History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 87

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758

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CHAPTER XXXVIII. POTILICS AND PROGRESS.

Loss of the Kalorama -- The Centennial at Various Places- County Officers of 1876-Presidential Election-Heavy Tax-Payers-W. S. Chaff e-Drought of 1877-Loss of the Wharf-Petition for a Break water-Bard and Murphy- Election of 1877-Election Returns-Town Officers-Judi- ciary Elections-Progress-Casitas Pass Road-Hook & Ladder Company-W. E. Shepherd as Editor-Political Mat- ters in 1879-Democratic Convention-Candidates-Elec- tion Returns in 1879-Agricultural Statistics-Mysterious Affair-A Wild Ride-Commercial Affairs in 1880-Matters in 1881-Garfield Obsequies-I. T. Saxby-W. J. Walton- Election Returns of 1882-Present Condition of Affairs- Furniture Factory-Machine Shop-Societies-Newspapers -"Signal"-F. W. Baker-" Free Press"-Thomas t'lark, of the Ventura Mill Com any-Edwin Mill's Hotels-Halls and Places of Resort-Ve tura Bank-Churches-Congre- gational Church - The Presbyterian Church - Methodist Church.

THE loss of the Kalorama took place on Friday, February 25, 1876, in the harbor of San Buenaven- tura. The fated steamer belonged to the Coast Steamship Company, was built of iron, of 491 tons burden, was constructed with five water-tight com- partments, schooner-rigged, carrying four life-boats. She had accommodations for sixty-three cabin, four- teen steerage, and thirty-nine deck passengers. The vessel was built in England, and purchased for the Coast trade. She had been engaged in making trips between San Francisco and the southern parts as far as San Diego, since January, 1873, alternating with the Constantine.

On the day of her loss she was lying at Wolfson's Wharf, when the surf causing her to chafe, the Captain deemed it best to remove to the floating buoy a short distance away. In attempting this move the mooring lines were cast off at the bow and stern, and the order given to the engineer to go ahead. The screw had made but a few turns when it stopped, having fouled with the stern line, which had not been drawn inboard. This left the vessel completely at the mercy of the wind, which drove her quickly ashore before an anchor could be cleared, or a line run out to the wharf. Drifting on the beach, she was there exposed to the force of the heavy surf and irretrievably lost. No lives were sacrificed, but the vessel was entirely broken up, the heavy machinery separating from the hull, long after all attempts to float her being given over.

This catastrophe in some measure dampened the enthusiasm of those who had regarded the harbor as possessing excellence as a haven of safety. Of course the people of Santa Barbara were not slow to cast the customary aspersions on their neighbors, but these were pertinently met by the statement that the steamer Senator, lying at Stearn's Wharf, Santa Barbara, was forced to put to sea in a moderate blow, and would have met the fate of the Kalorama, under similar circumstances.

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HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.

CENTENNIAL AT VARIOUS PLACES.

The town has always had an enviable reputation for its civic displays, and the Centennial, as was to be expected, brought out all the local talent in that department of civilization. The morning was ushered in by the firing of guns and the ringing of bells, according to immemorial custom. The procession was formed at 10 A. M., by R. G. Surdam, Marshal of the Day.

PROCESSION. Monumental Fire Company;

Carriage containing thirteen boys, representing the Thirteen Original States;

Great Car of State, containing Goddess of Liberty surrounded by her Maids of Honor, representing each State and Territory of the Union;

Carriage containing President of the Day, Orator, Historian, Chaplain, and Town Council;

Carriages emblematic of the trades of the town;

Carriage containing Spinning-wheel, operated by Mrs. Gerry, in costume of '76;

Full-rigged Miniature Ship, representing the maritime interests of the town;

Hueneme Delegation with Ventura Band; Citizens on Horseback;

Calathumpians, dressed with a studied disregard of the beautiful.

At the Grove there was a short speech by the President of the Day, H. M. Gay;

" Hail Columbia" by the Choir, under the leadership of Max Enderlein and E. B. Higgins;

Prayer, by Rev. W. A. Knighten;

" Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," by Saticoy Band; Reading of the Declaration, by C. E. Murray;

" Star Spangled Banner," by Choir;

"Yankee Doodle," by Ventura Band;

History of Ventura County, by W. D. Hobson; Oration, by C. T. Meredith.

This was a very able production, original, and in many respects differing from the usual efforts. Some extracts will give an idea of its unusual merit.

