USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 73
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 73
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marketing, labor, roads and so on. Hemet is in Riverside County, due east of the City of Riverside, about 34 miles. This makes it about due east of Los Angeles, 96 miles-paved highway all the way. Fifty miles to the west are the shores of the Pacific-ten miles eastward old San Jacinto Peak rears its silvered head 11,000 feet above the sea.
The irrigating waters are stored in the mountains above South Fork, and forms a lake of sufficient capacity to supply many thousands of acres of fertile soil lying twenty miles below. It is of interest to know that up to the present time, only 27 per cent of the water from the San Jacinto water sheds have been stored for irrigation purposes, so there are great possibilities for future development.
Hemet has an elevation of 1,600 feet, and a population of a little less than 2,000, with about 5,000 including the adjacent territory tributary to it. The valley is noted for its delightful climate, its abundant sun- shine and clear atmosphere. Its soil is of market fertility, being a rich, sandy loam, extending in depth from fifteen to fifty feet.
Fruit raising is conspicuous as an industry. Here the royal apricot grows to perfection. Peaches are among the best produced in Southern California, while our oranges often top the New York market. The English walnut is an important product and ranks high in quality and profit, and the olive is a dependable crop.
Many thousands of acres in the western section are planted to wheat, barley and oats, while alfalfa raising forms a very important feature in the farming community. Six to seven crops a year are harvested, and the quality is first class. Many are engaged in the live stock industry. The Charnock Hog Ranch, with its equipment of 2,500 hogs, is among the list.
"Dairying is developing at a rapid rate. Special attention is given to pure bred stock and some of our pure bred cattle of Hemet are leading the state and country in butter fat production.
"Our normal apricot crop is about 25,000 tons, peaches 12.000 tons, grain 40,000 sacks. Our postoffice receipts for 1920 were $14.000, and the total deposits of our two banks were nearly $1,300,000."
Hemet has two cauneries, the largest one is owned and operated by farmers, and is one of the largest co-operative canneries in the State, having a valuation of $250,000. Hemet also has orange and walnut pack- ing houses. Prune and Apricot Growers' Association packing house, ice plant, steam laundry, gas plant, and telephone, with electric light and power supply from the Southern Sierras Power Company.
Hemet is connected to Los Angeles bv the Santa Fe Railroad, G. & W. Stage Line and the Motor Transit Co., and the Cregar Stage Lines. Through the summer months the Cregar line runs to Keen Camp and Idyllwild Mountain resorts.
Hemet is connected with all important Southern California cities by excellent paved roads, and we boast of more paved streets than any other town of its size in Southern California.
Hemet high school is in the list of accredited schools in California, Division A, and is an institution we are all proud of. Besides the $75,000 intermediate school now under construction, there are six well conducted grammar schools conveniently located in different districts.
All the leading churches are represented in Hemet, the Methodist Church just completed at a cost of $45,000.
Hillcrest hospital, with one of the most beautiful locations imaginable on Bothin Heights, is a well equipped institution, and enjoys a patron- age from far and near. An ideal location for a State hospital sanitarium.
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Among other things of interest to Hemet are her delightful mountain roads and resorts. Idyllwild, among the wonderful pines, and surrounded by cedar clad hills, is twenty miles from Hemet ; Tahquitz Lodge, fifteen miles east of Hemet, is a popular resort and receives a strong patronage. Relief Hot Springs, but seven miles to the west in the valley, is visited by hundreds of people from all parts of the Union. Soboba Lithia Hot Springs, just on the outskirts of the valley, is rapidly gaining in popu- larity and is patronized for recreation and health by many people from our southern cities and communities. Eden Hot Springs, also twelve miles to the west, is building up a reputation and is enjoying increasing prosperity. These places of interest all connect with Hemet by her splendid thoroughfares, with her natural resources and advantages, her healthy and delightful climate, not only give her a happy and contented citizenship, but is most inviting to homeseekers coming to sunny South- ern California.
Here 5,000 red-blooded Americans are daily bringing things to pass. Here a cordial welcome awaits you.
Here health and activity beckon.
Here a pretty combination of soil, sunshine and water bring forth all fruits in their season.
