USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume II > Part 7
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"The building will be of stone and concrete. Sixteen men are now cataloguing the books in the New York home."
In 1873 Mr. Huntington married Mary E. Prentice. July 16. 1913. he married Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington. His children are: Howard E. Huntington, Pasadena : Mrs. Clara Perkins, San Francisco; Mrs. Eliza- beth Metcalf, Berkeley: and Miss Marian Huntington, San Francisco.
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FRANK A. MENNILLO. Probably the chief commercial authority on olive culture, packing and marketing in California is Frank A. Mennillo. He learned the olive industry in his native land of Italy, and he is a veteran in the business though a comparatively young man.
Mr. Mennillo was born in Naples, Italy, April 10, 1882, son of Pasquale and Viola Mennillo. He was educated in the common schools and a technical school, graduating at the age of thirteen. After an- other year and a half in a commercial college he went to work for his father, a prominent dealer and exporter in olive oil, tomato sauce, and also proprietor of the largest castor oil factory in Naples.
After a long and thorough apprenticeship Mr. Mennillo in 1904 came to America and landed at New York City, where he opened a branch house for his father's business. He later opened another house in Boston. He was interested in the export business until it practically ceased at the outbreak of the war. Mr. Mennillo came to Los Angeles in 1915 and here established a tomato sauce packing department for the American Olive Company. He was instrumental in devising and perfecting more sanitary methods of packing this sauce. Machinery made after his especial supervision was introduced into the depart- ment. Since 1917 Mr. Mennillo has been a director in the company and since 1915 has done a large business in buying and selling of olives grown in California, and also in introducing the Italian and Greek methods of curing among the local packeries. He is now operating six olive can- neries in California. During 1918 two thousand tons of olives were handled by his organization, and about one hundred ten thousand dollars worth of California olive oil was bought by him and sold in the eastern market. Mr. Mennillo has done much to stimulate and stabilize the olive industry through the liberal features of his contracts and a co-operative principle between the packers and growers. His organization has arranged for contracts on a period of years basis, assuring fair market prices, and also furnishes the expert services of an agricultural chemist to the growers who have contracts with Mr. Mennillo for his company. Besides the technical service furnished to the olive growers through this plan the growers also have another benefit in forms of cash advances made on the basis of their crop before marketing.
Some interesting facts concerning the olive industry in California and his own connection therewith were quoted by the Fig and Olive Journal. In an interview Mr. Mennillo was quoted as saying: "The ripe olive is California's special and unique product and the future of the industry here depends largely upon its maintenance in the markets. For some years, before coming to California, to establish myself in the olive business I took a particular interest in the California ripe olive, and I may say, with due modesty, that I first established the ripe olive among the foreign elements in the markets of New York and Boston, where I was then and am still engaged in the business.
"Later I helped to build up at their request the Italian department of F. H. Leggett & Company, of New York, one of the largest wholesale firms in the United States. Soon after I left F. H. Leggett & Company I engaged myself directly with the American Olive Company for the purpose of developing their business among the Latin people in the east, and the success of that work can be verified by the said company. I think this will show my interest in the ripe olive and its future, and I will say at this time that though we will handle a considerable amount of olives put up in the Greek and Italian form, cured in salt, to meet the
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present needs of our foreign born trade in the large eastern cities, we will also process and pack in cans California ripe olives in large quantities, for which we have developed a good market throughout the Atlantic seaboard cities."
In November, 1917, Mr. Mennillo organized the Ruddle & Mennillo Company, of which he is a partner. This firm has the sole agency for the Frageol Truck and Tractors in southern California. The Frageol farm tractor has commended itself to many users in the orchards of California, and its unique feature is its traction method, eliminating the familiar caterpillar form and depending upon a drive wheel with legs, thirty-two in number, which experience has demonstrated are inestimably practicable even when used in soft soil.
