USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 39
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The second Normal School in the state was established by the Legislature at Los Angeles in 1881. An appropriation of $50,000 was made on condition the city donated a site. Several sites were offered. The trustees chose a five-acre orange grove at the head of West Fifth street, for which $7,500, raised by subscription, was paid, the seller reserving the orange crop. At that time the western limit of the settlement of the hill portion of the city ended at Hope street. The corner stone of the building was laid December 17, 1881. Lieutenant Governor Mansfield pre- siding, and the oration was delivered by Hon. R. F. Del Valle, who had been active in the Legis- lature in securing the appropriation. A building was erected on Charity street, now Grand avenue.
The school was opened in August, 1882, with an enrollment of sixty-one students-forty-eight women and thirteen men. Vice-Principal C. J. Flatt, Miss Emma L. Hawks and J. Redway con- stituted the faculty.
In 1884 Prof. Ira More was appointed principal
and in 1887 the school was made independent of the parent institution at San Jose and given a board of trustees of its own. An additional build- ing was erected in the rear of the first, more than doubling the capacity of the school buildings. In 1893 Principal Ira More retired and was suc- ceeded by Prof. Edward T. Pierce. With the growth of the city and the contiguous country the number of students increased beyond the capacity of the buildings. Agitation was begun for more buildings, but the little orange grove that thirty years before was deemed ample was now too small for the buildings needed. In 1904 President Edward T. Pierce retired after eleven years' service and was succeeded by President Jesse F. Millspaugh, now head of the institution.
In 1907 the board of trustees was authorized by the Legislature to sell the buildings and grounds for $500,000 and from the proceeds purchase a new site and erect new buildings. In 1911 the Legislature amended the act of 1907 and appro- priated $100,000 for the purchase of a new site. October 1, 1912, the old site and buildings were sold to a syndicate for $600,000, the property ultimately to be conveyed to the city of Los An- geles. A site of twenty-five acres was purchased at the corner of Vermont and Willowbrook ave- lues, at a cost of $110,000, the Legislature having added $10,000 to the original appropriation. The firm of Allison & Allison drew the plans for the buildings and a contract was let to the Alta Plan- ing Mill Company for their erection. The corner- stone of the administration building was laid November 18, 1913. The group of ten buildings was completed in August, 1914, and the school moved into its new quarters in September follow- ing. The buildings are classified as follows : Administration, Library, Domestic Science, Fine Arts, Gymnasium, Training School, Cafeteria, Manual Arts, Science and Kindergarten.
The number of students enrolled in the Normal Department May 1, 1915, was 1,804; in Training School same date was 449. Its faculty numbers eighty-five persons. It is the largest Normal School in the state.
The Santa Barbara Normal is a special school devoted to training in manual arts, home eco- nomics and domestic science.
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LOS ANGELES AND ENVIRONS INTRODUCTORY
Under the rule of Spain and Mexico there was no form of municipal government in California corresponding to our county government. The ayuntamientos of the cities and towns exercised jurisdiction over the inhabitants of the adjacent ranchos, but there were no lines drawn to define the area of an ayuntamiento's domains. There was no tax on land in those days; the revenue to support the municipal government was derived from fines of offenders against the law, from licenses of pulperias, cock pits, bull fights, dances and so forth. Men's vices and pleasures paid the cost of governing ; consequently inhabitants were of more value for income than acres.
During the interregnum that lasted from the downfall of Mexican domination in California to the inauguration of a state government-a pe- riod of three years and a half-Mexican laws were continued in force. Alcaldes and regidores administered the ordinances in force before the conquest or made new ones to suit the changed conditions of the country.
The territorial government was semi-military and semi-civil; a form exceedingly unsatisfactory to the American immigrants who had flocked to the country after the discovery of gold. Al- though the conquerors had adopted the codes and forms of government they found in the coun- try partly to conciliate the conquered, yet the natives were dissatisfied. Military command- ers interfered in the administration of law by the alcaldes and regidores and there was friction
between the native Californian and the newly ar- rived gringo.
