History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 25

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

USA > California > Orange County > History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 25

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When the Orange County fruit growers had become very much alarmed at the havoc the red scale (a new parasite at that time) was making in the San Gabriel orchards, and questions of quarantine and other methods of protection were under discussion, an aspirant for the position of horticultural commissioner met a member of the board on the street with the peremptory prediction, "Mr. Supervisor, them bugs must go." Suffice it to say that "them bugs" have largely gone, not because of the pronunciamento against them, but because of the intelli- gent, persistent fight against them by the fruit growers-they have been "gassed."

As the supervisors, composing the third board, were making up their lists of trial jurors. in compliance with the orders of the judge of the Superior Court, the member from the Fifth District quietly remarked that it would not do to include any Populists among those selected. "Why not?" asked the member from the Second District, who, though a Democrat, was populistically inclined. "Because," the Fifth member replied, "the law requires persons selected for jury duty to have ordinary intelligence." It is needless to add that this sally provoked a hearty laugh, in which the Second member joined.

Early in the history of Orange County the Bolsa drainage ditch was con- structed under the control of the supervisors, as described in the chapter on the celery industry. The two principal objectors to the work were F. R. Hazard and J. L. Holly. They fought the improvement at every step and took their case to the Supreme Court, but all in vain. A few years ago the former supervisor from the Fourth District was introduced to Mrs. Holly at a meeting of the Orange County Veterans' Association and received a rather equivocal greeting. "Armor !" she exclaimed. "I used to think you were the very devil." He replied: "Doubt- less you have heard that the devil is not so black as he has been painted. Besides. the development of that section of the county has more than justified the con- struction of the Bolsa ditch." "Oh, well!" she said, "It's all over now and we'll not quarrel further about it : but it was pretty tough at the time."

Tim Carroll, the inventor of the beet dump and- pioneer nurseryman of Anaheim, went before the board of supervisors, sitting as a board of equaliza- tion, to get the assessment, which Jake Ross had put upon his nursery stock, re- duced. He said his stock consisted of old stubs of palm, pampas grass and left- over trees that were not worth the cost of clearing the ground. The assessor pointed out that there were enough salable trees in the nursery to justify the assessment without taking account of the worthless stock : so the board refused to make any reduction. In taking his leave, the redoubtable Tim expressed his opinion of the personnel of the board by remarking, "The whole foive of ye haven't sinse enough to make one dacent supervisor."

When the supervisors were considering a certain date to which they might adjourn, one of the members objected because that was the date set for President HIarrison's visit to Orange County. "What interest can you, a Democrat, have in a Republican president's visit ?" a bystander asked. "He's my president," was the dignified answer. The rebuke in those three words silenced all levity and imparted a lesson in good citizenship without preachment. In a republican or representative form of government, the will, or choice, of the majority must be

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

acquiesced in by the minority, in order to avoid factional strife. On the other hand the officer, thus chosen, should sedulously represent the whole people within his jurisdiction. The president, for instance, should so conduct his administration that every citizen, without regard to party affiliation, would instinctively regard him as "my president," and not clannishly as the head of a political party.

In a conversation with the writer over another subject, James McFadden casually mentioned the following incident as a reason why he thought he might have some influence with the editor of the Los Angeles Times in shaping the attitude of the paper toward that subject. Shortly after the Times was started in Los Angeles and had taken its stand against the closed shop, Mr. McFadden met Colonel Otis, its founder and editor, at the seashore and noticed that he seemed quite despondent. On being asked for the reason, Colonel Otis said that the Typographical Union had prejudiced and intimidated the money market against his undertaking so that he could not borrow a dollar and he must have money to keep going until the patronage would meet the expenses. Mr. McFadden immediately offered to loan him the money and the offer was gladly accepted. Thus did a citizen of what is now Orange County help to establish the Los Angeles Times and foster it until able to go alone. Long since has the paper justified the wisdom of its founder, not only in its own marvelous growth, but also in the stupendous growth of its home city, which it has sturdily defended for nearly forty years against the blighting influence of the closed shop. Because of the city's open shop policy, millions of dollars have come to Los Angeles from the East for investment and other millions have left San Francisco and moved thither. Where large amounts of capital are invested in the industries, there thousands of workmen find employment and thus increase the population of the community as well as utilize the capital invested therein. If "he who causes two blades of grass to grow where one grew before is a public benefactor," much more is he who helps to establish institutions and maintain policies that oppose the domination of one class over another but encourage cooperation and helpful- ness among all classes, "and on earth peace, good will toward men."

