USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 15
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 15
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One of the most interesting, as well as important, cases to be brought before the courts of California was that of Pope versus Kinman, in 1877, which affected Lytle Creek water rights. Suit was brought by A. J. Pope, one of the owners of the Muscupiabe grant, against W. N. Kinman and others of the water appropriators, asserting that the waters were due to the Muscupiabe grant lands which were riparian to the stream, and that use of them on lands not bordering on it was without legal authority. "The defense of appropriation under the laws of the State and of Mexico was set up, and it was urged that, the waters having been used over five years, the right to continue their use had been established under the statute of limitations.' In December of 1878 the case was decided in the Superior Court of San Bernardino County in favor of the principal defendants and substantially in accord- ance with their answer. It was appealed to the Supreme Court which rendered a decision in December, 1879, in effect reversing the lower court and declaring, first, the supremacy of the doctrine of riparian rights as against appropriations, and second, that the 'statute of limitations' does not run in favor of an appropriator of water a claimant of land whose title is held in abeyance by the United States authorities."3
The Riverside water companies engaged in almost endless litiga- tion during the early days, but this matter was settled when the land owners incorporated the City of Riverside and organized a water com1- pany which secured control of the conflicting interests.
That there was bound to be trouble regarding underground water rights was predicted by W. M. Tisdale, of Redlands, who, in 1902, stated : "Many intricate, confusing, perplexing and harrassing questions are likely to arise over the question of ownership of underground waters. Many questions have already come before the courts and many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in getting decisions which are themselves confusing. The laws regarding surface waters have been in
3 Ingersoll.
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the courts ever since the adoption of the present constitution in 1879. Millions of dollars have been spent already, and the dockets of the courts are clogged with water cases. And the end seems far distant. What will be the outcome when litigation over underground waters fairly sets in, no man knoweth. At present any one who feels inclined to dig for water on his own land, will dig. And he will have not the slightest regard for his neighbor above him. Sometimes, possibly, the courts may step in and prevent the man on the low ground from robbing his neighbor on the ground above him, but that time seems to be in the dim and far distant future." A verification of this prediction came November 7, 1902, when the Supreme Court rendered its decision in the Katz vs Walkinshaw case. a decision which established an entirely new rule respecting the ownership of underground waters and which decided that no person could deprive the owner of water-bearing lands of the use thereof by digging wells upon adjoining lands and draining the water away. Katz was the owner of water-bearing lands within the city limits of San Bernardino and brought suit asking an injunction prohibiting Walkinshaw from digging wells upon adjacent land deep enough to drain away his water. The case was non-suited in the lower court but this decision was overruled in the Supreme Court and the above precedent established. The decision was reaffirmed in December, 1903, and although arguments against the decision were made by many of the leading lawyers of the southern part of the state, it was impossible to secure a reverse or modification.
ARTESIAN WELL. The first artesian well in the San Bernardino Valley was put down in 1868 by H. M. Willis on his place at Old San Bernardino. When he did not succeed in obtaining water, the well-drilling tools were removed to the City of San Bernardino, where a successful attempt was made, and later water was also located on the Willis place. One of the first wells in San Bernardino City proper was the Wolf well on the south side of Third Street, between E and F streets. By 1881, so active had been the settlers in obtaining water in this way, it was esti- mated that there were from 400 to 425 artesian wells in the valley, the inost easterly being at the Old Mission, while the deepest well, 410 feet, was located on Judge Willis' place. Originally the wells were from two to eight inches in diameter (although generally of the smaller size) and supplied water without pumping for domestic and garden usage. However, the need for water becoming pressing, the wells were bored deeper and made larger, pumping plants were installed in numerous places, and many of the wells were sent to depths of 900 and 1,000 feet, and many deeper than that. In 1879 there was formed the Riverside Improvement Company, its object being to supply the City of Riverside with domestic water. Its chief source of supply was the artesian well basin of the San Bernardino Valley, where, along the Santa Ana River and Warm Creek, the company purchased 741/2 acres of land and con- structed a pipe line to carry the water to Riverside.
