The Wasp — 1880 — page 190: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **promotional advertising** for the Paradiso Colony in Fresno County, California, rather than satirical content. The large illustration depicts an idealized pastoral scene with a villa, palm trees, and irrigated farmland—a marketing image for potential settlers. The text promotes agricultural opportunities, emphasizing "five crops a year," reliable water irrigation, and favorable climate. The repeated phrase "**GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, GO WEST**" references Horace Greeley's famous 1860s expansionist slogan, here repurposed as real-estate marketing. While *The Wasp* was primarily satirical, this page functions as paid promotional content showcasing California's agricultural development and land colonization schemes of the late 19th century—reflecting the period's westward expansion rhetoric and speculative land-sale advertising.