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 22

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

USA > California > 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 22

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The Federal census of 1890 gave the popula- tion of county as 34,987; and that of the city 16,159. It was charged that the census of the city was very incorrectly taken and that the real population was over 20,000.

During the years 1889 and 1890 the city and county were recovering from the depression caused by the collapse of the boom, but 1891 was a year of disasters. February 22, a great flood entirely destroyed the railroad track through the Temecula canon. The road through the canon has never been rebuilt. During the same storm the Tia Juana River, that is usually a dry sand wash, became a tremendous torrent, spreading out until it was as wide as the Colo- rado in a spring rise. The town on the Amer- ican side was entirely washed away, and of that on the Mexican only the houses on upper Mesa were left. The Otay Watch Works, started in 1887, and at one time employing over one hun- dred operatives, suspended and the employes were compelled to leave.

In October the California National Bank, with more than a million dollars in deposits, failed. The Savings Bank connected with it went down, too, in the crash. Neither ever re- sumed business. Their affairs were placed in the hands of a receiver. A few small dividends were paid the depositors, but the bulk of the deposits

were lost by bad management, wild speculation and the doubtful business methods of J. W. Col- lins and his partner, D. D. Dare. Collins was arrested, and shortly afterwards committed sui- cide. Dare, who was in Europe at the time of the failure, never returned to San Diego.

February 7, 1892, the Pacific Mail steamers began stopping again at San Diego for passen- gers and freight. The wharf of the United States government station at La Playa was com- pleted April 25, 1892. The cable road was ex- tended to the Mission Cliff in July, 1892.

By an act of the Legislature, approved March 11, 1893, 6,418 square miles were taken from the northern part of San Diego to form the new county of Riverside. The new county appropri- ated $3,849,114 of the old county's assessed valu- ation. The area of San Diego is now 8,551 square miles. She parted with the towns of Temécula, Elsinore, Murietta, San Jacinto and Winchester. The county division scheme was opposed by San Diego and San Bernardino, but was carried in spite of their protests.

In 1896 the San Diego Brewery, costing $150,000, was erected entirely by San Diego capital.

In 1898, a decade after the collapse of the boom, the city had five miles of paved streets, forty-three miles of graded streets and forty-five miles of sewers: It had twenty-four churches and fourteen schools.

January 21, 1899, the steamship, Belgian King, the first of the California and Oriental Steam- ship Company's vessels, arrived in port.

August 22, 1899, the steamer, Thyra, the largest vessel that ever entered the port, draw- ing twenty-seven feet of water, passed safely over the bar and entered the harbor.

May 1, 1899, the State Normal School on the North Mesa was dedicated.

July 28, 1899, Andrew Carnegie donated San Diego $50,000 for a free public library building.

SCHOOLS.

The first public school opened in San Diego was taught by Manuel de Vargas, a retired ser- geant of infantry. He was the pioneer school- master of California, having taught a school at San José in 1794, the first school opened in the territory. He taught in San Diego from July. 1795, to December, 1798, at a yearly salary of $250. Don José Antonio Carrillo is said to have taught a school at the presidio in 1812-13. An- tonio Menendez was teaching in the old town in 1828-29. Eighteen children were reported in attendance. In 1844 Governor Micheltorena issued a decree, establishing primary schools at San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and several other towns. This seems to have been

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the last school taught at San Diego under Mex- ican rule.

After the American form of government was established, a school was opened in Old Town about 1853. The early school records have dis- appeared, if, indeed, any were kept.

In 1867, fifteen years after a public-school system had been established in California by law, San Diego county was all included in one school district and had but one teacher and one school house within its limits. It was then probably the largest school district in the United States. In 1866 the number of white children between five and fifteen years of age, according to the school census of that year, was 335. The census of 1867 gave an increase of only three, which would seem to indicate a short crop that year.

The number who attended public school in 1867 was thirty-two; those attending private schools twenty-two-a total attendance of fifty- four, or about sixteen per cent of the children of school age. This was but little, if any, improve- ment on the school attendance of Mexican days. In 1877 the census children had increased to 1,693 ; the number attending public schools 919, and private schools 112. . The number of districts had increased to thirty-four and the number of teachers to thirty-five. In 1887 the total nun- ber of census children was 5,299; enrolled in the public schools, 3,952. The number of districts was eighty-two and the number of teachers, 115.

