I would say “warm climate” is a fair description of the Imperial Valley in California’s southeastern corner. It’s 109 degrees there this afternoon (43C).

Below is a great addition to my collection of adverts as the real estate boosters tried to lure folks to the desert during that oddly magical time when waves of immigrants were first imagining what to do with this place. This is from an Aug. 9, 1903 display ad in the Los Angeles Times by the California Development Company, hustling for investors in the “California Development Company.” This is the outfit, run by Charles Rockwood, that first brought water to the Imperial Valley. Rockwood was always hustling money, and never quite had enough to make a go of it. It was one of the most spectacular early failures of the private irrigation movement, and eventually it took government to make it work. Bill deBuys’ Salt Dreams, one of my favorite Colorado River books, is a great account of that crazy time.

Imperial Valley advertising, 1903