USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 75
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 75
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
PUBLIC LIBRARY AND CITY HALL, CORONA
564
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
Corona Country Club Holding Corporation and now owns the property free of debt. It has a membership of over 100 and is a great social center for the people of Corona.
CORONA SECURITIES CORPORATION. In 1914 a company of local men incorporated under the name of the Corona Securities Corporation and proceeded to erect a building on the northwest corner of Sixth and Ramona streets. This is considered the finest building in the city. It is 150 feet square and two stories high, with a basement throughout. It is constructed of white pressed brick and is thoroughly modern in every respect. It has business houses, a hotel lobby and dining room on the first floor, and parlors and hotel rooms on the second floor. It represents an investment of well over $100,000.
THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. Carleton Post of the Grand Army was organized early in the life of the town. It is still maintained. although most of the veterans are feeble and find it hard to get to the meetings. For several years they have met at 5:00 o'clock on the first Monday of the month in order that the evenings might be spent around the fireside at home.
LODGES. Corona is well represented with the various lodges, among those first to organize being the Independent Order of Foresters, Odd Fellows, Masons, Fraternal Aid Association and Knights of Pythias. These were followed later by the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Order of the Eastern Star. Fraternal Brotherhood Rebeccas, Woodmen of the World, Red Men, Knights and Ladies of Security and Pythian Sisters.
NEWSPAPERS. Volume 1, Number 1 of the South Riverside Bee appeared June 2, 1887. with Frank T. Sheppard as editor and propri- etor. Among the news items is one saying "A hotel costing $18,000 is under course of construction at Rincon." This town is three miles west of Corona and the name has been changed to Prado. The hotel has long since been remodeled into a store building and the hotel and prospects of a city long passed into the hopeless "might have been."
Another item says that 1,000 copies of the Bee are being sent out telling of the excellencies of the "Queen Colony," a name which has remained to this day as a guarantee of the fruit produced in Corona. The Chamber of Commerce is now asking that the name of the Queen Colony Fruit Exchange be changed to the Corona Fruit Exchange.
Frank Dyer bought an interest in the paper and continued to assist in its publications for several years. Later H. C. Foster bought Mr.' Sheppard's interest in the paper. The paper worked under difficul- ties in many ways, not the least of which was the necessity of mailing the paper in Riverside, for as yet no post office had been established in South Riverside. The town already had several business houses, a bank, a $40,000 dollar hotel, a sales record of $5,000 in real estate in eight months, several churches, etc., but, owing to the slowness of the powers that control such things, no post office. But the paper prospered and gradually these things were overcome. The paper has always stood for the best interests of our city and was a great factor in the efforts to change the name from South Riverside to Corona. With the change of the town, the name of the South Riverside Bee was changed to the Corona Courier.
565
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
Mr. Foster continued its publication until the business was bought by Hildreth Brothers, and after several years of successful management and after the death of one of the brothers Charles Hildreth sold the paper to the present owner, George M. Blair. In 1905 the Press and Horticulturist, a weekly newspaper that had long been published in Riverside, was brought to Corona. The name of this paper was after- wards changed to the Independent and later, being published daily, was called the Daily Independent. Mr. Blair is now owner and publisher of both the Corona Courier, a weekly, and the Daily Independent. As we get the Los Angeles and Riverside papers only a few hours after publica- tion, Corona is well supplied with the latest news.
ORCHARD HEIGHTS. A tract of 5,000 acres of land lying north of and adjacent to the city limits of Corona was purchased about twelve years ago by Los Angeles capitalists. The company was known as the Citrus Belt Land Company and the tract of land was called the Citrus Belt.
APRICOTS IN BLOOM-HOME OF L. L. ANDREWS
This name was later changed to Orchard Heights. The greater part was subdivided into small tracts of five or more acres. Considerable of this land has been set to deciduous trees, which are now producing good crops of peaches, pears, apricots, etc. This land has also proven to be very profitable for the growing of alfalfa, peanuts, sweet potatoes and all kinds of garden crops. The district contains some fine ranches and is a desir- able place for a country home.
