USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 19
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BEAUMONT.
marked to me that she had never appreciated the beauty of Califor- nia's mountains previous to coming here.
" Invalids who wish to try a higher altitude than this of the town, can, within a distance of eight miles, find any altitude they desire up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet; and on the ranches which dot the mountain's side can find very comfortable accommodations.
"Pure water is always a desideratum, and here we have it as pure as ever flowed from mountain springs, piped from the mount- ain canons to the town. Perhaps the one feature which strikes the invalid, and indeed all visitors to Beaumont, more forcibly and fa- vorably than any other, is the almost total absence of fog. We seem to be beyond and above the fog-level. Occasionally, however, when a strong west wind prevails, the fog is forced up the pass from the valleys below, but the first rays of the morning sun dispel it.
" From the foregoing remarks the reader can readily infer that the air is remarkably dry, pure, and invigorating; the air at night is almost as free from moisture as during the day, and through the summer months the invalid as well as the strong can oftentimes en- joy the evenings out-of-doors with comparative impunity.
"According to a record kept during 1886 at the Highland Home Hotel, the lowest point reached by the mercury was 36°, and the highest 102°.
"Our prevailing winds during the summer are from the west; and although this ocean-breeze passes over one hundred miles of warm, dry country before reaching us, it is yet cool and refreshing, tempering what would otherwise be extreme heat, and rendering our summers pleasant and attractive, and not at all enervating.
"Sometimes, however, instead of this ocean-breeze, we get one from the desert, and then the heat is oppressive.
"But this, like every other place, occasionally gives the bitter with the sweet. One of our unpleasant features, I might say almost the only one, is the strong east winds, or rather north winds, which sweep around the San Bernardino Mountains and up the pass from the east. These winds amount sometimes to almost a gale, and con- tinue for two or three days; they are very drying in their nature, absorbing every vestige of moisture in their path; however, they are of only occasional occurrence during the autumn and spring months.
" With the exception of those cases in which altitude is contra-
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indicated, invalids of all classes do well here, particularly those afflicted with pulmonary diseases, such as phthisis, bronchitis, catarrhs characterized by abundant secretion, and asthma."*
Eight miles east of Beaumont is BANNING, with an altitude of 2,500 feet, and with a special reputation for benefiting asthmatics. From here a person can make an interesting study of the Mission Indians. All kinds of fruits usual in Southern California, except oranges, lemons, and limes, are raised here.
Fifty miles east of San Bernardino is SEVEN PALMS station, from which a daily stage carries passengers to the noted Agua Caliente Springs, seven miles away.
Away up in the mountains, thirty miles northeast of San Bernardino, at an elevation above sea-level of 6,400 feet, is an artificial lake five miles long, that contains ten billion gallons of water. This is the Bear Valley Reser- voir. The dam that retains this great body of water is of solid masonry, three hundred feet long and sixty feet high. It is twenty feet through at the bottom and three feet in width at the top. Sixteen hundred barrels of cement were used in the construction of the dam. It was all hauled one hundred miles. A four-horse team hauled eight bar- rels of cement, and was ten days in making the round trip.
In another part of this work the reader has learned what an inch of water is; and the fact that this reservoir fur- nishes a continuous stream of six thousand inches during the irrigating season, gives an idea of the large body of land this reservoir will irrigate.
WINES OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY .- The following, from Major Ben C. Truman, in the "New York Times," is a valuable summary :
" Beaumont as a Health-Resort," "Southern California Practitioner," 1887.
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SAN BERNARDINO. ..
"There are many thousands of as fine agricultural lands in San Bernardino County as there are anywhere in the State, and these are well watered by either natural or artificial streams which me- ander through many of the prettiest vineyards and orange-groves in the State. There has been little or no attention paid in San Ber- nardino County to making fine wines; and, as a general thing, what has been said of San Diego may be said of most of the vineyards and their products of San Bernardino. There are some exceptions, how- ever, conspicuously the Cucamonga vineyards, which make what has been a favorite wine with Californians and others for more than twenty years. It is a mellow white or slightly colored wine, prob- ably strengthened by either sugar or brandy, and has a uniformly good sale. It has rather a nice bouquet and aroma when sipped from a sixteen-year-old puncheon, and should make a good lunch or visiting wine. I recollect going through the Cucamonga winery some eighteen years ago and tasting a variety of vintages, which taught me a lesson that has always been of service to me; and I can now spend an afternoon in a winery without experiencing difficulties in the way of exit, or in getting on my hat the next morning. Then there are some other vineyards that have turned out a good stay-at- home red or white wine.
