USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 3699
HISTORY OF PASADENA
Calif
COMPRISING
AN ACCOUNT OF THE NATIVE INDIAN, THE EARLY SPANISH, THE MEXICAN, THE AMERICAN, THE COLONY, AND THE INCORPORATED CITY
OCCUPANCIES OF THE
RANCHO SAN PASQUAL, AND ITS ADJACENT MOUNTAINS, CANYONS, WATERFALLS, AND OTHER OBJECTS OF NATURAL, ARTIFICIAL, OLD HISTORIC, OR MODERN INTEREST : 1
BEING A COMPLETE AND COMPREHENSIVE HISTO-CYCLOPEDIA OF ALL MATTERS PERTAINING TO THIS REGION ; WITH COPIOUS INDEX FOR REFERENCE.
BY HIRAM A. REID, A. M., M. D.
Gc
ILLUSTRATED. 979.402 P26r
PASADENA, CAL : PASADENA HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1895.
Copyright 1895, By HIRAM A. REID.
Press of KINGSLEY-BARNES & NEUNER CO. Los Angeles, Cal.
1952887
THRESHOLD REMARKS.
GENESIS .- How it came about that this History was written .- List of books specially examined .- The Bicycle Episode .- Friendly favors acknowledged.
THE START.
Before entering the Hahamog-na doorway to this Pantheon of Pasadena history, the reader will please take a cosy rustic seat in the roseshaded sun- shinyness of our front porch for a few minutes, while I relate the history of the History-or how this history project originated, and how this book came to be written.
January 14, 1894, I went to Los Angeles to deliver before the Science Association of Southern California my report on the Geology of the Pasadena Mountains. In the same car with me was W. H. Knight, Esq., president of the Association, and auditor of the Mount Lowe Electric Railway Co., who was then also secretary of the Pasadena Board of Trade. In conversa- tion as we rode together I pointed out from the car window some places and objects which had interesting historic associations, and some places of scien- tific interest. These things enlisted his earnest attention; and finally he said :
" There must be a great deal of interesting history connected with Pasa- dena and its vicinity which ought to be preserved. It is passing away, and in a few years will be lost beyond recovery; somebody ought to collect it and write it up in a book."
"Yes," I answered, "that is true; but it would require so much time and painstaking labor to do the work reliably that no publisher could afford to undertake the enterprise. The work would necessarily be local in its scope, and hence of suchi limited sale that he would certainly lose money on it."
But Mr. Knight thought the financial difficulty could be met by a sub- scription plan, and continued : "Why can't you do it? You're just the man for it."
To this I replied, that I probably knew better than any one else here what a protracted and arduous undertaking it would be, if done with such thoroughness as to make it worth the doing ; and my health was too feeble and precarious for me to think of entering upon so great a task. But he was still earnest, and urged that it ought to be done, and that I could do it better than anybody else.
On returning home I told my wife about this conversation with Mr. Knight. She chimed right in with Mr. Knight's suggestion ; said there wasn't anybody else here who could do it as well as I could. "Yes, and I can help you with the typewriter," she added quite enthusiastically.
In order to show her how much greater a task it would be than she
4
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
thought of, I penciled a schedule of points and topics that would have to be covered, data to be gathered, old books and records to be hunted up, pioneer settlers and old Spanish people interviewed, scientific research in and about Pasadena pushed much farther than had ever yet been done, etc. But, nothing daunted, she still said that I could do it all better than anybody else ; and she'd help me; she'd take care of the chickens herself, and do all the housework, and look after the yard, and attend to the grandchildren alone, etc., so I could have my time ; and I could have the east bedroom for an office ; and so on, and so on -oh, so easy seems such a job to one who has not delved in its trenches of difficulty.
A few days later I saw my intimate friend, H. N. Farey, who has more practical knowledge on the details of book-printing than any other man in this community, and in course of conversation I told him what had been said by Mr. Knight and Mrs. Reid on this matter. He studied a bit, and then said energetically, "It's a go! you're the very man to do it ! Why, you've made a good start on it already ! that schedule of what would have to be done is a first-rate beginning of the work! Why, you have com- menced the thing already ! And you have more material already on hand, or know where and how to find it, than any half-dozen other men in Pasa- dena ! Yes, SIR-R-R, it's a Go !"
Mr. Farey knew of my poor health, but said I was tough, and could work along by laying off a day or two at a time when specially severe sick spells overtook me. And the financial part, he thought, could be worked up all right.