For three years the people waited for Con- gress to establish some American form of gov- ernment for the territory, but none was given them. The admission of California into the Un- ion was a bone of contention between the pro- slavery and anti-slavery politicians in Congress. At that time the two factions were equally bal- anced in the senate. To admit it either as a free or a slave state destroyed the political equilib- rium, and to the politicians the necessity of maintaining a balance of power was of more importance than the welfare of California. Tired of waiting and driven to desperation by the inchoate condition of affairs in the territory the people organized and put in force a state government without asking authority from Con- gress. For almost one year California had a defacto state government before it was admitted into the Union.
The first legislature met at San Jose, Decem- ber 15, 1849. Among the first acts passed by it was one dividing the inchoate state into twen- ty-seven counties and another providing a form of county government. A large portion of Cal- ifornia at that time was a terra incognita. There were no good maps existing. Many of the legis- lators were recent arrivals in the state and they had vague ideas of the territory they were sub- dividing. As a result some of the county boun- daries were erratic and uncertain.
CHAPTER XXXVI LOS ANGELES COUNTY
The county of Los Angeles, as created by the act of February 18, 1850, did not extend to the Colorado river. For some reason not known the legislature gave San Diego all the desert, making that county "L" shaped. The county of Los An- geles, as created by the act of February 18, 1850, did not contain all of what is now San Bernardino county. The original boundaries of Los Angeles county were defined as follows :
"COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES .- Beginning on the coast of the Pacific at the southern boundary of the farm called Trumfo, and running thence along the summit of the ridge of hills called Santa Susana to the northwestern boundary of the farm called San Francisco; thence along the northern and northeastern boundary of said farm of San Francisco to the farm called Piro; thence in a line running due northeast to the summit of the Coast Range; thence along the
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summit of said range to the western boundary of San Diego county ; thence in a due southerly direction along said boundary to the source of the creek San Mateo; thence down said creek San Mateo to the coast and three English miles into the sea; thence in a northwesterly direction parallel with the coast to a point three miles from land and opposite to the southern boundary of the farm called Trumfo; and thence to the shore at said boundary, which was the point of beginning, including the islands of Santa Cata- lina and San Clemente. The seat of justice shall be Los Angeles."
These boundaries were very indefinite, some portions of the area being included in both coun- ties instead of one, and some of the territory was in no county. No conflict of authority arose. A large portion of both counties was a "terra incognita"-a land where the foot of white man had never trod. The Indians, who inhabited these regions, were of the class that are "not taxed," and any conflict of authority with them was settled by bullets and not by boundary lines.
This act was repealed by an act of the second legislature, passed April 25, 1851, which defined the boundaries of Los Angeles county as fol- lows :
"SECTION 3, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES .- Be- ginning on the coast of the Pacific, at a point parallel with the northern boundary of the ran- cho called Malaga; thence in a direction so as to include said rancho, to the northwest corner of the rancho, known as Trumfo, running on the northerly line of the same to the northeast cor- ner; thence to the summit of the ridge of hills called Santa Susana; thence in a direct line to the rancho Casteyne (Castaic) and Jejon (El Tejon), and along their northern line to the northeastern corners; and thence in a northeast line to the eastern boundary of the state, and along said boundary line to the junction of the northern boundary of San Diego county with the Colorado; thence following said line to the Pa- cific ocean and three miles therein; thence in a northwesterly direction parallel with the coast to a point three miles from land, and opposite to the southern boundary of the rancho called Malaga, and thence east to the place of begin- ning; including the islands of Santa Catalina
and San Clemente. The seat of justice shall be at Los Angeles."
