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 82
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155
The Daily Enterprise, the oldest daily of Riv- erside, was established in 1885. The Daily Globe, established in 1896, was consolidated with the Enterprise, October 30, 1897. A bi-weekly edi- tion of the Enterprise is also published. The Enterprise has absorbed the following named weekly papers : the Weekly Searchlight, May 7. 1896; the Weekly Perris Valley Record, March 5, 1896; Moreno Indicator, November 7. 1896.
CHAPTER LXXI.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY-Continued.
RIVERSIDE WATER SYSTEMS.
T HE citrus groves of the Riverside val- ley cover about 20,000 acres. Four large water systems supply water for irrigating the territory covered by these groves, viz .: The Riverside Water Company, the Gage canal, the Jurupa canal and the Riverside-High- land Water Company.
The Riverside Water Company is composed of the land owners under the system. It supplies the older orchards in the valley. Two shares of stock are appurtenant to an acre. The company obtains its water supply from the Santa Ana river, and from Warm Springs and wells in the San Bernardino artesian belt. This system has
forty miles of main canal ( half of which are ce- mented) and about 150 miles of laterals. This company also owns and operates a piped water system, by means of which it distributes through- out the city about 150 inches of pure artesian water under heavy pressure. The pressure is sufficient to afford fire protection without fire engines. This water is delivered through eight- een miles of mains and twenty-six miles of small- er pipes.
THIE GAGE CANAL.
Very few of the many irrigating schemes that have been promoted in recent years for the de- velopment of water and the reclamation of arid lands have been so successful as that commonly
4.92
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
known as the Gage canal. Front small begin- nings this enterprise has developed into magnifi- cent proportions. In its gradual development it well illustrates the truth of the old couplet :
"Tall oaks from little acorns grow,
Great streams from little fountains flow."
Mathew Gage, a jeweler by occupation, came to Riverside in March, 1881. He was compara- tively a poor man. Shortly after his arrival he took up under the desert land act a section of land. This land was situated on the plain above the canals and eastward of the Riverside settle- ment. There was apparently no way of getting water upon it except from the clouds. Around it were thousands of acres fertile and productive if water could be brought upon them, but bar- ren without it. To perfect the title to his sec- tion of desert land he must bring water upon it from some source. His first move was to buy some old water rights in the Santa Ana river. Next lie secured a large tract of land bordering on that river and lying about two miles south- east of San Bernardino city. On this land he began sinking welis. In 1882 he began work on his great canal. Wiseacres who "knew it all" ridiculed the scheme of the tenderfoot, and prophesied its failure. Narrow-minded people who could not comprehend the magnitude of the undertaking and who feared some injury to their petty interests opposed it. But Gage labored on undaunted, conquering every obstacle and sur- mounting every difficulty. On the Ioth of No- vember, 1886, he had twelve miles of the canal completed and was delivering water therefrom. In the year 1888 he extended the canal a dis- tance of ten miles in a southwesterly direction, skirting the foothills and bringing under irri- gation the lands now known as Arlington Heights. The main canal is twenty-three miles long, it is twelve feet wide on the bottom and four feet deep at the head; and reduces to five feet wide and four feet deep at the terminus. It is cemented through- out with Portland cement, which prevents any loss from absorption. The Gage water system covers 7,500 acres. Its total cost, includ- ing the land up to 1900, is about $2,000,000. The system and the lands under it have been trans-
ferred by its progenitor to the Riverside Trust Company, Limited, a corporation of English capitalists. This company controls the lands of Arlington Heights, and has spent a large amount of money in grading and planting trees along Victoria drive. This street rivals the celebrated Magnolia avenue. Its elevation and graceful curves afford magnificent views of the River- side valley.
The Jurupa canal is used in common by four or five different corporations. It carries about 850 inches and supplies the orchards of West Riverside and the land. along the Santa Ana riv- er. The water rights of this system are the old- est on the river, and come down from the orig- inal granting of the Jurupa rancho.
The Riverside-Highland Water Company ob- tains its supply of water from 175 acres of water- bearing land in the Lytle creek basin. It has developed about 500 inches, which is pumped in- to its pipes by electricity. To economize the cost of pumping, a tunnel was run some 3,000 feet, reaching the wells forty feet below the sur- face. The water is conveyed to the orchards in a 24-inch steel pipe twelve miles long. This water supply covers about 2,300 acres lying above the Gage canal in the Highgrove section.