Next, I talked with Hon. P. M. Green and B. F. Ball about it. Mr. Green's first thought was that Pasadena was too young a city to have much of a history yet. Then, as he thought of the Indian occupation here, and the Spanish occupation, and the American occupation prior to the "Indiana Colony," and the many features of scientific interest, and the rapid succes- sion of. notable events here since Pasadena commenced to be a village- he exclaimed, "Why, yes ! it grows upon me as I think of it! There is, in- deed, a great field of history here." And they two concurred in the idea that a book of history to cover all the ground ought to be written now, while some of the oldest settlers are still living ; and I was the right man to do it. Then I talked with F. R. Harris, and Henry G. Bennett, and James Cambell, and others about it, and they were very heartily of the same opinion.
I still feared that on account of failing health I would not be able to carry the work to completion. Nevertheless, trusted friends advised the effort, and offered helpful assistance. A stock company was suggested. But I felt that if anybody took stock in it as a financial venture, there would be a pressure upon me to hurry it through-and this would sacrifice the method of slow, plodding, persevering, patient, steady search and research,
5
THRESHOLD REMARKS.
writing and re-writing, to the mere commercial idea of getting our money back with profits, as soon as possible. This latter plan is what has made so many of the "county histories " gotten up all over the country prove to be a fraud, and brought the local history business into disrepute. I said I must be perfectly free and untrammeled to take all the time I may find necessary to do and undo and re-do the work, till I feel sure that bedrock facts have been reached, on the different matters of historic interest to be set forth - for there will be mistakes enough, even after the best endeavor has been made to avoid them. And if thirty or forty citizens would aid me a little for the necessary incidental expenses, such as explanatory circulars, inquiry blanks, postage, stationery, horse hire for research trips, etc., I would undertake the task. The question was raised, suppose I should not live to complete it? I replied that those who aided me would have whatever manuscript and material I had accumulated, and could probably then get some one else to complete it. Accordingly, an advance pledge note was prepared, payable in 20 per cent. installments, to aid me in the matters mentioned ; and these notes were signed by P. M. Green, B. F. Ball, F. R. Harris, H. G. Bennett, Henry N. Farey, W. U. Masters, Wm. R. Staats, R. H. Pinney, J. A. Jacobs, T. J. Martin, M. D. Painter, P. G. Wooster, James Smith, Benj. M. Page, James Cambell, T. P. Lukens, W. J. Barcus, C. C. Brown, Geo. T. Downing, Geo. F. Kernaghan, Oscar Freeman, Delos Arnold, John McDonald, C. M. Simpson, Wm. H. Knight, F. J. Woodbury, W. E. Arthur, G. Roscoe Thomas, A. K. McQuilling, D. J. Macpherson, Lucy F. Wilson, Jeanne C. Carr, J. W. Wood. All amounts thus prepaid were to apply on the price of one or more copies of the book when printed.
So that was the origin of this HISTORY OF PASADENA, and how it . came about that I undertook the preparation of the volume. In pursuance of the work I have examined with care the following books which con- tained more or less points of incidental linkage with Pasadena history :
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED.
Centennial History of Los Angeles County. By Col. J. J. Warner, Judge Hayes, and Dr. J. P. Widney. 1876.
Publications of the Los Angeles County Historical Society.
Lewis's History Los Angeles County and Biographical Register. 1889. Southern California. By T. S. Van Dyke of San Diego. Fords, How- ard & Hurlbert, N. Y. 1886.
California of the South. By Drs. Widney and Lindley of Los Angeles. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y. 1888.
A Southern California Paradise. By Rev. R. W. C. Farnsworth. 1883. All About Pasadena. By C. F. Holder. 1888.
The Highlands of Pasadena. By C. F. Holder. H. S. Crocker & Co., San Francisco. 1889.
6
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
To and Fro, Up and Down, in Southern California. By Emma H. Adams. 1888. [Specially full of errors on historical matters.]
Reminiscences of a Ranger. By Maj. Horace Bell of Los Angeles. 1881. Mediterranean Shores of America ; Southern California Climatology, By P. C. Redondino, M. D. 1872. [A good work.]
etc. A Tour of Duty in California. By Joseph Revere. Published in Bos-
ton. 1849. [Grandson of the famous Paul Revere. ]
Two Years Before the Mast. By R. H. Dana. Published in Boston. 1846. [Experiences in California in 1835-36.]
Native Races of the Pacific Coast. By H. H. Bancroft. 1883.
History of California-witlı .Pioneer Register. By H. H. Bancroft. Seven volumes. Published in 1883 to 1886.
California Geological Reports, Vol. I. Prof. J. D. Whitney. Pub- lished in 1865.
Elements of Geology. By Prof. Joseph LeConte, of the State Univer- sity of California.
