USA > California > California of the South: Being a Complete Guide Book to Southern California > Part 22
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"From the foregoing data it is evident we can truthfully claim for the climate of Santa Barbara a remarkable equability, and it is this freedom from sudden changes which constitutes its chief charm, and in which lies its great therapeutic power. The invalid, delicate as he may be, can pass the greater portion of each day, during the entire year, in the open air. One gentleman, a consumptive, kept a record of the weather, and found that in one year there were three hundred and ten days in which he could be out-of-doors from five or six hours or more with safety and comfort, and but fifteen upon which he was unable to leave the house ; ten of these were rainy and five were windy. It is true our climate is not perfect. What climate isf We have at time wind-storms lasting two or three days and bringing clouds of dust ; but these are exceptional, seldom more than two or three each year. Then, also, during the spring and fall more or less fog prevails, obscuring the sun and de- pressing the spirits of the invalid. Nine tenths of this, however, would in the East be called low clouds, not fog ; it is high and dry, and to many is a pleasant change from the 'eternal sunshine.' As a rule the fogs are not very frequent, and coming late in the evening are usually dissipated long before noon on the following day. The natural incline upon which the town is built, the porous character of the soil, and the system of sewerage recently introduced, insure good drainage, while the water-supply brought from the neighbor- ing mountains is excellent. There is no malaria nor any endemic disease. From the foregoing remarks the therapeutic advantages of Santa Barbara can easily be deduced. The equability of the
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temperature is the great therapeutic agency, local congestions caused by the blood flowing inward from a chilled surface are avoided. In phthisis this freedom from sudden change tends to decrease hæmor- rhage, to lessen also the local pulmonary inflammation. The open- air life possible to the invalid in such a climate only, is also of the greatest benefit. Indeed, during my residence in this place I can recall but one instance of the arrest of pulmonary phthisis in which the chief means of cure was not this out-door life. In a marked case a lady patient of mine lived in her garden, protected merely by a brush shelter, for eighteen months. Day and night for the entire period, excepting only nine nights, she remained in the open- air. Afterward, while camping out on one of the Channel Islands, she was four months without the slightest protection. In disease of the heart, the even temperature giving a regular quiet circulation of the blood is very beneficial ; the same is true in kidney-affections where a sudden chill will frequently cause a rapid and fatal advance of the disease. In nervous prostration or neurasthenia, in disease of the brain, no better place could be desired. The quiet, peaceful surroundings, the charming scenery, the pleasant drives, the out- door amusements, the fresh, pure, bracing air, bringing sleep and appetite, are all to be found in Santa Barbara.
" For children and the aged the place is a Paradise, no heat dis- eases which carry off the little ones so ruthlessly in the Eastern summer, no cholera-infantum nor membranous croup, while those advanced in years, sheltered from the cold and cutting winds of winter, with but few calls upon their lessened vitality, live on year after year in happiness and comfort. As for asthma, no one climate suits all cases, nor I think, even the majority. All I can say is that many have tried this place with success; others, unable to live in the town, find immunity from the attack at various elevations on the neighboring foot hills; some have left us disappointed and unim- proved. I must not omit to mention our hot sulphur springs, use- ful in a variety of affections, nor the delightful sea-bathing, pleasant on almost any day in the year, for the rate of temperature of the water never falls below 60°, but ranges from that degree to 65°, with a yearly mean of 62°.
" And now, in conclusion, a few words of caution. In Santa Barbara, as throughout California, the nights are always cool, even in the interior; no matter how sultry the day, the night is never
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oppressive; one sleeps comfortably under a blanket. This is of im- mense advantage, and yet it has its drawback. Just before sunset the temperature rapidly falls and the invalid at this time should re- main in the house, or, if out-of-doors and not briskly exercising, should put on an overcoat. Indeed, although the climate of Santa Barbara is warm, it is not hot; flannels next the skin, with moder- ately warm clothing, can and should be worn throughout the year. On the other hand, our climate from its pleasant equability ap- proaches the subtropical, and my experience convinces me that the diet of a subtropical climate is suitable to this. Vegetables, fruits, hydrocarbons with comparatively little nitrogenous food or stimnu- lants. Meat once a day is ample. Those of our visitors who bring with them the habits of their former home, eating three hearty meals a day, with perhaps meat at each and more or less wine or liquor, soon pay the penalty in a deranged liver, impaired appetite, and weakened digestion."
