USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 66
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 66
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It must not be supposed that we had no recreation. People generally adapt themselves to their surroundings. We could not go anywhere because we had no means of getting away. San Bernardino was about as far as we dare venture with a lumber wagon by way of an outing, and that was a whole day's trip there and back. Los Angeles was not to be thought of because it was a twelve hours' trip from San Bernardino, not to mention having to spend a good part of the day getting there and also coming back if we wanted to go to Los Angeles in that way. Better just go to Los Angeles direct by wagon and make a four days' journey of it. The result was that the women stayed at home, and so did the men for that matter, unless a load of trees or such was needed, and then the wearisome journey was undertaken. When the "four hundred" went to church, if too far to walk the wagon was the vehicle, or mayhap on horseback for those of a lively disposition. The weekly prayer meeting was a something of the future. Dark nights and the absence of street lights forbade much going out at night for any distance. Time, however,
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passed pleasantly. If the settler was busy all day, night was the time to do shopping and to get the mail, for closing hours were nine or ten at night. Uncle Sam did not regulate or prescribe the hours in which the postoffice could be open ; that was at the option of the postmaster, and there was no very heavy mail. The morning and evening paper was not to be had. The weekly was good enough and big enough to furnish a whole week's reading. The home papers were weeks old when they arrived. Telegraphic news was not to be had, as there was no telegraphic lines. There were no anxious crowds around the newspaper billboards anxiously waiting to hear the up-to-the-minute news of the latest baseball contest or the champion fight. We could get the mid-afternoon eastern news at the dinner table owing to the difference in time. We were in a new world, an outside world, but not a dead world. Sometimes a new family would come with news from the old home, or if not from there from some other place, then their genealogy was a fruitful theme of interest and so everybody knew a good deal about everybody else.
When Christmas or the Fourth of July or Thanksgiving came around we would have a public celebration with all home talent. Everybody was perforce at home. What could be nicer than a public observance or celebration of the Fourth of July down at Spring Brook with a public picnic where everybody turned out and everybody knew everybody else and the nice campfire coffee brewed by the men over the campfire and the enjoyment of the "kiddies" over this novel method of dining with their looking on full of delight? Then the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the home-made oratory and the general excitement and gratification that we, too, could celebrate the birth of a great nation in an out-of-the-way corner of the Union as loyal as the most patriotic.
Thanksgiving did not want for thanksgivers not merely for what we had but for the bright future ahead of us. One notable Thanksgiving where everybody turned out and and met in a to us monster blacksmith and wagonmaker shop newly erected by Petchner and Alder dedicated on Thanksgiving Day. It seemed, looked at from this distance now, almost absurd that we all should enjoy ourselves to the utmost at the dedication of a blacksmith shop on Thanksgiving, yet everyone was pleased and have happier recollections of that day than of any other Thanksgiving that they ever spent-and why not? Here was a direct evidence of progress and a fine promise of future advance. Christmas again was a home affair, confined exclusively to residents. The Christmas presents were meager, but just as well appreciated.
In due time we had a stage of our own, and when the Southern Pacific Railway got along with their southern route as far as Spadra it looked as if we might be coming into the great outside world. The completion of the Union and Central Pacific in 1869 made a settlement such as Riverside in Southern California alone possible, and in a year's time or so Riverside was founded, but we were still 500 miles from a railway, except a short line to the harbor at Wilmington, which ran a mixed train once a day each way and usually met the steamer from San Francisco to take and deliver passengers, but Los Angeles was still a long, dreary distance from Riverside. But the railroad crawled along slowly and finally got to Colton. Then we had a stage line and mail route to and from Colton, and after a while a motor railroad was built. Meantime, the Santa Fe was looking to Southern California and the Atlantic & Pacific was built to Barstow and thence to San Bernardino and Colton, then to San Diego by way of Temecula.
The Southern Pacific at that time ran one mixed passenger and freight train once a day from Colton to Los Angeles which stopped at every
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station to take on and put off freight, taking about half a day to make the trip, but this was much better than an all-day stage. The Santa Fe, however, wanted to get into Los Angeles as well as San Diego and made an arrangement whereby it could use the Southern Pacific line jointly with the Southern Pacific. This changed the standing of things completely, for the Santa Fe made quick trips to Los Angeles and competition with the Southern Pacific gave as good service as we have today. The Santa Fe on its way to San Diego only came as near to Riverside as the Point of Rocks, about two or three miles away, and we still had to take the stage coach to get to the railway. Everything worked in our favor, and soon the Santa Fe began to build the Riverside, Santa Ana & Los Angeles Railway to Los Angeles and soon we had a railway of our own. When we got two transcontinental roads we had the ludicrous side of it when we had a railroad war and for a time the regular rate for passengers to Kansas City was two and a half dollars. To prevent passengers from taking advantage of this low rate by getting off at any other place en route the full fare was collected at the point of departure and a rebate given at the other end. There were no round trip rates given at that fare. On one day the fare was one dollar. That war lasted only a short time. Later the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake was built through Riverside and there are now three transcontinental roads accom- modating Riverside competing for Riverside's patronage.
