USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 9
USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume II > Part 9
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To the housekeeper, Mrs. Margaret Carroll, many of the best fea- tures in the care of the inmates and patients are indebted, for her idea is that nothing is too good for the sick or unfortunate.
RIVERSIDE PORTLAND CEMENT PLANT. Closely allied and in a great degree necessary to the orange industry is the manufacture of Port- land cement. None know this more than the orange grower himself. The first irrigation works were completed and operated without anything else than lumber and earth, and even if the orange grower could have known the uses that cement could have been put to, he could not have availed himself of the information for the lack of material to work with.
The first cement to be used in California was what was brought round Cape Horn in sailing vessels as balast and in lieu of other things as cheap freight. In this way cement was obtained in a comparatively small way reasonably cheap. From small beginnings it has worked its way up until it is indispensible in Southern California. At first in the construction of irrigating ditches, headgates, bulkheads, etc. The small irrigating ditches from which the water was supplied to the trees were wholly constructed of earth, but this was very unsatisfactory on account of breaks and waste of water. Then was tried sinking a board in the banks of the ditch with openings which could be regulated by a wooden move- able cleat, or made of tin nailed to the board with a slide to regulate the water. This seemed at first to be the acme of perfection. There were other things to consider, the main one, that of doing away with an unsightly ditch which was a favorable place for weeds, necessitating fre- quent cleaning, besides being a harbor for gophers and other pests that made occasional breaks. Then the boards themselves would rot out and
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get broken needing renewal at times. This suggested the idea of a small flume or a wooden ditch which, when painted with tar and asphaltum, was a most convenient improvement and apparently imperishable.
But again when such a fiume got to be old the joints began to draw apart and the seams to open, and the nails to rust out and renewal had to be made in about ten or fifteen years. Again animals and work tools would make breaks which were hard to repair, then the idea was sug- gested to make them of cement, and when well done they were well nigh imperishable, but occasionally the flume would get broken, but a little fresh cement and it was as good as new. There was though the flume itself which was somewhat in the way. Again it was suggested to bury the flume in the ground deep enough in the form of pipe with only a stand pipe with openings for irrigation at every row of trees. This is about the last thing in irrigation, except in place of putting in jointed pipes, a machine was invented that would make and lay continuous pipe for irri- gation without any joints at all, until the machine has done so much work that there is about nothing else to be done except in new settlements. And the headgates are laid and the distributing boxes all made of cement, and so are all the pipes and appliances until the source of supply is reached. If it is the river, the structure and its foundations are laid firm and strong, so that there shall be no break away in a busy time, but everything is cement, even the ordinary farm bridges and latterly the con- crete road on the farm and the foundation of the house, even the house itself with all outbuildings are cement, and if fences are used in many cases, the posts are made of the same material. Immense quantities of it are being used on the farm and everything in connection with running water and the disposal of sewage. This is the answer that the farmer and fruit grower is making to the advocate, for the conservation of forests. When he takes his fruit to market or the packing house it is over a concrete road, and to a strictly up-to-date packing house or ware- house it also is of reinforced concrete. Our obsolete and retired battle- ships in place of reinforcing our fleets on the high seas may be turned by a Ford to reinforcing materials for our building everywhere, and our war weapons in place of doing duty as plowshares or pruning hooks, will he used in reinforcing our homes and making them substantial. This has been called the "iron age" with this view of it may we not call it the "cement age" for verily the cement men are literally removing mountains in their efforts to minister to the necessities of the present age. This by way of an introduction to the Riverside Portland Cement works.
The following is taken from the woman's edition of the Riverside Enterprise of July, 1913.
"There are probably many people in Riverside who have but a faint conception, if any, of the magnitude that the cement industry has attained at the present day.
In the year 1912 there was produced in the United States some eighty- two million barrels of cement, over ten million barrels of this amount being manufactured on the Pacific Coast.
