USA > California > Los Angeles County > An historical sketch of Los Angeles county, California. From the Spanish occupancy, by the founding of the mission San Gabriel Archangel, September 8, 1771, to July 4, 1876 > Part 11
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John Goller, blacksmith and pioneer wagon-maker, was of the emi- grants by the Salt Lake route. Louis Wilhart outfitted him with tools and helped him to customers. Iron works,as to cost,the native Californians were strangers to. One of them, as Goller used to say, paid $500 for an awning for the front of his residence. The charge for shoeing a horse was $16. Stores then were scarce of iron. Goller hunted up old tires thrown away on the plains to make shoes. His first wagon remained on hand a good while. The native people gazed at it with curiosity, but distrust, and went back to their carretas. Few carriages were made during the first six or eight years. E. L. Scott & Co. were carriage makers and blacksmiths in 1855. Louis Roeder came to Los Angeles November 29, 1856, worked nine years for Gol- ler, then bought out J. H. Burke, who is now a wealthy citizen of Los Nietos, and in 1863, with William Schwartz, blacksmith, as partner, set up for him- self on Main street. Ben MeLaughlin also was a wheelwright. Among the
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early blacksmiths were Hiram Mclaughlin, Charles F. Daley (killed by Pancho Daniel's band, January, 1857), Van Dusen ; George Boorham, before 1856; Henry King, 1856. John Wilson came August 20, 1858, and set up for himself in 1868; James Baldwin, sometime after 1858. Of gunsmiths, Au- gust Stoermer came in that year. He was preceded, March 16, 1855, by Henry C. G. Schaeffer. In the memory of old citizens, from his former fa- miliar little adobe shop, it is a step into a garden where bloom choicest flow- ers of the world. He is all devoted, at sixty-five, to floriculture. Sam. C. Foy, Feb. 19, 1854, started his saddlery-the first to make any kind of har- ness. John Foy joined his brother in the following Summer. These spiri- ted pioneers led the way soon to flourishing firms in the same line,-the- young brothers Workman, Bell & Green, Heinche, D. Garcia.
The first bricks were made by Capt. Jesse D. Hunter in 1852. Ile burnt his next kiln in 1853. From the first kiln was built the house at the corner of Third and Main streets in 1853; from the second, in the same year. the new brick jail. In 1854 was built the Guadalupe Ross house, now of Samuel Meyer; in 1855 the dwelling and store of J. G. Nichols, on Main street near the Court House. Joseph Mullaly and Samuel Ayres, coming here March 1, 1854, embarked in brick-making the next month. In August, Da- vid Porter arrived. The firm then was, Mullaly, Porter & Ayers. In 1855, Jacob Wexel went to work for this firm on the Eagle Mills of Stearns & Scott, and the new brick dwelling of John Roland at La Puente. Their "great year" was 1858, when they sold 2,000,000 of brick for the proposed improvements of 1859. Besides the brick flouring mill of Stearns & Scott, were finished houses at various points for Foster & Wadhams, J. Morris, John Goller, Lorenzo Lecke, Juan Ramirez. From 1855 to 1859 there is a hiatus which cannot be better filled up than with the "Garden of Paradise," at the Round House, begun in 1856 by George Lehman, and which was a wonder to all by its mystic Adam and Eve, with the profusion of flowers and ingenious disposition of parterre and tree. In 1859 John Temple built and September 30, delivered to the city the market house, with its town clock and bell so "fine-toned and sonorous," at a cost of $40,000. He also con- structed the south end of Temple Block. October 22, Don Abel rejoiced in the finishing touch to his prided undertaking, the Arcadia. Block, bearing the name of his wife, Dona Arcadia Bandini; like the good ship Arcadia, Capt. Noyes, of Mr. Stearns and Alfred Robinson, that brought the second invoice of goods directly from Boston to San Pedro (the first, we are remind- ed, having been by the barque Eureka, Capt. Noyes, in the Fall of 1852, to Alexander & Mellus). In the same month, Corbett and Baker removed into the north-east corner store of the block, and it was soon filled. Then, too, the dining hall, just finished, of the Bella Union, was reported "one of the finest in California." The Mascarel building, now Polaski & Goodwin's, followed in 1861. The prevailing spirit awhile embraced the plaza within its range. It proved to advantage to all who heeded it, although good Wil- liam Wolfskill had forebodings, in December, 1860, on the return from the burial of Henry Mellus-"What a pity !" he said; "if Temple had not built so much he might now be a rich man!" Mr. W. and Mr. T. died each prob- ably worth a half a million. And at last Mr. W. himself ran with the tide and spent $20,000 to build the Lazard store, Main street, in 1866. It was completed by his executors.
