USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 14
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
energies; and it is true, too, that where the nervous system has been depressed for a long time, the continued use of raisins will very much improve its tone. There is high authority on this subject, and for the benefit of both producers and consumers this subject should be studied, and the knowledge acquired and diffused all over the country. Were this properly understood, the consumption of rais- ins would be very much greater than at present. Among ourselves and in our own families, if we would put them into more general use, we would more thoroughly realize the benefit. Let any one try them when on a camping trip. A handful of raisins, a piece of bread, and a cup of water is relished, and work can be performed on such a diet as easily as upon a diet of animal food. I would not adopt a vegetarian system, but I believe that much benefit would result from a more liberal use of raisins in our diet."
In 1875 the California crop of raisins amounted to 11,000 boxes of twenty pounds each ; in 1876, 19,000 boxes ; in 1877, 32,000 boxes ; 1878, 48,000 boxes ; 1879, 65,000 boxes ; 1880, 75,000 boxes ; 1881, 90,000 boxes ; 1882, 115,000 boxes ; 1883, 125,000 boxes ; 1884, 175,000 boxes ; 1885, 500,000 boxes ; 1886, 703,000 boxes ; and the crop of 1887 is estimated at 1,000,000 boxes. A large proportion of all this output is from the vicinity of Orange.
Two miles east of Orange is the raisin establishment of McPherson Brothers. In the center of this great enter- prise is the village of McPherson, a collection of homes, a town hall, and a store for the accommodation of those employed in the raisin business.
One mile farther east is the beautiful Quaker village of
EARLHAM .- The Quakers of the United States seem to be in great numbers looking toward Los Angeles County. They now have comfortable, attractive meeting-houses at Pasadena, Whittier, and Earlham.
Four and a half miles east of Orange is the Santiago Cañon, one of the most beautiful, romantic recesses in the mountains that the convulsions of nature have ever pro- duced.
181
SANTA ANA.
The tourist can spend a week in this canon with pleas- ure and profit. The invalid can well spend months camp- ing under oaks and pines beside the musical stream that runs down this great gash in the face of the earth.
SANTA ANA .- Three miles from Orange and thirty-four miles from Los Angeles is the largest town in Los Angeles County south of the city of Los Angeles. It is ten miles from the ocean, and is the terminus of the San Diego branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad. It is also on the Riverside branch of the California Central, and will also be on the projected branch of the California Central that connects Los Angeles and San Diego.
The Santa Ana Valley, in which these three towns are situated, contains about five hundred square miles and is traversed by the Santa Ana River. The river furnishes the most of the water for irrigation, but the water for do- mestic purposes in Santa Ana is piped from artesian wells.
There are four hotels, numerous secret societies, nine churches, and three newspapers-the " Blade," the "Stand- ard," and the "Herald." On January 1, 1887, the Santa Ana "Standard " reported the following improvements in that city since January 1, 1884 :
Two hundred and twelve residences. $250,000
Brick business-houses.
150,000
Two brick hotels.
60,000
Two frame hotels. 15,000
Two churches.
7,000
Two packing-houses. 5,000
One planing-mill
10,000
Gas-works
22,500
Street-railway.
20,000
Other improvements.
25,000
$587,000
During 1887 electric-light works were established, and . much greater improvement has taken place in all directions
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
than ever before in the same length of time. Santa Ana has about four thousand inhabitants.
TUSTIN is the gem of this valley. It is two miles southeast of Santa Ana, and is the center of a community noted for their culture and industry. Here are broad, shaded avenues, flanked by beautiful residences, surround- ed by and containing all that wealth and intelligent taste could desire.
Ilad Dr. Johnson described Tustin and the valley it is in, he would have pictured a much more attractive scene than the classic Happy Valley wherein dwelt Rasselas, the Abyssinian prince. We read that in that Happy Valley the trees dropped ripe fruit in the lap of Mother Earth every month in the year. So it is in Tustin. In the win- ter there are the orange and the lemon ; in the spring, the apricot, the peach, and the nectarine ; in the summer, the apple, the pear, and the plum ; and autumn brings the ripe, rich, purple clusters of grapes. There is one great differ- ence in these valleys.
Dr. Johnson says in the Abyssinian Valley the people wanted to get out, but could not. While in the Tustin Valley they can get out but do not want to.
The seaport nearest to these towns is NEWPORT HAR- BOR, which has become quite a local shipping-point. It is now in the hands of capitalists who will soon make it a first- class harbor. Laguna is one of several places on the ocean where people camp, in order to enjoy surf-bathing.
