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 50
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The original land and water rights acquired in 1886 by Bates, Martin and Williams on Mount Wilson, besides some later claims, are now [1895] held by C. S. Martin, J. W. and R. T. Vandevort, J. H. Holmes of Hotel Green, Wm. Morgan and Wm. R. Staats, and comprise what are known as "Martin's camp," "Strain's camp," and "Observatory Casino." [See pages
STRAIN'S CAMP-1894.
At the original Mount Wilson Spring. See article, " Wilson's Trail," page 395.
367-68.] And they have control of the old original Wilson Trail, as well as their own Toll Road .*
The Los Angeles Times of July 21, 1891, contained the following account of the funniest historic incident connected with this Toll Road :
*The Weekly Star of July 8, 1891, reporting a trip of the county board of supervisors up the Toll Road in order to fix its toll rates, says : "It is over the same general route as that surveyed four years ago by Col. J. E. Place and Mr. Horne, for a cog-wheel railroad. That survey cost $1,000, and was paid for by Col Markham, C. S. Martin and R Williams. That route was over a 25 per cent. grade, without any switchbacks, and went pretty straight up the mountain. *
* The Toll Road survey was be- gun in November, 1890, and took two months steady work. The cog-wheel road was estimated to cost $400,000. The Toll Road is 8.7 miles in length, and its 10 per cent. grade gives a rise of about 5,000 feet. (?) It has numerous romantic points which have been named, such as Pasadena View, Saint's Rest, Halfway Turn, Mosquito Pass, Cape Horn, etc. Its top eud is at the observatory."
26
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" Decidedly the most novel feature to chronicle in connection with the mountain was the ascent made on Sunday by Joe Simons and Chas. Fish- beck, in carts of their own invention and manufacture, and designed especi- ally for the trip. The journey was made thus for the reason that Joe's avoirdupois makes it well nigh impossible for him to make the ascent on foot or mounted. Hence he set his inventive genius to work, and the result was a two-wheeled cart, the wheels being but a trifle over two feet apart and the seat resting on the axle so that the driver could conveniently step to the ground along the narrow places of the trail. The odd-looking pair of vehicles left the foot of the new trail at five o'clock Sunday morning, and made the ascent without any mishap in a little over four hours. The day was spent at Martin & Lynch's camp, where photographs were taken of the outfits and several attendants who went along to assist in case of emergency. The return trip was made the same day. Messrs. Simons & Fishbeck enjoy the distinction of having first traversed the new trail on a wheeled vehicle."
The Star of Saturday, July 18, described the carts, which were made by Stephen Helen, who was to ride one of them, and it said: "They are very narrow-twenty-eight inches-and are provided with mowing machine seats. Joe's 270 pounds of constitution forbids him to either ride horseback or walk up the trail, so he tries the cart." The fact seems to be, that Messrs. Helen and Fishbeck took turns riding their queer thing.
The Pasadena Evening News of June 12, 1895, said :
"At a recent meeting of the Mt. Wilson Toll Road Co., the following officers were elected : C. S. Martin, president ; Wm. Morgan, vice-presi- dent ; W. R. Staats, secretary and treasurer ; R. T. Vandevort, manager."
Telescope point.
Wilson's peak.
" Land of Sunshine," August, 1895.
MARTIN'S CAMP, AT MOUNT HARVARD NECK.
Then, in reply to my inquiries for latest data before printing this chap- ter, the secretary wrote me July 16, 1895 :
"The mountain wagon road will be twelve feet wide, and a length of nine miles to the summit. On the summit will be laid out ten to fifteen miles of bridle roads leading to different points of interest, and through the
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great pine forests ; while on the way up there are many beautiful spots to which branch roads will be run. The Henniger Flats property, recently purchased by Harry C. Allen, consists of 120 acres-the only mesa land on the mountain side. Here a park will be laid out and resort buildings con- structed, in connection with the mountain road. This land, and the land owned by the company on the summit, is not included in the government forest reservation. The summit is now connected by telephone with Pasa- dena, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc."
SWITZER'S TRAIL. - The Valley Union of May 29, 1885, said :
"C. P. Switzer has filled a 'long-felt want' by making a direct trail up the mountains from Brunk's to the big fall of the Arroyo Seco. He has taken up a claim at the falls, and built accommodations for tourists, who are furnished with a good trail at a nominal price, and bed and meals for such as stay over. He is about half way to the summit, and tourists can make the trip up from this place and back in a day, and thus make a very com- fortable trip of it."