THE SAN DIEGO FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The public library was founded in 1882. The first president of the library board was Bryant Howard; secretary, E. W. Hendrick; treasurer, G. H. Hitchcock ; trustees, G. W. Marston and R. Af. Powers. The Commercial Bank donated the free use of a room for six months. Donations of books were made by a number of persons and a city tax levied for the support of the library.

In the carly part of 1899 Mrs. Lydia M. Hor- ton, who was at that time a member of the free library board, wrote to the millionaire philan- thropist, Andrew Carnegie, asking a donation to erect a library building. On the 28th of July, 1899, she received a letter from Mr. Carnegie, stating that "If the city were to pledge itself to maintain a free public library from the taxes, say to the extent of the amount you name of be- tween $5,000 to $6,000 a year and provide a site, I shall be glad to give you $50,000 to erect a suitable library building." The proposition was accepted at once. A site was secured on E street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, at a cost of $17,000; of which $8,000 was raised by sub- scription and the balance paid by the city. The site covers half a block. The building now in

course of erection will cost about $60,000. The library contains about 18,000 volumes. Mary E. Walker is the present librarian.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

The San Diego Chamber of Commerce was organized January 20, 1870, and is the oldest institution of that kind in Southern California. The organizers were A. E. Horton, E. W. Morse, David Felsenhield, Aaron Pauly, G. W. B. McDonald, J. W. Gale, D. Choate and Jo- seph Nash. Its first president was Aaron Pauly ; and first secretary, David Felsenheld. It has been for more than thirty years active in foster- ing and promoting every public enterprise look- ing to the welfare of San Diego city and county.

OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS.

OLD TOWN.

OLD TOWN, now the first ward of the city, is the San Diego of history and romance. It is three miles northwest of the city proper. The surf line of the Santa Fé Railroad system passes through the lower portion of it. From 1850 to 1868 it was the county seat. Prior to 1850 it was all that there was of the city or town of San Diego. Here the first germ of civilization in California was planted. The first mission was established here ; and here the first Indian con- vert was baptized.

Dana and Robinson made it famous in their books on life in the California of olden times ; and Helen Hunt Jackson has invested it with an air of romance by making it the scenes of the marriage of her hero and heroine in her story of Ramona. The house in which Ramona was married to Alessandro is still pointed out to the tourist.

The San Diego Sun of January 12, 1892, thus rudely tears away the veil of sentiment that Mrs. Jackson threw around her famous characters and shows them up as they were in real life : "The real Alessandro was a horse thief who was shot for his crimes by a San Jacinto man, who is still living. Ramona is a squaw of well- understood character, who lives upon her noto- riety and her offenses."

NATIONAL CITY.

The Kimball Brothers in 1869 bought the Rancho de la Nacion, containing 27,000 acres. They subdivided a portion of it into farm lots, built a wharf and laid off a town on the bay four miles south of San Diego, which they named National City. They were quite success- ful in selling lots, and for a time there was a spirited and somewhat acrimonious rivalry be- tween New Town and National City. The fail-

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ure of the Texas Pacific Railroad disastrously affected it, as well as its rival. The California Southern Railroad, in consideration of a gift of 17,000 acres of land made by the Kimballs, lo- cated its Pacific terminus at National City. Again the town was on the high tide of pros- perity. The removal of the railroad shops be- gun in 1892. The dry seasons of 1898-99 and 1900 have had a depressing effect upon it, but its inhabitants have not lost faith in its future.

CORONADO.

Coronado Beach, or Coronado as it is usually called, is a peninsula that divides San Diego Harbor from the ocean. Up to 1886 it was covered with a dense growth of chaparral. E. S. Babcock originated the scheme of building a town and an immense tourist hotel on it. The Coronado Beach Company was organized and work begun. The brush was cleared off, streets graded, sewers laid and town lots thrown on the market in time to be caught by the boom. The lots advanced rapidly in value and Babcock's scheme proved to have "millions in it." The erec- tion of the Hotel del Coronado was begun early in 1887, and completed in December of that year. The building covers seven acres of ground and can accommodate seven hundred guests. It is one of the largest caravansaries in the world. The dreary and desolate looking pen- insula of fifteen years ago is now covered with elegant residences, green lawns and flower gar- dens. It is reached from San Diego by a steam ferry that connects with an electric railroad that runs to the ocean front of the hotel, a mile distant from the ferry.

