USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 15
USA > California > Santa Barbara County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 15
USA > California > Ventura County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 15
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Lompoc was very proud of two celebrations held this year. The first, on May 9, was the eighteenth anniversary of the Knights of Pythias of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara ank Lompoc, on which occasion there were processions, literary exercises, picnics, a bar- becne and a grand ball. The Fourth of July was also celebrated in an attractive manner.
Lompoc now has a daily mail, a bank, express and telegraph offices, six organized
churches with fine congregations, and the usual number of business houses warranted by a population of 2,000. The schools of this colony are considered among the best in the State. They employ twelve teachers. The town school is especially well conducted, and will soon be raised to a high-school grade.
The town is laid out in rectangular blocks 300 x 500 feet, the streets being eighty and 100 feet wide. The blocks are bisected by an alley twenty feet wide, and the lots are 25 x 125 and 25x140 feet. The business houses are substantial, and the dwelling houses are mostly of the latest design. Plans have been submitted and bids advertised for a new public hall, 50 x 130 feet, which will cost some $6,000, and will be the finest hall in the county. An election has been called to vote bonds for a $10,000 school-house. The present year will witness building in the town and valley to the amount of $150,000.
The town is incorporated, and it owns its own water supply.
There is a project, too, of putting in an electric light plant.
Lompoc now contains five general mer- chandise establishments, aggregating about $50,000; two hardware, of $10,000 and $20,- 000; one shoe store, $1,000; one furniture, $5,000; two drug stores, $4,000 each; one jeweler, $7,000; two lumber-yards and plan- ing mills of $25,000 and $20,000; two hotels; two tailor shops; two fruit stores; two saloons; two large livery stables; two harness-shops; two barber shops; four large blacksmith shops; two butcher-shops; two physicians; one dentist; two lawyers; and four real-es- tate dealers.
The grazing lands are excellent, and there is a large business done in live-stock. At present this valley has no railroad facilities. To the shipment of the section's products, there have been built three wharves-one at
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Lompoc Landing, Point Purisima, thirteen miles away, and at Point Arguello, fourteen miles distant, and one at Gaviota, twenty- four miles distant. Passenger travel is by stage via Gaviota or Los Alamos.
The census for 1885 showed Lompoc to have 195 boys, and 232 girls, or 427 chil- dren, of school age.
The wheat crop of Lompoc and Santa Maria Valley for 1885 was about 100,000 centals. The average yield was the best in the county-about five sacks per acre. Santa Maria Valley yielded about three sacks per acre.
In 1886 Lompoc reported a grand aggre- gate of domestic exports from that region to the value of $337,000. This was produced by 400 families, thus giving each $815, be- sides the products consumed at home. Of the crops raised, English mustard yielded 1,250 tons, of $75,000 gross value; beans 40,000 sacks, worth $50,000; wheat, $40,000; barler, $78,000; cheese and butter, $25,000; eggs and poultry, $15,000; beef cattle, $20,- 000; hogs, $15,000; horses sold, $12,000; 100 tons honey, $7,000.
An unusually industrious and intelligent class of people lias been attracted to Lompoc by the fame of the colony's high moral char- acter. This canses this district to be re- garded with particular favor for family settlement.
Adjacent to this colony are many large ranchos which will be subdivided and placed on the market in homestead tracts at an early future date.
Lands of the greatest fertility in this valley can be bought for $125 per acre. Grazing lands sell for $10 to $40 per acre.
The land of Lompoc Valley is a rich allu- vial soil, and it is very productive. Artesian wells supply water for irrigation where necessary. Thus the country tributary to
the town is adapted to agricultural and graz- ing purposes. Here 3,700 pounds of beans have been raised upon a single acre, and bar- ley has been known to yield 100 bushels to the acre, eighty bushels being not uncom- mon. The English yellow mustard is an im- portant product. It is sowed in May, and harvested in July, yielding 1,800 to 2,200 pounds to the acre, worth 2} to 3g cents per pound. The wild mustard grows so large and in such profusion that men have earned $2.50 per day cutting it for market. Wheat, corn, rye, potatoes, flax, and fruits are also grown, and the output is simply enormous. Bee-keeping also yields a considerable revenue to augment the sum total.
The apples from Lompoc were awarded at the New Orleans Exposition the first silver medal over all the other sections of the Pa- cific States and Territories.
RANCHOS.
