USA > California > Imperial County > The history of Imperial County, California > Part 3
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The first sheriff was Mr. Mobley Meadows, and he secured a tempor- ary courthouse in a part of an old furniture warehouse and real estate office. Two of these rooms were set apart for a jail in which to confine malefactors. It seems that the parent county of San Diego had refused to divide up a proper share of the public moneys to the new county. But these pioneers were not contentious, and after a time a satisfactory set- tlement of the whole matter was made in an amicable manner.
Near the close of 1907 a fine new jail structure had been completed and the county offices were removed to the new building. Two years later a site for a permanent courthouse building was selected west of the 'Date Canal. But sometime before this the first newspaper in the town was established. The importance and value of a newspaper in the progress and development of any new country, and especially in this Valley county, cannot be overestimated, and this well-edited sheet was
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fully recognized by these intelligent and enterprising people, who have given it proper support.
EL CENTRO .- The town of El Centro, now the capital of the new county, had antedated the county itself by some two years in its organ- ization. The townsite belonged to Mr. W. F. Holt, and a flag station named Cabarker had been established there by the Southern Pacific Railway. Mr. Holt sold this site to a Redlands syndicate which exploited it under the name of El Centro, which has been retained ever since. There was a hotel which had been moved over from Imperial, two small residences owned by Dr. Anderson, also moved from Imperial, and a small real estate office on Main Street. Water was received from a lat- eral ditch leading from the canal west of the town. The construction of the present El Centro hotel was soon begun and also the Holt Opera House. And yet, it must be said, that this shire town of the county then contained only about a dozen permanent settlers. But the abounding faith in the rapid development of that region, which had animated these people from the beginning, actuated them still. And today El Centro has a population of 7500 and a total of building operations in a year of nearly one million dollars. In 1912 the various industrial structures there were valued at $241,900; commercial buildings, $83,300; educa- tional structures, $65,000; residences, churches and hospitals, $16,400; hotels, restaurants, etc., $15,700, a total of over half a million dollars. There were 81 new residences built that year at an average cost of $2000. And the total assessment of the land has increased $10,000,000. All this was accomplished in six years.
THE TOWN OF IMPERIAL .- This was staked out by the Imperial Land Company in the geographical center of the irrigable area in the fall of 1900. Dr. W. T. Heffernan was the pioneer merchant, who built a store there and stocked it with general merchandise. A tent hotel was opened by Millard F. Hudson about the same time, and a house for religious worship for the Christian Church was built in 1901. And here again the printing press took its place in the front rank of public endeavor. It was the Imperial Press, edited by Mr. Henry C. Reid, whose daughter Ruth was the first baby born in the town. The pastor of this first church was the Rev. John C. Hay, whose initial congregation numbered just six persons. Mr. W. F. Holt and Le Roy Holt and his wife were of this number. But the town now began to grow rapidly in size and import-
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ance. The Imperial Land Company opened a new hotel in the summer of 1904. Mr. Reid guided the destinies of the Imperial Press from May until October in 1901, when he was succeeded by Edgar F. Howe. Dur- ing Mr. Reid's control he published a graphic sketch of the new town as he first saw it in March, 1901. Material had arrived for the erection of the Press building, together with living apartments for the editor and his family. This structure was soon a reality through the efforts of a jolly bunch of friends under the command of W. F. Holt. The printing machinery was in place while the walls and roof were being built around it and even while the first edition of the paper was being put in type. When it is stated that the fixed population of the desert city that first summer was less than a dozen, it will be seen that the editor's neighbors were not very numerous. How he obtained his news, his subscriptions, or his money to pay his office staff does not appear.
CALEXICO .- On the border line of the new county, and its sister town of Mexicali, is one of the most prominent towns in the Valley, being tributary to a vast extent of territory in Mexico that is very fertile, having large ranches producing wheat, barley, cotton and similar crops. It owns its water and sewer system, has well-lighted streets, miles of concrete sidewalks, avenues of fine shade trees, splendid schools and churches. The California Development Company has its offices here. The United States Custom House is here, and there is a large industrial district for handling cotton, gins, oil mills, compress, etc., warehouses and many fine blocks of buildings.