CITIES AND TOWNS.
RIVERSIDE CITY.
The city of Riverside is eminently a modern city. Its beginning dates back but little more than a generation. Its municipal existence is a little over a quarter of a century. Everything about the city is new, spick and span new, bur- nished like a newly minted silver dollar. There is no lingering of passing things, no moss- grown buildings crumbling to decay. To give it a semblance of antiquity the so-called mission style of architecture has been adopted in many of the buildings, but the assumption of the style does not give the antique flavoring of the old mission buildings. The modern mission archi- tecture, both in looks and convenience, is a great improvement on the ancient. The early history of Riverside is part of the colony development and not separable from it.
The city's boundaries include 56 square miles.
493
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
In area it is the largest city in California. The object of extending its limits is the protection given to orange growers by enforcement of city ordinances against insect pests. The donation to the city of one of the original navel orange trees from which the millions of these trees that to-day cover vast areas in Southern California have been derived is referred to in the preceding chapter. The transfer of that historic tree and its replanting was a famous day in Riverside. It was replanted in its present position on May 8, 1903, by President Roosevelt. It stands in front of the Glenwood hotel, surrounded by a high railing. Notwithstanding it has given thousands upon thousands of its buds for the propagation of its species it is still vigorous and bears a crop of golden fruit each year. Tibbetts, who intro- duced the Washington navel orange into South- ern California, died a few years since in strait- ened circumstances. Riverside like all the cities of Southern California has experienced a rapid growth during the past five years. The build- ings, public and private, completed in 1904 cost in the aggregate $550,000, among these were the court house, $210,000 ; the Roosevelt block, $20,- 000; the Pennsylvania building, $47,000; Salt Lake depot, $15,000; Riverside Hospital, $30,- 000; Victoria Club House, $9.000, and about one hundred dwellings averaging about $2,200 each. The improvements and additional buildings to the Sherman Institute, begun in 1904 and com- pleted the following year, cost about $100,000. Municipal improvements have kept pace with the building of business blocks and residences. During the year 1905 and 1906 a scenic boule- vard was built to the summit of Mount Robi- doux. This driveway was completed at a cost of $50,000. From the summit of the Mount, now easily accessible by carriage or automobile, a most magnificent view of the city of Riverside and the surrounding country can be obtained. For a quarter of a century Magnolia avenue has been one of the most famous driveways in the country. Riverside has recently by the con- struction of Victoria avenue and Harwarden Drive in Arlington Heights added to the notable thoroughfares of Southern California. Instead of following straight lines the driveway curves and winds with the configurations of the land,
presenting beautiful views of the valley and the mountains. The macadamizing and oiling of Magnolia avenue was completed in 1906 at a cost of $15,000.
CORONA.
Corona, formerly South Riverside, is fifteen miles southwest of Riverside on the San Diego branch of the Santa Fe Railroad. It was found- ed in 1887 by the South Riverside Land and Water Company, of which ex-Governor Samuel Merrill of Jowa was president. The town site was platted in the form of a circle one mile in diameter. The town is encircled by a boulevard 100 feet wide, lined on each side by shade trees. The town grew rapidly at first. Six months af- ter its founding there were in it ninety buildings completed, some of them brick blocks-one a $40,000 hotel. Then it came to a standstill. The costly hotel burned down and building ceased.
Its water supply originally was obtained from Temescal cañon. As the area of cultivated land increased this supply proved inadequate. An at- tempt was made to bring water from Elsinore lake. The Corona Irrigation Company, in 1899, purchased 160 acres of land near Perris in the San Jacinto artesian belt. A cemented ditch was constructed to bring water from this source to the head of the old pipe line a distance of twenty- one miles. This greatly increased the irrigating facilities of the settlement. The town or city is incorporated. The corporation boundaries like those of Riverside take in a large area planted in oranges. This is done in order that municipal ordinances may be enacted and enforced for the eradication of insect pests.
Corona supports an excellent high school. The city has a number of mercantile and other busi- ness houses. The First National Bank of Corona was incorporated in 1905, also the Corona Home Telephone Company and the Corona Mutual Building & Loan Association with a capital stock of $200,000. It has ten packing houses. The Pacific Clay Manufacturing Company has ex- tensive works near Corona in the hills. The company manufactures pottery, tiling, fire-brick and vitrified pipe. From the granite quarries monumental building and paving rock are shipped.
