History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 14

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SWW LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

al fine Gove from a single Bicamer. So great was the travel that even the Abys Boweltom Trad To loep on the floor of the ladies' cabins, while in the biliş ilies were jobber "Thick as sardines." The business became so great Gon people boor be billy railroad, and a movement for one was soon on foot.

County Wharves

Wootkwis miles north of Cambria there used to be a small wharf owned be flis Domnesti Is, where schooners unloaded lumber and a few other things. Show Und & hus and cry went up for county wharves ; Cambria, Cayucos sich Port Saw Louis wych wanted to have one built ; so bonds for $90,000 were rd 50000 to he -pent at each place. The one built for Cambria was to brwBen ike Blit I Hmy well wharf was, but the sea wouldn't stand for it, widl the monyine February and March, 1908, strewed the timbers of that o lief Stang the lon ele 530,000 gone to limbo. The wharf at Avila was built w & whartinger_ Payne, employed at a salary of $150 a month. No vessels samedi then smohing to do but hang out a lantern at night and take Il spar the morning : all the people had a county wharf, and $1,800 a year Ici le ide Mich ar mine the salary was reduced to $75 per month, but TILa year is confilesilde to throw away. Of what earthly use is a wharf al colli unid as belfry an auto truck line can be put on to compete with Ne Thrive Frust Rende When it came to Cayucos wharf, the people hallo Umiorvelte what a fool job they were trying to do, so the Cass Me lart you couldix looks and a county wharfinger was employed for a while. To kens of the county wharf at Cayneos is still in pickle. It was voted Ke bGP ( what these, and it will stay in pickle until a special election is HD5| To cafe it for something else. Meanwhile the taxpayers pay interest

RAILROADS

Pacific Coast Railway Company

m 184. 1. W. Graves introduced a bill in the legislature which became Hmm, Tomis a wmpany for the construction of a railroad from San Luis how to me Santa Maria valley. The incorporators were John M. Price, XI Sosem0), Just: V. Avila, N. Goldtree, F. M. Meisinger, C. Nelson, Lolmy Tel ini haw. Charles Goodall. The previous year, January, 1873, the - Lar Obr po Railroad Co. was organized and filed articles of incorpora- pon Th Ihtowary. 1873, a company consisting of John Harford, W. S. Chap- 0.00, 1 1 00. 1. Schwartz and others was formed to build a wharf 00) + (p & from-gauge railroad to San Luis Obispo. A survey was rente op of y faire of $140,757 given. Ward was the engineer who laid my tho 006 In March some grading was done and the line was started m, che- exprifre The right of way to this company. Now, two companies mayo , All meals over about the same route. Some trouble ensued, 600- Ta 36 roads consolidated under the name of the San Luis Man Valley Railroad Co., taking over the wharf and horse- vor lon 'm& Jom fire paying him $30,000 for them. The right of way crom Te le Gn Very little. Avila Brothers gave depot grounds, and redd . 0 00 08 20 9/7! aelito ranch. In December, 1875, the road had rentes Me oscoy perly called Root and Harford. Here things

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seemed to come to a standstill. The manager said San Luis Obispo must put up $25,000 before the road came any farther. C. H. Phillips and C. II. Johnson, who were always boosting for the public good, took the matter up and very soon had $28,500 subscribed. Things moved again, and in August, 1876, the road was completed to San Luis Obispo. August 23, the opening for business was celebrated by a grand excursion and picnic. The road had cost $180,000, plus $30,000 paid to Harford for his wharf and road. The fare was eight cents per mile for passengers and fifteen cents a ton per mile for freight. Fare to and from Port Harford was ninety cents each way, or $1.25 round trip. In 1881 the road was extended to Arroyo Grande ; in April, 1882, it reached Santa Maria, then called Central City ; and in October, 1882, it had reached Los Alamos. About a year later it was built to Los Olivos, and that remains the end of the road. The entire distance from the port to Los Olivos is seventy-six miles.

In September, 1882, the S. L. O. & S. M. Valley road was transferred to the Oregon Navigation Co. The road from Santa Maria to Los Olivos had been built by the Pacific Coast Railway Co., composed of the same stock- holders as built the first division. September 23, 1882, the companies con- solidated, taking the name of the Pacific Coast Railroad Co. The great land- holdings over which the road passed gave right of way ; Steele Bros. gave a strip of land several miles long and sixty feet wide: the Dana estate gave a strip fourteen miles long of the same width, only asking that the mother, Doña Carrillo Dana, be allowed to travel on the road free of charge as long as she lived. The road for years has been a very profitable line. The pas- senger traffic to steamers has greatly lessened since the Southern Pacific lias a through line and excellent train service, but the lumber and freight traffic is still heavy. With our splendid harbor at Port San Luis, a port of entry where deep-sea vessels anchor safely or lie along the wharf, only a cross-country road to the San Joaquin valley is needed to make it one of the great harbors of the world.

