income than
alfalfa, and this income is the key of succeRS for the beginner in the
business of farming . Two acres of alfalfa will support three cow<;
for a year. Alfalfa and dairy farming is a sure and produetive eom bination. Combine alfalfa farming and dairying, ann indude with
Alfalfa and Dairyinl!
RANCH OF J. E. ASHTON
this the raising of hogs and poultry. It is a plan that eliminates every
vestige of waste. By this methoel production is at its highest and is
turned into milk, butter, poultry, eggs and pork, which can always
be exchanged at short notice for good round Amercian dollars. What
surer means of reaching financial independence than a combined alfalfa and dairy farm in the Perris Valley?
The Poorman Dairy Ranch in the Perris Valley is one of the best
and largest in Southern California. On this ranch are several hundred cows and the most modern and up-to-date equipment for making
buttter and ice cream. Tons and tons of butter and ice cream are
shipped from this dairy ranch to near-by towns and cities. The
rlemand is far in excess of the supply. Alfalfa and grain hay is
grown on the ranch to feed the eows. The skimmed milk and buttermilk is feel to other stock on the ranch.
Several dealers in Perris buy the milk and cream from the farmers
:::nel ship it to Riverside and other towns.
1 heir
Some of the farmers ship
own milk every morning and are realizing large profits from
th is source.
The monthly pay check from the rlairy business giveR
Deciduous Fruit Pays
HOME OF MR. ROSCOE IN THE PERRIS V ALLEY
a feeling of financial security and comfort. The dairyman here has
an advantage over his competitor in the East in the low cost of
maintenance, the expense scale being less than half.
Hog Raising
A lfalfa
and hogs are mortgage lifters and good producers of a
bank account. The climate is ideal for hogs and they are remarkably free from disease. Alfalfa, rl.airy cows and hogs make a combination that means prosperity and future independence. There is
no better pasture for hogs than that of alfalfa. Feed the skimmed
milk from the dairy cows to the hogs, and fatten them on harley and
Ka ffir corn.
Poultry Raising
poultry ranches in this locality can grow all of the feed and thus
reduce the expense to a minimnm. This gives a great advantage
over the poultry raiser on high-priced land, where all the feed must be
bought at high prices. Turkeys thrive in this climate, the cost of
raising them is slight, and the market price is always good. Many
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A Home Land
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A RANCHER'S HOME
farmers, who do not specialize in raising poultry, give this business
proper attention so that it pays more than all of the living expenses
of the family. California imports hundreds of carloads of live and
dressed poultry and millions of eggs.
Deciduous Fruits, Vegetables, Etc.
T he
possibilities in the way of deciduous fruit raising are alone
sufficient to insure a great future for Perris Valley. This has been
fully demonstraten on a small scale in many places throughout the
Valley. In the Hemet Valley, twelve miles to the southeast, the deciduous fruit industry has been put on a good commercial basis and
is very prosperous. Many thousands of acres of peaches, pears, apricots and walnuts are bearing fine fruits and nuts, and are held at a
high price per acre. They have canneries and driers and are handling the crop in a practical way. 'T he Perris Valley adjoining this
Hemet Valley has the same conditions of soil, elevation ann climate.
A large beginning in a commercal way of planting deciduous fruit
trees was made this year on the east side of Perris Valley in the Lakeview district. One company alone plantBd 76,500 trees that are now
looking fine and thrifty. These trees are mainly peaches, pears, apri-
Dry Ranchin1
THRESHING GRAIN IN PERRIS V ALLEY
cots, walnuts and olives. Smaller tracts were also planted in scores
of places over the Valley The deciduous fruit business is not an
experiment here, and it is now beginning to assume a commercial
aspect. Peaches, pears, apricots, plums, walnuts, olives, nectarines,
quinces, figs, grapes, almonds, prunes, blackberries, raspberries, loganberries, strawherries, guavas, loquats, etc., may be grown.
The conditions are favorable for the growing of potatoes, tomatoes,
(;antaloupes, watermelons, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, asparagus,
eabbage, beans, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, onions. egg plant, radishes,
heets, rhubarb, etc.
Barley, oats, wheat and Kaffir corn are staple crops awl form an
important part of the wealth produced. ,
T he
Good Roads
present good roads in the Valley would be a credit to any
community. The roads are leve1 and many of them gravele(l.
Coming out of the City of Riverside into the north part of the Valley
is one of the famous macadamized rounty boulevards, and the work
is now in progress to extend this boulevard through the VaHey to
the southeast into Hemet ana San Jacinto, and to the southwest into
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See Perris Valley
Celebrating Alfalfa Day in the Town of Perris
Elsinore by the Lake, from where it is to be joined with the bouleyard to the ocean and San Diego. To meet the expense of this and
other county road work Riverside County last year voted $1,125,000.
The State of California is now building at an expense of $18,000,000
about 2500 miles of boulevard roads to connect with all county seat
towns and to form two main trunk lines from nor th to south
through our state.
Perris Valley now has excellent automobile roads to Riverside,
Los Angeles and tributary beach towns, and it will ere long have
completed a fine boulevard road leading southwesterly to Oceanside
and on to San Diego. This will make the automobile trip from Perris
to the heaeh at Oceanside only two hours long, a route which is
hor(l ered hy the maj estir and heautiful in nature.
E lertricity
Electric Power Line
for light and power for pumping water is generated
in the high Sierras of Inyo county, near the town of Bishop, and
i~ trammitted to Perris Valley. A subsidiary plant at San Bernardino
in this eonne ction inrmres continuous light and power for the settlers
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Good Automobile Roads
AN AVENUE OF EUCALYPTUS TREES
of the Valley.
and fiat rate.
