USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 13
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
me have $100 a month until it is paid for." And that is the way the arrangement was made, to pay me $10,000 in monthly payments of $100 until it was paid for. That is the full history of the Plaza.
After I got moved into the Horton House, I went to Washington to see about getting the Scott railroad. Scott and some other people in the east wanted to build a railroad from El Paso west, but they did not make any provision for build- ing from San Diego east. I saw how this was, and so I got up one morning, took money, and went off to Washington without waiting to consult any one about it. When I got to Washington, I went to Scott and said:
"I see your bill is up and I don't know whether it will pass or not, but it depends upon one thing. You have agreed in your bill to build one hundred miles a year, commencing at El Paso, this way; and you have agreed to nothing from San Diego east. Now, unless you will agree and have it put in the bill that you shall build fifty miles a year east from San Diego and fifty miles west from El Paso, your bill is lost."
"Well," said Scott, "how do you know you can defeat it?"
I said: "Tomorrow or next day your bill comes up, and you are beaten. If you can get that bill fixed right, I can help you to pass it."
S. S. ("Sunset") Cox was in congress then and had just made a speech against this bill. When I first got there I went to see our congressman. He was from San Jose. A man from New Orleans, our congressman, and Cox were the com- mittee in charge of the bill, and Cox said that if Scott would consent to amend it, he (Cox) would help get the democratic votes necessary to pass it, notwith- standing he had already made a speech against the bill. This was done in half an hour.
So then I told Scott about Cox and the arrangement I had made with him. I got Scott and the committee together in the library of the capitol and they agreed to change the bill the way I wanted it. Of course Cox could not vote for the bill after having made a speech against it, but he got leave of absence and went home for a few days when it was about to be voted on. After securing his leave of absence he started off without having arranged with his friends to vote for the bill. I reminded him of it just in time, and he said: "Oh, my God! I had forgotten all about that." Then he went back and talked with about twenty- five of his democratic friends, and when the bill came up for a vote, it passed.
I went to Washington three times on this business, after I got into the Hor- ton House, and it cost me altogether $8,000. I got Scott, one senator, and two or three congressmen and others who were helping with the road, to come out here, and they all stopped with me at the Horton House. (This was August 30, 1872.)
Scott was satisfied with the proposition and so he let a contract to grade twenty-five miles, from Twenty-fifth street to Rose Canyon, and ten miles were graded and Scott paid for it. (Horton threw the first shovelful of dirt. April 21, 1873.)
Scott went to Paris and made an agreement to sell his bonds there, and they were getting everything ready in order to close the transaction. They called him "the railroad king" in the United States at that time. He had an invitation to dine with the crowned heads of Europe, in Belgium. He did not tell the Paris bankers where he was going, but went off and was gone thirty-six hours. In
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
twelve hours after he left they had everything ready to pay over the money at the bank. They went to the place where he had been stopping and inquired, and sent in every direction to find him, and even telegraphed to England but could not hear from him. During the time before he got back, Jay Cooke & Company failed, and when he got back to Paris, they said to him:
"Mr. Scott, if you had been here a few hours ago instead of taking dinner with the crowned heads, you would have had your twelve million dollars. Now, we have lost confidence and cannot take your bonds."
Scott telegraphed me how it was. I had put up the bank building where the Union office now is, as I said, for him, and he had agreed to give me $45,000 for it. He telegraphed me :
"I have lost the sale of my bonds and am a ruined man. I don't know whether I shall ever be able to get my head above water again. Do the best you can. I shall not be able to fulfill the contracts I have with you."
This failure hurt me severely. People who had bought land of me heard of the failure and they met in front of the bank building and sent for me. I went over there and they asked me to take the property back, and said I was welcome to all they had paid if I would only give up the contracts. I told them nobody should be deceived and how Scott had failed and would not be able to live up to his contract. I paid them back dollar for dollar ; every man who had made pay- ments on account of land purchased got it back.
I had given twenty-two blocks of land at the northwest corner of Horton's Addition, as a contribution toward getting the first railroad to come here. I lost them, and the railroad never was built.
