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A 846,333
ALIFORNIA OF THE SOUTH
In Memory of STEPHEN SPAULDING 1907 - 1925 CLASS of 1927 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
F 8: 7 .275 1.200
CACTUS LOADED WITH FRUIT. (ROWLAND HOMESTEAD, PUENTE.)
CALIFORNIA OF THE SOUTH
Jts Physical Geography, Climate, Resources, Bontes of Travel, and Health-Resorts
BEING A COMPLETE GUIDE-BOOK TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
BY WALTER LINDLEY, M. D., AND J. P. WIDNEY, A. M., M. D.
WITH MAPS AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1888
1
COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Stephen Siano luna - mein , cule . 4 Sonodes ... illa 7-2-3-110
591886
CONTENTS.
PART I. CLIMATOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST. BY J. P. WIDNEY, A. M., M. D.
Two Californias .
1
The Pacific Coast of America as contrasted with the Atlantic Coast 2
Seasons
8
Topographical and Climatic Features, in which the Different Portions of the Pacific Coast are unlike
13
Rainfall
33
Fogs .
36
Atmospheric Humidity
37
Sunshine
38
Winds
38
Temperature
43
Agriculture
46
Commercial Development
51
. Transcontinental Roads
54
Harbors
56
The Channel Islands
59
Type of Civic and Country Life
61
Education .
64
Political Future .
65
Diseases
67
! : 0) E/-1-SE
PAGE
iv
CONTENTS.
PART II. LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO, SAN BERNARDINO, VEN- TURA, AND SANTA BARBARA COUNTIES.
BY WALTER LINDLEY, M. D.
PAGE
The Overland Trip-How to enjoy it
73
The Arrival in Southern California
76
A Century in Los Angeles
77
The Los Angeles of To-day
87
What to see in Los Angeles
89
The Los Angeles Crematory
98
Los Angeles a Cosmopolitan City
99
Educational Institutions
102
Churches and Philanthropic Institutions
105
Parks 106
Secret Societies and Kindred Organizations
108
Manufactures in Los Angeles
110
Trade and Commerce of Los Angeles
112
Wine Interests of Los Angeles .
113
Climate of Los Angeles
116
Los Angeles County, Soledad Township
120
San Fernandino Township
124
La Ballona Township, Santa Monica . 129
Los Angeles Township
133
Wilmington Township, San Pedro
134
San Antonio Township 137
Los Nietos Township, Long Beach, Whittier, and Santa Fe Springs 138
San Gabriel Township, Pasadena 142
El Monte, Azusa, and San José Townships, Pomona, Monrovia . 155
San Antonio Cañon
167
Anaheim Township-Westminster, Santa Ana, and San Juan Town- ships .
173
Orange, Santa Ana, and Tustin .
178
San Juan .
182
Mineral Springs in Los Angeles County
186
Helen Hunt Jackson and the Mission Indians 192
San Diego County, Coronado, National City 212
City of Dan Diego
216
V
CONTENTS.
PAGE
From San Diego East and North, Escondido, Oceanside, San Luis Rey 220
Climate of San Diego County . 227
Mineral Springs of San Diego County 233
San Bernardino County 238
City of San Bernardino 240
East San Bernardino Valley, Redlands, and Lugonia . 247
Mineral Springs of San Bernardino County
256
Riverside and South Riverside .
262
Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties
273
The Riviera of the Pacific .
273
Nordhoff-The Ojai Valley
279
Santa Barbara-America's Mentone 282
Along the Coast
295
The Islands of Southern California
297
Mineral Springs of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties 305
PART III.
Comparative Valuation of Lands and Products. By General Nelson A. Miles 311
Trees, Shrubs, and Wild Flowers of Southern California. By Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr . 327 Petroleum and Asphaltum in Southern California. By D. M. Berry . 337 Orange-Culture in Southern California. By William A. Spaulding . 342
APPENDIX.