So had some advancement been made, and public pride was animated. Twenty years before, one who deserves to be regarded as a Progressiveist, Regidor Don Leonardo Cota, 1845, April 19, had prayed the Ayuntamiento to petition the Governor for an order upon all the inhabitants "to plaster and whitewash the fronts of their houses." Satisfied if he could succeed in this, he said, "to have co-operated somewhat toward the glory of my country. The time had arrived," he thought, "for Los Angeles to figure in the political world, and although still a small city, to show its magnificence, so that the traveler coming to visit us might be able to say, 'I have seen the city of Los Angeles; I have seen its order and government, and all announce that it is to be the Paradise of Mexico ;' but not so with the melancholy aspect of most of its
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buildings, dark and gloomy, and more like burial mounts of the ancient no- mads than habitations for a free people." *
San Pedro, so noted as a port under the former regime, since 1850 has been, until recently, the only outlet for our productions. Ox carts could not remain long after the management of trade fell into the hands of Douglass & Sanford, John Goller, J. J. Tomlinson, J. M. Griffith, A. W. Timms, A. F. Hinchman, Don Jose Rubio, David W. Alexander, Phineas Banning, all of whom have done so much to build up our commerce. General Banning went there a young man. In 1851 was formed the firm of Alexanders & Banning, Commission and Forwarding Merchants. Subsequently for four years he conducted this business alone; marked by sagacity, foresight, and energy. In 1858, Old San Pedro was abandoned. Wilmington then became the real port for Los Angeles commerce. When he commenced, 500 tons would have been a fair average for the trips both ways per month. Now, there has been as high as 15,000 tons afloat at one time, to say nothing of the enormous amount of produce which the same vessels carried away on their departure. Gen. Banning has had the opportunity to see the passengers ride from the port to Los Angeles City on Mexican ox carts, with no iron in their construction, and has seen them at length make the trip on as fine railway cars as there are in the United States; and has seen them increase from fifty persons per month to near three thousand. With our best recollections of all the past, we think we may justly say, that no one of our citizens has con- tributed more of labor with perseverance, or more of business ability than he has done, to the accomplishment of this result. Gen. B. resides at Wil- mington, in the bosom of his family. November 16th, 1854, he married Miss Rebecca Sanford. There are eight children of this marriage. Feb- ruary 22d, 1871, he married Miss Mary E. Hollister. They have three children.
Of the actors in scenes through which we have partly traveled, some are lost to sight: Don Jose Sepulveda, Don Manuel Requena, Don Andres Pico, Don Ignacio Alvarado, Don Augustin Machado, Louis Vignes, Isaac Wil- liams, Andrew A. Boyle, John Roland, William Workman; others, many, whose names are dear to affection, and whose good deeds are treasured in universal respect. A. A. Boyle died, February 9th, 1871, aged 54 years ; John Roland, at the age of 82 years, August 13th, 1873; William Workman, born with the century, died May 17th of the present year. Companions of a hun- dred dangers and toils, Roland and Workman sleep together, at La Puente, in the church-yard of the little chapel, which both designed many years ago. Don Jose Sepulveda, born November 30th, 1804, died in Mexico, April 17th, 1875 Don Andres Pico, born November 30th, 1810, died February 14th, 1876. A brother, Don Pio, and three sisters survive him-Dona Ysidora, wife of John Foster, Dona Concepcion, widow of Don Domingo Carrillo, Dona Maria, widow of Don Jose Joaquin Ortega. Don Pio Pico is another centenarian-if we may so speak ; he was born at San Gabriel May 5th, 1800. Don Manuel Requena, born on the Peninsular of Yucatan, died at this city, aged 74 years, June 27th, 1876. Don Andres Pico and Don Jose Sepulveda were born at the Old Presidio of San Diego. Isaac Williams, born in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1799, died at Chino Rancho, September 13th, 1856; he came to California in the year 1832. Aged 91 years, Louis Vignes died January 17th, 1862; at near the same age, September 25th, 1858, Don Ignacio Abila, and more recently Don Julio Verdugo. John Goller died July 7th, 1874. Don Agustin Machado died May 17th, 1865, at 77 years of age. One of a company-the others, Felipe Talamantes, Tomas Talamantes, and his own brother, Ignacio Machado-who in 1839 received a grant of the Rancho of La Ballona. Don Ignacio survives those faithful friends of his earlier days-at the age of 82 years; he grasps the hand warmly as ever, rides on horseback as usual-patriarch to whom the com- munity bears respect almost filial. Don Ignacio Palomares, born February 2d, 1811, died November 25, 1864, and at close to 70 years, May 6th, 1876,
* See Historical Collection, San Francisco, of Hubert H. Bancroft, Esq., which has full records of early history of Los Angeles and Southern California in gen- eral, and from which we have drawn liberally the facts of the present sketch for the period since 1817.
