USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 62
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 62
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
Quoting from the California Mining Bureau, their experts declare that "the plastic clay deposits of Riverside County extending along the Temescal Valley for ten miles from Elsinore on the southeast to and beyond Corona on the northwest is a zone that is one of the best and largest west of the Mississippi. In many places these clays resemble the white, black, red and variegated Cretaceous clays that are famous in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania."
It is probable that for a long time a narrow arm of a pre-crustacean sea extended up where now is Temescal Creek and the surrounding hills and slowly the deep and valuable deposits of transported clays rich with aluminum silicates, periodically colored with varying ingredients, were deposited. These are changed according to position so that on the Elsi- nore end are the rich "fatty" plastic clays, while near Corona the best refractory clays are obtained.
Mountains of clay are like tales of the mariner, but at Alberhill the myth has come true, and a real mountain of highly valuable clay rears up out of the plain and goes to undetermined depth into the earth below. Here are located the most important holdings that are operated in the West. There are three companies in this district. The Alberhill Coal
460
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
and Clay Company were the original locators in the district. Years ago C. H. Albert of St. Louis and James Hill of Los Angeles inves- tigated and took hold of properties amounting to 2,000 acres, including the coal deposits first noted by Chaney in 1880 and eighty acres of proven continuous clay holdings. The present company is directed by James H. Hill and is a producing but not a manufacturing company. It is supplying hundreds of tons daily to manufacturing concerns and is not affiliated or identified with any particular concerns, but is ready to sup- ply to the requirements of all comers in the field and has available sites for new factories close to the clay pits. As almost every important pot- tery and ceramic company in the Middle West is making inquiry or lay- ing plans for branch locations in Southern California, developments in this industry will create an enormous demand for clay in the next few years, and initiate the opening of many new deposits in Riverside County.
The requirements of a good clay for pottery and ceramic purposes is that it shall be smooth, plastic (too fusible for refractory purposes), free from iron, coarse materials, or blistering salts, and vitrify at a low temperature, while still having a wide range between initial and complete vitrification. Also that it shall dry reasonably fast.
At the San Bernardino Orange Show were exhibits showing the many clay products of Riverside County. One of these was in charge of Mr. Danforth, of the Pacific Clay Products Company, and showed brick, pipe and tile, as well as many forms of bowls, pots, etc. The glazed ware is of particular interest, as 95 per cent of it is Riverside clay. The clays for these are first moistened for shaping on the wheel, and atter drying are fired at a reasonably high heat. They become very hard and porous, like Mexican ollas. They are next dipped in a syrupy glazing material and take up a thin coating. The ware is now placed in another burner and fired at a lower temperature, which is high enough to make the glaze material flow and take on the hard, glassy surface and still not affect the shape of the glazed ware. This material is known as "slip." The varying colors in slip is obtained from different iron salts. The pure white glaze is absolutely free from iron. The favorite dark slip is known as Albany slip, from the place it was originally obtained.
Three pointed stilts are used in setting up the pots for firing with the result that little rough spots are left inside and out. These are not defects, but the Pacific Clay Products Company are expecting to get away from these by using rings instead of stilts.
The Karl Martin Company of Riverside was in charge of another exhibit representing the clay industries of Alberhill. Mr. Martin, assisted by A. M. Ball, formerly assistant professor of agricultural engineering and superintendent of buildings and grounds at the Aniver- sity of Minnesota, set up the display, which showed in particular the products of the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, showing many forms of brick, hollow tile and tiling, all made in Riverside County and colored by the natural clays. Two hundred men are employed at Alber- hill and their products goes all over the coast. On the 21st of February 200 carloads of hollow tile went to Wilmington and from there the 6,000 tons went to Honolulu for use in a new Federal building and others. Another shipment of equal size was made in November to Honolulu. During 1920 about half the houses constructed in Riverside were of hollow tile. The Karl Martin Company has just completed six- teen houses at Ontario for the California Growers' Association, and is at present constructing ten more at Uplands. The largest recent hollow tile and brick structure to be complete of Riverside County products is
461
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
the New Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles which required 300 carloads of the material.
