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 67
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 67
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 67
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 67
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production of lime, to burn which there are on the ground large kilns of the latest patent; these, however, are not running at the time of the present writing, owing to the light demand for lime (March, 1890). The waste rock is con- verted into crushed marble, and shipped in im- mense quantities to Los Angeles, San Francisco and the other cities, for street grading. The marble quarries at these works is graded ac- cording to its various beautiful colors, as follows: fine white, found in abundant quantities; light variegated, also abundant; dark variegated, plentiful, used for mantel-shelves, table-tops, columns, etc .; light grey or drab, very abun- dant; crystal white, very plentiful; sea green, in ample quantities, being used for shelves, table, slabs, tiling, etc .; brown, such as is used in jewelry settings, etc., the which is rated as rare, although of late there has been nnearthed here a large deposit, in which are found blocks two feet square; light blue, which is also rare; and black, which is here found in abundance, al- though it is known to exist in only three other quarries in the world, they being in Mexico, in Russia and in Egypt. The California stone carries a trace of silver, and it is deemed superior in luster and in finish to those of Russia or Egypt. The uses of such stone are very numerous, and that from Colton is manufactured into all kinds of face work for building, wainscotting, tiling, inantels, hearthstones, panels, columns, cemetery work, top-slabs for furniture, etc., fonts, altars, imposing stones, vases, etc., etc.
The staircases, columns, paneling and wain- scotting to the value of $30,000, of the new Academy of Sciences in San Francisco will be constructed of the marble from these quarries, where many of the pieces, already completed, are ready for shipment, being of exceptional beauty.
The supply of this valuable stone is practi- cally inexhaustible, Stone monntain being 400 feet high, and of 160 to 200 acres base area. The existence of this marble has been known since the period of American occupation but its working, safe for lime, is of very recent date.
433
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
The durability of this marble is one of its strongest features. . It is unfading in color, as it contains no iron, its coloration being due en- tirely to the presence of graphite.
Professor Jackson makes it the least absorbent of stones he has tested. Its crushing strength is 17,095 pounds to the square inch, as com- pared to about 8,000 pounds strength in ordi- nary granite, while Quincy granite crushes under something over 11,000 pounds to the square inch.
This deposit is denuded, and is worked fromn above by drifting, whereas most quarries are worked from below. This advantage is obvious. Some of the slabs cut here are of great size. One section of stone as cut measures 60 x 18 x 12 feet.
The quarry is situated at the junction of two trans-continental railways, and its great impor- tance has cansed it to be completely encircled by the tracks of both, the Santa Fé and the Southern Pacific, which mutually concede the right of way.
PUBLIO SCHOOLS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
San Bernardino County was segregated from Los Angeles County, of which it originally formed a part, by an act of the Legislature, passed April 26, 1853; and the earliest history recorded of a concerted systematic effort to establish public schools in the territory com- priscd in San Bernardino County are of that year. T. I. Herring was the first County Superintendent of common schools, and from the report of the school commissioners signed by him, and bearing date of November 17, 1853, the following is extracted:
" REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS, SAN BER- NARDINO, NOVEMBER 17, 1853.
" Theodore Turley, David Seelcy, James H. Rollins, School Commissioners, report as fol- lows: Whole number of children between four and eighteen years in districts No. 1 and 2, 263; number of boys, 142; number of girls, 121.
" Amount raised by subscription and paid teachers, $1,438.
"Names of teachers employed: District No. 1-William Stout, eight months, $60 per month; William N. Cook (grade No. 2), six months, $60 per month; Q. S. Sharks, three months, $76 per month; Sarah Pratt, three months and ten days, $50 per month. District No. 2-Ellen S. Pratt, four months, $35 per month; Louis Pratt, as- sistant (primary school), one month, $27.50 per month; W. S. Mathes, one month, $27.50 per month. Number of pupils taught in first and second districts, 206; daily average attendance, 160; amonnt expended for schools, libraries and apparatus, $300; amount expended for building or renting and furnishing school- house, $291.50. Total amount of all expendi- tures on account of schools, $2,029.50. The whole of the above was raised by subscription.
"T. I. HERRING,
"County Superintendent of Common Schools."
