USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 44
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This will mean starting a colony during the coming year on the institution land two miles to the north of La Jolla.
The problem of transportation is one yet to be solved, but it is hoped that 1913 will see established some means of local travel to and from the village.
Another and all important problem facing the management is the erection of a pier, a sea wall for the protection of the cliffs in front of the building and a large sedimentation tank which can serve the double purpose of clearing the sea water pumped in for laboratory use, and also for an outdoor aquarium. An appeal has been made to the state legislature for the estimated cost of these developments, $33,600. The institution feels it has a strong claim upon the public purse for this. In the first place a gift of one hundred and seventy acres of land valued at $100,000, besides buildings bought and equipped costing over $50,000. as well as an endowment of $150,000, and $60,000 more for developmental pur- poses has been made to the state. The expense of carrying on the institution's work is provided for by the endowment of its donors. The state virtually makes no outlay in return for this large gift.
When, therefore, it is an established fact that the work of the station is handicapped for lack of the pier and salt water pumping plant, that the state's property is being endangered by the encroachment of the sea, that such a pier and aquarium as are contemplated would greatly enhance the value of the state's property, it seems as if the small sum asked for should be ungrudgingly given, and San Diego is looked to to aid in securing this much needed grant from the state's treasury. We have confidence that it will be granted and that another new year will see material advance in the development of this unique scientific institution by the erection of some ten bungalows, and wharf one thousand
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to one thousand two hundred feet long, a sea-wall in front of the present build- ings, and a large outdoor aquarium and salt water pumping plant.
Another feature might be mentioned. The University of California, of which this institution is now a part, is making plans for greatly increasing its university extension work. There is no reason why the summer school plan should not be inaugurated here, bringing many more searchers for knowledge to the doors of San Diego.
(FROM THE SUNSET MAGAZINE)
In San Diego county, California, there is a little village called El Nido, the nest. On the map it is named La Jolla, but to the writer it is always El Nido, for, like the nest of a sea gull, it is built on the edge of the cliffs, and the waves roll and crush against the rocks beneath it all day and through the night. It is never quiet there, for on the calmest days the surf still comes pounding over the crags to break against the solid rock a hundred feet below the village. At one place where the cliffs are not so sheer, the houses have crept timidly down almost to the water's edge. And against the windows of these houses the spray, on a stormy night, drifts like fine rain. They say that those who live there sometimes waken in the night and are afraid, for their dreams are filled with the terror of the sea.
Most of the people of the village have built their homes on the top of the cliff, and there one finds a straggling row of cottages. At each end the single wide street ends vaguely in the gray sagebrush of the plain which rolls back like a frozen sea to the hills in the distance. Here, beside one another, there are two worlds; the cliffs with the salt spray and the roar of the sea, and just beyond them the plains with their endless brush and their dusty sunshine. Between these two worlds lies El Nido, like the sea gull's nest between the sea and sky.
The well informed tourist comes to the village expecting much and he is not disappointed. He alights at the station with the tang of the sea in his nostrils, and he straightens up with a full breath of the salt air.
Scattered palm trees give a certain vague sense of comfort, but he turns always to the roar of the surf and stands on the edge of the cliff to watch. With the surge of the waves in his ears, he climbs down the steep side of the rock and stands on the gray stone shelves that barely escape the water of high tide. There is a strange fascination for him in the swirling currents that follow the retreating breakers ; there is a new sense of terror and delight in the crash of the waves at his feet. Already the witchery of the place has seized him. He finds a shelving rock drier than the rest and sits with his chin in his hand looking and listening, with all the music of the sea sinking into his dreams.
No one knows why he stays at La Jolla; no one can tell why he postpones his departure from day to day. Perhaps the sea could tell, but the sea hides well its secrets.
Sometimes the fog comes in, cold and damp, like a great ghost arisen from the sea. You see it rolling toward the shore like a live thing, reaching out with great trembling arms, stretching out long, vague fingers, until you feel it touches your face. It wraps you about, and its cold breath sends you shivering to your fireside. Then you say to yourself that you will go away, back to your work,
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or on to some warmer place. But the next morning is delightful; the sun shines overhead, the fog is gone and the rocks and sand are dry and warm, The leaves of the palm trees move lazily in the sunshine; the hills stand out clear against the blue sky; the waves are more beautiful than ever, and-you stay.
