History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 85

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538

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SAN SIMEON TOWNSHIP.

The name of San Simeon is also applied to the town- ship which embraces the northwestern portion of the county. The township line begins on the south side of the Arroyo de la Laguna, where it empties into the ocean, just below the port of San Simeon. It extends northwardly to the Monterey County line. The township embraces the whole of the princely estate of the Piedras Blancas. This ranch, now and for some years past, owned by George Hearst, of San Francisco, is one of the most valuable estates on the coast. It consists of 48,000 acres (eleven Spanish leagues), of which tract a very large proportion is cultivatable land.

THE CLIMATE,

While somewhat raw and humid, with fogs and winds, is

all that could be desired for dairying purposes, as the grass is uniformly kept green, and the milk production hence rises to a maximum. Thus far, it may be said, the chief productions of the rancho, in common with the whole coast, are butter and cheese. As to grain and other soil products, the Piedras Blancas lands are of the first class, being nearly all susceptible of cultivation and of surpassing richness. Corn, peas, barley, beans, and oats are mainly raised.

North of Hearst's property lies the land belonging to the family of Juan Castro, who own a very large tract, containing grazing land of a high order, besides 9,000 acres of arable land, very productive and easily worked. These ranches have of late been surveyed into tracts of suitable size for cultivation by individuals, and have been rented out, mostly for dairy purposes, with the excellent effect of creating business and increasing agricultural pro- ductions many fold.

PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHT-HOUSE.

On the Piedras Blancas, at the point of that name, stands the United States Light-house. It is at a dis- tance of five miles northwest of San Simeon, and occu- pies the extremity of a point of land. It is gained by a road which runs along the beach and is surrounded by the lands of Juan Castro's heirs. The structure cost $100,000, is built of brick and iron, is 100 feet high, and contains a powerful Fresnel light, of great power. It is consequently one of the marked features of the coast.

THE FARMERS.

In the vicinity of San Simeon dwell many farmers and dairymen, who have a reputation for skill and enterprise second to none others. There are Mr. Desmond, a dairyman; Whitaker, dairy; Lucchesi, dairy; Johnson, dairy; and Gibson, Martin, Mathers, Webb, and Maffield, farmers, all of whom may be mentioned as typical in their several pursuits; and, withal, earnest and conscientious in their dealings.

Another, Mr. Hazard, living on Old Creek, has furnished these few notes of his career :-

R. J. HAZARD

Was born at Greenwich, Rhode Island, August 1, 1826. His ancestry were among the first settlers of the colony, coming with Roger Williams, who, for his peculiar relig- ious doctrines, had been banished from Boston in 1636, sought out a new region in the dead of winter, and lo- cated at a place he named "Providence," and established the colony of Rhode Island. There these earnest and liberal men founded a Government on the most advanced principles of democracy then known, and which have had their influence on the subsequent political history of America. From that early period the Hazards have been a prominent family in Rhode Island. Thomas T. Hazard, an officer in the war of 1812, was the father of R. J. Hazard, and Esther L. Tillinghast, of another old and distinguished family of the State, was the maiden name of his mother. The children of the marriage were three sons, the subject of this sketch being the second in

RANCH & RESIDENCE OF SAMUEL KINGERY. OLD CREEK, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO.CAL.

DAIRY RANCH & RESIDENCE OF R.J. HAZARD. OLD CREEK, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.

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TOWNS AND LOCALITIES.

order of birth. Mr. Hazard spent his early years in the home of his ancestors, enjoying the educational ad- vantages offered by the good school system of Rhode Island. When twenty years of age he removed to the great city of New York, where he remained two years. In 1850 he came to California, via the Isthmus of Pan- ama, proceeding at once to the mines in Tuolumne. For a period of sixteen years he pursued the business of mining, in the meantime taking a trip to the mines of Australia and to Peru, in which expedition he spent two years, returning to his mining work in Tuolumne. In 1867 he concluded to seek other fields of enterprise, and first went to Visalia, making a stay of but six months, when he moved to San Luis Obispo County, where he arrived in the fall of that year, and there he has since lived. His ranch is located on Old Creek, five miles from Cayucos, where he has 500 acres of land. A view of the place is published in this book. Here he carries on the business of farming and dairying, milking some fifty cows and making butter.