In the decade following the date of this record the number of children of school age multiplied more than fourfold, the number of census chil- dren in 1863, as shown by the record, being 1,072. The following official table, kindly fur- nished by County Superintendent Brooke, gives the list of county superintendents, number of census children, number of teachers, and the value of school property in San Bernardino County each year since 1867 to the present date :
Year.
Superintendent of Schools.
No. of Census Children.
No. of Value of Teach- School ers. Property.
1867
.W. L. Ragsdale
1322
14
$ 4,574
1868
W. S. Clark
1363
15
6.610
1869
. W. S. Clark.
1353
15
7,299
1870
H. C. Brooke
1462
18
8,672
1871
H. C. Brooke.
1633
19
11,404
1872
John Brown, Jr.
1583
20
15,934
1873
.John Brown, Jr.
1563
21
16,590
1874
Henry Goodcell, Jr.
1825
22
17,405
1875
Henry Goodcell, Jr.
1971
21,505
1876
No Incumbent.
2104
27
23,670
1877
Chas. R. Paine
2231
30
27,177
1878
Dr. J. A. Rousseau ..
2421
84
30,277
1879
Dr. J. A. Rousseau
2420
39
35,293
1880)
Dr. J. A. Rousseau.
2428
40
39,073
1881
Dr. J. A. Rousseau.
2460
43
44,085
1832
Dr. Rousseau and D. B. Sturges
2661
44
45,198
1883
H. C. Brooke
3117
52
58,130
1884
H. C. Brooke
3443
59
71,035
1885
. H. C. Brooke.
3801
65
124,890
1886
H. C. Brooke
4130
72
146,880
1887
H. C. Brooke
4606
83
247,745
1888
H. C. Brooke.
5883
584,945
1889
H. C. Brooke
5990
107
| 453,695
In 1872 the first brick school-house in the county was built on Fourth street, between C
434
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
and D streets, in San Bernardino, and dedicated with imposing ceremonies. It is a two-story structure of - rooms, and is still in use for educational purposes. Previous to this the school-houses were either adobe or wooden buildings, with inferior lighting and ventilation and primitive in style of architecture. This was the initiative step in a new era which has provided this county with the finest class of school-houses of all counties in the State. Un- til the adoption of the new constitution of Cali- fornia in 1880, the public school system of the State was under the supervision of the State Board of Education, and was uniform in the different counties; but with the adoption of the new constitution the control of the school passed from the State Board to the local County Board, and, as shown by the comparative figures in this article, the common schools of San Bernardino County have made rapid strides of progress from that time. The following table shows the condition and progress each ten years for three decades:
1853.
1863.
1873.
1882.
Census children, 5 to 17 years.
263
1,072
1,562
2,661
Children attending school ....
206
342
988
1,914
Average daily attendance ...
160
244
669
1,120
Number schools in county ... Av'ge number months taught. Average salary of teachers per month.
8
10
21
44
6
6
6
8 1.5
$53
50
62 60
Cash received from Stale
$1,843
4,928 21,918
Cash received from county ...
$565
5,992
8,716
Cash rec'd from all sources .. $2,029 3,843 13,664 37,619
Total expenditures. .
$2,029 2,867 10,590 30,402
Value of school property ....
$2,180 16,475 45,198
HENRY CAMPBELL BROOKE, Superintendent of Schools of San Bernardino County, and one of the most devoted and successful workers in the cause of public-school education on the Pacific coast, was born in Pennsylvania in 1834. His ancestors on both sides emigrated to America and settled in that State in the closing year of the seventeenth century. His maternal grand- mother, Mrs. Phillips (Mary Lewis), was inti inately acquainted with General George Wash- ington, and often entertained the Father of his Country at the Phillips home near Valley
Forge. The Brookes settled in the mineral re- gions of Pennsylvania, and were among the first to mine anthracite coal and to discover and demonstrate its value as fuel. His father's family for generations have been and still are heavily interested in coal-mining and iron· mann- facturing in the vicinity of Reading. The fam- ily are either manufacturers, coal operators or farmers.