The Santa Rita Rancho, granted to Ramon Malo by Governor Pio Pico, April 12, 1845, contained " three square leagues, a little more or less," the patent issued June 25, 1875, calling for 13,316.05 acres. The Santa Rita Valley, which opens northeasterly from the Santa Ynez, is in part a sobrante (remainder) from the Rancho de la Purisima. In early years it was used exclusively for grazing, and at that time supported a small settlement, which was the scene of many a bloody en- counter. It is owned at present mainly by Jesse Hill, and is used mainly for grazing, although it is farmed somewhat, and has several smaller owners.
East of Santa Rita lies the Rancho Santa Rosa, a magnificent estate, well watered by the Santa Ynez River, amply supplied with live- oak for fnel, and with a deep, rich soil, which, even to the hill-tops, affords the richest pas- turage. In 1881, there were grazing here
---- - - -- --
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17,000 sheep, seventy-eight cattle, and twenty horses, with feed for several thousands inore. Upward of 5,000 acres of valley and foot- hill lands are arable. From twenty acres of wheat have been harvested 1,100 bushels of grain, even with great loss in harvesting. About 100 acres are farmned to hay. The wool clip in 1880 amounted to 120,000 lbs., sold at 22g cents per pound, from twelve to thirty-five men being employed in this in- terest, at different seasons of the year. This rancho is now owned by J. W. Cooper.
The Rancho Canon de Sal si Puedes is so named from a cañon winding through it, so tortuous as to deserve the Spanish namne, "Get-out-if-you-can." Prior to 1874 it passed into the possession of Hollister & Dibblce, who used it for sheep grazing. It is accred- ited by the United States patent with 6,656 .- 21 acres. It is now the exclusive property of the Hollister estate.
The Rancho San Julian, of 48,221.68 acre- age, was granted to George Rock, April 7, 1837, and the claim was purchased and its title perfected by José de la Guerra y Nor- iega. It is singularly diversified and attract- ive in its topography, being made np of rolling hills and dipping valleys, watered by running brooks and numerous living springs of pure water. Its largest and loveliest valley is the Cañada San Julian, a branch of the old Pu- risima Mission, where the padres used to make wine. The soil is deep, rich, strong, and productive to the tops of the hills, the grass being thick, deep and dense. The lead- ing trees are the live-oak, willow, sycamore, manzanita, and madroño. In 1881, there were estimated to be 70 horses, 575 cattle, and 64,703 sheep, upon the San Julian and the Sal si Puedes ranchos. The natural in- crease of flocks in this favored section is little short of marvelons. The San Julian Rancho now belongs to T. B. & A. Dibblee.
About three miles east of Point Concepcion begins the coast line of the Rancho Punta de la Concepcion, comprising the ranchos La Espada and El Cojo, and including an area of 24,992.04 acres, belonging to P. W. Murphy. The coast line extends north- westerly about twenty miles, the interior boundary of the rancho lying nearly parallel to, and about three and a half miles distant from its coast line. In the northern part, this rancho partakes of the general character of the Lompoc lands, being chiefly mesa and low valley hill lands; in the southern portion, near Point Concepcion, it is composed of very ragged and picturesqne outlines. The body of the land adjacent to the point is, in a fair year, good pasture, being a part of the Rancho el Cojo, famous for its rich grazing and fine beef. Some cereals are raised in the northern part of the rancho, but cattle-raising is the principal business. This rancho is characterized by that bold promontory, some 220 feet high, situated where the coast trends suddenly from east and west below to a line alinost at right angles north and south. This point, whose position is given by the Coast Survey as latitude 34° north, longitude 120° west, has been termed the "Cape Horn" and the "Cape Hatteras" of the Pacific, on account of the heavy northwesters here met on emerging from the channel, the climatic and mneteorological conditions also changing with remarkably sudden and sharp definition, so that vessels coming from the eastward with all sails set, are at once reduced to short canvas on approaching the cape. This point was discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, and called C pe Galera, which name was after- ward changed to the present. The view from the headland is extended and magnificent. It bears a lighthouse, whose lantern, 250 feet above the water, can plainly be seen in clear weather from the Santa Barbara hills, forty
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miles away. The light shown is a white revolving half-minute flash, of the first order of the Fresnel system. This light was built on land supposed to belong to the Govern- ment, but which proved to be a part of the grant purchased by the Murphys. After much delay as to repairs, etc., because of the insecurity of title, the United States in 1881 purchased from the owners for $10 000 a ·title to the lighthouse buildings, etc., and thirty acres of land adjoining. At Point Arguello, about twelve miles north of Point Concep- cion, the Sudden Wharf was built in 1881. About three miles from Point Argnello, on the Espada Rancho, there are hot sulphur springs.
The Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio, containing 26,529 acres, was granted to Antonio Maria Ortega, August 1, 1834. It has a coast-line of about twenty miles, and from the coast an average depth of three miles. The rancho is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Gaviota Pass, about sixty feet wide, the only natural gateway into the Santa Barbara mountains between the San Buenaventura River and Point Concepcion. This pass is an important outlet for a wide scope of country behind the mountains, in- cluding most of the western portion of the country. Its landing at Gaviota is good and safe, having the substantial wharf, 1,000 feet long (built by Hollister & Dibblee in 1875) to accommodate a large shipping business. And, in effect, a large business is done here, principally in live-stock, wool, general mer- chandise, sacked grain, miscellaneons farm and ranch produce, and Inmber. This wharf is about thirty-eight miles from Santa Bar- bara, and twenty-cight miles from the Lompoc wharf A peculiarity of this locality is a strong off-shore wind, which somewhat interfercs with the landing of sailing vessels, while, in consequence of the strong blast 7
always coming down the pass, no vessel is ever thrown against the shore. The scenery hereabonts is very picturesque.
The topography of the Rancho de Nuestra Señora del Refugio is very similar to that of the San Julian. It is mainly utilized as a sheep rancho.
LOS ALAMOS VALLEY.
The next valley is Los Alamos. It is watered by an arroyo of the same name, which rises in the San Rafael Mountains, and, some- times sinking out of sight, empties into the sea between Point Purisima and Point Sal. This is a long valley, being in its broadest part scarcely more than two miles wide. It contains but one town, Los Alamos.
Lying between the Santa Ynes and the Santa Maria Valley, stretches this valley, some twenty-five miles long by two miles wide. It is drained by an arroyo of the same name, which flows almost due west, some- times with sinks below the surface. This district comprises the ranchos of La Laguna, Los Alamos, Todos Santos, north half of Jesus Maria, Casmali, the hill lands of Point Sal, and adjoining Government lands. The total area of these ranchos, as shown by the United States patents, is 149,305.60 acres. Until a comparatively recent date, cattle and sheep raising were the principal industries, but now immense quantities of wheat, barley. beans, hay, hogs, bricks and lime, as well as horses, cattle and wool, are shipped annually. The grazing interests on May 1, 1881, were represented about as fol- lows: horses, 495; cattle, 1,400; sheep, 50,- 000. There are in this district about 40,000 acres adapted to tillage. The soil is mixed, the greater portion being heavy loam, partic- ularly in the valley proper. There is also adobe and sandy loam, with bits inclining to a shaly character. The rainfall is somewhat
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less than at Santa Barbara, varying from seven to fifteen inches. The temperature is very equable, averaging 65° the year around. The hottest weather comes here in September, when the record occasionally reaches 95° to 115°, though these extremes are very rare, and of brief duration. The sea-breeze tempers the climate notably. Save for trees in their first year, there is no necessity for irrigation, but an inexhaustible supply of surface water is obtained by digging ten to twenty feet. These wells afford the domestic supply. The perfection of the crops here is attributed to the great depth of soil, the nearness of water to the surface, and the protection from dry- ing winds afforded by the hills. The hill- sides afford good feed in all seasons. Wheat, barley, corn, beans, flax and hemp are the staple products of the soil; flax and hemp grow so luxuriantly as to promise an impor- tant revenue, not only from the fiber but also the seed. The yield of wheat in 1880 was 115,000 centals, and the acreage is con- stantly increasing, the yield being twenty to forty bushels to the acre; barley averages twenty-five to sixty bushels to the acre; hay reaches three and a half tons to the acre in an ordinary year. Butter and cheese also are produced.
The prosperity of this section is evinced by the excellent condition of all improve- ments, public and private. Roads kept in good order, fences, dwellings, barns, and out- buildings all of the best kind, are an index to the status of the community.
Within this district are three sea-shipping points, distant as follows from the town of Los Alamos: Point Sal, twenty-five miles; Chute Landing, twenty-two miles; Lompoc Wharf at Point Purisima, twenty-five iniles.
La Laguna Rancho lies at the head of this valley. It was granted to Miguel Avila, No- vember 3, 1845, and confirmed to Octaviano
Gutierrez, the United States patent calling for 48,703.91 acres. This rancho has suffered many decimations. It is traversed by the county road.
