USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 47
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MILL CANYON .- This canyon rises at the foot of Lake Avenue, and debouches at the historic "Old Mill " built by Father Zalvidea of the San Gabriel Mission about 1810 to 1812, and the mill was run by water from this and Los Robles canyon. In 1892 Mr. Shorb bored an artesian well in this canyon, 259 feet deep, and made a geological sample case show- ing depth and kinds of formations successively passed through-the only instance I have found of this being done. The Alhambra Water Company has some tunnels in the upper part of this canyon from which water is piped down to their main reservoir. And from this canyon E. L. Mayberry has
*** Capt. J. E. Ellis owued au eighteen-acre place called " Willowdale," lying south of Bayard T. Smith's "Oak Knoll " ranch, west of Col. Mayberry's, and north of Gov. Stoneman's. This tract has much spring land upon it, and was bought last week by S. Richardson for $18,500. Mr. Richardson owns fifty acres just below it, and wanted to secure the bountiful water supply which it affords."-Pasa- dena Union, June 11, 1886.
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water pumped by a hydraulic ram up into an elevated cistern at his sightly dwelling on the bluff above the Mill.
Our native Mexican people have traditions of hidden treasure in this and others of the canyons along this range of bluffs. The old-time Mexi- cans of wealth repudiated paper money, and hoarded great chests of silver and gold coin. In 1844-45 occurred the rebellion of Los Angeles against Gov. Micheltorena, when he was driven back to Mexico; and in 1846-47 occurred the war between Mexico and the United States. During these
troublous and lawless times the wealthy Mexicans often buried their coin in secret places known only to one or two living souls, with some particular rock, or spring, or tree as a mnemonic landmark by which to find the place again. Sometimes these persons were killed, or driven away, or forgot the exact hiding place-and thus the field was opened wide for all sorts of fabulous stories of hidden treasure. Numerous holes have been dug by Mexicans on the Stoneman place in search of buried money-pots, kegs or chests. And similar search has been made in some of these historic can- yons ; but I find no reliable account of any such hidden wealth having ever been dug up in this region.
Mill canyon is easily reached by carriage road, and is a very interesting place to visit, because it furnishes a fine stream, and has been more exten- sively developed than any other one of the series of Glacial Terrace springs and brooks. A small unnamed canyon and brook joins it from the north- west near its upper end.
WILSON'S CANYON .- This is one of the largest of the canyons that form an outlet in the lower lip of the great geological basin over which Pasadena is built. When the Pasadena settlement was commenced Mr. Wilson made a private roadway from his Lake Vineyard ranch house,* winding up through the perennial oaks and pasture lands of this charming brookside to the colony lands north of San Pasqual street and west of Wil- son Avenue ; and for many years this Wilson canyon road was the short cut and romantic route for a carriage drive from Pasadena to San Gabriel, al- though four gates had to be opened and shut within a mile, on account of fenced-in pasture lands and orchards on the ranch. Early in 1884 I made this trip in forty minutes with ex-Gov. Merrill and Hon. Delos Arnold of Iowa, who wished to catch an east-bound train at San Gabriel. This can- yon or picturesque little valley abounded in far-spreading live oak trees, in many of which the curious tree rats of California had their arborial nests or colonies ; and the place was a favorite pic-nic resort for the people of Los Angeles as well as of Pasadena. The head of Wilson's lake is perhaps a quarter mile west from the mouth of this canyon, and its brook originally ran into the lake. For two years past the Biology department of Throop
* " The Wilson homestead is a large, roomy house, of brick and adobe, costing in 1854 about $20 000, nearly half of which, according to Miss Adams, was spent on the roof. Beneath the house is a large wine cellar."-[Prof. Holder's " All About Pasadena, " p. 63.]
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Polytechnic Institute has obtained its weekly supply of fresh frogs for dis- section and microscopic study from this canyon, because it was freer from dense vegetation than the others, and thus frogs could be more easily seen and caught here. It is enclosed as pasture land. The canyon commences near the foot of Wilson Avenue.
MISSION CANYON (also called "Wild Grape canyon"). - It rises as far north as California street east of Bandini Avenue, on the Bayard Smith tract, and is the longest and largest of the Glacial Terrace series of canyons. It has been specially noted for the abundance and fine quality of its wild grapes, from the days of the padres down to the present time. The old distilling works connected with B. D. Wilson's original winery stood on the west bluff at the mouth of this canyon.
PASADENA, GAL
TULE LAKE, IN SAN MARINO CANYON.
