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 126

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 126
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 126
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 126
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 126

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).

Whittier is a town twelve miles east of Los Angeles, lying at an elevation of about 1,500 feet. It was founded by a body of Quakers from Illinois and Iowa, who own a large portion of land adjacent to the settlement. All kind of fruit and grain known to Southern California can be raised here. There is in the nucleus a commodious Friends' meeting-honse, a public

school, a prospective college, to be under the control of Friends, and the Branch State Re- form School, now in process of erection.

Santa Fé Springs is a neat village, with a Methodist Episcopal Church, a school-house, etc. This place, under the name of Fulton Wells. be- came quite famous on account of its iron-sul- phur wells, of which there are here half-a-dozen whose water is rich in medicinal virtues. This town is twelve miles from Los Angeles, and connected therewith by the San Diego branch of the California Central Railway.

Norwalk, in this township, is a flourishing village, seventeen miles from Los Angeles, on the Santa Ana branch of the Southern Pacific Railway. There are here extensive fields of corn and alfalfa, and numerous artesian wells, for irrigating purposes, and thoroughbred stock is extensively and profitably raised. Near this place Dr. C. J. Sketchly in the fall of 1882 established the first ostrich farm in North America, bringing some twenty-five birds direct from the Cape of Good Hope. Since then several other such farms have been started in various districts of the State.

San Gabriel is a very old town, oInstered around the nucleus formed by the ancient inis- sion. It lies nine miles from Los Angeles, on the Sonthern Pacific Railway. This place has long been noted for its salubrious climate and aged people. One mile from here is the famous "Sunny Slope " vineyard, lately sold to an English company for $750,000.

Alhambra is a beautiful little town, having a handsome hotel, a bank, a school-house, several churches, and fine orchards of almost every variety of fruits-oranges, lemons, limes, gnavas, plums, pears, nectarines, apricots, etc., etc.

Lamanda Park has for its nucleus the station nearest to the Sierra Madre Villa, a noted hotel for tourists. Near this point is Kinneyloa, the far-famed rancho of Hon. Abbott Kinney, con- taining one of the largest orange orchards in California.

Sierra Madre, often called " the model colony." is a scion of the renowned Santa Anita Rancho,

R. E. R.f.

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

belonging to " Lucky " Baldwin. In February, 1881, Mr. N. C. Carter purchased 1,100 acres of this rancho, then in its wild state, and had it at once surveyed into smaller tracts of twenty, forty, and eighty acres, for the location of self- sustaining and healthful homes. Fine water was brought from the mountains, and conveyed to the highest portion of every lot and building site, the water right going with the realty. The next year a public school, a large hotel, and inany other buildings were erected, and the dis- trict was rapidly settled up by a class of people unusually refined, intelligent, and enterprising. During the year 1886, the Santa Fé Railway was completed to this point, the town hall was built, at a cost of $5,000, and Mrs. R. E. Ross erected and donated to the town a fine library building.

ROBERT E. ROSS,

deceased, formerly a resident of Lassen County, this State, was born in Clarke County, Ohio, August 15, 1830, and came to California in 1850, locating in Nevada County, where he was largely engaged in mining enterprises until 1858. He then returned East, and the next spring came the second time to California, cross- ing the plains with large droves of cattle and horses. On arrival in this State with them, he located in Long valley, Lassen County, where he was for many years one of the most prom- inent men and leading agriculturists of that county. He was an intelligent and energetic pioneer, and his strict integrity gave him hosts of warm friends. In 1862 he married Miss Elizabeth Banon, now one of the most enter- prising and public-spirited residents of Sierra Madre. She is the owner of a fine tract of land, somne twenty-eight acres in extent, located on the south of Central avenne and west of Markham avenue. Mr. Ross died in Lassen County. March 31, 1884, and his widow, who moved the same year to Los Angeles County, brought his remains to Los Angeles and had them buried in Evergreen cemetery; and as a further tribute to his memory she erected in the winter of 1885-'86, at Sierra Madre, the Ross

Memorial Library building, on Central avenue, one of the largest, handsomest and best equippd public library buildings in the county outside of the city of Los Angeles. She donated three- fourths of an acre of land upon which the building stands, and also contributed nearly $2,500 toward the building fund. Mrs. Ross is a native of Nova Scotia, but in early life her parents moved to the United States and located in Boston, Massachusetts, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Ross never had any children of their own; their adopted daugh- ter, Margaret, is now the wife of Eugene Stein- burger, of Sierra Madre. The ranch which Mrs. Ross now occupies is under a fine state of cultivation, containing 1,200 apricot trees, 150 peach, 100 orange and about 100 other trees, such as prunes, apples, figs, pears, lemons, limes, etc. Her residence is a neat, substantial cottage, and the outbuildings are trim and tastefully arranged.

