An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 119

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 119
USA > California > San Diego County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 119
USA > California > Orange County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 119
USA > California > San Bernardino County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 119

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).

In 1851 there were 104 vineyards, exclusive of that of San Gabriel, all but twenty within the limits of the city. The San Gabriel vine- yard, neglected since 1834, was now in decay. In Spanish and Mexican times, this had been called the "mother vineyard," from its supply- ing all the original cuttings; it is said to have had at once 50,000 vines. In 1851 grapes, in crates or boxes, bronght twenty cents per pound at San Francisco, eighty cents at Stock- ton. Through 1852 this price continued, and the shipment continned for some years, gener-

765

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

ally with profit. Very little wine was then shipped; in 1851 not over 1.000 gallons. Soon the northern counties began to put into market grapes almost as good as the southern, and gradually the manufacture of wine was estab- lished. Wolfskill had at an early date shipped a little wine, but his aim was to turn his grapes into brandy. Louis Wilhart, in 1849 and 1850, made white wine which was considered in flavor and quality next to that of Vignes, from whose cellars came a brand perhaps not excelled in the world. He had in 1857 some then over twenty years old; perhaps some of the same the army so relished in 1847. Among the first mann- facturers for the general market was Vincent Hoover, with his father, Dr. Juan Leonce Hoover; first at the Clayton vineyard, which from its sitnation on the bench produced a superior grape; then from that vineyard known as of Don José Serrano; some of the vines in which are stated to be over 100 years old. This was from 1850 to abont 1855. The cultivation of the grape about this time took a new im- pulse. At San Gabriel, William M. Stockton had an extensive nursery of grape-vines and fruit trees. In 1855 Joseph lloover entered very successfully into wine-making at the Fos- ter vineyard. On April 14, 1855, Jean Louis Sansevaine purchased for $42,000 the vineyard property, cellars, etc., of his uncle, Louis Vignes (and it may be said that this was the first large land sale within the city). In 1855, Mr. Sanse- vaine, who had resided here since 1853, shipped his first wine to San Francisco. In 1856 lie made the first shipment from this county to New York, thereby becoming the pioneer of this business. Says Matthew Kellar: " Accord- ing to the books of the great forwarding house of P. Banning at San Pedro, the amount shipped to San Francisco, in 1857, was 21,000 boxes of grapes, averaging forty-five pounds each, and 250,000 gallons of wine." In 1856 Los Angeles yielded only 7,200 cases of wine; in 1860 it had increased to 66,000 cases. In 1861 shipments of wine were made to New York and Boston by B. D. Wilson and J. L.

Sansevaine; they are the fathers of the wine interest. The Sunny Slope plantation, unex- excelled for its vintage, its oranges, almonds and walnuts, was established by L. J. Rose in 1861. In December, 1859, the wine producers were: Matthew Kellar, Sansevaine Brothers, Frohiling & Co., B. D. Wilson, Stevens & Fell, Dr. l'ar- rott, Dr. Thomas J. White, Laborie, Messer, Barnhardt, Delong, Santa Ana precinct, Henry Dalton, P. Serres, Joseph Huber, Sr .; Ricardo Ve- jar, Barrows, Ballerino, Dr. Hoover, Louis Wil- hart, Trabuc, Clement and José Serrano. The total manufacture of wine in 1859 was about 250,- 000 gallons. In 1875 the grape-vines of the county were 4,500,000. The largest vineyard now in the State, next to Senator Stanford's in Tehama County (which is the largest in the world), is the Nadeau vineyard, which covers " an area of over 2,000 acres. It is three or four years old, and it lies between Los Angeles and Anaheim. The first year's yield from this im- mense tract was sent to the still, and it turned out 45,000 gallons of brandy, which Mr. Na- deau warehoused, paying the government $40,- 500. The three next largest vineyards are at or near San Gabriel, owned respectively by "Lucky" Baldwin, who has upwards of 1,000 acres in Mission and other vines; Stern & Rose (Sunny Slope vineyard), over 1,000 acres of many varieties; J. De Barth Shorb (San Gabriel Wine Company), about 1,500 acres of Missions, Zinfandels, Mataros, Burgers and other varieties. These parties have as extensive and costly wine- ries as many of the leading producers of France, and they make and age almost all kinds of dry and sweet wines and brandies. These three wine-makers have European experts in all the different branches, including "cellar-keepers," and their wineries are like parlors, while the processes of picking, crushing, fermenting, blending and aging are as perfect as it seems possible to make them. They, as well as Koh- ler and Frohling have houses in New York, and they send there nothing but wires and brandies that can be absolutely depended upon as pure and excellent. Such is the development

766

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

that has been attained in this, one of the model industries of the early Mission Fathers.