North of Santa Barbara and running from west to east across the county are the Santa Ynez Mountains-a great wall from three to four thousand feet high, with many wooded, watered canons and romantic glens. The only gateway through this wall, from the mouth of the Ventura River to Point Conception, is the Gaviota Pass, a great chasm in the mountains, thirty-six miles west of Santa Barbara. At this is the Gaviota wharf, one thou- sand feet long, from which a great amount of grain is shipped. Three and a half miles from the wharf is the village of Las Cruces, and three fourths of a mile away are the Las Cruces hot sulphur springs. Five miles northeast are the No-jo-qui (No-hoe-quee) Falls, where a beautiful stream takes a leap of a hundred feet. North of these mountains, and between this range and the San Rafael Mountains, is the Santa Ynez Valley, watered by the Santa Ynez River. The principal town in this valley is Lompoc-meaning " little lake"-nine miles from the coast. This is the center of a rich temperance colony. It was founded in 1874 by a colony of two hundred and
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fifty men, women, and children. The chief desire of the residents is to have a home free from the influence of the liquor traffic. The town contains six churches, numerous stores, school-houses, and the usual number of secret socie- ties. In its early history a druggist was found selling whisky. The women of the place appeared upon the scene in battle array, and knocked in the head of his whisky- barrel with an axe. A few years later a saloon was started, and on May 20, 1881, at 11.15 P. M. a terrible explosion was heard. The people rushed out of their houses, and found the saloon a total wreck. The Lompoc " Record " the following day said : " Whether it was done by an earthquake or by a Nihilist from Russia it is impossible to say, as no inquest has been held. . . . The general impres- sion prevails that this is not a healthy place for saloons."
Artesian wells furnish water in abundance. The soil is very rich, thirty-seven hundred pounds of Lima beans hav- ing been raised on one acre. Near Lompoc are the ruins of Mission La Purissima Concepcion, founded, 1787.
North of the Santa Ynez Valley is the Los Alamos Val- ley, twenty-five miles long, and from one to two miles wide, watered by a stream of the same name. This valley contains the town of Los Alamos, which is five hundred feet above the level of the sea, seventeen miles from Lom- poc, and sixty-four miles from Santa Barbara. It is the terminus of the narrow-gauge road that goes north to Port Harford in San Luis Obispo County.
The great Santa Maria Valley forms the most northern part of Santa Barbara County. It is said to contain two hundred thousand acres of tillable land, and is twelve miles wide and twenty-five miles long. This valley contains two towns, Guadaloupe and Santa Maria, formerly called Cen- tral City. Guadaloupe is in the northwest corner of Santa Barbara County, seven miles from the coast, one and a half miles from the northern boundary line of the county, and
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ninety-five miles from Santa Barbara. It contains about six hundred inhabitants and the usual number of churches, stores, and secret societies.
Santa Maria is a few miles east of Guadaloupe, on the narrow-gauge railroad. Over a half-million grain-bags are sold here annually. It is the center of a rich community of farmers,
Along the Coast.
The "Coast Pilot " of California, by George Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, says : "Point Concep- tion is a characteristic and remarkable headland, about two hundred and twenty feet in height, lying at the western entrance to Santa Barbara Channel. Once seen it will never be forgotten. When made from the northward or from the eastward it rises as an island ; but upon approach is found to be a high promontory, stretching boldly into the ocean and terminating abruptly. The land behind it sinks com- paratively low, and at first gradually, but soon rapidly rises to the mountains, which attain an elevation of about two thousand five hundred feet. ... The light-house is upon the extremity of the cape, and upon the highest part which is about two hundred and twenty feet above the sea, and covered with grass and bushes like the land behind. A fog-bell, weighing three thousand one hundred and thirty- six pounds, is placed on the edge of the bluff. Next to the islands of Santa Barbara Channel, Point Conception is the most prominent and interesting feature between San Francisco and the peninsula of Lower California. ... Point Conception was discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, and called Cape Galera. ... The larger mass of the great Japan warm stream that reaches the American coast about latitude fifty degrees, sweeps southward along the shores with an average breadth of three or four hundred miles, and a rate of about sixteen miles per day. . . . On March
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24, 1815, the brig Forester, of London, . . . only three hundred and fifty miles south west by west from Point Con- ception, rescued three dying men (the captain and two sailors) on a Japanese junk that had drifted for seventeen months across the Pacific. . .. Two miles east of Point Conception is the anchorage of El Coxo. This anchorage is better than at Santa Barbara, and the kelp is not so com- pact. . . . The first headland to the northward of Point Conception is Point Arguello, distance twelve miles." The steamship Yankee Blade struck some rocks near here October 1, 1854, and four hundred and fifteen person per- ished. Three miles from here, on the Espado Ranch, are some hot sulphur springs. Eight miles north of Point Arguello the Santa Ynez River empties into the sea.
