USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles County, California, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, residences, fine blocks and manufactories > Part 49
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We find the following notes regarding other wells in the Los Angeles Neu's :--
JULY 8, 1869:
ARTESIAN WELL-Flowing water has been procured by Messrs. Bowman & Hutsen, well-borers, on the land of I. W. Hellman & F. P. Temple, near the railroad track, between Los Angeles and Wilming- ton. The well is one bundred feet deep and throws a stream of forty iucbes.
OCTOBER 21, 1869:
Water has been struck hy artesian boring at Mr. Compton's rancbo, near the Half-way House. It was reached at a depth of ninety feet, tbe stream is six incbes in diameter.
MARCH 13, 1871:
Artesian water was struck March 12tb, on the premises of Amos Eddy, near Compton, at a depth of ninety-five feet-water was also struck at another place near Compton, at a depth of but eighty-three feet.
Since then, a great number of wells have been sunk through- ont the township, and those in the north-eastern portion have been very successful. Nearly every farm has one, and two- thirds of them are flowing. In the lower portion of the |
township, they have not been successful. Arouud Compton, they flow freely at from cighty to two hundred and fifty feet
COMPTON.
This town was laid out in 1869, on the land of Temple & Gibson, and was named after Rev. G. D. Compton, the earliest white settler. The following industries are at present there in operation :-
Four stores, two blacksmith shops, one shoc-shop, one har- ness shop, post-office (established 1872), depot, cheese factory, restaurant, and Odd Fellows' Hall (brick).
There is uo saloon in the place. There have been four started in succession, and all starved out. The last one traded his house and stock for a shot guu. There is said to be not brandy enough in the district to make sauce for a pudding.
A tannery was started here in 1878, but after running oue year it was closed. There is some talk of starting it again.
The following information is furnished to ns ley Mr. G. D. Compton, the pioncer resident of this locality :-
Mr. Compton came to Los Angeles county in 1867. At that time a feed of barley was hardly to be got in the county. The only places in the county where any farming was done were El Monte, Los Nietos (now Downey), and immediately around Los Angeles City. In Wilmington township not a furrow had been turned, with the exception of a small field of corn once grown prior to that time on the San Pedro Ranch, theu (as now) owned by Emanuel Dominguez.
At this time the whole county, with the few exceptions mentioned, was used as pasture land only for vast bands of wild cattle and still wilder horses. Of sheep there were but few. Up to 1865 twenty-five cents per acre was considered a full price for almost any of the land in the county, except that lying immediately around the city. The four thousand acres of the San Pedro Ranch (part of which Mr. Compton now owns) was sold to Temple & Gibson in 1865 for thirty-six cents per aere. In 1867 Mr. Compton bought a portion of this tract and paid five dollars per acre. At this time the land was considered by many persons quite valueless for agricul- tural purposes. Mr. Compton bargained at the time he bought, that any person purchasing land liere within six months from the date of his purchase should receive it at the same price. After his first crop, and before the six months had elapsed, several families came in and purchased at five dollars, but so soon as that period of limitation did elapse the price went up to twenty dollars per acre, and soon there- after to fifty dollars per acre, and even higher. Mr. Comp- ton himself, in 1875, sold a part of his original purchase of eighty acres for one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, and another portion for one hundred dollars per acre. These same lands can be bought to-day for about sixty dollars per acre.
=
Cass
50
53
Springs
100
20
George Odin
400
T. Hayes.
150
P. Banning.
300
Bressville
50
Holbark
50
Yunhimtz.
80
Peterson & Trobe
The last six are elose by Wilmington.)
Wheat.
Barley.
J. Morrison
40 acres.
40 aeres.
Peterson
10
30
Kitler
40
40
66
J. Vaughn
100
40
St. Clair & Head.
70
McDonald
Thos. Rickman 200
200
F. Adams
100
J. Dunn.
100
Melwair.
