USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 65
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 65
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Illustrations give a fair idea of what may be done in the way of street tree planting under municipal control. The first advantage is that the streets are planted. There is now scarcely a street in the city that
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has not been absolutely transformed in appearance since it took charge of the trees. Uniformity is secured. This uniformity is of course most easily secured on streets where there has been no planting. Hence, for this reason, as well as to secure mature trees as early as possible, we are planting new streets so far as practicable, as soon as laid out and accepted by the city. In many instances blocks of miscellaneous varieties of early plantings are being gradually reduced to uniformity by interplantings and removals, thus eliminating many short lived and otherwise undesirable varieties.
Semi-tropical evergreen trees are mostly demanded by our own people and most admired by visitors, hence few deciduous trees are planted. While the naked elms and maples seem appropriate and even ornamental among the snows and ice of the long Eastern winters, they seem out of place on our streets.
The pepper is our most popular shade tree-a fast grower, hardy, beautiful of foliage and graceful of form-it does especially well under our climatic conditions, but requires intelligent and systematic care from the first for best results.
The black acacia is proving a desirable street tree under our condi- tions. It is better adapted to narrow streets than the pepper. By early checking back the tapering top, a wider spread is secured and a more symmetrical shape when mature.
The Grevillea was largely planted here early, but has not proven satisfactory when grown because of almost constant falling of the heavy foliage and the brittleness of the wood, causing frequent breaking of the high tops when mature. It is found by experiment that by taking off the top -some fifteen or eighteen feet from the ground a wider spreading and more graceful and stronger top is quickly formed. It is proposed to treat hundreds of the old grevilleas in the city in this way, but no more will be planted.
The palm-probably the fan palm is our most suitable tree where shade or obstruction of view is undesirable. It is especially adapted to margins along orchards or alfalfa fields. The palm is more generally used for ornament, indoors and out, where conditions permit, throughout the world, than any other plant. Over 5,000 are now growing on our streets.
The Canariensis date palm is one of our most ornamental trees, but not suitable for narrow parking spaces on the streets.
The camphor may be made a good street tree, but it is of slow growth and requires special care.
The sterculia, because of its glossy foliage and shapeliness when young, has been popular with some, but when mature it proves to be undesirable on the streets, hence it is no longer planted.
In a general way, the objects in pruning have been, in young trees, to secure a sturdy stem without expensive supports, by keeping the side branches shortened in for two or three years; later to gradually shape graceful permanent tops at proper height and with proper spread when mature; in the older trees, to raise the permanent heads till well out of way over walk and roadway, and to prevent obstructing view of or from adjoining premises, or of the sky line in the open ; in a special way, to adapt it to different varieties and special local needs. In case of mature peppers, the horizontal branches need to be removed or heavily shortened in order to prevent breaking by their own weight of heavy foilage. But the cutting back of the entire or greater portion of the top of old trees to secure a new head, as is sometimes urged, is not desirable, as it is difficult to get a proper framework for the permanent top from the
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large number of new branches that come out after the heavy cutting, thus making a beautiful top for a time, but of branches not strong enough to support themselves later on. The need of heavy cutting of old trees may be avoided by proper shaping while the tree is young.
The young trees have been watered and cultivated till three years old, where needed longer. They have required continuous pruning. When the city took charge of the street trees there were over 25,000 on the streets, including a large number of old pepper trees, which from long neglect are requiring much labor to bring into shape.
As in most places, the street trees were in many cases planted too close together, resulting in crowded, misshapen trees when grown. This is being remedied by thinning where practicable. Trees not adapted to streets, for various reasons, were often planted. These are being gradu- ally eliminated by interplanting with desirable trees, the others being removed later. Again, in the early plantings, many Monterey cypress and pines were used. In our locality both are short lived trees at best, and on improved streets where storm water runs off they begin to die early and have to be removed. The blue gum was also planted quite largely. It makes a grand avenue tree in the open, but is quite unadapted to near-in residence streets, not only because of the size when mature, but especially because it is found that where the surface water runs off on account of paved streets, the deep going roots, which safely anchor the heavy trees in the open, soon decay, rendering them unsafe. Old land- mark trees of this variety are being saved by especially providing for plenty of deep going water and reducing the heavy tops.