Barley hay on the slope amongst live oak trees. This is one of the historic canyous which supplied water by a ditch to the San Gabriel Mission and village, from about the year 1800.
SAN MARINO CANYON .- This is a shorter but more rugged gorge or gap down through the bluff a few rods east front Mission canyon, and has a large tule lagoon or private duck pond, besides one or two dams and reser- voirs lower down, and belongs to the San Marino ranch. On the high bluff
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which forms the east abutment of this canyon stands "San Marino," Hon. J. De Barth Shorb's elegant and sightly home place ; and Shorb Avenue leads from San Pasqual street into the head of this picturesque canyon, and past the lagoon, then turns southeasterly up the ridge to Mr. Shorb's house. Wilson's, Mission, and San Marino canyons used to be all lumped together as " Mission canyon," by the old Mission populace.
This completes the list of those outlets of the Pasadena geological basin which have received special names as water-bearing canyons, so far as I have been able to learn. And I now pass north to the mountains for larger specimens of the canyon species, and commence at the great Eaton canyon, taking the rest in their successive order from this point westward.
EATON CANYON .- Officially recorded as " Precipicio canyon," its old Spanish name; but as the Spaniards never did anything to invest it with a living human interest by developing or improving it in any way, their name for it would not "stick " in the popular mind, and it persists in being known only as Eaton canyon, because Judge Eaton first developed and utilized its waters. [See page 120.] I11 1865 Judge Eaton, having lost his dairy stock by the terrible drouth of 1864-5, engaged to bring out the waters of the big canyon onto the "Fair Oaks " farm, clear the land and plant it with trees, vines, etc. This he did; and he so stamped his strong personality upon the great gorge and its water supply that it is called " Eaton Canyon " to this day, in spite of a different name in the corporate title of its present water company. The starting station of the Mount Wilson Toll Road is at the mouth of this canyon, and up to this point vehicles can go,
EATON CANYON FALLS-40 FEET HIGH.
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but no farther ;* then about a mile farther up the water course, which can be followed by footpath through the narrow cleft between mountainous per- pendicular walls of rock, EATON FALLS is reached-a beautiful cascade about forty feet high. Waters from the north and east side of Muir's peak, from the east side of Mount Lowe, Mount Markham and San Gabriel peak, from the south side of Precipicio peak and Knife-Blade ridge, from the west side of Mount Wilson and Mount Harvard promontory, and from Henniger's flat, all flow into Eaton Canyon. These several peaks and ridges form the great mountain horseshoe rim of what is called in a large, comprehensive way "Grand Basin " in the vast body of literature that has grown up around the wonderful Mount Lowe Electric Railway enterprise. Grand Basin includes the entire watershed of which Eaton canyon is the outlet.
PINE CANYON .- Next westward is a smaller gap in the mountain decliv- ity, which is characterized by having more pine trees growing in it, and at lower altitude, than any other opening on the south side of Pasadena mount- ains, thus writing its own name so plainly on its breast that no man has ever attempted to write a substitute. This canyon came into celebrity in 1893-4 from gold mining operations carried on there by Carson & Dickey in its west wall. [See chapter on geology.]
DRY CANYON .- This is a smaller break in the lower part of the great mountainous ridge between Pine and Rubio canyons. At its outflow is a tunnel 3,000 feet long, which was made in search of water in 1884-5-6, and was reported at the time as the longest water tunnel in Los Angeles county.
The Union of June 4, 1886, said of it. " It costs a mint of money and a vast deal of pluck to make such a colossal experiment." True; and sad to say, it was an entire failure at last-a dry tunnel, waterless and worthless ; yet the persistence in pushing it to a finish was truly heroic, and no man could have told in advance that little or no water would be found. It was made by David Dolben for I. M. Hill, S. L. Porter and Dr. George M. Bergen, owners of land there. A few inches of water flow in the upper section, but all sinks away long before reaching the mouth of the tunnel.
RUBIO CANYON .- In 1867 Jesus Rubio, a native Californian, born in 1826, and who had become an American citizen by the treaty of peace in 1847 between Mexico and the United States, made a squatter's claim at the mouth of this canyon, built the little farm house which still stands there, and made a start toward the improvements that now constitute "Rubio farm." The Americans called him Rubio, or "Old Man Rubio"-and his water source was called Rubio's canyon. [His name as given in the Great Register is Jesus Marron, his father's name ; but Rubio was his mother's old historic family name. See third footnote, page 87.] He now resides at
*The Toll Road Company promises in 1895 to make a wagon road as far up as Henniger's Flat.
