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 81

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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GARDEN GROVE.

The town of Garden Grove was founded in 1877 by Dr. A. G. Cook and Converse Howe. A postoffice was established the same year. A large business house was built and a store opened in it. The building was burned down in 1880. The town has a fine school house and employs several teachers. It has a hotel, a Methodist church and several religious organizations. There are a number of walnut groves in its im- mediate vicinity. It is surrounded by an ex- cellent agricultural country. The electric car line from Los Angeles to Santa Ana passes through the town.

LOS ALAMITOS.

A large sugar factory was located on the Ala- mitos rancho in 1897. Around this has grown up a town. It is located on a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, extending from the Santa Ana line at Lorra, near Anaheim, to Ala- mitos, nine miles. The beet sugar factory dis- tributes about a half a million dollars yearly among the farmers in this district. There is a school building, a church and boarding houses for the employes of the factory.

BAY CITY.

Bay City, located on the south side of the en- trance to Alamitos bay, was founded by Hon. P. A. Stanton. The town is near the site of the now deserted and almost forgotten Anaheim. Forty years ago the yearly wine shipments from this port exceeded that of any other port in the United States. Bay City is a seaside resort. The residences stretch along the ocean front a mile or more. It can be reached by two electric car lines.

BUENA PARK.

The town of Buena Park was laid out in 1887. It is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad, thirteen miles northerly of Santa Ana. It has a condensed milk factory, established in 1889. This factory distributes monthly about $15,000 for milk and labor. The town has a hotel, several stores, a school building and a Congregational church.

NEWPORT BEACH.

Newport Beach is the chief seaport of Orange county. It is ten miles southwest of Santa Ana and is reached by the Santa Ana & Newport Railroad. An electric railway was completed in 1905 from Los Angeles to Newport. It has a pier where freight and passengers are landed. It is a favorite seaside resort for the people of Santa Ana.

CAPISTRANO.

The first settlement in Orange county was made at what was formerly known as San Juan Capistrano. The mission of that name was founded in 1776. After the secularization of the missions an Indian pueblo was established here, but it was not a success. A Mexican population

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

built up a town at the ruins of the old mission buildings. Capistrano is probably the most thor- oughly native Californian of any town in the state. The Mission church, destroyed by an earthquake, was the largest and most imposing building ever built by the Mission fathers. Its ruins attract many visitors. Capistrano has a

hotel, several stores, a school house and a num- ber of saloons. Church service is still held in a room of the old Mission buildings. Capistrano is on the surf line of the Santa Fé Railroad, sixty miles from Los Angeles and about the same dis- tance from San Diego.

CHAPTER LXX.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY.

T HE early history of the territory now in- cluded in Riverside county will be found in that of the counties from which it was segregated-San Diego and San Bernardino.

The first attempt to form the county of River- side was made in the legislature of 1891. Three ambitious towns in Southern California were at the same time seized with a desire to become county seats, and bills were introduced in the leg- islature of 1891 to form the three new counties from territory taken from the three old counties, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Diego.

Pomona county was to have been formed from the eastern portion of Los Angeles county and a slice taken from the western side of San Ber- nardino. Riverside county sliced a triangle off the southwestern part of San Bernardino and appropriated a rectangle of San Diego's north- western area : while San Jacinto county cut deep into San Diego's eastern area. Bills creating these counties were introduced in the legislature. Then there was a triangular contest between the pro- spective counties, each fighting its rivals. The old counties, San Bernardino and San Diego, bitterly opposed the schemes of the divisionists. One San Bernardino editor denounced the division plan as "geographical sacrilege," and another charged the divisionists with attempting mayhem on the Saints (Diego and Bernardino). The Riverside bill passed the senate with only eleven opposing votes and the hopes of its progenitors soared high. The county offices were divided ntp and a county seat selected for the new county. Then came an agonizing delay. The assembly had become involved in one of those interminable

scandals that crop out during the sessions of our legislature. Before the "waste basket scandal" could be hushed up the session ended and the Riverside bill died on the files.

