USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > The Herald's history of Los Angeles City > Part 17
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Iron working and wagon making began in Los Angeles with John Goller, who arrived in the city by way of Salt Lake in 1849. The charge for shoeing a horse at that time was $16. There was a great scarcity of iron, and Goller sent out on the roads traveled by the emigrants for old abandoned tires, and worked
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Between Old and New.
them up into horseshoes. When he finally managed, after many difficulties, to construct a wagon, he kept it a long time before he found a purchaser. Compared with the carreta it looked insubstantial, and was regarded with suspicion by the Californians.
The making of brick was begun by J. D. Hunter in 1852, and the first structure built of them was at Third and Main ; the second was a jail building. In 1858 over two million brick were sold for a number of improvements that were either under way or were projected, such as the Temple market house, afterward taken over by the county for $40,000, to be used as a court house, the southern portion of the Tem- ple block, the brick flouring mill of Stearns & Scott, now the Capitol Milling Co., and the Ar- cadia block on Arcadia and Los Angeles.
In 1854 the first brewing establishment was set up in Los Angeles, and a tannery started. In 1855 the first flouring mill began operations, and in that same year the culture of bees was undertaken by O. W. Childs, who is said to have paid $100 for one hive and swarm brought down from San Francisco. In 1850 the first drug store was established by Dr. Osborne, who came to Los Angeles from New York. He was presently succeeded in the business by John G. Downey, who afterwards became one of the wealthiest men of the region and served as governor of the state.
April 15, 1851, the first child of American parentage on both sides was born in Los An-
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History of Los Angeles.
geles: John Gregg Nichols, whose father, a year later, was elected to the mayoralty.
In 1855 came the Kern river gold excite- ment. There was a great rush from the north- ern diggings and from Los Angeles city into Tulare county, where it was reported that vast quantities of gold had been discovered. There was, however, very little gold to be obtained in - the San Joaquin valley, and many of the disap- pointed miners and adventurers drifted down to Los Angeles, where they contributed a new element to the prevailing lawlessness of the time. Partly as a result of the Kern river ex- citement a new interest sprang up in the San Gabriel mines, and at one time Los Angeles bid fair to have a gold furore of its own.
In 1852 the "Sea Bird" began making reg- ular trips three times a month between San Francisco and San Pedro, and in that same year D. W. Alexander and Phineas Banning put in a stage line from the coast to the city. In 1851 Alexander had brought in from Salt Lake ten heavy freight wagons, the first ever seen in Los Angeles. In 1853 a train of four- teen wagons and sixty-eight mules were brought in from Chihuahua at a cost of $23,000. J. L. Tomlinson put in an opposition line to that of Alexander & Banning in 1853, and for inany years there was active competition in freight and passenger business, and the teams raced against each other on the way to the city.
b
LOS ANGELES IN 1857
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Between Old and New.
The passenger fare from San Francisco to San Pedro in the early 50's was $45, and freight was $25 a ton. The fare from San Pedro to Los Angeles was $10, but competition finally brought it down to $2.50, and even below that for a short time. Freight from San Pedro was from 50 cents to $1 a hundredweight-about what is now charged from New York to Los Angeles. In 1855 freighting began between Los Angeles and Salt Lake, which had in- creased by 1859 to a considerable business. This ceased, of course, when the railroad con- nection was established between the Mormon city and San Francisco. In 1858 some experi- ments were carried on by the national govern- ment in the use of camels for freighting be- tween Los Angeles and Arizona, but the plan was not a success.
In 1850 the Bella Union, now the St. Charles, on North Main street, was the only hotel. In 1856 the United States (not the mod- ern building) was constructed on Main and Requena streets. Shortly afterwards the La- fayette opened in a building that was the pre- decessor of the modern St. Elmo. In 1856 Ramon Alexander, an eccentric French sailor, began the construction of the "Round House," a peculiar affair built in imitation of a resi- dence he had seen in South Africa. It was lo- cated at the corner of Third and Main streets, and in the later 50's was transformed into a
-
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History of Los Angeles.
saloon, with a garden to the rear of it, run- ning through to Spring street.
