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 82

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 82
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 82
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 82
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 82

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).

and a steward in the society. Politically he is a Republican, but is a firm supporter of the Prohibition movement and has served as a del- egate to the conventions of that party. He is a notary public, having been appointed to the office in April, 1889. He has a large circle of warnı friends in Riverside, as well as in the county. In 1856 he was united in marriage to Miss Susan J. Inglehart, a native of the county in which Mr. Combs was born.

HARLES C. WAINWRIGHT, M D., Coroner of San Bernardino County and City Health Officer, was born in Ohio, in 1851, and educated in Cincinnati. He camne to California first in 1870, and spent abont three years in teaching school, after which he went back East and completed his course in medicine, graduating at Cincinnati Medical College, May 9, 1876. He returned to Califor- nia the same year and has practiced his profession in the State ever since. He settled in San Bernardino in 1882, and in 1884 was elected coroner on the Republican ticket; was re- elected in 1886, and again in 1888-a most satisfactory indorsement of his efficiency as a public officer.

During the five years of his official service as coroner, Dr. Wainwright has held inquests over a number of notable cases, of which the most celebrated and sensational, perhaps, ever occurring in San Bernardino, was that of Katie Handorff Springer, a bride of one week, who was murdered in a hotel at Colton in January, 1887, by her husband. Springer first struck her in the eye with a hammer, and then ent her throat with a pocket-knife! Subsequent inves- tigation developed the fact that he had purchased the hammer at a hardware store in Los Angeles, and had sawed off the handle, so he could carry it unobserved in his short-overcoat pocket. He was a saloon-keeper in Lodi, California. Miss Handorff was an estimable young lady, highly respected in the community where she resided. They had been married a week and from ont-

THE BEAUTIFUL RESIDENCE OF FRANK HINKLEY, ESQ. (Old San Bernardino.)

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

ward indications seemed happy. They came down from San Francisco by the way of San Pedro and Los Angeles to Colton the day be ore the homicide occurred. After killing his wife he placed some articles of her wearing apparel in the middle of the room and attempted to set the building on fire, but failed for some cause. He left the hotel at eleven o'clock that night and visited a Chinese place, where he washed and combed his hair, using a hand glass to arrange his toilet. He was seen and identified next morning at the Santa Fe depot abont four o'clock, after which no further trace or clue could be obtained of him. The details of the horrible crime were pub- lished throughout the country; large rewards were offered for his apprehension and arrest and a very vigilant search was inade, but every effort proved futile, though several persons were arrested in various parts of the country, but all turned ont to be cases of mistaken identity. Thus the case remained wrapped in unfathom- able mystery. On the day President Harrison was elected, in November, 1888, Coroner Wain- wright was notified that the remains of a dead man had been found in a cañon on Little monnt- ain, about two miles north of San Bernardino, by two citizens while out hunting. The next day Dr. Wainwright summoned a jury and the necessary assistante, and proceeding to the place found the remains as reported. The body had wasted away, but the clothing was intact and well preserved. A pistol lay by the side of the skeleton, the rings worn on his fingers were unmolested, as was the watch he carried, and the hand glass. With mucli labor and care the history of these articles was traced one by one, the clothing was identified and other facts developed, resulting in the positive identification of the dead man as the wife-slayer Springer, who had committed suicide by shoot- ing himself through the brain in that lonely and unfrequented cañon twenty-two months before.

In addition to his official duties and a pros- perons private medical practice, Dr. Wain- wright has devoted considerable attention to

mining matters; owns an interest in mines at Twenty-nine Palms, and also has a fourth interest in a gold mine of high-grade ore in Santa Clara County, California.

He married Miss Galleron, a native of Cali- fornia, of French parentage. They reside in their pretty home on the corner of Seventh and D streets.

RANK HINCKLEY, one of the most snc- cessful horticulturists in San Bernardino valley, is a native of Rhode Island. His father, E. B. Hinckley, was an architect and builder. He early came to California, where he died in 1880. The subject of this sketch was graduated at the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York, in civil engineering, and almost immediately after came to California. His first work as a civil engineer was on the fortifications in San Francisco. He next worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad. He followed engi- neering for a period of ten years, and has since given his attention to farming and fruit cult- ure, having been thus engaged in Alameda, Santa Clara and Monterey counties. Six years ago he purchased sixty acres where he now lives. He has one of the finest residences in the valley, and no finer fruit orchard can be found in Sonthern California.

