Imperial (218 page)

Citrus-consumption statistics of 1987-88—
Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology
, vol. 1, p. 420 (entry on the citrus industry), pp. 424, 434.

“Citrus wines have never achieved the high popularity of grape wines . . .”—Ibid., p. 433.

Brazil, Florida and the “canopy shaker”—
New York Times
, Monday, March 22, 2004 (“National” section), p. A17, cont’d from p. A1 (Eduardo Porter, “For U.S. Fruit Growers, Cheap Labor Is Machines”).

“Only tiny lots of old orange or lemon trees . . .”—Wagner and Blackstock, p. 21.

The explanation of Lori A. Yates—
Los Angeles Times
, Thursday, September 23, 2004, California edition, “California” section, p. B2 (Regine Labossiere, “SURROUNDINGS: VICTORIA AVENUE: Riverside’s Regal Route Bridges Past and Present: Completed in 1902 and sustained by volunteers, the roadway shows off the city’s citrus heritage”). The article continues: “Although most of the citrus groves are gone, fans say the avenue still has a place in Riverside. Its current role is to link downtown Riverside and the remaining orange groves, they say.”

Orange and lemon growing, picking and sorting practices as of time of writing—Riverside Municipal Museum, pp. 68-70 (Robert G. Platt, “Current Citrus Industry Practices”).

Imperial citrus expectations, 1914—
Los Angeles Times
, January 18, 1914 (“SOUTHERN PACIFIC SELLS BIG TRACT”).

Constituents of flavonoids—
Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology
, vol. 1, p. 423.

Edith Karpen’s memories—From an interview by WTV, Sacramento, January 2004. In 2006, Kay Brockman Bishop gave the same explanation for the decline of grapefruit: “The water table went off, and it rotted the roots. Where you’re sitting right now, the water table is three feet.” (Interviewed December 2006 on her ranch just west of Calexico. Terrie Petree was present.)

“Grapefruit was Emperor of Imperial!”—In 1917, Walter E. Packard offers us his
Agriculture in the Imperial Valley: A Manual for Settlers
. Citron adaptability is poor, he advises, so this fruit cannot be recommended; dates offer excellent adaptability, and in my day they still hold on in the Bard Subdistrict, while in that portion of the Imperial entity known as Coachella, they do much better than hold on; grapes, Packard continues, are a very good Imperial bet, which Wilber Clark is just then putting to the test out in Mobile; lemons are good, especially Eureka and Lisbon; limes are uncertain. Oranges mature earlier and are redder than back East; Packard especially admires the good old Washington navel that is doing so well up in Riverside; he also likes Valencias, and in my era, there will be quite a lot of those (in 2005 all 450 Imperial County acres of oranges will be Valencias); Thompsons are acceptable to him, although I can hardly remember tasting those in Imperial; now he comes to the pomelo (known to you and me as a grapefruit), which “on account of its earliness has a distinct advantage in California markets over fruit from other sections.” He votes for the Marsh and seedless varieties. These seem to thrill him the most, more so even than oranges.—Remarks of Packard—Op. cit., pp. 31-32, 38-39.

In 1918, Judge Farr nearly concurs: “The grapefruit trees . . . are short-lived, although their product is superb. This is the only citrus fruit that thrives.” F. W. Waite believes grapefruit “the best of the citrus fruits” even if “lemons do very well, growing a very juicy fruit and many varieties of oranges have been tried out; the seedlings produce the best quality of fruit.” Accordingly, Sylvanus G. Haskell, “noteworthy among the active, prosperous ranchers of Imperial County,” will now build a fancier residence and consecrate 5 of his 80 acres to grapefruit.—“The grapefruit trees . . . are short-lived . . .”—Farr, p. 71.—Opinion of F. W. Waite—Ibid., p. 193 (F. W. Waite, “Horticulture”). —Doings of Sylvanus G. Haskell—Ibid., pp. 437-38.

Data in table, “ORANGE TREES IN IMPERIAL COUNTY, 1917-25”—1917: Farr, p. 192 (F. W. Waite). 1920: Imperial Valley Directory (1920). All other dates: Imperial County Agriculture Commission papers. Here follows a more detailed summary:

Citrus Trees in Imperial County

Sources:
Imperial Valley Directory (1920); California Board of Equalization (1949); all other dates, Imperial County Agricultural Commission papers.

