Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 150

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

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ery business in Santa Ana, and built the first factory in the Newport district, within the walls of which he began to manufacture the cele- brated Santa Ana butter. Two years later he located in Los Angeles and established stations at several different points, notably at Tipton, Rincon, El Monte, Lancaster, Clearwater, Dow- ney, Norwalk, Fairview, and Tustin, and in 1896 established his factory and headquarters at Los Angeles on Sixth street and Broadway. In 1902 he built a two story brick building, 90XII0 feet, on the corner of San Julian and Seventh streets, which he will use for his grow- ing business.

The better to understand the enormous busi- ness carried on by the Bingham Creamery it is necessary to state that the milk of over six thousand cows is utilized with perfect prac- ticability, and the output is one and a half tons of butter a day. The milk capacity is more than six hundred gallons a day, and the cream capac- ity from fifty to three hundred gallons a day. There are fifteen separators used for the cream, and forty-three hands are employed to carry out the plans of the head of the largest creamery in Southern California. Twenty-five horses are used for general purposes, and three wagons are required to deliver goods to the trade. In connection with his creamery Mr. Bingham de- livers milk to many of the local dealers in Los Angeles and Pasadena, and for several years conducted a large and successful delicatessen business on South Broadway. Aside from his own immediate business concerns he has been instrumental in raising and maintaining a high grade of excellence in the general butter market, and to further his interest in this con- nection he organized the Butter Board of Trade of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, presided as chairman at the first meeting, and has since the beginning of its days of usefulness been treasurer of the board. He is also identified with the Merchants and Manufacturers Asso- ciation.

In Fitchburg, Mass., Mr. Bingham married Miss Linnie Victoria Halliday, a native of Clin- ton, Mass., and of this union there are seven children: Hubert, a graduate of the high school and at present bookkeeper for his father; Francis, a graduate of the high school; Milton, Ruth, Beatrice, Dorothea and Bertram. Mr. Bingham is an appreciator and promoter of the best possible educational methods, and is in favor of supporting all wise plans for the gen- eral improvement of the community. As a busi- ness man he brings to his interesting and re- munerative work a rare intelligence and ready understanding of affairs in general, and em- bodies in his personality those admirable attri- butes which constitute noble and helpful citizenship. In political affiliation he is a Re- publican.

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HON. ALVAN TYLER CURRIER. The management of his varied interests makes Mr. Currier a very busy man. The most important object of his care is his large alfalfa, grain, stock and fruit ranch, comprising twenty-five hundred acres, situated three miles west of Pomona, just off the Southern Pacific stations of Spadre and Lemon. Here a considerable portion of Mr. Currier's time is spent. His energy is such that he is constantly at work, directing, superintend- ing and managing every department of the farm work; this, too, although there is no longer the necessity of hard work there was in earlier years. His ranch is watered by artesian wells. In every respect it shows the painstaking care of the owner and his intelligent supervision.

In Franklin county, Me., Mr. Currier was born, April 30, 1840, a son of Alvan and Nancy (Clough) Currier, natives of Maine. In the win- ter of 1861-62 he saw California for the first time. However, he did not remain here, but went to Idaho and mined for gold and silver. In the fall of 1867 he left Idaho and returned to California. Soon he went back to Maine to visit his relatives and friends, and in the spring of 1868 he came via the Isthmus of Panama from New York to San Francisco. He has crossed the isthmus three times altogether. In the spring of 1869 he came to Los Angeles county and purchased the ranch where he still makes his home.

Politically Mr. Currier has been an active factor in the Republican party, and is counted one of its local leaders. In 1881 he was elected sheriff of Los Angeles county, which office he filled for two years. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate from the thirty-eighth Califor- nia district. As a senator hie manifested deep interest in the welfare of his constituents.

DANIEL P. CRAWFORD. To Mr. Craw- ford belongs the distinction of being the pioneer walnut grower of Olive precinct, Orange county, and of having set out the first trees for the future harvests of this much desired prod- uct. He was born in Cumberland county, Nova Scotia, September 15, 1847 A fair education prepared him for the responsibilities of the future. In 1868 he left the familiar surround- ings of his boyhood days in Nova Scotia and mi- grated to California via the Panama route. For a time he lived in San Francisco, and while therc improved his time by studying at and graduating from the Pacific Business College. During the spring of 1870 he went to San Luis Obispo, where, for several years, he was suc- cessfully engaged in the dairy business. From there he went to Los Angeles county and be- came interested in farming at Green Meadows, remaining there until he came to Olive precinct, Orange county, in 1880.

