USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles County, California, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, residences, fine blocks and manufactories > Part 47
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In the News of April 16, 1867, we find the following account of the San Jose valley :--
The valley of San Jose is situated about twenty-four miles from the city of Los Angeles. It is a continuation of the Puente valley, begin- ning at the San Gabriel river and following the meanderings of the Puente, or San Jose creek, a distance of eighteen miles, skirted on the
south by the hills of the lower coast range and upon the north by the foot-hills of the coast range of the great Sierra Nevadas. The soil is red, and in some places hlaek clay, sufficiently mixed with sandy loam and gravel to make it easily cultivated. It is well watered by two fine streams of water that rise in the head of the valley and take their course westward. Converging in a few miles, these form a stream of sufficient capacity to drive mills or other machinery, and afford au abundance of water for irrigation. Wheat, harley, corn, oranges, lemons, limes, nlives and figs grow luxuriantly with little cultivation. A considerable portion of the land has been thrown upon the market. and already a fine settlement is being built up, Farms have been laid out and improved in a manner creditable to much older enmmu- nities. For fertility of soil and salubrity of climate the valley nf San Jose has no superior in any of the southern counties.
The following facts regarding the San Jose Ranch we extract from correspondence of the Los Angeles Star, April 30, 1874 :--
The San Jose Rancho co. sisted of ahout twenty-four thousand acres. of which Mr. Louis Phillipe and Mr. HI. Dalton now own about eight thousand each, and the heirs of Palomares the remainder.
The lands are not in the market at present, hut the completion of the railroad to Spadra and its inevitable extension beyond, must in the very nature of things render the suh-division and sale of the entire tract inevitable. Mr. Phillips says that these large tracts of land will he held by the present owners for stock growing purposes until the money they bring will prove more profitable at interest than the increase of the herds or the elip of the flocks. Mr. Phillips' eight thousand acres are ahout equally divided between upland and lowland. He pastures from five thousand to six thousand sheep and nearly three hundred head nf cattle. He has about eight hundred acres in grain, harley, wheat and rye. His crops have been uniformly good for six years, and that without any irrigation whatever. Four years ago he planted wheat, and from that time on has raised good crops.
The heirs of Palomares pasture ahout three thousand sheep and three hundred head of cattle on their part of the property, and have about two hundred acres in grain. Their lands are of the same general character, and the same ean he said of those of Mr. Dalton, who has some sixty acres in vineyard. There are several school-houses on the raneho.
There are four small settlements in this township, viz. : Spadra, Pomona, Loop's settlement and Palomares' settlement.
SPADRA.
The first mention we find of this settlement is in the News of September 4, 1868 :
A post-office has been established at 'the house of L. Phillips at the eastern end of San Jose valley. The office is called Spadra. Mr. L. Phillips has been appointed postmaster. The San Bernardino stage has changed from the old route and now passes through the valley of San Jose, leaving a mail every other day at Spadra.
The Star of April 24, 1872, says :--
Spadra is a stage station in the San Jose valley, between San Ber- nardino and Los Angeles. It is better known as Rubottoms, from the name of the proprietor. This secluded hamlet is well sheltered by high hiils rising on every side. That portion of the San Jose valley in the immediate vicinity of the hamlet, and comprising several hundred acres, is under cultivation, and bearing wheat and barley.
The most striking feature of this settlement is the handsome residence erected a few years ago by Mr. Louis Phillips, lighted throughout with gas (manufactured on the premises), and said to have cost, including furniture, twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Phillips has about two hundred head of cattle, and there are several large sheep-owners in the neighborhood.
POMONA.
We find the following account of the organization of this settlement in the Stur of November 13, 1875 :--
POMONA.
A new settlement about hve miles heyond Spadra.