Reports of State Mineralogist. Successive years.
California Blue Book. Edition of 1891.
Archæological Reports of the Smithsonian Institute. 1880.
The Mountains of California. By John Muir. Century Co., N. Y. 1894. Our Switzerland-Italy. By Prof. G. Wharton James. 1892.
Fremont's Memoirs, Vol. I. 1887.
Man and the Glacial Period. By Prof. Geo. Frederick Wright. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y. 1892. Life in California. [1829 to 1845.] By Alfred Robinson. Published in New York, 1846.
Annals of San Francisco and History of California. D. Appleton & . Co., New York. 1854.
Life of Col. Fremont. By Bigelow. Derby & Jackson, New York. 1856.
Early Days and Men of California. By W. F. Swasey. San Francisco. 1891. [Capt. Swasey was a member of Col. Fremont's famous California Battalion, and he shows up the meanness, injustice and misrepresentation of Bancroft's history toward Fremont.]
Occidental 'Sketches. By Maj. Ben C. Truman. San Francisco. 1881. [Major Truman was for some years an editor and news reporter in Los Angeles, then in San Francisco; but in 1895 he is editing a weekly paper called The Capital at Los Angeles.]
Old Californian Days. By James Steele. Chicago. 1889. [Uses the term South California instead of Southern California. Right.]
History of California. By John Frost. Hurst & Co., New York.
Sixty Years in California. [1831 to 1889.] By Wm. Heath Davis. San Francisco. 1889.
7
THRESHOLD REMARKS.
History of Los Angeles County. By J. Albert Wilson. Published by Thompson & West. 1880. [This is altogether the best " County History" yet gotten up here.]
California. By Josiah Royce. Houghton, Miflin & Co., Boston. 1886. [Partisan against Col. Fremont.]
History of California. Two volumes. By Theodore H. Hittell. San Francisco. 1885. [This is on the whole the fairest and best history of the State yet published.]
Tourists' Guide Book to Southern California. By G. Wharton James, F. R. A. S. Baumgardt & Co., Los Angeles. 1895. [This work uses the name South California instead of Southern California, all the way through -a new feature which I heartily commend.]
Board of Trade pamphlets. Different years.
Bound volumes of the weekly Pasadena Union, 1884-85-86.
Bound volumes of the Pasadena Daily Star.
Stitched volumes of the Pasadena Standard.
Record Books of the City Clerk.
Record Books of the City Recorder.
Record Books of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, the origi- nal Pasadena colony, or "Indiana colony," as it was commonly called.
Record Books of the Pasadena Land and Water Co.
Special articles local to California, in leading magazines of both the Atlantic and Pacific coast; bound volumes of the Overland Monthly, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Monthly, Popular Science Monthly, Illustrated Califor- nian, the Century Magazine, and others of lesser note.
Notes of a Military Reconnoissance," etc., by Major W. H. Emory, of U. S. topographical engineers, 1846-47. Washington : 30th congress, Ist session. Senate. Executive document No. 7. [This gives maps, diagrams, descriptions, etc., of three battles in California ; but I did not find this work until Stephen Foster showed it to me, after my Chapter IV. was printed. [See page 10212.] Maj. Emory says: "We saw the Mexicans place four pieces of artillery on the hill, so as to command the passage " [at San Gab- riel river.] See forward, page 93.
THE BICYCLE EPISODE.
In pursuance of my work I found it necessary to go many times to ex- amine natural objects, to consult old settlers, to procure documents or books, to authenticate localities by name, and for many points and particulars which it was needful I should know from personal investigation and not merely from hearsay, in order to write understandingly about them. I could not afford to keep a horse for making such trips ; and walking proved very soon that it was too slow and tiresome for me. I was past sixty years old, and had never strode a bicycle in my life-but now I needed to learn the new trick.
8
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
It was "business." So I procured a bicycle-and then the "wild west" circus commenced. But I conquered the thing in due time, and the follow- ing article from the Daily Star of May 12, 1894, I quote both for the humor of it and because it is a part of the "history of the History" :
" The Star reporter who has been watching Dr. Reid's sexagenarian ex- periments with a fiery, untamed bicycle says "it's a go," at last ; and he won't tell of the hundred or more throws the new rider got-nor of the trees, fences and gutters that might have brought an action for assault and battery ; nor how he ran into a horse and buggy with three ladies in it, when nobody could tell whether the horse, the ladies or the flopped-over doctor were most frightened; nor how he ran into Arnold's milk wagon and scared the milk into curd cheese. Final success wipes out all the little erraticisms of cranky inexperience, even for a man over sixty years old ; and as a con- clusion of the whole matter, our reporter captured the following humorous document recently read before the Fortnightly Club :
SPINNING WHEELS.