494
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
The Corona free public library was established in 1900. It has an annual income from taxation of about $2,000. The total number of volumes in the library is 2,800. Andrew Carnegie, in 1905, donated $12,500 for a library building. A one-story seven room building constructed of pressed brick was opened with a formal recep- tion July 2, 1906. The citizens donated a lot 120x150 feet for the library site. A statue of Tannhauser, the gift of the Musical Club, was unveiled at the time of the dedication of the building.
The population of Corona in 1900 was 1,434. It now ( 1906) claims 2,500. Corona has several sobriquets. It is known as Circle City and Crown City, and the district as the Queen colony.
TEMECULA.
Temecula, the most southern town in the coun- ty, is the terminus of the San Jacinto, Elsinore and Temecula branch of the Santa Fe Railroad system, fifty-one miles southeast from Riverside. The town was formerly a station on the Cali- fornia Southern Railroad (now the Santa Fe), built in 1881, and connecting San Bernardino and San Diego. The great flood of 1892 destroyed the railroad in the Temecula canon, and it has not been rebuilt. Since then Temecula has been the southern terminus of the Santa Fe system in the valley between the Santa Ana and San Jacinto mountains. It is the business center of a large and productive area of fertile land. It is largely devoted to grain raising. The Teme- cula grant was in the olden time the wheat field of the Mission San Luis Rey, to which it be- longed.
MURIETTA.
Murietta, on the Temecula branch of the San ta Fe Railroad, was laid out in 1886. The Muri- etta portion (about 14,000 acres) of the Teme- cula rancho was purchased by the Temecula Land & Water Company, subdivided and placed on the market in small tracts in the autumn of 1884. Grain and hay are the principal products shipped from Murietta. There are two churches in the town, but no saloons.
The Murietta Hot Sulphur Springs, a well- known health resort, are located about three miles from the town.
ELSINORE.
Elsinore, known as the "Lake City," is twen- ty-eight miles south of Riverside. The town is located between the hills and the shore of the lake or laguna. This laguna, which gives the name to the rancho, is about five miles long by two wide. Its waters are slightly alkaline. In 1884 Graham, Collier & Heald bought the La- guna rancho, subdivided it and placed it on the market in small tracts. The town is celebrated for its hot springs. Within its limits there are over one hundred of these springs. The waters of these are efficacious in curing bronchial ail- ments, asthma, dyspepsia, rheumatism and de- rangements of the liver and kidneys. In the neighborhood of Elsinore is the most extensive coal mine in Southern California. The output of this mine is largely used in operating the factories for manufacturing vitrified salt glazed sewer pipe. There is also near Elsinore one of the largest deposits of potter's clay in the state. The town is weil supplied with schools and churches, and supports a good weekly newspaper, the Elsinore Press.
PERRIS.
Perris, sixteen miles southeast of Riverside, is located at the junction of San Jacinto and Temecula branches of the Santa Fe Railroad. The town was laid out in 1882. In 1883 the Southern California Railroad was completed to this point. The San Jacinto branch road was completed in 1888. Perris has an elevation of about 1,300 feet above the sea level. It is sur- rounded by a fine agricultural region. The fail- ure of the Bear valley irrigation scheme was a serious drawback to Perris valley, but the discov- ery that the plain around it is a great artesian belt has more than recompensed for the loss of the Bear valley water rights. Near Perris is a government Indian school, where boys and girls are being educated and trained in the industrial arts.
WINCHESTER.
Winchester is a small town on the San Jacinto branch of the Santa Fe Railroad, nine miles westerly from San Jacinto. It is surrounded by a fine agricultural country, and is within the ar- tesian belt.
495
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
LAKEVIEW.
Lakeview is connected with the Santa Fe Rail- road system by a short branch road, of which the town is the terminus. It is twenty miles south- east of Riverside. It derives its name from its proximity to San Jacinto lake, or sink of the San Jacinto river. The Lakeview Town Com- pany, a Chicago association, controls about 10,000 acres of rich fertile mesa. varying in elevation from 1,400 to 1,800 feet. The tract is irrigated from artesian wells.
HEMET.