The Public Schools of Southern California. By Hon. John R. Brierly 351 Profits and Methods of Fruit-Raising. By Milton Thomas 357
Ten Acres enough to Support a Family. By D. Edson Smith 369
Railway Tables . 374
Rates to California
376
Hotels in California .
377
Statistics
878
APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION .
-
,
,
370
ب ..
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
CLIMATOLOGICAL MAP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
.
Face
1
TOWNSHIP MAP OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY .
73
MAP OF CALIFORNIA .
At end of Volume.
Cactus loaded with Fruit .
Frontispiece.
A Veranda in Los Angeles
86
Kinneyloa Ranch
·
91
Residence and Grounds of O. W. Childs, Esq., Los Angeles 93
Residence of Hon. Charles Silent, Adams Street, Los Angeles 94
96
Dragoon Palm .
San Pedro Street, Los Angeles . 97
Messrs. Shafer and Lauterman's House and Grounds, Los Angeles 107
Monte Vista
128
Hotel Arcadia, Santa Monica 131
Eucalyptus Avenue, Inglewood, Los Angeles 132
Hotel, Long Beach
.
139
View of Sierra Madre Mountains and Pasadena, from Raymond Hotel 153
Residence of N. C. Carter, Esq., Sierra Madre 156
Farm Scene in Vernon 158
Santa Anita Ranch, San Gabriel
161
Residence of W. N. Monroe, Esq., Monrovia 165
Ruins of Mission, San Juan Capistrano
193
A Mission Garden
194
Portrait of Hon. Antonio F. Coronel .
196
Ramona's Home, Camulos Ranch
204
Hotel del Coronado, Coronado Beach .
214
The Call to Sunrise Mass, Pala Mission
224
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Residence of Frank Hinckley, Esq., Old San Bernardino
248
Arrowhead Hot Springs, San Bernardino County 257
Artesian Wells, South Riverside
264
Santa Barbara Grape-vinc .
287
Irrigating an Orange Orchard
289
Solitude Cañon, Catalina Island
299
Portrait of General Nelson A. Miles
Face. 311
The Yucca
. 331
Fan-Palm Tree .
. 333
Century-Plant in Bloom ·
. 335
Rubber-Tree and Pampas-Grass
336
PART I. CLIMATOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST.
BY J. P. WIDNEY, A. M., M. D.
Two Californias.
THE American east of the Rocky Mountains has been accustomed to look upon the map and speak of the State of California as he would speak of the State of Ohio or New York. He is only beginning to find out, what the old Span- iard discovered long ago, that where he had spoken of one, there are two, a California of the North and a California of the South, and that these two, while possessing many feat- ures in common, are in many others totally unlike.
And with the settling up of the country, and the knowl- edge which comes of time and climatic investigation, these differences are found to be even more marked than at first supposed.
So unlike are the California of the North and the Cali- fornia of the South that already two distinct peoples are growing up, and the time is rapidly drawing near when the separation which the working of natural laws is making in the people must become a separation of civil laws as well, and two Californias stand side by side as distinct and sep- arate States.
1
2
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
To a clear understanding of the differences which exist between the Californias and the eastern portion of the United States, and again of the differences between the two Californias when contrasted the one with the other, it is necessary to examine into the geographical, topo- graphical, and climatic features which they possess in common as contrasted with the eastern shores of the con- tinent, and again the features wherein they differ the one from the other.
The Pacific Coast of America as contrasted with the Atlantic Coast.
The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States alike have a general trend, diverging as they go northward, from the axis of the continent. This is caused by the wid- ening out of the land as it passes northward from the Isthmus. This trend gives to each coast a general souther- ly exposure to the sea, the one facing toward the southeast, the other toward the southwest. North of the boundary- line of the United States this similarity ceases. Upon the Atlantic side the shore-line retreats toward the west, north of Newfoundland, which projects like a great headland out into the ocean. In consequence of this recession of the land, the shore has here a northeasterly instead of a south- easterly exposure. Along the line of this shore the broad, deep channel of Davis Strait opens a great, unobstructed way from the waters of the Atlantic to the Arctic Seas.
