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 5

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 5

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The Anaheim Union Water Company, as its name indicates, was formed by the union of the Anaheim Water Company, the Cajon Irrigation Company, the North Anaheim Canal Company, and the Farmers' Ditch Company. The Anaheim Water Company was established in 1857, its water rights having been purchased in that year with the land on which Anaheim is located, from Juan Pacifico On- tiveras. The Cajon Irrigation Company was formed in 1877 to irrigate the Pla- centia and Fullerton sections. The other two companies were formed, or re- organized in 1882. These four companies consolidated under the name of the Anaheim Union Water Company in the year 1884. The capital stock of this com- pany was fixed at $1,200,000, which was divided into 12,000 shares of a par value of $100 each. Two-thirds of this stock has been issued and the other one-third remains unsold in the treasury. The use of the stock is confined to about 12,000 acres of land susceptible of irrigation by gravity from the company's ditches.

The facilities of the Anaheim Union Water Company for supplying its stock- holders with water consist of a half interest in the waters of the Santa Ana River at the division-gate ; many miles of ditches, of which over fifty are lined with cement concrete ; five pumping plants, capable together of furnishing about 1,400 inches of water; and two reservoirs for storing night water for day use and winter water for summer use. The Tuffree reservoir will hold the entire flow of the main canal over night, and the Yorba reservoir will store enough of the winter floods to furnish 300 miner's inches for three months in the irrigating season. In addition to the foregoing facilities, the company owns a half interest 2

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

in nearly 2,400 acres of riparian land up the river, as well as several hundred acres in its own right. These lands strengthen and protect the company's rights in the river and give opportunity for further development, when needed. Oil has been found on some of this land and money enough is being received from leases to meet all the expenses of the company.

The Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, which distributes the waters of the Santa Ana River to the territory southeast of said river, like the Anaheim Union Water Company, is the outgrowth and legatee of previous efforts and or- ganizations for the irrigation of the territory which it now serves. The right to use the waters of said river on the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana is based on the appropriations of such waters by the early Spanish settlers as well as on the riparian character of the land itself. Col. John J. Warner, who died in Los An- geles a number of years ago, at an advanced age, testified, in the suit of the Ana- heim Water Company vs. the Semi-Tropic Water Company, that he found Don Bernardo Yorba with a large retinue of servants, irrigating his ranch from the Santa Ana River in the year 1834. These water rights were handed down from owner to owner with the land. and in 1868 they were parceled out by the court. pro rata to the acreage, regardless of the distance of each subdivision from the river. The court also protected the exercise of these rights by granting to the holders of the lower allotments a right of way over the upper allotments for ditches to convey water to their respective holdings. In order to irrigate the por- tion of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, purchased by A. B. Chapman and Andrew Glassell, a ditch, called the Chapman ditch, was constructed during the winter of 1870-71. which delivered water as far down as the present site of Orange the following July. Two years later, May 24, 1873. these same persons incorporated the Semi-Tropic Water Company and transferred to it all the rights and interests of the Chapman ditch. As the land was subdivided and sold, stock in this water company was furnished to the purchasers, who thus came into pos- session and control of the company. In 1877 this company was superseded by a larger and stronger one in the name of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Com- pany. The property and rights of the old company were purchased and trans- ferred to the new, and all the water rights on the southeast side of the river below the intake were absorbed in exchange for equivalent rights in the new company.

The capital stock of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company was fixed at $100.000, divided into 20,000 shares of a par value of $5 each. This stock was made appurtenant to the land, one share to each acre, and is transferable only with the land which is described in the certificate. All the assessments, together with ten per cent interest, have been added to the par value of the stock until at the present writing the market value has reached $120, which amount must be paid for any new stock purchased for unstocked land. There are now in force 17.437 shares held by 2,231 stockholders, making an average of less than eight shares to each stockholder in the company. Over $500.000 has been spent on the canals, pipe lines, pumping plants and reservoirs ; nearly another $100,000 has been paid for riparian lands and water rights, making about two-thirds of a million dollars invested in water facilities by this company, to say nothing about current expenses, etc. These large sums have been drawn gradually from the stock- holders during the past fifty years in such low water rates and moderate assess- ments that the burden has scarcely been felt. In fact, this company has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the least expensive of the large water companies of Southern California.