Mr. Hazard was married in 1856, in Sonora, Tuol- umne County, to Miss Elizabeth Fry, a native of Ger- many, and they have five children, two being girls and three boys.

A WHALING STATION.

There are a number of whaling stations on the coast, namely, at Monterey, San Simeon, Point San Luis, and Point Conception. In the autumn the whales began to swim southward from the northern seas, and seek the warm shore waters of the tropics in which to breed their young. Strange as it may appear, these huge fish pass along the same route to and from their breeding places, and this line of travel is within sight of the shore of southern California. The mode of taking them is appar- ently simple. A lookout gives notice of the great ani- mal's approach, and they are intercepted by two boats manned by experienced whalemen, and approaching silently a harpoon is thrown, which pierces the quarry, and the boat is attached thereto by the line leading to the harpoon. This line is paid out to a proper length, while the wounded fish is swimming away under water, until becoming exhausted, the whale comes to the sur- face to breathe (blow, it is technically called). The whalers again approach and fire a bomb-lance into its side, whose explosion usually kills the whale at once. Occasionally whales are met with which require many shots to kill them, and often in their wounded rage destroy the boats. Of this sort was the whale, the story of whose resistance is thus narrated.

Captain Clark's account of an attempt to capture a huge right whale which made its appearance off San Simeon in April, 1880, reads thus :-

FIGHT WITH A WHALE.

The whale was sighted in the afternoon five or six miles off shore, and two boats went in pursuit. On com- ing up to him he was attacked with harpoon and bomb- lance, and a terribly exciting contest began, which lasted until the whale made a savage and determined attack on one of the boats, and broke it in two amid-ships with his

flukes. The boat's crew, left struggling in the water, managed to get into the other boat, thus saving their lives from the angry denizen of the deep. The boat, now overloaded with men, could pursue the contest no longer, and the whale disappeared. During the brief engagement twenty-five bomb-lances had been fired into his sides, besides several harpoons. The bombs in use are made of cast-iron, are twenty inches in length by one inch in diameter, hollow, and are charged with gun- powder, which is made to explode on the bomb's enter- ing the whale. By the agency of this explosion an iron barb is fixed in the wound, attached to which is a line connecting with the boat. These bombs, of great use now in whaling, cost about four dollars each. This par- ticular whale then used up ammunition amounting to $100, besides the loss of harpoons, lines, and the boat and fittings. The Captain said that right whales are not often seen on the coast of California, only nine having appeared at San Simeon in seventeen years. He esti- mated that he would have realized about $4,000 by the capture of this whale, thinking it would have yielded 150 barrels of oil worth thirty-seven and one-half cents per gallon, and 1,600 pounds of bone at $1.80 per pound. He had taken seventeen whales in the season, December to April, averaging thirty-five barrels of oil each.

A whale hunt, says the account from which the above facts are condensed, in an open boat off these rugged coasts, is exciting but dangerous sport, which, once en- joyed, is never coveted again by the amateur whale hunter.

CAPTAIN CLARK'S WHALING BUSINESS.

As early as 1864, Capt. Joseph Clark had located at San Simeon and engaged in whaling for profit. His mode of carrying on this unique branch of business was and is the one in vogue at Monterey and other ports along the coast. The huge cetaceans are harpooned, or otherwise killed by the bomb-lance, and being towed ashore, are stripped of their outside flesh, called blubber, which is tried out in large kettles set over a fire. The owner, a pleasant and hospitable gentleman, possessed in 1878 five whale boats, two of them thirty feet in length by six in breadth; the others less in size. These are fitted with all the necessary appliances for catching the mighty prey, which, when secured, is brought to the little wharf erected especially for the purpose, and the blubber removed by the force exercised by a capstan which is connected with the end of a section of the whale's outer covering. Force being applied, the blubber is drawn away in strips some two feet wide. The strips are then cut up and placed in kettles of 200 gallons capacity, where the oil is rendered out. The Captain usually employs ten men and sometimes twenty during the sea- son, which lasts from November until April. The great- est catch of whales for a single season was twenty-three, the least three.

LUIS YORI.

