USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 22
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 22
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During the year 1921 much work has been done at the United States Public Health Service Hospital at Arrowhead, and the chairman has appointed committees to provide entertainment for the many crippled and sick ex-soldiers there, and otherwise keep in touch with their needs. This Christmas (1921) beautiful, well-filled boxes were taken to the 152 patients and $100 distributed among them. In the hospital service the Red Cross is ably assisted by their assistant secretary, Geo. H. Johnson, himself an ex-soldier.
Directors før 1921 : Mrs. R. F. Garner, Mrs. O. C. Rogers, Mrs. J. W. Barton, Mrs. Geo. F. Tilton, W. M. Parker, R. C. Harbison, Judge Rex B. Goodcell, W. O. Harris, R. D. McCook, Mrs. J. S. Wood, Mrs. Henry Goodcell, L. A. Stromee, George H. Seager, Z. T. Bell, and George H. Johnson.
ARROWHEAD HOT SPRINGS. When nature made the Arrowhead it created one of the wonders of the world, and while physically it belongs
THE ARROWHEAD HOT SPRINGS, SAN BERNARDINO
to San Bernardino Valley, it is shared by the world. At the present time -1921-the country has as honored guests 152 disabled men who returned from the war. Arrowhead Hotel and Hot Mineral Springs, with its mountain park and symbol of the arrowhead, was leased from Seth Marshall & Company early in 1920 by the United States Government for a public health service station.
The sloping park extends upwards to the top of the mountains and contains 1,800 acres of land-an ideal place for such an institution.
Arrowhead Springs. The boiling mineral waters that gush from rocks in recesses deep in the walls of the hills just below the point of the arrowhead symbol on the mountain slope, has always been a mecca for those who would try nature's cure, since white man came to the valley. From the Indians and Spaniards came wonderful stories of their healing powers.
Dr. D. N. Smith secured the property lying round about the springs early in the '60s. Doctor Smith built rude cabins for the accommoda- tion of his patients, and later on erected a long rambling hotel; this and the cabins were generally filled. Here he brought his wife, and here his children were born, and a few hundred feet north of the present hotel,
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is his grave, also the grave of his young child. A simple stone' marks the burial place of the first one to exploit the curative powers of the springs. The hot springs, the symbol of the Arrowhead, Cold Water Canyon to the east, the unmatched scenery from the sloping hillsides on the north, the efforts of man to heal himself at nature's fount, every place breathes forth wonderful stories of the past. After Doctor Smith's death, the property came into the hands of a company of which Seth Marshall was the leading spirit, and a hotel was built. This was burned and for several years only the charred embers remained. Then a beautiful hotel was erected, elaborately and expensively furnished, that became the scene of many brilliant social affairs.
The government made a wise selection for its disabled soldiers when it decided on Arrowhead Hot Springs for their care, treatment, comfort and happiness. With their splendid commanding officer, excellent doctors, nurses, and aides in the Occupational Therapy Department, and teachers of the vocational schools, its beauty, climatic conditions, quietness and for natural curative resources, it is one of the nation's greatest health institutions.
CHAPTER XIV
CATASTROPHES AND CRIMES
The general upheavals of human nature and of the elements which result in catastrophes, crimes and lawlessness, are a part of the history of every section. At the time they may seem to have little or no effect upon the community in general, and perhaps the majority have no real or lasting influence. But there have been instances where what seemed at the time to be unimportant happenings have changed the entire life of a section.
San Bernardino has had, as a county, comparatively few great dis- asters, and its criminal record is a singularly short one when the location of the county is taken into consideration. The flood which did the first serious damage in San Bernardino, as far as can be found from available records, was that of 1861-1862. This was not confined to the county but caused much destruction throughout the state. As before noted in these chronicles, the adobe church which was under construction by the New Mexican settlers of Agua Mansa and El Placita de Trujillos was completly destroyed by the rains of this season, and the people took care to build their church of San Salvador on a hill. Thus this was the only building in the two settlements, with the exception of the residence of Cornelius Jansen, not swept away by the disastrous flood of 1862. Fifty inches of rain flooded the entire state during the winter of 1861-62. the prosperous colonies along the Santa Ana River being completely inundated and a barren waste of sand superseding the vineyards, orchards and grain fields.