Ten miles of paved streets.
Paved highways to all principal cities in Southern California.
Altitude-1,600 feet. Exactly right to eliminate the fogs of ocean and catch the crispness of mountain air.
Lands await you in tracts of 5 acres or 1,000, in orchard or meadow, improved with building or not, with a deep, sandy loam soil that's a positive delight to cultivate.
Surroundings-Like the " mountains round about Jerusalem," so Mt. San Jacinto, Tahquitz Peak, Gray Back and Mount San Bernardino look down on us, with the "everlasting hills" on all sides. A one-hour auto trip takes us to our beautiful mountain resorts-Idyllwild, Keen Camp, Soboba Lithia Springs and Relief Hot Springs; a two-hour trip takes us to the coast.
Water-Buy your land under the big Hemet or San Jacinto gravity system if you like, or drill deep into Mother Earth for hidden streams if you will. Water in plenty is here. Our water condition will bear inspection.
Crops-Performance is true test. What's doing now will be done- and vastly more.
Apricots-5,500 acres. Soon we'll be raising 35,000 tons. Thou- sands of acres are being planted yearly.
Walnuts-1,200 acres : crop 1920, 400 tons. This is the coming money- maker. Hemet is the place. We challenge the world to produce health- ier or larger trees of the same age in walnuts and 'cots. Absolutely no blight here. Hemet nuts graded best of any in Southern California last year.
Peaches -- 2,500 acres. A large acreage is not required for a big year's income.
Oranges-1,500 acres; crop 1921, 150 cars.
Olives-415 acres; crop 1920, 400 tons.
Pears-100 acres; crop 1920, 250 tons.
Apples-400 acres, and they are O. K.
If you do not say our trees are the cleanest, prettiest, thriftiest-we'll give you the best dinner in Hemet.
Alfalfa-3,000 acres; crop 1921, 35,000 tons. Our alfalfa proposi- tion is the real thing.
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Hay-1,000 acres, crop 1921, 8,000 tons.
Potatoes-350 acres; crop 1920, 14,000 sacks.
Milo Maize-600 acres ; crop 1920, 5,000 sacks. Tomatoes-50 acres.
Hogs-Shipped this year, 7,000; worth $275,000. We have hog farms that will make your eyes bulge.
Hemet has also one of the largest and best weekly newspapers in Southern California that is well patronized by her citizens, and maintains a healthy growth that is a great benefit to the whole of her citizens. No one can make a mistake by settling in Hemet, for she is a city in the country. She will always hold a place interesting to the visitor as the home of Ramona.
ARLINGTON. Arlington, a suburb of the City of Riverside, and one of the prettiest settlements is almost a city within a city. It lies about seven miles from the city proper, and has everything within itself that a small city would require. It is well supplied with churches and school accommodations and has a library and fire station of its own.
Arlington has a variety of pursuits and is not depending on any one specialty. Oranges, alfalfa and deciduous fruit raising including a large area in walnuts are three of the specialties to which the soil is devoted. Of late years dairying is gaining in popularity. A considerable number of small land holdings are devoted to poultry and eggs and a great many newly hatched chickens are sold every year. Possibly one-third of all the income of the Arlington people is derived from the poultry business.
The Arlington Public Library and reading room is a branch of the Riverside Public Library, and is housed in a fine brick building in con- crete Spanish style, and has a large reading room which is well patron- ized. The residents, as a matter of course, can obtain books from the library in Riverside on the same terms as everybody else.
The best feature about Arlington is its public school, which has some improvements not in the older city schools, although Arlington is in the city school district.
Now that the law favors consolidation of school districts and provides for conveyance of distant pupils by motor bus, much better education can be given in country districts than was formerly the custom, and Arling- ton has taken full advantage of this privilege. Under the new system the old buildings and grounds were too small and the grounds, about two acres, were sold to the City of Riverside to be made a public park and recreation grounds, and a suitable five acre tract purchased elsewhere and buildings of brick erected with twelve class rooms and a large assembly hall. The buildings form a hollow square and so located that they all receive their proper share of sunshine, and constructed that in the rooms the wall on the shady side can be thrown open, which has almost the effect of an open air school in summer. By an improved system of ventilation, there is a constant circulation of air, the temperature of which in cold weather can be regulated for the comfort of the pupils. High school work can be taken up by advanced pupils in the city schools, the expense of travel being borne by the Board of Education. The hol- low in the center of the square formed by the building is turned into a sunken garden. The basement of the building is used as a manual train- ing school.
