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STTCCESSORS TO

MORSE, WHALEY & DALTON,

H eal Estate Dealers,

•^WE30^^^i>^ THE

CITY AND COUNTY

SAN DIEGO.

ILLUSTRAXKD,

AND CONTAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.

,Y"OV^

San Diego, Cal.
LEBERTHON & TAYLOR.

1888.

THE NEW

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Entered Iccording to Act of Cocgress, U ih Year 1888, by

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PREKACE,

I HAVE been asked to sketch the history, topography, resources and progress of
the city and county of San Diego, up to date. To do so in full is to write a ponderous
book whose size would at once seal its fate. To sketch the whole in brief and readable
form, giving due importance to all parts, omitting unimportant details fit only for an
advertising pamphlet, is a greater tnsk than to write the whole in full.

Neither history nor geography is of any value if one-sided. There is little use in
writing anything unless written in a way that will make the reader believe it. The day
has long passed when a one-sided tale about California can be palmed off on an intelligent
leader. As a mere matter of policy, to say nothing of honesty, such writing is unwise.

A fair account of the whole necessarily requires the statement of some cold facts.
It is difficult to see any reason why these should not now be given. They are certainly a
part of our history. Heretofore they have generally been concealed. Surely the time
has come when all may afford to laugh at them. If a sorrow's crown of sorrow is
remembering happier things, so is the memory of the dark and stormy waves a pleasure
when the bark is once safe in port. There is little credit in a fight won against no
enemy; slight glory in a field where there were no odds. The trials of San Diego really
brighten the triumph of to-day, and form a setting for the picture that it would be
Joolish not to use . T. S. VAN DYKE.

San Diego, March i, iSSS.

BIOOR^PMICAL.

The biographical sketches of the prominent and pioneer citizens of San Diego that
appear in this volume, have all been prepared from data furnished by those interested.
If we have, in some instances, enlarged and embellished this material, it has been be-
cause we believed that the subjects were deserving of it. It would be difficult in any part
of the country to find a group of men more worthy of praise, to whom the community where
they make their home owes more, than the older citizens of San Diego. For many long
years they waited patiently for the coming of the day that was to bring a realization of
their hopes; when the world was to acknowledge what they had long contended, that
here on the shores of the Bay of San Diego was the fitting place for a great city — a
metropolis. That day has come, and is it to be wondered at that they feel proud of
their constancy, their faith in the future? T. T. LEBERTHON,

A, TAYLOR,

Editors and Publishers.

San Diego, CaL, Marcii i, i8S8,

Successors to.

STTCCB880B8 TO

MPm, WHALEY & DULTON,

R eal Estate Dealers.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

The Early Days 9

Progress of Farming, etc 13

Beginning of Fruit and Vine Culture 16

Rise of San Diego City 18

The Long Sleep 21

The Awakening 25

The Bay Region 30

The Interior 34

The Lower Coast Division 39

The Northern Division 44

The Mountain Division 48

Water 52

Production 58

The Climate 66

Out-of-door Amusements 72

Miscellaneous 75

Morse, Whaley & Dalton Building 210

First National Bank 211

The Consolidated National Bank of San Diego 213

The Pierce-Morse Block 214

Villa Montezuma 214

(V)

LIST OK BIOORARHIES.

PAGE.

Biographical Slcetches St,

A. E. Morton 83

E. W. Morse 87

Judge O. S. Witherby 91

M. Scliiller 93

Thomas Whaley 96

Hon. James McCoy 102

Andrew Cassidy 104

Robert Kelly 106

Colonel C. P. Noell 109

J. S. Mannasse 112

Charles A. Wetmore 1 14

George B. Hensley 118

William E. High , 120

Aaron Pauly 122

D. Choate 125

Judge McNealy 129

Robert Allison 131

Philip Morse 133

R. G. Clark 136

Daniel Cleveland 139

George W. Hazzard 142

William Jorres 145

Charles J. Fox, C. E 147

A. Klauber . . 1 50

S.Levi 152

Bryant Howard 1 54

John S . Harbison 1 56

Col. Chalmers Scott I.S9

Charles Hubbell 162

George William Barnes, M, D , 170

O. S. Hubbell 164

Joseph Faivre , 167

Thomas L. Nesmith , 172

Mrs. Mary J. Birdsall 175

D. Cave, D. D. S , 176

Dr. W, A. Winder 1 79

Judge M. A. Luce , , 181

(vii)

viii LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES.

George A. Cowles , ' i S4

Dr. P. C. Remondino 1S7

N. H. Conklin 190

R. A. Thomas 192

Judge John D. Works 1 94

L. S. McClure . . 197

Governor Robert W. Waterman 199

Col. W. H. Holabird 203

Col. John A. Helphingstine , 206

Willard N. Fos 208

CHAPTER I

THE EARLY DAYS.

HE BAY of San
Diego was dis-
covered in 1542,
by Cabrillo, and
named in 1602
by Vizcaino, who
a survey of it at the
From the survey of

made
time.

Vizcaino over a century and
a half rolled over its unbro-
ken face until the ships of
Padre Junipero Serra anch-
ored within it. It was several
years before the Indians were
fully subdued, but they finally
succumbed to the peaceful arts of
the missionaries. Soon after the
establishment of other missions in
California, and the quieting and
gathering in of the greater part of
the Indians around the missions,
settlers from Spain and Mexico
began to come in, and later on a few from the United States, England,
and elsewhere. Nearly all of these settlers obtained grants of large
tracts of land from the Mexican Government, which have since been
the cause of much litigation, envy, and quarreling. These grants were
simply Mexican homesteads, given to settle the country just as the
United States homesteads are given, for practically nothing.

Instead of selling a man, as the United States then did, all the land

,9}

lo CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

he wanted for $1.25 an acre, the Mexican Government gave it to him by
the square league. The grants were made large partly as an inducement
to the settler to go into such a wild and remote country, but mainly
because the raising of cattle for the hides and tallow being the only in-
dustrv, a large range was absolutely necessary for profit as well as the
support of the band of retainers necessary for profit and safety. Instead
of abusing the owner of a grant as a monopolist and a robber, the man
who felt bad because he did not own a slice of it, should have remem-
bered that he or his father or grandfather might have had it just as
easily. But they preferred the luxuries of civilization to a rude life in a
foreign country, both wild and remote, and which, as everyone then
believed, would never be anything but a wild cattle range. The man
who endured years of privation for its sake, could scarcely be blamed
for wanting something for it. In some respects these large holdings
have been an injury to California. But it is equally certain that the
results have not been one-sided. Such improvements as have been made
at Coronado Beach, Escondido, and many other places in Southern Cali-
fornia, would have waited fifty years, had the land been half covered
with ordinary farms. Riverside, Pasadena, and nearly all that is of
much value in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties, owes its value
to the fact that the control of the water, highways, and improvements of
all kinds were in one hand.

Nevertheless the first effect of these large grants was to retard
settlement. The county of San Diego, in common with the rest of
Southern California, was then believed to be a veritable desert of sand,
cactus, and horned toads, fit only for stock range at the rate of about
one hundred acres to each animal. The owners of the large ranchos,
who knew better than this, still believed the land fit only for stock range;
and as they practically owned all the outside range, they naturally
looked with jealousy upon the incoming of any farmers either to over-
stock the ranges or to make cultivated fields, upon which the cattle
would trespass and cause trouble. Hence, it was for the interest of all
these large owners to keep up the cry that the land was of no use for
anything but stock, even had they not really believed it.

Under these influences the county remained virtually an open stock
range, covered with many thousands of cattle and horses, for about
twenty years after the admission of California to the Union. A very
few persons had come in and attempted farming, some on large and
some on small scales, but made a poor headway against low prices, wild
cattle and their own ignorance of the land's peculiarities. Much quarrel-
ing and bad feeling between the new settlers and the old necessarily re-
sulted. On the one hand the ranchero claimed that his lines embraced
all available Government land in his \icinity, and ate out the crops of
the granger with his cattle. In this he was aided by the sheep-man,

0. SS^^^ \

H3H;

THE EARLY DAYS. ii

who had for some time been a power in the h^nd and who wanted all the
public grazing for himself On the other hand, too many a ' ' granger
ignored all lines, declared all grants frauds, denounced his Government
for recognizing vested rights, squatted in force upon what was unques-
tionably within the grant lines, and shot the ranchero's cattle not only
in his grain tields, but in the hills. The cattle shot in the fields were
left where they lay, but the beef upon which some of the new settlers
kept fat came from the hills.

The "granger" increased so fast under the impetus given by the
founding of New San Diego, the fact — first proved by J. S. Harbison, of
Sacramento, who brought the first bees into California and into this
county — that enormous quantities of fine honey could be raised here,
and the fine climate, that he soon became a power in the land. The
squatter, or ' ' esquatero, " as he was contemptously called by the sheep
and cattle-men, finally walked off with the country, as he eventually
will with the great cattle ranges of the great western basins. About
1870 he worked through the Legislature a law which broke up the old
free range system which had been in use in all the new States of the
West in their early days. Under this system damages for trespass by
cattle could be had only upon proof that the land was protected by a
fence of a certain size. The new law, or "no-fence law," as it was
called, made the common law of England, by which every man must
keep his cattle on his own land, the law of this county.

This law soon reduced the raising of cattle and horses to a minimum,
because it was too expensive at that time to fence the large ranchos, and
because the free range upon which cattle had heretofore run was prac-
tically destroyed. The sheep interest did not suffer, but improved in
consequence of the law. Being under the care of a herder day and
night, sheep could not trespass, and the amount of free range on public
land was increased by the withdrawal of the cattle and horses. From
this time sheep-raising, bee-keeping, and general farming became the
leading industries, though on a few of the large ranchos, such as Santa
Margarita and Santa Rosa, the cattle were retained. The ranchos
remained, however, closed to settlement, as the owners did not care to
admit a few small farmers, and there was then no probability of getting
settlers enough to make subdivision profitable. El Cajon, San Dieguito,
and La Nacion were for many years the only ranchos open to settle-
ment, and the farmer had to seek such spots as lay around the grants or
in the small valleys in the surrounding hills. Some very valuable tracts,
such as Poway, Fallbrook, and San Pasqual, never were included in
grants and were speedily taken up. Hundreds of other small tracts
were scattered over the land in pieces of from one hundred to a thou-
sand acres or more, and of these the smaller ones were gradually
settled, until it became nearly impossible to find forty acres of good,

CITY AXn COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

arable Government land west of the desert di\ide. San Jacinto was
opened to general settlement in 1882, Escondido in 1886, Ex-Mission
in 1885, Santa Maria in 1886, San Marcos in 1S87, Temecula in 1883.
But many of the large grants still remain closed, though it will be but
a short time before all of them are upon the market in small tracts.

CHAPTER II.

PROGRESS OF FARMING, ETC.

jfF ever a country needed good plowing it was San Diego
County. If ever a country failed to get it, it was this same
San Diego. The long tramp, tramp, tramp, of immense
bands of sheep over the ground while it was wet had
packed it to the hardness of an adobe brick. Even the
alfileria and burr-clover, which endure more ill treatment
than almost any other vegetation, failed to reach half their
natural size. In many places they were nearly destroyed
by being eaten off while growing, and foxtail and other
kinds of poverty grass and rank weeds were in their places.
The desolate appearance given the land by the bands of sheep, can
scarcely be imagined to-day by those who look only upon the cultivated
vineyards of El Cajon, or the alfalfa fields of San Jacinto.

" Tickle the earth with a plow and it will laugh with a harvest,"
some well-meaning goose had written of California, in the days gone by.
Unfortunately for the land this was true in many seasons. In fact, in
three seasons out of ten, grain sown upon an old road or abandoned
brick-yard will do about as well as anywhere. In two years more out of
ten, the mildest scratching will suffice. As the great California weather
prophet remembers only his predictions that turn out correct, so the
new farmer remembered only his successes, and scratching in grain with
a cultivator, harrow, or even a brush-drag, became the rule. Even
where a gang plow was used, there was no plowing, the plows being so
numerous that no team could draw them if deeply set. For years the
single plow was never seen in use, except to make a road or break
brushy ground. Many defended this style of farming on reasoning that
appeared sound. " If it is a good year I will get a good crop anyhow,
no matter how carelessly put in. If it's a bad year, I won't get a crop
no matter how well it is put in. By scratching I can get in four or five
times as much ground as I can with good plowing, and the chances of
a good season are always six out of ten."

The crops raised under this system were sometimes enormous,
exceeding the heaviest yields ever known east of the Rocky Mountains,
and when combined with a good price, often yielded a heavy return

2 (1-)

14 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

over expenses. But in the long run this style has been a failure. It
soon made the soil foul with weeds, cheat, etc., reducing the quality and
quantity of the grain, so that it became necessary to lose an occasional
year by summer fallow. And in the years of light or average rainfall,
the want of good plowing told too heavily. In the mountain belts,
where there was always rain enough in dry years, there was too much
in years when there was enough along the coast. Fine crops were
raised there in such severely dry years as 1877 and 1883, but the cost
of hauling to market was too great.

The smaller farmers, who sowed small areas with grain, did better
work and had better crops. But their work was generally a failure in
the long run for another reason : The big farmers did e\'erything by
machinery and hired labor, and it was beneath the dignity of the small
farmer to do otherwise. There was not a cradle, flail, or threshing floor
among the Americans in the whole county; and if a man had only
twenty acres of grain, he must ha\'e it cut with a header and threshed
with a threshing machine, no matter how much spare time he or his
boys might have. When harvest came a small army of ra\'enous hands
and horses would descend upon him, generally on Saturday night, so
as to insure rations for Sunday. Instead of cutting around the field
with a cradle to make a way for the header, the ponderous machine
smashed its own way around the first swath or up the center of the field.
The knives, sharpened apparently but once a year, tore and stripped
many a stalk instead of cutting it, and many a head of grain was so
badly cut that it fell under the machine instead of in the receiver. From
fifteen to twenty per cent of the crop was thus wasted, and there was no
gleaning of the stubbles except with the live stock. When threshing-
time came around, the same wasteful extravagance was repeated on a
still greater scale. By the time the farmer had his grain sacked and
hauled to market, he was often in debt and seldom much ahead.

In many other respects, San Diego County farming was about the
worst in the world. Make no machinery that you can buy, and do
nothing yourself that you can hire anyone else to do, seemed to be the
cardinal principle. Nearly all were farming, not for something to eat or
use on the farm, but for something to haul many miles to market to sell
at a low price, to buy provisions at a high price, to haul all the way
home again to eat. Never did it take men so long to learn anything.
One' man would lose a hundred chickens by wildcats and cayotes before
he would learn to shut the coop at night. Another would lose his gar-
den or young vines two or three years in succession before discovering
that a rabbit-proof fence was the first and not the last requisite. Other
farmers seemed to forget everything they ever knew before. Men who,
in Illinois, planted corn forty inches apart in rows straight both ways
and cultivated it constantly until it was too high to drive through,

>-^.

•J

PROGRESS OF FARMING. ETC. 15

planted it here in rows but twenty inches apart, crooked both ways, and
never afterward touched it. The same was done with potatoes and all
kinds of produce planted in hills or rows. And though Heaven
rewarded their folly as it deserved, yet year after year, as the spring
came around, they went through the same old ceremony, as if trying a
new experiment in a new country. The same thing may be seen to-day
in too many places. Yet, in spite of all this carelessness, coupled with
high rates of interest and high prices for all manner of goods and
machinery, the farmers of this county generally lived better, had more
spare time, more spare change, and fewer mortgage foreclosures than
the farmers of any other State. The absence of rain, hail, etc., in
summer and the difference in the cost of getting through the winter,
more than overbalanced all else.

For several years, beginning about 1869, bee-keeping was im-
mensely profitable, and in the warm days of winter and spring, the air
above the spangled earth was a steady hum. About 1878 the price of
honey began to decline, with a decided falling off in the certainty of
production. The use of glucose for adulteration, in the East, has proba-
bly broken the price. The decline in production has been explained in
various ways, all of which are unsatisfactory. These styles of farming
continued up to about 1880, w^hen slight changes for the better were
noticed, and from that time to the present, the inflow of new-comers,
with the advance of new ideas and principles worked out in the coun-
ties north of us, has brought about a decided revolution, which is fast
spreading.

CHAPTER III.

(^;<^i

BEGINNING OF FRUIT AND VINE
CULTURE.

OR a long time it was supposed that fruit and grapes, as
well as garden-stuff, could not be grown in California
without irrigation. The irrigation facilities of this county,
being generally expensive, were not developed to any
extent. Even in the few places where water was cheaply
obtained there was no encouragement to raise anything.
A wagon load of any kind of fruit would drug the San
Diego market and shipping it farther was out of the ques-
tion. Some made a few dollars by selling to their
neighbors; but most of the neighbors preferred to wait
until they could get it for nothing. To raise fruit or even vegetables
for one's own use was not only expensive but vexatious, on account
of birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc., which concentrate upon an isolated
patch of anything green in summer; and the farmer soon concluded it
was cheaper to buy from someone else, or go without, than to bother
with such things. A few, however, as far back as ten years ago, had
orchards and gardens not excelled to-day. At Fallbrook, the place of
V. C. Reche, was a perfect oasis of the richest green; apricots, oranges,
lemons, peaches, apples, quinces, and what not of the finest quality,
abounded. At Julian, Mr. Madison and others were raising deciduous
fruits and berries of the finest kind. On Mesa Grande, Mr. Gedney
was doing the same; others throughout the county were beginning to
follow them. Around San Diego Bay, especially in and around National
City and Chollas Valley, fine orchards and gardens twelve years ago
had answered the sneers of those who said that the land was fit only for
stock. A few vineyards at long intervals already foretold the coming
land of the grape, and at the old missions a few old trees proved abun-
dantly what the olive could do with half an opportunity.

Irrigation was confined to a few spots on the river bottoms or low-
lands and was of the old-fashioned kind, a drenching of the ground
every few days, with no cultivation whatever. The greater part of the
water was used only by Indians, and where used by the whites was
principally for corn, melons, garden produce, or grapes, which were thea
(16)

BEGINNING OF FRUIT AND VINE CULTURE. 17

supposed to need plenty of water even on low ground. Some irri-
gation with windmills was attempted in a few places, and was as near a
success as windmill irrigation pumping against a long lift can be. But the
quality of the fruit, especially oranges and lemons, was inferior, because
water was used as a substitute for cultivation, and the best varieties were
not yet planted. In the North the plow had for years been creeping from
the low-lands, which for a time were supposed to be the only lands
available for culture, farther up the slopes. It had been discovered that
the slopes and uplands were not only better for vines and many kinds
of fruit, but would, with close and constant cultivation, retain moisture
enough during the summer to raise fair crops of grapes, deciduous fruits,
and other produce. This discovery spread South through the different
counties, and about 18S0 began to dawn as a new idea in San Diego.
Some people imagined that they were the discoverers, others that this
power of the soil was confined to their special locality. By 1882 the
idea had become widespread, and from that time truly dates the rise of
fruit culture in San Diego County, although in some favored localities
good fruit had been grown without irrigation many years before.

In 1882 R. G. Clark produced in El Cajon the first raisins cured in
the county; their quality was so fine that they attracted the immediate
attention of Riverside growers, who at once bought a large tract of
land in El Cajon. Geo. A. Cowles and others in different sections had
in the meantime set out vineyards, and the following year sustained the
reputation of the raisins so well that it has scarce been questioned since.
About the same time oranges and lemons from the National Ranch and
Janal began to excite wonder at the fairs of Riverside and Los Angeles.
The lemons were soon conceded to be superior and the oranges puzzled
the best judges. Witli the exception of specimen fruits raised in this
way by people who could afford to play with them, little has been done
until the past two or three years. The local market was too small and
shipping long distances at a profit in small quantities was out of the
question. Now, thousands of acres are coming into bearing, and thou-
sands more are planting. The oil-press is at work turning out the finest
of olive oil; and hundreds of tons of raisins are yearly dried. It will
be but a short time before the railroad will run refrigerator cars and then
the great market of the world will call forth a pent-up energy that is
now little dreamed of The capacity of the county in the way of raising
fruit is immense; but until there are transportation facilities, people will
not plant to any extent. This failure to plant, of course, delays the
building of railroads, etc. Each one reacts for a time upon the other,
but the see-saw is finally broken and the outlet is furnished.
2 .

CHAPTER TV.

RISE OF SAN DIEGO CITY.

I^HE first settlement made in California was on San
Diego Bay. In July, 1769, the first mission in
California was built at Old San Diego, now called
Old Town, some three miles west of the present
city, and the old ruins on the hill above the town
are the oldest relics of the first year of civilization
in this State. Old Town is also the oldest munic-
ality in the State. In January, 1835, the city
government was organized. Ten years afterward the city
lands, to the extent of forty-seven thousand acres, were
surveyed and mapped and granted to it by the Government
of Mexico. This grant was afterwards confirmed and patented by the
United States, and hence the magnificent proportions of the present
city limits.

For many years the only business done at Old Town was the ship-
ment of hides and tallow. The population was then almost entirely
Mexican, though a very few Americans and other foreigners were there.
When California was admitted as a State and divided into counties. Old
Town became the county seat and remained so for many years. A few
more Americans came about the same time; some of the most prosper-
ous and respectable of the present citizens of San Diego, E. W. Morse,
James McCoy, O. S. Witherby, Thomas Whaley, Joseph Mannasse,
and others were among the first to settle there. For many years Old
Town contained all the life upon San Diego Bay, and the old plaza and
old adobe buildings surrounding it could tell high tales of the olden
time if they could talk. Until after the establishment of New San
Diego, it remained substantially a Mexican town. Spanish was the
principal language spoken, and the tinkle of the guitar, thejingle of spurs,
and the clink of coin on the monte blanket were the principal sounds of
civilization. The country was then full of cattle, which, after the inflow
of the gold-seekers in the North, brought for years a good price. Money
(18)

RISE OF SAN DIEGO CITY. 19

was abundant, coming easily and going easily, and kept well in circula-
tion throusfh the active medium of cards and horse-races. The old
Spanish settlers were lavish and reckless, borrowing at any rate of
interest, and many of the best ranchos th'us passed into the stranger's
hand.

As early as 1850, an attempt was made to colonize the present site
of San Diego. Several houses were then built near the present Govern-
ment barracks. The barracks were built about the same time for a
depot of military supplies, the soldiers being then quartered at the old
mission. San Diego was then the base of military supplies for Fort
Tejon, Fort Yuma, andother points to which wagon trains were run trom
S-m Diego. About this time the first wharf on San Diego Bay was
built at this point by William Heath Davis, for which he received a
grant of land around it from the city. This first settlement was made
without any railroad expectations and solely on the strength of harbor
and climate. The old Californian of that day saw the importance of
these and sought even then to realize on his foresight. But he shared the
common fate of foresight when not sufficiently backed with such little aids
for waiting as youth and wealth. The excitement soon died out, most of
the houses were moved up to Old Town, the wharf speedily fell before the
teredo, andthecayote and wild cat were again left in possession. In the
year 1867, foresight again appeared upon the scene in the more substantial
shape of A. E. Horton. For twenty-six cents an acre he bought one
hundred and sixty acres where the central part of .San Diego now stands,
and laid out the city. In the meantime two or three railroads had been
projected, one of them as far back as 1854, but little had been done
beyond organizing a company. Soon after the founding of the new
city by Mr. Horton, the projected Memphis and El Paso Railroad began
to look like a certainty and the first "boom" in San Diego began.
Railroad meetings were the order of the day, the steamers brought
many new-comers from the North, and many of the present old residents
came here first upon the strength of the bright prospects. The new
city grew rapidly to a town of twelve or fifteen hundred, when suddenly
the shining bubble burst. There was then but little settlement in the
back country to support a town, and but for the numerous quails and
rabbits about town, there would have been more than one slim larder in
the new city.

In 1 87 1 the Texas Pacific Railroad was organized and the luxuriant
mushroom of brief hope again sprung up. A handsome subsidy was
voted Colonel Scott for the road, ten miles of it were graded — much of
which may still be seen — strangers poured in, and the population rapidly
grew to nearly four thousand people. During this time the Horton House,
Horton' s Hall, Horton' s Bank, and several other buildings, beside a
large wharf, were built by Mr. Horton, and various enterprises and

20 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

churches were aided by his Hberahty. Many buildings were built which
look highly respectable beside the more modern ones of to-day. Some
of these were very large for the size of the city at that time, and some
on an extravagant scale, such as the building now occupied by Hamil-
ton & Co. , which was built for a city market and was large enough for a
city of ten times the size. In the meantime the county seat was moved
from Old Town to ' ' New Town ' ' and the present Court House built.
Most of the American settlers and many of the Mexican residents moved
down to the new city and Old Town became more of a curiosity than a
town. Some of the older American' residents have still clung to ■ it,
partly because of past associations and partly because it has the best
climate on the bay. When the old adobes and other ancient rookeries
are removed it will be very desirable residence property, but these now
stand in the way of its progress.

Soon after the city was begun by Mr. Horton, Frank Kimball and
Warren Kimball had also a severe attack of foresight, which was quite
as well founded as that of Mr. Horton. The lands of the National
Ranch were better in quality and more free from gravel, gullies, etc. ,
than those immediately surrounding Mr. Horton' s new city. Four
miles south of New San Diego was as good a water front, with as deep
water, with thousands upon thousands of acres of fine land sloping gen-
tly away into lofty and fertile table-lands. The Kimballs saw that some
day those slopes would be covered with fine residences, surrounded with
groves of orange and lemon and everything that in Southern California
can be grown at all. They bought the rancho, containing some twenty-
seven thousand acres, built a fine wharf and several other buildings, put
the tract on the market, laid out National City, and made many sales. For
a time it looked as if it would be a formidable rival of San Diego, and a
foolish envy then sprung up, which for years has been an injury to both
places, but which is now about dead. Many settlers came in and bought
the lands, and the first attempts made by the Americans to raise anything
upon the coast lands were made in Paradise Valley upon the rancho and
in Chollas Valley adjoining it. In the brighter light of to-day those first
experiments appear extremely crude. Nevertheless they were a suffi-
cient answer to the laughers and sneerers, who for a time had things all
their own way and declared that nothing could be grown here even with
water. The finest places and best orchards, vineyards, and gardens to
be found upon the bay of San Diego, are to be found upon that rancho
to-day; not because they cannot be equaled on the fine table-lands
about San Diego, but because the lands of National City were so
much lower that water was easily obtained by windmills.

CHAPTER V.

THE LONG SLEEP.

S the best target shot with the rifle finds the estimating
of distance a source of error that he can never wholly
master when shooting at game, so the keenest fore-
sight fails to master that provoking variety of dis-
tance known as time. The eye of faith is true, the
atmosphere is clear, the outlines of the game can be
seen. Through the mirage of heated imagination it
dances entrancingly near, and the labor of the day
is staked perhaps upon a single shot which falls a
long way short.

What the Texas Pacific might have done for San Diego it is useless
now to inquire. The financial crash of 1873, beginning with the failure
of Jay Cooke, crippled the resources of Colonel Scott. He went abroad
to borrow money and failed. He has been blamed by many as a swin-
dler, but there seems every reason to believe that he was acting with the
best of faith. In such a crisis the best enterprises cannot borrow, for
the simple reason that capital dare not lend to any great extent no
matter what the security.

The population of both San Diego and National City rapidly declined
to a few dozen at National and about twenty-five hundred at San Diego.
The real estate offices were deserted; the hotels had more waiters than
guests; empty stores and vacant houses became numerous on all sides.
Day after day and year after year the bright sun shone upon quiet
streets and store-keepers staring out of the door at an almost unbroken
vacancy. Many a man rn San Diego during those long years that fol-
lowed sat and looked at nothing long enough to have made a fine lawyer,
doctor, engineer, or a fine literary scholar if he had only substituted a
book for the empty door-way.

Still a large majority clung with undying faith to their investments.
They found in the soft and steady sunshine of San Diego a comfort they
had never before known, and most of them would have remained even
had they known that their dying eyes would close upon empty streets
and vacant lots. The painful duty of an impartial historian requires the
writer to record the farther fact that more than one representative of the

(21)

22 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

great "progressive, enterprising citizen whose undying faith in San
Diego has made him rich" (as we occasionally read in the papers of
the day), has become so on the rise of town lots that he tried for years
in vain to sell for money enough to get out of town with.

Many whose faith in the future of San Diego was unshaken had to
leave for better (temporary) fields, and most of these have returned.
Many more shook the dust of San Diego forever from their feet and
spent most of their time thereafter in pouring out all the bitterness that
disappointed fancy could conceive. The misfortunes of San Diego dur-
ing all this time served as a whetstone for the newspaper wit of the
State, a sure resource when everything else failed. Their jokes were
quickly accepted as fact, and along, the whole coast the most absurd
stories were told all travelers with all the solemnity that the conscious-
ness of duty to fellow-man imposes. One of the favorites of that day
along the coast was the following: —

"What? you a-gping down to Sa-a-a-ndy Ago?" (Questioner

backing off and surveying from head to foot and back again the rash

mortal who had mentioned San Diego as his possible destination.)

"Do you know where in you are going to? Why you pick up

a handful oi dirt down there and in two seconds half of it is gone.

That's fleas. In a minute more the rest has slipped through your

fingers. That's sand. Why, that's what it gets its name from,

Sa-a-a-a-a-ndy Ago."

Another common and convincing derivation was "Sandyague,"

from sand and ague, which were supposed to be the leading features, next

to rattlesnakes and tarantulas.

It must be admitted that in favorable breeding seasons San Diego,
like San Francisco and Los Angeles, has a flea or two, but the disinte-
grated granite soil, which in washes looks like sand, has proved to be,
next to its climate, the greatest treasure Southern California possesses.
The ague talk, like all the rest, was a perfect absurdity.

In. 1S76 an attempt was made to get Congress to guarantee the
bonds of the Texas Pacific Railroad. Mr. Horton and Mr. Felsenheld
spent most of the winter in Washington lobbying with Colonel Scott. But
the cry of "no more subsidies to railroads" arose in the East, and was at
once taken up by the Northwest, which wanted no Southern line. The
clamor of these two sections, aided by the power of railroads, that al-
ready had all the subsidies they needed and never did need any compet-
ing line, overcame the strong pressure brought to bear by the South,
which was wholly in favor of the measure.

This movement awoke no life in San Diego, and it slept on until
1881, unbroken, except, in 1879, by a slight excitement of a few days
caused by an unfounded railroad rumor. Out of this one real estate
man made enough to justify the ordering of a new buggy froni San
Francisco, but no one else was damaged in the upper story.

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THE LONG SLEEP. 23

In 1881 Frank A. Kimball, of National City, who had been about
the most tireless and liberal of all workers in behalf of the bay region,
and has received for it the least credit of anyone, proposed to go to
Boston to see if he could not induce the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe, Railway to come to San Diego. He was answered with a general
guffaw from all the wise ones, and many of the leading citizens refused
to contribute a cent toward his expenses. His reply was that he was
able to pay them himself He went and bearded the great lion in his
den, amid the sneers of the public, who never can learn that it is very
unsafe to say what a man cannot do when he tries.

He met nothing but rebuffs and cold shoulders. Nothing daunted
he sat down for a prolonged siege. To his splendid offer of seventeen
thousand acres of the best land on the bay, belonging to himself and his
brother, Warren Kimball, over half of the National Ranch, capital at
last bent a listening ear and sent out two directors of the road — Messrs.
Piatt and Wilbur — to investigate. The investigation was satisfactory;
the donations of land were increased by several thousand acres from
other parties. The California Southern was organized and finished to
'Colton in San Bernardino County in 1SS2.

During the building of this railroad the population of San Diego
increased by some fifteen hundred people. National City, the terminus of
the road, grew to a population of about one thousand. Bright hopes
were held in both places, but in both they were doomed to a blight as
speedy and severe as ever before. The railroad had no Eastern con-
nection; almost every man in San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties
and on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad made a specialty of
abusing San Diego and warning travel away from it. For over a
year after the completion of the road the through travel from Colton
scarcely averaged five passengers a day, of which two or three were
either ' ' drummers " or " dead heads. ' ' So slight was the amount of busi-
ness that in running through the huge flocks of geese and ducks which
then used to rise beside the train in Santa Margarita Valley, the train
was stopped, as a matter of course, if any game were shot from the car.
On one occasion the engineer shot with a pistol at an acre or two of
geese some three hundred yards away, and accidentally hit one. He
stopped the train and walked leisurely over and bagged it.

Meanwhile National City lost about one-half its newly acquired
population and San Diego more than all that had come in. To crown
the trouble 1882-83 was a very dry winter on the coast, with a general
failure of crops on all the unirrigated low-lands. In the fall of 1883 the
vacant buildings in both San Diego and National City seemed to be
fully one-half of the whole number, while the streets of San Diego
seemed more deserted than ever.

On the 1 6th of February, 1884, the greater part of the railroad in

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Temecula Canon and Santa Margarita was washed out by a flood. It
had been built too low by Boston engineers, who thought it never
could rain in San Diego, who sneered at all advice of old settlers, and
were too wise even to examine the drainage area of the stream or look
at the rain records of the country. Such destruction has rarely been
seen, and nearly nine months were required to place the track on better
ground and get trains running. Then were dull times indeed.

The rebuilding of the road had little or no immediate effect in
helping matters. There was little increase of travel for some time, until
it became known that the road would be extended to a junction with
the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad at Barstow, on the Mojave Desert.

-^'li^Il^^^^^^

CHAPTER VI.

THE AWAKENING.

'HROUGHOUT the long line of lovely days that dawned
and died on San Diego Bay without shining on a new
roof or a happy face, the interior of the country was
steadily settling. But stores in the country kept such
even pace with the growth that there were few if any
more wagons in town in 1S84 than in 1S75. Con-
siderable trade was of course done, but mainly with
eight or ten-mule teams and two or three wagons that
loaded quietly and departed, making little stir upon
the streets of San Diego. Settlers crept from National City up the
Sweetwater Valley and from San Diego to El Cajon, which rancho was
opened to settlement as early as 1869. The mines discovered near
Julian about that time brought in many miners; a little town was started
there, and a few settlers took up some of the rich little valleys around it.
The tracts of Government land surrounding the large ranchos were soon
sought out by the new-comers. They scaled the rugged hills that sur-
round Bear Valley, climbed the heights of Mesa Grande and even the '
high Volcan and Palomar. A few of these were ex-boomers from San
Diego who saw more money in bees than in corner lots. Some were
old forty-niners from the North in search of anything new. Others
were restless wanderers moving farther West and looking for a home of
any kind in this farthest West. Many others were people more or less
impaired in health, in search of a mild and comfortable climate where
they could make a living by some light out-of-door work. In this way
the American population outside the city of San Diego increased from a
few hundred in 1868 to some twelve thousand or nearly five times that
of the city in 1884. Yet the effect upon the city was almost inappre-
ciable.

In the early part of 1885 work was begun upon the extension of
the California Southern to Barstow. This was quickly construed to
mean that the great Santa Fe railroad system would make San Diego
its Pacific terminus. In the spring of the same year the first one of the
series of extensive water systems that are shortly to make San Diego
County the most attractive county in the State, was begun on the San

26 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Diego River on a scale so immense that the usual number of sages made
the usual number of predictions about what cannot be done by people
who are determined to do something.

During all these years that San Diego was waiting and watch-
ing, the counties of San Bernardino and Los Angeles were increasing
in population at a much greater rate than San Diego County, and with
a far greater proportion of people of wealth. From very early times
people had been coming to California on account of its climate. But
for many years their numbers were very few and confined to the class of
decided invalids. After the completion of the Central and Union Pa-
cific lines a few began coming to spend the winter just as the many went
to Florida. For a long time the impression among them was that they
must flee as a matter of course at the opening of the spring, just as they
would from Florida. San Diego from its first start had a few of these.
In the winter of 1875-76 for a few weeks the Horton House and all
the adjacent lodging-rooms around the plaza were full and a large and
fashionable boarding-house kept by J. O. Miner on the Cajon had at
one time some twenty-five guests at twelve dollars a week. This travel
resulted in no settlement or improvement except a very temporary one
in the pockets of hotel and livery stable keepers, barbers, saloons, etc.
But in Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties there was a decided
difference. The early development of water there and its surprising
results captured a goodly proportion of the visitors, many of whom
bought and built, while the fairest portions of San Diego, for lack of
water development, which was here more costly, showed nothing of
what they can readily do. The new settlers on the north quickly dis-
covered that instead of paying a high price in summer for the luxury
■of the winters they had actually gained quite as much by the change
from the Eastern summer as by the change from the Eastern winter.
A remarkable feature of the whole was that though few, if any, of the
fine vineyards or orchards or beautiful places paid anything on the in-
vestment, and most of them, owing to the lack of transportation to
market, were a dead loss, yet the owners were perfectly satisfied. Not
one in fifty could be dri\'en out of Southern California. If anyone wished
to sell it was only to get money to buy another place with, and for
everyone who wanted to sell a dozen were ready to buy. There the
lands commanded a price which purchasers with eyes wide open plainly
saw was far too great, if values are to be measured by the interest that
.can be made from the land. There was then for lack of transportation
little prospect that it ever would pay full interest on the investment.
Yet they bought and improved and the faster prices rose the more nu-
merous and eager became the buyers. It was plain that they were in
fact buying comfort, immunity from snow and slush, from piercing winds
and sleet-clad streets, from sultry days and sleepless nights, from thun-

',^ciUi

'^a

THE A WAKENING. 27

der-storms, cyclones, malaria, mosquitoes, and bed-bugs. All of which,
in plain language, means that they were buying climate, a business that
has now been going on lor fiftee;i years and reached a stage of progress
which the world has never seen before and of which no wisdom can
forsee the end. The proportion of invalids among these settlers was
very great at first; but the numbers of those in no sense invalids but
merely sick of bad weather, determined to endure no more of it, and
able to pay for good weather, increased so fast that by 1880 not one in
twenty of the new settlers could be called an invalid. They were simply
rich refugees.

In 1880 the rich refugee had become such a feature in the land and
increasing so fast in numbers that Los Angeles and San Bernardino
Counties began to feel a decided "boom." From 1880 to 1885 Los
Angeles City grew from about twelve thousand to thirty thousand, and
both counties more than doubled their population. But all this time
San Diego was about as completely fenced out by a system of misrep-
resentation as it was by its isolation before the building of the railroad.
Much of this misrepresentation was simply well-meaning ignorance; but
ihe most of it was — -pure, straight lying so universal from the editor to
the brakeman on the cars and the bootblack on the street that it seemed
to be a regularly organized plan. So thorough was its effect that at the
opening of 1885 San Diego had felt scarcely any of the great prosperity
under full headway only a hundred miles north.

But when the extension of the railroad to Barstow was begun and
recognized as a movement of the Santa Fe railway system to make its
terminus on San Diego Bay, the rich refugee determined to come down
and see whether a great railroad was foolish enough to cross hundreds
of miles of desert ibr the sake of making a terminus in another desert.
He came and found that though the country along the coast in its un-
irrigated state was not as inviting as the irrigated lands of Los Angeles
and San Bernardino, there yet was plenty of water in the interior that
could be brought upon it. He found there was plenty of "back
country ' ' as rich as any around Los Angeles, only it was more out of
sight behind hills and table-lands, and less concentrated than in the next
two counties above. He found a large and beautiful bay surrounded by
thousands and thousands of acres of fine rich slopes and table-lands,
abounding in the most picturesque building sites on earth. He found a
climate made, by its more southern latitude and inward sweep of the
coast, far superior to that of a hundred miles north, and far better
adapted to the lemon, orange, and other fine fruits. He found the only
harbor on the Pacific Coast south of San Francisco; a harbor to which
the proud Los Angeles herself would soon look for most of her supplies
by sea; one which shortens by several hundred miles the distance from
the lands of the setting sun to New York; a harbor which the largest

28 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

merchant vessels can enter in the heaviest storm and He at rest without
dragging an anchor or chafing paint on a wharf.

The growth of San Diego now began in earnest, and by the end of
1885 its future was plainly assured. A very few who predicted a popu-
lation of fifty thousand in five years were looked upon as wild, even by
those who believed most firmly in its future. E\'en those who best
knew the amount of land behind it and the great water resources of its
high mountains in the interior believed that twenty-five thousand in five
years would be doing well enough. Its growth since that time has ex-
ceeded fondest hope. It is in truth a surprise to all and no one can
truthfully pride himself upon superior sagacity, however well founded
his expectations for the future may be. At the close of 1885 it had
probably about five thousand people. At the close of 1887, the time
of writing this sketch, it has fully thirty thousand with a more rapid
rate of increase than ever. New stores, hotels and dwellings are arising
on every hand from the center to the farthest outskirts in more bewild-
ering numbers than before, and people are pouring in at double the
rate they did but six months ago. It is now impossible to keep track
of its progress. No one seems any longer to know or care who is
putting up the big buildings, and it is becoming difficult to find a famil-
iar face in the crowd or at the hotels.

It may well be doubted if any city has ever before had such a
growth of the same character. Mushroom towns there have been of
course. Mines and railroads have built up some towns with great speed.
But the buildings, the improvements and the people have all shown that
it was but a temporary gathering liable to dissolve at any time.

Not so with San Diego. The hundreds of costly residences, the
thousands of less expensive but still luxurious homes, the scores of
solid business blocks, the great wharves, machine shops, and ware-
houses, the miles of street railway, water and gas pipes, tell of a differ-
ent class of people from those that settle ephemeral towns. The electric
lights, the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in grading the streets,
cutting down hills and filling up low ground, the perfect system of glazed-
pipe sewers costing four hundred thousand dollars, indicate a people
who are not building for to-day. The shipping in the harbor, the
millions of feet of lumber landed every week, the loaded wagons and
cars that daily start for the interior, have no temporary look about them.
The number of the new residents who are very wealthy is certainly such
as no new city ever before received in so short a time.

The whole bay region of which San Diego is the center is enjoying
to a great extent the same prosperity and settling with the same class of
people. Some forty miles of steam-dummy road now run in various di-
rections around it and extensions of fully forty more are under construc-
tion. An electric road is now running to the farthest end of University

THE A WAKENING.

Heights and will ha\'e miles of branches; while a cable-road is about to
climb the table-lands far out into the outskirts. The fine lands about
National City are fast being- covered with fine residences and the new
water works, costing over six hundred thousand dollars and now com-
plete, will hasten its progress. Coronado Beach has reached a stage of
development that few ever dreamed of seeing, yet Pacific Beach, a
few miles above it, is already close upon its heels with great and costly
improvements, and the first day's sales of lots there amounted to two
hundred thousand dollars.

Three things now appear certain: —

First, that the San Diego Bay region is, for a certain ciass of
people, the most desirable residence on earth.

Second, that it is to be the greatest summer resort as well as the
greatest winter resort on either coast of America.

Third, that it is to be the harbor and distributing point not only for
its own interior, Lower California, which, under the work of the Inter-
national Company of Mexico is now fast settling, but for San Bernar-
dino County, and also for Los Angeles as soon as the short line of the
Santa Fe, now graded to Santa Ana, is done.

The whirligig of time brings in its revenges but it is surely a strange
freak of the wheel that turns into San Diego's back country the two
counties that have so long retarded her growth by the oft-repeated
story that she had "no back country." Yet the great Maker of har-
bors has so decreed.

CHAPTER VII.

THE BAY REGION.

AN DIEGO BAY is the only harbor in California south
of San Francisco. There are several roadsteads, fondly
called harbors by the dwellers on the shore, where a ves-
sel may anchor in fair weather, and discharge by lighters.
But by the word harbor, the great world means a place
that a vessel can enter with safety, tie up at a wharf and
discharge her crew. A place where vessels have to hold
themselves ready to put to sea at any moment for safety
C^ cannot be made a harbor by any stretch of fancy or Gov-

ernment funds. San Diego bar has twenty-three feet of water at low
tide, and is so smooth that the largest vessels pass over it during the
heaviest storms ever known. During the great storm of February,
1878, when the wind reached the highest point ever registered by the
signal service at San Diego, the Hass/er, a large steamer of the United
States coast survey, lay during the whole storm directly upon the bar,
taking soundings and surveying the harbor. During that same storm
the coast line steamer Orizaba had to pass every stopping-place between
San Diego and San Francisco, and lie off San Francisco three days be-
fore daring to cross its bar. At San Diego is often seen what is a rare
sight at any seaport in the world, a full-rigged ship of the largest size
entering under full sail, sailing all the way up the channel, turning
around and sailing up to the wharf^all done without a harbor pilot or
steam tug. And this is done too by foreign vessels, whose pilots have
never before entered the bay.

The bay of San Diego is about twelve miles long, and from one
mile to two and a half miles broad, with abundance of deep water for
thousands of vessels. It has miles of good wharfage front, completely
landlocked and sheltered. The report of the United States coast survey
furnishes the most incontestable proof of all these facts, as well as much
other interesting information about it. It is certain to be not only the
principal port of Southern California, but will be the Pacific port of a
line of steamers to China, Australia and Japan, being some five hun-
dred miles nearer than San Francisco. The completion of any of the
(30)

THE BA Y REGION. 31

canal or ship railroad schemes on the Isthmus will also be certain to se-
cure it a large commerce.

Surrounding this bay are miles upon miles of slope and table-land
of fine quality lying in almost perfect shape for town sites, villas, and
ornamental places, where beauty and profit may go hand in hand.

Next in size to San Diego is National City, four miles farther up the
bay, also in the full enjoyment of the new prosperity. It, too, has a
long and excellent water front, with plenty of wharf room in deep
water. It is the terminus of the railroad, and has all the railroad shops,
stores, and general offices. Its present population, including suburban
I^laces on the adjoining slopes and in the neighboring valleys, is about
three thousand, which is rapidly increasing. It is situated upon the
National Rancho, one of the most valuable ranchos in the county. To
the wise liberality of the owners in giving about seventeen thousand
acres of the choicest part of this tract to the railroad, San Diego County
is indebted for getting it much sooner than it would otherwise have
come. From the National Rancho have come most of the choicest
products, that.have shown what the county can do; the lemons that ha\'e
captured all the premiums at the fairs of Ri\'erside and Los Angeles;
the oranges that took the premiums at New Orleans o\'er the best of
Florida; while its raisins, olives, and deciduous fruits are surpassed by
none in the State.