The flood of January, 1862, in San Bernardino County, is described by Mrs. Crafts, as follows:1 "The fall of 1861 was sunny, dry and warm until Christmas, which proved to be a rainy day. All through the holidays a gentle rain continued to fall. This much-needed moisture lasted until January 18, 1862, when there was a downpour for twenty-four hours or over. All the flat from the Santa Ana River to Pine's Hotel was under water-a perfect sea of water inundating the valley for miles up and down the stream. Lytle Creek came rushing down D Street, across Third and found an outlet through an open space into Warm Creek. Many families were compelled to flee in the night to higher ground and leave their homes to the flood. There were so many families homeless that every house in San Bernardino had two families and some three or four under shelter. The constant rain on the adobe houses turned them to mud and they fell in. Men were out in the drenching rain all day, trying to cover the adobe walls with lumber and thus save them. Everyone was ready to help his neighbor in their trouble-in fact. there was true brotherhood among those old pioneers of San Bernardino."
There was no further year of heavy rainfall until that of 1867-68, when the winter proved rainy, but, while the precipitation was continuous, it was not as heavy as in 1862, and as a result less damage resulted. The year 1884 proved to be the great flood year of later times, and 37.50 inches were reported during the season for San Bernardino, while over 40 inches were registered at Los Angeles and more at other points. The year was particularly disastrous to the railroad companies, the Southern Pacific suffering many washouts and much delay of traffic,
1 Ingersoll's Century Annals of San Bernardino County.
Vol. 1-10
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while the California Southern Railway lost its newly-completed track between National City and San Diego, and some fifteen or twenty miles of the Temecula Canon division. A local newspaperf describes the disastrous cloudburst which occurred in the Cajon Pass in July, 1884 :
"A most terrific cloudburst occurred in the Cajon yesterday afternoon. It commenced about two o'clock and for a short time the waters came down in solid masses. In a narrow gorge called the 'Railroad Canon,' the waters rose fifty feet in height in a short time. The torrent carried everything before it and the whole canon was inundated. At the narrows in the Cajon the waters stood above the railroad grade. An orchard above Tay & Lawrence's was swept away with the buildings and other property that were on the ground. The waters rose nearly to Tay & Lawrence's house and swept away a large portion of their property. The road in some places was cut out as much as ten feet in depth, and will be impassable for a week or more. The entire flat from here (San Bernardino) to the mouth of the Cajon was one vast sheet of water, and the crossing between this town and Colton, ordinarily only a few inches in depth, was raised six feet and spread for a long distance on either side of its usual channel, while a number of farms along its course were inundated. All this vast body of water fell in the course of two or three hours and in a comparatively limited area, only a few drops reaching to town. It is said to have been the severest storm known in the canon and to have done more damage in a few minutes than all the heavy rains of last winter, severe as they were."
The heavy rains of 1886-87 were the cause of much inconvenience to the residents of the county, and the following from the Times gives an idea of the situation at San Bernardino in December, 1886: "The people west of town are nearly drowned out. A culvert through the railroad grade on I Street at the head of Fifth, pours the whole drain- age of the surrounding country into town and has swamped the blocks west of G Street, so that the people are unable to leave their homes." In January following, 11 inches of rain fell in a single night in the Cajon Pass, and the California Southern Railway was again a sufferer, its tracks being buried in a heavy coat of mud. What made the matter more discomforting and aggravating was the fact that this was the "boom" year and the traffic was exceedingly heavy. As a result of the rains hundreds of people were detained at San Bernardino, where, at the depot, even standing room was at a premium. Another wet winter was that of 1888-89, since which time rainfall has caused but little loss in San Bernardino County.
AN ECHO FROM THE PAST. A condition that can never again exist was that of the three-year drouth, the most disastrous in the history of California, which exceeded in damage by far the preceding flood year of 1862. In order to preserve pasturage for any cattle at all, thousands of animals were slaughtered merely for their hides, and in spite of such drastic action hundreds upon hundreds of cattle died of starvation. For three years the rainfall was not of sufficient volume to produce grain crops or start vegetation growing on the ranges, and the orchards and vineyards, which were already commencing to prove an important feature in the state's resources and wealth, were almost annihilated by the devastating dryness.