The Rancho Los Alamos was granted to José Antonio Carrillo, March 9, 1839, con- sisting of 48.803.38 acres. The United States patent was issued September 12, 1872. It embraced about one-third of the entire valley. A heavy lawsuit lias made this rancho conspicuous. On the original tract were pastured on March 1, 1881, 300 horses, 500 cattle, and 25,000 sheep.
Todos Santos Rancho originally contained 22,200. It was granted to Salvador Osio, November 3, 1844, and confirmed to William E. P. Hartwell; the patent calls for 10,722.17 acres. The live-stock here on March 1, 1881, was 50 horses, 200 cattle, and 3,000 sheep.
The Rancho Jesus Maria was granted to Lucas Olivera, April 8, 1837, containing 42,184.93 acres, and the southern two-thirds portion was confirmed to Lewis T. Burton. Some 10,000 acres of this land is adapted to cereals. Its stock on March 1, 1881, consisted of 40 liorses, 500 cattle, and 10,000 sheep.
The Casınali Rancho was granted to An- tonio Olivera, September 12, 1840, it con- taining 8,841.21 acres. It has a two-mile coast line, and extends some six miles into the interior. It produces some cereals, but stock-raising is the main interest. On March 1, 1881, there were here 25 horses, 150 cat- tle, and 6,000 sheep. The black sand of the shore is mined for gold, in a small way. In 1875 was made an unsuccessful attempt to colonize this rancho.
Point Sal is at the' extremity of a promi- nent cape that projects into the Pacific from the Government lands lying between the Casmali and the Gaudalupe. It is about twenty-four miles from Los Alamos, and twenty-one miles from Lompoc. For some
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years freight was discharged here by lighter through the surf. Then, after the rejection of several petitions, a wharf was built in 1874; it was carried away by a storm in 1876; was rebuilt the next spring, and washed away again the following winter; then, being rebuilt, it still remains.
The coast here is bold and rugged, rising twenty to 100 feet above the water. At the point is a laguna, some three miles long, cov- ering about 3,000 acres, which is a great re- sort for water-fowl, many of which are shot for their feathers.
Owing to dissatisfaction with the admin- istration of the Point Sal wharf, a stock com- pany was formed, and a chute landing constructed near by, where there was a shel- tered and safe anchorage. The first grain was received for shipment in 1880, and 13,000 tons of grain were handled here the first two years. In this time. it is said, the chute landing saved to the farmers its full first cost, in freight and wharfage. After some years this wharf was bought out by a steamship company, for the purpose of forcing the traffic over another landing, already established by the company.
Adjacent to the mouth of Los Alamos Ar- royo is Lompoc Wharf, built in 1876.
The name Los Alamos means "The Cot- tonwoods," which trees were conspicuous by their absence, upon this rancho. In 1867 John S. Bell bought from José Antonio de la Guerra y Carrillo that portion of the rancho whereon the town now is situated, which, for some ten years thereafter, he de- voted to the raising of sheep and cattle. In 1873 the stage route which hitherto had passed through the Tiniquiac rancho was so changed as to run through Los Alamos, and then buildings were erected for a barn and eating-house for passengers ..
In 1876 John Purkiss built at Los Alamos
the pioneer mill of Santa Barbara County, and during the same year, C. D. " Patterson " tested the farming capabilities of the region with such success that the future of the val- ley was assured from the agricultural stand- point. A store and a hotel were built, and in 1887 Mr. Bell, together with Dr. J. B. Shaw, who had now acquired a portion of the rancho, laid out the town of Los Alamos, and built a steam flouring-mill. In 1882 Mr. Peter Conyer built a public assembly hall. Dr. Shaw donated a lot, and a fine school-house was built upon it. In October, 1882, the Pacific Coast Railway reached the place, and built a fine depot and water tanks, and established a telegraph line. On Janu- ary 24, 1884, was issned the first number of a newspaper, the Los Alamos Herald. By this time the town had eight business houses, shops and stores, and 100 dwelling houses, all occupied.
There are now in Los Alamos two large general merchandise houses, two good hotels, one drug store, two livery stables, two black- smith shops, one barber shop, several carpen- ters, one paint shop, one hardware store, one meat market, two laundries, one steam roller flouring-mill, one brewery, one stationer's shop, one lumber yard, one harness shop, one millinery shop, several saloons, a money-or- der postoffice, an express office, and one practicing physician.
The public shool-house is a fine $5,000 building, containing two departments. The Methodist congregation has a fine brick church, which is used also by the Presbyte- rians. Each of these denominations has a resident clergyman.
