USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 19
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"Our efforts, at considerable labor and some cash, to direct the attention of immigrants and investors this way, must benefit all San Diegans-even the other real estate men. Wherefore, beloved, begrudge not the writer of these Specials his incognito, nor seek to strip his mask from him lest you force him to seek security from curiosity in silence. Don't quote scraps from these writings to the individual you suspect of being their author, and then wink at him. If the song of the nightingale please you, listen, and don't throw stones into the canebrake in order to get a glimpse of the beak of the singer. If the dish is palatable, eat, and be content not to know the complexion and genealogy of the cook.
"Still, if you must know who we really are, we will tell you in strict con- fidence, only don't give it away. We are author of the Bread Winners and the Beautiful Snow. We composed the music of the great grasshopper song, 'There's Wheat By and By,' and the hieroglyphs of our being, 'S. T. 1860, X,' are painted in white and black letters on the summits of the eternal hills.
"We came to this earthly paradise for our health; we concluded to go into the real estate business, and then we determined to lift advertising out of its dull grooves and start it in new directions. In the latter determination we have succeeded, for people read these Specials who usually skip the advertisements, and some have been known to peruse them who do not always read all the editorials.
"If you would know more, come with us at nightfall upon the summit of yonder hill. The way is not long, though for a few dozen rods it is a little steep. Here we will halt. Here upon block 42, Middletown Addition, we are surrounded
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by a grander view than can be seen anywhere else, even in this favored land. Loma to our right, with brow of purple and feet of foam outlined against a sky of crimson. Far down the southern horizon towers Table mountain, out- lined against the gathering dusk. The electric lights glint across the bay to sleeping Coronado, and San Diego buzzes and hums at our feet. Would you know our secret? Gold alone will cause its revealment. Buy these four lots on one of which we stand, pay us $500 in money for them-it will be an enchant- ing site for a home and an investment which will return you thousands. We are-lend your ear-we are either Howard or Lyons. You pays your money and you takes your choice."
Walter Gifford Smith, in his story of San Diego, draws the following picture of the boom at its height :
"San Diego's growth was a phenomenon. The newly-built houses following the curves of the bay in their onward march of construction, occupied four linear miles and spread a mile from shore, covering the lower levels and climb- ing the barren hills. The business district traversed three miles of streets, and the population, at the close of 1887, numbered 35,000. At one time 50,000 people, from every state and territory of the Union and from many foreign lands, were in the bay country, trying to get rich in a week.
"Land advanced daily in selling price, and fortunes were made on margins. A $5,000 sale was quickly followed by a $10,000 transfer of the same property, and in three months a price of $50,000 was reached. Excitement became a kind of lunacy and business men persuaded themselves that San Diego would soon cover an area which, soberly measured, was seen to be larger than that of London. Business property that had been selling by the lot at $500, passed through the market at from $1,000 to $2,500 per front foot. Small corners, on the rim of the commercial center, sold for $40,000, and for the choicest build- ings the price was prohibitive. Rents correspondingly swelled. An Italian fruit vender, who used a few feet of space on the walk beside a corner store, paid $150 per month for the privilege. The store itself, 25x50 in size, rented for $400 per month. A small cottage, shabbily built, with 'cloth and paper' partitions, was competed for in the market at $60 per month. So general was the demand for homes and business quarters that the appearance of a load of lumber on vacant ground drew a knot of people who wanted to lease the structure in advance. Then the lessees camped out near by, waiting a chance to move in.
"Labor shared the common prosperity. A dirt shoveler got from $2 to $3 per day, according to the demand. The per diem of carpenters and bricklayers was $5 and $6. Compositors on the morning press earned from $50 to $60 per week. A barber asked twenty-five cents for a shave and forty cents for a bath; liverymen demanded $2.50 per hour for the use of a horse and buggy. The time of real estate agents was measured by dollars instead of minutes. In the common phrase of the Rialto, 'everything went,' and he who had aught to sell, whether of labor, commodity, skill, or time, could dispose of it for cash at thrice its value.
