USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 20
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These comments of Messrs. Pixley and Beecher were made about five years ago, and great has been the change since then. Riverside has been extended, its water-supply greatly increased, a still finer class of residences built, rail- roads to Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Colton, San Bernardino, and San Diego now take the place of the stage of those days, while large brick blocks and busy streets indicate that Riverside, beside being a health and pleasure resort, is also becoming a business center.
264
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Artesian Wells, South Riverside. (See Appendix, page 379.)
265
RIVERSIDE.
Waring's system of sewerage, recently completed, car- ries the sewage miles away to be used for fertilizing. The Gage water-system is about completed, by means of which ten thousand acres of land are being brought under irriga- tion. The Riverside Water Company has just completed a pipe-line from artesian wells owned by the company, located nine miles away in the San Bernardino Valley, thus giving to Riverside an abundance of pure artesian water, enough for a city of fifty thousand people.
ORANGES .- The Riverside orange has the greatest repu- tation and brings the highest prices in the market. The Riverside orange-crop of 1887-'88 amounted to 750 car- loads, worth half a million of dollars, and the crop of 1888-'89 is estimated at from 1,000 to 1,200 car-loads, some estimates being still higher. The orange-crop of 225,000 boxes was gathered from about 3,000 acres.
The raisin-crop of last year was 200,000 boxes, which were manufactured from 1,000 acres of vines, which are now practically in full bearing.
At the World's Fair at New Orleans, Riverside oranges came out victorious by taking the following prizes : One gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges-open to the world. One gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges-open to the United States. One gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges-open to California.
Average rainfall, in inches.
PLACE.
Period of ; observation.
Spring.
Summer.
Autumn.
Winter.
Year.
Los Angeles, Cal.
5 years.
3.73
0.01
1.91
7.23
12.88
San Francisco .. ..
20
4.80
0.49
2.68
12.32
20-29
Asheville, N. C ...
11
40.20
Cincinnati ..
41
11.17
12.67
6.29
9.83
42.96
New York City ..
29
11.43
13.08
11.20
10.81
46.52
Jacksonville, Fla.
13
19.01
21.27
13.07
8.66
53.01
Riverside, Cal ....
6
...
. .
....
....
10.40
..
12
266
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
RAISINS .- As has been stated before, raisin-grapes need a dry atmosphere, and the foregoing comparative table gives an excellent idea of Riverside adaptability for this purpose.
It is estimated that Riverside will export 2,000 tons of raisins during 1887.
Riverside takes great pride in her Magnolia Avenue, a beautiful drive, 132 feet wide and 12 miles long. This avenue is lined with eucalyptus, pepper, palm, orange, and magnolia trees. It is well worth seeing. Here, again, it should be said that no tourist who crosses the Rocky Mountains can afford to miss a drive down this avenue.
Riverside has two daily papers, "The Daily Press " and " The Daily Enterprise." The "Press and Horticulturist " is a weekly paper, edited by L. M. Holt, is full of informa- tion about this country. "The Valley Echo" and "The Tribune " are recent additions to the list of newspapers.
Riverside has ten churches, two banks, and the usual number of secret societies. Trains from San Bernardino and Colton connect five times daily with all overland trains on Southern Pacific and Santa Fé roads. The tourist can go to Los Angeles from Riverside by way of Colton, San Bernardino, or Santa Ana, just as he chooses.
On the railroad between Riverside and Santa Ana are two new villages - RINCON and SOUTH RIVERSIDE. The latter is 17 miles from Riverside proper, and has a bank, etc. It bids fair to be a good town.
CLIMATE OF RIVERSIDE .- Drs. J. F. T. Jenkins and W. B. Sawyer, both practitioners of Riverside, have writ- ten interesting papers on this subject.
Dr. Sawyer, a graduate of Harvard, came to Riverside on account of pulmonary trouble. As soon as he was able to be around, he sought some outside business. He finally purchased a dairy and drove the festive milk-wagon around at an unearthly hour in the morning.
267
RIVERSIDE.
The Doctor has long since resumed practice, and the following is from his pen .*
"To the north, twelve or fifteen miles, is the range of San Ber- nardino, its eastern peak 11,000 feet high, snow-capped and cold, falling rapidly off to the westward, where for miles the summit is clothed with pine forest. Just over the divide lies the desert, two hundred feet below sea-level, and between the two nearly every altitude may be found at all desirable for a consumptive. If any patient or his physician desires a higher altitude, perhaps it would be as well to stay at home.