Upon the Pacific side, instead of the falling back of the shoreline, the divergence from the central axis increases until, at Alaska, the land faces boldly off toward the south. Instead, also, of a clear channel into the polar seas, that body of cold water is practically shut off, the narrow and shallow passage of Behring Strait admitting of only a slight communication, while another barrier in the shape of
3
CLIMATOLOGY.
the long transverse line of the Aleutian Peninsula and its continuing islands makes a wall between the colder waters of the north and the warmer waters of the ocean south.
In the mountain-chains, also, a similarity and again a difference may be noted. Upon each coast in the southern portion a system of mountain-chains follows the shore-line at a greater or less distance inland. Upon the Atlantic side this system, the Appalachian, begins in Northern Georgia, and extends continuously through the Carolinas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, finally disappearing in Northern Maine. It runs parallel to the coast, and at a distance of from two to three hundred miles inland. South of this line the land ceases, and the great heated body of the Gulf waters ex- tends across the southern border of the continent, sending its modifying influence, borne by the Gulf winds, far inland along the open valley-way of the Mississippi. North of Central New York the chain begins to break down, leaving the country open upon the north and west to the cold winds which sweep down from the polar seas, and from the great frozen plains which extend to the mouth of the Mackenzie. The northwesterly winds gather an increased harshness from the winter-chilled waters of the Great Lakes, across which they pass.
This Appalachian system is made up of mountains of limited altitude, ranging only from two to three thousand feet in height, and broken by numerous passes and low reaches.
Between these mountains and the sea lies a coast-plain, broad, continuous, fertile, watered by many rivers, and broken by no transverse range of mountains.
Upon the Pacific coast, likewise, is a system of mount- ains running parallel with the coast, but much closer to it than the Appalachian upon the east. This Pacific coast system is made up of the Sierra Nevada, which in different portions of its length is known by various local names, and
4
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
the Coast Range. This system, unlike its analogue upon the Atlantic coast, is not shortened upon either the north or the south. Beginning at the southern point of the Pen- insula of Lower California, in the latitude of Cuba, it fol- lows the coast as a double range, the outer keeping near the shore, the inner at a distance of from one to three hun- dred miles ; sometimes the Coast Range disappearing, again reappearing-the Sierra, however, always continuing as a practically unbroken chain ; sometimes the two ranges coa- lescing, sometimes separating and inclosing between their two walls long, comparatively narrow valleys, which drain to the sea by breaks in the outer range ; sometimes the outer range disappearing entirely for a space, leaving these valleys open to the sea as great coast-plains.
The Coast Range has generally a narrow rim of plain at its base, cut transversely by numerous small streams and rivers which quickly reach the sea. This system of mount- ains extends as a continuous line from the Peninsula of Lower California through California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, finally turning directly west- ward out the long Aleutian Peninsula.
Pouring out of the Arctic Ocean through Baffin's Bay is a great polar current of cold water, with a temperature but little above the freezing-point, chilling, by its contiguity, the open plains of Labrador, and thus lowering the mean annual temperature of the Northern Atlantic States and of Canada, which lie open to the winds sweeping southward from these colder regions. Norange of mountains intervenes to break the force of these air-currents, or to give shelter, the whole Atlantic slope north to the polar seas being prac- tically one continuous open plain. South of Labrador the polar current is shot off to the mid-Atlantic by the promi-
· nent headland of Newfoundland, excepting, however, such smaller portion of it as may pass within that island by the Strait of Belle Isle and down by the Nova Scotian coast.
5
CLIMATOLOGY.