San Juan.
Los Angeles County, south of Santa Ana and Tustin, consists almost entirely of immense ranches, which are gradually being subdivided into small farms. Great bodies of land and railroads are incompatible. All intelligent rail- road managers encourage small farming. The more farms
183
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.
the more freight and passengers, while a ranch of ten or fifteen square leagues means little revenue for railroads, no schools, no churches, and no hotels. The California Central, about completed via Santa Ana to San Juan-by-the-Sea, is projected to San Diego ; the Southern Pacific will also soon traverse this region. Real-estate syndicates, the fore- runners of development and prosperity, are buying up and subdividing the large tracts.
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO is the old Spanish town at the mission of the same name, which was founded in 1776. The building, completed thirty years later, was built of stone and cement, in a cruciform shape, with an im- mense dome, and was at the time of its completion the finest church in California. In 1812 an earthquake caused the top-heavy dome to fall in upon the assembled wor- shippers, and forty-four people were killed. Since that time, even to the present day, services are regularly held in a supplementary building. The mission was named in honor of the priest who, in the fifteenth century, headed the movement that caused the Turks to be driven out of Belgrade.
The village of San Juan, together with the mission, is an interesting point to visit .. Here are productive olive, orange, and fig orchards, while the palm, here and there, adds to the picturesqueness of the scenery.
SAN JUAN-BY-THE-SEA, is the musical name of the new town laid out on the sea-shore, two and a half miles away on the line of the California Central Railroad. Fifty years ago Richard Dana visited this romantic point, and in his "Two Years Before the Mast " describes it as follows :
"San Juan is the only romantic spot in California. The country here for several miles is a high table-land, running boldly to the shore, and breaking off in a steep hill, at the foot of which the waters of the Pacific are continually dashing. For several miles the water washes the very base of the hill, or breaks upon ledges or
184
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
fragments of rocks which run out into the sea. Just where we landed was a small cove or 'bight,' which gave us at high tide a landing- place between the sea and the bottom of the hill. Directly above us was the perpendicular bluff nearly two hundred feet high. We strolled about, picking up shells and following the sea, where it tumbled in, roaring and spouting among the crevices of the great rocks. The rocks were as large as those of Nahant or Newport, but, to my eyes, more grand and broken. Besides, there was a grandeur in everything around, which gave almost a solemnity to the scene; a silence and solitariness which affected everything. Not a human being but ourselves, and no sound heard but the pulsation of the great Pacific, and the great steep hill rising like a wall, and cutting us off from all the world but the 'world of waters'! I sep- arated myself from the rest, and sat down upon a rock, just where the sea ran in and formed a fine spouting horn .* Compared with the plain, dull, sand beach of the rest of the coast, this grandeur was as refreshing as a 'great rock in a weary land.' My better nature was strong upon me. Everything was in accordance with my state of feeling, and I experienced a glow of pleasure at finding that what of poetry and romance I ever had in me had not been entirely deadened by the laborious and frittering life I had led. Nearly an hour did I sit lost in the luxury of this entire new scene of the play in which I had so long been acting. Rejoining the crew, we went to the top of the hill. Here the country stretched out for miles, as far as the eye could reach, on a level, table-like surface, and the only habitation in sight was the white mission buildings of San Juan Capistrano, distant about three miles, in a lovely vale. Standing on the edge of the hill, and looking down the perpendicu- lar heights, the sailors
. . That walked upon the beach Appeared like mice, and our tall, anchoring bark Diminished to her cock; her cock a buoy, Almost too small for sight.'
"It was really a picturesque sight; the great height, and the continual walking to and fro of the men, who looked like mites on the beach."
* In memory of the above writer, this prominent headland on the west of San Juan is called Dana's Point.
185
SAN JUAN-BY-THE-SEA.
San Juan-by-the-Sea is already a favorite resort of many. The far-famed Modjeska comes here every year, accompanied by her husband, Count Bozante, and spends a few weeks hunting, fishing, riding, and bathing. Mod- jeska's home is a beautiful mountain retreat near Ana- heim, and her summers are seasons of delightful rest and recreation passed at her home and at San Juan-by- the-Sea.
The hot springs are in the mountains, twelve miles from San Juan. The territory of twenty-five miles of fer- tile soil between San Juan-by-the-Sea and Santa Ana will doubtless be the scene of great activity in the near future. The article in another part of this work, entitled "Ten Acres enough to Support a Family," is capable of con- firmation on any of this land.