Los Alamos lias the usual number of justices, constables, notaries, insurance agents, etc. There is also a live weekly newspaper, the Progress. The population is about 500.
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Los Alamos is on the line of the Pacific Coast Railway, between San Luis Obispo and Los Olivos.
There is here an abundant rainfall, insur- ing good crops every year, the quantity of water falling here exceeding that in most other localities. No irrigation is required for crops. This section abounds in living springs, and good water can be obtained almost anywhere at a depth of ten or fifteen feet.
Not least among the advantages is the fact that good live-oak wood can be obtained here in any quantity for but little more than the price of cutting. There is also plenty of game in this vicinity.
On July 28, 1886, the schooner Columbia, with a cargo of 100,000 feet of Inınber and 3,000 posts for the Lompoc Lumber Com- pany, went ashore in a fog, at the mouth of Los Alamos Creek, and was a total loss. Most of the cargo, being strewn along the beach, was saved.
SANTA YNES VALLEY.
The Santa Ynes is the largest of the five valleys, including an area of 120,000 acres of farming land and 280,000 of pasturage.
The Santa Ynes Valley is in the form of a horseshoe. The San Rafael Mountains on the north and the Santa Ynes range on the south meet at the eastern extremity of the valley, which they divide from the narrow strip of land in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. These mountains meeting form the toe of the horseshoe, where rises the Santa Ynes River, which runs westward through the whole val- ley, emptying into the Pacific a few miles north of Lompoc. The western end of this valley is open to the Pacific, which largely accounts for the delightful climate of this section, the western trade winds being felt all the length of the valley. This valley may be
divided into two parts, the upper or Santa Ynes Valley proper, and the lower or Lom- poc Valley. The former comprises the fol- lowing large ranchos: San Carlos de Jonata or Buell, Corral de Quati. De Zaca, Cañada de los Pinos or College Ranch, San Marcos, Tequepis, Nojogui (often misspelled Nojo- qui), Los Prietos y Najalayegna, Las Lomas de la Purificacion, and part of Las Cruces; in all about 223,185 acres, of which at least 50,000 acres are adapted to agriculture and horticulture. There are also Government lands obtained from Mision Santa Ynes, and comprising the Alamo Pintado, some 6,000 acres in extent. Most of the soil is a rich, gravelly loam, which is very easy to culti- vate, and which, when kept loose by cultiva- tion, retains sufficient moisture to keep fruit trees of all kinds, and vines, to grow entirely well without irrigation through the dryest season. Some of the rich bottom lands of this district will raise the finest of summer crops, of corn, beans, etc., without irrigation.
The whole valley is magnificently watered by the river and by tributary creeks from the mountains on both sides. Good well water is had almost everywhere at ten to 100 feet below the surface, and there is no doubt that on a great portion of the land artesian water can be had at little depth. The entire valley is beautifully wooded with scattered oaks and sycamores. White, red, and green chestnut oaks (Quercus lobata, rubra, and demiflora) are found, the white oak supplying the farmers with fence posts at very small cost. Along the creeks are found the alder, the bay or sweet laurel, and the willow. A species of pine is found in the San Rafael moun- tains.
The valley is reached from Santa Barbara by the San Marcos Pass over the mountains, this route being forty-five miles; or else through the Gaviota, a natural pass or defile
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through the Santa Ynez mountains, it being sixty miles by this way.
This valley hitherto has been so difficult of access, and the removal of crops to market has been so expensive, that the farmers' profits have been small, and land has been heldvery low.
Until recently, this valley was used exclu- sively for grain, great quantities, of a very fine quality, being raised annually. There is no rust or blight found here, and wheat has yielded thirty to fifty bushels to the acre. Barley also yields exceedingly well.
Some years ago, Mr. A. Hayne, Jr., of Montecito, became satisfied that the Santa Ynes, particularly the Alamo Pintado, other- wise Ballard's Valley, was thoroughly adapted to the culture of the olive. This idea was based on the gravelly nature of the soil, and the extreme dryness of the climate, the absence of the fogs felt on the coast obviating the ravages of the olive's worst foe, the black scale. Accordingly, in 1884 he set out 5,000 young trees just below the old Mis- sion. Two years later they bore fruit. Mr. Hayne, with the Messrs. Gould, of New York, has since planted another orchard of 5,000 trees; Mr. Ben. Hayne planted 2,500, and now olive culture has become the leading industry of the valley. Next in importance comes vine-planting, the vineyard of Mr. Louis Janin having demonstrated that the raisin grape will do splendidly anywhere in the valley and on the foot-hills.
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