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his friend, Don Ignacio Alvarado-guides and lights in life both of a trusting people through all the peaceful Valley of San Jose.
William Wolfskill was born March 20, 1798, near Richmond, Ky .; his grand-father, from Germany, and grand-mother, from Ireland; came to Los Angeles in 1830. Aged seventy-five years, he died at this city Oct. 3, 1866, leaving four children. He planted his original vineyard in 1838. He be- lieved that, well cared for, the grape vine will last a hundred years. He had been often heard to say that his first orange orchard, the small one near the old adobe dwelling, was of the same age of his eldest daughter, Juana, who was born in 1841. His wife, Dona Magdalena Lugo, of Santa Barbara, died before him. His daughter Juana was married November 14, 1860, to H. D. Barrows, and died January 31, 1863. Her husband and one daughter reside at this city. Alexander Bell was born in Washington county, Penn., January 9, 1801. In 1823 he went to the city of Mexico, was a merchant until 1842, when he came, by the way of Guaimas, to San Pedro. In 1844 he married Dona Nieves Guirado, who survives him. He died July 24, 1871. They were without children ; but they were Padrinos (god-father and god-mother) to more children than any other couple in California. "Thus they sustained the pleasant relation," says Mr. H. D. Barrows, "to a large number of fathers and mothers, so common in Spanish, although unknown in English, of com- padre and comadre. And although some of their god-children have grown up to be men and women, while others are still infants, these old people al- ways welcomed them at meeting, great or small, with as much interest and af- fection apparently as would have been done had they been their own chil- dren." It is one simple picture of "California life" as it is at Los Angeles; where this double family tie, (as it were) serves to elevate personal inter- course, and strengthens and beautifies all the social relations.
Twenty years of existence, while awakening curiosity, leave hints for instruction. Errors we have committed. The race of fortune has been checked suddenly,-by commercial shocks, by other causes beyond human power to avert. A dry season of 1856 and 1857, money depression in 1859, drought through 1863 and 1864, and varied drawbacks by sea and land, now bad modes of agriculture and want of skill in wine manufacture; again, dis- ยท appointment in mining experiments at Kern river, San Gabriel and else- where, and ineffectual, although masterly efforts for the Salt Lake trade, with expensive, disheartening litigation for "the ranchos," all have retarded the onward march. In vain, lament these failures of realization where hope was so much excited, or renew the torments of evils which time has cured. Gone, tco, with the past, are personal or political rivalries, that have lost their interest for the public. Questions of grave import as they may have been, give way to themes nearer to our present well-being. If there have heen other critical years beset by solicitude and fear, of this great day are born only glorious inspirations, rejoicing all in one common country, under one Union-indivisible, perpetual !
5
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CHAPTER III.
Los ANGELES COUNTY FROM 1867 TO JULY 4TH, 1876.
SHE third period, or age, in the history of Los Angeles may be said to have commenced with the tide of immigration which set in for Southern California about the year 1866.
The first era had been the long, slumb'rous years of the old Missions and ranchos, when life was a thing of dreamy days and peaceful nights; when no sound of hurry or of toilsome labor disturbed the quiet; when the drowsing pueblo and the sleeping hacienda only aroused to the bustle of an occasional fiesta or rodeo; when, instead of the black smoke of the steamer, leaving its long trail over the waters, only the white sails of the hide drogher, at intervals of many long months, broke the blue stretch of the sea. This era must ever remain to the mind of the dreamer, the poet, the halcyon age of California del Sur.
The second period embraces the time from the American occupation of California to about the year 1866. This era was also one of sharply defined characteristics. An influx of a new race, of new men, not great in numbers but of marked individuality, took place. The sun-tanned trappers, keen of eye and strong of limb, began to straggle in, coming from the mystery of the unexplored heart of the continent, as denizens of another world who by some mischance had dropped upon this planet. Men wise in the strange, un- worldly wisdom that comes not of schools nor of trade, but of lone years lived by the rivers, among the canons, where the only voice of converse is the voice of the night wind among the sombre pines. Other men came too- sharp witted men who saw gold in the broad acres of the great ranchos, even as their contemporaries saw it in the sands of the rivers of Alta California.