Regarding the artesian basin of the San Bernardino Valley, a writer in a Southern California newspaper4 had the following to say in the early 1900's : "The San Bernardino Valley, whose floor is formed of an open gravel, constitutes a great reservoir or tank, which yields a uniform flow to the various wells which tap it. This great reservoir is filled by winter precipitation and by seepage water. Some idea of its size may be gained from the following figures: The entire valley comprises some
4 The Citrograph.
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563 square miles ; the flat area above Colton, presumably all formed by gravels eroded from the mountains. contains 132 square miles. On a conservative estimate, 100 square miles of this is of gravel to great depths, approximating 1,000 feet-numerous wells have been sunk to 900 feet with no indications of bed rock. Supposing this gravel bed to have a depth of 300 feet, the total water storage capacity, estimated at one-third of the mass, would be 6,400,000 acre feet, or eight times the storage capacity of the famous Assuan Dam of Egypt. Enormous as this seems, it is believed to be greater, rather than less, than the amount stated. The importance of this reservoir and the limits of its capacity are only beginning to be understood. So far it has not been accurately determined whether the present rate of withdrawal is permanently lower- ing the water plane or whether years of abundant rain will restore it to its fullest capacity. With the running surface water fully utilized, it can be seen that an increase in the available supply must of necessity come from this reservoir, and careful studies will have to be made to arrive at a just and definite conclusion as to the amount which may be drawn therefrom. From experiments in other places, it has been fairly well settled that the greater the drain on an underground reservoir, the greater the capacity. Capacity does not mean flow, however. Cycles of dry years have proved that all wells cannot be depended upon. Some have failed altogether, others have had decreased flow, and in several cases the sinking of a new well has resulted in a substantial diminution in the supply of the older ones. To the problem that arises from this there is no definite legal solution. How much one well may be responsible for the failure of others is too hard to determine, and the motions and courses of underground waters too little understood to allow of a legal adjudication of rights, and the only possible remedy lies in one of two very simple and similar ways: One is to have enough water for all wells, and the other is to have only enough wells to properly tap the water supply. It can be said, however, that wells in the central and deeper portions of the valley have no difficulty whatever, and only those shallower ones around the edges of the underground basins will fail when the water plane is lowered through successive demands upon it."
CHAPTER IX TRANSPORTATION
The history of transportation in Southern California, and partic- ularly in San Bernardino County, has not been, perhaps, greatly differ- ent than that of other communities. In its development it has passed through the successive eras of travel by horse and foot, by horse-drawn carriage and stage-coach, by rail and electric lines, and finally by auto- mobile-with the aeroplane looming as a possible factor in the not too far distant future. The history of this region, as to its transportation, however, presents some interesting features, inasmuch as there have always been great difficulties to surmount. The contours of the country, the difficulties of finding passages between the mountain ranges, the broad stretches of desert country, the hostile inhabitants and the con- ditions pertaining to the country generally, all played their part in making its conquest a hazardous and onerous undertaking, and the pioneers in all forms of transportation, each in their successive period of development, were forced to be men of far more than ordinary abilities and of sturdy traits and indomitable character.
The pioneer of transportation in the San Bernardino Valley may be said to be Juan Bautista de Anza, the first white traveler through this region, who, in 1774, was sent to explore an overland route between Sonora, Mexico, and the Mission of Monterey. On this journey he was accompanied by some twenty-five or thirty men and a large number of horses and cattle. Striking the Colorado River at the junction of the Gila, he crossed at that point and made his way across the desert to the Puerto de San Carlos,1 and then through El Valle de San Jose.‘ Anza and his party went back over this route after making explorations of a few weeks, and two years later brought 177 people, including soldiers and colonists, with a herd of 590 animals, over the same route. The passage of such a goodly company made a broad and distinct trail through the valley, and this overland route from Mexico was much used in the years that followed, for, while it was long and attended by numerons hazards, it was less to be feared than a trip by water in one of the undependable little vessels built in haphazard fashion on the west coast of Mexico, which were never sure of reaching their destination.
The honor of being the first American to traverse the valley belongs undoubtedly to Jedediah Smith who, also, as far as is known, was the first person to enter the valley through the Cajon Pass. Smith came in from Utah, in 1824. The Warkman party came to California from New Mexico by way of the Virgin River and Cajon Pass, in 1831, and during the '30s and '40s quite a bit of traffic between California and New Mexico was carried on, this coming chiefly by the same route. the New Mexican colonists coming to this state as a result of such trading. Thus it is to be seen that the San Bernardino Valley was a highway for travel and trade from the first settlement of the state.