The area of choice land surrounding National City, sweeps around
the southeast side of the bay to the Mexican line in almost unbroken
slope toward the water, terminating on the east in the high rolling Otay
mesa, containing some five thousand acres of fine land; on the south in
the rich valley of the Tia Juana River, and on the ocean side in a large
alkuial tract of rich, warm soil, forming the upper end of the peninsula
that forms the bay, part of which is now known as Coronado Heights.
On this are also situated the new towns of Oneonta and South San
Diego. This peninsula then runs northward for se\'eral miles in a long
strip that shuts out the sea completely. Opposite the city of San
Diego, it widens out into a large tract of about twenty-fi\'e hundred
acres, almost divided by an arm of the bay called Spanish Bight.
Upon the southern division of this, containing some eleven hundred
acres, and over a mile in its narrowest diameter, a remarkable improve-
ment is now almost complete. Within two years, nearly a million and
a half of dollars have been expended in preparing this for residence.
The whole has been cleared of the nati\'e \'egetation, laid out and
mapped, and water piped across the bay. A large steam ferry connects
it with the main-land; a steam motor road carries the visitor across it in
a few moments, where bath-houses are so arranged that he may bathe
winter or summer, either in the surf or the bay, at his pleasure. A
$1,000,000 hotel, first-class in every respect, and lighted by electricity,

2 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

has just been built, waterworks and a perfect system of small pipe
sewers are complete, everything needed for comfort or convenience, for
either resident or traveler, is being provided as fast as money can do it;
and Coronado Beach will soon be known as the most remarkable water-
ing-place in America, if not in the world. There have been $2,600,000
worth of lots sold here within a year.

The high promontory on the north, known as Point Loma, runs
out into the sea, sheltering the bay from the western winds, has abun-
dance of good land upon its slopes and top, but is as yet but slightly
settled, though a town called Roseville has been laid out in a very at-
tractive and sheltered portion of it. When water is piped to it, and the
street railroad now in progress reaches it, the southern slopes of this
promontory will make fine residence property and be in high demand.
Just beyond where Point Loma joins the main-land, lies Old Town.
From here the land widens and slopes more gently away from the bay
until it spreads out into San Diego proper.

Old Town is now connected with San Diego by a steam motor
railroad, which will be extended to Roseville and along the north shore
of the bay. This will make a continuous line of horse and steam
motor railroad around the bay. Within some twelve miles of the bay,
on the north, south, and east> there are fully one hundred thousand
acres of arable table-land or mesa, most of which will in a few years be
irrigated in the ways hereinafter mentioned. A little beyond Old Town
is the new and beautiful suburb known as Pacific Beach, with the new
villa sites of Morena lying midway between. Pacific Beach is in the hands
of a company bent on making it rival even Coronado. A stupendous
hotel, a fine college, electric lights, bath-houses, street railroads, and
all else needed to make it attractive, are under way to be completed as
fast as money can complete them. A few miles farther up the shore is
La JoUa Park, a very picturesque spot. And on the western slope of
the northern side of Point Loma lies Ocean Beach, also a new and at-
tractive watering-place.

From all the shores and table-lands around the bay, a wide and
varied prospect opens upon one, but the best is from the highlands of
Point Loma back of Roseville. There the great ocean, its smooth
face unmarred except by the high, rocky ridges of the Coronado
Islands, thirty miles away, seems almost to embrace one, stretching so
far and so vast, north, south, and west, with the bright waters of False
Bay running around one on the north, and San Diego Bay reaching far
inland on the south. For miles the placid face of San Diego Bay lies
shining in the bright sunlight, broken here and there by a wharf, ship,
or sail-boat, the plunge of the pelican or rolling of porpoises. Along
the inner shore lie the two cities, fast spreading toward one another in
a line of houses, and far away in the south can be seen the line of set-

THE BA Y REGION.

tlements in the Otay and Tia Juana Valleys. Over the table-lands that
slope from the bay, chains of lofty hills rise tier after tier, looking down
upon the vast ocean up to the high, pine-clad lines of the distant mountains
that bound the great desert. High, rocky spurs studded with bowlders,
towering peaks of bare gray granite, soft, grassy slopes and timbered
highlands roll away skyward into lofty ridges clad in cedar and oak.
On the south, far away into Mexico, the whole dissolves in a hazy mist
from which rise in long blue waves the outlines of its high mountains
and table-lands. On the north, over one hundred miles away, lie the
great, snowy tops of the San Bernardino Mountains, and a little to the
east of them the yellow sides of Palomar swell a mile skyward into a
long blue line of timber. And over it all lies an almost eternal sunshine,
unbroken often for weeks by the faintest cloud, and over it ever plays a
gentle breeze that never fails to fan one, yet never loses its temper.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE INTERIOR.

.HE general character of all the coast of Southern Cali-
fornia is about the same, a long line of table-lands,
more or less wavy and sloping away from the sea,
more or less cut with valleys, ravines, creeks, or rivers,
or interrupted by some range of low hills. This table-
land, or mesa, as it is generally called from the Spanish
for table, is the part of the country which was last
lifted from the sea, and in the deeper valleys there is
still some salt and alkali, though the slopes and top of
the mesa proper are very free from it. The formation
is generally sand, gravel, bowlder, clay, and silt in all sorts of alter-
nations beneath; but the top soil is nearly always of fine gray or
red granite, sometimes both, though sometimes an adobe, which
again is often mixed with fine granite. These mesas reach from five to
twelve or fifteen miles from the coast, and are often found far in the
interior as benches around some broad valley or plain. Where irrigable
they command the highest price of all lands. Their value is generally
dependent upon their elevation above the valleys or sea, the higher
ones being generally more desired, and their value, not only for resi-
dences, but for fruit-growing, is constantly rising.

Over such a table-land you pass for some twelve miles in going
from San Diego to the interior. Some of it looks hard and sterile, but
nearly all of it is good land, needing only good plowing to equal the
best valley land. Its climate, free by its elevation from frosts in
winter nights, is tempered by the coast breezes from the heat of sum-
mer noons. Yet most of it is far enough from the coast to be free from
the freshness of the sea, and is lifted to a point that gives a grand, far-
reaching view of ocean and mountain. This mesa reaches far away to
the north, broken by the canon of the San Diego River, and far away
into the south to the Mexican line, broken by the Sweetwater and Otay
Valleys.

Some twelve miles back of San Diego, this mesa falls suddenly off
about two hundred and fifty feet into a broad valley called El Cajon.
In and around this valley and its connections are some twenty thousand
(34)

•--tTv;o:« \

THE INTERIOR. 35

acres of fine rich land. The valley land proper is well suited to the
raisin grape, and Cajon raisins have within four years won an almost
national reputation, and shown what the county can do. Around the
main valley and its branches are thousands of acres of slope and small
mesa, which are as fine orange and lemon lands as can be found, and
unexcelled for residence property. El Cajon has a population of nearly
three hundred and is rapidly growing.

Having seen El Cajon, the average tourist thinks he has seen the
whole county; for the girdle of high, rugged hills by which it is embraced
gives little indication of anything around or beyond it, yet valleys of
various sizes lie just over the hills on all sides, with small mesas or
slopes leading up to the higher hills. Six miles up a winding mountain
road brings us to another broad valley of some fifteen thousand acres of
fine plain and slope, twelve hundred feet above El Cajon, which averages
only four hundred feet above the sea. This is the Santa Maria, an old
Spanish grant. Here again the land breaks on the sides into hiUs, some
quite smooth and rolling, others high, sharp, and heavily studded with
bowlders. You notice that the roads show plenty of travel, but you see
few people or houses, or cultivated farms; a feature you may note all
over the county. This is because the large grants are as yet quite unset-
tled, many of them being still closed to settlement, while most of those
that are open have been upon the market but a few months. The land
is, however, being fast taken up, as you see here and as you saw in El
Cajon, but the great majority of the settlers are on Government land
around these large grants. As remarked before, these dark chaparral-
clad hills or bowjder-studded ridges that seem to bound all that is tillable,
are full of pockets, little valleys and parks in every direction, and in the
girdle of hills around this one valley are stowed away over fifty farms
whose presence one would never suspect, while just over the ridge on
the right are about fgur thousand acres of fine plow land, between us
and the tall mountain of granite that seems so near, — the rancho San
Vicente.

Here you begin to see more timber than pn the lower levels. The
hills and slopes around this valley once abounded with great live oaks,
but fire and the ax have swept away the most of them. But you can
see a great change in the general appearance of the country. In almost
everyone of the larger ravines, and on the larger hill-sides, you may now
find living springs, which you could not do along the coast. Everything
indicates a land of much more rain than you have yet seen. And such
is the fact, this valley being upon the second rain-belt of the county,
where the winter rains are always ample for full crops. The new town
Ramona lies near its eastern edge, in a fine location.

Leaving the Santa Maria by the Julian road, you pass through a
series of smaller valleys, constantly rising one above another. Here

36 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

you find running water in all the little brooks, timber increasing, and
farms more like Eastern farms than you have yet seen; in short, e\i-
dences of more rain even than in Santa Maria. Soon the road runs into
a larger valley of about two thousand acres including slopes and all.
This is known as Ballena, and is the center of quite a settlement of
some six thousand acres, of which, as before, the surrounding hills show
no sign. It is twenty-five hundred feet above the sea, and about one
thousand feet above the Santa Maria. Still up we go, passing again
through small valleys, and among hills in whose hidden pockets whole
farms may be stowed away, until at an elevation of three thousand feet
we come into the valley of the Rancho Santa Ysabel. This is the cen-
tral valley of the rancho, containing, with its branches and slopes, some
four thousand acres of fine land, but used with the adjoining hills only
for stock range, dairy, and cheese-making. Here are still more evi-
dences of a heavy rainfall. Springs are on almost every hill-side, little
streams in every ravine, while nearly across the center runs a creek that
in the driest time of the year runs a large stream of the purest water.
All these surrounding hills, like the main valley, are splendid stock range,
affording abundance of feed. In fact, the very best feed is in those bad
years when the winter rains along the coast have been little but light
storms of drizzling mist. Yet scarce anything would appear less fit for
general farming. It will be worth your while, however, to spend a whole
day on that range of high rolling hills on the northwest dotted with li\'e
oak timber, and yellow with ripe wild oats and grass.

Up a long grade the road winds, until some five hundred feet above
the main valley you reach a broad tract of several miles in width, rolling
and tumbling in great swells of alternate hill and valley from thirty-five
hundred to forty-five hundred feet above the sea. Part of this belongs
to the Rancho Santa Ysabel, and is still held in stock range, but beyond
the rancho line on the Government land you will find some thirty farms.
This tract is called Mesa Grande, and contains some six thousand acres
of splendid plow land. Here too you find plenty of springs and run-
ning brooks. The farms are still more like Eastern farms than those of
Ballena, a scarcity of rain is unknown, all crops and fruits are a cer-
tainty, and the farmers have no anxiety except the fear of too much
rain. The whole now looks like an eastern country with no resemblance
whatever to the land thirty miles west, and three thousand feet below us;
the country from which nearly all impressions of San Diego County are
taken.

A glance at the distant sea shows that we are well up in the world,
but almost as high again in the east loom rolling slopes, covered with
grass and timber like those of Mesa Grande, and topped by dark, pine-
clad hills. You have already seen enough of what hills may contain to
warn you against assuming that you ha\'e reached the limits of settle-
ment. Those hills too are worth inspection.

THE INTERIOR. 37

Crossing again the main valley of Santa Ysabel we take the road to
Julian, and again our way leads upward. Through a few miles of
tumbling hills containing abundance of grass, but otherwise of little use,
we go where the land again opens into valleys and slopes covered with
rank grass and scattered timber. The proportion of arable land is
much greater than before, farms open upon every hand, but, as before,
dozens more are hidden by intervening ridges. High hills, yellow with
dried grass, and higher ones blue with timber, still rise ahead, and soon
we roll into the little town of Julian, forty-two hundred feet above the
sea. In and around the Julian region are some twenty thousand acres
of tillable land, though most of it is partly covered by timber. The
population of the town and immediate surroundings is about six hun-
dred. Taking the short cut known as " Tally's road," from hereto
the Cuyamaca Rancho, we soon enter denser timber growing on gently
rolling slopes, broken at intervals by open meadows clad in deep grass.
Here you notice in abundance a new oak, much like the Eastern red
oak, though this first appears as low down as thirty-five hundred feet.
You also find an entirely new live oak, stately and shining, with trunk and
bark much like the Eastern white oak. This is the mountain variety of
the white live oak you have seen lower down, which now disappears.
Through some miles of oak timber, mixed with an occasional pine, we
ride until the road suddenly runs out into a broad open flat of several
thousand acres, part of the Cuyamaca Rancho. At the lower end of
this is one of the reservoirs of the San Diego Flume Co. , covering about
one thousand acres with a dam thirty-five feet high. On the east the
timber now disappears, but on the west it bristles darker, taller, and
denser on the three tall peaks that rise from fifteen hundred to two
thousand feet above us, the elevation of this flat being about forty-six
hundred feet above tide water. Once here it will well repay the trouble
to climb the tallest of these peaks, it being very easily ascended. A
wagon may be driven to within a thousand feet or so of the top. The
road winds through rich meadows, and then through timber until you
reach the " cold spring," a spring flowing about one hundred gallons a
minute of the purest and coldest water. From here the way to the top
on foot is quite easy. As you ascend, the common live oak of the low-
lands disappears and only the red oak and white live oak are left. The
" bull pine," whose massive trunks have hitherto lined our path, begins
to disappear, and sugar pines as large as six feet in diameter take its
place. The silver fir and the cedar, bright, stately trees with tall, trim
trunks, also appear in abundance, forming in most places an almost
solid shade. The extreme top is a pile of rocks, the highest point but
one in the whole county and sixty-five hundred feet above the sea.
From here on a clear day one can see with a glass the greater part of
the southern half of the county, and can learn better than in any other
wav the conditions of its peculiar climate.

38 CIT \ ' AND CO UNT\ ' OF SAN DIEG O.

But a few miles from us on the east, the land falls off five thousand
feet into the Colorado Desert, a sea of fiery sand broiling beneath an
almost eternal sun, apparently as vast and level as the great shimmer-
ing plain of water fifty miles to the west. A hundred miles away the
snowy scalp of Grayback of the San Bernardino range lies like a cloud
two miles in the northern sky with San Jacinto, but a trifle lower beside
it; while between them and us runs the long, lofty chain of blue and
gray mountains that separate the western part of San Diego Count\-
from the great desert. Away on the south the range continues dark
with pine, green with oak, or bluish with chaparral until lost in the
hazy outlines of the highlands of Mexico. From here you can look
down on hundreds of rolling slopes, golden with dry grass, wild oats, or
Istubble, or covered with scattered oaks like some old Eastern apple
orchard; on hundreds of little valleys and parks, with little farms nestled
in them; on larger plains, yellow with grass or stubble; on deep canons
filled with eternal shade, but having plenty of good land; and on broad
rolling table-lands covered with chaparral, but as good land as any.
High mountains rise in all directions; some broad-backed, like Volcan,
just beyond Julian, or Palomar still farther northwest, both almost level
with our feet, and crowned with forests, breaking away in long ridges
clad with grass along the backs and sides, with dark, timbered gulches
between. Others are lower and clad only in chaparral, or scattered
trees, like the great granite dome El Cajon, or Lyons Peak. And both
north and south, the whole land is tumbling and tumbling in long
alternations of valley, slope, and hill, away to the distant sea. And now
it is easy to see how so little is known of the county. Unapproachable
on the east because of the desert, from the south because no American
travel comes that way, only the coast line and a line of the northern
edge can be seen by the ordinary traveler. These beautiful timbered
mountains, and the long, rich slopes that lead away from them, and the
fine valleys hidden among them, show nothing but barrenness from the
desert side; while from the coast they look by distance even more
dreary than the bare, rocky hills of the coast rain belt. The desert is, of
course, uninhabitable, as is that of San Bernardino County, but we shall
hereafter see it is worth more for its effect on climate than if its millions
of acres of burning sand were Illinois prairie; while the inhabitable
part of the county is a long slope fifty to sixty miles wide, rising east-
ward to a general level of fi\'e thousand feet, forming a rim of the great
basin of the desert five thousand feet deep.

<
<

CHAPTER IX.

THE LOWER COAST DIVISION.

'ASSING directly from the coast to the highest tracts of
arable land in the county, the reader will now be pre-
pared to examine it intelligently in detail. He will now
understand the great difference caused by increase of
elevation, and distance from the coast; how the good
land in this county is broken and scattered into a thou-
sand shapes ; how a greater variety of climates can be
found here than in any other county; and how a greater
variety of productions can be raised in perfection. Ask
any one of the old stockmen of Los Angeles or San Bernardino Coun-
ties where their horses and cattle were saved in such disastrous years as
1864. They will tell you it was not to their own mountains that they
drove them, but to the highlands of San Diego. The reason is simple.
In those counties when you pass an elevation of fifteen hundred feet
above sea level, you \ea\e below you about all the good land there is.
Here, at that elevation you just reach the best, that is, from the old
standard of values, — a standard that for many purposes is still useful.
This county has ten times the area of arable land lifted into a region of
certain and abundant rainfall, that both those counties together have;
their highlands being generally quite barren, with a very few small
mountain valleys, although the general elevation of those mountains is
much higher than those of San Diego County.

Nevertheless, by the new standard, the lower lands here are the
more valuable for some purposes, because the colder winter nights of
the higher levels do not permit the raising to any extent of oranges,
lemons, and other delicate fruits, because their greater rainfall makes
them less desirable for the invalid, and because they are less easy of
access. We will examine first the sections nearer the coast, returning
to these highlands.

, Beginning at the Mexican line, at a little above tide water, we find
fn the Tia Juana Valley some three thousand acres of fine gray granite
alluvium, with water but a few feet below the surface, making the raising
of all deep-rooted vegetation easy without irrigation. This soil, which is
feund in all the river bottoms, is the finer wash from the interior hills,

40 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

wnanderfully rich, and it can be plowed in any condition of moisture. It
is always fine corn and alfalfa land, excellent also for vines, deciduous
fruits and vegetables. This \-alley is all taken up with farms. There is
no trouble here with our Mexican neighbors, the rowdy element that is
spoiling for a fight being absent on both sides of the line, and the best
of feeling prevailing.

The Otay mesa has already been mentioned. Between that and
the National "Ranch, at an elevation of from fifty to two hundred feet,
lies the Otay Valley, containing, with adjacent slopes, some two thousand
acres of good land, most of which is now cultivated and dotted with
vineyards, orchards, and houses, nearly all done within the last two
years. The upper part of this valley is included in the Otay Rancho, a
fine body of valley, slope, and mesa from two hundred to eight hundred
feet high, containing some four thousand acres of arable land, lying from
eight to twelve miles from the coast.

On the northeast, a little farther from the coast, and separated from
Mexico by the blue range of San Ysidro, is the Janal, a rancho alread}-
mentioned, containing about the same amount of arable land as the
Otay, but with less \'alley land and more mesa and slope. Both this and
the Otay are composed of red granite soil and a brown adobe of
extraordinary richness, with an elevation of from four hundred to eight
hundred feet above the sea. Some six miles easterly from the Janal, at
an elevation of about five hundred and fifty feet, lies the Jamul Rancho,
containing about five thousand acres of arable land, nearly all fine red
granite soil. This is bounded on the east by a high rocky range from
three thousand to four thousand feet high, which, like all other ridges,
hides a score or more of mountain valleys and parks.

Between the Janal and the coast lies the tract of the National
Rancho, already mentioned as given to the railroad. North of this we
come to the valley of the Sweetwater, part of which is included in the
National Rancho. Passing several miles up this valley, which contains
several thousand acres of rich bottom land like the Tia Juana, with long,
tillable slopes on either side, we come to the Jamacha Rancho, at an
elevation above the sea of from two hundred and fifty to five hundred
feet. This has some four thousand acres of fine red land and is about
sixteen miles from the coast. Upon this is the new town of La Presa,
one of the best and most picturesque of all the suburban town sites.
Over the ridge on the north lies El Cajon. Behind the peak of San
Miguel, which towers four thousand feet upon the south, lie the Janal
and Jamul ; and over the low hills on the northwest lies Spring Valley, a
choice body of some three thousand acres of Government land, now cut
up into farms and green with vineyards and orchards, lying about twelve
miles from the coast and from four hundred to seven hundred feet above
it. At its upper end is the new town of Helix.

First National Bank EuiLiUNr,, San Diego, Cal.

THE LOWER COAST DH'ISION. 41

Continuing up the Sweetwater several miles we pass farm after
farm, and place after place where good farms can be made, and pass as
usual numerous farms hidden from sight by hills or timber. About
twenty-five miles from the sea the Sweetwater bottom narrows to a
rocky canon in which there is scarcely any arable land for nearly twenty
miles. We leave the \'alley on the south, however, and turn north upon
one of its tributaries along which are several farms and several places
for others, until at an elevation of twelve hundred feet and twenty-fi\-e
miles from the coast we reach Alpine District just east of El Cajon; a
point to which we will again return.

North of the Sweetwater the coast lands are composed, as far as the
San Diego River, some ten miles in all, of the mesa lands already men-
tioned as lying around and behind National City and San Diego, the
elevation ranging from one hundred and fifty to six hundred feet above
the sea. Back of National City the slope is very gende. Back of San
Diego the land rises at first faster than at National, and then from a gen-
eral level of three hundred feet slopes gently inland. All these mesas
are bounded on the east by Spring Valley and El Cajon.

The lower valley of the San Diego River, called Mission Valley, is
well settled and contains some four thousand acres of gray granite allu-
vium, with slopes of red land on either side, in all some five thousand
acres, all very rich. Some ten miles from the coast it narrows into a
canon, which about four miles farther east runs into El Cajon.

On the north side of the San Diego River the land rises again into
a fine mesa from three hundred to seven hundred feet high, as yet but
little settled, but containing long sweeps of fine land, with a climate
equal to any. This reaches with but few breaks to Penasquitos Creek
on the north, and Poway and El Cajon on the east.

Poway is a well-settled interior valley like the Jamul, about fifteen
miles from the ocean and about five hundred feet above it. It contains
about six thousand acres of fine red land, but, like everything else we
have seen, has numerous branches and side valleys, not discovered
except by special search, which increase considerably the amount of
arable land. Over the low ridge on the south lies El Cajon ; over the
high rocky range, from three thousand to four thousand feet high, on the
east, lies the Santa Maria; hidden among the rolling hills on the west,
lies Penasquitos Rancho; and on the north is the rancho San Bernardo.

The San Bernardo, about twelve miles from the coast, and fi\'e
hundred to seven hundred feet high, contains about twelve thousand
acres of fine red land with several very thriving farms. It joins Escon-
dido on the north and shares largely in the general advantages of
that large valley. The greater part of it is rich mesa and slope and is
above the frost belt of the bottom of the Bernardo River. Easterly from
Bernardo, about eighteen miles from the sea and fi\'e hundred feet

42 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

above it, lies the valley of San Pa^qual, now well settled and containing
some four thousand 'acres of bottom land and slope, all very productive
and threaded by the Bernardo River.

Penasquitos Rancho is a long, narrow valley nearly west of Poway,
about twelve miles in length, and some four miles from the coast at its
lower end. Its elevation is from one hundred to six hundred feet above
the sea and it contains with slopes and all some four thousand acres of
good, arable land. At its lower end it opens into Soledad, a small val-
ley having considerable good land at its upper end. Just around the
opening of Soledad Valley upon the sea lies the handsome seaside town
of Del Mar, with some three hundred inhabitants. East and north of
Del Mar, are two or three miles of mesa covered with brush but mostly
good land, and then we descend into the valley of the San Dieguito
River.

Here are some six thousand acres in all of fine alluvium with slopes
of red land, and then the land suddenly rises into another mesa similar
to the last. In about two miles this falls again into the valley of San
Elijo, a small valley of rich land with slopes of adobe and granite loam
and running back some six miles from the sea to an elevation of about
three hundred feet. This again rises into a narrow mesa of red land, a
part of the Encinitas Rancho, which descends again into the valley of
Encinitas. Encinitas is a small Mexican grant of four thousand acres,
of which twenty-five hundred are arable, consisting of rich gray loam,
adobe, and red granite soil at various elevations from one hundred and
fifty to five hundred feet above the sea and about four miles distant.
West of the valley on a fine table-land is the town of Encinitas with
some two hundred inhabitants. Passing Encinitas Rancho the land
is rougher for a few miles, with salt washes reaching up from the coast
with fine strips of mesa between, reaching to the very coast; that
between Encinitas and the sea being especially fine.

A few miles farther on lies the Rancho Agua Hedionda lying im-
mediately on the coast and running back some six miles to an elevation
of five hundred feet. This contains some ten thousand acres in all of
plow land, mostly red fertile mesa rolling and abounding in most
picturesque building spots that look down upon the sea, with rich
valley land between. Just north of this is Carlsbad, a new watering-
place with a mineral spring whose waters are attracting much attention.
A few miles north of Carlsbad is Oceanside, a fast-growing seaside
town of over a thousand people.

East of Agua Hedionda is the San Marcos Rancho, a fine combi-
nation of valley, slope, and low mesa running from six to twelve miles
from the sea at an average elevation of six hundred feet. It contains in
all some six thousand acres of arable land. Upon this some six miles
from the sea is the new town of San Marcos in a very fertile and pictur-
esque spot.

THE LOWER COAST DIVISION.

Joining this on the east and San Bernardo on the south, Ues the
Rancho Escondido, generally known on the map as Rincon del Diablo,
twelve miles from the sea and seven hundred feet above it. This has
some eleven thousand acres of fine arable land mostly in valley alluvium,
smooth plains, and low mesa land of fine red granite soil, the whole lying
in an almost solid body. Escondido is rapidly settling and has now a
population of about eight hundred, of which some six hundred are in the
town.

Between Escondido, San Marcos, San Bernardo, and the coast the
land is mountainous and rough for several miles, but scattered around
in various parts of it are many settlers in small \'alleys and on mesas.

On the north San Marcos and Escondido merge in a wide range of
rocky and brushy hills reaching to a height of some two thousand feet
and running through nearly to the San Luis River, containing as usual
numbers of hidden valleys in which are dozens of farms.

Northwest of San Marcos the land breaks away into low, smooth
hills which speedily run into mesa and valley land, of which there are
fully twenty thousand acres, all fine arable land lying between Agua
Hedionda, the San Luis River, and the coast, the elevation ranging
from fifty to five hundred feet. This is largely Government land and
contains some of the finest mesa in the county, much of it commanding
a view of the sea.

Included in this, however, are two small ranchos of about twenty-
two hundred acres each, of which about two thousand in each are arable
and of fine quality: Buena Vista, about eight miles from the coast and
about five hundred feet high, and Guajome, same distance and from one
hundred and fifty to four hundred feet high.

CHAPTER X.

THE NORTHERN DIVISION.

.HE San Luis River Valley is a long strip of the same
gray granite alluviimi that forms the river bottoms
generally with slopes of red land leading from the
mesas and rolling hills on either side. About twelve
miles from the coast this runs through the Rancho
Montserrate, a fine tract of valley and mesa, containing
some six thousand acres of plow land from three hun-
dred to seven hundred feet above the sea, running on
the north into the district of Fallbrook. Beyond Mont-
serrate the river wanders through the high, rugged hills
for some five miles to the old Mission of Pala, with valleys and low
slopes among the adjoining hills, embracing from the sea up 'to Pala
(exclusive of Montserrate) about six thousand acres of arable land.

Returning to the coast we find on the north of the San Luis the
great rancho Santa Margarita, threaded by the Santa Margarita or
Temecula River, and containing some fifty thousand acres of arable
land. This rancho'runs from the coast some fifteen miles back, reaching
an elevation of about eight hundred feet on the south side of the river
and on the north some three thousand feet. On the south it is nearly
all high, rolling mesa; on the north of the river a long, low strip of fine
mesa reaching to the line of Los Angeles County, rising gently from the
sea for a mile or two, then swelling into high hills clad with scattered
oaks and abounding in little valleys and parks of rich land. Along the
river are some five thousand acres or more of rich bottom lands of
granite alluvium.

South of the river the mesa continues beyond the line of the rancho
and forms the settlement of Fallbrook at a general level of eight hundred
feet above the sea and fifteen miles from it. Here are some fi\'e thou-
sand acres of deep rolling red land, not including Montserrate, which
here joins it. Fallbrook affords a good instance of the manner in which
the average tourist and land hunter examines San Diego County. The
railroad passes some six hundred feet below through a narrow, rocky
canon. At Fallbrook the train stops twenty minutes for meals at a little
station on about three acres of ground at the mouth of a narrow cation

(44)

:■» '-

THE NORTHERN DIVISION. 45

up which the road leads a mile or so to the highlands above. Ye tourist
alights, looks around the hills, and then contemptuously at the little bit
of land around the station, and sagely remarks, " So this is Fallbrook,
eh ? Well, I don't want any of it." The district of Fallbrook embraces
some twenty thousand acres of land lying some four hundred feet above
the railroad and unsuspected by the traveler. Its population is about
four hundred. The town has some three hundred people and is rapidly
growing.

Northeast of Fallbrook some five miles lies a rich little valley of
about one thousand acres, called the Vallacito ; but most of the land from
Fallbrook to Temecula on the northeast and Mount Palomar on the east
is a succession of ridges and mountains, with but little arable land except
a few little valleys and parks, in each of which two or three settlers are,
as usual, stowed away out of sight.

Northeast of the Santa Margarita line on the north side of the river
the lofty hills sink suddenly some twenty-five hundred feet to form a
large amphitheater known as Corral de Luz, containing some twelve
hundred acres of plow land on which are a dozen farms, but on the north
these hills roll away in rugged, brush-clad ranges to the Los Angeles
County line.

Northeast of de Luz the highlands of Santa Rosa Rancho suddenly
mount to nearly two thousand feet, rolling for several miles in a charm-
ing alternation of grass-clad hills, slopes, and timber-filled valleys until
the whole suddenly tumbles several hundred feet into the Temecula
Rancho. Santa Rosa averages about twenty miles from the ocean and
contains many thousand acres of arable land, the amount of which it is
impossible to estimate closely on account of its being scattered into many
small valleys and slopes, but probably fi\'e thousand in all.

Northwest of Santa Rosa the land rises to thirty-five hundred feet
and over and continues on a dark jungle of chaparral mixed with bowl-
ders and cut with ravines, with a few little valleys and parks, away to
the county line of Los Angeles. But on the northeast the land sud-
denly sinks again and an open country consisting mainly of broad plains
and low mesas, interrupted occasionally by a range of rocky or brushy
hills, spreads away toward the great peak of San Jacinto ten thousand
five hundred feet high and fifty miles away.

The Temecula Rancho, bounded on the west by the lofty slopes of
Santa Rosa and on the east by low, open mesas, reaches from the Santa
Margarita River, where it enters the canon through which the railroad
runs, some ten miles along the railroad. It contains about ten thousand
acres of arable land, nearly all granite alluvium or red mesa, at an eleva-
tion of eleven hundred to fifteen hundred feet and about twenty-five
miles from the sea. On the northern part of this is the town of Mur-
rieta.

46 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DITJ^O.

Just south uf the Santa Margarita Creek at this point Hes the Little
Femecula Rancho, a small grant with some two thous::nd acres of plow
land, at about the same elevation and distance inland as the other.

Northeast of this is the Pauba Rancho, about thirty miles from the
coast and eleven hundred to eighteen hundred feet high, with some ten
thousand acres of fine valley and low mesa, also nearly all granite soil.

Northeast of the Temecula, at an elevation of about twelve hundred
feet and about twenty-five miles from the coast, is the Laguna Rancho, a
(ong, narrow grant reaching nearly to the Los Angeles Countv line and
embracing the largest lake in the county. Around this and southeast of
it are some five thousand acres of good plow land mostly red granite
and very rich. The lake is fed by the San Jacinto River. By this lake
is the thriving town of Elsinore with nearly a thousand people, with
Wildomar near by well on the road to overtake it. North of this river
and between the railroad and the county line there is little but rough,
rolling hills and rugged mesas, with the exception of a small strip near
Perris. East of the railroad, however, sweeps a great plain of red gran-
ite soil, mile after mile to the east and southeast broken by small mount-
ain ranges and rolling mesas. This is nearly all Government land with
an average elevation of sixteen hvmdred feet. The amount of its arable
land it is impossible to estimate closely; but including the Cohuilla Val-
ley, Bladen, and a few other spots that appear before the land rises into
the high range that bounds the desert, there are at the Aery least calcu-
lation forty thousand acres of land fit for the plow.

This tract is bounded on the north by the Rancho San Jacinto
Nuevo, a grant containing some ten thousand acres of plow land, nearly
all a broad plain of red granite soil about fourteen hundred and fifty feet
hieh and some fortv miles from the coast.

Joining this on the southeast lies the San Jacinto Viejo with about
thirty thousand acres of arable land divided into valley land and mesa
fifteen to forty feet above it. A large part of this mesa, like the bottom
land, is allilvium, the rest of it being red land. This rancho lies about
fifteen hundred feet abo\'e the sea le\el and nearly fifty miles from the
coast, is threaded by the San Jacinto River and bounded on the east by
the high range of the San Jacinto Mountains. On this valley land is the
town of San Jacinto, with some sixteen hundred people.

This chapter and the last one include about all the lowlands of the
county except a few tracts on each side of Mount Palomar better consid-
ered under the mountain division. The classification thus adopted has
been more according to rainfall than to actual ehation; and even to this
standard it is impossible to remain consistent without skipping around
too much. Thus Fallbrook, Santa Margarita, and Santa Rosa have
greater rainfdl than most of the other sections mentioned, while San
Jacinto is farther from the coast than Bear Valley, which has a much

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THE NORTHERN DIVISION

greater rainfall. Yet on the whole I have grouped together those whose
climate most approaches that of the lowlands in general.

Between and around all the sections mentioned are small tracts of
various sizes and so numerous that special mention of them is out of the
question; though some of them, such as the country between Bernardo,
Poway, and the mountains west of the Santa Maria, contain considerable
fine land upon which are many prosperous farms.

The estimates thus made include only good plow land free from
rocks, stumps, or swamps, and not rough land that may in future be
cultivated when all else is taken up. It must not be supposed that all
the other land which composes these large ranchos is worthless. I have
omitted notice of it for brevity, but most of it is good stock range, nearly
all of it is fair, and some of it excellent. The proportion of this to the
arable land is often large, as in Santa Margarita, which has in all about
one hundred and thirty thousand acres, of which not over fifty thousand
would at present be considered arable. In other cases the proportion
of arable land is in excess, as in Escondido, which out of twelve thou-
sand eight hundred and forty acres has some eleven thousand of plow
land.

There are also thousands of acres that will be considered good
plow land in less than five years that would hardly be considered so to-^
day. To be on the safe side all such has been omitted. For instance,
there are on Warner's Ranch (described in next chapter) some fifteen
thousand acres of low, rolling hills free from rock, which can be plowed
and which will in time make good fruit land. This would bring up the
arable land to thirty-five thousand acres. Yet as it would scarcely be
deemed good plow land to-day I leave it out. This plan will be fol-
lowed throughout.

CHAPTER XI.

THE MOUNTAIN DIVISION.

^AN JACINTO, ten thouscind tive hundred feet
high, is the highest point in the county. But
this resembles the mountains of Los Angeles
and San Bernardino Counties more than the gen-
eral mountain part of San Diego. It has, how-
ever, a few valleys ol rich land, but none of
them are large enough for any purpose but
stock range and isolated farms. The southern
continuation of the range for many miles is of
the same character until near the borders of Warner's Ranche. Between
the edge of this range where it bounds the desert and Mt. Palomar, some
thirty miles east, is a large tract bounded on the north by the Pauba
Rancho and Cohuilla Valley and the San Jancinto plains and on the
south by Warner's Ranche and the Coyote Mountains. The greater
part of this is a very rough country, with numerous bare hills, steep, low,
and ugly, having a few small valleys among them. This is also in
many years a dry belt, the long and lofty Palomar cutting off most of
the rain that comes from the coast. With the exception of a few spots
like Aguanga and Oak Grove there is here little of value until we reach
Warner's Ranche.

Warner's appears on the maps as San Jose del Valle and Valle de
San Jose. It is composed of two Mexican grants lying at the southeast
of Palomar with an elevation of twenty-five hundred to three thousand
feet and about forty miles from the coast. It contains in all some fifteen
thousand acres of fine plow land exclusive of that mentioned in the List
chapter, mostly gray granite loam somewhat coarser than that found in
the lower ranchos but of excellent quality for all kinds of fruit. The
most of the ranche is rolling upland, but there is also considerable bot-
tom land.

The southwest edge rolls upward a thousand feet or more in a long
line of blue and yellow bluffs clad in grass, chaparral, and oak into the
highlands of Mesa Grande, which we have seen before. On the south
it rises over three thousand feet into the pine-clad heights of Mount
Volcan, the eastern boundary of Santa Ysabel.
(48)

THE MOUNTAIN DIVISION. 49

Northwest of Warner's Ranche the long', high back of Palomar runs
away to Temecula. Palomar, commonly known as ' ' Smith's Mountain, "
is about six thousand feet high and nearly twenty miles long. Its top and
sides are partly clad in pine and oak, cedar and silver fir. Upon it are
some six thousand acres of good plow land, fine meadows and little val-
leys abounding upon its top and along its sides. At the foot of its
western slope, some four thou.sand feet below the top and upon the
banks of the upper San Luis River, and some twenty-four miles from
the sea, lie two Mexican grants, Pauma and Cuca.

The Cuca is a small grant about twenty-five hundred feet above sea
level containing some six hundred or eight hundred acres only of arable
land but of very fine quality, while Pauma, about fifteen hundred feet
high, contains some four thousand acres of coarser grade than that of
Cuca but still very desirable for fruit-raising.

South of the San Luis River at this point the land rises again mto a
broad tract from fifteen hundred to three thousand feet high running
through on the southwest some tweh'e miles to the rugged hills that
look down upon the fair Escondid(j, on the south some twelve miles to
the edge of the deep canon of the upper San Dieguito River, on the
east some twelve miles from Escondido to the deep canon in which
Pauma Valley lies nestled, and rising on the other side with sudden
sweep into the western highlands of Mesa Grande.

On the southeastern part of this lies the Rancho Guejito with some
seven thousand acres of rolling mesa and valley all red granite soil,
about two thousand two hundred feet abo\'e the sea and some thirty-fi\'e
miles from it.

The rest of this inclosure that at a distance looks so rough and un-
inhabitable embraces a dozen or more valleys nearly all connected and
having an average elevation of fifteen hundred feet with considerable
mesa and slope. This is all known under the general name of Bear
Valley and contains some seven thousand acres of plow land.

Crossing Santa Ysabel again we come to Mount Volcan, south of
Warner's Ranche and five thousand to six thousand feet high. This is
a broad-topped mountain with considerable arable land, grassv slopes
and valleys and timber-clad ridges and gulches.

On the east this mountain suddenly falls some three thousand five
hundred feet into the Rancho San Felipe. This contains some four
thousand acres of fine arable land, most of.it sloping away toward the
desert.

Going up the canon by way of Banner on the southeast we reach
Julian and soon come once more to the Cuyamaca Rancho which we
cross and go southward. The Cuyamaca contains some six thousand
acres of arable land of which a part is included in the valley known as
Guatay. West of the main peak of the Cuyamaca, among the iorks of
4

50 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

the San Diego River, w hich heads there, are some small valleys and
mesas with several hundred acres of good land; but the mountains be-
some rougher as we go south and plow land grows scarcer. South of
the San Diego River we find no mountain valley larger than \'iejas,
which with its branches contains some twenty-five hundred acres of fine
tillable land at an elevation of twenty- two hundred feet and thirty miles
from the coast.

From Viejas the land falls away toward El Cajon on the east in
small mesas, valleys and slopes known as Alpine District and containing
a few thousand acres of plow land bounded by the deep, rough canon
of the Sweetwater on the south and on the west by the east line of
El Cajon.

South of the Sweetwater the mountain valleys are smaller than on
the north and steeper on their sides. Slopes and mesas of arable land
are also smaller: Pine Valley, Lawson's Valley, Potrero, Cottonwood,
and Milquatay are all small but \ery pretty and fertile valleys separated
by rough mountains. A few small \alleys and mesas are scattered
among them and in the timbered range of the Laguna Mountains is con-
siderable arable land. All this section is on a heavy rain belt and the
arable land is very fine in quality often with good stock range between
the tracts.

Upon the Colorado desert, which forms some three-fifths of the
whole county, are thousands of acres of land of which the quality is good
enough. Most of it cannot be irrigated at all, while much of it will some
day be reclaimed by the waters of the Colorado River, by artesian
wells and water from the eastern slopes of the mountains. But the rain-
fall is generally so light and the hot winds are so common that much
cultivation is at pre.sent out of the question, and the desert is practically
uninhabitable. For this reason the desert is never intended to be in-
cluded when mention is made of San Diego County by any of its resi-
dents.

The estimate of arable land thus far made is a close one, rather
under than over. It is greater than it would have been made five years
ago and less than it will be fi\e years from now. Yet I have taken pains
to estimate it from the present standpoint. The time is not far distant
when settlers will roll rocks out of the hill-sides and plant trees in their
places, when hill-sides will be terraced for vineyards, and cobblestones
will be raked from the soil and fences built of them, as has long been
done in the East. But it would not be fair to include such lands in any
estimate now, though they would add largely to the number of acres.

It will be safe to add to the acreage thus far described fi\e per cent
for small intervening tracts of which space will not permit special men-
tion. We then have as the total acreage of fairly arable land in the
countv in the three divisions about five hundred and thirtv thousand

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THE MOUNTAIN DIVISION.

acres. Adding tive per cent we have in round numbers live huntlred
and tifty-five thousand acres, which exceeds the amount of fairly arable
land in San Bernardino County estimated upon the same basis, and ap-
proaches very nearly that of Los Angeles County, excluding in both
cases of course their share of desert.

CHAPTER XII

WATER.

^ HUS far the land has been estimated as plow land
pure and simple. Ninety-five per cent of it
needs no clearing whatever, none of it at pres-
ent needs fertilization and for many kinds of
products never will need any. It does how-
ever need water. The ways and possibilities of
watering are so numerous and varied, there is
such difference in the distance of the under-
ground water, such diiferences in the amount of rainfall, that it has been
impossible within the limits of a reader's patience to consider the water
question in connection with each tract. It will be necessary therefore to
treat it generally using particular localities only to illustrate a principle.
As we have seen in our first trip from coast to mountain-top the
rainfall increases with elevation. There are four different rain belts
caused by this change, and the whole county is subject to its influence.
We find however other changes for which we cannot account in this
way. Thus Fallbrook has generally more rain than many other places
having a greater elevation and distance from the coast; while the coast
line above the Santa Margarita River has generally more than the coast
below. Still the general rule is that the rainfall depends upon elevation,
especially where a broad tract is elevated.

The general impression that San Diego is a dry country has been
caused by the constant publication of the rain record of San Diego City
to prove that it has the best climate in California, to wit. the driest.
An ordinary reader would infer that this represented the rainfall of the
county.

The following^ is the rainfall by seasons for San Diego City for fif-
teen years. This record is compiled by the signal service observer
himself at the U. S. Signal Station at San Diego, and is the only ac-
curate one yet published. All others are too low: —

YEAKS. INCHES. YEARS. INCHES. YEARS. INCHES.

1871-72 7.18 1876-77 3.65 1881-82 9.44

1872-73 7.41 1877-78 16.10 1882-83 4.92

1873-74 14.95 1878-79 7.81 1883-S4 25.97

1874-75 5.48 1879-80 14.48 1884-85 8.60

1875-76 9.46 1880-81 5.20 1885-86 16.62

(52)

WATER. 53

It will be seen from this that the raintall is very variable. Such is
the case all o\'er Calitornia. The difference between the different rain
belts is most apparent in the years of very low rainfall.

The second rain belt is best shown by the rainfall at Fallbrook, where
we have a record of the last eleven years as follows: —

YEARS. INCHES. YEARS. INCHES.

1875-76 17.51 1880-81 11.45

1876-77 8.75 1881-82 12.24

1877-78 24.84 1882-83 10.60

1878-79 8.52 1883-84 40.25

1879-80 20.45 1884-85 12.78

1885-S6 26.50

Under this rainfall well-tilled land has never failed to produce good
crops.

The third rain belt, best represented by Bear Valley, Santa Maria,
Viejas, and similar elevations within that range, has about thirty-five per
cent more rain than Fallbrook.

The fourth, or high mountain belt, is best represented by the rain-
fall of Julian four thousand two hundred feet high and about forty miles
from the coast.

We have only five years of reliable report.

YEARS. INCHES. YEARS. INCHES.

1979-80 30.63 1881-82 29.28

1880-81 25.89 1882-83 41.31

1883-84 61.42

A record of the snow was kept in only one of these years, 1882-S3,
when it was five feet, making se\'en inches of water, which are included
in the 41.31 inches. Reference to the San Diego table shows this to be
the driest winter on the coast since 1877. As a large proportion of the
water at this elevation is every year precipitated in snow, especially in
wet years, it will be safe to add about twenty per cent for snow to the
other four years. In 1881-82 there were over five feet of snow at Julian
in a single storm. This snowfall increases of course with elevation and
on the high mountains it often takes weeks to melt off. Following the
analogies of elevation from the coast upward it would be safe to add at
least thirty -five per cent more for the next one thousand feet of elevation.
It is well known that the precipitation at the Cuyamaca is considerably
greater than at Julian. The average rainfall is doubtless fifty inches at
five thousand feet.