The south end of the Atlantic plain has, on the contrary, its shore-line constantly bathed in a current of warm water having a temperature of 86°, which comes from the heated tropic seas, and then circling through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, emerges by the Strait of Florida and is deflected northward along the coast of the United States by the reefs and islands of the Bahamas. From these heated waters flow inland the warm, moist air-currents which give to the South Atlantic coast its sultry heat. Yet this ocean-stream, also, after a while, leaves the vicinity of the land, and passes seaward to the mid-Atlantic and on to the North European coast, in part carried by the line of its escape from the Gulf, in part deflected by the curve of the Florida coast, and by the projecting capes of the Carolinas.
Between these two deflected currents, the Gulf and the polar, is a triangle, having for its base the shore-line from Cape Hatteras, in the Carolinas, to Cape Race, on the ex- tremity of Newfoundland, and extending far seaward, the temperature of whose waters, controlled by no great ocean- current, varies with the seasons-colder in winter, warmer in summer-and so serving less efficiently as an equalizer of temperature on the adjacent land .* Neither is there found upon the Atlantic coast the strong sea-breeze or the on-shore trade-wind currents of the Pacific coast. As a re- sult of these geographical features, the climate of the At- lantic coast presents great and well-marked variations, the North showing extremes of cold in winter, the South ex-
* The following table shows the winter and summer variations of sea temperature upon the Atlantic coast as compared with the Pacific:
January.
July.
January.
July.
New York Savannah.
33.3º 49.9º
72.4° 84.5°
San Francisco Long Beach ..
52.1° 60.0°
59.0° 68.5°
6
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
tremes of heat in summer, and this, too, with an atmosphere heavily charged with moisture-not simply within reach of the coast fog, but extending inland to the valley of the Mississippi.
The points of resemblance between the two coasts now begin to cease, for, while the Pacific shore has also its ocean- current, it is one, rather than two, and it flows along the full length of the coast, with a temperature varying but little from the one even and moderate degree, whether winter or summer, or whether north or south. The Kuro Siwo, as it is termed-the great Japan current-flows from the tropics northward along the Asiatic coast, bathing the Japan Islands in its warm waters, and giving to them their mild and equable climate. Passing on northward it is deflected toward the east in latitude 50° by the long chain of the Aleutian Islands, and then, striking the Alas- kan coast, turns south, and so follows down the west shore of North America as a current, cooled yet not cold, for, instead of entering the Polar Sea, it is still, at the most northerly point of its flow, within the temperate zone. Neither does any cold polar current set out through the narrow and shoal Behring Strait to join it and reduce its temperature below the refreshing coolness which it gains in latitude 50° north. It is this current, together with the all-the-year on-shore winds of the counter-trades on the coast as far south as Oregon, and the strong daily sea- breeze of the summer and the on-shore counter-trades of the winter, south of Oregon, which give the clew to the equable climate of the Pacific coast of North America.
Passing inland beyond the range of the sea-breeze, this cool summer temperature is no longer found. On the con- trary, the mercury will often show a heat in the day of 100° to 110°. Yet here another climatic law comes in play to rob this high temperature of its danger, and, indeed, of much of its discomfort.
7
CLIMATOLOGY.
The hygrometer shows an atmosphere in these inland regions almost devoid of moisture, and, by the consequent rapid surface evaporation from the skin, bodily tempera- ture is reduced and sunstroke almost unknown. Of the power of this evaporation to keep down bodily tempera- ture, the writer has a vivid recollection during some weeks spent in Tucson, Arizona, some years ago. Just before the setting in of the summer rains, with the mercury daily at 100° and the atmosphere devoid of moisture, the surface of the body was dry, and the heat not in the least oppressive. Immediately upon the coming on of the rains, the daily temperature fell to an average of from 85° to 90°, but with an atmosphere laden with moisture, and the surface of the body was constantly bathed in the unevaporating perspira- tion, and the heat became almost unendurable. It is this absence of atmospheric moisture and its effects which make one of the great points of difference between the summer climates of the Atlantic and the Pacific slopes.
