History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 98

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

USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 98

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Since residing in California, Mr. Montgomery has been engaged chiefly in dealing in lands, to which he has added farming of late years. After an active life of travel and adventure, he has settled down for eom- fort and happiness in one of the pleasantest homes of California. His family consists of a wife and four children-two sons and two daughters. A view of his home is herein published.

CLOUD-BURSTS.

Reference has been made several times to these phenomena. Several times they have been accom- panied with loss of life. The phenomena are not new, though the name is so, to some extent. Before pro- ceeding to point out any evidenees of the prevalence of such a storm, it may be well enough to inquire what they are.

The name is suggestive enough, but, unfortunately, eonveys a wrong impression. It is as if a cloud were a great sack or bag of water, which could be rup- tured and the whole contents let out, by having a hole torn in it by coming in contact with a mountain top, or even with the branehes of a dry tree, a sort of Cesarian operation; an unpleasant process for the clouds certainly. The writer of this work had the pleasure of witnessing one of the peculiar storms, or rain-falls, bearing that name. The elouds had been gathering in a great blaek bank in the west for some hours. Thick masses piled up on the already ac- eumulated elouds, until they seemed miles thick, dark, and threatening. On the opposite side from the north- east was a similar bank of clouds, giving the impres- sion that a storm was gathering there also. As the hours rolled on the dense masses approached each other. At first only the advanced clouds met, and seemed to be rolled back on the masses; there was no rain yet. We could see a long line forming at right angles with the course of the clouds. It was of a lighter eolor than the banks on either side, and reminded one of the changing shades when steel is being tempered. Still towards each other the great masses moved; the small seurrying clouds, like out- riders, would roll back on the main masses or sweep partly to the rear. The winds, which at first had blown strongly from the west, had ceased, but higher up, among the clouds, we could hear a sullen, sub- dued roar, as if from a thousand brazen throats afar off. The fall of a leaf could be heard; the birds and wild animals were aware of the war, and seemed unmindful of human presence. The roar became deeper, and seemed mingled with the rustle of leaves and branches. At first a few drops fell, as large as

RESIDENCE OF JNO. MONTGOMEREY NORDHOFF, OJAI VALLEY, VENTURA CO.CAL.

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WESTERN PART OF THE COUNTY.

bullets and several feet apart. Soon they came faster and so thickly that it became impossible to see fifty feet away. The ground was soon running an inch deep with water. Every little ravine that was a hundred yards long was running waist deep, and still the rain kept falling. The water that should have been drawn from the clouds by miles of wood- land, was being precipitated on a small territory. Now, amid the roar of the falling rain and rushing water, we heard a still greater roaring. Down the channel of the brook, which an hour before con- tained scarcely water enough for an ox to drink, came a breast of water four or five feet high, and a hundred feet wide, held back to some extent by timber, leaves, and other trash; but sweeping every- thing in its course. This, uniting with other streams, formed a flood big enough to wipe out a city if it was in its way. In this way Eureka was destroyed, also a coach, horses, and passengers were overtaken by a flood in one of the ravines or canons of the Sierra Nevada a few years since. A cloud-burst is simply a point of condensation between two oppos- ing currents of air, both saturated with moisture and suspended for some considerable time over a small territory. A timbered point in a country, otherwise destitute of timber, will frequently determine the locality of the phenomenon.

They have become common in some places in the Eastern States, especially in those places where the timber has been generally eut away. When the great forests covered the ground from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, they were unknown. The unbroken forests maintained an equable temperature. and no portion of the earth escaped its due portion of rain. Forty years ago the writer of this work examined the results of a cloud-burst in Lyme, New Hampshire. The country had been generally de- nuded of timber. Some lofty peaks, however, inac- cessible to the logger's team were spared, leaving a tract perhaps a mile square covered with trees stand- ing so thiekly that the sunlight searce penetrated the thick foliage. The moss on the ground at the foot of the trees was three feet thick, nourished by the perennial moisture. The atmosphere, even in midsummer, was cool and damp. This afforded the requisites for a cloud-burst. The clouds that for- merly parted with their moisture over the whole country, now precipitated the rain on this mountain. What combinations of wind currents brought it about none could tell; but the rain fell in a deluge. The thick timber was leveled as if by a hurricane. The channel at the foot of the mountain catehing the rain-fall was not a quarter large enough to carry the water. Logs, fences, buildings, granite bowlders, and sand, all went down the stream. Some mills were carried away. In other instances a new chan- nel was cut far away from the mills. Dams were swept away, or, if strong, were buried in bowlders and gravel. This was named a cloud-burst.