This high rain belt embraces about forty townships, being one thou-
sand four hundred and forty square miles, or nine hundred and twenty-
one thousand six hundred acres of land. As most of this is quite .steep
hill-side with a tight soil, as the rain falls very .'apidly and the snow melts
fast under the warm sun, the amount of water that runs off is fully sixty
percent. Of the remaining forty per cent fullv thirty per cent finds its

54 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

way seaward under-ground, trickling out in thousands of springs and
rivulets which in the mountains combine their water into little brooks
and run all summer, but as they approach the coast sink in sand, or
into the soft granite bed-rock or old under-ground channels and disap-
pear.

The drainage of this broad highland area forms se\en ri\ers which
in wet winters often carry water enough all the way to the coast to float
a large steamboat. They are often impassible for days at a time. Dur-
ing the summer they generally sink into their deep beds of sand and
under-ground channels, and cease running above-ground, except in a
few spots where a small thread may run for half a mile or so. Water
may always be found in abundance a foot or two below the surface of
the sand; but generally there is no flow above-ground worthy of men-
tion until we reach the mountains, though in years of excessive rain
these rivers flow to the coast all summer.

In many years of low rainfall the excess above the summer flow is
only in the mountains, the water, though in abundance there, serving
only to fill up the sand and under-ground channels below. In such
years, large streams pouring from the mountains are swallowed up
within ten miles or less after leaving the steep, rocky channels, and
reaching the sand beds of the lower levels.

The irrigation possibilities of this county are far beyond what they
are generally supposed to be even by old residents. The lowest rain-
fall recorded anywhere on this area of highland in fifteen years, was at
Mesa Grande in 1877, where at an elevation of three thousand five hun-
dred feet the fall was twenty-four and one-half inches. At Pine Valley,
thirty miles south, and same elevation, the rain gauge for the same year
gave twentv-five inches. Reducing the percentage of water running off"
to forty per cent we have about ten inches. Twenty inches being suffi-
cient for full irrigation, we have water enough lost by surface drainage
to irrigate four hundred and fifty thousand^ acres of land, to say nothing
of the amount that afterward drains from below the surface. And this
for the driest season yet recorded. As a matter of fact, however, water
fhat will cover land ten inches deep will serve very well for irrigation,
though it is not enough for the best results.

The proportion of this drainage that can be secured for irrigation
cannot be easily estimated, as it is in most cases merely a question of
what expense the present value of the land will justify. There are many
places where large reservoirs may be made in the mountains to catch the
flood waters there, many others where they may be made in the low-
lands and water from the mountains led into them, many others in the
lowlands where dams may be made to catch the waters of wet winters
and hold them over for dry ones.

Several large schemes of this sort are already projected. The

.Id!

WA TER. 55

Hemmet Valley Reservoir Company will build a dam one hundred and
ten feet high in the San Jacinto Mountains and irrigate a part of the San
Jacinto plains. The San Marcos Water Company will irrigate by res-
ervoirs the fine country around Encinitas and on each side along the
coast. In time the San Luis River will be brought upon San Marcos,
Escondido, and the mesas about Oceanside. The San Luis Rey Flume
Company is already at work upon this great project. The Otay Valley
Water Company has been incorporated to irrigate by means of a large
reservoir, with a dam of one hundred feet in height, the Otay Valley and
adjoining mesas. The Fallbrook Water and Power Company is now
at work to bring water from Temecula River upon the Fallbrook
country.

The Sweetwater Valley Water Company is incorporated to build a
twenty-five foot dam in the Sweetwater River at a narrow gorge upon
the Jamacha Rancho, and irrigate part of the Jamacha and National
Rancho below, conducting the water from the dam with a flume and
pipes. This company has already made the necessary surveys and be-
gun condemnation proceedings for right of way, etc.

The Land and Town Company have about finished a large dam in
the Sweetwater, six miles east of National City, which is to be ninety
feet high. From this the water will be taken to the best part of their
lands below National City, and will also supply National City with water
for household use. The Mission Valley Water Company is at work to
bring water from the San Diego River upon the Mission Valley.

These four last enterprises, in connection with the one next men-
tioned, will reclaim four-fifths of all the dry lands within ten miles of the
bay, and whenever it will be safe to trust a flume outside of the Ameri-
can line, the Tia Juana maybe brought in from Mexico to reclaim some
twenty thousand more.

The most advanced of all these projects is that of the San Diego
Flume Company, which intends taking the waters of the San Diego
River thirty-five miles back from the coast. This line is now under
rapid construction, the two principal clams are done, and the whole line
is graded and tunneled, sixteen miles of flume built, and the whole will
be done to San Diego by June i, 1888. The Santa Maria Land and
Water Company will put in a large dam above Ramona to irrigate the
lands thereabout, although very little is needed on that rain belt.

In addition to these large systems there are numerous ways in which
water enough for a few hundred or a thousand acres may be had. In
almost every valley water may be stored to some extent.

Long, low dams may be made of simple earth, as in India. These
are quite safe up to about twenty feet without any puddle wall, and can
be made by home labor, without any engineering skill. In the higher
lands there are scores of small streams whose waters may be piped or

56 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

flumed out. There are hundreds of springs whose waters piped into
a cistern and saved will irrigate all the land one needs. Hundreds of
others may be tunneled out and the flow of water increased from ten to
fifty-fold. Water may be pumped, or drawn by under-ground pipes,
from wells sunk in river beds or washes, and horizontal wells may be
driven into a thousand hill-sides and reach a fair supply of water where
none now shows upon the surface. Artesian water has been found in
some places, and doubtless exists in more. At San Jacinto there are
now one hundred and five flowing wells, made by boring into old ri\-er
beds about one hundred and fifty feet below the present banks of the
river.

All over the valley lands water is easily found at from ten to forty
feet in abundant supply, for windmills or other power, and nearly all
valleys have some wet ground where irrigation is unnecessary for any
purpose. The average depth of water in wells is less here than in the
East, owing to the different formation of the country. Irrigation is also
unnecessary on nearly all the highest lands, and on the highest rain belt
might be only a detriment for most things. Many of the lowland val-
leys and slopes do surprisingly well with nothing but good cultivation,
especially when the subsoil is clay or red granite, which hold water like
sponges. On the lowlands generally, irrigation is, however, necessary for
some things, and on the mesas is needed for nearly everything except
grain, which is irrigated nowhere south of the San Joaquin Valley. As
a rule, whatever can be done without irrigation can be far excelled by it,
provided it be not done to excess and be accompanied by thorough cul-
tivation. Los Angeles County, where they have practiced irrigation and
cultivation side by side, combined and separate, for many years, upon all
kinds of soils, and generally under abundant rainfall, is the best place to
study the various applications of the two systems of irrigation and culti-
vation only. Both are invaluable in their way, but their proper com-
bination leads to the most marvelous results on earth.

It is not always necessary that irrigation be continued all summer.
It is not to keep things aUve through months of rainless weather that
irrigation is needed in California. There is little trouble in doing that.
Many things need no irrigation later than June, and many more do well
enough with the ground well wet down by the middle of May. In many
places where water cannot be obtained in summer plenty may be had
in winter and spring, and in many others where a summer flow would
be too expensive to maintain, a winter flow is easily and cheaply secured.

A careful estimate made by the writer places the amount of land
irrigable in this county by all systems, of both winter and summer irri-
gation (except vertical and horizontal wells or tunnels) at about three
hundred thousand acres. This supposes the first cost to be not greater
than $50 an acre. Generally it will not exceed $30 for the first cost,

WA TER.

with an annual cost of about $4.00. The amount irrigable by wells and
tunnels and small dams can hardly be estimated at much less than two
hundred thousand acres more, as it is solely a question of expense.

When we recollect that the greater part of the splendid prosperity
of Los Angeles County is due to about ninety thousand acres of irri-
gated land, it is easy to see what the future will do for San Diego
County. And at the ever-increasing ratio in which people of wealth,
weary of Eastern winters, and determined to have a home in Southern
California at any cost, are pouring into it, the development of all irri-
gation facilities is not far ahead. Thus far only simple methods have
been used all through South California. But these have drawn about
all the water obtainable in those ways, and the whole South is about en-
tering a water-development era that will leave the past in the shade.
When that time is complete San Diego County will stand in the front
line.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRODUCTION.

,HILE San Diego County can raise almost anything as
well as any other part of the State there are some
things that it can raise much better. It is now con-
ceded at Los Angeles and Riverside that San Diego
County lemons lead their very best. Over and over
again they have taken the highest premiums at the
fairs of Los Angeles and Riverside, a thing that
could not be done except by merit so great as to
override at once all possible doubt.

While very few pears have as yet been grown here
they too lead the coast. The following list of awards to the Kimball
Brothers, of National City, at the great exposition at New Orleans in
1884-85, is a judgment from which at present there is no appeal.- If San
Diego County in its infancy can win such a judgment, there will be little
use in contesting it when she is older.

No. 2. — Best collection, ten varieties, oranges from any State or
FOREIGN COUNTRY IN THE WORLD — First Degree of Merit (Silver
Medal and $50).

No. 3. — Best collection, fifteen varieties, grown in the State of
California — First Degree of Merit (Silver Medal and $75).

No. 4. — Best collection, ten varieties, oranges grown in the State
of California — First Degree of Merit (Silver Medal and $50).

No. 5. — Best collection, five varieties oranges grown in the State
of California — First Degree of Merit (Silver Medal and $25).

No. 6. — Best General Exhibit of Citrus Fruits, other than oranges
from the State of California — First Degree of Merit (Silver Medal
and $50).

No. 7. — Best orange, " Acapulco" — First Degree of Merit and $5.
No. 8.— Best orange, " Creole"— First Degree of Merit and $5.
9.— Best orange, " Malise Oval," $5.

10. — Best orange, " Osceola" — First Degree of Merit and $5.
II. — Best orange, "St. Michael's" — First Degree of Merit

No.
No.

No.

and $5.

No. 12. — Best orange, "St. Michael's Egg" — First Degree of

Merit and $5.

(58)

PRODUCTION. 59

No. 13. — Best lemon, "Eureka" — First Degree of Merit and $5.
No. 14. — Best lime, "Giant Seedling" — First Degree of Merit

and $5.

No. 15. — Best collection, five varieties, pears grown within the
limits of Pacific District — First Degree of Merit and $15.

No. 16. — Best plate of any variety pears grown in Pacific District —
First Degree of Merit and $10.

No. 18. — Best " Hacheya " Japan Persimmons grown in the United
States — First Degree of Merit and $10.

The first fourteen First Premiums were awarded to Kimball Brothers.
The last four First Premiums were awarded to Frank A. Kimball. There
are fully two hundred thousand acres in this county upon which lemons
and oranges fully equal to these can be raised, and in many places even
better ones are possible, and even on the National Rancho the best lands
.are not yet planted.

Had the apricots or raisin grapes of the county been in season so

as to be on exhibition they too would have walked ofi'with all the prizes.

The apricots especially are so much superior in flavor to those of the

North that no locality now pretends to question their eminence, while

the raisins of El Cajon, the Sweetwater Valley and other places have

been pronounced by the best judges the best in the world. And there

are thousands of acres in every direction where equally good ones can

be raised.

Apples, peaches, and plums fully equal to those of the Nortn are

grown along the lowlands here; but those of the mountains excel those
of the coast. The same is the case with all berries and small fruits.
Most of these can be grown nearly to perfection on the lowlands but in
the mountains all that can stand heavy frosts reach their fullest excel-
lence. Cherries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants,
strawberries, etc. , can all be seen at Mesa Grande bearing in abundance
large fruit of the finest flavor, and without irrigation. The same is done
at Julian and can be done as low down as Santa Maria and Bear Valley.
The superiority of nearly all deciduous fruits and vegetables grown in
these mountains will in time make them extremely valuable; for the
wealthy Californian is the spoiled child of luxury and will ha\'e the best,
cost what it may.

All sorts of fancy fruits grow in this county to the finest stage of ex-
cellence: the guavas, the Japanese persimmon, the pomegranate, and a
score of others. Some of these, like the guava, will soon have a com-
mercial value for jelly or canning, while others, like the Japanese per-
simmons, Japanese plums, etc., will always be an excellent addition to
the list of table fruits. The almond is not a prolific bearer anywhere in
the South, though otherwise a beautiful tree; but the English walnut
has done marvelously well at Agua Tibia, El Cajon, and other places

6o CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

where it has been tried, while all varieties of fig trees hang full of ex-
cellent- fruit and often do so without irrigation, cultivation, or any care.
Like the fig, the olive thrives almost anywhere on the lowlands without
care or water, though like the fig and everything else it will do better
with both. Peaches also do very well, though those of the mountains
are much the best as well as the most prolific.

Fancy trees, bushes, shrubbery, flowers of all varieties, the camphor
tree, rubber tree, banana, palms, and a thousand other things seen only
in green-houses in the East, grow here with little or no trouble, though
such things as the banana require a place quite free from frost, and also
from wind.

Most kind of vegetables grow in winter and many kinds, such as
peas, turnips, onions, beets, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower then grow
the best. The tomato, if planted above the frost belt, becomes a peren-
nial, growing year after year, climbing often over a small house and
bearing the year round. Melons, beans, corn, ^^^ plant, and similar
tender things must generally be grown in summer; for though they may
live in winter the nights are too cool to allow them to thrive. But other
tender plants like the potato are raised in the dead of winter if planted
on slopes or mesas above the frost line of the valleys. Many products
have. not yet been tried and the capabilities of the land are not yet half
known. Nor will they be for many a day, because it by no means fol-
lows that if a plant fails in a certain kind of soil, or at a certain elevation,
or at a certain distance from the coast, it will fail anywhere else.

Some fruits here bear ripe fruit all the year, like the tomato and
lemon. Others half the year, like the strawberry when well treated,
though the strawberry may bear a little all the year round. But most
things have their regular seasons as in the East, though it is often much
longer, as with grapes, melons, etc.

There are now growing in the county according to the latest returns
of the assessor: 58,208 lemon trees, 102,013 orange, 51,571 olive, 35,-
086 apple, 26,849 pear, 30,918 peach, 3,595 quince, 72,719 fig, 3,317
prune, 2,359 cherry, 1,217 nectarine, 4,254 plum, 93,572 apricot.

San Diego County has shipped in one season the enormous quan-
tity of two million seventy-five thousand pounds of honey. Immense
shipments of wool, wheat, cattle, hides, etc., have been made in the
past; but the day for all such things is over except as mere accessories
to other things. The whole county is being fast devoted, like the rest
of Southern California, to more profitable and pleasant industries and the
making of luxurious ho-mes.

The reader may be surprised at the small amount of arable land in
the county in proportion to its whole extent. An Eastern State or
county having such a great amount of untillable land would generally
be pronounced xery poor. Yet San Bernardino County is, in this re-

PiERCE-MoRSE Building, San Diego, Cal.

PRODUCTION. 6 1

spect, far worse than San Diego County. Santa Barbara and Ventura
are no better, and Los Angeles County, with all its wealth, is almost as
bad.

The name " Southern California," or " South California," is now
generally limited to the three lower counties. These embrace nearly all
the choice fruit belts and finest climates, and all the other advantages
which are now drawing such a stream of wealthy settlers. Yet these
three counties, with an acreage of about twenty-seven million acres, can-
not muster much over two million acres which from present standpoints
can be fairly called tillable.

But what a two million they are ! Nowhere else does the sun shine
upon their like ; and nothing approaching them lies outside of Califor-
nia. Fifteen years ago fully one-half of these was considered almost
worthless except for stock range. To-day that half is far more valuable
than the other, and the most readily saleable at from three to five times
the price the other half will bring. A land where such a change of
values could be so sudden and so great is certainly beyond any ordinary
standard of value. It erects its own standard, and compels all old-time
political economy and business principles to bow to it. There is but
one South California on earth; a residence there is a luxury. The
amount of its land is limited; people will have it; therefore it commands
the price of a luxury and not of mere farming or garden land. It is
quite useless to quarrel with these prices, to repeat the ancient joke
about buying climate with the land thrown in. It is quite immaterial
whether it is the climate or the land. The prices are nevertheless paid,
and the stream of climate-seekers keeps increasing. The rich refugees
have been coming so long in such constantly increasing force, so many
of them are delighted with the land, buy, build, and do all they can to
induce their friends to do the same, that climate now forms a solid basis
of values with the advantage of being quite unchangeable except by some
grand convulsion ot nature. Such climate beneath the flag of the United
States is an article whose supply is limited yet with an ever-increasing
demand. Those who are fast building towns on lately bare plains, and
perching fine houses on slopes and mesas that nobody would have a
few years ago, have come here mainly for climate. The soil and its
capabilities are of secondary importance. If a beautiful place under a
fine climate can be made profitable, so much the better; but if it cannot,
no matter; the residence and its climate must be had.

Two consequences necessarily arise from this kind of settlement:
First, higher prices than the land might seem to justify as mere farming
or gardening land; second, a large amount of production, often experi-
mental, often fancy and even extravagant, which is of course unprofita-
ble. From this a visitor too often infers that the prices of land are too
much inflated, and that all production is necessarily expensive.

62 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

The limited amount of land, and the steadily increasing demand for
it, sufficiently settle the question of inflation. If such conditions do not
create value there is no such thing as intrinsic value, and every value
rests only upon fancy.

While farming and fruit raising often cost a little more than in some
parts of the East, they cannot be called expensive, and certainly are
profitable, where conducted on any business principles. So many ex-
periments have had to be made, and so much trouble has been had with
transportation facilities, commission merchants, and various other things,
that production has not always been profitable in the past. But a great
change has of late taken place. Until three years ago not an orange from
California went east of the Rocky Mountains. Railroads suddenly con-
cluded that living rates were better than prohibitory rates, and a reduc-
tion started shipments. In 1885 twelve hundred car loads found a ready
and paying market from St. Paul to St. Louis, and far to the east of
both. In 1886 the shipment has been far greater, and regular fruit
trains are now run on express time to the East. Before this the only
market was San Francisco, which of course was easily glutted. More-
over, the finer varieties of oranges had not been long enough planted to
produce much, and the proper mode of cultivating even the old trees
had but just been discovered. It was much the same with lemon grow-
ing, with the additional disadvantage of not knowing how to preserve
lemons until the foreign lemons were out of the Eastern market — a thing
just discovered within two years and now a complete "success. Raisin-
growing has gone through much the same stages. Growers had to
learn how to prune, to irrigate, to cultivate, to pick, to pack, to label and to
market, and had to learn it all from their own experience. Few people
have ever learned so rapidly as the fruit-growers of Southern California,
and although some things remain to be known, four-fifths of the work is
done. Ingrowing, picking, packing, selling, etc. , as well as canning, wine-
making, drying, or curing of any kind, the present now has the experi-
ence of the past without the expense of the education; and the orchards
and vineyards of Southern California are now among the most profitable
of the world, the yield of many of the older ones now almost surpassing
belief. Space will permit no tables of estimates of profits. They can be
found in a hundred immigration documents, and if the reader will take
the pains to annex qualifications, which a moderate amount of experience
and common sense will readily suggest, he cannot be misled by them.
The most extravagant of them is generally literally true, but may repre-
sent especially favorable conditions. All of them represent work and
sound business principles, to which they are generally due more than to
peculiar conditions. You will find no land where work is more indis-
i)ensable to success than here, and none where it will bring the same
heaping measure of results. Where you see unprofitable farming or

PRODUCTION. 63

fruit-raising you will nearly always find a man who came to California to
make money Avithout work, or who, having means to hire labor, has
plunged into some new thing on too large a scale instead of feeling his
w^ay, or who, loaded with Eastern conceit, has disregarded the experi-
ence of others, or one who has run a ranch as a baby would run a candy
shop.

Ordinary farming is in such a transition state, so many of the effects
of the old systems still remain, that a new-comer who is not careful in
his observations may get very wrong impressions. The great effort of\
the old-time farmer was to make money at farming; not a li\ing with a
little money over, as most successful farmers do the world over, but
money, and plenty of it. And this was, of course, to be done with the
least possible amount of work. There can be but one result of such
farming anywhere. This State is no exception to the stern laws of
nature. On the other hand there is no State where the four first requi-
sites of successful farming, — diversification of products, hard work, close
economy, and strict attention, — produce more certain or fuller results.
Nowhere else will the same acreage produce such a variety and quantity
as on the irrigated lands of Southern California. Even where the whole
tract cannot be irrigated fine results can be secured. Ten acres of land
A\ith the water that an inch-and-a-half pipe will carry from a stream,
spring, or ditch, and the work that a successful gardener in the East puts
upon ten acres will, with thirty acres of dry land outside, not only sup-
port a family, but leave more money over than the best one-hundred-
and-sixty acre farm east of the Rocky Mountains. Three acres in alfalfa,
well irrigated, will keep two milch cows, a dozen hogs, and a score of
chickens the year round, with all their increase. Half an acre more will
raise all the -vegetables a large family can use in a year, while the rest in
raisin grapes, fine oranges, or a dozen other varieties of fruits, will yield
a fair income. On dry lands outside of this, thorough plowing with irri-
gation will raise plenty of the best hay, which is made of grain cut in the
dough or milk; also olives, apricots, wine grapes, figs, and many other
things that bear well with cultivation alone. Irrigation will, of course,
improve the yield of all such fruits, especially in some years, but very
little water is needed and fair results may be had without any. Many
things that are sure to be profitable in the future are very easily raised.
The olive, for instance, grows on dry land with very little attention, is
a hardy, prolific, and steady bearer, and outlives its owner's family.
As soon as enough are grown in the vicinity to supply an oil press the
profits are large and constant. Pickled when ripe they form an article
of food which the whole family soon learns to like, as substantial as po-
tatoes, and infinitely better to the taste than the foreign olives, which
are pickled green to preserve a stylish color. It is a tree whose value
is daily becoming more striking; and as a standby for the future, as a

64 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

thing to work in with other products with scarcely any trouble, and to
use unirrigable lands; its value in the future can scarcely be estimated.

To run through the list of trees, vegetables, grains, and berries that
can be grown here with their special modes of cultivation and their
profits would take a volume. Suffice it to say that about everything can
be raised in San Diego County that can be grown in the temperate zone
at all, with many of the best products of the tropics. The profits will
depend upon the industry, attention, and business capacity of the pro-
ducer.

Many things outside of common farming and fruit-growing have
been raised at great profit in San Diego County, and many of them may
still be raised to advantage in connection with other things. In nearly
all parts of the county there is an abundance of bee pasture. Apiaries
need little or no care except during working time, and in most years are
very productive. Abundance of stock range^ generally public land, lies
outside of most of the arable tracts, and is used by many to keep a few
head of stock, which can be done with very little trouble. Abundance
of goat pasture lies on the hills, which are easily fenced in, and a cross of
the Angora with the common goat makes excellent meat. Large num-
bers of sheep have been raised at a good profit, but raising them on a
small scale, as in the East, has not yet been attempted. It can, however,
be done much better here, as it is never necessary to protect sheep from
the weather, and they thrive well upon the native grasses and are easily
fenced in. There is no better country for raising hogs and chickens,
none where they pay any better when half cared for, and none where
they can find more feed for themselves. Hogs can be raised well upon
alfalfa hay and will harvest a stubble-field until the last head of grain is
gleaned.

The farmer here has many advantages over the Eastern farmer.
He needs no out-builcHngs except a roof for his horses and cover for his
wagon and machinery, more to protect it from the sun than from the
rains. Grain stands ripe for months with no danger of sprouting,
moulding, falling, or shelling, safe from, rain, ha?l, wind-storms or light-
ning. The farmer needs little fire wood except for cookings has no
" fall work " to do, no winter to get ready for, except to plow and sow.
He has twice the amount of fair weather in which to work that the East-
ern farmer has, and need never work from daylight to dark in hot
weather to get his hay or other crops out of danger of rain. If he will
only work well and work steadily, and not put off" things for days be-
cause there is plenty of fine weather ahead, he will have more and better
food to eat, a better home, and more money to spend in luxuries, with
much less actual work and less worry than the farmer in any other coun-
try.

The great and overwhelming advantage, however, that San Diego

•«>!

ii^W-'

PRODUCTION.

County now has for one who is determined to Hve in South CaHfornia,
is the very low price of land compared with prices farther north. Es-
pecially is this true of irrigable lands. Thousands of acres of land ex-
actly like that which at Riverside brings, with a water right, ^600 an
acre, unimproved, and at Pasadena $1,500 an acre, maybe had here for
one-third of those sums. The mountain lands too, and the moist valley
lands that need little or no irrigation, are far cheaper than elsewhere.
This difference in price is a necessary consequence of the late opening
of the lands to settlement, and of course it is a difference that cannot last
long.

Prices of land in this county vary so with locality, rainfall, and irri-
gation facilities, that it is quite useless to attempt to give any scales.
Plenty of fine land may yet be had at $50, and in the mountains the
surest land in the world for crops may be had for $20 to $40, and e\en
as low as :^io in remote places.

The experience of the last ten years shows that there is no such
thing as a fall in prices of good, irrigable land in Southern California.
Town lots may possibly shrink even in a growing city as they do else-
where in growing cities, but the price of good fruit land and fine resi-
dence property is steadily upward. This results necessarily from the
steadily increasing demand and the limited supply. Town lots in abun-
dance can be laid out for years to come, .but the acres that make beauti-
ful places, surrounded with varied and luxuriant vegetation, and the acres
that yield the enormous crops of the world's finest fruits, are rapidly
going and cannot be replaced.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CLIMATE.

AN DIEGO COUNTY bears the same relation to Califor-
nia that California does to the United States, being a
land of climates within a land of climates. Almost side
by side lie nearly all the varieties that distance from the
coast, elevation above the sea, elevation above valleys,
mountain inclosure or open exposure, combined with
almost constant sunshine, can make. In winter the
tender banana ripens its fruit, and people bathe but
forty-five miles from where the snow often lies ten feet
deep in the dark fringe of pines in the eastern sky; and
the sun shines bright but twenty miles from where the
sky is dark with clouds that shed more rain and snow
than is generally seen in the Eastern States.

It is unanimously conceded by its most envious neigh-
bors on the north that this county has the best climate of the State.
This is not caused by its more southern position alone, but also by the
wide inward sweep of the coast to the east. The effect of this, which
gives Santa Barbara such a different climate from that of San Francisco,
is continued to the lower line of the State, giving San Diego County the
same advantage over Los Angeles County that Los Angeles County has
over Santa Barbara County. A much less rainfall along the coast and
a far greater number of clear days in winter is an important result of
this, but is by no means the most important. Without perceptibly in-
creasing the heat of summer it removes the land farther from the influ-
ence of the cold ocean current that, coming down the northern shore,
makes the summer wind so cold at San Francisco, and causes the heavy
fogs that hang along the upper coast. What is left of that current
passes San Diego far out at sea, just near enough to cool off the hot air
flowing over westward in an upper current from the Colorado desert,
and send it back in an under current just cool enough for comfort and
drier than the land breezes of the Atlantic Coast. What few fogs there
are — and there ^s scarcely any sea-coast without some — come at night,
and generally vanish with the first burst of sunlight o\er the eastern

(6(3)

THE CLIMATE. 67

mountains, while the sea breeze has little of the dampness 01 tnat of the
upper coast. The effect of this is seen at once in the growing of some
kinds of fruit. Even in Los Angeles County good oranges and lemons
cannot be grown within ten or twelve miles of the coast. But the
oranges and lemons that swept away so many prizes at the New Orleans
Exposition were grown within six miles of San Diego Bay, and many of
them within half a mile of it; the only exception being a few which were
grown about fifteen miles back, between the Janal and Jamul. Within
half a mile of the bay at National City may be seen groves of olives as
clear and bright as in the interior, which only one hundred and fifty
miles north would be half black with scale caused by the dampness of
the sea.

Subject to these modifications in its favor and to special modifica-
tions caused by altitudes, etc. , as before explained, the climate of San
Diego County is that of Southern California in general, of which the main
characteristics are: —

1st. Warm winters.

2d. Dry summers.

3d. Cooler summers than are found elsewhere on the same lati-
tude, and, on account of the unfailing sea breeze, summers much more
comfortable than can be found on the Atlantic Coast, even of the Middle
States.

4th. An atmosphere much drier in winter than is found in sum-
mer on the Atlantic Coast, and as dry in summer as is consistent with a
good growth of \'egetation.

5th. Absolute freedom from malaria of any kind except where lo-
cally caused by excessive irrigation or foul cities.

6th. Absolute freedom from cyclones, tornadoes, or dangerous
winds of any kind; and entire freedom from lightning, thunder-storms,
and cloud-bursts, except occasionally upon the deserts and highest
mountains.

7th. A climate where many children's complaints, such as the
bowel complaint of the dreaded "second summer," are quite unknown,
and nearly all others, such as measles, scarlet fever, etc. , are very rare
and very much modified.

8th. A remarkable freedom from insect pests of all kinds, except
where locally caused, as mosquitoes around open water-tanks or fleas
around ill-kept places.

9th. Cool nights in summer, caused by the rapid radiation of heat
from the earth through the dry air.

loth. Warm days in winter from the opposite cause — the more
rapid transmission of the heat rays through dry air.

Tables of temperature as generally used to show what the climate
is give little idea of the winter weather of Southern California. Neither

68 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

average temperatures nor the lowest ones are of much use. There is
here no such thing as a "cold snap" such as is known in Florida.
There it is the edge of a " polar wave' ' from the north and it may freeze
all day. Here a " cold snap " is only a series of unusually cold nights
caused by dry winds from the desert. The percentage of moisture in
these winds runs as low as five per cent and the earth's loss of heat
through air so dry is necessarily very rapid. When these winds come
at the time when the nights are the longest, and especially when the
high mountains through whose passes they come are clad in snow, the
long continuance of the rapid radiation may lower the temperature a few
degrees below the freezing point. But this will happen only in the two
or three hours before sunrise. Then the reverse process begins and the
sunlight falling through the dry air raises it to a pleasant temperature in
two hours. Cold weather therefore on the lowlands can happen only at
night and only on a clear night. In such case the succeeding day is
sure to be clear and consequently warm. This daylight temperature,
however, is subject to a great modification which tables of temperature
never show. It is only in the bottom of valleys or on great plains sur-
rounded by mountains that it thus falls. On nearly all the high slopes
around the valleys and plains, and on all elevated table-lands along the
coast, the temperature will be at daylight from ten to twenty-five degrees
higher than it will be one hundred or two hundred feet below, there
being a warm belt which is much less affected by radiation, the loss of
heat being largely supplied in some way not yet fully understood.
Here even a white frost is generally unknown while freezes and spring
frosts are quite impossible.

Winter being in California called " the rainy season " an impression
goes abroad that it is a season of rain. It is quite the contrary. From
first to last rain, a period of about six months, the number of clear and
fair days always exceeds that of an equal period east of the Mississippi
River, whether taken in winter or summer. Too often there is not rain
enough on the lowlands for a full growth of grass or grain, and not more
than once in twenty years is there too much. Government tables of
rainfall generally count as "rainy" all days on which rain falls, whether
the fall be by day or night. Fully three-fourths of the rainfall is at night
and on the lower rain belts is almost invariably followed by fair or half
clear days, sometimes having occasional light showers, but generally
half clear until sundown, when the sky again closes in for work. So
that winter, instead of being a season of rain, is merely the season when
it may rain, as distinguished from the six months when it is quite certain
not to rain enough to speak of

The noon temperature of the clear days in winter is generally from
sixty to seventy degrees on the coast and from sixty-five to eighty
degrees in the interior. The noon temperature of the rainy days is

►J

<
>

u
z

a
<

X
u

z
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THE CLIMATE. 69

about the same in both places, from fifty-five to sixty-five degrees, gen-
erally about sixty, with little or no fall of the mercury during the night
unless the sky clears. The lowest midday temperature recorded at the
United States Signal Station at San Diego during eight years is fifty-one
degrees, and this but once. In those eight years there were but twenty-
one days when the temperature at noon was not above fifty-five degrees.
During that time there have been but six days when it was lower than
thirty-six degrees at any time of the night, and but two when it reached
thirty-two degrees, the lowest point ever reached there. On one of
these two days the mercury rose to fifty-one degrees at noon and on the
other to fifty-six. This was in the great "cold snap" of December, 1879.
One hundred feet higher up the slope from where this record was taken
it would not have been lower than forty degrees at the lowest point;
while on the mesa eight miles back of town and five hundred feet above
the bay and the surrounding valleys, it would have been about forty-fi\'e
degrees at daylight and seventy degrees at noon.

" If the winters are so warm what must the summers be ? " remarks
Old Wisdom sweltering under the damp air of the East.

"I'd like to come and see you but it's as hot here as I can stand,"
wrote a \'ery intelligent gentleman in St. Louis during the hot spell there
last July to a friend in San Diego. •

Such ignorance is quite natural. The writer himself moved here
only for the winters, expecting to pay a fearful price for the luxury when
summer came. Nothing in California surprised him so much as the
summers of San Diego County, and if he had to spend three months
East he would take the winter for the trip rather than the summer, so
far as mere exchange of comfort is concerned. The reason is quite
simple. The cool ocean current that makes San Francisco uncomforta-
bly cold in summer, makes this far southern coast comfortably cool.
Sixty miles from the sea just over the high mountain range lies the great
basin of the Colorado desert, with its eight thousand square miles of
fiery sand sending aloft, under an almost eternal sun, a daily column of
hot air containing scarcely five per cent of moisture. This cannot flow
over upon Arizona; for these is a rising column of air quite as hot and
much larger; nor on the north, for there the great Mojave Desert of San
Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties has the same effect. Nor can it
flow out on the Gulf of California, for it is too narrow to receive all that
hot air with that of Sonora and the west side of the peninsula of Lower
California coming in before it. It must flow out over some cooler
stratum of air and this is fjund in anv considerable extent only on the
west. Over it goes in a vast upper current toward the sea, causing by
its rising a suction equally great below. Once over the cool surface of
the sea it loses its heat and c]uickly descends to return in an under cur-
rent to supply the place of the air still rising from the desert and the

70 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

western slope of the land. Hence the sea breeze is here no sea wind
laden with moisture. It is a dry breeze partly moistened close to the
coast bv its contact with the sea but drier above. A few miles inland
the upper and drier strata become more mingled with the others, and
the consequence is an air so dry that strips of meat two inches thick
hung up in the breeze quickly cure without either s?lt or smoke. Even
on the coast there are no damp walls, damp bed-clothing, rusting of
guns, etc., as on the Adantic coast, and thick strips of meat and fish
will cure in the air, though not so quickly as a few miles inland.

Everyone who has traveled in the dry air countries or has marked
the difference between a damp hot day and a dry hot one in the East
knows the effect of dry air in hot weather. Cool nights follow of course
from the rapid radiation ; the backbone of the hottest day is broken at
four o'clock; by six it is pleasandy cool, and by nine, cool enough for
blankets. More rapid radiation of heat from the body and faster evap-
oration of perspiration and consequent absorption of heat from the skin
also follow, and all the depressing effects of hot, damp weather are
absent. On the very hottest of days one who has nothing to do but
seek comfort can always find a luxurious coolness in the shade and
breeze; while horses do more work than in the East and men work in
the harvest-field without suffering and without the slightest danger of
sun-stroke.

In the interior any given day will of course be warmer at noon than
on the coast. Yet even there the number of summer days when the
mercury does not pass seventy-five degrees is surprising. At Oakwood,
United States station at Fallbrook, fourteen miles from the coast and
seven hundred and seventy feet above the sea, the thermometer in h\e
years reached one hundred degrees but twenty-three times, and ninety-
five degrees but twenty-nine times (exclusive of the other twenty-
three times). This fairly represents the heat of the interior.

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the climate, next to the
entire absence of hydrophobia, is the entire absence of dangerous winds
and the almost entire absence even of unpleasant ones. The highest
wind ever registered at the United States Signal Station at San Diego was
but forty miles an hour and that but once. During the eight years the
record has been kept, the wind exceeded twenty miles an hour but one
hundred and fifty times. Of these one hundred and fifty there were but
forty-seven over twenty-five miles an hour, but thirteen over thirty, only
five above thirty-one, and but one over thirty-six.

Summer produces here no such bowel complaints or fe\'ers as it
does in the East. The entire absence of malaria, where not locally
caused, makes one doubt whether one ever owned a liver. Gravel and
all other kidney diseases, with rheumatism, neuralgia, etc., are quite
unknown even in the old settled places, and very much modified or cured

THE CLIMATE. 71

in cases that have come here with them ; while catarrh is quite certain
to disappear and hay fever is rarely known to return even to an old
victim.

It is by many supposed that a climate so tree from cold must abound
in all sorts of reptiles and insect pests. It is, however, quite the reverse.
Various reptiles are found but it takes a considerable search to see one,
and the number of persons annually injured in the whole State by
poisonous reptiles or insects of all kinds does not equal the number
annually killed in most Eastern States by hydrophobia alone.

Neither yellow fever nor cholera has ever made a lodgment here, nor
is there any special complaint of any kind peculiar to the climate.

There is after all no better test of a desirable climate than the
number of days one can spend out-of-doors. The following record kept
by the writer for his own information during his first winter in California,
is extraordinary for a country where one can live and raise anything.
Yet it was the unusually good season of 1875-76, when six thousand
acres of wheat in El Cajon, scratched in with a harrow, yielded an
average of twenty bushels to the acre, and the honey crop and other
crops were immense. The record was kept in El Cajon, to see how-
many days could be spent out-of-doors in hunting, etc. From first to
last rain, one hundred and fifty-nine days, there were one hundred and
twelve days warm and clear! Noon temperature sixty-five to seventy-
five degrees. There were thirteen days cloudy but warm; clear and
cool, eight days; cloudy and cool, six days. Noon temperature of cool
days fifty-five to sixty-five degrees. Rainy all day, ten ; showery, ten.
The lowest noon temperature was fifty-five degrees. The days marked
" showery " were days of clearing-up showers after rainy nights, and
were exactly like " April showers " at the East, — days when one could
not venture out for a whole day, or perhaps a whole half day, but could
still spend one-half the day out-of-doors. Here were one hundred and
thirty-nine out of one hundred and fifty-nine days that one could spend
entirely out-of-doors, and but ten days that one need spend wholly
within. And this was a year wetter than two-thirds of the years in all
Southern California. Of course all the rest of the year one could spend
the whole day out-of-doors.

CHAPTER XV.

OUT-OF-DOOR AMUSEMENTS.

J AN DIEGO COUNTY always abounded in re-
sources for the sportsman and camper, and
these attractions first brought here and secured
as permanent residents such men as H. L. Story,
E. S. Babcock, Jr., and many others who have
aided largely in its development. There prob-
ably never was a more pleasant land for camping
and traveling than this county has been. Good
feed, fire wood, and water were abundant everywhere in the interior; the
settlers were courteous and hospitable in the extreme; one could tra\'el
almost anywhere with a wagon, and anywhere on horseback, and camp
almost anywhere without any danger of being disturbed or having any-
thing stolen. The county was in fact about the safest part of the United
States for either life or property. With the ocean on one side, the
desert on the other, and Lower California on the south, it was a very
difficult place to escape from. The tramp, the cowboy, the rustler,
and all manner of hoodlums and malefactors quickly discovered that
it was a fine place to get caught in and gave it a wide berth.

The valley quail of California abounded in numbers quite inconceiv-
able to Eastern sportsmen. One hundred and fifty to two hundred a
day was an ordinary bag for a good shot, and in any of the canons
within a mile from the post-office one could quickly load himself down
with all he cared to carry back on foot. Fifty or sixty were a common
score for one shooting only from a wagon in traveling from El Cajon, or
Spring Valley, to San Diego in the morning or evening, and that many
have often been shot there by one who knew nothing of wing shooting.
This quail was found as high as sixthousand feet above sea level, though
not very abundant above three thousand feet, and most abundant along
the coast, where they could always be found in great numbers with ab-
solute certainty. No attention was paid to the law, and no impression
was made upon their numbers until the building of the railroad brought
in a host of market shooters. These generally hunted in pairs, and two
men have shipped in one winter, from San Diego, thirty-five thousand
quails, nearly all killed singly.
(7-2)

O L '7 - OF- 1) O OK A Mi SJi.yJiX'fS. 73

The small hare, commonly called "cottontail," and the large hare,
or " lack rabbit," also abounded in incredible numbers. Morning and
evening they played over every acre of mesa, hopped in scores around
the edge of every brush-clad hill or patch of cactus. A bushel or two of
them could be shot from a wagon in a few miles' drive along any of the
roads. But three years ago one hundred and thirty-five were counted
along the road in a single trip from San Diego to Old Town, about three
miles. By nearly everyone they were considered a great nuisance,
and they certainly were destructive to gardens, and vines, and young
trees. There are, however, few of the old settlers who would care to
exhibit a balance-sheet with rabbit meat on the credit side at even three
cents a pound. The flesh of the cottontail is as white and fine as chicken,
in no way resembling that of the Eastern rabbit. It runs with a swift,
zigzag motion that makes very pretty shooting, especially on bright
moonlight nights, the flickering white tail making a fine mark for snap-
shooting.

Turtle-doves and meadow larks were also very numerous, the for-
mer especially, though not so abundant as the quail.

Ducks of nearly all varieties were found in every lagoon and slough.
In many places, such as Warner's Ranch, Temecula, San Jacinto, Elsi-
nore, and Santa Margarita, geese and sand-hill cranes were very plenty
during the winter. They covered the mesas and \alleys of Santa Mar-
garita at times by the hundred thousand.

The sloughs and bays along the coast were lined with curlew, snipe,
willet, dowitchers, plover, etc. , and there was no prettier sight than the
thousands of water-fowl riding on the smooth face of San Diego Bay on
a bright winter day. Where nearly all is now a watery blank and where
even the sea-gull scarcely dares to fly, pelicans, divers, mergansers,
shags, ducks of nearly all varieties, brant, sea-gulls, fish-hawks, terns,
and what-not were everywhere. So tame were they that from the wharf
one could watch the divers beneath him swimming along under water
behind a school of little fish, picking them up right and left with dex-
terous motion. The black brant, the finest of American water-fowl, not
known on the Atlantic Coast and rare on this coast south of Oregon,
dotted the bay far and wide. Down Spanish Bight, the di\iding inlet of
Coronado Beach, where one may now watch for a month without seeing
any, from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand could be seen at the
ebb-tide coming into the bay from the sea. Reckless, idiotic shooting,
the white man's hoggish disposition to waste and destroy, has reft this
bay of one of its chief attractions.

The antelope played over the plains of San Jacinto, Temecula, and
the mesa between Otay and El Cajon. The last of the latter band was
killed about five years ago, the last of the Temecula band about two
years ago, and the sole survivor of the San Jacinto band was killed this
last fall.

74 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

The deer roamed from the coast to mountain-top. Though never
so abundant as in the North, deer were still plenty enough for good sport.
The variety is the mule deer, like that of Arizona, and not the black-
tail of the North.

Though settlement and the increase of hunters have reduced the
numbers of ducks, geese, sand-hill cranes, and quails to a scarcity,
which few of the old residents ever expected to see, very good shooting,
compared with that of most other States, still remains. The quails and
hares can never be exterminated, and though the labor of hunting them
is much increased fair bags may yet be made. The deer hunting is still
very good in most seasons and will remain so for many a year.

There never was much trout fishing in this county. Trout were
killed out of the Santa Ysabel Creek many years ago by the Indians, by
the use, it is said, of ' ' soap weed." They were swept out of Temecula
Creek bv the flood of 1862. A few yet remain in Pauma Creek, though
sadly dwindled in both numbers and size.

Fair fishing may yet be had in San Diego Bay, and the fishing out-
side the bar is about as good as ever. The barracouda and Spanish
mackerel afiford fine trolling, are gamy, ravenous, and very plenty in
season. In the kelp is found an abundance of rock-cod, red-fish, and
other good fish, which can be caught in great quantities about all the
year around.

There is no better place for rowing and sailing than San Diego Bay.
The breeze is always certain, and equally certain to be never so strong
as to be dangerous. Upon the great ocean the frailest boat may gener-
ally ride with safety, and the bar is nothing to cross.

No country ever had better natural roads for riding and driving
than this county before the travel became too heavy. Even now they
could be kept good if scraped in winter when damp, a thing that will
probably soon be done in all directions. Even as they are they make
pleasant drives for the greater part of the year.

CHAPTER XVI.

p^^J^Vr^^

MISCELLANEOUS.

'0\ \\) ^^ arable soils of San Diego County, though
very varied, may be classed under two heads,
the granite and the adobe, though there is
sometimes a mixture of the two that at first
glance resembles pure adobe.

The adobe is mainly clay, and is of four prom-
inent colors, though these sometimes shade into
one another. These are dark, light-grayish
brown, red, and dark brown. The general
character of all is the same. They are all very strong soils,
probably standing longer cropping without fertilization, rest
or rotation, than any other soil in the United States. They
are, however, all hard to work unless taken in the right
stage of moisture, when they are very tractable, and then, if well culti-
vated, they retain moisture as well as any soil. With sufficient moisture
thfey raise the heaviest grain, and for some kinds of vegetables, such as
beets, and for such fruits as pears, they cannot be excelled. But in gen-
eral they are not as desirable as the granite soils.

The granite soils are all formed from the disintegration of the soft
red, or gray granite, which forms the bed-rock of most of the interior
hills. If dissolved in water, mica will be seen shining in the finest of
them, and sometimes fine quartz crystals are mixed with it. With it
all is an abundance of vegetable matter, but more in a state of pulveriza-
tion than of decay; so that this soil generally lacks that fine rich shade
which elsewhere is deemed a sure test of goodness. The eye cannot be
relied upon as a judge of any soil in Southern California. Even that which
appears to be pure sand, when well treated to seed and water, under
the California sun, will give results t'hat will astonish the most experi-
enced farmer or gardener from any other land. These granite soils run
through all shades of color between dark red, caused by the presence ol
iron, and light gray, and through all degrees of fineness, from the fine
red soils which show no mica, unless dissolved in water, to heavy gray

sand, coarse enough to make a gravel walk.

