USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 58
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 58
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L. C. TIBBETS came to Riverside late in the year 1870. He was rather an eccentric character and the name would probably never have been known outside of Riverside except for the fame that has been given him in connection with the introduction of the navel orange. Mr. Tibbets was from the State of Maine and like New Englanders was intelligent and a lover of freedom. As a boy he was raised on the farm, but on attaining manhood he entered into mercantile pursuits, where he met with fair success, but unfortunately for himself he suffered under various irregularities in his commercial life which he undertook to cure indi- vidually by law to his own financial undoing. This led him into more or less of an acquaintance with law, which gave him quixotic ideas in that regard that finally led him into financial ruin. A year or two of residence in the South after the war with his strong anti-slavery views did not help him in this respect, and he had to leave there in a hurry to save himself from physical injury, sacrificing his all in doing so. With his scanty savings he found himself in Riverside under the colony organiza- tion on 80 acres of Government land. Here his desire to remedy some of the difficulties real and imaginary under which he labored, kept his natural abilities in abeyance, so that he was prevented from taking advan- tage of the privileges that the settlers on the Government lands obtained by virtue of their opportunities. As long as he was able his life was a constant succession of lawsuits with the land and water companies or individuals. Towards the end he changed for the better, but too late, for financial ruin completely overtook him so that he ended his days in very straitened circumstances.
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As a man Mr. Tibbets was intelligent and a good neighbor, but being insane on law matters was the bane of his life. Always his own lawyer, he spent some time in the county jail for contempt of court, where he read the Bible to his fellow prisoners. So far as his connection with the introduction of the navel orange was concerned he had no connection with it whatever, and had their care developed on him the navel would have perished before it had attained fruitage. When its excellence came to be known he sold buds from the trees at a good price, which helped him in a measure to continue his lawsuits, but his skill or lack of skill in cutting bud wood was an injury to the trees. His wife, Eliza M., how- ever, was a different woman. Their marriage was a second one for each, and Mrs. Tibbets' son, James B. Summons, married Mr. Tibbets' daugh- ter, which was a bond which undoubtedly prevented a temporary separa- tion from becoming permanent. Unfortunately the accidental drowning of the grand-daughter, Daisy Summons, in the Santa Ana River during a freshet, and the death of Mrs. Summons shortly after, who was a very lovely and bright woman, broke up a very happy family union and prob- ably made a closer sympathetic married life for Mrs. Tibbets. Mr. Tibbets was a good man and left not an enemy behind, but his unfortunate predilection for reforming the world by law led him into a mania that was his final undoing.
In regard to the introduction of the Washington Navel into River- side if it had not been that Mr. Saunders (Horticulturist of the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington) was a personal friend and acquaintance of Mrs. Tibbets, who was a former resident of Wash- ington, the Washington Navel orange might not have been heard of, if at all, for many years later. Riverside was not known in 1875 (the year in which the trees were sent from Washington to Riverside) as a grower of oranges, as none had fruited at that time and undoubtedly these first trees were sent as a personal favor by Mrs. Saunders to Mrs. Tibbets. The navel had not been fruited before coming to Riverside and the experiment in Florida not proving a success it might have been years later before the navel attained the success it has since attained. It was for- tunate that Riverside has been as well adapted to the Navel as any other place in which it has been tried.
THE VALENCIA. After the navel the Valencia orange comes next in importance. There is a small gap between the last of the navels on the market in early summer and the Valencia, which is usually filled by seed- lings, Mediterranean sweets, Malta bloods and some other varieties, and as soon as these are well out of the market the Valencia has it all to itself for the remainder of the season and until the incoming of the new crop of navels. There is but little known of the Valencia because in the con- gratulations over the good qualities of the navel all other varieties were neglected. It came from Florida and possibly there were importations from other places.
Valencia is its supposed original home. Attention was largely called to it in Florida by a grower named Hart, who tried to perpetuate his name by calling it Hart's Tardiff, but it is universally known in Cali- fornia by the name of Valencia or Valencia Late.
