History of Riverside County, California, Part 13

Author: Holmes, Elmer Wallace, 1841-
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 845


USA > California > Riverside County > History of Riverside County, California > Part 13


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


.


Digitized by Google:


1


,


.


1


1


124


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


CHAPTER XIV. FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS By E. W. Holmes


THE ODD FELLOWS. The number of secret orders organized in Riverside is almost as great as the religious denominations rep- resented here. The first of these was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which organized a lodge in Riverside on April 26, 1879. That the number thirteen carries no ill-luck to Odd Fel- lows is shown by the fact that there were thirteen charter mem- bers, and the lodge has prospered, so that its present member- ship of 701 makes it one of the very largest in the state. The elective officers first installed were: B. D. Burt, N. G .; E. W. Holmes, V. G .; E. Rosenthal, Sec .; C. W. Packard, Treas .; C. J. Gill, Conductor; R. Reeves, Warden ;. E. R. Pierce, O. G .; J. R. Noland, I. G. The other charter members were: S. C. Evans, Hugo Goebel, T. J. Wood, E. J. Davis and N. A. Stiffler. Large auxiliary organizations are associated with the original lodge in the work of the order. It was this lodge that built the first edi- fice for fraternal use in the city, and it has since been enlarged and thoroughly equipped for the uses of the order and for busi- ness purposes. It is now one of the most valuable blocks in the city.


THE MASONIC ORDER. Evergreen Lodge of Master Masons was instituted under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of California on the 12th of November, 1879, with the following officers: William Craig, W. M .; Pryor S. Russell, S. W .; Wilson B. Russell, J. W .; John Stone, Treasurer; C. C. Miller, Secretary; K. D. Shugart, S. D .; George D. Cunningham, J. D .; Charles E. Packard, Tyler.


A year later the charter was issued, and Evergreen Lodge No. 259, F. & A. M., was legally constituted with the following char- ter members: B. F. Allen, David Battles, John Bonham, A. H. Ball, Daniel H. Burnham, William Craig, G. D. Cunningham, B. B. Chandler, Thomas W. Cover, John B. Camp, Edward J. Davis, Hugo Goebel, John W. Hamilton, Benjamin B. Handy, Alonzo D. Haight, Ira C. Haight, C. C. Miller, Isaac Marsh, Charles E.


Digitized by Google


125


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


Packard, W. O. Price, P. S. Russell, W. B. Russell, John Stone and K. D. Shugart.


The lodge now has a membership of 325. For many years it occupied the upper portion of the Castleman Block, which has recently been torn down, and the site occupied by the First National bank building. On the 8th of December, 1908, it dedi- cated the beautiful and commodious Masonic Temple it now occu- pies near the corner of Eleventh and Main streets. The building and its furnishings cost about $28,000.


The present officers of the lodge are: John G. Bayley, W. M .; James P. Robeson, S. W .; Leonard A. Cowles, J. W .; Menno S. Bowman, Treasurer; Robert P. Cundiff, Secretary; William C. Clatworthy, Chaplain; Frank Herkelrath, S. D .; Orville P. San- ders, J. D .; A. H. Winder, S. S .; Charles O. Reid, J. S .; John T. Jarvis, Marshal; P. A. Gunsolus, Tyler; A. S. Walther, Chorister; F. K. Joslyn, Organist. George D. Cunningham, W. B. Clancy and S. J. Castleman, Trustees.


The following is a list of those who have filled the Master's chair since the lodge was organized: William Craig, P. S. Rus- sell, W. B. Russell (three years), George M. Skinner, John W. Hamilton (two years), B. B. Chandler, S. B. Hinckley (two years), Walter E. Keith, C. W. Filkins (two years), James W. Johnson, Kingsbury Sanborn, William J. Lamrick, George D. Cunning- ham, B. M. Longfellow, William A. Anderson, John T. Jarvis, William B. Clancy (two years), Emerson H. Gruwell, Stanley J. Castleman (two years), Harry W. Hammond, Henry D. French (two years), Charles B. Bayley, James E. Drayton, J. Harvey Ellis, John G. Bayley.


RIVERSIDE COMMANDERY No. 67, R. A. M., which now has a membership of 132, was organized May 7, 1886, with the following officers: Menno S. Bowman, M. P .; Henry Ellsworth Way, K .; Charles Thomas Rice, Scribe; Samuel Bond Hinckley, C. II .; Wilson Byron Russell, P. S .; Otis Theron Dyer, Treasurer; Emil Julius Rosenthal, Secretary; William McBain, R. A. C .; Chris- topher Columbus Miller, M. 3. V. 1 .; Eugene Hornbeck, Guard.