This is one instance where the elements have worked notable changes in the history of a community, for from this period dated the beginnings
2 The San Bernardino Times.
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of irrigation upon a large scale. The agriculturists, who were settling in the country in large numbers, finding that they could not rely abso- lutely upon natural conditions to produce their crops, and the stock- men, who discovered that they could not depend entirely upon the natural range for grazing, came to a full realization of the value of irrigation.
The seasons of 1898-99 and 1900 were also known as "dry" seasons, but these marked the change from ancient to modern methods, from reliance upon natural moisture to the present great systems of irrigating. During these two seasons, the "dry" ranches, which raised good crops under ordinary conditions, suffered greatly, whereas the agricultural and horticultural interests of the county as a whole, suffered very little, owing to the irrigation streams. A few there were who harbored the fear that the storage supplies might fail, but their fears were found to be groundless, and much water previously undeveloped, or considered unavailable, was brought into use. The drouth, in reality, proved a beneficial factor in the development of the county, for such a large quantity of water was developed that a greatly increased acreage than formerly was put under cultivation.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY'S EARTHQUAKE RECORD. In 1812, known as the "earthquake year," the first phenomena of this nature occurred in San Bernardino County, and the church of San Juan Capistrano was shaken down, some thirty worshippers being crushed in the ruins. The Gauchama Indians, who lived in this locality, decided that the tremblers of this year and the sudden appearance of the Urbita springs, were caused by the displeasure of their gods, to propitiate whom they destroyed the Mission of Politana, established a year or two previous by the Fran- ciscans of San Gabriel, and massacred most of the converts. In 1855 a severe shock was felt at San Bernardino, but without serious damage to property and no loss of life, and again in 1882 a heavy earthquake was recorded, but without serious consequences. On Christmas Day, 1900, there occurred a quake, which, while causing no considerable damage in the vicinity of San Bernardino, created a good deal of destruc- tion in the San Jacinto Mountains, where a considerable area took a drop, the configuration of the country being materially changed, while at San Jacinto several Indian women were killed in the fall of an adobe house.
THE NORTHER OF 1887. Owing to San Bernardino's position, cyclones, hurricanes or tornadoes are unknown to the people, and the only serious windstorm on record is that of 1887, a "norther" which caused great havoc. The following is a report from the San Bernardino "Times" of July, 1887 : "Although the wind had blown severely here for several days, and considerable damage had been done, happily it was attended, so far as known, with no personal injury or loss of life. Los Angeles County, however, was not so fortunate. At Crescenta Canyada the large hotel erected hardly more than a month ago was razed to the ground by the fierce gale, and Mrs. Edwin G. Arnold and her eleven-year-old daughter, Claudie, were instantly killed. A number of other guests of the hotel were badly bruised and escaped with their lives by a miracle. The disaster took place about midnight. A coroner's jury found that in their belief the building had been insufficiently braced and the foundations were not secure.
"At Rialto three houses were destroyed. At Cucamonga, the depot was almost totally destroyed; also the new hotel and several stores and buildings ; loss, $50,000. Between Cucamonga and Colton the cab was blown off the engine of an east-bound freight train. The fine large
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hotel at North Cucamonga, costing $20,000, was completely demolished, the sleeping guests being awakened just in time to escape with their lives. A Chinaman is reported to have been killed, and another one missing-probably took to the brush. The bank building at Ontario was blown down. Several houses on the south side were also blown down, and it was reported that Rose's store was burned down."
HUMAN DEEDS OF VIOLENCE. Mention has been made before in this history of the strong feeling that began to assert itself between the Mormons and Independents of the days of 1856-57, and which resulted in a number of affrays in which blood was spilled. The peaceful and law- abiding element, always in the majority in the county, were not only disturbed by these conflicting interests, but likewise by outlaws who came in from Arizona and Utah, reckless bravados from the mining camps, parties of Apache and Pah-ute thieves and drunken Coahuillas. When the war between the states began to further inflame men's minds, and even before its outbreak, all of these elements came to a focus, and San Bernardino County became a community in which the law officers were kept busy.