The following statement was made by Mr. Hinckley to the Board of Trade of San Bernard- ino County: "My seedling orchard, ten years old, yielded an average of three and one-third boxes to the tree, from which I realized $1.75 per box, net, on the tree the season just past. My budded trees, five years old, yielded two boxes to the tree, and sold for $2.50 and $3.00 per box on the tree, net. I have three seedling trees, twenty years old, which yielded between 9,000 and 10,000 oranges, and brought $1.75 per box on the tree, net."

Frank Hinckley is well and favorably known all over San Bernardino County, and stands at the head in fruit culture. Every one riding

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

from San Bernardino to Redlands on the motor road, which passes his premises, remarks: " What a nice residence and fine orchards and grounds!" If they should have occasion to stop off for a brief hour or two they would be most hospitably and agreeably entertained by Mr. Hinckley and his excellent wife.

He was married in 1870 to Miss Sarah C. Meek, daughter of William Meek, who crossed the plains in 1846 and brought the first grafted trees that were ever brought to the coast. He watered then on the way across the plains, and thus kept them alive during the long journey. It is said that he owns the finest fruit ranch in the State of California, located in Alameda County. Mr. and Mrs. Hinckley have a large family, ten children in all. The oldest one is attending college at Berkeley. Socially Mr. Hinckley is a member of the Masonic fraternity and affiliates with the lodge in San Francisco. As a citizen no man in the conuty stands higher than Mr. Hinckley, and it is saying only what is just and right that he has honored the avoca- tion he has chosen.

ATTHEW GAGE .- Perhaps no part of the United States, or the world, abonnds in men of larger mental grasp, more daring enterprise and greater executive ability than does Southern California; men who pos- sess the genius to conceive and the courage to undertake and carry forward to completion gi- gantic schemes which advance the welfare of whole communities and are so far-reaching in their effects that their benefits cannot be com- puted. Among the first of this class of public benefactors ranks Matthew Gage, the founder and constructor of the great irrigating canal and water system which bears his name. Born in Ireland forty-six years ago his last birthday, he immigrated to America in his boyhood, and re- sided for many years in Canada, where he at- tended school and learned the trade of making watches and jewelry, which he pursued while

there and after coming to the United States up to the past few years. Mr. Gage came to Riv- erside, San Bernardino County, in March, 1881, and during that year took up a section of land under the desert-land act, on the plain above the canals of the Riverside colony and eastward from the settlement. All the visible water supply having been previously appropriated, he began to cast about to obtain a sufficiency of this liquid monarch to enable him to improve his arid land, which was considered valueless withont it. He gave much thought and time to the subject of developing water from some unknown source, not only for his own tract, but for the thousands of fertile but barren acres lying about it. He first bought some old water- rights in the Santa Ana river; then, conceiving the idea of developing a sufficient flow of water for irrigating on an extensive scale by means of artesian wells, he purchased a large tract of bot- tom land along that stream, about two miles southeast of the city of San Bernardino, and began sinking wells. Although practically without moneyed capital, he also commenced in 1882 the construction of the great canal. the cost of which would eventually reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hence Mr. Gage was compelled, through his own personal efforts, to create the valnes which cnabled him to carry forward his great work as it progressed step by step. The task was herculean. Obstacles nn- merous and varied were met and overcome which would have discouraged and crushed men of less persistent energy and fertility of resource. Not the least of the difficulties he had to con- tend with was the determined opposition of jealous, narrow-minded people, who were unable to comprehend the magnitude of the importance of his grand enterprise. The first section of twelve miles of the canal were completed in little more than a year. Despite all impedi- ments the work of construction advanced to completion without the sale of a dollar of stock or an acre of land. The canal is twenty-two miles in length and includes sixteen tunnels, besides aqueducts and flumes, which are built