Our school, which started with one small room under difficulties, have flourished and increased to very large proportions. The writer's older children were just in time to take advantage of each improvement, keep- ing pace with them until the High School was started, graduating in the first list of graduates, equipped for entry into Stanford University. Our schools were then, as now, of the highest class in California.
Our fruit interests did not suffer for lack of transportation. The only promise in that direction was that a reserve of each odd-numbered sections for twenty miles on each side of a railway was made by Congress about the time that Riverside was settled. The Southern Pacific was built in time to meet the necessities of the fruit growers, supplemented by the Santa Fe, and the difficulty of transportation was setteld before the difficulty arose. It would seem that whenever an obstacle was met it was immediately overcome and settled in an effective way.
Riverside was the pioneer in colony settlement and the first to encounter the new problems constantly arising, and always she was the pioneer to lay the foundation of all that has since found to be best.
The labor supply was one of the first problems that arose to be settled. The question of servile labor or a servile class could not be tolerated among New Englanders or among foreigners from free coun- tries. The Chinaman was the great source of supply at the time that the fruit interests began to assume large proportions. This was at a time when the raisin was an important factor in the income of the small landholder, when hundreds of carloads of raisins were shipped from Riverside. In the vineyard and in the packing house the Chinaman was the reliance. Many families of course did much of their own work, both picking, curing and packing their raisins, but still the Chinaman was the man. As long as this was the case self-respecting white women and girls could not be got to work alongside a servile class. But there was much money going out that was needed in many homes. About this time, too, the question of the exclusion of the Chinese was being agitated.
The more unreliable, though admittedly capable enough, Japanese had not as yet put in an appearance. The Chinaman began to disappear like snow before a Chinook wind in the northwest. Not that he was not a
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satisfactory assistant, but the money that he took or sent away was needed at home, and as if by mutual consent the labor situation so far as outsiders was concerned was settled for all time. Today in Riverside while the grape has disappeared so far as raisins in commercial quan- tities is concerned, all handling of oranges in packing is in the hands of clean and neat women and girls. The same may be said in the can- neries. Recent legislation in regard to wages and the employment of women has taken away the drudgery of woman's work and made the occupations of women more and more desirable and added a most wel- come supplement to the yearly earnings. This is more evident where the man, the customary breadwinner, is absent. And the woman worker in Riverside has been crowned with honor and labor has had the primal curse removed.
While the time was wearing along in early days in 1875 the first news- paper, the Riverside Weekly News, made an unexpected appearance and was made welcome. It was very far from the mammoth daily of today with its double-page advertisements, but it was a newspaper. Like many new things, it was weak at first and indeed to the last, but it was a suggestion of what might be and drew the people closer together. It was a little early for a newspaper, but it paved the way for what was to come. A brief year ended its existence. It was got up by an outsider who was unacquainted with the early and latter struggles and could not really fill the coming need.
No town in California could be carried on forty years ago or so with- out the saloon. Although the saloon was not one of the things foreseen or provision made for, yet after a time it took root and in a small way flourished, but never seemed a necessity and was always frowned upon by the early settlers. It was mainly the moneyless and so to speak the ne'er-do-well class that supported it, but it was never really at home, but could not be suppressed because as long as Riverside belonged in the village class the San Bernardino supervisors would grant a license to anyone who was able to pay the small amount of money required. As soon as the city was organized the saloon stole quietly away. Riverside grew and waxed strong and when she became a city she attained her majority.
Riverside in its youth and during its isolation from the world was not lacking altogether in attractions. The citrus fair was as a matter of course a leading feature and served to occupy public attention for a con- siderable part of the year. Then the rivalry between different exhibitors was quite an attraction or distraction just as the reader wishes to put it. The lower story of the Odd Fellows building was put up as a public hall and as an exhibition hall for citrus fairs. This was in 1878, but did not remain long as such for the Odd Fellows bought it and thus owned the whole building, buying the stock from the original holders, many of whom had paid for it in labor and other services. The purchase of the hall under the Odd Fellows building by the Odd Fellows on account of size necessitated the acquisition of a larger building.