HEBER is four miles from this point northward and has become one of the largest shipping stations for stock, hay and grain in the Valley. It also ships many carloads of cantaloupes in the season and it has a good hotel.
BRAWLEY, nine miles north of Imperial, is the great cantaloupe cen- ter of the Valley, some 3000 carloads of this luscious fruit being shipped from here annually. And it is claimed that this place produces more vegetable products than all the other towns in the Valley combined. It is a very progressive town, owns its own water and sewer systems, has a fine public park, several social clubs and churches, cotton gins and a creamery. Among the leading vegetable products are dates, apri- cots, grapes, peppers, beans and peas. It has the largest cantaloupe pack- ing shed in the west.
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HOLTVILLE, also an incorporated city, is rated as the gem of the East Side section. It is the only one in the Valley having artesian water. Much public spirit has been shown here, and there are many public im- provements with others in prospect. The adjacent territory is mainly devoted to alfalfa, cotton, grain and stock raising, although an exten- sive acreage is now being planted with the cantaloupe melon. It is claimed that this is the only place in the United States where one can eat breakfast below sea level and sleep above it. The Holton Power Company here supplies the entire Valley with electricity, and the great plant is operated by water power.
In addition to the towns briefly mentioned there are Calipatria, Silsby, Dixieland and many other smaller settlements all through the Valley which are ready to blossom into business activity. Vacant houses are unknown in any of these towns today.
Such is the record of the men who came into this Valley knowing it was a forbidden desert without a redeeming feature. It must be appar- ent to anyone that it took a vast amount of courage and persistence to start the development of a ranch of any kind here in those old pioneer days. They had to brave the storms miles from any supplies, and away from all the comforts and advantages of civilization. Even ten years ago there was only a single telephone line to Flowing Wells, forty miles to the railway. Now there are all manner of modern facilities all through the Valley, and the newcomers may go and come at will. But it always takes men of this class, full of courage and determination, to blaze the way of civilization and progress in any new country like that. Those who are made of milder stuff are always ready to follow where they see that success has been already achieved, and in this they are quite willing to share liberally.
THE CLIMATE
This is a subject susceptible of a great variety of definitions. It covers many aspects and features not readily embraced in few words. Of these, temperature is only one, though most important perhaps in the average range throughout the year. We often read of this or that place being en- dowed by Nature with the "finest climate in the world." But she rarely distributes her favor so lavishly in one spot. And such an expression really means very little in the abstract anyway. It gives the average per-
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son only a partial notion of the general meteorological conditions that prevail. There are so many elements that enter into the final estimate of climate in any particular place that personal investigation extending over a considerable period of time seems almost imperative. Then, in addition to all this, there is also a wide diversity of opinion in regard to just what constitutes the best climate. Perhaps no two persons would precisely agree upon this fundamental point. And this is as it should be, or the various latitudes of the earth would not all be inhabited. People become adapted to the climatic conditions which prevail in the region where they live.
The term "equable" is usually applied in speaking of the most desir- able climate enjoyed by human beings. Old geographic writers designat- ed it in this rather indefinite manner when they meant neither too hot nor too cold, too dry nor too wet, but just pleasant most of the time, without any extremes of temperature or any violent atmospheric dis- turbances. And this is perhaps an ideal condition of the air that most nearly agrees with the average human mind. And yet some people are not entirely satisfied with such uniform conditions. They find it monoto- nous and prefer changes, though very apt to rebel sharply when these changes become very sudden and drastic.
Climate therefore depends primarily upon temperature, of course, but also upon the relative humidity of the atmosphere. And all these things depend upon the location of the place with reference to the equator, not only, but the altitude above the sea. The terms climate and weather, however, should not be used indiscriminately, as there is a distinction between them. Climate is a condition of a place with relation to certain meteorological phenomena, and the term weather has reference to these phenomena themselves.