The waterfall referred to was named VIRGINIA FALLS. It is a beauti- ful mountain cascade, but not so high as those in Eaton, Rubio, or Millard canyons. Switzer's trail and mountain camp enjoyed much popularity for five or six years, until Mount Wilson and other points of loftiest outlook were made easily accessible. The following account of a trip up Switzer's trail, with some notable historic associations, was published in the Union of May 14, 1886 :
"At 7:30, May 4, a party of young folks left Orange Grove Avenue for a trip to the mountain top, via Switzer's trail. At Mr. Thompson's on the Las Casitas ranch, they expected to meet the guide with burros for the ascent, but he failed to put in an appearance ; and so for that day they con- tented themselves climbing the beautiful hills around the ranch, from which (by the aid of the historic field glass formerly owned and used by John Brown at Harper's Ferry, in 1859,) they had a most charming view of the valley below, and of Pasadena.
" Mrs. Thompson ( John Brown's daughter) kindly entertained them for the night ; and in the morning Mr. Owen Brown, (the only survivor of Harper's Ferry) with his usual kindness, offered his services as guide. From a neighbor they obtained two horses. They thought it would be hard work to divide two horses between six people, but concluded to try it. Two young ladies and Mr. Thompson started at noon, on foot, for Mr. Brunk's, up the Arroyo; Mr. Thompson felled trees and helped them safely across the stream. At Mr. Brunk's they procured two more horses, but 110 saddles, and fortunately found Mr. S., a young man from Chicago, who was rusticat- ing for a few days, and who joined the party. After a few minutes delay, the rest of the party came up. After leaving Mr. Brunk's they followed the valley up, crossing the Arroyo forty-six times during a five mile ride. With laughter and song they rode along, making the valley ring. The favorite song over this part of the road was, 'One more river to cross.' After riding for some time two of the ladies dismounted, letting their horses follow at will. All went well until they came to the last crossing ; as the stones looked safe, the girls thought they could hop over ; but alas ! a little shriek, and in they went. If the gallant Chicagoan had not rushed to their
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rescue, they might have floated to the sea. One of the young ladies thought the ducking would not hurt her, as her grandfather was a Baptist. With their lovely bloomer suits somewhat the worse for the fall, they came to the foot of the mountain, and to climb the 'golden stair ' was next in order. The 'golden stair' is a path just wide enough for a horse or burro, cut in zig- zag shape up the mountain side. The party was glad to reach the top of the 'stairs' (4,600 feet above the sea), as it had been dark for some time, making the precipice along which they had been riding look deeper and more fearful than by daylight. Soon the lights of the camp fire were visible, and a glad shout went up, but although they were now on the down grade they could not go fast, and it was 8:40 when they reached Switzer's camp."
Prof. C. F. Holder's illustrated pamphlet entitled "The Highlands of Pasadena," published in 1889, says :
"To thoroughly enjoy the beauties of the inner range, the services of the genial Switzer should be obtained. The 'Commodore,' as his friends term him, is the only dweller in the heart of the southern sierras, and has a camp about twelve [fourteen] miles from the valley, directly up the Arroyo. He penetrated these wilds originally in search of health himself, and having found it, is now engaged in enjoying it, and entertaining those who care to see something of Southern California scenery behind the big wall. * * The ' Commodore's ' squadron consists of a band of burros trained to climb the side of a house, trained to walk a tight-rope-like trail, and even to sing. These faithful animals very slowly and surely take you into Switzer's in five or six hours, making the trip twice a week."- p. 43-44.
Prof. Holder mentions in the same connection that a trail had been made from Switzer's to the top of Mount Disappointment, and also one to
BARLEY FLATS .- This is a table of land on a summit of the third range back from Pasadena, presenting a tolerably level surface of perhaps 160 acres which is covered with a dense, rich growth of wild barley in its season; this made it a regular deer pasture, and consequently a prowling place for mountain lions seeking prey-and these conditions together had given the place fame as a hunting ground for thirty years past, from Los Angeles. It could be reached by way of the old Wilson trail ; but after Switzer's trail was made, that was the best and easiest route from Los Angeles or Pasadena to Barley Flats.
PINE FLATS .- This is another similar mountain-top area said to contain about 320 acres. It is in the same range with Barley Flats, is reached by a mountainous trail from Mount Wilson, and is a favorite summer resort for Pasadena hunters and campers. It is well covered with pine and cedar trees, some of which are 250 feet high and 7 feet in diameter. So say H. N. Farey, E. Groenendyke, and others.
BROWN'S TRAIL. - See article "Brown's Peak," page 373.