This refers of course to the Texas & Pacific. When Huntington, Crocker, and some other Southern Pacific officials came here ( there were five in the party ), I entertained them at the Horton House and did not charge them a cent.
Huntington said: "If you will give us one-half of the property you have agreed to give Tom Scott, we will build the road from here to Fort Yuma." I told them we could not do it. They sent an engineer to go over the ground that had already been surveyed by Scott.
Up at Los Angeles they had agreed to build a road and had it as far as from Los Angeles to San Bernardino and there they came to a stand. They told the Los Angeles people if they would give them $400,000 to help them get through a certain piece of land to the desert (San Gorgonio Pass), they would go on through there; otherwise they would build the road to San Diego and from there to Fort Yuma. Mayor Hazzard told the people of Los Angeles that if they did that, Los Angeles would be nothing but a way station and the only way to save the city was to agree to give them the money they wanted. They did this, and that was the reason the Southern Pacific was not built to San Diego. The objec- tion they had to coming here, they said, was because they could not compete with water transportation and therefore it would not be to their interests to come to a place where they would have to compete with water. Here ends Mr. Horton's remarkable story.
SALE OF LAND ON WHICH SAN DIEGO LIES
When Horton came along and proposed to buy lands from the town, no meet- ing of the trustees, and no election had been held for two years. Horton insisting
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upon it, a special election was called and E. W. Morse, Thomas H. Bush and J. S. Mannasse elected trustees. This board met and organized on April 30, 1867, the minutes of the meeting reading as follows :
"ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
APRIL 30, 1867.
"The new Board, consisting of J. S. Mannasse, E. W. Morse and Thomas H. Bush, chosen at the election held the 27th day of April, 1867, met and Organized by Electing J. S. Mannasse President, E. W. Morse, Treasurer, and Thomas H. Bush, Secretary.
"On motion of E. W. Morse it was Resolved that an order be entered for the Sale of certain farming Lands of the city property. Said Sale to take place on the 10th day of May, 1867, at the Court House.
"On Motion, the Board adjourned to meet Tuesday Evening, May 11, 1867. Approved,
THOMAS H. BUSH, Secretary. J. S. MANNASSE, President."
The sale was held at the courthouse in old San Diego on Friday, May 10, 1867. The sheriff (James McCoy) was the proper official to act as auctioneer, but Mr. Morse acted in his place as deputy. Mr. Horton bought six one hundred and sixty-acre lots, nine hundred and sixty acres in all, for an aggregate sum of $265, a little over twenty-seven cents an acre, and two parcels were sold to other parties at the same time. The following is a copy of the minutes of the next ensuing meeting of the trustees, at which the sale was confirmed and the deed issued :
"Special Meeting, May 11, 1867.
All the members of the Board present. The Board conveyed by Deed the following Lots of land purchased by A. E. Horton, May 10th :
Eleven hundred and Forty-Six II46
Eleven hundred and Forty-Seven
1147
Eleven hundred and Fifty-Six II56
Eleven hundred and Forty-Five
II45
Eleven hundred and Thirty-Four II34
Eleven hundred and Thirty-Three II33
At the City Land Sale held at the Court House on Friday, May 10, 1867, the following Lands were sold and account presented of such to the Board, by James McCoy, Auctioneer :
Purchaser
Price
1146 Lots Eleven hundred and Forty-Six. A. E. Horton
1147 Lots Eleven hundred and Forty-Seven A. E. Horton
1156 Lots Eleven hundred and Fifty-Six A. E. Horton
$150.00
1145 Lots Eleven hundred and Forty-Five A. E. Horton
40.00
1134 Lots Eleven hundred and Thirty-Four A. E. Horton
20.00
II33 Lots Eleven hundred and Thirty-Three A. E. Horton
55.00
Lots Eleven hundred and Seventy-Three J. S. Murray 20.50
1173 Fractional Lot lying between Eleven hundred and Fifty-Six and Eleven hundred and Fifty-Seven to Edward Heuck. 9.50 ยท
$295.00
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
On motion of J. S. Mannasse it was resolved to advertise City Lands for Sale, on the third day of June, 1867, at public Auction, and the Secretary be ordered to post Notices of the Same, in three conspicuous places.
