USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 11
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 11
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Mr. Miller's benefactions have been so great and helpful in making Riverside noted, not merely locally but throughout the United States and indeed through the world, not only by the Mission Inn but by making Mount Rubidoux a public shrine on Easter day and otherwise. It was felt that on the twentieth anniversary of opening what is in modern times called the Mission Inn, something of a public recognition of his personal worth and public services should be had. Accordingly a call was made by a few of the leading citizens and pioneers to give emphasis to what was in reality a public sentiment to take the form of an informal surprise dinner to Mr. Miller, the Master of the Inn, as he is usually termed. Invitations to the extent of two hundred were sent out to all of the old pioneers and others to assemble on February 3, 1922, to do honor to the man and the occasion and to present a simple memorial and testimonial which took the form of an album, signed by all present and an enlarged photograph taken of Mr. Miller when he was about twenty-one. About two hundred guests were present and it was a very happy occasion, reminding the pioneers that it was probably the last occasion on which so many of them would again be present.
This surprise dinner was participated in not merely by Mr. Miller's friends but by his detractors and opponents of the past and was really a universal public tribute.
My first acquaintance with Mr. Miller was as a pruner and budder working for me at one dollar and fifty cents per day. My next, when I was working on the block on which the Inn now stands putting the preliminary work with my team for his father, levelling and getting ready for what was to come, and his son, Frank, now the Master of the Inn, without his shoes treading clay to make bricks. More or less I have had dealings with him ever since, but never have I known him (saying it in common parlance) to "fall down." This from one who has known him in all his Riverside career of well on to fifty years.
TOY BALLOONS. Among the industries of Riverside there is one that always brings pleasure to the boys and girls, and that is the manufacture of toy balloons. While it has not been established much more than two years it is in a flourishing condition.
The Pacific Balloon Company of Riverside. It was incorporated under the laws of the State of California on November 14, 1919, with a capital of $100,000. The company is engaged in the manufacture of toy balloons and toys having balloons as a base or part.
The factory which the company erected at 186 Blaine Street, River- side, has 10,000 square feet of floor space, and is capable of turning out 20,000 balloons per day with thirty employes. This is the only factory of its kind on the Pacific Coast and it is building up a large business in the territory west of the Mississippi River.
The officers of the company are: Harold A. Dodge, president and Donald Fullerton, secretary and treasurer.
The customers of the company are largely in the ten cent stores, but many large stores in the cities draw a large patronage by giving balloons on purchases.
BIOGRAPHICAL
JAMES W. WATERS, a noted hunter, trapper and mountaineer of the Rocky Mountains, was born near Brainard's Bridge, in Renssellaer County, New York, June 20, 1813.
In 1835 he started out, a young man, with his rifle in hand, bound for the Rocky Mountains and the great West to begin his career and fell in with those noted hunters, trappers and guides of the Rocky Mountains, Kit Carson, the Subletts, Major Fitzpatrick, the Bents, Bill Williams, John Brown, Sr., V. J. Herring, Joseph Bridger, Alexander Godey and others, famous in frontier life for deeds of valor with whom he hunted and trapped from the head waters of the Columbia and Yellowstone rivers along the mountain ranges as far south as Texas, through the country of the Arapahoes, Utes, Cheyennes, Sioux, Blackfeet, Coman- ches, Crows, Snakes and Apaches among whom he experienced many thrilling and hair-breadth escapes. On one occasion, when he and old Bill Williams were hunting on the Big Bottom, near the Rio Las Animas for three days and nights they were besieged by a band of Apaches. Mr. Waters was severely wounded by a rifle shot in his side. He cut the buttlet out on the other side of his body with his butcher knife; after holding the bloody savages at bay for three days without food, he and "Old Bill" escaped by riding their horses over a bluff ten feet high and traveled forty miles before camping. Notwithstanding Mr. Waters' suf- fered greatly from his wound, his comrade bolstered him up with blan- kets around his saddle. They reached Bents' Fort in five days' ride. On another occasion over 800 Utes and Apaches surrounded him, Mr. Brown and sixteen other hunters who, by the most daring bravery, repulsed their assailants and made their escape, losing three of their men.
