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 24
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 24
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 24
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).
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* * It is a matter of history that gold was shipped from San Luis Obispo and neighboring counties prior to its discovery by Marshall in 1848. The explor- ers of the Pacific Railroad reported gold west of Salinas in 1854, though its existence in the San Jose Mountains had long been known. Gold has been and is still washed from sands in the bed of the San Marcos Creek, about four miles northwest of Paso Robles, during the wet months of the year, yielding, it is said, as high as from $3 to $4 per man per day. Placer claims have also been worked thirty miles southeast of Templeton since 1870-'71, ground sluicing and panning when water has been plentiful, having yielded from $2 to $4 per day.
The placer mines of the La Panza District are the best known, and are probably of the most importance. They are situated at the southeastern part of the San José range, which rises as a formidable mountain joining the Santa Lucia, and over $100,000 in gold have been taken ont. During 1878 there was quite a rush to these parts, and prospect- ing was carried on in nearly all the gulches leading from the San José range to the San
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
Juan River. The chief interest was centered in the de la Guerra Gulch, where the most mining was done,-even as late as 1882; also upon the Navajo Creek, which is a stream of constantly flowing water. Some of these placers have yielded as high as $4 per day. The gold was coarse, pieces worth 50 cents or 80 cents being of frequent occurrence. Haystack Cañon also has running water, and gold. Near the head of this canon are falls of twenty feet, where the water descends into a basin nearly twenty feet across, and ten or twelve feet deep.
These streams reach the channel of the San Juan during very wet weather. Of late years these mines have not been actively worked, chiefly on account of the scarcity of water. In the southern portion of the county gold has also been found in sands on the seashore ín considerable quantity. They are reported as yielding from $1.50 to $2 per day to the miner, and, as the gold dust appears to be renewed by the washing of the sea, the de- posits are practically inexhaustible. San Luis Obispo is credited with the production of $6,200 in gold during the year 1889, as re- ported by the director of the United States mint.
San Luis Obispo, in common with all of the California missions, holds to the custom- ary legends of rich silver mines having been formerly worked within its borders by the Indians and old Spanish padres.
In 1862, during the great copper excite- ment, several copper mines were opened in the northwestern part of the county. Green Elephant and North Mexican were among the most promising. In 1863 copper was obtained and smelted in the neighborhood of these mines, and shipped to San Francisco. Sulphurites, carbonates, and silicate ores are widely distributed throughout the county, · the float rock being often very rich. Cuban-
ite, a sulphide of copper and iron, is said to exist abundantly upon Santa Rosa Creek.
Quicksilver was discovered in 1872, by a Mexican, in the mountains west of San Simeon, although it was long known to exist in the county by the Indians, who used it as a paint, and were in the habit of visiting the Santa Lucia range of mountains to procure it for that purpose. Over 150 quicksilver claims are recorded in the San Simeon dis- trict. In 1871 discoveries of cinnabar were inade at Cambria; also about eight miles north of the first discovery, near the north- east corner of Piedras Blancas Rancho, which led to the discovery of the Pine Mountain lode, on the summit of the Santa Lucia. On this lode eight claims were located, from which a large quantity of ore, stated to aver- age 2} per cent., has been extracted. The Gibson and Phillips claims, the Santa Maria, Buckeye, and Jeff Davis, are all located on the same lode. The San José mines were located in 1872 upon the eastern slope of the Santa Lucia range. The principal mine that has been developed is the Oceanic. The original claims, three in number, were located in 1874, and are situated on the north side and three-quarters of a mile from Santa Rosa Creek, and five miles from Cambria. The ledge runs eastand west, dipping to the north at an angle of abont seventeen degrees; the vein is said to vary from eight feet to thirty-two feet in width. At times over 300 men were employed in these works. Three furnaces were erected, at a cost of $90,000. Good returns were inade on the capital while the price of quick- silver was high, but when it fell to 40 cents per pound it was found impossible to produce it at a profit, and work was suspended.
