USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Pomona Valley, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the valley who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
Constable : "Did you get him ?"
Sheriff : "Yes, I got him."
Constable : "Well, what did you do with him?"
Sheriff : "Oh, he got away."
A little later the constable learned that Lugo was visiting a girl in the south part of town, and wrote to officers in the north to learn if he was still "wanted." He found that he was wanted very much and that a considerable reward was in- volved. So Mr. Slanker laid his plans to catch him. Going to a young doctor of his acquaintance, he asked him if he would be willing to stay up several nights "ready for business." "Someone is going to need attention," he said, "either I, or someone else." In a shed back of the house he hid and watched for several nights. Then Lugo came. Riding down the alley, he put his horse in the barn and went to the house. Then Mr. Slanker took the horse out, hitched him in another place and waited for Lugo to come out. Some time after midnight he saw him coming down the alley, his knife in his hand. "Now is the time," said Mr. Slanker to himself, and he rushed upon him as he was about to enter the barn and struck him on the side of the head with his revolver. Lugo fell, but not senseless, for as Mr. Slanker started to bring him out he grappled with him and a deadly struggle fol- lowed. Both lost their revolvers in the tussle, but Mr. Slanker managed to get hold of Lugo's. Somehow-lie could not remember all the details later-Mr. Slanker got the best of Lugo. Finding a bad wound on the top of his prisoner's. head, the constable took him to the doctor. "A few minutes more and he could not have been saved," the physician said. "You hit me too hard, Slanker," said Lugo later; "I knew it was you." "How did you know?" the constable asked. "No one else would have dared try it," said Lugo.
Of the permanent residents of Pomona who came before the boom and are still living here, few have contributed so much to the high standards of the com- munity as Fred J. Smith and his wife. Coming to Pomona in 1881, as Captain Hutchinson was boring his artesian wells farther west, before the Land and Water Company had organized and begun its water development, he was especially concerned in the problem of water supply, recognizing its importance in the future of the Valley. Believing that flowing wells could be sunk on the forty-acre piece north of his present place, on the old Loop and Meserve Tract, he tried to purchase it of H. K. W. Bent and his associates, who had bought it from Loop and Meserve, but they refused to sell the right to develop water (though they did sell it later to Hixon, and the wells on his and the Camp place farther north confirmed Mr. Smith's judgment). So lie bought the tract which he still owns, west of San Antonio Avenue and south of San Bernardino, and began its improvement, setting it out mostly to choice vines, but laying out the beautiful home plot which sug- gests their good taste and perhaps the instincts for a home estate, inherited from his English ancestors. Across the upper corner of the place ran the old County Road, the Camino Real de San Bernardino, packed like rock after generations of travel, as Kewen Dorsey says, who came from Spadra with his teams and tools to break it up. The connection of Mr. Smith with the water development will be noticed later.
131
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
Pomona's present postmaster, Col. Frank P. Firey, from the first a leader in the upbuilding of the town, came to California in 1883. Toward the close of the tedious train ride, in company with his traveling companion, Prof. W. T. Tibbs, he remembers especially stretching their legs, as travelers do, at the little town of Pomona, and noting the rows of tall eucalyptus (more noticeable in the earlier landscape than now ) against the background of the mountains. After knocking about Los Angeles and San Diego, looking for a suitable location, they remembered their impression of this oasis, after crossing the desert, with the result that both he ånd Professor Tibbs came to Pomona and bought homes in the Kingsley Tract, and he has been identified with the city from that time to the present. During his term of service as mayor of Pomona, the new City Hall was built and other im- provements made, especially in the development of Ganesha Park. In his discrim- inating review of Pomona's progress at the laying of the corner stone of Pomona's Greek Theater, Colonel Firey prefaced his more substantial facts as to the banks with this incident :
"The Pomona Valley Bank, thirty-three years ago, * was run by one man, and that was Dr. Coates, pioneer physician of Pomona. I remember going into the bank one day, which was then located in what is now known as the old Ruth Block. As I went into the bank Dr. Coates sat in a chair in the middle of the room behind the counter, sound and fast asleep. I looked at him for a moment or two, and as he snored away I rapped loudly on the counter. My noise awak- ened him and he sprang to his feet with his arms extended, as though he was expecting a bank robber."
