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 36

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

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In 1869 it was estimated that in the central or southern portions of the state there were ten millions of mulberry trees in various stages of growth. Demands for the bounty poured in upon the commissioners in such a volume that the state treasury was threatened with bankruptcy. At the head of the silk industry in the state was Louis Prevost, an educated French gentleman, who was thoroughly conversant with the busi- ness in all its details. He saw a great future for it, and firmly believed that the Golden State would outrival his native country, France, in the production of silk. He had established at Los Angeles an extensive nursery of mulberry trees and a large cocoonery for the rearing of silk worms. His enthusiasm had induced a num- ber of the leading men of the south to enter into an association for the purpose of planting exten- sive forests of mulberry trees for the nourish- ment of silk worms; and for the establishment of a colony of silk weavers. The directors of the association cast about for a suitable location to plant a colony.

I take this notice of the visit of the president and a director of the association to San Bernar- dino from the letter of a correspondent of the Los Angeles Star June 15, 1869: "Messrs. Pre- vost and Garey have been here looking out for land with a view to establish a colony for the culture and manufacture of silk. The colony is to consist of one hundred families, sixty of whom are ready to settle as soon as the location is decided upon. Both of these gentlemen are highly pleased with our soil, climate, etc., and consider it far better adapted to the culture of the mulberry than any other of the southern counties." The directors of the California Silk Center Association of Los Angeles (by which name the organization was known), through its superintendent, purchased 4,000 acres of the Rubidoux rancho, which was a part of the Jurupa rancho, granted to Juan Bandini in 1838, and 1,460 acres of government land on the Hartshorn tract, which adjoined the Rubidoux rancho to the eastward. They also arranged to

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

purchase from the Los Angeles & San Bernar- dino Land Company 3,169 acres of that portion of the Jurupa rancho opposite the Rubidoux rancho on the east side of the Santa Ana river.

Prevost, the president of the association, died August 16, 1869, before the land deal was com- pleted. The winter of 1869-70 was one of short rainfall and but little was done towards planting trees on the colony grounds, and no effort was made to colonize the tract. The death of Pre- vost had deprived the association of its main- spring and its works stopped. Besides the silk culture craze had begun to decline. The im- mense profits of $1,000 to $1,200 per acre that had been made in the beginning by selling silk worm eggs to those who had been seized by the craze later had fallen off several figures from over-production ; and to give a finishing blow to the fad the state canceled the bounty. The Silk Center Association having fallen into hard lines, offered its lands for sale on most advantageons terms, and it soon found a buyer.

THE COLONY ASSOCIATION.

"On the 17th day of March, 1870, at Knox- ville, Tenn., J. W. North issued and sent to numerous persons in the Northern states a cir- cular, entitled, 'A Colony for California.' In that circular was briefly stated what was expected as to the establishment and carrying on of the proposed colony which had not at that time any definite form or special proposed location."

In this circular Judge North said: "We do not expect to buy as much land for the same amount of money in Southern California as we could ob- tain in remote parts of Colorado or Wyoming; but we expect it will be worth more in propor- tion to cost than any other land we could pur- chase in the United States. We expect to have schools, churches, lyceum, public library, read- ing room, etc., at a very early date, and we invite such people to join our colony as will esteem it a privilege to build them."*

In the summer of 1870 Judge J. W. North, in company with several other gentlemen who had become interested in the proposed colony, visited Southern California to secure a location for their prospective colony. After examining a number of tracts of land offered, they, on the 14th of September, 1870, purchased from the stock- holder of the Silk Center Association all the real estate, water rights and franchises of that cor- poration. The purchasers had organized under the name of The Southern California Colony Association. The members of the association were Judge John W. North, Dr. James P.

Greves, Dr. Sanford Eastman, E. G. Brown, Dr. K. D. Shugart, A. J. Twogood, D. C. Twogood, John Broadhurst, James A. Stewart and William J. Linville. Judge J. W. North was made presi- dent and general manager of the association. The land was bought at $3.50 per acre. It was mesa or tableland that had never been culti- vated, and so dry that one old timer said he had seen "the coyotes carrying canteens when they crossed it." It was not even good sheep pasture, and it is said that Rubidoux at one time had it struck from the assessment roll because it was not worth paying taxes on.