J. Demming.
75
vats) 60
This wheat is all of the Australian, Propo, and Sonora varie- ties. No Odessa wheat is sown here ; the land is too high.
Just north of Wilmington, on the San Pedro Ranch is a German settlement of some six families having about three hundred and twenty acres divided in small farms of forty acres each, planted almost entirely with wheat.
A tract of four hundred acres lies near the German settle- ment ou the San Pedro Ranch and is known as the Odin tract, on it are the following :--
Wheat.
Harley.
Win. Briggs
100 acres
100 acres.
Clark & Isabel. 200
60
Peterson & Trobe. 120
40
Kitler & Curley
40
St. Clair.
40
Gco. Teal. .
Teal & Dasher.
50
The Los Palos Verdes Ranch has the following :--
Wheat.
Barley.
Cook Bros.
200 acres.
100 acres.
Thos. Sears
150
A German
100
Narbonne.
100
125
A German
50
40 “
Machaelis .
B. Teal
60
56
FUSIEHEGOT THENATION & WEST.
RESIDENCE OF HENRY KROEGER, ANAHEIM, LOS ANGELES CO CAL.
141
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
THE SAN PEDRO RANCH contains about forty-four thou- sand acres of land. This ranch is almost all level land, good in quality, and suitable for the growth of alfalfa and small grains, with the exception of about one thousand acres near the center, which is covered with water for a large part of the year in wet seasons. When not covered with water this tract is rendered comparatively valueless by reason of alkaline deposit. In Mr. Compton's opinion, there is not exceeding two thousand acres in all upon the San Pedro Ranch unfit for cultivation and the growth of small grains.
This town was organized especially under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal denomination (Mr. Compton being an ex-Methodist minister), and a frame church was erected by the society in 1871 at a cost of three thousand four hundred dol- lars. In their regular order, the pastors have been as follows:
Rev. Hinman, Rev. James Corwin, Rev. Adam Bland, Rev. C. W. Tarr, Rev. M. M. Bovard, Rev. J. L. Mann, Rev. P. Y. Cool (the present incumbent).
The Campbellites also hold irregular meetings iu the school- house.
Compton has a good graded school with three teachers. The school-house is of frame, and was built in 1874, at a cost of about three thousand dollars.
The following societies are, or have been, represented in the place :-
Workmen. Odd Fellows. Good Templars. Free Masons.
The first two only have responded to our request for a history of their organizations.
CENTENNIAL LODGE, NO. 247, I. 0. 0. F.,
Was organized July 3, 1876. The first officers were: J. J. Morton, N. G .; C. Heath, V. G .; S. Todd, R. S .; H. S. Got, P. S .; I. Wilson, Treasurer. The charter members were : J. J. Morton, C. Heath, S. Todd, H. G. Goff, I. Wilson, M. Marlow, Omri Bullis, H. Turner, J. Stuart, J. H. Stockwell. The following are still active members : J. J. Morton, C. Heath, I. Wilson, M. Marlow. H. Turner, J. Stuart, J. H. Stockwell. The present officers are: M. N. Newmark, N. G .; A. McFarland. V. G .; W. D. Smith, R. S .; J. Holm- green, P S .; H. B. Rice, Treasurer. The greatest number of members at any one time has been thirty-seven; the present membership is thirty-five. The property of the society cou- eists of stock in building, hall, furniture, and regalia; value about seven hundred and fifty dollars. Its financial condition is said to be good. The lodge meets every Wednesday evening at Fraternity Hall, Compton.