531

HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

with a capacity to carry 4,500 miner's inches of water. The cost of the work up to date-April, 1890-is $1,400,000. The Gage water sys- tem covers 12,000 acres of choice citrus fruit lands, which prior to the inauguration of his enterprise was a drug at $1.25 per acre, but which is now selling, with water right, for $300 to $500 an acre nnimproved. Water rights have been sold for abont 4,000 acres of this land, 3,000 acres of which have been planted to oranges and lemons. With a view to interest moneyed men and secure the investment of capi- tal in still further carrying ont his ideal, Mr. Gage twice visited Europe during the past two years, and succeeded in associating with himself a number of wealthy Englishmen in a company known as the Riverside Trust Company, of London, incorporated under the laws of Great Britain, for the purpose of the further develop- ment of the property connected with and belong. ing to the Gage canal and land system, which is now worth several millions of dollars. This com- pany is composed of some of the most prominent people financially and socially in Great Britain. Mr. Gage is managing director of the company and has the entire active charge of its business, ably assisted by his brother, Robert Gage, as general superintendent, and his brother-in law, William Irving, as chief engineer. The com- pany, which has its working office in Riverside, and its financial office in London, is investing a large sum of money in enlarging the water sup- ply and putting in a system of steel distributing pipes costing $75,000 to $100,000, which con- vey it to every ten-acre tract of their land, known as Arlington Hights, together with the constuction of streets and avenues, and other extensive improvements of an ornamental and useful character. They are building one main avenne, which has been named in honor of England's reigning sovereign -- Victoria. This magnificent street is to connect with Magnolia avenue, and will be about twelve miles in length, and when finished according to design will be one of the most elegant rural drives in the world. Mr. Gage has had opportunity to dis-

pose of his property and retire with an ample fortune, but declined, preferring to place it in its present shape, and devote his talent and energies for years to come to the perfecting and expansion of his grand ideal. Besides his large interests in the company, of which he is the directing head, he owns thirty acres of bearing orange grove in Riverside, where he and his family reside. Mr. Gage married Miss Jane Gibson in Canada, the land of her birth. Their family consists of seven living children. Though but just at the meridian of life, Mr. Gage has accomplished alone and unaided a work which for magnitude of achievement and beneficent results to society, is equaled by the life-work of but few meu; and he deserves to live many years to contemplate with satisfaction his struggles and enjoy his triumph.

OSEPH HANCOCK, a rancher near San Bernardino, was born near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1822, and is the son of Solomon and Alta (Adams) Hancock, natives of Massachu- setts and Vermont respectively. His father was born in 1793, and his mother in 1795, and were of English descent. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His paternal great-grandmother was the daugh- ter of General Ward. Solomon Hancock was a frontiersman in the " Buckeye State," a·farmer, but in his early days spent much time in hunt- ing deer and wild turkey, with which the country abounded. His father, Thomas Hancock, en- tered the Revolutionary war at the age of four- teen years. When the subject of this sketch was a lad of ten years his father moved to Clay County, Missouri, where he lived for three years. There they had some pretty "tough times." Mr. Hancock gave his shoes to another boy while he rode on the back of an ox to get along. This was in 1833. Four years later his father moved with his family to Adams County, Illi- nois, where he lived for three years, and then

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

moved to Hancock County. Illinois, and re- mained there nine years. In 1846 he left Illi- nois for Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he lived until 1851, when he set out for the Utali country.

While crossing the Missouri, Mr. Hancock and his wife and two children narrowly escaped drowning. Ile had just been assisting to " ferry across" several familes successfully, but in crossing this time a large tree came floating down stream. Captain Day insisted on trying to pass before the tree should arrive; bnt Mr. Hancock negatively shook his head and inti- mated to him that they had better slacken and let the tree pass first. The Captain called, " Row ahead!" Of course the boatmen obeyed, and the consequence was the tree caught the boat in the middle, and in spite of all the row. ing it pushed them down stream a half or three- quarters of a mile. In the meantime some of the men had got out of the boat, monnted the floating tree and chopped some branches loose just as they had neared a large whirlpool. On the bank some 150 men, women and children, came running with ropes, expecting every mo- ment that those in the river would be pushed into the whirlpool and drowned; but the party freed themselves from the tree barely in time to save their lives. On approaching the shore, a rope was thrown to them, by the aid of which, and by rowing, they succeeded in reaching the proper landing. Mrs. Hancock got ont of the wagon with both her children in her arms, ex- pecting they would be drowned in the whirlpool. The dog jumped into the wagon and whined and howled, realizing the danger as clearly as any person.