Large deposits of chromite exist in various parts of the county, but mining has been principally carried on in the Santa Lucia and Buchon ranges. Rackliff's mine is situated
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
five miles northwest of the county-seat; is leased to William Copeland & Co. Devel- opments have been carried on here to a lim ited extent during the past year, and between 100 and 200 tons of the chromite were shipped to San Francisco; price paid at San Luis Obispo, $9.00. The San Juan, Castro, Primera, El Salto, and El Devisadero, which are situated nortbeast of San Luis Obispo, are the property of Goldtree Brothers. These mines have not been worked during the cur- rent year, there being sufficient chromite al- ready on the dump to satisfy the deinand. The price obtained is $8.50 per ton at San Luis Obispo. The principal shipments have been to Germany. William Goldtree states that it would not pay to work these mines unless $12 per ton could be obtained for the average produet. The mines are patented. G. Jasper is working a mine seven or eight miles distant from San Luis Obispo, and he ships about 150 tons per year to Baltimore. The price obtained is 88 per ton. It is the opinion of those conversant with chromic mining in the county that a miner could only make wages by working his own mines at snch a figure.
Several deposits of electro-silicon occur in the county, particularly in the vicinity of the bay of San Luis Obispo and San Carpojoro. The deposits at the latter place have so far proved of the greatest value, great quantities having been shipped for polishing purposes. The name of Salinas (saline) was given to the principal river of San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties because of the saline springs along its banks and tributaries. In the mountains, about the rivers' headwaters, are many salt springs of the strongest brine, and large deposits of salt roek. Black Lake is a small sheet of water, half a mile in di- ameter and of irregular contour, situated near the summit of the San José mountains, and
is so intensely salt as to form a brine suitable for the preservation of meat without further concentration. The salt deposits of the Car- riso Plain appear like a dry lake, being five iniles in length' and from half a mile to two miles in breadth. The salt covers the bed to a depth of from six inches to two feet, and is sufficiently pure to be used for many pnr- poses. It is much used for stock, being hauled away in wagons to the ranchos, twenty or more miles distant. Water intensely salt is found at a depth of two or three feet be- neath the surface in the vicinity of this deposit.
Limestone is found in many localities in this eonnty. In the vicinity of Nipomo Rancho is a large body of soft, marly lime- stone, that produces a fair article of lime. A good supply of limestone suitable for lime is now being obtained in Lopez Cañon, abont eight miles east of the town of Arroyo Grande, and lime burning has been com- menced there with a good prospect of suc- cess. The immense bed of fossil elams and oysters, near the Oceanic mine, and on the Santa Margarita Raneho, and the huge Os- trea titans occurring in several places, when burnt, yielded a fair article of lime, which has been used extensively in retorting at the quicksilver mines in this county.
Gypsum is found at the headwaters of Ar- royo Grande and on Navajo Creek.
Coal was discovered in this county as early as 1863 on the beach at San Simeon, by William Leffingwell, who used it for blaek- smithing. The San Simeon Coal Mining Company was subsequently started by C. B. Rutherford, of Oakland. This is said to have been the first mining company started in the county. The outerop of the vein was two feet in width, and usually covered with water at high tide. A shaft was sunk to a depth of about 100 feet, at which point the
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
coal dwindles to a mere seam, and mining was abandoned. Coal has also been found in the mountains east of the town of San Luis Obispo, but not in sufficient quantities to pay for working.
There are several varieties of building stone in the county. The range of peaks which extends from San Luis Peak to Moro Rock are composed of trachytic porphyry, which is used locally, and of late there has been some talk of establishing a quarry either at Moro Rock or some of the neigh- boring peaks. A sandstone crops ont also a half mile southeast of Arroyo Grande, and extends to Los Varos Creek. At the latter place a quarry has been opened by Hugill Brothers. About fifty feet of rock are here exposed, which is a light buff-colored sand- stone, soft when quarried, and can be sawed into cubes, but becomes hard upon exposure to the atmosphere. This stone has been much used for chimneys and foundations in this vicinity. A quarry of similar rock is said to have been opened by J. S. Rice five miles from Pismo wharf.
There is a notable onyx mine five miles from Musick, in the heart of the Santa Lucia mountains, amidst rugged, precipitous spurs and ridges, which make the scenery exceed- ingly wild and grand. Here, ten years ago, David Musick, while hunting for deer, dis- covered the character of the rock, and claims were made as for a gold or silver bearing vein, as the locality was Government land. A company was formed and prospecting was done, but the locators, not seeing their way clear to develop the mine, presently sold it for $250 to J. and F. Kessler, marble-workers of San Francisco, who have jealously guarded and extended their claim, and, having per- fected the title, are now ready to open the property. A road is in course of construc- tion from Musick along arroyos and over
ridges to the ledge, being built for the com- paratively small sum of $1,300. The sum- mit of this ridge is 1,900 feet above sea level, the Santa Lucia range here reaching an ele- vation of 2,000 to 3,500 feet, and forming the watershed of the Arroyo Grande flowing southwest, the Huasna flowing south, and the Salinas north by west. The surrounding country affords good grazing and an abundance of live oak and chapparal.