Until recent years, stock- raising was the chief industry in Los Angeles County, as well as other portions of Southern California, these having been long known as the " cow connties." The lands were believed to be unfit for anything but stock ranches, and consequently immense herds of cattle and sheep roamed in the valleys, and browsed among the foothills. Notwith- standing the great agricultural development, stock-raising continues to be carried on in the county extensively and successfully, especially the raising of fine stock, including thorough- bred horses, which compete with the best animals raised in Kentucky. Cultivated feed has now taken the place of wild hay. Alfalfa especially is a most valuable adjunct to the stock or dairy farm, as it facilitatee the keeping of a large number of animals on a small space of ground. In 1870 a few cashmere goats were bronght to Los Angeles County by F. Bonshard. He had 500 or 600 head, of various grades. For sev- eral years thereafter he and J. F. Pleasants were the only parties engaged in raising these animals, but now a number of parties are keep- ing all grades of these goats, from the lowest up to thoroughbreds. Mr. Pleasants has 300 to 500 thoroughbreds whose wool is worth from twenty-five to forty cents per pound. A good thoroughbred goat is generally worth abont $50. Those first brought into the county cost $150 each.

LUTHER HARVEY TITUS

was born at Hamburg, Erie County, New York, October 9, 1822. His father, who was a native of New York State, was of English ancestry on the paternal side, and Holland Dutch on the maternal side. His mother, whose maiden name was Carey, was of Puritan extraction: her father, whose ancestry was Scotch, was in the Revolutionary army, in which he suffered great hardships, having been erippled by having his feet frozen. Mr. Titus remembers him very well.

Mr. Titus lived in the vicinity of his birth-

place till 1840, when he went to Rockford, Illi- nois, and from thence to the Galena lead mines, where he remained four years, when he bought a farın of 120 acres, paying for it from his monthly wages. In 1845 he returned to his native town. In 1849 he started for California, sailing from New York to Galveston. Pro- ceeding from thence via Houston and Anstin to El Paso and Doña Ana, he crossed the Rio Grande at the old copper mines, where he met David S. Terry, then a young man, who was also on his way to California. Titus and party of fifteen came on to the Gila river, where on account of a big cañon and the difficulty of crossing, etc., and the hostility of the Indians, all bnt three of the party went back. These three, consisting of Titus, Tupper and Salsbury, who were not easily diverted, then nor after- wards, from the accomplishment of their aims, resolved to push on through the Apache conn- try to California, though it was a very hazard- ous undertaking. They found a way to cross the river, and by ceaseless watchfulness, by doubling back on their track when in the bush or cane along the river, to throw the Indians off their trail, and by making no fires when they camped at night, they at last eluded the savages and reached the country of the friendly Pimo Indians, who treated them well, and from whom they purchased supplies. Here they learned that a party of Americans was ahead of them, and they hurried on to overtake them. One evening, about sunset, they camped in the cane on the Gila. Mr. Titus had suffered greatly from the heat, and he was obliged to wear a mask, as his face was burnt and sore. Being short of provisions, and attempting to shoot a rabbit, his gun kicked so badly as to knock him over; but he did not inind that, as he got his rabbit. Before reaching the Colorado river they overtook the party of twenty-eight Ameri- cans, of whom Dr. James B. Winston, after wards for many years a resident of Los Angeles, was the head.

With this party they crossed the Colorado at Fort Yumna, in a Government wagon box, which

L Ht Titus

767

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

the Indians used as a substitute for a ferry-boat. For this service and for swimming their ani- mals across, they paid the Indians with blan- kets.

