USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 108
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TEMPERATURE OF THE SEA.
The islands exert a great influence on the tempera- ture of the sea-water. The channel is not a close sea like the Mediterranean, but the great rollers of
the Pacific are stopped by the islands, and the Santa Barbara Channel is isolated to some extent, with a perceptible difference in temperature from the sur- rounding sea, making the waters more favorable for sea-bathing. The temperature is found to be several degrees higher than at other places on the coast. The following temperatures were taken off the Stearn's wharf :-
MONTHLY MEAN TEMPERATURE OF SEA-WATER.
January, 60; February, 61; March, 61; April, 61: May, 61; June, 62; July, 64; Angust,65; September, 66; October, 63; November, 61; December, 60: Year, 62. Difference between July and January, 15 degrees.
RAIN-FALL.
This subject is of special interest to the agricult- urist, and to all who have even a yard to keep green. Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, as well as the country across the great range of mountains, has its own system of rains. The visitor will remark that it does not rain as it docs any whereelse. The wind does not blow the same; the drops seem smaller, which is all true. The great interior of mountainous country, covered with timber, is the reservoir of Santa Barbara in many ways. The southwestern currents precipitate their moisture against the mount- ains, when otherwise they would pass away to deposit their treasures in the San Joaquin Valley. The Mohave Desert is a consequence of the inter- ception of the rains by the Santa Barbara Mount- ains. In turn, it is the source of the fierce, dry, north winds that occasionally burst over the mount- ains, as if escaping from imprisonment, and which work such a destruction to fruits, flowers and grain. If, as some of our hydrographers say, the desert is a former basin of the Colorado River, and might again be filled with water, an essential change would be worked in the climate, by converting it into a lake, or even clothing the land in vegetation. A change of climate might be effected, but whether an improve- ment is possible is a question. If the fierce north ers could be checked up a little, it might make things more pleasant.
The following table will be studied with interest :-
RAIN-FALL AT SANTA BARBARA, FROM RECORDS OF DR. SHAW AND TEBBETTS.
YEARS.
MONTHS.
67-68
68-69
69-70
70-71
71-72
72-73
73-74
74-75
75-76
76-77 |77-78
78-79
79-80
Average rain -fall each month
July
.07
August
.11
October
.35
.44
.32
November
2.31
1.25
.65
.27
1.83
.27
6.53
1.41
1.93
1.36
December
12.67
4.26
.57
1.41
6.56
4.34
5.26
.31
3.55
6.89
5.01
3.90
January
3.97
3.26
25
.86
2.53
.58
4.54
14.84
7.56
3.04
7.87
4.83
1.42
4.27
February
2.00
2.12
5.87
2.92
1.81
5.48
3.17
.18
5.67
12.32
.72
11.50
4.01
March
1.08
4.22
.83
.02
.18
.05
.78
.38
2.73
.61
2.68
.34
1.22
1.64
April
2.44
.46
.99
2.02
1.80
.28
.10
.27
.39
3.34
1.80
6.25
1.55
May.
.72
.20
.71
.37
.14
.45
.29
.30
.25
June
.07
.14
.05
.11
Total.
25.19
15.77
10.27
8.91
14.94
10.45
14.44
18.71
23.07
4.49
31.51
15.34
27.95
September
.30
1 04
.09
1.91 1.30
A verage annual rain-fall for 13 years, 17 inches.
.
460
HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.
When the rain-fall is as low as four and forty-nine one-hundredths inches, the season is one of drought, and grain, fruits, and stock all suffer. Twelve inches well distributed through the season, is ample to ma- ture crops, though the cultivation of fruits, especially the orange, requires more than the average of rain- fall. There was no register of the rain kept previous to 1868, so the rain-fall of 1863-64 can only be conject- ured. The results were disastrous, however. Out of 200,000 head of cattle, scarce 5,000 survived. The loss bankrupted nearly the entire population. Two million dollars would not have made good the loss. The results of a drought might not be as serious now as then, but it would retard prosperity very much. High cultivation requires an abundance of water. There is enough rain-fall in any season, if utilized, to convert the whole country into a garden. It is true the streams get very low during the summer, but in the winter they are torrents. The Santa Ynez can be brought through the Gaviota, and the Ventura through the Casitas Pass. As the children and grandchildren, with hundreds or thousands who come here, want more land, these things will be con- sidered The loss by one drought, as in 1863-64, would more than equal the cost of large canals, which would place the drought question out of the list of possibilities.
THE FUTURE.