About the same time came the Lorbeer family, whose sterling character has made its favorable impress on church and town. Mr. Charles I. Lorbeer came first, in 1883, his mother, Mrs. C. A. Lorbeer, and others coming later. The former with enthusiasm and high purpose threw himself into many of the town's best enterprises-the library, the schools, the new incorporation, the fight against liquor. He was for some years editor of the Pomona Progress, and when the storm against Chinese labor was at its height he was one of the prime movers and secretary (J. B. Camp being chairman) of the Steam Laundry then established. He was also one of the founders of the Mutual Building and Loan Association.
In January, 1886, Ira F. White and Son, of Vacaville, bought out John John- ston's hardware store and began their long and solid business career. After some years in retirement, the father has just been active in organizing the Pomona Valley Pioneer Society. His son, Frank, is remembered by many as the inventor of improved ladders and clippers for fruit men, and of many other devices, which he is now manufacturing on a large scale in Plainfield, N. J.
Doubtless a little search would bring to light old fences or buildings any- where in the Valley, or stones upon the mountains, still bearing the inscription, "We Sell the Earth." No one who lived within forty miles of Pomona in the late eighties and early nineties will forget R. S. Bassett and his cheerful, indefatigable, hustling way, as he burst into the town and began to sell pianos and other musical instruments, sewing machines and everything else, but especially real estate. Others were associated with him at times in real estate-James F. Taylor, the engineer, and Fred J. Smith, the more conservative horticulturist-but Bassett was the unique and superlative booster, both of his business and of the town.
The shoe merchant, P. J. Tarr, will also be long remembered for his ingenious advertising as well as for his substantial place in business and church and town. One day, after the countryside had been startled by the legend appearing every-
132
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
where, "Try Tarr on Shoes," a stranger followed one of the numerous paths of black footprints which, coming from every direction, all led to Tarr's, and entered the store in great indignation. "I've tried tar on my shoes and ruined them," he said. "I want damages." Nor was his wrath appeased when shown that the advice was "Try Tarr on Shoes"-not tar.
Another family, which has been conspicuous all through the history of the town, always exerting their influence and giving of their means for the highest life of the town is the Doles, formerly of Bangor, Maine, who came to Pomona in 1887. John Dole arrived in the spring and his brother, William B. Dole, with his family, in the fall. Both were stockholders in the People's Bank, which was organized that year, Jolin Dole being one of its cashiers. The Congregational Church and Pomona College owe much to their cordial and active support. Always prominent in Masonic circles, their place has been taken by their brother, "Uncle Albert" Dole, as he is affectionately called, and by Arthur, son of William B. Dole. The latter has also been most valuable in library and educational affairs of the city.
From the time of his arrival in Pomona, in 1886, until he moved to Los Angeles in 1904, few men, if any, accomplished more in the building up of the town than did Stoddard Jess. Following his parents here from Waupun, Wis., where he had been in the banking business with his father, and had risen to the post of mayor of the city, he at once identified himself with the progressive life of the city. Together with Carlton Seaver, he placed the First National Bank on its strong foundations ; and he was one of the founders of the Mutual Building and Loan Association. On the side of good order in the contest for incorporation, he served as the city's first treasurer. The library, the cemetery, the Unitarian Church were among the other interests which received his earnest support. Both Stoddard Jess and his father, George, built attractive homes in the midst of groves and flowers on Ellen Street (Park Avenue).
Another strong factor in the building of the new town was C. E. Sumner, who came in 1882, after living a hermit life on government land in Live Oak Canyon, where he recovered his health, which had been impaired by overwork. Now placing himself at once on the side of the forces making for a clean city, he threw his energies into the conflicts, to be described later, against the liquor deal- ers, and for an incorporation which should establish good order. He was one of the framers of the first city charter ; then drew up the ordinance against the saloons which put them out of business. He was editor for some time, with W. D. Morton, of the Times-Courier, and also served the city as city attorney, devot- ing his entire time to the office, on the munificent salary of $35 a month! His marriage to the daughter of A. R. Meserve has been mentioned. Not until after a long and faithful term of service for the city did he retire to Los Angeles to acquire a good practice and reputation in the legal profession there.