On Motion Meeting Adjourned to meet June 10, 1867.
Approved, THOMAS H. BUSH, Secretary.
J. S. MANNASSE, President."
The deed was made and recorded the same day. It was signed by Morse and Bush, Mannasse not signing, and witnessed by C. A. Johnson. A full copy of this deed is given below :
"This indenture made this eleventh day of May, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, between E. W. Morse and Thomas H. Bush, Trustees of the City of San Diego, County of San Diego, State of California, parties of the first part, and A. E. Horton, of the same place, party of the second part, Witnesseth, That whereas at a sale at public auction of lots of said City of San Diego, after due notice given of the same, according to law, on the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, by the said parties of the first part, Trustees of said City as aforesaid, the said party of the second part bid for and became the purchaser of the following described property and that said property was then and there sold and struck off to the said party of the second part-as the highest and best bidder thereof.
"Now therefore the parties of the first part, Trustees of the said City as afore- said for themselves and their successors in office, by virtue of authority in law in them vested-and for and in consideration of the sum of two hundred and sixty- five dollars to them in hand paid by the said party of the second part, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, sold, released and quitclaimed and by these presents, to grant, sell, release and quitclaim unto the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever, all the right, title, interest or claim whatsoever, of the said party of the first part, or their successors in office in and to the following described property, situate in the boundary of said City, to wit : Lots eleven hundred and forty-six (1146), eleven hundred and forty-seven (II47), eleven hundred and fifty-six (1156), eleven hundred and forty-five (1145), eleven hundred and thirty-four (1134), and eleven hundred and thirty- three (1133), and designated upon the official map of said city, made by Charles H. Poole in the year 1856. Together with all and singular the ways, streets, rights, hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining. To have and to hold the aforesaid premises, hereby granted to the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns forever.
"In witness whereof the said parties of the first part have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.
E. W. MORSE, (Seal)
THOMAS H. BUSH, (Seal)
Trustees.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of C. A. Johnson.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO SS.
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
"On this eleventh day of May, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty- seven, before me G. A. Pendleton, County Clerk and ex officio Clerk of the County Court in and for said County, personally appeared E. W. Morse and Thomas H. Bush, personally known to me to be the individuals described in and who executed the annexed instrument and they acknowledged to me that they executed the same freely and voluntarily and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Court in this County the day and year in this Certificate first above written.
G. A. PENDLETON, Clerk. (Seal)
"Received for record on Saturday, May II, 1867, at 6 P. M., and recorded on Saturday, May II, 1867, at 8 o'clock P. M. at request of A. E. Horton.
G. A. PENDLETON, County Recorder.
(Fifty cents) (U. S. Rev. Stamp) (E. W. M. T. H. B.) (May II, 1867)"
These proceedings did not escape attack. When it became apparent that the new town would be a success, a number of suits were brought for the purpose of setting aside the deed from the trustees to Horton. Perhaps the most famous of these was the suit of Charles H. De Wolf versus Horton, Morse and Bush, brought in September, 1869, in which Judge Benjamin Hayes was the plaintiff's attorney. It was alleged that the proceedings leading up to the conveyance were irregular in several respects. The owners of the ex-mission rancho also brought suit to extend their boundaries over Horton's Addition, claiming that the pueblo lands should comprise four leagues, instead of eleven. There were rumors that there was collusion between Horton, Morse, Bush and others, by which the trustees profited by the sale. Some excitement rose at one time and "land jumping" began, but the people of San Diego took prompt action, pulled down and burned the fences erected around some blocks the "jumpers" were attempting to claim, and soon suppressed their enterprise. Horton's title was sustained in all the courts and the suits ended in smoke.