During the term of the second board of supervisors, the people of Anaheim got up a Fourth of July celebration and invited the board of supervisors to par- ticipate in the parade, which at that early date would consist entirely of carriages and other vehicles drawn by horses. When the marshal, who was superintending the loading of vehicles and getting them into line, looked for the barouche that was designed for the supervisors, he found that it had been appropriated by some other dignitaries, so he bundled the supervisors into the first conveyance that came to hand. After the parade had taken up its line of march, an urchin called out from the sidewalk, "Oh, look at that bunch of stiffs in the undertaker's runabout !" Immediately Supervisor Schorn had the driver stop the team, and the whole line of march, while he scrambled to the ground and disappeared among the pedestrians.

A county free library was established by the board of supervisors on Decem- ber 9, 1919.

For about fifteen years the Pacific States ( formerly the Sunset ) Telephone Company fought the Home Telephone Company to prevent it from entering Orange County, or from increasing its business after it had entered. Finally, with the consent of the Railroad Commission, it succeeded in merging the two companies, that is, in absorbing the Home Company. The Railroad Commission also permitted the Pacific Company to raise its rates and to cut out the free switch- ing between exchanges. When, however, the Federal Government took over the wires and granted the same privileges to the telephone company, the state com- mission withdrew its consent and tried to maintain its control; but the courts ruled against it. While these questions were pending, the telephone company added twenty-five cents to each phone rate, making it $1.75 per month for a resi- dence phone and $2.75 for a business phone. This increase probably netted the company not less than $1,800 per month, or $21,600 per year, in this county alone, without including the gain from the Home subscribers at the basic rates of $1.50

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

for residence and $2.50 for business phones. Such an increase of rates and sub- scribers ought to have satisfied the company ; but no sooner was the Federal Gov- ernment's control of the wires established than the company added another quarter to the residence rate and a whole dollar to the business rate, making them re- spectively $2.00 and $3.75, under the plea that such were the Government's orders and the company could not do otherwise. Many individuals ordered their phones otit and others exercised their constitutional right "to freely assemble together to consult for the common good." After much consultation they decided to form a muttial telephone company, to be operated without profit, and applied to the secretary of state for a charter. Meanwhile lists were circulated and signed by more than half the company's subscribers ordering their phones out, some un- conditionally and others when the new company was ready to give them service. The charter was refused under the advice of the attorney-general, on the ground that the new company is not a stock company, as he understands the law requires stich a company to be. A state charter was finally secured, however, and the first unit of the exchange is to be constructed at Garden Grove.

The forming of districts for various purposes enables communities to sectire some of the benefits of city government without taking over the whole responsi- bility. For instance, in going over the supervisors' minutes, the number of dis- tricts, other than school districts, was found to be approximately as follows, viz. : Five drainage districts, one sanitary district, seven lighting districts, one irrigation district, three library districts and seven protection districts. Where considerable money is needed to carry out the purpose for which a district was organized it is generally obtained by bonding the district. Take the irrigation district in the foregoing list as an example. The Newport Mesa Irrigation District contains nearly 700 acres of land on the Newport mesa between the boulevard and the bluffs overlooking the Santa Ana River. This tract was dependent on a neighbor- ing water system for irrigating water up to the season of 1919. Being unable to get water any longer from that source, the land owners were in a quandary as to how to save their trees and grow their crops, when Stephen Townsend of Long Beach came to their relief. He advised them to form a district and while they were doing so he put in a complete water system for them, consisting of a well, engine and pump near the river and steel pipelines to deliver the water all over the tract. When the district was formed, the people voted to issue $50,000 bonds with which to reimburse Mr. Townsend and thereby become owners of their water system. These bonds sold under competitive bids at a premium of $1,578 to the Lumberman's Trust Company of San Francisco.