The Southern Pacific Railroad

As early as 1855 a party of government surveyors, under Lieut. John G. Parke, passed through the county taking levels and estimating costs. In January, 1864, a railroad from San Francisco reached San Jose ; by March, 1869, it had reached Gilroy. In 1870 this road was transferred to the C'entral Pacific Co., which changed the name to Southern Pacific, and in 1873 ex- tended to Salinas, in 1874 to Soledad, one hundred seventy-four miles from San Francisco. Soledad remained the terminal until the middle of the eighties. In 1886, the Southern Pacific started building south, and on October 18, 1886, reached San Miguel, trains bringing mail and passengers to that point. The first regular freight was delivered at Paso Robles, November 15, 1886. From then on, trains carried passengers and freight. November 15. 1886, Lyman Brewer went down on a sort of "construction limited" to Tem- pleton and opened up business in a box car station. The box car was the depot and family residence until April, 1887, when the depot was built. Templeton was "the end of the line" until January 31, 1889. In the summer of 1888, grading was begun for the road from Templeton to Santa Margarita. and the road reached the new townsite January 31, 1889.

In April there was an excursion train from San Francisco, and the ustal

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A phaform was erected, some San Francisco and Paso Rolle: - om san 3A tutte-" in spring costumes sat in the chairs thereon, the bunt may livet de auctioneer did his "darndest." as one "boomer" ex- porosan mom mehow there was less enthusiasm than two years before Wenn Du Dig Dampferun land sale was "pulled off."

Samo War Tra wis the terminus of the railroad from January 31, 1889, to ME INDI The road from Santa Margarita to San Luis Obispo lay over me Suna gi mountains. The route called for seven tunnels, many atom fil Ma horseshoe curve, and a long steel trestle across Stenner ereek cif of Ili steck h ninety feet below the rails of the trestle in one place. The Three of the Coast Division of the Southern Pacific is said to have been of ul digte tliest bits of railroad ever built. After resting and recuperating fre mances, the company began work with an army of men. It took over two years to build this seventeen miles of road. The first tunnel on the Santa Margarita side is 3,6161. feet long and the bed of the tunnel at its Highresi point is 1,300 feet. Tunnel number seven, as it was called, was the layoffe before reaching San Luis Obispo. This tunnel caved in and was, After years of use, made into a deep "cut": so now there are six tunnels to lg kept in safe repair. The total cost of this seventeen miles was $1,774,000. May 5, 1804, was a tremendous event in the history of this county, for on that day the Southern Pacific ran its first passenger train into San Luis Obispo. The whole county came "down" or "up" to share in the glorifica- tion. An excursion train from San Francisco brought down many of the high officials and their wives. Every band in the county was there to make as much noise as possible, for all the whistles and bells in town insisted on matiging or tooting along with the bands. Everybody yelled, ladies no excep- i0 n. when the long, jubilant whistle of the incoming train was heard singing men the canon, and a stampede up the track to meet it was next in order. The bine big Hotel Ramona was new and in splendid order to entertain com- polis. but every available room in the town as well was required to house the visitors, and many camped in the open. Twenty beeves were barbecued Hpl o great feast enjoyed. \ "grand ball" was given at Hotel Ramona. Se MeLem, mayor of the city, ex-sheriff and one time prominent man in will ines, was here, there and everywhere attending to it all, along with the parent committees. McLeod was just one of the many "canny Scots" HO Wach t hand in setting this county "on its feet." and "Here's to them a' Audi Lang Syne."

how Obispo was the terminus for fourteen months; then the road Wayry Thilt on south, first to Guadalupe, then to Surf. Meantime the w gne forth from Los Angeles. On March 31. 1901. the "gap" And atsind ran all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles. 0 Ember Pacific came to our relief in 188 -1894, we were io wy The county had remained an isolated spot in spite of part of the men and women who "landed" in surf

- Hudders, as at Cave Landing, to settle in our beautiful An. ri. bt up in front ; and if thirty years has seen digt may we not expect of the next thirty?