In the spring of 1854, when coming from Utah to California, Mr. Hancock lay sick with the chills and fever in his wagon. The oxen were exhausted for want of water. They were crossing the desert between Salt Lake and Bit- ter Springs. Some wagons in the train had not a drop of water. Mr. and Mrs. Hancock had a very small quantity, and Mr. Hancock lay in the wagon with a burning fever, while his wife walked and drove the oxen. An old friend, Mr.

Thorn, came to the wagon and asked, " Mrs. Hancock, can you spare me a little water? my children have been crying for water for hours, and we have not a drop, and God only knows when we will reach it." She replied. " Mr. Thorn, we have just one pint of water left, and Mr. Hancock has a burning fever, but refuses to drink; he says we must keep it for our three little ones; but I will divide with yon." She did; and he mentioned it very often after they reached San Bernardino, where water was plen- tiful. Mr. and Mrs. Hancock found their dog by the roadside dead for want of water; she found her sister and another girl lying under a bush almost choked for want of water. Her brother Samnel, who was afterward killed in the mountains of San Bernardino by a bear, left the train in search of water, but before he re- turned to them a shower of rain fell, and every available thing that would hold water was put ont to catch the drops; but it was a very light shower. When Samuel came and passed along to each wagon, he gave them a drink, and told thein that water as not far distant; and they were all consequently overjoyed. They reached the Bitter Springs after dark.

The Indians were very troublesome in the desert; and after the party reached San Bernard- ino, Mrs. Hancock's youngest brother, Nephi, with two other mnen, were killed by Indians in the mountains of the Mojave. Her brother Samuel used to take his gun and visit the place very often. On his last visit there he was killed by a bear within a half inile of the place where his brother met his death! It is difficult for Eastern people to realize the sufferings expe- rienced by the pioneers in settling California.

In crossing the plains the party had mnuch trouble also in crossing the Platte and Elkhorn rivers. They made grass bridges for the more shallow streams, and in many instances the men made bridges by locking their hands to- . gether and carrying the women across. Buffalo were plentiful, but the Indians gave them con- siderable trouble. One man was lost for several days, which gave the rest greater anxiety. They

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

finally reached the Salt Lake country, where they tarried two and one-half years. They were seven months on the way from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. In 1854 they started for California and were four months on the way. The first land bought by Mr. Hancock in San Bernardino County was five acres, and they camped for a time just southwest of the city, on Mount Ver- non avenne. He then purchased fifty-six acres of unimproved land just south of Base Line, on which he has put out a fine orchard, built a neat residence and good farm buildings, and has lived there ever since.

Before leaving Hancock County, Illinois, he was married to Harriet Brook, daughter of Sam- nel Brook, of Pennsylvania. His wife died at. Council Bluffs in 1847, and in the fall of 1848 Mr. Hancock married Miss Nancy Bemis, daughter of Alvin Bemis, by whom he has seven children : Alvin B., who married Elizabeth Nish; Elenorah, now Mrs. George Miller; Solomon, who married Endora Hammack; Jerusha, now Mrs. Charles Tyler; Lncina, wife of George Lord, Jr .; Foster, who married Kate Mapstead, and Joseph, yet at home with his parents. Since he has been identified with this county, Mr. Hancock has been eminently successful and has made a pleasant home. He is ever mindful of the past, its hardships and adventures. He has in his possession the board they used as a table from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake, and from the latter place to California. He has the tires of a wagon which brought them across the plains, *also a hub of the same wagon. His wife burned another hub of this wagon to make a cup of tea for a sister who was visiting them a year or two ago. Another relic of interest is a powder horn used in the war of 1812, and an old rifle. On the fourth of July and other days of demonstrations and parades, Mr. Hancock creates quite a lively interest with his covered wagon representing pio- neer days, with the old tires tied on the side, and with the hub and the old log chain used for a lock, etc. Any one who enjoys listening to incidents of early days can be royally entertained by Mr. Hancock and his faithful wife, who has

been a noble, brave and loving sharer with him in his life-work.