It is a late orange, seedless or nearly so, and does not ripen fully until the navel is off the market. Its lateness and good keeping quality was not appreciated at first, owing to the idea that the orange had its season in spring and early summer and when other fruits were not in market and when deciduous fruits came into the market it would be entirely superseded by them. This has not proved to be the case by the Valencia,
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for it keeps its good qualities all the year round and is on Eastern markets just as much as any other fruit, and unlike some of them which will not keep after maturity, it will bear carrying and keeping and on that account will always be a favorite.
It has one peculiarity. In some places as summer advances it loses its orange color and becomes more or less green, giving the idea of imma- turity. Hence, before it can be marketed it has to be ripened and colored again by sweating by heat and moisture.
The Valencia has had a good effect in creating a greater market on account of its lateness and its good keeping quality on the trees. Prob- ably Orange County produces the best Valencias, just as Riverside main- tains its place in navels. The position the Valencia holds and the large plantings that are still being made look now as if there would be more Valencias put on the market than any other variety. No other variety can take the place of the navel while it is at its best in spring and early summer.
CHAPTER XIX THE LEMON AND OTHER FRUITS
It may not be out of place while writing up the citrus family to include in the same place the lemon, lime and grapefruit or shaddock.
The lemon has always filled a useful and necessary place in the mar- kets of this country.
Until G. W. Garcelon first experimented and succeeded in his efforts at keeping the lemon for an almost indefinite period, the lemon growers were very much discouraged at the future outlook for the lemon indus- try. Especially was this the case in the very early days of citrus cul- ture in California. As budded citrus fruit was at first unknown and the necessity for budding or grafting was not apparent and the orange family being supposed to be true to seed, the lemon was at first grown from seed. The lemon being a faster growing tree than the orange and also a larger tree at maturity, the fruit soon came on the market and at once got a reputation for poor keeping and inferior quality of fruit. Being left on the trees until spring the fruit became overgrown in size and picked at that time would not keep any length of time. The great drawback in the market was caused by the bitter taste of the juice, and also of the rind which made it almost unsaleable in the markets of San Francisco, either for lemonade or pies. Repeated effort to establish a market for the lemon resulted in almost complete failure. The seedling lemon was a very heavy bearer of large fruit with a somewhat coarse peel not at all like the fine grained medium sized cured fruit of the present day. Many an effort was made and experiments conducted by committees at state and local fairs to find a lemon that would possess qualities that would be desirable in the market of the world. The verdicts "sweet rind" or "bit- ter rind" have a very familiar sound to old settlers (most of whom have passed away). While these deliberations were going on and lemon grow- ers were about to give up in despair and leave only a tree or two for family use, nature came to the rescue and killed off about all the trees by root rot. This is the reason why the lemon is always grown on orange roots and why there are not seedling lemons grown. In point of size and vigorous growth nothing would seem to be better for a stock on which to bud the lemon than its own root, but the short life of the seed- ling lemon is the one insurmountable obstacle. The China lemon was tried as a stock to bud on both for the lemon and oranges as it is easily grown from cuttings, but its lack of a tap root was one objection and the other was, fruit grown on China lemon roots was apt to be coarse and of thick rind, and if the China lemon root, when bearing, survived a heavy wind, the fruit was inferior. The lime has also been tried as a root to bud the orange or lemon on, but its tender nature and dwarf character shut it off from a stock for successful budding.
There are two leading varieties of lemon that take the market in place of all others-the Lisbon and the Eureka. Planters are guided in plant- ing by locality rather than any other consideration. The Eureka being almost thornless is the most easily grown, but the Lisbon has the prefer- ence in certain districts near the coast.
The custom of picking lemons as soon as the fruit has attained a marketable size, has created a tendency to fruiting all the year round and at all time almost during the growing season fruit will be found on the
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trees in all stages of growth from the blossom to the fruit of a suitable size for picking.