"The subject of this memoir was educated in the schools of Philadelphia. During the gold-mining excitement at Pike's Peak, in 1859, Mr. Brooke caught the fever and started from his Pennsyl- vania home for the new El Dorado; but before he reached his destination that bubble of ques- tionable promise had been exploded and the reactionary wave had set in. So by the way of compromise he continued his journey across the plains to California, and he has never re- gretted the decision that brought him here. He began his school work in this State in the fall of 1860, as a teacher in Humboldt County, under the old Swett law, and from the most re- liable information obtainable Professor Brooke received the first certificate issued in the State under that law. In 1867 he came to San Ber- nardino and for twenty-three years has been a most zealous and efficient worker in the schools of the county. In 1869 he was first elected county superintendent of schools and served two years, 1870-'71. After an interval of ten years spent in active teaching he was again elected county superintendent, in 1882, and has continued to fill the office by successive elec- tions ever since. "Onward to perfection " has been his motto, and for the past eight years his time, mind and energies have been conse- crated to the bringing of the public schools of this county up to his ideal standard. The fol- lowing comparative official figures show the prog- ress of the public schools of the county under Prof. Brooke's administration. In 1882 San Bernardino, of the fi ty two counties in Califor- nia, ranked No. 25, in number of children of school age; No. 32 in total value of school property and No. 43 in value of school property
435
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
in proportion to the number of census children. In 1888 the county ranked No. 9 in number of census children; No. 12 in value of all property ; No. 5 in value of school property; No. 1 in value of school property in proportion to the value of all property in the county. This splendid ratio of increase in the value of school property is due in a large degree to the wise method inaugurated years ago by Superinten- dent Brooke, to raise money for the building of school-houses, namely, the issuing of school bonds in the respective school districts where houses were needed. Having drawn a form of bond submitted to and improved by the highest legal authorities, the question of voting bonds sufficient to cover the cost of the building to be erected is submitted to the voters of the district, and upon receiving the requisite two-thirds vote the bonds are executed and sold, usually by Mr. Brooke himself, thus saving broker's commission. Some fifty-six issues of these bonds have been made in the county, and there has never been one returned for any irregularity, and they have always readily sold at a premium, ranging from six to fourteen per centum, the premium obtained generally being sufficient to seat and furnish the school-houses after they are finished. By this judicions and business- like mode of procedure the value of school prop- erty in San Bernardino County has been increased from $45,198 in 1882 to $456,693 in 1889, a growth of over tenfold in seven years. During this period the number of census children have increased fromn 2,661 to 5,990; and the number of teachers from 44 to 118. By the end of the present year every one of the sixty-one school districts in the county will be provided with a comfortable, commodious house, some of them costing as much as $75,000, modern in style of architecture, and each supplied with the neces- sary apparatus for the most effective educational work. Professor Brooke's aim has been to fur- nish all the facilities needed, and to employ the most efficient teachers and then allow them to work in their own way, and through their own individual methods as far as is consistent with
the highest interests of the schools, holding them responsible for results. Thus the teacher is not subjected to any inflexible process of machine cramining, but left free to use his or her own judgment in the use of means to attain the desired end in the school-room work. Success- ive years of experience have demonstrated the wisdom of treating the teacher as an. independ- ent thinking individuality rather than an au- tomaton propelled and controlled by rules as in- flexible as the laws of mechanics, with the county superintendent and the board of educa- tion as the motive power. The public schools of San Bernardino County compare favorably with those of any other county in California or the Union, and this proud achievement is due in a large measure to the intelligent and unre- mitting labors of County Superintendent Henry Campbell Brooke.
BENOH AND BAR.
The members of the legal fraternity in San Bernardino having formally organized in a bar association on December 4, 1875, that organi- zation was reconstructed October 31, 1887. This reorganization was little more than the. adoption of a revised constitution. The first officers of the association were: Byron Waters, President; W. J. Curtis, Vice President; Henry Goodcell, Jr., Secretary. The present officers are: W. J. Curtis, President; F. W. Gregg, Vice President; Henry Goodcell, Jr., Secretary ; J. P. Higlet, Treasurer. The first constitution pro- vided for an admission fee of $5, but as amended, it provides that required funds be raised by assessments. The constitution calls for regular annual meetings, and for special meetings to be held at the call of the president. The present membership is thirty six, although the attendance is sometimes greater than that figure.