Santa Barbara and Ventura counties have a glorious future in store for them. Some race will develop it. The glorious climate, the fertile soil with its infinite possibilities, will be appreciated, and worked up to their valne.
The Eastern States, with infinitely less resources, have grown rich. A comparison of the habits of the people, the climate, and the many advantages and disadvantages of the two sections, will enable one to appreciate some of the good things by which he is surrounded.
HERE AND THERE.
Our visitors from the cold regions of the Northern States appear astonished at the want of enterprise manifested by the people of this coast, and hint that a little of that industry which has made the New England and the Northern States the abodes of wealth and refinement, would work out still greater results here. It is possible that the young men and women of Santa Barbara, who are soon to take charge of the destinies of the land, might better appreciate the favored spot which they call home, if they could see what unwearied industry and economy has done, and is doing, for a country inferior in every respect to their own heritage.
The climate of New England has been happily described as " three months cold weather, and nine months winter." The first who attempted to winter in Maine gave it up in despair, and no month in the year is absolutely secure from frost, though July
and August are generally exempt, but any old man will tell you of corn being cut down to the ground in July, and potatoes killed in August. Frost comes in September, the ground commences to freeze in Octo- ber, closes up in November, and is covered with snow the first of December, to remain so in ordinary sea- sons to April; the snow varying in depth from two to five feet, though it may drift in spots to a depth of thirty, or even fifty feet. The ground freezes from eighteen inches to three feet in depth. When the rivers break np in April, blocks of ice four feet thick may be seen floating down the streams. A great portion of the forces of life are used up in the battle with the cold, which lays close siege at the beginning of October, and gives no peace to the garrison for six long months. Fifty years ago many of the old houses built during the early settlements were entire, or if remodeled, were changed so little that the orig- inal design was easily traced. The first thing in the way of defense was to have a big fire-place. This sometimes occupied the larger part of the end of the house, and was as high as the chamber floor, if the house had a chamber or loft. Great logs were piled into this fire-place, larger than a man could lift, and were sometimes drawn in with horses, the doors of the house being arranged for this purpose, so that a horse could pass through the honse. (Did the name of drawing-room come from this?) This was before .saw-mills made it easy to have a plank floor, but the style of building remained nearly the same, with respect to the arrangement of doors, far down into the present century. Wood, of course, was cheap, because there was no break in the great forest, until the prairies of the West were discovered and settled a century later. The labor of chopping the wood necessary to keep a house warm was, however, no light task, but took a large share of the winter season .
The land not only had to be cleared of timber, which stood thick and large, but of stone as well. The entire country from Connecticut to Canada, from Maine to " out west," was the bed of an ancient gla- cier, which left the country hundreds of feet deep with granite bowlders, from the size of a pumpkin to a small house, mingled with a little soil. After a crop or two of grass, or grain, which had to be seeded with a hoe and reaped with a sickle, the stones had to be removed, dug out to make the land tillable. Sometimes these bowlders were piled into stone walls, sometimes into places that were stony past redemption. When piled into stone walls, the fields, two to four acres in size, looked like forts, the walls being sometimes eight feet high and as many thick. Yet from that rocky soil and inhospitable climate, were reared the people who have shaped the destinies of this continent, who have built up churches, colleges, school houses; whose railroads spanning from ocean to ocean, measure nearly a hundred thousand miles, and whose ships plow every
.
461
CONCLUDING SUBJECTS.
sea. The people, the young men and women, who went out from these farms, had a physical, moral, and mental fiber that was equal to any probable emergency in life. The Coopers, Mores, Stearns, Dibblees, Hollisters, Huntingtons, Stanfords, and Croekers, whose comprehensive plans, untiring energy and persistent action, have mapped this continent, were either of this stock, or closely related to it. The statesmen of the great West are but the ripened fruits of that battle for life, that was fought and won along the Canada line.