If you are an invalid, and the cold lands of the east and north have cast you out and sent you drifting westward and southward, you may creep like a tired bird into the nest, and in the warm sunshine listen to the unending song of the sea. Perhaps in the various tones may be interweaved even the voices of some that have been left behind. Memories stir easily in the shifting tones of the sea music; and, half dreaming, you may make what song you will. If the tyrannies of love and medical science have ordered you south, you may find El Nido a nest warmed by the sun and perched in the safe hollow of the cliff, where you may cast aside for a time weariness of the world.
If you look down from the water's edge at a pool where the waves do not come, you see gold fish moving here and there. Sometimes you catch only the gleam of red and gold as they scatter in confusion to escape some great fish which swirls in among them with sinister purpose. You see strange shell-covered creatures fastened to the rocks. You see, perhaps, a crab creeping awkwardly sideways just under the water; you could easily touch it, but you wait and watch its beady, bright eyes, and its queer jointed legs. Suddenly it disappears in a crevice of the rock, and very doubtfully you roll up your sleeves and feel for it. You pull your hand out in a sort of brief panic, suddenly wondering what other live things might be hidden there.
At low tide the sea shrinks away and leaves a new world clinging to the ooze covered rocks-a world of soft, trembling creatures strange to the eye and stranger to the touch. There is left stranded, as it were, the whiole great world that lives always in the swing and the swirl of the undercurrents. Unfamiliar creatures they are-strangely adapted to their surroundings, so different often from those animals which you know that you can imagine a Caliban to say that the things on the earth God made, but these came otherwise.
Sometimes there appears a little band of seals leaping and playing in the sun- shine, or a school of porpoises or whales, or one or two jewfish. There is such evident joy in their movements, such easy control, such pure delight in life, that there comes to you a certain sense of envy. After all, you can only look on at this marine world; the delightful lack of responsibility which these deep sea creatures seem to possess is a thing apart from your life ; you are merely a spec- tator from the dry land; you are a prisoner in the air. just as they are prisoners in the water. But the envy is short lived, and in the end you shiver at the thought of life as it must be in the darkness and silence of those swirling currents of the deep sea levels. There is something grand and heroic in the existence of life amid such gigantic movements and forces; but the vagueness and horror of it are irresistible.
ESCONDIDO
The subdivision and placing upon the market of large tracts of land, the movement for an increased water supply, street improvements, increased acre-
C
HIGH SCHOOL AT ESCONDIDO, SAN DIEGO COUNTY
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BANK OF COMMERCE AND TRUST COMPANY, CORONADO
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
age of citrus fruit, the reorganization of the wine manufacturing industry, in- creased building operations, the remarkable growth of the chamber of com- merce, the reconstruction of the telephone service, improvements to the irriga- tion system and the organization of a new electric light and power company, high and grammar school expansion, church extension, increased dairy and poultry products and increased bank deposits are among the notable items connected with the active development of Escondido and tributary country the past year.
The old year closes with a record of progress unsurpassed in the history of Escondido. That the increase along all lines which go to substantial develop- ment and growth will be greater during 1913 than for any other year is the prediction of the more conservative of the boosters.
One hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars represents the extent of build- ing operations in the Escondido country the past year-a gain of $75,000 over 19II. Twenty-five houses were erected, averaging $2,000 apiece. The finest residence built during the year is that of A. E. Hull, in the southwestern part of the city, which cost about $20,000 and which is the finest house in the Escondido section. It is the country home of Mr. and Mrs. Hull, who have large property interests in Los Angeles.
The year 1912 saw the completion of four new churches-the Christian calling for about $4,000; the Church of the Nazarene, built at a cost of about $2,000; the Christian Science, which is in reality a part of the larger structure to be built later, put up at a cost of about $1,200; the German-Advent, in the west section of the city, costing about $1,000, in connection with which is a school building costing about $500, both having been built within the year.