GIDDINGS'S TRAIL .- The Valley Union of June 18, 1886, said :
"E. W. Giddings has planted an immense white flag on a mountain summit next east of Millard canyon which is hereafter to be known as Gid- dings's Peak, in honor of the famous old anti-slavery statesman of Ohio,
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Hon. Joshua R. Giddings. Mr. Giddings is building a double trail to this peak, so as to carry visitors up by way of Millard canyon and the falls. '
In his "Highlands" pamphlet of 1889, Prof. Holder said :
"The road to Millard canyon winds up by the Giddings ranch, then dips into the deep canyon. * * A mile or more and the road ends, and a footpath leads to the falls, one of the most attractive in the range. * * To go beyond the fall the cliff must be climbed, the roots of great Jive-oaks forming supports. By keeping to the right the Giddings trail may be reached, from which one of the finest views of the city and the San Gabriel valley is obtained."
This Giddings trail was a burro path leading from Millard canyon up to Giddings peak, which was the same point on the front range summit that is now called "Grizzly Point" in the Mount Lowe literature. And this Grizzly Point is the ledge of rock where a bear is said to have sat and laughed to see Gov. Markham, Charley Watts, David Townsend and E. G. Halleck of the "Pasadena rifle team," running from him pell-mell down the mountain side, in spring of 1882. [See Gov. Markham's speech at the Mount Lowe celebration, August 23, 1893, in Chapter 23.]
UNCLE BOB'S TRAIL .- In going from Giddings Heights into Millard canyon, or in crossing Millard creek on the road to Las Casitas, there will be seen an old road in the west wall of Millard canyon that looks too steep to have ever been practicable for any wagon use; yet this is where Uncle Bob Owens, the colored man, hatiled wood out from Negro canyon to supply the U. S. headquarters and barracks at Los Angeles with fuel, in 1862-3-4. It was better to haul it up over the mountain spur above Negro canyon and then down this fearful grade, rather than down the easier but far-around Arroyo Seco route, and then up the high, steep bluff at Devil's Gate. [See article, "Negro canyon," page 386.]
THE SOLEDAD TRAIL, or Grade .- Looking northwest from Pasadena, there is seen a line cut along in a north and south direction on the mountain side beyond and above Las Casitas. This is where the traders of Los Angeles set out in the year 1868, before the Southern Pacific R. R. was built, to construct a wagon and stage road across the mountains to the Soledad mining region, which was then a booming center of development .* About six miles were completed as a wagon road, and six miles more worked sufficiently to be used as a pack trail; but the cost of the work greatly exceeded estimates, and the time required proved to be double and treble what was expected. Hence, as soon as it became settled that the S. P. R. R. would build to Los Angeles, this wagon road project was abandoned ; but the gullied and ruined grade still remains to tell the story of a great enterprise of the mining days in South California. In 1887 the business men of Pasadena had a preliminary survey made over this same route
* Gold mining was going on at Soledad in 1868; but silver and copper mining was a success there earlier ; and in 1876 the place had a paper mill.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
through the mountains, for the prospective Los Angeles and Salt Lake rail- road, and claimed that the grade would be only about 87 feet to the mile.
HODGE'S TRAIL .- See "Hodge's Peak," page 374.
LINDA VISTA TRAIL. See Linda Vista peak, page 374.
FREMONT'S TRAIL (?)-In one of Prof. Holder's books, and several of the Board of Trade pamphlets, "Fremont's trail" is mentioned as one of the objects of historic interest. Yet Fremont never "trailed " within ten miles of it. [See page 68 for points.]
CARSON'S TRAIL, or the Loris Gold Mine Trail .- During 1893-94 Messrs. E. V. Carson and Jesse Dickey were engaged in developing their gold mining claims in Pine canyon, and made a pack trail up the west wall of the canyon for transporting the ore down from their mines on mules or burros, to the wagon road in the mouth of the canyon. See article on "Gold Mines," in Chapter 29.
RUBIO WATER TRAIL .- The Rubio Canyon Water Company has a trail which starts at the foot of the east wall of the canyon, on Rubio farm, and extends up the crest of the main ridge between Rubio and Pine canyons to an elevation of over 3000 feet -then along the inner slope of the east wall to some tunnels which the company has made in the waterbearing gulches away in above the great Leontine Falls. For a romantic and interesting mountain tramp this is not excelled. The Pine canyon gold mines can also be reached by the same route. But the foot of this trail can only be reached by crossing the private enclosures of Rubio farm.
JOHN MUIR'S MOUNTAIN CLIMB IN PASADENALAND.