Still, the great mass of population remained unchanged, and, while the new element organized business, reached out to the interior, to Arizona, to Salt Lake, for trade, yet outside of the pueblos the slumber of the old rancho life was hardly disturbed. The towns, however, stirred to the new spirit and began to cast off their lethargy. Sail vessels and then steamships began to frequent the ports. Steamer day usurped the place of "poco tiempo" in the reckonings of trade. Men of business sagacity began quietly to secure large tracts of land, and real estate in the towns, foreseeing the rapid enhancement of values which must soon take place. The immigration was notalways made up of the more peaccable elements of society. Men of questionable charac ter, men of no character, drifted in. Money was plentiful, and the gamblers found a congenial field. The revolver shared with the Courts in the settle- ment of disputes. It is even reported that during a session of one of the Courts, the majesty of the law failed to repress the instinctive reliance of the American sovereign upon his weapons. Pistols were drawn, and the Judge, after vainly commanding the peace, rushed half way up the stairs out of harm's way, and peeping cautiously over the railing at the angry disputants below,
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testily called out: "Now shoot, and be d-d to you!" It was a time, too, of practical joking ; jokes oftentimes sadly trying to the nerves of innocent visi- tors from abroad. It is related that once upon a time, as several of the leading citizens were entertaining a party of visitors, newly arrived, in one of the saloons where the ton were wont to resort, doing the honors of the city to the strangers, possibly initiating them into the delightful mysteries of draw poker-any- how, it was said that everything was lovely and serene, when a noise at the door attracted their attention, and their horrified gaze met the grim eyes of a townsman gloomily glancing at them along the sights of a shot-gun that looked like a double-barreled columbiad, while a determined voice muttered, "I'll shoot, even if I don't kill more than half a dozen !" The visitors were called by urgent business to San Francisco the next day, and, it is said, for- got to return. Railroads were then a thing of the future. The writer vivid- ly recollects standing in front of the U. S. Hotel, in 1868, one night of a steamer's arrival, and hearing the rival stages of Banning and Tomlinson come up Main street, racing to get in first, horses on the gallop, and in the darkness a man on each stage blowing a horn to warn people in the street to clear the track. At this time, the Fall of 1868, there was no three story build- ing in the town, while the only two story business houses were the old Lafay- ette, the older portion of the Bella Union, with the stores of Barrows and Childs upon Los Angeles street, Stearn's Block, Bell's Block, a portion of the Lan- franco building, the older portion of the U. S. Hotel, Allen's corner, the Court House with the part of Temple Block facing it, and a two story adobe where Temble's Bank now stands. The portion of. Downey Block facing toward the Temple Bank had a few one story adobe rooms, with a wide gateway in the middle opening into a corral. This gateway had connected with it some- what of a tragic history, as, upon the cross-bar above, five desperadoes were hanged at one time by the Vigilance Committee. The Round House was country, but little of the property around being even fenced in. The hills
then upon the outskirts of town. Captain Clark's house was fairly in the above town and across the river, now dotted wtth houses, were then bleak and bare. East Los Angeles had not yet even been dreamed of. Between Los Angeles and Wilmington, instead of the many farms that now dot the country, were only a few ancient ranche houses, and the midway stations for changing horses on the stage routes. Los Angeles, Wilmington, Anaheim, El Monte and San Gabriel, might be called the only settlements. Lands where Compton now stands were sold at from $3 to $5 per acre. The total assessed valuation of property in the county for the year 1866 was $2,366,886. For the year 1875, nine years later, it stands $14,890,765. Population of the county for 1866 is estimated at 10,000. For 1875 it is probably 30,000. Of this population, about 5,000 then lived in the city of Los Angeles; now it is estimated the city has about 13,000.
In the year 1867 Los Angeles was first lighted with gas. During this year, also, Doctor Griffin and Hon. B. D. Wilson, by means of a ditch, cost- ing some $15,000, brought the water of the Arroyo Seco out upon the lands of the San Pasqual rancho.