A feature of the building operations is the enterprise of Peter Schnack in the erection of an apartment house on a scale never before attempted in this locality. Its location is at the corner of Kalmia street and Indiana avenue, close by the business section of the city. It is a two-story wooden structure and con- tains twenty-two three and four-room suites, fitted with modern conveniences for housekeeping, and in addition to the suites are ten extra sleeping rooms. Com- pleted and equipped, the undertaking cost about $20,000.
Buildings erected in the business section during the year for business pur- poses include the following: Dr. E. G. Logan, two-story reinforced concrete, with pressed brick front, with a frontage of fifty feet; by Alex Stewart a cor- rugated iron building and cement flooring, and a section of which, fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet, is leased by A. F. Hubbard and A. H. Blackwell for the Central garage, costing $4,000; by George Lehner, a two-story rein- forced concrete building, with a frontage of twenty-five feet, $3,500; by Fred D. Hall, a one-story reinforced concrete building with a twenty-five foot front- age, $2,000; J. C. Marikle and L. A. Haven, reinforced concrete building with- a frontage of fifty feet, $4,000; F. G. Thompson, a one-story frontage of twenty- five feet, $2,500.
That the product of the wine vineyards of Escondido is in fact a high class burgundy is the opinion of competent judges, among whom is D. Cozzolino, for a number of years chief chemist and superintendent of the big Italian vine- yard of Cucamonga, who has become familiarly interested in the wine-making industry of this valley.
Mr. Cozzolino was brought to Escondido through the efforts of W. E. Alex-
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
ander of the Escondido Valley Land & Planting Company, who sold him the winery and vineyards. For the past season the product was about one hundred thousand gallons, which product is now stored in the big vats of the winery near the Santa Fe station, and will yield, according to Mr. Cozzolino, about $55,000.
Most of the wine is that of the Carignane grape. In the years to come he expects to greatly improve the values, both in the matter of quantity and quality, by the development of Italian varieties like the Freisa and the Croetto, as well as French varities such as Alicante-Bouschet for the burgundy, while for the white wine type he will introduce the Sauvignon and Semillon, popular French varieties, and the Italian Vernaccia.
Mr. Cozzolino is enthusiastic over the prospects of the wine-making in- dustry for the Escondido valley, where he says that the soil and the climatic conditions are superior to any other section of California.
The two hundred and forty carloads of oranges and lemons produced in the Escondido valley the past year brought the growers $135,750, or a little better than an average of $1.98 a box. Of the two hundred and forty carloads sixty-five were oranges and one hundred and seventy-five lemons, the oranges being figured on a basis of $350 per car, average, making $22,000, and the lemons at $650 per car, average, making $113,750.
That the citrus industry, which is now represented by about one thousand acres of orchard and three packing houses, is yet in its infancy is the opinion of men well qualified to judge. Three hundred acres were set out to lemons the past year, which number of acres will be doubled the coming year. The Escondido Valley Land & Planting Company planted sixty-five acres to citrus the past year and is understood to be planning the planting of one hundred and fifty acres during 1913.
Many of the ranchers are installing water plants as auxiliary to the water taken from the mutual system, and the installation will be encouraged by the coming into the field of the new electric light and power company, which ad- vertises to furnish power in all parts of the valley.
In 1912 the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company expended $55,000 in the improvement of its service and at the same time made Escondido the "checking station" for a wide area of country. It has leased for a term of five years a reinforced concrete building, erected for its especial purpose at the corner of Lime street and Indiana avenue. It installed in the building a "switch board" ample for the needs of the exchange for years to come, rebuilt the line to San Pasqual valley, increasing the number of circuits from three to seven, placed nearly all of the city wires in cables, rebuilt the toll lines, changed the call system from the magneto to the common battery, doing away with the turning of the crank of the telephone system in calling "central," increased the operating force and provided a resident local manager and superintendent of wire service.