Marile who scaled the rope ladder up the cliff at www. 1807. while Mr. llardie went ahead carrying the Mrs. ITardie says she was horrified on looking

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up to see that Mr. Hardie had grasped the baby by his long dress-skirt and was carrying him wrong end up. In spite of his entrance into the county "reversed," so to speak, Frank Hardie has gone ahead and is a prominent . man of affairs. The plucky young mother climbed to the top of a big load of seed grain the next morning and, with her infant in her arms, rode all the way to her new home three miles beyond Cayucos ; that is, she got almost there, but when the bronchos began kicking over the traces, she leaped with her child to a high bank and walked the rest of the way. Some more Scotch pluck. No wonder that when, October 8, 1916, this couple celebrated their golden wedding at a daughter's home in Paso Robles, people of note from all over the county went to bestow their gifts of gold and, better still, loving regard, upon the gray-haired but vigorous old pioneers of 1867.

MAIL ROUTES AND STAGE LINES

The first regular mail route established in California was mentioned in the California Star of San Francisco, May 13, 1847. It announced that Governor Kearny had established a regular semi-monthly mail route between San Francisco and San Diego, mail to be carried by two soldiers on horse- back, commencing May 19, 1847. Starting every Monday from San Fran- cisco and San Diego, the carriers were to meet the next Sunday at Captain Dana's rancho (Nipomo), exchange mails, start back the next morning and arrive at San Francisco and San Diego the next Saturday. Henry M. Osgood of Stevenson's regiment was one of the very first mail carriers, and in 1850 settled in this county. In 1849 Osgood was succeeded by a man named Smith, who made his headquarters at Pollard's store. Here he obligingly let the people read all the papers, which they were careful to return to the mail sack. Smith disappeared, was last seen near Santa Ynez, and was in all likelihood murdered.

The first real post office in the county was established at San Luis Obispo in 1855, with Alexander Murray as postmaster. For some years steamers and sailing vessels had touched semi-monthly, or when they got there, at the port, and had carried express and mail which from the port was brought up in the stages or on horseback. When the post office was established at San Luis, Walter Murray was given the mail contract. \ two-horse wagon made the trip to Monterey once a week, carrying mail and passengers. The roads were little better than trails ; so if need be, passengers not only paid a good round sum for the ride, but had to get out and push uphill or help pry the wagon out if it "bogged down." The mail from San Luis to Santa Barbara was carried on horseback by a man Mr. Murray hired for the job. Passengers going north, stage and team, stayed over night at San Miguel. The next lap was to Jolon, and the third day all hands reached Monterey, if things went well. Passengers not going Monterey way, but still north, remained at Hill's Ferry on the Salinas until the stage from Monterey, bound for San Jose, San Juan and San Francisco, came the next day. Both stages had to be ferried over the Salinas river at that point. Alexander Murray was post- master until 1870, or for fifteen years. In 1861, a tri-weekly stage and mail was put on from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In 1862, this was made a daily four-horse stage. W. I .. Ballard was stage agent for this section, with headquarters at El Alamo Pintado, now Ballard, Santa Barbara county. As has been told in writing of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co., the trains

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rachel Sozial in 17: Here the Coast Line Stage Co. met passengers word mail out: Wwwfi the road was built to points in this county, the mail, wyr-, was carried by train. For years Flint, Bixby & Co. iAm I threwset Mit The stage fare from San Luis Obispo to Soledad was 817, col am-seht -op was made at the Salinas crossing, Hill's Ferry. (je stad) podes were sometimes interrupted by hold-up men, and in winter MY Tomil otome, An upset in the ereek or river was not unknown.

fr-vimo 1im Myers "handled the ribbons" when, in 1887. the stage for S Tam no fim Templeton. To sit beside him, listen to his stories and gomme atime| the down-grade curves, or swing upward over the pass en f kes fate morning, was an experience worth living for. Horses, limes wol rowych always shone on starting out, even if they were mud- btworderedilor mary on arrival. Jim was careful of his appearance. Well- -Invent well, unend. His cigar just right and gauntlets "up to snuff." Jim por- ily heju iled of a stage driver. Ile never refused passage to a cus- tommer in October. 1891, at teachers' institute time, he packed "seventeen -how Ima'ams and six passengers" into and on top of his stage, took us all - my over Cuesta Pass and deposited us at Hotel Ramona. The stage then rali fre m Santa Margarita. The writer and a "little peach of a schoolma'am" saut with Jim going and returning, and it was on that trip he told of his hold-up ilu seyir before, just where the road makes a sharp curve and a little stream medio trickle out over on the north side of the pass. He called it his "masked ball," lescause the robbers threw bedticking masks to all hands. Jim "got his" Gr-t. "They took my cxpress box and the gents' wallets and 'jooles'; they just let the women make the fuss. I carried the lightest express box and the worst-scared load of passengers over the grade that night I ever traveled with," concluded Jim, flicking the ash from his cigar and touching up his Alm: leaders. Shorter and shorter grew the stage line, and when at last then" was closed. Jim doffed his hat and said, "My occupation's gone." He hhe one "to the other side." but the memory of him will live as long as we bi a do who rode with him in the days when, full of hope, we came to the como to "grow up with the country."