One of the notable events of these exciting days occurred in 1859, and has been known locally as "The Ainsworth-Gentry affair." As described by an eye-witness in Ingersoll's Century Annals of San Ber- nardino County, is occurred as follows: "San Bernardino County at this time had two physicians, one of whom was Union in sentiment, the other a Southerner. This fact, mingled with a feeling of professional rivalry and perhaps with other causes not made public, produced a rancor which finally led Doctor Gentry to attack Doctor Ainsworth with a horse-whip. Doctor Ainsworth seized the whip and struck his assailant in the face. The next day Gentry, on meeting his rival, fired his pistol at him. Ainsworth escaped the shot by dodging, and returned the fire --- but no one was hurt. Gentry collected his friends and they began to make serious threats against Ainsworth. The friends of the latter deter- mined to protect him and eight young men armed themselves, removed Ainsworth to an old adobe house on the corner west of the South Metho- dist Church and there kept guard over him for two or three days. The Gentry party sent word to El Monte that the Mormons had attacked them and about fifty men from that settlement armed themselves and rode over to San Bernardino. On learning that the Ainsworth party were simply protecting their man, the better class of these visitors returned home. But a few of the more lawless under the leadership of a desperado -one Green, remained and paraded the streets, firing their guns, terroriz- ing the citizens and defying the authorities. They loaded the old cannon which had looked so formidable in the Fort Benson affair and hauled it into place, announcing their intention of burning down the house where Ainsworth was in hiding and shooting his guard. One of the guards suc- ceeded in reaching the cannon unnoticed and spiked it with a rat-tail file. When the attacking party became too aggressive the guard prepared to fire. Word was passed to 'save fire and shoot low' -- and most of the attacking mob suddenly vanished. A few shots were exchanged, how- ever, and one of the Ainsworth party, Bethel Coopwood, was wounded in the shoulder." The intruders were driven ont when Sheriff V. J. Herring called upon the citizens to aid him in restoring order.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860. In the campaign of 1860, which was a bitterly-contested one, C. W. Piercy was nominated for member of the General Assembly by one party, and W. A. Conn, a member of the House,
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by the other. Piercy was elected, but there was a strong claim of bare- faced fraud and what appears to be good authority has it that the polls at Temescal maintained open shop for three weeks, and that whenever candidate Piercy was in need of more votes, they were furnished from this precinct by his henchman, one Greenwade. The contest was taken into the courts, and it was natural that numerous animosities should be engendered by the wholesale recriminations bandied about. Two young lawyers, H. M. Willis and Bethel Coopwood, engaged in a lively encounter over the depositions in the case, one handling a revolver and the other a slung shot. Before the sheriff could interfere, Coopwood had sustained a slight wound. Of this trouble, the Los Angeles Star said: "Both the combatants were put under bonds, but the indications are that trouble is not over. Last night a rowdy gang took possession of the town. They smashed Jacob's bar and demolished signs of nearly every Jew store in town and broke into two stores. No arrests."
THE DUEL BETWEEN PIERCY AND SHOWALTER. The last of the political duels in the State of California occurred in 1861, and one of its contestants was the C. W. Piercy heretofore mentioned, assemblyman from San Bernardino County. In the opening year of the Civil war, a sharp contest arose over the election of United States Senator, in the course of which a quarrel arose between Piercy and Daniel Showalter, assemblyman from Mariposa County. According to the reports, Piercy, who was a Union democrat, had been a member of the caucus that had nominated John Nugent, but afterwards made the announcement that he would not give him his ballot because Nugent was not sound on the question of Unionism. Showalter, who although a Pennsylvanian by birth, was an adherent of secession and slavery, took exception to the declaration of Piercy, and the latter subsequently voted for the Union resolutions and objected to Showalter's being allowed to explain his vote against them. It was a time when men's passions ran high, and Showalter's insult to Piercy was followed by the latter's challenge to a duel. The meeting took place May 25, 1861, about three miles west of San Rafael, near the residence of Charles Fairfax, the seconds of Piercy being Henry P. Watkins and Samuel Smith and those of Showalter, Thomas Hayes and Thomas Lespeyre, the weapons being rifles at forty yards. The first fire was ineffective, and Showalter demanded another trial. His second shot struck Piercy in the mouth and killed him. Showalter became a fugitive from justice and was later concerned in a plot to organize a secessionist force in the vicinity of Warner's Ranch. He was captured by troops of the First California Volunteers and was a prisoner at Fort Yuma until exchanged, at which time he joined the Southern forces in Texas and later became an officer in the Confederate army.