During the fall of 1870 a portion of the lands was surveyed and platted. A town was laid out and named Jurupa, from the name of the rancho, but this was soon changed to Riverside. The river, the Santa Ana, did not flow by the side of the town, but the colonists hoped that a con- siderable portion of its waters would eventually be made to do so.

The first families to arrive in the colony reached it late in September, 1870. Their dwell- ings were constructed of rough upright redwood or pine boards, battened, the families camping out while the buildings were in the process of construction. As there were neither paint nor plaster used and the chimney was a hole in the roof out of which the stove pipe projected, it did not take long to erect a dwelling. The near- est railroad was Los Angeles, sixty-five miles away, and from there most of their supplies and building material had to be hauled on wagons.

It was easy enough to survey their land and plat a town site, but to bring that land under cultivation and to produce from it something to support themselves was a more serious prob- lem. Land was cheap enough and plentiful, but water was dear and distant. It required engi- neering skill and a large outlay of capital to bring the two together. Without water for irri- gation their lands were worthless and the colony a failure.

The colonists set to work vigorously in the winter of 1870-71 to construct an irrigating canal from a point on the Santa Ana river to the colony lands. Early in the summer of 1871 the canal, at a cost of about $50,000, was completed to the town site. A few enthusiasts in citrus cul- ture, before the canal was dug, bought seedling orange trees in Los Angeles at $2 apiece, and after hauling them across the arid plains sixty- five miles, planted them in the dry mesa and irrigated them with water hauled from Spring brook in barrels. The rapid growth of these trees, even under adverse circumstances, disap- proved the sneer of the old-timers that orange trees would not grow in the sterile soil of the mesas, and greatly encouraged the colonists.

*Riverside-The Fulfillment of a Prophecy. By John G. North.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The raisin grape was at that time coming into notice, and many of the early settlers planted their grounds in vineyards. Others experiment- ed with the deciduous fruits, and a few had an abiding faith in the orange. Orange trees had to be raised from the seed, and the eight or nine ycars required to bring a seedling orange to bearing looked like a long time to wait for returns.

After a series of experiments, some of them costly, the colonists finally evolved the "fittest" product for their soil and market, and that was the Bahia orange, or, as it is now called, the Washington navel orange. In December, 1873, L. C. Tibbetts, a Riverside colonist, received by mail from a friend at Washington, D. C., two small orange trees which had been imported from the City of Bahia, in Brazil, by the agricultural department. This variety is seedless and of fine flavor. It became immensely popular. Buds were taken from the parent trees and inserted in the stocks of the seedling orange trees and the varie- ty was propagated by budding from treeto tree as rapidly as buds could be obtained. The descend- ants from these two trees number well up to a million. One of these old trees has been recently presented to the city by its present owner, O. Newberry.

ARLINGTON.

In 1875 Samuel C. Evans, a wealthy banker of Fort Wayne, Ind., came to Riverside. He purchased a half interest in 10,000 acres of land known as the Hartshorn tract (now known as Arlington), lying to the southward of the origi- mal colony tract. Capt. W. T. Sayward of San Francisco was the owner of the other half. These gentlemen began the construction of a canal for the irrigation of their lands. They were denied the right of way across the lands of the Southern California Colony Association. Mr. Evans quiet- ly secured a controlling interest in the stock of the Colony Association and then dictated his own terms. In 1875 he assisted in organizing the Riverside Land and Irrigation Company, and in 1876 he became its president. This com- pany absorbed the Southern California Colony Association, its unsold land, water rights and canals. The two water systems were consoli- dated under one management, the canals were extended and thousands of acres of fertile land brought under irrigation.

Up to 1875 Riverside had grown slowly, but with the accession of a larger territory, with an increased water supply, new settlers coming and more money in circulation, it took on a new and healthier growth. The world-famous Magnolia avenue was begun at this time. From a pam- phlet published by Capt. W. T. Sayward in 1875,

descriptive of the new lands just thrown on the market, I take this description of what Magnolia avenue was intended to be by one of its pro- genitors: "A grand avenue has been surveyed and laid out from Temescal creek nearly to San Bernardino in a straight line eighteen miles long and 132 feet wide, running through the lands of the Santa Ana, New England and Riverside colonies. This avenue is to be lined the entire distance with fruit, shade and ornamental trees on each side and one row in the center; and when completed will make the most beautiful drive and be the best ornamented road in the world."