As to the climate of this Imperial Valley, nine months of the year are considered perfect, and without any rival. It is extremely rare that the region is visited by frost. There are no violent storms, and rains are seldom known. But the remaining three months of every year are me- thodically and admittedly hot. But it is at this very time that the green things growing are improving every shining hour, and making the farm- er's heart glad. And yet settlers soon become inured to this heat, and both men and teams work without much discomfort. It is cool in the shade and the nights are always cool, affording restful sleep, while the
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sleeper dreams of his rapidly ripening fruit and their early arrival in the markets to catch the top prices ahead of other competitors in less fav- orable regions.
LOOKING BACK
There is so much of interest in the Valley Year Book of 1902 as indi- cated by Jose Huddleston in her contribution to the history of the fol- lowing year that the writer takes the liberty of quoting copious excerpts therefrom in this chapter. It shows the contrasting conditions between then and now in this great Valley in a vivid manner.
She arrived at Flowing Wells in October, 1901, and she called that the "jumping off place," or the end of civilization. Nothing was visible then but glistening sand, a little sagebrush and mesquite. Her little party spent the night under a tent in the desert and without sleep. Next morn- ing at six she took the stage for Imperial, 33 miles away. They finally reached there at four in the afternoon and again stopped under a tent, kept this time by a Chinaman in payment of the rent, wood and water being furnished him by the owners. The land company had a very small office in the town, and Le Roy Holt, now a banker, kept a small grocery store. The Imperial Valley Press was issued from this building every week over a miniature printing office where the printer's family lived. There was also a Christian Church building through the influence of W. F. Holt, and a school building, and these few small structures com- prised the town of Imperial at that time. A little patch of sorghum was the only green spot in sight. This had been planted as an experiment by Mr. Patton and was the only touch of color in that great sand waste. Mr. Huddleston opened the first barber shop in October, 1901. Then for the first time, it seems, the men of that Valley began to cut their hair and clip their beards. Soon after this two more tents were struck, and in one of these Mr. Huddleston baked bread with a gasoline stove, three loaves at a time, and 21 loaves a day. As room in this oven could be found he slipped in a pie. Of course, all were delighted with this home- made innovation. Then the writer relates in the following December the Valley was treated to a violent storm of snow, rain and sleet.
When the first cow was brought in, tied behind a wagon, a great. sen- sation was created. Mrs. Huddleston was keeping a restaurant, and the owner of the cow stopped there and told her she could have some
BOTHWELL'S CAMP
Twelve miles north of present site of Holtville, taken September 21, 1901. At this time Bothwell and his wife were the only parties living east of the Alamo River
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fresh milk if she would milk the cow. It was the first milk she had seen in seven months. The main canal was then under construction and she received water through a small branch ditch when it was not choked with sand. In August, 1902, the ice factory began operations there. But in the May previous she had gone to Calexico, which was separated from Mexico by a small ditch ten feet wide. A hotel, blacksmith shop, custom house office and half a dozen tents comprised this first town in the Valley at that time. Then this picturesque writer describes the beau- ties of the mirages seen in that region in this way, and says that those who have never lived where these wonderful aerial phenomena occur can have no conception of such beauties. "On looking south we have often beheld the mountains turned upside down, one above the other. At other times a full-rigged battleship was seen so plainly that even the port holes were visible. Again we have seen the ocean and watched the breakers sweeping over the sands, and could see the spray from the rolling waves. Toward the east there was an immense castle with beauti- ful turrets with iron bars at the windows. A little farther north there appeared to be a hole through the mountain which seemed about four feet in diameter, showing beautiful green on the other side. Another time, toward the east, an immense bird seemed to be feeding, a crane perhaps, with a bill about a foot and a half long."
"And so, where the winds have met, and the seas were swept aside, We have builded our homes, we have tilled the soil, and we view it all with pride."