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Duarte- 1895. In 1877 Rubio sold his claim to one Dr. Hall, who made it his home and died there in 1879, In 1881 Mrs. Hall, the widow, sold her little farm and water rights to F. J. Woodbury, who in Dec., 1883, joined his brother John in buying the land where Altadena now stands and tunneling and piping water from this canyon down through it, for irrigation and domestic purposes. After sundry changes and additional water develop- ments, this canyon property was in 1891 acquired by the present Mount Lowe Railway Company, who have further cleared and improved the farm, utilized the water, built the electric railroad into the canyon, built Rubio
" Land of Sunshine," August, 1895.
MOSS GROTTO FALLS, IN RUBIO GLEN.
Pavilion,* made nine waterfalls beyond this accessible by footways, built
*One day in 1893 a company of nuns visited Rubio pavilion, and among the inany pictures there they were shown one of Father Gonzalez Rubio of the San Jose Mission, from 1833 to 1840, and they were delighted in at once associating his name with this wonderful place. But he was never here.
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the great cable incline, etc., etc. The nine waterfalls referred to, above the pavilion, are as follows :
Maidenhair Falls, 17 feet high-named from the abundance of maiden- hair ferns growing on its rocks.
Cavity Chute Falls, 9 feet high.
Bay Arbor Falls, 12 feet high. Named from a clump of bay trees near by, and through or under which the footway passes.
Ribbon Rock Falls, 36 feet high.
Moss Grotto Falls, 331/2 feet high.
Grand Chasm Falls, a double-leaper of 33 and 15 feet, making the entire falls 48 feet high. This is at the outlet of a towering, narrow gorge called Grand Chasm; and at the crest of these falls there is a stone dam which forins a reservoir called "Mirror lake," from which water is piped down to the pavilion to run electric dynamos, printing presses, and for general uses. Heavy plank stairways lead up across the face of the falls, and a bridge leads over the lake up through the Grand Chasm.
Lodged Boulder Falls, 12 feet high. Prof. Lowe stood on the "lodged boulder " from which this fall is named and made a speech to a large group of Pasadena visitors, gathered on the canyon stairway, July 1, 1893. This historic scene was photographed and has been widely published.
Roaring Rift Falls, 23 feet high-the noisiest one of the whole series.
Thalehaha Falls, 112 feet high. The name is an Arizona Indian word, meaning "white water, " and was given to it by Prof. G. Wharton James, editor of the Mount Lowe Echo.
[These measurements I made myself during the summer of 1893, while studying the geology of the Mount Lowe system of mountain peaks, can- yons, etc .- ED.]
Rubio canyon extends on up to the summit of the range, with Muir's peak looming up still higher and forming the east wall of this canyon's starting point. It is not accessible above Thalehaha falls except by winding footways down from Echo mountain ;* and in this upper section are numerous picturesque falls and lovely dells, the chief of which are Rainbow dell and Leontine falls. Of the historic naming of this great fall I quote from the Mount Lowe Echo of March 29, 1894, the following account :
LEONTINE FALLS.
In a public address delivered in Rubio Music Hall by Dr. H. A. Reid, August 12, 1893, on "Field Geology of our Pasadena Mountains," the following notable passage occurred :
*The Mount Lowe literature now designates as "Glen canyon" that portion of Rubio canyon extend- ing from above Thalehaha falls to foot of Leontine falls. The first woman who ever climbed into the fearful, rock-ribbed gorge at the crest of Thalehaha falls was Mrs. Prof. McClatchie of Pasadena, June 30, 1893. with her husband on a botanical excursion. Then on August 16 Mrs. Dr. Reid passed up the water- course from this point to foot of Leontine falls, clambering over or around seven different falls in the perilous and seemingly foolhardy venture, which no mortal woman had ever attempted before. But on August 21 Mrs. Herve Friend of Los Angeles did the same thing.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
"Then comes the great fall, 105 feet high in a single plunge, as seen from below, besides about 100 feet more above but flowing in a somewhat tortuous course and hence hidden from view by rock walls and growing shrubs. The portion seen from below is elegantly festooned with mosses of richest green ; and at its foot there is a semicone of spray upon which a rainbow rests when the sun shines slantwise into it. Mrs. Reid and myself saw this rainbow, vivid and bright, from 4 o'clock until 5:30 P.M. on July 29. This is really the grandest and finest all-the-year-round waterfall in all this range of mountains, and the only one known to produce a rainbow. And I have named it 'Leontine Falls,' in honor of Mrs. Prof. Lowe, who has earnestly sympathized with and sustained her husband in his most arduous and complex task of projecting, planning, superintending, pushing ahead, and paying for, the wonderful utilization and mastery of nature's resources which we here behold, - the grandest enterprise which has been undertaken in Southern California since the transcontinental railroads were built. ' Leontine' is Mrs. Lowe's christened name ; and by the same token I hereby christen this perennial queen of the mountain falls, and give you its Natalia or birthday legend :
THE LEGEND OF LEONTINE FALLS.