A few months ago the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Co-opera- tive Association purchased some live thousand six hundred acres of land, the tract being a portion of the well known and beautiful San Jose Rancho: two thousand five hundred acres of the tract have heeu surveyed and suh-divided, the proposed town of l'omona being the cen- ter. Garey avenue, two miles long, already planted the whole length. on both sides, with Monterey eypresses, placed at such distances apart as will allow the planting between of Australian hlue gums, constitutes the main street of the new settlement. The town site proper is laid off' in building lots of good dimensions, while the six hundred and forty acres surrounding it are sub-divided into five-acre lots, and the reianin- der of the two thousand five hundred aeres into forty- acre tracts.
The new town already boasts of a hotel, a drug and provision store. a dry-goods and provision store, a salonn, and a branch of the Spadra hutcher shop.
The entire tract of the company is a rich, friahle loam of exhaustless fertility, and adapted to the growth of all the fruits and cereals indig- enous to this section.
The company have purchased water rights, consisting of the outflow of a chain of cieneges, which is considered ample for the irrigation of the whole traet.
They have sunk four artesian wells, obtaining water in every instance, at a depth ranging from twenty-six to sixty-six feet. These cienegas and the artesian bett are at least one hundred feet higher than the main tract, making the conveyance of water iu open ditches to any desired point an easy task. They have, moreover, constructed a reser- voir, with a capacity of two million five hundred thousand gallons, ja which the night flow of water will be stored, insuring a bountiful supply.
The Pomona traet is situated in the center of an almost complete circle of hills and mountains, affording a beautiful and ever-varying panorama as light and shade chase each other over the mountain ranges and gently sloping hills.
Eight or ten houses have already been erected hy owners'of small traets.
And again under date of Tuesday, February 22, 1876 :--
POMONA .-- The grand auction sale, which has been advertised in this paper for some time, commences to-day, and will he kept up for three days, February 22d, 23d, and 24th.
On the following day we find the report of the sale :- THE POMONA LAND SALE.
The first day's sale of lots and farms out at Pomona took place yes- terday, aud drew out a large crowd of both purehasers and lookers-on. Between eighteen and nineteen thousand dollars' worth was sold, the farms averaging ahout sixty-four dollars per acre.
On the night of July 30, 1877, the settlement was almost wholly destroyed by fire, supposed to have been the work of incendiaries. Loss about ten thousand dollars. Partially insured.
In 1878 a Protestant Episcopal Mission was here established by Rev. P. S. Ruth, who still holds services in a church owned by the society, erectel about a year ago.
Loop's settlement and Palomares' settlement have but slight numerical strength. The latter is principally settled by Mex- ican families.
-
RESIDENCE OF H. LOCKWOOD, ORANGE, LOS ANGELES C.º CAL.
FUSTICKTO 87 THUMPCON & WEST.
135
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
LA BALLONA TOWNSHIP.
List of Ranches -- Centivela and Sausal Redondo -- Brea Ranch -- Rosecrans Tract -Stock-Cattle-Sheep-Bees -- Dairies-Santa Monica -- The Roadstead -Wharf-Town-South Santa Monica-Old Santa Monica.
LA BALLONA township lies on the western or Pacitie side of the county, and is very extensive, having about forty miles of sea-coast. It includes within its limits the following ranclies ;-
NAME.
Rancho Boca De Santa Monica
ACRES, TO WHOM CONFIRMED. ( Ysidro Reyco and the 6,658 00-100 , heirs of Francisco Mar- ( quez.
San Jose De Buenos Ayres
( 4,438 G9-100. . B. D. Wilson.
La Ballona Rancho. 13,919 90-100. . Augustin Machado et al. 4,449 31-100. . Maria Rita Valdez.
Rancho Rodeo De Las Aquas. . Rincou De Los Bueyes 3,127 89-100 __ Francisco Higuera et al.
" Cienega O'Paso De La Tijera
-4,481 5-100/
Tomas Fanchex et al., and Victoria lliguera, wife of Casilda Agui- lar, an undivided linlf to each.