The great advance in lemon growing was made when G. W. Garcelon made the discovery of the modern method of curing lemons by which they can be kept for many months in fine market condition, when they can be shipped to market at the time when the demand is greatest. The lemon grower has had a great many ups and downs owing to varia- tions in market conditions and also owing to tariff changes, according to which of the two great parties happened to be in power, although this history is not intended to be an argument on either side of tariff or other debatable questions that occupy the public mind. Theoretically undoubtedly the free traders have the best of the argument, but prac- tically they are left far in the rear. Unfortunately those who are most interested in citrus fruits next to the growers themselves are the import- ers and dealers in foreign fruits. They can make a very plaintive argu- ment in favor of the sick, poor, and how necessary citrus fruits are at the sick bed and the benefits arising from cheap fruit. Unfortunately their arguments prevail with a certain class of politicians whose tenure of office depends on the influence they have on voters in the large cities, but the short sighted policy of the politician is seen, whenever the dealer gets a good chance to raise prices, which he never fails to take advantage of. A few thousand dollars spent in buying orange or lemon groves at fabulously high prices in California is a very effective argument in favor of the assertion that citrus groves are high priced and growers are all rich from the profits of lemon and orange growing. In lemons especially owing to these conditions many lemon growers are digging up their groves or changing them to oranges and what these dealers are working for is being brought about by causing dependence on foreign mar- kets for our lemons. When that time comes which it is hoped will never come, these benevolent importers and dealers have never been known to forego high prices to favor the poor. On the other hand if the California grower ever gets the whole market to himself the law of supply and demand, and the constant entrance of new producers will tend to keep down prices within the reach of all.
The lemon plantings in California, if left to natural conditions, are now large enough, or nearly so, to supply the normal demand for lemons in the United States. California produces almost all the lemons grown in the United States and the importations came almost wholly from Europe.
The Lisbon lemon came from Australia and when the seedling failed to meet expectations in point of quality, importations were made by sev- eral parties at different times. The bulk of the trees in California have come from importations by Samuel P. Stow of Goleta, Santa Barbara County, propagated by Thomas A. Garey of Los Angeles and an importa- tion by Judge J. W. North turned over to D. W. Burnham, a nurseryman of Riverside. The Eureka also was an introduction through Thomas A. Garey who gave it the name it now bears as before he put it on the market it was nameless.
G. W. GARCELON. Among the early settlers of Riverside, G. W. Garcelon filled a leading position for many years. He came to River- side in 1872. He was born in New Brunswick where he was reared and educated ; he went at the age of twenty to Lewiston, Maine, where he carried on a drug business. Ill health compelled him to seek a more genial climate and he came to Riverside in 1872 when it required a good deal of faith and courage to settled down for life. Here he regained his Vol. 1-28
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health and lived to an advanced age. He bought a block of two and a half acres at the head of Seventh Street between Vine and Mulberry, and Sixth and Seventh streets besides buying twenty acres on Brockton Avenue. Horticulturally he was one of the most successful fruit grow- ers of Riverside. He built at that time the finest house in Riverside which still stands and made that his home for the many years he lived here. His house was the first house lathed and plastered in Riverside and here in the parlor of his home in the spring of 1877 was held the first citrus fair, the parent of the annual citrus fairs that formed one of the annual advertising features of Riverside, calling attention to our semi-tropical fruits and health-giving climate. It was in his house in 1878 that the superexcellent qualities of the navel orange were first tested.