The traveler to San Simeon will be happy to find the Bay View Hotel, the first-class hostelry of the village by the sea, a view of it being given in this volume. This

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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

hotel is kept by Mr. Luis Yori, a native of Switzerland, born March 2, 1850. In youth he went to Italy, and thence to England, making London his home until 1873. In London he served an apprenticeship of four years, learning the art and working at the business of stereo- typing with the well-known firm of G. B. Dellagona & Co. Having acquired a trade which would afford him employment in any of the great cities of the world, Mr. Yori felt at liberty to travel and see new countries. He first returned to his native Switzerland, the brave little republic of Europe, and after remaining there nearly two years, journeyed to that greater republic, the United States of America. Many of his countrymen had pre- ceded him to California, and to that land of gold which his people were making to flow with " milk and honey," he came. Soon after his arrival in California he went to Watsonville, remaining there only a few months, when he found employment at his trade as stereotyper on the San Francisco evening Post. Earning a capital to enable him to go into business, he removed to Cayucos, where many of his countrymen were profitably engaged, and there commenced the dairy business. In the fall of 1881, he purchased the hotel at San Simeon, known as the Bay View, which he continues to conduct in first- class style, a happy landlord who makes it very pleasant for his guests.

Mr. Yori was married in 1874 to Miss Maria Vononi, and has one son, who still remains in their native home in Switzerland.

Mr. Yori in the meantime became a citizen of this country, having been naturalized in San Luis Obispo in 1877.

CHAPTER XXXIX. TOWNS AND LOCALITIES CONTINUED.

Cambria-Increasing Population-Mining Excitement-The First School-John McCormick Whitaker-Mail Route Established -Business Improving-The First Store-William H. DeNise -Naming the Town-Excelsior Cheese Factory-Societies- Railroad Talked Of -- Prosperity-Dairying-O. P. McFadden -- Jeffrey Phelan-John C. Hill-Frederick J. Peterson-Cam- bria in 1880 -- Santa Rosa Valley-Mammoth Rock-Timothy Murphy-Julian Estrada.

BOUT the year 1866 the beginning of the present important town of Cambria took date. Before that time the town, which now ranks second in size and importance in the county of San Luis Obispo, knew no existence. Its site was claimed as a portion of one of the large grazing ranchos which once included the greater part of the best land of the South Pacific Coast. Long- horned Mexican cattle, in a state of semi-wildness, roamed over it, or it furnished feed for the nearly worth- less manadas of undomesticated horses. Later on, when American settlers had begun to direct their footsteps hitherward, it came to their knowledge that a portion of the pleasant and fruitful region was Government land, and susceptible of occupation by American citizens, or those intending to become such. The surroundings

were inviting; numerous streams bursting from the west- ern slope of the Santa Lucia Range, and flowing down- ward thence to the sea, watered with their pure, cold waters the attractive and diversified middle ground. The greater part of the tract with which our subject is mainly connected, is composed of undulating ground, rising into low and smooth hills, or sinking into small, though fertile valleys. Through these valleys flow the streams over pebbly bottoms, making their rapid way westward to the beach. Upon the land now occupied by the town there stood, in 1867, a virgin forest of pines. These woods, by their yield of lumber, have contributed much to the support and up-building of the region. From their aged trunks have been cut the lumber from which the houses of Cambria and its vicinity were erected. Two saw-mills, as long ago as 1869, worked steadily in the production of boards, posts, and all suitable kinds of wooden building material. The Pacific Saw-mill was one.

INCREASING POPULATION.

With the coming of the people a new era began for that whole region. Not Cambria alone, but the whole of the splendid and fortunate land lying between San Luis Obispo City on the south, or rather southeast, and the Monterey County line on the north, and contained be- tween the sea and the Sierra. Some have said that no finer location exists for the farmer's pursuits, particularly the dairyman's. The climate favors all residents, ani- mals, and all productions. The grasses, nourished by the moistened sea-breeze, afford the richest food for the grazing kine. The hills and mountains, clothed to their very summits with the succulent herbage, afford an un- limited domain for the browsing animals. No cañada is without its ever-living stream of fresh, cool water. Their banks are beautifully fringed with sycamore, willow, live- oak, and laurel, and within their crystal pools play the speckled trout. Following up their verdant and sylvan shades to the gorges in the mountains whence they issne, the traveler comes upon their sources in springs, whence they gush within perhaps but a few feet of the summit. Shortly meeting other streams these rivulets gather strength and volume, and, dashing over rocks, through picturesque cañons and dark gorges, pass swiftly by dim recesses, thick with foliage, the haunt, perhaps, of the quail and the timid deer.