The amount of land contained in the colonies named above is, according to the pamphlet, as follows: "Riverside colony, 8,000 acres; New England, 10,000 acres; Santa Ana, 7,000 acres. All these colonies are united in one irrigating system." The city of Riverside has long since swallowed up all these colonies and has taken in about 10,000 acres besides. The present area of the city is about fifty-six square miles. It was incorporated in 1883.

In 1875 the population of the Riverside set- tlements was estimated at 1,000. The town then had within its limits one church edifice, a school house, a hotel, two restaurants, a carriage and wagon factory, three general merchandise stores, a drug store, a livery stable and two saloons. Another saloon was added to the number early in 1876. Although not large, it seems then to lave been a "wide open town," judging from the number of saloons in it. The saloons were closed so long ago that many of the present in- habitants are perhaps not aware they ever had any in the town.

FIRST EVENTS.

The first railroad meeting in Riverside of which I have any record was one held in the school house February 23, 1876. The Southern Pacific was building eastward. San Bernardino confidentially expected to be on the main line, and Riverside had hopes that it might be. The railroad passed between them and laid out a town of its own, Colton. San Bernardino set up a wail and petitioned the legislature to pass an act bonding the county so that it could build a road of its own to tide water at Anaheim land- ing. Riverside cautioned the legislature against the schemes of its neighbor in the following amusing resolution: "Resolved, That the people of Riverside respectfully request the honorable senate and house of representatives of California not to be too much moved by the touching ap- peal of the town of San Bernardino; Riverside could lament just as hard if it were disposed to."

The first Citrus Fair held in Riverside opened

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

February 12, 1879. It was conducted under the auspices of the Southern California Horticul- tural Society. The exhibit was mainly seedling oranges, Mediterranean Sweets, St. Michaels and Konahs, with a few specimens of the navel orange. The Riverside Press thus exultingly describes one of the most attractive features of the fair: "D. C. Twogood's exhibit was four boxes of seedling oranges packed. These four boxes, open and full of fine fruit, made a broad glare which fairly illuminated that end of the hall." The oranges were exhibited on plates, and the plates were not heaped. Cicily and China lemons formed a part of the exhibit. A Konah orange six inches in diameter was one of the wonders of the fair. A census or enumer- ation taken in 1879 of the citrus fruit trees in Riverside, Sunnyside and Arlington gave the following numbers of each : orange trees, 160,- 861; lemon, 23,950; limes, 28,642. In addition to the citrus trees there were 221,465 vines and about 50,000 deciduous fruit trees. A very good showing for a colony only eight years old.

OTHER FIRST EVENTS.

The first building erected in the Riverside settlement was the office of the Southern Cali-

fornia Colony Association, September, 1870, It was built on land now occupied by the Santa Fé depot.

The first child born in the settlement was a (laughter of John Broadhurst, born December 26, 1870. The first in the town of Riverside was a daughter of A. R. Smith, born March 31, 1871.

The first sermon preached in the town was delivered by Rev. A. Higbie, a Methodist min- ister. He was also the surveyor of the colony tract.

The first resident clergyman was Rev. J. W. Atherton, a Congregational minister. The first church erected in the town was a Congrega- tional.

The first school house was built in 1871. It was a frame building costing $1,200.

The first mercantile establishment was opened by E. Ames in the winter of 1870-71. The first brick building, a store room 25x75, was erected by Buet Brothers in 1875.

The first newspaper published was the River- side Weekly News. The first number appeared November 27, 1875.

The public library was established in 1879.

The first shipment of oranges was made in the winter of 1879-80.

CHAPTER XXXV.

RIVERSIDE COUNTY-Continued.

RIVERSIDE WATER SYSTEMS.

T HE citrus groves of the Riverside valley cover about 20,000 acres. Four large water systems supply water for irrigating the territory covered by these groves, viz .: The Riverside Water Company, the Gage canal, the Jurupa canal and the Riverside Highland Water Company.