As this is partly a country school, there is provision made in the base- ment to furnish hot lunches for students who prefer whole lunches, and hot chocolate or milk to those who bring their own lunches. Everything
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is furnished at cost under the auspices of the Parent Teachers Asso- ciation.
An innovation to some extent in school life is a moving picture show for school purposes and also as a local matter, co-operated in by the citizens themselves. Its inauguration will cost about $1,750 of which the Board of Education contributes $500. By this arrangement the Arlington people can have a picture show whenever they want to, and will by this arrangement, save carfare and can also choose what kind of a show they want, while so far as the school children are concerned it will be very entertaining and instructive to them.
There are 375 children on the roll of the Arlington school, and twelve teachers are employed. The buildings are partly in mission style.
The Arlington Times, the local paper under the management of Edi- tor Smith is a live local weekly and goes into every home.
CORONA-THE CIRCLE CITY OF THE CITRUS BELT (BY L. L. ANDREWS)
"If you like to be in the kind of a town- The kind of a town you'd like,
You needn't slip your clothes in a grip And start on a long, long hike. For you'll only find what you left behind, For there's nothing that's really new.
You are knocking yourself when you knock your town- It isn't the town ; it's You!
"Towns are not made by those afraid Lest someone else gets ahead.
If everyone works and no one shirks You can raise a town from the dead.
And if while you are getting honors therein, Your neighbor can get some, too,
You'll be in the kind of a town you'd like- It isn't the town ; it's You!
Could the veil, which in the fall of 1886 shrouded the future from our vision, have been lifted and could the people have seen what time, backed by the courage and convictions of the founders of our colony could bring forth, one and all would have invested and profited by their confidence in our future. A great many people are gifted with after-wit but where a thousand are so endowed, scarcely one has the courage to apply the moral it teaches to his next bit of experience.
Corona, like all of Riverside County, must go back to the time of Spanish occupation for a starting point on which to base its foundation. Bernardo Yorba received a grant, from the Spanish Government, of the land on which much of Corona now stands. Lands, at that time, were divided and the territory designated by lines described as reaching from one mountain promotory to another. For this reason many thousands of acres were often included in one man's holdings. With the coming of the Americans and the purchase by them of these large tracts of land, conditions gradually changed. The large holdings were subdivided into town lots and tracts of five, ten or more acres and instead of the old Spanish Hacienda, frame houses were built. Irrigation systems were laid out and ditches dug to carry water to all parts of the land.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., in his "Two Years Before the Mast," written in the year 1835, while his ship lay off the coast of California at
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what is now known as Newport and San Pedro, in speaking of this part of our state said, "Many times I took horse back rides into the interior where there were reaches of level country, that no doubt would be valu- able for grazing." Little did he think when he penned these lines that men then living would see the day when much of this country would be planted to orange and lemon trees that annually would produce thousands of car loads of golden fruit to be consumed by the people of the eastern towns and cities.
For many years the territory was inhabited only by coyotes and jack- rabbits and later at certain seasons of the year by sheep herders, who pas- tured (everything) their flocks on the vegetation that grew here abouts. In the springtime everything was green and lovely and in the summer,
L. L. ANDREWS
dry and desolate, as only a few of the hardy plants could withstand the long hot summer months without any rain. In the year 1866 a company was formed, backed by wealth and unlimited confidence in the possibili- ties of the place. This company consisted of R. B. Taylor, Adolph Rim- pau, Geo. L. Joy, S. Merrill, Ex-Governor of Iowa, and A. S. Garretson. These men bought from the heirs of Bernardo Yorba about 12,000 acres of land, employed engineers, and laid out foundations for what this city has grown to be. The city as laid out consisted of a plot of ground. circular in shape, three miles in circumference and around which is a boulevard 100 feet in width, and lined on either side with pepper, grevilla and palm trees, which have grown to furnish a beautiful setting for the community.
