USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 70
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When railroad building ceased the reaction came. Land values dropped, but the county continued to grow, notwithstanding the long and discour- aging delay of fourteen years in closing the gap in direct railroad communication between San Francisco and Santa Barbara. March 31, 1901, the first through trains from the north and the south passed over the completed coast line of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The event was not heralded by any great demonstration, nor was it followed by a land boom, as in 1887, yet there can be no doubt but that it marks the be- ginning of a new era in the growth and devel- opment of the city and county of Santa Barbara.
CHAPTER LXI. SANTA BARBARA COUNTY-Continued.
T HE first public school opened in Santa Bar- bara was taught by a young sailor named José Manuel Toca. He taught from Octo- ber, 1795, to June, 1797. José Medina, another sailor of the Spanish navy, succeeded him and trained the young ideas until December, 1798. Manuel de Vargas, a retired sergeant of the army, who, in 1794 taught at San José the pioneer public school of California, was teaching at Santa Bar- bara in 1799. How long he continued to wave the pedagogical birch, or rather, ply the cat-o'nine- tails, which was the schoolmaster's instrument of punishment then, is not known. With the depart- ure of Governor Borica, the schools of California took a vacation. During the closing years of Spanish rule, it seems to have been mostly vaca- tion in them. .
The first school under Mexican rule in Santa Barbara that we have any report of was in 1829. when a primary school of sixty-seven pupils was conducted at the presidio. Governor Echeandia was a friend to education, and made a vigorous effort to establish public schools. But "unable," says Bancroft, "to contend against the enmity of the friars, the indifference of the people and the poverty of the treasury, he accomplished no more than his predecessors. Reluctantly he abandoned the contest, and the cause of educa-
tion declined." And it might be added, the cause of education continued in a state of de- cline during the remaining years of Mexican rule. The curriculum of the Spanish and Mex- ican schools was like the annals of the poor- "short and simple." To paraphrase Pete Jones' alliterative formula, it consisted of "lickin' and no larnin'." The principal numbers in the course were the Doctrina Cristiana and Fray Ripalda's Catechism. These were learned by rote before the pupil was taught to read. If there was any time left him after he had committed to memory these essentials to his future spiritual welfare, he was given a little instruction in reading, writ- ing and numbers for his earthly advantage.
Governor Micheltorena attempted to establish a public school system in the territory; but his scheme failed from the same causes which had neutralized the efforts of his predecessors. Under his administration in 1844, a primary school was opened in Santa Barbara, but was closed after a few months for want of funds. Pio Pico, the last governor under Mexican rule, undertook to establish public schools, but his efforts were fruitless. The old obstacles, an empty treasury, incompetent teachers and indif- ferent parents, confronted him and put an end to his educational schemes.
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During the first two or three years of Ameri- can rule in Santa Barbara but little attention was paid to education. The old indifference re- mained. The discovery of gold had not greatly increased the population nor wrought any change in social conditions.
When the common council in April, 1850, took control of the municipal business of the newly created city, it inherited from the ayunta- miento a school taught by a Spanish school- master, Victor Vega. The school was in part supported by public funds. The council sent a certain number of poor pupils-i. e., pupils who were unable to pay tuition-for whom they paid a certain stipulated sum. March 26, 1851, "the committee appointed to examine the school re- ported, and the president was ordered to pay the schoolmaster, Victor Vega, $64.50, and to draw $64 for every month." This is the first recorded school report of the city.
Evidently there was considerable truancy. At the meeting of the council, November 8, 1851. José M. Covarubias was appointed a committee to examine the school once a month and to re- port precisely the number and names of pupils who absent themselves and the time of their ab- sence. Any pupil ahsent over a day lost his seat.
In November, 1852, three school commis- sioners were elected in each of the three town- ships of Santa Barbara county. Each township was a school district. After their election the control of the schools in Santa Barbara passed from the council to the school commissioners of the district. In 1854 a tax of five cents on the $100 was levied for the support of the public schools. Previous to this the school revenues had been derived from liquor licenses, fines, etc.