Expecting trouble with the Yuma Indians, they had prepared their arms for whatever inight turn up, Titus filling his flask full of powder. Being without matches, he kindled a tire one day by taking cotton from his coat and gathering dry grass, and putting powder in them, he snapped a cap, and then, kneeling down, blowed it into a flame, when his powder- · flask exploded, raising him off the ground and nearly stopping his breath. However, the acci- dent did not prove fatal, though it was some time before he entirely recovered from its effects. The party, including Mr. Titus, Dr. Winston and others, arrived in San Diego, An- gust 13, 1849. Mr. Titus staid there abont a month. While there a soldier picked the grains of powder out of his face with the point of a knife. Taking the steamer Oregon, he arrived in San Francisco September 13, and from there he went to Stockton and Moquelnine Hill, where he mined awhile, and then went to Cal- averas, where he and his partner, Salsbury, made about three and one-half ounces of gold per day, till they worked out their claim, when they returned to San Francisco. From there Mr. Titus went to making shingles, which were then worth $32 a thousand, in the redwoods just north of the Golden Gate. While at work there he caught several salınon which he sold in San Francisco for $5 each. Deer were also very plenty, and in two consecutive days he shot ten, and sold them for $18 each.

In February, 1850, he went to Feather river, and he and others undertook to turn Deer creek; but he sold out for $600, and went out prospecting in the mountains on the old " Emi- grant Trail." At one place they found wagons, dead mules, etc., and also the body of a man with one arm gone, probably eaten by wild ani- mals. He then took up the Sacramento valley, and crossed the river below Shasta. After prospecting above Shasta, he returned down the

valley to Marysville with what was then called the "Trinity fever," where he was some days out of his head; but he was carefully nursed by a friend, an Englishinan, to whom he thinks he owes his life. From thence he went to San Francisco, and as soon as he was able took a sailing vessel for Panama, and home, where he arrived in the latter part of 1851.

In 1869 Mr. Titus caine again to California, and to Los Angeles, where he concluded to settle, as lie was at once greatly pleased with the country, and he has never since had occz- sion to change his favorable opinion. He went home, and the next year, with his daughter and her husband, Captain J. C. Newton, he came back to Los Angeles County, where they have made their home ever since. They went on to a place which he bought, near the Mission San Gabriel, and engaged in citrus fruit culture on an extensive scale, and with great success. Mr. Titus also devoted some attention to raising grapes and to breeding fine horses. He brought in 1870 from the East the stallion " Echo," sired by Rysdick's Hambletonian, one of the best horses ever brought to this coast. "Echo " is the sire of many fast and game trotters.

Mr. Titus is a man of great force of character, fertile in resources, and whatever he undertakes he is very apt to carry through. Finding that water was exceedingly valuable in Southern California, he devised a machine for molding cement canals for economizing its use, the canal being formed on the ground where used; thus, in an inexpensive manner, making a limited quantity of water irrigate three or four times as munch land as when run in ditches in the soil. He invented and patented a ladder on wheels, for picking fruit; also a three-notch board for planting trees; both of these are now in general usc in Los Angeles and adjoining counties. He has lately invented an ingenious hand-shears for cutting and picking fruit with the same hand. Mr. Titus was the first to use iu Los Angeles County a portable apparatus for spraying fruit trees infested with pests.

Mr. Titus married Maria Benedict in 1845.

763

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Two daughters resulted from this marriage : Mary II., wife of Captain J. C. Newton, and Clara R. Titus; the latter is now a sister of the order of " the Immaculate Heart of Mary," known as "Sister Clara," and is a teacher in the Cathedral school of the city of Los Angeles.

The family remained on their San Gabriel orchard about seventeen years. Mr. Titus sold his orange crop from sixty-five aeres in 1887, for $15,000, on the trees. During that year he sold his place, consisting of 230 acres, most of which was highly improved.

He has since planted a new place north of the old one. This is mostly planted to peaches for shipping East by cold storage. He has set out 2,500 trees of the Salway variety, and 1,000 Iloney Clings. He also has besides some olive, pear and apple trees.

Mr. Titus, during his twenty years of resi- dence in Los Angeles County, has done much to develop its resources and capacities in many directions. Indeed he is universally accounted to be one of Los Angeles' most useful citizens. Being a man of the strictest probity and honor, he is held in the highest estimation by all who know him.

CAPTAIN J. C. NEWTON

was born in Erie County, New York, October 26, 1839. He lived in the vicinity of his native place during his boyhood. Ile enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Sixteentli Regiment New York Infantry, August 9, 1862. Whilst in the service he was appointed Second Lieutenant on the unanimous vote of his com- pany; and afterward he was promoted to the Captainey. He served in the Department of the Gulf under General Banks; was at the siege of Port Hudson and in the actions at Sabine Cross- Roads, Pleasant Hill, Munzura Plains, etc. Afterward he served under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley.