Riverside can feel proud of the part it has taken in the production of this cement, for it has located within three miles of the city, one of the most modern up-to-date cement mills to be found anywhere in the country, with a capacity of 5,000 (110w 7,000) barrels daily, giving employment to over six hundred men, with a payroll averaging between eighty and ninety thousand dollars monthly.
This cement plant is known as the Riverside Portland Cement Com- pany, and it is producing a brand of cement so uniform in quality and giving such excellent results that it is becoming difficult for the manufac-
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turers to supply the demand. In the year 1912 nearly a million and a half of barrels of its product was shipped, or over 7,500 carloads.
Portland cement is so called because the artificial stone first made from it resembled Portland stone much used in England as a building material. It is usually made from limestone and clay, the active elements in which are lime, silica, alumina and ferric oxide. The raw material is brought into the plant properly mixed and then ground to a fine powder. This powder is then run into a long tube called a kiln. This kiln is from 5 feet to 8 feet in diameter and from 80 feet to 125 feet in length. It lies almost horizontally and slowly revolves, the raw material being fed into the upper end and by gravity gradually carried through the kiln passing out at the lower end. The fire is applied directly into the tube at the lower end, the flames often reaching the whole length of the kiln. In the kiln the limestone and clay are burned to the point of incipient fusion, and then dropped out of the kiln in the form of a clinker. This clinker has all the properties of cement, and in order to make it available commercially it is only necessary to finely grind it so as to properly divide its particles and add about two per cent of gypsum, which acts as a retarder and regulator of the setting time of the cement.
It is at this stage of the manufacture of cement where the troubles with "cement dust" (so-called) have to be reckoned with, for in the process of burning the raw material small particles of finely ground rock are carried off through the kiln stacks by the gases from the kilns, these gases acquiring considerable velocity as they pass through the kiln stacks. The combination of extreme heat, the intense draft and these heavy gases tend to pick up and carry up the stacks a portion of the most finely powdered limestone and clay dust as it is poured into the kiln at the upper end.
This has caused severe complaint among the ranchers in the vicinity of the cement plant, they claiming the dust is harmful to surrounding crops and shrubbery. This still remains an open question ; it is also yet an open question, in fact, whether it is any more harmful than road dust or any other kind of dust.
The orange growers maintain that it is, while the company maintains that the neighborhood troubles are due to other things besides cement dust. The region is a windy one, the frosts the last two winters have been severe and the growers' methods of fertilization and cultivation have also heen criticized. Altogether it is a complex question.
To overcome this difficulty, however, the company has for several years been making many experiments to discover a method of catching this dust as it was emitted from the kiln stacks. They went into this matter very thoroughly and much time and money was expended by them on the problem. They were really pioneers in this work, for no company had ever before gone into the matter with as much persistency and deter- mination to succeed as they did. After many experiments they finally decided upon what is known as the electrostatic dust precipitation sys- tem, or lateral system. So confident were they of the success of this new system that they went to an additional expense of over a quarter of a million dollars to install ten dust treaters. These treaters are now in operation and give every promise of meeting fully every requirement expected of them, and the cement company already feels highly pleased with the results so far obtained. Considering the many uses to which cement is daily becoming adapted, it would seem the industry is only yet in its infancy. Modern skyscrapers, residences, bridges, culverts, piping, dams, reservoirs, canals, roadways, in fact, everything built these days
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is of cement and built to last. The day of permanent construction is here and good concrete is the one permanent structural material."
There is but little further to report since the above was published. The company has continued to enlarge its plant until now it has a capacity of 7,000 barrels per day. A large rotary kiln for serving clinker storage has been installed, which is rather unique in the industry. During the war a highly successful process for extracting potash from cement flue dust was developed and operated for several years, but at the present time it is not operated owing to the low price of German potash, which has made the production of home potash unprofitable.
The company now carries life insurance in favor of all its employees, free of expense to them, which becomes effective as soon as the employee has been six months in the employment of the company, gradually increas- ing as the term of service increases.
Shipments of cement are made throughout all the southwestern states and also Mexico, Central America, the west coast of South America, and the Hawaiian Islands, and occasionally to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.