"There are still some other producers that have paid little or no attention to the introduction of improved grapes, and who, of course, have as yet no opportunities of blends, but who have made wines that have been considered good enough for home (county) consump- tion, or for sale in Arizona. A great many of its grapes have been annually made into wine in Los Angeles County, as its soil is well adapted to the cultivation of the vine and its berry. It has always been a leading wine-making-grape county, and five years ago was the fifth on the list with its 1,213 acres of vines, while it has, besides, 342 acres of wine-vines four years old, 320 acres of three-year-old ones, 220 acres of two-year-olds, and 315 acres planted in 1886. These figures do not include either table or raisin grapes, of which there are nearly 100 acres of the former and 1,700 acres of the latter."
San Bernardino County's water-supply for irrigating purposes is tersely outlined in the following, from the San Bernardino " Daily Times " :
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
"The Santa Ana River, where it comes out from the mountains, furnishes water for the North and South Fork ditches. The North Fork ditch furnishes water for Highlands and the Cram Settlement. The South Fork ditch supplies water for Lugonia, Brookside, and Redlands.
" Mill Creek comes down from the mountains a few miles south- east of the Santa Ana River, and furnishes water for Crafton and Old San Bernardino.
" A stream running down from the south slope of San Bernardino Mountain furnishes water for Banning.
"City Creek, west of the Santa Ana River, furnishes water for a portion of Highlands.
"The stream from Devil's Canon supplies water for a portion of the Muscupiabe Rancho.
"Lytle Creek, coming down from Old Baldy, west of Cajon Pass, irrigates Mount Vernon and vicinity.
"Etiwanda Canon irritates the settlement by that name.
" Another small stream furnishes water for Hermosa.
"Cucamonga is irrigated by a stream fed by springs that rise just north of that settlement.
"Cucamonga Canon irrigates the Iowa tract.
"San Antonio Canon, on the line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties, is equally divided between Ontario on the San Bernardino side, and Pomona and other lands on the Los Angeles side.
"San Bernardino is situated in the midst of moist lands where artesian wells can be had anywhere by going to a moderate depth.
" Warm Creek rises from springs in the main valley, away from any mountains. This creek flows into the Santa Ana River, east of Colton, and unites with the waters of that stream that rise within a few miles of the junction.
"The Meeks and Daley ditch is taken from Warm Creek, and irrigates a section of country below Colton.
"The Santa Ana River, in ordinary seasons, is dry for many miles below, where all the water is taken out to supply North and South Fork ditches. The waters of Warm Creek and other smaller tributaries, however, furnish a good stream again, which is taken out by the two Riverside canals to irrigate Riverside. In dry sea- sons these two canals take all the surface-water out of the river at
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these points, leaving the underflow to come to the surface below ; but Spring Brook, which rises just northward of Riverside, replen- ishes the stream again.
" The Jurupa ditch is taken out of the Santa Ana River, that irrigates West Riverside.
"The Yorba Settlement, including the property of the South Riverside Vineyard Company, located on the Santa Ana River, sixteen miles below Riverside, again takes all the surface-water out of the river for that settlement, but other streams coming in from the north side of the river make a good stream that goes down to supply irrigation water for settlements in Los Angeles County.
"One of these feeders is a short stream that comes from a single spring that, summer and winter, furnishes two hundred and fifty inches of water that runs a grist-mill within a mile of the spring.
"There are other small, natural water-supplies, but we have enu- merated the principal ones in this county.
" A stream of water for irrigation purposes in this valley is con- sidered well worth $1,000 an inch, measured in an ordinary mid- summer, and some water-rights are selling at a higher figure. Hence, every small stream that can be utilized, is made valuable. The value of water is, of course, dependent, to a certain extent, on its location, for a small stream that will develop a small settlement is not so val- uable per inch as a large stream that will make possible a larger settlement.
"About all the natural supplies of water having been utilized, people have turned their attention to the development of water. This is done in three ways:
"1st. Artesian wells.