BY DR. H. A. REID.
[I was in some doubt as to whether this poem should go to the Historical Society, the Science Asso- ciation, or the Bicycle Club, but I finally concluded that the Throop Po ytechnists would probably classify it as an evolutional sport in Biocyclology-sub-class Pedo economics. This would account for the Daily Star's recent squib about my bicycle experiments ; hence I present it here.]
Our grandmas had their spinning wheels And made them spin like fun, With treadle going up and down To make the spindle run.
And likewise, even gray old men Have caught up this new prank ; From grandma's spin-wheel made a " bike," And learned to pump the crank.
But this was in "ye olden time," Before the factories came
With patent spinning-jacks to beat The women's fast-work fame.
Our grandma's spinned at home. the yarn From their deft fingers twirled : But now the biker boys and girls Go spinning round the world.
Each spin-wheel then was stored away In dingy garret room, To wait some new fad of the world Which might unseal its doom.
The problem next is, how to save The waste force thus evolved ?-
Put wind-up springs upon the wheels, And lo, the problem's solved.
And it has come; for now our girls Go spinning through the street With wheels that run as Grandma's did, By treadles for the feet.
For when you've springs enough wound up, Gear them in gangs, and run
A motor street car at less cost Than ever yet t'was done.
On two wheels now instead of one The spinning whirl is done ;
Or start a plant to generate Electric light and heat
Their grandmas did it for day's work ; They do it just for fun.
To serve for evening lamps at home, And cook your bread and meat.
This scheme will prove our spinning wheels In true worth not unlike The wheels our grandmas used to tread, And so commend the " bike."
I found the bicycle wonderfully helpful in my work, and also of some benefit to my health by the exhilarating exercise it gave me.
On January 24, 1895, Mrs. Reid had the misfortune to get her armı broken. This of course was unavoidably a great hindrance and drawback to our history work-stopping it entirely for a while, and embarrassing it in some measure all the rest of the time. However, we lost no time lamenting, but went on with the task as best we could, to its final conclusion.
9
THRESHOLD REMARKS.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FAVORS.
I am under obligation for special favors and assistance to many persons in getting my work as complete as it is, and I wish to make open acknowledgment in the case. Judge B. S. Eaton has very kindly and gen- erously written out for me many matters of early history which no other living person could tell about. Dr. J. W. Wood loaned me a whole year of his bound volumes of the Pasadena and Valley Union of 1884-85-86- the only copies in existence ; and it being the only local newspaper here in those years, was the prime authority for dates and data on many historical matters of the transition time from colony to city, that could not to be found elsewhere. I am indebted to H. N. Farey for the valuable table of Pasadena corporations, which he carefully compiled for me from the county records ; besides many other matters in which he generously aided me. Arturo Bandini and wife, and Mrs. Bandini's mother, Mrs. Dr. Elliott, have aided me with loan of books; with suggestion of books and magazine articles that I needed to see ; with translation of Spanish documents and Spanish terms ; with documents and data of the original " Indiana colony," and of the true origin of the name Pasadena-documents not obtainable but from them. Prof. A. J. McClatchie furnishes me the results of his years of research on the native flora of this region. [See chapter 32, on Botany.] Young Joseph Grinnell gives me the first publication of his complete list of native Pasadena birds. [See chapter 31, on Zoology.] J. B. French has assisted me very much in my researches on the glaciology of this region. James H. Cambell furnished me early in 1894, one of his official record maps of Pasadena city, with all her sub-divisions, streets, city lots, adjacent lands, etc.,-a favor exceedingly helpful for identifying streets, land tracts, and other local points. And Byron O. Kendall, from his extensive real estate, insurance, loan and collection agency at 49 E. Colorado street, has furnished as his contribution to the book the very convenient reference map folded in at page 16. P. G. Wooster, Wesley Bunnell and Thomas F. Croft have taken special pains to furnish me with memoranda of events in the colony time, from their diaries; and Mr. Croft loaned me for citation the only complete abstract of title of Rancho San Pasqual [after the Garfias patent of 1863] known to be in existence. Mrs. J. De Barth Shorb loaned me the unpublished MSS. autobiography of her father, Hon. B. D. Wilson, which he dictated the year before his death; besides other historic docu- ments and information furnished by herself and husband. Chas. A. Gard- ner, Esq., kindly gave me "the freedom of his bailiwick" for frequent research in the bound volumes of the Pasadena Daily Star-a favor of great value. Messrs. Wood & Church, from their real estate office in the Masonic Temple, furnished me with 300 copies of their valuable and interesting copy- right birdseye map of Pasadena, showing buildings, streets, R. R. lines, fields, mountains, canyons, toll road, etc., as folded in at page 410.