RIVERSIDE LODGE, NO. 120, A. O. C. W.,
Was organized August 5, 1879, at Compton, having for its object and aim a general organization for the mutual benefit of its members and their families, and the payment of the sum of two thousand dollars upon the death of a member to his family, or such persons as he may designate. The first officers were : W. II. Ormsby, P. M. W. ; John J. Bullis, M. W. I. C. Johnson, F .; S. J. Miller, O .; Jules L. Barbey, Recorder ; J. F. C. Johnson, F .; HI. Patten, Receiver; A. A. Durrell,
Guide ; 1. H. Lothrop, I. W .; II. C. Kelsea, O. W. Charter inembers : John J. Bullis, Jules L. Barbey, J. C. Johnson, W. D. Smith, A. MeFarland, John Taylor, G. A. Chapel, A. A. Durrell, W. J. Maxwell; W. II. Ormsby, J. McNaughton, J. H. Lothrop, H. C. Kelsea, H. Patten, J. F. (. Johnson, II. Jacoby, I. I. Morton, C. W. Hawks, E. M. Phelps: total nine- teen, all still active members with the exception of W. HI. Ormsby. J. F. C. Johnson, H. Jacoby. Present. oflieers : J. J. Bullis, P. M. W .; J. C. Johnson, M. W .; A. MeFarland, F. ; A. A. Durrell, O .; Jules L. Barbey, Recorder ; J. G. Welch, F .; J. Taylor, Receiver; H. C. Kelsea, Guide; C. E. Birge, I. W .; G. W. Flood, O. W. The greatest number of members at any one time has been thirty-nine; the present membership is thirty-six. The financial condition of the organization is said to be good.
A Home Industry League was organized at Compton on the evening of May 10, 1878.
WILMINGTON.
San Pedro harbor having been the ocean inlet and outlet for a vast extent of country from the earliest times, we have already spoken quite freely thereof in previous chapters.
In 1822 Captain John Hall, a British seaman, visited the several ports of Upper California, and wrote as follows :-
SAN PEDRO .- We sailed from Santa Barbara on the 6th of July. and anchored in the Bay of San Pedro on the 8th, in the evening. We found the anchorage good, and a safe lauding place abont three-nar- ters of a mile south of the small rock or island marked in the chart. The mission of San Gabriel is about ten leagues distant from the land. ing place, which latter is called San Pedro, This name can be only applicable to the anchorage, as the shore at the time we visited it had no houses erected upou it, nor were there any cultivated grounds adjoining.
In 1833 Mr. Alexander Forbes wrote concerning it :-
Port San Pedro is a very extensive bay, being sixteen miles from point to point. It is difficult for a stranger to find the best anchorage. as it is not indicated on the ordinary charts ; there is no kind of mark whatever on the shore: the nearest house being four leagues off; half way to the mission of San Gabriel. The best anchorage (and that which all vessels trading with the mission ocenpy) is close under the north-west point of the bay, abont half a mile from a large rock which is in-shore, and about one mile from the hench. There is good holding ground of stiff und ju four and a half fathoms, at a place from which the point hears sonth half-west, the rock northeast, and the landing place west by north-west. - (Forbes' California, page 168.)
Superintendent of the Coast Survey, in his report to the See- retary of the Treasury :-
The Bay of San Pedro is the most important between San Francisco and san Diego. Unlike the other bays or coves between the two places, it is formed by a curve in the margin of an extended low plain, or gentle slope of land, and is not rock-hound or protected by the project. ing rocks of mountain ranges. The only high ground in the vicinity, is a rounded swell of the surface north of the landing. This hill stands isolated from any range, and its base on the west is washeil by the Pacific ; and on the east is bounded by the low and nearly level plain. It this stands like an island and a depression of the coast, for about titty feet would cause it to be surrounded by water. The shore of the bay consists of bluff and precipitous hunks from forty to sixty feet high, wlrich are constantly being undermined by the action of the waves.
In the same year Lieutenant Davidson wrote:
The coast trade of San Pedro is now greater than the aggregate of all the other ports south of San Francisco.
The Los Angeles Star of June 30, 1838, from which we copy the above, commenting on these reports, say's :--
It was then considered necessary to have a light-honse creeted immediately for the protection of that trade and the general purposes of commerce, but owing to local canses nothing has since been done. An appropriation also was made by Congress for the purpose, which still lies nseless, owing to the disputed title to the lund."