In the year 1868 work was commenced by the "Canal and Reservoir Co." upon the canal and reservoir which now supply the woolen mill. This was the first turning of attention to the hill lands west of the city, which be- fore were considered practically valueless. This year marked an era in the business of the Southern portion of the county, in that, for the first time, Anaheim Landing was made a regular stopping place by steamers. This
was the year, too, in which the first successful artesian well was bored in the county. A fair flow of water was obtained upon the mesa lands about six miles back of Wilmington The well was sunk upon the property of Messrs. Downey and Hellman. So great a curiosity was it considered that the sta- ges turned aside from the road to give passengers a sight of it. One other event, and most important of all, renders this year memorable in the history of the industrial development of Los Angeles. This was the carrying of the vote to issue county bonds for $150,000, and city bonds for $75,000, to assist in the building of a railroad from the city of Los Angeles to San Pedro har- bor. This was the first step in the development of the railroad system
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which is now so rapidly opening up the resources of Southern California. And yet this road, only 22 miles in length, was looked upon by many as a foolish undertaking which would never pay expenses. One old resident, a inan of wealth, contemptuously declared that two trains a month would ac- commodate all the wants of trade for years to come. Six years later the number of cars arriving daily at the Los Angeles depot with freight from Wilmington averaged, for weeks at a time, from fifty to sixty. This year set- tlers began to come in rapidly upon the lands about Compton, the town re- ceiving its name from one of the first and most prominent of the new comers. The lands thrown upon the market by Governor Downey at Los Nietos were also quickly settled by an industrious farming population. In July of this year the "Los Angeles City Water Company," represented by Dr John S. Griffin, Mr. P. Beaudry and Mr. S. Lazard, received a franchise for supply- ing the city with water for domestic purposes for a period of thirty years, and, by agreement, and purchase of existing works, became possessed of a sole right. Previous to 1863 the city was poorly supplied, carts hauling water from the zanjas and from the river, and distributing it to the houses. In that year Jean L. Sansevaine, under franchise from the city, laid down wooden pipes in a few of the streets, which, however, soon became rotten and worthless. Since the introduction of pure water into the city, dysentery, which had been exceedingly prevalent, has become a rare disease. The "Los Angeles City Water Co." now represents a capital of $930,000. It has in the ground 24 miles of mains, the largest being 22 inches in diameter ; daily con- sumption of water, 750,000 gallons; daily capacity, 1,000,000 gallons; esti- mates that it can supply a city of 100,000 inhabitants; expects to construct during the ensuing year another reservoir, 60 feet higher than the present one, to supply the hill lands. During the autumn of this year there was an unu- sual prevalence of a severe form of typho-malarial fever, many cases termi- nating fatally In this year, 1868, the first bank was organized in Los Ange- les by Alvinza Hayward and John G. Downey, under the firm name of "Hayward & Co.," capital, $100,000. Later in the same year the banking house of "Hellman, Temple & Co." was organized ; capital, $125,000. By the reorganization and consolidation of these two houses, in February, 1871, was established the "Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of Los Angeles," with a capital at present of $500,000.
The years 1869 and 1870 were years of no marked events. During the year 1869 an epidemic of small-pox lingered for many months about the city. The winters of 1869-70 and 1870-71 were remarkable for a very light rain-fall, the first having less than nine and the second less than eight inches, with much dry northerly and westerly wind and frequent sand-storms. Despite these draw-backs a steady development went on, though the drought pre- vented the inauguration or prosecution of enterprises involving any heavy expenditure of money. "The Anaheim Gazette" was established in Septem- ber.
In the year 1871, after several careful preliminary surveys, the United States Government commenced the work of improving Wilmington harbor, which work has ever since been going steadily on. $425,000 have so far been appropriated for the breakwater and the clearing out of the bar. When work was commenced the bar had upon it only 18 inches of water at low tide, and was only crossed by lighters which waited for the flood. While this historical sketch is in press, a fleet of 15 vessels, some drawing more than 13 feet of water, is lying within the harbor, having crossed the bar with- out the slightest difficulty. When the work is completed the engineers ex- pect to give at least 17 feet of water upon the bar at low tide, and probably more. To the indefatigable exertions of Gen. P. Banning of Wil- mington is duc, more than to the efforts of any other one man, the inaugura- tion of this work. With its completion the railroad system of Los Angeles will be enabled to reach its true fullness of development. This same year, was commenced, by Messrs. Chapman and Glassell, the construction of a system of canals for the irrigation of lands of the "Santiago de Santa Ana" rancho, upon the east side of the Santa Ana river. The main canal, con- structed principally in this and the following years, is now some 15 miles in length, and with its various ramifications furnishes water for about 15,000
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