These boundaries included all the territory that was afterwards included in the county of San Bernardino. In 1851 a colony of Mormons from Salt Lake located where now the city of San Bernardino stands, on a tract of land bought from the Lugos. They were reinforced by other immigrants from Salt Lake and by some non- Mormon families. The settlement grew quite rapidly. These settlers petitioned the legisla- ture of 1853 to create a new county out of the eastern portion of Los Angeles county. By an act entitled, "An Act for dividing the county of Los Angeles and making a new county there- from to be called San Bernardino county," ap- proved April 26, 1853, it was provided :
"SECTION 3. The county of Los Angeles is hereby divided as follows: Beginning at a point where a due south line drawn from the highest peak of the Sierra de Santiago intercepts the northern boundary of San Diego county; thence running along the summit of said Sierra to the Santa Ana river, between the rancho of Sierra and the residence of Bernardino Yorba; thence across the Santa Ana river along the summit of the range of hills that lie between the Coyotes and Chino (leaving the ranchos of Ontiveras and Ybarra to the west of this line), to the southeast corner of the rancho of San Jose; thence along the eastern boundaries of said rancho and of San Antonio, and the western and northern boundaries of Cucamonga ranch to the ravine of Cucamonga; thence up said ravine to its source in the Coast Range; thence due north to the northern boundary of Los Angeles county ; thence northeast to the state line; thence along the state line to the northern boundary line of San Diego county, thence westerly along the northern boundary of San Diego to the place of beginning.
"SECTION 4. The eastern portion of Los An- geles county, so cut off, shall be called San Ber- nardino county and the seat of justice thereof shall be at such a place as a majority of voters shall determine at the first county election, here- inafter provided to be held in said county and shall remain at the place designated until changed by the people, as provided by law."
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The county of Los Angeles, before the crea- tion of San Bernardino county, was an empire in itself. It extended from the Pacific ocean on the west to the Colorado river on the east, an extreme length of 270 miles, and from San Diego county on the south to Santa Barbara and Mari- posa counties on the north. Its average breadth was 150 miles. Its area was about 34,000 square miles, over one-fifth of the area of the entire state. Excepting Maine it was equal in area to all the New England states. In its vast area it embraced the most diversified scenery, soil and climate of any other county in the United States. Within its limits were the barren sands and tor- rid heat of the desert; the perpetual ice and snow of the lofty mountain tops ; the genial sun- shine and fragrant perfume of the orange groves of the valleys, and the unvarying temperature of the sea coast.
The formation of San Bernardino county cut off from Los Angeles 24,000 square miles, leav- ing her 10,000. For the second time she was cut off from all claim to a portion of the Colo- rado desert, but still retained her interest in the Mojave.
In 1866, the county of Kern was formed from portions of Tulare and Los Angeles counties. From 1855 to 1860 there had appeared in the legislature proceedings a spectral county called Buena Vista. In 1855 and again in 1859 it had been made a part of the proposed new state of Colorado, which was to include all the coun- try south of San Luis Obispo. The county was never officially created and the territory included in the proposed county remained part of Los Angeles and Tulare counties until the creation of Kern county in 1866. This county took from Los Angeles about 5,000 square miles, but as this territory was mostly mountains and desert there was no opposition to the segregation.
In 1869 began the struggle to cut off a portion from the southeastern part to form a new county. This movement the people of Los Angeles re- sisted. The contest over county division lasted for twenty years. It ended in 1889 with the formation of Orange county. The story of this long-drawn-out contest is told in full in the his- tory of Orange county.
After the formation of Orange county Los
Angeles had an area of 3,980 square miles. In 1891 an effort was made to cut a slice off the eastern side to form with territory taken from San Bernardino the county of Pomona. Fortu- nately the scheme failed.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT.
The transition from the Mexican form of gov- ernment in California to that of the United States was very gradual. Los Angeles, the last Mexican stronghold, surrendered January 10, 1847. It was not until June 24, 1850, that the American municipal form of government by county officers superseded the ayuntamientos, al- caldes, prefects and sindicos of Spain and Mex- ico. The legislature had passed a county gov- ernment act, February 18, 1850, and had pro- vided for an election of county officers to be held the first Monday of April. The election was held April 1, 377 votes were cast in the county and the following named officers elected : County judge, Agustin Olvera.
County attorney, Benjamin Hays.
County clerk, B. D. Wilson.
Sheriff, G. Thompson Burrill.
Treasurer, Manuel Garfias. Assessor, Antonio F. Coronel.
Recorder, Ignacio del Valle.
Surveyor, J. R. Conway.
Coroner, Charles B. Cullen.
COURT OF SESSIONS.