This closes a glance at Los Angeles County. Many points have not been touched. There are coal-mines in the vicinity of Santa Ana, silver-mines in the vicinity of Orange, San Gabriel, and Lang's Springs. There are bee- ranches in all the mountain canons, producing honey that is sent all over the civilized world ; * there are asphaltum-
* The quantity of honey produced in Los Angeles County may be better comprehended by the following correspondence between a Boston tourist, who made a flying visit to California in one of the Raymond excursions, and a firm of commission-merchants doing business in Los Angeles. The date and language may not be exactly as the transac- tion occurred, but the facts are as stated :
BOSTON, November 10, 1880.
Messrs. Woodhead & Gay :
Ship at once all the honey you have on hand, per fast freight, to my address. L. BEANS.
LOS ANGELES, November 17, 1880.
L. Beans, Boston :
We hold thirty-six tons of honey subject to your order. To econo- mize in the matter of freight-rates, we suggest that you delay ship-
186
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
beds, petroleum-wells, natural gas, and numerous other in- dustries and resources that have scarcely been mentioned. Special articles on some of these subjects will give all in- formation desired. -
Mineral Springs in Los Angeles County. SANTA FÉ SPRINGS (FULTON WELLS).
These have been mentioned casually in the course of the description of the county, but it is deemed best to mention them here separately. Probably the most famous and the best known are the Santa Fe Springs, formerly known as Fulton Wells. Ilere are several artesian wells, from which waters rich in medicinal virtues constantly flow. These waters are so near Los Angeles that many people from that city are constantly in attendance. There are numerous well-attested cases of remarkable cures.
In one gallon of the water there is 2-20 grains bicar- bonate of soda, 12 grains bicarbonate of lime, 16.50 grains bicarbonate of magnesia, 13 grains bicarbonate of iron, 90 grains sulphate of soda, 10-40 grains chloride of sodium, 30 grains silica, and a large percentage of iodine and potash. There is also quite a volume of sulphureted hydrogen gas and carbonic gas.
Cases of rheumatism, diabetes, eczema, psoriasis, acne, dyspepsia, and scrofula are specially benefited by these waters.
-
ment for a few days, until we can get four tons more, and thus make even car-loads.
WOODHEAD & GAY.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH OFFICE, BOSTON, November 17, 1880.
To Messrs. Woodhead & Gay, Los Angeles :
For Heaven's sake, hold consignment! Wanted only two or three gal- lons for family use. L. BEANS. Fourteen words. Paid.
187
SAN JUAN HOT SPRINGS.
The distance from Los Angeles is twelve miles by the California Central Railroad, while the nearest station on the Southern Pacific is Norwalk, two miles away.
SAN JUAN SPRINGS.
For many years the San Juan hot springs have been noted for curing rheumatism and syphilis.
They are sixty-five miles from Los Angeles, and there has been no railroad nor hotel near them, yet people in great numbers are constantly making pilgrimages to this far-away place.
There is no hotel, but the patients have tents or cheap houses to live in during their treatment.
Bulletin No. 32 of the United States Geological Survey gives the following analysis * of the main spring at San Juan :
Parts in 100,000.
Sodium carbonate.
11.10
Sodium sulphate.
Trace
Sodium chloride. 10.53
Potassa. Trace
Lime
Trace
Magnesia
Trace
Lithia Trace
Silica
7.66
Total 29.29
Mud-baths are considered very efficacious, and, as there are no permanent buildings, these anxious seekers after health improvise mud bathing-houses of a primitive type. There are over a dozen of these springs spread over an acre of ground, and another hot spring, known as McKnight's, a half-mile away. There are also cold springs near by.
The temperature of the hot springs is 135° Fahr. They are fourteen miles from San Juan-by-the-Sea. For the
* Oscar Loew, analyst, 1876.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
present, the best means to reach them is to San Juan-by- the-Sea by the California Central, and from there by team.
LANG'S SPRINGS,
Forty miles north of Los Angeles, at Lang Station, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, have attracted consid- erable attention lately.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.
Southern California is pre-eminently noted for the variety of its medicinal springs, both cold and hot. Be- sides those of a fluid nature, there are many hot mud- springs that are largely used in cases of acute rheumatism. Every county in Southern California has mineral springs of various kinds and utility. One of the most lovely and excellent groups of springs of a mineral character is the group of ten white sulphur springs at Lang, on the South- ern Pacific Railroad, forty-three miles north of Los Angeles.