When we consider, for a moment, what that amount of industry would do for Santa Barbara, we are over- whelmed. It would cover these hills and mountains with vineyards and orchards. Let us look for a mo- ment. Here, if the country is not overstocked, the cattle are reasonably sure of an abundance of feed the year round; there, every ox and horse must have three tons of hay, or its equivalent in other feed; every cow, two tons, and every six sheep the same as a cow. Here, animals are left to seek the shelter of friendly trecs, or the sheltered side of a hill; there, every animal must be snugly housed be- fore dark, and carefully fed three or four times during the night. Here, the ever-flowing spring furnishes water for the cattle at all times, without trouble; there, the farmer must chop away the ice formed dur- ing the night, or shovel a path through the snow to the watering-places, with the thermometer twenty to forty degrees below zero, fifty to seventy degrees below where it ever falls here. In Santa Barbara, except for a short time when it is raining, the roads everywhere are pleasant for travel or business; there, huge snow-banks pile around the house and barns, bar the way to church, school house, or town, and keep men on the alert to keep up communication with the outer world. A dozen times during the winter, the population must turn out to shovel snow, that the stage may pass or the children go to school. Here, any house that will keep the rain off, is good enough; there, it must be banked to the windows with dirt or straw, to keep the frost out. Here, potatoes, squashes, apples, turnips, cabbages, etc., may lie unharmed in the field all winter; there, they must be put away in a cellar un- der the warmest part of the house. Here, the soil will produce all the year round; there, winter is king for nine months. Here, he can take his choice of fruits, or have them all, the orange, lemon, apple, peach, apricot, grape, and dozens of others; there, neither grape, nor peach, lemon, or orange, are seen except as costly importations. Here, the soil is easily worked, and fertile beyond compare; there, stubborn to work, and easily exhausted. Here, he can plow the year round; there, the ground is locked up with frost the greater part of the year. Here. life is a blissful dream; there, a call for persistent action. Here, the waste of vitality is at the minimum; there, it is a constant drain. Here, life is a feast of good things; there, a struggle for existence.
NOW AND THEN.
There is no doubt about the ultimate development of this country. Men are daily breaking loose from their ties to the soil, and moving their all to this gen- erous and inviting shore, and, what is to the point. they are bringing their industrious habits with them. They will make these hills, the valleys, and the plains teem with wealth. One-half of the industry and energy necessary to live there, will make them rich here. The young men who look on, " waiting for something to turn up," will shoulder their blankets some time when the fires of life are burning low, and wander away from this pleasant land, for there will be no place for them. As the Indian gave way to the Castilian, the Castilian to the "Yank," the present holders will give way to a fresh invasion of the tireless energy that conquers all things. In January, a maiden sat by the sea-shore, in the shadow of an umbrella, reading a dime novel, waiting for a prince to come and make her his bride. Is it not Santa Barbara that is sitting by the sea-side, waiting? Waiting for what ? For a railroad to carry away the good things they raise ? Bosh! Bosh! You are waiting for a prince to buy you out. Would it not be as well to take , hand in the improvements, and have a sh re of the good things now and to come ? There is no law in nature more permanently enforced, than they who best can use it shall own the land. See what homes have been made all around you, at Carpenteria, Mon- tecito, Los Alamos, Lompoe, and Patera. Young men of Santa Barbara, whose moral, mental, and physical musele is going to waste, make a home. Get the best piece of land you can, ten acres at least, more if possible, and rest not, summer nor winter, until you sit in the shade of your own house.
THE FINE ARTS.
Santa Barbara abounds in poets, painters, and musicians. Whether it is the result of the incompar- able climate, the inexhanstible fertility of the soil, the life of ease and comfort, or the grand scenery around, or all together, may be well considered, but it is a fact nevertheless. From the time that Stevenson's brass band gave the natives a sample of martial musie, to the present day, musie is cultivated with assiduity. This is partienlarly the case with the Spanish people. Lobero's theater was an outgrowth of that feeling. In later times eultivated artists and musical com- posers, like Morgan and Perkins, have had classes in music, leaving an elevated musical sentiment. The music in the churches is pronounced exceptionally fine by all who come here, while some voices are really exquisite. Mrs. Ketchum. herself an accom- plished performer and vocalist, has brought out some excellent voiees of great sweetness and power.
POETRY.
A swarm of poets have sprung from the soil. It needs but the business talent of some shrewd publisher,
59
462
HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.
who will bring the poems to the world in attractive binding, to make them famous. The following pieces by Mrs. Josephine Walcott and others, deserve places in history :-
RECOMPENSE.
Shall we seek in early springtide To bind the golden corn ? Shall we seek repose of even In flush of early dawn ? Shall we look for gleaming harvests Through brawn, unbroken fielda ? Shall we gather fruits in summer Which autumn only yields ?
Shall we walk the fresh green highlands Or on the pure, calm hills ? Sha 1 we drink from crystal fountains, And bathe in fragrant rills ? Shall we list to heavenly music Yet breathe to earth no song ? Shall we rest in high, cool places While Weak ones labor long ?