Saint Peter was holding a banquet In honor of souls who had poured Their lives out for human uplifting, And found their lives richly restored.
Bright angels in radiant garments Served forth the memorial feast With plates of seraphic devising, And pitchers like stars in the East.
The viands were those of the Spirit- The exquisite essence of Truth, Of Love and all Heavenly virtues For nurturing immortal youth.
The dink was empyreal nectar Of rivers from life-source that flow ; God's bounty for beings celestial- His bounty for creatures below.
One angel by chance broke her pitcher, And its clear crystal sheen poured down O'er the Falls of Rubio Canyon- The " Leontine Falls " of renown.
The angel's quick tears for her pitcher, Falling down the aerial sphere, Were sprent into beans iridescent That form yet a bright rainbow here.
The first photographic view ever taken of this waterfall was by W. H. Hill of Pasadena, November 10, 1891. And the first woman who ever achieved the climb into its mountain-hidden dell was Dr. Rachel F. Reid, July 25, 1893. Still above Leontine Falls the water company has two tun- nels. This canyon follows rapidly down from the summit to the foot of the front range in a line almost due south.
ECHO CANYON is a large branch of Rubio, coming in from the west,
LEONTINE FALLS.
Photo by W. H. Hill of Pasadena, November 10, IS91, assisted by Thaddeus Lowe. jr. The first picture ever taken of it.
CASTLE CANYON.
Jason Brown and Dr. Reid making the ascent, August 28, 1893. Castle Rock, from which the Canyon takes its name, is seen in the midway distance. Photo and engraving by Herve Friend, Los Angeles.
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which segregates Echo Mountain from the main range, and used to be called West Rubio canyon and creek. It is named from a sharp echo which repeats itself in thunderous, rolling, reverberating cadences that gradually die away in the canyon's summit walls, when a gun is fired or a strong bugle blast is given on Echo Mountain. It has its heading in the great semicircle of sum- mit-reaching white rocks called Echo Amphitheater, at the bottom focus of which there is a tunnel and water supply called "Sycamore Springs," from which water is piped for all uses to Echo Mountain House ; and the surplus is thence piped down 1,400 feet to Rubio Pavilion, where it is utilized on a water motor to run electric dynamos for operating the cable incline cars, electric lighting the Echo Mountain hotel, and other uses.
CASTLE CANYON .- This is a large branch of Echo canyon, coming down from the summit in a line nearly due south, and has some springs or water tunnels in its course. On its east wall is a conspicuous body of rocks which in perspective very strikingly resemble the ruins of some old Irish castle, with its round and square towers, etc .; and from this the canyon takes its name.
LAS FLORES CANYON .- Of this name Judge Eaton writes: "The high point of land running up toward 'Flower Canyon ' was always known among the natives as the Mesa de las Flores-the bench or table of flowers-because its surface during the spring season is completely covered with poppies and may be seen far out on the Pacific ocean."
In 1885, when the project of making a burro trail to the top of the mountains by way of Las Flores canyon was being talked up, a writer in the Valley Union of October 16, 1885, said:
"Senator Arnold of Marshalltown, Iowa, told me that once when he was going by steamer from San Diego to San Francisco he noticed this tongue of land above all the rest along the mountain base and asked the captain of the vessel what point it was. He said it was Las Flores canyon (known also as Forsyth canyon), and was a land mark by which they could determine their relative position on the coast line, even when they were 80 miles out at sea. This was a most interesting piece of information to the Senator, and he told the captain about his intimate friends, Col. Banbury and the Woodburys, residing on that very slope of land. It was called Las Flores, or 'The Flowers,' because of the wonderful profusion of wild poppies which in their season tinged that whole canyon slope of a noticeable reddish color, even at so great a distance."