To Library, 1883. Kester & Cass put on a line of stages running from 150 have To san Miguel via Paso Robles. These stages carried mail to Ade- Lado fox . thec and enabled passengers to take passage on the weekly when i Eneos or connect with the Coast Line stages for the north. In 180 2 80 Wy tage was run from San Luis to San Simeon, leaving every calorias Tro Ibrye dollars. This line was owned by J. P. Lewelling and Euroal alo puoi W. S. Whitaker was postmaster. In April, 1868, Miller Lamela Aby Tur bol made semi-weekly trips. Miller sold out to Brown & Tto alo foot our daily stages, Sunday excepted. The two-horse stage 16000100601 000 pasengers until 1910, when Miles Sanders got the mail wont 2000 mobiles. In 1914, J. C. Welch got the contract and Joles copying mail and passengers. This stage line has carried Lavoro . Cambria and San Simeon ever since they came into How We Mayfield runs a private stage line of autos from Sale J the- Whoop De Fonderia. Soon after Templeton was on the map, F. G. mlm& o zwei o contract to carry mail from there to Cayucos: but im o 1999 To dede reached San Luis, the mail was sent from there Several stage lines, mostly autos, run from Paso

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Robles. One carries mail to Creston, another to Union and Shandon, another to Adelaida. From San Miguel, stage autos run to Coalinga and the oil fields of Kern county. From Santa Margarita a stage takes mail and pas- sengers to Pozo and Simmler.

Post Offices

The post offices in the county at present are San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton, Santa Margarita, San Luis Obispo, Edna, Arroyo Grande, Berros. Nipomo, Oceano, Pismo, Morro, Cayucos, Cambria, San Simeon, Pozo, Simm- ler, Creston, Union, Shandon, Estrella, Adelaida, Avila, Atascadero, Bern, Carissa Plains, Cholame, Halcyon, Klau, La Panza, Linne, Musick, Port San Luis, Harmony. Rural delivery routes are numerous.

Total receipts of the San Luis Obispo office for the past ten years are $201,072.37. There has been an increase of over $10,000 since 1905, for in that year the receipts were $14,421.71, and in 1915 the receipts were $24,597.06. George A. Barnett is postmaster and George E. Kirby assistant postmaster. The office employs five clerks, four city carriers and two rural carriers. The salary is $2,700 per year for the postmaster and $1,300 per year for the assistant postmaster. This office is now close to the first-class rank, when the salary will be $3,000 for postmaster and $1,500 for the assistant post- master. Quite a political plum !

COUNTY BUILDINGS Courthouse and Hall of Records

We quote the following from the San Luis Obispo Tribune of November 18, 1871: "Financially, the county is in tolerable circumstances, but beyond a good jail we really have nothing to show for the large revenue annually drawn from the taxpayers. San Luis Obispo should be possessed of a decent courthouse, yet when the county and district court happen in session together, one or the other has to go gerrymandering about town to find a room to sit in. This was the case last month and doubtless will be again. The old adobe building called a courthouse is a marvel of repulsiveness, and that court room with its wretched appointments is a disgrace to the county." Walter Murray was the editor of the Tribune when this article appeared. and no man in the county wielded a stronger influence than he. Mr. Murray was a lawyer and journalist, as well as a fearless man. He served in Stevenson's regiment in the Mexican War, and came with it to California when the regi- ment was sent here to maintain law and order after the American occupation. In 1853 he came to this county, where he held many offices, the highest being that of judge of the first judicial district. He died October 5, 1875, at the age of fifty years, and is buried in San Luis Obispo.