There is one personality of the earlier days of whom one thinks with the deepest admiration-yes, and affection; one who, like Barrie's "little minister," entered so many of the homes all over the Valley, with the healing of his profes- sional skill and the comfort of his rare sympathy. How many in sudden anguish of anxiety, or tossed on beds of pain, have felt the glad, intense relief that came when was heard the rapid beat of his horse's hoofs outside, and then when one looked into his deep, dark eyes. He spoke but little, yet communicated volumes of helpfulness and courage. Steady and cool and skilful in the hour of crisis, his whole ambition was of service to those in need, regardless of wealth or station. Once, when a man was buried by a cave-in of earth in a tunnel five or six miles.
1.33
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
north of town, and a message was sent him that a poor, unknown fellow was buried in the ground, without hesitation, nor caring who he was or whether he could pay, he ran to his buggy and raced as fast as he could drive to the spot, arriving long before it seemed possible for him to make it; and then, jumping from the buggy before it had stopped, he had the man's tongue out and was apply- ing every known means of revival, even before the sufferer was quite released from imprisonment ; nor did he cease his efforts till every chance was past, thoughi realizing, doubtless, from the first the probability that it was a hopeless fight. Never again, perhaps, will it be given to one man to minister so completely to the whole community as it was given to Dr. Frank Garcelon, the "little doctor," who fulfilled to the utmost his high calling and privileges.
"Time would fail" to mention the long list of other names of those who, even before 1890, were active in the upbuilding of the city, and whom some, doubt- less, would recall more vividly and with equal recognition of worth and service. There were Will S. Bailey, the jeweler, who moved later to Los Angeles, and C. C. Zilles, still relied upon here as jeweler and watchmaker; L. T. Bishop and I. N. Sanborn, builder and mason, and both builders in the Congre- gational Church; Judge Evey, S. Caldwell, the druggist, and J. E. Patterson, still serving the public as undertaker ; Ramish and Cohn of the People's Store, and Padgham, and Minier, and Woody, the grocers; Col. George Roher and Peter Fleming of the Sycamore Water Company, also mentioned later.
Following the great boom of 1883-1887 came another period of depression, as was true after the lesser boom of 1875-1876, when Pomona was begun. The general condition was not so acute, to be sure, nor was there such dire distress at any point ; yet a number of concerns went to the wall ; horse cars ceased to run, some lines surrendering their franchise; families moved away, and hobos even fled the country. Also the well-to-do and the land-poor were hard put to it to tide over. Before the Loops sold their interest in the Loop and Meserve Tract to the Pomona Land and Water Company-a sale which, by the way, made possible their long journey abroad-Mrs. Loop used to say that they surely would have starved but for the lime hedge from which a picking of limes was always a possible dernier ressort.
CHAPTER SIX WATER, LIGHT AND POWER*
THREE SOURCES OF WATER-OLD SETTLEMENT WATER-CANYON WATER- ARTESIAN WELLS-WATER COMPANIES-TUNNELS-CONSERVATION-ELEC- TRIC LIGHT AND POWER.
The history of the development of water in the Valley, and its consequent forms of energy, light and power, so essential to our modern life, might properly fill a volume by itself. Such a history should be written by an expert who is familiar with both the technique and history of these subjects. Those who are best fitted, probably, to deal with the subject of water are Willis S. Jones, civil engineer and expert adviser for the county, in charge of all the conservation work now in progress in this section ; H. J. Nichols, president of the Pomona Land and Water Company, and Fred J. Smith, formerly of the Citizens Water Company. At a meeting of the Pomona Valley Historical Society in October, 1916, Mr. Smith, in a paper entitled "The Coming of the Water," presented the most satisfactory account of this matter which has yet been prepared. Written from an intimate personal knowledge of the facts, with free access to relevant documents and in consultation with Mr. Nichols and Mr. Jones, authorities just mentioned, and compiled with intelligent judgment, the paper was of such value as to be published in the Bulletin, and filed in the Pomona Public Library in a pamphlet entitled, "Early Days in Pomona." Frequent and extended use of this article is made in the following pages.