THE MANUFACTURE OF ICE. To an outsider it would look as if the manufacture of ice would occupy but an insignificant place in the fruit industry of Riverside and California, but when we take into consideration the fact that whenever the weather gets the least warm not a car of fruit leaves the packing house without being in a refrigerator car and iced from its initial start to its destination with at least five tons of ice in its bunkers. Out in the Imperial Valley, where it is much warmer, before a car ever starts for the packing house it has to be first cooled off before it can be used at all, and the ice has to be replenished at inter- vals during its long journey East. The one item of 10,600 cars of canta- lopes shipped from the Imperial Valley in 1921 in the short space of about two months will begin to give an idea of the importance of the ice business to Southern California. Ten thousand carloads of grapes were shipped out of the State in one month, all iced. It is currently reported that one railroad alone used one million tons of ice in its refrigrator business last year. The railroads in addition to furnishing refrigerating cars, also furnish the ice for the whole trip.
The National Ice and Cold Storage Company has an ice manufactory in Riverside which has been in operation since 1893. The factory at that time was small with a capacity of but 12 tons per day. The growth of the citrus industry and the expansion of the city and surrounding country has increased the demand for ice so, that the company had to build a new factory in a more favorable location with a much increased capacity and storage room which was done in 1906. A few years later there was added to the plant a thoroughly modern cold storage ware- house. The present output of the factory is sixty tons per day, with an ice storage capacity of 5,000 tons.
The retail delivery system covers more than fifty square miles, much of it by auto truck, but in closely settled places, horses are used in con- siderable numbers as they are more convenient in these locations than auto trucks. Besides local use many car loads of ice are shipped to smaller towns in the county, besides furnishing large supplies to the rail- roads for icing fruit and vegetable shipments.
The storage department has been an unqualified success, large quanti- ties of goods for the local produce dealers, principally apples and eggs, this being of great value to buyers in this section.
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George L. Roberts, manager of the company's interests at Riverside since 1898, has been with the company for thirty years. In emergencies ice has been shipped to almost every part of the State.
The company has manufactories in all the leading shipping towns of the State from Red Bluff to Los Angeles. The plant is situated on the Santa Fe railroad at the head of Twelfth Street.
CITRUS FAIRS. The citrus fair is an institution peculiar to Riverside as such a thing was not ever heard of until Riverside became a producer of citrus fruits, and had its inception in the very early days of the settle- ment when the orange tree was first planted. But little could be got from what little planting there was. The old trees at the Mission San Gabriel had been growing for a good many years, and bearing fine oranges and private parties near San Gabriel and in Los Angeles, notably the Wolf- skill orchard of two thousand trees was flourishing and paying large returns. There were no works on the subject that were available and what few there were in the Spanish language. Old San Bernardino had a few growing trees in partial bearing, showing that the orange would grow and hear inland, beyond the bounds of Riverside. As to the time of planting and the care of the trees, but little was known and the gen- eral supposition was that the same care and method of treatment bestowed on deciduous trees would be proper for orange trees, but sad experience soon convinced us to the contrary. An orange tree, it was found, moved in winter, stood a poor chance of growing and they could be moved in the height of summer and do well. As the orange tree has two or three periods of growth, it can be moved any time between these growths. Prob- ably the best time to plant is just before the spring growth begins, or even later in the month of May in warm weather.
Orange growing in the early days was a fruitful topic for discussion, and when we first heard of orange trees without thorns or without seeds . it was a subject of interest. The first settlers, many of them at least, started in by saving all the orange seeds they could get hold of and many of them made partial failures because of letting the seed dry out before planting. Other tree seeds with which they were acquainted all being dry when planted. Here was a new problem in growing semi-tropical evergreen trees and experience gained in this way was costly, and so whenever two or three settlers met together, orange culture came up for a share of discussion.