A temporary and inconvenient one on Eighth Street served the public temporarily, but the need was felt for a larger building with greater con- veniences for citrus fair purposes primarily, and also as a public conveni- ence and necessity. This resulted in an incorporation called the Citrus Fair Association, the main purpose of which was to build a pavilion on the S. W. corner of Seventh and Main streets with a large auditorium and committee rooms required for fair purposes. A. S. White and Henry J. Rudisill were the principal movers in this enterprise which required the raising of $5,000 by issuing shares of $25 each. This
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amount was soon raised and the building completed. The building, although not finished inside for a year or two afterwards, answered the purpose for which it was designed admirably, but unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1886. During its existence it was used as a theatre and other phases of amusement. Notably a presentation of that laugh- able parody "Pinafore" the leading character being taken by one Los Angeles lady who afterwards became known as Mrs. Modini Wood. This was the first notable event in the theatrical world in Riverside. A. K. Holt (a brother of L. M. Holt the newspaper man) with his wife, both professional players, came to Riverside during the life of the pavil- ion and delighted the people of Riverside. They liked Riverside so well that they abandoned professional life and made Riverside their home for the rest of their days. Mr. Holt being for a good many years city editor on one of our dailies and his wife who survived her husband several years teaching elocution to young people, and giving her services as a reader when needed for benevolent purposes. The pavilion was burned in 1886.
During all these years when Riverside was in a great measure, cast off from the great busy world, she was not without recreation and amuse- ment. At one time before railroads were so convenient, we had a mam- moth (?) circus which unlike the up-to-date circus traveling with its own cars by rail, furnished its own motive power using its own cars and horses going from one town to another in this way. Other forms of amusement came occasionally, but the need of a theatre or other building became very pressing which resulted in a company being formed to build a theatre on the site of the old pavilion with the addition of other lots adjoining. Much of the stock of the Citrus Fair Association was donated on condition that a theatre should be built, the result of which is the Loring Opera House.
One more relic of the past, because it is a relic of the past, not to be reproduced in Riverside, was the Street Fair lasting a whole week, from Saturday, April 14 to April 21, 1900, a regular carnival so to speak, day and night-something for old and young, vaudeville, horseracing, street dancing and a little of everything else not the least noticeable was about the last appearance of the L. C. Tibbets in public, in charge of a pioneer booth. It was also a citrus fair. Everything was there, to use the poets language "From grave to gay, from lively to severe."
This was the greatest piece of dissipation (?) that Riverside ever indulged in, and ought really to have been well within the old era of things, but somehow or other it slipped over well into the new, perhaps by virtue of heredity.
The foundations of all our popular and public institutions were well laid in the now dim past, such as the Public Library, the churches, fra- ternal organizations, womans clubs and many other things including the saloon, which soon disappeared under an incorporated city, and the incor- poration of the city may well be called the dividing line between the dim and misty past, and the new Riverside, for it is since that date, Septem- ber 25, 1883, that much of the superstructure we now have has been built on the foundation laid by the pioneers.
COURT HOUSE, RIVERSIDE
CHAPTER XXV
RIVERSIDE AS A CITY
When Riverside was first laid out there was no thought of a city. The future that Judge North foresaw was a settlement of 10,000 people. A very modest centre or city in this case would have been entirely sufficient. Gradual growth made Riverside more than an insignificant village. For some unexplained reason, there was a small element in San Bernardino that worked to prevent Riverside from developing as she was planning. From the first ridicule had an active place, although Riverside was bring- ing money into the county which was very much needed in both city and county. The liquor question was one of the principal reasons why Riverside was anxious to control her own internal affairs. San Ber- nardino itself was at that time a saloon city, naturally so being on the edge of civilization surrounded by deserts and mountains with miners and prospectors coming in for supplies, and spend what little money they might have in having a "good time," or as some of them expressed it on the morning after, a "h- of a time." Saloon licenses were low and anyone could obtain them and the supervisors were not inclined to listen to any remonstrances or objection on the part of citizens of River- side. At one time, just before a city charter was obtained, there were four saloons in Riverside. This gave facilities for Indians to get liquor and there was quite a sprinkling of Indians in Riverside who were useful in doing the rough, hard work. When they got drunk they were given to quarreling among themselves and women did not feel very safe on the streets with drunken Indians around. It was against the law to sell or furnish intoxicating liquor to Indians, but there was always a low class of whites, who for a small consideration would get liquor for them. Under the Mexican system, intoxicating liquor was furnished to them in the form of wine or brandy, and were sometimes given as part of the daily wage. Then police regulations and protection had to come from San Bernardino County, which was rather niggardly in that line. A justice of the peace and constable were provided for at election time for each district, but as there was not money enough in it to pay for the use of all the constables time, police protection was but scant.