This morning, as the first rays of the sun call the king from his couch of down to his throne of velvet and its trimmings of lace and gold, a shadow crosses his brow, for he knows that at some future day the Goddess of Liberty shall knock at the door of his palace, level his throne to the ground, and take from him all his power and his authority, save such as of right belongs to every man, and not to one man only. This morning. as the first streaks of dawn call the slumbering peasant from his cot of straw to his scanty meal of bread and potatoes, to his hard day's work that enriches only his master, his heart beats light within him to think that in the land of the setting sun there is a home and independ- ence reserved for him and his children. To-day, all

over the world, the oppressed of every nation are contrasting their own wretched condition of want and of poverty with that of their more fortunate brethren, who have reached the land of peace and plenty; and as the surging waves of the Atlantic roll in upon our eastern coast, they bear upon their angry crests the imprecations of 500,000,000 of bondsmen against the cruelty and injustice of their oppressors. . But the sullen roar of the waters is soon lost in a wider, deeper, and broader sound. It is the commingled booming of cannon, the rattling of musketry, and the glad shouts of the human voice. A nation of freemen wakes to celebrate its national birthday, the flash of the artillery rivaling that of the I ghtning, the roar of the cannon deeper and louder than the dread roar of the thunder of heaven, and shaking the solid earth to its founda- tions. What a grand sight it would be to be per- mitted to witness from some point in space the simultaneous discharge from the 10,000 different stations on the surface of a country the extent of ours. And yet the spectacle presented by our land to-day is even more grand, because not simultaneous. Time breaks upon us from the east, visiting first the easternmost point of the State of Maine; here, then, the cannonade commences, extending rapidly west- ward; here, then, the trembling of the solid earth be- comes a swell, which, gathering force and volume as it rolls westward, becomes a terrific tidal wave 3,000 miles in width, of earth and air, of thunder and light- ning, of fire and smoke, which sweeps over our land from ocean to ocean with the rapidity of the wind, which, when it reaches our western coast, carries the tidings to every part of the world."

After describing in this strain the progress of industry and freedom on our continent for the hun- dred years preceding the day they celebrated, a sense of the ludicrous, so pronounced in all our speakers, seemed to come to his relief, and, perhaps, to the relief of his hearers also, and the inevitable brag came in.

" . We have faster horses and finer cattle, woolier sheep and fatter hogs, sweeter sugar and better whisky, than any other country. We can guzzle more beer than the Dutch, hold more wine than the Italians, and pour down more brandy than the French. We possess the distinction of being the only nation on the globe that dare attack the red- eyed compound of benzine and strychnine without the soothing influences of either sugar or water. We are a terrific people. It is as if every nation of the world were put into a vast pack and shuffled, and a full hand dealt out to Uncle Sam. We are-

"English and Dutch, and French and Spanish, Swedes and Finns, and Poles and Danish, Greeks and Turks, and Moors and Russians, Negroes and Swiss, and Welsh and Prussians, Chinese and Indians, Italians and Jews, Irish and Welsh, and whatever you choose."

Our merchants are more polite and ener- getic; they can buy their goods higher and sell them lower, or buy them lower and sell them higher, than any other merchants in the world. Our farmers are better situated, and more able to carry on their business; they have better seasons and appreciate them less, and make more money, than any other farmers.

" Our politicians are sharper and more unscrupu- lous; their hands are cleaner and their hearts are

AYRES & HOBSON,

RESIDENCE OF W. S. CHAFFEE, SAN BUENA VENTURA, VENTURA CO. CAL.

369

POLITICS AND PROGRESS.

dirtier; they can pull wires better, and get their hands deeper into the public pockets, than the politi- cians of any other part of the world.

"Our lawyers can whittle up more dry-goods boxes, and elevate their feet higher; they can make longer speeches and sounder arguments; they can bully more witnesses and bribe more juries; hang more innocent men and turn loose on the community more criminals, than all the lawyers of every other country put together.

" Our doctors are wiser and wittier; they can give more medicine, and it is harder to take; they can kill more people and get less blame for it, than any doctors in the world.

" Our loafers are a superlative set; they can drink more whisky and smoke more cigars on other peo- ple's money; they can beat more boarding-houses and keep a shirt clean longer; they can wear finer broadeloth and flashier diamonds on a shorter purse, than any other loafers in the world.

" Our women! God bless our women, for they are the crowning glory of the whole country. Our women are gentler and more refined; they are pos- sessed of more sound sense and are handsomer; they can wear more fine clothes and spend more money, than the women of any other part of the globe, and nowhere on earth are there better and more devoted wives.

"Our sweethearts! God bless our sweethearts, for what would life be without them. Our sweethearts are fairer and plumper, and sweeter and dearer, and dearer and sweeter, and plumper and fairer, than any- body's else sweethearts.