"FATHER" HORTON, AT THE AGE OF 94
CHAPTER XIII
SKETCH OF ALONZO E. HORTON
The list of San Diego county's honored pioneer dead contains no more honor- able, upright and high-minded man than Alonzo E. Horton, the founder of the city of San Diego and for over half a century one of the greatest individual forces in its material, educational, moral and political upbuilding. Probably there is no other instance in the history of the country where great cities have grown from an insignificant beginning and where the activity of one man unaided by abundant capital has accomplished such wonderful results as were achieved by Alonzo Horton in San Diego. His death occurred many years ago and yet the memory of his work and labor is alive today in the hearts of those who have benefited by them, and the city in its prosperity and greatness stands as a memorial to his worthy, useful and upright life.
Alonzo E. Horton was born in Union, Connecticut, October 24, 1813, and is a descendant of one of the old New England families. The line was founded in America in the year 1665, when Barnabar Horton, a native of Leicestershire, England, crossed the Atlantic in the good ship Swallow and in company with the other passengers, all Puritans, landed in Massachusetts. His descendants became prominent in the history and development of the New England states and from him in the seventh generation is descended the subject of this review. Alonzo E. Horton was only two years of age when his parents moved to Madison county, New York. A short time afterward they took up their residence at Scriba, a few miles from Oswego, in the same state, and there Alonzo Horton grew to manhood, acquiring his education in the public schools. He spent his early life engaged in various occupations, being first employed as clerk in a grocery store, afterward learning the cooperage trade, and was later a sailor on the great lakes. He became especially successful in the latter occupation and advanced in it step by step until he owned and commanded a lake schooner with which he was engaged in the grain business between Oswego and Canada. In his early life his health was poor and he was obliged to go west in order to recuperate. Therefore, in 1836 he went to Milwaukee, arriving in that city just at the beginning of the era of speculation which ended in the financial panic of 1837. Mr. Horton showed his shrewd and resourceful business ability in the manner in which he took advantage of the existing conditions. He became possessed of secret information to the effect that the bills of certain Michigan banks would be received in payment of lands at par in the state land office and, acting upon this, invested his capital of three hundred dollars in Michigan cur- rency. His information proved correct and his enterprise was a financial success, bringing him in large profits. Soon afterward Mr. Horton returned to New
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
York but in 1840 was again in Wisconsin, where he purchased a home in Oak- land and married. For three years afterward he engaged in the cattle business and also dealt extensively in real estate throughout the country, buying large quantities of land warrants in St. Louis and locating fifteen hundred acres of land in Outagamie county, Wisconsin. In that city he founded the village of Horton- ville, which has since become a flourishing community. At the end of two years Mr. Horton sold out all his holdings in Wisconsin, realizing upon them eight thousand dollars, and in the year 1851 made his first journey to California. For a few months he worked in the mines but soon abandoned this in favor of trading in gold dust. During the last quarter of the year 1854 his profits in this traffic amounted to one thousand dollars a month. When the gold-dust business became dull he engaged in dealing in ice. He went into the mountains where there were fine ice fields and there cut three hundred and twelve tons, disposing of it throughout the section of California in which he resided and obtaining a profit of nearly eight thousand dollars. During all this time his fortune had been steadily increasing and he was then a rich man for those times. He determined therefore to return to his family and in the spring of 1857 took passage on the steamer Cortez for Panama. A few hours after the Cortez had landed her passengers terrible riots broke out in Panama and the natives attacked foreigners, killing and plundering all who came in their way. Mr. Horton, to- gether with two hundred people from the boat, were dining in the hotel when it was attacked by the mob. A history current in 1888 gives this account of the onslaught. "A general rush was made for the upper story, where they hoped to escape their assailants. Among all the passengers only three had firearms and one of these was Mr. Horton. By common consent he was elected to command the garrison. The natives, who by this time had become crazy with rage and rum, attempted to carry the staircase leading to the upper story by storm and several of the leaders darted up the narrow passage. At the head of the stairs stood Mr. Horton, a revolver in each hand, perfectly cool and collected. In the room behind him were tenscore persons, including women and children ; below were a thousand demons, thirsting for their blood. It was a trying mo- ment but he did not hesitate. Those