Lying to the south of this town-site is a gently sloping mesa, reach- ing from three to four miles to the foot of the Santa Ana Mountains. To this tract of land the pioneers looked for a setting for the orange
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and lemon groves which they hoped to bring into being in the new colony. It would be hard to find a more glorious view than that to be had froni this upper mesa. Looking across some fifteen or twenty miles of lower valley to the north and west, one can see the towns of Pomona, Ontario, Uplands and Chino. A little farther to the north and east, Riverside, San Bernardino and Redlands Heights are to be seen. These cities, located on the foothills of the San Bernardino range, backed as they are by the rugged cliffs and mountain canyons leading to the snow-clad heights beyond, form a most beautiful landscape view long to be remem- bered.
Into the development of the colony, the early pioneers put their very best efforts. People came here from all parts of the country. Auctions were held, town lots and acreage tracts were sold and every inducement, consistent with the building of a new colony, held out to the investor. Water was, of course, the great essential. The first water system consisted of a well dug on the rear of the lot on which the First National Bank Building now stands. Long lines of people awaiting their turn to draw a bucket of water were to be seen every morning near this well. But this was of short duration. Surveyors had meantime run lines and arrangements had been made for water from the Temescal Valley some ten miles to the southeast. This water was brought to town and delivered to the highest elevation of each piece of land sold.
H. C. Kellogg, of Anaheim, a civil engineer of great ability, was engaged to survey and plot the town-site and outside acreage property. To him is probably due more than anyone else the credit of our unique arrangement of a city surrounded by a circular boulevard three miles in circumference. The development of the colony went merrily on. The lower pipe line was commenced in August, 1886, and completed in the spring of 1887 at a cost of $45,000.
Early in the year of 1887 settlers began to arrive and busy times there were around the young settlement. Many of the newcomers were from the State of Iowa, although other states and also Canada were represented, among them being J. L. Tabor, William Dyer, T. H. Robin- son, Andrew Wheaton, B. C. Turner, Harry Woodhall, John Allen and Ted Fraser, I. A. Newton, William Wall and Chas. Wall.
The Hotel Temescal was built by A. S. Garretson and was the equal of any in this part of the state. This building stood in the center of the block between Main and Washburn and Sixth and Seventh streets and was surrounded by flowers, shrubs and vines, making it one of the show places of the country. The building was later moved to the rear part of the block to make room for the present brick buildings on Main Street. A short time later it burned to the ground and was never rebuilt. During the early days of the settlement, the proprietor of the hostlery, Mr. O. A. Smith, often found it quite a problem to create amusement for his guests. Every night there seemed to be hundreds of coyotes on the plains around · the town, if one could judge by the noise they made. Some wise old Stoic conceived the idea of trapping them and thus create some sport for the hotel's guests. Men were employed and a large pit dug near where Lemon Street now crosses the Wash east of Main Street. A trap door was placed over this pit and so baited with a live rooster that when Mr. Coyote came for his chicken dinner, he would spring the trap and fall into the pit. Several days went by. People could hear the lusty crowing of the rooster and every day awaited anxiously the results. Early each morning a man was sent to inspect and report on the catch. One morn- ing, after a week of patient waiting, upon approaching the trap there was enough commotion within to convince him that a big catch was there.
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He hastily returned to the hotel and gave the report that it sounded as if all of the coyotes in the country were in the pit and if he were any judge, the big ones were eating up the little ones. All was excitement around Hotel Temescal and after a hurried breakfast, everyone who could find a conveyance rushed to the scene with great expectation. All were in readiness with guns, pistols and clubs to properly receive the coyotes that might attempt to escape. Sure shot men cautiously approached the trap and proceeded to open the door for the slaughter. When the door was opened, out walks mine host's own pet dog, only to be followed by ten or a dozen other well-known canines of the village. It finally leaked out that a number of the well-known and highly respected young men of the town, becoming interested in the proprietor's efforts, had filled the pit with all of the dogs they could gather about town just to give the guests a little excitement.