" Sausal Redondo. 22,458 94-100_ _ Antonio Ignacio Abila. San Vicente 38,409 63.100 .. Ramon Sepulveda et al.
Centinela
2,240
.. Bruno Abila.
.. Las Virgeues.
La Brca
4,432 7-100
= Las Cienegas.
Topanga Malibu Siques_13,315.
CENTINELA AND SAUSAL REDONDO.
These two Ranchos are generally classed together. In years gone by there has been considerable litigation as to the exact bounds of this property, and under date April 14, 1869, we read in the Los Angeles Daily News :-
The object of the meeting of the Settlers' League, to he held April 15th at the Six-mile House, on the San Pedro road, is to lay before the settlers some plan for resisting the iniquitous survey of the Sausal Re- dondo Rancho, by which the large grant- holders propose to illegally and wrongfully deprive about two hundred men and women of their homes by fraudulently extending the lines to the original grant. The land sought to he covered, belonged originally to the city, and formed a part of the public lands, and the original lines of the Sausal Redondo grant was bounded upon the north by the pueblo lands. After the confirma- tion of the Sausal Redondo grant, the city authorities released several thousand acres of land lying on the southern boundary of the city to the Government of the United States, for the sole reason that the city authorities deemed it unwise to hold lands outside the corporate limits of the city. This land thus generously given by the city to the Gov- ernment, that it might be occurded by settlers under the preemption laws of Congress is now covered with valuable farms the products of which are adding much to the general prosperity of the city and county, and the purchasers of the Sausal Redondo grant are now making an effort to extend their five-league grant over all the land thus occupied. To meet and resist this fraud so monstrous in its business, so wicked, 89 destructive of every principle of right, that uot one word can be said in its defense, is the object of the meeting of the settlers.
The following account of the present condition of these ranches was furnished us by Mr. D. Freeman, the lessee and occupant thereof :-
The Centinela Ranch has two thousand two hundred and
forty acres, and the Sausal Redondo Ranch twenty-two thou- · sand eight hundred aeres.
The Centinela was granted to Bruno Abila September 14, 1844, ly the Mexican Government, and patented to the same party ly the United States Government August 3, 1872.
The Sansal Redondo was granted to Antonio Ignacio Abila on May 20, 1837, by the Mexican Government, and pateuted to him by the United States Government March 2, 1875.
The Centinela and Sausal Redondo Ranches have together about twelve thousand acres of flat mese land, and from the center of the ranch to the sen are rolling hills; these also occur on the northern boundary. The hills are fit only for pasture, and are unwatered save hy wells. The mesa land is fit for all kinds of sinall grain, and is watered by the Conti- nela ereek, Howing from the eastern part of the Centinela Ranch, where it takes its rise, westerly to the ocean. It con- tains water the year round sufficient to irrigate, say five hun- dred acres of land.
This property is now owned by Sir Robert Burnett, Bart., of Crathes' Castle, Scotland. Mr. Freeman has hehl the ranches from him under lease since 1873, and has bonds for a deed.
Mr. Freeman resides in the oldl ranch house, which was built in 1844, and is still in good repair. Nearly the whole build- ing is of adobe. He has two hundred acres under oranges (seven thousand trees), planted in 1874, and now nine years old from the seed. They are not yet bearing. He has, also, two thon- sand almond trees six years old, just commencing to bear; eighteen hundred lemon trees (budded) four years of age, not yet bearing ; four hundred lime trees eight years old, and all bearing ; three hundred olive trees seven years old, and just commeneing to bear. A few olive trees planted by the Mexi- cans thirty years ago, are still bearing well. A few assorted temperate fruits are doing well. Of grains he has, three thou- sand acres of wheat-Odessa, Sonora, Australian, and Propo. The Sonora predominates. Three thousand acres of barley ; one hundred acres of Hax; fifteen thousand sheep-Spanish Merino. In the dry season of 1876, Mr. Freeman lost four- teen thousand head of sheep by starvation.