(75)

76 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

None of these soils as yet need any fertilization, although some,
such as the coarse granite last mentioned, would, for many things, be
impro\ed by it; and the time will doubtless come when all of them will
be bettered by it, especially for those trees and vines which bear heavily
and need fruit of full size to be marketable, such as oranges and raisin
grapes. Scarce any of these soils require any clearing that is at all
expensive, and no "breaking," such as is needed in many countries^
a common plow readily turning up the soil ten inches or more after the
first rain. Under the pipe system of distribution, which is fast being
adopted in the land to prevent waste of water and improve its delivery,
scarce any of these soils now require leveling or any preparation for irri-
gation. Probably nowhere in the United States can virgin soil be so
quickly and cheaply prepared for cultivation, while all the expense of
preparing, watering, and keeping in order, does not equal the expense
of clearing and fertilizing in Florida.

Though California is probably the only State in the Union where
crops and many other kinds of produce can sometimes be grown with-
out any plowing at all, it is probably also the only State where rich land
often refuses, for no appareiit cause, to bear, while unplowed, even a
moderate crop of the native grass, or other vegetation, though the same
land when plowed will raise anything in luxuriance. Still, other tracts
may be covered with a dense growth of grass or brush and be rich for
some things, yet may be very inferior for many of the most valuable prod-
ucts that can be grown. Hence it may be safely said that from the
absence of native vegetation nothing can be inferred against the land;
while any inference drawn from its presence may possibly be delusive in
another way. Within a few years, such wonderful results have been
obtained by careful cultivation, with judicious irrigation, that it may be
said that there is no such thing as poor land in Southern California, pro-
vided it can be plowed at all and watered. And at the present rate of
development of land, but five years ago deemed worthless, it may be
almost predicted that in ten years more, water, climate, and prospect
will give a high value to land that will require an outlay of $ioo an acre
to clear of bowlders and cobble-stones.

San Diego has a line of large steamers to San Francisco, and also
to Mexico and Guatemala. The county now has over three hundred
miles of railroad, of which nearly one-half belongs to the Southern Pa-
cific, and lies upon the desert. The California Southern enters the
habitable part of the county near Riverside, and terminates at National
City, A branch line from Perris to San Jacinto will soon be finished.
The branch from Oceanside through San Marcos to Escondido is al-
ready done, and that from San Diego to El Cajon will be built at once,
and continued on through the interior. The continuation of the coast
line from Oceanside to Los Angeles is nearly finished. All these are
owned by the Santa Fe Company.

MISCELLANEOUS. 77

A new road is under way from Pomona to Elsinore, and the charac-
ter of the incorporators indicates that it is no trifle. Elsinore is no ter-
minus for any road, neither is Temecula, nor any other point north of
San Diego. This means that San Diego is the objective point, and the
road is without doubt the Southern Pacific.

The San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad Company is preparing to
build a narrow-gauge road to the beautiful Cuyamaca Mountains. This
will open up the interior, as well as the finest summer resort in South-
ern California, the Cuyamaca Lake, and acijoining Avoods and hills.

A railroad will soon be built from San Diego to San Quintin, in
Lower California. Lower California, for over three hundred miles be-
low the line, is much like San Diego County, with the same climate,
plenty of good land, and a high and broad mountain rain belt with
plenty of water to take upon the table-lands of the coast. There are
also numbers of well-watered valleys. It is a fine country. All the up-
per part for over three hundred rniles is now in the hands of a strong
American company called the International Company of Mexico, hav-
ing a grant from the Mexican Government of eighteen million acres.
This they are rapidly colonizing. Two steamers to Ensenada, some
sixty miles below the line, are now running; also a steamer to San Quin-
tin. The greater part of this fine country will be tributary to San
Diego Bay and the railroads there centering.

Several very rich gold mines have been discovered in the count\',
and four are now being worked at a fine profit in the district around
Julian. Gold-bearing ledges exist in Aarious parts, but as yet few at-
tempts have been made to develop them properly. The mines now
paying so well at Julian were discovered several years ago, but were
abandoned as of little value. When new owners came with more expe-
rience and improved methods, they soon proved them highly profitable.
The change that proper management has wrought proves that in the
matter of mines the resources of the county are yet quite unknown,
while the number of places where rich quartz ledges are known to exist
indicates that under proper methods a large number of mines will soon
be worked at a large profit.

There are also other kinds of \aluable mineral in \arious places,
not yet worked, or even tested in any way that will prove whether they
are profitable or not. Asbestos is found in abundance in the San Ja-
cinto region; clay that makes excellent pottery is found near Elsinore
in abundance, and exists in many other places. Lignite, so. closely ap-
proaching coal as almost to prove a certainty of its running into it, is
found near Elsinore in a vein of great thickness. So new is everything
that all such resources of the county remain comparatively unexplored,
and its inhabitants as yet know but little more than strangers of its un-
der-ground wealth. San Diego strikes the stranger at first as a treeless

78 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

country. But thousands and thousands of acres of hne timber He in the
high mountains, and fire wood is abundant enough above two thousand
feet, and along the ri^•er bottoms. Eucalyptus, pepper trees, cotton-
wood, willow, sycamore, etc., can be grown in great quantity in a short
time with a little water, or without irrigation on low ground, and all
make good fire wood.

Hot springs, strong enough with sulphur, soda, and other miner-
als to suit anyone, are found in Aarious places. Some, like those at
Warner's Ranch, Murietta, and San Jacinto, are as large as those of
Arkansas and of about the same character. Others are smaller, but hot
enough and strong enough to please either taste or imagination. All
are easily reached, and some of the larger ones have bath-houses and
accommodations for travelers. The Murietta Springs are but three
miles from the railroad. All of these will, in time, be fitted up in good
style.

San Diego will soon have the finest educational advantages of any
county in the State. Not only are good schools abundant in all direc-
tions, but good colleges are arising in several places. The colleges
at Escondido and Ramona are already under way. The colleges at
San Diego, on University Heights and Pacific Beach, will be a credit to
any city. Both these are already heavily endowed with the most valua-
ble city property in quantity enough to insure the building of magnifi-
cent buildings and a good annual income. They will be run on the
most progressive principles, and not be stifled in any fog of bigoted
orthodoxy.

Prices of living average about the same as in the East, some things
being higher, others cheaper. Taxes are much less than in most parts
of the East. Probably in the long run it costs less to li\e here, espe-
cially in the country, the difference in the expense of getting through the
winters overbalancing all else. Southern California hotels and restau-
rants generally are much superior to those of the East for the same price,
and Si.oo a day here will secure as good board and room as $2.00 will
anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains, and without any bed-bugs
thrown in.

There are, howe\er, some things that b}- many who ha\'e ne\"er
been here are considered drawbacks that are not so, such as the long
summers of six or eight months. That feature of the land no resident
would change if he could. Gi\'e San Diego County twelve inches of
rain from December to April inclusive, and half reasonably distributed,
and without another drop the land will excel in production, acre for
acre, any other part of the United States. Unless sufficient for vegeta-
tion, summer rains would do more harm than good by injuring the
dried grass and ripe crops. If sufficient, the chief beauty of the climate

ttOOS^

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MISCEL LA NEC US. 79

would be ruined; the land would be a tropical jungle full of malaria,
with a sultry, enervating air, full of mosquitoes and other insect torments.
There are other lands where one can spend a winter with comfort, but
the chief glory of the California climate is that one may enjoy the win-
ter, and instead of running away may remain and be more pleased with
the summer.

It is the only southern land where a residence is more enjoyable at
any time of year than anywhere east of the Mississippi River, and the
great majority of tht:)se now covering the land with beautiful homes are
held here as much Ijy the summer as by the winter.

Neither are earthquakes a drawback. They are no more frequent
than in the East, and are generally so light that a stranger will not
know until told that there has been one. Since the coming of the
Americans no house or person has been injured in the slightest, and the
only case known before that was the falling of an adobe tower of a
church eighty years ago. All the other old missions built of adobe,
some of them like that of San Luis Rey, with high domes and towers,
have never been injured in the hundred years they have stood.

There are no Indians here that anyone need fear. They are all
brought up under the Catholic Church, are generally industrious, and
trouble no one.

Neither are there enough Chinese here to interfere with any deserv-
ing white person. The few there are generally find employment, but it
is at work that interferes little with the whites.

San Diego County has been called the Italy of Southern California.
Though in one respect this comparison is as absurd as that of the news-
paper poet who compared the sunset to the robin's breast, it is in the
main correct. It is to Southern California what Italy is to Europe, the
aggregation in its highest development of all its beauties and advantages.
Whatever is beautiful, fertile, grand, sweet, or noble, in Southern Cali-
fornia, one may find here heightened in efifect by its more southern
position and the varied elevations of its good land.

There are, of course, some objectionable features, as there are in ev-
ery land. These may strike you all the more strongly because the
whole of California has been absurdly overpraised. Your very first
contact may be with these. But when you stay long enough to see the
solid realities of the land, and learn that it is not to blame for your over-
wrought imagination, or the unwise enthusiasm of its friends, you will
begin to like it. Year after year an affection that you cannot and would
not resist winds itself ever more closely around your soul. Life comes
so easily and so naturally; time flies so swiftly yet so softly. You feel the
thread of life fly faster from the spindle, yet you hear no whizz. There
are so few breaks or iars in the train of comfort as the long line of cloud-

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

less days rolls on; appetite and sleep hang around you so wooingly in
the constant out-of-door life that you are enthralled before you know it.
You feel yourself enslaved, but in a slavery from which you would not
escape. The few who try it are only too glad to return to their chains
after spending at their old homes a few weeks of either winter or sum-
mer.

■rm,

^^L \Z^ ^

BIOGRAPHICAL.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-

A. E. HORTON.

It was the boast of Augustus Caesar that he found Rome in brick
and he should leave it in marble. With more regard to truth might
Alonzo E. Horton, speaking in the figurative style adopted by the
Roman Emperor, remark that he found San Diego a barren waste, and
to-day, as he looks down from the portico of his beautiful mansion on
Florence Heights, he sees it a busy, thriving city of 35,000 inhabitants.
Probably there is no other instance in the history of our country,
where great cities have grown from insignificant beginnings, where the
presence of one man, unaided by abundant capital, has accomplished
such wonderful results as have been achieved by A. E. Horton in San
Diego.

To understand and appreciate, however, in its fullest sense, what
Mr. Horton has accomplished, it is necessary to inquire into the anteced-
ents and examine the characteristics of the man.

In the year 1635 the good ship Swallow, after a long and tempest-
uous voyage across the Atlantic, dropped her anchor in port at Hampton,
Massachusetts. Among the passengers, who were all Puritans, was Barna-
bar Horton, a native of Leicestershire, England. From him, in the sev-
enth generation, is descended the subject of this sketch. Alonzo Erastus
Horton was born in Union, Connecticut, October 24, 1S13. When he
was two years of age his parents removed to Madison County, New-
York. Afterwards they took up their residence at Scriba, a few miles
from Oswego, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Here his youth and
early manhood were passed. During this time he was clerk in a gro-
cery, learned the cooperage trade, and was a sailor on the lake, finally
owning and commanding a schooner, in which he engaged in the grain
trade between Oswego and Canada. When he arrived at man's estate
he was in quite deHcate health and his physician pronounced him con-
sumptive, and said if he wished to prolong his life he must go West.
Accordingly in 1836 he started for Milwaukee, landing there in May of
that year. This was an era of speculation in the Western States; it
began several years previously, and ended with the great financial crash
of 1837. While in Milwaukee, turning his hand to whatever he could
find to do, young Horton became possessed of the information that

(83)

84"

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

the bills of certain Michigan banks would be received at the land
office in payment of lands at par, and would be the equal of gold,
and consequently command a premium of lo per cent. He had a cash
capital of $300, and acting on his secret information, he hunted out the
holders of Michigan currency and was soon doing a brisk exchange
business. This enterprise was a financial success. He returned to

A. E. HORTON.

New York State soon afterwards, but the year 1840 saw him again in
Wisconsin. He bought a home in Oakland and married. After this for
three years he was engaged in dealing in cattle and land, steadily adding
to his little capital. He bought a large quantity of land warrants in St.
Louis about this time and located 1,500 acres in Outagamie County,
Wisconsin. Here he founded the village of Hortonville, and at the end
of two years he sold out his investments at a profit of nearly $8,000.
It was in 1851 that Mr. Horton made his first journey to Califor-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. %s

nia. He spent a few months in the mines, but he soon found that he
could make more money trading in gold-dust than digging for it. In
this traffic his profits were quite large, during the last quarter of 1854
reaching as high as $1,000 a month. As the gold-dust business, however,
got a little dull he engaged in an ice speculation. Locating some fine fields
in the mountains, he cut and disposed of three hundred and twelve tons,
which returned him a profit of $8,000. He now had a comfortable fortune
for those days and he determined on going back home to his family. Ac-
cordingly in the spring of 1856 we find him a passenger on the steamer
Cortez, for Panama. A few hours after the Cortes landed her passengers
at Panama the terrible riots broke out in which the natives attacked for-
eigners wherever found, killing and plundering all who came in their way.
Two hundred persons from the steamer were dining in the hotel when
that building was attacked by the mob. A general rush was made for
the upper story, where they hoped to escape their assailants. Among all
the passengers only three had fire-arms and one of these was Horton. By
common consent he was selected to command the garrison. The natives,
who by this time had become crazy with rage and rum, attempted to
carry the staircase leading to the upper story by storm and several of
the leaders darted up the narrow passage. At the head of the stairs
stood Horton, a revolver in each hand, perfectly cool and collected. In
the room behind him were tenscore persons, including women and
children; below were a thousand demons thirsting for their blood. It
was a trying moment, but Horton did not hesitate. Those behind urged
the foremost of the assailants forward; the leader mounted another step;
there was a flash, a report, and he fell back dead. Two others took
his place, but they dropped lifeless. Now the reports grew quicker and
the flashes from the revolvers told of the sharp work being done. Hor-
ton had emptied his own weapons and had discharged most of the bar-
rels of another that had been handed to him before the rioters fell back.
Eight of their number were dead and four were seriously wounded.
But the dangers of the besieged were not at an end. Although the
mob had been repulsed they were not dispersed, and they were still
vowing vengeance upon the passengers. The only place of safety was
the steamer. Getting his little band in compact order, Horton distrib-
uting the revolvers to those whom he knew would use them judiciously,
started on the retreat to the landing. This was reached in safety,
though the mob followed them closely, and had it not been for the rare
generalship displayed by Horton in getting the party embarked on a
lighter instead of allowing them to rush, pell-mell, as they attempted to,
on a small tug, many must have lost their lives. As it was, the lighter
was towed out to the steamer and all were taken on board in safety.
Mr. Horton' s baggage, containing $10,000 in gold-dust, was lost, hav-
ing fallen into the hands of the rioters. He saved $5,000, which he had
tied around him in a belt.

86 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Mr. Horton remained in Wisconsin until 1861, when he again
started for the Pacific Coast, going with a party overland to British
Columbia. He spent a season in the Cariboo mining district, and at
first made money, but their claim, which had been considered a very
valuable one, ' ' petered out, ' ' and they finally disposed of it for $200
and started south. Mr. Horton then came to San Francisco, where he
engaged in business of different kinds with varying degrees of success.
In the early part of 1867, at a private literary gathering one evening,
San Diego, its climate and harbor, was the topic of discussion. He
was greatly impressed with what he heard. Here was the sight of a
great city of the future; nature had done her share; all that was want-
ing was for man to develop it. The voice of fate seemed to call to
Horton that this was his opportunity. He sold out his business in three
days' time, and started on his pilgrimage southward. It was the 6th
of April, 1867, that Mr. Horton reached San Diego. The few people
that were settled here then lived at Old Town, but Mr. Horton after
looking the ground over concluded that the true place for the city of
the future, his ideal city, was flirther down the bay. He first began
the agitation of an election of City Trustees. Candidates were nominated
and elected. There was no opposition. Then Mr.' Horton had surveyed
eight hundred and eighty acres which he desired to purchase. The
property was advertised and sold at auction. There was but one bidder
(Mr. Horton) and he bid it all in at twenty-six cents an acre. This prop-
erty is now the main portion of the city of San Diego. Mr. Horton then
had his " addition " platted, and started to San Francisco to dispose of
it. At first he met with but indifferent success; people were suspicious of
"Sandyago," as "John Phoenix" had dubbed it; the general impres-
sion was, it was very hot and was a place very congenial to the rattle-
snake. But Mr. Horton was never discouraged; he had faith in the
future. In 1867 his receipts were $3,000; in 1869, they had increased
to $85,000. Since then the appreciation of his property has been
steady until the last two years when the increase has been phenomenal.
When we come to look at what Mr. Horton has done for the city of
his creation, we cannot deny but that he has been a faithful and devoted
parent. He has expended over $700,000 of his own capital in the
improvement of San Diego. He built the first wharf, which was after-
wards sold to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, who in turn disposed
of it to the present owners, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. He
gave to each of the religious denominations a lot for a church edifice,
and some of them are now very valuable. The lots on which the
Methodist Church building now stands at the corner of D and Fourth
Streets, is valued at $60,000, and when the members of the con-
gregation look upon it they are constantly reminded of Mr. Horton' s
munificence. If the real estate that he has gi\'en away was valued at

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 87

the prices selling at this time (April, i83Sj it would reach at least
$1,000,000. In the days of the city's infancy he gave land to every-
one who he thought would improve it. The promises made to him by
the recipients of his bounty were not, however, always fulfilled. He
gave a fine block of land to a man to build a hotel on, but the hotel was
not built. He gave a block to a gentleman who now occupies a high
position in the federal service, and two years afterwards bought it back
for $4,000. He gave a block for a flour-mill and donated the block on
which the court-house stands, to the county. In all he gave away four-
teen blocks and innumerable lots, for the purpose of building up the city.
For three years, when everyone but he had grown discouraged, Mr.
Horton carried the town on his own shoulders, paying salaries of offi-
cials and all the expenses of the corporation. He was ready to help
everyone who asked it of him, and married men could always get work
from him to earn a living and support their families when all other em-
ployers failed them.

Personally Mr. Horton is one of the most genial of men. He is
easily approached and is always as willing to give an attentive hearing
to the man who earns his daily bread by the sweat of his brow, and if
need be lend him a helping hand, as to listen to the schemes of the
capitalist. Somewhat above the medium height, with a portly frame,
he is in robust health, and his clear eye and pleasant countenance bear
testimony to the fidelity with which he has complied with the laws of
health.

E. W. MORSE.

The visitor who reaches San Diego in a palace car, drives to a
first-class hotel, and the following morning, from the seat of an easy
carriage, looks down from the highest part of the city upon the beauti-
ful bay and the enchanting landscape that greets his eye, breathing,
meanwhile, the air that invigorates his entire system^ is very apt to
think that he has reached an earthly paradise. But it is doubtful if his
enjoyment is as keen as is that of the man who, looking upon the
same scene, and breathing the same atmosphere, calls to mind the fact
that nearly twoscore years ago he stood upon the same spot and
looked down, for the first time, upon the panorama which nature
spread at his feet. There were no stately buildings before him then;
the waters of the bay were not dotted with the hulls of merchantmen;
it was indeed as nature had made it — neither marred nor adorned by
the hand of man. The pioneer of the Pacific Coast possesses many of
the qualifications of supreme happiness. He has seen the country

emerge from a state of semi-barbarism into one of the most enlight-
9

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

enecl and progressive sections of the renublic. He has seen old theo-
ries concerning agriculture, commerce, and transportation overturned.
He has seen lonely hamlets made populous trade centers, and the
desert to blossom as the rose. He has not only seen all these things,
but he has particij^ated in the many wondrous changes; and, if he has
been usually economical, industrious, and persevering, he has kept

^1 #v .^

''m\

/f ,4V u '.^ih^^^

E. W. MORSE.

pace with the advance about him, and to-day enjoys a share in the
general prosperity of the State. To this class belongs the subject of
the following brief sketch : — ■

E. W. Morse was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, October i6,
1823, in the house yet standing, and now over two hundred years old,
in which his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been born
before him. Until he was eight years of age he lived with his fether
and mother on the old farm. Then for the first time he left the par-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 89

ent nest, being sent to Newburyport to school. Here he remained
for eight years, and by the time he was sixteen years old, he had ac-
quired an excellent common-school education; just such a prepara-
tion for the work of every-day life as many a New England boy re-
ceived at that time. Then, having a strong taste for an outdoor life, he
went back to the farm, and until he was twenty-five worked steadily.
He had apparendy setded down to the steady-going life of a New
England farmer. But an event was happening on the shores of
the Pacific that was to m ike a change, not only in the career of
young Morse, but in that of thousands of others. Gold had been
discovered, and when the news was brought to the Atlantic' States the
wildest excitement was created. All eyes were turned toward
the El Dorado. From no section of the Union did the argonautic
fleet gain more zealous recruits than from New England. Young
Morse caught the infection, and he joined a company, largely made up
of his acquaintances and friends, who purchased the ship Leonore, and
on the 4th of February, 1849, sailed away from Boston Bay in search
of the golden fleece. The voyage was about the average of Cape
Horn voyages, and they entered the Golden Gate on the 5th of the
following July. They disposed of the ship, and all hands started for
the mines, locating on the Yuba River. The work was hard, the
weather was excessively hot, and after a few weeks the little band of
gold-hunters that had left Massachusetts, strong and rugged, began to
droop; many died, and the others, suffering from fever and ague,
started for "the Bay." Morse was among these. Although the brac-
ing air of San Francisco invigorated him somewhat, his system had
become so impregnated with the malarial poison, that he felt that he
must have a more complete change of climate if he would regain his
old-time health and spirits.

Even in that early day the reputation of San Diego as a sanita-
rium was established, and Morse determined that he would make a trial
of it. He accordingly took a sailing vessel, and after a pleasant voy-
age down the coast arrived in the harbor of San Diego. The settle-
ment at that time was in what is now called Old Town. It was there
that Mr. Morse engaged in the mercantile business and settled down to
make his home. The climate he found to be all that was claimed for
it; within a month after his arrival he was as strong and hearty as the
day he left the old farm. The San Diego of that day differed greatly
from the city of the present. The amusements were bull-fights, fan-
dangoes, and fiestas; the buildings were all made of adobe; cattle,
hides, and tallow were the chief exports, and beef and beans were
the staple articles of diet. Young Morse, however, took readily to the
new ways, learned to talk Spanish, and was soon a great favorite with
the native population. Before settling down for good, however, he

90 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

took a journey back East. In 1851 he started by the Nicaraugua route,
and arrived safely at his old home. He then married Miss Lydia
A. Gray, of Amesbury, and with his bride returned to San Diego. Five
years afterward he was left a widower with one son, Edward W. , who
is now a resident of Merrimac, Massachusetts. In 1852 Mr. Morse
was elected Associate Judge of the Court of Sessions of San Diego
County, and the following year he was chosen a member of the
Board of Trustees. He was afterward made Secretary of the Board,
and held the office for twelve years. In 1856 he was admitted to prac-
tice in the courts of the Judicial District. In 1859 he disposed of his
mercantile business, and went to Paloma, to engage in raising sheep.
In 1 86 1 he returned to San Diego, and again engaged in business as a
merchant, also acting as agent for Wells, Fargo & Co. In 1865 Mr.
Morse was married a second time, to Miss Mary C. Walker, a native of
Manchester, New Hampshire. In 1869 he sold out his business in Old
Town, and moved down to the new city of San Diego. In 1870 he
was one of the moving spirits in the organization of the Bank of San
Diego, the pioneer bank of the city. He also aided in organizing the
Consolidated National Bank, and has always continued to be a director
in that institution. In 187 1 Mr. Morse went to Washington to look
after the interests of the city in the case of the United States vs. city
of San Diego, in regard to a disputed survey of the Pueblo. He ap-
peared before the Secretary of the Interior, and argued the case so
ably that a few weeks after Mr. Morse's return home, that official
handed down his decision, which was fa\'orable to the city. Mr.
Morse has been Public Administrator and County Treasurer, and has
always been identified with every enterprise that has been started to
advance the interests of his adopted city. If he had never done any-
thing, the erection of the magnificent block on the corner of F and
Sixth Streets, which he undertook in connection with his long-time
friend, the late James M. Pierce, would be an enduring monument
to his public spirit. He has, in partnership with Thos. Whaley and
R. H. Dalton, lately built another beautiful business structure on Fifth
Street adjoining the First National Bank.

James M. Pierce left, by his will, the sum of $150,000 to found a
home for boys and girls, and Mr. Morse and two other gentlemen have
each contributed a like sum for the founding of institutions similar in
character, which are to be established in the City Park, and will, to-
gether with Mr. Pierce's endowment, form a magnificent chain of
benevolent institutions.

JUDGE O. S. WITHERBY.

It is not alone to her wealth, the extent of her manufacturing in-
dustries, and the political influence she wields, that Ohio owes her
proud position in the sisterhood of States. It is to the spirit of enter-
prise, business acumen, and go-aheadativeness of her sons that the
wonderful progress of this wonderful State is largely due. Wherever
great cities have sprung up, wherever there are projects requiring men
of genuine ability to conceive, or capital to develop them, among the
leading spirits of the community will be found the sons of Ohio.
They have gone out from their mother State into the remotest sections
of the Union, and carry with them everywhere the impress of prog-
ress that has become one of their fixed attributes.

One ot Ohio's sons, who has aided materially in building up San
Diego, is Judge Oliver S. Witherby. He was born in Cincinnati,
February 19, 1815. He graduated at Miami University in 1836, stud-
ied law at Hamilton, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. Three
years later he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Butler County,
an office which he filled for two terms. At the breaking out of the
Mexican war he was First Lieutenant of Company K, in the first
regiment of Ohio Volunteers, that left Cincinnati in May, 1846.
After remaining with his company for about one year he was taken sick
at Camargo, Mexico, and left there for home. On his return he re-
sumed his duties as Prosecuting Attorney, and also acted as editor of
the Hamilton Telegraph.

Judge Witherby came to San Diego in 1849, with the Boundary
Line Commission, being Commissary of the commission, and after the
labors of that body were finished he decided on locating on the shores
of San Diego Bay. He was elected to represent the County of San
Diego in the first Legislature that assembled at Monterey in 1850, and
with his voice and vote assisted in moulding the laws of the State just
created. He was elected the first Judge of the southern district
under the first constitution, a position which he filled with honor until
he was appointed, by President Pierce, Collector of Customs for the
port of San Diego. Soon after the expiration of his term as Col-
lector, Judge Witherby purchased a ranch, which is now called Es-
condido, and for over ten years he was a successful farmer. In 1868
he sold his ranch and returned to San Diego. During those early

(91)

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

years Judge Witherby had judiciously invested in real estate. He is
one of the few men who have had steady faith in the great future of
San Diego. When others sold out their investments, discouraged at
the prospect of the city's growth, he held on. As a result he is now
one of San Diego's wealthy men. He is interested in many financial

•^<i irfi*'^ *'V^*.*»,<A,^WJ^(4»ivi-i'«

JUDGE O S. WITHERBY.

undertakings, and is a director in the Consolidated National Bank.
Pohtically Judge Witherby has always been a Democrat, and he is
looked upon as one of the leaders of the party in Southern Califor-
nia. He is a public-spirited citizen, liberal in his views, and his
generosity is proverbial.

^I. SCHILLER.

One of the pioneer residents and best-known citizens of San Diego
is M. Schiller. Mr. Schiller was born in Vronka, in the Dukedom of
Posen, in 1823. Until he was seventeen years of age he remained with
his parents in his native town. Then he decided to branch out and see
the world. He had as a playmate and intimate friend a youth of his
own age named J. L. Falk. Young Falk had learned that somewhere in
Scotland he had relatives livmg who had charge of a legacy left him a
short time before. He determined to hunt them up, and, calling his friend
Schiller into his counsels, without much difficulty induced him to join
in the pilgrimage to Scotland. There is something romantic in these
young boys starting out from a town in the interior of Europe to jour-
ney over land and sea many hundreds of miles in quest of a treasure
that one of them had grounds for believing he might secure. They
had but a small stock of ready money, and their stock of worldly expe-
rience was extremely limited. Nevertheless they had strong young
bodies and brave hearts, and that made up for all else that was lacking.
They first journeyed to Berlin, from thero to Hamburg, and thence
sailed to Hull, England, and from there took passage overland for
Manchester. From Manchester they traveled to Liverpool, where they
made a brief stop, and from thence pushed on to Glasgow, Scodand.
In this city they were unsuccessful, and they spent several months jour-
neying over Scotland in search of young Falk' s relatives who held the
key to the treasure of which they were in search. At last they became
discouraged and resolved to return home. After many trials they again
reached Liverpool. Upon arriving in that great city their money was
entirely gone, they were without acquaintances, and they understood
but little of the English language. Their situation was anything but
comfortable. They started out along the docks, hoping that something
would turn up to better their fortune. Here they met an old gentleman
who was standing on the dock where a vessel was loading for America.
He engaged them in conversation and at once seemed to take a fancy
to young Schiller. He soon offered to take him with him to the United
States. Schiller, however, refused to leave his friend Falk. Finally
the old gentleman agreed to take them both. Accordingly they went
on board and soon after set sail. When they landed in New York
young Schiller at once started out in search of work. He was success-
ful an 1 obtained employment with a clothing and furnishing goods firm,

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

with whom he remained four years. At the end ot that time he formed
a partnership with his old friend Falk, and together they engaged in the
clothing business. They remained together several years, with fair suc-
cess. Then they started for Tuskaloosa, Alabama, where they opened
a clothing and furnishing goods store. At the end of three years
Schiller removed to Talladega, Alabama, where he engaged in business

M. SCHILLER.

with another partner and continued two years. Then he went to Marion,
Alabama, for about one year, and then removed to Augusta, Georgia,
where he continued in business by himself for eight and one-half years.
He had heard a good deal about California, and the opportunities
offered there for business, and he resolved to try the new country. He
accordingly went to New York, and after a stay of six or se\ en months
he purchased a stock of goods valued at $i8,ood and shipped them to
San Francisco arnimd Cape Horn, coming himself by way of the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 95

Isthmus. He reached San Francisco in 1853. When his goods
were received they turned out to be too fine a quahty for the market.
He accordingly sold out his stock at considerable loss and bought a
new supply of heavy goods. He then started for Nevada City, intend-
ing to locate there. In that year, however (1855), there was no rain
and as a consequence times were very hard. Schiller was glad, there-
fore, to dispose of his stock at less than cost, taking notes at sixty and
ninety days. Shortly after receiving these notes a disastrous fire
broke out, which nearly devastated the town. Schiller, fearing a
second conflagration, and afraid he would lose his money entirely if
such happened, again disposed of these notes at a discount of twenty
per cent for cash. With the avails he started for San Francisco. The
weather was very severe and on the journey Schiller contracted a very
bad cold. When he reached San Francisco his health was so poor that
he decided to seek a milder climate, and accordingly came to San Diego,
arriving here in 1856. He immediately went into business in Old Town,
then the business center of San Diego, with M. Mannasse. At the
end of a year he formed a partnership with J. S. Mannasse.

Later on they engaged quite extensively in the lumber trade,
continuing their general merchandise business. They ran their own
vessels and during 1872, the year in which they started the lumber
business, in nine months they sent to one house in vSan Francisco
$154,000 for general merchandise and lumber. This was the year of
the Tom Scott boom. The firm then owned the Encinitas Ranch and
part of the San Diegto Ranch, which they had stocked with some three
thousand or four thousand head of cattle and over one thousand head of
horses and other animals. They also had a vineyard on the ranch and a
copper mine in which they sunk several thousand dollars. About this time
a party of Mormons left their settlement at San Bernardino for the
purpose of prospecting for coal along the coast between Point Loma and
La JoUa. They found some good specimens of coal, but after they
had been at work a little while they were ordered home to Utah by
Brigham Young.

Schiller and his partner had furnished them with tools, pro-
visions, and clothing, and had even advanced money to pay the hands.
When they were ordered to Utah the firm naturally felt a little anxious
about their pay. Mr. Schiller accordingly went up to San Bernardino,
where he saw the leading Mormons. After stating the case to them
they agreed to reimburse him and gave one hundred and forty-five acres
of good land in settlement of the bill. About three years afterwards they
traded the land ofT for the Encinitas Ranch. Nine or ten years ago
they sold this ranch, sending their stock to Mexico on account of a
drouth here. They still have three or four hundred head of stock in
that country.

96 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

During all this time they were doing a large mercantile busi-
ness and bought a good deal of land in Old Town and in New San
Diego, considerable of which they still own. They own most of the
Schiller & Mannasse Addition.

Mr. Schiller has contributed his full share to all public im-
provements and for many years there has been no movement started
for the benefit of the city that their firm name has not been at the
head of the list. No church has been built but they have con-
tributed liberally; they paid $i,ooo bonus to induce the telegraph
company to build the first line here, and they subscribed hand-
somely to pay the expenses of the Texas Pacific lobby in Washington.
They also gave twenty acres of land and the right of w-ay through their
addition to Tom .Scott. Mr. Schiller was a stockholder and director in
the old Texas, Gila, and San Diego Railway. He was a member of
the Board of Trustees for two years, and during that time was instru-
mental in passing the resolution setting aside one thousand and four
hundred acres of land for the city park. He is a director and on the
Committee of Relief of the San Diego Benevolent Association, which
has done so much to ameliorate the condition of the sick and poor. For
thirty-four years Mr. Schiller has been a member of the Masonic Order.
He joined the order in Augusta, Georgia. He was Master Mason of the
Lodge here and has at different times held all the offices in the San
Diego Lodge. He owns a comfortable residence on the corner of Front
and A Streets, built fourteen years ago.

Mr. Schiller was married in September, 1861, at San Francisco, to
Miss Rebecca Barnett. They have a family of nine children, four sons
and five daughters.

THOMAS WHALEY.^

There is something at once interesting and fascinating about the
life, character, and history of the California pioneers. They were, as a
class, exceptional men, strong in most of the qualities that go to make
up the typical American character. They were energetic, courageous,
and far-seeing. The careers of many were full of incidents, and their
life histories read like fiction. Thomas Whaley is a good representa-
tive of this noble class of men. He was born in the city of New York,
October 5, 1823, a descendant of Revolutionary stock. His paternal
ancestors emigrated from Ireland to New England in the early part
of the eighteenth century. His grandtather, Alexander Whaley, of
Bushwick Cross Roads, Long Island, New York, fought under the
special command of General Washington, receiving at his hand a re-
ward for brave and daring conduct, an account of which is given in the

BIO GRAPHICAL SKE TCHES.

history of Brookhn. His maternal ancestors were of the old Enghsh
family of Pye. four brothers of which landed in New York about the
year 1792, bringing with them his mother, then an infant. His child-
hood and youth were spent in the metropolis. He had the advantage
of the best of schools, completing his course at the age of eighteen, at
Washington Institute, New York City, which was named and dedicated

THOMAS WHALEY.

by Lafayette, in honor of his friend, George Washington, on the occasion
of his last visit to this country. In 1842, before the establishment of
steamship Hnes, he went with his tutor, M: Emile Mallet, to Europe
and for two years traveled over England and the continent for instruc-
tion and pleasure. Upon his return he was variously engaged in mer-
cantile pursuits, and at the time of the breaking out of the California
gold fever, he was in the shipping office of George Sutton, owner of a
line of packets running to Charleston, South Carolina.

98 CI J Y AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEG O.

The old ship Sutton^ Wardle master, was at this time being fitted
out to sail to the coast of California on a trading voyage. The prepa-
rations were interrupted, however, by the news of the discovery ol
gold, and it was decided, instead of sending the Sutton on a trading voy-
age, to fit her up as a passenger packet to carry emigrants to the New
El Dorado. Young Whaley, brimful of pluck and enthusiasm, decided
to join the fortune seekers, and took passage on the Sutton. The shijj
had quick dispatch, and on the first day of January, 1S49, the Sutton
sailed from New York Harbor. Snow was on the ground and Staten
Island and the Jersey shore were wrapped in a mantle of white. Quite
a crowd assembled at the wharf to see the first vessel from New
York set sail for the gold fields of California. The greetings exchanged
by friends were cordial and mutual and many were the requests for
" chunks of gold, some as big as your head."

Among the passengers were A. C. Taylor, W. R. Wadsworth,
George D. Puffer, Chas. S. Palmer, Chas. H. Strybing, A. Kuhner (the
engraver of the great seal of California), Moseley, father and son, and
Dr. Johnson and his nephew, Tom Grant. In all there were fifty-four
passengers. They had rather a rough time of it after they got into the
Gulf Stream, and all the way down to the line they experienced more
or less heavy weather, so that it was found necessary to put into Rio de
Janeiro for repairs. Here they remained for three weeks and during that
time Whaley stayed on shore, having quarters at the old Hotel Ferrou.
There were at least one thousand and seven hundred Americans in port
from different ships, all bound for California, and many pleasant acquaint-
ances were formed. Repairs being completed, Captain Wardle hoisted
the ' ' blue peter, ' ' and the Sutton was once more under way. They were
a month doubling Cape Horn, having lost their reckoning and being un-
able to get an observation during that time. A sad accident occurred
after rounding the cape. A number were, against the orders ofthe cap-
tain, in the stern boat fishing for "gonies." Owing to the weight, the
boat broke away and a dozen or more were precipitated into the water.
All were rescued except one shoemaker, who disappeared, battling with
the gonies, who had picked into his brain, thus rendering effort use-
less. The sea was rough, the waves running high, and the man sank
before help could reach him.

They stopped a week at Valparaiso for recreation and to obtain fresh
provisions. On the 22d of July, nearly seven months after leaving New
York, they neared the California shore, and passing within the Golden
Gate, came to anchor amidst the fleet of vessels that had been more fortu-
nate. Mr. Whaley remained on board the ship until the erection of a tent
on the corner of Jackson and Montgomery Streets, near where the old
Pioneer Hall stands. Their goods were landed at the foot of Washing-
ton Street, which then extended about a hundred feet below the corner

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 99

of Montgomery. Whaley, with his friend Puffer, leased a portion of the
store belonging to George S. Wardle & Co. , erected a short time after
his arrival in the city, and engaged in the mercantile business. In the
fall of 1849 he leased a piece of land from Colonel Stevenson, agent of
Henry Gerk'e, on Montgomery Street, opposite to George S. Wardle
& Co.'s, for which he paid $450 per month; he sub-let a portion of this
for $400 per month, and erected a two-story building containing ten
rooms upstairs and two stores below, and leased one of the latter and
occupied the other for his business. When Montgomery Street was
graded this building was fifteen feet below the grade established. This
proved disastrous, as all of Whaley' s tenants left him and his business
was destroyed. He then bought property on Rincon Point and erected
a dwelling-house about opposite to where the U. S. Marine Hospital
now stands. He engaged in business as a broker for a while and after-
wards became a coffee merchant. In the summer of 1S51 Lewis A.
Franklin and George H. Davis chartered a vessel and with a cargo of
goods started down the coast on a trading voyage. Whaley, who had
an interest in the venture, remained in San Francisco, as their agent.
Franklin and Davis stopped at various ports, finally at San Diego, and
liked the prospects so well that they decided to locate. They wrote to
Whaley and he came down, arriving here in the month of October, 1851.
He then formed a partnership with Franklin, and together they opened
a store on the plaza in Old San Diego, which they christened Ticnda
California — California Store. The following April their partnership
was dissolved, and in connection with Jack Hinton, Whaley succeeded
to the business of R. E. Raymond, in the Tienda General — General
Store — also at Old San Diego. They remained in partnership for one
year and during that time cleared $18,600 over and above expenses, a
very large sum for such a business. In April, 1S53, Hinton retired and
E. W. Morse entered the firm. Whaley returned to New York about
this time on a mission at once pleasant and romantic. On the 14th of
August, 1853, he was married to Anna E. Lannay, of New York, a
descendant of the De Lannay and Godfrois families, of pure French
extraction. He then returned to San Diego, bringing his bride with
him. They took up their residence in Old San Diego, which was then
a thriving town, though primitive in its appearance and containing a
mixed population of Spaniards, Mexicans, Indians, and whites. The
change from the bustling metropolis to this quaint old town was novel
and delightful, and the time spent with the hospitable people was
particularly enjoyable.

In 1856 Morse retired from the business and Whaley continued
alone, at the same time engaging in brickmaking in Mission Valley,
near Old San Diego. He also erected a large brick building in 1856,
the first built on the coast south of San Francisco. In 1858 he was en-

fHt ^:-^ v'-/ A«iii v^ 0»

loo CITY AND CO LINT y OF SAN DIEGO.

gaged in mercantile business with Walter Ringgold, a son of Major
George H. Ringgold, Paymaster United States Army, but in less than
a year this store on the Plaza, Old Town, was destroyed by an incen-
diary fire.

At the breaking out of the Indian war in 1852, Whaley joined the
Fitzgerald volunteers. There was a general rising oi the Indians be-
tween Los Angeles and San Diego. Martial law was proclaimed in
San Diego, and until their suppression by the capture and execution of
their leader, Antonio, Garra, the times were quite lively.

About January, 1859, Whaley went to San Francisco, and in March
was appointed commissary storekeeper, under Capt. M. D. L. Simpson,
United States Army, in which employ, under successive commissaries,
he remained for several years. He then engaged in the shipping and
commission business for nearly two years. After that, under Col. G. H.
Weeks, Quartermaster, in charge of the clothing department, he was ap-
pointed storekeeper, and there remamed till Colonel Weeks was relieved
by Captain Sawyer, military storekeeper.

About this time the Russian Possessions, purchased at the instance
of Wm. H. Seward, were to be turned over to the United States. Troops
were to be sent up to Alaska under the command of General Jefferson and
C. Davis, with Col. George H. Weeks Quartermaster, and actino^ Commis-
sary of Subsistence, who procured an order for Whaley to take charge
of the three Government transports, with stores, on their arrival at Sitka,
as Quartermaster's agent. He proceeded on one of these transports and
arrived at his destination September 26, 1867. The steamer y(7//« L.
Stevens, Captain Dall, with General Davis and command, arrived Octo-
ber 10, and a few days thereafter the United States steamer Ossipe,
having on board the Commissioners. Within an hour after their arri\'al
the Territory was turned over to the United States by Russia. Whaley,
in company with others, assisted in raising the American flag on the
island of Japonski, opposite Sitka, simultaneously with the lowering of
the Russian ensign, and the hoisting of the stars and stripes over the
Governor's house at Sitka. Whaley remained in Alaska as commissary
storekeeper and clerk until March, 1868. He was elected with Samuel
Storer, W. S. Dodge, Lugerville, and one other, Councilmen of the
town of Sitka, and helped to frame such civil laws for the government
of the people as were permitted by General Davis, the Military Gover-
nor of the Territory. Whaley returned to San Francisco and then
with his family went to New York. With the proceeds of a partial dis-
tribution of his father's estate invested in a stock of goods, he returned
to San Diego and again engaged in business at Old Town. This was
shortly after Father Horton had started his new town of San Diego,
known as Horton' s Addition. Everything then was booming in the
Old Town. There were twelve stores, some of them carrying- large

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. loi

stocks, particularly J. S. Mannasse & Co., fifteen saloons, four hotels,
two express offices, the post-office, besides being- the county seat. To
secure a good location, in the spring of 1869, Whaley bought out his
old partner Morse,, who was doing a good business on the Plaza, and,
in company with Philip Crosthwaite, continued business then till Febru-
ary, 1870, when it became evident that New San Diego was to be the
point where the city of the future would be established, and the firm
resolved to move their stock there; but the connection from beginning
to end was a disastrous one to Whaley. In 1873 he again went to
New York and remained there nearly five years, variously engaged.
During this time he settled up the estate of his father, which, owing to
the panic of '73, realized but the tithe of what he had expected. In
1879 Whaley returned to California. After passing a few months in
San Francisco, he reached home, San Diego, in the latter part of 1879,
poorer than ever he had been before. In the fall of 1880 there were
prospects of a railroad, and a boom for San Diego. Whaley made a
proposition to E. W. Morse to go into the real estate business, which
was accepted and shortly afterward they admitted Charles P. Noell, the
firm being Morse, Noell & Whaley, till February, 1886, when Mr.
Noell sold his interest to R. H. Dalton, the firm being Morse, Whaley,
& Dalton, till February, 18S7, when Mr. Morse retired, leaving
the firm Whaley & Dalton. Mr. Whaley bought considerable prop-
erty in and around Old Town and at La Playa, the greater part of
which he still retains. He has also acquired an interest in other prop-
erty, known as firm property in different parts of the city, some of
which, the Fifth Street property, is being improved from the sale of
outside property belonging to the firm. He retired from active busi-
ness last February to pass the i^w years remaining in peace and hap-
piness with his wife, surrounded by loving children and grandchildren,
dispensing the surplusage of his wealth for the relief of suffering
humanity.

With the exception of being City Trustee in 1885, City Clerk in
1881 and 1882, Notary Public for the county of San Diego for six years,
and Councilman for Sitka, Alaska, Whaley has never held any public
office.

HON. JAMES McCOY.

The pioneer American residents of San Diego were a marked
body of men. Many of them are living here to-day, and the positions
they occupy among their fellows denote that they possess qualifica-
tions that would make them leaders in any community. They were
generally self-made men, who, by reason of their native force of char-
acter, succeeded in surmounting obstacles before which less heroic
material would have been overwhelmed. These were the men who,
when San Diego's future greatness was in embryo, sprang to the front,
and with their push and determination started the young city on its
progress toward commercial supremacy. One of the foremost among
this class is the subject of this sketch.