These were among the numerous experiences of his adventurous life, which he followed until the year 1844 when he came across the plains with a pack train to Southern California, by way of the Santa Fé Trail and the Cajon Pass. At San Pedro he chartered a small sail boat and went down the coast to Lower California and returned with a cargo of abalone shells which he packed on mules, returning the way he came, back across the Rockies 2,000 miles and exchanged these beautiful shells with the Indians for beaver skins and buffalo robes. These he took to St. Louis by pack train and exchanged them so to obtain means to pur- chase supplies while hunting and trapping.
About this time General Fremont desired him to act as guide for his expedition across the mountains to California. As winter was approach- ing and the snow on the mountains would most likely render the passes impassable, Mr. Waters and his companions advised him not to under- take so perilous a journey at this time of the year. General Fremont did not heed this advice of these old mountaineers so familiar with the passes and trails, but ventured into an unknown region where he and his company nearly all perished in the deep snow, he barely escaping from his own folly. Had he taken the advice of the real pathfinders he would not have lost the lives of so many of his men nor suffered untold agonies in the snow banks of the Rockies.
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For some time after the discovery of gold in California, 1848-49, Mr. Waters remained on Green River exchanging fresh horses for animals that had become exhausted in crossing the plains. In September, 1849, he came to California by the Southern route, through the Cajon Pass, to avoid the snows of the Sierra Nevadas, the most direct road then to the new gold discovery on the American River, near Sutter's Mill. . He served as guide for a company of 140 New Yorkers on this trip.
He bought 900 head of sheep from Victor Prudonne and Col. Isaac Williams and drove them to the Merced River, where he sold them for $16 a head. He then purchased a herd of cattle and kept them at the Las Bolsas ranch.
At San Juan Mission he was glad to meet his old friends, John Brown and Alexander Godey, and with them opened the St. John's Hotel and Livery Stable.
In 1856 he came to San Bernardino and at Yucaipa married Miss Louisa Margetson, a most estimable lady, who was born in England October 5, 1837, and died at Old San Bernardino February 28, 1879. His old Rocky Mountain friend, John Brown, being a justice of the peace, performed the marriage ceremony.
The following year he purchased the Yucaipa from Mr. Brown and was a permanent resident of San Bernardino County from that time up to his death, which occurred September 20, 1889.
He became the owner of a portion of the San Bernardino Rancho. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County during the years 1866-67, 1868-69, 1874-75, 1880-81. From the day of his settlement in this county he was loyal to his interests and exerted a wide influence in its affairs by his active energy and public spirit. The monuments he left behind to perpetuate his memory are the large brick building on the northeast corner of Third Street and Arrow- head Avenue, the brick building on Third Street, formerly used for the Court House ; his fine residence on Second and F streets, and, finally, the magnificent Opera House on D Street, in charge of his daughter, Mrs. Martha Waters Kiplinger, for many years. Mrs. Nettie Waters Cole still survives, also his son, Frederick. His son James W. Waters died some year ago.
DON CORNELIUS JENSEN was one of the supervisors of San Bernar- dino County, associated on the board with James W. Waters and John Garner during the years 1868-69.
He was born on the Island of Sylt, off the coast of Denmark, in 1815. He went to sea at an early age, made several trips around Cape Horn, visiting South American ports and Mexico and was in California as early as 1844. In 1854 he opened a store at Agua Mansa, on the hill near the old church. He married Señorita Mercedes Alvarado, eldest daughter of Don Francisco Alvarado, one of the prominent Spanish families of San Bernardino County. The priests were frequently enter- tained at their home by Mr. and Mrs. Jensen. They were highly esteemed by all who knew them.
JOHN GARNER was a supervisor of San Bernardino County with James W. Waters and Don Cornelius Jensen during the years 1868-69.
In 1850 he crossed the plains and arrived in San Bernardino in 1851. He became a successful farmer and one of the highly esteemed citizens of San Bernardino.
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DR. BEN BARTON, an early settler of San Bernardino County, was born in South Carolina June 8, 1823, the son of Thomas Barton, a native of the same state and a descendant of a colonial family which has always been prominent, several members having served in the American armies during the Revolution, and one member, Major Barton, being famous for his deeds of bravery in the cause of freedom.
