USA > California > San Bernardino County > Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people > Part 25
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The raising and the marketing of oranges has passed through a valuable but a very expensive experimental development. The localities best suited for orange culture and the varieties that would prove profitable were only de- termined by costly trials. While San Bernardino county has been little affected by insect pests as yet, she has kept herself exempt only by constant vigilance. The existence of an efficient Board of Horticulture which has largely devoted its efforts to this end has been an absolute necessity. Only a few favored localities have escaped an occasional blight of frost. Continued and extensive irrigation has produced changes in soil and conditions that have sometimes made orange growing unprofitable or less profitable than the raising of some other crop.
During the eighties the difficulty was to supply the market, and the
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
growers reaped large profits ; but the increased production, not only of Cali- fornia, but also of Florida and the increased importation of foreign oranges tended to lower prices. The glutting of the markets offering high prices, the shipping of green or frosted fruit by irresponsible parties, the high cost of transportation, the number of middlemen between the grower and the con- sumer have all tended to reduce the profits and demoralize the trade.
Various combinations, associations, unions, etc., of growers and of packers have grown up and become factors in the business. Of these the strongest has been the Southern California Fruit Exchange, made up of the various local and county exchanges, which are largely composed of the orange growers. In 1902-3, a determined effort was made for co-operation of the various elements and the packers formed the California Citrus Union, which in turn combined with the Fruit Exchange, each body appointing a committee of 16 members, to form the California Fruit Agency. The Fruit Agency was to have entire control of the marketing of fruit handled by the Fruit Exchange and the Citrus Union. And it was estimated that they would, during the . season of 1903-04 control some 85 per cent of the entire citrus crop. The object of the combination was to eliminate competition and distribute the fruit systematically throughout the United States. It had agents in every city of any size in the country and these agents were responsible for the sale of fruit consigned to them, and it was intended to ship only as much fruit as was actually demanded by the needs of the market. The disastrous season of 1903-4 and the dramatic finale of the California Fruit Agency, are still fresh in the minds of all. The reasons for the failure of the well laid theories of the organization are numerously and diversely stated-the results are undeniable.
CITRUS FAIRS, EXHIBITS, EXPOSITIONS, ETC.
The series of citrus fairs held in the eighties and early nineties without doubt were a great impetus to the citrus fruit industry and of great benefit to the orchardists. The first "Citrus Fair" ever held in the world was success- fully accomplished in Riverside in February, 1879. It was at this fair that the Washington Navel was first exhibited and its superior qualities recognized. Mr. Albert S. White and Mr. H. J. Rudisill were among the most zealous workers in organizing and preparing for this exhibit. It was such a success that another was held in February 1880, and in March, 1881, occurred the third fair. By this time the people of Riverside had determined to make the event annual and money was subscribed and a pavilion especially for that purpose was erected and used for the fair of 1882. The fifth annual fair in 1883 was a gala occasion, as the semi-annual State Convention of Fruit Growers was held in Riverside at the same time and the State Editorial Association also attended the fair in a body.
Among the exhibitors at these early fairs, outside of Riverside, were R.
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Ingham, R. F. Cunningham, Capt. Pishon, M. Haight, M. H. Crafts, D. A. Shaw and others. The fairs were held annually in Riverside with the excep- tion of one or two at Colton, until 1891, when San Bernardino, having com- pleted her pavilion, held her first citrus fair. In 1892, the fair was held in Colton and in 1893 Colton dedicated an expensive pavilion with a state fair at which the finest exhibit of fruits ever made in the state was arranged. Citrus fairs were also held in Los Angeles and Pasadena and at these San Bernardino fruit always attracted much attention and won many premiums. At the Los Angeles Exposition held in 1879, a fine exhibit of San Bernardino County apples, raised at an elevation of 3.500 feet, was made by Peter Forsee ; dried fruits and raisins were shown by H. A. Westbrook and A. J. Twogood of Riverside : Port wine of the vintage of 1874, by Dr. Wm. Craig of Crafton, and red wine by N. B. Hicks, of Old San Bernardino ; oranges by Mrs. Cath- erine Boyd and budded fruit by James Boyd, of Riverside.