PACKING HOUSES. Like all citrus fruit districts, Corona has its quota of orange and lemon packing houses, about eleven in all. These are equipped and kept up-to-date with all of the most modern pieces of machinery and devices for rapidly and safely handling the fruit. The W. H. Jameson estate remodeled and rebuilt its packing house in the fall of 1921 at a cost of over $50,000.
PORPHYRY. Early in the settlement of our colony, it was discovered that large deposits of porphyry rock were to be found in the hills to the east of the town. A company was formed, a crusher installed and a quarry opened. The railroad ran a spur track to the quarry and crushed rock was shipped out to different parts of the country. Other ledges of
566
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
like nature have, from time to time, been opened up, as many as three of these plants having been in operation at one time. At the present time the Blue Diamond Plaster Co. has one of the largest and most up-to-date plants in the state. It is situated one mile east of the city limits. This industry is of great benefit to our town, giving employment, as it does, to a large number of men. The daily shipment of crushed rock runs from 25 to 35 carloads of 60 tons each.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. As early as 1895 the need of a public library was felt and the then recently formed W. C. T. U. inaugurated a public reading room. The W. C. T. U. has always been on the alert as regards anything pertaining to the advancement of our needs along these lines. When the proposition of a building for library purposes was under con- sideration, it was greatly through the influence of this organization that the donation from Mr. Carnegie was secured. Our present handsome library building is the result. The management of the library is in the hands of a board of five directors, appointed by the City Council to serve for a term of three years. The first board selected to serve was composed of Dr. S. S. Willard, T. C. Jameson, G. R. Freeman, F. M. Baldwin and F. F. Thompson. Miss Grace Taber was chosen as the first librarian and held the position for many years
William Corkhill, who came to Corona in 1888, has always been a loyal supporter of our library. He wrote a history of the library, also a short history of Corona's earlier days. It is to these writings that the writer is indebted for some of the items contained herein.
The institution is maintained by a fund, raised by taxation annually on all property within the city. The number of volumes now owned by the library is 10,000. The circulation of books the first year of the little library in a room 10x10 feet was 1,200. The present circulation is 3,000 to 4,000 volumes per month. Thus has grown from a small begin- ning an institution that is the joy and pride of every citizen of Corona.
RAILROADS. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ran its first train into South Riverside, June 30, 1887, coming from Riverside. This was a great event in the life of the little settlement and people began to feel that they were not so far out of the world after all. Branches of this road have since been run to the Blue Diamond Plaster Company's stone crushing plant, as well as to the Orange Heights Citrus Section of the colony. Although a right of way was secured in the early days of the colony for a railroad from Pomona through South Riverside and toward San Diego, the roadbed being graded most of the distance from Pomona to this town, the venture died out and no results came of it.
The Pacific Electric Railway ran its first car into Corona in the summer of 1915 and we now have hourly service with Riverside and intermediate points.
SCHOOLS. The foundation of Americanization is our public schools. South Riverside, wanting to keep up with the times was soon ready to do her duty along educational lines. As early as Oct. 12, 1887, a meeting was held and ways and means provided for opening up a school. There being no public funds available at that time, it was ordered that every male resident should pay $2 per month toward the upkeep of a school. The money was to be paid three months in advance and in that way school could open on Nov. 5, 1887. Miss Gertie McEwen was engaged as the first teacher.
567
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
A one-room schoolhouse was built on the corner of Eighth and Howard streets, principally through the efforts of the Water Company. Here school was held for over a year or until the school house was built on the present Lincoln School grounds in 1889. Soon after the school was started the Yorba School District was formed and funds were pro- vided in the usual manner. The South Riverside Bee of June 6, 1891, says: "The school census has just been taken and the names of 163 children of school age have been obtained by the census taker in this district." The report shows an enrollment for the year of 123, with an average daily attendance of 75. The records of January, 1922, shows an enrollment of 1,300 pupils, with a corps of 50 teachers, governed by a district superintendent.