The court of sessions, which consisted of the county judge and two justices of the peace, con- stituted the legislative body of the county gov- ernments of the state up to 1853, when the civil business of the counties was turned over to a board of supervisors, created by an act of the legislature. The court of sessions had jurisdic- tion over the criminal business, the impaneling of juries and filling vacancies in office up to 1865, when it was legislated out of office.
The court of sessions was the motive power that set the county machinery in operation. The first meeting of the court in Los Angeles was held June 24, 1850. Hon. Agustin Olvera was the presiding judge; the associate justices were Jonathan R. Scott and Luis Robideau. Anto- nio F. Coronel, assessor-elect, and Charles B. Cullen, coroner-elect, were cited before the court
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to qualify and file their official bonds. Coronel appeared next day and qualified, but Cullen de- clined to serve.
At the meeting of the court, June 26, Jailer Samuel Whiting was allowed $7 per day salary, out of which he was to employ a competent as- sistant. He was allowed "for feeding the pris- oners, fifty cents each; that each prisoner shall have per day an amount of bread to the value of twelve and one-half cents or an equivalent in rice or beans; balance of the allowance in good meat."
A. P. Hodges, M. D., was appointed coroner (during his term as coroner he also served as the first mayor of the city). The county judge could not speak English and at least one asso- ciate judge spoke no Spanish, so G. Thompson Burrill was appointed county interpreter for the court at a salary of $50 per month. He was also sheriff.
At the session of July 11, 1850, it was ordered that the town council be permitted to work the county prisoners by paying the daily expense of each one's keeping-fifty cents-a master stroke of economy. Some one has sneeringly said that the first public buildings the Americans built in California after it came into their possession, were jails. This was true of Los Angeles, and in fact of all the counties of Southern California.
July II, 1850, commissioners were appointed by the city and county to select a site for a jail. Lots Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 in square No. 34 (north of the Plaza church) were selected for a jail site. The city council was asked to donate said lots to the county and the city was requested to loan the county $2,000, to be used in building said jail, the city council to have permission to use said jail until the loan is refunded. The city fathers did not take kindly to these requests of the judges; so the county had to worry along two years longer before a jail was built and then it was not built on the site selected by the joint commission.
JUDGES OF THE PLAINS.
There was one Hispano-American institution that long survived the fall of Mexican domina- tion in California; and that was the office of jueces del campo, judge of the plains. A judge of the plains was a very important functionary.
It was his duty to be present at the annual ro- deos (round-ups of cattle) and recojedas (gath- ering up of horses). His seat of justice was in the saddle, his court room the mesa, and from his decision there was no appeal. All disputes about ownership of stock came before him. The code of his court was unwritten, or mostly so, which was fortunate, for many of the judges could not read. This hap-hazard way of admin- istering justice did not suit American ideas, so, at a meeting of the court of sessions, July 23, : 1850, the county attorney was ordered "to col- lect the various bandos and reglamentos hereto- fore made up in this district respecting the jueces del campo and give his opinion upon the same at the next term of this court." At the next session of the court, August 22, the county attorney reported a number of regulations, some written, others established by custom. The court added several new regulations to those already existing, the most important of which (to the jueces) was a salary of $100 a year to each judge, payable out of the county treasury. Un- der Mexican rule the plains judge took his pay in honor. As there were a round dozen of these officials in the county in 1850, their aggregate pay exceeded the entire expense of the municipal government of the district during the last year of the Mexican rule. After jails the next inno- vation the Americans introduced was taxes.
FEES AND SALARIES.
The first fee and salary bill of California was based upon prices ruling in the mining coun- ties, where a sheriff's fees amounted to more than the salary of the president of the United States. The liberal fees allowed for official serv- ices soon bankrupted the treasuries of the cow counties, and in 1851 they were petitioning the legislature for a reduction of fees. It cost $100 to hold an inquest on a dead Indian and as vio- lent deaths were of almost daily or nightly occur- rence, the coroner's office was quite lucrative. Some of the verdicts of the coroner's juries showed remarkable familiarity with the decrees of the Almighty. On a native Californian named Gamico, found dead in the street, the verdict was "Death by the visitation of God." Of a dead Indian, found near the zanja, the Los An-
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geles Star says: "Justice Dryden and a jury sat on the body. The verdict was 'Death from intoxication or by the visitation of God.' Bacilio was a Christian Indian and was confessed by the reverend padre yesterday afternoon." The ju- rors were paid $10 each for sitting on a body. Coroner Hodges made the champion record on inquests. October 20, 1851, he held eleven in- quests in one day. These were held on Irving's band of horse thieves and robbers, who were killed by the Coahuilla Indians in the San Ber- nardino mountains.
