USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 59
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 59
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This orchard was located near Anaheim. Mr. Holt was soon superseded, and in 1873 he settled in Los Angeles where he was made secretary of the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Co-operative Association. This company laid out Artesia, in Los Angeles County, and Mr. Holt was largely successful in founding that flourishing place.
In 1875 Mr. Holt was elected Superintendent and Manager of the Company that founded Pomona. Thomas A. Garey was largely asso- ciated with him in this enterprise and their names are still preserved in the names of streets in that flourishing city.
In 1887 he was largely instrumental in the formation of the South- ern California Horticultural Society which figured prominently in the fruit interest of the South. Some of the prominent fruit growers of that day, such as J. de Barth Sport, Thomas A. Garey, Dr. Conger, Colonel Ban- bury and others were leaders in the society. This society held the first fairs in Southern California and in these fairs Riverside first came into notice by the excellence of its products. Mr. and Mrs. James Boyd and family still show medals and premiums given at the exhibits of the Asso- ciation held in Los Angeles. Mr. Holt was one of the most active mem- bers of this society and became editor of a paper published by the society called the Southern California Horticulturist. Mr. Holt, owing to the success of this new journal, was obliged to give up all other projects and give his whole time to it.
During his connection with the Horticulturist and the Horticultural Society everything was in a very flourishing condition and the society secured a fine lot on Temple Street with a frontage of 200 feet and erected a large and commodious pavilion thereon for exhibition purposes and to hold the annual fairs. These fairs attracted much attention and drew exhibits from all parts of Southern California. The pavilion was on the high ground some distance up and was easily reached by the cable cars that at that time in Los Angeles made the steep hills accessible to settlers. Piped water was on the grounds and they were so spacious that exhibitors from outside counties as far away as Santa Barbara County, who came with their own teams, could camp on the grounds. For several years these fairs were very successful until 1879, when hard times crippled the efforts of the society and the pavilion and grounds were sold for a debt of about $5,000 which could not be raised by the lead- ing men of Los Angeles. The lands today are worth a fortune and the party who bought the pavilion became rich from the lumber that was in it by erecting dwellings from it. The society lapsing shortly after, the Southern California Horticulturist was turned over to private parties and its name changed to the Rural Californian.
Mr. Holt might well be termed the original boomer of Southern Cali- fornia. When his connection ceased with the Southern California Horti- culturist and the Society he came to Riverside and bought from James H. Roe, January 1, 1880 the Riverside Press, a weekly paper that had been started for a year or two. Shortly after the purchase he changed the name to the Press and Horticulturist and made a first class paper of it and the recognized horticultural paper of Southern California. The circulation was largely increased and the paper was soon looked to everywhere as the leading authority on citrus culture and land and water matters as well. It was while under Mr. Holt's ownership and management of the Press and Horticulturist that Southern California began to see the possibilities in fruit culture, raisins and other deciduous fruits, but especially oranges and the navel which was just being tested. Colonies sprung up on every hand from Riverside or stimulated by the growing success of Riverside. South Riverside (now Corona), Ontario,
RIVERSIDE IN 1883
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Etiwanda, Redlands and other places. These were all advertised and boomed by Mr. Holt in his paper and he always was interested in obtain- ing a generous slice of land for his efforts besides liberal advertisements and the larger circulation of his paper. Any one of these bonuses was enough to have made him well off, but he could not save, but he flour- ished. The influence of his paper was always liberally given in behalf of Riverside and the success attained was stimulated in a large measure by these efforts. The citrus fairs were made successes by his personal efforts and the columns of his paper.
The following from "Nord" was a correspondent of the San Fran- cisco Bulletin under date of July 30, 1887 while in its strictest sense not wholly applicable to Mr. Holt and the Press and Horticulturist, but to so many other of the pioneer settlers, will nevertheless find as fitting a place here as anywhere else in this history for at the time it was writ- ten, Riverside occupied a greater place in orange culture and a colony success than any other place in Southern California.
"The place where orange growing may be seen in its best condition and results is Riverside. Here it has attained its best development.
"The success here really widened out its circle. Riverside has really sold the acres and town lots of Southern California."
It was while Mr. Holt was running the Press and Horticulturist that the first great advance was made in settlement in Southern California and in orange growing and the money made in buying and selling real estate and orange groves and in founding new settlements, putting the lands on the market and inducing a large influx of population from the East. It was about this time that the colony system in its best sense came to an end and the "golden age"-of home building-came to an end and the age of gold-the age of speculation and money making as an inducement to settlement-had its beginning. But Riverside had its foundation principles so ingrafted in its fundamentals that it has never been possible to put commercialism into its daily life as thoroughly as it has been in places of lesser antiquity.