"To the east, between Riverside and San Jacinto Mountain, are two table-lands, separated by a range of foot-hills. The first, upon which this city is built, about nine hundred feet above sea-level; the second, upon which are found the settlements of San Jacinto and Perris, and many so-called dry ranches (because not supplied with water by irrigation-ditches), about fifteen hundred feet in altitude. To the southeast, rising rapidly from the very city itself, is an ir- regular mass of hills and sloping plains overlooking, to the west the Riverside plain, to the east the San Jacinto, and to the south Elsi- nore, with its pretty lake. This, the Gavalon (Hawk), contains the now quite famous tin-mines, the Minafe, Santa Fe gold-mines, and, scattered about among the hills, wherever there is a spring or flat with grass and the possibility of well-water, the ranches of settlers.
"To the south, twelve miles, stretches Arlington, one vast orange- grove, with the fruit now turning yellow.
" Below Arlington the land slides off in a gentle decline a few miles, until it meets the northern slope of the table land, behind which, and of the same name, is the range of mountains known as the Temescal. Through a break in this chain runs the Santa Ana River in its canon, up which comes the sea-breeze and an occasional errant fog.
"To the west, first the river, which, like most California streams, runs upside down, the bottom being on the top and the water under- neath ; then more table-lands and foot-hills, till twenty-five miles
* " A Study of Riverside Climate, with Suggestions as to its Adaptability to Cases of Phthisis." By W. B. Sawyer, A. M., M. D., "Southern Califor- nia Practitioner," March, 1887.
268
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
distant is the Cucamonga Range, at the base of which are Ontario, Cucamonga, and Etiwanda.
"The city proper rests within a small half-circle of foot-hills, ap- proaching quite close on the west and north, and but a couple of miles distant on the east, though north and south are broad areas of plain-land sloping to and away from it southerly.
" An area of ten by twelve miles is incorporated as city limits, but this embraces Arlington and much outlying country. The entire population numbers 3,010, of whom about 1,500 live in the town prop- er, and the remainder on the fruit-ranches adjacent above and below.
"The climatic and atmospheric conditions resultant from this geographical situation, elevation, and distance from sea and mount- ain are unique.
"First, as to temperature. It is warm, but not hot, reaching in the summer months a maximum high point of 108º to 110°, and in the winter from 78° to 80°. The average during the six summer months from sunrise to sunset is only 734°, and in the winter months 60°. The very extremes of heat and cold are touched but seldom and at long intervals, and last but a short time. The high point is reached somewhat earlier and the low point a little later than usually observed elsewhere, the former being gained generally during the hour between noon and 1 P. M., and the latter at or very shortly after sunrise. The usual nightly fall and daily rise is more marked. if anything, than in colder climes, and it comes with greater certainty, regularity, and evenness. In the summer months it is greatest, in the winter least-the average variation for Jannary be- ing 20°, and for July 34°. The night is rare when overcoat and blanket is not welcome and comfortable, and the day unusual when wraps are needed at noon. The causes for these are, first the sun. It is a universal observation that nowhere is its influence so potent. Obscure the sun in winter, and the prevailing chill of the atmos- phere drifting and settling from the snow-clad mountains is at once apparent. Morning and evening house-fires are essential, and the shady side of the street is unsafe for the invalid. The sky is little clouded even in winter, as compared with the clear days, and from its first rising till its setting, the one most prominent, most irresist- ible, and most emphatic feature of landscape and climate is the sun. It is only, apparently, a question of time, there being no appreciable difference between the heat-producing quality of its rays between
269
RIVERSIDE.
December and June. Hence the high daily average of winter. A second cause alike of the constant day and night variation and of its excess in summer over winter months is the exceeding dryness of the soil. As soon as the effect of the winter rain has passed, usually by the latter part of May or first of June, there is no moist- ure at all in the soil for many feet below the surface, except in the comparatively small oases of irrigation. Radiation at night is un- hindered, rapid, and complete.
" Again, the slope of the land to the south gives a larger propor- tion of the sun's rays to each square foot than if level or sloping north ward, and hence the absorption of heat is a little in excess of normal, while the night radiation is the same.
" As quite prominently affecting the temperature should be men- tioned the cool sea-breeze blowing unremittingly during the summer months from the southwest and the desert winds from the north and east through the San Gorgonio and Cajon Passes. The latter come once in three or four weeks during the winter season, flushing contagion from the valley and bringing a warm breath from the Mojave, and uncomplimentary language to the lips of the natives.