An exhibit which was a triumph indeed was that made by Sant Bernar- dino County at the New Orleans Exposition of 1884-85. Here her oranges were put into competition with the world, and won premiums, as follows:
Gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges grown in California.
Gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges grown in the United States.
Gold medal for the best twenty varieties of oranges grown in world.
Silver medal (the highest premium offered in this department) for the best display of lemons, from any part of the world.
In this competition were met oranges and lemons from various districts of California, from Sonora and other Mexican States, from Louisiana, Flor- ida, the West Indies, and various places along the Mediterranean.
Mrs. G. A. Cook, of Lugonia, sent an exhibit of one hundred varieties of fruit raised in the county, and put up in glass jars, which attracted wide- spread attention.
Another event which drew attention to the fruit and the possibilities of fruit culture in Southern California was the Chicago Citrus Fair of 1886. This was a bold attempt to transfer a California Citrus Fair bodily to the city of Chicago. It was originated by L. M. Holt and others of Riverside. The Southern Pacific was asked to take twelve carloads of material, fruit and trees, together with sixteen men to take charge of same, to Chicago, free of charge. They finally replied that their company would take six carloads of freight, and eight of the men, free of charge to Chicago, if the Santa Fe would take the other half, to which proposition the Santa Fe officials readily con- sented. Mr. Holt then associated with him J. E. Clark, of Pasadena, and C. Z. Culver, of Orange, and H. N. Rust, who agreed to assume the respon- sibility of conducting the fair in Chicago; fruit-growers responded with fruit and trees and other products, and early in March the managers were in Chicago with a large exhibit, which was put up in Battery D Armory, on
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Michigan avenue, and opened to the public. This building was 140 by 160 feet in size, and it was full of exhibits, which constituted the finest citrus fair ever held up to that time on the American continent. Several carloads of orange and lemon trees, in fruit and in bloom, were placed on exhibition, together with hundreds of boxes of the choicest varieties of oranges and lemons and other products of Southern California. This fair was kept open five weeks, during which time it was estimated that it was attended by 75.000 people from all parts of the great northwest.
"On to Chicago! The Citrus Fruit Exhibit Train Pulls Out-San Bernardino Has the Finest Decorated Car.
At about noon to-day the train carrying the citrus exhibit from San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties for the Chicago fair pulled out, amid lond hurrahs from those who were at the depot and along the line of the track. The train was a long one and was made up of citrus fruits from South- ern California. It took three large engines to haul it, or at least three were hooked on. At the head of the long train of cars were five decorated cars from San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles. The San Bernardino car was handsomely trimmed with evergreens, while about two dozen American flags floated to the breeze from the top and sides of the car. On each side, near the top. "San Bernardino" was painted in colors, and underneath on both sides of the car door, "Semi-Tropic Fruit and Mineral Exhibits." It was decidedly the most handsome looking car on the train. On the Riverside car was the legend, "Riverside Fruits for Chicago Citrus Fair-1886," in large letters, with evergreen decorations. The cars from Los Angeles county were also decorated, and gave the destination and import of the cars and their contents. No doubt this freight train will create more excitement along its line of travel than any that ever before crossed the continent. It is expected the exhibit will arrive in Chicago about the 15th. William Simms, of River- side, went along with the exhibit to regulate the ventilation and attend per- sonally to the fruit in its transit."-San Bernardino Times, March 3, 1886.
SOME STATISTICS.
Number of orange trees in San Bernardino County-
1872. 7.51I 15,345
1880.
1800. 467,670
1900. 1,347,911
Orange shipments, boxes --
1881. 1891. 15,000 487.882
1,241,021
1900. 1902-03. 1,562,108
Value of Orchard products- 1860. 1870.
$2.450 $5.235
$56,012 1880.
$1,221.360 1890.
1900. $1.634.783
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Shipments of citrus fruits from state-
1886-7
. 1,000 cars
1894-95 7.575
cars
1887-8.
1,800 cars
1895-96
6,915
cars
1888-89.