"Naturally, a population drawn together from the adventurous classes of the world, imbued as it was with excitement and far from conventional trammels, contained and developed a store of profligacy and vice, much of which found its way into official, business, and social life. Gambling was open and flagrant ;
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games of chance were carried on at the curbstones; painted women paraded the town in carriages and sent out engraved cards summoning men to their receptions and 'high teas;' the desecration of Sunday was complete, with all drinking and gambling houses open, and with picnics, excursions, fiestas and bullfights, the latter at the Mexican line, to attract men, women and boys from religious influence. Theft, murder, incendiarism, carousals, fights, highway robbery and licentiousness gave to the passing show in boomtide San Diego many of the characteristics of the frontier camp. Society retired to cover before the invasion of questionable people, and what came to be known as 'society' in the newspapers, was, with honorable exceptions here and there a spectacle of vul- gar display and the arrogant parade of reputations which, in eastern states, had secured for their owners the opportunity and the need of 'going west.'
"Speculation in city lots, which soon went beyond the scope of moderate resources in money and skill, found avenues to the country ; and for twenty miles about the town the mesas and valleys were checkered with this or that man's 'Addition to San Diego.' Numberless new townsites were nearly inaccessible; one was at the bottom of a river; two extended into the bay. Some of the best had graded streets and young trees. All were sustained in the market by the promise of future hotels, sanitariums, opera houses, soldiers' homes, or motor lines to be built at specified dates. Few people visited these additions to see what they were asked to invest in, but under the stimulus of band music and a free lunch, they bought from the auctioneer's map and made large payments down. In this way at least a quarter of a million dollars were thrown away upon alkali wastes, cobble-stone tracts, sand overflowed lands and cactus, the poorest land being usually put down on the townsite market."
It should be added that the Chamber of Commerce exerted itself to expose and defeat these fraudulent schemes, generally with success. Most of the frauds were hatched in places other than San Diego.
Those who participated in these events and still live here, look back upon them with varying emotions. To some the memory is painful. "The boom," says one; "well, that was the strangest thing you can imagine. There seems no way to account for it now, except as a sort of insanity. All you had to do was to put up some kind of a scheme and the people who came here would put their money into it by the barrel." Another tells with glee of a sea captain whom he drove about the city on his first visit, about the year 1875; and after seeing it all, said: "A very pretty little town, and the houses, they look just like toy houses!" "Near the same time," says Captain J. H. Simpson, "General Crittenden, who had been instrumental in getting a one-inch plank sidewalk laid on the east side of Fourth street to the Florence Hotel, then recently built, stopped Edwin Goodall, of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, on this notable walk, one day, and said to him: 'This is going to be a great city. We are going to have electric street railways, motor roads to National City and Pacific Beach, a ferry across the bay, a big hotel on the peninsula, and many other things.' And then, pointing with pride to the sidewalk, he exclaimed: 'And we have this sidewalk! "
"It must be admitted," says Captain Simpson, "that the boom was not an unmixed blessing. Evil as well as good resulted, and too many remember it
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with sorrow and anguish; yet the net gain to the city can scarcely be realized. I think it is twenty years in advance of what it would have been without it. * The progress made in these two years ( 1886-88) was wonderful. The two great water systems were started and the bonds for the sewer system voted. Streets were graded and miles of sidewalks laid, wharf facilities increased, work commenced and nearly two million dollars worth of property sold on Coronado Beach and the great hotel planned, motor roads built, streets graded, and sub- stantial improvements started in every direction."
Within this time, too, the city schools were systematized and several good schoolhouses built. The fire department grew in size and efficiency. And in brief the foundations of the present city were laid broad and deep.
One steamer in October, 1885, brought eighty new residents. Up to August, three hundred and six buildings were completed in Horton's Addition in 1886, and the following month two hundred new houses in course of construction in the city were counted. During this year there arrived 26,281, and departed 13,938 people, net gain in population 12,343. The total cost of the buildings constructed in the year was $2,000,000. The aggregate of real-estate transactions was over $7,000,000. In the first six months of 1887, the lumber imported by sea measured 14,780,000 feet. In August, 1887, the transfers of property in Horton's Addition for one week amounted to $223,513, and for the other addi- tions, $53,735. The week prior, the total transfers amounted to $500,951. In 1886 the number of business firms, professional men, etc., was 340; in 1887 they numbered 957. The population increased in the same period from 8,000 to 21,000.