. A small district was formed November 4, 1919, called the Fullerton Irriga- tion District, and a full set of officers elected.

CHAPTER XXXVII SOIL, CLIMATE AND WATER

Following is the summary of the soil survey of the Anaheim Area of Cali- fornia, made by government engineers in 1916, but just published in 1919 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture :

The soil survey of the Anaheim area covers the most important agricultural part of Orange County, California, with smaller parts of adjoining counties. The area lies southeast of Los Angeles and fronts on the Pacific Ocean. It is bounded on the north and east by hilly sections that are largely too rough and broken for agricultural use. It is joined on the north by the Pasadena area and on the west by the Los Angeles area, which are covered by other soil surveys.

The Anaheim area embraces three physiographic divisions-the inclosing broken hills on the north and east, remnants of somewhat elevated old valley stirfaces or marine terraces, which lie along the base of the hills or border the 11

194

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

ocean front and, as the most extensive division, broad, rather smooth and gently sloping alluvial fans.

Elevations range from sea level in some coastal sections to a maximum of 1.600 feet in the hill portions. A large part of the area lies below 100 feet and most of it below 200 feet in elevation.

The Santa Ana River crosses the main part of the area, and the San Gabriel River crosses the western section. These streams directly drain only a small part of the area, owing to their built-up position, which makes the entrance of lateral streams difficult. Santiago Creek drains a part of the survey and flows into the Santa Ana River, but the greater part of the run-off from the surrounding hills and main valley slopes is carried largely by minor independent streams.

The area is thickly populated, and agriculture is by far the most important industry. According to the census reports the area in 1910 had a population of something less than 40,000, but the population has greatly increased in recent years. About sixty per cent of the population reside in the cities or towns, less than one-half living under strictly rural conditions. Santa Ana, with a population of 8,429 in 1910, is the largest city. There are a number of other cities and towns in the area ranging from several hundred to about 3,000 inhabitants.

Transportation facilities are good.

The area is well supplied with schools, telephones, and otlier modern con- veniences.

The climate is very pleasant and favorable to the production of a wide range of agricultural products. The average annual rainfall ranges from ten to fifteen inches in different parts of the survey, while the mean annual temperature aver- ages about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Danger from frost influences the distribution of citrus and other fruits, the higher land being least susceptible to damage. A growing season of about ten months is available for sensitive crops, while the hardy crops can be grown throughout the year.

The rainfall is confined to the winter months, and this has an important bearing on agricultural practices and renders irrigation necessary for many fruits and field crops which make their greatest growth during the summer season.

The agriculture of the area is highly developed. Most of the products are highly specialized and are grown for export rather than for local consumption. Chief among the products are oranges, lemons, and walnuts, with some deciduous fruits. Beans are an important field crop, and large quantities of sugar beets are utilized by local factories. Grain and grain hay cover large acreages. Subsidiary crops and industries, such as truck crops, dairying, and poultry raising, are locally important. The region is one of high average land prices.

The soils of the Anaheim area fall mainly in three general groups-residual soils. old valley filling or coastal plain soils, and recent alluvial soils.

The first group includes those soils derived in place by the weathering and disintegration of consolidated rocks, and usually occupies rolling or mountainous areas. Tillable areas are used largely for grain and hay production. The residual soils are inextensive. They are classed with the Altamont and the Diablo series.

The soils derived from old valley filling or coastal plain deposits are relatively extensive. They are grouped in the Ramona, Montezuma, and Antioch series. These series are intermediate in elevation between the recent alluvial soils and the residual soils. The Montezuma and Antioch soils are not important agriculturally. They are irrigated to only a small extent, being used principally for dry-farm crops, mainly beans and grain. The Ramona soils are irrigated in many places. and large plantings of citrus fruits have been made. Most of the orchards are still young.

The recent-alluvial soils are the most important, both in extent 'and agricul- tural use. These soils are in places subject to overflow or accumulation of alkali. but, on the whole, are very valuable farming types, having a smooth surface, a deep, friable soil, and subsoil conditions favoring deep-rooted crops. The facilities

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

for irrigation are good. These soils are grouped in the Hanford, Yolo, Dublin, and Chino series.