In the legislature of 1893 the Riverside scheme came to the front early in the session; the other two division projects were held in abeyance, or at least were not pushed with vigor, and did not reach a vote. The act to create the county of Riverside was approved March 11, 1893. River- side county was formed from the southwestern part of San Bernardino county and the northern part of San Diego. From San Bernardino it took 560 square miles and from San Diego 6,418, thus giving the new county an area of 7,008 square miles. It is bounded on the west by Or- ange county and on the east by the Colorado river. In its contour Riverside county is widely diversified. In it rises one of the highest peaks ( Mount San Jacinto) in Southern California and the deepest depressions below the sea level are found within its limits.

It possesses every variety of climate. In the wooded cañons of Mount San Jacinto the snow never melts; in the depression of the Colorado desert the heat exceeds that of the torrid zone; while on its western mesas, where the breezes waft the fragrance of the rose and the orange blossom, perpetual spring rules the year.

Its productions are as varied as its climate. Its mountains produce lumber ; its deserts yield salt. and its western plains are the greatest or- ange growing districts in the world. It pro- duces deciduous fruits as well as the semi-tropic. Peaches, apples, apricots, prunes, pears and cher-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ries thrive and yield abundantly. In the low- lands along the Santa Ana river alfalfa makes dairying a profitable industry. Gold, silver, coal and asbestos are found within its borders.

ERA OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS.

The terrible drought of 1863 and 1864, which destroyed the cattle-raising industry of Southern California, brought about the subdivision of many of the large grants that had been held for stock ranges. The decline of the cattle industry compelled the agriculturists of the south to cast about for some other use to which their lands could be turned. The later '6os and the early '70s might be called the era of agricultural ex- periments in California. Olden-time tillers of the soil will recall perhaps with a sigh the silk- culture craze, the Ramie-plant fad, the raisin- grape experiment and other experiences with tree and plant and vine that were to make the honest farmer happy and prosperous, but which ended in dreary failure and often in great pecu- niary loss.

To one of these fads-the silk-culture craze- Riverside owes its location, and for this reason the sericulture mania deserves more than a pass- ing notice. To encourage silk culture in Califor- nia the legislature in 1866 passed an act author- izing the payment of a bounty of $250 for every plantation of 5,000 mulberry trees two years old, and one of $300 for every 100,000 merchantable cocoons produced. This greatly stimulated the planting of mulberry trees if it did not greatly increase the production of silk.

In 1869 it was estimated that in the central or southern portions of the state there were ten mil- lions of mulberry trees in various stages of growth. Demands for the bounty poured in upon the commissioners in such a volume that the state treasury was threatened with bankruptcy. At the head of the silk industry in the state was Louis Prevost, an educated French gentleman, who was thoroughly conversant with the busi- ness in all its details. He saw a great future for it, and firmly believed that the Golden State would outrivai his native country, France, in the production of silk. He had established at Los Angeles an extensive nursery of mulberry trees and a large cocoonery for the rearing of silk

worms. His enthusiasm had induced a number of the leading men of the south to enter into an association for the purpose of planting extensive forests of mulberry trees for the nourishment of silk worms ; and for the establishment of a colony of silk weavers. The directors of the association cast about for a suitable location to plant a col- ony.

I take this notice of the visit of the presi- dent and a director of the association to San Bernardino from a letter of a correspondent of the Los Angeles Star June 15, 1869: "Messrs. Prevost and Garey have been here looking out for land with a view to establish a colony for the culture and manufacture of silk. The col- ony is to consist of one hundred families, sixty of whom are ready to settle as soon as the loca- tion is decided upon. Both of these gentlemen are highly pleased with our soil, climate, etc .. and consider it far better adapted to the culture of the mulberry than any other of the southern counties." The directors of the California Silk Center Association of Los Angeles (by which name the organization was known), through its superintendent, purchased 4.000 acres of the Robidoux rancho, which was a part of the Juru- pa rancho, granted to Juan Bandini in 1838. and 1,460 acres of government land on the Harts- horn tract, which adjoined the Robidoux rancho to the eastward. They also arranged to pur- chase from the Los Angeles & San Bernardino Land Company 3,169 acres of that portion of the Jurupa rancho opposite the Robidoux rancho on the east side of the Santa Ana river.