Hollow tile construction is not peculiar to California, though it is very well adapted to climatic conditions. It has long been very popular in Iowa, so much so that the hollow tile silos are commonly known as "Iowa Silos."
Every good word that hollow tile receives in the Southwest is a boost for Riverside County and the rapid growth in the popularity of this type of permanent construction material has been of great advantage to the county.
CLAY INDUSTRY IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY
(By Rush T. and Harley A. Sill, Mining Engineers, Los Angeles)
Very few people realize the importance or magnitude of the clay- working industry in Los Angeles and the immediate vicinity, or the variety of products being manufactured, the clay coming from River- side County.
There is an invested capital of over $2,500,000 in plants making fire brick and refractories, sewer pipe, electrical conduits, architectural terra- cotta, face brick of all kinds, wall and floor tile, commercial and chem- ical stone ware, hotel china, enamel brick, yellow cooking ware and casseroles. Plants are also under consideration for the making of elec- trical porcelain, the porcelain used in spark plugs and sanitary ware.
Most of these products require the finest grade of clay in their man- ufacture. Plants for their manufacture are now located in Los Angeles and others are coming, because fine clays of superior quality are avail- able in quantities.
Extending along the Temescal Valley for ten miles from Elsinore on the southwest to beyond Corona on the northwest is a zone of clays of superior quality. In many places they resemble the important white, gray, black, red and variegated cretaceous clays of New Jersey and Western Pennsylvania. The extent and thickness of these clays, together with the great plasticity of some and the highly refractory quality of others, give them much importance.
The Temescal Valley was, in tertiary time, an arm of the sea open- ing northward into the valley of western San Bernardino County and extending southerly to Temecula. Its width is from one to two miles, but the depth is unknown. A drill hole put down by the Alberhill Coal and Clay Company, to a depth of 300 feet did not reach the bottom of the basin.
The clays of the Temescal Valley are of a great variety of colors and are in various conditions of consolidation. These clays dip westerly from the Temescal Range toward the Santa Ana Mountains and as the latter are approached the dip increases from 10 degrees up to vertical as the metamorphic rocks are reached. In the region between Corona and Alberhill, at various points the clays are overlain by debris of dis- integrated granite varying from a few inches to several feet in thickness. South of Elsinore the clays are covered by quarternary gravels.
Ninety per cent of all the clays shipped into Los Angeles and vicinity comes from the Temescal Valley. Almost all of this clay is being mined by the Alberhill Coal and Clay Company, situated at Alberhill, Riverside County, California, six miles northwesterly from Elsinore, on the Santa Fe Railroad, and the company has been operating continuously over a period of thirty years.
This property was operated first as a coal mine, providing fuel for towns in the immediate vicinity and also shipping a small tonnage of
462
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
high grade fire clay. Now, however, clay is mined and shipped exclu- sively. Several thousand tons of lignite coal, and one million tons of clay have been produced. In normal years they ship from 90,000 to 100,000 tons. Shipments of clay in 1918 amounted to 70,836 tons. Today the Alberhill Coal and Clay Company ships in commercial quantities twelve different kinds of clay to seventeen plants in Los Angeles and vicinity.
The holdings of this company are located on a hill two and a quar- ter miles in length and one mile in width, which rises out of the floor of the Temescal Valley. The average elevation of the hill is 1.680 feet and the lowest pit, on the northwest side of the hill, is at approximately 1,350 feet elevation. When we consider that clays have been proven by drill holes to a depth of over 300 feet, some idea of the immense. ton- nage of fire clay available can be formed. The clay strata of this hill are continuous, very uniform as to depth, and regular as to thickness, with a dip to the southwest of about 10 degrees. The regularity of the strata and the uniformity of the physical and chemical characteristics are dominant features of this property. For instance, a stratum of ball clay opened up in the lower pit will be found at the same geological horizon in another opening a mile or two distant.