The settlers of El Monte, in 1851 were Ira, W. Thompson, Samuel M. Heath, Dr. Obed Macy, and his son, Oscar Macy, now of Los An- geles; F. W. Gibson, Nicholas Smith, J. Co- burn, J. Sheldon, Chisholm, and Mrs. John Row- land, who-now resides at Puente. In the years 1852-'53 came fifty-odd families, many among them being among the names best known to old- time Angeleños. Among others, was Thomas A. Garey, since become the great authority on horticulture in this county. The arrival of these immigrants gave the first decided impulse to agriculture in the county, encouraged busi- ness in the city of Los Angeles, and produced beneficial results lasting until the present time. The people at El Monte are mostly from the Sonthern States. They are principally engaged in raising corn, hogs and cattle. This tract lies along the San Gabriel river, twelve miles east of the city. Adjoining El Monte on the east lies La Puente Rancho, of 48,790 acres, granted July 22, 1845, to John Rowland and William Workman. Only a few miles farther eastward is the tertile valley of San José, Los Nogales Ranchito, about 500 acres, granted March 13,

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

1840, to José de la Cruz Linares; and next, San José de Palomares, of 22,720 acres, granted in 1837 to Ricardo Vejar, Ygnacio Palomares, and Luis Arenas. This was a colony which John Rowland gathered at Taos, Albuquerque, and other pueblos of New Mexico, in 1841. It formed a connected settlement for several iniles from Rowland's. A portion of these colonists, under Don Lorenzo Trujillo, planted themselves at Agua Mansa, on the Santa Ana river, six miles sonth of San Bernardino, the rest in this valley. Long after 1850 were to be seen the ruins of the great granaries of adobe which the padres built in front of William Workman's dwelling, to store the grain harvested on the plains of La Puente. Mildew never affected the wheat of San José. Time has made many changes since 1850, but it has well attested the productiveness of this soil, upon which stand to- day Pomona, Spadra, and other flourishing towns and settlements. The original settlement still exists, though missing many whose kind- ness memory cherishes-the Ybarras, Alvarados, Martinez, and others.

Arcadia is a new town that was platted and sold by H. Unruh, from the central portion of E. J. Baldwin's Santa Anita possessions. It is the scene of considerable activity. Much of the land contiguous to the village has been sold for fruit farms. Santa Anita settlement is two miles farther westward.

Monrovia, two miles east of Arcadia, was founded by W. N. Monroe, and it is a place of wonderful growth. It is sixteen miles from Los Angeles, lying close to the base of the Sierra Madre mountains. It has an elevation of 1,200 feet, and is especially commended as a health resort. It contains Methodist Episcopal and Baptist churches, a school-house that cost $15,000, two lines of street railways, large hotels under excellent management, two banks with large capital, large business blocks, thriving commercial enterprises, and beautiful homes surrounded by semi-tropical growth and pro- ductive orchards.

Glendale, a pretty little town with churches,

school-houses, and other evidences of an intelli- gent population, is abont eight miles north of Los Angeles, with which it is connected by a "duinmy " railway. In this village is one of the largest peach orchards in California.

In West Glendale, adjoining the town of Glendale, is a large ostrich farm, where the young birds are hatched by incubators. There is a large number of birds at this farm, and this has proved a very profitable industry.

Newhall, thirty miles from Los Angeles, has an elevation of 1,265 feet. The winters are cooler than in the southern part of the county, and the summers somewhat warmer. While this region is not so well known as the southern part, it is very healthful, particularly in cases of lung trouble. The atmosphere is so dry that large quantities of grapes are shipped thither by rail to be sun-dried. Grapes are also success- fully grown in this section, and it bids fair to become a rich raisin-grape producing country. Not far from Newhall are extensive deposits of petroleum. The following is a sketch from a report on this industry, which affords no little information historical and practical, on this sub- ject: "The first effort that promised success toward the development of our petroleum de- posits was made by a Pennsylvania company in 1862, headed by Tom Scott. This company bored a hole on the Camnulos Rancho in Ven- tura County, and at 800 feet secured a quantity of black oil, which they endeavored to refine in a still erected near the spot; at this time illu- minating oil was worth from $2.50 to $3 per gallon in Los Angeles, and a chance for a hand- some margin was excellent, but this operation failed principally for the reason of lack of knowledge of refining and the sudden drop in price of oil in Pennsylvania. From this time on until 1876 but little effort was made. What oil was produced from tunnels and shallow wells in small quantities found its way to the gas- works or was used for a lubricator. In this year the Star Oil Company commenced opera- tions in the Pico cañon, San Fernando district, and was soon followed by R. McPherson and C.