Prevost, the president of the association, died August 16, 1869, before the land deal was com- pleted. The winter of 1869-70 was one of short rainfall and but little was done towards plant- ing trees on the colony grounds, and no effort was made to colonize the tract. The death of Prevost had deprived the association of its main- spring and its works stopped. Besides the silk culture craze had begun to decline. The im- mense profits of $1.000 to $1,200 per acre that had been made in the beginning by selling silk worm eggs to those who had been seized by the craze later had fallen off several figures from over-production ; and to give a finishing blow to the fad the state canceled the bounty. The

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Silk Center Association having fallen into hard lines, offered its lands for sale on most advan- tageous terms, and it soon found a buyer.

THE COLONY ASSOCIATION.

"On the 17th day of March, 1870, at Knox- ville, Tenn., J. W. North issued and sent to num- erous persons in the northern states a circular, entitled, 'A Colony for California.' In that cir- cular was briefly stated what was expected as to the establishment and carrying on of the pro- posed colony which had not at that time any definite form or special proposed location."

In this circular Judge North said: "We do not expect to buy as much land for the same amount of money in Southern California as we could obtain in remote parts of Colorado or Wyoming ; but we expect it will be worth more in proportion to cost than any other land we could purchase in the United States. We expect to have schools, churches, lyceum, public library, reading room, etc., at a very early date, and we invite such people to join our colony as will es- teem it a privilege to build them." **

In the summer of 1870 Judge J. W. North, in company with several other gentlemen who had become interested in the proposed colony, visited Southern California to secure a location for their prospective colony. After examining a number of tracts of land offered, they, on the 14th of September, 1870, purchased from the stockholder of the Silk Center Association all the real estate, water rights and franchises of that corporation. The purchasers had organ- ized under the name of The Southern California Colony Association. The members of the as- sociation were Judge John W. North, Dr. James P. Greves, Dr. Sanford Eastman, E. G. Brown, Dr. K. D. Shugart, A. J. Twogood, D. C. Two- good, John Broadhurst, James A. Stewart and William J. Linville. Judge J. W. North was made president and general manager of the as- sociation. The land was hought at $3.50 per acre. It was mesa or table-land that had never been cultivated, and so dry that one old-timer said he had seen "the coyotes carrying can- teens when they crossed it." It was not even

good sheep pasture, and it is said that Robidoux at one time had it struck from the assessment roll because it was not worth paying taxes on.

During the fall of 1870 a portion of the lands was surveyed and platted. A town was laid out and named Jurupa, from the name of the rancho, but this was changed to Riverside. The river, the Santa Ana, did not flow by the site of the town, but the colonists hoped that a considerable portion of its waters would eventually be made to do so.

The first families to arrive in the colony reached it late in September, 1870. Their dwellings were constructed of rough upright redwood or pine boards, the families camping out while the buildings were in the process of construction. As there was neither paint nor plaster used and the chimney was a hole in the roof out of which the stove pipe projected, it did not take long to erect a dwelling. The nearest railroad was at Los Angeles, sixty-five miles away, and from there most of their sup- plies and building materials had to be hauled on wagons.

It was easy enough to survey their land and plat a town site, but to bring that land under cultivation and to produce from it something to support themselves was a more serious prob- lem. Land was cheap enough and plentiful, but water was dear and distant. It required engi- neering skill and a large outlay of capital to bring the two together. Without water for irrigation their lands were worthless and the colony a failure.

The colonists set to work vigorously in the winter of 1870-71 to construct an irrigating canal from a point on the Santa Ana river to the colony lands. Early in the summer of 1871 the canal at a cost of about $50,000 was com- pleted to the town site. A few enthusiasts in citrus culture, before the canal was dug, bought seedling orange trees in Los Angeles at $2 apiece, and after hauling them across the arid plains sixty-five miles, planted them in the dry mesa and irrigated them with water hauled from Spring brook in barrels. The rapid growth of these trees, even under adverse circumstances, disapproved the sneer of the old-timers that orange trees would not grow in the sterile soil

*Riverside The Fulfillment of a Prophecy. By John G. North.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of the mesas, and greatly encouraged the colon- ists.

The raisin grape was at that time coming in- to notice, and many of the early settlers planted their grounds in vineyards. Others experi- mented with the deciduous fruits, and a few had an abiding faith in the orange. Orange trees had to be raised from the seed, and the eight or nine years required to bring a seedling orange to bearing looked like a long time to wait for returns.