The vote of Los Angeles in 1856 was 522 for Fremont, the Republican candidate, against 722 for Buchanan, Democrat. Much of the vote that went to Fremont was influenced by personal consideration. His residence in Los Angeles and on the coast had given him many friends in the vicinity. Four years later Lin- coln received only 356 votes, against 703 for Breckenridge, 494 for Douglas (total Demo- cratic 1197), and 201 for Bell.
In 1849 a special water department of the city government was organized, for at that time the city owned and operated its own wa- ter system. In 1857 Wm. Dryden was given a franchise to supply water drawn from the springs located on the land in the vicinity of the old Southern Pacific depot on San Fer- nando street, which was raised by means of a water wheel in the zanja. A brick reservoir was constructed in the plaza and some iron pipe was laid along Main and Los Angeles streets. This system was maintained until I861.
CHAPTER XXIX.
IN WAR TIME.
D URING the period from 1860 to 1870 Los Angeles fell back into its Spanish- American habit of standing still. Some progress was made; the city was a lit- tle larger, and perhaps a little better behaved at the end of the period than at the beginning, but the advance was not to be com- Fared with that of the preceding ten years, nor with what is usually achieved in such a length of time in an American city. The popu- lation was increased by about a thousand peo- ple, but the percentage of gain was scarcely that of the average throughout the country, showing that there was not much immigration from the east. The assessment roll doubled, rising to a total of over $2,000,000 in 1870, and there was some enlargement of the city's re- sources in the adding of new industries. On the other hand, that which had been from the beginning of the Spanish occupation of the territory the chief pursuit of the people-cat- tle-raising-received a severe setback by droughts, and, in fact, very nearly ceased to exist.
California was, before the war, a Demo- cratic state, and it contained a very consider- able southern element that favored slavery and upheld the doctrine of state rights to its
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farthest limit. One of the senators of the state, Mr. Gwin, made the assertion in Wash- ington that if the South seceded California would go with it. When called to account for this utterance he modified it to the extent of saying that if the Union came to be split up, California would start a Pacific coast republic of its own. After the war had begun this man left the state to enter the diplomatic service of the Confederacy. When things came to a straight-out issue, it was discovered that the Union men, Democrats and Republicans to- gether, were strongly in the majority in the state; but during the years 1859, 1860 and 1861 there was room for doubt as to which side Cal- ifornia would espouse. The southern element was particularly strong in the lower end of the state, as will be seen from the fact that Los Angeles county gave Breckinridge twice as many votes as it gave Lincoln, and nearly twice as many as it gave Douglas, who repre- sented the northern or Union democracy.
Just before the war an effort was made to cut the state in two at the line north of San Luis Obispo and Kern counties, evidently with the design of securing another piece of slave territory. The state legislature of 1859 passed an act authorizing an election to be held in the southern counties, to vote on the question of separating from the rest of the state and forming a territorial government of their own, under the name "Colorado." The election was held, and more than two-thirds
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In War Time.
of the vote was in favor of separation. Up to this time no state in the Union had ever suf- fered a division, and when the plan was broached in Washington it was found to in- volve a number of legal and political compli- cations. Before the separation could be con- stimmated the war broke out and the matter was laid aside, and presently forgotten.
In 1861 the man who afterwards became fa- mous as Major General W. S. Hancock was sent to Los Angeles by the national govern- ment to see that the stores and arms which had been gathered there met with no misfor- tunes. The dutiful sons of southern states were constantly passing through Los Angeles at this time, on their way to join the Confed- erate army, and on account of the turbulence that had always prevailed in that city there were grave fears that the rebellious element might get the upper hand. Upon his arrival in Los Angeles Hancock called upon the Los Angeles Guards, a local organization of loyal young men, to protect the government prop- erty, and they responded in a way to set at rest all question of how Los Angeles would stand during the contest. The flag was hoisted over the court house, Hancock made a stirring speech to the assembled people, and in the evening of that day a public banquet was held, at which patriotic toasts were delivered.