The onyx ledge runs athwart the ridge bearing slightly west of north and east of south. Faces of from twenty to forty-five feet in height have been opened on the ledge on each side of the ridge, the northern one showing a brilliant white mass of rock in seams of two to sixteen inches in thickness, standing nearly perpendicular. The southern opening is about half a mile from the first, of similar formation, but showing rock of vari- ous colors, of yellow, green, blue, golden, · white and other shades, giving it the highest value for ornamental work. This, Mr. Kess- ler claims is the most beautiful and valuable deposit of onyx known in the world. The ledge is sixteen feet in thickness and the opening exposes to view more than a thousand tons of the rock. The ontward appearance is of a rusty, rugged stone, not attractive until broken and the lines and waves of the blend- ing colors seen. A few tons have been drag- ged down the mountain in sleds and taken to San Francisco, where it was sawed into slabs or cut into such shapes as required and pol- ished. A piece eight inches square and half inch thick, was sold to Gov. Stanford for $25. In a rough state it sells readily for $100 a ton. The proprietor showed a fragment of eight feet in length, by sixteen to eighteen inches in breadth and thickness, which he said would be worth $300 in San Francisco. This would be cut into thirty slabs half an inch thick, and polished, and be worth $10 a square
11
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
foot at least, or bring a return of $3,600. Others become valuable according to their colors and the forms they are worked into. The labor this will employ and the value re- sulting is inconceivable. There is now a rage for colored onyx in a vast variety of forms, -of mantels, tables, counters, pillars, panels, frames, ornaments, etc. But the customers are among the rich of the East and Europe. It cannot be utilized but to a slight extent in California. The railroad forbids, and the high rates of labor give, an advantage elsewhere. The raw material will go by sail- ing vessel to Atlantic and European ports for $9 a ton. In New York it can be worked by labor at $1.50 a day; in France and Italy at 50 cents a day, and in Belgium at 25 cents a day, while in San Francisco such labor de- mands from $3 to $4 a day. Thus it will be worked abroad, and, what Californians want, will pay the railroad $45 a ton and vast profits to the employers of cheap labor. But San Luis Obispo will have the honor of sup- plying the beautiful material in its crude state and profit on the glory.
Near the summit on the divide and on the line of the onyx ledge is a spring of very sin- gular water. It tastes like the water from oysters, and a conmon glass full is a strong purgative. Bruises, cuts, poison oak and other sores are quickly cured by bathing in it. For medicinal purposes this water appears very valuable, and what it is, is a inystery.
" At and in the immediate vicinity of Port Harford there are extensive bodies of ser- pentine.
BITUMINOUS ROCK.
" On the ' Rancho El Pismo,' about seven miles southeast of San Luis Obispo, * * great quantities of all the rocks are saturated with bitumen. There are, it is true, places where the rock is free from bitumen and
other places where the percentage which it contains is small. But the greater portion of it, where the quarry has been opened, is about as full of bitumen as it can hold, and the quantity easily available here is practically inexhaustible. A short sidetrack from the Pacific Coast Railway runs directly to the quarry. [Blasting is required, and the quar- rying is often perilous, from the clinging for a while of a portion of the very tough rock, which will afterwards fall suddenly, in pieces of many tons' weight, which drop without warning .- Y. H. A.] They are now shipping this rock both to Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco for pavements, for which it seems to be admirably adapted.
" At a point about three-quarters of a mile from this quarry, there is another large de- posit of bituminous sandstone very heavy- bedded, on the 'Corral de Piedra' Rancho. It is called . Oak Park.' But very little work has been done yet at this locality, and the exposures are not so good as could be de- sired.
" Mr. J. J. Schifferly also has a rancho of 1,344 acres, about one mile westerly from Adams & Nicholls' quarry (these gentlemen own the two first mentioned), where most of the hills are full of bituminous rock. There is probably enough of this material within a few square miles in this vicinity to pave all the cities in the United States.