Mr. Holt had opportunities and experiences that were great before coming to Riverside and he put them to their best use while living here, but he was no financier and failed to make money from the many oppor- tunities he had, but shall we say that success shall be wholly measured from a financial standpoint? If we do, then we will have to admit that practically the lives of all of the pioneers and of those who passed through the Golden Age of Riverside were failures. There are others now living who also will be held up to future generations as in the class that had higher ideals than mere wordly success.
Mr. Holt in 1888 severed his connection with Riverside and newspaper work. During his newspaper life the Press grew from a weekly under Mr. Roe's management to a large and influential daily and weekly with a large circulation outside Riverside itself. The further life of Mr. Holt was rather obscure and although engaged in some large land transactions with others. the absence of his paper to help "boost" his enterprises did not bring him the notice and success he otherwise might have had and but for the wise management, forethought, and thrift displayed by his second wife he might have ended his life in poverty.
His first wife died in Riverside leaving one son. His second wife he married elsewhere and she ministered to him in a noble way towards the end when he was in a measure a mental and physical wreck. Thus one by one the active workers and promoters of Riverside and Southern California passed away leaving hardly anything for future generations to remember them by except a passing tribute in a history of the time.
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Mr. Holt had one son by his first wife, but the son has gone elsewhere like other sons and daughters of the older pioneers.
James H. Roe the founder of the Press was one of its proprietors again for a year, but sold out to his partners, E. W. Holmes and R. H. Pierson.
The great advance in the price of real estate that took place while Mr. Holt and the Press and Horticulturist were what saved Southern California from almost utter collapse and looking back on the past the wonder is how Mr. Evans and the company he represented were able to continue amid the opposition and lawsuits he encountered. Indeed he says in one of his addresses that the advance in real estate was the one thing that saved the Riverside Land and Irrigation Company from bank- ruptcy. Later settlements had to put higher prices on new lands and had to have a reserve of capital to meet the great expenditures necessary before the land was put on the market. The older settlers were helped out by the high prices obtained for fruit while opening up new markets for their fruit. Land sales also helped them and satisfied them in their new homes.
THE LIME. The lime was introduced in the early days of citrus fruit growing, finding favor both on account of its easy propagation and its popular size, as one lime was sufficient for one drink.
It is or was a popular fruit in Mexico and at the time the writer visited Acapulco, in 1866, it was the only fruit of acid quality for fancy drinks on the market.
The lime was extensively planted in Southern California in the early '70s, and bid fair to occupy a prominent place in the markets of the United States. It has now almost disappeared from the market and is hardly ever seen and hardly a lime tree can be found in California. It was a handsome fruit and its small size and thin skin all made it popular. At one time it was tried for hedges and was an admirable tree for that purpose. After a few years of trial it was found not to be hardy enough in our climate and its cultivation was abandoned entirely.
THE POMELO OR GRAPE FRUIT. At first the shaddock was grown as a curiosity on account of the large size of its fruit, but was soon aban- doned on account of being of no practical value.
The pomelo, however, was being grown in Florida and in some of the West India Islands and shipped to this country, where it was used in a small way as an appetizer before breakfast. Those who preferred something somewhat stronger used it with a little wine, but customs change in the use of fruit, as in clothes, and now it is used in its natural condition. The introduction of improved varieties has greatly aided in increasing the consumption of this fruit. The original pomelo was some- what objectionable on account of the large quantity of seeds in the fruit, but of late years Marsh seedless has taken the market completely on account of quality and lack of seeds. The name in general use-Grape- fruit-is somewhat of a misnomer, said to be adopted because of the tendency of the fruit to grow in clusters like grapes. This is a far- fetched reason, for the grapefruit has no more tendency to grow in clusters in California than the seedling orange.
Medicinally grapefruit holds an important place. Medical men say that the bitter quality in grapefruit has the same or similar qualities that quinine possesses, and that its daily use is very beneficial, while the acid has the same quality held in common with oranges. In these days of food faddists and no breakfast eaters, a half grapefruit with or without
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sugar will be found an excellent appetizer for the noonday meal or as an ingredient in the morning meal. Eaten in the raw state there will be none of those elusive vitamines missing.
The consumption is gradually increasing and when fully ripe the fruit is delicious and fills a place all its own. At first it was thought that Florida or the West Indies were the only places where grapefruit could be grown to perfection. This opinion was mainly founded on the idea that Florida grapefruit matured earlier, whereas California grapefruit is not full- ripe until other fruit is off the market.
The Exchange Lemon Products Company (formerly Exchange B. Products Company) operates at Corona the largest factory of its kind in the United States, and demonstrates the worth-while-ness of co-operative endeavor in manufacturing as well as agriculture.