OCEANSIDE.

Oceanside on the surf line of the Santa Fe Railroad system is forty-one miles by rail north of San Diego. It was founded in 1884 and during the boom grew rapidly. The Fallbrook branch railroad, once the main line of the Cali- fornia Southern, leaves the Surf Line at Ocean- side. The railroad to Escondido forms a junc- tion here with the Surf Line between San Diego and Los Angeles.

The town is four miles from the Old Mission of San Luis Rey and has the rich San Luis Rey valley for its back country. It has several gen- eral merchandise stores which have a good local trade.

ESCONDIDO.

Escondido, Hidden Valley or Rincon del Di- ablo, The Devil's Corner, was formerly known

as Wolfskill's rancho and comprises about 13,- 000 acres of the San Marcos grant. In 1885 it was purchased by a syndicate of San Diego and Los Angeles capitalists, who subdivided it into small farms and laid off a town. The lands had a rapid sale. A large hotel, a bank building and a number of business blocks were built be- tween 1886 and 1890. The farm lands have been planted to citrus fruits and raisin grapes.

FALLBROOK.

Fallbrook, on the western slope of the Coast Range mountains, is twelve miles in a direct line from the coast and sixty-one from San Diego by the railroad. Since the great flood of 1892, which destroyed the railroad in the Temécula Cañon, Fallbrook has been the ter- minus of the eastern end of the road which is now known as the Fallbrook branch. The older settlement is back a mile or two from the rail- road. The town has grown up since the build- ing of the railroad. It has two large hotels and several business houses.

PALA (Shovel), once an asistencia or auxiliary of San Luis Rey Mission, is located in the upper San Luis Rey valley about seventeen miles from the coast and fifty miles north of San Diego. It is largely an Indian settlement. These descendants of the Mission Indians keep up many of the old customs and observances. The Mission Capilla or Chapel still stands in a fair state of preservation. Services are held in it once a month. There is here some of the finest vine and fruit land in the county.

JULIAN, fifty-five miles northeast from San Diego bay, in the mountain regions, is 4,500 feet above the sea level. It owes its origin to a mining rush. In February, 1870, gold was discovered near the ranch of M. S. Julian. The news of the discovery caused a rush and a town was built and named after the proprietor. A number of rich claims were located and for several years a considerable quantity of gold was taken out. The Cuyamaca grant owners laid claim to the mines. After a legal contest, lasting five years, the miners won. Much of the country around Julian is adapted to stock rais- ing. There are some fine orchards of apples, pears, plums and peaches in the Julian district.

BANNER is a mining settlement four miles east of Julian, but 1,500 feet lower. It is on the desert side of the divide in the San Felipe Cañon, the waters of which sink into the desert. The town has several quartz mills, a store, post · office and school house.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CHAPTER XXIV.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

EXTENT OF THE ORIGINAL COUNTY.

T HE original county of Los Angeles was an empire in itself. It extended from the Pacific ocean on the west to the Colorado river on the east, and from San Diego county on the south to Mariposa on the north. Its area was about 32,000 square miles, or a little more than one-fifth of the area of the entire state. Excepting Maine, it was equal in size to the total area of the other five New England states.

The boundaries, as given in the act of February 18, 1850, dividing the state into counties, were very indefinite, but as a vast ex- tent of Los Angeles county was a terra in- cognito, inhabited by wandering savages, 110 conflict arose in regard to jurisdiction, except with these Indians and that was settled by bul- lets and not by boundary lines.

An act of the second legislature repealed the former act, and more clearly defined the boundaries of the county. It is as follows: "SECTION 3 .- County of Los Angeles .- Be- ginning on the coast of the Pacific, at a point parallel with the northern boundary of the rancho called Malaga; thence in a direction so as to include said rancho, to the northwest corner of the rancho, known as Triumfo, run- ning on the northerly line of the same to the northeast corner; thence to the summit of the ridge of hills called Santa Susanna; thence in a direct line to the rancho Casteyne (Castaic) and Lejon (El Tejon), and along their northern line to the northeastern corners, and thence in a northeast line to the castern boundary of the state, and along said boundary line to the junc- tion of the northern boundary of San Diego county with the Colorado; thence in a north- westerly direction parallel with the coast to a point three miles from land, and opposite to the southern boundary of the rancho called Mal- aga, and thence east to the place of beginning ; including the island of Santa Catalina and San Clement. The seat of justice shall be at Los Angeles."