The facilities of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company for supplying its stockholders with water are very similar to those of the Anaheim Union Water Company and consist of a half interest in the waters of the Santa Ana River at the division-gate ; about 141 miles of ditches, of which 117 miles are pipe lines and the rest are lined with cement concrete : eight pumping plants capable together of furnishing about 1.520 inches of water ; and one small reservoir at Olive for regu- lating the flow of the water in the ditches. In addition to the foregoing the com-

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

pany owns a half interest in nearly 2.400 acres of riparian land up the river, as well as several hundred acres in its own right. These lands strengthen and pro- tect the company's rights in the river and give opportunity for further develop- ment, when needed.

The stream next in importance to the Santa Ana River for irrigation purposes is the Santiago Creek, which is a tributary of said river. This creek rises in the Trabuco National Forest Reserve in the eastern end of the county, flows in a northwesterly direction across the San Joaquin ranch to the mouth of the canyon and from there proceeds in a southwesterly direction to its junction with the Santa Ana River. The creek and its branches drain about 127 square miles on the western slope of the Santa Ana Mountains and the foothills adjacent. Assuming that the average annual rainfall within the drainage basin of this stream is fifteen inches, which is under rather than over the mark, the precipitation would aggre- gate 4.425,696,000 cubic feet of water per year, or one-eighteenth of the rainfall in the great catchment-basin of the Santa Ana River. Like most of the streams between the coast range and the sea, this creek carries off the greater part of the rainfall shortly after it is precipitated. However, a small per cent sinks into the soil and gradually percolates into the channel, thereby continuing the stream throughout the year. The quantity thus saved and utilized can be greatly in- creased by storage reservoirs and by spreading part of the storm water over waste lands to sink into the gravel beds and find its way into the stream later in the season. Some of this work has already been done and more is being planned for the future.

The parties who are interested in the waters of the Santiago Creek are the Irvine Company, owner of the San Joaquin ranch, and the settlers on the lands about the mouth of the canyon, above ditch A of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, who are represented by the Serrano Water Association on the north side of the creek and by the John T. Carpenter Water Company on the south side. Naturally, the Irvine Company would have large riparian rights in the stream on account of furnishing a large part of the catchment-basin and owning land on both sides of the stream for ten or eleven miles. These rights have never been adjudi- cated, although the attempt to take water over the water shed to other parts of the ranch was successfully resisted in the courts by the settlers. An agreement was finally reached whereby the water of the creek will be apportioned to the different parties in interest and an opportunity be given to increase such water by diminishing the run-off. The stipulations of this agreement were made the judgment of the court, thereby making them binding on all concerned.

By the terms of this agreement the two water companies, designated as the party of the first part, get practically all the water of the creek up to 600 inches during the five irrigating months, from June 20, to November. 20, of each year ; the Irvine Company, designated as the party of the second part, gets the next 50 inches, and all above the 650 inches will be divided equally between the two parties. For the rest of the year the party of the first part will have the first 60 inches and the party of the second part the next 60 inches; and all above the 120 inches will be equally divided. An easement to three tracts of land, aggregating about 500 acres, is granted for spreading the storm water, and also an option to build a dam across Fremont Canyon and impound water therein, together with rights of way for roads and ditches. The party of the first part covenant to spend not less than $14,000 during the next five years in spreading water on the two upper tracts, and may spend other large sums within the next ten years; the party of the second part agrees to refund one-third of all the money thus expended each year, up to a limit of $16,666.67 for the third, during the ten years. In return for the liberal concession of the Irvine Company, that company is permitted to take its share of the water over the watershe:l to other parts of the ranch. The time within which a dam might be built in Fremont Canyon having expired, it is understood that the option, with all its agreements and conditions, given by the Irvine Company for that purpose, has lapsed. The two water companies,

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

designated the party of the first part in the agreement, together own the Barham ranch upon which they have constructed a shallow reservoir of considerable area. Below this ranch they built a bedrock dam across the creek in 1892, at a cost of $3,600, the deepest point being nineteen feet below the surface of the creek-bed. The water intercepted and raised to the surface by this dam is carried off in a 28-inch cement pipe 725 feet to the division-gate, where it is divided equally between the two companies.