RIVERSIDE COMMANDERY. The first meeting of Riverside Com- mandery was held Dec. 14, 1886. Its first officers were: S. B. Hinckley, Com .; M. S. Bowman, Gen .; C. T. Rice, (. G .; J. H. Fawcett, Prel .; E. H. Way, S. W .; C. C. Miller, J. W .; O. T.


Digitized by Google


1


1


1


126


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


Dyer, Treasurer; F. K. Ainsworth, Rec .; P. K. Kleinfelter, St. Br .; J. W. Sayward, Sw. Br .; E. Y. Chevalier, Sent. The Comman -; dery has at this time just an even 100 members.


UNGAVA CHAPTER No. 106, O. E. S., completed its organiza- tion in November, 1890, with forty-four members. The first officers of the chapter were: Lida Lair Martin, A. Matron; Charles W. Filkins, W. Patron; Louise E. Allen, Asso. Matron; Ella M. Fil- kins, Sec'y; Alyszan Rouse, Treas .; Clara Keith, Cond .; Mary Papineau, Asst. Cond .; Bertha Haight, Adah; Harriet Fountain, Ruth; Mary E. Cover, Esther; Jessie Haight, Martha; Eliza Rob- inson, Electa.


The chapter now has a membership of 325. The following sisters have served as presiding officers of the chapter since its organization: Louise E. Allen, Susan E. Cunningham, Emma Gray, Leila B. (Jarvis) Pann, Mary A. Papineau, Lillian S. Allen, Nellie Anderson, Anna (Rice) Boardwell, Etta A. Cundiff, Henri- etta Anderson, Jennie Gould Way, Lillian (Battles) Warren, Ada Mae Tucker, Inez Robeson, Elizabeth Drayton, Louise Mills.


KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. On the 17th day of January, 1885, there was organized a lodge of the Knights of Pythias. The pioneer officers were Guy G. Majors, P. C .; James M. Drake, V. C .; W. A. Hayt, Prelate; W. A. Correll, K. of P. and S .; M. A. Hib- bard, M. F .; J. R. Newberry, Mast. Ex .; F. C. Sweetser, Mast. A .; C. D. Jones, I. G .; S. B. Robinson, O. G. Among its most promi- nent members, who were devoted to making it a center of social as well as fraternal life, was Albert S. White. Its Uniform Rank was for years one of the best drilled organizations in the state.


Digitized by Google


.


127


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


CHAPTER XV. THE WOMEN'S CLUBS By E. W. Holmes


In every effort made to build up and beautify the city the women of Riverside have ever given a most generous and loyal support. As always in school and church affairs their influence for good has been conspicuous. But when, with the growth of the city, there came the inevitable segregation which multiplied the church organizations, and there was a tendency because of this for them to lose touch with each other in the broader field needing unity of effort, they came together in organizations which have strengthened them in aiding the educational, social and material improvement of the community.


Out of this need grew a sentiment which led to the forma- tion of the Riverside Woman's Club, which it was designed to make an organization "where character, not social position or wealth, should be the basis of club aristocracy." Started with such a spirit it is no wonder that the club has grown in numbers and influence, until it is one of the permanent and most valued institutions of the city. Mrs. Martha E. Hewitt, Dr. Sarah E. Maloy, and others, after consultation regarding the forming of a club, sent out invitations for a meeting to be held in Dr. Maloy's office, and on January 7, 1896, the ladies who responded joined with them in organizing the Woman's ('lub of Riverside. The fol- lowing sixteen were the charter members: Mrs. Martha E. Hewitt, Dr. Sarah E. Maloy, Mrs. Ella J. Collier, Mrs. Mary E. Boggs, Mrs. Laura T. Reynolds, Mrs. Mary E. Darling, Mrs. Martha E. Ames, Mrs. Cora Van Aernam Peters, Mrs. Alice E. Holmes, Mrs. Sarah J. Ford, Mrs. Josephine Wheeler, Mrs. Mary L. Trowbridge, Mrs. N. P. J. Button, Mrs. Jean Koethen, Mrs. Ella Filkins, Mrs. Hulda Van Aernam.