In March, 1858, a petition addressed to Professor Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey, was circulated and very generally signed. in Los Angeles, asking for the survey of San Pedro harbor. This was complied with, and in his report occurs the following passage :--
HARBOR OF SAN PEDRO .- The foundation of the site selected, and marked ou the sketch (which has been sent to the Light-house Bourd). is a conglomerate of clay aml sand; and the elevation such, that n light sixty feet high may be seen over the ndjoining land on the hays of San Pedro and San Vincent, The sector of visibility of u light at that elevation is two hundred and forty-three degrees, and it will meet the horizon at the distance of twenty-one statute miles.
The State Register of 1858 notes that a light-house has been anthorize 1 and is to be constructed at San Pedro. It was not until 1876-7, however, that a light-house was here finally erceted. It stands on Point Firmin, about one and a half miles north-westerly from the mouth of the harbor. It is built of brick and frame, and cost some four thousand dollars. The present keepers are two young ladies by the name of Smith (sisters), and there are no other settlers nearer than Wilmington.
In 1865 we find San Pedro harbor spoken of as the second harbor in importance ou the coast of California, with an annual outward tonnage equal to that of all other harbors, only excepting San Francisco. " It is the outlet l'or Coso, Owens river, Slate Range, El Paso, Soledad, Tehachape, San Gabriel, Holcomb, Rock Springs, and nearly all the Colorado river mining district, together with a vast agricultural area, and the military forts Yuma, Tejon, Mojave, etc."
The amount of money and labor spent within the past ten years by the United States Government, in improving this port,
In 1855 we find this bay described by Professor Bache, | has been immense.
142
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
In the " Historical Sketch," so often quoted, Dr. J. P. Wid- ney says :-**
In the year 1871. after several careful preliminary survey4, the United States Government commenced the work of improving Wilmington harbor, which work has ever since been going steadily on. Four hun- dred umt twenty- tive thousand dollars have so far been appropriated I'or the breakwater"and' the; clearing out of the bar. When work was commeneed the bar had upon it oaly eighteen inches of water at low tidle and was only crossed by lighters which waited for the flood. While this historical sketch is in press, a fleet of fifteen vessels, some drawing more than thirteen feet of water, is lying within the harbor, having crossed the bar without the slightest difficulty. When the work is completed the engineers expect to give at least seventeen feet of water upon the bar at low tide, and probably more. To the indefa- tigable exertions of General P. Banning, of Wilmington, is due, more than to the efforts of any other ouc man. the inauguration of this work. With its completion the ruilroad system of Los Angeles will be enabled to reach its true fullness of development.
Under date December 21, 1871, we read in the News :-
Considerable difficulty is experienced at the Wilmington break water, the current being so strong as to tear up the piles from their position, although driven into the bunk from twelve tu fourteen feet. That portion projecting fram Rattlesnake Island is threatened to be carried away by the uction of the currents. A gang of mnen under the super- vision of Lieutenant Fears are now sinking cribs and weighted bales of brush on both sides of the breakwater, expecting by these means to protect it.
Again under date November 13, 1872, the New's says :-
As far back ax the occupation of Alta California by the United States, the idea of improving Wilmington slough was discussed among the few American pioneers who then resided here. The present old San Pedro was then the plucc ol landing and embarkation-of loading and lischarging. The roudstead of San Pedro, being unprotected to the south-east, and gales from that quarter being prevalent during the winters, masters of vessels always experienced a sense of insecurity, when anchored there at that season of the year. Catalina Islaud, to the west and the south- west, and Firmin Point to the north, ell'ectually shelters the roadstead from gales springing from eitber of those quarters.
WILMINGTON SLOUGH.
Wilmington slough, situated at the head of San Pedro bay, and extending for several miles inland, besides having all the advantages possessed by the roadstead for the protection of shipping, is well shel- tered by Rattlesnake Island in every quarter that the roadstead is exposed. This estuary is about four miles long, aud with exception of the bar at its junction with the roadstead has a sufficient depth of water to flout the largest vessel on the enast.