The jail referred to was on what is now Palm street, and about opposite the present home of Paul M. Gregg. Such good effect had Mr. Murray's pen. backed by other progressive citizens, that the supervisors called for bids for a courthouse and jail, and on May 7, 1872, a contract was awarded to Beck & Walker to construct a courthouse and jail according to specifications, for the sum of $40,000. The courthouse bonds sold for 9644 to 9634 per cent .. and bore 10 per cent. interest. The building was completed early in 1873. Ornaments and a few changes brought the cost up to $42,000. The super-

- CHE JHURDO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

001 080 FS ama | (, McPherson and John M. Price. This makes Ibaocak few i wear- old in 1916. The jail is in the basement, also Order diff'e . Out Of Walter Murray were alive, we should probably hear I no brave seswoll the gulfect of a courthouse. The late J. P. Andrews and I roll Fort As the large plot of ground upon which the courthouse stands. A wley do saby all the ground of the Court school. He was a man Wirver gile belle towit were never fully known or appreciated.

i ball er pecce la, erected in 1888, stands in the southwest corner of the

County Hospital

Um wonE SEITE after the organization of the county there was no call on vins, hint over the great drought, when land was opened up for settle- ppet Hey class of people entered, population increased rapidly, and there lowmo oo fre qabgeht sick to be cared for. Dr. W. M. Hays, the pioneer Nijeug of sa Lan- Obispo, began caring for them, and under his direction a Joggal was saraneed for. The present building stands on a rise about wordfrewihogst of the center of town and was erected in 1878. The grounds boyi thirtysi acres. Water from the hills is supplied for all uses. In 1882, the room -say the cost was fifteen cents a day per patient, and the number of jens to ften. Andrew J. Green was steward. At present J. E. Lewis is Hur Tutamlenl He reports forty patients, and the cost per capita for meals, Inchent confe a day, and the patients agree that they are well fed. In 1915 a handl bandlive was erected as a detention ward for insane patients. Dr. IT Power Is now physician to the county hospital.

COUNTY FINANCES

16 (5 de poorils show that assessed real estate values were $177,711.60; pr chal to@@ @rt, $311,121.25; total, $488,832,85. Tax rate, $3.85 ; total tax, 3 30 Sme Tevy, $5,200.16; county levy, $13,222.74. In 1871 the state Toronto corpo beartion reported that land in the county was assessed at 50 promo De Cine. About 1868 an effort was made by the county board 00 8 Defeet the assessor's valuation of the great landholdings , 00k lo co mir- fax taxes on real value of land, hoping thereby to o Ido . 0 66 break up the great ranches and sell in small parcels Ver Lases resulted in failure.

i al mare board has been out during the summer of 1916 esti- real allox. the of all the property in the county-one member printetriet, five in all, three working together in each wwwor Will Hollister says this will result in at least mis con flatich of th profferty as a whole. From the To TTE De 800-17: The county is in the twenty-seventh 01. 2.528. 275 Here -: value, $0.907.381. Improve- coal ordderty. $5,663,994. Money and solvent credits, La ange property, $19,249.276. Value of property 1700 3. Total value of property as returned by Of a ilroads as assessed by the board of equal- 0 0 1, 50,000, which is the total indebtedness. Tv ,outside property, $2.25.

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CHAPTER XII Schools, Churches and Lodges

In gathering data for this history, we heard that Edwin Markham had once taught school in the county. Then we followed the cluc, finally learn- ing from his old friend, J. F. Beckett of Arroyo Grande, that Mr. Markham did teach school under a tree down on Berros Creek in 1872. Mr. Beckett was teaching the Arroyo Grande school and sent to the San Jose Normal for a teacher to come down and teach a band of children living too far away from Arroyo Grande to attend the school there. In 1872 Arroyo Grande was the only school south of San Luis Obispo district, so far as any available records show. There were seventeen teachers employed in the county, and P. A. Forrester was county superintendent of schools. In reply to Mr. Beckett's request, Edwin Markham came. If the now famous poet once taught in the county, what a fine thing it would be for our book if we could persuade him to tell us about it himself, in his own way. We wrote to him, and his answer is given in full. With his letter and sketch came a picture of a white-haired, deep-eyed old gentleman. Not the stripling, sing- ing or talking poetry as he rode with his friend Beckett to San Luis Obispo on his galloping pony, the "mustang" he mentions in his letter. Two noted writers, the English novelist and dramatist, Horace Annesley Vachell, and America's beloved poet, Edwin Markham, whom Herbert Bashford called "the chief poet of the English-speaking race," have lived in our county. Each has graciously responded when asked to do so, by giving a sketch of the days when he lived here; each has recalled those days as among his happiest, and expressed a desire and intention of returning to visit the scenes he loved and still cherishes. Below we give Mr. Markham's reply in full.

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1070

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070