The ranch house is about ten miles from Los Angeles City.
THE BREA RANCH.
This property is largely owned by Messrs. Henry and John Hancock, who, in 1865, procured it from the widow of Jose Antonio Rocha, the Mexican grantee. The land is level and very moist, growing every variety of small grains in abun- dance. In March, ISSO, when the writer rode over this prop- erty, a third volunteer crop of barley stood two feet high, and was so rank as to seriously impede traveling. This crop, seeded three years before, and cut yearly since, covered two thousand acres.
This ranch was formerly included in the Rancho Rodeo De los Aquas the gathering of the water), and Mr. Hancock thinks the name was probably given from the fact that here is an amphitheater which is the natural receptacle for a large por- tion of the water, which flow from the neighboring mountain range and the Cahuenga Pass, Not many years ago this rauch was largely under cienega (swamp), and in but few places is the water now more than twelve feet deep.
The principal peculiarity of this ranch is the existenco of an apparently inexhaustible deposit of brea (asphaltum), which is supposed to nuderlie some eighty acres. We have fully treated of this in our chapter on "Minerals."
THE ROSECRANS TRACT.
The title to this property is now in litigation. The tract is clnimed ley. M. J. O'Connor as grantee of General W. S. Rose- crans. A number of persons, claiming that Rosecrans obtained this land from the United States Government by frnud, and that his grant was therefore void ab initio, have located home- steads thereon, and while the rights of the owners romain undecided, the generous land yields golden crops to the parties in possession. The following information regarding the present status of the property was furnished to us by two of the squatters thereon, Messrs. Erastus Roots and J. F. Hawk :-
The Rosecrans traet originally contained eighteen thousand acres of land, which formed a part of the Sausal Redondo Ranch, but was exeluded on the final survey in 1872.
There is now twelve thousand acres of the tract lying south by west of Los Angeles City and extending nearly to the city limits, This twelve thousand acres is claimed by M. J. O'Con- nor, as the grantee of W. S. Rosecrans, who claims to have obtained the land by patent I'rom the State of California in the year 1868.
In 1876, some seventy-two persons, principally residents of Los Angeles county, claiming that General Rosecrans' title to the land had been procured by fraud, and was invalid, squatted thereon, and still hold it. At the time they squatted on the land it was pasture land, only used for grazing sheep, but dur- ing the three years they have hell it they have broken up and seeded with grain nearly the whole tract. The crops grown thereon are wheat and barley, the former largely predominat- ing. The principal farins at present upon thio tract are the following:
NAME. ACRES.
WHEAT. ACRI4.
BARLEY. ACREA. 80
C. R. Clark
160
D. Murphy
. IGO
160
M. Knealy.
1GO
40
40
Geo. Rose.
ICO
80
80
Thos. Bones
100.
IGO
- Homes
160.
80.
80
136
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
NAME.
ACRES.
WHEAT.
BARLEY.
ACRES.
ACREL
Mann
160
160
J. C. Cobb
160.
160
J. M. Vicars
160
160.
Jno. Slurt
160.
90. .
50
W. R. Farris.
160
80
80
Win. Short
160
80
James Root
160
160
- Hooker
160
160
S. W. Hiller
160
100
Sweeny
160.
100
J. P. Wauvig
160
80
T. U. Wilson
160
80
80
E. Roots
160.
135
25
H. Slaughterback
.160.
100
J. F. Iławk.
160
160
-
Farley (1)
160.
.160
J. T. Stewart
160
160
CATTLE-There are about two thousand head of cattle in the township. The principal owners are :--
Louis Sentous. 1,000
Anderson Rose 170
F. Machado.
250
John D. Young
60
B. Marquesas.
200
W. G. Lyster
160
160
Sheep are much more numerous, a large portion of the township being devoted to this industry. The following is a list of the principal owners (in addition to those before men- tioned) :-
Bryant Gates.