In 1866, May 15, he married Miss Mary H., daughter of L. H. Titus. In 1870 they moved to Los Angeles County, where they have made their home ever since. They have two daugh- ters, both born in California: Clara Drysdale

and Mary Titus Newton. In 1883 Captain Newton made a somewhat extended visit East, and while there was elected Supervisor of Erie County, New York, and served a regular term, the board consisting of fifty members.

Captain Newton, who is now, with his family, a resident of the city of Los Angeles, is one of the directors of the Sixth District Agricultural Society, of which he was one term (1887) the president.

MINERAL.

No full, systematic geological survey of Southern California, or of Los Angeles County has yet been made; but it is known that many of the most useful minerals, stone and earths, are to be found in the county, often in paying quantities. Highly crystalline limestone is being quarried three and a half miles from Fernando station. Twelve miles west fromn Fernando good sandstone is quarried. Asphaltum is ob- tained in a number of localities northeast of the San Fernando tunnel. Silver and lead ore have been mined in the Silver Mountain mining district twenty-two miles north of Newhall, and silver in very rich ores in the San Gabriel cañon. Gold was found in this county in 1843,- which was five years before the famous Marshall discovery, that started so great a rush of immi- gration to this State. It has for some time been mined profitably at the Casteca placer diggings, forty miles northwest of Los Angeles. This precious metal has also been found in paying quantities in various other parts of the county.

Besides many substances which are of special interest to the chemist and the mineralogist, from the scientific standpoint, the following is a list of the useful substances, properly classed as inineral products, found in the county: gold, silver, copper, coal, asphaltum, graphite, iron. limestone, tin, building stone, clay, mineral paint, gypsum, borate of lime, silica, kaolin, pe- troleum, borax, epsom salts, nitrate of soda and salt. Near Lang's station, in the northern part of the county, there is a large deposit of chrome iron, free from sulphur, which is considered

$60

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

valuable for the manufacture of paint. Large deposits of malachite, or carbonate of copper, have been found in the San Fernando mountains and along the Arroyo Seco. Gypsum exists within twenty miles of Los Angeles. The varieties known as alabaster and selenite are found. This mineral is said to be very useful in reclaiming alkali land. The water which flows from the San Fernando tunnel contains, by analysls, 30.6 per cent. of gypsum. A salt lake, fed by salt springs, is located near the sea, between San Pedro and Santa Monica, and can be utilized in the manufacture of salt of excel- lent quality. Clay for brick is plentiful. Large tracts of the lowlands abonnd in soda. There is a ledge of snlphide of antimony seven miles west of Los Angeles. There are deposits of mineral paint of several colors on the seashore near Santa Monica.

EARTHQUAKES.

No permanent or serious damage has been done by earthquakes in this county since De- cember 8, 1812, when occurred the great catas- trophe at San Juan Capistrano, when, by the falling in of the tower and tiled roof, over thirty people were killed. There were moderate shocks in July, 1855; on April 14, May 2, and Sep- tember 20, during the year 1856; and one on the morning of January 9, 1857. This last was the most severe for a long time. The first shock was succeeded by others during the day, and for three successive days. The same vibra- tions were telt also throughout the other counties of Southern California, and in many of the northern counties as well. It was more severe at Fort Tejon than at any other point. This was the greatest carthquake since that of 1812. Mr. H. D. Barrows wrote in the San Francisco Bulletin of January 28, as follows:

" The great earthquake felt here on the morn- ing of the 9th instant was rather more extensive in its operations than we at first anticipated; it did some appalling execution in various places. In the vicinity of Fort Tejon, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, the effects were most violent.