Electric power for pumping is sold both hy the meter
Prices of Land
T he Chamber of Commerce of Perris has no land to sell.
It is an
organization to promote the general welfare of the Valley- to assist
the people who are now living here in beeoming more prosperous
and happy, and to attract other good and progressive people to loeate
with us and share in further developing the natural resourees of onr
eommunity. This booklet is intended to set forth the fads without
exaggeration, hoping that they may appeal to some desiring sneh opportunities as are here presented. \Ve believe that there are opportunities here which should interest you, and that you might ~want to
eome and make your home with us. Any further information desired by you will be glarlly furnished.
The desire to know the priee of land in any eommunity is so gen12
The Land with a Future
Barley Field in Perris Valley on Summer Fallowed Land without Irrigation
eral that we here give a few brief points on this matter. Improved
alfalfa ranches range in price from $250 to $150 per acre. Desirable
Imimproved alfalfa land is $100 to $175 per acre, and this is also excellent for deciduous fruits. There is also land suitable for poultry
ranches and for de cinuous fruits at $50 to $75 per acre, land which
has underground water sufficient for these purpOSeS, but not enough
for growing alfalfa. There is some land even cheaper in price than
that above mentioned, but the Cham bel' of Commerce can not recomrnenn it.
A Home Land In the South Land of our
State
H
ave you in your own mindyour own picture of a "Home Land,"
formed out of the sum of your experiences and your dreams
throughout the years ~ Is there in it a place of fertile fields, contented cattle, bearing orchards, blooming flowers, pure water, majestic
mountains and a gloriously healthy climate ~ Is it a place where ordinary labor, industry, thrift and good common sense will bring to every
Ilian his full reward ~ Is it a place where one may rear his family
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Edlf.c(tiwnnl,{d7·mdn1ies
PERRIS GRAMMAR SCHOOL
close to the beauties of nature , surrounded by goorl schools , chur che,
and other helpful influences ¥ Wh ere you can acquire land at a reasonable cost on reasonable terms and draw from it not only a living
but a competen cy for later y ears ~ Th en you'll like P erris Valley.
Land is the basis of all wealth. It is the only thing that can not
be carried away, stolen or destroyed. Banks may fail , fa ctories may
burn, the mines may cease produ cing, but Nature k eeps on working
forever. "Bark to the soil," is a siren cry no longer. It is sob er
counsel whi ch you should consid er w ell. Mr. Jam es J . Hill said ,
" Unless we can in cr ease the agri cultural population and its produ ction, the question of a food supply at home will soon supersec1e the
quest ion of a mark et for our own produ cts abroad."
Agri cultur e today r equir es brains, but not speCUlation. It tak es
planning, attention to details, careful cultivation of the soil , and a
knowledge of plant life. It requires that you imbibe the spirit of the
n ew agricnlture. You can learn , you can succeed, but you must put
forth such effort and att.ention as is necessary in successful farming
everywhere.
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Modern Buildings and Equipment
PERRIS UNION HIGH SCHOOL
The Future of Southern California
Southern California is destined to have a dense population. When
the Panama Canal is open the tide of immigration will come from
Europe and flood into this se ction of ('ountry through the Los Angeles gateway. It would be a rather conservative statement to say
that the population of Southern Cailfornia will be four or five times
as great as it is today. This additional population will have to be
fed and our agricultural resources will be taxed to the limit. Our
agricultural output is but in its infancy, and the wonderful possil,ilitie3 are beginning to dawn upon those who are thinking and facing
the fa cts. Southern California still permits the greater portion of the
rainfall to run waste into the ocean. Intensive cultivation of the land
in Rmall tracts will become the rule.
l'he foreign immigration, together with the constant and ever
inereaqing stream of homeseekers from the eastern states, will soon
fill every valley of this Southland of our State with a population as
dense as that of Southern Europe. In many countries of Europe
land is a commodity so precious that it can harrlly be bought. There
j" little or none for sale. This condition will be true of Southern California ill the near future. Events move rapidly nowadays.
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The Home of AlIGrlla,
A STREET IN THE TOWN OF PERRIS
Perris Valley lanel , with its ri ch soil , irrigating water, and its
many other attra ctive features, ""ill be come a community of small
farms under intensive cultivation. The climate and the wide range
of farm pr oducts in tbi" Valley will so attract settlers that there
will not be room for the many who will seek a home here. 'fhere is
only one crop of land , and the chanrc to get some of it at right pri ees
will pass by lwfore many years.
~topyurki ck c n.
Smile anel Hustle.
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Deci.duous fruits are a sue-cess.
A fine lo c'ation for an alfalfa meal mill.
A dairy country with many arlvantagrs.
Alfalfa , dairy cows ani! hog-s,-prosperity ani! indp])(md enee .
Schools, clmrcbes and modern convenienees for icl eal home makinfl;.
Perris VaUey is not a frontier conntry with the nsllal hardships.
hut instead possesses all the eomfort~ of JllO(1ern living. In this vallcy
are now scores of splendid farms.
You'll like Perris Valley.
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Watch
Perris
Valley
Grow
Where
Mountain
and
Valley
Meet
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"VALLEYS':'OF ', SO
The
Majestic
and
Beautiful
in
Nature
rSoi1, "Water and
Sunshine
Watch Perris Valley Grow
T H E DORSE Y & WRIGHT RANCH
W
HAT Perris Valley has within its borders. no pen can adequately describe. nor brush delineate. nor human tongue
recount.
Soil. water. dima[e. scenery. agricultural wealth.-a home
land with opportunity.
PI::RRls PROGRESS PA I NT