James McCoy was born in County Antrim, Ireland, August 12,
1821. He lived with his parents, and worked on a farm for the first
twenty years of his life. Then he began to yearn for that land of lib-
erty beyond the sea, and in the summer of 1842 he took passage in the
ship Alexander, for the United States, landing at Baltimore on the
ninth of July. Here he found employment in a market garden, and
afterward at a distillery. In these occupations he remained seven
years. In 1849 he enlisted in the regular army, in Captain Magruder's
Battery, which was under orders for the Pacific Coast. They sailed
from Baltimore January 27, 1850, and landed in San Francisco on the
tenth of August. They remained in that city about ten days, and then
sailed down the coast for San Diego, which was to be their station.
There was at that time considerable trouble with the Indians, and
McCoy was sent, as a non-commissioned officer, with twelve men to
San Luis Rey Mission, in the San Luis Rey Valley, about forty
miles from San Diego. He remained at this post for two years and a
half, and during that time his small force was often called upon to aid
the settlers from Indian attacks. After leaving San Luis Rey he was
sent with fourteen men to Jacumba, a station for keeping express
horses and for mail carriers, on the road to Yuma. He remained
there for about eleven months, until, his term of enlistment having ex-
pired, he was honorably discharged from the service. While at
Jacumba he was often threatened by the Indians, and for better security
he built a small fort. Here he was at one time attacked by a band of
five hundred Indians, but his party were all picked men and trained to
Indian fightmg, and tliey succeeded in beating off their assailants.
(If2)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

103

He then went with a surveying party on the Colorado Desert to lay
out townships. He was engaged in this business for two months and a
half, and then was employed in the Government service driving teams
between San Diego and Fort Yuma. He continued at this work for
a little over two years, and then entered the employ of the San An-

tonio and San Diego Mail Line.

He had charge of the mail between

HON. JAMES McCOY.

San Diego, and afterward between Yuma and Tucson. This was
quite a hazardous service, and he had many narrow escapes from the
Indians, besides suffering untold hardships in crossing the desert
through which his route lay. In his trips from Yuma to Tucson he
made some very rapid time. He once rode the distance of three hun-
dred miles in three days and eleven hours and only changed mules
twice. The man who rode with him, S. A. Ames, now lives at River-
side.

I04 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

In the latter part of 1859, while carrying the mail, he was elected
Assessor of San Diego County, and in 1861 he was elected Sheriff.
He was re-ele6i:ed five times, and remained in the office of Sheriff until
he was ele6led to the State Senate, in 1871, when he resigned. In
1859, while Assessor, he became interested in raising sheep, and con-
tinued in that business until 1868. Mr. McCoy prides himself that he
raised the best flock of sheep in San Diego County. In 1867 he
bought the San Bernardo, a four-league ranch, for $4,000, and still
owns a part of it. It is situated about thirty miles from San Diego.
Mr. McCoy served one term of four years in the Senate, his term ex-
piring in 1875. While in the Senate he used his best efforts to arrange
for offering subsidies to induce the building of a railroad to San Diego.
It was mainly through his efforts that the right of way was granted to
the Te.xas Pacific. He also succeeded in having a bill passed author-
izing the city to issue bonds to buy the San Diego and Gila Company
— an old organization formed in early days. This company had suc-
ceeded in having two leagues of land granted them by the Legislature
for the purpose of building their road. The bonds of the city were
issued for the purpose of buying up the rights of this old company, as
well as for purchasing the right of way for the Texas Pacific.

Mr. McCoy was one of the organizers and directors of the Com-
mercial Bank of San Diego, and is now a director of the Consolidated
Bank. He was also one of the organizers and a director in the San
Diego Savings Bank. He was one of the organizers of the Com-
mercial Bank of Los Angeles, since reorganized and now known as
the First National Bank, in which he is a stockholder. He has been
a City Trustee for fourteen years. There has been no public move-
ment looking to the advancement of San Diego that has not had Mr.
McCoy's active countenance and assistance. He owns considerable
city property, and nineteen hundred and twenty acres of the San Ber-
nardo Ranch, adjoining Escondido. He resides in Old San Diego,
where he has a fine residence, erected eighteen years ago. Mr.
McCoy was married in Old San Diego, May 17, 1868, to Miss Winni-
fred Kearney. They have no children.

ANDREW CASSIDY.

One of the pioneer residents of San Diego is Andrew Cassidy.
He is a native of County Cavan, Ireland. When seventeen years of
age he emigrated to the United States, landing at Boston. Having
had the advantage of an excellent education in his native land, he was
well prepared to accept of a position, which was offered him in the En-
gineer Corps, at West Point, under the immediate direction of George

BIO GRA PHICA L SKE TCHES.

105

B. McClellan. He remained at the Point for three years, and from
there went to Washington, where he was employed in the Coast Sur-
vey office, under Professor Bates. He remained in that position about
a year, when he was ordered out to the Pacific Coast with a party of
five others, under Capt. W. B. Trowbridg-e, of the Engineer Corps,
U. S. A. The party came by the way of the Isthmus, and landed at

ANDREW CASSIDY.

San Francisco m July,- 1853. There they were engaged for about two
months in putting up a self-registering gauge at Fort Point. Leaving
one man in charge the others started for San Diego. They chartered
a schooner and made a series of observations on the way down the
coast. They entered the harbor of San Diego, and landed at Point
La Playa, where they put up another gauge, and Cassidy was left in
charge. He was stationed here in charge of meteorological and tide
observations for seventeen years. During this period he made Old San

io6 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEG O.

Diego his headquarters the greater part of the time. In 1864 he saw
an excellent opportunity to engage in stock-raising and availed himself
of it. He employed a man to take charge of the details, and only ex-
ercised a general supervision until he resigned his position in the Coast
Survey. His ranch, which was then known as Soledad, situated twelve
miles from Old Town, contained one thousand acres of exceedingly
rich land. He had on this place at times one thousand head of cattle.
The present town of Sorrento is upon this ranch. Mr. Cassidy con-
tinued in the stock business from 1864 to the beginning of the year 1887,
He then sold out all his stock interests and subdi\'ided his ranch, realiz-
ing a handsome sum from the proceeds of his land sales. Besides his
interests at Sorrento he owns considerable city and suburban property.
He served one term as city trustee in 1865," and again in 1871 was
elected for two terms (four years).

Mr. Cassidy has been twice married, but is now a widower. He
has one daughter, born to his second wife. Besides conducting his large
farming interests, Mr. Cassidy has been a true friend to San Diego,
contributing his share towards the city's material advancement. Per-
sonally he is very courteous, and his address marks him as one who has
mingled much with men of the world. He is extremely popular among
his acquaintances, and everywhere regarded as at once a progressive
and substantial citizen.

ROBERT KELLY.

One of the pioneer residents of San Diego County is Robert Kelly.
The ground where thirty-fi\e years ago his cattle grazed at will, is now
the site of a thriving city, and the bay on the shores of which he assisted
in building the first wharf is now thronged with shipping from all parts
of the world. Mr. Kelly was born on the Isle of Man, Christmas day,
1825. His boyhood days were spent upon a farm, though when he was
about fourteen he began to learn the carpenter's trade. When he was
sixteen years old he left with his parents for the United States. They
landed at New Orleans. Soon afterward his parents moved to Illinois,
but Robert decided to earn his own livelihood and remained for a time
in Louisiana working as a carpenter. He went from there to St. Louis,
where he continued at carpentering and cabinet making, and in the
evenings after his day's labor was over he attended school. Thus he
acquired the rudiments of a fair education that was of great advantage
to him in after years. From St. Louis he went to Galena, Illinois, and
then to the Wisconsin pineries, where for about a year he was engaged,
most of the time, in rafting timber on the Wisconsin Ri\-er. At the
end of this time, he went to Hancock County, Illinois, where he worked
at his trade. In the summer of 1850 he started across the plains for

DIG GRAPHICAL SKE TCHES.

107

California. The party came by the southern route and their objective
point was Yuma on the Colorado River. Here Kelly went to work for
the Gavernment and built a ferry-boat to cross the river. This craft was
made out of cottonwood, the only timber q-rowing there, which was
sawed with a whipsaw.

After a few months he crossed the State to San Diego. Here he

ROBERT KELLY.

assisted in building the first wharf that was ever made in San Diego
harbor. It was near where the Santa Fe wharf now stands. In the
latter part of 185 1 he went to work for the Government driving a six-
mule team, hauling freight across the country to Fort Yuma. After
several trips as a driver he was appointed wagon master, a position of
greater responsibility, but more agreeable. In September, 1S52, he
went into partnership with Colonel Eddy on the Jamacha Ranch, where
he engaged in farming and cattle raising. He planted rye, wheat, oats,

io8 CITY AND COUNTY OT SAN DIEGO.

barley and potatoes on three hundred acres and made a success of it.
The ranch contained eight thousand eight hundred and seventy-six
acres and was situated about twelve miles east of the present city of
San Diego. At the time he sold out his interest in 1857, they had be-
tween two hundred and three hundred head of horses and one thousand
cattle, and their stock often grazed on the shores of the bay, where is
now the city of San Diego. Having sold out his interest in Jamacha he
went into the mercantile business in Old San Diego with Frank Ames.
He continued in this business for about a year. In 1S60 he again en-
gaged in cattle raising on the Agua Hedionda Ranch in partnership with
F. Hinton. This ranch, which consisted of thirteen thousand three
hundred and fourteen acres, is situated on the coast thirty-five miles
north of the city. He now owns the whole of it, \\ith the exception of
three hundred and sixty-four acres, which he sold, and makes his home
there. The ranch is all inclosed with twenty-five miles of fence. The
California Southern Railroad Company has a station on the ranch.

Mr. Kelly has had quite an adventurous life. In early days he
was one of the Judges of the Plains. These were men appointed by the
Supervisors of the county to settle all disputes over the ownership of
cattle. They naturally provoked enmity, especially from the lawless
portion of the community. About dark on the evening of July 16,
1856, after a hard day's ride looking after some cattle, he was attacked
on the Cajon Ranch by a gang of Mexican desperadoes who attempted
to kill him. They succeeded in wounding him severely, three bullets
takmg efiCect; one grazed the top of his head, one struck him m the
back of the neck, sideways, coming out about two inches above, and
the other went through the muscles of his left arm. He carries the
marks of these wounds to this day. He had the satisfaction of know-
ing that all of his assailants were killed a short time after in a revolution
in Lower California, Mexico.

Mr. Kelly owns a good deal of real estate in the city and considera-
ble outside property. He is one of the public-spirited men of the county
and has contributed liberally to every movement tending to advance
the public interests. He gave forty acres of land in the city and a
money consideration, besides the right of way through his ranch, as his
share towards bringing the railroad here.

Although over sixty years ot age, Mr. Kelly is as alert and active
as most men twenty years younger. The many days spent in the sad-
dle and nights passed beneath the canopy ol heaven have served to in-
sure a state of health that many might well envy. He is firmly of the
opinion that there is no place like San Diego, and as a climate for pro-
longing lite it has no equal. Mr. Kelly is a bachelor.

COLONEL C. P. NOELL.

One could not have oeen in San Diego any great length of time
up to the latter part of 1887 without having his attention attracted to a
tall, fine-looking old gentleman, with silvery hair and a snowy white
beard, slightly bent, as he walked along Fifth Street, having a pleasant
word and a kindly greeting for all his acquaintances, and they com-
prised a large majority of those he met. This was Col. C P. Noell,
who was one of San Diego's oldest, most respected, and wealthiest
citizens. He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, February 20,
181 2. His parents were Virginians, and his grandparents were also
natives of the Old Domnnion. His early boyhood was passed in
Lynchburg. He received his education at a school in Bedford County,
about eighteen miles from Lynchburg. After leaving school he was
engaged in mercantile business in Lynchburg until 1846. He then
went to New Orleans, where he remained a few months, but the Mex-
ican war was raging at the time, and as he had an opportunity to enter
upon a profitable speculation by taking a stock of goods to Vera Cruz,
where our troops, under General Scott, had, after a brief siege, become
masters of the city, he availed himself of it. Having obtained an ap-
pointment as sutler, he remained in Vera Cruz for eighteen months.
Disposing of his goods to advantage at the end of that time, he
went to New York, and in a few months afterwards — in Novem-
ber, 1848 — he sailed for California, doubling Cape Horn, in com-
pany with General Mason, the first military governor of our new ac-
quisition on the shores of the far-away Pacific. The vessel in which
he took passage was the Silvie de Grasse, and had been a packet
running between New York and Havre, France. There were three
other vessels sailing in the fleet, all loaded with troops. Noell was
then in partnership with Samuel Hewes, who afterwards engaged in
business in the young city of San Francisco, but was burned out several
times and finally went to Australia. Mr. Noell landed in San Fran-
cisco in April, 1849. He had brought with him a stock of piece
goods, which did not prove adapted to the market, so he shipped
them up to Oregon City, and there disposed of \\\i\r\ to advantage.
He then returned to San Francisco and engaged in merchandising
from July, 1849, to December of that year, when the first of the big
fires that devastated San Francisco in its early days occurred, and
swept away everything he had. In February, 1850, he came to San
Diego, then situated at Old Town, and erected the first wooden build-
ing in the place. It is still standing there on the Plaza. This build-

(109)

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

ing was framed and packed in the East, and had been sent around the
Horn to San Francisco. Colonel Noell saw it there, and purchased it,
shipping it to San Diego by sailing vessel. In this building the
Colonel carried on a general merchandise business for a year and
a half, having as a partner Judge John Hayes. In company with
M. M. Sexton and James Fitten, the Colonel bought a schooner in San

^,^W^

'\k\.^ {i'^'^M.

COLONEL. C. P. NOELL.

Francisco. He loaded it with a miscellaneous cargo and started down
the coast. He sailed up the Gulf of California, and having disposed of
his stock and vessel to advantage, he bought a large band of sheep m
Sonora, and shipped them across the Gulf, from Guyamas to Moleje.
From the latter point the Colonel started to drive them overland to
San Diego. The country was a rough one, and for seventy-five miles
there was no water to be had. They carried a little with them, packed
in rawhide pouches, but, as might be expected, they were on short al-

BTOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. iii

lowance. Over this arid waste progress was slow and fatiguing in the
extreme, an^l many of the sheep dropped down and died. They
started with thirty-six hundred, and on reaching San Diego had about
three thousand. In 1853 the Colonel sold out his business in Old
Town to his partner, Hayes. He was elected to the State Legislature
by the Democrats, in the autumn of 1853. The Legislature assem-
bled in Benicia, in December, and a month later removed to Sacra-
mento. Here they remained in session continuously until May of the
following year. There was no public business of importance trans-
acted, the whole time of the session being occupied in an effort to
elect a United States Senator. The Legislature was largely Demo-
cratic, but there was a strong wing of the party opposed to David C.
Broderick, the leading candidate, and after months of debating, wrang-
ling, and balloting they adjourned, unable to effect a choice. The
next year Broderick overcame the opposition and was elected.

After his return from the Legislature Colonel Noell went to Central
America, where he remained two Ox" three years traveling through the
country, in company with several others, prospecting for gold. He
then went to New Orleans, going across the State of Honduras, and
thence by the Carribean Sea. He remained a short time in New
Orleans, and then went into Texas to visit his brother, with whom he
remained several years. In 1870 he returned to San Diego, but re-
mained only a short time, going back to Texas. Three years later,
however, he came back to San Diego to settle down, after his many
wanderings, for good.

In 1850 Colonel Noell, with ten others, bought the addition to San
Diego known as Middletown. This proved a very lucrative invest-
ment. In addition to this he owned considerable real estate in other
parts of the city. He was formerly a member of the real estate firm
of Morse, Noell & Whaley, but retired from active business in Feb-
ruary, 1886. Colonel Noell did his full share towards placing San
Diego in connection with the outside world by means of the railroad,
and had generally interested himself in all projects tending to benefit
the city. He was a member of the Building and Loan Association,
and a stockholder and director in the Old Town Electric Railroad.
Colonel Noell was never married. He died in this city January 30,
1888, leaving a very valuable estate.

J. S. MANNASSE.

Joseph S. Mannasse is another of those sterling pioneers who
has seen San Diego grow from a sleepy adobe settlement to a thriving
city. He has the proud satisfaction, too, of feeling that to the enter-
prise of men like him the present prosperity of the young metropolis
is largely due.

Mr. Mannasse was born in Filehne, Prussia, August 3, 1831. His
early boyhood was spent with his parents in his native town, but at the
age of thirteen he began to think of supporting himself, and soon went
to work to learn the trade of a furrier and cap maker. He served
three years as an apprentice in Filehne. At the end ol this time he be-
gan work as a journeyman at the salary of $20 a year. After serving
two years he was given charge of the entire business of the establish-
ment with twenty-five men under him, his pay being increased to $50
per annum. At the age of nineteen he left home for the United States,
and landed in New York, October 15, 1850. When he stepped upon
the wharf his entire capital amounted to one gold dollar. The very
morning of his arrival he walked down Wall Street, and seeing the sign
of a cap maker he entered the store of Eddy Brothers and asked for
work. They gave him employment at once. The first year of his resi-
dence in New York he made $75. After a year or two he was promoted
and was made cutter and manager. In April, 1853, h^ started for Cali-
fornia, sailing on the steamer Star of the West, by the way of Nicaraugua.
He was obliged to remain six weeks on the Isthmus, awaiting transpor-
tation. Finally the old steamer Pacific arrived, and he started with a
large company of other passengers. Coming up the coast they entered
the harbor of San Diego, coming to an anchor off La Playa. This
was on Sunday, May 28, 1853. Mr. Mannasse with several others came
ashore and visited the old town of San Diego. He little thought at
that time it would be his future home. The same evening the steamer
sailed for San Francisco. He was not as well pleased with San Fran-
cisco as he expected to be, and after remaining there a month he de-
termined to return to San Diego. He left on the steamer Goliah, and
after a four days' voyage down the coast, touching at the different
ports, he arrived in San Diego the second time, June 28, 1853. His
cash resources amounted to $200, and he determined to lose no time
in engaging in some business. Accordingly he purchased a dry-goods
box of Hinton, Raymond & Morse, then the leading merchants of the
place, paying therefor the sum of $2.00. Out of this he made a shelf
and a counter, and the next day he invested the balance of his capital
(112)

BIO GRA PHICAL SKE TCHES.

1 1

in dry goods, etc. The first day after beginning business, his sales
amounted to $98, and they continued to steadily increase from that
time. He gradually enlarged his trading facilities and soon had a
commodious store. In 1855 he was robbed of $100 in cash, but burg-
lary was not a common crime at that day. In 1856 he formed a part-
nership with M. Schiller. In 1868 the firm started a lumber-yard at

J. S. MANNASSE.

the foot of Atlantic and E Streets, and soon did a large trade, carrying
on their general merchandise business at the same time. In 1870
Tom Scott began his railroad and the demand for lumber was very
brisk. They also had a large ranch at Encinitas, which was heavily
stocked. In 1870 the drouth came, and in order to save their stock
they drove it down into Lower California. The dry season had a most
disastrous effect on everything. It was largely instrumental in causing
the collapse of the railroad boom, and ruined a great many ranchers.

114 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

It bore very hard on the hrm of Mannasse & Schiller, but they
weathered the storm, although they lost $100,000, in various amounts,
all of which is standing on their books to this day. Since then Mr.
Mannasse has been engaged in various kinds of business with differ-
ent degrees of success. At one time he happened to be so badly off
that there was only only one firm in San Diego that would give him
credit for a sack of flour.

Mr. Mannasse has always been one of the most liberal citizens,
and there has never been a public undertaking to which he has not
given his hearty indorsement. There has never been a charity pro-
posed, or a church or a school started, that he has not contributed to-
wards. He was one of the principal movers in establishing the Poor
Farm and Hospital. He was a Supervisor for several terms, and has
been elected a City Trustee two or three times. He was a member of
the Board when Mr. Horton purchased his addition on which the bus-
iness portion of San Diego is now located. He worked early and late to
secure the building of the present railroad, and has been at different
times interested in wharf and other substantial enterprises. He now
owns a good deal of city property and country real estate. He is a
part owner of the Mannasse & Schiller Addition, and in Mannasse &
Schiller's subdivision. He is still interested in cattle and owns con-
siderable live stock. His principal business now is that of a broker
and collector.

Mr. Mannasse was married in 1867 to Miss Hannah Schiller, a
sister of his partner, M. Schiller. They have one daughter.

CHARLES A. WETMORE.

One of the most energetic and public-spirited of San Diego's citizens
is Charles A. Wetmore. He was born in Portland, Maine, January 20,
1847, but came to California when nine years of age with his mother
and other members of the family, whither his father, Jesse L. Wetmore,
who was one of the pioneers of the State and prominent in the early
days in the development of San Francisco, had preceded them. In his
business as a contractor he built the old Meiggs Wharf, and the first
Music Hall in the city. Afterwards he was engaged for fourteen
years in railroad building, and opening guano mines in Chili, Bolivia,
and Peru.

In 1859 Charles, then twelve years old, while a student in the
Hyde Street Grammar School, in company with R. L. Taber, edited,
printed, and published the Young Califot'niaji, which was the first juve-
nile paper on the coast. He afterward attended the Oakland College
School preparatory to entering the College of California in 1S64, from

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

which he graduated, being valedictorian of his class in 1868, at the age
of twenty-one.

During the last year of his college course young Wetmore's activ-
ity of mind drew his attention to the labor problem and he became
Secretary of the House Carpenters' Eight Hour League. He soon suc-
ceeded in organizing all the leagues of Alameda County into the Me-

CHARLES A. WETMORE.

chanics' Institute, of which he was elected President. While living at
home he paid all his college expenses. During the last two years of
his college course he was the Oakland reporter for the San Francisco
Bidlctin. His vacations were spent in exploring the State on practical
missions. In the summer vacation of 1866 he took charge of the level-
ing party of an expedition which was conducted under a State appro-
priation, directed by Hon. Charles F. Reed, in the Sacramento Valley,
to determine the practicability and cost of bringing the waters of the

1 16 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Sacramento from Red Bluff, along the Coast Range, through the counties
of Tehama, Colusa, Yolo and Solano. In 1867 he devoted the summer,
at the request of the college authorities, to canvassing the central,
northern and mining cTDunties on behalf of the proposed erection of
a State university. His success in awakening public sentiment was so
great that, when at the next session the question came before the Legis-
lature, there was practically no opposition to the plan of the founders of
the College of California, whose magnificent property at Berkeley was
accepted by the State as the first endowment of what is now the State
University. As a testimony of their appreciation of his labors the
trustees declined to accept any further pavment of dues from Mr. Wet-
more. He was also honored by having the degrees ot Bachelor of Arts
and Master of Arts conferred upon him. On the day of graduation he
was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Associated Alumni of the
Pacific.

In 1 868, immediately after his graduation, Mr Wetmore came to
San Diego, which it was even then whispered was to be a future com-
mercial metropolis. He had a strong taste for journalism and he in-
tended to jjublish a newspaper, but changed his mind and established a
real estate agency, the first one in the new city. He had had printed an
outline maj^ of the harbor and had copies of it placed conspicuously in
San Francisco offtces to attract attention. In company with Mr. Win-
field Curtis he negotiated his first sale — the San Bernardo Ranch. At
that time the first small house was being built on Fifth Street in Hor-
ton's Addition, and the business of the town was conducted in Old San
Diego. There was no wharf and no railroad.

Studying law and searching records led him into partnership with
Solon P. S. Sanborn, a very able lawyer, then practicing here. The
members of the firm devoted themselves to unraveling and perfecting
old land titles. There were a horde of squatters here then, who, influ-
enced by unprincipled lawyers, were misled into seizing of the property
of absent owners with the hope of defeating their titles. They claimed
that the city lands had been improperly disposed of and a reign of con-
fusion w-as threatened. Mr. Wetmore w-as one of the organizers and a
leading member of the Pueblo League, whose mission it was to protect
the interests of bona fide holders of property from the raids of these
land sharks. An attempt was made at one time to steal Cleveland's
Addition, and Mr. Wetmore, in company with Clarence L. Carr and
Major Swope, armed for defense, rode up from Old Town, destroyed the
string fences before they were completed, and stood guard all day to
prevent further aggression. On another occasion, by his prompt and
energetic action, he thwarted the scheme of a party of real estate pirates
who attempted to steal one hundred and forty acres, including the pres-
ent site of the court-house and all the land from the bay to Horton's
Addition, on the north side of D .Street.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 117

This unequal contest became uncomfortably warm for all parties
and a bill was drawn up by Messrs. Wetmore and Sanborn, confirming
the act of tile old Alcaldes and city trustees, and urged before the Legis-
lature so strongly by Mr. Wetmore that it was passed. This put an
end to the squatter controversy and laid the foundation for public con-
fidence in land titles in San Diego.

During the dull period following the dry season of 1869-70 Mr.
Wetmore joined his father in his railroad work in the Cordilleras
of Peru, for one year. Upon his return to California he became at-
tached to the editorial stafi" of the Alta California. He was soon sent
to Washington as the special correspondent of that paper, and while at
the national capital he had frequent opportunity to aid San Diego in
her contests with giant monopolies. He secured for the ex-mission
lands the United States Patents, which expedited the settlement of titles
to our neighboring lands. During his stay in Washington he was a
member of the Land Attorneys' Association.

In 1875 he was appointed by the Government special commissioner
to report upon the condition of the Mission Indians in this county,
and during a flurry of excitement along the Mexican border he secured
an order of the War Department establishing the military post, which is
still here.

In 1878 he, was appointed delegate for the California Viticultural
Association to the Paris Exposition. The letters written during his
study of vineyards in France to the Alta California created a sensa-
tion throughout the country, and aroused the people to the importance
of developing viticulture on a grander scale than had been dreamed of
before.

On his return from Paris he married a young lady of Washington '
and abandoned journalism, returning to California to reside perma-
nently. He perfected the organization of the State Viticultural Com-
mission and for several years he devoted his whole time and all his en-
ergy to the development of the industry which he had aroused. As
one of the members of the State Board, Vice-President and Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer and later President of the National Viticultural Associ-
ation organized in Washington in 18S6, Mr. Wetmore accomplished
an amount of work in behalf of California's viticultural interests that it
is almost impossible to estimate.

During all these years he managed to make occasional visits to
San Diego, always looking upon it as his permanent home. The Es-
condido town site and vineyards were laid out under his influence by a
company organized in Stockton, of which he was a member, but which
subsequently transferred the property to the present management.

During the past summer Mr. Wetmore opened an office in San
Diego, having resigned his position as Chief Executive Officer of the

ii8

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

State \'iticultural Commission, and is once more an active citizen of San
Diego. Here, surrounded by his family, he purposes settHng down to
enjoy the fruition of many years of past hopes. He has done much in
the past towards laying the foundation that led to the development of
the San Diego of to-day. In the future his active energy and indomit-
able pluck will aid in building up the great city that is bound to be.

GEORGE B. HENSLEY.

One of the best known and most energetic of San Diego's business
men is George B. Hensley. Mr. Hensley is a native of England, hav-
ing been born in Cornwall, November 26, 1847. His early boyhood
was spent in Cornwall and he attended school there until he was thirteen
years old. He then went to work in the mines, where he remained five
years. At the age of eighteen he started for the great city of London.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 119

There he soon obtained a position in the office of a shipping and insur-
ance broker. He remained in London for lour years. The last busi-
ness he was engaged in there was in a wholesale silk and lace house.
In the spring of 1869 he left England for California by way of the
Isthmus of Panama. He arrived in San Diego in the month of June
arid at once took up a ranch in Tia Juana Valley. In the early part of
1870 he became interested in mining with his brother, who discovered
the Stonewall Mine at Julian. Three -months afterward he went to San
Francisco, where he remained a year. He then returned to San Diego,
when he was appointed Deputy County Clerk, a position which he held
until March, 1872. He then opened an abstract office, a business in which
he was engaged till October, 1S76. On account of his health he then
moved into the country on a ranch, where he remained until the following
year, when he was appointed United States Inspector of Customs on the
Mexican line. This office he retained for seven years. In May, 1884,
he went to Portland, Oregon, where he spent a year. Then he came
back to San Diego and has since been engaged in the abstract and real
estate business.

Mr. Hensley has been one of the most active promoters of the
growth of San Diego. He has been identified with all public movements
and has invested liberally in every enterprise having for its object the ad-
vancement of the city. He was one of the organizers of the San Diego
Building and Loan Association and for two years acted as its Secretary.
He is a stockholder in, and present Secretary of, the San Diego and
Old Town Railroad Company, and a large stockholder and Secretary of
the Pacific Beach Company. He is also an active member of the
Chamber of Commerce. He always had strong faith in the ultimate
growth of San Diego, and to-day holds real estate which he purchased
when he first came here. He owns a good deal of city property and is
largely interested in Pacific Beach, which is destined to be, probably, the
most attractive of San Diego's suburbs. He has a residence on the
southwest corner of Ninth and D Streets, which he erected two years ago.
Mr. Hensley was married in this city in 1873 to Miss Hulda Bowers,
sister of Senator W. W. Bowers. He has four children.

It is to men like George B. Hensley that San Diego is largely in-
debted for the rapid progress she has made during the past two or three
years. Public-spirited, generous, progressive, he is an excellent type
of the true American citizen.

WILLIA^I E. HIGH.

More than twenty-five years ago a little book was published that at-
tracted wide attention, and was the subject of considerable comment.
It was entitled, " Ten Acres Enough," and was written to show how
much the owner of ten acres of land in the State of New Jersey had
raised; how he had supported his family, saved a considerable sum each
year, and lived an independent and contented life. In the vicinity of
San Diego there might be found a counterpart of this New Jersey farmer's
experience on one-half the amount of land. The results that have fol-
lowed the thorough cultivation of a plot of five acres of rich soil in the
Cholla Valley have been often told, but there is comparatively little
known of the man whose industry and judicious care caused the earth
to yield such abundant returns.

William E. High was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on the
first day of January, 1830. He remained on his farther' s farm until he
was twenty years old, attending the district schools as opportunity
offered. Then he went to Chester County and lived with an uncle for
two years. At the end of that time he returned to the old farm. About
a year after this his father died, and then the place was sold and he hired
out to work on '\ farm in the same county. He remained there for
three years, and during that time taught the district school for one ses-
sion. Afterwards he went to Bucks County and during 1856-57 ran a
saw-mill. The latter part of 1857, however, saw him back again in
Berks County, where he stayed until the following spring. These fre-
quent changes in business had tended to unsettle him somewhat and he
decided to seek a new country. He had heard much of California, and
the fortunes that had been acquired in that distant land. Thither then
he determined to journey. After two weeks spent in New York City
he set sail on the Star of the West for Cuba, and from there took pas-
sage on the A^ezu Granada for Aspinwall. Crossing the isthmus he
took \.\\Q Jo/ni L. Stephens at Panama, and after an uneventful voyage
he arrived at San Francisco, the 15th of May, 1858. The same day he
left for Sacramento, and from there went through Placer and El Dorado
Counties. At Diamond Springs, in the latter county, he worked in a
saw-mill for six months. Then he went to Nevada County, where he
engaged in mining, following that business with varying degrees of suc-
cess for nearly ten years. During this time he was located at Moore's
Flat and at North San Juan. B^arly in 1868 he visited San Francisco,
(120)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

121

and while there made up his mind to come to the southern part of the
State. He accordingly went back to Nevada County, settled up his
business, and in the following spring started for San Diego, arriving
here on the 2d of March. Being well pleased with the outlook he de-
cided to remain. He located one hundred and sixty acres of land
eighteen miles southeast of the city, but sold it in six months' time and

WILLIAM E. HIGH.

settled on another piece of one hundred and seventy-five acres adjoin-
ing the National Ranch Grant, ten miles from San Diego. He culd-
vated a small portion of this in fruit, and remained on it for four years,
during which time he acquired a title, after some difficulty experienced,
some parties claiming it as a Mexican grant. About the ist of January,
1874, he moved to Cholla Valley, two and one-half miles from San
Diego, where he purchased five acres of land, and there he and his
brother engaged in raising fruit of different varieties. They experi-

122 C/TV AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

mented with ^•arious kinds until they found what was most suitable to
the soil and climate, and those varieties they adhered too. The result
was that they soon acquired the reputation of raising the finest fruits to
be found in this section, and the product of their orchard commanded
the highest prices.

Mr. High still remains on this famous place, and, with his brother,
still cultivates it. In April, 1876, he went East to attend the Centennial
and while absent was married. He returned in October with his bride.
Two and a half years later she died; her maiden name was Susan
Bechtel. For the last eight years Mr. High has been a member of the
Cemetery Commission of San Diego; he was the first President of the
San Diego Horticultural Society and is now its Vice-President. He
was one of the Directors and Vice-President for two years of the Con-
solidated National Bank, and was a stockholder in the old San Diego
Bank before the consolidation. He is interested in the San Diego and
Cuyamaca Railroad, now in the course of construction. Four years
ago he bought about two thousand acres of land in the Cuyamaca Grant,
and he and his brother now own three thousand acres there, which is
used for grazing purposes, and they have over two hundred head of
cattle on it. Mr. High and his brother are equally interested in all their
enterprises, and together they own considerable city and outside prop-
erty. The site of Otay was sold by his brother to the present owners.
Together they contributed one hundred and sixty acres of fine land as a
bonus to the California Southern to induce them to build their road
here. Mr. High has contributed liberally to all public movements, and
although of a retiring disposition, he is in reality one of San Diego's
most progressive and substantial citizens. It is to the earnest and
well-timed efforts of men like William E. High that the present pros-
perous condition of this thriving city is largely due.

AARON PAULY.

A California pioneer and one of the oldest residents of San Diego
is Aaron Pauly. Mr. Pauly was born in Lebanon, Warren County,
Ohio, May 24, 181 2. His father died when he was five years of age.
His youth and early manhood were passed in Warren County, and, until
he was fourteen, on a farm. When thirty years old he started West and
located in Ouincy, Illinois, where he engaged in the mercantile business
and remained until the spring of 1849. Gold had been discovered in
California, and emigrants were flocking to the new El Dorado from all
parts of the civilized world. Mr. Pauly formed a party and started across
the plains for the Pacific Coast in the spring of that eventful year.
Travelers and tourists of the present day, journeying overland in Pull-

PylO GR. I PHICAL SKE TCHES.

1^3

man coaches, can ha\e but slight conception of the fatigues, dangers,
and delays that attended a journey to California in 1849. Each of the
different routes had its hardshij^s. The voyager by sea was tossed
and buffeted about in closely-packed and ill-provisioned ships for
months; those who journeyed by way of the Isthmus, in addition to the
discomforts of a sea voyage, were compelled to pass through the fever-

"^^^^^^i^

^^^^^i^'

AARON PAULY.

stricken districts of the Isthmus; the march across the plains was long
and arduous; the trains were liable to attacks from Indians, their cattle
often died from want of water and proper pasturage, and, in some cases,
the emigrants themseh^es fell victims to the drought. There were twenty-
five persons in the train with which Mr. Pauly crossed the plains. They
came by the way of Salt Lake and the Truckee River, stopping finally
at Coloma, a mining camp neat Sacramento, built on the site of Sutter's
Mill, in the race-way of which gold had been discovered two years before,

1 24 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAX DIEG O.

by John \V. Marshall. Mr. Pauly remained at Coloma during the
winter of 1849-50, but in the spring went to the mines in Butte County,
where he remained for two years. Having been quite prosperous in
his ventures, he bought a large stock ranch at Spring \'alley, Yuba
County, twelve miles from Marysville. Here he made his home till
1865. He then disposed of the ranch and removed to Mar}s\"ille, where
he remained three years, engaged in the mercantile business with his
sons, F. N. andC. W. Pauly. In 1869, on account of ill health, he dis-
posed of his business in Mar}'s\-ille and moved to San Diego. Horton's
Wharf had just been completed and Mr. Pauly landed the first stock of
goods upon it. He opened a store, which was connected with the wharf,
and had charge of the latter. At this time he had considerable trouble
with Ben Holladay, who refused to allow his steamers to touch at Hor-
ton's Wharf Finally, however, after threatening to charter a schooner
and transport his goods independent of the steamship line, Holladay
gave in and permitted his vessels to load and discharge at the wharf

Mr. Pauly remained in the merchandise business until 1875, when he
sold out and went into real estate, commission, and insurance with his
son, C. W. Pauly. He has now retired from active business and de-
votes his time to conducting his private affairs. Mr. Pauly was a mem-
ber of the Board of Supervisors in 1873-74. He was also Tax Collector
for nine years, from 1875 to 1884, and was one of the organizers and
first President of the Chamber of Commerce. During the time that he
was at the head of this institution, the railroad was built into San Diego,
and it is not too much to say that Aaron Pauly' s labors did much to
bring about that important e\'ent. He was one of the founders of the
Baptist Society here, selected the lots and aided largely in building the
present fine church edifice on the corner of E and Ninth Streets. Mr.
Pauly owns considerable real estate in different parts of the city. In
conjunction with D. C. Reed he built the fine business block on the
corner of E and Sixth Streets, known as the Reed-Pauly Block; and
with A. G. Gassen he will soon erect a magnificent four-stor}- brick
block on the northeast comer of E and Fourth Streets, which will cost,
when completed, fully $100,000. He has lately finished a handsome and
spacious residence on the corner of D and Ele\-enth Streets. It is the
Queen Anne style of architecture, and is considered one of the most
tasteful private residences in the city.

In addition to his interests in San Diego, Mr. Pauly has done
much to further and develop the mines of the county, and the mining
region of Julian is probably more deeply indebted to him, than to any
other individual, for its present prosperous outlook. He was also one
of the projectors and president of the company that built the wagon
road from Yuma to San Diego. This road was of great benefit to San
Diego, and a great deal of bu'ine.ss was done over it, which continued

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 125

until the opening of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Mr. Pauly was one
of the organizers of the San Diego Benevolent Association, a society
which is still in existence, and has for many years, in an unostentatious
way. accomplished much charitable work,

Mr. Pauly was married in 1840 to Miss Elmira Nye, a native of
Vermont. The result of this union was four children living, two sons
antl two daughters. Besides he had one daughter by his first wife, to
whom he was married in 1834, but she died in a little more than a year
afterwards. His eldest daughter is the wife of General Dustin, of Syca-
more, Illinois, who served all through the War of the Rebellion. His
sons are living in Southern California, one being employed in the First
National Bank in Los Angeles and the other being engaged in the real
estate business here. One daughter is married and living in Gridley,
Butte County.

Mr. Pauly has fully realized his early expectations in the present
wonderful growth and prosperity of San Diego. He is in excellent
health, and bids fair to have many days of usefulness before him.

D. CHOATE.

It was a happy inspiration which led the fathers of the State of Maine
to adopt as the motto of the young commonwealth, " Dirigo " — I di-
rect. Situated on the northeastern confines of the Union, her territory
reaches well towards the limits of a monarchial colony, and she stands
as it were the most advanced sentinel of the host of Republican States.
This position in the national sisterhood has had a marked effect in the
formation of the character of her citizens, and they have inherited with
the air they breathe an ardor, a courage, and a strength of will that is
strongly marked, and is noticeable wherever they are found. In every
enterprise requiring push and daring they are among the first; in every
undertaking where brain and brawn united win the day, the hardy men
of Maine are to be found. When gold was discovered on the Pacific
Coast and the rush was made for the new El Dorado, the sons of Maine
were in the van. They joined in the great caravans that toiled and
struggled in the weary march across the plains; they enhsted in the
army of gold hunters whose march over the isthmus was marked by a line
of fever -stricken victims; they joined the fleet of argonauts that doubled
Cape Horn and passed many weary months upon the sea — all seeking
one goal, all bound for one haven. Among the men from Maine who
joined the hosts of '49 was the subject of this sketch.

D. Choate was born in Kennebec County, Maine, on the 9th of Sep-
tember, 1827. His parents were farmers, and young Choate .spent the

126

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

early years of his life on the farm, availing himself of such educational
advantages as were to be found in the district school until 1847, when he
went to Lowell, Mass. , to attend school. He remained there until the win-
ter of 1848-49. In February of the latter year he joined a party of gold-
seekers, and on the first day of March sailed from Boston for Chagres,
on the bark Thames. They had an uneventful voyage and reached the

D. CHOATE,

isthmus in safety. The journey overland to Panama was attended with
the usual discomforts incident to the trip in those days, but the party were
more fortunate than many. Here, however, they were detained for a
month waiting for a vessel in which to obtain passage to San Francisco.
Finally they eml^arked on board an English brig, the T^vo Friends.
This portion of their journey was destined to be the most tedious of any.
The vessel was small and overcrowded, the winds were light or adverse,
and they were one hundred and sixty-seven days on the voyage. Dur-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 127

ing- this time the water and provisions got very low, and they were on
short allowance for one hundred days of the time. Finally, on the 1 2lh
of October, or over seven months from the time they left home, they
sailed through the Golden Gate and came to an anchor off the straggling
settlement of Verba Buena. The passengers of the Two Friends were
not long in getting ashore, and after a brief stop started for the mines,
Choate making Ophir his objective point. He remained there through
the winter months and in April started for Yuba. During the summer
he was engaged with others in turning the ri\'er from its bed, but the
results were not up to the expectations of the prospectors. In the spring
of 1 85 1, Choate returned to Ophir and soon became engaged in mercan-
tile business at this point. He remained at Ophir, carrying on a gen-
eral mercantile business, for seventeen years until the mines were ex-
hausted. He then came down to San Francisco, and in 1868 opened a
dry goods house on Kearny Street, between California and Pine. In
July of the following year he wanted a brief rest from business cares and
a change of air, and having heard of the sanitary advantages of San
Diego he made up his mind to visit it. Steamers were theri running
down the coast but once a month. Mr. Choate had not been many
hours in San Diego before he had decided that here was the olace for
him to locate. He felt confident that upon the shores of this magnifi-
cent harbor would eventually arise a city that would equal San Fran-
cisco. He had seen that city when it was but a hamlet, and he saw no
reason why San Diego should not in time increase in population and
wealth as it had clone. So sanguine was his faith that he did not even
return to San Francisco to close up his business, but wrote to his brother
to sell out and follow him. In August, 1869, he found himself perma-
nently located in San Diego engaged in the real estate business. He
made it a point to buy up land by the acre, from one to three miles out,
and carry all he could of it, looking to the future for his profits. He had
but one object in view — the accumulation of a fortune which he had
come to California to gain, but had failed to acquire in the mines. His
faith in the future of his adopted city never forsook him, and through
all the fluctuations that have marked the progress of San Diego towards
substantial prosperity, he held on to his real estate and added to it as
he could. It is a singular fact that the land Mr. Choate bought in those
early days, he holds now. He has laid out ten different additions to
the city, each containing from forty to eighty acres, and he now has
them all on the market. The lots are selling at from $200 to fooo each.
The increase in the value of his property within the last year is over
$300,000.

Mr. Choate is the promoter of the famous College Hill Loan Asso-
ciation, which is destined to be one of the most successful real estate
projects ever undertaken in Southern California. The tract consists of

128 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

one thousand six hundred acres situated just north of the city park. It
is laid out in blocks and lots and now on the market. Every other
block in the tract is given to the M. E. Church; and the first $200,-
000 realized ft'om the sale of the church lands is to be used for
building a college. The balance is to be sold from time to time and
the interest alone can be used. This college (which is a branch of the
Methodist Episcopal University of Southern California) will probably
have an endowment fund of at least $5,000,000, greater than most of
the great colleges of the Eastern States. The other half of the land is
the property of the College Hill Land Association, which consists often
members, all of whom reside in this city. The stock of the Association
is now selling at $100 per share; its original cost was fc. 00 a share.
There are one thousand five hundred shares. The Association is still
buying land. It is the intention of the Methodist people to begin the
erection of a college of fine arts during the present winter. There will
be a steam motor line running through the tract in a short time, and
water pipes will be laid to every block by the same time. Mr. Choate
put this great enterprise in operation by himself, contributing one hun-
dred and fifty acres of land.

Mr. Choate is also interested in the Steiner, Klauber, Choate &
Castle Addition, containing one thousand acres, two and one-half miles
from the city and just east of the College Hill Tract. This tract was
placed on the market September i, 1887, and the sales the first day
reached $87,000 in this city and $16,000 in San Francisco, at $100 per
lot. Then they were raised to $125 for a week, and then to $150. The
total sales to January i, 1888, exceeded $250,000. The owners of the
tract ha\e entered into a contract with Babcock & Story for a motor
line through it, around to the College Hill Tract and down Fifth Street,
making a belt line from D Street.

Mr. Choate was one of the prime movers in the various efiforts that
were made to induce the building of railroads to San Diego, from the
first Tom Scott boom to the final completion of the California Southern.
In 1875 he was appointed postmaster and retained the office until 18S2,
when he resigned to attend to his private business. ' He has now re-
tired from active business, but acts as an adviser in the development of
his many important real estate enterprises. Mr. Choate has just com-
pleted a palatial residence on the corner of Fifth and Hawthorne
Streets, on Florence Heights. He also contemplates erecting a number
of substantial business buildings on several principal streets during the
coming spring. Mr. Choate is a faithful and consistent member of the
Methodist Church, and has given largely to many public charities. He
is now in the possession of a princely fortune, yet he says he would
gladly forego it all, rather than again pass through the anxieties, re-
verses, and disappointments he has experienced during his residence
in San Diego.

JL'DGE McNEALY.

One of San Diego's leading citizens, prominent alike as a lawyer
and a jurist, is Judge W. T. McNealy. He is a native of Georgia,
ha\ing been born in Thomas County, in that State, the 22d of January,
1848. When he was about two years old his parents renKjved to Jack-
son County, Florida, and located near Mariana. His youth was spent
on his father's farm, and he attended the neighboring schools until he
was fourteen. He had at that early age progressed so rapidly in his
studies that, being without a teacher in the district school, young
McNealy was called upon to take charge, and for six months he taught
the pupils acceptably. He felt desirous, however, of continuing his
studies and he went to the State military school at Marietta, Georgia,
known as the Military Cadet School. He remained there one year,
and then the students were attached as State troops to Joe Johnston's
army during the last year of the war. Young McNealy then returned
to Florida and taught school for a year. At the age of eighteen he
began to read law in the office of Hon. A. H. Bush, the Circuit Judge.
While a law student he acted as Deputy Clerk of Jackson County. On
the 7th of January, i86g, after having studied law for three years,
he started, by the way of Panama, for California, and arrived in San
Francisco the 22d of February. He first came to Los Angeles,
and after remaining there a few days started for San Diego by stage,
reaching there the last day of March, in 1869. Soon after his arrival he
was admitted to the bar, and that fall was nominated and elected District
Attorney of the county on the Democratic ticket. Two years later he
was re-elected without opposition.