Our school necessities have always been liberally provided for by the citizens. A large up-to-date grammar school building was erected on the Lincoln School grounds, the older building being remodeled and used as a manuart arts building.
A large well-arranged high school stands on the corner of South Main Street and the Grand Boulevard and a well-equipped grammar school on the West Boulevard between Second and Third streets. With all of these and thre temporary buildings for junior high school use filled to overflowing, our citizens were convinced of the need and have just voted bonds to the amount of $150,000. This money is to be used for a new high school site, buildings and equipment, that Corona may properly care for the growing generation and give them the best the country affords in the way of educational advantages.
STREETS. If there is one thing more than another of which Corona feels proud, it is our streets. From the city line on the east to the city line on the west, a distance of over four miles and from the city line on the south to the same on the north, a distance of over five miles, Corona boasts of fine macadam streets on her main thoroughfares. Our streets connect directly with the highway to Riverside on the east, to Santa Ana and the beaches on the west, to Los Angeles on the north and to San Diego on the south. The three-mile circular boulevard is improved with a macadam roadbed, curb and gutter the entire distance. We also have many of our intersecting and cross streets paved, making in all about thirty-five miles of macadamized roadway. All of the improved streets inside of the circle and some outside have sidewalks, curb and gutter of concrete. As a pavement, Corona has held to the macadam and is proud to have our friends see how well the streets have held up under the weight of heavy trucks and busses.
THE TIN MINES. In the year 1857 tin was discovered about five miles east of where Corona now stands. The location is on the San Jacinto grant in what is known as the Gavilan Hills. For many years these mines were in litigation but in 1888 the litigation was brought to a close. An English syndicate, styling themselves the San Jacinto Land Co., Limited, of England, obtained control of not only the mines but a vast territory surrounding them. That year the English company sent an expert, a Mr. Crase, to examine the mines and report on what he found. The report he took back to England was most flattering and the people of South Riverside had reason to believe that a magnificent industry would be opened right at their door. South Riverside was the nearest point to the mines. All people, supplies and, in fact, everything going to or from the mines would of necessity pass through the new town. Consequently, it was only reasonable to suppose that much bene-
568
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
fit would be derived by the people of the town thereby. All patiently awaited results.
It was not until 1891 that the tin mines opened. A man by the name of Colonel Robinson was placed in charge of the company. A large num- ber of workmen were employed and great activity was in evidence around the mines. Vast quantities of material of all kinds were used, many teams were put to work as the road to the mines was but little better than a trail after leaving the country road.
The South Riverside Bee of June 13, 1891, says: "The second shipment of tin from the Cajalco Mines, San Jacinto Estate, was made May 28th. The shipment consisted of 158 bars of the usual size and weight and was made by W. W. Stewart of San Diego. This makes seven tons of tin that have been shipped so far."
Among the distinguished visitors who came to our town during the time the mines were operating were President Benjamin Harrison and Governor Markham. A fine picture was made showing President Har- rison standing by the side of a large stack of Temescal Pig Tin at the South Riverside depot.
Everything pertaining to the mines was done on a magnificent and really extravagant scale. The buildings were of the best and the machinery of the finest. Great activity prevailed for a year or more, then the shipment of tin gradually ceased, until, about July, 1892, the mines shut down. The following winter all of the buildings, machinery and whatever could be moved were sold at auction to satisfy claims. Thus closed the first great effort to operate the tin mines.
A number of times in recent years men have attempted to get cap- ital interested in the enterprise and have spent considerable money around the old mines. At present no activity is seen there except coveys of quail, coyotes or rabbits. Differences of opinion exist as to the value of the proposition. Many men who have lived to see all of the past operations are of the opinion that there are large veins of tin ore there, that can be made to pay well for those who will properly manage and operate the enterprise.