Well, who is John Muir? Why, he is the man who has climbed more mountains, walked more miles, lain out more nights, and discovered more glaciers than any other man known to history. Glaciers was his hobby. In Harper's Monthly for November, 1875, he gives an account of the " Living Glaciers of California "; and says he has discovered no less than sixty-five of them in the Sierra Nevada mountains, between latitudes 36° 30' and 39°, his first discovery being in October, 1871. These living glaciers form the head fountains of the San Joaquin, the Tuolumne and the Owens rivers. He was also the first explorer of the great Muir glacier of Alaska, which rightly bears his name. He was the editor of a notable art-work published in 1888, entitled " Picturesque California, and the region West of the Rocky Mountains from Mexico to Alaska." Also author of the "Moun- tains of California," published by the Century Co., New York, 1894.
John Muir was a classmate with Dr. O. H. Conger in the State Uni- versity at Madison, Wis., when Dr. Ezra S. Carr of Pasadena held the chair of Natural Science in that noble institution. Dr. Conger settled in Pasadena in 1874; and in the summer [August] of 1875 John Muir came to visit lıim and renew old acquaintanceship. At that time no man had ever gone from
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Pasadena directly to the top of the mountains, and Muir made the venture alone. Mrs. Conger baked three loaves of bread for him, and gave him half a pound of tea, which he usually steeped by putting a little into a bottle of cold water and laying the bottle on a rock in the warm sun- shine. He carried no fire-arms, as he had conscientious scruples against taking animal life, and hence used no meat food. With provisions and blankets on his shoulder, he started, and was gone three days. When he got back he was extremely hungry; and Mrs. Conger writes :
" He said that in all his mountaineering he had never found any trip so laborious as that, on account of the very thick growth of underbrush; and he had never found a view so fine as that from the top of these mountains." In another note Mrs. Conger adds this interesting item : "He brought me some tiger lily bulbs from the mountains, and I planted them in my yard, where they have blossomed every year since [19 years] ; and I have always called them my 'John Muir lilies.'"'
He made his trip to the mountains by way of Eaton canyon; and in an article on "The Bee Pastures of California " published in the Century Maga- zine of July, 1882, he gives some account of this mountain climb. It is the first report on record of any trip or exploration from Pasadena to our imme- diate mountain summits, and hence I quote a few paragraphs. He took one day in getting from Pasadena to the mouth of Eaton canyon-camped there over night with a native Mexican woodchopper, and in the morning walked up to the Falls-then hard climbing commenced. Of this Mr. Muir writes:
"From the base of the falls I followed the ridge that forms the western rim of the Eaton basin to the summit of one of the principal peaks, which is about 5,000 feet above the sea level .* Then, turning eastward, I crossed the middle of the basin, ; forcing a way over its many subordinate ridges and across its eastern rim, having to contend almost everywhere with the flow- eriest and most impenetrable growth of honey bushes I have ever encount- ered since first my mountaineering began. Most of the Shasta chaparral is leafy nearly to the ground ; here the main stems are naked for three or four feet, and interspiked with dead twigs, forming a stiff chevaux de frise through which even bears make their way with difficulty. I was compelled to creep for miles on all fours, and in following the bear-trails often found tufts of hair on the bushes where they had forced themselves through.
" For a hundred feet or so above tlie fall the ascent was made possible only by tough cushions of club-moss that clung to the rock. Above this, the ridge weathers away to a thin knife-blade for a few hundred yards, [Hence called " Muir's Knife-Blade Ridge."-ED.] and thence to the sum- mit of the range it carries a bristly mane of chaparral. Here and there small openings occur in rocky places, commanding fine views across the cultivated valley to the ocean. These I found by the tracks were favorite outlooks and resting-places for the wild animals-bears, wolves, foxes, wild- cats, etc .- which abound here, and would have to be taken into account in the
*This is the peak which ascends to a culminating summit from Pine canyon, Rubio canyon and Castle canyon-and forms part of the west wall of Eaton canyon and part of the south wall of Grand Basin. It is " Muir's peak." See page 369.
+This is the " Grand Basin " of the Mount Lowe literature.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
establishment of bee ranches. In the deepest thickets I found wood-rat vil- lages-groups of huts four to six feet high, built of sticks and leaves in rough, tapering piles, like musk-rat cabins. I noticed a good many bees, too-most of them wild. The tame honey-bees seemed languid and wing- weary, as if they had come all the way up from the flowerless plain.