From the very nature of the. circumstances, this

excessive rain -fall can extend over but a small space, otherwise the most devastating floods would occur. Happily in most countries, these cloud-bursts are, perhaps, less frequent than earthquakes. People wonder at the destruction, and for a while fear a return, but hundreds of years may elapse before such a peculiar combination of winds and clouds may bring about another catastrophe. In the great interior, between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, their destructive force is often seen.

In this way Denver was destroyed. The town of Jackson, in Amador County, of this State, was visi- ted by one, although the destruction of life was limi- ted to the few Chinamen, whose dwellings lay in the course of the torrent.

The history of a cloud-burst in the Lower Ojai is written in the pile of rocks, or tailings, as the miner would say, at its upper end, which covers nearly four square miles. At the mouth of the canon whence it came, the debris is over 100 feet deep, as is proved by a well sunk through it. This is probably the deepest part, but if the whole area averages twenty-five feet deep, which is a moderate estimate, over 100,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rocks were swept out during the flood. In the canons above, bowlders twenty or thirty feet thick are piled on each other, as if they were grains of sand. About 100 feet from the surface of the pile of debris is a layer of black earth, or vegetable humus, show- ing the original ground on which the debris was thrown; also, showing that the great flood was a recent affair, or the vegetable mould would have disappeared. A few feet below the black earth is a second soil, separated by a gravel, similar to that on the surface, showing a previous, though smaller, cloud-burst. The force of a torrent which could, in an hour or two, cast forth 100,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rocks can hardly be imagined. Such an eruption out of the Mission Canon would utterly destroy Santa Barbara. Indeed, there are many reasons for thinking that the pile of rocks in the mouth of the canon was deposited by a similar flood. The Cadwell farm is on a portion of the debris pile that has not been eroded away by the subsequent action of the creek.

THE GLACIER THEORY.

Some persons have accounted for these rock piles by supposing that they were left by glaciers; but there are several fatal objections: First, the piles are not old enough to have been left by glaciers, as the black earth a hundred feet down certainly proves, as any earth of the glacier age subject to saturation would have lost its org .nic matter ages since; sec- ondly, there are no moraines, or walls of gravel, or bowlders at the sides and at the termination of the drift pile, which always mark the site of a glacier; thirdly, the canon through which the drift has come is a water erosion, following the softest lines in its course, while a glacier turns aside at nothing less

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HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.

than a firmly-seated mountain, but levels everything before it, hard and soft rock alike.

It is very probable that glacial erosions exist in the interior, but a close examination failed to make visible any indications of such in the vicinity of Santa Barbara.

LIABILITY TO CLOUD-BURSTS.

Lest the impression should be made that a timber- less country is liable to get more rain than otherwise, the writer begs permission to say that the evapora- tion from the sea goes on whether there is a tim- bered land or desert near; that the clouds must discharge their water somewhere; that where a country is covered with timber the rain-fall is gen- eral; that in treeless countries the rain-fall is uneven and uncertain. Santa Barbara and Ventura are on the margin of a territory subject to droughts and excessive rain-falls. The territory is, perhaps, best described as being around the base of the mountain- ous region of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Kern Counties. On the edge of the Mojave Desert cloud- bursts are the ordinary forms of rain. All of our readers will recollect a story of a vessel being found in the Mojave Desert some years since. The story was discredited at the time, but, nevertheless, was true. A party of men built a large boat in a cañon near the desert, intending to haul it with a team to the Colorado River; but a cloud-burst took it thirty miles out on the desert, and left it in such a shat- tered condition that the owners never reclaimed it. The Elder MeLeau, of the Free Press, saw a cloud- bu st in Ventura County, some years since, which made a wall of water ten feet high, or more, drown- ing several persons in its course. Almost every old resident has some knowledge of some phenomenal rain-fall belonging to the character of a cloud-burst.

IS THERE ANY HELP ?