In 1873 he was elected Judge for the Eighteenth Judicial District,
then comprising San Diego and San Bernardino Counties, for a term
of six years. In 1879 he was elected Superior Judge of San Diego
County Ibr a term of five years; in the .same year he declined the nom-
ination for Justice of the Supreme Court on the Workingmen's ticket.
In 1884, when the nominating convention was about to meet. Judge
McNealy' s friends and the members of the bar insisted on his being a
candidate for re-election. His health was such, however, that he hesi-
tated a long time, but finally gave a reluctant consent, and was again
elected Superior Judge. In September, 1886, his health became so
bad that it was physically impossible for him to perform the duties of
his office, and he sent his resignation to the (Governor, to take efifect

(12:))

I30

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

on the first of the following October. He then retired from active
business and endeavored to avoid all professional cares of every
nature, in order to thoroughly recover his health. To a man of Judge
McNealy's active disposition, however, this was well-nigh impossible,
and he had to keej) his mind employed. The result was that before
many months he found himself engaged in the active practice of his

JUDGE McNEALY.

profession. The requirements of a general practice were such that it
was not possible for him to limit his labors to his strength. Finally,
however, a few months since, he decided to give up all his general law
practice, and now he only acts as counsel in a few special cases and
may be said to have practically retired from the profession.

Judge McNealy's career in San Diego County has been, in many
respects, a remarkable one. Coming here as he did, an entire stranger,
just arrived at man's estate, his ability as a lawyer, united with his per-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 131

sonal popularity, at once made him a place in the community. His ad-
ministration of the office of District Attorney during his first term, was
such as to win for him the encomium of the best people in both parties.
During his second term he merely emphasized in the minds of the pub-
lic the opinion that had been previously formed of him. Of his career
upon the bench during a continuous period of thirteen years it is im-
possible to speak in too high terms. He performed an immense amount
of labor and rendered many important decisions, some of which involved
large property interests. All of his rulings appear to have been made
with but one object in view, — the strict administration of justice, — and
when, at length, he retired from the bench the people felt that they had
lost a champion, and the bar that they had been deprived of the services
of an upright and impartial judge.

Judge McNealy was married in 1872, in San Diego, to Miss Lina
E. Wadham. They have five children living, four boys and one girl.

ROBERT ALLISON.

One of San Diego's representative citizens is Robert Allison. He
is a native of Ohio, having been born in Washington County, near Mari-
etta, in March, 1814. His father was a farmer and Robert's boyhood
was passed with his parents, living on the old farm and attending the
district school, which was held in a log building, and the seats were rough
slabs on which the pupils sat and learned their tasks. When twenty-one
years old he started out into the world on his own account. He bought
a flat boat and made the voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi to
New Orleans, carrying country produce. His first venture was success-
ful and he continued in the trade for eight or nine years. He then re-
moved to Illinois, and went to steam milling first at Warsaw, and after-
ward at Nauvoo. After following this business for five years he started
for Iowa, where he bought a farm on the Black Hawk Reservation. He
purchased eight hundred acres from the Government and cultivated a
good portion of it. In 1850 he crossed the plains with an ox team to Cal-
ifornia. On the way they ran short of provisions, but managed to pull
through and finally arrived at Placerville in the latter part of September.
After a brief stay he went down to Sacramento, where he opened a hotel,
which he carried on for six or eight months. He then located one hun-
dred and sixty acres of land in Sutter County, which he cultivated, rais-
ing hay principally. After farming there for three years he returned to
Iowa, where he remained a little more than a year, and then again
crossed the plains to California, bringing with him some six hundred head
of cattle. He located near Vacaville, Solano County, engaging in rais-

1^2

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

iiig cattle. Then, in iS68, his health being poor, he came to San Diego.
At first he did not intend to locate, but he found that his health was so
greatly benefited by the change, and the country pleased him so much,
that he decided to remain. He therefore wound up his business in
Solano County and came here to make it his home. He bought up a
large number of cattle and went into ranching and butchering. He

ROBERT ALLISON.

jun-chased three thou.sand acres of the Cuyamaca and eight thousand
acres of ex-Mission Grant, the latter situated about four miles from the
city of San Diego. He still owns these lands, and is one of the largest
cattle raisers in the county. He has now retired from active business,
and devotes his time to the management of his private affairs, his three
sons carrying on the ranching and butchering bu-siness. They now have
over four thousand head of catde on their ranges.

Mr. Allison has never held any public office, but has devoted his at-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 133

tention strictly to the conduct of his business interests. He has, how-
ever, been active in all public movements and has contributed liberally
to all enterprises having for their effect the advancement of the city
and county. He is one of the directors and a large stockholder in the
San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad, now in course of construction. He
is much opposed to intemperance, which he looks upon as the greatest
curse of the age, and is an earnest and consistent advocate of prohibi-
tion. Although over seventy years of age he is as active as many men
ten years younger. His health is excellent and there is every prospect
that he will be spared for many years of usefulness. His faith in the
future of the county is great. He believes it will yet become one of
the wealthiest and most progressive of the many great counties of the
State. Mr. Allison was married in Ohio in 183S, to Miss Tempa Water-
man. He has had eleven children, of which four are now living, three
sons and a daughter, all of whom reside in this city.

PHILIP MORSE.

Philip Morse was born in Fayette, Maine, May 23, 1S45. His boy-
hood days were passed in the village, where he attended the district
school. Later on he was a pupil in the Lewiston Falls Academy, where
he prepared to enter Bowdoin College in the class of 1865. Failing
health, however, compelled him to give up all thought of entering col-
lege, and he decided to come to California. Arriving in San Francisco
in September of that year he secured a position as salesman in the
lumber yard of Glidden & Colman, pier 20, Steuart Street, where he
remained until March, 1869, when he accepted a position with McDonald
& Co. , to come to San Diego to take charge of their lumber business
here. He arrived March 9, and has been identified with the interests
of the city ever since. He was absent from San Diego from 1879 to
1883, in Arizona, where he had a mill and manufactured lumber for the
mines. He was associated with Mr. Jacob Gruendike in this venture.
Upon his return to San Diego in 1883, he went into business with his
father-in-law, G. W. B. McDonald, under the firm name of McDonald &
Morse. The firm continued in existence for one year, and then, in con-
junction with several San Francisco capitalists, Mr. Morse organized the
San Diego Lumber Company, of which he was elected general manager.
The capital stock of the company was fixed at $75,000. The sales for
the past year amounted to over $750,000. He is also a stockholder in,
and was one of the organizers and first superintendents of, the West
Coast Redwood Company of San Francisco. He is President of the
San Diego Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufact-
ure of doors, sash, blinds, etc.

CITY AND CO UN J Y OF SAN DIEGO.

Although Mr. Morse is not a politician in the ordinary acceptance of
the term, he has always taken a deep interest in municipal affairs, and
for nearly three years he held the office of City Treasurer. He has been
twice elected a member of the City Board of Education, and is now Pres-
ident of that body. He is Vice-President of the Y. M. C. A., and one
of the leading members of the San Diego Natural History Society.

PHILIP MORSE.

In giving this brief sketch of Philip Morse, really but one side of his
character has been exposed to view. We have seen how he has risen,
through the exercise of exceptionally good business qualities, from a
clerkship to a position of affluence and recognized prominence in the
community. We have seen him successful in his business \'entures, and
honored and trusted by his fellow-citizens. But there is another phase
of his character, which is seldom found combined with business acumen
or financial ability. In the exercise of a wise economy nature but rarely

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 135

endows the same mind with more than one of what may be called her
cardinal gifts. Occasionally, however, when in a lavish mood, she de-
parts from this general rule. The character of Philip Morse is an in-
stance of this. Added to his ability as a business man he has a fine
literary taste, and a talent for poetry, which has borne fruit in the produc-
tion of some stanzas which will live in the annals of American verse.
As a writer of descriptive prose, also, he has been quite successful. His
sense of observation is keen and he writes of what he sees, in a bright,
pleasant style that is both agreeable and instructive to the reader. One
of the best of Mr. Morse's poetical efforts is entitled " Milking Time."
It was first published in Scribner s for August, 1878, and besides being
widely copied by the newspaper press has been included in a publica-
tion entitled, " Best Things by the Best Authors," and also in a collec-
tion know-n as "Perfect Jewels," illustrated. It is indeed a poetical
jewel, and as the work of one of San Diego's best-known citizens, it is
not inappropriate to find a place for it in this volume: —

MILKING TIME.

" I tell you, Kate, that Lovejoy cow
Is worth her weight in gold;
She gives a good eight quarts o' milk,
And isn't yet five year old.

" I see young White a-comin' now;
He wants her, I know that.
Be careful, girl, you're spillin' it !
An' save some for the cat.

" Good-evenin', Richard, step right in."
" I guess I couldn't, sir,
I've just come down"' — " I know it, Dick,
You've took a shine to her.

" She's kind an' gentle as a lamb,
Jest where I go shefollers;
And though it's cheap I'll let her go,
She's your'n for thirty dollars.

" You'll know her clear across the farm.
By them two milk-white stars;
You needn't drive her home at night.
But jest le' down the bars.

" Then when you've owned her, say a month,
/ And learnt her, as it were,

I'll bet— why, what's the matter, Dick ? "
" 'Tain't her I want — it's her /''

" What ? not the girl ! Well, I'll be blessed !
There, Kate, don't drop that pan.
You've took me mightily aback.
But then a man's a man.

1 36 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEG O.

"She's your'n, my boy, but one word more:
Kate's gentle as a dove.
She'll foUer you the whole world round,
For nothing else but love.

" But never try to drive the lass;
Her nature's like htr ma's.
r ve alius found it worked the best
To jest le' down the bars."

citizfcMorse was married May 23, 1870, to Miss Sarah McDonald,
been three ^- B. McDonald, one of San Diego's most prominent
Mr Mc.rS\- u ■'"■' Supervisors. The fruit of this union has
leTZ% T'''''''-- a son, is living. The residence of

tractLe K . " '^" "^^^ ^^^ ^"- ^f TwSfth and E Streets, is

tractive, being done in the choicest of cthe interior is especially at-

"wood.

R- G. CLARK.

R. G. Clark, one of the old residenfc; r.f q r^-

r^n. • ° ^^^""^ ^^ a foundry in Merrer Cr. . ^de of a

remained two vea re; u^^-u ^y ^a -''^^ercer County, ,

Leffeli's round'; nil " co'ZTv''™^'^"'' °'''"- -^ -fH
ti-e he had also „,al r d heT «el of .h'T"'""'''P- °""^1his

:toT " ™" °"^ '="• ""derraT. t ::::rt" ^"^ "= --

a good purpose n the fntnrp T? c '^"^^"^"^^O"- This was to
and St. Louis, whee he worked ,T ''"."^'''^" ''" "'^"' '» Gnci"",!
-ross .he pla „s for CahZalo "^ ""'" '«'* when he sta"!"

->d wagons. Theya„ ed s: lleVT" "^ ""^ t-^ging s. ^
.na,ned there through the wifte ,„ ?^'" *•= '■^" °' '«54, and'*

towards the Pacific tlope wihTfirst"^^: 'a^ f'^ "^"'^ ^^"n
the tram was attacked by Indians sevlw t, "'""« S^"" ^ak"

con^pany and their assaiLtsreeTe'Ler'Vh"' '"''"'' ' ^'™"S

nientojunes, 1855. Then Mr cZt "^^ """"""^ at Sacra

was now that the knowledge of the t *™' ■ '° '^'"'"^°' bounty. ■,

"orking at his trade in ot tt tTZ^'T '"' ^^'^"'^^^-'^^

run the engine in the Oneida Quart;. Mill rj ™" "'' "anted to

-d obtained it. Afterward h^e Cas fo Ln d ''?""'/°^ "" P°^'"'' ■

T.bb.tt's foundrv at Sutter Creek ' °"'"™' '^"™? '855 and 1856, ' ^f

on the Mokelumne River w!th \,ari^''"'"^'^""«^S'^'' '" "-i-".^

General Superintendent of T larJ T"'''' "' ™= f"-" » ^""'^

nt ot a large foundry at Sih'er City. Idaho, a^ly

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

137

ceiving, with one exception, the highest salary paid to any superin-
tendent in the Territories.

When the Frazier River excitement broke out in 1858, Clark
caught the fever and made the pilgrimage to British Columbia, return-
ing, with thousands of others, poorer in pocket, but with an addition to
his store of experience. For a short time after this he was foreman of

R. G. CLARK.

Worcester's foundry at Angel Camp, Calaveras County. Then in 1859
he went East and visited his old home in Pennsylvania, returning to
California the following year. J. S. Harbison had previous to this time
imported several colonies of bees from the East, and Mr. Clark and his
Ijrother bought some of him and established several apiaries in lone
Valley, Amador County. In this venture the brothers were very suc-
t cessful. One year afterward he went to Nevada and bought a farm
called " Little Meadows," now known as Clark's Station, on the Truckee

138 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

River. He prospered in farming on the Truckee and remained there
for seven years, but linally, on account of malaria, he was obhged to sell
out and seek a change of climate. He decided to come to San Diego
and arrived here in 1868. A few months after this he went back to
Sacramento, and in company with his old bee friend, J. S. Harbison,
engaged in silk culture. Their experiment, however, was not a success
owing to a disease breaking out among the silk worms, and they ga\'e
up the business. Then in conjunction with Mr. Harbison he started
for San Diego, bringing with them one hundred and ten hives of honey
bees, arriving here November 28, 1869. From that time up to last
spring Mr. Clark continued to be largely interested in bee culture, and
did much to create the reputation which San Diego honey enjoys in the
markets of the world.

In 1876 Mr. Clark began the culture of fruit and forest trees, and
the making of raisins in the Cajon Valley. He owned at first two hun-
dred and thirty acres, all under cultivation. Eighty acres were in trees
and vines, and the balance in grain. He was the first man in San Diego
to practically demonstrate the producti\'enes3 of the soil of El Cajon
for raisin culture. He introduced a system of sub-irrigation in his vine-
yard, running a continuous concrete cement pipe, with outlets at con-
venient distances, under ten acres. His was the only \ineyard in the
valley that was irrigated, and although it was not necessary the experi-
ment was one that proved not unprofitable. Mr. Clark has always
shipped the largest portion of his raisins to the Eastern markets. For
the last two years the house of Wm. T. Coleman & Co. has han-
dled his crop. His raisins are pronounced by the best judges to be
equal to any imported. When he first came to San Diego Mr. Clark
was laughed at for bringing bees here, but before long he demonstrated
the natural advantages of the county for bee culture. He was met with
the same kind of encouragement when he first began growing grapes
m the Cajon. People claimed that the soil was not suited for the
purpose. Mr. Clark sold out all his interests in the Cajon in Decem-
ber, 1886, and came into San Diego. On the 13th of April follow-
ing, in company with his family, he started for an Eastern trip, and
traveled all through the Eastern and Middle States but found no place
in which he could be content to li\'e outside of San Diego County. He
owns considerable real estate in the city, and will, in a short time,
build a handsome residence on the corner of A and Thirteenth
Streets. In the first years of his residence in San Diego County Mr.
Clark labored very hard and surmounted obstacles under which men of
less determination would have succumbed. When, however, his or-
chards and his vineyards were well under way, and he began to see
some of his most cherished ideas realized, he felt amply repaid for all
his trials and temporary disappointments. E\'er since his first crop of

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 139

raisins they have paid him on an average of $100 per acre net. Mr.
Clark also planted the first Australian blue gum forest in the county.
He is constantly in the receipt of letters from all parts of the country
asking information in reference to vine and bee culture.

Mr. Clark was married in 1871 to Miss Anna L. Blake. Thev
have one child, a boy eleven years old, Edgar Franklin, living. One
child died.

DANIEL CLEVELAND.

In this country, where hereditary titles are unknown, and the only
recognized aristocracy is that of ability or wealth, we are apt to value
too lightly the pride of ancestry. This is accounted for when we bear
in mind the fact that so iew American families can climb the genealogi-
cal tree without meeting with a broken limb, or a branch that shows
unmistakable signs of decay; in fact, with many families, the genealogi-
cal tree is nothing more or less than a shrub of very commonplace
proportions. It will be generally admitted that there are many individ-
uals among us who would be glad to be able to trace their descent
through an unblemished channel for a dozen or more generations.
There are a few American families, however, that have been so favored
by fortuiie, for generation after generation, that they have never known
any marked reverses, and their increase in wealth has been of such a
healthy growth as to have caused neither demoralization nor that much-
to-be-deplored condition of mind christened " purse pride, " and so they
have continued from father to son, for a century or more, occupying
prominent yet not exalted positions in the walks of life, and respected
and biloved by their acquaintances and neighbors. If we have in this
country any aristocratic class, these families can properly claim to be
members of it. And it is not such an aristocracy the Republic would
ever have cause to fear: it would rather find there its firmest and most
valued supporters. To such a family belongs the subject of this brief
sketch.

Daniel Cleveland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, March 21,
1838. His father, Stephen Cleveland, practiced law for many years in
New York City and Poughkeepsie. He was eminent in his profession,
and had as his clients some of the most distinguished citizens of the
nation, including the Governor of the State, a Vice-President of the
nation, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Daniel Cleveland came from Revolutionary stock, his grandfather on
both the paternal and maternal sides having fought in the war for
Independence. His father was an officer in the last war with England.
While attending college at Burlington, Vermont, he marched at the

140

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

head of a company of his college students, as their captain, to join .the
American army, which met and defeated the British troops at the battle
of Plattsburg, New York. Besides his eminence as a lawyer, he was
prominent in politics in the Empire State, being always an earnest and
consistent Whig. As a political speaker he was very able and convinc-
ing. For some years he owned the Poughkeepsie Gazette. He died
in that city January 3, 1847.

DANIEL CLEVELAND.

Until he was twelve years of age Daniel Cleveland resided in
Poughkeepsie, where he attended school. He then went to Biloxi, Mis-
sissippi, where he remained for fi\'e years attending school. At seven-
teen he removed to New Orleans, where for two years he was the head
book-keeper in a commercial establishment. He then, in April, 1857,
returned to Poughkeepsie, where he entered the office of Tallman &
Paine and began the study of the law. In April, 1859, he was admitted

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 141

to the Supreme Court of the State, after an unusually severe examina-
tion, lasting two days, and the following month went to San Antonio,
Texas, and entered into a law partnership with his brother, William H.
Cleveland, who was already established there.

In August, 1S65, he was commissioned Mayor of wSan Antonio, on
the petition of the leading business men of that city. He held the office
about one year. He was the first officer in the State to admit the testi-
mony of a negro against a white man. He had been a warm friend of
the Union throughout the war, and soon after its close he took editorial
charge of the San Antonio Express, the first Republican newspaper es-
tablished in Texas, of which he was one of the founders. It is now
one of the most prominent journals in the State. From the editorial
chair and upon the stump he was earnest in the advocacy of Republican
principles, which in Texas, m those days, was dangerous. Mr. Cleve-
land's frank utterances and his known stability of purpose did much to
ad\ance the Republican cause. He assumed the office of mayor, with
a city badly demoralized, and deeply in debt. He surrendered the of-
fice with the city out of debt, and a considerable sum of money in the
treasury. In October, 1866, finding his health faihng from his arduous
labors, he started for New York, where he remained a year. Then he
left for San Francisco. He resided in the latter city for nearly two
years, practicing his profession. In May, 1869, he came to San Diego
and again entered into a law partnership with his brother, William H.
Cleveland, who, during the Civil War, had come here and engaged in
practice. He was a prominent citizen of San Diego, an able lawyer, a
bank director and interested \\\ the city's progress. He died in New
Hampshire in 1873.

During his residence here Daniel Cleveland has invested largely in
real estate and now owns the Cleveland Addition, a considerable tract
of water front property, a large tract on the mesa, and property in dif-
ferent parts of the city. He has just begun the erection of a brick
building on the corner of Sixth and E Streets, covering one hundred
feet square, seven stories in height, and with a basement, provided with
all the modern improvements, including elevators and incandescent
electric lights at an estimated cost of about $150,000. While engaged
in active practice, Mr. Cleveland was attorney for the Texas and Pacific
Railway Company for five or six years, until it transferred its franchises
to the Southern Pacific, and was also attorney for the Bank of San Diego
while it existed. He has been identified with every public movement,
and is always looked upon as one of San Diego's most public-spirited
citizens. He is an earnest and consistent member of the Episcopal
Church, and has been Senior Warden of St. Paul's Church almost con-
tinuously since 1869. He also officiated as lay reader in the church from
1870 until quite recently, often for many months at a time when there

142 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

was no rector. He was one of the founders, and is one of the Directors
and Vice-President of the San Diego Society of Natural History. He is
an enthusiastic botanist and was the first resident of San Diego to en-
gage in field botany. One genus and many species of plants ha\ e re-
ceived his name in recognition of his services as a collector and dis-
coverer.

Moses Cleveland, the founder of the family, came from England,
and settled at Canterbury, Connecticut, in 1635. Among his descend-
ants are the President of the United States; a Governor of Connecticut;
the founder of the city of Cleveland, Ohio; the most distinguished
mineralogist of America; Father Cleveland, the famous Boston mis-
sionary; some other eminent citizens, and the subject of this sketch.
The Huntingtons — Daniel Cleveland's paternal grandmother's family
— were among the Pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Mr. Cleve-
land does not know of any intermarriage in his family with any person
of foreign birth since 1640.

GEORGE \V. HAZZARD.

One of San Diego's most enterprising and reliable business men is
George W. Hazzard. Mr. Hazzard is a native of Indiana, having been
born in Cambridge City, Wayne County, in that State, in February,
1845. His father died when he was an infant and George lived in
Cambridge with his mother, attending the district school, until he was
fourteen, when he removed to Delaware County. One year afterward
his mother died, and at the age of fifteen he found himself alone in tlie
world. He was then obliged to give up school and accepted a clerk-
ship in a store in Muncie. Here he continued until he was twenty-two.
Then, after a brief stay in Michigan, he started for California, arriving in
San Francisco in November, 1868. After a short sojourn there he vis-
ited several places in Northern California, and finally, in December of
that year, came to San Diego. He had heard good reports of San
Diego as a place with a future before it, and this, together with the fact
that his physician had advised him to seek a mild climate, had deter-
mined him to come here. The first thing he did was to take up a claim
of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Otay Valley. After locating
his claim and filing his papers, he found he was unable to improve it and
therefore went to work for a gentleman in Paradise Valley. He worked
there for four months, and during that time an ofter being made him for
his Government claim he sold it. With the proceeds he bought a piece
of land in Paradise Valley containing ten acres, but by that time he
came to the conclusion that farming was not his forte and he sold it,
taking the proceeds and embarking in business in San Diego. In Jur.e,

BIO GRAPHICAL SKE TCHES.

143

1869, Mr. Hazzard opened tlie first grocery store in the young city at
the corner of Fifth and I Streets. San Diego then had a population of
one hundred and fifty persons. He succeeded splendidly in his busi-
ness enterprise, and as the place began to grow his business continued
to increase. In 1S71 National City began to come into prominence;
and as it was understood that Tom Scott was to make that place the

'^/■/■'//x-'

GEORGE W. HAZZARD.

terminus of his overland railroad, he decided to remove there, being
partly induced to make the change by a land consideration offered him
by the Kimball Brothers. He remained in National City for three
years. During this time San Diego was growing rapidly, and Mr.
Hazzard, concluding that he might have made a mistake, returned here.
He at once began the erection of a brick store, one of the first brick
buildings in San Diego, at the corner of Sixth and H Streets, which
Cost him $14,000, and at that time was considered a great enterprise.

144 CirV AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

He continued to carry on a general merchandise business at this loca-
tion until 1882, when he sold out to the firm of Francisco, Silliman &
Co. During his fourteen years' business experience Mr. Hazzard had
accumulated considerable ranch and city property, which he retained.
During the last four or five years of his business career he had large
dealings with the interior of the county and with Lower California. At
times things looked rather blue, but his faith in San Diego's future had
been unbounded from the start and he never lost heart.

When Mr. Hazzard opened an office and began handling his own
property he naturally drifted into the business of handling property for
other people, and he was soon engaged in a large real estate business.
He had, through his large acquaintance, formed while engaged in the
mercantile business, established a reputation for good judgment and re-
liability, and as a consequence found his advice sought by many people.
Of late years most of the heavy real estate transactions in which he has
been engaged have been on account of persons in the East. For one
party in Cincinnati he has sold over $200,000 worth of real property,
they leaving everything to his judgment.

While conducting business as a merchant Mr. Hazzard became in-
terested in the minmg industry of the county, and has aided largely in
developing that portion of San Diego's wealth. In 1882 he bought the
Hubbard mine, situated in the Banner District. He afterwards sold a
one-half interest out and still retains the residue. He has great confi-
dence in the county's mineral resources and predicts a bright future for
them. Mr Hazzard has never held a political office, and has no taste
for politics. He has been prominent as a member of the Chamber of
Commerce since its organization, and has served two terms as President
ol that body. He was one of the original incorporators of the San
Diego Water Company and was for a number of years a Director. He
was also one of the incorporators and a Director in the Gas Company for
a number of years, until 1883. He is interested in the Artificial Stone
Company, and the Marine Railway, and was one of the incorporators and
is the largest individual stockholder in the Masonic Building Association.

In 1886 Mr. Hazzard built a handsome residence, in that charming
section of the city, known as Florence Heights, at a cost of $20,000,
where he now resides with his family. San Diego has no more ardent
friend than Mr. Hazzard. He has always been ready to devote his
time and means to every project tending towards the city's permanent
advancement, and his reputation as a public-spirited, progressive citizen
is proverbial.

WILLIAM JORRES.

Prominent among the older residents of San Diego is William
Torres. Mr. Jorres is a native of Hanover, Germany, where he was
born on the 24th of August, 1824. After attending school he learned
the carpenter's trade and followed it in the city of Hamburg until 1846,
when he started for Monte Video. There he worked at his trade for
about six months, when he went to Buenos Ayres, where he remained
three years. While he was at Monte Video the port was blockaded by
the combined French and English fleets for several months. In the
latter end of 1849 he left Buenos Ayres on a ship bound round the
Horn for San Francisco, where he arrived May 4, 1850. The first
week after his arrival he went to the mines at Spanish Dry Diggings,
on the Middle Fork of the American River. Then he went to Bear
Creek and prospected that section pretty thoroughly for a year.

After the second fire in 1851 he went down to San Francisco,
worked at the carpenter's trade for a while, and then started in for him-
self as a contractor, a business he followed with excellent success until
1869, when he came to San Diego.

During his residence in San Francisco Mr. Jorres in his business
as a contractor superintended the erection of a large number of fine
buildings. He put up four brick houses on Washington Street between
Kearny and Montgomery in 1852-53; he built the large brick building
on the southwest corner of California and Front in 1855, which is still
standing; also the orthodox Jewish synagogue on Mason Street between
Post and Geary. Most of his buildings, which were scattered about in
different parts of the city, were substantial structures and are still
standing.

After his arrival in San Diego Mr. Jorres formed a partnership with
S. S. Culverwell and built the Culverwell & Jorres Wharf, situated at
the foot of F Street. This was the first wharf started in New San Diego.
It was not completed so soon as the Horton Wharf, as it was twenty
feet wider and required more time to build it. It was made wide enough
for carriages to be driven out to meet passengers from the steamers,
who were landed at the end of the wharf The cost of the wharf was
$28,700. For the first year they ran it themselves and then leased it
and Mr. Jorres again went into business as a contractor. This was in
1 87 1, and the first contract he took was for the building of the present
Court House on D Street. In 1873, after he had completed the Court

(145)

146

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

House, he took the contract for putting- up the building for the Com-
mercial Bank of San Diego, now occupied by the Consolidated National
Bank, on the corner of Fifth and G Streets. He next put up the Cen-
tral Market on Fifth Street between F and G. It was 200x60 feet and
was fitted up with stalls, etc. , for a market. After being used for this pur-
pose a year it was leased by Charles S. Hamilton & Co., and has since

WILLIAM JORRES.

been occupied by them as a general merchandise store. He continued
his business as a contractor here until 1877, when he went to Los Angeles,
where he built the First National Bank, on Spring Street.

In the year 1872 Mr. Jorres bought out the interest of Culverw^ell
in the wharf at the foot of F Street, and engaged in ballasting vessels
and other business in connection with the wharf He has recently be-
gun the extension of the wharf, and it will, when completed, be one of
the best wharves on the water front.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 147

Mr. Jorres was for seven years County Treasurer, retiring from
office in 1S85. He was elected on the Democratic ticket. During his
residence in San Diego he has always been alive to the interests of the
city, and has done his full share towards its material advancement. He
was an earnest advocate of the railroad and did all in his power to have
it brought here.

Mr. Jorres was married in 1854, in Hanover, to Miss Sophie Klien-
gibel. He had gone to the old country from San Francisco to visit his
parents, and while there met and was married to Miss Kliengibel.
They came to San Francisco, arriving there in August, 1854. They
have six children living, one son and five daughters; they have lost
three sons. Their son, George W. , was for two years postmaster, but
resigned last fall to accept the position of assistant cashier in the San
Diego National Bank.

Mr. Jorres owns considerable city property and has a very com-
fortable residence on the corner of Union and B Streets, which he built
in 1869, previous to the arrival of his family from San Francisco.

CHARLES J. FOX, C. E.

No MAN has been more closely identified with San Diego County
during the past eighteen years, and no name is better known to the
early settlers and later residents, than that of Charles J. Fox. Mr. Fox
was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 12, 1834. He comes of a
noted family and can trace his lineage back to 1640, when his ancestors
settled in Massachusetts. Five generations back on his mother's side,
Wheelock, the head of the family, was the founder and first President of
Dartmouth College, where his portrait hangs in the art gallery, and Mr.
Fox's father, grandfather, and great grandfather, were graduates of that
famous institution of learning.

His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolutionary War,
and Mr. Fox has in his possession a book written and published by him,
entitled, "Fox's Revolutionary Adventures." He was taken prisoner
by the British troops and confined for some months m the old Jersey
prison ship, in Wallabout Bay, in Long Island Sound.

Charles spent his boyhood days in Boston, and at the age of seven-
teen graduated from a scientific school, where mathematics and engineer-
ing were specialties. He had a natural taste for these pursuits, and the
first work he did after graduation was as a member of a railroad survey
party in Pennsylvania in 1851. In the spring of 1853 he went West,
and until i86g was engaged on different railroads throughout the West-
ern States and Territories.

In the spring of i860 he crossed the plains to where the city ot

148

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Denver now stands, and was one of the first settlers of that place, there
being at that time but few houses, and they mere shanties. Most of the
summer was spent in California Gulch, now the site of Leadville, in
mining, prospecting and surveying. During a recent trip to the East
he stopped at Leadville and saw the remains of a log house, which he
helped to build in the summer of i860. During 1864 and 1865 he was

CHARLES J. FOX, C. E.

in the U. S. Engineer service, having charge of the reconstruction
of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad from Memphis to Corinth.

He continued to be engaged in railroad business in the South until
his health failed, and in the spring of 1869 he came to California. After
prospecting different parts of the State for six months he finally selected
San Diego as his future residence, being attracted by the beauties of
the climate and what he foresaw of its future commercial importance.

Having invested all his available funds in San Diego real estate, he

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 149

jpened an office for surveying and engineering, and has ever since de-
voted his best abihties to aid in building up the city and county. In
pursuance of this object he took an active part in the organization of
the San Diego and Fort Yuma turnpike road, two liundred miles in
length, which was the first good road across the county to Arizona, and
opened up a good deal of trade and travel. In 1875 he established a
large apiary at Fallbrook, and the following year organized the Bee
Keepers' Association, of which he was President, and established agencies
for the sale of honey in various Eastern cities.

He was one of the incorporators of the San Diego Society of Nat-
ural History, and for ten years its Treasurer; also one of the stockholders
of the Masonic Building Association, and a Director for several years;
also one of the charter members of the San Diego Lodge, Knights of
Pythias, serving a term as Chancellor Commander. He was in charge
of surveys for the Memphis and El Paso Railroad, the San Diego and
Los Angeles Railroad, and the Texas and Pacific, being the first engineer
to call attention to and survey through the famous Temecula Canon,
now occupied by the California Southern.

Having for several years explored the county, including the Colo-
rado Desert, he obtained an extensive and minute knowledge of the
country, and was generally called on by new-comers for information,
which he always cheerfully gave. He was active in protecting the rights
of the settlers from the greed of land monopolists, and was several
times elected County Surveyor and City Engineer, and filled these situ-
ations to the satisfaction of all. In connection with his partner, Mr.
H. I. Willey, afterwards State Surveyor-General, he prepared and pub-
lished the official and only map of San Diego County.

By appointment of the Judge of the Superior Court, he served as
Commissioner in the partition of most of the Spanish grants, including
the ex-Mission grant of fifty-two thousand acres, surrounding the city
of San Diego.

He is now owner of considerable real estate in the city, and a good
deal of county land, including a tract at Linda Vista, where he was the
first to make improvements on Government land; and he also owns a
large interest in the Junipero Land and Water Company, of which he is
the President.

Mr. Fox is senior member of the surveying firm of Fox & Ryan,
and is interested in many important enterprises. He has always been
active and liberal in support of every important public measure, espe-
cially during San Diego's dark days, and has the respect of all the old
settlers.

Mr. Fox married, in 1880, Mrs. A. A. Cosper, of San Diego. They
have no children.

A. KLAUBER.

A. Klauber, the senior member ol the firm of Klauber & Levi, was
born in Austria in 1830, but emigrated to the United States when quite
a young man. After a few years spent in the Eastern States he came
to California early in the fifties. His first start was made in Volcano,
Amador County. From there he went to Genoa, Nevada, where he
engaged in the general merchandise business. In 1869 he came to San
Diego, and in the fall of that year entered into partnership with Mr.
Steiner, in the grocery business. Although Mr. Klauber is naturally of
a conservati\'e nature, he had no sooner become established in San Diego
than the great natural advantages of the place so impressed him that he
pushed his business just as rapidly as prudence would permit, and as
profits accrued to him he invested largely in real estate. The result has
justified Mr. Klauber' s judgment, and he is to-day not only the head
of one of the greatest wholesale business houses in Southern California,
but his personal estate is very large.

One of the best evidences of the substantial character of the growth
and permanent prosperity of San Diego is to be found in the fact that
the mercantile house of which Mr. Klauber is the head has been in
existence eighteen years, and has done a good business all through that
time, steadily increasing year by year, until now, when its trade for 1887
will, it is estimated, reach the sum of one million dollars. The firm of
Steiner & Klauber, of which Klauber & Le\i are the successors, was
formed in the fall of 1869. At that time the population of San Diego
was A-ery small, but the " back country " gave promise even then of its
future, and the new firm was soon doing a good business with the min-
ing district about Julian and the large ranches in this and San Bernar-
dino Counties. In 1876 Mr. Levi acquired an interest, and the firm be-
came known as Steiner, Klauber & Co. This was the style of the firm
until the ist of January, 1883, when Mr. Steiner retired and it became
known by its present name. The principal part of the business of the
old firm of Steiner & Klauber was retailing general merchandise, dry
goods, etc. Gradually, however, this trade increased to such propor-
tions that, after the retirement of Mr. Steiner, the firm began to gi\'e
their attention more especially to wholesaling. It was not, however, until
a year ago last March that they decided to quit the retail branch of their
business entirely. By that time the development of the interior of the
county and the rapid growth of the cit}' made a change in their business
(1.30)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

151

imperative and they notified all their customers to that effect, sold out
all their open goods of the retail class, and devoted themselves solelyto
the wholesale trade.

With this change in their business, enlarged facilities were de-
manded. Their old quarters on Fifth and H Streets were too contracted,
and they decided to move into and occupy the whole of the large build-

A. KI.AUBER.

ing on the corner of H and Fourth Streets. This was completed and
the firm took possession in September last. The new building is of
brick, four stories in height, and has a frontage of one hundred feet on
H Street, and one hundred and fifty feet on Fourth. On the different
floors and in a spacious basement, extending under the whole building,
and well lighted and ventilated, are stored an immense stock of grocer-
ies, liquors, hardware, cigars, tobacco, wagon materials and agricultu-
ral implements. In addition to this building, the firm has two large
13

1 5 2 CIT Y AND CO UNT Y OF SAN DIEG O.

warehouses, one on the corner of Seventh and I, the other situated on
the corner of Fourth and K. The former is 100x125 feet in dimen-
sions and is used for the storage of agricultural implements; the latter
contains an immense surplus stock of the heavier classes of merchandise,
groceries, flour, etc., and is so arranged that the cars of the railroad
company are discharged at its doors. The firm does a large business
in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties and in Lower California.
There is not a freight train leaving on the California Southern, a stage
or mule team starting for the "back country," or a steamer departing
lor southern i)orts, but carries consignments from this firm.

Mr. Klauber has always been one of the live men of the city, and has
done' his utmost to advance its material interests. He was Chairman of
the Board of Supervisors for two years, from 1878 to 18S0, but has gen-
erally expressed himself as averse to holding public office. He is in-
terested in the San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad Co., now build-
ing a line to extend to Julian and open up a much-neglected but rich
portion of the county. He is interested m what is known as the
Steiner, Klauber, Choate & Castle Addition to San Diego, a tract
placed upon the market last year, which met with a ready sale. He
is also a large owner of timber lands in Mendocino County. He has a
permanent home in this city, but, being the resident partner in San
Francisco, he is obliged to spend most of his time there.

Mr. Klauber was married in Sacramento, in 1851, to Miss Theresa
Epstein. They have nine children living and four have died. The
eldest son, Melville M. Klauber, is with the firm in this city. Mr. Klau-
ber is a prominent member of the Masonic Order. He is now in the
best of health and bids fair to have many years of life before him.

S. LEVI.

The junior member of the firm of Klauber & Levi is a native of
Austria, in which country he was born December 26, 1850. When
twelve years of age he came to this country, landing in New York City.
From there he went to Syracuse, where he remained six months and
then started for California. He arrived in San Francisco in March, 1863,
and went direcdy to Auburn, Placer County. In that town he lived
two years, turning his hand to whatever came in his way. In 1865 he
returned to San Francisco and entered the employ of Sweitzer, Sachs
& Co. , with whom he remained until January, 1873, when he came to
.San Diego. After a brief stay here he went to Temecula, in this county,
where he engaged in the general merchandise business. In 1876 he
sold out his interest in Temecula and came to San Diego, where he was
admitted into the firm of Steiner & Klauber. In January, 1883, Messrs.

BIG -^ RAPHICAL SKR TCHES.

153

Klauber and Levi bought out Mr. Steiner and lie retired from the firm.
It is since that time that the business of the house has reached such
great proportions, and it is not improper to say that the rapid increase
in business is owing largely to the energy, push, and personal popular-
ity of the junior partner. Mr. Levi's career has been a remarkably
fortunate one, but his success has been entirely due to his perseverance

S. LEVI.

and indomitable will. Coming to this country at an early age, he was
thrown entirely upon his own resources, and in the battle of life no time
was accorded him in which to study or obtain even a common-school
education. It was not until he had become located in San Francisco
that he had so far prospered in his worldly affairs that he could afford
to set aside some time to the improvement of his mind. He then de-
voted his spare moments to study, attended evening school, and availed
himself of every means in his power to make amends for his lack of

154 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

early educational advantages. He is now considered one of the best-
equipped and most thorough business men in the county. He has at
different times taken an earnest interest in politics, and was elected
Councilman from the First Ward, on the Citizens' ticket, at the election
held last fall. This was the first election under the new charter giving
the city a Mayor and twelve Councihnen. He was President of the
Chamber of Commerce in 1882; was Master of the Masonic Lodge in
1882, '83 and '84; is now Vice-President of the San Diego Gas and
Electric Light Co., Vice-President of the San Diego Telephone Co., and
President of the Building and Loan Association. He is a thoroughly
public-spirited -citizen, and there is not an important public movement
but finds in him an earnest friend and promoter.

Mr. Levi was married, in 1876, to Miss E. Meyer, of San Francisco.
Their union has been blessed with three children, all of whom are living
with their parents.

BRYANT HOWARD.

One of the best known and most respected of San Diego's citizens,
is the President of the Consolidated National Bank, Bryant Howard.
Mr. Howard io a native of New York, and is at the present time in the
very prime of life. He first came to San Diego in 1870, and soon
afterwards, in company with the late James M. Pierce and one or two
others, founded the Bank of San Diego, of which he was the first cashier.
The bank building was then located on the corner of Sixth and H
Streets. A short time after this the Commercial Bank of San Diego
was incorporated.

About 1873, Mr. Howard resigned his position as cashier, and
started for Europe with his wife on an extended tour. Upon his return
to this country he engaged in business in Los Angeles, dealing in
paints, oils and glass. His house was soon in the front rank among
the business houses of that city. Under the style of Howard & Co. ,
the firm has, until recently, been in existence and doing a large trade.
It is now consolidated with one of the leading firms on the Pacific
Coast. Soon after locating in Los Angeles, a strong effort was made
by some of the leading financial men there to induce Mr. Howard to
take charge of a bank there which they would start. He had, how-
ever, a longing to return to San Diego, not only because he preferred
it as a place of residence, but he foresaw its great commercial future.

About this time his old bank in San Diego and the Commercial
bank were merged into one, and known as the' Consolidated National
Bank. Of this institution Mr. Howard became cashier. The capital
stock of the bank was at first $100,000; but in August last it was in-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 155

creased to $250,000. For several years Mr. Howard has been Presi-
dent of the institution, and under his prudent management it has
assumed a leading place among the financial institutions of Southern
California. The bank has never speculated in real estate, nor have any
of its officers engaged in any outside speculations. While strictly con-
servative in matters connected with the affairs of the bank, Mr. How-
ard is one of the most progressive of San Diego's citizens. Every
mo\'ement for the advancement of the city or its people finds in him an
able adx'ocate and a substantial friend. When the first fire company
was started here he made it a present of afire bell, which is now in use.
He is looked upon by the fire laddies as their especial patron and ben-
efactor, and one of the companies is named after him.

The San Diego Benevolent Association, which has been in exist-
ence for some time, has done an immense deal of good in a quiet way
toward ameliorating the condition of the deserving poor. One of its
principal promoters and continued benefactors is Bryant Howard.
When efforts were being made to induce the Texas Pacific to come to
San Diego, Bryant Howard was among the foremost in holding out
inducements, and as a member of the Citizens' Committee he worked
early and late to bring about that object. When that project failed,
and later on the Atchison people showed an inclination, to build toward
this city, Mr. Howard was equally as energetic in his efforts to induce
them to come. The late James M. Pierce, who was a warm personal
friend of Mr. Howard, as well as a business associate, left a munificent
sum — $150,000 — for the purpose of founding a home for boys and girls.

It is understood that Mr. Howard, in conjunction with two or three
other gentlemen, who will each donate the same amount, contemplate
the endowment of a chain of benevolent institutions, which will result in
great benefit to San Diego. The plan, as proposed, includes the estab-
lishment of a Boys' and Girls' Aid Society (this is provided for by the will
of the late James M. Pierce), an Orphans' Home, a Kindergarten, an In-
dustrial School, a School of Technology and a Women's and Children's
Hospital, all embracing the same scope; the object being to gather
together all waifs and homeless children and give them a thorough
education. Those too young to go to the public school will be sent to
the kindergarten connected with these institutions. The sum of $600,-
000 has been already pledged to carry out this magnificent scheme of
benevolence.

Mr. Howard has been twice married. He has two children, both
boys, the eldest of whom, seventeen years of age, is a clerk in the bank.,
The youngest is four or five years of age

JOHN S. HARBISON.

There is no product of San Diego County that has done more to
spread abroad her fame, than her honey. It has acquired a reputation
in the markets of the world of the highest character. It is well known
to the agriculturist that a section capable of producing such honey
must possess superior advantages of soil and climate, and, as a result,
the attention of a class of people has been directed hither who might
have been influenced by the ordinary reports of the wonderful fertilit\-
of the country. Certainly, the man who was the pioneer in making
known the fact that San Diego County was an apiarian paradise, is en-
titled to be classed as a public benefactor. It is concerning him that
this sketch is written.

John S. Harbison was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania,
September 29, 1826. He comes of a sterling American stock, and can
trace his lineage back through several generations. His grandfather,
John Harbison, and his grandmother, Massey Harbison, were among
the first settlers of Western Pennsylvania, locating near the town of
Freeport, twenty-eight miles above Pittsburgh, on the Alleghany River,
where the first grist-mill in that region of country was built and oper-
ated by his grandfather. In those days that part of the country was
subject to many Indian outbreaks, and the Harbisons experienced their
full share of the trials and sufferings incident to a life on the frontier.
His gi'andfather acquired fame as an Indian fighter, and participated in
numerous engagements in repelling the frequent murderous raids
made on the settlers by the treacherous tribes of Indians inhabiting the
country from the Alleghany Mountains on the east. Lakes Erie and
Michigan on the north and west, and the Ohio River on the south; arid
as a volunteer soldier, took part in the several expeditions led by St.
Clair and Wayne, which subsequently resulted in quelling all the Indian
disturbances. Mr. Harbison's grandfather on his mother's side,
William Curry, was a chief armorer in the Continental service, and was
one of the memorable minute men of the Revolution, who were a
picked body of men that could be relied upon under any circumstances
and were detailed to execute the most hazardous and important under-
takings. He fought in eight battles in that memorable struggle, and
was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware on that stormy
Christmas night and defeated the astonished Hessians encamped at
Trenton.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

157

The youth and early manhood of John S. Harbison were passed
tipon a farm, but in 1854, ha\'ing an attack, of the gold fever, he made
up his mind to come to California. In October of that year he sailed
from New York on the steamship A^<7r///(?r« Zz]^///, via Nicaraugua, con-
necting on this side with the Sierra N'cvada, which had taken the place
of the Yankee Blade, the latter having been wrecked just after leaving

JOHN S. HARBISON.