RATTLESNAKE ISLAND.
Rattlesnake Island is a strip of low land-in fact, an elevated sand- bunk -- abont tive miles long, lying to the sonth-cast, between Wilmington estnary and the sea. About a mile and a half westward of Katthesunke Island, and a quarter of a mile south of the maiu-land is another island-u micre rock about one mile in circumference, rising abruptly from the water. This is Deadman's Islaud. Between Dead- man's Island und Rattlesnake Island shoal water exists. 'The flow nt the tide passes partly through the gap between the islands and partly through that existing between Deadman's Island and the main- Înnd. The latter is the one used for ingress and egress to aud from the estuary to the bay. The gap between the two islauds being exposed to the full sweep of the south-easterly gales. There has been a cou- stant washing of sand into the channel of the estuary, all of which the cbb tide hans conveyed and deposited at the opening between Dead- man's Island aud the bar-the present obstruction to navigation.
OPINIONS AND REPORTS OF ENGINEERS.
It has been the unanimous opinion of every engineer wbo bas inspected the locality that the closing of the gap between the two
islands would not oaly prevent the washing of saud into the slough, but it would also coufinc the volume of water passing to and from Wilmington slough iu a sufficiently narrow chanael to keep the same clear of obstructions.
About five years ago Colonel Williamsou made a survey of the place, aml recommended the construction of a breakwater of solid granite blocks. The magnitude and the enormous cost of the undertaking proposed by Coloael Williamson frightened everyone interested in the scheme, so that it was for the time abandoned. In about a year later, however, thruugh the influence of gentlemen interested in the matter, General Alexander of United States Coast Survey, who happened to be here at the time, was induced to make a survey of it and report the result to the State Legislature. then in session. General Alexander reported favorably on the feasibility of the projected improvement, and recommended the employment of cribs loaded with rocks in its con- struction. Subsequently, through the representations of Mr. Axtell, Congress was induced to make an appropriation and order Colonel Mendell to procced to work. Colonel Mendell did not adopt the plans of either of the engineers that had previously examined the ground and reported upou it, Ent conceived the idea of constructing a wall of piles.
THE BREAKWATER.
A year ago last June the work of pile-driving was commenced on Rattlesnake Island, being let out to a contractor. A few hundred feet was built, when the character of the ground changed, the piles striking a few lect bencatb the surface of the sand-bank. The result was that the contractor became discouraged and threw up the contract. For several months the work remained at a standstill; but the last Congress making an additional appropriation, and the Federal Govern- ment determining to push the undertaking ahead itself. work was again resumed on the breakwater last spring with renewed activity, Lieutenant Sears taking charge under Col. Meudell. Since then an average ol one hundred and fifty men and seven pile-drivers have been constantly employed. At one time the gang numbered one hundred and seventy-live men, and one hundred and twenty-five are now at work. The base of operations-Rattlesnake Island-has been the scene of a busy camp during the past summer, aud so continuex.
THE CHARACTER OF THE WORK.
Three thousand seven bundred feet of the breakwater has been con- strueted of single pilings, as follows: Five feet apart, piles thirty feet long, and one foot square, have been driven to a depth of eighteen feet in the sand. Between these piles a double row of others of a like length bave been driven, the inner ones measuring one foot and six inches, and the outer ones one foot and four inehes. Stringers a foot square firmly bolted biud the piles together ou both sides, ncar low water mark at their tops: while piles have been driven into the sand in a slanting direction on the inner side of the wall, to support it against the pressure on the outside. The last thousand feet that has been constructed is made in a different manner. It consists of two rows of piles ten feet apart. The principals measure twelve by four- teen inches, and the remainder twelve incbes square. They are of a similar length to the piles used in the single work, and are driven a like depth iuto the saud. The principal piles arc driven at intervals of eight fect. Stringers a foot square are used iaside and out, at the top aad at the base. to keep each row together. Double braces of material of the same measurement keep the rows of piles from coming together, while two-inch iron bolts pas through both walls, keeping them from going apart. Slanting braces are again placed on the inside of the entire structure, so as to counteract the pressure on the outside. The space between the walls are to be filled with rock. The men are now employed upon this section. The reason why it is made so much stronger than the balance of the wood-work, is because it will receive the chief shock of the sea during stormy weather. With the comple- tion of this section the wood-work on the break water will be diseon- tinued.