Mr. Garcelon took a very active part in all of the citrus fairs and fruits of Riverside. He went largely into lemon growing and encoun- tered the many difficulties that the early settlers encountered in producing a marketable lemon. At first all lemons were seedlings, but when they came into bearing the fruit had a very bitter rind and was difficult to sell on that account, but that matter was in a very few years settled by lemons on their own roots dying, when budded fruit was substituted. Another difficulty was in curing the fruit so that it would keep in transit to market, and while in the hands of the salesman. These difficulties were overcome by Mr. Garcelon and at a later period when he placed his cured lemons on exhibition at a citrus fair in Los Angeles he took the first premium of $100 for the best exhibit of lemons and $50 for the best box. At the World's Fair in 1893, he received a medal and diploma from the manager of the fair for his lemon display and the foreign experts who said his exhibit denied that they were California lemons, and he had hard work to convince them that his lemons were his own production and that they were really better than the foreign lemon.
Mr. Garcelon took an active part in the formation of the Fruit Exchange, at the time when the growers were nearly ruined by the mismanagement of the middleman in marketing of our citrus fruits. This phase of the orange business as well as the curing of lemons will be found fully written up in other places of this history.
Mr. Garcelon, although not an office seeker, took an active part in all public matters concerning the welfare of Riverside. Politically in early days when feeling ran high and when the discord arising from the Civil war caused a great conflict between the two old parties, Mr. Garce- lon was a staunch Republican and helped materially in turning San Ber- nardino County Republican, of which Riverside before County Division formed a very important part. He was Supervisor from Riverside County during the agitation that resulted in County Divison and the founding of Riverside County. He passed away March 9, 1905.
LEMON CULTURE. When we look at the past and see what River- side has come through we are at times surprised at efforts that were made for success without any great hope of pecuniary benefit, but more from a desire to overcome obstacles that arose from time to time. In none were greater success achieved than in lemon growing. Few can realize the desire that arose in the hot sunny days of the early time (when there was neither ice nor shade) for a nice drink of cool lemonade The Fourth of July passed without lemonade was something unheard of by Eastern people and the Fourth of July had to be passed right at home in that way ( for there was no way to get away except by lumber wagon). and so we had for a year or two or more maybe a nice sociable public celebration of the Fourth of July at Spring Brook with a picnic, dinner
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and the delicious camp-fire coffee in the open air under what scanty shade a chance cottonwood tree might afford. These were the golden days without any thought of making a fortune by orange growing.
The lemon as a matter of course was planted in what was deemed sufficient numbers and grew luxuriantly (much more quickly than the orange) and before we realized it we had lemons. But it was not known that the lemon had to be picked at intervals during its growth and put away in a cool dry place and in the dark and away from hot air and drying winds, until it ripened and matured its juices, fitting it for market and remaining in our dry climate until it would dry up rather than decay.
In our innocence and inexperience we supposed that the lemon was like any other fruit, to be left on the tree until the season of ripening and then picked and marketed like any other fruit. In this way there would be a glut of the market for a few short weeks and the rest of the year no lemons. We grew some fine large specimens and the longer they were left on the trees the larger they grew and the less useful the juice. Besides that these large over-grown seedling lemons with a thick rind would soon decay and become useless. The few old settlers who are left will remember the anxieties and the efforts that were made to mar- ket them and the discouraging reports that came from San Francisco from the commission men and the unfavorable and disparaging remarks that were made concerning our Riverside lemons and this at a time when the Riverside orange was pronounced the finest in the world. Our lemons, they said, had a bitter rind and could not be used on that account for pies or lemonade like the high priced foreign lemon, for any lemons in the San Francisco market came from Europe. And we had great meet- ings and frequent trials of lemons and occasionally we had a new variety that promised well. Mr. Garcelon has his "knobby" lemon and Mr. Higgins of San Diego had one styled "Bonnie Brae" and still the lemon question was unsolved. Many is the time when tasters and testers pro- nounced the words "bitter rind" or "sweet rind" but all to no effect. Still the San Francisco price was unsatisfactory until time and gum disease settled the question for all time. The seedling lemon was very short lived on account of gum disease killing them off when they began bearing.