Dr. Sarah E. Maloy was elected first president; Mrs. Ella J. Collier, vice-president; Mrs. Mary E. Boggs, corresponding secre- tary, and Mrs. Laura T. Reynolds, treasurer.


The general assembly of the club, and each of the classes, have monthly meetings. These were held at first in the homes


Digitized by Google


!


128


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


of the members, later in leased public halls, but finally in the splendid Women's Club house erected for their use. The club has some 200 members, who assign themselves as taste dictates, in classes devoted to Art, Home and Philanthropy, Review, Music and Shakespeare. While the educational and social features have been its leading characteristics the club has given its influence and material assistance in behalf of other organizations and for the beautifying of the city.


The following is a list of those who have filled the president's chair: Dr. Sarah E. Maloy (president emeritus) ), Mrs. N. P. J. Button, Mrs. L. F. Darling, Mrs. Fanny G. Kishler, Mrs. E. W. Holmes, Mrs. John Meharg, Mrs. Henrietta Grout, Mrs. J. S. Noyes, Mrs. O. E. Rickard, Mrs. Carrie Taylor, Mrs. G. D. Cun- ningham, Mrs. G. W. Dennis, Mrs. J. H. Holland, Mrs. Ida Spooner Smith and Mrs. J. H. D. Cox.


Having accumulated quite a fund with the building of a club house in view, the matter took definite shape in 1901, when an auxiliary organization was incorporated as the Woman's Club House Association, with a board of directors consisting of Mrs. Lizzie A. Low, Mrs. Fannie Noyes, Isabella Gill, Mary E. Darling, Alice E. Holmes, Mary E. Boggs, Mrs. Helena Leighton, Sarah J. Ford, Louise Harvey Clarke, Susan B. Cunningham. Mrs. Button was chosen president of the board, and Mrs. Cunningham, secre- tary. Stock was generously subscribed by the club members and citizens generally, and a lot finally purchased at the corner of Main and Eleventh streets. Plans were made for the new build- ing by F. P. Burnham of Los Angeles, a contract let for its construction to Durfey Brothers, and in 1908 the club took pos- session of the beautiful building which is its permanent home. The property as it stands represents an investment of about $25,000.


Another prominent organization of Riverside women is the Wednesday Morning Club. It was originally known as the Extem- poraneous Drill Club, under which name it effected its organiza- tion in the Universalist church parlors in February, 1902. It had a charter membership of sixty-five, and has an average mem- bership of 100. Its object was primarily to study parliamentary usage and train its members in presenting orally their views on important current events, and also to stimulate a public spirit which should induce improved sanitary conditions and the further


Digitized by Google


129


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


beautifying of the city. This club was formed through the efforts of Mrs. Lorenzo Franklin Darling, at the time a member of the . executive board of the State Federation of Clubs. Among its other valued members were its two honorary vice-presidents, the late Mrs. George H. Deere, and Mrs. Mary Sammet, the latter still useful in spite of her seventy-nine years. Like the older woman's club it has given generously in aid of many beneficent objects. Its presidents have been Mrs. L. F. Darling, Mrs. C. R. Stibbens, Mrs. I. W. Gleason, Mrs. P. T. Carter, Mrs. Frank E. Densmore and Mrs. M. Estudillo.


The Tuesday Musical Club is the name of a woman's organiza- tion whose efforts have stimulated and helped to maintain a love of all that is best in music. It had a modest beginning in 1890, when the club held its sessions in the homes of its members, but its growth soon compelled the use of the Y. M. C. A. Hall, where it met until the completion of the Woman's Club house provided it with superior accommodations. Its concerts, given from time to time, have not only afforded the people of the city opportunity to enjoy the work of our local musicians, but have also been the means of giving to Riverside audiences opportunity to hear at home many of the best of the world's artists and musical organiza- tions. Its presidents have been Mrs. Dudley Duyckinck, Mrs. Edgar R. Skelley, Mrs. Hubert Hamilton, Mrs. John Macrae, Miss Mar- garet Gage, Mrs. G. E. Tucker, Mrs. James Orrick and Mrs. Arthur Brown.


Digitized by


Google


130


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


.