In October, 1918, Mr. Mennillo bought the controlling interest in the Marine Products Company at Terminal, California. This is a large fish cannery. In other ways he has identified himself with southern Cali- fornia and is a member of the Jonathan Club, the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Automobile Club of Southern California, Los Angeles Cham- ber of Commerce. He is a republican and a member of the Catholic Church. At Long Island, New York, in October, 1906, Mr. Mennillo mar- ried Miss Z. E. Lignente. Their one child, Arnaldo, born in 1910, is a pupil at the Hollywood School for Boys and Girls.
WILLIAM EDMUND YOULE. It would be a confirmed pessimist in- deed who could not derive encouragement and inspiration from the career and achievements of William Edmund Youle of Los Angeles. Some narrow minded philosophers contend that the world and civiliza- tion are on their last legs, that the resources of the earth are about ex- hausted, and that the wit and ingenuity of mankind have attained their climax. The experiences of Mr. Youle constitute a human document that would serve to refute and confound such opinions. Mr. Youle is a very practical man and though now past three score and ten is busy every day, and it would serve a splendid purpose if he might be induced to write the story of his life. It would be not only a most instructive his- tory of the American petroleum industry, but however modestly told it would also have that broader significance that is involved in any account of the struggles of masterful, determined and far-sighted men against the inertia of physical and human forces. In this sketch it is possible to suggest only the bold outlines of Mr. Youle's career.
He was born at Pontiac, Michigan, August 21, 1847, son of William and Bridget Youle, the former a native of England and the latter of Ireland. At the age of fifteen he left the schools of his native city. The following year he went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania. That was in 1863, and those casually acquainted with the history of the petroleum industry do not need to be informed that the oil business even in west- ern Pennsylvania was still in its pioneer phases. Though very young Mr. Youle became a driller and contractor and for thirteen years was one of the most active in developing and exploiting the oil territory of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He not only mastered the technical processes of oil production, but almost from the first stood out as a leader of men, a business executive, and with a vision that led him to constantly enlarging enterprises. He deserves his niche of fame with the group of men who did most to develop and stabilize the oil industry in the eastern states. But the importance of his work there has always been overshadowed by his achievements in California. It is not merely proper to refer to Mr. Youle as "the" veteran of the oil industry in
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California since he has more to his credit than forty odd years of con- tinuous work in these fields. Before he came west geologists and other scientists had declared that there was no oil to be found in commercial quantities in California. Mr. Youle and his associates demonstrated by drilling that it was here, and therefore in every real sense he was a dis- coverer. But he did more than point out the promised land as many discoverers have done; he showed how to take possession of it and has always been in the forefront of the developments which have returned untold riches from the petroleum deposits of the Pacific Coast.
When some California capitalists determined to inaugurate practi- cal tests for proving the oil resources of California, they naturally looked to the East for the proper man to handle the problem. They were attracted to Mr. Youle not only by his long career as a success- ful drilling contractor and operator, but also by the profitable results which have attended his efforts as superintendent of the United States Oil Company at Oil City, Pennsylvania. After some negotiation Mr. Youle came west in 1877, and after some preliminary investigation directed his force of expert workmen, to put down the first test well in Moody's Gulch, in Santa Clara County, and here was brought in the first paying oil well in the Golden State. As that was the begin- ning of the California oil industry, likewise was it only the beginning of Mr. Youle's operations which have extended. over a period of more than forty years, and have included the drilling of upwards of two hundred wells. In 1877 he proved the field in Moody's Gulch in Santa Clara County, and in 1884 started operations in the famous Puente oil regions. In 1890 he was the first contracting well driller to appear in the noted Sunset fields in Kern County. For eleven years he was almost ceaselessly active in that district, and developed not only the Sunset but also the MeKittrick and Midway oil fields, the latter being regarded as one of the richest oil districts ever found on the American continent.
Thus summary of his achievements does little justice to the stu- pendous obstacles that were frequently overcome and the difficulties that tried the skill and patience even of such a veteran oil worker as Mr. Youle. 'It is well known that he frequently had other problems than those presented by nature alone. He had to sway and convince men's stubborn opinions to his own faith and conviction. Frequently he was condemned for persisting in sinking his drill hundreds of feet below what was then considered the oil level, his critics declaring that it was impossible to drill to the depth contemplated by him. He went on with the work, however, and his judgment was finally vindicated by striking oil at extreme depths.