A small, privately owned by-product factory established in Riverside in 1913 suggested to Riverside County lemon growers the possibility of salvaging all of their unsalable fruit. Discussion of the matter before the California Fruit Growers' Exchange in Los Angeles developed a desire to undertake the processing of cull lemons from all the packing houses affiliated with the Exchange. Before the plan could take concrete form the Riverside company, finding working capital lacking, offered its plant for sale. A mutual company was thereupon promptly formed, directors were chosen from the seventeen districts then comprising the Exchange, and the equipment of the old company was purchased.
The Riverside building was found too small for the handling of the larger quantity of fruit now available. The lemon association at Corona met the situation promptly by buying a large, well-located packing house with two acres of land and offered it as a gift to the newly organized by-products company. The offer was accepted and the Riverside machinery was transferred to Corona to form the nucleus of the larger unit.
Active operations began in 1916, during which year 2,000 tons of lemons were successfully processed for citric acid. A 6,000-ton run was made in the following season. The volume of business in subsequent years has varied widely with the size of the lemon crops and the state of the lemon market, the tonnage for 1920 running as high as 18,000.
Working capital has been made available as needed by contributions from the participating associations, an assessment of 1 cent per box being levied upon the fruit packed for market by these shippers. The entire sum so contributed has found investment in the factory which now has an inventory valuation of $160,000.
As a result of such investment the growers have received in excess of $300,000 to date for lemons processed, the return per ton being influenced by the price of the finished product, and the character of the lemons themselves. The freight upon the incoming fruit is paid by the company, the distant shippers thus being on an equal footing with those closest to the plant. Over fifty separate associations now share in the benefits of the enterprise. No fruit has yet been handled at a loss. A minimum of $6 per ton has at all times been returned and in some instances a net yield of $22.50 per ton has been realized.
The processes employed in converting these waste lemons into their salable derivatives are simple in principle, but in their successful applica- tion many details must be watched with exceeding care. The fruit upon arrival at the plant is carefully sorted, only sound clean lemons being suitable for the manufacture of lemon oil. The outer oil-bearing layer is grated away from this selected fruit, the peel thus removed being treated by live steam in a vacuum chamber for the removal of the oil. The peeled
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lemons are carried on to powerful presses capable of extracting the juice at the rate of 2,000 gallons per hour. This juice is stored in huge tanks to be later processed for citric acid, while the pulp is carried to the refuse pile, from which it is hauled to nearby orchards for use as fertilizer.
The acid process begins with the filtering of the juice to crystal clear- ness, lime is then added, and by its use the citric acid is all removed through a chemical combination which results in citrate of lime, a granular salt easily recovered from the juice by a second filtration. This citrate after a thorough washing with boiling water is readily broken up by chemical treatment, which sets free the citric acid in a clear watery solu- tion which when concentrated in vacuum kettles yields upon cooling a salable citric crystal.
The more recent additions to the Corona factory equipment have brought the pressing and filtering capacity up to 200 tons of lemons in a twenty-four hour day. The departments devoted to oil manufacture and the production of finished acid are intended to run constantly at a some- what lesser rate, or about 100 tons daily.
RAISINS AND THE MUSCAT GRAPE. The great object with the early settler was to get something planted that would bear early for which there would be a market outside. The raisin grape was selected as one of these. Raisins were untried, but in our climate, similar to Spain, where the bulk of the world's raisins were grown, it was not doubted that good raisins could be produced. The wine grape succeeded admirably, which was at least very encouraging. R. B. Blowers of Woodland in Yolo County, California, had made good raisins and was the pioneer raisin grower in the State. As grapes would begin to bear the second year from planting it was not long before a trial could be made. There was not yet any railway to carry anything to market and it would be costly to haul them to the coast and ship by water to San Francisco.
One of the hopes indulged in by the settlers was that a railway would be built that would put us in direct communication with the East. With that end in view, Congress in 1871 made a reservation and grant of public lands on the line of the present Southern Pacific, where by building a line of railroad the company was to receive all odd numbered sections of land for a distance of twenty miles on each side of the track. This was our hope that as soon as the Central and Union Pacific roads were built then the Southern Pacific would be built and also a coast line to San Francisco, thus putting us in easy communication with the markets of the outside world. In this we were not much disappointed, for the railroads were built. Otherwise our isolation would have been a great inconvenience and developments such as we have had an impossibility.
As a result of these hopes everyone went ahead, confident of markets being opened up as soon as products would be demanding markets.
The raisin industry was a great boon to Riverside and Southern Cali- fornia and hundreds of carloads of raisins went from Southern California to San Francisco and the East. Riverside at the height of its prosperity in this line, shipped between 200 and 300 carloads of fine raisins every year and it was a very material help to those who were struggling along to make a living and keep out of debt. As high as $500 per acre in favorable instances was made, but about $200 or $250 per acre could be confidently counted on.