During the "days of old, the days of gold, the days of '49," many of the travelers who were rushing to the fields in search of the precious metal entered the state by one of these southern routes and thus passed through the county. These were the days of the emigrant wagon and
1 San Gorgonio Pass.
2 San Bernardino Valley.
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"prairie schooner," trains of pack mules driven by trappers and pros- pectors, and little parties of two or three, on horsebock and afoot. A reg- ularly appointed wagon train was forced to travel in a carefully arranged order while traveling over the plains, and it was their endeavor to keep strictly to this routine across the deserts or mountains, although some- times it was found necessary to divide the party when water and feed proved insufficient. The constant menace of hostile Indians had to be contended with, swollen streams had to be forded, difficult mountain passes negotiated and feed and water or the possible lack of same was a problem not to be lightly cast aside. In the face of these difficulties. out of the third of a million emigrants who reached California by the overland routes (according to the figures of some authorities), the loss of life was comparatively infinitesimal.
THE STAGE COACH AND THE MULE FREIGHTER. Much glamour attaches to the old-time stage-coach, in the early days a "mud" wagon or buckboard, which made its appearance about the time of the coming of the Mormons and the settlement of San Bernardino. At the same time appeared the paraphernalia of the mule freighter. Naturally, not long after their settlement the colonists desired to establish mail connections with the outside world, but it is reported that the first mail service between San Bernardino and Los Angeles was somewhat irregular, something at which not to wonder. One of the first mail carriers was U. U. Tyler, who drove oxen and made occasional trips, and of whom the following is related: "On one of his trips he left Los Angeles with the mail, driving a yoke of steers attached to the running gear of a wagon, and at El Monte met several passengers who were awaiting the 'stage' to San Bernardino." It is not to be thought that they were entranced with the idea of making the journey on the wagon reach, but it was either that or wait indefinitely for other transportation, and they therefore took the trip and negotiated the distance successfully, albeit not com- fortably. Rockefeller, another early mail carrier, took mail and pas- sengers in a mud wagon, drawn by two horses, and made weekly trips to Los Angeles from San Bernardino, the trip each way consuming two days. Between these two points John Miller also conducted a stage in 1854. Captain Hunt, in 1852, secured a mail contract for three years, between Los Angeles and Salt Lake, by way of San Bernardino, and the trip was made on horseback, the two men carrying the mail often being accompanied by others who wished to make the journey. Gilbert Hunt, Ed Hope, Dan Taft, Dan Ruthbun and Sheldon Stoddard were among the riders on this route, and the last-named made the round trip between San Bernardino and Salt Lake no less than twelve times in 1853.
The following advertisement, which appeared in 1858, makes it evi- dent that a regular bi-weekly stage service had been established between San Bernardino and Los Angeles: "Regular line carrying United States Mail. Leaves Los Angeles Monday and Thursday of each week, at 7 a. m .; San Bernardino Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7 a. m. All appli- cations at Bella Union, or Jacob's Hotel, corner Third and E streets. No person will be allowed to enter the stage without his fare is pre- paid. Fare each way, $8.00." That profiteering was not unknown even in those early days is shown in the tactics of one of the early stage drivers, who waited until he reached El Monte and then demanded payment of the full fare. As few people cared to be stranded at El Monte his demands were usually granted. Along about 1859 or 1860 a rival line was put into operation, and the subsequent contest for patronage caused the fare between the two points to be dropped to $6.00. Prior
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to this, in 1858, the Butterfield stage line, between St. Louis and San Francisco, was established, and by this route the overland mail time between New York and San Francisco was greatly reduced. Two mails a week were carried by this route, and the time on the first trip between the cities of St. Louis and San Francisco was 24 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes. The quickest time on record was made by this line in twenty- one days. The Butterfield route was abandoned shortly after the out- break of the Civil war, when the Indians became troublesome after the withdrawal of the United States troops front California, Arizona and New Mexico. While the overland passenger travel was almost brought to a standstill, the "pony express," famed in song and story, shortened the time for mail between St. Joe and San Francisco, while the telegraph lines put through in 1861-62 made the matter of acquiring "news" an easy one.