THE WOMAN'S IMPROVEMENT CLUB. In February, 1899, the Wom- an's Improvement Club was organized with twenty-five charter members. Mrs. Helen Hudson served as the first president. This organization from its inception has been a great factor in everything pertaining to the upbuilding of the community. It was largely through the efforts of this club that a petition was circulated and presented to the city trustees ask- ing them to place upon the ballot at the April election, in the year 1900, the proposition of instituting a public library. The board acted favorably upon the petition.
The club women met in the different homes for about ten years or until the membership became too large for this. Then arrangements were made with Mrs. E. P. Newton to hold all regular meetings in the commodious parlors of her home. In 1913 a very artistic and useful club house was built on the corner of Main and Eleventh streets. The lots were donated by Mrs. Ella S. Joy and the money for the building was subscribed by members of the club. The club is now out of debt and with a membership of 200 is looked upon as one of the foremost civic organizations of our city. Mrs. Ira Ashcroft is now serving her second term as president.
THE PERRIS VALLEY. When Riverside was founded the founders had no idea that it would ever take rank as a county, although surrounded
569
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
to the east and southeast by a large and fertile valley and by succession of rolling hills susceptible of cultivation and capable of growing fine crops of grain in years in abundant rain, but there was no thought of stepping outside and settling these other lands. The principal reason was, of course, the want of water and the other one that with plenty of water the objects of the colonists, viz., a healthful climate to live in and oppor- tunity to grow semi-tropic fruits in abundance was fully accomplished. The great Perris Valley as we now know it. but then the San Jacinto plains, was, comparatively speaking, an immense valley extending from San Jacinto Mountain over 10,000 feet high in a southwesterly direction to Temecula and the range of mountains extending easterly to Warner's Ranch and from there on easterly again across the Salton sea basin to the overflowed lands of the Colorado River embracing a territory as large as some European principalities. As a matter of course the actual ter- ritory included in the San Jacinto Valley did not extend beyond the range of mountains and low hills running to Smith's mountain at Temeucla. This included most of the story embraced in Helen Hunt Jackson's thril- ling and pastoral story of Ramona in its later chapters, and gives a good account of early scenes in the San Jacinto valley when it first came to attract public attention and a few stray settlers.
The first settlers outside of the Basque sheep men who occupied the whole territory with their sheep and made a camp wherever water could be found on the surface, or by digging shallow wells, were really the successors of the Spanish Grandees, who with their herds of cattle counted their acreage by the league, at the same time using large tracts of upland and dry mesa land counted worthless for taxation purposes. The Padres-the Mission fathers-were really the explorers and foun- dation of the first settlement which began after the missions were sec- ularized, having claimed and occupied with their herds of cattle all the land from the ocean to the foot of San Jacinto Mountain.
At San Jacinto, at the foot of San Jacinto Mountain, was really the first settlement of Americans after the American occupation of California in the later '40s, at the conclusion of the Mexican war. There a settle- ment was possible, for there was good farming land with abundant mountain water for irrigation, but that belongs to another story. The Perris Valley, however, is one of the most interesting territories in Southern California. Although it appears at first sight to be traversed by mountain chains, what at a distance appears to be ranges of rocky hills is in the main only mountain peaks isolated and alone and starting at the top of the Box Springs Grade overlooking the Riverside Valley, the traveler can go all the way to Temecula, taking a round back again by Winchester, Hemet and San Jacinto, without crossing a mountain range and from there due west to the point of starting. The Perris Valley lies about 400 feet above the Riverside Valley and is reached by way of Box Springs Canyon by an easy grade of four or five miles, the original Spanish road taking advantage of the easiest natural grade. The "spring" of fine granite water from the Box Springs Mountain just north was boxed in for convenience by John Brown, Sr., of San Ber- nardino in early days.