At first Chinamen did much of the work, picking grapes, and about all of it in the packing house. In picking the grapes many women picked, and it was found a healthy occupation for all and profitable as well. Many packed their own raisins and shipped them, too. Women were also employed in packing by private individuals, and although it had been the
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custom everywhere to pay women a smaller wage than men for the same work, the principle was adopted in fruit handling and packing, and has continued since, that women should be paid as much as men for the same work. The raisin business flourished for several years. Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley went into it largely and made a success of it, but when the supply increased so as to influence the Eastern markets, then for lack of co-operation among the growers, prices began to tumble until the grower could not make expenses and in some few cases had to pay the packer and commission men money to take his fruit off his hands, at least that was the way it worked. Then commenced the decline of raisin production in Riverside and vineyards began to be rooted out and the stumps made into firewood. What hastened the uprooting of the raisin grapevines was the fact that raisins could be made cheaper in the Fresno vineyards with a somewhat better climate for drying as in that warmer valley the grapes ripened earlier and could be gotten out of the way of the early rains that sometimes caused loss, especially to the second picking.
The grapes took two or three weeks or more to dry and had to be dried on wooden trays and after drying put into wooden boxes to cure and equalize the moisture in them. Another thing that caused the down- fall of the raisin industry was the great success of the navel orange, owing to its fine quality and the large prices it brought in the market. Fine fruit would bring as high as 5 cents apiece and many people put in nothing but navel oranges, the result of which in after years that they were selling oranges at 1 cent a pound or less and buying deciduous fruits at 4 and 5 cents per pound.
CHAPTER XX
THE FRUIT EXCHANGE
While Riverside has been the originator of about all that is useful and necessary in the colony and orange business, none have been of more benefit than the California Fruit Exchange in this respect.
While speculation was rife in the early days the hopes and expecta- tions were very modest. From the very first there were not wanting those who talked of overproduction. But if anyone had talked or said that the production of oranges would have amounted to 40,000 or 50,000 car- loads in a single season he would have hardly been listened to with patience. The great want in Southern California has been always water, more water. In Los Angeles the owner of the Wolfskill Grove of some- thing like 2,000 trees, thought that about the whole water of Los Angeles River was necessary for the irrigation of his grove. The great difficulty encountered by Judge North and his associates in their search for a suitable location for a colony was not a lack of suitable land, but the lack of water. The site where Pasadena now is was passed by as not promis- ing enough water. There was water in the mountains, plenty in places like the San Gabriel or Santa Ana rivers, but nowhere did any of the mountain streams or rivers in summer flow for any great distance out onto the dry plains before drying up and so settlement was discouraged by the apparent lack of water. But when it was seen that orange growing was going to be a success the ingenuity of man came to the rescue and iron pipes and cement pipes and canals and ditches came into use and later on wells and pumping plants, all were employed in getting water onto lands that were shown to have almost a fabulous value (as compared with Eastern farm lands) and orange groves began to be plentiful.
In Riverside (early in its history) there was a canning factory owned by some of its leading citizens that in addition to canning fruit and pack- ing raisins and marketing them, also began to pack and ship oranges. Previous to that time every orange grower picked his own oranges, graded them by hand and packed them. He was also his own boxmaker and did everything necessary in the orange business. This was before shipping oranges in carload lots was necessary. The grower also hauled his fruit to Colton and shipped it in small lots to San Francisco, getting for his returns about what the commission man thought he could afford to give, which at times amounted to as much as could be sent by letter in a few postage stamps. Sometimes the returns were fair and in the case of navels when they began to come in, in shipping lots, returns were large.
After Riverside canning company got into the packing business there was relief to the shipper in small lots, for better terms of freight rates could be obtained when shipped in larger lots. The canning company in the end did not get much better prices than the grower himself. As the trade grew in importance packing companies were organized and packing houses put up and the business became profitable, but always in the end the grower would be left as the saying is "holding the bag" or worse, having to make up a loss incurred by the commission man in selling the fruit. The commission man, however, thrived and the orange grower had to take what was left. Some commission men turned out to be complete robbers, but there was no remedy that the grower here could apply to the seller in Chicago. It was proved again and again by those who happened to be in the selling markets that the commission man would
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sell the fruit at a low price in the morning and before night it would be resold at a high price by his friend to another party. The honest commis- sion man under these circumstances could not hold his own against these rogues, and so the business went from bad to worse. There were no laws at that time, like now, to protect the consignor of fruit, nor honest col- lection agencies. The larger packing houses could protect themselves by having their own selling agencies in Eastern markets. Growers here would try to sell their fruit on the trees or delivered at the packing house, but that was far from satisfactory and buyers could not always be found and again they would take the fruit, pack it and sell on commission to the detriment of the grower.
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