Hemet is located on the foot hills of the San Jacinto mountains at an elevation of 1,600 feet. Its population in 1900 was 905. It has a mag- nificent water supply, the source of which is Lake Hemet, an artificial lake made by building a dam across the lower end of the Hemet valley at an elevation of 4.200 feet. The dam is con- structed of granite, and is 100 feet thick at the bottom and 30 feet at the top, and 122 feet high. The dam flows the water back nearly three miles. This water supply covers about 7,000 acres, Hemet has the only flouring mill in Riverside county. It is the starting point for the Straw- berry Valley stages.
SAN JACINTO CITY.
San Jacinto City is the terminus of the San Jacinto branch of the Santa Fe Railroad. It is the oldest town in the county. The nucleus of the San Jacinto settlement dates back into the Mexican era. The rancho San Jacinto Viejo was granted to one of the Estudillos in the early '40s, and included some 36,000 acres of the choicest land in the valley. The lines of the grant were so run as to take in most of the San Jacinto river. This gave the rancho control of about all the pasture lands of the valley.
A syndicate of capitalists in the early '80s purchased 18,000 acres of this rancho, and laid out the town of San Jacinto. The town was in- corporated April 9. 1888. The corporate limits take in six sections of land. It is substantially built, most of the buildings being brick. It was severely shaken by the earthquake of December 25, 1899, but no lives were lost in the city. San Jacinto is an important shipping point, having
about 200,000 acres of choice fruit and grain lands tributary to it.
STRAWBERRY VALLEY.
Strawberry Valley, an elevated plateau in the San Jacinto mountains, twenty-two miles from San Jacinto, has for many years been a popular summer resort. It has an elevation above the sea level of 5,200 feet. The valley is timbered with pine and oak, and has three streams of run- ning water and several springs. There were formerly two hotels in the valley, the old hotel at Strawberry and a small one at Idylwild.
In the fall of 1899 a syndicate of Los Angeles physicians, of which Dr. F. T. Bicknell is presi- dent, bought the 120 acres on which the old ho- tel was located : and next they secured the Idyl- wild tract containing 160 acres. They have since purchased adjoining tracts, making in all 1,090 acres of mountain land. This corporation, known as the California Health Resort Com- pany, is constructing a large central building of sixty rooms for a sanatorium. Besides the main building there are a number of cottages of from three to five rooms each, the occupants of which take their meals in the dining hall of the main building. In addition to these improvements the association has laid off the village of Idylwild. where cottages will be built for rent. The creeks and springs afford a plentiful supply of pure mountain water.
There are in the village a livery stable, store. bowling alleys, postoffice and many different means of out-door amusement. During the sum- mer season a daily stage connects with the Santa Fe Railroad at Hcmet. A road was built from Banning in 1905 connecting by stage line the Southern Pacific Railroad with Idylwild.
BEAUMONT.
Beatment was formerly known as San Gorg- onia. It is a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and is located on the divide or summit of the San Gorgonia pass, at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea level. The town was laid out in 1887, and had for a time quite a rapid growth. It has at present two mercantile establishments, two churches, a school-house of three depart- ments and two hotels. It is surrounded by a grain-growing district.
496
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
BANNING.
Banning, on the Yuma branch of the South- ern Pacific Railroad, was laid out in 1882. A syndicate of Nevada capitalists purchased a tract of land, a small plat of which was divided into town lots and the remainder subdivided into farm lots. A cement ditch eight miles long was con- structed up into Moore's cañon, and an abundant supply of water secured for the colony tract. Ban- ning is most picturesquely located. In its immedi- ate vicinity are Mount San Bernardino, Mount San Jacinto and Mount San Gorgonio, the three highest peaks in Southern California, and stretch- ing out to the eastward lies the Colorado desert. The Banning district produces large quantities of excellent peaches. Banning has an excellent high school, employing three teachers and hav- ing a daily attendance of twenty-five pupils.
THE COACHILLA VALLEY.