There were occasional expressions of dis- loyalty during the progress of the war, that the local representatives of the government found
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History of Los Angeles.
it necessary to rebuke, although extreme meas- ures were never employed. At one time the order was issued forbidding soldiers to en- ter the Bella Union and the United States ho- tels, because of the attitude of their proprie- tors toward the Union cause. In 1863 the au- thorities became suspicious that the alleged working of mines on Catalina island was mere- ly a scheme to establish headquarters there for Confederate privateers, and the island was closed to the public for a time. There is no evidence, however, that this theory rested on any substantial basis. It was a period of false mining "booms"-that of Catalina with the rest. In 1860 and 1861 considerable mining development was undertaken in the mountains north of Los Angeles, and for a year or two Wells-Fargo was shipping out nearly $12,000 a month in gold.
The telegraph line which had been con- structed between San Francisco and the east was extended to Los Angeles in 1860, and $100 a month was subscribed by citizens for daily dispatches that should keep them posted on the events of the war. The principal papers of this period were the "Star" and the "News," the latter becoming a daily in 1869, and con- tinuing publication till 1873, when it suspend- ed. Both were Democratic in politics, the "Star" decidedly on the "copperhead" order. The Republican party made considerable gains, however, voting 555 for Lincoln in 1864, as against 744 for McClellan. Four years later
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In War Time.
the vote in the county was 748 for Grant against 1236 for Seymour.
The mayors of this period were: D. Mar- chessault, 1861 to 1864, and again in 1867; Jose Mascarel, 1865; C. Aguilar, 1866, 1868 to 1869, and Joel Turner, 1869 to 1871. The term was now lengthened to two years. An important change in the school system was effected in 1866, when the office of superintendent was made appointive instead of elective. In 1869 the position was filled for the first time by a professional and experienced teacher. In 1865 the census showed 1009 children of school age, but of these only 331 attended the public insti- tutions. The remainder were divided about equally between the private schools and the streets.
The industrial development of this epoch was affected in a considerable degree by the erratic behavior of the rainfall. In 1862 the year opened with one of the greatest floods Cal- ifornia has ever known, which carried away all the water service erected by the city and by private individuals, and damaged many hun- dred acres of orchard and farms. The period was, as a whole, however, one of under-average rainfall. The total for the ten years was only a little over ninety inches, or an average of nine per annum. In the season 1862-63 only four inches fell, and that was badly distributed, and in the following year there was little more than a trace. Cattle were slaughtered by the thousand, and died of starvation by the tens
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of thousands. Vast herds were auctioned off at 371/2 cents a head to be killed. The cattle industry received a blow from which it never recovered, and during the first years after the drought there was nothing to take its place as a producer of revenue for the country. Gov- ernor Downey advocated the raising of sheep, and as the grade of the flocks had been im- proved since the American occupation of the country, wool presently became a staple.
In 1868 there was another great flood. Again all the apparatus for city water ser- vice was carried away. The San Gabriel river changed its course from the old to the new bed, and a great area of good farming country was utterly ruined. In the seasons 1869-70 and 1870-71 there was very little rainfall-a total of only ten inches for the whole period. This succession of floods and of dry times gave very little encouragement to those who were experi- menting in horticulture, and small progress was made. In 1867 there were about 9000 or- ange trees in bearing. By 1870 the assessment showed 34,000 fruit and nut trees of all kinds in the county. A considerable planting of walnut trees began during the latter years of this decade.
About 1865 a movement began among the owners of large grants to cut them up into small farming tracts and place them on the market. In 1868-69 there was considerable ac- tivity in real estate transactions in and around Los Angeles. The price of good farming land,
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Ing War Time.
which had been from $3 to $5 an acre, began to rise a little. After the death of John Tem- ple, in 1866, a number of real estate transac- tions took place in closing up his estate which will give some idea of values at the time. The Cerritos ranch was sold to the Bixbys for $125,000, 27,000 acres, including the present site of Long Beach. Twenty-two lots, 50 feet each, on Spring street, scattered along from First street to Fourth, sold for $50 apiece. The Temple block property, including the southern part of the building, brought $10,000. In 1863 over 2000 acres, forming the best part of what is now called East Los Angeles, was sold by the city authorities for $1014.75, or 50 cents an acre, to Dr. John S. Griffin.