CHAPTER XVI. RIVERSIDE'S MILITARY HISTORY By E. W. Holmes


Although Riverside was settled some five years after the close of the Civil war, and therefore contributed no organization of her own to the great army that fought for the preservation of the Union, so many of those who became residents of the city bore an honorable part in that conflict as to make it proper to place their names on record here. So many of the old soldiers came to make Riverside their home, that it is said that for years prob- ably ten per cent of her voters were veterans. No complete list of these is available, but from a history of the local Post, prepared by Capt. Harvey Potter, we gather the following:


RIVERSIDE POST No. 118, G. A. R .- This Post was organized May 1, 1886, with thirty-one charter members, who were: Chris- topher C. Miller, James HI. Roe, George M. Skinner, Elmer W. Holmes, Samuel B. Hinckley, Cary J. Gill, Otis T. Dyer, Charles T. Rice, Henry W. Robinson, John Aberdeen, Adair S. Alkire, J. P. Mitchell, David Frost, Francis Coolidge, William Carr, John O. Cottrell, Nelson Rustin, Lycurgus Grice, John K. Woodward, John E. Cutter, Winfield S. Wilson, Charles L. Cady, W. G. Wall, Edwin Hart, Frank Petchner, Joseph M. Edmiston, Albert H. Sprague, Veranus S. Runnels, Marcus M. Davis, Robert Johnston and David Frost.


The following is a list of the Post commanders: Cary J. Gill, 1886; Marcus M. Davis, 1887; Hiram C. Hibbard, 1888; Chris- topher C. Miller, 1889; Charles T. Rice, 1890-91; Charles H. Vos- burg, 1892; Francis Coolidge, 1893; William W. Campbell, 1894; Gaylor Rouse, 1895; Oliver Burrell, 1896; Charles M. Dexter, 1897-98; David G. Mitchell, 1899-1900; Harvey Potter, 1901; William B. Johnson, 1902; Jacob J. Yeakle, 1903; Charles Leech, 1904; Arlington C. Lewis, 1905; Andrew S. Milice, 1906; Dwight B. Mason, 1907; Homer A. Plimpton, 1908; George D. Jones, 1909; Elmer W. Holmes, 1910; Robert Henderson, 1911; Jeffrey O. Cutts, 1912; Edwin H. Gamble, 1913.


The following have been commanders in other Posts, and later


Digitized by Google


131


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


became members of Riverside Post by transfer: Peter W. Stocks- ledger, Albert Laughridge, Henry S. Clark, Jonathan W. McKen- ney, John S. Strong, Madison Noland, Henry R. Vandebogart, David N. Alexander, Augustus Hulsiger, Oscar Pixley, Lyman Gregory, David Herrod, George N. Mason, Hiram I. Gruwell, William M. Pilgrim, John A. Willard, Mortimer P. Main.


Charles T. Rice was commander of the Department of Cali- fornia and Nevada for one term; Harvey Potter, judge advocate for two terms, and D. G. Mitchell served as commander of the Southern California Veteran Association. Many Union veterans, not members of the Grand Army, have lived and died in River- side, but no accurate list of these is available. One of the first to be buried in Evergreen Cemetery was Henry O. Stanley, the first secretary of the Land and Irrigation Company, who was dur- ing the war an aid of General Howard.


Riverside has also had among her most loyal and respected citizens a number of Confederate veterans, several of whom have been so prominently identified with her progress as to entitle them to special mention in this record. J. T. Lawler, who was a captain through the war under General Forrest, was for years a valued member of our city council, and served conspicuously and well as a church official. James M. Drake, an Alabamian soldier, was for years our city treasurer, and a man universally loved for his sterling qualities. George Miller, badly maimed in one of the terrible Virginia battles and a long-time prisoner, and S. W. Culpepper, were both in Louisiana regiments, and were among the pioneers who shared the hardships of the colony days. James H. Blue of Mississippi was on the staff of Gen. Albert Sydney Johnstone and was with him at his death at Shiloh. And Elijah Hawkins, who of those here mentioned alone survives, has won the hearts of his Union comrades by the personal qualities which belong to a soldier and gentleman. Sincerity, tested on many a bloody battlefield, has melted the prejudices of the past and fused the men of that era into the truest of Americans.


COMPANY M, 7TH REGIMENT, N. G. C .- A company of the National Guard of California was organized in Riverside in Decem- ber, 1888, and was for a time known as the Riverside Rifles. A reorganization of the militia a year later made it Company M of the Seventh Regiment, the first officers being: James N. Keith,


Digitized by Google


:


1


. 1


:


132


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


.


captain; H. La V. Twining, first lieutenant, and S. R. Long- worthy, second lieutenant. During its existence the following have been its commanders: James N. Keith, January 3, 1890; J. A. Eason, September 30, 1897; Charles F. Pann, March 31, 1899; Curtis F. Huse, May 14, 1900; Harry E. Mitchell, January 7, 1901; Frederick M. Heath, January 30, 1905; Peter J. Bollinger, May 4, 1908, and Miguel Estudillo, January 2, 1912.