The Serrano Water Company was organized in 1875 by the Lotspiech Brothers, J. W. Anderson, Dr. Worrell, Charles Tiebout and a few others. The association has no capital stock, but the water is distributed among the sixty-six owners according to the acreage of each, with the limitation that two-thirds of the association's water belongs to the 631 acres in the Lotspiech tract and the other one-third to the 672 acres in the Gray tract. To serve these owners the association has laid below the division-gate 6,288 feet of 20-inch pipe and 2,679 feet of 16-inch pipe, while individual members have laid three and one-half miles of from 10 to 16-inch pipe.

The John T. Carpenter Water Company is capitalized for $16,000, divided into 1,600 shares of $10 each. This stock is held by 115 owners, who use the water on 900 acres of land. The company has laid about four miles of 16 and 20-inch pipe and about eight miles of 10 and 12-inch pipe.

Trabuco Creek, with its tributaries, furnishes water for quite an area of land in the vicinity of Capistrano. The greater portion of the water from this stream is distributed by the Trabuco Water Company, which irrigates about 500 acres.

In addition to the irrigation from the three streams just described, there are a few farms that take out more or less water from Coyote Creek, Laguna Creek. Aliso Creek and other sources. Then, too, there are thousands of acres irrigated from wells, either artesian or pumped. As already described, large quantities of water from the rainfall sink into the ground and percolate through the gravel strata on their way from the higher elevations to the sea. This water may be found at various depths in nearly every part of the plains forming the major portion of the county ; but it is particularly abundant about Anaheim and in the western part of the county, where it is undoubtedly supplied by the underflow of the Santa Ana River. According to the assessor's report there are 1,224 pumping plants in Orange County valued at $3,060,000. These raise from 25 to 125 inches of water each from a single well, while in a number of cases a large plant fur- nishes from 200 to 400 inches from a group of wells. The lower lands near the ocean are either damp enough or they are irrigated from artesian wells. The number of acres irrigated from wells, pumping or artesian, is about 12,000; the total number of acres irrigated from all sources in the county is approximately 50,000.

If anything further were needed to prove that Orange County is well watered, it might be found in the vast quantities of nearly every kind of grain, fruit, nut and vegetable grown in the temperate zone, as well as many kinds indigenous to the torrid zone, which are produced in this county and sent to market every year, not only supporting the farmers and fruit growers, but actually enriching them. Surely Orange County may take rank alongside of the land of Canaan as described by Moses in the following paragraph :

"For the Lord, thy God, bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil, olive, and honey ; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord, thy God, for the good land which he hath given thee."

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

CHAPTER IV

THE CITY OF ANAHEIM

Supplemented by E. B. Merritt

The city of Anaheim is the oldest city in Orange County and was founded and settled by some Germans who had been residents of San Francisco for some time. They were all citizens of the United States and were looking about for cheap land that would be suitable for the growing of grapes. They traveled about the state and especially turned their attention to the southern part, and soon decided that the section that is the present site of Anaheim was best suited to the growing of grapes and the making of wine.

This corporation was organized in 1857 by fifty men, among whom were the following: George Hansen, John Fisher, John Froelich, Charles Kohler, Utmar Caler, C. C. Kuchel, C. Biltsen, Henry Kroeger, H. Schenck, H. Bunnellman, Julius Weiser, John P. Zeyn, Benjamin Dreyfus, Hugo Currance, and others. Their organization was known as the Los Angeles Vineyard Company. Each man pur- chased a share, which was valued at $750. They bought about 1,200 acres of land, being a part of the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana, and owned by Juan Pacifico Ontiveras, to whom they paid two dollars per acre. This tract was laid out in twenty-acre lots, and work was at once begun upon it under the man- agement of George Hansen, who was selected for their superintendent. He began leveling, building fences, digging ditches, etc. Expenses were $216 per day, a considerable amount for that period. The tract was one and one-half miles long and one and a quarter wide, fenced in with 40.000 willow poles, six feet above the ground and one and one-half feet apart; these were strengthened by three hori- zontal poles. These poles eventually took root and soon the colony was sur- rounded by a living willow wall. The whole was defended by a ditch four feet deep, six feet wide at the top, sloping to one foot at the bottom. Streets were laid out through the tract, a gate constructed across the end of the main street and when this was closed it made the enclosure secure from invasion. Thousands of wild Spanish cattle and horses roamed the plains at that time and these would have devastated the growing vines and other crops unless so protected.

