Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Meloland, California

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy keep‎. The nomination was withdrawn. Thanks to Jfire for quick action and referencing. Firsfron of Ronchester 00:47, 15 January 2024 (UTC) Firsfron of Ronchester 00:47, 15 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Meloland, California[edit]

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Non-notable location. My PROD was declined because the University of California has an agriculture lab there (reference 3 in the article), but that page only uses the word Meloland once, as the original name of the facility (never referring to it as a "community"). Otherwise the sources cited are GNIS and Durham's, which are not sufficient for notability. Satellite view shows the UC facility surrounded by farmland, nothing approaching a community. Most likely this was a flag stop on the interurban railroad; nothing else could be found. WeirdNAnnoyed (talk) 00:23, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Geography and California. WeirdNAnnoyed (talk) 00:23, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. Chapter 53, "What I Wish I Knew About Meloland (1907–1998)" from William T. Vollmann's Imperial is dedicated to it, although in style and tone it does more to emphasize the settlement's insubstantiality and lack of fulfillment, rather than its historical importance.
Now for the stunning alteration of Meloland into a metropolis: In 1910 the population was ten. By 1920 it had doubled; in 1930 it had achieved perfect stability (which means that it remained the same as in 1920); in 1940 it was only five persons less (several of them being schoolchildren brown, yellow, white and freckled); in 1950 it stayed proudly unaltered... Geologists have named a Meloland soil, not to mention an Imperial, a Superstition, a Holtville and a Gila. The County Recorder once believed in the existence of a Meloland Orange Tract, on which a breach of obligation of a certain Deed of Trust took place in 1924; another pioneer or speculator had defaulted on his mortgage. Lots eleven, twelve, twenty-three and twenty-four in Meloland, together with others on another page, would be sold in three months. So don't tell me that Meloland did not exist, no matter that if I buttonhole somebody in El Centro and ask him how to get there, he'll say he never heard of it. The canals and green fields of Meloland are jewel-like in the evening light. The hay bales like green bullion on the pool tables of alfalfa fields now turn golden-orange. They are highly improved.
Jfire (talk) 01:45, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This is why we prefer better sources than that. It was an agricultural packing and shipping point. Another encyclopaedia says so. The same encyclopaedia says that it was named in 1910, what the name means, and who named it when he lived there; so it could not have had a Meloland post office in 1908.
By the 1990s, it was the HQ of a farm named MAGCO, whose owner still called it Meloland despite the mail by then going through Holtville.
And
The four principal soil series of the Valley are the Imperial, Meloland, Holtville, and Rositas.
— Thomas, Edward E. (1936). Reclamation of White-alkali Soils in the Imperial Valley. Bulletin. Vol. 601. California Agricultural Experiment Station., p.4
… which the USDA gives details of.
There appear to be more sources cited at https://beyond.nvexpeditions.com/california/imperial/meloland.php .
The box is a suitably mellow colour.
Uncle G (talk) 02:14, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

references

"Meloland". Encyclopedia of California. Vol. 1. North American Book Dist. 1997. p. 329. ISBN 9780403098620.
Cross, Forrest D. (1991). "Ed McGrew: Putting his shadow on his land". Americans in Agriculture: Portraits of Diversity. United States Department of Agriculture. pp. 55–57.
Zimmerman, Robert P. (1975). Soil Survey of Imperial County, California, Imperial Valley Area. United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service.

Keep. I've added expanded the article with the above sources and some additional ones. Meets WP:NPLACE. Jfire (talk) 05:21, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - Looking good after the above expansion. I'm not even sure why it was nominated for deletion when the above-mentioned UC ag lab was already there. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. — Maile (talk) 12:10, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Withdrawing nomination: Article in much better shape now. Thank you all for adding sources and info that I was unable to find. WeirdNAnnoyed (talk) 15:16, 14 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.