Upon the outbreak of the Spanish war the company enlisted for a two-year term in the United States service, and, under command of ('apt. C. F. Pann, arrived at San Francisco with three commissioned officers and 100 enlisted men, May 7, 1898.


The following is the roster of the company: Captain, Charles F. Pann; first lieutenant, H. J. Bedwell; second lieutenant, Charles B. Bayley; first sergeant, Harry E. Mitchell; quartermaster ser- geant, John T. Short; sergeants, Foye D. Battles, John W. Horton, William E. Thompson and Edward R. Nicholson; corporals, Carl- ton J. Baldwin, Frederick J. Cox, D. Frank Bell, George B. Cox, Ernest A. Meacham, Eugene C. Johnson, Philip N. Van Slyck, William P. Pann, Clarence J. Jarvis, Albert D. Gage, Edwin A. Merwin, Peter J. Bollinger and John D. Boyd; privates, Bernard Goss, Charles P. Chamberlain, Edward H. Mercer, Fred E. Bar- ney, Samuel M. Bloom, William T. Babcock, Lewis J. Burnham, William H. Brimacomb, Dennis A. Ball, Charles B. Belden, Hunter Bowen, Arthur D. Bell, John G. Bryan, Frank Bridenstein, Charles A. Cover, George H. Campbell, Herbert S. Cunningham, William D. Craig, Lewis Craig, Judd C. Cleveland, Forrest R. Cleveland, Harry S. Chandler, Daniel Cameron, Thomas H. Dix, Robert L. Ditto, Cornelius Donaghue, Wallace Evans, Lloyd E. Elwell, Burt Fairchild, Cecil N. Funk, Edgar Gardner, Herman Gessler, Edward Grant, Clarence Goforth, Eddie A. Hart, Joseph R. Hamar, Henry Haskell, Myler L. Hains, Harry L. Hanson, Robert L. Henderson, William Hoogendyke, Jacob Jacobson, Fred C. Jonas, Frederick Kniss, Nicholas Kung, Gustav Krass, Scott LaRue, Roger T. Labadie, Alexander Law, Harry L. Lewis, Frank Loer, David A. Moriarty, Warren J. Marsh, Robert V. Meyer, Otis H. Mort, Eddy W. Mort, Clyde O. Mack, Henry F. Nelson, D. Adelbert Newcombe, Daniel V. Noland, Thomas M. Nicol, George E. Pomeroy, Floyd E. Pomeroy, John P. Peterson, William H. Painter, Lawrence Preston, Mack A. Patton, Edward H. Parsons, Clelland W. Rohrer,


Digitized by Google


.


.


133


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


John W. Peck, Samuel H. Ralph, Guy B. Russell, Herbert Robuck, Walter R. Strong, George Scott, James J. Shultz, George D. Tay- lor, Joseph N. Thornton, Joseph H. Timmons, Jesse Van Meter, Andrew G. Williams, John M. Young, Francis M. Horton, Harry E. Tobias, D. G. Fairchild. Fenn D. Twogood was transferred to the United States Hospital Corps, and went to the Philippines. Dr. W. W. Roblee was a member of the regimental staff, being assistant surgeon, with the rank of captain.


CHAPTER XVII. ORGANIZATION OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY By E. W. Holmes


The county of Riverside was formed in 1893 from a compara- tively small but populous and wealthy section of San Bernardino county (590 square miles) and a large but more thinly settled portion of San Diego county. The territory included is about equal in extent to the state of Massachusetts, there being an area of 7,031 square miles within its borders, of which far the larger portion is mountain and desert. But while the fertile portion is much less in area than that which is classed as desert there are but few portions of the earth where profits better repay intelli- gent investment and labor, or where the advantages of climate render life more enjoyable. And the rocky ranges which occupy so large a portion of the county contain, at present practically undeveloped, mineral wealth which will ultimately make the county as conspicuous as a mining section as it already is in a horticul- tural way. Indeed, the variety and quantity of the finest clays and stone for building and street purposes, already being shipped from the territory between Corona and Elsinore, furnish an important item in the list of products of the county, while immense bodies of the finest iron and copper ores in the desert section are now attracting the attention of capitalists, and their utiliza- tion will make possible great manufacturing developments in Southern California. The precious metals also abound, but may not prove of the real value of the baser metals through the wider uses to be made of them.