Certificates of merit for grapefruit and mandarin oranges, 1926—ICHSPM, document cat. #A2002.349.1. Another award at the same event, this one merely a certificate of merit, for King Mandarine Orange, to C. C. Conant, or G. G. Ganant.

Barbara Worth on grapefruit label—Wright, back page of commemorative pocket in rear pocket of cover.

“IMPERIAL VALLEY GRAPEFRUIT WILL GET COMPETITION”—
Imperial Valley Press
, Wednesday, April 14, 1926, p. 4.

Photo and text concerning Senators Shortridge and King—Ibid., Friday, May 7, 1926, p. 1.

Mrs. Adell Lingo’s ranch—Tout,
The First Thirty Years
, p. 361.

Imperial County citrus statistics, 2005—Imperial County Agriculture Commission papers.

Imperial as the 7th-most-successful grapefruit producer of all counties—Imperial Valley Directory (1939), p. 12. Actually, 7th in production, 5th in value.

Nana Lee Beck—
Imperial County: The Big Picture
, p. 96.

Mr. J. E. Harshman—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing order files, Box 4. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on proposed marketing order for California desert grapefruit, as amended. Thursday, May 12, 1955, 10:00 o’clock, a.m., Coachella Valley Water District Building, Coachella, California. Handwritten on upper righthand corner: 50A.9. Pp. 17, 26-27.

Mr. Jones—Ibid., pp. 65-66.

“Grapefruit, although the Valley’s most important fruit crop . . .” and list of grapefruit’s intolerances—Griffin and Young, p. 181.

Claude Finnell’s memories—Based on an interview in his home in El Centro in April 2004. Mrs. Finnell and Shannon Mullen were also present. For corroboration of citrus’s salt intolerance (and boron sensitivity), see Lower Colorado Region study, p. X-27, Table 9.

Footnote: State citrus report of 1938—California Board of Agriculture (1938), p. 686.

Grapefruits in the U.S. and Japan, 1998-2001, 2002-2003—
New York Times
, Monday, September 8, 2003, pp. A1, A20 (Abby Goodnough, “Can the Grapefruit Be Hip? Growers Bet on a Makeover”).

Imperial Valley White Sheet
: “FRESH CITRUS . . .”—Vol. 46, week 7, week of February 12-18, 2004; p. 9.

152 . Caliche (1975-2005)

Epigraph: “O Earth with the mouth of a woman . . .”—Torre and Wiegers, p. 25 (María Baranda, “Epistle of the Shipwreck,” 1999; trans. Mónica de la Torre).

Alice Woodside on caliche—Interview of January 2004, Sacramento. Edith Karpen was present.

Hetzel photo of Holtville girls’ basketball team—ICHSPM, photo uncoded as of 2002.

Description of the old piece-of-eight—After Meyer et al., p. 170.

Hetzel’s self-portrait—
Imperial County: The Big Picture
, p. 3.

153 . Imperial Reprise (1754 -2004)

Epigraph: “What have we achieved? . . .”—Howe and Hall, p. 180.

PART ELEVEN

POSTSCRIPTS

154. The Prohibited Ballads (1913-2005)

Epigraph—
Narcocorrido
“Entre Perico y Perico,” sung at my request by the band Koely at the Thirteen Negro in Mexicali, September 2005. This was probably their own creation. They had a sheet of lyrics and lent it to Terrie Petree, who copied and later translated it for me.

“Relative to Wallace Wilson under arrest for having cocaine in his possession . . .”—N.A.R.A.L. Record Group 36. Records of the U.S. Customs Service. Calexico Customs Office. Incoming Official Correspondence (91-60). October 15, 1902-March 23, 1916. Box No. 3 of 5: November 1913 to July 1914. Folder: “Nov. 15, 1913-Feb. 11, 1914.” Letter to the Deputy Collector of Customs, Calexico, Cal., from F. B. Cretcher? [illegible], Special Deputy Collector, Office of the Collector, Treasury Department, U.S. Customs Service, Port of Los Angeles, Cal. November 17, 1913.