.2,600 cars
1896-97
9.350 cars
1889-90
.3,350 cars
1897-98 15.540 cars
1890-91
4,000
cars
1898-99
10,35I
cars
1891-92
5,000 cars
1899-00
17,809 cars
1892-93
5,87I
cars
1900-OI.
24,954 cars
1893-94
5,022 cars
1901-02.
20.387 cars
1902-03
.22,390 cars
THE HORTICULTURAL COMMISSION.
The San Bernardino Horticultural Commission was organized in 1888, the supervisors appointing as members, N. B. Muscott, of San Bernardino; W. E. Collins, Ontario; W. H. Claflin, Riverside. These commissioners di- vided the county into districts, each man supervising a district and making separate reports to the secretary.
The task confronting the commission was by no means a simple one. It was their duty to protect the most important wealth producing interests of the county-one paying nearly two-thirds of the assessed taxes of the county. For this purpose they must find means for eliminating or limiting the numer- ous parasitic insects that are destructive to these interests and must guard against the importation of infected trees, shrubs and vines. The work of the commission met with more or less opposition at first. The methods pursued were largely experimental and each commissioner pursued his own method. Many orchardists complained of unnecessary destruction of their trees and crops without corresponding benefit and it was generally felt that the large expenditures of the commission were not warranted by the results and that the labors of the board were of doubtful value to the fruit growers.
The history of the first four years of the commission shows friction with orchardists and dissension with nurserymen and dealers, following the efforts to exclude diseased stocks in order to guard against the dreaded "peach yel- lows." "Root knot" was reported as affecting deciduous trees to an alarming extent, but the commissioners could offer no remedy for the disease except the elimination of the trees. Spraying with a salt, lime and sulphur solution was found an effective remedy, when properly prepared and applied at the right season, for Aspidictus Perniciosus (San Jose scale). The red and white scale were found to be steadily increasing in some parts of the county and caused much concern. In November, 1888, the Vedalia Cardinalis was introduced and found to be a perfect parasite for the white scale, practically reducing the white scale to a minimum and keeping it in check from that date to the present. Considerable alarm was occasioned in 1892 by the appearance of
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Mytilaspis Citrocola (Purple scale), which notwithstanding fumigation was imported on young orange trees from Florida. Investigation, however, proved this scale acclimated only near the sea coast with no danger in this county.
The cutting off of Riverside county in 1893, necessitated the retirement of N. H. Claflin from the board and J. H. Pierson, of Redlands, was appointed his successor. This division of the county reduced the expenses of the Hor- ticultural commission very materially. Several years succeeding show little change in the conditions, but, while the methods were always largely experi- mental, there was steady improvement all along the line. The opening of large tracts to cultivation and the unprecedented demand for trees and shrubs of all kinds, taxed the resources of the commission, but they were able to con- trol importations to a large extent. This resulted in healthier trees and better conditions. In 1893 the grape vine flea beetle made its first appearance in San Bernardino Valley. causing considerable damage to vineyards in Grape- lands and Rialto. Olive, orange and lemon trees suffered severely in the western portion of the county through an increase of Lecanium Oleae (black scale) and the general treatment of kerosene emulsion or resin wash, through lack of persistency in application, proving of little avail, the commission recommended the use of gas as a substitute for all other remedies.
In 1894, the State Board of Horticulture began the colonization of the Rhezobius Ventralia, or Australian Ladybug, and introduced them through- out the state believing that they would prove the solution to all difficulties arising from the black scale.