These sturdy pioneers gave the name of Anaheim to their new found home. from the German, heim-home-and the Spanish, Ana-a proper name. Home by the Santa Ana River. A ditch was dug to convey water for irrigation, seven and one-half miles in length, and several miles of laterals were constructed. On each twenty-acre tract eight acres of vines were planted the first year. At the end of two years these vines had come into bearing. All assessments had been paid by each shareholder, which brought the total amount to $1,200 each. At this time each lot had a valuation placed upon it according to location and improve- ments, at from $600 to $1,400. Division was made by lot. As each man had paid in $1.200, the ones who drew the $1,400 lots paid in $200 and those who drew under that figure received balance in cash; and, besides all this, each shareholder received one lot in the town plot. During these two years the men of the com- pany had continued their residence in San Francisco, but at this date they as- sumed control of their separate properties. They began building houses, having to haul lumber and necessities from Los Angeles, that being their nearest supply point. Thirty miles was a long distance to bring their necessities and as soon as possible they established a landing on the coast where boats could land supplies. This was but twelve miles west and was known for many years as Anaheim Landing.

Their main object was to grow grapes and manufacture wine, but of the entire number there was but one man who understood the art of wine making. They were mostly mechanics and carpenters, besides whom there was a watch- maker, blacksmith, a gunsmith, an engraver, a brewer, teacher, bookbinder, miller,

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

shoemaker, poet, merchants, musicians and a hotelkeeper. Benjamin Dreyfus built the first house in 1857. John Fischer erected the first hotel in 1865 ; this was destroyed by fire in 1871 and the following year Henry Kroeger built the Anaheim hotel. In the town plot of forty acres, which occupied the center of the tract, one lot was reserved for a school building and this was among the very first structures erected. This was very commodious and was put up to serve as a school- house and assembly hall. During the flood of 1861-62 the Santa Ana River over- flowed and damaged the foundations, rendering its unsafe and school was then held in the water company's building on Center Street until 1869, when a new building was built. It was a severe struggle against all kinds of odds for several years, but their patient industry and perseverance won the struggle and at the end of ten years each stockholder's property was worth from $5,000 to $10,000. In the meantime they made their improvements and supported their families. The company had its officers, electing Utmar Caler, president ; G. C. Kohler, vice-presi- dent ; Cyrus Biltsen, treasurer, and John Fischer, secretary.

A fire occurred in the town on January 16. 1877. which destroyed Enterprise Hall, a saloon, a Chinese wash-house and the Daily Gazette building, entailing a loss of about $18,000, half covered by insurance. The Anaheim Hide & Leather Company was established in 1879 and was operated less than a year. when it quit business. A. Guy Smith & Company built a steam grist and planing mill in 1875. Hinds Brewery was established by Theodore Reiser in 1874. Vines were set out in Anaheim and vicinity each year from 1857 until 1887. In 1884 a disease was discovered among the vines and in 1885 it was seen that the grape industry was doomed. Vines that had produced ten tons to the acre dwindled to nothing. It seemed to attack the Mission variety first and the oldest and strongest vines were the first to die. In 1885 there were about 500,000 vines in that vicinity and about fifty wineries, which up to that time had been making money. For twenty- five years Anaheim and vicinity was the greatest wine producing center in Cali- fornia. After the vines began to die out walnuts and oranges took their places and this is now one of the best sections in Orange County for these products.