At the election in 1854 Joaquin Carrillo, dis- trict judge, was elected county school superin- tendent. He did not qualify, and A. F. Hinch- man was appointed to fill the vacancy. The Ga- cette of December 20. 1855, says : "According to the school censuis there are 453 white children between the ages of four and eighteen years in Santa Barbara district, which is sixty miles long and forty wide. There is one school in it, in charge of a schoolmaster." December 24, 1855. George D. Fisher, county 'school superintendent,
reported a school taught in the first district (San Buenaventura ) by John Rapelli, and one in the second (Santa Barbara) taught by Pablo Cara- cela. Both of these schools were taught in the Spanish language. American residents had no place to send their children except to a school kept by George Campbell at the Mission Santa Inez (third district), a distance of fifty miles from the bulk of the people.
February 4, 1856, two teachers were employed in the Santa Barbara city schools, Owen Con- nolly teaching the English school in "the house adjoining the billiard saloon," and Victor Mon- dran teaching the Spanish school in "the house of the late Pedro Diablar."
In 1857 it was decided "that instruction in the public schools shall be in the English lan- guage." The native Californians had opposed this, but the aggressive Anglo-Saxan won. It was the ringing out of the old, the ringing in of the new.
The schools had now passed the experimental stages. and had become an institution of the land. Although no school district in the county owned a schoolhouse, yet public education had been systematized. Teachers were required to pass an examination in the subjects taught in the schools, and their compensation was no longer subject to whims of the parents.
Although public schools had been established and somewhat systematized, the people were slow to avail themselves of the educational facili- ties afforded. In 1867, fifteen years after the public school system of California had been in- augurated, there were but three school districts and five teachers in Santa Barbara, which then included all of what is now Ventura county. Of the 1.332 census children, only 305, or 23 per cent of the whole, attended any school, public or private, during the year.
The next decade showed a wonderful change in educational conditions. Ventura county had been cut off from the parent county in 1873, but taking the territory as it stood in 1867 there were in it, in 1877. 33 districts and 53 teachers. Of the 4.030 census children, 2.782 had been en- rolled in the schools.
In 1800 there were 4.429 census children in Santa Barbara county. 3.439 of whom attended
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school. In 1900 there were 5,617 census children and 66 districts.
CITIES AND TOWNS. LOMPOC.
In August, 1874, the Lompoc Valley Com- pany, an incorporation, bought the ranchos Lom- poc and Mission Vieja de La Purisima, contain- ing a total of 45,644.49 acres. A considerable portion of these lands were divided into 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 acre tracts. One square mile about the center of the Lompoc valley and nine miles from the coast was reserved for a town site. The sale of the lands began November 9, 1874. It had been widely advertised and at- tracted a large crowd. The capital stock of the company was divided into 100 shares of $5.000 each. While the sale was in progress shares rose to a premium of $1,000. During the sale about $700,000 worth of land and lots were disposed of. The average price of the farm land was $60 per acre. Some of the corner lots in the town site sold as high as $1,200.
Lompoc was founded as a temperance colony, and like all such colonies has had its battles with the liquor traffic. The first engagement was with a druggist who was carrying on an illicit traffic in forbidden liquids. His place was in- vaded by a number of citizens, and a Mrs. Pierce plied an ax on a 40-gallon cask of whiskey and flooded the store with the fiery liquid. The druggist drew a pistol and threatened to shoot the destroyers of his intoxicants, but, confronted by two hundred crusaders, he concluded that dis- cretion was the better part of valor and put up his gun. Another engagement, which scored a "knock-out" for the opponents of the liquor traffic, took place on the evening of May 20, 1881. A bomb was thrown into the saloon of George Walker. Nobody was hurt, but the saloon and its contents were completely demol- ished. The Lompoc Record, commenting on the "earthquake" (as the people facetiously called it), said: "Any one looking for a location for a saloon had better not select a community founded on temperance principles, where the land is sold on express conditions that no liquor shall be made or sold thereon, where public sentiment is
so nearly unanimous against saloons and where 'earthquakes' are so prevalent and destructive." The seismic disturbances that shook up saloons in the early days of the colony have ceased. The crusaders have buried their little hatchets, but not in the heads of whiskey barrels. The report of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce for 1901 says of Lompoc : "The liquor traffic is con- fined by license of $75 per month each to two . saloons."