"2d. Tunnels.
"3d. Reservoirs.
"There are artesian belts where flowing wells can be readily and cheaply obtained. The artesian belt in this valley is now pretty well defined, and outside of this belt experiments are made at great risk. Usually, flowing water is obtained in moist and semi-moist land, and very rarely on the high mesa lands. Tunnels are being used now to save the underflow of mountain-streams. Two are now in process of construction in this county. Judson & Brown have one in the bed of the Santa Ana River, below where the
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water is taken out of the stream to supply the North and South Fork ditches.
"The Ontario Land Company have driven a tunnel in under San Antonio Creek a distance of nearly 1,800 feet, at a cost of about $52,000, and they have about 250 inches of water, worth a quarter of a million of dollars.
"There are scores of places in the county where tunnels can be run in under the beds of streams, where they come out of the canons upon the plains, and the underflow saved for irrigation purposes.
"The first attempt at a storage-reservoir in this county was made by Judson & Brown at Redlands. This reservoir has never been completed as at first planned, but it is now used as a distributing- reservoir only. When completed it will hold winter water enough to irrigate several hundred acres of land. M. H. Crafts next com- menced a storage-reservoir for Crafton, which will be a great aid to the irrigating system of that settlement.
"In addition to these is the Bear Valley Reservoir, the largest irrigation-reservoir in the State, which has been described."
Mineral Springs of San Bernardino County.
There are at least one thousand hot springs in this county, and to see, as the writer of these lines has, hun- dreds of thousands of gallons of this hot water, "Like a hell-broth," boil and bubble up out of the earth, makes one feel as though this crust upon which he tarries is but a great witches' caldron. Every tourist should stop at San Bernardino and visit some of these springs.
The most noted of them all are the ARROWHEAD HOT SPRINGS, and the following note * from Prof. John Dicken- son, A. M., of the University of Southern California, gives an excellent idea of them :
" About six miles north of the city of San Bernardino, on the face of the mountain-wall overlooking the valley of the same name, may be seen clearly outlined against its background of desert vege-
* "Southern California Practitioner," September, 1887.
Arrowhead Hot Springs, San Bernardino County.
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tation, the figure of a colossal arrowhead, about a quarter of a mile in length, its point directed toward the mouth of the subjacent canon, in which burst forth the springs of hot mineral water, which give, in addition to the climatic charms of the region, its reputation to the locality as a health-resort.
"The Arrowhead Springs lie at the southern foot of the San Bernardino Mountains-a continuation eastward of the Sierra Madre -in the midst of a region of metamorphic rock-gneiss, mica-schist, feldspathic syenite, etc .- the decomposition or chemical action of which seems to furnish not only the heat that almost boils the water, but the mineral substances held in solution therein. Hot mineral springs are found all along the base of the above-mentioned mount- ain-wall, but the point where the chemico-thermal activity seems to be the greatest is at the locality indicated above. Here there are about twenty-five springs within a small compass, the temperature ranging from 140° to 193° Fahr., the solid constituents being, ac- cording to an analysis made by Prof. Hilgard, of the University of California, as follows:
Analysis.
Temperature of water, 193° Fahr.
Sulphate of potash, grains per gallon. 4.001
Sulphate of soda, 66 42-476
Chloride of sodium, 8.178
Lithium.
Strong test
Sulphate of lime, grains per gallon
1.343
Carbonate of lime,
1.343
Barium A faint test
Free sulphureted hydrogen, cubic inches per gal. 644
Strontium.
Well marked
Sulphate of magnesia 146
Carbonate of magnesia 821
Silica
4.942
Organic matter.
Trace
Total solid contents
62.984
"The ground in some places around the springs is saturated with the hot mineral water to such an extent that it is used in giving the so-called 'mud-baths,' the patient lying in a suitably-constructed box filled with the hot mud, in which his person is immersed for a suit-
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ARROWHEAD HOT SPRINGS.
able length of time. The springs are much resorted to by persons suffering from rheumatism, skin-disorders, blood-poisoning, etc., and the waters are used freely both for drinking and for bathing.
"The comfort and pleasure of the sojourner at the springs are greatly enhanced by the charms of climate and scenery. The large and well-appointed new hotel stands at a height of 2,000 feet above the sea and 1,000 feet above the city and valley of San Bernardino, on a little plateau, between two branches of the canon, which opens into the valley just below.