Other than the large quantities of hay consumed on the ranches, the crop as represented by the seven thousand two hundred tons shipped, returned $129,600 to the valley of Escondido and tributary country. The yield of barley is esti- mated at thirty thousand sacks; wheat at five thousand sacks; and oats at ten thousand sacks.
Bank deposits in the four banks of Escondido-two national and two sav-
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
ings-have now reached the seven hundred thousand mark, the increase the past year having been about $125,000. In 1906 the total deposits of the then exist- ing three banks were $198,000, the figures of this year showing an increase over that period of over $500,000. The steady growth of the deposits of the national and the savings banks is shown by the following tabulation :
Year
National Banks
Savings Banks
1906
$147,000
$51,000
1907
218,000
89,000
1908
302,000
94,000
1909
329,000
96,000
1910
350,000
207,000
19II
344,000
229,000
1912
449,000
251,000
Figures furnished the Union by Postmaster W. B. McCorkle of Escondido show important gains in postoffice business. The postal receipts for the year ending July 1, 1912, were $8,770 as compared with $7,954 the previous year- a gain of $1,716. The number of mail orders issued for the year ending July I, 1912, was six thousand one hundred and seventy-three, representing $41,102.15 as compared with five thousand seven hundred and sixteen orders issued the previous year representing $40,014.68, a gain of about $1,100. The amount paid out on money orders for the year ending July 1, 1912, was $24,698.28, as com- pared with $24,130.03 cashed the previous year.
Incoming registered letters for the year ending June 1, 1912, showed one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one as the total, as compared with a total of one thousand five hundred and thirty June 1, 1910. Outgoing registered let- ters for the year ending June 1, 1912, showed a total of one thousand nine hun- dred as compared with one thousand four hundred and thirty-nine for the year ending June 1, 1910.
Official figures from the books of General Manager E. J. Hatch of the Es- condido office of the Wells Fargo Express Company show shipments of im- portant products for the year ending November 1, 1912, as follows:
Cream, two hundred and fifty-one thousand three hundred and seventy-six pounds; poultry, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand, eight hundred and forty pounds; fruit and vegetables, one hundred and sixty-four thousand, one hundred and twenty-five pounds; butter, one hundred and forty-five thousand, one hundred and sixty-three pounds; veal, fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred and seventy-nine pounds; eggs, nine thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven cars, or two hundred and eighty thousand, one hundred and ten dozen.
The close of the year 1912 saw the completion of a series of improvements to the system of the Mutual Water Company in Escondido, which has called for an expenditure of more than $75.000 in the past three years.
Of this amount nearly $40,000 has been spent in constructing a tunnel through the Rodriquez mountain, at the upper end of the works, for a distance of one thousand nine hundred feet. The installation of the tunnel and the building of a substantial cement ditch, doing away with wooden flume, makes it possible to fill the big impounding reservoir from the flood waters of the San Luis
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Rey river in thirty-six days, whereas under the old system of wooden flume three months were required. In other words, the completion of the permanent improvements makes the filling of the reservoir a reasonable certainty even in the dryest seasons.
In Escondido newspaperdom the important event of last year was the es- tablishment of the first daily paper of the valley. the Daily Times-Advocate, the daily, a four page paper, being issued in conjunction with the weekly Times- Advocate. The daily and weekly are published by Percy Evan, editor, and Ernest N. White, manager, energetic young men who bought the plant from J. N. Tur- rentine a few months ago and who have since that time been adding to the equip- ment of the office. The owners expect to install a telegraphic service for the daily this year. The Advance continues to be published as a weekly and all three papers advertise most generously the city and tributary country.
CORONADO
Coronado peninsula, first known as the Island of San Diego, is a strip of land lying between San Diego bay and the ocean. In 1869 Archibald C. Peachy and William H. Aspinwall acquired title to the land, which contains four thousand one hundred and eighty-six acres, more or less, from Pedro C. Carrillo. In 1885 the Coronado Beach Company was organized and was composed of Elisha S. Babcock and Jacob Gruendike, of San Diego, Joseph Collette, of Terra Haute, Indiana, and Hampton L. Storey, of Chicago. This syndicate bought the penin- sula in 1885, including North Island. Sometime thereafter, General H. W. Hal- leck and Frederick Billings were taken into the corporation. The price for the property was $110,000. The Coronado Beach Company was capitalized at $1,000,000.