A geological section of the hill shows first, the top clay, varying in width from ten to eighteen feet, and suitable for the manufacture of hollow building tiles, sewer pipe and brick. The Los Angeles High School is built of brick made from these upper clays. The government test shows that hollow tile made from this clay has a crushing strength equal to that of a solid wall built of common brick. Underneath this top clay is a fire clay, from twenty-four to thirty feet in thickness, used principally in the manufacture of fire brick, for the lining of locomotives and for the building of oil refining plants. Under this fire clay is six to eight feet of plastic clay, which is similar in characteristics and analysis to the English ball clay. The plasticity of this clay makes it desirable for one of the component parts used in the body of chemical stone ware. architectural terra-cotta and in making enamel pressed brick.
Beneath this plastic clay is a bed of lignite coal varying in thickness from two to eleven feet. Several thousand tons of this coal were mined and shipped some years ago. Under this coal measure is a non-plastic refractory fire clay, about 5 feet in thickness, which carries from thirty- eight to forty-five per cent aluminum. This non-plastic clay is used in the manufacture of high grade fire clay products for the steel industry, and for other uses where very high grade fire clay is essential. This is the only place now known on the Pacific Coast where this exceedingly fine quality of clay can be obtained. Underneath the non-plastic clay the blue fire clay is found which has a known depth of thirty feet. This blue clay is used for electric conduits, chemical stone ware, sewer pipe, architectural terra-cotta, impervious face brick, or any clay product where a dense impervious body is needed.
In other parts of the property semi-refractory fire clays, high in iron, are found. These clays are used in making roofing tiles, silo blocks, hol- low building blocks fired face brick and paving brick, and can be burned in the same kilns as white-burning fire clay products. They are also safe- drying clays, that is, will dry without cracking.
It is because of the large quantities of clay obtainable, from the top clay down to the blue plastic clay in the bottom of the pit. that the Alberhill Coal and Clay Company is able to furnish any kind of clay in quality and quantity to the many different plants in and near Los Angeles.
463
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
The Alberhill Coal and Clay Company has opened its main pit on the northwest side of the hill at an elevation of 1,350 feet.
The refractory clay underneath the coal is mined by an under ground method. Tunnels have been driven and rooms opened from this tunnel. Most of the fire clays are shot down to the bottom of the main pit and there loaded into cars by hand. The top clays are mined and kept separated as far as possible, from the fire clays. The top clays are shov- eled into bins and lowered to the bottom of the main pit by long chutes.
At the bottom of the pit they are loaded into two-tone capacity cars, from seven to eight cars to a train, and hauled by gasoline motor, to the loading bins at the railroad tracks for shipping into Los Angeles or to the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company's plant No. 4 located across the arroyo from the Alberhill pits.
During 1918 the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company was called upon, by the government, to furnish large quantities of fire brick, hollow building tile and face brick. After studying the situation carefully, the company decided to built at Alberhill a modern clay producing plant, costing some $250,000. The success of this plant has been due largely to the untiring efforts of Gustave Larson, general superintendent.
CHAPTER XXI ORANGE CULTURE
When the navel orange came into prominence and for the time being when its fruit was rather scarce it brought so much higher prices than seedlings or any other budded variety that the question of budding old and large seedlings to the popular new fruit took up a good deal of attention from those who had seedling groves. Mr. Hewitt being the first grower on a comparatively large scale to try the experiment of changing a whole grove to navels it was watched with a good deal of interest. The usual way was to bud on the old wood in the limbs and failing all of the buds to grow in the spring or as soon as the buds were set the top was cut back severely to force the growth of the young buds. If there were not enough buds alive to take up the full vigor of the three other buds were put in on the new shoots that came out on the old wood. When the success of budding old trees was shown others followed the example and the bulk of the seedling orchards were changed to navels. Some there were who preferred to retain their seed- ling trees found that on account of the greater size of the seedling and its hardiness that the seedling was a fairly profitable fruit and that it would bear light crops under neglected conditions when the navel would not bear at all.