The explanation of this atmospheric dryness back of the immediate California coast-line, and on to the interior during the summer, lies in the fact that south of Oregon the prevailing summer wind, except within the limited shore-line reached by the sea-breeze, is not from the sea, but is the regular off-shore trade-wind, coming from the great arid desert plateaus of the heart of the continent, and which, as it nears the coast, rises above the lower surface- current of the daily ocean-breeze, and flows continuously out to sea, until broken in the autumn, and beaten back by the shifting southward of the counter-trades.
Another important factor in the dissipation of excessive heat during the summer is the rapid radiation of the night which the atmospheric dryness admits of, and which, in the more elevated regions whence the night-wind comes, is in- creased by the lightness and rarefaction of an atmosphere with less superincumbent weight upon it. Under the work-
8
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
ings of this law, upon these desert plateaus the day, with a temperature of 100° to 110°, is followed by night with a temperature so low as to require blankets for comfort and health.
The influence of the mountains in a comparison of the climate of the two coasts is an important item. Dwellers along the slopes or near the base of high mountain-peaks know the cool night-breezes which blow down their sides. The writer well remembers the rush of the great cold mountain wind which swept down the canons of the Arizo- na mountains in many a lone night-camp under the trees, the wind roaring through the long night hours in the pines overhead like the roar of some long-lost desert sea. The Atlantic coast, as already shown, has its mountain system back several hundred miles from the sea ; but the mount- ains are of low elevation, ranging only from two to three thousand feet in height. The Pacific coast, however, is lined with ranges and spur-ranges whose peaks lift to ele- vations of from five to ten thousand feet, and snow-clad until the summer is well gone by. From these cold, snowy summits at night comes to the heated valleys below a con- tinuous current, partly the natural mountain wind, partly the dropping down of the high trade-wind already men- tioned, cooled by its passage over these great elevations, and hence the cool, refreshing nights which characterize the Pacific coast summers, as contrasted with the continu- ous day and night heat of the Atlantic slope.
Seasons.
The old division of the year into winter and summer, with which the Anglo-Teuton race has been familiar during the thousands of years of its migrations, becomes upon the Pacific coast a misnomer, or the words must be taken in a new signification. The snows and the ice of its older homes
9
CLIMATOLOGY.
become here the rains and the occasional light frosts of a climate in which winter and summer are supplanted by a wet and dry season. As already shown, the northeast trade-wind, which is the prevailing wind for the summer half of the year upon the whole coast south of Oregon, is_ an off-shore dry wind, coming from the high, arid plateaus of the heart of the continent. With it comes no rain. But as the sun retires southward in the autumn, this dry wind follows it, and the northwest counter-trade of the upper coast, which is an on-shore rain-wind, and which, as the prevailing wind all the year round on the Oregon and Alas- kan coast, gives to it the monthly rains, also follows the sun, and now takes the place of the dry trades upon the coast as far south as well down the Peninsula of Lower California, bringing with it the rains which, from October to May, make of the winter of other lands the true summer or season of growth in this. Then, when the rains are over, come the summer months of other lands, but which here are the season when vegetation sleeps, and the land, where not irrigated, looks dry and bare.
A mistaken idea prevails often with persons who have formed their conceptions of a rainy season from the de- scriptions given by travelers in equatorial regions of the tropic rains, with their daily down-pour and their appalling thunder and lightning. The rainfall of the Pacific coast, while in its northern portion in excess, and in the extreme south less than that of corresponding latitudes upon the eastern side of the continent, averages throughout Oregon and California much as in the Atlantic and Mississippi States.
Neither are the rainy months marked by violent and heavy rainfalls. From the middle of October to the mid- dle of November the first rain of the season generally falls, giving in the course of two or three days from one to three inches. Then, after several weeks of clear weather, comes
10
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
rain again in the same manner. In the latter part of De- cember what is called one of the heavy winter storms sets in, when, during a week or ten days of south winds and broken, rainy weather, a fall of from five to eight inches may be expected. January is generally marked by clear weather, with possibly occasional slight rains. In Febru- ary or March another of the heavy storms may again be expected. Then the rains gradually grow less, until by May they have almost ceased.
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