Only remotely. The French Government long since decided that at least one-third of the whole country should be covered with forest to insure an even rain-fall, but the American will cut down the timber and burn the brush to make feed for his sheep. If the timber cut away from the country around Santa Barbara could be restored, or if every farmer would plant trees as Ellwood Cooper has done, the danger from cloud-bursts and drought would be much lessened.

SANTA ANA RANCHO

Was a grant of 21,522.04 acres to Crisogono Ayola and others, April 14, 1837, and confirmed to them. Upon the north, west, and greater part of the south it borders on public land; the Ojai Rancho bounds it on the east, and the Rancho Canada San Miguelito on the extreme south. Its southwestern boundary lies but about two miles from the coast, while the point farthest from the sea lies about twelve miles in'and. Santa Ana is the most northerly rancho in Ventura County, being but about two miles from the

Santa Barbara line. The San Buenaventura River follows along within its eastern boundary, and about three-quarters of a mile from it, for its whole extent, some nine miles. The Coyote Creek crosses the ran- cho from northwest to southeast, joining the San Buenaventura River. This forest-hooded rancho is principally owned by R. G. de la Riva, Captain Robin- son, and Messrs. Fawcett and Dean. Nearly 10,000 acres of this vast forest region would be good arable land if cleared of the timber. It would grow all the fruits, vegetables and grains known to this country. There are on this rancho a number of well-cultivated farms and orchards, upon which are raised as fine fruits as grow in Ventura County, and wheat attains to its maximum in height, quantity and quality. In fact, it is a twin sister to the Ojai Valley in its climate, soil and resources, with perhaps quite as much water and timber, but less arable land. It is a region of forests; the timber is majestic in girth, with wide- spreading branches. In many places wild oats grow under the trees, and these forest floors are generally studded with undergrowth of red honeysuckle, wild grasses, wild gooseberries, and the shade-loving rho- dodendron, with its fragrant pink blossoms. Along the river and creeks the wild grape covers many a tree with gracefully festooned arbors made by Na- ture's hand. A portion of the territory is as high above the sea as the Ojai, but at its nearest approach to San Buenaventura Valley it is much lower. In the southwest the land rises in graceful but steep acclivities, covered with live-oak trees and ever- green growth to its boundary line on the tops of the highlands of the San Miguelito Rancho, and from thence, on crooked divides, the boundary line gathers in the rich pasture lands away round-to the west and north. The timber is valuable for fire-wood, though as yet scarcely touched by the woodman's ax, and is as near the seaboard as any of the forest ranchos. It is sufficiently watered for the great pastoral purposes for which it is now used. The geological formation is similar to that of the oil districts found elsewhere in the county. The environing highlands are great game preserves, and the fine, cool, shady retreats of its forests make a paradise for picnic parties from town. The visitor to this rancho finds himself entranced by the loveli- ness of the scenery, which by its mild enchantment drives dull care away. There are mineral springs in this region and invalids go to drink their medicinal waters; but the more open-air life among these hills is the chief agent in recovering and preserving all but perpetual vigor, which characterizes all the inhab- itants. The owners ask, for farming lands, $10.00 per acre; while the pasture lands are sold according to location, quantity and quality-title, United States patent.

COLONIZATION PROJECT.

In May, 1875, the Santa Ana Rancho was surveyed into lots, which were to be sold on terms similar to

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WESTERN PART OF THE COUNTY.

those of the Lompoc Colony lands, O. L. Abbott manager. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $60,000, divided into 600 shares of $100 cach. Six thousand acres of arable land, as much more capable of cultivation with a a side-hill plow, and 75,000 cords of wood were amongst the estimated resources of the tract. The temperance principle was to be a leading feature of the settlement. The project was never carried out.

THE MATILIJA SULPHUR SPRINGS

Are about 1,500 feet above the sea, and a little way beyond the Ojai Valley; a pleasant drive over gentle acclivities and through some grand forests, by cas- cades, takes the traveler from Nordhoff, six miles northwest, through a constant succession of beauti- ful scenery, up to this resort, which is beyond all ranch boundary lines. A good road leads from San Buenaventura, eighteen miles, over gentle grades, by river, through forests, and across table-lands, where, at each successive turn, new features unroll to view, until the visitor lands at this valley of tranquil delights.