811

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

N. Felton. These operations were rewarded handsomely, and the two companies soon after consolidated under the name of the Pacific Coast Oil Company. The year 1876 also saw the organization of a company to operate in what is known as the Sespe Oil Region, about thirty miles west of San Fernando district, which was composed of citizens of this city aud known as the Los Angeles Oil Company. They were successful, and their first well produced for a time 125 barrels of oil every twenty-four hours. This well was lost some years later, through ignorance, and the company ceased operations. Owing to the lack of demand, the producing of oil remained stagnant for a period of years up to 1884. From that time until the present much greater activity was displayed, and the opening up of a new district in the Puente Hills, twenty miles east of the city, still further increased the vast field for development. The immediate cause of this activity was the demand for fuel oil. The organization in March, 1885, of the Los Angeles Oil Burning and Supply Company, for the purpose of introducing this liquid fuel, both for manufacturing and domes- tic purposes, sold in the first year 137,000 gal- lons of the distilled product, which was used solely for domestic purposes, through the me- dium of their patent burners."

San Fernando, the town, was laid out by Hon. Charles Maclay, in 1874. The village contains a neat Methodist Church, a commodious public school building, and a large three-story brick hotel. This is the location of tlie Maclay Theo- logical College of the University of Southern California, whose building the Senator erected at a cost to himself of $50,000, endowing the insti- tution moreover with $150,000. The establish- ment, which is under the control of Southern California Conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, was occupied early in 1888. In about the center of this township is the Mission of San Fernando Rey, founded in 1797, in honor of Ferdinand V., King of Aragon and Castile. The old church building is now a pic- turesqne rnin, as are other buildings formerly

connected with the Mission, while some are yet well preserved. The elevation here is 1,061 feet, the climate is delightful, and the situation beautiful. The section is watered by artesian wells and mountain streams. Wheat and barley here never need artificial watering, but fruit trees demand some irrigation. San Fernando is forty minutes by rail from Los Angeles, and there are several trains each way daily. The Southern Pacific Railway, in going from San Fernando to Newhall, passes through a tunnel one and one-third miles long, being, with two exceptions, the longest on the Western Conti- nent. San Fernando Township was formerly a rancho of nearly 125,000 acres, belonging to General Andres Pico, who in 1846 sold it to Eulogio de Celis for $14,000; in 1853 he re- purchased one-half of it for $15,000. Since 1876 this rancho has been one immense wheat- field, and although subdivided and belonging in tracts of a few thousand acres, it has still re- mained almost exclusively a wheat-producing territory, some of the fields comprising not less than 20,000 acres. These immense tracts are fast being subdivided into small farms of five to 160 acres, which insures a more rapid devel - opment of the county's products and a greater diversity of products.

One of the most picturesque and prosperous mountain resorts in Southern California is Monte Vista, situated in a beautiful fertile val- ley, between the Verdugo and the Sierra Madre mountains, twenty miles north of Los Angeles, and four miles east of Monte Vista Station, on the Southern Pacific Ralway.

On the main transcontinental line of tlie Santa Fé Railway, and twenty-seven miles east of Los Angeles, lies the town of Glendora. It is built on a gentle sonthern slope at the foot of the Sierra Madre, 700 to 900 feet above the sea, near the head of the San Gabriel val- ley, where it commands a very wide view. This town was founded in 1887, by George Whit- comb, a Chicago manufacturer, who came to Southern California, like so many others, for the health of himself and his family. There

812

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

is here a stock water company, with a paid up capital of $50,000, which has constructed two large tunnels and two reservoirs of nearly 2,- 000,000 capacity, which supply through pipes the water to the colony. Glendora's growth has been prosperous and steady. The town has seventy-two residence, business and public build- ings, including a fine two-story school-house of four rooms, which cost nearly $10,500; a twen- ty-room hotel, which cost over $7,000; and two churches. The altitude of this town places it within the warm belt, and renders it almost entirely free from frosts, and its distance from the ocean exempts it from fogs. Thus the climate is exceptionally mild, pleasant and healthful. Extensive and costly borings for petroleum are being carried on here.