ON. JOHN LLOYD CAMPBELL, Judge of the Superior Court in and for San Ber- nardino County, was born in Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois, in 1855. His father, Hon. John Lewis Campbell, was connected with the banking business in Shawneetown, and with iron and salt manufacture in Sonthern Illinois for many years. In 1857 he moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and was there elected County Judge. When the war of the Rebellion broke out, he moved back to Illinois and enlisted in the Third Illinois Cavalry, of which he was made Major. In 1863, while placing his pickets near Jack- son, Mississippi, he was shot in the side, shoul- der and face by a squad of Confederate soldiers and supposed to be fatally wounded; bnt, by the exercise of his extraordinary will aided by great tenacity of life, he partially recovered and lived until 1875, thongh always suffering from the effects of his wounds, which finally induced the paralysis which terminated his life. After the war he was appointed Postmaster at Olney, Illinois, by President Lincoln, which office he held until his death, in 1875.

After graduating from the high school of his native State the subject of this memoir entered Hanover College, Indiana, but was called home at the end of his first college year by the death of his father, and did not return. He attended Columbia College Law School, New York, and was graduated therefrom iu the spring of 1878. Coming to California, he settled in San Ber- nardino in 1879, and entered into a law part- nership with Colonel A. B. Paris, which was terminated at the end of the year by Mr. Camp- bell's returning to the East. He located in St. Panl, Minnesota, where he practiced his profes- sion three years. In 1883 he came back to San Bernardino at the request of Judge J. A. Gib- son and formed a partnership with that gentle- man. In 1884 Mr. Campbell was candidate on

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

the Republican ticket for District Attorney, and his law partner ran for Superior Judge, both being elected. During his term of office tlie law allowed him an assistant, but he did the work alone with the exception of occasional as- sistance; and the last year-1886-tried thirty- two felony cases, convicting thirty of themn. He was renominated for the office on the first ballot, receiving 132 out of 140 votes in the convention, but was defeated at the election by Colonel Paris, his first law partner, that being a year of general Democratic success in the county. Continuing practice alone until the fall of 1888, Judge Campbell was then nomi- nated and elected Superior Judge for the term of six years, and took his seat on the benelı January 7, 1889, being thirty-three years of age and one of the youngest judges in the State. On May 17, 1888, Judge Campbell married Miss Hattie Mnscott, daughter of one of the leading horticulturists of the Mount Vernon district. She is a native of Iowa and has lived on the Pacific coast seven years. Judge and Mrs. Campbell, together with his aged mother, reside in their pretty home at Urbita, just out- side the city limits, which he purchased at the cost of $8,000. The Judge is much in love with the country and climate of Southern Coli- fornia, and is thoroughly loyal to the State of his adoption.

AMES E. MACK, Public Administrator of San Bernardino County, was born in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, in November, 1848, and resided there until twelve years of age. At the breaking out of the war in 1861 he enlisted in the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, serv- ing ninety days as drummer boy. On the ex- piration of his term he re-enlisted in the Twen- ty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry for three years, but his mother prevented him being inus- tered in. In the fervor of his youthful patriot- ismn he determined to try again, and enlisted in the United States Naval Marine Corps, but was

again prevented from entering the service by maternal interference. In March, 1865, he entered Mount Pleasant Institute at Amherst, Massachusetts; in September, 1867, he entered Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, remain- ing two years, when he left school and started out to engage in the battle of life. Possessing an innate love of travel, Mr. Mack gratified his desire to rove by visiting many of the principal places in the New England, Middle and West- ern States, during which time he was employed at various vocations, and learned three different trades, namely: shirt-cutting, butter-tub mak- ing, and making ladies' hats and bonnet frames. He could apply himself with equal facility to "either of these trades, and when in a section of the country where neither availed him he turned his attention to farming or some other business with true Yankee ingenuity.

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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