Moreover, he deserves great credit for extending the use of oil, especially crude oil for fuel purposes. He handled the first car load of oil that was handled for fuel purposes in Los Angeles, this being delivered to the Lankershim flour mills of that city. His personal in- fluence converted many manufacturers and business men to the use of crude oil at a time when its use was not considered practicable.
For years Mr. Youle has been regarded as a very dependable authority on oil matters, particularly in the far west. He has been identified with every new oil field in California. It is said that through him many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been safely invested in the business, and at the same time many other thousands have been saved to those who otherwise might have embarked in losing proposi- tions.
Le CompteDavis
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As an oil geologist Mr. Youle has developed marked ability and his judgment of oil land possibilities ranks with the best.
Some years ago in one of the most important oil land suits ever brought, up to that time, by the United States government-a suit involving land values of fron fifteen million to twenty million dollars -Mr. Youle and many of the most celebrated geologists of the coun- try were called to testify as experts. Among them were such men as Dr. John Casper Branner, Arthur C. Veach (chief geologist for the Lord Cowdray & Pearson interests), J. A. Taff, Frank M. Anderson and others.
Mr. W. N. Mills, assistant to the attorney general of the United States, who conducted the suit, said "No more powerful and convinc- ing testimony was given in the entire case, on either side, than that of Mr. Youle, and the government's success in the litigation referred to was largely due to the confidence and reliance placed by the trial court upon Mr. Youle's ability and experience as a practical geologist. From my knowledge of the man, extending over a period of five years, I had rather have his opinion upon untested oil territory as a basis for in- vestment than the opinion of any geologist of my acquaintance."
Mr. T. Spellacy, a well-known oil operator of Los Angeles, after an acquaintance of nearly thirty years, said: "Mr. Youle is a man of highest character and reliable, and I have always found him con- scientious."
Many such testimonials could be given, for his friends are many and his reputation and character are of the highest standing. During the past five or six years Mr. Youle has given much attention to oil pros- pects in Wyoming. He bought two thousand acres, organized the Wyoming Consolidated Oil Company, and this company has already carried forward considerable development work, having one well down two thousand feet and with a satisfactory outlook. He also organized another company on adjacent lands.
Mr. Youle has been a resident of Los Angeles for forty years, and while he has never been drawn into politics, is not a member of any clubs, he is quietly interested in civic movements and has been generous of time and means in behalf of the patriotic program. He has traveled widely, and in 1913 returned to Los Angeles after ten months spent in Europe. On January 10, 1870, at Pontiac, Michigan, he married Mary Murphy, who passed away some years ago. They have two children, Charles, well known in the oil business and now residing in Wyoming, and May, the wife of John Box of Los Angeles, with the Standard Oil Company.
LECOMPTE DAVIS. Probably no member of the Los Angeles bar is more frequently referred to and in terms of respect and admiration by his fellow associates as LeCompte Davis, who has been a resident of Southern California for over thirty years. LeCompte Davis is a scholarly lawyer, takes delight in literature and a broad range of studies, not least in the book of human life itself, and has achieved distinction all over the West as a criminal lawyer.
He was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, May 1, 1864, a son of Henry Clay and Josephine (LeCompte) Davis. He was educated in the common schools of Kentucky, graduated with the Law degree from Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky, in 1887, was admitted to the bar of his native state, and in the same year came to Los Angeles and began practice. He served one term of two years as assistant district attorney
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of Los Angeles county, and left that office in 1895 to form a partner- ship with Judson R. Rush. The firm of Davis & Rush has been in existence now nearly a quarter of a century. It has been especially distinguished for its successful work in criminal trials. The firm has been represented in over sixty murder cases. Mr. Davis was associated in the defense of the celebrated McNamara dynamiting cases, and later was associated in the defense of the noted Chicago lawyer, Clarence Darrow, accused of bribery in those cases. In 1908 Mr. Davis de- fended three prominent men accused in the Oregon land fraud cases and secured acquittals in two instances. He was also a lawyer in the defense in the Imperial Valley land fraud cases in 1909. Undoubtedly he is one of the most eloquent and forceful pleaders who have appeared in the courts of the Pacific Coast during the last three decades.