The present superior judges are: John L. Campbell and C. W. C. Rowell. Prior to their inucumbency this office was variously filled; Hon. H. C. Rolfe, who grew up to the legal profession in San Bernardino, as an indus-
436
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
trions and studious practitioner, held the office; 80 too, Henry M. Willis, who came, a young lawyer, from San Francisco in 1858, arrived at the position of County Judge and Superior Judge. Hewitt Clark was a bright professional, but drink caused his decadence and death. Samuel G. Campbell, a lawyer from Missouri, was in the early days District Attorney. He was an able man, but a dissipated one, and he died in a sad way. J. S. Sparks was par excellence the criminal lawyer at the bar of San Bernard- ino,-able, eloquent, and almost always success- ful. Judge Benjamin Hayes, well known in Southern California history, was the first District Judge, presiding over all the southern counties, including Santa Barbara. Judge A. D. Boren, born in Illinois, still a prominent citizen of San Bernardino, whither he came in 1854. was on the bench for fourteen years continuous. He was four times elected County Judge, and pre- sided during the most lawless period of San Bernardino's history.
During this period, the functions of a county officer were often attended with considerable danger, unless the official were allied with or subservient to the gang of roughs in possession. The era of good feeling and peace that had pre- vailed between the Mormons and their Los Angeles neighbors continued about until the exodus or return to Salt Lake in 1857-'58 of some three-fourths of the Mormon element. At this time there came to the county and the town a very undesirable class of citizens, and disorder and lawlessness became the rule, after these people organized to the extent of possess- ing themselves, partly by fraud and partly by force, of the offices of sheriff, county clerk, county recorder, etc. To illustrate these con- ditions, the following narratives will serve as types: One McFeely, who was, by the way, deputy clerk of San Bernardino, went one day to the house of an inoffensive old negro, being intoxicated, and there made such threatening demonstrations that the old black man filed a complaint against him. McFeely was arrested, and taken before Justice J. W. Wilson. Taking
the complaint into his hands, apparently for in- spection, he rolled it into compact forin, and then, pistol in hand, in the presence of the court, he forced the old darkey to eat the docu - ment! Judge Boren had this matter brought before the next grand jury, and an indictment was found against McFeely. At the trial the deputy sheriff packed the jury-box largely with the friends of McFeely, to defend whom were retained all the lawyers in San Bernardino. Judge Russel, the District Attorney, did his whole duty, but he was one against many. In the midst of the trial, the county clerk, coming drunk into the court-room, heard the judge make a law-ruling unfavorable to McFcely, and, drawing his gun, he cried out to his deputy, " Buzz Tarleton, dont you dare to set down any such ruling as that !' The associate judges in great alarm sprang away from the side of the judge, lest a ball designed for him might go wide of the mark and strike them, and there was general con- fusion in the court-room. The judge ordered court adjourned, and the clerk, finding comfort- able quarters in a saloon, was not present at the afternoon session. The honest men on the jury were so impressed by this occurrence, and by the evident determination of the McFeely fac- tion to release him at all hazards, that they actually agreed to a verdict of " not guilty," some of them telling Judge Boren later that he had perjured himself in his duty as a juror to prevent bloodshed and violence in court against the magistrate.
The county court in those earlier days com- prised the county judge and two associate judges-justices of the peace.
PHYSICIANS.
The first regular medical practitioner in San Bernardino was Dr. Ira Burris, who came in 1852. Soon after arrived Ainsworth and Gen- try, whose abilities are questioned by some of the older residents who remember them, and the story of whose fend is elsewhere herein re- lated. Fortunately, the section has always been
437
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
exceptionally healthy. In 1870 the medical profession was represented by Drs. J. A. Rous- sean, D. Evans, Winehester. Grindley, and Dickey, the latter of whom is still resident here.
The San Bernardino County Medical Society was organized about 1886. It meets the first Tuesday in each quarter. Its president is Dr. W. R. Fox, of Colton; Secretary, Dr. F. M. Price. Its membership is twenty-five to twenty- eight.
There are in the county sixty-four physicians of the allopathic school in active practice, and of the homeopathic, twenty to thirty.
THE WATER SUPPLY.
In view of the great, the paramount import- anee, of the water supply in developing the resources of a locality, particularly a section principally devoted to agriculture, it has seemed desirable and necessary to give at rather dis- proportionate length a circumstantial account of this feature of San Bernardino County. This report comprehends a very detailed and circumn- stantial description of two great water systems, -- that of Bear valley and that of the Gage canal-because these enterprises are not only of incalculable importance and benefit locally, but they are regarded, throughout the State, and even throughout the continent, as representative undertakings and achievements.