Lompoc is an incorporated city of the sixth class. It has a grammar school building, costing $15,000; a union high school that, with its fur- nishings cost $12,000; the Methodist North, Methodist South, Baptist, Christian, Presby- terian, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Christian Science, have each its own church building. Banks, mercantile houses, hotels, restaurants, blacksmith shops, creamery, livery stable, ware- houses, fruit packing houses, etc., make up the business establishments of the town. Two week- ly newspapers are published in the town, the Record and the Journal. The Lompoc Record was established April 10, 1875, and is one of the oldest newspapers in the county.
Surf, nine miles west of the city, is Lompoc's station of the Southern Pacific's coast line road. Here the railroad comes close to the shore line of the ocean. The beach here is one of the most picturesque in California. It is the favorite sea- side resort of the people of Lompoc Valley dur- ing the summer. There is a branch railroad from Surf to Lompoc. There is also an excel- lent driveway nine miles long. The founders of Lompoc laid out the city on a generous scale ; the streets are one hundred feet wide and cross each other at right angles.
The municipality owns its own water system and maintains a fire department. Just north of Lompoc lies one of the richest oil fields in Cali- fornia. One well in this district flows 600 bar- rels a day of 36 gravity oil. The development of this field has but recently been begun.
GUADALUPE.
This town is ninety-five miles northwesterly from Santa Barbara on the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1872 John Dunbar opened a store at this point and was appointed postmaster when
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the postoffice was established here. This was the beginning of the town. In 1874 it had grown to be a village of 100 houses. In 1875 a news- paper, the Guadalupe Telegraph, was estab- lished. It has now a bank, hotels and several mercantile establishments. A spur of the South- ern Pacific Railroad runs to the Union Sugar Factory at Betteravia.
BETTERAVIA.
The Union Sugar Factory at Betteravia was built in 1898 at a cost of $1,000,000. It em- ploys during the sugar-making season 500 men and works up 500 tons of beets per day. The lime used in the manufacture of sugar from beets is burned and prepared for use at the fac- tory. Last season the factory used 8,000 tons of lime. The company has a store, shops and boarding houses at Betteravia.
SANTA MARIA.
Santa Maria, situated near the center of the Santa Maria valley on the Pacific Coast Rail- road, was founded in 1876. It is the business center of a rich agricultural district. A branch line of railroad, five miles long, extends to the sugar factory on Guadalupe Lake.
The town has a union high school, an excel- lent grammar and primary schools. It has sev- eral hotels, two banks and a full quota of stores and shops. The community supports two weekly newspapers, the Santa Maria Times, founded in 1876, and the Graphic. The town is supplied with excellent water from a private water sys- tem and is lighted by electricity.
South of the town of Santa Maria, and about ten miles distant, lie the Santa Maria oil fields. These are among the best producers in the state. One of these, in which oil was struck December 2, 1904, flowed 1,500,000 barrels in less than one year. The oil is of light gravity, ranging from 25 to 30 degrees ; some of the wells flow without pumping. A pipe line 35 miles long conveys the oil products to a shipping point on the ocean. The oil producers of the valley are independent of the railroads and are not in danger from the clutches of the Standard Oil octopus. Santa Maria is the metropolis of this oil district.
SANTA YNEZ.
The village of Santa Ynez is situated in the midst of the Rancho Canada de Los Pinos or College ranch. The College ranch or grant was given to the padres in 1843 to found a college, hence the name. The town of Santa Ynez has an excellent hotel, grammar schools, a high school, stores, shops, etc .; also a weekly news- paper, The Santa Ynez Argus. It is surrounded by a large area of farming and grazing lands.
LOS OLIVAS.
Los Olivas, founded in 1880, is the present terminus of the Pacific Coast Railroad and is a shipping point of considerable importance.
LOS ALAMOS.
Los Alamos, founded in 1878, situated on the Pacific Coast Railway, midway between San- ta Ynez and Santa Maria, has a population of about 300. It is the commercial outlet of an agricultural district of about 150,000 acres, most of which is grazing land.
GOLETA.
Goleta is a small village eight miles to the northwest of Santa Barbara. The country around to a considerable extent is devoted to walnut- growing and olive culture.
EL MONTECITO.
El Montecito (the Little Forest) is properly a suburb of Santa Barbara. It is about four miles eastward of the city. The valley is near- ly oval, and opens to the southwest on the sea. It is divided into small tracts, and is a favorite place for the suburban residences of persons do- ing business in the city. The Santa Barbara Country Club's grounds are here. The cottages are built on a level bluff above the ocean. The club has its golf links, tennis courts, bath house, wharf for boating and other accessories for pleas- ure and amusement.