In the assessment roll for the year 1887, it appeared that 217 citizens were worth over $10,000. The total valuation of city property jumped froin $4.582,213 to $13,182,171. In February, 1888, the total value of buildings under construc- tion was $2,000,000. In the next month, 19,667,000 feet of lumber were imported by sea, and in April the total was 18,000,000 feet. A review of five months' property sales made in June, 1888, showed an aggregate of $9.713.742.
The custom house collections rose from $5,739, in 1885, to $10,717 in 1886; to $29,845 in 1887, and to $311,935 in 1888. The exports in 1887 were $165,909, in 1888, $371,360, and in 1889 $376,799. The vessels arriving and clearing showed a similar record.
The great register of voters of San Diego county, dated September, 1888, contained 9,921 names. Directories and newspapers of the time show that there were 7 places of amusement ; 20 architects ; 3 expert accountants ; 4 abstractors of title ; 4 dealers in agricultural implements; 2 dealers in artists' materials ; 3 teachers of art; 2 exhibitions of works of art; I assayer ; 9 artists; 63 attorneys- at-law ; 6 awning, tent and sail makers; 6 auctioneers ; 5 manufacturers of artifi- cial stone; 20 shoemakers; II shoe dealers; 9 banks; 2 bands; 37 barbers; 15 blacksmiths; 12 bakers; 2 boat houses; 6 booksellers; 9 bath houses; 5 whole- sale butchers; 2 bookbinders; 3 beer bottlers; 6 brewers' agents; 7 brick com- panies; 5 billiard halls; 2 building and loan associations; 6 carriage and wagon dealers; 10 carriage and wagon makers; I carriage trimmer ; II country produce dealers ; 17 commission merchants ; 10 civil engineers and surveyors ; 9 capitalists ; 5 cabinet makers; 3 foreign consuls; 5 collecting agencies ; 3 cornice works; II clothiers ; 3 custom house brokers ; 18 confectioners ; 3 carpet dealers; 2 carpet cleaners ; 4 dealers in Chinese and Japanese goods; 4 dealers in curiosities; II
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dealers in crockery and glassware: 5 coal and wood dealers; 87 carpenters; 13 wholesale dealers in cigars and tobacco ; 4 cigar manufacturers ; 46 cigar dealers ; 5 general contractors : 14 contractors and builders ; 20 members of the builder's exchange; 37 dressmakers; II dentists; 8 dyers and cleaners; 4 sash, door and blind factories ; 13 druggists ; 15 dealers in dry goods ; I firm of wood engravers ; 6 employment agencies ; 9 express, truck and transfer companies; 5 dealers in fish, game and poultry; 13 dealers in men's furnishing goods; 3 dealers in fire- arms; 9 dealers in furniture ; 3 wholesale grocers; 64 retail grocers ; 39 hotels ; 2 hair stores; 4 dealers in gas and lamp fixtures; I manufacturer of gas and electric light ; 7 dealers in hardware; 7 dealers in hay, grain and feed; I house- mover; 4 dealers in harness and saddlery; 3 ice and cold storage companies ; 2 iron works; I dealer in iron and steel; 18 insurance agents; 20 jewelers; I junk store; 4 lumber dealers; 3 libraries; 24 livery, feed and sales stables ; 75 lodging houses; 12 wholesale liquor dealers; 2 dealers in lime, hair and cement ; 3 laundries : 2 locksmiths and bell-hangers ; 6 dealers in musical merchandise ; 3 mortgage and loan brokers; 5 music teachers ; 17 meat markets ; 2 grain mills : I marble and granite works; 3 manufacturers of mantels; 15 newspapers and periodicals; 2 dealers in mineral water; 10 milliners; 2 midwives ; 3 nurseries ; 16 notaries public : 5 news dealers : 3 oculists and aurists ; 7 photographers; 4 planing mills ; 10 plumbers and gasfitters ; 4 pilots ; 3 pawnbrokers; I manufac- turer of pottery ; I firm of plasterers; 3 dealers in pianos and organs ; 73 physi- cians and surgeons; 14 book and job printers; 6 dealers in paints and oils; 18 house painters ; 238 dealers in real estate ; 57 restaurants ; 2 railroad ticket brok- ers; I rubber stamp factory; I stereotyper; 2 shirt makers; 2 ship chandlers ; 2 agencies for safe companies : 2 soap factories ; 3 stair builders; 9 stationers ; 5 second-hand stores ; 3 sewing machine agencies ; 8 stenographers; 71 saloons ; 5 dealers in stoves and tinware: 5 tinners; 2 typewriters; 16 merchant tailors ; 3 undertakers; 3 veterinarians; 4 water companies; 7 dealers in wall paper ; 5 wharves ; 19 miscellaneous enterprises : 12 public buildings and offices ; 2 pub- lic parks : 3 cemeteries ; 13 schools and colleges; 17 churches and 36 societies.