"The following statistics of thermometrical observations, while somewhat cumbersome, seem necessary to give an accurate and tan- gible shape to the purpose in hand. The first table was compiled from a record kept by Dr. J. P. Greves, of Riverside, from the year 1870 to 1875. The high and low points are not absolute, as the thermometer used was not of automatic register, and the records only show the variations as taken at 7 A. M., 7 P. M., and 12 M. The highest and lowest points are given as recorded for these hours with the monthly averages therefrom. The absolute high point being more nearly reached by the noon observation than the low point by either that of the evening or morning, the average mean would be materially less. The record is of great value as showing the varia- tions during the twelve hours of daytime, and because extending over a series of four years.
"The second is a table prepared by Mr. A. K. Holt, of the River- side 'Press and Horticulturist,' and recently appointed Signal-Service officer at this point. The accuracy of the record is undoubted, but it must be borne in mind, in comparing it with Signal-Service tables, that the latter are made from observations taken from forty to one hundred feet above ground, while these were at the level :
270
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Highest point,
Lowest point.
Average for
Highest point.
Lowest point.
Average for
month.
Highest point.
Lowest point.
Average for
month.
Highest point.
Lowest point.
Average for
High.
Low
Mean,
1870.
1871.
1872.
1878.
12M TA.M.
12M. TA.M.
12M. 7A.M.
12M. TA.M.
October .. Novemb'r
91
H9
41 | 64
87
85 62.2
89
86 64-8
92
43 58-3
892
89
December
80
81 |
514
85,
36 59
87
81 59.8
67
87 59
761
1871.
1872.
1878.
1874.
January ..
78
58
76
32 |57:2
82
38 158-2
78'
34 52
784
824
561
February.
48
82
551
82
87 55:2
78
85
55
78
84
77
844
547
March ...
84
40
621
81
40
56.8
85!
42 64
72'
87
155
894 594
April.
86
42
684
93
43
155.1
92.
40 65-2
87
83
59-2
89%
65
984
584 674
Jnne.
97
55
75-2
110
58
73.8 100
57 66
109
56
74
1014
564
785
July ...
104
62
80
93
GO
75.8 105
60 78.2
,81
108.
63
81-2 1045
62
.804
Septemb'r 100
51
77-2
106
51
81.8
104-
61
82.2
99.
52
78-1 1021
534
794
Statistics, 1885-1886, Riverside, Cal. Recorded and compiled by A. K. Holt, at office of Riverside " Press and Horticulturist."
DATE.
Average
temper-
ature.
Lowest
temper-
ature.
Highest
temper-
ature.
days.
Cloudy
days.
days.
Rainfall,
inches.
1885.
July.
73.8
56-7
90.7
29
1
1
0
August.
78.5
62.5
94.5
23
2
6
0
September
70.8
53.8
88.0
29
0
1
0
October
64.4
48.3
80.5
27
1
3
.02
November
55.9
44.2
67.6
15
10
5
1.35
December
53.0
40 2
65.8
23
6
2
.64
1886.
January .
52.0
42.0
62.0
16
14
1
3.27
February
56.3
41.
70.8
22
6
0
1.38
March .
53.1
40.9
65.3
22
7
2
1.95
April
57.7
45.2
70.2
20
9
1
1.43
May
66.8
50.4
83.2
27
0
4
0
June.
71.0
55.2
86.8
29
0
1
0
May
98
52
681
96
52
66-1
90'
57 71+1
89:
54
79-2 101-
604 78
August ... 106
62
804
105
61
100: 61
43 71.1 104: 40 70-5
98
39
69.5
961
month.
AVERAGE FOE FOUR YEARS.
MONTH.
"Second, as to moisture Until within a few weeks, no humid- ity observations have been made, and no record is at hand. The precipitated moisture in the shape of rain has been measured, how- ever, and carefully tabulated by numerous observers, and the accu- rate statistics for six years, beginning in 1880, furnished by Mr. A. S. White, are appended. The seasons are divided into wet and dry.
Hazy
Clear
104 60-5
52
891 613
50 674 100
month.
271
RIVERSIDE.
in preference to summer and winter, but these terms are unfortu- nate, as they convey no adequate idea of the facts to one unac- quainted with the locality. The ordinary wet season at Riverside is much drier, has less rain, and a larger proportion of dry, clear, sun- shiny days than the average summer in New York, Boston, or Chi- cago. The name wet season is given to the months between Sep- tember and June because during that time all the rain for the year is apt to fall, and because for the remainder of the year no rain falls.
" During this period the rain falls in showers of from one to four days' duration, there being between these showers intervals of four days to weeks of clear open weather.
"In addition to the precipitation in rain, occasional and very infrequent fogs add a trifle to the total moisture. They drift into the valley from the seaward, coming up in the early morning and vanishing by nine or ten o'clock in the forenoon. They occur more often in the fall and winter months, but come so seldom and are so light that their effect upon the atmospheric moisture is insignificant. From July, 1885, to July, 1886, there were 280 absolutely clear days, 38 days of rain, in many of which there was simply a shower with a precipitation of one tenth of an inch or less, the balance of the time being clear, and 47 in which there was a longer or shorter interval of trifling fog in the early morning.