SUMMERLAND.
Summerland, six miles below Santa Barbara, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, is the princi- pal petroleum district of Santa Barbara county. Oil was struck here in 1893. The oil belt is
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about a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long. Most of the wells are sunk in the ocean beyond low-water mark. Wharves are run out and the wells bored beside the wharves. Some of these wharves are 1,500 feet long. The output of the wells, of which there are about 300, is about 15,000 barrels a month. A railroad station, post- office, several business places, boarding houses and residences of oil operators constitute the vil- lage of Summerland.
CARPINTERIA.
Carpinteria valley is about fifteen miles due east from Santa Barbara. It is sheltered by mountains on three sides and opens to the sea. Its area is about ten square miles, and its width between the mountains and the ocean varies from one to three miles. It is one of the oldest set- tled valleys in the county. It bears the name given it by the soldiers of Portola's expedition in 1769. They found the Indians here manufac- turing canoes, and they named the place Car- pinteria (carpenter shop). The village is lo- cated near the center of the valley on the South- ern Pacific Railroad.
THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.
Three of the Channel Islands are included in the area of Santa Barbara county, namely San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. These islands are mainly devoted to sheep and cattle raising.
San Miguel, the most westerly of the group, is seven and one-half miles long, with an aver- age width of two and one-half miles. The
principal landing place is Cuyler's Harbor. At this landing Cabrillo, the discoverer of Cali- fornia, is buried. The island is now owned by the San Miguel Island Company.
Santa Rosa Island is nine and three-fourths miles long, with an average width of seven and one-half miles, and contains 53,000 acres. It was granted by the Mexican government to Don Carlos Carrillo after his failure to secure the gov- ernorship of California in 1837. He gave it in 1842, as a marriage portion, to his two daughters, who were married on the same day, one to J. C. Jones, United States consul to the Sandwich Islands, and the other to Capt. A. B. Thompson. It now belongs to the heirs of A. P. More.
Santa Cruz Island is twenty-two and one- half miles long by five and one-half wide, and contains 52.760 acres. It lies almost opposite the city of Santa Barbara and twenty-five miles distant. The surface is uneven, the hills at one point rising to the height of 1,700 feet. The Mexican government at one time attempted to utilize the island for a penal colony. About a dozen convicts were landed on the island with live-stock and provisions, with the expectation that they would become self-supporting. They remained on the island long enough to eat up the provisions and the live-stock. Then they constructed a raft, crossed the channel to Santa Barbara and quartered themselves on the Mis- sion fathers. They served out their sentences in irons. The island once had a large Indian pop- ulation. It is a favorite hunting ground for Indian relic hunters. It is now owned by the Santa Cruz Island Company.
CHAPTER LXII.
THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA.
T HE story of the founding of the Santa Barbara presidio, which was the nucleus of the town, is given in Chapter VI of this volume. Its history under the Spanish régime was uneventful. Under Mexican rule the inhab- itants were noted for their conservatism. Un- like the people of Monterey and Los Angeles they
did not indulge in revolutions. They were sometimes drawn into the uprisings of their neighbors on the north and the south, but ad- hesion to the cause of the revolutionary fac- tions was more often forced than espoused of their own free will.
Commodore Stockton, on his first expedition
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down the coast to subjugate the southern towns loyal to Mexico, anchored at Santa Barbara Au- gust 5, 1846, and took possession of the town without opposition. He left a small garrison there to hold it. On his return from San Pedro the men were taken away and a detail of ten men under Lieutenant Talbott drawn from Fre- mont's battalion were stationed at the presidio. After the recapture of Los Angeles by the Cali- fornians under Flores and Verala the lieutenant and his men were driven out of Santa Barbara. Under the guidance of Elijah Moulton, an old trapper, they made their way through the mount- ains to the upper San Joaquin valley. They finally reached Monterey by the way of Pacheco's Pass, and joined Fremont, who was preparing to march down the coast to operate with Stock- ton in the recapture of Los Angeles.
Fremont's battalion on its march down the coast entered the town on the 27th of Decem- ber, 1846. Lieutenant Bryant says: "The Uni- ted States flag was raised in the public square of the town the day after our arrival."