The increase in the number of business firms, professional men, etc., in 1887 over 1886 was about 600.
These figures represent high water mark of the boom period, and in many respects have never been equalled since.
The great boom collapsed in 1888, the first symptom of stringency in the money market coming early in that year. Those who were speculating in margins threw their holdings upon the market, first at a small discount, then at any price, and before the close of the month of January, there was a wild scramble and confidence was gone. The establishment of a new bank in March did not have any immediate effect in restoring confidence. "Save yourself," was the sole thought of those who had been foremost in the gamble for the "unearned increment." During the spring and summer all the floating population and much that ought to have been permanent, had faded away-some 10,000 of them. Not less than $2,000,000 of deposits were withdrawn from the banks, which were no longer able to make loans on real estate, and were struggling to keep themselves from enforced liquidation. All works of public and private improvement were stopped and there was much distress among working people. Thus the spring and summer passed in deepest gloom and foreboding, and actual suffering among
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those who had lost all. In the fall, a better feeling began to prevail. The banks weathered the storm, for the time being, and the citizens began to hope for a steady and healthful growth for the future.
What were the net results of the great boom? To a few individuals, pecuniary profit; to many more individuals, loss and disappointment; to the real-estate market, years of stagnation; but to San Diego as a community, a large gain in permanent population and the most valuable permanent improve- ments-such a gain as could certainly not have been had in the same space of time by any other means.
It is a common saying that what a town needs is not a boom, but steady growth. Undoubtedly, steady growth is the healthful condition and the one which ministers most to the comfort and prosperity of individuals. On the other hand, one of the most striking lessons in all human history is found in the fact that individuals are often sacrificed to the good of the community, or, as the philosophers put it, "to the welfare of the social organism." This was true of San Diego in the period of the great boom. It is probably no exaggeration to say, as Captain Simpson did, that the city "is twenty years in advance of what it would have been without it." It is due to the truth of history that this should be said, yet it is also true that those who have the best interests of San Diego at heart-those who regard its best progress and highest welfare as something not necessarily synonymous with rapid advances in real-estate values-pray that there may never be a repetition of the wild orgy of speculation, and that never again may the future be discounted as it was when the frenzy reached its height.
CITY HALL, SAN DIEGO
CHAPTER XXI RAILROAD BUILDING
THE SANTA FE
William E. Smythe, in his excellent history of San Diego, published in 1909, gives the following detailed account of the city's trials and struggles in securing a railroad :
"The railroad ambition found early lodgment in the San Diego heart and the passion has endured through the years. Indeed, ever since railroads came into existence men have appreciated the importance of a direct eastern outlet for the seaport. In the dreamy days of Mexican rule, away back in the '30s they were discussing ways and means to accomplish the great end, but it was not until the American began to dominate the land that any organized effort was made.
"In the early '50s an agitation began for the construction of a railroad on the 32d parallel. Congressional action was secured for the preliminary surveys, and in May, 1853, Colonel J. Bankhead Magruder, president of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company, published his report. In January, 1854, Colonel An- drew B. Gray started out to make his 'survey of a route for the Southern Pacific railroad, on the 32d parallel, for the Texas Western Railroad Company. This report was not published until 1856, but the people of San Diego were fully informed of the undertaking and its results. Both these reports are extant and both are of great value.
"Different statements have been made as to who was entitled to the credit for originating the first railroad corporation in San Diego. The account most generally credited seems to be that it was due to Judge James W. Robinson and Louis Rose. They were both from the south and doubtless well informed as to the feeling in the matter of the people there, and both took an active part in the affairs of the organization, so that the tradition carries a strong degree of probability. William C. Ferrell and J. J. Warner are also mentioned in this connection.