In formulating his plans and successes in life, Mr. Crawford has been ably assisted by his wife. formerly Annie Taylor, of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Crawford have been born eight children, six of whom are living: Clinton B., who is a resident of Kern county, Cal .; Ethelyn R., Jen- nie C., Earl M., Lela R. and Hazel R. The five last-named children are living at home. Mr. Crawford is a Republican in national and local politics, and is a firm believer in the merits of prohibition. He has held some important local offices, and has for several years been a trustee of the Olive public schools. He is an appre- ciator of the advantages of education, and the promoter of all that tends to uplift humanity and improve general conditions. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic order, and with his family is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

J. ROSS CLARK. One of the flourishing industries of Southern California is the Los Alamitos Sugar Company, of which Mr. Clark is vice-president and the general manager. Shortly after coming to Los Angeles he estab- lished the business which has since grown to its present proportions, taking rank among the successful enterprises of this section. The firm takes its name from the location of the plant, which is at Los Alamitos, thirty miles from Los Angeles, while the offices of the company are in the Douglas block in Los Angeles.

J. Ross Clark was born April 10, 1850, near Connellsville, Pa. At six years of age he re- moved with the family to Van Buren county, Iowa. There he acquired a public school educa- tion; his academic studies were pursued at Ben- tonsport Academy. However, he is principally a self-educated as well as a self-made man. On attaining his majority he was attracted to the far west, where, in company with his brother, Joseph K., he engaged in the United States mail contract business, making his headquarters at Horse Plains, Mont., the route being from Missoula, Mont., to Pend d'Oreille Lake in Idaho, a distance of two hundred miles. In 1876 he removed to Butte, Mont., and engaged as bookkeeper for the Dexter Milling Company. owners of one of the first quartz mills built in Butte. After one year, in 1877, he took a posi- tion as cashier in the bank of Donnell, Clark & Larabie, a well-known banking institution in the west, where he continued in the same position until 1886. In 1884 he acquired Mr. Donnell's interest in the institution and shortly afterwards Mr. Larabie retired, when the firm name was changed to W. A. Clark & Bro., and as such continues to the present day, the partners being William A. Clark and J. Ross Clark, the latter still giving attention to the bank and its man- agement.

During his residence in Montana, April 16, 1878, Mr. Clark married Miss Miriam A. Evans,

All Strahan

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

who was born in Ohio, but at the time was a resident of Montana. They have two children, Ella H. and Walter M. The family are con- nected with the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. In 1892 Mr. Clark established his home in Los Angeles, and has since become known as one of the most reliable business men of the city.

D. W. STRAHAN. No influence has en- tered into the upbuilding of Santa Ynez more progressive than that exerted by D. W. Strahan, who, among other interests, is conducting a large general mercantile business in the town of his adoption. He was born in Clayton, Brown county, Ill., November 23, 1846, and was reared on the farm of his parents, Alexander and Malinda (Slagle) Strahan, natives respec- tively of Kentucky and Illinois. The father came to Illinois at a very early day, and was successful and prominent in the neighborhood in which he settled. There were fourteen chil- dren in the family, of whom D. W. is second, and the only one in California. In 1855 he ac- companied the rest of the family to Lamar county, Tex., and was there when the hostility between the north and south culminated in the Civil war. During the latter part of the war lie was conscripted into the Confederate service, and was detailed on guard duty at his own home, though he and all his people were known to be Union men.

In 1866 Mr. Strahan left Texas and went to Kansas for a year, being accompanied by the whole family, who also later went with him to Arkansas. His separation from the parents and the rest of the children occurred in 1875, when he made his way to Prescott, Ariz., where he be- came interested in farming, stock-raising and mining. In all of these enterprises he was suc- cessful, and he still owns property and inter- ests there. Owing to somewhat impaired vital- ity he came to California in 1891, having bought property here in 1888. Upon locating in Santa Ynez, he erected a concrete store, and laid in a stock of general merchandise. At the present time he has the largest place of the kind in the town, and is catering to a constantly in- creasing trade.