STREAMS.
The Colorado river, the second in size of those flowing into the Pacific on this coast, forins for some 100 miles the eastern boundary of San Bernardino County. At this section it is narrow, deep, and free from bars or rocks. For much of the distance, the river flows between gravel bluffs 100 to 200 feet high, where there is usu- ally good navigation, owing to the sandy bed and fair channel. The low banks mean impaired facility of navigation. In the Mohave valley the river is generally good; there is a difficult
shoal at the entrance from the Needles, and also four miles above, at the head of the valley, where there are roeky bars and slight rapids. At this section, the depth of the channel is about six feet, it gradually decreasing. The channel is little obstructed by sand-bars. The navigation of this river has of late years assumed more im- portanee, and since the completion of the rail- way to Fort Ynma, steamers have made regular trips to Fort Mohave, near the boundary line of California and Nevada.
The Santa Ana river, originating at the foot of " Old Grayback " as a small brook, zigzags along a westerly course, constantly augmented by little streams, until it becomes the largest watercourse in the county. From source to debonchure it measures some seventy-five miles. Old San Bernardino, Riverside, Jurupa, Redlands, Rin- con, Agna Mansa, Sunnyside and Cram District, besides other settlements in Los Angeles County, are watered by it; and it is almost dry at certain points, during the summer months, owing to its draining by the irrigating ditches.
The Mohave river rises on the north side of the Sierra Nevada, and north of San Bernardino valley. It diverges to the Mohave desert, and runs a northerly course to "The Caves," some 100 miles from San Bernardino, where it dis- appears. In wet seasons, it is said to overflow and enter Death valley. This stream sinks and rises along its whole course.
Mill creek rises in the mountains near Gray- back, and runs for a space parallel with the Santa Ana, into which then, turning to the left, it empties. Much of its water is conveyed by the Mill creek ditch southward along the base of the hills, to irrigate the orchards and grain-fields of Old San Bernardino.
Lytle ereek is a small stream, rising in the mountains west of Cajon pass, at the base of Mount Baldy. A portion of its waters is piped down the mountains, for use in hydraulic min- ing. This stream waters a considerable num- ber of farins and orchards.
City creek cornes down upon the plains through a small cañion in the northeastern part
438
HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
of the valley, and it is of great value in the farm- ing operations of that district.
From the base of the mountains to the center of the valley the land is gradually depressed; the lowlands thus formed give rise to innumer- able streams, and swamp lands here formerly covered thousands of acres, a great portion of which has been drained and brought under cul- tivation. Much more water could be developed, and excellent land obtained, by continuing this system of reclamation.
VIENEGAS AND WELLS.
The word ciénega is a Spanish term, meaning, swampy or boggy ground. A ciénega, in its local use, is applied to a spring and the marshy land about it. The ciénegas of the San Bernard- ino basin are more extensive than any others in the southern country, and they are the chieť summer source of supply of the Santa Ana river. The two principal ones, quite near the town of San Bernardino, and covering an area of some 300 acres each, are said to be of recent origin, old settlers recalling the time when their site was comparatively dry. The volume of the stream issuing from them-it is called from its temperature Warm creek-has been slowly in- creasing of late years, probably from the drain- age of the many artesian wells recently bored in the vicinity, and from the drain ditches eut thereabouts. Warm creek is a beautiful, clear stream, carrying over eighty cubic feet per second. At other spots in the valley, springs burst forth after very wet seasons, forining tem- porary ciénegas, which after a few years dry np again, until replenished by another season of excessive rainfall. Opposite Riverside, in the bottom lands of the Santa Ana river, there are other large ciénegas, which add twenty-five or thirty cubic feet per second to the voluine of the streamn; and farther down, in the eighteen miles between Riverside and Bedruck cañon, the river is constantly augmented from similar sources. These streams and springs are so nu- merous, that it were difficult to segregate their offices; but their volume of water may be ap-
proximately estimated at some twenty cubic feet per second, thus irrigating about 1,800 acres.
SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY.
The area of that part of San Bernardino County in which are obtained flowing wells, is only of some thirty square miles, including the sources of Warm creek, and the large ciénegas. The fol- lowing notes are front a report prepared by F. T. Perris, civil engineer of San Bernardino, who says:
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