5,400
- Garnier .
10,000
Machado.
3,000
King.
160
160
Wooley
160
160
Davidson
90.
90
Price.
160
100. .. 60, fax.
This includes most of the cultivated land. About three- fourths of the cultivated land is under wheat and the rest is under barley.
Potatoes, corn, vegetables, etc., are raised only for home use. Some fruit trees have beeu put out, but are not yet hearing.
Water is obtained from wells at from twenty to sixty feet. No artesian water has yet been found, though one well has been bored three hundred feet. There is no irrigation, but in all ordinary years small grains do well; in wet years the land will grow corn.
There is a school-house on the tract, erected in 1878, with average attendance of about ten to fifteen. Most of the land is very level, yet drains itself. There are three bands of sheep on the tract viz .:-
Domingo Amestoy.
6,000
Pat Cauley 4,000
Frenchman.
3,000
Domingo Amestoy has in all about thirty thousand head of sheep, pastured on the ueighboring ranches.
In 1879 this twelve thousand acres was assessed at one huu- dred thousand dollars, or eight and one-third dollars per acrc.
The principal varieties of wheat being raised here are the white Australiau, the white Sonora, and white Odessa. The first predominates, the last is an experiment.
Wheat and barley are the main crops of La Ballona town- ship. There is but little fruit grown in the township; a few small vineyards here and there do fairly. Mr. Rose, near Santa Monica, experimented with ten acres of early amber sorghum cane last year. The yield was good, and he fed it to his stock with excellent results.
STOCK.
J. Sanders.
160
100
E. Bein .
160 ..
160
D. MeAulay
160
80.
Win. Mahiggin
160
160
Mackentacket
160
160
T. Cobbler
160
160
Geo. Oaks
160.
80
80
Farley (2)
320
240
80
Reid .
160
160
Reynolds
160.
100
40
Frazer
80.
80
Brush
160.
160
In all there are probably not less than thirty thousand sheep in the township. They are principally of the Spanish Merino variety, and are sheared twice a year. The average annual yield is from eight to ten pounds to each sheep, and the variance in price is from eight cents to thirty-seven and a half cents per pound in different ycars.
BEES.
In the cañons of the Santa Monica Mountains, there are a great many hee ranches, but while in 1878 these would proba- bly have aggregated one thousand or more swarms, they are now estimated at only four hundred, the bees having starved to death in great numbers during the past two years.
DAIRIES.
Machado Brothers conduct a dairy of some two hundred cows on La Ballona Ranch. They manufacture about one hundred and fifty pounds of cheese per day. Their dairy has been established two years.
Anderson Rose (on La Ballona Ranch) milks eighty cows, and makes two hundred pounds of cheese per day.
John D. Young milks twenty-five cows and markets the milk.
SANTA MONICA.
Situated at the innermost point of a great curve iu the coast-line, and to a large extent protected by the islands of Santa Catalina, St. Nicholas, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, aud Santa Cruz (lying from thirty-seven to seventy-five miles away at different angles), Santa Monica has been pronounced by competent authority a first-class anchorage, but a port it is not, and never can be.
When Senator Jones built his railroad from Santa Monica to Los Angeles, he erected at the former place a wharf, which extended out into the ocean one thousand seven hundred and forty feet. Here vessels drawing twenty feet of water or under could lie in safety, and for a time Wilmington had a danger- ous rival. But when the Southern Pacific Railroad obtained control, they condemned and tore down the wharf and ware- houses, thus once more concentrating the shipping trade at its old point. Of course this action on the part of the railroad had a ruinous effect on the property interests of the town, and many have been the plans laid by the inhabitants to once inore secure at least a portion of the ocean trade.