Let us break the sod in springtime, And sow our scanty seed, Though we weep o'er vacant caskets And wait in patient need; Though we wait in dark, sad places, And ple id one drop of rain, God is God of seed and harvest And labor is not in vain.
Should we reach the golden hill-tops And glimpse the rising sun; Should we hear from sacred voices, " Loved one, well done, well done," May we turn to lone low valleys To those in shadow still; May we bring sweet breath of mountain, And pure sweet draughts from rill.
May we share with bitter sorrow Our unforgotten pain; May we wait by silent watches That watch and wait in vain. If we sow we shall be reapers, And pain is not all pain; There's recompense in sacrifice And loss in greatest gain.
IN SANTA BARBARA.
BY MISS. N. LA GRANGE.
A curving shore, a changing sea, A crimson sunset sky; Gray rocks beneath whose sheltered lee The waiting shadows lie;
A gleam of snowy mission towers; A purple mountain wall; The heavy breath of tropic flowers Blown sweetly over all;
Dim isles, like some enchanted land Where sky and ocean meet; A level track of shining sand Beneath our horses' feet;
The fragrant land-breeze in our face; A flow of tossing manes;
The rapture of a breathless race Still tingling in our veins.
What wonder the mad words we spoke Belonged but to the hour, Forgotten. with the last faint stroke From distant mission tower?
But still the picture dwells with me, The memory cannot die, Of curving share and changing sea And crimson sunset sky.
FLOWER LAND AND FROST LAND. A CONTRAST. O, am I awake or a dreaming ? And where do my senses stray? What makes the budding and blooming? December as lovely as May ?
Oh! where has the snow king wandered, And the magical frost realms, where Have vanished its gleaming cities, Its towers with silvery stair?
The gleam of its magical mountains, Its forests of diamonds and ferna, Its lakes with their ripples of crystal, Its flowers of rainbow and pearl?
Oh! where is the music of sleigh-bells, And the rush of hurrying feet, The rhythm of happy laughter From the boys and girls in the street?
And where is the raar of the northwind, The dance of the feathery snow, The gales of the wave that are caught in The ice and imprisoned below?
O am I awake or a dreaming? And where do my senses stray? What makes this budding and blooming? December as lovely as May? -Mrs. H. G. Otis.
THE DYING DAY.
The very air lies golden, full and sweet With dreaminess, as if 'twere steeped in thought; The very mountains have a fuller meaning Touched with the glory by the sunset wrought, And fold on fold the white fogs creeping upward, Stand here and there like pearly gates ajar, While rosy lights and purple-tinted shadows Brighten and darken like a paling star. The fair sweet hill-sides, in their emerald glory, Show flowery brightness like the ruby's heart, And crimson clouds, like scen ed rose-leaves, slowly In the soft blue steal by themselves apart Unto the west, and with the amber brightness Which shines like sapphire on the golden floor When Day is sinking in her lying splendor, Upon the threshold of Night's dusky door, They mix and mingle, veiling her with beauty, And then like pallid mourners steal away, While gently Night, with her atar-jeweled fingers, Closes the eyelids af departed Day. -Mrs. H. G. O:is.
PAINTING.
Some very fine artists have made their homes in Santa Barbara. H. C. Ford, formerly President of the Art Union in Chicago, is doing some valuable
463
CONCLUDING SUBJECTS.
work as a landscape-painter, and is making known the picturesque of Santa Barbara. Perhaps the most valuable of his works, are his studies of the old Missions. These are fast falling to decay, and but for a friendly hand to rescue their ancient appear- ance from oblivion, would soon have passed into the obscurity that knows no awaking. It is proposed to have them printed in chromo for general sale.
Mr. Edmunson is another artist of great merit, who has chosen a somewhat different branch of art from Mr. Ford, his forte being life. His portraits are re- markable for their ideality, bringing out the best sen- timents of the subject, while retaining all the individ- nality of the person. His portrait of the deceased President, painted for a society in Ohio, was greatly admired, both here and at the East. His pictures of animal life are also remarkable, as also are his fruit pieces. He is doing much to educate the tastes of the people to a higher standard. Both of the fore- going painters are instructing promising pupils in the art.
Mrs. N. P. Austin, an amateur painter, has done some fine work, especially flowers on panels, which are said to want only the fragrance of flowers to deceive even the birds and bees.
