Long ago, back at the turn of the last century, when the orange groves brought great wealth to the area, Riverside and it’s next door neighbor, San Bernardino, became known collectively as the Inland Empire. In fact, in 1895 the city of Riverside had the highest per capita income of any city in the entire United States, thanks to the orange groves. Most of the old groves have been replaced by housing developments around the rest of the old Inland Empire, but if you look you’ll still find a few groves… It’s been well over a century since the first oranges were grown here, but evidently oranges and oranges groves will continue to be a part of our future, if these brand new baby trees are any indication.
For the last couple of months the mountains surrounding the San Jacinto Valley have been capped with snow, and there’s something grand about seeing a sunny orange grove, and a bright blue sky, with snow covered mountains in the background!