"Our mothers! God bless our mothers. Our mothers are kinder and better; they give us more sugar and fewer scoldings; they let us stay at home from school oftener and keep the old man from licking ns more than any other mothers."

After the oration, the crowd, which was estimated to number 3,000, was invited to dinner, and the day was spent in the usual enjoyments.

At Sespe, F. W. Sprague, Dr. Guiberson, and others, got up a lively celebration. Col. J. D. Hines deliv- ered the oration, Miss Kitty Conaway read Drake's " Address to the American Flag," and the choir sang a few songs, making an enjoyable day.

THE COUNTY OFFICERS,

In 1876, were: District Judge, Eugene Fawcett; County Judge, Milton Wason; District Attorney, B. T. Williams; County Clerk, L. F. Eastin; Treasurer, L. Snodgrass; Assessor, J. S. Harkey; Superintend- ent Schools, F. S. S. Buckman; Surveyor, Edward T. Hare; Sheriff, J. R. Stone; Coroner, F. Delmont; Supervisors-First District, James Daly; Second Dis- trict, A. W. Beckwith; Third District, T. R. Bard.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION,

In 1876, developed the following vote: The ten pre- cinets in the county gave the Hayes electors 608 votes, the Tilden electors 590; Pacheco for Congress- man received 694, Wigginton, his opponent, 532. Cañada Precinct polled 88 votes; San Buenaventura, 274; Santa Paula, 162; Hueneme, 101; San Pedro, 77; Pleasant Valley, 78; Conejo, 22; Ojai, 82; Sespe, 79; Saticoy, 136. Total, 1,097.

There were 1,400 names on the Great Register and an estimated population of 7,000, or just twice what it was when the county was organized.

HEAVY TAX-PAYERS.

From the assessment lists of 1876 are extracted the following statistics relative to the wealth of indi- vidual tax-payers of the county :-

T. R. Bard alone paid taxes on over 8200,000; over $150,000, B. Gummere; over $100,000, T. Wallace More, F. Vassault; over $75,000, A. Schiappapietra, Juan Camarillo; over 850,000, J. D. Patterson, Ygnacio del Valle; over $35,000, E. B. Higgins, D. W. Thomp- son; over 830,000, Chaffee & McKeeby, H. M. Newhall, Ramon Olivas; over $25,000, Tadeo Amat (Bishop), Blanchard & Bradley, Einstein & Bernheim, Bank of Ventura, Hueneme Wharf Co; over 820,000, E. L. Gould, S. Kyle, R. G. de la Riva, Ventura Wharf Co, Geo. S. Wright, Henry Webb; over $15,000, José de Arnaz, C. Borchard, Daly & Rogers, Jno. Edwards, F. de la Guerra, Jno. G. Hill, Samuel Hill, Kennedy. Bard & Co., Jno. Nichol, Robinson, Fawcett & Dean, Thomas A. Scott, S. T. Wells; over $10,000, A. D. Barnard, A. W. Beckwith, Bates, Brown & Co., M. Cameron, Castle & Cook, L. Cerf, G. W. Chrisman, Wm. Collins, J. M. Charles, James A. Day, Peter Doulon, D. Ellsworth, H. P. Flint, J. K. Gries, James Howard, Hamel & Adams, Wolf Kalisher, James Leonard, H. W. Mills, Roth & Arnaz, G. G. Sewell, J. Z. Saviers, L. Snodgrass, V. A. Simpson, Salisbury & Co., G. B. Taylor, Saxby, Walton & Preble.

WALTER SCOTT CHAFFEE

Is a native of New York, and came to California in 1860, and to the county in the same year, being among the first to commence trade on an exten- sive scale. He was in company with McKeeby, and after the disposal of McKeeby's interest with Gilbert, the firm being Chaffee, Gilbert & Bonestall.

The firm, of which he is the senior member, car- ries an immense stock of goods, running well up into the tens of thousands, consisting of dry goods, gro- ceries, hardware, provisions, and agricultural machin- ery. They have also added to their business a lum- ber yard, where a large stock suitable to the trade is always on hand. In the course of his operations he has become the owner of 2,500 acres of valuable land. He has not forgotten the value of a home and its influences in the long business career, but has built a beautiful home in the Ventura Valley, a view of which is given in this work. Mr. Chaffee is an example of power-commercial power, if you like-for under his management the ledger invariably shows a balance in his favor at the end of each trans- action. Hle drives a good bargain, and adheres to it, without asking mercy or taking greater advan- tages than is agreed upon. lle is straightforward and square in his dealings, not given to fair speech or smooth words. The customer is sure to get an

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HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.

honest article for his money. In this way he has built up a fortune, and with it a reputation for hon- esty to leave as legacies to his children.