Doctor Barton was brought up on the old family estate, which he left in 1843 to pursue his professional studies in Lexington, Kentucky. After completing his course in medicine, he practiced in Alabama and in Texas until 1854, when he came to California, locating first at El Monte, then went to the northern part of the state, but in 1857 came to San Bernardino and purchased from Messrs. Lyman and Rich the property known as the "Old San Bernardino Mission," including about 1,000 acres of land, later adding many acres to this princely domain which he sold in parcels at various times.
In 1858 he built an adobe house at the southwest corner of C and Fourth streets, in the town of San Bernardino which he occupied as a drug store, and as the post office, having been appointed postmaster. The following year he disposed of this property, gave up his practice of medicine and devoted himself exclusively to the care of his ranch affairs. In 1866 and 67 he built a large brick residence on a commanding site of his ranch and here for many years he enjoyed his new home extending generous hospitality to his many friends from all over California.
In 1861 and '62 he was elected to the assembly of the state, and was one of the most highly respected citizens of San Bernardino County. He bought property on D Street, built a palatial residence on it, and passed his last days here quietly and happily with his old friends, among them George Lord, Judge John T. Knox, Uncle Jim Waters. He died Janu- ary 1, 1890.
Doctor Barton was married at Bastrop, Texas, to Miss Eliza Brite, daughter of Henry Brite of Missouri, one of the most winsome daugh- ters of the South, and proved a happy and faithful help-meet to the doctor all the days of his life and a fond and confiding mother, enduring physical infirmity with Christian patience and resignation for several years, blest by the devotion of a faithful daughter, and kindness from all her kindred, a good neighbor-"None knew her but to love her, none named her but to praise her." Her saintly spirit took its flight to the mansions above on August 7, 1920.
The following children were born to Doctor Barton and his wife: John H. Barton, born at El Monte, September, 1855; Hiram M. Bar- ton, born at San Gabriel, December, 1856; Lelia, born in San Bernard- ino in 1859. died in infancy; Mary Barton, born at the Mission, 1860, and Anne, born at Mission, 1864.
HORACE C. ROLFE, pioneer jurist, came into the new town of San Bernardino driving an ox team in 1851, made the shavings fly from his jack plane on the carpenter's bench in his carpenter shop on 4th Street just west of the adobe school rooms, helping to erect the first houses in San Bernardino. He spent some time mining in Nevada County, then did some Indian campaigning in Southern California.
In 1858 he began the study of law with William Pickett, then recently established at San Bernardino with a good law library. With but a common school education he devoted his time to hard study, was admitted to the bar and in 1861 was elected district attorney of the county for a term of two years, and re-elected in 1863 for another term.
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In February, 1872, he was appointed by Governor Booth judge of the eighteenth judicial district. In June, 1878, he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in which he served with Hon. Byron Waters and R. S. Swing, Esq. In 1879 Judge Rolfe was elected Superior Judge, which office he filled with distinction and honor. He was one of the most industrious, hard-working members of the bar and bench, and became one of the safest counselors in the state. He was specially attentive to the younger members of the bar, and to law students, who cherish his memory with gratitude, among them being Byron Waters, John Brown, Jr., and Frank B. Daley. He was the author of a historical paper entitled the Bench and Bar of San Bernardino, devoted mostly to the early members of the San Bernardino bar. He was also a contribu- tor of historical incidents in California to the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers. He was always active in all measures calculated to promote the welfare and progress of the city in which he spent most of his life and in which he lies buried. His brother, Samuel Rolfe, was one who held the chain when H. G. Sherwood and Fred T. Perris sur- veyed the Town of San Bernardino in acre lots, and eight-acre blocks in 1853. The Rolfe family were useful and important pioneers at the organization and development of the County of San Bernardino. 1
DON PABLO BELARDE, pioneer Indian fighter and trail blazer, was born near Abiquiu, New Mexico, in 1832, came to California with a company of New Mexican colonists when he was eleven years. He fol- lowed blazing the Santa Fe Trail his father, Baltazar Belarde, and large company had traversed the year before, crossing the Colorado River near what was afterwards known as Fort Mohave, now near Needles, contin- uing westward across the deserts, then up the Mohave River and down into Cajon Pass, where he remembers seeing a Pahute Indian rancheria just south of where the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers built their first monument to designate the junction of the Santa Fe and Salt Lake trails, and afterwards for the same purpose erected another monument north of this one, near the mouth of the narrow can- yon through which the noted Rocky Mountaineer, John Brown, Sr., built a toll road in 1861, and near where Camp Cajon is now located.
