Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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neuory ov ke HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. ila precious moments we spent in listening to those semi-annual professors talk science, and how we used to awaken in agony from our moaning dreams, in the stillness of the lecture and wipe the great beads of perspiration from our troubled brow, as we imagined that we might some day be a circuit professor. Dear schoolmates, do you still retain in your misty memory the recollection of the time when all the boys, having become wearied of the monotony of school life, rashly re- solved to go to war and kill something, and when the time came for enlistment they could not sign their names, had a bad cold and wished themselves home ? How like the thought of a delirious night- mare comes back to us the recollection of the time when we rudely resolved to quit school and break up the whole public school system in America. But we found that school kept, notwithstanding our absence, and we returned as visitor next day only to meet with a cold reception from the teacher. When we are aged and great and are presi- dent or newspaper reporter, how like the the fragrance of the almost forgotten forget- me-not will come back to us the memory of the first day we orated to the debating society and how we stirred our audience’s blood to such a flood of mutiny that we pitied them, and how that great lump of embarrassment rose in our throat choking us until they pitied us. In the illusive and fanciful future how will we seek refuge from the stare of the nation’s eye and thrust away the cares of statesman- ship and give full vent to the thronging thoughts of the fantastic capers we cut in school; and like a long lost mystery we will discover the cold, hard fact that to our school days we owe our destiny. It was there that we learned to concentrate our minds into one great mass of thought, and how to tell a plausible lie. It was there we learned to ex- press our wrathful feelings in good plain Anglo-Saxon. It was there we learned to wield the death dealing pen like a demon, and how to chew gum. Let us support the public school always; it is the place where we at- tained our inexhaustible knowledge and re- ceived our first impulses for better lives. De emecOor Resources of Madera County. ar Among the counties of Central California none can lay claim to a brighter outlook for an early and extensive industrial development than Madera, which embraces a broad extent of fertile valley land, a section of foothills dotted with productive gold mines, and a lib- eral slice of mountainous territory, with all its diversified resources. All that is lacking to make it one of the most productive sections in the State is a suf- ficient supply of water. The irrigation question has been somewhat of a puzzle, the several streams lying too low to admit of turning their waters upon more than a small portion of the tillable soil. One of the. most feasible plans to provide water for the unirrigated portion of the county is the use of wells and centrifugal pumps. ‘These may be operated by electricity, obtained from the North Fork plant, or by petroleum, which is found along the western boundary of the San Joaquin Valley. It has been esti- mated thatirrigation by electric pumps can be accomplished at less than one dollar per acre for the season. ‘This system has been suc- cessfully tried by Tulare fruit growers and there is no reason why it should not be a success in Madera County, as an abundance of cheap power may be easily procured, and the water supply cannot be exhausted by pumping. With this additional supply of water, vineyardist, fruit and grain growers will be greatly benefited as their crops will be increased and made certain, for a drought will be impossible. Besides being a great aid to ranchers this will assist the people in gen- eral, as an increase in the products will neces- sitate the establishment of new factories,

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3 — — Es 10 HIGH SCHgolL ANNUAL. fault, as scholars are apt to think, but to praise also; then weigh good and bad care- fully, and the result will be your own opinion. Even if the decision is wrong it has benefited you to form it. Each study in the course, whether it be poetry or prose, is selected with some par- ticular object in view, and each is intended to illustrate some peculiarity in style, time, place, subject or prosody, so that when the course has been completed a fair knowledge of the standard authors will have been gained. Rhetoric is studied in connection with read- ing so that we may see the rules applied, and when a composition is required, thoughts can be logically and intelligibly expressed. Grammar is reviewed while studying the con- struction of good works and can be i ntelli- gently applied. Classic myths are also studied, and while a knowledge necessary for intelligent reading is acquired, a respect for classic art is en- gendered, a love for the beauties of nature either cultivated or inspired, and the imagina- tions stimulated. Special attention to composition work is ad- vised by the University, and as much time is given to that branch as is possible in our lim- ited time. Immediately after finishing the study of any selection, one or more compositions are written by each one, and often character sketches are required. c The unity, concord, construction, grammar, mode of expression and thoughts are severely criticised, so each may see his faults, and by repeated trial, endeavor to amend them. The life of each author, whose works we intend to read, is studied. His peculiarities are discussed by the class, so that after they begin to read, his traits can be traced. Enough books are given in the course to il- lustrate the most noted styles of composition but there are more books in the list than are required to be read, so the teacher may