Gold mining operations were commenced in this canyon during the winter of 1892-3 by Wm. Twaddell and associates. [For particulars of which see chapter on Geology.] Echo Mountain forms the east wall of the canyon; and the upper section of the Mount Lowe Electric Railway cross the upper portion of it and then passes around and up along the walls of Millard and Grand canyon.
ELMS'S CANYON .- This is a small canyon in the face of the footmount-
1
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ains next west of Las Flores, and takes its name from Henry Elms, who opened and improved the land at its mouth in 1883, and resides there yet, 1895.
CHIQUITO CANYON, west from Elms's place .- Chiquito is Spanish for "smaller," and it was named by Mr. Elms. In April, 1895, a company consisting of P. W. Lloyd, Charles Copelin and J. T. Rood of Pasadena, and a Dr. Crandall of Los Angeles, were digging for water on a large scale in this canyon.
LEIGHTON'S CANYON .- West by south of Chiquito canyon is the farm of S. L. Leighton, whose house stands on the canyon ridge, up the crest of which runs his road over the footmountains into Millard canyon. His ridge road was worked and used by the North Pasadena Water Co. in 1892, while piping water out from some mountain springs above Millard Falls.
MILLARD CANYON .- This was called by the Spanish-speaking native Mexicans Canyon el Blanco-white canyon-because of the whiteness of the rocks in some portions of its mountain walls. This is especially noticeable in its upper portion, now called Grand canyon. In 1862, a man named Millard settled as a squatter at the mouth of this canyon, utilized its waters, and engaged in raising bees and hauling wood down to Los Angeles. Mil- lard lived here ten years, or until 1872, during which time his wife and one child died and were buried on what is now the Giddings farm; and he finally moved away to the Downey settlement in order to get where his children could attend school-but the canyon still retains his name. In 1874, Millard's abandoned claim was taken by Edwin Baker; he made some further improvements, and in 1877 sold his rights and holdings there to the Giddings family, who still occupy it, having bought adjoining lands and piped water out onto them. MILLARD FALLS is a fine cascade, 58 feet high, and was for some years a favorite picnic resort, the Giddings people having made a wagon road up to it, on which they charged a sırall tollage fee to help keep it in repair. These Giddingses were cousins of Joshua R. Giddings, the famous anti-slavery member of Congress for seventeen years from north- eastern Ohio (Ashtabula county), who was a giant of pluck and moral power in his day. In his book entitled "All about Pasadena," Prof. C. F. Holder says:
"The writer was once detained for two days by the Millard canyon stream, that in midsummer almost disappears. A cloud-burst in the mount- ain filled it to overflowing, and the noise of the boulders, literally bowled from the upper range, was deafening and a continuous reverberating roar. Such occurrences are rare."
PUNCH BOWL CANYON .- Half a mile or so above Millard Falls there opens into Millard canyon from the northeast a beautiful gap in which there are some fine falls, and two interesting potholes, which Eugene Gid- dings and Calvin Hartwell had dubbed "devil's saucer " and "devil's
Breuer .?-
Millard Cañon Fall, Sierra Madre Mountains, near Los Angeles.
THE GREAT INCLINE CABLE MACHINERY ON ECHO MOUNTAIN.
The opening of the Great Incline Railroad up Echo Mountain on July 4, 1893, was telegraphed all over the world, because of the new inventions and the new adaptations of mechanism and electric power involved in it. And during July and August Prof. Lowe received applications from street car journals, electric journals, mountain railroad journals, scientific journals, and pictorial papers in the large cities of this country and Europe, for pictures of the wonderful new devices On August 22nd I assisted the photogravure artist, Herve Friend of Los Angeles, in getting the above picture, which for special reasons had to be taken in four sections and then joined into one view as shown. The dynamo is at the lower left-hand corner ; the massive automatic grip pulley that carries the cable is at the upper right-hand space ; and the automatic safety brake mechanism is in the upper mid-space, and on the huge cable-wheel. [See page 446. ]
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punchbowl." I failed to discover anything satanic about the place, or its great granite tureens of pure mountain water, and concluded to dehoof and dehorn it, and introduce it into good society without any "devilish" primo- geniture attachment. The PUNCHBOWL FALLS are 70 feet high; and the bowl or "pothole " was so deep, smooth and steep-walled that I could not get down to measure it. The SAUCER FALLS, lower down, are 25 feet high ; and the saucer measured 2 feet, 10 inches depth of water. Above this fall is a chute of 15 feet, and below it one of about 18 feet. These falls are about three-quarters of a mile up from the main Millard canyon, or Grand canyon as it is called above this point.
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