J. W. Wilcox discovered the springs about the year 1873, and, thinking the water might be benefi- cial to him in removing a complaint left by service in the Mexican War, camped there several weeks, and found himself greatly relieved by the use of the waters. W. E. Barnard, now of Oakland, visited the place and in a well-written newspaper article set forth the qualities of the several springs. Some pos- sessed active cathartic and others astringent prop- erties, according as magnesium or iron salts pre- dominated. In July, 1873, Mr. Brown constructed a road to the springs and made a number of improve- ments on the grounds, but the public were slow to visit him, and, becoming discouraged, he sold out for a small sum to Captain Gardner, who erected bath houses, cottages, and a comfortable hotel, and otherwise improved the place, besides widening the roads. H. F. Jewell was the proprietor in 1880.

These grounds, intersected by limpid streams, seem to have been selected by nature as a spot of earth where the chemistry of her great laboratory for the cure of diseases displays itself in great perfec- tion. There are twenty-two of the springs, and it is a remarkable fact that the quantity of water discharged never varies; it is the same in the hot- test and dryest spells of weather. While the tem- perature ranges from 35° to 150° in the different springs, it never rises or falls in any particular one. The experience of years has shown what diseases are mitigated by the use of the water. Its effects are especially notable in that obstinate ailment, rheumatism. It is also beneficial in cases of dys- pepsia, irritation of the mucous membranes of the stomach, and diseases of the liver and kidneys. The pure mountain air, freedom from wind and dust, and the equal climate, combine with its healing

waters to stimulate nature to her own best restora- tive processes.

The effect on the healthy of a sojourn here is to incite them to the highest mental and bodily efforts. A wholesome feeling of energy pervades and fits a man for his best and steadiest work. The mountain streams abound in trout, and the neighboring hills afford deer, quail and rabbits. Tucked away in little valleys. far up among the hills around, are the homes of the bee-keepers, while the lower valleys bold the farmers, dairymen and orchardists. The vineyards and apple orchards along the river are marvels of beauty. These supply the resorts with fruits, honey and fresh butter, while the sheep-owners have the best of juicy, mountain mutton. The situation of Matilija, its air, its evidence of having pleasure and health for its chief industry, the grand scenery and balmy climate, will assure its fame as a resort.

OTIIER PARTS OF THE COUNTY.

It must not be supposed that because the descrip- tive part of this volume ends here all the coun- try is described or the resources exhausted. There is a great tract up the Ventura River thickly inhabited, if report is to be believed, but the inhab- itants are not subscribers for this work-never heard of it, in fact, as they would be likely to make a lively row with the toughest canvasser that ever shouldered his pack of extraordinary samples. It is an excellent place, however, to hunt California lions and fish for trout, which every one says weigh five pounds or less.

Tow .. rds Santa Barbara is a high, mountainous range, where sheep get a living by clinging to the sides of the mountain and gathering the scattering spears of grass. As we approach the Santa Barbara line good farms begin to appear. When we get to the Rincon Creek we are ready to swear that we are coming to Paradise, for right below us is the farm of

MILTON SPRAGUE DIMMICK,

who was born in the town of Union Dale, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1850, his parents be- ing Elmer D. and Julia A. (Smith) Dimmick, Milton S. being the second of three sons. His early years were those of the usual course in American country life in the pleasant valley of the crooked river until the age of thirteen, when he moved with his parents to Monona County, Iowa, where he re- mained for ten years. The common schools of Penn- sylvania and Iowa afford favorable opportunities for acquiring a good education, and young Dim- mick attended these until he had prepared himself for the battle of life. Ilis health declining, and believing that the pure air which sweeps from the uncontaminated surface of the Pacific upon the fertile shores of Southern California would restore to vigor that which the malarial atmosphere of the Mississippi Valley had enfeebled, he sought, in 1873, this equa- ble clime, making Santa Barbara County his home.

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HISTORY OF VENTURA COUNTY.

Settling upon the Rineon Creek, about one mile from the ocean, he finds himself on the dividing line be- tween Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, with his residence and improvements in the latter. Here he has a lovely place of fifty-one acres, highly improved and beautifully ornamented with trees and shrub- bery, which flourish with remarkable luxuriance in this fertile soil. This fine place, when Mr. Dimmick began his improvements in 1875, was a monte of brush, elders and sycamores, which have given away before the industry and indomitable energy of the owner, and it is now transformed into one of the handsomest and happiest homes of this pleasant region. Mr. Dimmick shares his eosy home with his fair wife and ehild, having married, September 21, 1879. Miss Ella M. Colby, a native of Wisconsin. A view of the residence and its surroundings consti- tutes one of the instructive pictures of this book.