THE RIVERSIDE WATER COMPANY is com- posed of the land owners under the system. It supplies the older orchards in the valley. Two shares of stock are appurtenant to an acre. The company obtains its water supply from the Santa Ana river, and from Warm Springs and wells in the San Bernardino artesian belt. This system has forty miles of main canal (half of which are ce- mented) andabout 150 milesof laterals. Thiscom- pany also owns and operates a piped water system, by means of which it distributes throughout the city about 150 inches of pure artesian water un- der heavy pressure. The pressure is sufficient to afford fire protection without fire engines.

This water is delivered through eighteen miles of mains and twenty-six miles of smaller pipes.

THE GAGE CANAL.

Very few of the many irrigating schemes that have been promoted in recent years for the de- velopment of water and the reclamation of arid lands have been so successful as that commonly known as the Gage canal. From small begin- nings this enterprise has developed into mag- nificent proportions. In its gradual development it well illustrates the truth of the old couplet :

"Tall oaks from little acorns grow,

Great streams from little fountains flow."

Mathew Gage, a jeweler by occupation, came to Riverside in March, 1881. He was compara- tively a poor man. Shortly after his arrival he took up under the desert land act a section of land. This land was situated on the plain above the canals and eastward of the Riverside settle- ment. There was apparently no way of getting

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

water upon it except from the clouds, Around it were thousands of acres fertile and productive if water could be brought upon them, but barren without it. To perfect the title to his section of desert land he must bring water upon it from some source. His first move was to buy some old water rights in the Santa Ana river. Next he secured a large tract of land bordering on that river and lying about two miles southeast of San Bernardino City. On this land he began sinking wells. In 1882 he began work on his great canal. Wiseacres who "knew it all" ridi- culed the scheme of the tenderfoot, and prophe- sied its failure. Narrow-minded people who could not comprehend the magnitude of the undertaking and who feared some injury to their petty interests opposed it. But Gage labored on undaunted, conquering every obstacle and sur- mounting every difficulty. On the 10th of November, 1886, he had twelve miles of the canal completed and was delivering water there- from. In the year 1888 he extended the canal a distance of ten miles in a southwesterly direc- tion, skirting the foothills and bringing under irrigation the lands now known as Arlington Heights. The main canal is twenty-three miles long, it is twelve feet wide on the bottom and four feet deep at the head; and reduces to five feet wide and four feet deep at the terminus. It is cemented throughout with Portland cement, which prevents any loss from absorption. The Gage water system covers about 7,500 acres. Its total cost, including the land up to the present time, is about $2,000,000. The system and the lands un- der it have been transferred by its progenitor to the Riverside Trust Company, Limited, a cor- poration of English capitalists. This company controls the lands of Arlington Heights, and has spent a large amount of money in grading and planting trees along Victoria avenue. This street rivals the famous Magnolia avenue. Its elevation and graceful curves afford magnificent views of the Riverside valley. It is proposed to connect it with Magnolia avenue near Arling- ton station, thus making a continuous drive of twenty miles.

The JURUPA CANAL is used in common by four or five different corporations. It carries about 850 inches and supplies the orchards of West Riverside and the land along the Santa Ana river. The water rights of this system are the oldest on the river, and come down from the original granting of the Jurupa rancho.

The RIVERSIDE-HIGHILAND WATER COMPANY obtains its supply of water from 175 acres of water-bearing land in the Lyttle creek basin. It has developed about 500 inches, which is pumped into its pipes by electricity. To econo-

mize the cost of pumping, a tunnel was run some 3,000 feet, reaching the wells forty feet below the surface. The water is conveyed to the or- chards in a 24-inch steel pipe twelve miles long. This water supply covers about 2,300 acres lying above the Gage canal in the Highgrove section.

POPULATION AND WEALTH.

The population of Riverside county, according to the federal census of 1900, was 17,897; the population of the city in 1890 was 4,683 ; in 1901, 7,973, a gain of 70 per cent in ten years. The total assessed value of the county property in 1901 was nearly $17,000,000. City assessment, $5,919,630. The orange shipment from River- side City for the season of 1900-01 was 5,327 car loads; of oranges and lemons combined, 5,517 cars.

THE PRESS.

The pioneer newspaper of the colony was the Riverside Weekly News. The first number was issued November 27, 1875. It was founded by Jesse Buck and R. A. Davis. It was a five- column paper; size, 12x15 inches. April 29, 1876, Buck retired with this brief valedictory: "The bell rings, the curtain drops, Buck is out." R. A. Davis, Jr., continued the publication until it was merged into the Riverside Press two years later.