The criminal element had been steadily in- creasing in Los Angeles. In 1851 a military company was organized to aid the sheriff in keeping order. November 24, 1851, the court of sessions ordered that the sheriff cause fifty good lances to be made for the use of the volunteer company. The pioneer blacksmith, John Goller, made the lances and was paid $87.50 for the job. Goller also made a branding iron for the county. The county brand consisted of the letters "L. A.," three inches long. In January, 1852, the house occupied by Benjamin Hays, under lease from Felipe Garcia, was sub-let by him to the county for a court house for the balance of his term, expiring November 16, 1853. The sum of $650 was appropriated by order of the court of sessions to pay the rent for the agreed term. The first building used for a court house was the old government house that Pio Pico bought from Isaac Williams for the capitol. Pico had re- sided in it during his term as governor. After the conquest two companies of United States Dragoons were quartered in it. A contract was let, July 8, 1851, to build a jail and John G. Nichols appointed at $6 a day to superintend the job, but some misunderstanding with the city arising, the building was not erected, and Sep- tember 13, 1851, the court ordered the sheriff to sell the adobes now on hand for use of jail at the highest market price and turn the money over to the clerk of the court.
The first county jail was the adobe building on the hill back of the present postoffice site used by the troops for a guard house. There were no cells in it. Staples were driven into a heavy pine log that reached across the building, and short chains attached to the staples were fastened
to the handcuffs of the prisoners. Solitary con- finement was out of the question then. Indian culprits were chained to logs outside of the jail so that they could more fully enjoy the glorious climate of California. In 1853 the city and county built a jail on the present site of the Phillips block, northwest corner of Spring and Franklin streets. It was the first public building erected in the county.
The legislature of 1852 created the office of county supervisor. The first election for super- visors of the county was held June 14, 1852, and the following named persons elected : Jefferson Hunt, Julian Chavis, Francisco P. Temple, Man- uel Requena and Samuel Arbuckle. The board held its first meeting on the first Monday of July, 1852. Arbuckle was elected chairman. The supervisors transacted the civil business of the county.
The machinery of the county's government was now in full working order. We will turn our attention to other phases of its development.
SPANISH AND MEXICAN LAND GRANTS.
In what comprised the original county of Los Angeles there were during the Spanish and Mex- ican regimes sixty grants of land made. These varied in size from a grant of 44.36 acres to the Mission of San Juan Capistrano to the Rancho ex-Mission of San Fernando, granted to Eulo- gio de Celis, containing 121,619.24 acres.
At the time of the conquest about all the land fit for pasturage had been sequestered from the public domain in the form of grants. The old- est grants made within what is now the county of Los Angeles are the Nietos and the San Ra- fael. According to Col. J. J. Warner's his- torical sketch, "The Nietos tract, embracing all the land between the Santa Ana and San Ga- briel and from the sea to and including some of the hill land on its northeastern frontier, was granted by Governor Pedro Fages to Manuel Nietos in 1784.
"The San Rafael tract, lying on the left bank of the Los Angeles river and extending to the Arroyo Seco, was granted by Governor Pedro Fages, October 20, 1784, and the grant was re- affirmed by Governor Borica, January 12, 1798, to Jose Maria Verdugo." If as Colonel Warner
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claims, the "Nietos tract" embraced all the land between the Santa Ana and the San Gabriel rivers, from the sea to the hills, Nietos' heirs did not hold it. Subsequently, there was a number of grants made in that territory. The Mission San Gabriel, previous to 1830, had possession of several subdivisions of this tract such as Las Bolsas, Alamitos, Los Coyotes, Puente and oth- ers. After the secularization of the missions all the lands held by the padres, except small tracts in the immediate neighborhood of the mission buildings, were granted to private owners.
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