But no one plants seedlings of late years. The orange comes reason- ably true to seed, but neither the navel nor the Valencia have any or at most a very few seeds and if it was desirable to do so it would not be practicable.
The orange is rather a peculiar tree about moving, according to east- ern ideas and methods. The time to move deciduous trees everywhere in temperature climates is in the winter when the trees are dormant. Many orange trees were lost by moving in the winter until by experience it is found that the orange can be moved at any time except in winter. Many of the earlier orange groves were planted too close together, especially for seedling, and when they came to be thinned out or removed for any reason it was naturally supposed that if they could be reset and grow again something would be gained in growth, and so it was for fruitage would be attained much sooner from moving large trees. Experience in moving large deciduous trees on the other hand was found not to be a success when the trees attained some size and except under special condi- tions where large balls of earth can be taken it is hardly ever attempted.
The orange tree has two or three periods of growth and dormancy in the growing season and can best be moved in the spring when warm weather comes when starting to grow or at any dormant period during the summer. It is not, however, advisable to move them before winter as the cold may check or kill the new growth or even kill the tree.
ORANGE CULTURE IN EARLY DAYS. The following account of the first experiment in moving and budding large orange trees will show some of the difficulties encountered by the early settlers in orange culture. The grove in question was on the corner of First and Main Streets, and was one of the earliest in the valley and set out by E. Caldwell. Unfor- tunately it was not in the warmer belt and suffered more from frost than groves on the higher ground.
Mr. Hewitt was a wealthy banker from Freeport, Ill., and set a much higher value on Riverside orange groves and climate than some, and had
464
465
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
means enough to carry out his advanced ideas, thus introducing a new element which the old settlers were unable to carry out. Mr. Hewitt was for many years president of the First National Bank, and while he was alive was in a position to aid in the material progress of River- side. He was a good example of many others who had either to come to California and lead active, useful lives or die in the East.
The development of the navel orange is punctuated by many origi- nal and valuable procedures. Much new ground had to be covered and many experiments tried. The transplanting and budding of mature seed- ling trees have been of tremendous value to the industry. The first suc- cessful experiment along these lines took place in Riverside in 1883 on the J. J. Hewitt grove, at the corner of First and Orange streets.
On January 6, 1882, John J. Hewitt and family arrived in Riverside, a place that had been recommended as the best locality for the renewing of broken down and enfeebled conditions, a health-building climate where there never was any snow or blizzards, but cloudless skies and continuous sunshine, with golden apples, flowers and fruits of all kinds the year round.
The first morning after our arrival we gazed with astonishment on the ground covered with snow and flakes coming down as large as any we had ever seen in Illinois, and so thick we could not see across the street. We were informed that we surely had brought the snowstorm with us-as never in the recollection of the oldest inhabitant has such a storm been seen or heard of. That snow lasted three days, clinging to the branches of the orange trees, and in shady nooks of the groves, disappearing as mysteriously as it came. Strange to say not an orange was hurt in the whole valley.
After two or three months sojourning in this valley of paradise Mr. Hewitt, as his health improved, felt he must secure a winter home in this health-building valley, as a winter in Illinois hereafter was out of the question. After investigating a number of groves that were for sale he decided on a 10-acre grove located at the corner of First and Orange streets, owned by a Mr. Caldwell, and bearing its first full crop of fruit, paying a price which sent the value of orange groves to the highest limit, and after making all necessary arrangements to have the fruit picked and shipped, he returned to Illinois much improved in health and planning to shape his business so that he could return in the fall to Riverside.