On November 13, 1886, an auction sale of lots was held, at which time three hundred lots were sold, for which $110,000 was paid, and the grand total of lots sold by auction amounted to about $2,200,000. By the month of January, 1887, there were thirty dwellings completed on the island and the sales of lots aver- aged $10,000 a day. One excursion brought ten carloads of visitors from Los Angeles and the east. In March of that year the foundations of the great Hotel Del Coronado were laid, and by December, 1887, the hostelry was ready for the furniture and installment of help. On February 14, 1888, the first guests were entertained.
The town of Coronado is growing quite rapidly. It has a number of flourish- ing business houses and a bank in'a beautiful building, which is a branch of the Bank of Commerce and Trust Company, of San Diego. In this building is the postoffice.
A number of the streets are paved and boulevarded. Especially is the thor- oughfare leading from the ferry to the south end of the island noticeable, as it is parked in the center from one terminus to the other, and the street railway track runs between an avenue of beautiful palm trees, set in grass and flower plots.
CORONADO'S NEW SCHOOL BUILDING
Ground was broken at Coronado early in the year for an $80,000 school building.
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11
COR
HOTEL DEL CORONADO
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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
The site of the new school comprises a full block of land which is bounded by Sixth and Seventh streets and E and F avenues. The present school, an old frame structure, occupying the north end of the block, is to be abandoned and removed as soon as the new structures are ready for occupancy.
The new school, comprising a group of three buildings, will have a front- age of approximately three hundred feet, facing east along E avenue. The three structures are to be connected by an axial corridor fourteen feet wide running north and south.
The center building is in three sections, consisting of a kindergarten depart- ment, an assembly room accommodating six hundred adults, and four class- rooms on the second floor for secondary education work. The eight graded classrooms are divided into two groups of four rooms placed in the one store building north and south of the central building. Between each of the buildings are disconnected toilet rooms with spaces segregated for large and small chil- dren in addition to the usual separation of sexes.
The buildings are constructed mainly of reinforced concrete with red terra cotta mission tile covering the visible roof slopes. The general architectural design is Spanish renaissance. The architects are Quayle Brothers & Cressey.
The school will accommodate about four hundred and eighty pupils. The in- fants' department in the central building includes a baby's room with toy room in connection; also an open-air room with south and east exposures. The main kindergarten room is arranged to secure sunlight during the full class period.
Adjoining the main entrance are the principal's room with consulting room and eye testing room, teachers' room, library and stock room. The assembly room will have its entrance on F avenue. The floor space will accommodate six hun- dred seats. A platform large enough to seat a graduating class will be constructed at the west end of the hall and connecting with the hall will be two retiring rooms, two west exists and two toilet rooms. Provision also is made for a sepa- rate fireproof room for moving picture machine and lantern demonstrations.
A special feature of the classroom buildings is the open-air scheme. One side of each classroom can be thrown open to sun and fresh air. There also are long ranges of sun windows which will admit sunshine to every classroom during the whole teaching period. The corridors are arranged to serve as play and drill rooms on inclement days. A scheme of playground fixtures, land- scape parking and children's gardens will be included in the complete plans. Future buildings are proposed on F avenue for high school work and a manual arts building will occupy the north end of the school block. The school board, consisting of Brown, Fitch and Jessop, is working hard to make the school one of the most complete and sanitary on the coast.
On the peninsula of Coronado is situated the world-famous Coronado Tent City. This resort, which started thirteen years ago as a tiny camp on the beach, has grown to the status of a canvas city with streets, electric cars, electric lights, gas and, in fact, all the accommodations that can be found in any modern city. Up to a year ago it was open but three months out of the year and was consid- ered a pleasure resort only. Now it is open all the year round and is considered by its winter guests as a healthy, economical and convenient place of residence, within easy reach of San Diego and with all the delights of sea bathing, boating and fishing as added attractions. Year by year the Coronado Beach Company
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