"Early in November, 1854, the San Diego & Gila, Southern Pacific & At- lantic Railroad Company was organized. On November 16th, J. R. Gitchell re- turned from Sacramento with the charter and the following officers were elected : President, James W. Robinson; vice president, O. S. Witherby; treasurer, Louis Rose; secretary, George P. Tebbetts; directors, J. W. Robinson, Gen- eral H. S. Burton, U. S. A., E. W. Morse, Joseph Reiner, John Hays, M. M. Sexton, Louis Rose, L. Strauss, L. Gitchell, George Lyons, O. S. Witherby and William C. Ferrell. The purpose of the organization was to build a railroad Vol. I-11
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to Yuma, there to meet the line which might reach that point from the east. Colonel Gray had abandoned his work at Yuma on account of his pack mules being broken down, and the new company therefore promptly took steps to supply the deficiency. They sent out a party of surveyors to examine the pass to Santa Ysabel by way of the San Diego river, who returned about the time the charter arrived and according to the Herald 'made their report, which is so favorable as to astonish every one who had never been through by this route.' A second reconnaissance of the mountains was immediately begun and the sur- veys were pushed with vigor and success, demonstrating the feasibility of the 'direct route' to Yuma, upon which the people of San Diego insisted with so much tenacity in later years. But this was not all; these enterprising men prevailed upon the city to make a donation of two leagues of land (about 8,850 acres)- at an election held October 19, 1855, all the votes being for the donation-a gift which would have become of princely value had the railroad been built- and secured the confirmation of this grant by the state legislature.
"The organization continued actively at work until the Civil war began. Many of the original officers and directors retained their positions during the period. In 1855, J. C. Bogart, E. B. Pendleton and D. B. Kurtz succeeded John Hays, L. Strauss and William C. Ferrell as directors. In the following year J. C. Bogart was treasurer again, and E. W. Morse chairman of the auditing com- mittee. At the annual election in this year, O. S. Witherby became president, William C. Ferrell vice president, D. B. Kurtz treasurer, and George P. Tebbetts remained secretary, as from the beginning.
"At this time the hopes of the people were very high. Indeed, it seems probable the road would have been built but for the war. That conflict dashed the people's hopes, not merely for the time of its duration, but for many years after. The south had never for a moment thought of building a railroad to any terminus other than San Diego but it now no longer dominated either the politics or the finances of the country, and it was necessary to wait until new financial and industrial combinations could be made. It was not until the second year of the Horton period that lively hopes of the speedy building of a railroad again cheered San Diego.
"The Memphis, El Paso & Pacific Railroad Company, known as the Memphis & El Paso, or the Fremont route, was one of the numerous projects for build- ing on the 32d parallel. The eastern terminus was Memphis, and the western was at Guaymas, but this was afterward changed to San Diego. The old San Diego & Gila was revived with a new set of officers and Colonel William Jeff Gatewood, the president of the reorganized company, was sent to Memphis to negotiate. In 1868 General M. C. Hunter, of Indiana, representing the Memphis & El Paso railroad, came to San Diego and addressed large meetings. He suc- ceeded in negotiating a contract between the two companies, whereby the former company agreed to build the road and received the grants, franchises and lands of the latter, valued at $500,000, in exchange for stock. General Hunter selected a site for the depot upon the company's own lands, some half mile from Horton's wharf, and also made a contract with the Kimball brothers, owners of the National rancho, for a way station on their lands, for which the Kimballs were to donate one hundred blocks of land. General Thomas S. Sedgwick then pro- ceeded to make a survey, and General John C. Fremont went to Paris and
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succeeded in placing one hundred and forty-eight first mortgage bonds for $116,430. Application was made to congress for a grant but this failed and the whole scheme quickly collapsed. The Paris investors sued Fremont, and the land subsidy was forfeited to the city. General Sedgwick, who had just completed his maps, was sent east as the agent of the San Diego & Gila to secure a cancellation of the contract between the two companies, and succeeded in doing so.
"But the people of San Diego were not left long without hope. During these years, from 1868 to 1871, we hear of the San Diego & Fort Yuma, which was to run via Jacumba Pass; of the old Southern Pacific, the Transcontinental, and other projects ; but it was not until the Texas & Pacific Railway Company was chartered, March 3, 1871, that there seemed once more substantial ground for the belief that the day of prosperity was at hand. The Texas & Pacific was re- sponsible for so many things-for San Diego's first considerable boom and its greatest disappointment-and, in a way, for its subsequent growth and prosperity -that a somewhat extended account may properly be given.
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