In 1868 George Hansen made a survey for the city of the tract now called Boyle Heights, cutting it up into thirty-five-acre tracts. In the same year the district along the river now covered by Elysian park and the adjoining lands was surveyed by Mr. Hansen. A year later the section lying to the south of the Ely- sian hills and west of the Ord survey was sur- veyed and prepared for occupation.
In 1869 a considerable amount of building was under way. Up to that time there were no three-story buildings in the town, and the only two-story structures were the Bella Union, the United States Hotel, the Lafayette (now St. Elmo), Bell's block (or Mellus row), Stearns' block (the Arcadia, which is still standing), the old court house, a portion of the Temple
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History of Los Angeles.
block, and several stores on Los Angeles and Main streets. The Pico house was begun in 1869 on the site of the old Carrillo residence. J. A. Carrillo, the famous politician and man of affairs, had passed away in 1862. Work began on the Roman Catholic cathedral in 1869 at the location which was first selected on Main street between Fifth and Sixth. It was after- wards changed to Main street near Second, and the present structure was begun there in 1871. St. Vincent's college building on Broad- way and Sixth was begun in 1866.
The first bank in Los Angeles was opened in 1868 under the title of Alvinza Hayward & Co., with a capital of $100,000. John G. Dow- ney was one of the partners. In the same year the banking house of Hellman, Temple & Co. was organized, with a capital of $125,000. In 1871 these two institutions united, forming the Farmers and Merchants bank of today. The Temple & Workman bank came into ex- istence in 1872.
In 1867 the manufacture of gas was begun.
Agitation in favor of the construction of a railroad from San Pedro to Los Angeles com- menced early in this decade, and the purpose was finally achieved, and the railway started into operation, in the fall of 1869.
The leader in this movement was Phineas Banning, who owned the stage and freighting line between Los Angeles and the seashore, and was largely interested in Wilmington and
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In War Time.
the land surrounding that place. He served as member of the California senate from 1865 to 1868. In 1863 a bill passed the legislature au- thorizing the county of Los Angeles to issue bonds to the amount of $100,000, and the city to issue to the amount of $50,000, the proceeds to be used in subscriptions to the stock of the proposed railway line. It took about five years of active missionary work to arouse public sen- timent to a point where there was any prospect of carrying such an issue of bonds, and by that time it had been decided that the amount pro- posed was insufficient. In 1868 a new bill passed the legislature raising the figures to $150,000 for the county and $75,000 for the city, or a total of $225,000. The unprogressive ele- ment of the community, including, as is usual in such cases, some of the heaviest taxpayers, fought the scheme with great persistence, de- claring that it would bankrupt the county, and that about two trains a month would carry all the freiglit the railroad would ever secure. The issue turned on whether the road could be made to pay expenses, or would prove a con- stant drain on the county. Within a few years after the opening of the road it was running hfty cars of freight and passengers a day in and out of Los Angeles. The vote on the bonds stood 397 for and 245 against. The rail- way went into operation in November, 1869. Its freight schedule was simple enough, the principle items being: Dry goods, $6 per ton ;
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History of Los Angeles.
groceries, $5 per ton; empty pipes, $1 each. Passengers were charged $1.50 from the ves- sel to Wilmington and $I additional to the city. The road was profitable from the very beginning.
The frequent floods of this period, with the consequent destruction of the various city wa- ter systems, served to discourage the authori- ties from attempting permanent municipal ope- ration of the water supply, and propositions of all kinds looking to private control of this utility were offered and considered during the decade. In 1861 water "script"-an easily ne- gotiable form of municipal obligation-was is- sued to the amount of $15,000, and a year later the city petitioned the legislature to be al- lowed to issue bonds to the amount of $25,000 to construct a water system. In 1862 a contract was let to Jean L. Sainsevain to build a dam, flume and other works for $18,000. In 1865 the city leased this system to D. W. Alexander for four years at a rental of $1000 a year. He transferred the lease to Sainsevain, who con- tinued the work for three years, during which time he put down wooden service pipes as far as Third street. These were not a success, as they rotted and leaked at the joints. In 1868 Sainsevain sold out to Dr. John S. Griffin, Pru- dent Beaudry and Solomon Lazard, and they made a proposition to the council to lease the whole system for fifty years, which was pres- ently changed to a plan to buy the whole plant
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In War Time.
for $10,000, on the understanding that they were to expend $200,000 in betterments, in re- turn for which they were to have a perpetual franchise to take ten inches of water from the river to be sold to the citizens. This proposi- tion came within one vote of carrying the coun- cil, in spite of great opposition from the peo- ple, who were unwilling that the last hope of a public water system should be destroyed.