INDIAN OCCUPATION
It must be assumed that long before Columbus turned his Spanish prow toward this western hemisphere it was inhabited by a swarthy race of human beings, whom we have been pleased to call Indians. Whence they came or how they originated are questions which have never yet been satisfactorily answered, nor ever will be. Ethnologists and other scien- tific investigators are still wrestling with these fundamental questions. And they arrive at different conclusions, just as they do as to the pre- cise origin of the Negro race. But when this new western continent was discovered the Indian was found in possession of the lands under widely varying conditions and aspects, depending upon their location and mode of life. These people we have been content to designate as the native
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American race or aborigines. The Jesuit missionaries in this California peninsula divided them into three classes or tribes, the Pericues, Mon- quis and Cachimies. These tribes were subdivided into various branches, and again into families and rancherias. They were all tall, erect, robust and well formed, as a result of their nomadic life in the open air, to- gether with their wildwood habits. Though not disagreeable in features, they seemed to delight in disfiguring themselves in various ways. Their complexions were somewhat darker than those found in Mexico, and became almost black as they grew older. Their hair was black and straight, but they had no beards. Their teeth were large, regular, and very white. This native population has been estimated as high as fifty thousand. But it is thought it did not really exceed half that number. A census of fifteen missions taken in 1767 found only about 12,000. In fact it is said that one might travel for days and not see a single Indian. No records have been found to show that they were in any way connected with any other tribe or people. As already remarked, no effort seems to have been made to trace their origin. That they were inhabiting such a desolate country of their own volition is hardly possible, and it has therefore been surmised that they were driven out of some more fav- ored region by more powerful tribes, and then sought refuge among the vast wastes of this peninsula. They seemed devoid of all knowledge or even native intuition. They thought California was the entire world, visited no other people and had no visitors, cared mainly for filling their stomachs and toasting their shins in idleness. Even the native hunting instinct, so common with other Indians, seemed to be dormant in their minds if they had any minds at all. They wandered from place to place aimlessly, sleeping on the bare ground, rarely spending over one night in any one place. They rambled about in search of water, fruit and food of some kind. Only when ill did any of them get any shelter- ing hut. After their lessons at the mission they would squat on the floor. The men were entirely naked, and the women often wore belts around their waists if they wore anything. When given clothing they would discard it as soon as they got outside. They made sandals of deer skin, and sometimes wore strings of shells and berries in their hair and around their necks. They were armed with bows and arrows and had a few rude stone implements for digging roots. Baskets and cradles were made of tortoise shells. The men carried burdens upon their
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heads, the women upon their backs. They knew nothing about cooking and each cooked for himself. They ate anything and everything-roots, fruits, buds, seeds, and flesh of all kinds of animals, deer, wild-cats, mice, rats, bats, lizards, locusts, caterpillars and even snakes, old bones and carrion, so disgusting and filthy were their habits. And yet we are told they were healthy and rarely got sick, but remained strong and vig- orous. They could endure hunger longer than the white man, but they were also gluttons and could gorge fuller. Seventeen watermelons and six pounds of unrefined sugar at a sitting was reported. But they made no intoxicating liquors, though on festive occasions they became drunk smoking wild tobacco. They practiced a crude form of polygamy, and their social customs were full of interest to the white man, though dis- gusting in the extreme. They had no form of religion or government of any kind until the missions were established. They had neither gods nor idols, nor any conception or dread of any hell before the missions were founded. When asked who made the sun, moon, stars, etc., they would answer "aipekeriri," who knows that? There seemed to be no language of their own and very few words for anything they could not see, hear, touch, taste or smell, nor any words to express abstract ideas. In fact their native vocabulary was of the most meager description. Their language and culture went together.
In short here was a nomadic race which seemed to be regarded as the lowest scale of humanity. And if the chief end of life is to eat, drink, sleep and pass a painless existence, the Jesuit father was right in saying they were happy. They perhaps slept more soundly on the ground, un- der the open sky, than many European potentates under their gorgeous canopies on their downy beds. There were no troubles of any kind, nor any envy, jealousy, slander, or evils common to civilization. "Where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise" is the much abused adage that seems to apply here.