"There is little apparent selection as to month or time in the month for rainfall, though the record shows February and March to have had the largest percentage for the six years given :
Rainfall in months.
MONTII.
1S80 and 1881.
1881 and 1882.
1882 and 18S8.
1888 and 1854.
1884 and 1885.
1885 and 1886.
Average
September
·10
..
..
October
·40
.13
.97
.12
.02
.27
November
.20
.25
·29
·12
1.34
.36
December
2.26
.40
·20
2.25
2.556
.62
1.38
January
·48
1.70
·09
·84
.77
2.21
1.015
February
·25
1 40
.83
12.00
.
1.38
2.64
March
1.30
1.08
·89
6.26
·01
1.95
1.91
April
.74
.72
.26
1.67
2.15
1.43
1.16
May. June
.03
.08
.25
1.99
.24
....
.48
...
·18
·52
....
....
·10
.
·10
Jan. 22, 1882, 8 inches snow. Aug. 22, 1884, 3 inches hail and rain.
272
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Total rainfall.
Season of 1880 and 1881, 5.26. Season of 1881 and 1882, 6-31. Season of 1882 and 1883, 2.94.
Season of 1883 and 1884, 22.54. Season of 1884 and 1885, 5-97. Season of 1885 and 1886, 9.32.
"The effect of the water used in irrigation upon the atmosphere it is impossible now to determine. In rough numbers, the amount used daily throughout the entire length of the settlement is about 2,000 inches * of continuous flow.
"This 2,000 inches, while flowing into the settlement steadily all the year round, is diverted from day to day from one orchard to another, so that the relative humidity of the soil throughout the en- tire settlement is about the same, varying little the entire year.
"Third, as to purity : The great sources of atmospheric supply for this entire country is the broad area of the Pacific Ocean on one side and the great American desert on the other. In neither one of these sources are there any known beds of infection, and in its passage to Riverside from any point of the compass the air can not pass across any infected regions, malarial latitudes, marshy lands, or anything decaying or dead. Scientifically we can not speak as yet, for no tests have been made, but to the unscientific observer it is so pure as to call forth remark. It does not seem possible that there can be any elements of impurity in the air. The soil of these great plains has not been dampened deeper than a few feet from an age to which the memory of man runneth not back, and except the 'flowers that bloom in the spring,' and die in the spring as well, they have had no green thing upon their surface for the same period.
"The effects produced upon phthisical patients is wonderful. Many men and women in Riverside cheerfully give evidence of it from their own personal experience.
"The colony beginning some eleven years ago as a purely irriga- tion venture, readily attracted men of means who had sought Cali- fornia for their health, and who found in orange-culture and the various enterprises of a growing settlement an occupation at once
* An "inch " of water is the amount that will flow through an aperture one square inch in area, under a pressure of a column of water four inches high.
273
SANTA BARBARA AND VENTURA.
pleasant and profitable, and directly in the line of treatment. Many such are now living, as active, as well, and apparently as free from phthisical taint as if never affected."
SANTA BARBARA AND VENTURA COUNTIES. The Riviera of the Pacific.
Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties are to America what the far-famed Riviera is to Europe. With their mountains and valleys, their delightful climate and varied products, their fishing and hunting, their mineral springs and warm surf-bathing, and their elegant hotels and com- fortable homes, they contain almost everything that could be desired. The farmer and the artist, the fruit-grower and the silk-grower, the lover of wine and the pious devo- tee, the archaeologist and the florist, can each have his wishes fully gratified in these two northern counties of Southern California. Santa Barbara formerly contained 5,450 square miles, or 3,491,000 acres; but in 1873 it was divided, and the southern third of the county became Ventura County.
VENTURA COUNTY lies north and west of Los Angeles County, and east of Santa Barbara County. It has about forty miles of sea-coast and two good wharves-San Buena- ventura and Hueneme. The surface is a succession of val- leys and mountains. The products are the same as those of Los Angeles County, with the addition of navy and lima beans, and canary-seed. Until this year it was not appre- ciated by the traveling public ; but now that it is traversed by the Southern Pacific Railroad, its numerous objects of interest attract almost all tourists.