CHAPTER XLII. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

Oranges-Grapes and Wine-Raisins-Olives-Mineral Soap- Agriculture-Gold Mining-Silver-Sulphur-Petroleum- Local Character-Geo. S. Gilbert-Wonderful Springs- The Standard Oil Company.

THESE "Golden apples of the Hesperides" are grown in many parts of California, on a small seale growing and bearing as far north as latitude 39º, 30' or the vicinity of Oroville, but not satisfactorily. Some trees at Sacramento, Auburn, Oroville, Putah Creek, Sonoma, San Lorenzo, San José, Santa Clara, Los Gatos and Martinez have borne well, but the culture on the whole has satisfied most farmers that large orchards would not prove prof- itable in the central and northern parts of the State. Far different has been the experience in the southern counties, and along the coast south of 34.30°, it is one of the most profitable trees, besides being highly ornamental, with its dense, glossy, ever- green foliage, and fragrant blossoms, and its bright golden fruit which hangs upon the trees for the greater part of the year. The orange is a slow grower, coming to maturity only at an age of twelve or fifteen years, and beginning to bear at the age of some seven years, it having by that time reached the height of ten feet, with a diameter of five inches or thereabouts. At nine years old the tree has become a souree of profit, its yield having much inereased, and in its fullest development it yields from 1,000 to 2,000 oranges per annum. The average number according to Hittell, is 1,000 but many contend that it should be twiee that. The price of these oranges when plueked varies from one to three cents apiece, or from $10.00 to $30.00 for the product of one tree. The orange, as also the lemon and lime, produce merehantable fruit on a great variety of soils, but a deep, light, gravelly loam seems best adapted to the

production of large and well-flavored fruit, and for the health of the trees. On elayey soils, or of slight depth to the hard pan or subsoil, the trees do not preserve as vigorous condition, or produee as bright and sweet fruit as do the loamy soils; nor would they probably attain as great an age as on the latter.

The number of orange trees planted to the acre is from forty-nine to sixty-nine, or thirty to twenty- five feet apart each way. The greater distance is supposed to be preferable as the trees require a con- siderable space in order to sustain continued growth. Budded or grafted trees produce fruit much earlier than the seedlings. The ground between the trees can be utilized for general culture without particular detriment to the growing oranges, though this is apt to interfere with the growth of the roots, and hence cannot be recommended. The cultivation of the soil preparatory to planting the trees should be thorough and complete, and the holes to receive the trees should be large and deep, for the same reason.

Irrigation is effected by making a ring of earth around the tree of several feet in diameter and five or six inches deep. These rings are, or should be, left unbroken from year to year, only being enlarged to correspond with the probable spread of the roots. The rings being connected with the main ditch by means of trenches, they are filled with water as often as circumstances render advisable. The soil adjacent requires to be often disturbed or broken up with a hoe, thereby preventing all " baking" of the surface. Other plans prescribe the irrigation of the entire surface of the ground; a plan to be followed when the trees are well grown, and which may possess additional advantages in the extermination of para- sitie insects, which are very troublesome during the long time, nearly ten months, required for the fruit to come to maturity. The tree requires, for success- ful production, a very considerable, even unremitting, share of attention, but repays well whatever of care and labor is expended upon it.

When grown the orange tree becomes one of the most ornamental of all natural objects, being sym- metrical in shape of a height of some twenty or twenty-five feet, shading a cireular space of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter. When covered with its white blossoms or beautiful fruit, or, as is not infre- quent, both at once, it is, perhaps, the most beautiful of fruit trees. The produetiveness of orange trees varies as much as any other fruit, which is due to the amount of eare and cultivation, and to the location and fertility of the soil. By careful estimates made in 1874, of the crops in an orehard of 436 trees, in the neighboring county of Los Angeles, 309 of the trees being twelve years old from the seed (the re- mainder were too young to bear) there was obtained as a net result over and above the cost of transporta- tion to San Francisco, commissions on sales, etc., $20.50 for each tree, or an average of $1,435 per aere. The owner of this orchard eame to the con- clusion that $1,000 per acre could be safely counted

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History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 98

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