Island, the objective point, there still exists a breach of two thousand feet. Tbe bottom of this section being of a rocky character, and the action of the sea being greater, it will be constructed exclusively of rock; an embankment will be formed to the beight of the present wood-work, sixty feet wide at the base and ten feet wide at the top. The material nceded for this section will be shipped from Catalina
1
Island and San Pedro Point. So far about three million feet of luaber and one hundred thousand pounds of iron bolts have beea consumed in the work. During an extraordinary high tide which prevailed last summer, three gaps of about one hundred feet cach were made in the breukwater. by llonting of the timber. These gaps have been made in exactly the same spot where the obstacles were met by the con- tractor, that caused him to abandon his contract. They will now be filled up with cribbing loaded with rock. As yet the propriations made by Congress aggregate two hundred and twenty-live thousand dollars.
The following is from the Stur of April 15, 1873 :-
BREAKWATER AT WILMINGTON.
We found the work of the most substantial character. The hulkhead for about three thousand feet consists of heavy timbers let into the ground twelve to sixteen feet. They are set closely together, and tiruly banded hy immense stringers and pinned. For several sections the jaside of the wooden wall, as high as the tide rises, is supplied with an apron, sct in hinges, which lifts with the tide and closes when the water is up, shutting it in on the channel side. Proceeding along the top of the piles or square timbers, which are evenly eut and afford a foot-path about six inches wide, making a "narrow-gange passuge," we pass a division where the sand from the sea was washed up level with the top of the work. This sand has all washed in in a few months, and is still extending outward in the shape of a long, dry beach from the breakwater to the neean, and forming an impenetrable barrier between the sea and the river. We are asmred that this is one of the most successful features of the work. The breakwater has thus called to its uid the forces of the occan itself, so that the vast area of new land forming will ultimately make a long peninsula, reaching from Rattlesnake Island to the mouth of the harbor ut Deadman's Island.
Proceeding on and reacbing deep water on the channel side and shoal on the sea side, the breakwater, still on the narrow-gange princi- ple, reaches a section of the work which is about the width of a single enrriage way. This division is constructed of two walls, one facing the sea and the other the channel, and covered with plank. The force of the ocean is so great here that extra precautions have been taken to strengthen the work. The sea side is composed of square timbers, »unk some sixteen feet into the bottom, closely packed together, and fastened to the channel wall (which is of cqual strengtb und solidity) by iron rods. These are calculated to secure the double resistance of the two walls against the force of the ocean, and their resisting strength is further materially increased by large timbers on the eban- nel side, set in diagonally from the bottom to near the top of the wall, acting as braces, aud rendering the work, as near as it can be made, impregnable to the assaults of the breakers. Beyond the last for car- ringe way) section, comes the riprap, or stone wall. From here to Deadman's Island the line of the work will be composed of stoae, dumped in and rising above highwater mark. The mass will, of its own weight, form a complete barrier to the encroachments from the south-west. aud preserve the placidity of the entrance to the harbor. Congress has made threc appropriations for this improvement-two hnadred thousand dollars, seventy-five thousand * * * dollars, and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The last is not available till the first of July; but there is yet twenty thousand dol- lars of the last appropriation on hand, so there is no danger of inter- ruption for want of funds. The highest number of men at work under Captain Sear's direction there at one time was last summer, when all the way from one to six hundred were employed. There are now forty-two ouly uader pay, as the principal work is the stone. filling for the riprap.
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