choose those that are most suitable for the class. For convenience and to economize time, the Junior and Middle classes were combined this year, and consequently tried to do two years’ work in one. ‘They read the Alhambra, Lady of the Lake, Merchant of Venice, Prisoner of Chillon and Deserted Village and Gayley’s Classic Myths. The Senior class also were compelled to finish more than one year’s work. ‘They read “‘Comus,’’ Burke’s Speech at Bristol, Webster’s Reply to Hayne, Warren Hastings, and Lyle’s From Milton to Tennyson, containing poems by Milton, Dryden, Pope, Thompson, John- son, Gray, Goldsmith, Cowper, Burns, Coler- idge, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Macauley, Clough, Arnold and Tennyson. L. M. ’g9. Our School Days. ar How gently comes back to us the memory of the few short years that are fled; how like the last lingering ray of the golden sunbeam sadly settles down upon the youthful breast the sorrowful truth that the happiest and brightest of his school days have passed. In after years how fondly will reflect upon our vague and indistinct memories the few little incidents and pleasures of our past school days. O, those glorious school days! Who would rob us of their charms? Who would de- prive us of the sweet memory of the day when we took that blissful vacation all by ourselves without the consent of the teacher, and in the sultry solstice of the summer day took our sleds and skates and went to the San Joaquin river a fishing, and when we returned with no compensation for our journey except one poor old fish that we bought of a peddler, half a quart of blackberries and mosquito bites, a lost fish rod and a bad cold. When we are grown old and wise like those noble professors who come around making ‘Paleontological collections”’ of ‘“Topographi- cal Gazetteers,’’ ‘Sociological ‘I'reatises,’’? and a few other things like that, then we will rub our deeply furrowed brows and think of the Dae Se CAE eee ine irene hele ha ae =a

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12 HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL. which will give employment to our men, women and children during the picking cur- ing, packing and harvesting seasons. Good wine grape vineyards are paying bet- ter now than raisin or table grape, and better than almost any kind of orchard. ‘The grapes of the San Joaquin Valley make better sweet wine, taking a natural port and sherry flavor, than those grown in any other section of America. At present there is a large winery, estab- lished by the Swiss-Italian Colony, which em- ploys a large number of men, and does a thriving business. Olive orchards are also a paying industry, and, although they require from six to seven years’ growth before bearing, the fruit brings a good price when ready for market. The industry of beet raising and sugar manufacturing will be introduced into the county as soon as a necessary amount of water is procured. This will undoubtedly prove a paying industry as California is the most favorable section in the world for the raising of sugar beets, and this section of the State offers superior inducements for the loca- tion of a beet sugar factory, owing to the abundance of cheap power and the competing railroad facilities for transportation. Madera enjoys the advantage ot competition between rival lines of railroad, the Southern Pacific and the San Joaquin Valley. The rates of shipment will be lowered more if the proposed Monterey Railroad is ever built, which is doubted by some,who think it is a money making scheme of capitalists. It will probably pass through Madera because the in- ducements here are superior to those offered by any other town in the surrounding country. The competition of the rival railroads will be a great advantage to the farmers, stock- raisers and wool growers as they can save many hundreds of dollars yearly on their ship- ments. In Madera is located a large, new brick planing mill, also a sash and door and box factory. Lumberis shipped from the mount- ains in a flume sixty miles in length. In 1874, when the flume was built, it tapped one of the finest pineries in the world, but over twenty years of continuous cutting has left it in such shape that it will be nearly a quarter of a century before the-trees will be large enough to be cut again. ; The Michigan Lumber Company has lum- ber interests near those of the Madera Com- pany, and as these are for sale at a compara- tively low price, the Madera Company can con- tinue working if they desire to do so. In the early days of the ’60’s or ’70’s large amounts of gold bullion were shipped from mines of the county. ‘The most famous of these early mines were the Fresno Enterprise, near Potter Ridge, the Josephine and the Gam- betta, at Grub Gulch, the Abbey, near Hildreth, and the Lily, near O’Neals. In looking over the county quite a number of promising pros- pects are found, which apparently require a reasonable amount of money and a practical knowledge of mining to place them on a pay- ing basis. This county, although possessing a number of gold mines of undoubted value, has been retar ded in the development of its mining in- terests by reason of ill-advised investments or insufficient capital to make necessary develop- ment, or to furnish the proper equipment of machinery. The greatest mining industry at present is granite quarrying at Raymond. ‘This great quarry, The Raymond, owned by the Ray- mond Granite Company, has been actively worked for a number of years, giving employ- ment toa large number of men at the quar- ries, and at the company’s yard in San Fran- cisco, where most of the finer stone dressing is done. A portion of the new jail now being erected is made of granite taken from this quarry. After an interval of four years no considerable impression seems to have been made on this immense dome-shaped granite hill. Any noticeable change has been for the better, as the quarry improves as it is opened,