The weekly newspaper was not in evidence to give currency to the daily news, which at best were meagre. November, 1875, saw the first issue of a small weekly, which at best, was a poor apology for a paper, but at that it was welcome, but being conducted by two young men who knew nothing of agriculture or horticulture it had but a checkered exist- ence for a year or so, to be started up later on once or twice finally "petering out." The outlook for a paper seemed discouraging, until James H. Roe, in 1878, started the Riverside Press, which was a great improvement, but Mr. Roe was not a farmer in any sense previous to coming to Riverside, but he was a live man and bought some government land, and in that way became interested in the progress of the colony. His business was selling drugs, his business education having fitted him for that. Being before the public in that way the regular reporter not yet being evolved, he had an opportunity of getting the news, especially in orange growing, and time went on and fruit trees became nearer fruit- age.
Deciduous fruits came first into bearing and Los Angeles and the Southern California Horticultural Society, being but newly formed, held
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a fair in Los Angeles, October 19, 1878. On one or two previous occasions there was an exhibit of fruit at an agricultural fair, which in reality was the nucleus of the Horticultural Society. J. De Barth Shorb was president and L. M. Holt secretary of the society. Mr. Holt was really the life of the society, as there was an appropriation from the State, and being a salaried officer he could devote the whole of his time to the work. A horticultural paper which he conducted was also a great help. The fair was favored by the leading citizens of Los Angeles and various proposals were made on behalf of buildings and building lots, among the rest, Newmark and Company who were the leading men in Los Angeles, in a commercial way offered a lot on a 99 year lease at a nominal rent.
The result of it all was the donation of a large lot by P. Beaudry on the high ground half a mile or more up from the junction of Main and Spring streets, with a cable car line running past it. The lot was large and roomy with a frontage of 200 feet running back over 300 feet to another street. A large pavilion was planned, one section of which was built at a cost of $8,000 to be finished in time for the fair. The grading of the lot cost $1,100. Contributions were liberal and everything was in readiness for the fair, which was a success in every way, and was attended by the Governor of the State, General Stoneman, and other dig- nitaries as well as all the leading fruit growers of the four Southern counties. Riverside had a good representation, considering that it was a four days trip by wagon there and back to take an exhibit, as there was no other method of travel except by stage by way of San Bernardino. Everything from Riverside took a premium. James Boyd with the largest display took several premiums, mostly firsts, on sundried peeled peaches a diploma regardless of whether they were machine dried or sun- dried. Twogood and Russell had a display of fruit in glass which was commended, but as there was no premium offered none was given. Carleton and Brown (E. G.) took the premium on raisins with the remark of the judges that they had never seen better raisins, either California grown or Spanish. Premium of $15 was equally divided between them. Honey was also on exhibit from Riverside and San Diego. Riverside honey being characterized as "white as printing paper." The total receipts of the fair were $3,151-compare that with the total receipts of the last Riverside fair of October, 1921, of $80,000, or the San Bernardino citrus fair of 1921 of about $60,000.
Interesting discussions on various fruit questions were held, which were reported in the papers of the time. This was before the Los Angeles Times was established with its mammoth mid-winter edition of nearly 300 pages. Los Angeles then had a population of about 10,000 with a valuation of less than some city blocks in 1921. The Los Angeles fair suggested a citrus fair in Riverside with the proviso, that if it was to be held, a suitable building would be required. At the Los Angeles fair one of the questions asked was what and where is Riverside? That was in 1878, now no one in the United States needs to ask that question.
When Riverside starts out to do anything, she generally succeeds, and by a strenuous exertion and contributions of labor and money, the first public hall for citrus fruit exhibitions was ready for the first citrus fair ever held in the United States or elsewhere. This was held on February 12 and 13, 1879. Naturally the exhibit was small as com- pared with the modern citrus fair, and it was an exhibit on plates each exhibitor to bring his own plates. There were 275 separate plates, boxes or bunches in all. Some exhibitors had fifteen or twenty plates. There was also a local orchestra that furnished music for the occasion. There Vol. II-5
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were a few exhibits other than citrus fruits. Messrs. De Barth Shorb of Los Angeles, and Elwood Cooper of Santa Barbara had olive oil.