The Riverside Press, a seven-column week- ly paper, was founded by James H. Roe, June 29, 1878. L. M. Holt assumed the management of it, January 10, 1880. He enlarged it to eight columns and changed the name to the Press and Horticulturist. The Daily Press was estab- lished in 1886. It is still published as an even- ing daily. The Valley Echo was established in 1882 by James H. Roe and R. J. Pierson. December 6, 1888, the Echo was consolidated with the Daily Press and the Weekly Press and Horticulturist, E. W. Holmes becoming a partner, the firm being Holmes, Roe & Pierson. The Weekly Reflex, established in 1895, was consolidated with the Press and Horticulturist, October 1, 1896.

The Daily Enterprise, the oldest daily of Riverside, was established in 1885. The Daily Globe, established in 1896, was consolidated with the Enterprise, October 30, 1897. A bi- weekly edition of the Enterprise is also pub- lished. The Enterprise has absorbed the follow- ing named weekly papers; the Weekly Search- light, May 7, 1896; the Weekly Perris Valley Record, March 5, 1896; Moreno Indicator, November 7, 1896.

The Daily Enterprise is a morning paper, eight pages, six columns to the page. Monroe & Barton are the publishers and proprietors.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CORONA.

Corona, formerly South Riverside, is fifteen miles southwest of Riverside on the San Diego branch of the Santa Fé railroad. It was founded in 1887 by the South Riverside Land and Water Company of which ex-Governor Samuel Merrill of Iowa was president. The town site was platted in the form of a circle one mile in diame- ter. The town is encircled by a boulevard 100 fect wide, lined on each side by shade trees. The town grew rapidly at first. Six months after its founding there were in it ninety buildings completed, some of them brick blocks-one a $40,000 hotel. Then it came to a standstill. Recently it has taken on a new growth. Its water supply is obtained from wells in the Temescal cañon. Recently the Corona Irriga- tion Company purchased 160 acres of land near Perris in the San Jacinto artesian belt, and has a large force of men employed constructing a cemented ditch to bring the water to the head of the present pipe line, a distance of twenty- nine miles. When completed, the entire line will be about forty miles long, and it is estimated that it will increase the present supply about 800 inches. The town or city is incorporated. The corporation boundaries, like those of Riverside, take in a large number of orange groves. The owners of the groves do not object to city taxes as the municipal ordinances afford them better protection against insect pests.

Corona supports an excellent high school. The school building, which also includes the class rooms of the grammar and primary depart- ments, cost $20,000. The city has within it six church organizations owning buildings, a weekly newspaper (The Corona Courier), six mercantile establishments and a public library of 600 vol- umes. Its population, according to the last federal census (June, 1900) was 1,434. In the foothills back of the town is a large pipe factory, the Pacific Clay Manufacturing Company, where is made the vitrified pipe so extensively used in the irrigating pipe lines. The company also manufactures pottery, fire brick and tiling. Cor- ona has several sobriquets. It is known as Circle City and Crown City, and the district as the Queen colony.

TEMECULA, the most southern town in the county, is the terminus of the San Jacinto, Elsi- nore and Temécula branch of the Santa Fé rail- road system, fifty-one miles southeasterly of Riverside. The town was formerly a station on the California Southern Railroad ( now the Santa Fe), built in 1881, and connecting San Bernar- dino and San Diego. The great flood of 1892 destroyed the railroad in the Temecula cañon. and it has not been rebuilt. Since then Temecula

has been the southern terminus of the Santa Fe system in the valley between the Santa Ana and San Jacinto mountains. It is the business center of a large and productive area of fertile land. It is largely devoted to grain raising. The Temé- cula grant was in the olden time the wheat field of the Mission San Luis Rey, to which it be- longed.

MURRIETTA, on the Temécula branch of the Santa Fe railroad, was laid out in 1886. The Murrietta portion (about 14,000 acres) of the Temécula rancho was purchased by the Temé- cula Land and Water Company, subdivided and placed on the market in small tracts in the autumn of 1884. Grain and hay are the principal products shipped from Murrietta. There are two churches in the town, but no saloons.

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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 36

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