From these numerous occasions for removals, in addition to the heavy pruning from the older trees, a large amount of wood has been cut, which has been handled in such way as to cover cost of removals and help out on the expense of pruning. The following table gives amounts, cost and returns so far as sold, of wood cut under present management :
Cords Cut
Cost of Cutting
Cords Sold
Amount Received
I11 1907
154
$ 259.15
58
$ 297.95
In 1908
238
401.00
181
814.73
In 1909
835
2,388.80
822
2,963.30
In 1910 to July 1
544
1,592.70
229
681.35
Totals
1.771
$4,641.65
1,290
$4,757.33
Leaving 481 cords on hand July 1, 1910.
In conclusion, I feel justified in saying that our experiment of city control of our street trees has proven successful. I want to say that this success would not have been possible except for the hearty support of the members of the Park Board, at very considerable cost of time and effort on their part, and I desire to express my sincere appreciation of their uniform kindness and helpfulness.
I also want to thank the Mayor and City Council for encouragement received in trying to carry out plans, somewhat out of the ordinary, for the permanent beautification of our city in all its parts.
But, probably more than to all things else, I am indebted to the general co-operation and encouragement of our people of all classes for any success that may have come from my efforts.
Respectfully submitted,
J. H. REED, City Tree Warden.
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Part of city ordinance relating to street trees :
Section 1. No trees or shrubs shall hereafter be planted in the public streets of the City of Riverside except under the direction of the Board of Park Commissioners of said city.
Section 2. No trees or shrubs planted or growing in the public streets of said city shall be removed except by the permission of said Board of Park Commissioners, and no trees in the streets shall be cut, pruned or trimmed, except under the direction of said board; nor shall anyone not authorized by the Board of Park Commissioners trench around or alongside of any tree, plant or shrub, with a view to cutting the roots of the same.
Section 3. Said Board of Park Commissioners shall exercise general care and supervision over all trees in the streets of said city, and shall select the variety of trees hereafter to be planted in the streets of said city.
Section 4. Any person violating any of the provisions contained in Sections numbered 1 and 2 of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00), or be imprisoned for not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
The foregoing is the history and legislation concerning street trees and Riverside is now the best planted city in California. There is nothing further to be added to the tree warden's report. Delegations and citizens from other cities have come to Riverside to find out how it is done and how it works. Individuals try to evade the laws, but to no avail. There are, however, some individuals who can see nothing in a tree but wood, and if not restrained they would cut down all trees on their frontage.
White's Addition on the east of Riverside when originally laid out for city purposes had streets graded, piped water and street trees all planted.
J. H. REED is one of the men who lived and labored for the benefit of the place of his adoption without any monetary remuneration. Like a great many of our most progressive fruit men, Mr. Reed came to California for the benefit of his health with the doctor's dictum that by doing so he might still live two or three years longer.
With his son to care for him, he came to California in 1890, a badly dilapidated man. Mr. Reed tried to remain quiet at Santa Barbara, but soon found this unbearable. His son bought a strong horse and rigged up a comfortable wagon for day and night use, and they traveled up and down the state for fourteen weeks, sleeping in a house but one night. Mr. Reed's health rapidly improved. Reaching Riverside, they decided to spend the winter there. Mr. Reed had become exceedingly interested in the citrus industry, and decided to part with his Nebraska farm and undertake orange growing in a small way. This is the way he became an orange grower. He started the new work carefully, but with much interest. He soon recognized the need of co-operation of growers, and was instrumental in organizing a horticultural club in his neighborhood. the first of the kind in the state. Later he assisted in organizing many similar clubs and associations in other locations.