Don Pablo settled on the frontier of the Bandini donation to these New Mexican colonists, so that they would fight the Indians committing depredations and thus protect the ranches all below them, which they did successfully and insured the safety and progress of the people living on the frontier of that remote period. All honor to such brave adven- turers. He still lives (1922) at Colton with his daughter, Mrs. Martinez, though quite feeble in his ninetieth year, the last survivor of those heroic New Mexican colonists of 1842 and 1843, who blazed the trails and drove the wild Indians back to the deserts where they came from so that Christian civilization could prosper.
On Sunday, January 15, 1922, a committee from the Pioneer Society, Amos Bemis, Charley Mecham and John Brown, Jr., called on this ven- erable patriarch for some historical information. Although he was in bed, he was pleased to see his old friends and in the brief visit he con- versed freely of olden times, going back to his trip to San Bernardino on horseback when quite a boy; then the Pahute Indian Village in Cajon Pass; the encounters had with them later in protecting the frontier ; he remembers Politana where the mission Fathers had erected a "Capilla," or chapel for worship with a bell in front; a large Indian Village of Mission Indians, "Coahuillas," was along the ridge known as "Politana."
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At the west base of the hill where Byron Waters now lives, known as Bunker Hill, there was an adobe house in which Vicente Lugo lived, the youngest son of Don Antonio Maria Lugo, father of the Lugo boys who owned the San Bernardino Rancho, and sold it to Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, pioneer colonists of 1851.
Don Pablo visited Vicente Lugo and the rest of the Lugo family, all anxious to repel the incursions of the desert Indians from the North who wanted fresh ponies and fat beef.
I remember the great feast and barbecue our good friend James W. Waters gave us at Politana in the year 1844. He invited all the New Mexican colonists, all the owners of ranches and the old chief of the Coahuilla Mission Indians, the big president, Juan Antonio, who came with his interpreters and body guard and all together enjoyed a council, smoked the pipe of peace, and established a lasting peace and friendship resolved by such a union to resist any assaults that might be made by the hostile Pahutes of the North. Señor Waters, muy buen hombre, said Don Pablo in his bed; translated, "Mr. Waters very good man." Just the kind of a visitor to unite them all for their welfare under those exciting, dangerous frontier conditions.
Don Pablo further stated that he knew Cristobal Slover very well; was a neighbor of his where they lived with the New Mexican colonists just south of Slover Mountain in Agua Mansa; this mountain took its name from him; he was buried at its southern base, but no mark is there to show his grave. He killed the bear and the bear killed him was the brief summary of the last bear hunt this Rocky Mountain hunter and trapper was in; he wounded the grizzly, then followed him into a dense brush thicket where the bear got him.
Don Pablo was quite reminiscent on this visit of the pioneer com- mittee and recalled the name of the Indian sub-chief, Solano, whose vil- lage was at what is now known as Harlem Springs, near Highland. Here he held sway under the big chief, Juan Antonio, a dignified natural born ruler, whose word was law and was obeyed by all the Indians in the San Bernardino and Yucaipa valleys.
On the committee withdrawing from this historical and impressive interview, this venerable patriarch thanked them for this pleasant visit, extended his hand to them from his bed, and invited them to come again.
NOEL DAVENPORT, pioneer of Colton, was born in Mobile Alabama, December 19, 1847, the son of Gorham Davenport, a merchant of that city and member of an old Maine family. Noel was educated at St. Joseph College, near Mobile, and left school to enter the Confederate army. In 1868 he landed at San Francisco and for the first year acted as an accountant for the wholesale firm of Sanderson & Horn. In 1869 he went to San Diego, where he was engaged in business. He aided in the survey of the San Diego and San Bernardino Railway made in 1870 and later became interested in the Ivanpah and Panamint mines. In 1876 he located in Colton and entered the firm of Hathaway & Daven- port, the first general store in the Town of Colton, and lived to see the town grow into a flourishing city known familiarly as "The Hub." For many years he served the city most efficiently as its city clerk.
On December 25, 1874, in the Catholic Church at San Bernardino, he married Miss Sylvia Brown, daughter of the renowned Rocky Moun- taineer, John Brown, Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Davenport entertained at their hospitable home in Col- ton the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers on different occa- sions. The latch string of their home was always out for their friends.