1896 brought a radical change in the Board of Horticulture. The commission had been in existence eight years and though the conditions threatening deciduous trees had been largely improved, the black scale, red scale, and soft brown scale were rapidly increasing in the county, notwithstanding the efforts of the com- mission with a force of twenty-two local in- spectors. The greatest burden had fallen on Commissioner Collins, whose district, being in the western portion of the county contiguous to Los Angeles County, was exposed to an army of parasites sweeping onward from that section. Local complaint increased against the S. A. PEASE arbitrary measures sometimes resorted to by the commissioners, although they never exceeded the authority vested in them. There was also strong objection to the cost of the commission to the county. The Board of Supervisors determined to re-organize the commission upon a new basis. At this time Secretary Collins tendered his resignation, as
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
he was called elsewhere, and the Supervisors, desiring to reduce what they con- sidered as the unnecessary expense of three commissioners, and finding authority in an amending act of the Legislature approved March 31, 1891. they proceeded to declare the offices of the Board of Horticulture vacant and, on January 6, 1896, appointed S. A. Pease, of Ontario, sole commissioner. Mr. Pease had been employed as a local inspector and was thoroughly familiar with the work; he had also made a special study of entomological questions involved. The new commissioner prepared a set of blanks for making com- plete reports to be sent in by the inspectors monthly and appointed six local inspectors, stationed at points where the principal orchard interests were located or where there was the greatest danger from importation of infected stock. Mr. Pease also began the collection and classification of entomological specimens, for the benefit of the inspectors and others interested in fruit pests and their remedies. This collection now comprises not only the destructive and beneficial insects and parasites native to San Bernardino County, but also includes many specimens from different sections of the United States and Mexico.
Commissioners Muscott and Pierson refused to recognize the authority of the Board of Supervisors to appoint a commissioner, other than to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Collins, and continued to act in their official capacities. The Supervisors refused to recognize their salary claims and the case was taken into the courts, where Judge Otis decided against the Super- visors, declaring the act under which they had made the appointment, uncon- stitutional, at the same time he decided that the plaintiff's term of office had lapsed and that they held merely by reason of no successors having been named by the Supervisors. In accordance with this decision, Mr. Muscott and Mr. Melville, of Redlands, were appointed and the new board of Horticultural Commissioners was organized with Mr. Pease as chairman. The old system of handling the county by districts was abolished.
During the year 1896, a thorough trial of the Australian Ladybug as a means of exterminating black scale was made. Ten thousand Rhizobius per month were purchased, for five months in succession. These were divided into lots of five hundred and liberated in different portions of the county twice each month. This trial demonstrated that the parasite could not be depended upon to do the work with required thoroughness, and the Board, believing fumigation a better method than spraying, set about preparing a more thor- ough system of fumigation than had yet been used. A superintendent of fumigation was appointed by the Board and four outfits, each consisting of about thirty tents, were put in the field, the county furnishing the tents and necessary appliances, while chemicals, purchased at wholesale rates by the county, were furnished the orchardists at cost.
The report of Commissioner Pease for 1897, states, "the few orchardists on the west side, who were at first opposed to fumigation have fallen into
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
line, and we have now more requests for the fumigators than we could fill with double the number of tents."
In 1898, the report of the Board states: "Comparison of our last season's fumigation with that done by contract work shows emphatically in our favor. Probably 150 acres were fumigated in this county by contract outfits, and I think it is safe to say that there is not one tree in the lot today that is free from black scale, and some of them are very badly infested. This showsconclusively that it is absolutely necessary to have the work done by methods that will abolish the excuse or incentive to withhold chemicals or shorten the time of exposure-for the purpose of increasing the profits of indi- viduals."
The opposition to the work of the Horticultural Commission has lessened year by year and the benefits of the intelligent and well- directed efforts against pests of all JOSHUA HARTZELL Member Horticultural Commission kinds, are now generally recog- nized by the orchardists, who as a rule co-operate with the Board in the work of protecting their orchards. Mr. S. A. Pease has continued as the chairman of the Board of Horticulture for the county down to the present date, and is recognized as an authority on parasites-of all descriptions.
The present board consists of S. A. Pease, Joshua Hartzell and George R. Holbrook.
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
CHAPTER VIII.
IRRIGATION IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY.
The valley of San Bernardino has an area of 325,640 acres, which thus far constitutes the irrigable section of the county. This corner, containing less than one-fortieth of the area of the original county is. nevertheless, the largest and most fertile valley in Southern California, and produces more agricultural wealth to the acre than any other known section of the earth.
The census reports of 1900 show an area of 37,877 acres in the county under irrigation in 1899.