From one to two trains leave Los Angeles daily for Santa Barbara. The visitor who wishes to see Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties should purchase at the Southern Pacific ticket-office through tickets to Santa Barbara, price, $3.35,
274
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
and then get stop-over checks when desired. The road goes thirty miles directly north from Los Angeles to Newhall in Los Angeles County, and deflects to the west into the Santa Clara Valley, Ventura County. This valley is a rich, well-watered territory, about forty miles long, traversed by the Santa Clara River, which has its origin in the Soledad Canon, and reaches the sea between San Buenaventura and Hueneme.
The railroad, on leaving Los Angeles County, passes through the immense San Francisco Ranch of Newhall Brothers. On this ranch, for miles, are beautiful meadows, fat cattle, and large wheat-fields. Next, the noted Camu- los Ranch is traversed, and every person on the car is craning his neck to get a peep at the home of Ramona, but all he can see are the orange-groves, vineyards, and olive-orchards, for the historic house is so hidden by foli- age that it can scarcely be seen from the car-window. All the improvements of the Del Valle homestead are on the south side of the railroad. On the traveler goes, past good, bad, and indifferent places. The keen eye will now and then see away up toward the hills a bee-ranch, the white bee-hives resembling, at a distance, a flock of sheep.
Soon the Sespe Creek is reached. Here, March 23, 1877, the terrible tragedy known as the More murder oc- curred. A bitter feud had arisen between Thomas W. More, a wealthy landowner, and a number of the settlers. On this night they set fire to his barn, and as he ran out he was riddled with bullets. A meeting of the Sespe set- tlers was convened the following evening at the residence of F. A. Sprague, who was afterward proved to be the chief conspirator. Sprague acted as secretary of the meet- ing, and presented resolutions "deploring with deepest re- gret the awful tragedy." Sprague and six others were afterward arrested, tried, found guilty, and Sprague sen- tenced to death.
275
SANTA PAULA.
Owing to one of the witnesses for the State retracting his testimony, the Governor commuted the sentence to im- prisonment for life, and Governor George Stoneman par- doned him nine years later, and, at the date of writing, he is with a married daughter near the Matilija Springs.
W. E. Shepard, now a prominent lawyer of San Buena- ventura, was then editor of the Ventura "Signal," and, like a true newspaper man, went to the scene of the assas- sination the following morning. From footprints and sur- rounding evidence he formulated and published a theory so much like what proved to be the true history of the case, that an envious local editor suggested that he must have been in the conspiracy, and to his great consternation, ex- changes began to come in with accounts of the new- found accessory to the murder. Such is the reward of enterprise.
It is said that not one of the conspirators, nor any mem- ber of their families, has prospered since that date ; that they have all left the Santa Clara Valley, and are scattered in many directions.
SANTA PAULA is a prosperous town, and the traveler will always have a kindly feeling for it, because it is here the brakeman cries out : "Twenty-five minutes for lunch." A real good meal is served, and all are in a happy mood ready to learn of the resources of the place. This town is in the Santa Clara Valley, sixty-six miles from Los Angeles, and seventeen miles from San Buenaventura. There are several large oil-tanks here, and petroleum is shipped exten- sively, after being piped to this point from wells in the mountains. A good quality of brick is manufactured here. Corn, beans, and barley are extensively raised in this vi- cinity, but it is the fruit of which its residents are proud- est. Apricots, oranges, and lemons reach perfection here. Olives, peaches, apples, and figs also do well. The beauti- ful orchards that the railroad passes through render argu-
.
276
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
ment unnecessary. There is abundant water. That used for drinking is piped from the Santa Paula Canon. There are the usual churches and societies.
From Santa Paula on to Ventura is a rich, productive, highly-cultivated valley. The next station is Saticoy, and a few miles farther west is SAN BUENAVENTURA, the county seat of Ventura County. This is an old town. The point of greatest interest is the Mission Church. The San Buena- ventura Mission was founded March 31, 1782. The church is yet in a good state of preservation. Its brick walls are six feet thick. The old olive and palm trees are also objects of interest, some of them being very large. An aqueduct, six miles long, built by the mission fathers, conveyed water from the Ventura River. There are nearly four thousand persons buried in the little lot west of the church.
In 1828 this mission owned thirty-seven thousand cat- tle, nineteen hundred horses, three hundred sheep, and four hundred working-oxen. It is well worth while to stop a day and visit this mission.
The town contains about three thousand inhabitants. The advent of the Southern Pacific Railroad has infused it with a new life. Large brick buildings are being erected, and there is every evidence of prosperity. An excellent wharf was built here in 1871. Colonel J. J. Ayers, then of the Ventura "Signal," but now of the Los Angeles " Daily Herald," was the orator of the day. The Ventura daily and weekly " Free Press," the " Weekly Signal," and the " Weekly Democrat " are the three papers. There are the usual churches and secret societies.
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