Mr. Davis is a member of the American Bar Association. His hobby is books, and his private library contains more than 6,000 volumes, besides a rare collection of old engravings and paintings. April 18, 1908, at Ventura, California, Mr. Davis married Edythe Gilman.
JUDSON RANDOLPH RUSH. One of the oldest legal partnerships in Southern California is that of Davis & Rush with offices in the Bryson Building. Judson Randolph Rush and LeCompte Davis as young lawyers were deputies in the district attorney's offices at Los Angeles. They resigned January 7, 1895, establishing a partnership the same day, and it is said that in the afternoon of that day they tried their first cases. Their first offices were in a building on the site of the present Hall of Records. These well known lawyers had one other associate, Frank R. Willis for six years, until Mr. Willis was elected to the Superior Bench. Many of the prominent cases in the courts of Southern California have been handled by Davis & Rush, and their practice has also extended to the states of Oregon and Washington.
Mr. Rush, who is an old time Californian and a man of wide and varied business experience, was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1865, son of John L. S. and Dorcas (Parcell) Rush. The Rush family have been residents of Pennsylvania through five genera- tions, the immigrant ancestor having distinguished himself as an Indian fighter. Mr. Rush was born in the same house as his grandfather.
In early boyhood his parents removed to Iowa where he attended common schools and in 1881 he came to Santa Ana, California, and spent three years as a cowboy and hunting in the mountains, living the typical life of the western frontiersman. In 1886 he engaged in the dairy business with his father at Pasadena, and also played a pioneer part in the oil industry of California, working on the first well in the Fuller- ton district. Three years he also conducted a prosperous meat market business at Monrovia and El Monte.
The turning point of his career came with his election as Justice of the Peace for El Monte, an office he held from 1890 to 1892. When his official calendar was not filled he spent his leisure in studying law under his own direction, and worked to such good purpose that he passed the bar examination in 1893, and a few months later was appointed one of the deputy district attorneys. Mr. Rush has always been interested in good government and in 1908 ran far ahead of his ticket as democratic candidate for Congress in. the Southern California District. He is a member of the Los Angeles Bar Association, a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, an Elk and a member of the Gamut Club. Mr. Rush married Miss Augusta D. Salzen March 18, 1918, in Glendora, California.
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THOMAS EDWARD GIBBON. The usefulness of the average man is limited to a rather narrow channel. He does his work, carries his respon- sibilities and discharges his obligations, but the end of his life is usually not far from the stage that was set for him at the beginning of his man- hood. It is all the more surprising therefore what some men do and achieve and how many movements and institutions come within the range of their influence. Los Angeles has a number of these more than ordi- nary if not extraordinary men, and no one could doubt the propriety of including Thomas Edward Gibbon in the list. He has been a member of the Los Angeles bar for thirty years, but his routine accomplishments as a lawyer are less well known than those numerous enterprises in which he has been a conspicuous figure and which have been fraught with consequences that are vital to the present and future welfare of all Southern California.
Mr. Gibbon has had a very interesting career not only since he came to Los Angeles but in his early life. He was born in Prairie county, Arkansas, May 28, 1860, a son of William R. and Mary Jane (Wylie) Gibbon. His father was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, March 19, 1832. He was liberally educated in the Virginia Military Institute and the Medical Department of the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1855. After two years of practice at LaGrange, Tennessee, he moved to Prairie county, Arkansas. That Arkansas county was his home the rest of his life, except the four year period of the Civil war, during which his family lived in Texas and he himself had a place in the ranks of the Confederate army. His range of usefulness was not altogether confined to his work as a skillful practitioner of medicine. Both before and after the war he owned and supervised an Arkansas plantation. He died at his Arkansas home in 1891.