Here, in this favored spot, began to rise the household fires of a new population. From every civilized quarter of the earth's broad surface came one or more to help build up a new community, and their efforts succeeded. Upon the fertile waste, where but lately roamed the wild manada, now thrifty farmers live, and business thrives apace. Several towns have already taken their rise, while yet the country is in the very dawn of its growth and usefulness. Of these towns the chief is Cambria, whose account may be shortly summed up.

MINING EXCITEMENT.

Sometime back in the first of the sixties a mining ex- citement broke out in this region. A man had seen cop- per ore on a hill-side To see copper indications in those

BAY VIEW HOTEL

BAY VIEW HOTEL, L. YORI PROPRIETOR. SAN SIMEON, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.

DAIRY RANCH & RESIDENCE OF J. M. WHITAKER, SAN SIMEON CREEK, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO.CAL.

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TOWNS AND LOCALITIES CONTINUED.

days was enough to fire the average Californian heart, for the State was in a ferment on the subject of that metal. Shortly a great many claims were taken up, and one- the North Mexican-held some little metal, one frag- ment of which nearly induced the mine's sale to Eastern speculators for $30,000, or some other fabulous sum. This fever for mining discoveries did not or could not affect Cambria, for that town was not yet in existence. But when five years more had passed a similar excite- ment gave rise, in part, to this town, which was yet further helped along by still another fever in 1871. This time it was not copper but quicksilver that formed the object sought. Like many towns in the mining region of this great State, Cambria took its rise upon the fleeting in- terests of the hour; but unlike most of these towns it did not sink with the decadence of the mines. On the con- trary it remains, and doubtless always will remain, sup- ported by the important agricultural interests of the sec- tion round about-a support infinitely more certain and reliable than ever the most thoroughly worked and richly paying mines could furnish. Thus Cambria has taken on the aspect of an agricultural village, like those of the equally moral, enterprising and steadily growing villages which ornament the valleys of the Mo- hawk, and of New England, whence most of Cambria's population is derived.

THE FIRST SCHOOL.

Some who have passed half a lifetime on the Santa Rosa can remember the foundation of the one educational institution of the twenty years past-Dr. Clark's School, where a score of pupils, mostly of Spanish descent, found instruction, and these will discourse upon the miraculous cheapness of land and stock in the "dry ear," in which time the Government land was first set- led. Among the settlers who had chosen San Luis Obispo as their home was

JOHN MCCORMICK WHITAKER,

A venerable and respected citizen of San Luis Obispo County, who connects the living present with the men and history of the past. This gentleman was born February 11, 1801, in Clermont County, Ohio. That great State, now containing its millions of inhabitants, was then but a Territory, and all north and west almost unknown regions. There exists now on the North American Con- tinent south of Alaska no land so little known and ex- plored by the whites as was Ohio and the Northwest at that time, but during the life of this man the great changes and progress in civilization have been made that the most vivid imagination could not have conceived in the days of his youth. The systems of transportation by water and rail, now deemed indispensable, were scarcely thought of then, and the transmission of news as by the lightning flash, or the preservation of the human feature and the landscape view by the im- pression of the sun, were beyond the conception of the wildest dreamer. Mr. Whitaker has lived through and witnessed all these remarkable changes, and has fol- lowed the star of empire in its westward course. In

vain has he kept in the van of civilization as it marched to the West. He could ask " Where is the West ?" as the English poet asked,

"Where's the North ?

At York 'tis on the Tweed;

In Scotland at the Orcades; and there, At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where."