A writer describing the resources of the Valley in the very first issue of the Pomona Progress, in January, 1885, rightly says: "The valleys and plains of Southern California are blessed with rich soil, but blessed indeed, twice blessed, is that land to which can be added abundance of water." As Mr. Smith says in the opening paragraph of "The Coming of the Water," "The importance of water to this Valley may be realized by the statement that more than a million dollars' worth of orchards is at present dependent on every square mile of the San Antonio watershed, twenty-seven and a half square miles in extent, from which primarily all our water is derived." After the direct supply which falls over the Valley in the form of rain, and which is largely absorbed either by surface vege- tation or by seepage down to the underground supplies, there are practically three sources of water supply. One of these is the stream in San Antonio Canyon ; a second is found, or was, in the cienegas where underlying impervious strata of the earth, cropping out or coming near the surface, have caused the water to appear in springs ; and the third source is artificial wells and tunnels by which the water is brought to the surface through human agency, sometimes flow- ing freely, as in the first artesian wells and tunnels, sometimes pumped by hand or by wind, as in the earlier surface wells, but more often pumped from deep wells by gasoline or electric-driven engines, the latter draining lower subter- ranean levels.
*This chapter deals only with the Water, Light and Power for the Claremont and Pomona region.
136
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
THE OLD SETTLEMENT WATER
At first, of course, the Indians and the Mexican settlers depended entirely upon the springs and streams by which their rancherias and haciendas were naturally and necessarily built. Thus we find the Spanish settlement at the San José Hills beside the Palomares cienegas and San José creek, the earlier Vejar (later the Phillips ) settlement and Spadra beside the springs and Arroyo Pedre- goso and the San José Creek, and the Indian rancherias at the Martin and other cienegas. The normal rainfall usually sufficed in the lower parts of the Valley for pasturage for wide-ranging herds; also in the same regions for grain and some fruits. But for most fruits, notably for the citrus industry, for gardens and alfalfa, and especially for the domestic use of growing cities, artificial sup- plies, development and conservation were imperative. The first movement in this direction was early in 1875, when Lugarda Palomares, wife of Pancho, Cyrus Burdick and P. C. Tonner bought of Concepcion Palomares, wife of the grantee, "all the rights to the waters not heretofore granted,* arising on or flowing through the portion of the Rancho de San José" described in particular and including most of the cienega land around the base of the hills "together with the exclusive right to increase the amount of said water," only excluding a certain spring belonging to Francisco Palomares and his mother, and water to irrigate 100 acres of their land. This water right was secured not only for use on their own properties, but to supply the tract which they were subdividing and placing on the market. In April of this year the new company, called by every one "the company with the long name," bought this water right of the Palomares, Burdick, Tonner Company, with the exception of water sufficient for some fifty acres reserved especially to Burdick and Tonner. This reservation and that specified in the conveyances to Lopez and to Tomas and Francisco Palomares, before mentioned, constituted what was known as the "Old Settlement Water." All the sale of land in the Burdick Addition carried with it proportionate shares in the "Old Settlement Water." Further rights of developing water on the Tomas Palomares property were purchased in March, 1877, by owners in the tract.
Except for these reservations the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Coop- erative Association secured from Francisco and Lugarda Palomares, from Cyrus Burdick and P. C. Tonner all their water rights, and rights of development, and the right to "convey the water over the lands of the Rancho San José," trans- ferring these water interests then to a subsidiary corporation called the Pomona Water Company (not the Pomona Land and Water Company). Mr. Smith says that this company sunk a few shallow seven-inch wells at the head of the San José Creek, forty or fifty feet deep, dug an open cut in the cienega, and conveyed the water by open ditch to a reservoir in the center of Holt Avenue, a little east of San Antonio Avenue. There was at the time some controversy as to the owner- ship of this water as between the Immigration and Water Companies on the one part and the successors in interest of the Palomares family, who had acquired and were developing other tracts of land on the other part. The few hundred acres sold by the Immigration Company were ill-supplied, and the few trees planted suffered and mostly died, though a few orange trees survived both drought and frost, and lines of eucalyptus on Ellen and one or two other streets were
*In March, 1869, Concepcion Palomares, in deeding fifty acres to José Lopez, eighty-eight to Tomas Palomares and 188 acres to Francisco Palomares, had also conveyed to each "right of water in the proportion that he is entitled, having (so many) acres."
137
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
tided over and grew to a great height before they gave way to more intensive cultivation.
As stated in the chapter, "Beginnings of Pomona," the private surface wells were utterly inadequate.
CANYON WATER
When the Water Company failed and was sold out by the sheriff in 1878, their water rights, partly through P. C. Tonner, came into the hands of Louis Phillips, together with a large area of land which reverted to him. These were later purchased, directly or through Mills and Wicks, by the Pomona Land and Water Company after their organization in 1882, as previously explained. But the Old Settlement and other waters of the San Jose Hills were only a part of the supply acquired by the new Land and Water Company. While greatly in- creasing this source of supply, they turned their attention also to the waters of San Antonio Canyon.