" Mr. A. B. Hasbrouck, who owns a rancho called ' Ranchito,' in the Santa Lucia range of mountains, about twenty-two miles south- east of the city of San Luis Obispo, and ou the headwaters of the Arroyo Grande, states that on his place there are large quantities of asphaltnm, with some petroleum springs and much sulphur water."
The large deposits of asphaltum and the presence of rock saturated with bitumen sng- gested the presence of petroleum, and in May,
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
1886, Messrs. Nicholls, Adams & Walker undertook the boring for oil in the valley of the San Luis Creek, about two miles from the ocean. At a depth of 600 feet a body of hot sulphur water, accompanied by gas was struck. The boring was continued to a depth of 900 feet, when an accident occurred that caused the further prosecution of the work to cease.
At this depth the flow of water is about 3,000 barrels a day, with a jet of gas burning with a flame three feet high from an aperture two inches in diameter. The water has a tem- perature of 100 degrees, and the "oil well" has become the Hot Sulphur Well, and the locality improved as a bathing and health resort. A hotel and bathing· honses have been erected, and, the site possessing many attrac- tions, it bids fair to become one of the many popular resorts of the coast.
The boring for oil led the same parties to investigating the formation of the rocks in the neighborhood, and over a large area it was found that certain sandstones were saturated with bitninen, forming a rock very valuable for paving purposes.
Through a region of twenty miles in length by four in width, were found many high, rocky projections almost rising into moun- tains, largely composed of this bituminous rock. These barren ridges, previously re- garded as of little value, immediately became objects of great demand. A paving material of such value, in such unlimited abundance and of so easy access appears a discovery of inestimable value to the world.
This material is used in paving in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities, causing a demand at this early day of its development of some 3,000 tons a month. The consumption of this rock will largely increase, creating a very important business and become a great source of wealth to the county.
The main bituminons rock mines are sitn- ted in a belt one mile wide and ten miles long, extending fro n San Luis Creek to Ar- royo Grande, and from five to fifteen miles south and southeast from San Luis Obispo. About 30,000 tons were mined and exported last year. The quantity in the hills is in- finite. The chemical analysis of this sub- stance is as follows: finely divided sand, 65 .- 917; bitumen, 16.255; iron and alumina, 8 .- 405; calcium carbonate, 8.212; magnesium carbonate, 1.003; undetermined, .208; total, 100. Some seven or eight companies are en- gaged in mining this rock. The S. L. O. Bituminons Rock Company, it is said, will build a wharf about a half a mile south of Cave Landing. The company is developing the rich mine within 1,500 feet of the pro- posed wharf.
DAIRYING.
We believe that California has advantages second to .no State in the Union for dairying and cattle raising; the only drawback being the high price of labor; but the soil, climate and native grasses are all exceedingly favor- able, making San Luis Obispo County one of the best, if not the banner county for this industry.
Although one of the youngest counties in the business, and for many years compara- tively inaccessible, it has long occupied the second place for productiveness, and now claims the first place.
The rainy and consequently grass season is expected in November or December and lasts till June-that is, the season for green and growing native grasses produced spon- taneonsly, wild oats and volunteer grain often being five inches high during the first of December. The climate is peculiarly fitted for dairying, on account of the feed grasses, and general vegetation being con-
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
stantly kept in good condition by the moist- ure from the ocean, besides the regular rainy seasons, and there being no necessity for irrigation; the trade winds make the climate warmer in winter, keeping off frosts and freezing weather.
As a result of such a climate and soil we have a luxurious growth of the most nutri- tions grasses known on this coast; all kinds of small grain, corn, roots, alfalfa, Australian rye and orchard and other foreign grasses are grown successfully.
At the commencement of the rainy season the native grasses, to-wit, wild oats, alfilaria, various kinds of clover and bunch grass spring up as it by magic. Later comes the alfalfa, which continnes green all the year ex- cept during the very few frosty nights when it is cut down; but the first crop in winter, being rank and sour, is cut and used for hay. The dairy cows are also fed green corn, and later, roots, squashes and hay; the squashes will keep nearly all winter if well matured, and the carrots and beets may remain in the ground till needed, and will keep growing. and are often carried over until the next sea- son. In that case they will come in for feed when the native grasses begin to mature and dry, and consequently need something to go with them.