A four-horse coach began making trips between Los Angeles and San Bernardino in 1863, this under the ownership of A. P. Andrews, and in 1864 a mail route was put in operation from Los Angeles to Prescott, A. T., via San Bernardino, the contract being let to James Grant, who was a well-known mail contractor for a long period. On this route the mail was at first carried by riders, but these were later succeeded by a Concord coach between Los Angeles and San Bernardino and a mud wagon from the latter city to Prescott. The Banning Com .. pany put on a "fast and reliable" mail coach in 1866. This started fron Wilmington weekly, and after passing through Los Angeles, El Monte, Mud Springs, Cucamonga and San Bernardino, continued on by way of Warner's to Yuma, the trip being made in seventy-two hours, which was considered something of a feat in those days. The San Bernardino Guardian, during 1867, printed advertisements of the Overland Mail Company, W. N. Ballard, superintendent ; the U. S. Mail Line, Tom- linson & Company, proprietors ; the Overland Stage Coast Line, W. E. Lovett & Company, proprietors ; and Banning & Company.
With the arrival of the Mormons quite a trade was established between San Bernardino and points in Utah and Arizona, hay, flour and stock being the principal commodities sent from this locality. Through the '50s and into the early '60s, freight was taken from Southern California to the points mentioned, as well as to Nevada and into Montana and even Idalio, and the greater part of this business passed through the San Bernardino Valley and Cajon Pass. Thus there came into existence the important industry of freighting. Those who engaged in this business had to possess, necessarily, some little capital, as the heavy, specially- constructed wagons cost quite a sum, and strong, well-broken mules, to the number of eight, ten and twelve, and sometimes eighteen or twenty, were required as motive power. The wagons often carried thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, and the freighters had to be men of physical and mental strength, capable of overcoming the obstacles caused by marauding Utes and Apaches, intense heat and bitter cold, thirst and hunger, the alkali dust and the blinding glare of the desert sun. One of the most progressive of the freighting companies was that of Meyerstein Brothers, who, in 1873-74, had a contract for hauling all supplies to the then booming Panamint district. This concern transported something like 200 tons of freight per month. San Bernardino at this time had one of its greatest sources of revenue in the freighting business, as it was the base of supplies for the desert country and the mines throughout the county, while from this locality were also exported wheat, flour and lumber to the coast district, San Bernardino's mule line competing suc- cessfully for some years with the Southern Pacific Company.
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THE COMING OF THE RAILROADS. The advent of the railroads saw the end of the stage coaches and of the freighting business. These held on tenaciously in some districts, local stages being in general operation until well into the '80s, while a few lines were still in existence as late as the start of the twentieth century, but the iron horse put a quietus on the stage business as a really profitable or important industry. From the very nature of things it was early evident that at some time a transcon- tinental railroad line would be put through from the lower Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast, and naturally there was much lively specula- tion as to what course it would take. San Diego. possessing a harbor. felt confident that it would be the recipient of the honor, while San Bernardino was equally confident. because of its great gateways of San Gorgonio and Cajon. As early as 1867 the Memphis & El Paso road was incorporated and work was commenced at the eastern end of the line, but the enterprise died an early death. A line from San Diego to the Gila River got no further than the survey. Surveys and con- cessions were made for an international line to run in a direct course from San Diego eastward, partly on Mexican territory, but the scheme petered out. Tom Scott, of early Southern California financial fame, organized the Texas & Pacific road, which was expected to solve the railway problem of this part of the state, and San Diego made large grants of land and harbor front to this corporation, but after ten miles of railroad bed had been graded the financial panic of 1873 put an end to the work.