The Anaheim Gazette, the pioneer newspaper, established by G. W. Barter, was first issued October 29, 1870. Barter had bought the plant of the Wilmington Journal, defunct. The press had been brought around the Horn in 1851 and had been used in Los Angeles by the Star, the pioneer newspaper of Southern Cali- fornia. In 1871 Barter sold the paper to C. A. Gardner, who in turn sold to Melrose & Knox, in 1872. Knox retired in 1876. F. W. Athearn was connected with it in 1876-77, then Melrose became sole owner and sold it to Henry Kuchel, the present owner, who has continued the publication for more than thirty years. The Orange County Plain Dealer, established in Fullerton in 1898, moved to Anaheim and was owned and edited by J. E. Valjean a number of years before his death. The Anaheim Daily Herald was founded by Thomas Crawford in 1913 and is now owned and published by The Anaheim Herald Publishing Company.

In 1860 the Anaheim Water Company became owner of the ditches and water rights originally belonging to the Anaheim Vineyard Company. The stock of this company was an appurtenance of the land and could not be diverted from it. The water company was incorporated with $20,000 capital stock and in 1879 this was increased to $90,000, and ditches were extended to cover the Anaheim extension. The Cajon Water Company's ditch was completed November 18, 1878, at a cost of $50,000. It tapped the Santa Ana River at Bed-Rock Canyon and was fifteen miles long. In 1879 the Anaheim Union Water Company bought a half interest in this ditch. Anaheim was incorporated as a city February 10, 1870, but the burden was too great to be carried by the people and in 1872 they petitioned the legislature to be dis-incorporated. This was granted and it was an unincorporated town until March, 1878, when it was incorporated and then in 1888 it was reincorporated.

In 1880 Anaheim boasted of the best school building in Los Angeles County, outside of that city. In 1877 Prof. J. M. Guinn, who had been principal of the

FIRST SANITARIUM AT ANAHEIM

OLD DREYFUS WINERY, ANAHEIM

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Anaheim school for eight years, the building having become inadequate for the increased population, drafted a bill authorizing the district to issue bonds for $10,000. He was instrumental in securing its passage by the legislature and it became a law March 12, 1878. The bonds were sold at par and a building erected. This was the first instance on record in the state of incorporating and bonding a school district to secure funds to build a schoolhouse, a method now quite com- mon in the state, thus giving California the best schoolhouses of any state in . the Union. The schools of Anaheim embrace grades from the kindergarten to the junior college and compare favorably with the best in Southern California. For further particulars about Anaheim's schools see chapter on Orange County's Schools.

In January, 1875, the Southern Pacific Railway built a branch to Anaheim and for two years this was their terminus. In 1887 the Santa Fe built through to San Diego and that year a number of vineyards were divided and sold in town lots. Anaheim has three banks, all well capitalized ; a public library, several school buildings ; eight miles of paved streets, and fifteen miles of cement sidewalks. The city owns its own water supply, as well as its own electric lighting plant. There are two depots of the Southern Pacific and one of the Santa Fe, and it will soon have an outlet by the Pacific Electric, building a direct line. The country about is fertile, growing almost anything put into the ground.

The living willow wall that surrounded the original colony disappeared long ago and but few of the present citizens of the city remember the appearance of the original place, called by the native Californians Campo Aleman-German camD. Anaheim is now a city of beautiful homes, with a population of 5,526. Early in the year of 1911 bonds were voted for $90,000, to construct a sewer sys- tem ; and $8,500, for additions to the electric lighting system. As showing the progressive sentiment of the people it may be said that the former received 352 votes for, and 24 against, and the latter 303 for, and 68 against. The city has six packing houses for oranges and lemons, one beet sugar factory, one marmalade fac- tory, one cigar factory, a large hotel and several apartment houses, besides the usual complement of all kinds of business houses. Its area is two and three-quar- ters square miles ; its assessed valuation in 1920 was $3.017,415, and the building permits issued the same year amounted to $92,000. This shows a healthy growth when it is remembered that the war lid was on building operations that year. During the year 1919, Anaheim had a building total of more than $200,000. Included in the construction program was a thirty-apartment building, a bungalow court, many individual residences, a large new First Methodist Church and a few business buildings, but here, as in other towns, construction could not keep up with the demand, and still greater activity is foreseen in the future.

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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 5

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