Fine financial and executive ability have con- spired to make Mr. Strahan one of the most substantial of the citizens of Santa Ynez, and he is foremost in all worthy undertakings with the object of progression. He exerts that solid influence known only to men who have made a success of what they started out to do, and who have been amply rewarded for their pains by a considerable accumulation of worldly goods and chattels. He has a beautiful home two miles out of the town, erected by himself with an eye to comfort and modern convenience, and surrounded by trees and shrubbery and a fine

fruit-bearing orchard. Mr. Stralan is a Demo- crat in politics, but has no time for political of- fice holding. His first vote was cast for Greeley, and he espoused the cause of free silver by vot- ing for Bryan. Fraternally he is a Mason, and is associated with the blue lodge of Prescott, Ariz.

While living in Cincinnati, Ark., in 1867, Mr. Strahan married Susie Ellis, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of M. O. Ellis, formerly of Xenia, Ohio.

LOUIS ROEDER. The ship on which Mr. Roeder came to California entered the Golden Gate May 10, 1856. He remained in San Fran- cisco until the 28th of November, and then came to Los Angeles, where he commenced work at his trade in the shop of John Goller, who was the first, and at that time the only, wagon man- ufacturer in Los Angeles. He was located on Los Angeles street, between Commercial and Laguna streets. For seven years, and until 1863, he remained with this employer. He then leased a lot on Main street, adjoining the present German-American Bank on the north, and, making some improvements thereon, he con- ducted a wagon-making business on the site for five years. From 1865 he had the late Louis Lichtenberger associated with him as a partner. In 1866 they purchased a business lot at No. 128 South Main street and erected thereon the two-story brick Lichtenberger block, which still stands. Three years later they built the two- story brick block now owned by J. Khurtz, at the northwest corner of Second and Main streets. The partnership with Mr. Lichtenberger continued about three years, when Mr. Roeder retired from the firm, selling his entire interest to his partner. Mr. Roeder's next step was the purchase of one hundred feet frontage on Spring street, adjoining the Nadeau hotel, where he established himself as a wagon manufacturer. The north fifty feet of the lot he improved. erecting thereon a commodious and substantial brick block. Later he built a like structure on the south half of the property. For four years he did business in the first building he erected. The property became valuable for renting pur- poses and he finally retired from business, since which time he has given his attention to the oversight of his extensive real-estate holdings in the city.

FRANK D. BULLARD, A. M., M. D. After having been connected with the Sierra Madre College, Pasadena, for one term as an in- structor, Dr. Bullard passed the teacher's exanı- ination in Los Angeles county and in 1885-86 was principal of the Azusa schools. In the fall of 1886 he entered the medical department of the University of Southern California, where he continued his study of the science he had

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commenced some years before. While carrying on this course he was for a year resident stu- dent in the Los Angeles County Hospital, and in 1891 he spent a year in the same institution as assistant county physician. Shortly after his graduation from the university and his marriage to Dr. Rose Talbott (which occurred May 3, 1888), he and his wife went to Europe. where they spent some months in the study of medi- cine under the best instructors of Germany, and also had considerable hospital experience in Vienna. Returning to Los Angeles, they opened an office in this city, and since June, 1896, have occupied a suite in the Bradbury block. They are actively identified with the State and South- ern California Medical Associations, and of the latter society he is now secretary. They are also connected with the County Medical Society, of which he was the president in 1899, and his wife the secretary. They have an only child, Helen, who was born May 15, 1892.

For five years Dr. F. D. Bullard was editor of the Southern California Practitioner, but afterward sold his interest to Dr. Walter Lind- ley, since which time he and his wife have acted as associate editors. At this writing he is pro- fessor of chemistry in the medical department of the Southern California University. All for- ward movements, especially those of a profes- sional and literary nature, receive his warm sup- port and encouragement. He is connected with the University Club, of which he is secretary at this writing. He is also connected with the Y. M. C. A., and his wife with the Y. W. C. A., of which she is first vice-president. In those circles where high intellectual gifts and broad knowledge are recognized as the sine qua non of culture, both have an assured standing. Dr. Bullard is the author of "The Apistophilon," a poem bearing a resemblance to the "Rubái- yát" of Omar Khayyam, but breathing the high- est optimism, in direct contrast to the pessi- mistic spirit of the Oriental poet.