The topography of the county is varied and remarkable. At


9


Digitized by Google


1


1


1


1 I


1


!


134


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


the eastern base of the San Jacinto range, whose beautiful sum- mits are lifted some 11,000 feet into the clear blue sky, lies the Coachella valley, containing the Salton sea and several young towns lying hundreds of feet below the sea level. Here, in what was once deemed a hopeless desert, around the towns of Coachella, Indio, Mecca and Thermal, the people are demonstrating the pecu- liar fitness of the soil and climate, not only for the production of early fruits and for general farming, but for the growing of the finest varieties of dates, which industry is very sure to become here the source of large and certain profits. Twenty-five hundred feet above the sea, in the San Gorgonio pass, lie Banning and Beaumont, whose prosperity comes from climatic and soil condi- tions which enable its citizens to produce a quality of deciduous fruits unexcelled anywhere. Westward, between the great moun- tains and the coast range, lie the great fertile valleys containing the bulk of the county's population and wealth; Riverside, Corona and Wineville, in the valley of the Santa Ana river; Perris, in the heart of an immense plain, where water at last is found to trans- form it into an almost boundless area of alfalfa; Elsinore, nestled beside its mountain-bordered lake, and tempting invalid and tourist with its hot-spring resorts and pretty surroundings; San Jacinto and Hemet, sister cities lying in the sheltered corner of the great valley, growing rapidly because of the wealth of the fertile soil and ample water in all the section around them. And away off, on the banks of the Colorado, 200 miles from the county seat, are the Palo Verde and Chuckawalla valleys, with hundreds of thou- sands of fertile acres, waiting only for the application of the water which the great river can supply, to duplicate the experience of the Imperial valley and make of the country tributary to Blythe another rich county for California.


This was the territory taken to form the county of Riverside. San Diego county made no serious objection to the loss of her territory, recognizing the hardship to the residents who were compelled to go hundreds of miles and pass through the territory of two other counties to reach their county seat. But it was quite otherwise with the San Bernardino officials, who made a bitter and expensive fight to retain a section which had been most heavily taxed to maintain the county government. The Riverside section had but one representative on the board of supervisors, the first


Digitized by Google


.


135


HISTORY OF RIVERSIDE COUNTY


being Capt. B. B. Handy, the next A. P. Johnson, then G. W. Garcelon. The latter, disgusted at the over-bearing attitude of his colleagues, resigned, and A. S. White was selected for the position.


Unable to prevent the arbitrary action proposed by his col- leagues, Supervisor White called a meeting of the people of Riv- erside, to take action looking to a division of the county. Although committees were appointed and funds raised, nothing was accom- plished in the legislative session of 1891. In anticipation of the session of 1893 a committee was chosen, composed of Frank A. Miller, S. C. Evans, Sr., George Frost, Bradford Morse, John G. North, J. R. Newberry, W. J. McIntyre, O. T. Dyer and E. W. Holmes of Riverside, D. G. Mitchell of Perris, F. W. Swope and John McLaren of San Jacinto, and George M. Pearson of Muri- etta, to go to Sacramento to aid our legislative representatives in making the division fight.


The reasons given by the committee for the division of Riv- erside county from San Bernardino county were as follows: In June, 1891, the board of supervisors of San Bernardino county called an election to vote $350,000 in bonds for a new court- house. Although this proposition was voted down, the supervisors defied public sentiment and expended nearly $100,000 for a new courthouse, increasing the annual rate of taxation to obtain this sum from $1.60 to $2 on the $100. This so incensed the voters outside of San Bernardino's influence that the board of supervisors again called an election in June, 1892, to vote $250,000 in twenty- year bonds for the completion of the courthouse, which was also defeated by an immense majority. But the supervisors (three of the five) continued their defiance of public sentiment by pushing forward the work on the courthouse. Not only so, but they further- more reduced the assessed valuation of the county seat from $4,487,585 in 1889 to $4,008,453 in 1892, while increasing the valu- ation of the rest of the county $3,500,000. An increase was made in the assessment of nearly every section of the county that had voted against the bonds, Riverside being marked for especial retali- ation in an increased assessment of fifty per cent. This discrimina- tion was so apparent and marked that it could only have hap- pened by premeditated design.




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.