Sacramento drug defendants and their verdicts—Seen by me in November 2002.

The tale of Miguel Palominos—
Sacramento Bee
, Saturday, November 15, 2003, “Metro” section, pp. B1, B4 (Denny Walsh, “15-year penalty asked in pot trial: The defense asks: Why throw the book at a suspect plucked from Mexico to tend the crop?”).

Remarks of Lupe Vásquez—Interviews at the Thirteen Negro in Mexicali and in the Hotel Villa Sur in Calexico, 2003.

Fate of Anna Francis Warner—
Imperial Valley Press
, vol. 102, no. 246, Monday, March 24, 2003, p. A6 (Staff report, “Woman fails in attempt to smuggle drugs into prison”).

Excerpts from “The Queen of the South”—A
narcocorrido
by the Tigres del Norte, lyrics translated from the album “Puros Corridos, serie 21,” track 1 (“La Reyna del Sur”), by Terrie Petree, 2005. Here and in other
corridos
I have repunctuated Terrie’s draft for emphasis.

Footnote about Jesús Malaverde—After Griffith, pp. 66-75.

“He dreamed in his delirium . . .”—Saul Viera (“El Gavilancillo”), “Rodrigo Lopez,” translated from the Internet by Terrie Petree.

Interviews with Angélica, Juan Carlos Martínez Caro, Cookies, Emily, Érica, Francisco Cedeño, Alfonso Rodríguez Ibarra, María, Patricia, Carlos Pérez, Javier Armando Gómez Reyes (who makes another appearance in my book
Poor People
)—Late August and early September 2005; all in Mexicali; all as interpreted by Terrie Petree. The
corridos
composed and sung by Francisco Cedeño and the snatches of
corridos
sung by Angélica, Cookies, Érica and María were all recorded, transcribed and translated by Terrie Petree, 31 August to 3 September 2005.

Emigration of meth labs from the Central Valley—
Sacramento Bee
, Friday, October 15, 2004, “Metro” sectio, p. B1 (Christina Jewett, “Meth makers find new places to cook: Once focused in the Valley, labs crop up in the north and south in face of law enforcement pressure”).

Excerpts from “Jefe de Jefes”—From the same Tigres del Norte album (track 7), translated by Terrie Petree.

“NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Nine Thousand Six Hundred ($9,600.00) Dollars . . .”—
Calexico Chronicle
, Friday, June 13, 2003, “Public Notice” section, p. 9.

Excerpts from “Pakas de a Kilo”—From the same Tigres del Norte album (track 13), translated by Terrie Petree. Excerpts from “Cruz de Marijuana”—Translated from the Internet by Terrie Petree.

Excerpts from “Catarino y los Rurales”—A
narcocorrido
by Valentín Elizalde, lyrics translated from the album “Los Mejores Narco Corridos,” track 22, by Terrie Petree, 2005.

155 . The
Maquiladoras
(2004)

Epigraph: “Are
maquiladoras
good or bad . . .”—Interview with Señora Candelaria Hernández López and her daughter Alicia Hernández Hernández; on a park bench in Ejido Chilpancingo, Tijuana, 14 July 2004. Terrie Petree translated.

Epigraph: “In our country . . .”—First interview with Señor A. (see below). Terrie Petree translated.

Interview with the Cucapah woman—On the Cucapah reservation south of Mexicali, January 2003. Terrie Petree was not present since she only started working for me later that year. My interpreter was the great Lupe Vásquez. The woman did not give her name.

Ruiz: “A healthy and prosperous American economy will not forever endure . . .”—Op. cit., p. 233.

Ruiz’s mention of the
maquiladora
in Ciudad Juárez which compelled its female employees to bring in bloody tampons the first three months—Op. cit., p. 77.

Emerson: “Could not a nation of friends . . .”—Op. cit., p. 570 (“Politics”).

Interview with Mr. W.—He would not have wanted to be in a book, so I consider his identity to be restricted. It will be placed on file at the California State Archives. See the “NOTE ON RESTRICTED FILES &C” at the beginning of the bibliography. This interview was actually a series of phone conversations which took place on 25, 28 and 29 June 2004.