Thus it will be seen that there is no need of resorting to silos in order to have the proper milk-producing feed the year round. The native grasses, when they mature dry and remain upon the ground, make a very good quality of hay in this climate, and the seeds of the burr clover, particularly, are like grain, on which the stock cattle and dry cows sub- sist during the whole dry season. The num- ber of squashes and roots that can be grown to the acre is wonderful-from twenty to forty tons of green corn, alfalfa and squash; from fifty to 100 tons of roots; the writer
has weiged single mangel-wurtzels that aver- aged over 100 pounds, and squashes 270 pounds. He also made a three-days test of the milk from 150 cows while grazing on the native grasses, to ascertain the value of the milk for butter and cheese. The cream was separated from the milk by a Lavel Separa- tor, and 17.76 pounds of milk made a pound of butter, eight and three eighths pounds of milk made one pound of cheese from the press, good solid cheese; thus demonstrating the native grasses to be the very best cheese and butter producing food. In most locali- ties it takes about ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese, and twenty-five pounds of milk to make a pound of butter on the average. The above test was made from all the milk of 150 cows for three consecutive days, furnishing a test of the most conclusive character.
For thirty years there has not been a day in which there has not been made cheese or butter in some of the dairies there. When put to extra expense, by raising feed, prices of produce are higher. By milking the year round they keep their best help, dis- tribute the calf-raising, keep their business or- ganized and their stock in good condition. Thus they can dairy profitably the year round.
A Holstein cow that was fed bran and . shorts in addition to grass, and milked twice a day, made by actual weight. 17,270 pounds of milk in one year. It was her first year in the county, and she was carrying a calf dur- ing eight months of the time. Several of two-year-old Holstein heifers, under pre- cisely the same treatment, made about 10,- 250 pounds of milk in one year. It can safely be said from the above showing that San Luis Obisbo is the banner dairy county, and that her cows and grasses can not be ex- celled in this or any other State.
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
EXPORTS.
Perhaps, on the whole, no better judgment may be found of the resources of the county than that founded upon a resume of the ex- ports of material produced over and above those needed for home consumption. To this end is hereinafter given a statement of the exports from Port Harford for the last four years.
FOR THE YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1886.
Tons.
Beans
3,368.8
Wheat
13,847.5
Barley
9,024.8
Oats
657.1
Rye
83.0
Flax seed
306.9
Other grains
203.9
Wool
334,6
Lumber
9,903.0
Wood
1,192.0
Coal
465.3
Asphaltum
415.2
Bituminous Rock
912.6
Butter.
892.0
Cheese
181-7
Hides and pelts.
81.2
Cattle
1,416.0
Hogs
1,213.8
Sheep
649,8
Other live-stock
78.9
Agricultural implements
134.4
Merchandise.
9,189 9
Total
54,552.4
FOR THE YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1887.
Tons.
Beans
3,062.9
Wheat.
7,271.3
Barley
9,423.6
Oats
237.5
Rye
74.2
Flax seed.
47.4
Other grains.
896.3
Wool.
271.1
Lumber
17,677.4
Wood 1,473.4
Coal.
174.9
Asphaltum
383,4
Bituminous rock
2,470.1
Chrome ore.
1,115.4
Butter
853.1
Tons.
Cheese.
167.2
Hides and pelts
93.8
Cattle.
451.3
Hogs 1,635.3
Sheep.
200.9
Other live-stock.
134.8
Agricultural implements 52.2
Merchandise 12,262.9
Total
60,430.4
FOR THE YEAR ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1888.
Tons.
Beans
1,338,5
Wheat
8,383.9
Barley
16,724.8
Oats
1,173.1
Rye.
25.8
Flax seed
36.7
Other grains
197.7
Wool.
145.1
Lumber
21,770.3
Wood
1,524.0
Coal.
3,310.9
Asphaltum
190.2
Bituminous rock.
19,063.0
Chrome ore.
635.0
Butter.
978.7
Cheese
117.9
Hides and pelts. 100.2
Cattle 585.9
Hogs.
1,027.3
Sheep.
120.0
Other live-stock
204.6
Agricultural implements.
196.6
Merchandise
13,652.5
Total
.91,502.7
San Luis Obispo County shipped last year (1889) via Port Harford, by steamers of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company-not to mention shipments by other conveyances and from other landings-the following:
Pounds.
Asphaltum and bituminous rock 27,773,200
Butter. 2,014,800
Cheese.
192,800
Wheat ..
15,699,200
Barley 26,762,800
Beans
2,998,400
Ore. .
1,368,000
Hogs. 769,800
Sundries
7,835,200
Tota
85,414,200
Chrome ore
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