In January. 1883, he returned to this land of sunshine and flowers. Visiting his newly acquired property he saw the necessity of pure domes- tic water, there being nothing available but the irrigating water brought to the land in open ditches. He set about having a well drilled and obtained good pure cold water at a depth of 130 feet. He then visited his orange grove and upon examination found in his opinion the seedling trees were too close to do as well as they should, so he decided to trans- plant half of the seedling trees, giving the other half more room to mature. As the snow of the previous winter had killed all the lemon trees on the place-some 300-he at once had then taken out and the ground prepared for the planting of the transplanted trees. Many of the growers became greatly interested in his experiment and discouraged him on every hand, saying it was so utterly impossible a thing to do suc- cessfully, telling him it never had been done and never could be, that he was wasting his time and money until getting tired of being so har- rassed he finally told them the time expended and the money to pay the bills were all his own, not theirs, and if he did not succeed the loss would
Vol. 1-30
466
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
fall on no one but himself, and he went on adhering to his own ideas in the matter.
While he was getting the work started he accidently met a French- man whom he questioned regarding orange culture in France. He said he was familiar with the work, being a horticulturist by profession. Mr. Hewitt told him what he was doing and asked him what he thought of transplanting mature seedling trees. He said it had been done very successfully in France-had done it himself a number of times. He was hired at once to take charge of the work.
He then made arrangements with the water company for water to be used when it was necessary to keep the trees alive whether it was his time or not to irrigate, and the company being deeply interested in the project agreed to give him all the water he needed when it was abso- lutely necessary. He also arranged with a friend, who was here on account of his health and expected to remain, to have a sort of super- vising of the grove. He then went back to Illinois. The Frenchman after irrigating the trees in May and June, decided he would go to the desert for a rest, planning to return in time for July irrigation, every- thing being in good condition, and all the trees doing well.
The friend who was acting as supervisor also went to the desert for his outing, satisfled that everything was as it should be. The French- man never returned and was never heard of from that time to the present. Whether he met with foul play or died of thirst and starvation has never been learned.
The friend, Mr. Kimball, returned in August and found the trees suffering for water and some almost dead. He went to the company at once for the promised water and was refused, as it was not the time for Mr. Hewitt to receive water-notwithstanding the arrangements that had been made for it.
What to do Mr. Kimball did not know-the trees must be saved if possible, and the only thing he could do he did. He immediately hired teams-men and barrels-and went to Spring Brook and hauled the water and put it around the trees and saved all but 13 out of 286, which were too far gone to recover.
When Mr. Hewitt returned in November of 1883 they were in splen- did condition and his experiment was a success. He let them grow two years until they produced splendid tops-he then cut off the tops and bud- ded them to navels, putting anywhere from 10 to 20 buds to a tree. Again his friends told him it was out of the question to make a success of budding onto old trees, but he persisted in going contrary to their ideas and he went on budding.
Four years from the time the trees were budded they bore fruit. and five years from the time the buds were put into the mature trees he shipped a large crop of as fine navels as could be found in the valley, and they continued to bear the choicest kind of fruit as long as he lived and for several years after. Then there came a hard frost which killed the trees, and it being another waiting proposition if they were rebudded it was decided to subdivide the land, as there was a demand for city lots. and the trees were taken out and the grove was turned into a city residential district, but showing the experiment had been successful.
Many growers followed Mr. Hewitt's example, thereby saving many old trees that were growing in places that were not suitable for them to do their best work, also rebudding and producing the finest Riverside Washington navel oranges that could be found anywhere.
ROAD IN THE ORANGE BELT
A
468
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
ORANGE PACKING. A history of Riverside would not be complete without an article on orange packing.
The growing of oranges was entirely new to the people of Riverside when it was founded in 1870 and practically nothing was learned in that direction from Spain or even the Mission fathers in that line. About all that was known was the extent of climatic adaptability. There was and probably is an orange tree growing successfully at Bidwells Bar north of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains which is about the limit of orange growing in the north of the state in the interior where the average temperature is highest. On the coast Point Concep- tion north of Santa Barbara is about the limit, as the coast section within the influence of the cold ocean winds from the northwest are a feature that cannot be overcome. The gentle sea breezes from the Southwest, south of Point Conception with the sheltering islands off the coast give a climate and conditions that are well nigh perfect for the successful raising of a choice quality of fruit.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.