The ground opened in places from thirty to forty miles, and from ten to twenty feet wide. The line of disruption runs nearly northwest and sontheast, in an almost straight line, passing near Elizabeth Lake. The ground appears to have opened in the form of a ridge, and then to have fallen back, leaving the earthli pulverized and loose about twelve feet wide generally, so that in many places it is almost impossible to pass. An eye witness saw large trees broken off near the ground; he saw cattle roll down steep hillsides; and he himself had to hold on to a post in order to stand up. The people in the fort were unceremoniously honored with a shower of plastering and a general tumbling down of walls and chimneys; and it seems provi- dential that none of them were killed. He judged that it would take months to repair the buildings at the fort. The officers and men are now camping out in tents. Quartermaster Wakeman reports the time of the shock at 27 minutes before 9 o'clock, which agrees very well with the time as reported here. The ino- tion was preceded there and accompanied here by a heavy rumbling report. At the Reserva- tion much damage was done, but I have not heard the particulars. There are no signs of aught being thrown np from the openings at the Tejon. It is supposed that though the causes of these disturbances may be subterra- nean fires primarily, the secondary and immedi- ate causes are the escape or explosion of gases generated by those fires. This we conclude from the entire absence of all kinds of volcanic matter, although the disruptions of the earth, and the force that caused them, in the move- ment of the earth on the 9th instant, were tre- mendous. We had at Los Angeles five or six shocks during the same day and night, and within about eight days' time we had twenty shocks,-some violent, some light. Since that time we have had none to speak of."

In 1868 there was a heavy shake, and another in 1872. In May, 1877, there was a series of shocks during one night and the succeeding day, some violent enough to crack plaster on the

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

walls, and break the glass on a clock swinging out from the wall where it was hung.

LOS ANGELES CITY.

It is impossible at present to state the exact population of Los Angeles, city or county. This can be known only when the official census of 1890 shall be completed. Various recent esti- mates of the city's population, based on direct- ories and school statistics, range from 70,000 to 90,000, the correct figure probably coming mid- way between these .* According to the census of 1880 the population then was only 12,000. During the ensuing three years, the influx was steady, but by no means rapid. Early in 1884, began a tolerably lively increase, and from that period down to the present (sninmer of 1889), the growth has been very rapid. In five years Los Angeles advanced from a comparatively obscure county-seat to the proud position of the second city on the Pacific coast. Indeed, it is the fourth American city west of the Missouri river. The following statement from the Fed- eral census of 1880 to the present shows the phenomenal growth of Los Angeles for this period: 1880, 11,311; 1884, 28,285; 1885, 32,528; 1886, 45,000; 1887, 65,000. Increase of 1887 over 1880, over 474 1-2 per cent. These figures give only the resident population, with- ont including the thousands of visitors who yearly come here for health or pleasure. The city has an area of nearly thirty-six square miles, and hence has capacity for containing a popula- tion of at least 100,000. Within the year 1888 a vast deal of building was done, including many commodious and elegant business blocks, which would be creditable to any city in the United States.

While Los Angeles does not pose as a manu- facturing city, it contains nearly 600 manfact- uring establishments, with a prospect of a large increase in the number during the ensuing year. Among the manufacturing industries

now in operation are nine iron foundries, with several hundred employes; three flour and feed mills, turning ont about 500 barrels of flour daily; a dozen planing mills, employing from twenty to sixty men each; several brick kilns, turning ont an aggregate of 250,000 brick daily; several factories for the manufacture of iron irrigating pipes, employing several liun- dred men; several carriage and wagon factories; cigar factories employing 150 men; six soap factories, with about fifty employés; six granite works employing a large number of stone cut- ters; one extensive pottery; one establishment for the manufacture of terra cotta and pressed ornamental brick, there being only two other such manufactories west of the Rocky moun- tains. There is an ice factory and a cracker factory; there are two establishments for the production of soda and mineral waters; there are two broom factories; an establishment for pulling wool from sheepskins by steam; a hair factory, where hair and moss are prepared for mattress makers and upholsterers; several mattress factories; several very large furniture factories; also two breweries, that cousumne annually 300 bales of hops and 20,000 sacks of barley; several wineries and brandy stills; oue woolen mill; canneries and fruit crystallizing works; eight candy factories, one very extensive; one wholesale ice-cream factory; two vinegar and pickle works; several cooper shops; several tinware manufacturing establishments; fac- tories for making boxes for packing oranges and other fruits; shirt factories; coffee and spice mills; a bone dust factory; jewelry works; electric works; straw works; lithographic works; hat factories; tanneries; fruit-drying establishments and a pork-packing cold-storage company, with a capital of $300,000. The car and locomotive repair shops of the Sonthern Pacific Company are located at Los Angeles; and there are also car shops, where are made the cars for street railways. Los Angeles is the center of wholesale trade for Southern Cali- fornia, and also Arizona. The completion of the Los Angeles & Utah Railway would open

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.

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038