Miss M. L. Fish is fast attaining celebrity. She studied painting in New York, under some of the
best masters there, and continued her training under Mr. Ford. Her genius seems to be universal, por- traits, landscapes, and fruit pieces in oil, and crayon sketches, flowing with equal facility from her hand; also opaque and transparent paintings in water col- ors. Mrs. P. J. Dimmick is also highly spoken of for her flowers. Mrs. Cunningham's landscapes in oil are highly praised. Miss Ellen Cooper, of the Ellwood Farm, is an artist of much excellence, making especial studies of the sea-shore and the vicinity. Mrs. Reed has also done some fine work, her combinations of cloud and landscape being particularly admired.
There are many others who are likely to grow into notice. It is not asserted that they are all first-class painters, but it is safe to say that they are a great credit to Santa Barbara, and promise to make it as celebrated for its artists as for its fine climate.
This closes the reading matter of the history, the following satistical matter being intended mostly for reference. The editor hopes that the reading public will have been interested in this long account. Some things, perhaps, are not said that should be, and others said that were better left out, but the reader may rest assured, that naught has been set down or left out in malice. With these few remarks, the his- torian will bid his readers a pleasant good-bye.
CHRONOLOGICAL.
1513. Discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa.
1518. Invasion of Mexico by Cortez.
1519. First Navigation of the Pacific by Magellan.
1534. California was discovered by Cortez.
1535. Furthur Exploration of the California Gulf.
1537. Explorations of the Western Coast by Ulloa.
1542. Expedition of Cabrillo. Cape Mendocino discovered. 1554. Death of Cortez.
1562. Exploration of coast of California by Juan R. Cabrillo.
1577. Sir Francis Drake's discoveries.
1578. Sir Francis Drake reached the Pacific Ocean through the Straits of Magellan.
1579. California taken possession of by Sir Francis Drake in the name of Queen Elizabeth.
1596. Viscaiño takes possession of Lower California.
The first attempt was made to Christianize the na- tives.
1602. San Diego Harbor discovered by Viscaiño.
1683. First attempt to colonize Lower California at La Paz by Admiral Otondo and Friar Kuhn.
1697. October 19. The first Jesuit Mission established at Loreto, in Lower California, by Father Juan Salva Tierra.
1700. The second Jesuit Mission established at San Xav- ier, Lower California, by Father Ugarte.
First expedition into the interior, by Father Kinot. 1713. November 24. Birth of Father Junipero Serra e Majorca.
1717. July 17. Death of Father Tierra, the founder of the missions of California.
1719. The first ship ever constructed on the eastern shores of the Pacific, was built by the Jesuit Father, Ugarte, at Loreto.
1720. Expedition of Father Ugarte to the River Colorado. 1766. Expedition of Father Wincestus Link.
1767. The Jesuits expelled from Lower California, and the Franciscans installed.
1768. Gaspar de Portala appointed Governor of the Cali- fornias, and Francis Junipero Serra, Missionary President.
1769. Expeditions despatched by land and water into Up- per California.
May 1. Ship San Carlos arrived at San Diego, with supplies for missionary and colonizing party coming overland.
May 14. Father Crispin and Captain Rivuawret with party arrive at San Diego.
July 1. Father Junipero Serra and party arrive at San Diego.
July 14. Don Caspar de Portala set out for Monterey. July 16. San Diego Mission founded.
October 25. San Francisco Bay discovered by Don Gaspar de Portala.
December 26. Baptism of the first native convert, by Father Junipero Serra,
1770. June 3. Monterey Mission founded.
1771. July 14. San Antonio Mission founded. September 8. San Gabriel Mission founded. Re-enforcements and supplies arrive at San Diego. 1772. 'September 1. San Luis Obispo Mission founded.
Father Serra returned from Mexico with re-enforce- ments and supplies.
1774. September 21. Soldiers at the garrison received per mission from the Viceroy of Mexico to marry In- dian girls; also that they should have lands to live upon.
1775. Expedition of Friar Garzes to the upper territory. November 4. San Diego attacked by Indians.
1776. June. San Diego Mission repaired.
October 9. San Francisco (Dolores) Mission founded. November 1. San Juan Capistrano Mission founded.
1777. January 18. Mission of Santa Clara founded.
1781, September 4. Pueblo de Los Angeles established.
1782. March 31. San Buenaventura Mission founded. April 26. The first baptism at San Buenaventura was that of Jose Crecencia Valdez, son of Eugenio Valdez Espanse.
August 8. First marriage ceremony performed at San Buenaventura, by Father Francisco Dumel, the parties, Alexander Sotomayor, of Fuerto, Mexico, and Maria Concepcion Martel, of Alamos, Mexico. 1784. Los Nietos tract granted to Manuel Nieto.
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