After a series of experiments, some of them costly, the colonists finally evolved the "fittest" product for their soil and market, and that was the Bahia orange, or, as it is now called, the Washington navel orange. In December, 1873, L. C. Tibbetts, a Riverside colonist, received by mail from a friend at Washington, D. C., two small orange trees which had been imported from the city of Bahia, in Brazil, by the agri- cultural department. This variety is seedless and of fine flavor. It became immensely popu- lar. Buds were taken from the parent trees and inserted in the stock of the seedling orange trees and the variety was propagated by budding from tree to tree as rapidly as buds could be obtained. The descendants from these two trees number well up to a million. One of these old trees has been recently presented to the city by its present owner, O. Newberry.

ARLINGTON.

In 1875 Samuel C. Evans, a wealthy banker of Fort Wayne, Ind., came to Riverside. He purchased a half interest in 10,000 acres of land known as the Hartshorn tract (now known as Arlington), lying to the southward of the orig- inal colony tract. Capt. W. T. Sayward of San Francisco was the owner of the other half. These gentlemen began the construction of a canal for the irrigation of their lands. They were denied the right of way across the lands of the Southern California Colony Association. Mr. Evans quietly secured a controlling interest in the stock of the Colony Association and then dictated his own terms. In 1875 he assisted in organizing the Riverside Land and Irrigation Company, and in 1876 he became its president. This company absorbed the Southern California town.

Colony Association, its unsold land, water rights and canals. The two water systems were con- solidated under one management, the canals were extended and thousands of acres of fertile land brought under irrigation.

Up to 1875 Riverside had grown slowly, but with the accession of a larger territory, with an increased water supply, new settlers coming and more money in circulation, it took on a new and healthier growth. The world-famous Magnolia avenue was begun at this time. From a pam- phlet published by Capt. W. T. Sayward in 1875. descriptive of the new lands just thrown on the market, I take this description of what Mag- nolia avenue was intended to be by one of its progenitors: "A grand avenue has been sur- veyed and laid out from Temescal creek nearly to San Bernardino in a straight line eighteen miles long and 132 feet wide, running through the lands of the Santa Ana, New England and Riverside colonies. This avenue is to be lined the entire distance with fruit, shade and orna- mental trees on each side and one row in the center ; and when completed will make the most beautiful drive and be the most ornamental road in the world."

The amount of land contained in the colonies named above is, according to the pamphlet, as follows: "Riverside colony, 8.000 acres; New England, 10,000 acres; Santa Ana, 7,000 acres. All these colonies are united in one irrigating system." The city of Riverside has long since swallowed up all these colonies and has taken in about 10,000 acres besides. The present area of the city is about fifty-six square miles. It was incorporated in 1883.

In 1875 the population of the Riverside settle ments was estimated at 1,000. The town then had within its limits one church edifice, a school house, a hotel, two restaurants, a carriage and wagon factory, three general merchandise stores, ·a drug store, a livery stable and two saloons. An- other saloon was added to the number early in 1876. Although not large, it seems then to have been a "wide open town," judging from the number of saloons in it. The saloons were closed so long ago that many of the present inhabitants are perhaps not aware they ever had any in the

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

RAILROAD PROSPECT.

The first railroad meeting in Riverside of which I have any record was one held in the school house February 23, 1876. The Southern Pacific was building eastward. San Bernardino confidently expected to be on the main line, and Riverside had hopes that it might be. The rail- road passed betweer them and laid out a town of its own, Colton. San Bernardino set up a wail and petitioned the legislature to pass an act bonding the county so that it could build a road of its own to tile water at Anaheim landing. Riverside cautioned the legislature against the schemes of its 1 eighbor in the following amusing resolution : "Fesolved, That the people of River- side respectfully request the honorable senate and house of representatives of California not to be too much mroved by the touching appeal of the town San Bernardino; Riverside could lament just as hand if it were disposed to."

THE FIRST CITRUS FAIR.