The people peaceably submitted to the transi- tion from Mexican domination to that of the United States. There was but little friction be- tween the conquered and the conqueror, and when there was it was usually the fault of the latter.
The legislature of 1850 incorporated the city. The Act to incorporate the City of Santa Bar- bara was passed April 9, 1850. The following is the text of the Act :
The People of the State of California, repre- sented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as fol- lows :
Sec. I. The Town of Santa Barbara, in the County of Santa Barbara, is hereby declared to be incorporated according to the provisions of the Act, entitled "An Act to provide for the in- corporation of Cities." approved March 18, 1850.
Sec. 2. The boundaries of the City of Santa Barbara shall be as follows: Beginning at the old Presa of the Mission of Santa Barbara on the Creek Pedregosa. continuing in a line with said creek to its intersection with the cart road which leads to the Cimquita; from said inter- section in a direct line to the easterly corner of the Positas; thence in a southwesterly direction, following the southeast boundary of the Positas, to the coast or sea shore; thence following the
beach to the Salinitas; and thence in a north- easterly line, including in Santa Barbara the lands of Monticito, to the mountain range; and thence following said range to the place of be- ginning; Provided, nothing in this Act contained shall impair the rights of the Pueblo of Santa Barbara to other lands, belonging to the said Pueblo, not contained within the above-mentioned limits.
Sec. 3. The number of Councilmen for the Government of the City shall be Five; there shall be no Recorder, but the Mayor shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of Recorder. The first Election of City Officers shall be held on the second Monday of May next.
Sec. 4. The Corporation, created by this Act, shall succeed to all the rights, claims and powers of the Pueblo de Santa Barbara in regard to property, and shall be subject to all the liabilities incurred and obligations created by the Ayun- tamiento of the said Pueblo.
The early municipal records were kept very carelessly. There is no record in the archives of the first city election. The first record of any offi- cial action taken for the organization of a city is the minutes of the meeting of the common coun- cil held August 26, 1850. A mayor and mem- bers of the council had been elected at some pre- vious date, and the councilmen-elect met to or- ganize. The minutes of their proceedings were kept on sheets of foolscap stitched together. Either record books could not be obtained then in Santa Barbara, or the members of the coun- cil did not consider their acts of municipal legis- lation worth preserving in any better form. The minutes of the first meeting are as follows: "In the city of Santa Barbara, on the 26th day of August, 1850, the persons elected to the com- mon council assembled and proceeded to elect a president. Lewis T. Burton, having received a majority of the votes, was declared elected. Luis Carrillo was then elected clerk.
LUIS CARRILLO (Rubica), TENIO (Clerk).
From the subsequent minutes we learn that Francisco de La Guerra was the first mayor, and "the persons elected to the common council" were Isaac J. Sparks, Anastasio Carrillo, Luis Carrillo, Lewis T. Burton and Antonio Rod- riguez. Having elected a president and clerk, or secretary, the council took a vacation for
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nearly three months. Evidently municipal busi- ness was not pressing. The record of the next meeting reads: "November 21, 1850. At the house Anastasio Carrillo, Common Council of Santa Barbara. Present. Isaac J. Sparks, Ana- stasio Carrillo and Luis Carrillo. Lewis T. Bur- ton and Antonio Rodriguez sent in their resig- nations as members of the council, which were accepted. Isaac J. Sparks was elected president of the council. An election was ordered to be held on the second day of December next for two members of the council, a treasurer and a marshal: the clection to be held in one of the corridors of the house of Lewis T. Burton. Nicolas A. Den was appointed inspector. Au- gustus F. Hinchman was chosen clerk of the common council.
(Signed ) LUIS CARRILLO, Secretario."
At the special city election, held December 2, 1850, Samuel Barney and Edward S. Hoar were elected councilmen ; Carlos Antonio Carrillo, treasurer, and Juan Ayala, marshal. At the next meeting of the council, a committee, consisting of Isaac J. Sparks, Antonio Maria de La Guerra and Nicolas Den, was appointed to receive pro- posals for a survey of the city and report thereon to the council within six weeks. At the meeting of December 14, 1850, a demand was made on the members of the late ayuntamiento for all papers and documents belonging to the old pueblo of Santa Barbara and an accounting for all funds in their hands on April 9, 1850, the date of the city's incorporation.
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