In 1851, a colony of Mormons from Salt Lake located where now the city of San Bernardino stands, on a tract of land bought from the Lugos.

They were reinforced by other immigrants from Salt Lake and by some non-Mormon families. The settlement grew quite rapidly. These settlers petitioned the legislature of 1853 to create a new county out of the eastern portion of Los Angeles county. By an act entitled, "An Act for dividing the county of Los An- geles and making a new county therefrom to be called San Bernardino county," approved April 26, 1853, it was provided :

"SECTION 3 .- The county of Los Angeles is hereby divided as follows: Beginning at a point where a due south line drawn from the highest peak of the Sierra de Santiago inter- sects the northern boundary of San Diego county ; thence running along the summit of said Sierra to the Santa Ana river, between the ranch of Sierra and the residence of Bernardo Yorba; thence across the Santa Ana river along the summit of the range of hills that lie be- tween the Coyotes and Chino (leaving the ranchos of Ontiveras and Ybarra to the west of this line), to the southeast corner of the ranch of San Jose; thence along the eastern boun- daries of said ranch and of San Antonio, and the western and northern boundaries of Cucai- monga ranch to the ravine of Cucaimonga ; thence up said ravine to its source in the Coast Range; thence due north to the northern boun- dary of Los Angeles county; thence north- east to the State Line; thence along the State Line to the northern boundary line of San Diego county, thence westerly along the northern boun- dary of San Diego to the place of beginning.

"SECTION 4 .- The castern portion of Los An- geles county so cut off, shall be called San Bernardino county and the seat of justice thereof shall be at such a place as a majority of voters shall determine at the first county election, here- inafter provided to be held in said county and shall remain at the place so designated until changed by the people, as provided by law."

The formation of the new county cut off about 24,000 square miles from Los Angeles, but still leaving her 8,000 square miles. She held on to this territory for thirteen years, then she had to give up another slice of her territory, but as this was mostly mountains and deserts there was no opposition to the segregation.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In 1866 the county of Kern was formed out of portions of Tulare and Los Angeles counties. The area of Los Angeles after the creation of Kern county was about 5,000 square miles.

In 1869 began the struggle to cut off a por- tion from the southeastern part to form a new county. This movement the people of Los An- geles resisted. The contest over county division lasted for twenty years. It ended in 1889 with the formation of Orange county. The story of this long drawn out contest is told in full in the history of Orange county.

After the formation of Orange county Los Angeles had an area of 3,880 square miles. In 1891 an effort was made to cut a slice off the eastern side to form with territory taken from San Bernardino the county of Pomona. For- tunately the scheme failed.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT.

The transition from the Mexican form of gov- ernment in California to that of the United States was very gradual. Los Angeles the last Mexican stronghold surrendered January 10, 1847. It was not until June 24, 1850, that the American municipal form of government by county officers superseded the ayuntamientos, alcaldes, prefects and sindicos of Spain and Mexico. The legislature had passed a county government act, February 18, 1850, and had pro- vided for an election of county officers to be held the first Monday of April. The election was held, April 1, 377 votes were cast in the county and the following named officers elected : county judge, Augustin Olvera; county attor- ney, Benjamin Hays; county clerk, B. D. Wil- son; sheriff, G. Thompson Burrill; treasurer, Manuel Garfias; assessor, Antonio F. Coronel ; recorder, Ignacio del Valle; surveyor, J. R. Conway ; coroner, Charles B. Cullen.

COURT OF SESSIONS.

The court of sessions which consisted of the county judge and two justices of the peace con- stituted the legislative body of the county gov- ernments of the state up to 1853, when the civil business of the counties was turned over to a board of supervisors, created by an act of the legislature. The court of sessions had jurisdic- tion over the criminal business, the impaneling of juries and filling vacancies in office up to 1865, when it was legislated out of office.