DROUGHT OF 1877.

The year 1877 was characterized by a drought of great severity. Such was the lack of feed that great numbers of sheep and cattle perished, and multitudes were only saved by driving them to distant pastures. Metcalf & Co., of Ventura, sent 6,000 sheep through the Soledad Pass to Elizabeth Lake in Los Angeles County, where good feed was found. T. Wallace More sent 10,000 head in the same direction. Hig- gins & Abbott dispatched a herd of cattle to the far-off pastures of Arizona, as did also Murphy, near the light-house.

LOSS OF THE WHARF.

The wharf at Buenaventura has received previous mention as one of the most important improvements of the place. It is now the duty of the narrator to record its destruction. This took place in 1877. In 1874 large additions and improvements had been made. Steamers had called regularly on their trips along the coast, making their voyages from San Francisco down in from twenty-seven to thirty-six hours. The proprietors of the Southern Pacific Coast line eventually got possession of the wharf, and imposed such rates on other craft as to virtually interdict commerce between Ventura and the outside world, except as to their own vessels.

The brig Crimea, tied to the wharf at San Buena- ventura, parted ber lines and drifted ashore, loaded with lumber. The same day all the small pleasure craft around Santa Monica were capsized. The waves rose to a great height.

In March, 1877, the Press, of Santa Barbara, an- nounced :-

" A large portion of the San Buenaventura Wharf was washed away yesterday afternoon. The Senator could not land her freight as the waves were break- ing under the vessel. The fragments of these wrecks- two schooners and a steamer - are lying on the beach. Captain Ingalls says he never saw so rough a landing at any place. A second report states that about 300 feet of the old port was washed out. It was so badly bored by the teredo that it would have been necessary to rebuild it in a short time."

ANOTHER DISASTER

Occurred on the evening of October 22, 1877, during a southeaster, and was occasioned by heavy swells. Some persons were ou the end of the wharf looking at the incoming waves, when they observed three unusually large rollers approaching. They immedi- ately commenced a run to the shore. The waves crushed the wharf in pieces like an egg-shell, the piles going down like straws before a mower. The men barely escaped.

It seems that if the piles had been of good timber and well driven, the wharf would have withstood the surf. The wharf at Huenemc, though equally exposed, passed through the same storm all right.

[San Buenaventura Free Press.]

" Monday evening, October 23, 1876, Charles Bart- lett and Walter Perkins took a walk down the wharf to look at the breakers, and saw them. Finally Mr. Bartlett observed three tremendous rollers, larger than any yet seen, approaching, and fearful of con- sequences, the two took to their heels. When two- thirds up the wharf the first roller struck it, 200 feet behind them, making a breach, and as it advanced shoreward the piles went down before it as grain before a reaper. Fear added wings to the fleeing ones, and they beat the waves but a very short distance, the wharf rolling about as they passed over it. It was a close shave, for in the rough water and broken timbers the best swimmer would not have lived a minute."

In consequence of these repeated disasters, the people interested felt called upon to consider the matter, and urge some plan which should give pro- tection to their growing commerce, and provide such immunity against the destructive influence of storms as could be effected. Taking a hint from Santa Bar- bara, whose inhabitants were now clamoring for a breakwater, the people of San Buenaventura set their thoughts upon a Government appropriation, and proceeded to petition the powers that were, in these terms :-

PETITION FOR A BREAK WATER.

"HON. R. PACHECO, M. C .: The undersigned mer- chants, traders, and other business men residing in Ventura County, respectfully represent: That Ven- tura County is much the largest shipper of grain by the sea of any in California; that the petroleum developments now being made render it certain that in the immediate future we shall also ship immense quantities of that commodity to all countries border- ing upon the Pacific Ocean. We would also state that our landing-place is merely an open roadstead, exposed to the heavy breakers which often roll in from one direction (the southwest), which breakers are so heavy that hundreds of feet of our wharf have been twice carried away within the past year, and during the last two years a valuable steamer and two large sailing vessels have been driven ashore, proving, with their cargoes, a total loss.

" In the necessary direction to protect our water front, we have reason to believe, and do believe, that a rock breakwater could be cheaply and expeditiously constructed, insuring safety to the wharf and ship- ping.

"For these and other reasons, we respectfully ask you, as our representative, to secure from the proper department of the Government the detail of one of the surveying vessels on this coast, with orders to investigate the feasibility, and estimate the probable cost of such break water.