That trite old metaphor, "the desert shall be made to blossom as the rose" has been literally verified in a desert section of Riverside county. While the roses blooming in the desert may not be very numerous, there are acres of melon blos- soms. Fifty miles eastward from Riverside City lies the Coachilla (Little Shell) valley, a part of the Colorado desert. This valley extends forty miles from northwest to southeast, and is from five to fifteen miles in width. On three sides it is enclosed by mountain chains, and on the fourth it merges into an unbroken plain that stretches to the Colorado river. Its bottom is from 120 to 250 feet below the sea level. Sev- eral years since the Southern Pacific managers procured water at some of their desert stations, but the sinking of these wells was quite expen- sive. Early in the year 1900 the hydraulic proc- ess of well boring was introduced into the val- ley and proved quite successful. Bountiful sup- plies of fresh water were struck at depths vary- ing from 350 to 600 feet.
As soon as it was known that an abundance of artesian water for irrigation could be obtained at a moderate cost there was a rush for claims. Actual settlement did not begin until Septem- ber and October. 1900. and but few of the set- tlers had their wells bored and their land cleared for cultivation before February, 1901. The crop
that seemed to assure the quickest returns and the most profit was melons. By the middle of June the farmers had harvested their grain crops and were shipping cantaloupes and watermelons to Chicago at the rate of a car load a day. There are now about fifty flowing wells in the valley, which will eventually form a fruitful oasis in the desert. The heat and the entire absence of fogs ripen fruits and melons from six weeks to two months earlier than any other part of the United States. As an example of the value at which land is held, an offer of $8,000 was re- fused for the relinquishment of a homstead claim of 160 acres, of which only fifty acres had been brought under cultivation.
L'p to the autumn of 1905 over 700 acres had been reclaimed and brought under cultivation and 77,000 crates of cantaloupes were shipped. A large quantity of watermelons and grapes were produced. The encroachments of Salton Sea (which began in 1905) as it filled up from the Colorado river overflowed portions of the re- claimed desert lands of the Coachilla valley. The salt works at Salton were entirely sub- merged and destroyed. The Southern Pacific Railroad was compelled to build what is known as a "shoo fly" track three times. Its original track through the sink is under water for many miles.
SOME TWENTIETIL CENTURY EVENTS.
Among the leading events that have agitated Riverside city and county at the beginning of the present century may be named the building of a city high school at a cost of $30,000, the purchase of the Chalmers block at a cost of $20,- 000 for a court-house and county-jail site, the donation of $20,000 by the millionaire philan- thropist, Andrew Carnegie, to the city of River- side for the erection of a free library building, the letting of a contract by the board of super- visors for the construction of a $35,000 county jail, and the laying of the corner-stone of the Sherman Institute, an Indian school. The ques- tion of building a new jail called forth consid- erable discussion. Some invidious comparisons were made in regard to the policy of building a $30.000 high school for the accommodation of 300 high school pupils and the building of a
497
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
$35,000 jail for the reception of a dozen or so hobos. The supervisors nevertheless decided to build the jail.
The description of the library building will be found in Chapter LXX of this volume. The scandal about the construction of the court-house continued and grew ranker with age. It is not a pleasant subject for a Riverside resident to discuss. The wrecking of the Orange Growers' Bank is another event of unpleasant memory.
THE SHERMAN INSTITUTE.
Nearly fifty years ago Hon. B. D. Wilson, in an able report on the condition of the Southern California Indians, their needs, their treatment by the whites, the laws enacted for their govern- ment, and the cruelties to which they were sub- jected, sums up the Indian's status thus : "All punishment-no reform;" and such has been his fate under the rule of Spain, of Mexico and of the United States.
Though long delayed, for the remnants of the Southern California Indians happier days are coming. These wards of the nation are to be cared for and given a chance to reform. En- ligh:tened statesmanship has taken away the gov- ernmental support formerly given to sectarian Indian schools, and has established instead secu- lar institutions for his intellectual and industrial training.
Fifteen years ago the superintendent of In- dian affairs under President Harrison recom- mended the establishing at some point on the Pa- cific slope a government school for the industrial training of Indian youth, similiar to the great school at Carlisle, Pa. During President Mc- Kinley's first term commissioners were sent to look over the field. They recommended the lo- cation of a school at some point south of Tehachepi. The fifty-fifth congress appropriat- ed $75,000 for the purchase of land and erection of buildings. The commissioners authorized to select a site commended that offered by River- side, and congress ratified its purchase. This site consists of forty acres on Magnolia avenue, near Arlington. Congress in 1900 voted an additional appropriation for the erection of build- ings and other improvements. The plans for
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.