The Kimbal brothers of National City had pickled olives. Ripe olives by Craft of Crafton and Beers and Boyd of Riverside. Prunes by Boyd and lemons by many growers in variety mostly seedlings. Next to irrigation the hall was pronounced the greatest convenience in River- side, but a year or two more and it was pronounced too small, and sold to the Odd Fellows.
The discussion and investigations of fruit matters which today seem trivial, were of the utmost consequence at the time, and laid the founda- tion of coming things of more importance, such as farmers' clubs, farm- ers' institutes, finally culminating in our state experimental stations. Among the serious and important matters discussed was that of lemons, all of which were seedlings. It was a matter of great concern that all of the seedling lemons had a bitter pulp which was conveyed in the juice rendering it very objectionable for lemonade or pies. Committees were appointed to experiment with lemons and try the juice by letting stand over night, all with the same result. That report of the committee after experimenting with twenty-eight samples was that none of the seedlings could be recommended. It was fortunate at this juncture that the seed- ling lemon got gum disease in the root and in a short time most of the seedlings were dead from that disease. From that time on lemons have been budded on orange root and the Eureka and Lisbon lemons have taken the market, and are pronounced superior to the imported lemon in point of acid.
There was quite a discussion on the relative merits of budded and seedling oranges, which was not finally settled for a year or two, but in a gathering of that kind where all the leading growers were represented there soon came to be some light thrown on the matter. However, the fact was established at the fair that the Washington navel was the "best orange in every respect." This was the first public exhibit of the Washing- ton navel, as the few trees that were budded were just beginning to bear. Only a year previous the first Washington navel was tested at the home of G. W. Garcelon by a few growers and pronounced the best orange. At the fair there were a few specimens of the Malta blood and Mediter- ranean sweets, then known as the Du Roi, which were pronounced excellent. There were, too, a good many of good budded seedlings. There were no oranges on exhibit from north of the Tehachapi, although the fair committee requested exhibits and offered to pay express charges.
James Boyd opened the discussion on planting. cultivation, transpor- tation, etc., which was partaken in by such men as Blanchard of Santa Paula, Higgins of San Diego, Dr. Shorb of San Gabriel, Van Leuven of old San Bernardino, Jas. Bettner and many others of that time, all since dead except Boyd, Waite and a very few others.
That fair was such a success in every way that it paved the way for others. Not the least of the benefits of the fair was the large amount of advertising it gave to Riverside itself, as all visitors to Southern Cali- fornia at the time made it a special part of the visit to see the fair. Soon the public hall was too small for the annual fair, and the building was sold, and in two or three years a large pavilion was erected with com- modious rooms for meetings which was ample for gatherings of all kinds, but it was burned, and the purpose of the fairs having been fairly well accomplished for some years they were suspended. After the county was formed it was thought that a county fair would be a good thing. and a forty acre tract was secured about a mile from the city, and close to Fairmount Park, which has a very large equipment of buildings
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suitable for fair purposes, with a very fast half mile track with com- modious grandstand capable of seating a good many thousands, but the the fair committee requested exhibits and offered to pay express charges. is now too small, and it is going to be enlarged. From being at first a county fair and a good place for reunions of acquaintances from al! over the county, it has merged into what is now known as the Southern California Fair, with visitors and exhibits from all over the State soutlı of San Francisco. In some respects it is equal to the State Fair. Some of the best exhibits of stock have been had for the last few vears. The exhibits of produce from various counties have been very extensive and varied and competition has been keen. As the name implies, the fair aims to take in and be recognized as serving the whole of Southern Cali- fornia, and to the South what the State Fair is to the North. A small appropriation of money has been given by the state to be expended in premiums solely. The county also contributes towards its success. The horse races are also an attractive feature For the season of 1921. the total receipts of the fair have been $80,000. This is the only fair in the State outside of the State Fair that makes a financial success. The grounds occupied by the fair are practically owned by the City of River- side, and are in close touch with the Pacific Electric and steam railways.
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