" After reaching the summit I had time to make only a hasty survey of the basin, now glowing in the sunset gold, before hastening down into one of the tributary canyons in search of water. Emerging from a particularly tedious breadth of chaparral, I found myself free and erect in a beautiful park- like grove of live-oak, the ground planted with aspidiums and brier-roses, while the glossy foliage made a close canopy overhead, leaving the gray dividing trunks bare to show the beauty of their plain, interlacing arches .* The bottom of the canyon was dry where I first reached it, but a bunch of scarlet mimulus indicated water at no great distance, and I soon discovered about a bucketful in the hollow of the rock. This, however, was full of dead bees, wasps, beetles and leaves, well steeped and simmered in the hot sunshine, and would, therefore, require boiling and filtering through fresh charcoal before it could be made available. Tracing the dry channel about a mile further down to its junction with a larger tributary canyon, [the one that flows from Mount Lowe down easterly through Grand Basin to a junc- tion with Eaton canyon .- ED.] I at length discovered a lot of boulder pools, clear as crystal, brimming full, and linked together by glistening streamlets just strong enough to sing audibly. Flowers in full bloom adorned their margins, lilies ten feet high, larkspurs, columbines and luxuriant ferns, leaning and overarching in lavish abundance, while a noble old live-oak spread its rugged arms over all. Here I camped, making my bed on smooth cobble-stones."
Judging from his account, and from what I know of the same mountain region and its present local designations, I conclude that he went up across Grand Basin to Muir's Peak; then down across the basin northwestwardly to near where the head of Eaton canyon is lost in a pass or gap that leads through to West San Gabriel canyon ; and crossing here ; he climbed up to Precipicio Peak, and thence along to Knife-Blade Ridge ; but he evidently had to descend before he reached Mount Wilson, on account of nightfall, and came down somewhere in the trough of Henniger's Flat.
Dr. Carr had given college lectures on geology at Madison ; I heard him myself on this theme in January, 1862, while I was there at the state capital on some business connected with my army work as member for Wis- consin of the United States Sanitary Commission ; and Mr. Muir, some time after his Pasadena trip, told the Doctor that these were " the worst tumbled up lot of mountains he had ever got into." This is accounted for by the fact that these mountains were elevated by the crushing, jamming, mashing-together process, from secular compression of the earth's crust, instead of from an internal center of upheaval which produces the long, gradual incline and anticline slopes of higher ranges farther inland.
In his book on " The Mountains of California," published by the Cen-
*This was in the upper portion of the land now known as " Henniger's Flat."
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tury Co., New York, in 1894, John Muir re-tells the story of his climb in Eaton canyon, but with some variations, and he now makes the grave mis- take in geography of supposing this canyon to be in the foot-slopes of "Old Baldy." On page 376 he says :
" The fall, the flowers, the bees, the ferny rocks, and leafy shade form- ing a charming little poem of wildness, the last of a series extending down the flowery slopes of Mount San Antonio [' Old Baldy '] through the rug- ged, foam-beaten bosses of the main Eaton canyon."
Then again on page 380, he says :
"Next day, in the channel of a tributary that heads on Mount San Antonio [?] I passed about fifteen or twenty gardens like the one in which I slept "; etc.
As Mount San Antonio is about sixty miles away from Eaton canyon, in another and entirely different range of mountains, this is a singular error ; and I can only account for it by supposing that he mistook San Gabriel peak, which does furnish a tributary to Eaton canyon, for Mount San An- tonio.
Engineer Macpherson. Prof. Lowe.
E. J Shrader, from Baker Ir mn Works.
TOP OF ECHO MOUNTAIN, APRIL 12, 1892.
Breaking ground for the grade of the Great Incline, or Electric Cable Railroad
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
DIVISION SIX - BUSINESS.
CHAPTER XXI.
WATER COMPANIES .- The colony's water supply .- Ditches, pipes, and reservoirs .- The water war .- Water measurements and adjustments .- Votes and equities .- Sketch of ten different water companies.
THE SAN GABRIEL ORANGE GROVE ASSOCIATION.
The original colony association that settled Pasadena was in fact a mutual land and water company, and the water interests, plans and pros- pects claimed earnest attention from the beginning. When Calvin Fletcher, A. O. Porter and Judge Eaton were appointed as an executive board for the Association, they agreed that Fletcher should take special charge of the work of subdividing and platting the land ; Eaton should take special charge of the water supply work ; and Porter stood as coadjutor to both. The Association was formally organized November 13, 1873 ; but it took time to bring about all the requisite preliminaries for actual work, and it did not have existence as a corporation under the laws of California until 'De- cember 13, 1873, the date of its state certificate. Then on December 20, they voted to authorize their proper officers to purchase tracts One, Two, Three, Four, of Rancho San Pasqual, from John S. Griffin. The Associa- tion office was then at No. 32 Main street, Los Angeles. [For particulars of the purchase, the incidental difficulties, etc., see pages 78 to 80, 107-08, 124, etc.]
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