San Francisco. He arrived in San Francisco November 20, and im-
mediately started for the mining camp known as Campo Seco, in
Amador County. Here he found that gold mining was not all his im-
agination had pictured, he worked hard and received very meager
returns. Considerably discouraged he left the mines in a few weeks,
and went down to Sacramento. Glad to turn his hand to anything, he
secured work in the Sutterville saw-mill, where he stayed several
months. In the meantime Harbison h id made up his mind he would

I5S CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

give up the avocations for which he had Httle taste, and devote him-
seh' to something with which he was acquainted. He sent home to
Pennsylvania for a general assortment of seeds, and a small invoice of
fruit trees. He received the first consignment in February, and secured
ground in the town of Sutterville, near Sacramento City, where he
started the first nursery of fruit and shade trees in the Sacramento
Valley. During the fall and winter of 1855, and again in the fall of
1 856, he made large importations of the choicest fruit trees from the
most celebrated nurseries in the East. From these importations was
started that orreat series of orchards which line the banks of the Sac-
ramento River and adjacent country.

In May, 1S57, he returned to his Eastern home, and began prepa-
rations for shipping a quantity of bees to California. He finally started
from New York with sixty-seven colonies, and landed them safely i.i'
Sacramento, after a journey of about four weeks. This venture was so
popular that he went East again the next fall, and obtained a second
supply of bees, which also were safely brought to this State. He con-
tinued the business of nurseryman and apiarist near Sacramento until
February, 1874, when he removed with his family to San Diego, where
he has resided ever since.

In the fall of 1S69, Mr. Harbison formed a partnership with Mr.
R. G. Clark, for the purpose of introducing and keeping bees in San
Diego County. They prepared a choice selection of one hundred and
ten hives of bees from Mr. Harbison's apiaries at Sacramento, and
shipped them by the steamer Orizaba, which landed in San Diego on
the morning of November 28, 1869. Mr. Clark remained in charge of
the bees, making all the explorations for the most suitable ranges for
the location of apiaries and production of honey. Other importations
were made by the firm, and the partnership was continued for the
period of four years, at the end of which time a division of the apiaries
and effects was made. Mr. Clark soon after disposed of his apiaries,
purchasing land in the El Cajon Valley, where he established the first
.raisin vineyard in the county.

The great success attending the enterprise of Messrs. Clark and
Harbison, and the world-wide fame of their San Diego County honey,
very soon attracted the notice of bee-keepers and farmers of all parts of
the States, and as a result, many were induced to come here, who took
up public lands, established homes, and commenced the business of bee-
keeping and tilling of the soil.

In December, 1857, Mr. Harbison invented the section honey box.
an invention which has done more for the advancement of honey pro-
duction than any other discovery in bee-keeping. For this he wa.s
granted a patent, January 4, 1S59. At the California State F'air, held
at Marysville, in September, 1S5S, Mr. Harbison exhibited the first sec-
tion box honey.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 159

In 1873 the firm of Clark & Harbison shippe^l the first car load
of honey across the continent from CaUfornia. Mr. Harbison was
awarded a medal and diploma for his exhibit of San Diego County
honey at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876. Besides
his labors as a practical horticulturist, a farmer and apiarist. Mr. Harbi-
son has found time to contribute occasionally to current literature on
those subjects with which he is familiar, and is the author of a book of
four hundred and forty pages, entitled, " Bee Keepers' Directory;" it
treats of bee culture in all its departments and is a recognized authority
on the subject of which it treats. Although it was published in 1861,
it is still considered the most practical work of the kind ever issued.

Mr. Harbison was married to Mary J. White, of New Castle,
Pennsyh-ania, in 1865. The result of the union is one son, who died in
infancy, and two daughters, both of whom are li\ing.

COL. CHALMERS SCOTT.

One of the best-known citizens of San Diego is Colonel Chalmers
Scott. He is a nati^•e of Louisiana, having beeil born in New Orleans,
May 9, 1845. In 1854 he came with his parents to San P'rancisco.
where his father. Rev. William A. Scott, was for many years pastor
of St. John's Presbyterian Church. Chalmers attended the public
schools until 1861, when he went to Europe with his parents. He at-
tended college in Montaubau, Erance, up to June, 1862, and then was
a student in the University College, London, until May, 1863. His fam-
ily then returned to the United States and he accompanied them.
From June, 1863, to May, 1864, he attended the law department of the
University of New York, graduating at the head, though the youngest'
of his class, at the age of nineteen, and ha\ing the degree of LL.B.
conferred upon him. He then entered the law office of Blatchford,
Seward & Griswold, where he remained until November, 1864, when he
returned to San Francisco and for a year read law in the office of
Haight &. Pierson. He would ha\e continued his legal studies but an
injury to one ol his eyes, recei\ed when at school, so affected the sight
that he found close application to his hooks was using up his eyes com-
pletely. A sea voyage was recommended, and just at this time he nn t
the late Thomas M. Cash, who was, at that time, the representative ot
the New York Herald on this coast. By him Mr. Scott was appointed
special correspondent of the Herald, to make a trip to China and back.

He made the trip, was gone nearly three months, and on his return
rushed ihnuigh a two-thousand-word dispatch to the //r/vrA/ before any

i6o

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

other newspaper man could get a word of the news. A few days after-
wards Mr. Bennett appointed him by telegraph resident correspondent
of the Herald in China. This, however, he was obliged to decline.
His eyes still troubled him and he went into the Sierras with an engi-
neering party of the Central Pacific Railroad, remaining from June', 1867^
to April, 1868. Becoming snow blind he returned to San Francisco.

COL. CHALMERS SCOTT.

The Spring Valley Water Company was then building their great San
Andreas dam, and he joined the construction force under Colonel
Elliott, U. S. Engineer Corps, as paymaster.

At the end of a year he resigned and again resumed the study of
the law, entering the office of Gen. W. H. L. Barnes. In January,
1S70, his attention was attracted to San Diego, and looking upon it as a
coming city he came here and formed a law partnership with Col.
G. A. Jones. He was admitted to the bar in July, 1870, and in March

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. i6i

of tlu" foUowing year he was appointed County Clerk, to till the unex-
]jhxd term of Capt. (kx). A. Pendleton, deceased. He joined the
Texas Pacific Survey as transitman under C. J. F'ox, and made a survey
from San Diego to San Gorgonino Pass.

In March, i<S73, the party being called in, he resumed his law prac-
tice. In November, 1874, having married Maria Antonio Coutts, eldest
daughter of the late C. J. Coutts, he moved out to the homestead on
Rancho (iuajome as legal advisor of the estate. In December, 1875, he
accepted the position of Deputy State Treasurer under Don Jose
( kiadalupe Estudillo, but the climate of Sacramento not agreeing with
his family he returned to Guajome. For a short time, in 1880-81, he
was in the employ of the California Southern at San. Diego, but in May,
1 S8 1 , he was appointed Assistant Engineer on the Central Pacific Rail-
road, in charge of the survey from Yuma to Port Isabel, at the mouth
of the Colorado. From Yuma he was transferred to Corinne, Utah, to
survey a line by way of South Pass, of the Rocky Mountains, to Yank-
ton, Dakota. The following year he went to Tucson, and in conjunc-
tion with Hon. S. R. De Long, Chief Engineer of the Tucson and Gulf of
California Railroad Company, made a reconnoissance to Port Lobos, and
afterward reconnoitered branch lines from Pacheco and Gila Bend to
^the Gunsight mine in Nigers District, Arizona. He was afterward in
charge of the survey for the extension of the Vaca Valley and Clear
Lake Railroad.

In August, 1883, he was sent to Guatemala as Chief Engineer of the
Central American Pacific Railway and Transportation Co. , to build an
extension of the Guatemala Central Railroad from Escuintla to the city
of Guatemala, a distance of thirty-eight miles. The previous manage-
ment had wasted over two years of their time, and had graded only five
miles of road, and laid three miles of track, leaving thirty-three miles to
be surveyed, located, graded, and ironed in twelve months in order to
' save the concession. In thirteen miles of that distance the grade is
continuous at the rate of two hundred and forty-six feet to the mile, and
nine bridges from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and twenty
feet in length and from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet high, and
at Lake Amatitlan there was one solid fill seven hundred and fifty feet
long and eighty feet deep in the lake, which had to be filled from one
end, requiring over five hundred thousand cubic yards of dirt. It was
in this work that the discipline of the Central Pacific Railroad proved
its value, for with Colonel Scott as Chief Engineer and J. B. Harris
as Superintendent of Construction, the locomotive blew its whistle in
Guatemala City on July ig, 1884, the birthday of President Barrios,
two months ahead of contract time.

That work completed, Colonel Scott returned to San Francisco,
and after spending a year on other railroad work, resigned and I'oUowed
11

i62 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

civil engineering in Oakland and San Francisco, returning to San
Diego in November, i8S6, where he entered into the real estate business
in April, 1887. He is a fine vSpanish scholar and is considered the best
authority on Spanish names in this locality. He deals largely in Lower
California properties and is an authority on titles. Colonel Scott was
a member of the National Guard of California for ten years, from 1865
to 1875. In the latter year he was appointed Chief Engineer with the
rank of Colonel on the staff of Governor Irwin, and served in that
capacity for four years.

As previously noted Colonel Scott married a Miss Coutts, who
was an acknowledged belle. She was considered one of the most
beautiful young women in Southern California, and to-day there are
few matrons in the State who -can equal her in queenly grace and at-
tractiveness. Their union has been blessed with four childpen, one son
and three daughters, all of whom are living. Colonel Scott is himself
a notable man personally. He is six feet and three and one-half inches
high and weighs two hundred pounds.

CHARLES HUBBELL.

One of the substantial and pubhc-spirited citizens of San Diego is
Charles Hubbell. Although he retired from active business some
years ago, he takes a deep interest in everything that pertains to the
advancement of the city. Mr. Hubbell is a native of the Empire State,
having been born in Ballston in November, 1817. He lived until he
was seventeen in Ballston and Oswego and then went to Rochester,
where he became Assistant Teller of the Bank of Monroe. He re-
mained in Rochester two years and then went to Pontiac, Michigan, to
accept a position as Cashier of a bank there. He built and put in op-
eration the first saw-mill in Clinton County, Michigan, and aided in
cutting out the first road from Pontiac to Ionia, fifty years ago. He
was one of the original incorporators of .Saginaw City. He assisted in
the first development of the Salt Springs of Northern Michigan and
was identified with many other projects of importance in that State. In
1839 he returned to Rochester to act as Teller of the Commercial Bank.
In 1846 he removed to Cincinnati, to become Teller of the Ohio Life
and Trust Company. After one year in this position he went into the
banking house of Ellis & Sturges as Cashier.

In 1853 l"*^ \\'\^ a severe attack of hemorrhage of the lungs and
spent a year and a half traveling about for the purpose of reco\'ering
his health. Then he settled at Keokuk, Iowa, where he remained
fifteen years. There his natural taste for horticultural pursuits, a taste
which he had never before had the opportunity to gratify, induced him

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

i6-

to engage in fruit raising. He resided on a farm during the summer
months and in the winter he Uved in the city of Keokuk. During his
stay there he filled several city and county offices.

In 1870, as his health was still far from rugged, on the advice of
Professor Cleaver, who is now Surgeon-General of the Santa Fe Rail-
road Co. , he started for California, coming direct to San Diego. Upon

CHARLES HUBBELL.

his arrival he was so pleased with the climate that he decided to make
it his future home. He purchased one hundred acres of land on the
National Ranch, and planted a vineyard and fruit orchard. In 1874
he accepted the position of Cashier of the Bank of San Diego and re-
mained with that institution until it was merged with the present Con-
solidated National Bank. Mr. Hubbell was a member of the Committee
of Forty, appointed by the citizens to induce the building of a railroad
to San Diego. He was Corresponding Secretary of the committee, and

i64 CITY AND COUNTY Of SAN DIEGO.

labored zealously to bring about that much desired object — railroad
communication with the outside world.

Mr. Hubbell was one of the original stockholders in the California
Southern. He never sought public office here, but at the earnest
solicitations of his friends he ran for, and was elected. School Trustee in
1872, and afterward in 1886, at the latter time being chosen President
of the Board, which position he resigned last spring. He retired from
active business in 1880, and has since been attending to his private
affairs. Before coming to San Diego his health was so bad that he
was not expected to live, but now, at the age of seventy, he enjoys
perfect health, is active, and looks much younger than he really is.
He has been prominently identified with the horticultural interests, and
has been Secretary of the County Horticultural Society.

"In religion," Mr, Hubbell says, "I am a Baptist, having be-
longed to a church of that independent and democratic organization,
nearly fifty years. I accept implicitly the doctrines taught by the Lord
Jesus Christ, in their spirituality, and particularly as to purity, truth,
love, universal benevolence, and the golden rule of sixteen ounces to
the pound."

The ancestral motto of his family has always been, Esse, quain
vidcri — be what you seem to be. Mr. Hubbell was married in 1843
in Rochester, New York, to Miss Anna M. Sage, who died very sud-
denly in 1 88 1. During the thirty-seven years of her married life, she
was never known to speak an unkind word to either her husband or
children. He has had seven children, of whom five are living, four
sons and one daughter. One of his sons is a lawyer, practicing in
Rochester. One is a student in Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania and
two are connected with the First National Bank of this city. He is
now building a residence, to cost about $10,000, on the corner of Eighth
and Ash Streets, adjoining the residence of his son, O. S. Hubbell.

O. S. HUBBELL.

The stranger visiting San Diego is naturally astonished at the
progress made by the city during the past two years. If he was to be
told that one of the leading spirits in designing and carrying out the
improvements that meet his gaze on every hand, — the street railroads,
the ferry, the motor lines, the beautiful suburban tracts, — was a young
man, not yet thirty years of age, his astonishment would not be lessened.
O. S. Hubbell has already accomplished in his brief business career far
more than many men, who deem themselves favored by fortune, have
done in the space of a long and laborious life-time. Mr. Hubbell was
born in Keokuk, Iowa, May 29, 1859, but removed with his parents to

BIO GRA PHICAL SKE TCHES.

i6=

San Diego when he was twelve years of age. On his arrival here he at-
tended the public schools, graduating at the high school. He made
preparations to enter college, but his health failing he relinquished that
object and entered the employ of the Bank of .San Diego, the first
bank established in this city, in the latter part of 1876. He first was
book-keeper, then teller, and then was appointed assistant cashier.

O. S. HUBBELL.

He remained with this institution three years, and at the age of twenty-
one was one of the incorporators and a stockholder of the Consolidated
Bank of San Diego, and also an incorporator and stockholder in the
Consolidated National Bank. He continued with this bank until 1885,
when he resigned and became a stockholder and accepted the position
of assistant cashier in the F"irst National Bank. In 1886 he was elected
a director and soon afterward cashier, a position which he still occupies.
His wide acquaintance and well-known ability as a financier, added to

i66 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

his acknowledged integrity, aided \'ery materiall\- in giving tlu- bank
its present high position The deposits when he hrst became connected
with it were about $50,000, now they amount to nearly $2,500,000.

Mr. Hubbell is a half owner of Reed & Hubbell's Addition. This
was the first addition of any size cut up from acre property into lots
and put on the market with any success. It was first offered in August,
1886. It IS situated on the bay between San Diego and National City,
and originally consisted of 210 acres. They sold 80 acres in a body
and cut the balance up into lots. The property is now very
valuable. Among other land corporations with which Mr. Hubbell is
connected, are the Escondido Land and Town Co., the San Marcos
Land Co., the El Cajon Valley Co., the Morena Land Co., the Junipero
Land and Water Co., and the Pacific Beach Co., in each of which he
is an incorporator, a stockholder, and a director. He is a stockholder
in the College Hill Land Association. He is a stockholder and Sec-
retary of the Coronado Beach Co. He was one of the incorporators
of the San Diego National Bank, and the Bank of Escondido, and a
stockholder in the Bank of Elsinore and the Exchange Bank of Elsinore.
He was one of the incorporators and is a director in the Coronado Ferry
Co., an incorporator of the San Diego Street Railroad Co., and an
incorporator and stockholder in the San Diego and Coronado Water
Co., the San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad Co., the San Diego, Old
Town and Pacific Beach Railroad Co. , and the West Coast Lumber Co.
He is also a one-fourth owner in the San Diego Gas and Electric Light
Co., the present stock of which is $500,000, and Treasurer of the com-
pany. He was one of the incorporators of the Marine Railway and
Dry Dock Co. He was also an incorporator and is now a Director of
the Cuyamaca Club, the leading gentlemen's club of San Diego. Last
January he was elected a Director of the California Southern Railroad
Co. He was one of the organizers of the San Diego City Guards, a
crack militia company, in which he has served for six years.

He owns considerable city real estate besides his outside property.
He has six lots on Sixth Street, which he hitends to improve shortly;
and about $200,000 worth of Fifth Street property. He intends to soon
begin the erection of a block loofeet square on Sixth Street, which will
be six or seven stories in height, entirely fire-proof, and will be one of
the finest structures in Southern California. He has in contemplation
also the erection, in connection with other parties, of two or three bus-
iness blocks, costing from $100,000 to $150,000 each. He is now
building a handsome residence on the corner of Seventh and Ash
Streets, occupying a whole block, and will cost when finished $50,000.
The interior w^ill be finished entirely in natural woods. The site of this
residence is known as Groesbeck Hill, named after Mrs. Hubbell's
father. Mr. Hubbell owns over 1,000 acres >o{ land within the limits
of the city of San Diego.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 167

He was married in San Diego in 1881 to Miss Kate L. Groesbeck,
a daughter of Gen. John Groesbeck, formerly ot New York, who was
at the time of his death the oldest member of the order of Odd Fellows
in the United States. He has two children, both boys. It is not
difficult to analyze the causes of Mr. Hubbell s success. Primarily, he
has had the opportunity; secondly, he has improved it. Combining
in a wonderful degree keen financial foresight with promptness ot
decision, failure is to him an unknown quantity. Personally, he is one
of the most genial of men; afTable in his manners, courteous to all, his
popularity is not to be wondered at. It O. S. Hubbell has attained an
extraordinary measure of success, the means by which he secured it
were such that he has raised up friends rather than enemies along his
pathway in life.

Mr. Hubbell has been very hard worked during the past few;
years, and will as soon as possible retire from any active part in the
management of the many enterprises he is now engaged in, and de\'ote
his whole time to his duties at the bank, in which institution he deserv-
edly takes a great deal of pride, leaving to his associates the conduct
of all outside affairs with which his name is now connected.

JOSEPH FAIVRE.

In a city where the leading residents are remarkable for the event-
ful character of their lives, Joseph Faivreis entitled to take a prominent
place. He was born in New Orleans, on the 4th of June, 1S28. When
Joseph was seven years old, his parents removed to Ohio, leaving him
in charge of an acquaintace engaged in the cooperage business, to whom,
six years later, their son was apprenticed. At the end of six years
he was pronounced a master of his trade, and engaged in business on
his own account as a trimmer of broken cargoes on the city levee. He
was thus engaged for seven years, when he left the Crescent City and
joined his parents at Dayton, Ohio, and jvent to work at his trade.

After coopering for a year he went to work quarrying stone and
boating it down the Miami Canal to Cincinnati, where it was used for
the Catholic cathedral being built by Archbishop Purcell. After com-
pleting his quarrying contract he engaged as a buyer of tobacco and
grain for Henry Harmon, a well-known merchant of Dayton. After
continuing at this business for eight years he returned to New Orleans,
but only remained there a month when he left for Indiana, locating at
the town of Adeka, on the Wabash, where for two years he kept a
hotel . His venture as a landlord, however, was not a successful one.
He lost all his savings, and removing to Otter Creek, six miles from
Terra Haute, he went to work at his trade as a cooper. At the end

1 68

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

of two years he availed himself of an opportunity to lease the Prairie
House at Terra Haute, a large hotel, which he conducted for eight
months. In the fall of 1856 he removed to Leavenworth, Kansas, where
he kept a livery stable for two years, at the same time being engaged
in buying and selling real estate. During this time he built seven or
eight houses. He made a prospecting tour through the mountains of

JOSEPH FAIVRE.

Colorado, and at the end of three months located at Denver. There,
during the years of 1860-61-62, he engaged in the wholesale and retail
grocery business, doing the largest trade of any house in the city.
He was at this time also doing business as a freighter of supplies from
Leavenworth, St. Joe, Atchison, and Nebraska City to Denver. There
were no railroads then, and Faivre's wagons were the equivalent
of the freight trains of to-day.

In 1863 he sold out at Denver and went into the freighting business

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 169

from Leavenworth to Salt Lake and Virginia, Montana. This trade was
quite hazardous as, in addition to the ordinary dangers that befell his
trains in the long journey across the plains, from the elements, they
were liable to an attack from bands of hostile Indians, and Mr. Faivre
was oblisred to use the utmost care and tact to avoid these wilv foes.
While engaged in this business he also conducted an auction and com-
mission house at Virginia, Montana. One of his trains met with a
serious accident while descending the Bear River Mountain. An
explosion occurred in one of the wagons, which was drawn by eight
yoke of large Missouri cattle, and loaded with 5,500 pounds of powder
and 75,000 feet of fuse. As may be imagined, the shock was terrific.
The driver was blown to atoms and seven of the cattle were killed,
their remains being scattered in all directions. During the same trip,
one of the drivers of the train was s.truck by lightning on the Big
Sandy River, in Wyoming. There was not a break upon his skin
but the corpse was like a mass of jelly, and the sole of one of his shoes
was split by the fluid.

In the sprmg of 1865 Mr. Faivre became snow blind, and he re-
turned to Leavenworth, where he built a residence and made it his home.
In 1870 he came to San Diego on account of his health. After a short
sojourn here he liked the place so well that he went back to Leaven-
worth, settled up his affairs, and came on here to reside permanently
in June, 1871. When he first came here in 1870, he bought consider-
able property, and upon locating here he purchased more and engaged
in the business of real estate, brokerage, and loaning money, buying
up school warrants, etc. About five years ago he retired from active
business and devoted his attention to the conduct of his private affairs.
In 1885 he made a trip to Europe, being absent four months.

Mr. Faivre has done a great deal to develop and beautify San Diego.
He has built eight houses of his own and probably as many more as
agent for others. One of his buildings is a three-story brick 50x100
feet, on E Street, between Fourth and Fifth, nearly opposite the First
National Bank, costing $16,000. He is now erecting a fine building
for business purposes, 75x100 feet in size, on the corner of Seventh and
D Streets. One part will be four stories in height and the portion on
the corner will be five stories. It will be provided with an elevator,
have all the modern improvements, and cost over $40,000. Mr. Faivre
was married in 1848 near Dayton, Ohio, to Miss Klyntick. They
have had one child, who died of the cholera in New Orleans.

GEORGE WILLIAM BARNES, M. D.

If a practical example of the benefit to be obtained from a residence
in San Diego was wanting, it could be supplied Irom the experience of
Dr. George William Barnes. He has been a resident of this city for
seventeen years, and though formidable chronic maladies with which he
has struggled through the greater part of his professional life, still con-
tinue, he finds, in this mild and equable climate, an immunity from acute
attacks and generally an amelioration of chronic affections that makes
existence comparatively a pleasure.

Dr. Barnes was born in Frederick County, Virginia, December 9,
1825, and at the age often removed with his parents to Newark, Ohio.
Having decided to follow the profession of medicine, he became a stu-
dent under the tutelage of Dr. A. O. Blair, of Newark, then one of the
most prominent homeopathic physicians of Ohio. After attending ^
courses of mstruction in the Medical College of Ohio, the Eclectic Med-
ical Institute of Cincinnati, and the Cleveland Homeopathic College,
he was graduated in the latter institution in 1851. In the same year he
located in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where he pursued an extensive and lucra-
tive practice for fourteen years. In 1865, having been elected to a pro-
fessorship in the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College, he removed
to that city. In 1S69, however, he was obliged, because of failing
health, to resign his position and seek a milder climate. He came to
California and spent nearly a year in the State in the study and obser-
vation of its climatology. At the end of that time he decided that San
Diego possessed in a larger degree the conditions fa\'orable for his
health and comfort than any place he had visited, and accordingly
located here. Subsequent experience has convinced him of the wisdom
of his choice. Several years since Dr. Barnes received a spinal injury
which has interfered to some extent with physical effort, but notwith-
standing this he continues to do professional and other work far beyond
his apparent ability to perform. He is a man of immense vital force
and strength of character, and besides his professional labors takes an
active interest in all affairs pertaining to the social and material advance-
ment of the city. While his ability as a physician places him in the
front rank of his profession, his sterling personal qualities have served
to endear him to a large circle outside of his professional clientele. He
invested considerably in city property during the early years of his res-
idence, and this having steadily enhanced in value has made him inde-
pendent. He was largely instrumental in organizing the San Diego So-
(170)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

171

ciety of Natural History, and has labored zealously to promote its
prosperity. He has continued as its President since its organization to
the present time.

Dr. Barnes had associated with him in practice from 1881 to 1884,
Dr. E. A. Clark, now of Los Angeles, and from the latter date to the
1st of November last, he had as his associate Dr. A. Morgan. He now

GEORGE WILLIAM BARNES, M. D.

has associated with him Dr. B. F. Gamber, late of Cleveland, Ohio, who
has successively filled the positions of professor of anatomy, of physi-
ology, of hygiene, and of sanitary science, at the Cleveland Homeo-
pathic Hospital College.

Dr. Barnes' high professional standing is recognized throughout
the country, and he retains many evidences of the esteem in which he is
held by the medical fraternity. Among the positions of honor and
trust he has held are the following: He has been a member of the

172 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

American Institute of Homeopath\', the oldest national medical asso-
ciation in the United States, since 1853; ''i''^*^ since 1878, in consequence
of a membership of over twenty-five vears, he has belonged to the as-
sociation of seniors of that body. He aided in the establishment of the
first medical dispensary in Cleveland and the Homeopathic Hospital,
still in successful operation, and was one of the consulting physicians of
the latter. Hewas|)hysician to the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum,
was Secretary of the Cuyahoga County Medical Society and Treasurer of
the Western Institute of Homeopathy. He assisted in the establishment
of the Ohio Medical and Surgical Reporter, and in its editorial manage-
ment during its first volume. Ever since his resignation trom an active
professorship in the Cleveland College he has had the honorary title of
Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica in that institution. He is now a
member of the California State Homeopathic Medical Society, and an
honorary member of the Los Angeles Homeopathic Medical Society.
He is also a corresponding member of the St. Louis Academy of Science
and of the Wisconsin State Historical Society. He has contributed to
a great many medical journals and is the author of a seven-page pam-
phlet which has been very widely read, entitled, "The Hillocks and
Mound F'ormations of the Pacific Coast."

THOMAS L NESMITH

It must be a source of pride to the old residents of San Diego, the
men who gave the impetus to its growth, that started its "boom," to
look around them and see the city of their creation, as it were, mak-
ing such tremendous strides, and feel that to their individual efforts is
largely due the change from a struggling hamlet to a thriving young-
metropolis. Thomas L. Nesmith is one of these early San Diegans,
one of the men whose clear foresight and keen business sense foresaw
that on the shores of this magnificent harbor must at no distant day
arise a great commercial city. Mr. Nesmith is a native of New Ham])-
shire, having been born in the town of Derry in that State, in 181 1. His
early youth was spent at the old Nesmith homestead, "The Lilacs,"
at Derry. The rudiments of his education were acquired at the dis-
trict school, and he afterward attended the Pinkerton Academy at
Derry. After leaving school he entered the employ of his Uncle New-
comb, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, as a clerk for a short time. He was
not satisfied with the progress he had made in his studies, however, and
he returned to the academy again and completed his course. He then
entered the store of William Anderson, a cousin, in Derry, and made
up his mind to become a merchant. He remained there for four years.
He had now reached the age of twenty-one, and longed to go out

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

173

into the world and fight the battle of life in earnest. His capital,
measured by the usual standard, was not large, but it was substantial.
It consisted of honesty, ability, and perseverance. Prepared as he was
for the contest, he started for New York City, where he obtained an
advantageous position in a large mercantile house. Here he remained
for fifteen years, traveling, meanwhile, in the course of his business,

THOMAS L. NESMITH.

through the different States and West Indies. When he was thirty-
eight years old he visited Europe, with his family, where he remained
two years. He then returned to this country and located in the South,
where he engaged in the mercantile business. Afterwards he went to
Mexico. After passing two years in Mexico, where he established his
son, Anthony Rutgers Nesmith, in business, he removed to Minnesota,
where for two years he carried on banking. He had long desired to
go to California, but circumstances had prevented. In 1870, however,

174 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

he determined to go, and reached San Diego that year, with his family.
San Diego has been his home ever since, and he was eight years at one
time without leaving the county.

At the time of his arrival here the site of the present city of San
Diego was covered with sage-brush and cactus, and there were not
more than half a dozen buildings. The Horton House was in course of
erection. There was little promise, then, of the great city of the future.
Within a short time after his arrival he was elected President of the Bank
of San Diego, which position he held until 1883, when he resigned.
When the question of railroad communication was first thoroughly
agitated, a committee composed of the leading citizens was formed for
the purpose of negotiating with the different railway corporations and
forwarding the interests of the city. Of this body, known as the
"Committee of Forty," Mr. Nesmith was chosen President, and la-
bored early and late to assure the building of a transcontinental railroad.
In 1875 he resigned this post of honor upon being elected a Director
of the Texas and Pacific Railway Company. Mr. Nesmith presided at
the great railroad meeting held here in 1872, under the auspices of Col.
Thomas A. Scott, when Prof Louis Agassiz, Senator Sherman, and
other distinguished men were present. He was one of the founders
and the first President of the San Diego Benevolent Association, an
organization that has done and continues to do a vast amount of good.

Mr. Nesmith married Maria Antoinette, a daughter of the late An-
thony Rutgers Gale, of Natchez, Mississippi. She died at San Diego, in
1873. She was a woman of rare beauty, and most highly accom-
plished. He has two sons and a daughter living, having lost one son,
Anthony Rutgers Nesmith, who died in Mexico, in 1880. Otto A.
Nesmith is a lawyer residing in Minnesota, and Loring Gale Nesmith
is cashier of the First National Bank of San Jose. His daughter, Hen-
rietta, is the wife of Brig. -Gen. A. W. Greely, Chief of the Signal
Service Bureau. When the news of the rescue of her gallant hus-
band was received she was in San Diego, visiting her father. She hur-
ried across the continent and arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
just in time to welcome him upon his arrival there.

There is no citizen of San Diego more highly esteemed than Mr.
Nesmith, and his kindly face and courtly manners are familiar to all.
It is the earnest wish of those who know him that he may yet be
spared many years to enjoy the contentment that follows a career so
honorable and ennobling as his has been.

While Mr. Nesmith has fulfilled well his duties to the living, he has
not been unmindful of those who have gone before. He has placed
three memorial windows in St. Paul's Church, in this city, in memory
of his family who are deceased. They are as follows One to his wife,
Maria Antoinette Nesmith, "Christ Blessing little Children ; " one to

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 175

his son, John Wadsworth Nesmith, "The Wise Men;" one to his son,
Anthony Rutgers Nesmith, "The Angel at the Tomb." The win-
dows were made at Munich, in Bavaria, and as works of art they are
very perfect.

MRS MARY J. BIRDSALL

When the advocates of female suffrage advance arguments in sup-
port of their cause they are too apt to appeal to sentiment, and to over-
look one of the most forcible arguments. That is the ability with
which women direct those branches of business that are popularly sup-
posed to fall within the special province of men. When we find a
woman who combines executive ability with attention to detail, who
has a talent for direction as well as a faculty for managing — who is, in
fact, a thorough woman of business, the most ultra opponent of equal
rights to the gentler sex is apt to surrender his opinions. When we
find a specimen of this stronger type of womanhood, she not only
excites our admiration but commands our respect. We admire the
gifts with which nature has endowed her, and respect the manner in
which she has applied them. Among that body of able, enterprising,
and progressive pioneer residents that gave the impetus to San Diego's
growth, there is to be found the name of a woman — Mrs. Mary J.
Birdsall. Coming to San Diego when it was but a hamlet, she has
lived to see it advance to a bustling, commercial city, and by her busi-
ness prescience she has been enabled to participate in the general pros-
perity that has attended its wonderful growth.

Mrs. Birdsall was born near Jefferson City, Missouri, but was raised
in Tennessee, and educated at the Young Ladies' Model School in
Summerville, Tennessee. She graduated at the age of fifteen, and
within a year afterward was married. About twenty years ago she
came to California, by way of the Isthmus, and for two years lived in
the northern part of the State. Then, in 1870, she came to San
Diego. At that time what is now the city of San Diego contained but
a few board houses. The erection of the Horton House, the first
brick building, had just been commenced, and it gave little promise
of the great future before it. In company with her husband, Mrs.
Birdsall started the Home Restaurant on the ground where the Commer-
cial Hotel now stands. It was afterwards known as the Lyon Restau-
rant. In 1880-81 she kept a hotel known as the Commercial, situated
below the Horton House, on the ground now occupied by the Chad-
bourne Furniture Company. In 1881 she began the erection of the
fine house at present occupied and managed by her, the Commercial
Hotel, on the corner of Seventh and I Streets. It contains one hun-

MRS. M. J. BIRDSALL.

h
H.

176 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

dred and fifteen rooms, and is admirably arranged for the purpose for
which it was designed. It is strictly a temperance house, and no liquor
has ever been sold in it. It is especially popular with the old residents
of this section of the State. Being cast upon her own resources, Mrs.
Birdsall cultivated her natural business ability, and by strict attention
to her duties she has acquired a most enviable position in the commu-
nity. While directing her hotel in an admirable manner she has, by
the exercise of judicious investments, acquired a handsome compe-
tency. Besides the Commercial Hotel she owns considerable city real
estate and county property. During San Diego's darkest days, Mrs.
Birdsall never lost faith in the future — her confidence in the city's ulti-
mate importance was unbounded.

Mrs. Birdsall has two sons and one daughter, the latter being
married. One son is attending college, and one resides in Arizona.
Her father died here in 1880. Mrs. Birdsall is a lady of retiring dispo-
sition, never seeking publicity. She is, however, very charitable, and
has contributed liberally to all good objects.

DR. D. CAVE.

One of the most promising signs of the healthful condition and
assured permanency of the Republic is the deep interest manifested in
its institutions by our adopted citizens. Many of the most progressive
members of the body politic are men who were born under monarchial
Governments. When transplanted to the free soil of America they
seem to imbibe the spirit of our institutions intuitively and become
leaders in every social and business enterprise. A good type of this
class of citizens is the subject of this sketch.

Dr. D. Cave was born in Strasburg, France, in 1846. When a
child he removed with his parents to Vienna, Austria. At the age of
twelve he began work in mercantile business, in which he continued
till he was eighteen years old. Then, having a taste for natural science
and mechanical work, he commenced the study of dentistry. At the
age of twenty-three he began the practice of his profession and con-
tinued with success for about four years, when a bronchial affection which
he had contracted compelled him to abandon practice and he began to
travel for his health.

He visited America for a twofold purpose — first, in search of health,
and secondly, for the purpose of seeing the cradle of scientific dentistry,
and to satisfy his desire for improving himself in his profession. Ill
health compelled him to cut short his stay in the principal Eastern cities,
and he soon started for the Pacific Coast. Upon arriving in San Fran-
cisco he consulted with several acquaintances as to his future movements.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

177

They advised that he go by steamer as far as Los Angeles, as it was a
good locaHty for business and an excellent climate for throat
troubles. They also told him that San Diego had a good climate, but
that the place was dead; that there was nothing but sand hills there, and
that jackrabbits fed in the streets. He determined, notwithstanding
their reports, to go as far as San Diego, and then if he did not like it he

•^jSi:^;^

D. CAVE, D. D. S.

would return to Los Angeles or Santa Barbara. He accordingly pur-
chased a ticket for San Diego and left on the steamer Orizaba on the
voyage down the coast. After visiting Santa Barbara and Los Ange-
les, during the time the steamer stopped at those places, he landed in
San Diego on the 14th day of April, 1872. He was in poor health,
hardly able to speak the English language, without friends, and his
whole capital had dwindled down to one solitary twenty-dollar gold
piece. He went to the Horton House, and in a few days his throat be-

178 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

gan to improve, and his voice, which had been lost for nearly six months,
returned like magic. He determined to advertise his profession and
begin work at the hotel with what few instruments he had. He met
with such success that in a short time he was able to establish himself in
the business part of the town, in one of the best localities, and to fur-
nish his offices in the best style. He was thus enabled to do the finest
kind of work, and soon gained a reputation as a skilled operator that
was not confined to the limits of San Diego. He is the only dentist
that has remained here through all the ups and downs of the com-
munity for fifteen successive years. His practice has steadily increased
until he retired from business a short time ago, when he turned over to
his successors a practice of over one thousand dollars cash receipts per
month.

Dr. Cave has been the tutor of two of San Diego's young men, and
so high was his reputation that they were granted licenses by the Cali-
fornia Board of Dental Examiners without attendance at any college of
dentistry. Both now have a lucrative practice of their own, and
have gained a reputation for their skill. He is an active mem-
ber of the California State Dental Association, and also of the South-
ern California Odentological: Society. He aided, too, in organ-
izing the San Diego Dental Society, of which he is President. Dr.
Cave has not confined his usefulness to his profession, however, but has
been prominent in all movements having for their object the advance-
ment of San Diego. To him belongs the credit of having organized
the San Diego County Immigration Association, in the latter part of
1885. He was President of the Committee of Celebration at the time of
the completion of the Atchison system to the Pacific Ocean via San
Diego. He served a ternl as President of the Chamber of Commerce,
in 1885, and while occupying that position, demonstrated the ad-
vantages of the soil of San Diego for raising cereals, fruit trees, plants,
etc. , by showing what had been produced on his own land. He was at
this time, ex-officio, a member of the Board of Pilot Commissioners.
He has been President of the San Diego Fire Company and is now an
exempt member. He has been Chancellor Commander and is a charter
member of San Diego Lodge No. 28, Knights of Pythias; and Master
of San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. and A. M. He is now President of the
Board of Directors of the Free Public Library, and Vice-President of
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which he aided in
organizing. He is a Director in the San Diego Building and Loan As-
sociation ; Treasurer of the Morena Land and Town Co. ; a member of
the San Diego Horticultural Association, in the work of which he has
taken an especial interest; a member of the San Diego Natural History
Society; a member of the San Diego Benevolent Association, and, in
fact, is identified with about every public organization in the city.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 179

Dr. Cave was naturalized in 1877, and has always been an earnest
and consistent Republican. He has taken an active part in political
affairs, but has steadily refused, although repeatedly urged to do so, to
be a candidate lor any political position. He was married in San Diego,
June 19, 1878, to Miss Rosa Meyer, a native of France, and a graduate
of a high school in Paris. He has two children. He is the largest
stockholder in the new town of Morena, and contemplates erecting a
fine residence there the coming season.

DR. W. A. WINDER.

Few residents of San Diego are better known or more highly re-
spected than Dr. W. A. Winder. A \eteran of two wars, his life has
been an adventurous one. He was born in Baltimore, Md. , December
5, 1824. His father was an officer in the regular army, and the greater
part of his early boyhood was passed with his parents at the different
military posts between North Carolina and Maine. Up to the time he
was nine years of age he attended school in North Carolina, and then
went to Baltimore, where he continued in school until sixteen years old.
Having a fondness for medicine he now began to study it, and fit him-
self for practice. He attended lectures in Philadelphia. When the
Mexican War broke out, he volunteered his services, and just after the
battle of Buena Vista was commissioned a Lieutenant of Artillery. He
served during the rest of the war and continued in the service for eight-
een years, resigning at the close ot the Civil War. Just after the Mex-
ican War, in 1848, he was sent with part of his regiment to Florida,
to assist in quelling the outbreak of the Seminole Indians, and he re-
mained there thirteen months.

In 1854 he sailed from New York with his regiment, the Third Ar-
tillery, for California on board the ill-fated steamship San Francisco.
Thirty-six hours out of New York, when in the Gulf stream, the ship was
caught in a hurricane and disabled. For fourteen days she drifted about
on the ocean in a helpless condition. There were 750 soldiers and thir-
teen officers, some of whom had their families, besides a number of
civilian passengers. During this time cholera broke out on board and
nearly one hundred died from that dread disease. Perhaps the most
terrible of their misfortunes occurred during the height of the storm,
when an immense sea struck the ship and carried away the upper saloon,
on which were crowded over two hundred soldiers. Finally, when
hope had well-nigh given way to despair, a vessel hove in sight, and in
answer to their signals of distress replied that she would stand by them.
The following day the sea had gone down sufficiently to permit the
transfer of most of the passengers to the vessel, which proved to be

i8o

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

the Scotch bark Three Bells, of Glasgow. Another vessel also came
to their assistance, and all were rescued before the doomed steamer sank
beneath the waves. For his heroic conduct during those dreadful days
of trial on board the San Francisco, and the part he took in securing
the safe transfer of the women and children to the Three Bells, Lieu-
tenant Winder was accorded a vote of thanks by the Legislature of his
native State, Maryland.

DR. W. A WINDER.

He started again with his regiment for the Pacific Coast, and was
sent with a detachment to the Mission San Diego, where he remained
for three years, during which time he made ten expeditions among
Cahuila Indians, living in the northern part of the county. At times
they displayed hostile traits, and the presence of the troops was neces-
sary to prevent an outbreak. He was then stationed at Fort Yuma tor
a year, during which time that post was threatened by Indians. During

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. i8i

the War of the RebelHon he served about six months in the Army of
the Potomac, commanding Bittery G, Third Artillery, and then was
ordered to this coast and placed in command of Alcatraz, in San Fran-
cisco harbor. There he remained three and a half years, until the close
of the war. He then resigned his commission and entered civil life.
Soon after this he engaged in a mining venture below Ensenada, in
Lower California, for a while, and afterwards was interested in a mine
at Lyttle Creek, near San Bernardino. He then went to Los Angeles,
where he remained until 1872. \\\ the latter year he came to San Diego,
where he has made his home ever since. He has practiced medicine
until about three years ago, when he retired from active practice. He
now has charge of the Marine Relief Hospital, an institution which he
has built himself, and is but just completed. «

Dr. Winder was married in 1850, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
to the daughter of Governor Goodwin, of that State. He has one son,
who is now a lieutenant in the navy and attached to the United States
steamer Marion. Dr. Winder is the owner of Winder's Addition. He
is a liberal-spirited citizen, and a representative man.

JUDGE M. A. LUCE.

One of the best-known and most prominent men in every movement
to advance the best interests of San Diego, is Judge M. A. Luce. He
comes of good New England stock, and is of a right possessed of those
attributes which are strongly characteristic of the better type of the Amer-
ican character, — energy, ability, and probity. His father is a native of
Maine, is a preacher in the Baptist Church, and now, at the age of sev-
enty-eight years, is living in Poway Valley, a hale and hearty old man.
His mother was born in New Hampshire.

The subject of this brief sketch first saw the light in Ouincy, Illinois,
in the year 1842. He lived with his parents in Central Illinois until he
was fourteen years of age, when he left home to prepare for college at
Hillsdale, Mich. Here he spent a part of each year in advancing his
own education, and the residue of the time in educating others, that is,
in teaching school. Thus passed nearly four years of his boyhood.
Then came that eventful April day in 1861 when the call "to arms" re-
sounded through the land. The response that came forth from the
loyal North was something unparalleled in the history of mankind.
The ink was scarcely dry with which the President's proclamation for
volunteers was written when the tramp of battalions was heard through-
out the land. From no section of the North was the patriotic response
more immediate and hearty than from the great States of the West.
Foremost among them was the commonwealth of Michigan. Young
15

I82

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Luce, brimming over with loyalty, dropped his school books, and enlisted
in the Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. During the war he took
part in the following engagements: Bull Run, New Bridge, Hanover,
Court House, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Savage Station, Turkey
Bend, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, U. S. Ford,
Chancellorsville, Kelly's Ford, Ashby Gap, Brandy Station, Middle-

JUDGE M. A. LUCE.

burg, Gettysburg, Williamsport, Wapping Heights, Culpeper, Bristol
Station, Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Laurel Hill,
Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek, Jericho Mills, Bethseda
Church, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Was wounded slightly at
Spottsylvania, while with the forlorn hope in the assault of May 12.