GEORGE FROST. Having disposed of his interests in the east, in the fall of 1882 Mr. Frost came to Riverside, where he at once identified himself with horticultural and farming interests. His connection with the Riverside Water Com- pany dates from 1887, and for the past eight years he has been its president. Since the or- ganization of the Orange Growers' Bank of Riverside he has been a director, and during the first six years of its existence served as its vice- president. Since the electric system has been the motive power of the local street railway cars he has been president of the Riverside Electric Street Railway Company, which now has seven miles of line in operation, two miles in process of construction, and four miles, all

within the city limits, now under consideration. Financially interested in the Concrete Pipe Company, he is a director in that organization.

The benefit of the Riverside Water Company, of which Mr. Frost is president, cannot be. over- estimated, as under its auspices almost the en- tire development of this region has been made possible. Its history extends back to 1871, when the Southern California Colony Associa- tion purchased from Louis Rubidoux the old Rubidoux tract, on which they laid out a city and provided canals for irrigating purposes. Five years later the colony was merged into the Riverside Land and Irrigation Company, while the canals became the property of the Riverside Canal Company. In 1885 the Riverside Water Company was organized and incorporated, and this organization absorbed the Riverside Canal Company. Since its incorporation there have been five presidents, namely: Mr. Everest, A. P. Johnson, John G. North, Dr. Jarvis and George Frost, the last named having held the office since 1893. By means of iron pipes in 1885 the domestic supply for the city was secured from an artesian well, ten miles up the valley. The pressure of from sixty to eighty pounds to the inch is sufficient to furnish protection for the highest buildings in Riverside. Not only is the plant the largest in the city, but its system is being enlarged from year to year. Aside from the valuable lands and the improvements that came from the Riverside Canal Company, the plant represents an investment of $175.000, and the total valuation of the property is $305,000. In addition the irrigating system, from artesian wells and Warm creek, a tributary of the Santa Ana river, represents an investment of $870,000. The company owns over eight hundred acres of artesian land, which has been purchased for the protection of the irrigators and as a future source of water supply, the same representing a value of nearly $150,000. The minimum supply of water during the irrigating season is about twenty-seven hundred inches, measured at the head gates, and this irrigates about ten thou- sand acres of land.

Under the co-operative system the twenty- four thousand shares comprising the stock of the company are apportioned among the own- ers of the twelve thousand acres of land pro- vided with irrigation, the rate being two shares of stock for each acre of land. The shares are not transferable, except on an exchange of the title to the land. The price of irrigating water is fixed by the city board of trustees at fifteen cents per inch for twenty-four hours' service. the average cost per acre being $8 per annuni. At no time have the stockholders been limited in the quantity of water used, but each one has been allowed to use whatever in his judgment seemed advisable, and this procedure has proved satisfactory to all.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

JOSEPH M. MILLER. Very few remain of that heroic band of emigrants who crossed the plains in 1849. The large majority, after hav- ing escaped or overcome the hostility of In- dians and confronted dangers seen and unseen through a long period of pioneer years, have finally succumbed to that last enemy of all. Death. Worthy of mention among those who are still spared to enjoy the civilization of the twentieth century is Joseph M. Miller, who now makes his home at No. 1212 Grand avenue, Los Angeles. He was born in Womelsdorf, Adams county, Pa., June 15, 1832, and at the age of five years was taken by his parents, Valentine and Meribalı Barton (Moon) Miller, to Mount Carmel, Ill., where the father carried on a drug business.

At the time gold was discovered in California Mr. Miller was a youth of seventeen. Possess- ing a love for adventure, which had received added impetus through two trips on flatboats down the Mississippi river to New Orleans, he at once began to plan a trip across the plains, and his constant urging of the plan at last inter- ested his father, who decided to accompany him. The two, with several others who had become interested, fitted out an ox-train with ten yoke of oxen and started for the far west. After a tedious journey of seven months, during which all but one yoke of oxen died or gave out, they arrived at Longs Bar on Feather river, October 20, 1849. The little band, with only one yoke of oxen and little stock of provisions, did not present a prosperous appearance, but they were ambitious, and in those days results and not appearances counted. Like all miners, they had their ups and downs, yet in the main they were not unsuccessful.