Lang is situated in the Soledad Canon, deep in the beautiful recesses of the Sierra Madre, the charming em- press of all mountain-chains. The canon was named Sole- dad (solitary) long before the language of Milton and Shakespeare was spoken in its lonely wilds, when deer, lions, wolves, and bears made this their chosen home. Mr. Lang, the proprietor of the White Sulphur Springs, killed, in one of the branches of this canon a few years since, the largest grizzly bear of which hunters have a history. The animal had been seen from time to time for a period of thirty years by the Spanish-Americans. His haunts ranged from the mountains of Monterey to the Sierra Madre, a dis- tance of nearly three hundred and fifty miles. Hunters and hunting-dogs feared the monstrous monarch of the mount- ains who used to come at the proper time of year to feast upon the honey stored by the bees in the caves of the canon. Meat poisoned with strychnine was placed in front of the
189
LANG'S SPRINGS.
caves, but the poison had no effect on the "California King," as he was called, for he would eat the meat, and then help himself to honey, which may have been an anti- dote for the effect of the poison.
One day, John Lang found one of his favorite cows had been killed and partially eaten by the bear, whose mon- strous feet betrayed him. Lang followed the animal through a trail made in the heavy brush by the powerful beast, till the monster scented him, and, turning back with a great roar of rage, marched toward his pursuer with stately steppings down the mountain-side. The sight would have been terrible to a man of ordinary nerve. The animal was larger than an ox, and with an open mouth, well armed with teeth, and a voice of thunder making the echoes an- swer from the cliffs, was no subject of delight. From the elevated position of the animal the upper part of his breast was exposed. In a moment more either the bear or the hunter must die, but a heavy shot from Lang's bear-gun sent an ounce-and-a-half bullet into Bruin's breast, sever- ing an artery, from which a great stream of blood burst, while the giant creature, groaning with rage and disap- pointment, soon joined the land where the majority of bears have long since gone.
The size of this grizzly was immense. His feet were sixteen and a half inches long and nine and a quarter inches wide, while the weight of the monarch was twenty-two hundred pounds, making him the largest bear on record. The skin of the animal was exhibited in Woodward's Gar- den in San Francisco for a season, and then sent to Eng- land, where it was last heard from on exhibition at Liver- pool.
The age of bold daring and adventure in Soledad bas passed away. In place of bears, brigands, and Indians that made life full of unrest and alarm, and every settler's house an arsenal, all is beauty, pleasantness, and peace.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
This passage through the mountains resounds to the roar of fifty trains of cars per day of the Southern Pacific sys- tem, that wind through its echoing rocks with persons and property for all parts of the earth, and under the greenwood shade sits John Lang and the wife of his youth and old age, breathing the odors of myriads of flowers and trees gathered from all parts of the United States.
Owing to the angles of the canon no tempest sweeps through it, and, at an elevation of eighteen hundred feet above the sea, among grand gray rocks, no frost ever hurts the delicate plants and flowers. As the shadows of the mountains lengthen across the canon at the close of the day, the western gate of the rocky passage glows with am- ber and rose color, while the eastern passage changes from blue to pale and fading emerald. The nobility of the scen- ery is not wasted upon the inmates of Lang homestead.
This clear, mild air, with its day-breeze from the west and eastern breeze by night, and in a frostless region, is about as near perfection as can be found, and a genuine paradise for invalids, who come from far to this delightful spot to regain their vigor from the pure water of a mount- ain torrent, the exhilaration of almost constant sunshine tempered with breezes from the pines and cedars and fra- grant shrubs, with the crystal-white sulphur-fountains gushing out of the grand old mountains for the purification of the human system, a diet of venison and other game, and home-cooked food in abundance. This combination of advantages, added to fine scenery and rambles in shady cañons deep and wild, with frequent trains to the city and the sea, makes Lang Sulphur Springs in Los Angeles Coun- ty the banner mountain-resort for health, happiness, and comfort.
Mr. Lang, who formerly experienced periods of sickness in other localities, has now lived seventeen years at the springs without sickness of an hour's duration.
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SAN FERNANDO SULPHUR SPRINGS.
The quality and virtues of the water of Lang Springs has been examined by many, including chemists and medi- cal men. Among the recent physicians who have examined and certified to the rare virtues of this water, are Drs. Ellis, of London, England ; Powers, of Texas ; Sprague, of St. Louis ; Fonda, of Albany, N. Y .; Barton, of New York ; Kirkpatrick, of Los Angeles ; McFarland, of Comp- ton, Cal. ; and Dr. Turner, of New Haven, Conn. The water is clear and cold, and contains sulphur, magnesia, and iron combined in most agreeable proportions.