Dozens of local roads were built on paper and never got beyond that stage. One of these was a narow-gauge road between San Bernardino and San Diego, which was surveyed and seemed at one time to be an assured fact. But in spite of the fact that leading citizens made resolu- tions and agreements, all of these early propositions fell through. The San Bernardino Guardian of October 2, 1868, printed a glowing account of the incorporation, September 23, 1868, of the Pacific & San Bernardino Railroad Company, with a capital stock of $2,000,000, but this road, like the others failed to materialize. In 1874 the Los Angeles & Independence Railway was organized and San Bernardino was invited to co-operate. The citizens of this city, however, feeling perhaps overconfident that any line passing through the valley could not skip the city, did not show sufficient enterprise, and the railway never reached the valley.
THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC. In 1859 a railroad convention was called at San Francisco, and one of the delegates thereto was Theodore D. Judah, a young engineer who had come out of the East in 1856 to build the first railroad in California, a line from Folsom to Sacramento. Mr. Judah, in presenting the information that he had gathered and the plans that he had drawn, made such an impression upon the convention that he was delegated to act as accredited agent at Washington, and largely through his zeal and his confidence in the feasibility of the route he had selected, Messrs. Huntington, Crocker, Stanford and Hopkins became interested, the result being the organization, in 1861. of the Central Pacific Company. Some opposition was encountered, but much of this was eliminated by the withdrawal of the Southern members of Congress at the outbreak of the Civil war. Judah was sent to Washington to work in the interests of the company, and as a result, in 1862, Congress passed an "Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific ocean and to secure to the govern- ment the use of the same for postal, military and other purposes." For the carrying out of the construction of this road, between Sacramento
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and the eastern boundary of California, the government gave 2,000,000 acres of land and $6,000,000 in bonds ; the state gave $105,000 a year for twenty years; Sacramento gave $300,000 in stock, and Placer took $250,000 in stock. After ground was broken at Sacramento in 1863 the work was advanced with surprising rapidity. The Union Pacific Com- pany was also organized and work was begun at the eastern terminus on the Missouri. To these two roads the government granted bonds to the extent of more than $55,000,000, Congress gave theni over 26,000,- 000 acres of land, important concessions and subsidies were granted by the states and cities through which the roads passed, and under this encouragement the work went on with ever-increasing rapidity. On May 10, 1869, the last spike was driven when the two roads met near Ogden, and the long talked of transcontinental line, becoming an assured fact, united the Atlantic and Pacific.
In 1865 the Central Pacific Company had organized a line known as the Southern Pacific Company, the intention being to build a southern route, and in 1866 the Atlantic & Pacific Company was organized and authorized to build a road from Springfield, Missouri, to the Pacific Coast, but this latter was granted no bonds, although given grants of lands. Other lines about this time were the Memphis, El Paso & Pacific, and, in 1871, the Texas Pacific, both of which began construction from their eastern termini.
Of these roads the Southern Pacific was to prove by far the most important. By 1872 it had constructed a line as far south as Tehachapi. Los Angeles, determined to secure the line at any cost, voted a subsidy of over $600,000, and the road, to secure same, at once built twenty-five miles of road from the north of that city to San Fernando and twenty- five miles east to Spadra, completed in April, 1874. The work paused there, and doubts were expressed whether the road would ever go any further, some believing that San Bernardino would be the ultimate terminus. In November, 1873, a meeting of San Bernardino's citizens was held and a committee was appointed to induce the company to come into the valley, but no definite results followed. In October, 1874, Southern magnates met the citizens of San Bernardino at a largely attended mass meeting, at which it was asked that the city's business men purchase $100,000 worth of bonds. It was developed, however, that the railroad would not promise to build through the town, but "as near to it as possible." At a later meeting of citizens it was decided "that if the railway company comes through the town, we, the committee, will propose to the county to buy the bonds; if it does not come through the town we will not raise one cent." As no definite promise could be extracted from the railroad no bonds were subscribed for. Eventually the depot, roundhouse, etc., were constructed on 640 acres of land, of a 2,000 acre tract owned by the Slover Mountain Association, lying southwest of San Bernardino, directly in line between Spadra and the San Gorgonio Pass. The railroad reached Colton July 30, 1875. and the Southern Pacific Company, which had become somewhat embittered over San Bernardino's failure to subscribe for the bonds, built a large hotel, put in other improvements, and threw its entire influence into the building up of the new town. For a time this was keenly felt by San Bernardino, the business of which city was practically at a standstill, while Colton grew rapidly and flourished amazingly.
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