Thomas Edward Gibbon, only child of his parents, had his boy- hood in a period which serves to indicate what terrific drains are made upon a country and people as a result of a long continued war. The entire South during and for some years after the Civil war had its energies completely absorbed by the task of reconstruction, and it was almost inevitable that institutions of education should be neglected and meagerly provided for. Under such circumstances Mr. Gibbon gained most of his early training at the direction of his cultivated parents. He attended a private school about a year, for a few months was a student in the Austin Academy at Austin, Arkansas, and then after some experi- ence as a teacher himself he took special studies in a high school at Lone Oak, Arkansas. At the age of nineteen he began teaching, and for a couple of years did this work during a portion of the season, and other- ยท wise had charge of his father's plantation.
His limited means did not enable him to go away to college or uni- versity. But on January 3, 1883, he joined what was known as the Little Rock Law Class, an organization of young men who were determined to study law but were unable to defray the expenses of a college course. On May 22, 1883, Mr. Gibbon was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Arkansas and the District and Federal Courts. The Federal District Court was presided over at that time by Henry C. Caldwell, who was one of Mr. Gibbon's law preceptors. Judge Caldwell later became prominent as judge of the Eighth Circuit Court. With his license as a lawyer Mr. Gibbon went back home and taught three months of summer school and in the fall of 1883 began practice at Little Rock. His ability soon brought him the promise of success. In 1884 he was elected a mem-
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ber of the Lower House of the State Legislature, serving during 1884-85. He continued private practice at the State Capital until 1800, when on account of failing health he came to Los Angeles, and here after recuper- ating resumed his position in the legal profession, and is sull a lawyer with all of the demands made upon his time and attention in other affairs.
Mr. Gibbon in 1891 organized the Los Angeles Terminal Railway Company for a group of St. Louis capitalists. He became vice-president and general counsel of this road. The company bou ht the railway lines extending from Los Angeles to Glendale and from Los Angeles to Pasadena, and also constructed a new road from Los Angeles to San Pedro. This railroad was one of the initial enterprises which attracted attention to and eventually culminated in the consolidation of Los Angeles and San Pedro and the development of the latter as the Harbor City of the Los Angeles district. In addition to the routine duties of his office as general counsel for the Railway Company Mr. Gibbon gave much of his time and effort to influencing the United States government to take over and create a deep water harbor at San Pedro.
After the movement had reached a point where the harbor was assured and work had already been undertaken by the government, Mr. Gibbon succeeded in interesting Senator William A. Clark of Montana in the enterprise of building a railway from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. In behalf of Senator Clark and his associates Mr. Gibbon in Janu- ary, 1901, organized the present Los Angeles and Salt Lake Company, which took over and acquired the property and interests of the Los Angeles Terminal Railway Company. Mr. Gibbon was promoted to the same official responsibilities in this company-vice-president and general counsel-which he had held with the older organization and continued in those offices until the completion of the line to Salt Lake. Mr. Gibbon never gives a half-hearted support to any enterprise in which he is embarked, and his long continued labors with these transportation lines eventually brought a breakdown in health, so that he resigned his offices and_for several months gave up his business and profession altogether and traveled in Japan.
In the fall of 1907 Mr. Gibbon and associates bought the Los Angeles Daily Herald, and for three years he was its president and managing editor.
The municipal history of Los Angeles during the last twenty years could not well be written without reference to Mr. Gibbon's activities. In 1898 99 he served as a member of the Police Commission. While in that office he with the co-operation of M. P. Snyder, then mayor, originated the rule limiting the number of saloons in Los Angeles to two hundred, and refusing to issue or renew any saloon licenses outside the police area of the city. This rule has since become an integral part of the city charter. It afforded an interesting experiment in the restriction and segregation of the liquor business in American cities, and this feature of saloon regulation has been one of the most widely discussed elements of the Los Angeles city government and the plan has been studied by city experts all over the country.
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