In March, 1879, a site for a new wharf was selected at South Santa Monica, and a company formed. Ten thousand dollars were speedily subscribed, and we read in the Erpress of April 12, 1879 :-
At a meeting of the subscribers to the proposed wharf at South Santa Monica, held at the United States Ilotel, Friday, April 11th, the following committee was appointed to prepare a constitution and by-laws, and to take legal advice that they may be so worded as to pre- vent the wharf from ever passing out of the hands of the original association: Ivar A. Weid, Walter S. Moore, W. M. Williams, J. D. Young, D. Freeman, L. Mesmer, J. II. Seymour. The estimated cost of making the wharf is twelve thousand dollars. The following trus. tees were elected, with full power to order the material and start the work at once on the pier; L. Mesmer, Ivar A. Weid, J. D. Young, D. Freeman. J. H. Seymour, J. W. Scott, O. F. Kimble. Twelve thousand dollars were subscribed at this meeting.
The final result of the agitation and the present conditiou of this enterprise, is related to us by the Secretary of the Com- pany, Oscar F. Kimble, Esq., as follows :-
AUGUST 2, 1879-A company was incorporated under the name of the South Santa Monica Wharf aud Shipping Com- pany, with a limited capital of thirty thousand dollars in three thousand shares of ten dollars each. The object of this company was the establishment of a wharf and warehouses at Santa Monica, and the grading of a good wagon road from that place to Los Angeles. The officers of the company were: President, Ivar A. Weid; Vice-President, Alfred James; Sec- retary, Oscar F. Kimble; Treasurer, L. Lichtenberger; Diree- tors: E. J Baldwin, San Francisco; Ivar A. Weid, Los Angeles:
1875
1875
A. LANGENBERGER.
WELL I FARGO CU. EXPRESS
GROCERIES, HARDWARE & CROCKERY.
RESIDENCE OF A. LANGENBERGER, ANAHEIM, LOS ANGELES CO CAL.
137
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Alfred James, Los Angeles; L. Lielitenberger, Los Angeles; N. T. Lucas, Santa Monica; Oscar F. Kimble, Los Angeles: John D. Young, Ballona Ranch.
About half of the shares are taken and paid for. The lum- ber for the wharf is on the ground; the grading for the approaches done; aud a warehouse with capacity of thirty thousand saeks of grain completed. The wagon road will be graded one hundred feet wide, and wherever necessary, macad- amized. The Board of Supervisors have granted the company a twenty years' franchise for the wharf, which is to be eon- pleted by August 1st, the contract being let to San Francisco Bridge Company.
The new wharf is to be one thousand five hundred feet long. At the end of it, the water will be twenty-four feet deep at low tide. The bridge is to be built on piles driven firmly into the ocean-bed, which is of hard clay.
THE NEW TOWN OF SANTA MONICA
Dates properly from July 16, 1875, when a sale of town lots was held by Senator Jones and Colonel R. S. Baker, at which a great number of people from Los Angeles invested, the priees ranging from one hundred and twenty-five to five hundred dollars per lot. During that and the sueeeeding year, a great many houses were ereeted, and some nine hundred persons were resident in the new town. In May, 1876, a correspond- ent of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote :-
" The town of Santa Moniea which started with the railroad last July, is a thriving little place for a yearling. It now boasts of nine hundred to one thousand inhabitants, with one hundred and sixty buildings."
A weekly newspaper called the Santa Monica Outlook was established by L. T. Fisher in September, 1875, and lasted until 1878, when it was discontinued.
In 1877, a stone pipe-works-for manufacturing drainage pipe, was started by one Speneer, who was succeeded by Tober- man & Co. of Los Angeles. The works are at present closed for want of a market.
By actual count, made in the spring of 1880, the town of Santa Monica is now said to have three hundred and fifty per- manent residents. This number includes the residents of-
SOUTH SANTA MONICA,
Which is merely a suburb of Santa Monica proper. This suburb was laid out on the land of Mr. Lucas and J. W. Scott, in 1876. There were then a good many lots sold, and there are at this time about a dozen cottage residenees, owned by parties living in Los Angeles.
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