The loss through decay of oranges in storage and transit having become a severe burden to the industry and no help in sight to find cause or cure, Mr. Reed determined to appeal to the Department of Agricul- ture at Washington. By growers this decay was generally considered unavoidable, and few, at that time, had faith in the efforts to get relief. But Mr. Reed was confident that something could be done for it, and
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persisted in his efforts with the department for over two years. It finally sent William A. Taylor of the Board of Plant Industry to look into the merits of the request. Mr. Taylor on the ground, at once decided that the serious loss annually to the industry demanded attention, and on his return the department at once sent G. Harold Powell, who had already acquired a national reputation from results of his investiga- tions into similar problems of the apple industry in the East. The results of Mr. Powell's work, which continued some six years, is well known. Mr. Woodward, manager of the California Fruit Exchange, at a State Fruit Growers' convention, made the statement that Mr. Powell's work was already saving to growers annually three-fourths of a million dollars. E. A. Chase, a prominent grower, arose and added, "Yes, and we owe this to Mr. Reed," and proposed a rising vote of thanks to him, to which the large assembly unanimously responded.
For five years Mr. Reed, at horticultural clubs, farmers' institutes and through the press, urged help . from the state department to solve other citrus problems. Finally the request, effectively seconded by such men as E. W. Holmes, E. L. Koethen and others, was granted by providing for the establishment of a Citrus Experiment Station on a small scale, $30,000 being voted. Its value to the industry was soon demonstrated to such a degree that they at once commenced planning and urging for a larger establishment, for which the state finally voted $225,000, and a tract of some six hundred acres of very suitable land was secured and experimental work commenced, under the supervision of Dr. H. J. Webber, probably the best equipped and most successful agricultural scientist who could be found for the place in the entire country. Suit- able buildings have been erected. At their recent dedication by the state authorities at a large gathering of citrus growers from various sections of the state, Mr. Reed's part in starting the new work which, during the twelve or fifteen years, had grown from a small beginning to one of the important institutions of the state, was recognized.
The fact that even in the better orange orchards a considerable per- centage of the trees persisted in producing inferior fruit early attracted Mr. Reed's attention, and for several years he urged scientific investiga- tion. Finally the Washington department, through the help of Mr. Powell, was persuaded to look into the matter, and sent A. D. Shamel, one of the most successful investigators in plant breeding problems con- nected with the department. Mr. Shamel in a few years has demon- strated that through bud selection fixed strains of oranges and lemons can be secured which, with results of other of his experiments and investigation, has doubtless added at least a fourth to the value of our citrus industry.
Mr. Reed was the first to urge investigation into the practicability of protecting citrus crops from frost damage by artificial heat and was chairman of the committee undertaking the first experiments to deter- mine definitely if crops could be carried safely through severe cold nights. Since this was found practicable beyond a doubt many devices have been tried in finding how oil may be used most effectively and economic- ally for the purpose. Possibly the best method has not yet been found.
While engaged in trying to do something in the way of betterment of the citrus industry, Mr. Reed became much interested in the city he had chosen for his permanent home. After his early ramblings over the state some features of Riverside seemed to him especially inviting, with large possibilities in the way of permanent attractiveness, and he at once set about doing his part towards making it especially beautiful, and for several years worked almost single-handed in promoting it. He finally
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interested the Chamber of Commerce, which took up the matter in good earnest. It made him chairman of a tree planting committee, to which work he gave much time without remuneration. In the meantime Mr. Reed petitioned the City Council for the city to take over all the city tree planting and care and put the supervision in the care of a tree warden. This it decided to do, providing he would agree to accept the newly created office, which he did, and retained it seven years. During this time he planted over twenty thousand trees in a systematic way on the streets of the city. Riverside was the first city in the West and one of the very few in the entire country at that time to adopt municipal control of its street trees. Since then, largely through the influence of the Riverside work, nine Southern California cities have adopted the plan and others have it under consideration. Mr. Reed died in Riverside in 1920 at the age of eighty-seven.