behind urged the foremost of the assailants forward; the leader mounted another step; there was a flash, a report, and he fell back dead. Two others took his place but they dropped lifeless. Now the reports grew quicker and the flashes from the revolvers told of the sharp work being done. Mr. Horton had emptied his own weapons and had discharged most of the barrels of another that had been handed to him before the rioters fell back. Eight of their number were dead and four were seriously wounded. But the dangers of the besieged were not at an end. Although the mob had been repulsed, they were not dispersed and they were still vowing vengeance upon the passengers. The only place of safety was the steamer. Getting his little band in compact order, Mr. Horton distributed the revolvers to those whom he knew could use them judiciously and started on the retreat to the landing. This was reached in safety, though the mob followed them closely, and had it not been for the rare generalship displayed by Mr. Horton in getting the party embarked on a lighter instead of allowing them to rush, pell-mell, as they attempted to, on a small tug, many of them must have lost their lives. As it was, the lighter was towed out to the steamer and all were taken on board in safety. Mr. Horton's
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
baggage, containing ten thousand dollars in gold dust, was lost, having fallen into the hands of the rioters. He saved five thousand dollars which he had tied around him in a belt."
Mr. Horton eventually reached Wisconsin in safety and there remained until 1861, when he again came to the Pacific coast, settling in British Columbia. He spent some time in the Cariboo mining district, where he located a claim which proved to be valuable but which eventually petered out. Mr. Horton disposed of his interest in the enterprise for two hundred dollars and came south to San Francisco, where he gave his attention to different lines of occupation. In the early part of the year 1867 he attended a private literary gathering and the city of San Diego came under discussion. Mr. Horton's acute business judgment at once recognized a rare opportunity, for he saw that nature had done her share and the one thing lacking was a man to develop the natural resources. He sold out the business in which he was then engaged and on the 6th of April, 1867, reached the original site of the city of San Diego. This, however, is not the present location of the city, for at that time the inhabitants all resided at Old Town. Mr. Horton concluded that the most suitable place for the community was farther down the bay where the harbor advantages were much superior. With characteristic energy and resourcefulness he at once agitated the question of the election of city trustees, who were nominated and elected with no opposi- tion. Mr. Horton then purchased eight hundred and eighty acres of land at auction, paying for the property, which is now the main portion of the city of San Diego, twenty-six cents an acre. He had his land platted into town lots and went to San Francisco, where he put them upon the market. He at first met with indifferent success but never allowed himself to become discouraged and steadily promoted his project, finally carrying it forward to successful com- pletion. His receipts from the sale of his land increased year by year, finally amounting to eighty-five thousand dollars per year. However, he did not use all of this money for the promotion of his individual prosperity but gave all and more to the further development of San Diego. He organized and established needed industrial, financial and commercial enterprises, among which may be mentioned the first wharf in the city, which was afterward sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, who in turn sold it to its present owners, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Mr. Horton's work was never touched in any way by the shadow of self-seeking; his individual prosperity was kept always secondary to the promotion of public interests and to the further expansion of the city he had founded. He was a munificent giver, always anxious to help his friends and acquaintances and even those of whom he knew nothing beyond the fact that they were struggling against obstacles. In the first days of the city's development he gave land to anyone whom he thought would improve it, dispos- ing in this way of innumerable residence lots and valuable business property which if sold today at the present valuation would bring in over one million dollars. To each of the religious denominations he gave a lot for a church, among the most valuable at the present time being the Methodist church build- ing, which stands at the corner of D and Fourth streets and which is worth more than sixty thousand dollars. He gave a fine block of land for the erection of a hotel, the property upon which a flour mill was built, and to San Diego county donated the tract of land upon which the courthouse now stands. With rare
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
courage he took upon his own shoulders the expenses of the city for three years, when everyone else was discouraged and faint-hearted, paying the salaries of the officials and all the expenses incident to the management of the municipality.
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