After two years Mr. Miller's father went back to Illinois, where the son joined him in the spring of 1854, and in the fall of that year the entire family, consisting of father, mother and six children, with all their worldly belongings, started across the plains with four four-horse teams and two riding animals. They came through Beckwith's Pass and arrived at Eureka Mills, in Plumas county, with one wagon and two horses, the other sixteen horses having died on the journey. There were in the family Adolphus, Edward and Georgiana, all of whom are now deceased; Joseph M .; Mrs. E. M. Bir- mingham, of Strawberry valley, Yuba county; and Mrs. Virginia Bedell, whose home is near Bangor, Cal. While the father followed mining much of the time, he also devoted some atten- tion to the development of a ranch which he purchased near Bangor, Butte county. On that place he died in 1893, having survived his wife six years. Both were active and strong until shortly before they died. While his father was ranching and mining, J. M. Miller devoted his attention almost wholly to merchandising and

mining, and in his search for favorable open- ings traveled through Mexico and all of the great west. Indeed, it is said by some that there is not a mining camp or a prospect in all of these states with which he is not familiar. He sank the first hole on Miller's Creek, near Salmon river, Idaho, and devoted much time to prospecting there. Sometimes fortune favored him and he made large profits; again, luck was against him and he would have to meet heavy losses, so the years passed by with their failures and successes, their joys and sorrows. In 1866 he settled in Ventura, but the next year went to Soledad Pass in Los Angeles county, where he engaged in general merchandising, thence going back to Ventura, where in 1876 he was elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket. This election was a tribute to his popularity, for the county was Republican by a large majority. Another office which he filled while there was that of school trustee. He was also agent for the Coast Line Stage Company and Wells- Fargo Express Company. In 1880 he moved to Los Angeles, which he had first visited in 1862 and which is still his home. His marriage united him with Josephine, daughter of Louis and Josefa Arenas, and a native of Azusa, Cal. Three children were born of their union, namely: Charles A., of Los Angeles; Ida, wife of Frederick Sennett, of Los Angeles; and Vir- ginia, Mrs. Frank J. Palomares, also of this city.

Out of fifteen persons comprising the party who crossed the plains with Mr. Miller in 1849, the only ones now living are Dr. C. W. Bush, who resides in Los Angeles, and John Bush, who resides in Sidney, Ohio. The remainder have crossed "The Great Divide."

JAMES M. PARK. In these days of extraor- dinary accomplishment, of utilized forces once hardly understood, of overcoming obstacles in the light of luminous and progressive science, there seem interminable vistas for all, however different their capacities, or how varied their natural gifts. In the exuberance of our admira- tion for all who develop to the extent of their power their special talents, we cannot fail to note as worthy of mention James M. Park, a rancher at Montecito, and a gentleman of broad culture, fine literary discrimination, and exten- sive horticultural knowledge. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, March 2, 1852, a son of Plumb M. and Charlotte (Peck) Park, and his educa- tion was acquired at the Institute for the Deaf at Columbus, and at the National Deaf Mute College, near Washington, D. C., at which latter institution he took the degree of A. B.

For the following seven years he was en- gaged in educational work at the School for the Deaf at Columbus, and in 1883 came to Santa Barbara, locating on a ranch in the Mon- tecito valley purchased the year before. The

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land was raw and unimproved, and he at once began its development, planting a portion of the forty acres with orange seeds, and later budded to three varieties of lemon. One-third of the trees are sixteen years old, and the bal- ance are about seven years old. The crop is increasing each year, and in 1900 he had two thousand boxes to show for the care exercised. For the size it is one of the healthiest and most productive groves in Montecito, and this is sur- prising when it is known that when first taken in hand by Mr. Park there was no water for irrigating. In order to meet this dire necessity he purchased a water right from the creek, de- veloped and piped the water to a reservoir built by himself and holding two hundred thousand gallons, from which it runs by gravity to the trees. The well is much lower than the pipe, and the water is brought to the surface by syphon. All these improvements have been un- dertaken under the personal supervision of Mr. Park, and his entire time is devoted to the man- agement of his property.

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 150

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366