Then there was the fixing of the water rates that by law were put into the hands of the Board of Supervisors of the county, but they did not understand the conditions here which were new to them, and although Riverside had a supervisor of her own, he was outvoted on any proposi- tion for the benefit of the water users. S. C. Evans as the head of the water system applied repeatedly for a raise in the rates and showed that they were not sufficient to pay expenses and experience has shown the justice of his claims. Then there was street work, and many other things that naturally came within the province of the people themselves. As a matter of fact, there came in the whole question of local self-govern- ment, and the longer it was put off with an increasing population, the more pressing it became. A new constitution that was adopted by the State in 1879, gave more local and democratic government to communi- ties and for the formation of cities, having various classifications, and in 1883, a move was made by leading citizens towards incorporation. The first meeting was held on May 12th, at which B. D. Burt. a leading mer- chant of that time, was president and L. M. Holt of the Riverside Press
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was secretary. At that meeting a committee of leading citizens was chosen to secure the necessary petition to present to the supervisors.
It was decided by that committee, in order to have the fixing of the rates to be charged for water, to take in all the territory lying under the flow of the irrigating canals which would embrace a territory com- prising fifty-seven square miles. The river Santa Ana was the western boundary, and the Temescal wash was the southern, extending as far to the eastward and northerly as was necessary. The large extent of the city bounds met with considerable opposition from outlying districts, but at an eletcion held on the 25th of September, incorporation was carried by a vote of 228 to 147. At this election B. F. White, B. B. Handy, H. B. Haynes, A. J. Twogood and A. B. Derby were elected trustees ; B. D. Burt, treasurer and T. H. B. Chamblin city clerk. W. W. Noland was appointed city marshall, E. Conway city recorder; G. O. Newman city engineer. On the 27th of October the certificate of the Secretary of State was received and Riverside was a "city of the sixth class." There was considerable oppostion at first to the city, and a small faction peti- tioned the courts to set aside the charter without any results in the end. The Riverside Land and Irrigating Company also instituted suit to com- pel the city to increase the rates without any change, and not until the water users brought out the R. L. & I. Co .. some years later was this breach healed and harmony established.
One of the first things to engage the attention of the city trustees was the saloon question. Although all agreed that four saloons were more than were needed as long as we were simply a part of San Ber- nardino County, we had no voice in the matter of license fixing, but when we had city government we had full jurisdiction. A petition from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union resulted in a higher license being imposed, and the temperance cause wavered for several years, while high license was being tried. Two thousand dollars was the round price charged for a saloon license and two paid it for some time. Public sentiment grew rapidly and finally prohibition was adopted January 1, 1888 under a state law permitting local option for cities. This in the end worked well but as long as people could go to San Bernardino and get liquor, there were occasional cases of drunkenness on the streets. When prohibition came to be general over the United States, we were relieved in a great measure, but there is still an occasional "jag" brought in from Mexico, mostly on the way to other places some of which is intercepted and confiscated and the law breakers punished. There is no desire among our people to revive the saloon and there would be but a very small minority now if it came to a vote to restore the saloon.
The establishment of the city enabled the citizens to get better streets with street trees planted everywhere, and to make streets and many public improvements on our parks and school grounds, and today we have as desirable a city for residence purposes and for families to grow up as there is in the United States, thus justifying the purposes and ful- filling the anticipations of its founders.
Riverside lays claim to be the first city in the State to do away with the saloon, and it has been a great source of prosperity and success. The assertion that the money derived from saloon licenses was a great help in meeting public expenditures has been proved to be a great falacy. Fortunately national prohibition has set at rest the saloon question for all time, but until some of the old generation passes away, there will be more or less demand for liquor among the class that was habituated to its use.
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REMINISCENCES OF RIVERSIDE. It may interest those who came later to know another feature in the early life that was fascinating and in some cases profitable. That was in the nursery business and the rais- ing of young trees for setting out in permanent form. Orange seed was scarce and to be had in but small quantity. What oranges were grown in excess of the local consumption were shipped to San Francisco by steamer where they were sold at fairly remunerative prices. The San Francisco market was also supplied by occasional schooner cargoes of oranges from Tahiti which were sometimes in rather a damaged condi- tion by the rather long journey through the tropics and from that place much of the earlier seed came in limited quantity. The seed of every orange eaten was carefully saved, but much of the seed that was saved was allowed to dry, and for that reason was difficut to grow. The best way was in the spring, the best time for planting the seed was to send to San Francisco for a barrel of rotten oranges. the rottener the better, extract the seed and immediately plant it. In this way the seed would come up fairly well, but it had to be carefully tended and protected by covering of lath or thin sheeting from the direct rays of the hot sun. It was also advantageous to have the tender plants protected from the winters cold as they were very susceptible to frost. In this way many families, when they hit it just right, made a little easy money by selling the seedlings to the nursery men who were eager to get more stock.
There were many failures in growing seedling stocks. Many also set them out in nursery form as a source of supply for their own unplanted land, for it took two or three years to grow an orange tree large enough to transplant in orchard form, and then tend them carefully for three or four or more years before they would begin to bear, and to those who were short of means it was a long time to wait before returns could be had from the orchard.
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