The first Citrus Fair held in Riverside opened February 12. 1879. It was conducted under the auspices of the Southern California Horticultural Society. The exhibit was mainly seedling oranges, Mediterranean Sweets, St. Michaels and Konahs, with a few specimens of the navel orange. The Riverside Press thus exultingly describes one of the most attractive features of the fair: "D. C. Twogood's exhibit was four boxes of seedling oranges packed. These four boxes, open and full of fruit, made a broad glare which fairly illuminated that end of the hall." The oranges were exhibited on plates, and the plates were not heaped. Cicily and China lemons formed a part of the exhibit. A Konah orange six inches in diameter was one of the wonders of the fair.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

A census or enumeration taken in 1879 of the citrus fruit trees in Riverside, Sunnyside and Ar- lington gave the following numbers of each : orange trees, 160.861 : lemon, 23.950; limes, 28,- 642. In addition to the citrus trees there were 221,465 vines and about 50,000 deciduous trees. A very good showing for a colony only eight years old.

Twenty-five years later it had a million and a half citrus trees alone. During the season of 1905, Riverside shipped 7,175 cars of citrus fruits which sold for $3.456,050 net to the grow- ers. Its other agricultural products returned to the producers over $1,000,000. According to Bradstreet the per capita of wealth to each of its inhabitants makes Riverside the richest com- munity in the world. All this wonderful devel- opment of wealth and resources is the work of a single generation. In the summer of 1871 the author of this history rode over the site of Riv- erside and the entire length of its since famous avenue, Magnolia, and in the entire length and breadth of that extensive and almost uninhab- ited area. there was not a bearing fruit tree or vine. Then there was not a railroad within · sixty miles of the town, now it has three rail- road systems, the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe and the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake. The Arlington and Riverside electric railway operating within the city of Riverside has ten miles of track.

SOME FIRST EVENTS.

The first building erected in the Riverside set- tlement was the office of the Southern California Colony Association, September, 1870. It was built on land now occupied by the Santa Fe depot.

The first child born in the settlement was a daughter of John Broadhurst, born December 26, 1870, The first in the town of Riverside was a daughter of A. R. Smith, born March 31, 1871.

The first sermon preached in the town was delivered by Rev. A. Higbie, a Methodist min- ister. He was also the surveyor of the colony tract, afterwards a member of the legislature from Los Angeles county.

The first resident clergyman was Rev. J. W. Atherton, a Congregational minister. The first church erected in the town was a Congregational.

The first school house was built in 1871. It was a frame building costing $1,200.

The first mercantile establishment was opened by E. Ames in the winter of 1870-71. The first brick building, a store room 25x75, was erected by Buet Brothers in 1875.

The first newspaper published was the Riv-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

crside Weekly News. The first number appeared November 27, 1875.

RIVERSIDE LIBRARY.

The Riverside Public Library was established in 1879. It was made frce to the public in 1888. It contains 16,700 volumes. Its annual income from taxation is about $8,000. It has seven em- ployes. In 1891 Andrew Carnegie gave the city a donation of $20,000. The city secured a site 165x165 feet in a central location at a cost of $3,000. A building was erected on this costing $25.000 the city adding $5,000 to Carnegie's donation. The building is one story and contains five rooms. It is built of brick and cement in the mission style of architecture. It was com- pleted and occupied in 1902.

PIONEER PRESS:

The pioneer newspaper of the colony was the Riverside Weekly News. The first number was issued November 27, 1875. It was founded by Jesse Buck and R. A. Davis. It was a five-col- umn paper ; size, 12x15 inches. April 29, 1876, Buck retired with this brief valedictory: "The bell rings. the curtain drops, Buck is out." R. A. Davis, Jr., continued the publication until it

was merged into the Riverside Press two years later.

The Riverside Press, a seven-column weekly paper, was founded by James H. Roe, June 29. 1878. L. M. Holt assumed the management of it January 10, 1880. He enlarged it to eight columns and changed the name to the Press and Horticulturist. The Daily Press was established in 1886. It is still published as an evening daily. The Valley Echo was established in 1882 by James H. Roe and R. J. Pierson. December 6, 1888, the Echo was consolidated with the Daily Press and the Weekly Press and Horticulturist, E. W. Holmes becoming a partner, the firm be- ing Holmes, Roe & Pierson. The Weekly Re- flex, established in 1895, was consolidated with the Press and Horticulturist, October 1, 1896.

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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 81

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184