Alosta, adjoining Glendora on the south, was founded about the same time as that town, by a corporate body known as the Alosta Land and Water Company. The town plat consists of eighty acres, traversed by the railway. A num- ber of buildings was erected, including several hotels, one costing nearly $16,000. The con- tignity of Glendora proved fatal to Alosta, and many of its enterprises have been discontinned.

Azusa is situated on the transcontinental line of the Santa Fé Railway, twenty-two miles east of Los Angeles, and thirty miles from the Pa- citic, near the east end of the San Gabriel val- ley. The town is located on a gentle sloping plateau, at an altitude of abont 800 feet, near the base of the Sierra Madre, and a mile directly south of the mouth of the cañon through which the San Gabriel river escapes from the embrace of the mountain fastnesses and hastens to the sea. Azusa was founded early in 1887 by a company of Los Angeles capitalists, who bonght the site and laid ont the town as an investment. The streets lie with the points of the compass, crossing each other at right angles, being from 60 to 100 feet wide; they have 1,600 feet of excellent cement sidewalks, constructed at a cost of $15,000; there are establishments rep- resenting most essential branches of business, and the town contains a school-house which

cost some $10,000, a good hotel, a city hall, a public library, and three church buildings, ag- gregating in cost nearly $10,000. The near proximity of the San Gabriel river gives to Azusa an abundant water supply, which is piped through the town from a reservoir of 2,000,000 capacity. The principal streets of the town are sewered, and this contributes to the healthfulness promoted by the natural char- acteristics of the place. Citrus and deciduous fruits are here produced in large quantity. Last season fifty car loads of oranges alone were shipped hence. The potato crop is one of the staple productions, and it is shipped extensively. In the immediate vicinity of the town are grown great quantities of strawberries, which are noted for their superior quality.

Duarte is a settlement upon the southern foot- hill slope of the Sierra Madre mountains, in the San Gabriel valley, eighteen miles east of Los Angeles, and 600 feet above the sea. It is so named from Andres Duarte, a Mexican military officer, who received from the Mexican govern- inent, and settled on, some time in the '40s, a grant of 4,000 acres, of which this is a part. He built a fine adobe dwelling, planted a vine- yard and orchard, and dng a water ditch to the month of the San Gabriel canon. He was not a successful farmer, and he became involved in debt, the Rancho Azusa de Duarte passing into the hands of other parties. About 1872, the then owners had a large portion of the rancho surveyed, selling the forty-acre lots to settlers. It was quickly demonstrated that the climate and soil here were adapted to the growth of citrus fruits, and many thousands of trees were planted on the foot-hill lands within the next few years. Duarte oranges and lemons now stand at the head in quality and popularity of the citrus fruits grown in the county. The area in orchard and quantity of product has been steadily increased until over 100 carloads of oranges were shipped from Duarte last season, beside those sold for local consumption. There have been serious controversies over their re spective water rights between the people of

813

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Duarte and those of neighboring districts, not- ably Azusa; but these have all been adjusted, and the water supply and distribution of Duarte are now among the best in Southern California. Here is the usual complement of shops and stores. The school-house cost some $5,000, and the enrollment of pupils is 115. There is but one church edifice in the district. Besides the citrus fruits, considerable area is given in Dnarte to the deciduous varieties, chiefly, however, the apricot, and the wine-grape. The apricot crop of the district in 1889 was 7,500 tons. The Duarte is not only one of the prettiest sections, but also one of the most prosperous and fruitful in Los Angeles County.

Lancaster, on the Southern Pacific Railway, is a flourishing little place, supported by a pros- perous agricultural and horticultural commun- ity. It has especially thriven since, in 1884- '85, certain Los Angeles capitalists have given it support and attention.

Wilson's Trail was made by B. D. Wilson up the Sierra Madre, the summit of which is Wil- son's Peak. Midway up is a cabin called the Half-way House, where Wilson in pioneer times made the first shingles manufactured in the county. The scenery along this route is ex- tremely wild and picturesque. A company has been organized to build a railroad up to the top of this peak, 6,000 feet above the sea level. It is probable that a very large sanitarium will be erected here also. In an observatory on the summit will be placed the largest telescope in the world, for the mounting of which ex-Mayor E. F. Spence, of Los Angeles, has contributed $50,000.