Several groups of miscellaneous material also are mapped, one of which, muck and peat, consisting of cumulose deposits, is productive when drained. The other miscellaneous types, tidal marsh, coastal beach and dunesand, riverwash, and rough, broken and stony land are practically all nonagricultural.

Irrigation is an important factor in the agriculture of the area, as most of the fruits and many other crops require it. In 1910 there were 2,215 irrigated farms, or about seventy per cent of the total number in Orange County. The recent alluvial soils are most extensively irrigated, although important parts of the old valley filling and coastal plain soils also are watered.

Parts of this survey are affected by a high water table and consequent injurious accumulations of alkali. Most of the alkali land is tilled and used mainly for the production of sugar beets. Considerable effort has been made to reclaim the alkali lands and make them more productive.

While the technical classification of the soils of Orange County, as given in the foregoing survey, may not be of much practical benefit to the tillers of said soils, the general information furnished therewith about them and other characteristics of the county is worth while to all who have not observed the facts and undergone the experiences for themselves. The soils of the county, composed of particles of air-and-water-slaked rocks washed down from the mountains, are of infinite variety and limitless depth without any hardpan intervening. The writer has removed pepper roots from a well twenty feet distant from the tree whose roots penetrated the brick curb thirty feet below the surface. He also has traced alfalfa roots to a depth of twenty-one feet. Forty-five years ago "Prophet Potts" declared such soils were absolutely inexhaustible; but now we know better. The soils, when first precipitated on the mesas and lowlands as disintegrated rocks, had no humus, or vegetable mold in them; but the growth and decay of vegetation, once started and continued for ages, has supplied this ingredient to the top soil for a depth of several feet. Now, as this humus is being exhausted, the farmers and orchardists find it necessary to supply cover crops, straws and other vegetable matter to be turned into humus. Thus, with a good foundation to build on, the soil of Orange County can be kept inexhaustible by supplying it with the proper plant food when needed.

Climate is "the temperature and meteorological conditions of a country." Temperature is "the state of a body with respect to sensible heat." Meteorology is "the science of the atmosphere and its various phenomena." The atmosphere is "the aeriform fluid surrounding the earth." Hence, for all practical purposes, climate is the temperature of the air of a country. As an illustration of the volatile equalization of temperature, it has been stated that the entrance of a person into a room would immediately raise the temperature of every object in the room. Along the same line and assisting in the equalization of temperature, is the principle of the diffusion of gases, whereby different portions of air from various sources quietly combine and form a compound of mean or average tem- perature and of less harmful character than either of them might be, if laden with some foul gas from which the other is free. The writer has frequently ridden, after sundown, through a strip of air warmer than the rest of the air through which he was traveling. This air was being warmed by heat radiating from a strip of warmer soil and had not yet mingled with the surrounding air. When this radiating heat is great and from a large area of territory, the heated air above such territory rises and the cooler air rushes in, thereby creating wind. which hastens the equalization of the temperature and the purification of the atmosphere. The latitude of Orange County under a southern sky, its distance from the mountains, snow-capped in winter, and its proximity to the mild Pacific Ocean, the character of its soil for absorbing and radiating the heat of the sun, the direction of its prevailing winds and many other conditions, all tend to modify the

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

extremes of temperature and give to this county an equable climate. Doctor Coyle, moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly at Los Angeles several years ago, turned a neat compliment upon Southern California when he said it was "the land where three hundred and sixty-five days of each year were sunshiny and the rest were unusual."

The chapter on Orange County's Water Supply gives the rainfall of the entire basin of the Santa Ana River for thirty years up to 1900. Following is a table of the rainfall of Orange County from July 1, 1900 to July 1, 1920.