A short distance north is Point Purissima, where the Lompoc wharf is located.
Nineteen miles north of Point Arguello is Point Sal, at the extremity of a prominent cape. There is an important wharf here.
Partially sheltered by Point Sal is the " chute landing," of which the following is a description :
"From the road which encircles the face of the cliff there is built out a wharf, about one hundred and fifty feet long, which projects over the sea forty feet, at an elevation above the surface of the water of about eighty feet. At the outer extremity of this wharf a framework is erected, in which a slide, which works ver- tically, is placed. From a firm anchorage in the rocks of the cliff a wire cable, about three fourths of an inch in diameter, stretches over this slide, and about six hundred feet out to sea, to a buoy firmly anchored on the bottom. The slide on the frame serves to elevate or lower the cable. Upon this cable is suspended perma- nently a traveler, which works easily back and forth upon it by means of nicely adjusted shieves. To this traveler is suspended cages of various sorts, depending upon the nature of the material to be transported. An engine upon the wharf furnishes all needed motive power. The method of operation is as follows: The slide in
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the framework being lowered and the cable being coiled away on the wharf, a schooner approaches seeking to be unloaded. She passes inside the cable-buoy, laying with side to the wharf. From her, cables are run out in four directions to buoys and fastenings in the rocks, and the vessel firmly secured. The end of the wire-cable is taken on a row-boat and carried out to and over the schooner and to a buoy beyond, where it is securely made fast. The engine now starts up and raises the slide, which, carrying up the cable, takes up all undesirable slack. The traveler and a eage or cages is run down to the ship, loaded, and at once hauled back by means of a rope attached to it and to the drum of the engine. When it is drawn up a few feet above the end of the wharf, the load is depos- ited on a tramway-car, which a horse hauls to the mainland, where the car is unloaded, and whence it goes back for another load. The process is simply reversed in loading vessels. A ton may be carried at one time by the traveler, and altogether the apparatus has proved a great success.
"The first grain received for shipment was on July 21, 1880, and the first vessel shipped was the schooner Golden Fleece, on the 28th of the following September. Thirteen thousand tons of grain were shipped the first two years, 8,000 of which was in 1881. One million feet of lumber is received annually. There is storage ca- pacity for 100,000 sacks of grain."
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company's vessels make tri-weekly trips between all Southern California ports. The Santa Rosa is the largest and most popular of the company's steamers.
The Islands of Southern California.
The reader will observe on the map of California a num- ber of islands along the coast of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties. These islands and their climatic bearing have been referred to in Part I of this work, and they will now be described in detail.
SAN CLEMENTE .- Going north, the first island (see map) is San Clemente, about fifty miles south west of San Pedro
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Bay .* It is twenty and a half miles long, and has an aver- age width of two and a half miles. Like all of these islands, it is high and bold, the southern end being the higher. There are several anchorages about the island. The inden- tation on the southeast end of the island is called Smuggler's Cove.
Messrs. Oscar Macy, L. C. Goodwin, and S. C. Hubbel, of Los Angeles, have a band of sheep on San Clemente. Twice a year they send over shearers. Between these sheep-shearing times there is but one man on the island, and he has been there in charge of the sheep nearly twenty years. Annually he comes to Los Angeles and draws his year's salary ; he then lives like a titled debauchee for a week, and goes back to his solitary island life without a dollar. This island is quite barren, and the sheep get a pre- carious existence. It was discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, and named San Salvador, after one of his vessels. The present name was given by Vizcaino in 1602.