Among the largest cities of Los Angeles County is Pomona, thirty-three miles east of Los Angeles, near the county boundary. The altitude of the city is 860 feet, the valley grad- ually rising to 2,000 feet, at the foot of the mountains, whose ranges protect the quarter equally from harsh sea winds and the unpleasant dry winds and sandstorms of the desert. This valley is believed to be one of the mildest and most healthful in Southern California. The

Southern Pacific Railway runs through the heart of the city, and the Santa Fe through the north- ern portion, thus giving passengers their choice of routes. The soil of this valley is mostly a gravelly loam, although there are many acres of mnoist adobe land peculiar to it, which requires little or no irrigation. The title to the lands of Pomona is considered the best of all the present town sites in the county. It is a part of the old Rancho San José, from the portion of which allotted to Ricardo Vejar and afterward sold by him, the Pomona tract was parceled out-Vejar being one of the original grantees under the early Mexican rule. The town of Pomona was founded by the long defunct corporation, the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Co-operative Association. The first sale made on the site was that of a ten-acre lot near the depot. This is now a flourishing city of 5,000 to 6,000 inhab- itants, with fine churches, school-houses, and all the institutions demanded by a refined commun- ity. The city has no debts, save a very small item in connection with the Palomares school district. The city was incorporated December 31, 1887. The water supply is provided by two water companies, which convey water from ar- tesian wells for domestic use, and from the mountains for irrigation. San Antonio cañion, which is a favorite summer resort, is the source of the irrigation supply, and so bountiful is its yield that half of it is diverted to the Ontario region, both sections being amply supplied. Near Pomona are sixty or seventy artesian wells, with an average flow of 200,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.

San Pedro is the principal harbor of Los An- geles County. It was often lively in 1840, as it had been in mission times, with the trading vessels engaged, with active competition, in the purchase of hides and tallow. Francis Mellus gave a list of those on this coast, on August 22 of that year, as follows: Ships-California (Captain Arthur), Alciope (Clapp), Monsoon (Vincent), Alert (Phelps); barques- Index (Scott), Clara (Walters); hermaphrodite brigs -Leonidas (Stevens), Ayacucha (Dare); brigs ---

81₺

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Juan José (Dunkin), Bolivar (Nye); schooners -Fly (Wilson), California (Cooper), Nymph, formerly Norse (Fitch), and two more expected. The first steamer that ever visited San Pedro was the Goldhunter, a side-wheeler, in 1849; she made the voyage from San Francisco to Mazat- lan, touching at way ports. The next was the old Ohio. From 1844 to 1849, Temple & Alex- ander had the only general store at San Pedro, and they carried on all the forwarding business. The first four-wheel vehicle in this county. ex- cept an old fashioned Spanish carriage belong- ing to the mission priests, was a rockaway carriage which this firm bought of Captain Kane in 1849, paying $1,000 for the carriage and two American horses. It created a sensa- tion like that of the first Wilmington railway car on October 26, 1868. Goods were forwarded to Los Angeles, twenty four miles, in carts, each drawn by two yoke of oxen, yoked by the horns. The regular train was ot ten of these California carretas, which were modified by spoked and tired wheels, imported from Boston, Freight $1 per hundredweight. This style of transport- ation continued until after 1850. The first stage line was started by Alexanders & Banning in 1852; the next was by that man of iron, J. J. Tomlinson, whose death came too early for the public good; this particular sign of his enter- prise being inaugurated June 7, 1867. In 1851 D. W. Alexander purchased at Sacramento ten heavy freight wagons that had been sent in from Salt Lake by Ben. Holladay; and in 1853 a whole train of fourteen wagons and 168 mules, that had come through from Chihuahua, for which was paid $23,000. So ox carts were sup- planted. Such antiquated methods could not remain long after the management of trade fell into the hands of such men as Douglass & Sand- ford, John Goller, Don José Rubio, J. J. Tom- linson, J. M. Griffith, A. W. Timms, A. F. Hinchman, D. W. Alexander, Phineas Banning and a few other pioneers of public spirit and enterprise in the county. General Banning lived long enough to see passengers ride from the port to Los Angeles in railway cars as fine as any in

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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