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They were exceedingly proud of Colton when Mr. Fleming, president of the cement works gave a barbecue to over three thousand people, all seated at the table at the same time. That surely was some California hospitality, breaking all records. Then the Star Spangled Banner flying on a flag pole on the highest point of Slover Mountain is another tri- umph for Mr. Fleming worth recording, inspiring Colton and all behold- ers with 100 per cent Americanism, and keeping Colton at the front.
CRISTOBAL SLOVER, the noted hunter and trapper of the Rocky Moun- tains, settled with his wife Doña Barbarita, at the south end of what is now known as Slover Mountain, near Colton, San Bernardino County, about the year 1842. He belonged to that class of adventurous pioneers who piloted the way blazing the trails, meeting the Indian, the grizzly, the swollen rivers, the vast deserts and precipitous mountains, all kinds of trials, privations and dangers in opening the way for others to follow and establish on these Western shores a civilization the nation can be proud of.
In the book entitled "Medium of the Rockies," written by his old Rocky Mountain companion, John Brown, Sr., may be found a brief and interesting historical reference to Mr. Slover in the simple and exact words of the author which are here given: "A party of fur trappers, of whom I was one, erected a fort on the Arkansas River in Colorado, for protection and as headquarters during the winter season. We called it 'Pueblo.' The City of Pueblo now stands upon that ground. Into this fort Cristobal Slover came one day with two mules loaded with beaver skins. He was engaged to help me supply the camp with game, and dur- ing the winter we hunted together, killing buffalo, elk, antelope and deer, and found him a reliable and experienced hunter. He was a quiet, peaceable man, very reserved. He would heed no warning and accept no advice as to his methods of hunting. His great ambition was to kill grizzlies-he called them 'Cabibs.' He would leave our camp and be gone for weeks at a time without any one knowing his whereabouts, and at last he did not return at all, and I lost sight of him for several years.
"When I came to San Bernardino in 1852 I heard of a man named Slover about six miles southwest from San Bernardino, at the south base of the mountain that now bears his name, so I went down to satisfy my mind who this Slover was and to my great surprise here I again met my old Rocky Mountain hunter, Cristobal Slover, and his faithful wife, Doña Barbarita. We visited one another often and talked about our experiences at Fort Pueblo, and of our other companions there James W. Waters, V. J. Herring, Alex. Godey, Kit Carson, Bill Williams, Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Bill Bent, the Subletts and others, and where they had gone, and what had become of them.
"Mr. Slover's head was now white, but his heart was full of affection. He took my family to his home and made us all welcome to what he had. His wife and mine became as intimate as two sisters, and frequently came to visit us.
"He never forgot his chief enjoyment in pursuing the grizzly ; when no one else would go hunting with him he would go alone into the moun- tains, although his friends warned him of the danger.
"One day he went with his companion, Bill McMines, up the left fork of the Cajon Pass almost to the summit where he came across a large grizzly and Slover fired at close range. The bear fell but soon rose and crawled away and laid down in some oak brush. Slover after re-loading his rifle began approaching the monster in spite of the objec- tion of McMines. As the old experienced bear hunter reached the Vol. 11-6
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brush the bear gave a sudden spring and fell on Mr. Slover, tearing him almost to pieces. That ended his bear hunting. Frequently the most expert hunters take too many chances, as was the case this time. McMines came down the mountain and told the tale, and a party went back and cautiously approached the spot ; found the bear dead, but Slover still breathing but insensible. He was brought down to Sycamore Grove on a rude litter and there died. The scalp was torn from his head, his legs and one arm broken, the whole body bruised and torn. He was taken to his home and buried between his adobe house and the mountain ; the spot was not marked. or if so has rotted away so that I have been unable to locate the grave after searching for it, so to place a stone to mark the resting place of my old Rocky Mountain associate, Cristobal Slover, as I have brought from Cajon Pass a granite rock and placed it at the grave of my other companion, V. J. Herring, more familiarly known as "Uncle Rube." My other Rocky Mountain companion, James W. Waters, more familiarly known as "Uncle Jim," has also passed on ahead of me and has a fine monument to mark his resting place adjoin- ing my family lot, where I hope to be placed near him when I am called from earth, both of us near our kindred for whom we labored many years on earth."
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