A. S. WHITE. Among those who came to Riverside early under the Evans purchase and administration of affairs in Riverside and who are fast passing into the oblivion of the past, no one is more deserving of special mention than A. S. White. Like the bulk of the founders of Riverside, he was an Eastern man, born in 1840 and educated in Belfast, Maine.
The great commercial metropolis, New York, absorbed the best years of his early manhood, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. Success in business did not prevent ill health overcoming him to such an extent that, like so many others who have come to California and Riverside, the only possibility of ever attaining good health was a change of residence to a fairer clime, and Riverside was the chosen spot.
Forty acres of land on Magnolia Avenue made him one of the pioneer purchasers on that famous boulevard and thoroughfare, with one of the finest orange groves of the time. To his planning and advice in conjunc- tion with Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Rudisill we are indebted for the intro- duction of some of the better features that have tended to make Riverside famous. As a man of leisure he was able to give a helping hand to the various enterprises that have enabled Riverside to keep in the van of public progress. Our citrus fairs, the water question and public improve- ments of all kinds, all had a helping hand. White's addition to Riverside, comprising eighty acres originally owned by the North family, was one of the means by which the borders of the city were enlarged. That part of the city was all laid off with piped water from the Gage Canal to every lot. The streets were all laid off with sidewalks added and a strip of land specially reserved for shade trees on each side of the street and on the outer side of the sidewalk. The street trees were also planted by Mr. White and his associates-W. A. Hayt and C. W. Sylvester. Everything was thus ready for making a very sightly addition to our town in conformity with the movement that in after years became the policy of the city authorities in regard to the planting and care of street trees.
Mr. White served as a trustee on the formation of the city. Later on when the county was organized he was elected one of the super- visors .. During his term as supervisor the Box Springs Road on the way to Perris and the eastern part of the county was built. At the time the road was finished it was one of the finest pieces of road in Southern California. When first planned it was largely due to Mr. White that the road was run in a straight line from the head of Eighth Street to the foot of the grade, as there was at the time a site for a town laid off on the level land at the foot of the grade to be supplied
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by water from a tunnel run into the hill near the original Box Springs. The idea of a town was finally abandoned on account of the supply of water not being adequate for the purposes intended. The total cost of the Box Springs grade was only $12,000. The road has been very much improved by concreting and oiling.
The greatest monument to Mr. White's memory is the Albert S. White Park, which occupies part of the four blocks situated between Eighth and Tenth, Market and Chestnut Streets, parts of which had been deeded to Dr. Clark Whittier on condition of making certain improvements, one of which was to fill the pool and mud hole about the center of the blocks. The deed from the Riverside Land & Irrigating Company con- tained conditions about it being improved as a park, the result of which was that Mr. White devoted several years of the latter part of his life to superintending laying out and planting the park, the result of which is a little gem close to the heart of the city. There are some features of the park that would be hard to duplicate elsewhere, the most noted of which is one of the largest collections of cacti to be found anywhere.
The park was formally and officially named the Albert S. White Park by the City Trustees in recognition of his care and supervision for so many years given gratuitously. Mr. White was also for a number of years a member of the Board of Park Commissioners, dying in June, 1909, while still a member of the board.
CHAPTER XXIV
CITY OF RIVERSIDE
It is fitting that the City of Riverside have a chapter by itself. We read in ancient times of men going forth and founding or building cities as if there was nothing to do but give forth the mandate and it would be done. Whatever it may have been in extreme antiquity, in modern his- torical times it is somewhat more of a job. In England in the time of the Romans many of the cities now in existence, as we may judge by the names, were the sites of Roman camps. Many cities are built around strong places that could be easily defended in place of attacks by enemies. Scattered over Europe are castles on heights more susceptible of defense. In China they have the great wall extending for hundreds of miles as a protection for the whole country. Even in the United States we have the cliff dwellers, where they might remain in safety from their enemies.