TROUBLE IN BEAR AND HOLCOMB VALLEYS. When the news came forth that gold had been discovered in Bear and Holcomb valleys, there was a great influx of miners, prospectors, old-timers, camp riff-raff and gamblers which generally are drawn to the new camps, and many of these were out-and out secessionists. Likewise, a large number were lawless and the conditions surrounding the times encouraged them to give vent to their natural propensities for making trouble. Fights were a regular part of each daily program, fists, clubs, knives and revolvers being brought into use, and the respectable element had but little chance to stem the tide of lawlessness. At one time ten men, wounded in different affrays, were reported in these camps, and another report announces
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that four horse thieves were convicted and five more on trial. In July, 1861, the court brought in ten convictions for grand larceny. It was claimed that the sheriff was powerless to handle the ruffian element and a call for United States troops was asked for. W. F. Holcomb, one of the discoverers of gold in this region and the man after whom Holcomb Valley was named, states: "There was also a rush of the very worst characters and the valley became a center of disorder. Night was made dreadful by the drunken yells and cursing ; guns and pistols were fired off at all hours of night and day; no one was safe; the peaceful citizen was in almost as much danger as the rowdy. At the state election held September 4, 1861, there was great confusion, and a riot was only pre- vented by the prompt and determined action of a few law-abiding citi- zens. Belleville precinct cast a vote of 300 for governor. One desperado, known as 'Hell Roaring Johnson,' attempted to kill a constable and was shot dead. An attempt was made to lynch the constable, but it was frustrated and the man was acquitted as only having discharged his duty. After this the lawless element quieted down somewhat. This reign of lawlessness was, of course, a great drawback to the successful working of the claims in the valley. The hardworking miner was in almost as much danger from accidental shooting as were the rowdies from intentional shots. Still, of the forty or fifty men who were shot at different times, not more than three or four innocent men were killed. The rest were of the tough element, generally strangers in the place, and their bodies now rest in unmarked graves."
CRIMINAL ACTS. It would be inaccurate to state that San Bernardino's list of crimes is not a somewhat lengthy one. But as before noted, it is true that for a large county, only thinly settled, with the encouraging features of great desert stretches and mountains in which criminals could lose themselves from pursuit, a great transient population at all periods, and an ever-present element of half-breeds, desperados in hiding, Indians and Mexicans, its crime record could be much longer without occasioning much unfavorable attention or comment.
Presumably with the purpose of robbery or escape from detection, a number of citizens met their deaths on the roads of San Bernardino County during the '60s. After Edward Newman had been found thus murdered, in 1864, about five miles from San Bernardino, a posse was formed to punish his supposed assassins, and after a hot pursuit killed Celestino Alipaz at the Santa Ana River. Another of the murders was later executed by hanging at Los Angeles. It has always been supposed that Alexander Patterson was murdered in the same manner, but evi- dence supporting the theory could not be produced. Miller's Hotel was the scene of a cold-blooded murder in 1869, when the barkeeper, Warner, fired five shots at John C. Steadman, with whom he had quarreled over a board bill, wounding him so severely that he died within twenty-four hours. In 1871 one Rafael Buteres was found guilty in the first degree of murdering by shooting the girl with whom he lived at Agua Mansa, but before sentence could be executed dug his way out of jail, made good his escape, and was never recaptured.
What has always remained a mystery was the death of A. Abadie, a Frenchman who had mined for a number of years at Lytle Creek and was reputed to have taken out large amounts of gold. While on the road between Cucamonga and his home in Lytle Creek, he was shot in his wagon, but the horses continued on the road until they reached the nearest house, where the occupant discovered his death. His body, apparently, had not been robbed, and the only cause for the murder was
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