"The eye ranges southward and westward over San Bernardino, Colton, and Riverside, over the intervening hills to the distant Santa Ana Mountains, and eastward beyond San Gorgonio and San Jacinto toward the desert. The view is one of rare beauty and grandeur. The air is dry and bracing."
These springs were formerly called San Bernardino Hot Springs. W. P. Blake,* geologist of the United States survey, who visited this vicinity between the 3d and 6th of November, 1853, describes the continuation of this series of springs, at a point lower down, as follows :
"The warm and hot waters gush out from the granitic rocks on the flanks of San Bernardino and adjacent heights. In one place the springs are so numerous, and the water rises in such a volume, that a good-sized mill-stream of hot water is formed, which flows down into the valley, and is one of the principal tributaries of the Santa Ana River. This brook of hot water retains a temperature of 100° Fahr. three or four miles from its source.
"I visited several of the springs on the sides of the Sierra, be- tween San Bernardino Mountain and the Cajon Pass, near the saw- mill road. It was evident that the adjacent granite was very near the surface, as shown by one or two outcrops, from one of which the hot water issued. Small springs rise at intervals of ten or twenty feet along a distance of thirty or forty rods. Their waters unite and form a little stream that empties into the brook a short distance be- low. The banks of the stream were thickly overgrown with grass.
* "Mineral Springs of the United States and Canada," Geo. E. Walton, M. D. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1886.
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A dense mass of beautiful green confervæ grew from the bottom and sides of the channel, and floated in rich waving masses in the hot water. In the immediate vicinity of the springs, however, no vegetable growth was visible. The rocks and gravel in contact with the water were covered with a snow-white incrustation, and little twigs and leaves that had fallen into it were softened to a white, pulpy mase, and were partly incrusted. This was also the case with insects that were lying dead in the shallows of one of the springs, but I could not observe that in either case any petrifaction or in- ternal deposit of mineral matter had taken place. The following temperatures were observed : 172°, 169°, 166°, 130°, 128°, 108° Fahr.
" The white crust was not found in equal quantities at all the springs. It appeared to be most abundant at one of them. . . . An analysis of the crust (by J. D. Easter, Ph. D.) since the return of the expedition gave the following results :
"The aqueous extract contained only a small proportion of chloride of sodium. In hot hydrochloric acid the mass dissolved with strong effervescence, leaving a residue of silica and alumina. The solution contained-
"Lime (carbonate), chief constituent.
"Silica (soluble in acid).
" Magnesia.
" Alumina and oxide of iron, traces.
" Phosphoric acid, trace.
"The springs are estimated to be at least 500 feet above the level of the Santa Ana, at the Mormon settlement, and thus nearly 1,618 feet above the sea.
"These springs are not the source of the large stream of water first referred to. It takes its rise farther eastward, near the mount- ain of San Bernardino. I regret that I could not visit its source, as the springs must be of great volume and high temperature to send forth such a large stream of water retaining its temperature a long distance from the mountains. I was informed there are sev- eral other localities of hot springs along these mountains, and there are, no doubt, many that have not yet been discovered. The large stream of hot water appears to be nearly pure."
I am indebted for the following information to Dr. J. W. Hazlett, formerly of Philadelphia, but at the present
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ARROWHEAD HOT SPRINGS.
time an active practitioner in the city of San Bernar- dino :
"Just east of the Arrowhead Springs, about one half mile dis- tant and at a little lower elevation, there are quite a number of valu- able springs, in every respect similar to the Arrowhead, situated on a ranch owned by Mr. Harrison. I have understood that he accomn- modates a few private boarders at times.