Several references have been made to the open ditch which ran from the mouth of the canyon to the upper line of what was later the Loop and Meserve Tract. This ditch, about seven miles long, was dug by Indians for Ygnacio Palomares and his co-grantees to bring the water to the old San Antonio vineyard -- "Huerta de San Antonio." They claimed half the stream ; but this claim was denied, openly by other property owners to the east, who disputed their title, secretly by others who tapped the ditch along its course and led the water away for their own use, and especially in a most practical way by the alders and other vegetation along the bank, by evaporation and by the seepage of the gravelly soil which claimed the lion's share. As to the title, the right of the Palomares family and their associates to half the water, as claimed by reason of their Spanish grants, as well as of continuous possession for fifteen years, was estab- lished by a judgment of the District Court in May, 1871. This right was reaf- firmed by an agreement between the Pomona Land and Water Company and the San Antonio Water Company. As to the theft and waste, this problem also was effectively solved by the same company. When Messrs. C. T. Mills of Oakland and M. L. Wicks of Los Angeles, the organizers of the Pomona Land and Water Company, purchased of Messrs. Loop and Meserve 700 or 800 acres of their tract, they also contracted for important rights in the waters of San Antonio, which Messrs. Loop and Meserve had purchased in their entirety from the original grantees. At this time water amounting. to an inch to ten acres was regarded as ample for the development of orchard property. But the Land and Water Company agreed with Loop and Meserve to deliver to them water amount- ing to an inch to every eight acres, laying a pipe line all the way from the canyon for this purpose and keeping it in repair for ten years ; in consideration for which the Land and Water Company were to have full title to all these water rights in the canyon in excess of the inch per eight acres delivered to the Loop and Meserve Tract. The construction of this line of sixteen-inch concrete pipe was a big undertaking, but it was completed in about a year at a cost of $63,000. In this way all the lands of the Loop and Meserve Tract were provided with a good, permanent supply of water, and in addition some 500 acres of land above the artesian belt were brought under water, including the North Palomares Tract and the Richards orange lands.
In 1885 a dam was built by Charles French for the Pomona Land and Water Company in the canyon for the measurement of the "vater and for equal
138
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
division between Pomona and Ontario. In 1890, miles of wooden flume by which the water was carried to the intake of the cement ditch from farther up the canyon, were washed out, and were replaced by the company with more cement pipe, at a further cost of some $10,000.
The disposal of the surplus water which flows from the canyon in the winter, and at times of heavy rain, is of great importance and is discussed later in this chapter under "Conservation."
ARTESIAN WELLS
The first artesian wells "that successfully developed flows of good commer- cial quantity," as Mr. Smith conservatively states, were those which Capt. A. J. Hutchinson and Francisco Palomares, as equal partners, bored during the years 1877 and 1878 near the north edge of the Palomares cienega, two on Palomares' land and two on that of Captain Hutchinson, at the bend in Garey Avenue oppo- site the hospital. Mention has already been made of Captain Hutchinson, the Englishman who "was different" from other folks, with his garden surrounded by a board fence, his tobacco and his pigs, his fine horses and his Chinese cook. We have also remarked that his well-borers were Engineer "Bill" Mulholland and Constable Slanker. Three of the four wells came in strong, the first at a depth of 285 feet. The success of Captain Hutchinson and Francisco Palomares in their venture encouraged others to invest more heavily in the same enterprise. "The next ten years," says Mr. Smith, "was an era of great development ; capital flowed into water development in bonanza streams." The leaders in this develop- ment were the Land and Water Company, who, besides developing and conserv- ing the supplies from the Palomares cienega and from the canyon as described above, began also that extensive "campaign of artesian water development main- tained throughout the eighties that saw during this period seventy-five artesian wells drilled in the Palomares, Martin and Del Monte cienegas, and over forty- three miles of pipe laid down, and later, up to 1914, put down forty-seven addi- tional wells, making a total of 141 wells drilled, which with the cost of distrib- uting pipe systems, called for a cash outlay of $190,323.79." A single item in this development was the reservoir east of town on Holt Avenue, built in 1884, with a capacity of 6,000,000 gallons.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.