The court of sessions was the motive power that set the county machinery in operation. The first meeting of the court in Los Angeles was held June 24, 1850. Hon. Augustin Olvera was the presiding judge; the associate justices were Jonathan R. Scott and Luis Roubideau. An- tonio F. Coronel, assessor-elect, and Charles R.

Cullen, coroner-elect, were cited before the court to qualify and file their official bonds. Coronel appeared next day and qualified, but Cullen declined to serve.

At the meeting of the court, June 26, jailer Samuel Whiting was allowed $7 per day salary, out of which he was to employ a competent assistant. He was allowed "for feeding the pris- oners, fifty cents each; that each prisoner shall have per day an amount of bread to the value of twelve and one-half cents or an equivalent in rice or beans; balance of the allowance in good meat."

A. P. Hodges, M. D., was appointed coroner (during his term as coroner he also served as the first mayor of the city). The county judge could not speak English and at least one asso- ciate judge spoke no Spanish, so G. Thompson Burrill was appointed county interpreter for the court at a salary of $50 per month. He was also sheriff.

At the session of July 11, 1850, it was or- dered that the town council be permitted to work the county prisoners by paying the daily expense of each one's keeping-fifty cents. A master stroke of economy. Some one has sneer- ingly said that the first public buildings the Americans built in California after it came into their possession, were jails. This was true of Los Angeles and in fact of all the counties of southern California.

July 11, 1850, commissioners were appointed by the city and county to select a site for a jail. Lots Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 in square No. 34 (north of the Plaza church) were selected for a jail site. The city council was asked to donate said lots to the county and the city was re- quested to loan the county $2,000, to be used in building said jail, the city council to have permission to use said jail until the loan is re- funded. The city fathers did not take kindly to these requests of the judges; so the county had to worry along two years longer before a jail was built and then it was not built on the site selected by the joint commission.

JUDGES OF THIE PLAINS.

There was one Hispano-American institution that long survived the fall of Mexican domina- tion in California; and that was the office of Jueces del Campo, Judges of the Plains. A judge of the plains was a very important functionary. It was his duty to be present at the annual Rodeos (round ups of cattle), and Recojedas (gathering up of horses). Ilis seat of justice was in the saddle, his court room the mesa, and from his decision there was no appeal. All disputes abont ownership of stock came before him. The code of his court was unwritten, or mostly so,

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which was fortunate for many of the judges could not read. This hap-hazard way of ad- ministering justice did not suit American ideas, so, at a meeting of the court of sessions, July 23, 1850, the county attorney was ordered "to collect the various Bandos and Reglamentos heretofore made in this district respecting the Jueces del Campo and give his opinion upon the same at the next term of this court." At the session of the court, Angust 22, the county at- torney reported a number of regulations, some written, others established by custom. The court added several new regulations to those already existing, the most important of which (to the Jueces) was a salary of one hundred dollars a year to each judge, payable out of the county treasury. Under Mexican rule the plains judge took his pay in honor. As there were a round dozen of these officials in the county in 1850, their aggregate pay exceeded the entire expense of the municipal government of the district dur- ing the last year of the Mexican rule. After jails the next innovation the Americans intro- duced was taxes.

Even at this early day, before California had become a state, there were "Patriotas de Bolsa" (patriots of the pocket), men who knew how to make a good thing of their patriotic services. In the summer of 1850, an expedition under Gen. Joseph C. Morehead had been sent against the mountain Indians, who had been stealing horses from the Los Angeles rancheros. In a skirmish with the Indian horse thieves, a militia- man named William Carr was wounded. Gen. Morehead sent him back to Los Angeles to have him taken care of. At the session of the court, September 18th, the medico who doctored the wounded soldier presented a bill of $503; the patriotic American who boarded him de- manded $120, and the man who lodged him charged $45 for house rent. The native Cali- fornian who waited on him was satisfied with $30, but then he was not a patriot ! The bills were approved, but as the county treasury was as empty as the ranchero's corrals after an Indian raid, the accounts were referred to the incon- ing legislature for settlement. It is gratifying to know that this valuable soldier "lived to fight another day," but it is to be hoped that for mo- tives of economy he kept out of reach of In- clian arrows.

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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 22

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