Perhaps the general characteristics of this native race in Lower Cal- ifornia have been referred to in this general article more in detail than was absolutely necessary, although the briefest possible summary only has been presented from the earliest writers on the subject.
Here in this Imperial Valley the tribal name of these nomadic deni- zens of the forest was Cucupah, closely related to the Yumas, though more industrious than the latter. They apparently lived then, as now,
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in the mountains of Mexico and only came to the desert valley at time of tribal wars. Here they left many large water and food jars, in prep- aration for a siege. All of them lived in this happy-go-lucky way among their savage instincts.
Then, after succeeding generations, when Columbus had brought the white men over, it was rumored that this whole country was to be domi- nated by the white race, that would eventually crowd the Indians into the sea. Thus when the boats of these whites were reported in the Col- orado River, upon which the Indians had depended for food and drink, a general massacre was planned by this whole tribe. This was about the year 1800, when Lieutenant Hardy of the British Navy led two expe- ditions well into this great western part of the continent in search of some river up which he could sail. He ascended the Gulf of California, making his way past many islands, shallows and sandbars with great difficulty and danger, and finally reached the mouth of the sluggish Colorado River. He pushed on to a small lake in which he anchored, and then went further for investigation. But as far as he could see there was nothing but a vast desert of sand, bare and desolate. Further progress being impossible here, he turned back and reported to his su- perior officers that the Colorado River was not navigable.
It should be added here that there has been some question whether or not this English officer was ever really in this river at all, although he called it the Colorado in his report and maps at the time. For a hun- dred years geographers thought he was mistaken, and yet he may have been right, as the main course of this erratic stream has changed many times since then. But upon this question however depends the fact whether or not he was the first Englishman to look upon this vast Col- orado desert. And the point is not a vital one after all; in any event the great river was well worthy of his best efforts.
THE COLORADO
This is one of the longest rivers of the world when its tributaries are included. It begins at the junction of the Grand and Green rivers in the southeastern part of Utah, the whole river being really a continuation of the Colorado in its upper part. Its mileage is about 2000, and the drainage is about 800 miles long, varying in width from 300 to 500 miles, with a total of something like 300,000 square miles. It flows
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through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Mexico. The lower basin of the river is only slightly below sea level, with some mountain ranges rising 2000 and 6000 feet in the air. The upper part of this basin is from 4000 to 8000 feet above sea level, and it is bordered on the east, west and north by snow-clad moun- tains. Through this plateau there are deep gorges, transverse valleys and caañons which are dry most of the year. Among these and other tributaries in this district flow the waters that go to make up this slug- gish and erratic river, which for untold centuries has carried down the silt and atoms of earth that were destined to transform this great Val- ley and make it blossom like the rose.
Sluggish streams with shallow settling basins, are required to pro- duce this cargo of maturing debris. And here the story of the forma- tion of the Colorado, now reclaimed, and the great Imperial Valley, its daughter, begins.
In 1853 government experts made exhaustive investigations of this region. After describing the bordering mountains, their report turns to the desert section, and says that it belongs to the type which physio- graphers describe as constructional, an area which has been depressed as a result of a crustal movement, as contrasted with valleys due to ero- sion. Its rock-floor or bottom is below tide even in those parts north of the Gulf where the actual surface is well below the sea. This indicates a subsidence of the earth's crust. A marked fault-line in the mountains show that the Valley simply dropped away at some time or other, either slowly or suddenly. There are therefore topographic character- istics of a faulted-block tilted toward the northeast and plunging into the desert toward the southeast. As the entire basin is occupied by lake silts and alluvium of most recent origin, it is evident that these fault- movements were of a very late period. Everything strongly points therefore to the fact that this desert valley is associated with structures in which faults are prominent. When this valley-floor subsided there must have been a great inrush of the Gulf waters. Scientists agree that at a comparatively recent geological period this section was covered by the waters of the Pacific. It was here that the Colorado found its way in past ages and tumbled its load of silt year after year, forming at last a delta near its mouth which spread in time and buried the original floor of the Gulf under hundreds of feet of mud and alluvium, and finally
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