" Very respectfully, your obedient servants, CHAFFEE & MCKEEBY, EDWARDS & GRIMES,

SAXBY, WALTON & Co., DALY & RODGERS,

EINSTEIN & BERNHEIM, BARTLETT BROTHERS,

MCLEAN & McCOY, LAWSON BROTHERS,

THEO. H. BRESSLAUSS, HENRY ROBINSON,

C. H. BAILEY, SAMUEL H. DAVIS,

M. II. GAY, L. SNODGRASS,

JOSE DE ARNAZ, A. G. ESCANDON,

F. A. THOMPSON, W. T. WILLIAMS,

ROBERT SUDDEN, and numerous others."

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POLITICS AND PROGRESS.

These representations were not without effect; and in the ensuing season, when the Government Engi- neers were endeavoring to settle the claims of the numerons localities on the southern coast which demanded breakwaters, the port, or roadstead, of San Buenaventura was examined by Lieutenant Sea- forth, of the United States Engineers, who made the following exhaustive report on the practicability of that location for a work of the proposed kind :-

THE REPORT OF THE SURVEYOR.

" The town of San Buenaventura lies at the foot of a spur of the Coast Range, between the San Buena- ventura and the Santa Clara Rivers, on the north side of the outlet to the Santa Clara Valley. It is about twenty-five miles to the southward and east- ward of Santa Barbara, and some seventy-five miles to the westward and northward of the harbor at Wilmington. The climate is pleasant. The popula- tion is estimated at 2,000.

" The harbor is an open roadstead formed by a slight indent of the coast line, and is exposed to wind and sea from the southward of the east and north- ward of the west. The bottom is of sand, and is not understood to be particularly good holding ground. The seas in southerly and westerly blows are said to be heavy. There is a wharf at which some of the coast steamers and sailing vessels touch. From this a portion of the Santa Clara produce is shipped, but the great bulk of the grain is sent from Hueneme, about ten miles farther to the southward and east- ward, from which it is expected 14,000 tons will be shipped this season. As yet San Buenaventura is not a port of great commercial importanec.

" Upon examination, nothing was seen to make the building of a breakwater more impracticable here than elsewhere, nor to recommend this, in particular, as the site of such a work.

" It does not appear that any stone quarries have been opened near the town, and, on inquiry, I heard of none. In the mountains between this place and Santa Barbara are large quantities of sandstone; much of it near the surface is seamy, shattered, and unfit for use. Perhaps if quarries were opened on a larger scale, a better quality might be found which could be got ont in large blocks. The prospects are that the material would have to be hauled quite a distance, or proenred from some adjacent islands, or other points along the coast, thus increasing its eost.

[A plan and seetion of a breakwater are shown on the tracing of this harbor. The least dimensions that would probably answer are given. Two posi- tions for the westerly branch are indicated.]

" The more northerly or broken line would afford a better shelter from westerly seas, but might interfere in a greater degree with the along-the-shore currents. An apron of small stones is to be laid for a hundred yards beyond the ends of the work to prevent the formation there of deep holes, and the deposition of material that would otherwise be moved. The cross- section from the bottom to the lowest water of spring tides is similar to that proposed for the one at San Luis Obispo, but as this is a more exposed situation, the slope between that level and highest water is made one-fourth, and thence to the top, one- half, the thickness there being inereased five feet. The stones are to be put in place by some of the

methods used in such construction. The amount of the stone is estimated by taking three-fourths of the amount of the solid given by calculation. Each cubic yard is supposed to weigh two tons. It is believed the cost per ton in place will not be less than $3.25.

" During the year 1876 three vessels were lost at San Buenaventura. On the 25th of February of that year the steamer Kalorama was wholly wrecked, with a loss of $77,500. Very often, along the coast of California, with no wind and a smooth sea, the heav- iest waves will come in, due to a far-off storm. or, sometimes, to distant earthquakes, and do much damage. On the 29th of March following, the brig Crimea, of 223 tons, was beached during a heavy westerly gale and sea; loss, 89.200. The Ist of the succeeding December, the brig Lucy Ann, of 199.61 tons, in a northwesterly gale and heavy sea, parted her moorings and was wrecked, with a loss of $6,500 and one life. For the last two years, though the last winter was noted for the number, length, and severity of its storms and scas, no vessels have been lost between San Francisco and San Diego.

" From the examination, and from such other information as has been obtained, it does not appear that the wants of general navigation require, as yet, the construction of a breakwater at San Buenaven- tura."

BARD AND MURPHY.

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History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 87

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 758

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758