In the meantime enterprising nurserymen began to import popular varieties from abroad, the three principal of which were the Villa France, the Lisbon and the Eureka, a variety introduced by Thomas A. Garey a leading nurseryman of Los Angeles in the early days. The seedling lemon had to be discarded and other roots adopted and the new varieties on orange roots soon took the market and proved very acceptable. The new varieties had the peculiarity that they were in a measure all the year round bearers and demands of the market were continuous, and when they began to be picked all the year round this made them more continuous and so it began to be found by experience that it was not necessary to wait until the lemon got ripe and yellow, for when picked of a popular and marketable size even if green the juice was sour enough and when kept until yellow it sold readily enough and from then on we never have heard of "bitter rind" any more.
Our California lemons are rated higher on chemical tests than for- eign lemons. In picking lemons in this way it was also found that put- ting them away to mellow and mature and get the natural moisture out of the peel they would keep much longer, almost indefinitely, and in our Riverside dry climate until they would dry up. This if true was a great discovery for lemons picked in the dull season could be held in the cur- ing houses until the warmer weather came round.
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Mr. G. W. Garcelon was one of the most successful growers of lemons, and in the course of his experiments in curing and keeping he devised a method of keeping them in a cool dry house awav as far as pos- sible from heat and dry winds and in the shade ; he managed to produce a lemon that he kept for nine months in a perfect condition which fairly surprised himself and everybody else, and when he put his lemons on exhibition at the Chicago Citrus Fair it was questioned by lemon deal- ers and experts whether it was a California lemon. Mr. Garcelon was prepared with his proofs and California lemons take the market even in preference to the imported article. The great drawback has always been that Italian lemons could be put on the market cheaper than Cali- fornia lemons on account of cheaper labor and lower freight rates. California growers have only asked that some measure of protection be given on the tariff to equalize the difference in rates of freight. They claim that superior methods in California will be equivalent to the differ- ence in wages paid to labor in Europe.
The plea has always been made that high tariff worked hardship on the poor, but as against that it is well known that lemon importers, mostly Italians, have always whenever they had a chance put the price so high that the poor could not buy them. Fluctuations in the tariff have so discouraged the lemon growers that some have dug up their trees or budded them to oranges. Only a few months ago in the spring of 1921 lemons were so low that thousands of boxes of lemons were taken out and dumped in the dry washes of our mountain streams only to find a month or two later that lemons were as high as eight or ten dollars per box in eastern markets. This has been more or less the condition of affairs in California from the time that lemon growing and curing became a success.
The marketing of them, the successful spreading of that market and increase of consumption will be treated further when the history of the Southern California Fruit Exchange is given. It is enough to say here, however, that a portable machine driven by electricity extracts the juice almost instantly and lemonade by this help will become more popular in drug stores and all places where fancy and cool drinks are in demand.
L. M. HOLT. A history of Riverside and indeed of Southern Cali- fornia would be incomplete without some mention of L. M. Holt. Like the majority of the great army of home and health seekers who laid the foundations for the popularity and prosperity of Southern California L. M. Holt was an Eastern man. He was born in Michigan in 1840, but his parents were natives of Connecticut, having moved to Michigan while it was still a territory. After graduating from Hillsdale College he went to Iowa and learned the printing business. Spending three years teaching he was elected Superintendent of Schools of Vinton County. having under his charge over 100 schools during his incumbency in 1864 and 1865. In 1868 he was a delegate to the National Convention that nominated General Grant for the presidency.
He entered the newspaper business and owned one or two newspapers. but in 1869 came to financial wreck in the endeavor to publish a probi- bition paper in Marshalltown, Iowa. In December of that year he came to California, locating at Sacramento working at his trade. In January, 1872, he came to Southern California visiting Riverside, spending four weeks in looking over the few orange groves and getting acquainted with orange growers in Los Angeles County. Gaining all the information he could about orange growing he went north to Healdsburg in Sonoma County where he organized a company with a capital stock of $50,000 for the purpose of planting an orange orchard in Southern California.
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