Mr. Whitaker made Ohio his home until he was twenty-six years of age, and then, in 1827, he moved into the wilderness of Michigan Territory, and there engaged in trading with the Indians. In this business he continued for seven years, until the United States bought out the Indians, and opened the country to the occupation of the farmer and settler. Then, in 1834, he moved westward across the Mississippi into that region now constituting the State of Iowa. At that time it was attached to the Territory of Michigan, having, since the admission of Missouri as a State, been a "political orphan," without any government until June, 1834, when it was attached to Michigan. In 1836 it became a part of Wisconsin Territory, in 1838 was made the Territory of Iowa, and in December, 1846, became a State of the Union. At the time of the admission as a State, Mr. Whitaker had been a resident over twelve years, most of the time a Legislator, seeing the population increase from a few thousand along the "Black Hawk Purchase" and about the lead mining region of Dubuque to nearly 100,000. In the first State Legislature Mr. Whitaker was a member from Van Buren County, and before the Act of Congress was signed, admitting the State, the Legislature had assembled, and appointed him "Locat- ing Agent" to select and locate the 500,000 acres of land donated the State for the purposes of internal improve- ments, but devoted by the Constitution to the support of schools. One section had been selected by William W. Dodge, who had been appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and Mr. Whitaker selected all the remainder excepting the sinall amount of 122 acres, as reported in the " History of the State of Iowa." In this responsible duty he was engaged seven years, making all his explora- tions on foot, seeking the most suitable lands throughout the broad extent of the State, undergoing many hard- ships and encountering many dangers. The work, how- ever, was ably and faithfully performed, as the grand and well-endowed system of schools, whereby Iowa can now have " school houses within one mile of each other," as was the boast of a recent Governor, now proves. After the close of his duties as Locating Agent, Mr. Whitaker served one year in the Legislature, making about twenty years of Legislative and State service.

In 1861 he sought the farther West, crossing the plains to California, and soon thereafter located in San Luis Obispo County, settling on a ranch on San Simeon Creek, where he has since made his home. A view of the place is published in this volume, showing the mod- est home of this retired veteran. The ranch contains 320 acres of fine land and is devoted to dairying.

Mr. Whitaker was married at the age of twenty-three, while still a resident of Ohio, to Miss Jane Phillips, who was also a native of that State, a daughter of one of

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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

Ohio's pioneers, and this lady has been his companion through his many years of adventure, toils, and triumphs, dying at their home on the San Simeon, February 14, 1882, at the ripe old age of seventy-eight years. Six children had been born to them, five sons and one daughter, all of whom are still living. Mr. Whitaker, now of the advanced age of eighty-two, is still the capa- ble and intelligent gentleman his active life of usefulness has shown, retaining all his faculties in a vigorous old age.

MAIL ROUTE ESTABLISHED.

In 1867 no travel took place between Cambria and San Luis Obispo, except by private conveyance. A little later the Government established an unpaid mail service between the two towns. In 1868 a weekly mail service, paid for, was put on, a spring wagon being run for its accommodation. This wagon, say the records, often came over empty, except as to the driver and the mail bag, for travel was slight, and nearly every one whose business or inclination drew him forth preferred to take passage upon the active mustang's back. A great change took place within the next twelve-month. A tri-weekly mail service was instituted. D. S. Miller, the contractor, put on a covered stage, and many passengers rode therein. Immigrants came from the North and from the East.

BUSINESS IMPROVING.

A livelier day was dawning, and soon after the town manifested its existence in various ways. Round about it new industries began, and old ones increased in im- portance. Many dairies date their establishment from 1868 and '69, and in those years the number of milch cows was increased by fifty per cent. A pork-packing establishment began its work, but, although at first prom- ising well, it ceased operations within a few months, because, it was announced, the climate would not admit

· of successful curing of meat. Consequently Messrs. Coffin & Chapin suspended the packing of pork, and the making of lard and bacon, with its promises of infinite good to the breeders and rearers of the obese pig.

It is to be taken for granted that the district around Cambria, as well as the county in general, was in a state of progression at the time. The evidences of substantial growth extended far and wide. School houses were mul- tiplying. The convenience of the Cambria children was not forgotten, and a new abode of learning took its rise there. The United States mail was cared for by the Postmaster, W. S. Whitaker, Esq. Dr. Frame plied the Esculapian art. The Masonic brotherhood organized, and built a hall. This was over Grant, Lull & Co.'s store, where the renowned order met, presided over by their Worthy Master, Thaddeus Sherman. Mr. Taylor, with a public spirit that did him honor, constructed an as- sembly room, the largest in the county, wherein might take place the dances, social gatherings, political and other meetings incidental to the new condition of things. Doubtless the lumber of which these buildings were erected came from the surrounding forest, for it is not by any means forgotten that the saw-mills of Letcher, and of Leffingwell were at that early date supplying lumber to

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History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 85

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West Number of Pages: 538

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538