" West of the Arrowhead Springs, at about the same elevation, there are several other hot springs, of about the same composition, situated on Governor Waterman's homestead ranch. Still nearer the center of San Bernardino, about three or four miles distant, there are several mineral springs, both hot and cold, one set known as the Rabe's Hot Springs, about three miles distant, and reached by street-cars on Base Line Street. The other, the Harlem Hot Springs, are about one mile farther east on Base Line Street, formerly known as the Warm Creek Springs, because they are- the origin of quite a large stream by that name, which flows through the valley and empties into Lytle Creek. There is connected with these last two, as also with the Arrowhead, large basins of lukewarm water for still-water swimming and bathing, largely enjoyed by the young people of this vicinity. The accommodations at these springs are moderately good. There are several fine hot mineral springs in Lytle Creek Canon near the Glenn Mountain Ranch home, about ten or fifteen miles from San Bernardino. The waters contain large quantities of iron and sulphur. There is a comfortable bath house and tub at the springs, but no boarding-place nearer than Glenn's, two miles distant at least, and can only be reached by private conveyance. The Temescal Hot Springs, formerly owned by Major Thorndyke, are situated about twenty miles from San Bernardino and ten miles from Riverside, along the foot-hills on the northeast side of the Temescal Range. They can be reached only by private conveyance. The temperature of the waters ranges from 86° to 112° or more, varying at times. It contains about the usual minerals. Probably the best hot mineral spring found in this section is the one known as the ' Agua Caliente,' situated in the foot-hills on the northeast side of the San Jacinto Mountain, between eighty and one hundred miles from San Bernardino, and about seven miles from the Seven Palms station on the Southern
.
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Pacific Railroad. A stage makes daily trips from the station to the springs, where one can find good accommodations. The waters of these springs have always been considered by old residents as possessing peculiar virtues in rheumatism and skin-affections espe- cially specific forms. I have never heard of any reliable analy- sis of the waters having been made, but have examined several specimens at different times myself, and found them to contain very large propor tions of sulphur and iron, and I believe some special forms of soda, such as borax. Away up in the Santa Ana Canon, on the ranch belonging to Charles Lewis, better known as 'French Louis,' there is a fine cold-water mineral spring, the ingredients being principally iron salts. This spring is about forty miles from San Bernardino. The hotel accommodations consist of four log cabins and several tents. They are not first-class with respect to lodging, but good, healthy food is abundant. Plenty of sport in trout-fishing and hunting. The elevation here is nearly five thou- sand feet above the sea-level.
" In Bear Valley there are several hot and cold mineral springs that are said to be very abundant in mineral salts. These are about sixty miles distant from San Bernardino, at an elevation of six thousand feet. There are no hotel accommodations. East of Bear Valley, in the 'Twenty-nine Palms district,' there are several more mineral springs, which are chiefly cold.
" Here in the middle of a vast sand desert is one of the finest cold-water springs I have ever had the good fortune to see and taste. It is a cavern spring, the water dripping from the roof of the tunnel into a basin dug out of the clay, about three feet from the floor. It is as cold as any natural water I ever tasted. The temperature outside the tunnel frequently reaches 120°. There are a few other mineral springs situated in the Mojave River region, distant about forty miles from San Bernardino, the names of which I am not familiar with."
Riverside.
Ten miles south of San Bernardino, seven miles south of Colton, fifty miles northeast of the Pacific Ocean, and sixty miles east of Los Angeles, is Riverside, the most noted orange section in San Bernardino County. The population
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RIVERSIDE.
is about five thousand. Scarcely a person in the United States who can read but has learned of Riverside.
Even the visitor from other portions of Southern Califor- nia, who has been accustomed to orange-trees draws a deep breath of astonishment when he sees the wondrous beauty of the Riverside orange-grove.
It is true there are soil, climate, and water just adapted to this industry, but the potent factor back of these ele- ments is an industrious, enterprising population, who take a pardonable pride in the beauty of their place.
Hon. Frank Pixley, editor of the San Francisco " Argo- naut," visited Riverside just after an extended trip through Europe, and then wrote : "I stopped at Riverside. Of all the places in Europe or America that I have ever seen, this is incomparably the most interesting, the most prosper- ous, and most beautiful." Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, of Elmira, N. Y., calls it "a garden-plat ten miles long." Mr. Beecher says : "One can ride or walk mile on mile through vineyards and orange-groves, the wayside delineated by hedges or shaded by eucalyptus-trees sixty feet high, almond-trees in bloom, peach, pear, apricot, fig, and walnut thrown in for luxury and variety ! The roads are hard and ringing beneath the trotter's feet, avenues of residences, whose architecture is of no mean pretensions; fountains, flower-gardens, pastures, and mowing-plats ; in short, a garden township without a wasted acre."
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