SANTA CATALINA (Cat-aye-lee-nah) .- Twenty miles north of San Clemente is Santa Catalina Island, twenty-three miles long, with an average breadth of four miles in the southern part, and two miles to the northern. It rises to a height of three thousand feet, and is remarkable for the great trans- verse break or depression, five miles from the northern end, running partly through it, and forming a cove or anchorage on each side. The land connecting these is very low, say not over thirty feet ; but the hills rise up on each side two or three thousand feet, and when sighted from the north or south, the whole appears like two very high islands.
The harbor on the southern side is eighteen and a half miles from San Pedro. There is also a safe anchorage and harbor on the northern side. There are several other fair harbors on the coast opposite the mainland. There are a
* The topographical statements are from the "Coast Pilot " of California.
Solitude Canon, Catalina Island.
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number of pretty elevated valleys, several mineral springs, and wells of good water.
Dr. T. J. McCarty, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College of the University of Southern California, says : * "I procured samples of water from a half-dozen springs, and below appears the analysis of water from one more highly charged with saline matters than any of the others examined. The spring is found at an elevation of several hundred feet, and contains-
In one pint :
Grains.
Sodium chloride.
79.5
Magnesium chloride 21.0
Magnesium sulphate 32.5
Sodium sulphate 20.5
Calcium sulphate.
6.0
Magnesium carbonate
2.0
Iron and aluminium
Traces
Total solids 161.5
"This water would be classed among the purgative mineral waters, and as such will commend itself."
James Lick bought this island in 1864 of the United States Government for $12,000. In 1874 his heirs tried to sell it for $1,000,000, but failed. In 1887 George R. Shatto, of Los Angeles, bought it for $225,000. This island has always been a popular summer resort for Californians. Although there were no accommodations whatever, yet thousands of people went over and camped in order to enjoy the benefits of the climate and bathing, and the pleasures of fishing. There are many wild goats on the south side of the island, that give rare game for amateur Nimrods. The water along the northeast shore is remarkably warm, and people who get chilled on the mainland bathe here with
* " Mineral Springs of Catalina Island," "Southern California Practi- tioner " for November, 1887.
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pleasure. Boating is a delightful pastime. The water is always calm, and so clear that fish, mosses, and pebbles can be distinctly seen many feet below the surface. The island has evidently at one time been densely populated, and nu- merous earthen pots, stone weapons, and bones are to be found in the mountains. Catalina is plainly visible from Los Angeles, forty miles away.
By the time this work is published there will be an ex- cellent hotel here. Steamers make daily trips from Cata- lina to San Pedro, connecting with Los Angeles trains. It was discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, and named La Victoria, after one of his vessels. It received its present name from Vizcaino in December, 1602, when it was thickly settled by a people reported to be very ingenious, especially in pilfer- ing. Father Ascencion, who accompanied this expedition, describes a temple to the sun, found near the two harbors, with images and idols.
Tourists will find a visit to this island novel, interest- ing, and pleasant. The round trip from Los Angeles, and twenty-four hours at the hotel, costs about five dollars.
SANTA BARBARA ISLAND .- Twenty-three miles north west of Catalina is Santa Barbara Island. The extent of the island does not exceed two miles of shore-line ; its elevation at the highest part is about five hundred feet, and the top has an area of thirty acres covered with soil, but no water is found, and not a vestige of wood.
ISLAND OF SAN NICOLAS .- This island is most distant from the coast, and the driest and most sterile of all these islands. It is about six hundred feet high, eight miles long, three and a half miles wide, with twenty-two miles of shore-line. It is sixty-seven miles west of San Pedro.
ISLAND OF ANACAPA .- This is, in fact, a curiously- formed group of three islands, their entire length being five miles. The west end of Anacapa is a peak nine hun- dred and thirty feet high. This is separated from the
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middle island by a gap ten feet wide, through which boats can pass.
The gap separating the middle island from the eastern islands is over two hundred yards wide, but is so full of rocks that it is impassable for boats. Anacapa is nine and a fourth miles from Hueneme and twenty-eight miles from Santa Barbara. There is not a drop of fresh water, but sheep and goats thrive on the dews that cover the island every night. It is a great resort for the seal, sea-lion, and formerly the otter, but the latter have been nearly all killed off. The sea-lions are killed for their oil. A full- grown male yields about eight gallons. It was on this island that the steamship Winfield Scott ran ashore dur- ing a dense fog at midnight, December 2, 1853, in calm weather.