At the eastern apex of the valley the San Bernardino mountains converge in the peaks, each more than 11,000 feet above sea level, of San Bernardino and "Greyback." To the north stretches the San Bernardino range and the Cucamonga hills, the south is bounded by the San Jacinto range and the Coast range lies to the east.
The Santa Ana river rises in the highest San Bernardinos, enters the valley at its extreme eastern point and flows, south of its center, throughout the entire length of the valley, then breaks through the Coast range to the Coast plains beyond. From all sides the drainage of the surrounding mountains pours into this valley through numerous water courses. The most important of these are: On the north side, Plunge, City, Twin, Devil's Cañon, Cajon Pass, Lytle and San Antonio creeks; on the south side, Mill, San Timoteo and Temescal creeks. Many of these streams flow through the valley but a short distance ordinarily before they sink beneath the surface and thus feed the artesian belts and the subterranean stream of the Santa Ana.
The Santa Ana river is the most valuable stream in the southern section of the state for irrigation purposes. Its extensive water shed, its many feeders- both above and below surface, and its low banks make it of the highest importance as a source of supply for water systems. The Bear Valley and the Redlands and Lugonia water companies draw their main supply from the Santa Ana : the Riverside system is largely supplied from it, while the water systems of Orange county-the Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange and others are . largely dependent upon this stream. It also furnishes the greater part of the power for the Edison Electric system of Los Angeles, which operates the first long-distance electric power transmission system ever installed.
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
THE WATER SUPPLY.
Mr. C. A. Wentworth writes thus of the water supply of the San Bernar- dino valley, in "Forestry and Irrigation":
"The water supply of this valley comes primarily from the rain clouds which sweep inland from the Pacific during the winter, or rainy season, and precipitate their moisture on coming into contact with the mountains to the east. Much of this precipitation in the higher slopes is in the form of snow, some of which does not melt until the spring months, keeping the streams at a comparatively even flow. The rainfall in the valley approximates 15 inches annually, but comes in the period of least growth. On the lower slopes of the mountain the streams have grades of from 100 to 200 feet in the mile, with still heavier grades in their granite-walled mountain cañons. Natu- rally these streams carry down immense quantities of material, which has spread out over the valleys to a great depth. This material, formed of coarse particles, overlies clay beds, which appear at certain points in the valley. When the streams leave the hills they sink into the loose material, one-third of whose mass consists of voids, or interstices between gravel particles forming a great underground reservoir whose aggregate storage capacity is enormous and sufficient to carry the irrigation communities through a long period of dry years, and capable of being recharged at times of copious rain- fall. The Santa Ana river, the largest in Southern California, in common with other streams of the same region, sinks below this mountain detritus, reappearing only in one or two places where upward folds of the clay sub- stratum forces it to the surface. One clay ridge forms the natural dam of the Upper Santa Ana irrigation basin, from which almost all of the water for Riverside is obtained, and forces the river to the surface. At Rincon the underground waters, as well as the return waters from irrigation in the higher parts of the valley are again forced to the surface, creating wet lands and making available a water supply for Santa Ana and other points on the coastal plain."
EARLY IRRIGATION.
The first European occupants of this valley, the Spanish priests, came from a land where irrigation was common. They introduced irrigation into California, and when they established the "Asistencia" de San Bernardino they utilized the waters of Mill creek by constructing the zanja which has been in use ever since its completion in 1822. The New Mexican settlers who came in during the forties and located along the Santa Ana, below the present town of San Bernardino, diverted various ditches to water their bean
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
patches, orchards and vineyards. Some of these ditches are still in use and almost in their primitive simplicity. Others have become a part of the Jurupa and Riverside water systems.
When the Mormons arrived they almost immediately began the con- struction of ditches to water their garden spots and grain fields. While they made no concerted effort at irrigation, they dug a number of open ditches and brought a considerable area under irrigation. On Lytle Creek they had fifty acres laid out into one-acre tracts, which were used as gardens by townspeople, and at Old San Bernardino they had a vineyard which was common property and was irrigated from the old zanja which they at once utilized.
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