Building and all kinds of improvements were meantime going ahead. During this same year, 1887, the Congregational Society built a church at the corner of Eighth and Ramona streets. The Citizens Bank com- menced business in August. These were followed by other buildings as fast as the material could be secured, the building activities throughout Southern California being so great that it was often difficult to get supplies.
The first orange grove was set out by Patrick Harrington, an old resi- dent of Temescal. The trees were old ones that were transplanted and were set out on the piece of land on the northwest corner of Olive and Buena Vista streets. A newspaper, The South Riverside Bee, was estab- lished, the Santa Fé Railroad was built from Riverside and soon there- after a post office was opened up. Not until then did the citizens begin to feel that they were really a part of the great U. S. A.
The winter of 1887-88 was one of abundant rainfall, so necessary to the prosperity of this country. Orange trees were being planted and Mr. O. A. Smith has been given the credit of raising the first orange from a bud, in the new colony. It is said to have grown in the garden of the Hotel Temescal grounds. Little or nothing was known as to what would or would not grow here. All kinds of trees were expensive, orange and lemon trees cost from $1.50 to $2.00 each. Which variety would grow and produce best or find a ready sale was all a guess. But nothing daunted the people, and more and more acreage was planted.
It was early discovered that rich deposits of clay were in the foothills south of town. The California Sewer Pipe Co. built a factory, kilns, etc., on Railroad Street, one mile north of the business section of the town. For many years this industry was a great addition to our city. Unfortu- nately, the plant was destroyed by fire a few years ago and was not rebuilt.
The South Riverside Land and Water Co., which was formed soon after the colony was founded, laid its first pipe line so that only the lands below Ontario Avenue could be irrigated. Several thousands of acres of the very best land lay above this pipe line. Consequently the Water Co. made plans to extend their system and a pipe was laid along the line of Lemon Street, thereby bringing under irrigation some two thousand acres of fine mesa land. It is on this land that some of the finest lemons in the world are grown. It was these lands as well as the others of Corona that Professor Hilgard of the State University, prophesied would always be practically free from frost. Sitnated as they are on a line between the Santa Ana and Temescal Canyons, an air current is created, which modifies the temperature, thereby making the colony as nearly frostless as any place in California. Time has proven that his
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prophecy was correct. During the freeze of 1913 and also the cold snap of January, 1922, when much of Southern California suffered severely from the cold, Corona escaped with practically no damage.
Much dissatisfaction was being felt over the name of the town. It was said that people of the East confused the name South Riverside, with that of Riverside, that we were often considered a part of Riverside and that we lost settlers thereby. This contention continued to exist but not until a later time was the name finally changed.
The first real evidence of the success of the new settlement was when a carload of oranges was shipped, the fruit being from the groves of Geo. L. Joy, A. S. Fraser and N. C. Hudson. The fruit was packed in the orchards for as yet there were no packing houses. The fruit was of good quality, and brought a good price, which facts were very encour- aging to the growers.
Another movement which was of much interest to the people about that time was the division of the county and the formation of the new County of Riverside. The county bill had been passed by the Legisla- ture and signed by the governor the previous winter. An election was held May 2, 1893, to ratify the new county division. At the first election of officers for the county our esteemed townsman, Capt. John L. Merriam, was defeated for the office of County Assessor by the small margin of seventeen votes.
The extensive planting of groves soon made it manifest that a greater supply of water would be necessary to keep up with the growth of the colony. Meetings were held and plans perfected whereby water was to be brought from Lake Elsinore. This large lake lies about twenty- five miles from town and should have given an everlasting supply of water for the groves. It was brought to the lands in 1895. The water question seemed to be settled but it was only a few years until the water began to have a damaging effect on the groves and it was found that there were chemicals in the water which would eventually kill the trees. Other sources must now be looked to for a water supply.
In December a company, consisting of T. P. Drinkwater, Frank Sco- ville and George Brown, was formed and they proceeded to build the first packing house. This was called the Sunset Packing House and is still used, having long since been remodeled and furnished with the latest machinery for handling fruit in the most up-to-date manner.
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