The English-speaking race wherever they have been seem to have been so much freer from invasion from without than most all of other races that in founding towns the motive of protection from invasion would appear to have been entirely absent. Hence settlements have been made more with a view to advantages of commerce as in seaports or travel by rivers or proximity to rich lands for the cultivation of the soil. This much may be laid to the credit of the Anglo-Saxon that he looks more to the arts of peace in the founding of modern towns than to war for the means of existence.
In the founding of Riverside there was not the least conception of anything but peaceful pursuits. And so Riverside was founded in the middle of a valley as convenient to water as was possible without any other natural advantage. There were no hills to build upon, for the absence of water at that time entirely precluded the selection of such sites for homes as have since been chosen by later comers who have had the advantages of modern means of getting water on the higher lands.
Riverside for city purposes was laid off one mile square in blocks of two and a half acres each, with two main streets running each way across each other one hundred feet wide. Other streets were sixty-six feet wide. A plaza or vacant square in the center of the town would serve for a place for public gatherings or an easy place for gossip. With the exception of the frontage on the plaza it was the intention that each settler even if he had only a lot which would contain a quarter of an acre there would be ample land for a family with plenty of irrigating water to be able to raise enough vegetables and fruit for family use the year through. This was the ideal settlement where a man could sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. Even the settler who owned land on the outside was in a position to live in the town and cultivate his land and enjoy all the advantages pictures in the original circular sent out by Judge North. The original idea was to secure at "least one hundred good families who could invest $1,000 each in the purchase of land while at the same time we earnestly invite all good industrious people to join us who can by investing a smaller amount contribute in any degree to the general prosperity." Here at the very outset we have the outlines of a prosperous and intellectual people.
These were the people who were to found homes. Not an inkling that there was any possibility of making wealth selling out and retiring on this wealth and having a good time. Here in the poet's words would be
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in time a "bold peasantry, their country's pride." Such was Riverside- contentment and faith and happiness without any of the modern con- veniences of civilization. Ten thousand persons was the limit foreseen by the founders who brought their families to enjoy life in this new paradise.
A school was built within a year from the founding of the colony and a church organized in less than two years and a building followed some time after. So harmonious were the people that the one church sufficed for the needs of all for several years. It was about nine years before the nucleus of a library was formed, small at first. but always in a forward direction. The early colonists were too busy bringing their places to fruition to pay very much attention to the library. The occa- sional meetings of the people culminating in fairs and exhibitions of fruit served as lyceums to keep the intellectual alive and the little town grew, but not without its drawbacks and difficulties. Grasshoppers in some cases ate up what looked promising for a time, but grasshoppers do not last forever. Loose stock also helped to annoy the settlers, espe- cially horses. Fencing material was scarce and high fences could not be thought of. The Mexican had always been used to turning his horse loose and letting him hunt his own living, but this was not always the worst, for there was a band of stock horses that sometimes wandered over as far as the new settlers' lands. The native Mexican was not a bad citizen in his way. He was in general kindly and neighborly, but the difference in language was a barrier to much intimacy. Generally uneducated and not much used to the continuous daily round of labor. Time, however, cures all ills, and the Mexican began to realize that after all if he was to keep horses he must look after them. Corralling them and assessing damages helped to restrain them, but they sometimes broke corrals and took their stock. This did not always pay them. L. C. Tibbets undertook to keep stray stock safely by building a stockade in the midst of a corral that was bulletproof. A few years settled the stock trespass business, and the schoolhouse with its English education gave the Mexican young people new views of life and when he grew up he could go to work for the settlers and earn money and soon he was a producer himself with a market for his produce and he became a good citizen. There was some horse stealing, but not to any extent, by outside people. On several occasions, but seldom, a horse would be shot at or even killed, but all that is past and gone and peace prevails and the auto and tractor are superceding the horse. Amid all these untoward and adverse circumstances the settlement grew slowly at first until it was shown that fruit growing was going to be a success.
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