Sea- sons

July

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

April

May

June

Total

1900

4.00

3.49

3 24

.48

.57

.85

.04

12.90

1901

1.46

1.47

3.08

3.41

.19

.07

10.24

1902

.02

.21

1.26

2.76

1.70

1 52

7.41

1.56

16.44

1903

.01

1.72

3.60

.93

7.24

1904

.07

1.45

1.16

5.52

4.57

.10

1 07

14.44

1905

5.39

. 18

2.60

1.77

6.38

1.55

.06

18.57

1906

t 52

4 96

5.73

3.00

3.28

. 30

19.18

1907

1.13

.03

.87

4.79

2.78

.11

10.72

1908

.07

1 45

6.14

3.43

4.26

17 55

1909

.04

1 20

8.24

1.24

.08

2.06

.34

13.29

1910

1 27

.25

4.68

3.53

2.65

.19

13.07

1911

.62

.84

.18

4 00

1.92

.95

.03

8.92

1912/

1912

.55

0-4

1.34

5.22

.55

. 32

9.10

1913

2.09

1.42

7.03

3.81

.88

1 18

.27

16.81

1914/

1914

1.13

2.31

4 42

5.54

5.31

.40

.96

.74

20.83

1915|

19151

2.90

12.23

1.55

1.20

.07

.17

18.98

1916 /

1916

1.51

3 43

2.26

3.13

.21

12.03

1917

.03

.01

1.20

3.66

5 15

.36

.01

10 91

1918

.03

.09

2,39

.76

1.46

1.60

.37

8,88

1919

1919)

1.63

2.43

3,82

4 67

.66

.80

.02

16.07

1920 (

Average annual rainfall for twenty years from 1900 to 1920, 13.81 inches. Average annual rainfall for fifty years from 1870 to 1920, 13.84 inches.

In the former period, prior to 1900, the average annual rainfall at Orange was 13.87 inches, or six hundredths of an inch more than that of the latter period, since 1900; but it is remarkable that the two averages should come so near together. It shows that, whatever variation there may be in the rainfall from year to year, it averages up like the manna did for the children of Israel: "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." However, much better use has been made of the rainfall in the latter period than in the former. Large quantities of flood waters have been diverted from the streams near their source each winter and run on debris cones and waste land to fill the underground gravel strata and drain later into the streams lower down. or be pumped from the gravel basins for summer irrigation. The number of pumping plants in the county has increased from 509 in 1910 to 1,285 in 1920. In

1903

1904

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

all probability the capacity of the individual pumping plants has increased as well as the number, for the county assessor valued the 1,285. plants at $3,855,000. an average of $3,000 apiece. The effect of this increase in pumping plants is seen in the increase of irrigated land in the county. According to a preliminary report by the Bureau of the Census, there are 86,060 acres of land in Orange County under irrigation. In 1910 the number of irrigated acres was 55,060, which sub- tracted from the present acreage shows a gain of 31,000 acres, or fifty-six per cent, in the ten years. But in 1910 the number of pumping plants was 509, which subtracted from the present number shows a gain of 776 plants, or 152 per cent, in the same ten years. That is, there has been a greater per cent of gain in pump- ing plants than in irrigated land ; which would prove that the increase in pumping plants was a sufficient cause for the increase in irrigated land.

A number of citizens of San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties, realizing that more can be done towards conserving the winter flood waters of the Santa Ana River and preventing damage therefrom to riparian lands near the coast, undertook to form a conservancy district of the entire basin of the stream ; but the "Conservancy Act of California" was found to be of doubtful constitutionality and otherwise objectionable. The committee, which had been appointed to devise a plan for the formation of the district, accordingly submitted the question of the sufficiency of the act to Loyal C. Kelley. T. W. Duckworth and L. A. West, district attorneys, respectively, of San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties. The opinion of these officials was to the effect that the boards of supervisors have no authority, either singly or collectively, to appropriate and expend money outside of their respective counties for flood control, and that the Conservancy Act of 1919 is unconstitutional, "because of the suffrage qualifi- cations therein contained and because of the basis of assessment therein set forth." Whether these objections will be overcome by future legislation remains to be seen. Meantime the good work of the Tri-Counties Reforestation Com- mittee, with federal and state aid supplemented by the water companies, can con- tinue to protect the watershed of the stream from destructive fires and to store its flood waters in the debris cones and gravel beds for summer irrigation. And the wells and pumping plants, which have multiplied more than two and a half times in the last decade, will continue to increase in number and usefulness.

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 25

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1700

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700