SAN FERNANDO SULPHUR SPRING, on the south side of San Fernando Mountain, a few miles from the town of San Fernando, has quite a local reputation in rheumatism and skin-diseases. Bulletin No. 32, United States Geological Survey, gives the following analysis .* According to the latest theory of curing consumption, these waters contain- ing carbonic-acid gas and sulphur would be very efficacious in lung-diseases :
Parts in 100,000.
Sodium carbonate.
6.21
Magnesium bicarbonate
50.60
Calcium carbonate.
Sodium sulphate
23.87
Sodium chloride. Trace
Alumina
Trace
Silica.
Trace
Phosphoric acid.
Trace
Sulpho-hydric acid.
5.00
Potassium Trace
Lithium Trace
Trace
Manganese Trace
Trace
Total
85.68
Carbonic-acid gas
In excess
Iron
Organic matter.
* Oscar Loew, analyst, 1876.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Four miles south of San Fernando is EL CINO SPRING. Bulletin No. 32, United States Geological Survey, gives the following analysis* of its waters. This spring has a flow of eighty-seven gallons per hour :
Parts in 100,000.
Sodium carbonate
24.31
Magnesium carbonate ..
32.17
Calcium carbonate.
Sodium sulphate 54.46
Sodium chloride 2.93
Silica. 11.50
Phosphoric acid. Trace
Sulpho-hydric acid .. Trace
Trace
Potassium
Lithium
Trace
Total.
125.37
Carbonic-acid gas
In excess
Helen Hunt Jackson and the Mission Indians.
When Father Junipero Serra first arrived in South- ern California, May 14, 1769, he found about thirty thou- sand friendly, good-natured, intelligent Indians, divided into numerous tribes or bands, speaking thirteen dialects. They were after a few rebellions brought under the in- fluence of the Church, and numerous missions established. These missions were invariably located in the most fer- tile and well-watered spots; and, as we go from ruin to ruin of these missions to-day, we are astonished that, with so brief an acquaintance with the territory, the good padre should have selected so unerringly the very best lands.
The Indians were soon all gathered around these mis- sions, and worked as faithfully and obediently for these
* Oscar Loew, analyst, 1876.
MISSION INDIANS.
193
Ruins of Mission, San Juan Capistrano.
9
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Franciscan Fathers as though they had been slaves. They were taught to till the ground, make wine and oil, and raise
A Mission Garden.
all kinds of grain, and to follow many trades ; and the women were taught to sew, to make baskets and beauti- ful lace, and thus in each one of these missions would be
195
MISSION INDIANS.
found these natives employed in almost every industry of civilization.
The Indians were very devoted to the Church, and probably the years they were under the complete control of these Franciscan Fathers were the happiest in their history.
In 1834 the property of these missions was secularized by the Mexican Government, reserving to the Indians in indefinite terms what they would need for a home .* From this time on their condition became rapidly worse, and in 1852 the late Hon. B. D. Wilson, an old resident of Los Angeles County, made a report to the United States Gov- ernment, showing the great injustice which had been done the Indians by the Americans. In 1881 Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson had her attention specially directed toward these long-suffering people, and that winter she made a visit to their reservations and spent several weeks among them and in Los Angeles, getting facts in regard to their condition and needs. While in Los Angeles she received great aid in her work from Don Antonio F. Coronel and his tal- ented wife. Mr. Coronel came to Los Angeles in 1834, and held various positions of honor while this city was un- der Mexican rule.
After it became subject to the Government of the United States he was elected and re-elected county assessor. In 1853 he was elected mayor of the city of Los Angeles. In 1867 he was elected treasurer of the State of California. He is now living at the corner of Seventh and Alameda Streets, in the adobe house so beautifully described by Mrs. Jackson.t Mr. Coronel's father taught the first school in Los Angeles, and Mr. Coronel himself is to-day the oldest
* See " Father Junipero and his Work," by Helen Hunt Jackson, p. 207, vol. iv, " Century Magazine."
t " Echoes in the City of the Angels," p. 205, vol. v, " Century Maga- zine."
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
living teacher in the State of California. In this house we were showed the table on which Mrs. Jackson transcribed the notes for her series of articles in the "Century Maga- zine" of 1883, as well as most of the data upon which she founded "Ramona." It is a typical Mexican home,
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