ISLAND OF SANTA CRUZ .- This island is the largest of the channel group, and lies broad off the coast opposite Santa Barbara at a distance of twenty miles. It is twenty-one miles long and has an average width of four miles, while its shore-line is not less than fifty-three miles. The island is bold, and about one thousand seven hundred feet in height.
On the northern side of the island there is a roadstead called "Prisoner's Harbor," which is at the opening of a valley where wood and water can be obtained. Almost all kinds of grain and fruit are raised here. The owners of the island have about forty thousand sheep feeding in its valleys. Mrs. Otis, staff correspondent of the Los An- geles " Daily Times," in a recent letter to that journal, describes a visit to the Santa Cruz Island, from which the following extracts are taken :
.
"It was seven o'clock when we went down to the pretty sail- boat, the Geneva, owned and handled by Captain Larco, the well- known Italian fisherman of Santa Barbara, a man large-hearted,
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genial, kindly, who has had adventures enough to fill a volume of romance.
. .
"Soon after noon we came in sight of a school of whales, seven in all, two of which appeared to be making directly for our boat. Then commenced a lively pounding of oars and a drumming with whatever would make a noise upon the boat's bottom, and it was not long before these monsters of the deep disappeared from our view in another direction.
" When within a short distance from the shore the sea grew comparatively still, and with well-filled sails we neared the protect- ing walls of the little harbor, near the center of the island of Santa Cruz. To this quiet harbor, with its unruffled waters, our captain had given the name of ' Lady Harbor,' 'because,' he said, 'it be so quiet and smooth.' The aptness can not fail to be apparent.
"On the rocks great sea-lions lay; from the water scores of them lifted their heads on our approach. A shot from a rifle in the hands of one of our number, and they leaped from the rocks into the sea. Another shot, and the air was filled with their almost human cries, which echoed from every craggy height and were flung back to us from the stony cliffs.
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" As a pleasure-resort these islands are full of interest, and it is sur- prising to me that long ago provision was not made for regular trips to and from the islands for the accommodation of tourists and others at Santa Barbara."
ISLAND OF SANTA ROSA .- This is the middle island of the group off the coast of Point Conception and Santa Bar- bara. It is fifteen miles long and ten miles wide, with a shore-line of forty-two miles. There is a good passage for ships between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa with a width of five miles, and one between it and San Miguel with a width of four miles. The outline of the island is bold. It is not so high as Santa Cruz, but attains an elevation of 1,172 feet.
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J. Ross Browne, in the "Overland Monthly," says : " Numerous springs, having their source in the principal ridge, furnish a sufficient water-supply for stock or agricult- ural purposes. Many parts of the island are conspicuous for their picturesque beauty." The sale of wool from Santa Rosa in one year amounted to over $100,000. Attention has been attracted to this island lately by the report of a tragical murder of a Chinaman by Alexander More, the owner of the island.
ISLAND OF SAN MIGUEL .- This is the most western of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. It is seven and a half miles long and two and a half miles wide. Cuyler Harbor is on the northeast side of the island. It is twenty-five miles from Point Conception. A sea-lion was killed here in July, 1879, that was fourteen feet long, and weighed thirty-five hundred pounds.
San Miguel was discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. Most authorities say that Cabrillo, after visiting Santa Barbara and other points on the mainland, returned to San Miguel and died January 5, 1543, although the Cali- fornia "Coast Pilot" doubts the statement, and thinks it more probable that he died on the Santa Cruz Island, where he could obtain water, and oak wood for repairs. Be this as it may, no historian has yet expressed any doubt about his death.
Abalone shells are found on the rocks along all of these islands. They have to be pried off with a crowbar, and it is related of a Chinaman that he attempted to pull one off a rock with his fingers and was caught in the trap and drowned by the rising tide. Many tons of these shells are worked up for sale as ornaments and curios by a Los An- geles house. The meat of the abalone is dried in large quantities by the Chinese and shipped to China, where-it is grated and used in soups.
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