İO
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
The publishers of the "Land of Sunshine" generously allowed me the use of many of their half-tones and other plates, some of which they held in special reserve and would neither lend or hire to anybody else for the present. Photographer Geo. L. Rose of Pasadena and engraver Herve Friend of Los Angeles made for me without charge the frontispiece picture, showing myself and wife going to church on our wheels. Heman Dyer, city clerk, and Judge J. G. Rossiter, city re- corder, gave me every facility and convenience. for examining the city records and archives. Prof. T. S. C. Lowe furnished free transportation for myself and wife over his mountain railroads, for any further investigations we might wish to make in that region during the years 1894-95. And many others kindly and cordially loaned me books or documents I needed ; or car- ried me on trips to visit canyons, mines, mills, springs, ancient dams, etc. ; also to visit the aged Spanish women at Linda Vista bluff and San Gabriel village. These of course were extra long or difficult trips, beyond my strength for bicycle travel ; but for any ordinary run of one, two or three miles, I could go on my wheel.
Everybody seemed pleased to learn of the work I had undertaken and glad if they could aid me in some way. It was at once pleasant, encourag- ing and helpful to find such a general feeling of confidence and trust that I would do the work well ; and at the same time it bore in upon me a deeper sense of responsibility, and a keener pressure of obligation to spare no pains for making my work of permanent value-the standard reference book and authority on Pasadena matters, for all the years and interests covered by it. Friends, I have done what I could. And now I respectfully submit my work, which will reveal to you how truly Pasadena is a veritable surprise- garden of local history .*
PASADENA, CAL., 133 Mary street, October 12, 1895.
H. A. R.
* The following from the Daily Star of September 9, 1895, I thought worth preserving as a rare coincidence in the " history of the History :" ""The printing is being done by the Kingsley-Barnes & Neuner Co., and there are some curious incidents of Pasadenian associations connected with the job. Mr. Davis, president and financier of the printing company, resides in Pasadena, and his son officiates as copyholder for the proof-reading-while the foreman and proof-reader Mr. H. E. Moles, formerly resided in Des Moines, Iowa, and knew Dr. Reid there. Mr. Barnes, secretary of the company, is an old-time Pasadena boy, and nephew to Thomas F. Croft. Mr. Fred Lang, vice-president of the company, and who holds high rank as an embossing artist, was formerly a printer with H. N. Farey & Co. of Pasadena. Mr. Blankenhorn, of Pasadena, has his photo-engraving business in the same building ; and Wood & Church have their Los Angeles branch real estate office there also. Mr. H. C. O'Bleness, the assistant foreman, or "make-up," as printers say, who has the responsible task of arranging the type-pages ready for press, is the same man who set the type of the first paper ever published in Pasadena -The Chronicle-started and edited by Ben E. Ward in 1883, and printed at the Los Angeles Times office. Mr. O'Bleness also formerly knew Dr. Reid in Des Moines, Iowa-as did also Mr. Al. Binkard, the master pressman in charge of the press-work on this Pasadena History. And youug Walter Clapp, son of I. B. Clapp, is in charge of the stock room of this great printing house. Yet when Dr. Reid first planned to go there to get his work done he was not aware of any of these coincidences, except that Mr. Lang was a member of the printing company."
.
INDEX.
A
PAGE
PAGE
Abbreviations for Botany localities (footnote) . 60g Ahila, Dona Encarnacion 63, 97
Aborigines, Pre-Pasadenian .. I7 Academy of Sciences 211
Academy, The Pasadena
190
Accident, Railroad, fatal, 150
Adventist Church, 7th day 493
Advent Church, Ist day 494
African M. E. Church 482
Aftermath of "first things" 659
Alhambra and Pasadena Railway 439 Allendale Tract. 344
Alpine Division, Mt. Lowe R. R. 453
Alpine Falls
385
Altadena, origin of the name 342 Altadena Railroad. 432
Altitudes 284, 363, 400, 453
Altruria Association 516
Amphibian Insect 603
Ancient Animals
585
Ancient Townsite on Reservoir Hill
529
Animals here with Prehistoric Man -533, 542-3 Annals of the Schools 168
Antelope
584
Anti-saloon Agreement 243
A. P. A.
505
Applied Christianity
494
Archæology Collection
213
Architecture, Pasadenian
226
Army Flag made from Children's Clothes 88
Arnold, Hon. Delos, Collection
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