When the Santa Fe Railway was first built up the canyon from Colton to San Diego it opened up the Perris Valley, necessitating a better access to the valley, the result of which was the building of the Box Springs grade, the best road at the time probably in Southern Cali- fornia, which reputation it still holds after being concreted and planted to roadside trees. Perris was the first town established on the line of the railroad and was named in honor of Fred T. Perris, the engineer
570
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
under whose supervision the Santa Fe Railroad was built. This was the first rail route to San Diego but did not last long, for in a wet winter shortly after being opened it was washed out for several miles in the Santa Margarita Canyon, was put in good shape at a cost of a million or two dollars, only to be washed out again and that part of it abandoned for good, while in the meantime the coast route from Los Angeles was built. After that the road was operated only to Temecula, thus throwing that part of San Diego County at a very inconvenient distance from the county seat at San Diego, all communication being after that by rail, through Riverside, three times the distance to travel to get there unless the route direct was taken by team. This inconvenience, by being prac- tically cut off from direct communication by rail, was a great induce- ment for San Diego's easy consent to partition off all this territory north of the Temecula Mountains to be incorporated in the new county of Riverside when authorized by the Legislature in 1893. Perris was really the creation of the railroad. It has an elevation of about 1,440 feet, is about seventy-five miles east of Los Angeles and 100 miles north of San Diego and eighteen miles southeast of the county seat at River- side. The line of the San Jacinto River runs through the lower edge of the valley, but it is only at intervals when there are heavy rains that there is any water running in it, and when it does run it empties through a canyon southwest into Elsinore Lake, which holds all of its surplus water, except at intervals of years in excessive rains when the lake fills up and overflows down the Temescal canyon and valley into the Santa Ana River.
Gold mining was carried on in a desultory way west and south of Perris for a good many years with more or less success. The Good Hope Mine being the greatest mine, having had a stamp mill and a real mine which turned out considerable gold and was valued away up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but was for some reason aban- doned and the machinery sold and junked.
The land around Perris was Government land and much or most of it out in the valley as far as Winchester not being reckoned valuable enough to be included in any Spanish grant. This is what gave it valne to the Basque sheep owners, for it was valuable as sheep pasture until settled by American farmers.
Evidences of prehistoric peoples exist in and around the valley but the nearest Indian camp is at Temecula, noted in Ramona and at Pala on the San Diego side of the Temecula range of mountains where is also the settlement of the Warner's ranch, Indians who were removed fifteen or twenty years ago. At first the town was built about two miles further south and was called Pinacate, a Spanish name, pronounced Pinecartee by Americans, in reality the name for a large black beetle. Disputes arose about the title to some of the land and although there was a post office and a siding to the railroad, also a hotel and store, with the inevitable saloon, a movement was set on foot that resulted in an arrangement with the railroad by which the whole town was moved onto a new site and a well sunk, the town being named Perris, which has since given name to the whole valley tributary to it. The new town site was surveyed and cut up into lots, and building commenced in the winter of 1885-1886, and soon they had a store, hotel, post office and other requisites of a new town. Under the old Spanish system there were always religious cere- monies at the foundation of a new town, but under our American system the first requisite is a load of lumber and the town is started and the name given by some enterprising man. Sometimes the town is named before settlement as in the case of Brawley in the Imperial Valley by driving a
571
SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTIES
stake in the weeds, nailing a packing box end to it and putting the name Brawley on it with a marking pot brush. Such is America in the twenti- eth century, but in irrigated Southern California a good deal of expense is incurred in founding a town by laying down pipes and covering the tract with water before any settlement is possible. In the case of River- side, however, the settlers came first in small numbers, camped on the dry plains, hauled their water a mile or more and waited patiently for the canal to be built to carry water to the new settlement.
Perris was set down on the dry plains without any water except from one well, but they were in the midst of rich farming land that produced fine crops when there was plenty of rain. The town and settlement flourished and soon they had a paper called the Perris Valley Leader. Some were attracted to the valley on account of health which was mostly regained. Hook Brothers and Oak, among the other business projects, established a general store in 1887 which they have maintained ever since, as leading men of the town, although Mr. Oak long since left the partner- ship. Others came in and made a thriving settlement. Wells were sunk
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.