Finally in 1868 bids were received on a thirty-years contract to provide the city with water; and Griffin and his associates offered $1500 a year for the privilege, agreeing also to effect the necessary betterments, to which was added the construction of an ornamental foun- tain in the plaza. At the end of the period the plant was to be bought by the city at a price to be fixed by arbitrators. There were several other bids, but this one was the most advan- tageous to the city. Had the matter ever been presented to the people, it would probably have been refused acceptance, as two council- men, elected just at that time to fill vacancies, were both avowed opponents of the plan. It was carried through the council and went into effect July 22, 1868. The $1500 a year rental to the city was presently cut to $400 a year by a compliant council. This contract expired in 1898, and after much litigation the city pur- chased the plant for $2,000,000-a figure which was doubtless far beyond the wildest imagina- tion of the council of 1868.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY.
HE long period of slow growth and of stagnation for Los Angeles was now at an end. It had taken ninety years to accumulate a population of 5000, and in the next succeeding score of years a marvelous transformation was to take place. The changes of the first decade, that from 1870 to 1880, were not entirely unexpected. Those of the second, from 1880 to 1890, exceeded the wildest proph- ecies. That the building of a railway into Los Angeles connecting it with the eastern states should cause its population to increase 100 per cent was not surprising; but that the building of a second road should cause the in- creased number to multiply 500 per cent-a total advance from 5000 to 50,000 in twenty years, or from 5000 to over 100,000 in thirty years-that was a marvel that no one could be expected to foresee.
The immediate success that was achieved by the railroad from Wilmington to the city, not only in the freight and passengers it car- ried, but also in the impetus it gave to numer- ous lines of industry in the county, encour- aged the people of this region to cast about for further opportunities of the same kind. The famous railway operator, Thomas A.
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The Coming of the Railway.
Scott, who was pushing out into the southwest across Texas, had projected a line through California from Yuma to San Diego. He pro- posed to bring this north along the coast, if suitable inducements were offered by Los An- geles. At the same time the owners of the Central Pacific were building southward, and by 1872 were well down into the San Joaquin valley. That region of the state already con- tained a number of settlements or towns, some of which numbered from 500 to 1000 people. As the road drew near these it demanded a free right of way and, in most cases, a bonus of some description. Where this was refused the line was run some distance from the town, and a new population center established. Most of the towns thus abandoned were ruined, or were compelled to move bodily to the new lo- cation. Two exceptions to the rule were Bakersfield and Visalia, which have managed to hold their own in spite of the snub. It must not be supposed that the policy of the road in this matter contained any element of malevolence. The issue was one of business ; the question for the town to determine being whether it needed the road, and for the road whether it needed the town.
The people of Los Angeles had the object lesson of the San Joaquin valley towns before them, when the railroad reached the moun- tains at the southern end of that region and paused to ask what the ancient pueblo would do. Did the people of Los Angeles desire the
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History of Los Angeles.
railway connection with San Francisco and the east sufficiently to be willing to pay 5 per cent of the assessed valuation of all land and improvements in their county, or would they prefer to see the new road turn to the east along the mountains and pass Los Angeles by on the other side?
Five per cent on the assessed valuation of $12,000,000 would be $600,000. There was also an item of sixty acres to be given for depot purposes at some advantageous location within the city limits. As with the road to the water front, there was again great diver- gence of opinion. The Texas Pacific scheme of Scott was in the air, but had not been pre- sented as yet in the form of a definite proposi- tion. The Southern Pacific, on the other hand, was ready to begin work immediately. An
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