At the close of the war Luce, now a bronzed young veteran, after
paying a brief visit to his parents, returned to Hillsdale and resumed
his collegiate studies, which had been so rudely interrupted four years be-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 183

fore. He graduated in 1866, and having decided to devote himself
to the legal profession, attended the Law University at Albany, where he
graduated a year later. With his diploma in his pocket he returned to
his native State, and began practice in Bushnell, of which he was the first
City Attorney. He was afterward Attorney of the First National Bank
of Bushnell and local Attorney of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy R.
R. Co. , and in 1872 was the candidate of his party for the State Senate.
In 1873 the first of Southern California's booms began to be heard of
In these days it would be called a very small boom, a kind of a " North-
ern Citrus Belt" affliir; but then it made quite a stir, not only on the Pa-
cific Coast but was felt all over the East. That was the time when Col.
Tom Scott was building his Texas Pacific (on paper) across the conti-
nent, to have its terminus on the shores of San Diego Bay. One result
of this agitation was to direct attention to the harbor, which had lain neg-
lected and unthought of since the day the great empire of California
became a part of the Republic. Tidings of the promising future of this
Pacific Coast city came to Luce in his Illinois home, and as at that
time his health was apparently failing, he decided to emigrate. He ar-
rived in San Diego in May, 1873, and immediately opened a law office,
and engaged in the practice of his profession. In the fill of 1875
he was elected Judge of the county court, and held the office until the
new constitution went into effect and terminated the jurisdiction of that
court in 1880. Judge Luce took an active part in the movement to
bring the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe road to San Diego, and was
a member of, and acted as counsel for, the Citizens' Committee. In the
fall of 1880 the California Southern Railroad Co. was organized and he
was elected Vice-President. He was also appointed Attorney of the
road and has continued so up to the present time. He is still a mem-
ber of the Board of Directors. Judge Luce's law practice has been very
large, he having acted as Attorney for a majority of the heaviest local
corporations, while the Pacific Steamship Co. and other important or-
ganizations have intrusted their legal business to his care. Judge Luce
is now preparing to retire from the active practice of his profession, his
private business interests having become so numerous and important as
to require his entire time and attention. Ever since the day of his ar-
rival in San Diego Judge Luce has had an abiding faith in the future of
the city. Firm in his convictions on that point he has from the first, as
opportunity offered, invested in real estate, and he is now one of the
heaviest holders of real property. Unlike some other men of like busi-
ness instincts the aggregation of property has not served to lessen his
interest in the growth of the city, but he is to-day as keenly alive to
everything that tends to develop and enlarge its importance as he was
ten years ago. He has been identified with every public improvement,
and is willing at all times to give freely of his means towards the ma-

1 84 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

terial advancement of San Diego. He has been interested in the min-
ing development of the county, and is a principal shareholder in the
Shenandoah mine at Mesa Grande, m this county. He is of the opinion
that the future wealth and importance oi San Diego will be largely due
to the development oi its mines. In the past profitable operations have
been retarded by the crude machinery employed in working the ore and
insufficient means of transportation. With the completion of a railroad
to the mining center, and the' introduction of new and approved ma-
chinery, all this will be changed, however.

Judge Luce is one of the executors of the trust of the late James M.
Pierce, donating $150,000 to the establishment of the Boys' and Girls'
Aid S ociety. He has been President of the Unitarian Church Society
ever since its organization. In December, 1870, he was married, at
Bushnell, to Miss Adelaide Mantania, of Avon, Illinois, who was at the
time Assistant Principal of the public schools at Bushnell, Illinois. Unit-
ing personal attractions and all the female accomplishments to a richly
stored mind, Mrs. Luce has proven a worthy helpmate to her husband
in the battle of life. Six children have blessed their union, of which,
four, two boys and two girls, are living; two have died, and are buried
in the cemetery here.

Judge Luce is six leet in height, slight figure, and a face that has
more the look of a student than a professional man, or one immersed in
business. He has a strong taste for literature, and possesses a well-ap-
pointed library. Now that he is getting rid of some of his professional
cares he will probably find solace from the demands of business in the
society of his books.

GEORGE A. COWLES.

George A. Cowles, who died last fall at the Florence Hotel, in
this city, was one of the thoroughly representative men of San Diego
County. Mr. Cowles was born in Hartford, Connecticut, Aprils, 1836.
His early days were spent upon a farm near Hartford. His father was
engaged in manufacturing, and was the first man to make broadcloth
in this country. When he was fourteen years old he entered the dry
goods store of B. & W. Hudson, in Hartford, as errand boy. Five
years later he had become first salesman of the establishment. During
these years, however, he had not neglected his education, but attended
night school faithfully, and took a course in the Commercial College.
He remained with the Hudsons until he was twenty-one, and then
engaged in the business of manufacturing cotton goods, on his own
account. He was burned out, however, soon afterward. At the age
of twenty-five we find him in the city of New York, carrying on a com-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

185

mission business and holding an interest in the manufacture of cotton
goods at se\'eral places. When thirty years of age he was elected
President of the New York Cotton Goods Exchange. He retired from
the cotton business in 1S69, and in 1872 became interested in Govern-
ment contracts, in which he continued for three years. For several
winters he visited this coast on account of his wife's health, and one

GEORGE A. COWLES.

■winter he spent in Florida. This was unfortunate for him, as he con-
tracted malarial fever, which nearly broke him down. He first came to
San Diego in 1873. He had journeyed between this city and San
Francisco a number of times by stage and by private conveyance,
stopping in the different valleys and making himself familiar with the
various localities. In 1S77 he concluded to locate in San Diego County
permanently. At that time the outlook for communication with the
outside world was \-er}' poor. Mr. Cowles, howe^■er, had strong faith

1 86 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEG O.

in the natural resources of the county, and believed firmly in the future
commercial importance of the city of San Diego.

Having decided to make this his home he went, in the spring of
1878, to El Cajon and began farming operations. He then owned
between six and seven hundred acres of land in the heart of the valley,
but he acquired more, from time to time, until he had between three
and four thousand acres. The first year he planted about everything
in the shape of tree and vine, in order to test what could be grown to the
best advantage. When his grapes matured he found that the finest Mus-
cats could be grown in El Cajon that were to be found in the State, and
when his olive trees began to bear, the fruit rivaled any that he had
ever seen. He therefore decided to devote himself especially to these
two products. The result proved the wisdom of his choice, for to-day
the raisins produced on the Cowles Ranch are sent all over the United
States, and they are without doubt superior to any grown either in this
country or Europe. In one of his vineyards Mr. Cowles raised the
largest quantity of Muscat grapes on record on one acre. This season
there were shipped from eight to ten thousand bo.\es of raisins from this
vineyard, which is but five years old. It is situated in the center of the
valley. Besides grapes, and olives, and other fruits, there are about
one thousand acres in grain, while the ranch is stocked with one hun-
dred head of fine horses, and about three hundred head of choice^
graded cattle.

It is conceded that in placing upon the market the finest raisins
grown on American soil, Mr. Cowles perhaps did more than any one
man in directing attention to the wonderful fertility and productiveness
of San Diego soil. By his individual efforts in another direction, he
finally accomplished a task that will result in untold benefit to the Cajon
Valley. Reference is made to the extension of the Atchison system
from San Diego into the\'alley. He personally guaranteed to the Chief
Engineer of the company the free right of way from Twenty-second
Street Station in San Diego to the north end of the Cajon Valley. This
offer was accepted, and the road is now well under way, and will be
completed in a short time. From the Cajon the line will be extended
to Poway, Bernardo, Escondido, San Marcos, and Oceanside, connect-
ing at the latter point with the California Southern. In this under-
taking Mr. Cowles gave another evidence of his indomitable push and
energy — the same qualities that made him successful as a merchant.
Indeed, his great success as an agriculturist was largely due to the fact
that he always conducted his farm matters on strict business principles.
He was as much in earnest in curing raisins as he formerly was in manu-
facturing cotton goods.

Mr. Cowles was one of the organizers of the Consolidated National
Bank, and continued a Director up to the time of his death. He was

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 187

also a Director in the old Commercial Bank, and was Vice-President of
the San Diego County Savings Bank. He was the organizer of the
San Diego Marine Ways and Dry Dock Company, of which he was
Vice-President, having declined to accept the Presidency. He raised a
subscription of $50,000 in six and one-half hours for this enterprise.
He was a Director in the California Southern Railway Company,
and such confidence had the railroad people in his judgment that they
left the direction of the construction of the Cajon branch entirely to
him. He was married in 1861 to the second daughter of Hon. Ros-
well Blodgett, of Hartford, a gentleman who has done as much for the
advancement of educational interests in Connecticut as any other man.
Mr. Cowles demonstrated, in a practical way, that San Diego had
something more to boast of than bay and climate, and the work that
he did for the advancement of the county will be more and more appre-
ciated as the years roll by.

DR. P. C REMONDINO.

Few citizens of San Diego have had a career more replete with
incidents than Dr. P. C. Remondino. Born m Turin, Italy, on the
loth of February, 1846, he was sent as a child to a Catholic semi-
nary, where he remained until nine years of age. In 1854 ^^ ^^^ Italy
with his father, and crossing the Atlantic landed in New York City.
From the latter city father and son journeyed westward until they came
to Minnesota. At Wabeshaw, a thriving town in that State, the father
engaged in mercantile business, and young Remondino attended the
public schools. At sixteen years of age he entered Jefferson College,
at Philadelphia, and began the study of his chosen profession, med-
icine. During the summer of 1864, while still attending college, the
Battle of the Wilderness occurred, and there was such a call for army
surgeons that Remondino, with several other students, volunteered his
services. They were accepted, and for some time he continued doing
hospital duty at Annapolis and City Point. In March, 1865, he gradu-
ated at Jefferson College. The very evening of his graduation he
left the reception party tendered his class, for Fortress Monroe, having
received his commission as Acting Assistant Surgeon attached to the
Third Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He served in that capacity up to
the time the regiment was mustered out in November, 1865. He then
returned to Minnesota, and entered upon the practice of his pro-
fession with his former preceptor, Dr. Milligan. At the breaking out
of the Franco-German war Dr. Remondino was enjoying a lucrative
practice in his adopted town, but his fondness for adventure, and desire
to become skilled in his profession, induced him to seek employment in

i88

CITVAAD COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

the French service. Accordingly, being provided with flattering cre-
dentials, both from the Governor of the State and from officials in
Washington, he sailed for Brest. He arri\ed in safety and at once
started for Tours, which was then the seat of government. Here he
presented his credentials and was cordially received by Leon Gam-
betta, who provided for his appointment as an army surgeon. He was

DR. P. C. REMONDINO.

attached to a regiment just formed, called "Franc Tireurs du Nord,"
Colonel Rondeau> Commander, which was recruited in the French
departments bordering on Belgium. He served with this regiment dur-
ing the campaign in the north of France against the First Prussian
Army Corps under the command of General Manteufel, until the dis-
solution of all the volunteer corps in the French army. He was then
detailed for service with the Artillery Legion of Havre, and was Post
Surgeon of Fort Saint Adresse, the principal fort on the heights of

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 189

Havre, overlooking both the city and harbor. He remained there
until peace was concluded. After the discharge of the troops, Dr.
Remondino traveled through Italy and Switzerland, for pleasure and
instruction, and afterwards e.xtended his journeyings to England. He
then returned to Minnesota and resumed the practice of his profession
in 1871.

The winter of 1871-72 was an unusually severe one in Minnesota,
and his health, which had been somewhat undermined because of the
exposure he had undergone in the French service, warned him that he
should seek a more genial climate. He accordingly started for San
Diego, reaching California in December, 1873, and arriving here in Jan-
uary following. He had intended engaging in the cattle business, but
on looking the ground over the prospects did not strike him favorably,
and meeting an old classmate, Dr. R. J. Gregg, he opened an office
adjoining his, and once more settled down to active practice. He was
City Physician in 1875-76; County Physician for several consecutive
terms; Surgeoij for the California Southern Railroad Company up to
the time of his retirement from practice; Surgeon of the Marine Hos-
pital, and did all the surgical work for the Pacific Coast Steamship
Company. In 1879 he built a large hospital here in conjunction with
Dr. T. C. Stockton. They had accommodations for fifty patients, but
owing to the light charges of charitable institutions they found it impos-
sible to compete with them and the experiment was abandoned. In the
spring of 1887, finding that his private business affairs were interfering
with his professional duties, he retired from the active practice of his
profession. Recognizing the great want of hotel accommodations in
San Diego he built the St. James Hotel, which was opened for business
in February, 1886. Since that time it has received some additions, and
the entire cost will aggregate $250,000. Besides this fine building he
owns considerable reai estate in the city and county, and has invested
liberally in every enterprise that he believed tended to advance the
material interests of San Diego. Dr. Remondino returned in October
from an extended Eastern tour, during which he attended, as a delegate,
the International Medical Congress, at Washington, where he took a
leading part in the proceedings, and read a paper on San Diego's cli-
mate, which attracted wide attention.

Dr. Remondino is Major and Surgeon of the Third Regiment Uni-
formed Rank Knights of Pythias of the State of California; a member
of the Blue Lodge of Masons, San Diego Lodge; and a member of Cali-
fornia Consistory F. and A. M., Thirty-third degree. He was United
States Pension Surgeon for nine years, up to last year. Although
retired from practice as an active member of the San Diego County
Medical Society, he still takes an active interest in everything pertaining
to its prosperity. He was married, in 1877, to Miss Sophie Earle, in

1 90 CIT Y AND CO UNT Y OF SA N DIEG O.

San Diego, and has four children, two girls and two boys, all livings
here. He is looked upon as one of the most public-spirited and
progressive citizens in a community where push and enterprise are the
eading elements of popularity.

N. H. CONKLIN.

One of the leading members of the San Diego Bar is N. H.
Conklin. Although yet a comparatively young man, his life has been
a busy one. In turn a soldier, journalist, and lawyer, he has achieved
prominence in every profession with which his fortunes have been
Identified. Mr. Conklin was born in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania,
June 6, 1839. His father, a native of New York, was a member of the
famous Conklin family, whose members have added luster to the
annals of jurisprudence and occupy a high place on the roll of forensic
fame. His mother came from the State of Connecticut. His boyhood
was passed with his parents in the town of Tunkhannock, on the Sus-
quehanna, where he acquired such an education as was to be had in the
public schools. In 1859 he began the study of the law in the office of
Judge Peckham, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was stil
immersed in his studies at the time of the breaking out of the war.
Those who are not yet arrived at middle age have little idea of the
scenes that followed the firing upon Sumter, — the ebullitions of patriotic
fer\'or, the mustering to arms, the hurried march to the field. Through-
out the loyal States the response to President Lincoln's proclamation
for troops was instantaneous — there was no hesitating then. Young
Conklin heard the summons, and throwingaside his law books, began,
raising a company of volunteers. Within less than a week from the
time of the issuing of the proclamation, his company was full and he
made a tender of it to the Governor. But the quota of the State was
filled and the offer w-as declined. The Government and many of the
people then believed with Senator Seward that the whole "affair"
would be over in ninety days. Suffering under his disappointment,
young Conklin went to Cincinnati to visit some friends. He could not,
however, resist the impulse to give his services to his country, and
within a week after his proffer had been rejected by the Governor of
Pennsylvania, he enlisted in Cincinnati in Company D, Second Ken-
tucky Volunteers. He had been walking along the street when the
beating of a drum again roused the fires of patriotism within his breast;
he went upstairs, where a war meeting was being held, and enlisted as a
private, not knowing at the time what the regiment was or where it was
going; he only knew that his country needed his services, and right
freely he proffered them. He was sent with his regiment to the Kan-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

191

awa, in Western Virginia, and remained there until the spring of 1862.
His regiment was then ordered to Kentucky, and then into Tennessee.
He participated in the terrible battle of Shiloh, and was at the siege of
Corinth. He then went back to Kentucky, and was in that State at the
time of Bragg' s raid. At Louisville he was discharged for promotion,
having been commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Eighty-third Ohio.

N. H. CONKLIN.

When he reached Cincinnati, he found that his regiment had been or-
dered into the field. This was in November, 1862. He then returned
to his home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the following
spring, reading the neglected law books. But he could not be content
in such a peaceful avocation, and having a strong taste for the navy, he
applied for and was appointed Master's Mate. He was immediately
ordered to report on board the Kemvood, attached to the Mississippi
squadron. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg, and saw much

192 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

active service while on the Kenwood, which was one of the fastest
steamers on the ri\'er and was generally used as a dispatch boat. In
the spring of 1S65 he was ordered to the Chilicathe, an iron-clad. As
soon as he was mustered out of service at the close of the war, he
again returned to Pennsylvania and once more renewed his law studies.
He had two brothers in the Union army, both of whom are now living,
one residing in Northern California and one in Missouri.

As soon as he had been admitted to the bar, he started west and
located at Warrensburg, Missouri, where he began the practice of his
profession. He remained at Warrensburg until the fall of 1874.
During this time he was engaged in publishing \\\^ Johnston Democrat,
a weekly newspaper. In October, 1874, Mr. Conklin started for San
Diego. Upon his arrival here, he assumed editorial control of the San
Diego World, a daily, in connection with Mr. Julian, at present one of
the proprietors of the San Dicgan. In 1877 he was elected District
Attorney of the county, and held the office two years. Since then he
has been engaged in the practice of the law. Mr. Conklin has the
largest general law practice of any attorney in San Diego. He is the
legal adviser of most of the large corporations here; is a stockholder
in and attorney for the San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad Co., and is
one of the principal stockholders of the Mission Valley Water Co.
He is a Past Post Commander of Heintzleman Post G. A. R., and is
at present Commander of San Diego Commandery Knight Templars.
He was instrumental in bringing the railroad here and has been inter-
ested in all public improvements. He has a handsome residence lately
completed in Florence Heights, on the corner of Fifth and Ivy Streets.
Mr. Conklin was married in 1S67, to Miss Myra J. Reese, of
Warrensburg, Missouri, in Pleasant Hill, a short distance from the
former place. Their union has been blessed with eight children, three
of whom are living.

R. A. THOMAS.

In considering the phenomenal progress that has attended San
Diego during the past two or three years, the most important factor in
her development will be found to have been the class of business men
who have invested their capital in the various enterprises that have
lifted her from a quiet town into a bustling, thriving city. It is to the
progressive spirit of these citizens that she is indebted for the handsome
buildings that are ornamenting her streets, and the motor lines that
make rapid communication with her charming suburbs a pleasure.
They are, as a rule, men who have come from the young States of the
West, and they have brought with them the vigorous spirit, the prompt

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

193

and accurate judgment that seem characteristic of that portion of the
Union. The subject of this sketch is an excellent type of this class of
San Diego's citizens.

R. A. Thomas was born in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, July
10, 1847. His early boyhood was spent on his father's farm in Fon du
Lac County. The first rudiments of education he acquired in the

R. A. THOMAS.

district school. At the age of sixteen he entered the high school in
the city of Fon du Lac, and remained there four years. After this he
went to Kansas and taught school for about three years in Atchison.
For two years following, he was engaged in a Government survey in
Western Kansas, and after that he went into the lumber business in
Atchison County. In 1876 he went to New Mexico and engaged in
the raising of cattle. This, however, was not to his liking and he
returned to Kansas and went to dealing in lumber and hardware in

194 C/rr AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Onaga. A year afterward he, in company with his brothers, opened a
private bank known as Thomas Brothers' Bank. In 1882, contemplat-
ing a change, they turned their thoughts to San Diego, and Mr. R. A.
Thomas came hither to " spy out the land." Although the San Diego
of that day was not apparently a very promising place for the invest-
ment of capital, yet Mr. Thomas' keen judgment foresaw the future
possibilities and he decided upon locating here. He accordingly wrote
to his brothers to close up their business in Kansas and come out here.

In the following year they arrived here, and in June purchased
the ground on which the First National Bank now stands, and organ-
ized and opened a bank there. Since that time Mr. Thomas has been
one of the most active and public-spirited of San Diego's citizens
He has been the leading spirit in most of the important enterprises
that have been organized here. He was one of the original incorpo-
rators ot the San Diego Street Railroad Co., of the San Diego and Cor-
onado Ferry Co., of the San Diego Lumber Co., of the West Coast Lum-
ber Co., and of the San Diego and Old Town Railroad Co. He has
also been largely interested in a great many land companies, including
Escondido Land Co., the San Marcos Land Co. , the Cottage Hill Land
Association, and the Pacific Beach Co. He still owns stock in these
corporations, but has dropped out of the management, and now devotes
himself exclusively to his duties as President of the First National Bank.
He held the position of cashier of that institution until last June, when
he was elected President.

In a short time he will erect a six-story brick buildhig in
connection with Mr. I. A. Sheriff, on the southeast corner of Fifth
and E Streets, which will cover one hundred feet square. This will be
one of the finest buildings in the city and will cost not less than
$120,000. He will also erect another building in connection with
O. S. Hubbell, a five or six-story brick, covering 125x100, that will
cost about $150,000, on the corner of Sixth and D Streets.

Mr. Thomas was married in March, 1875, to Miss Mary Beven, of
Atchison, Kansas. He has two children, both daughters.

• JUDGE JOHN D. WORKS.

A SON of Indiana who has won for himself a proud position in the
young metropolis of the Pacific Coast is Judge John D. Works. He
was born in Ohio County in that State, in the year 1847. His father
was a lawyer by profession, and had for many years practiced in Ohio
and Switzerland Counties. Young Works lived on a farm till he w
seventeen years of age, availing himself of such educational adv;
tages as were afforded by the district schools of the neighborhood, e
the spring of 1861 came the attack upon Sumter, the call for volt

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

195

teers, and the mustering of troops. Like the other Western States,
Indiana sent regiment after regiment to the front, and her troops were
seen on every battle-field from Donelson to Vicksburg and from Atlanta
to wSavannah. The fire of patriotism in those stirring days burned not
only in the bosoms of men of mature years, but it stirred the youth of the
country; they left their tasks unfinished, their farm-work undone.

JUDGE JOHN D. WORKS.

John Works felt the infection that was in the air and longed to shoul-
der a musket and march to the war. But he was yet too tender in
years to be mustered by the recruiting sergeant, and he had to curb his
longing for military service. Finally, however, when he had reached
v» age of seventeen, he enlisted in the Tenth Indiana Cavalry, and from
A: time on until the the close of the war he was in active service,
the/as most of the time with his regiment attached to the Army of the
retiberland. He took part in* the battle of Nashville, in December,

196 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

1864, when Hood, who had raised a new army in northern Alabama,
and penetrated into middle Tennessee, was signally defeated by Gen-
eral Thomas. Immediately after this. Works went with his regiment
down the river to New Orleans, and thence across to Mobile, where he
participated in the siege of that place. During most of this time he
was engaged in outpost and scout duty.

When the city capitulated to the Union forces under General
Canby, his regiment rode across the country from Mobile to Vicksburg,
a distance of one thousand six hundred miles. The bridges had all
been destroyed and the country pretty well laid waste by General Wil-
son on his last raid, and Works and his fellow-troopers had to do some
pretty lively foraging to get enough feed for their horses and themselves,
as their rations were very short. After being mustered out he returned
home, and for a time attended school, but he had decided to become a
lawyer, and he was soon devoting all his energies to the study of his
chosen profession in the office of Hon. A. C. Downey, formerly one of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana. As soon as he was ad-
mitted, he began the active practice of his profession without inter-
mission, except that he served one term as a member of the State
Legislature in 1879, until 1883, when became to San Diego. Here "he
opened an office and began practice. He served one term as City
Attorney, and in October, 1886, was appointed by Governor Stoneman to
the Superior bench to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Judge W. T. McNealy. At the general election. Judge Works was
nominated for the unexpired term of Judge McNealy, and elected
without opposition. In September of the last year, owing to the
laborious duties of the position, and the inadequate compensation
allowed by law. Judge Works tendered his resignation to the Gov-
ernor and was succeeded by Hon. Edwin Parker. He then at once
formed a partnership with ex-Congressman Olin Wellborn and John
R. Jones, and is now engaged in the active practice of his profession.

If anything was wanting to show the high opinion entertained ol
Judge Works by his legal associates, it could be found in the resolu-
tions adopted by the members of the bar, on the occasion of his retire-
ment from the bench. During nearly all the time that Judge Works
has been engaged in the practice of his profession, and while he was
discharging the arduous duties of a judicial office, he has found time to
engage in legal literature, and has produced a number of very valuable
law books. His " Indiana Practice and Pleading," in three volumes, is
a thorough and exhaustive work on code practice and pleading. A
volume published some months since on the " Removal of Causes from
the State to the Federal Courts," gives, in a convenient form, the law
and practice relating to methods necessary to be adopted in such cases.
He is now engaged in the preparation of a work entitled, "The Princi-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 197

pies of Pleading and Practice," which will aim to give, in a clear and
practical form, the general principles of pleading and practice as they
exist, as effected by the rules of pleading at common law, and in equity
and the codes and statutes of the several States.

Althoughjudge Works came to San Diego on account of a bronchial
affection, he is now in the enjoyment of excellent health. He is a
laborious student, and as a Counsellor stands in the very front rank of
his profession. Personally, he is one of the most genial of men and is
deservedly popular with all. He has a fine residence on Fifth Street,
and has invested some of his means in real estate. He has unbounded
faith in the future of San Diego and expects to see it a great and thriv-
ing commercial city. Judge Works was married in Bevay, Indiana, in
November, 1868, to Miss Alice Banta. The fruit of this union has
been six children, all living with their parents, and making one of the
happiest family circles one can wish to see.

L. S, McLURE.

One of the best-known citizens of San Diego, on account of his
public spirit, wealth, and social position, is L. S. McLure. He was born
in Marshall, Saline County, Missouri, September 23, 1848. Mr.
McLure' s father was born in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Vir-
ginia, but was raised in Pennsylvania. His mother, who was a Miss
Parkison, was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and is still living.
When he was three years of age his parents removed to the city of St.
Louis. He attended the public schools there until he was twelve years
old, and afterwards went to Pleasant Ridge College. The war was rag-
ing at this time, and young McLure' s ardent temperament drew him, as
might be expected from his birth and early training, to espouse the cause
of the South. So pronounced was he in the utterance of his sentiments,
that he was, in the summer of 1863, banished from St. Louis. He im-
mediately went into the Confederate lines and enlisted in the First Mis-
souri Brigade, in which he served till the close of the war, in 1865. He
then returned to St Louis, where he remained until 1869, when he
started for Montana. There he was engaged in mining until 1875,
when he went to Puget Sound, locating at Seattle. He resided in
Seattle for six years, devoting himself to the insurance business, repre-
senting tWenty-one companies, and doing the largest business of any-
one north of San Francisco. During this time he was elected City
Treasurer, and was appointed a Trustee of the Hospital for the Insane, at
Steilacoom. In 1882 Mr. McLure decided to remove to San Diesfo.
Here he engaged in the business of insurance and was the representative
of a number of companies of fire, life, marine and accident insurance.

igS

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

He has invested considerably in city property, but still retains his in-
terests in mines in Montana. He has retired from active business, and
now devotes himself entirely to the management of his property interests
here and in the North. He finds time, however, to take part in every
enterprise that has for its object the advancement of his adopted city,
and is a most liberal contributor to every worthy public object. He is

L. S. McLURE.

a thorough San Diegan in his sentiments, and says he would not live
anywhere else.

Mr. McLure was married in July, 1880, while living in Seattle, to
Miss Ella Tibbits, who is a native of Minnesota. Mr. McLure's an-
cestors were Scotch, and although recognizing no aristocracy but that
of merit he is justly proud of his own lineage. He can trace his de-
scent on his father's side in an unbroken line to the time of William the
Conqueror.

GOVERNOR ROBERT W. WATERMAN.

Among those who have largely aided in the wonderful development
of San Diego County during the past three years is the present Gov-
ernor of the State, Robert W. Waterman. Governor Waterman's ca-
reer has been in some respects a peculiar one. Although always active
in the councils of his party and earnest in the performance of those
duties that pertain to good citizenship, unlike most men who have
risen to prominence in public affairs, he never held a political office un-
til after he was fifty years of age.

He was born in Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, in 1826,
but when very young removed with his parents to Illinois. There he re-
mained until 1850. Gold had been discovered in California and the
new El Dorado was attracting the most adventurous and progressive
spirits of the country. Waterman was then twenty-four years old, and
as might be expected his sanguine temperament was easily affected by
the stories of fortunes to be acquired on the shores of the far-away
Pacific. He joined a party of emigrants and made the journey across
the plains. He did not remain long in the gold fields, and finally
returned to his home in Illinois. Just at this time the Western States
were in a red glow of excitement caused by the border warfare in Kan-
sas. The "dough-face" poHcy of President Pierce, largely moulded
and directed by his Secretary of War, JefTerson Davis, had permitted
affairs to assume such a condition that the anti-shivery element in the
new Territory was thoroughly terrorized and overawed. The feeling in
the State of Illinois finally took shape, in the spring of 1856, in the calling
together of a convention of the "Anti-Nebraska Party," that was des-
tined to be a memorable one in the history of American politics. The
convention assembled at Bloomington on the 29th of May, adopted the
Republican name, formulated strong Republican resolutions, appointed
delegates to the coming Republican convention, and nominated a full
ticket of presidential electors, with Abraham Lincoln at their head. To
this remarkable deliberative body Robert W. Waterman was sent as a
delegate. There he found himself surrounded by men of all shades of
political belief, — Whigs, Democrats, Free-soilers, Know-nothings, Abo-
litionists,— all willing to pool their issues, and unite in the formation of a
new party having for its cardinal principles liberty of conscience and
equality of rights to all. That grand convention was practically the
birthplace of the Republican party, and he stood with Abraham Lincoln,
Lyman Trumbull, Richard Yates, David Davis, Owen Lovejoy, and

(199)

200

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

Richard Oglesby as sponsors to the poHtical infant which was thence-
forth to prove itself so stalwart a guardian of the liberties of the nation.
Having assisted at the baptism of the Republicar\ party he has ever
since faithfully fulfilled the vows he then assumed.

In 1873 Mr. Waterman returned to California and purchased a
ranch near San Bernardino. His experience in forming at that time,

GOVERNOR ROBERT W. WATERMAN.

however, does not appear to have proved remunerative, for in the
following year we find him prospecting in the great Mojave Desert.
He felt certain that the section toward which he bent his steps was
rich in mineral deposits, and to find it he bent all the energies of his
determined nature. After a long and weary search, and surmount-
ing obstacles beneath which a man of less resolute nature would have
succumbed, he located a silver-bearing ledge, which was subsequently
developed into the Calico Mining District. The Waterman mine, on

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 201

the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, he owns in conjunction
with Mr. J. L. Porter. Feeling strong faith in the richness of the
Julian District in this county, Mr. Waterman in the fall of 1886 paid a
visit to the Stonewall mine and was so forcibly impressed with what he
saw that he purchased it, paying the sum of $45,000 therefor. He at
once began a system of extensive improvements, expending over $50, -
000 in the construction of a mill, shafts, etc., and soon had the mine
on a paying basis. Finding necessity for a saw-mill he built and
equipped one of first-class capacity, which supplies lumber for the use
of his mine and the neighboring community. The revenue received
from his mining ventures is quite large, and the major portion of this
is invested in lands in Southern California. His home ranch, situated
in a canon some five miles east of San Bernardino and within siofht of
the famous Arrowhead Hot Springs, is one of the most beautiful places
in California. Sheltered from the winds, at an altitude of over two thou-
sand feet above the sea, the air is pure and delicious. The soil is rich, water
is abundant, and everything that goes to make farm life agreeable is at
hand. On this ranch he has a fine herd of cattle, and the product of
his dairy is famous throughout all Southern California. It is not to the
development of mines, the tilling of the soil, and raising of choice cat-
tle, however, that Governor Waterman has confined his energies and his
capital, but he is identified with every movement tending to advance
the material interests of his section. He was one of the projectors and is
largely interested financially in the magnificent structure known as
the Stewart Hotel, now completed at San Bernardino, and is a heavy
stockholder in the proposed motor railroad line to be built from San
Bernardino to Arrowhead Springs. He is, also, heavily interested in
San Diego County. Besides the mine and saw-mill near Julian, to
which reference has been already made, he has recently purchased twentv
thousand acres of land in that vicinity, which, by the opening of railroad
communication, is bound to become very valuable. For the purpose
of getting the ore from the Stonewall mine to market and developing the
rich agricultural section of the Cuyamaca, Governor Waterman has inter-
ested himself in the San Diego and Cuyamaca narrow-gauge railroad
line, the construction of which has been already commenced. The com-
j:)letion of this road will mark another era in the development of this
county, opening up, as it will, a section rich in agricultural and min-
eral resources which has heretofore lain dormant. A few months since
Governor Waterman purchased four fine residence lots in the vicinity of
Florence Heights, San Diego. As a member of the committee
appointed to secure the erection of a monument to the gifted patriot
and eloquent preacher, Thomas Starr King, he has taken a warm inter-
est and has contributed liberally from his own purse.

As previously stated Governor Waterman has ever since the forma-

202 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

tion of the Republican Party, been one of its most earnest followers,
and, while he had not the inclination to seek political preferment, and
his business cares debarred him from accepting official position, he
has always taken a lively interest in its welfare. During the last pres-
idential campaign he, in company with Richard Gird, a former miner
and now a large land-owner, built a Republican wigwam at San Ber-
nardino and equipped three companies of plumed knights.

On the 27th of August, 1886, the Republican State convention as-
sembled at Los Angeles. It was felt that the nomination of a strong ticket
was necessary if California was to be kept in the Republican column.
While to the northern part of the State was generally conceded the
honor of nominating the head of the ticket, it was decided that the
candidate for Lieutenant-Governor ought to come from Southern Cali-
fornia. Numerous names were placed before the convention, but when
George A. Knight, of San Francisco, sitting as a delegate for Mendo-
cino County, nominated Robert W. Waterman in a speech as brilliant
as it was convincing, the first ballot showed him to be a prime favorite,
he receiving two hundred and twenty-nine votes, within ten and one-half
of the number necessary to a choice. His speedy nomination followed.
At the polls he ran far ahead of his ticket — as was shown by the election
of a Democratic Governor — defeating his rival, M. F. Tarpey, by a vote
of ninety-four thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine, to ninety-two
thousand four hundred and seventy-six. This was the first political of-
fice he ever held. By the death of Washington Bartlett, which occurred
on the 1 2th of October last, the duties of Chief Magistrate devolved
upon Mr. Waterman. The manner in which he has thus far discharged
the duties of his high position indicate that his administration will be
one of the most successful that California has ever experienced. His en-
larged views, unswerving integrity and high-minded strength of purpose,
give ample promise to the people that the man who now fills the guber-
natorial chair will zealously guard their interests, and fulfill the duties
of his position with credit to himself and honor to the State.

Among his first appointments, illustrating his knowledge of men
and his desire to cut loose from all entangling alliances, was the selec-
tion of Hon. >Lircus D. Boruck, of San Francisco, to be his private
Secretary. Perhaps no better choice than this could have been made.
Mr. Boruck is a firm adherent of Republican principles and has a large
acquaintance with men and affairs. It was during his long ser\'ice as
Secretary of the State Central Committee that the Republican party
achieved its greatest triumphs in California, and it is not improper to say
that those successes were largely due to Mr. Boruck' s sound judgment
and sage ad\uce.

Personally, Governor Waterman is one of the most genial ot men ;
simple in manners, he is easily approached, and has a kind word and

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 203

a happy salutation for all. He is generous to a fault and his many excel-
lent qualities of head and heart have, during his career in California,
raised up for him an army of friends who are not confined to party
lines, but are as numerous among his opponents as among those of his
own political sect.

Governor Waterman was married in Belvidere, Illinois, September,
1847, to Miss Jane Gardner. The fruit of their union was seven chil-
dren. The eldest son is dead, but two sons and four daughters are
now living.

COLONEL W. H. HOLABIRD.

According to Webster, one of the definitions of boom is, "to
make a loud noise;" another, "to move rapidly." If San Diego's
boom was started with a loud noise, it has certainly moved rapidly,
and gathered stability and strength as it progressed. The boom, then,
has been a good thing for San Diego; all will admit that. It is not
with the boom itself, however, that we have to deal, but with the man
who started it — the "Father of the Boom," as he has been termed, W.
H. Holabird. Colonel Holabird is a native of the Green Mountain
State, having been born in Chittenden County, in 1845. Just after hav-
ing graduated at the Williston Academy he went with his father to
Atchison, Kansas, where the latter had been appointed agent of the
Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, then just completed to the Missouri
River. He entered the office of the company with his father, where
his active mind soon found time, while attending to his clerical duties,
to devise a system for supplying the train on the road with periodical
literature. This was the beginning of the newspaper and periodical
train service now in operation on the railroads of the country. During
the exciting contest in Kansas that raged between the Lecompton and
Free State parties, that preceded the great Civil War, young Holabird
was an earnest and active opponent of slavery. On the occasion of
the visit of William H. Seward to Atchison he was one of the most prom-
inent of a company of young men who erected a triumphal arch in honor
of the advent of "the defender of Kansas." He was agent of the C.
O. C. and P. P. E.xpress Company that carried the mails across the
plains and the Sierras to the Pacific in much less time than had ever
been known before. At the outbreak of the war he returned to Ver-
mont and enlisted in the Twelfth Vermont Volunteer Infantry. In the
same regiment was H. L. Story, the well-known capitalist of San Diego.
They served together during the first three years of the war. After
the battle of Gettysburg, Holabird was transferred to the navy, and
ordered to service on board the monitor Monad)iock. After the

204

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

bombardment of Fort Fisher, in which his vessel took part, he was
promoted to be Paymaster. In the winter of 1865-66 he made the
eventful voyage in the Monadnock around the Horn. On the way up
the coast the vessel came into San Diego Bay, and anchored for a few
days off La Playa. After being mustered out of service at Mare Island
Navy Yard, Colonel Holabird returned East, locating in Chicago,

COLONEL W. H. HOLABIRD.

where he was engaged a short time in commercial pursuits. He soon
tired of this quiet life, however, and went back to railroading. For
seven years he was in the serviceof the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
as general traveling agent.

When Babcock & Story became interested in the Coronado Beach
property, and began to lay plans- for improving it, they looked about
to find a man whom they could rely upon to take immediate charge
and assist in its development. At this juncture Mr. Story bethought

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 205

him of his old comrade-in-arms, W. H. Holabird. He sent for him
and engaged his ser\ices as general agent of the company. In two
weeks' time Colonel Holabird had copies of a map of the property and
a descriptive pamphlet in every city and town in the United States and
Canada. At the great sale, in November, 1886, he acted as auctioneer,
and as an incenti\e to the bidders he unrolled a plan of the Hotel del
Coronado that was to be and is. Many thought his descriptions too
glowing, his picture of the future too highly colored. Those persons
now wish they had invested more heavily in the lots then offered by
the auctioneer to the highest bidder. This was the beginning of the
San Diego boom, and for his services on that occasion. Colonel Hola-
bird has been known as the " P'ather of the Boom." After this Colo-
nel Holabird laid out and boomed all the towns along the line of the
CaHfornia Southern Railroad, and for a time made his headquarters at
Los Angeles. The superior advantages of San Diego, however, brought
him back, and kist year he located here again, this time, as he says, for
good.

COLONEL JOHN A. HELPHINGSTINE,

Although not an old-time resident of San Diego, there is no citi-
zen more highly appreciated for his enterprise and public spirit than Col.
John A. Helphingstine. Colonel Helphingstine was born in Crawford
County, Illinois, October 12, 1844. His father was a farmer, and his
boyhood was passed on the farm until he was seventeen years of age.
Then came the War of the Rebellion; Sumter was fired on, and the
North, rising like a giant in his might, flew to arms. The loyal citizens
of the country responded with alacrity to President Lincoln's call for
volunteers, but from no section was the response more general than
from the broad prairies of his own State. Men past the prime of life
took their places in the ranks, and school-boys dropped their books to
enlist in the service of the Union. Young Helphingstine bade his parents
farewell, left the farm, and enlisted as a private in the Sixty-second Illi-
nois Volunteers. He served through the war, in the Army of the Cum-
berland for two years and then was transferred to the West, and was
mustered out as Quartermaster of his regiment. During his spare
moments while in the army, Helphingstine had studied law, and at the
close of the war he attended the high school in Crawford County.
Having graduated, he resumed his law studies under Judge Harrison,
in Independence, Kansas. In 1870 he was admitted to the Kansas
bar and successfully practiced his profession for ten years in Independ-
ence. He served one term as Police Judge of the town, and for five
years was County Clerk of Montgomery County.

2o6

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

In 1880 he went to New Mexico, where he engaged in mining,
continuing in that calling for three years. He then turned his at-
tention to journalism, and established a daily newspaper, the Chieftain,
at Socorro. He conducted this paper for three years, with ability and
energy, and in that time made it a power in the community. He was
largely instrumental in securing the appointment of E. G. Ross as Gov-

COLONEL JOHN A. HELPHINGSTINE.

ernor of the Territory. The circumstances attending his connection
with this appointment are so strongly characteristic of the man — of his
loyalty to friends and his indomitable perseverance — that it is worth
recounting. Ross was an old Kansas man, and at one time, during
Andy Johnson's administration, had represented the State in the United
States Senate. His candid views openly expressed, and his independ-
ent conduct, however, during those stirring times, injured him with his
party (the Republican), and upon his return home from the Senate, he

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 207

was politically ostracized. Disappointed at the treatment he had re-
ceived at the hands of his party, and reduced in means, he left Kansas
and went to New Mexico. There Helphingstine found him working at a
case in a newspaper office. The two men had formed a friendship in
other days, and Helphingstine came to his assistance now. Knowing his
thorough executive ability and his stubborn honesty, he boldly advo-
cated Ross' appointment as Territorial Governor in the columns of the
Chieftain. This indorsement proved of eminent service, and Ross was
made Governor. During his administration, Helphingstine served as
Inspector-General on his staff with the rank of Colonel.

On the twentieth of October, 1886, Colonel Helphingstine came to
San Diego. He had intended resuming his law practice here, but was
wooed from his profession by the brighter opening he found in real es-
tate. He took charge of the lands of the Coronado Beach Company
as their general agent, February i, 1887, and remained in that position
until the ist of September last. During this time his sales of real es-
tate amounted to about one million dollars. While connected with the
Coronado Company, he formed a syndicate and purchased a large tract
of land within the city limits, which he has placed on the market, under
the name of Helphingstine' s Addition. He also has the agency of the El
Cajon Valley Company. Colonel Helphingstine, some months since,
secured the premises formerly occupied by the Commercial Bank of San
Diego, and has there fitted up the finest set of offices to be found in
San Diego. On the tenth of October last, he was presented, by Mr. E.
S. Babcock, Jr., on behalf of the Coronado Beach Company, with an
elegant gold watch, as a token of their appreciation of his efforts in their
behalf when general agent of the company. Colonel Helphingstine is
interested quite largely in city real estate, and, besides, has a valuable
ranch property. Colonel Helphingstine was married, in Fredonia,
Kansas, in February, 1872, to Miss L. E. Lowe, daughter of Rev.
Boyd Lowe. Their union has been blessed with one son, now twelve
years of age, and in their beautiful residence on Florence Heights, Col-
onel and Mrs. Helphingstine have an ideal home.

San Diego has no citizen more devoted to her interests, or whose
faith in her future greatness is stronger, than Colonel Helphingstine.
He is popular with all classes of people, and his friends are legion.

WILLARD N. FOS.

As has been stated in the introduction to this work, the publishers
have sought to confine the biographical portion of it to the older res-
idents of the city and county, those who have been identified with San
Diego in its days of patient waiting, and those who have aided in
starting it upon its wonderful career of progress. There are, however,
citizens who, though their residence has been comparatively short, are
to-day as thoroughly identified with the growing city, and through
their active energy and public-spirited enterprise are helping to develop
its great advantages as though they had been many years residents
within its gates. Prominent among this class is Willard N. Fos. If
for no other reason, he is deserving of a place in this work as an exam-
ple of what youth, combined with energy, pluck, and brain has accom-
plished in San Diego. Mr. Fos is a native of Ohio, having been born
in Berhn, February 25, 1S63. When he was eight years old his parents
removed to South Lincoln, Massachusetts, and there Willard obtained
the first rudiments of his education. Three years later he went to Man-
chester, New Hampshire, where he entered the public schools, and con-
tinued until he graduated at the high school, in 1883. He then entered
Gaskell's Commercial College, where he remained as a student for a
year. Then so apt a .scholar had he proven himself, so thoroughly had
he mastered the details of all that was taught in the institution, that at
the age of twenty-one he was selected as Principal. He had now thor-
oughly acquired the theory of business, and was soon to make a prac-
tical test of his qualifications. The Page Belting Company, of Concord,
New Hampshire, offered him a handsome salary to engage as a traveling
salesman for them. He was very successful and brought to the firm a
large increase in custom. Not content with being an employe, how-
ever, he started in the same business on his own account at Manchester.
In 1886 Mr. Fos had his attention directed to Southern California, and
noting the superior geographical position of San Diego, its fine harbor,
and its great climatic advantages, he pressed his inquiries further. He
learned of the great progress that was being made by the means of capi-
tal and energy to develop these advantages, and he decided that he
would come hither and lend the aid of his youth and push toward build-
ing up this young city. He came and has prospered, probably even
beyond his most sanguine expectations. He opened a banking office,
and bought a large tract of land along the shores of the bay, between
(208)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

209

the present city and Old Town. A steam motor line is now running
through the property, and it is being rapidly covered with tasteful
dwellings. From the upper portion of the tract a most magnificent view
can be obtained, and it is bound to become one of the most attractive
portions of the city. Mr. Fos' reputation for business sagacity and
probity, which he acquired in his New England home, served him

WILLARD N. FOS.

in good stead when he came to locate on the Pacific Coast, as he has
been called upon to invest large sums for his acquaintances in the East,
they trusting implicitly to his judgment. Mr. Fos is a member of the
Masonic Order, is an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and belongs to
several other fraternal societies. He has a fine residence on Florence
Heights, and owns considerable city as well as suburban property out-
side of his addition. He was married in Manchester, New Hampshire,
February 2, 1885, to Miss Charlotte Maud Whittier, a cousin of the poet.

2IO CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

John G. Whittier. He has one child, a daughter. Mr. Fos owns prop-
erty at Kendle Green, just outside of Boston, where his parents reside,
but he says there is no place like San Diego, and here he intends to
make his home for life.

MORSE, WHALEY & DALTON BUILDING.

[See illustration opposite page 14.]

The first building thoroughly metropolitan in appearance erected
in San Diego, was the Morse- Pierce Block on the corner of Sixth and
F Streets. This was completed in August last, and attracted many
favorable comments from visitors. So well satisfied with the success
that attended this building was Mr. E. W. Morse, its part owner and
projector, that he proposed to his partners, Messrs. Thomas Whaley
and R. H. Dalton, that they should join him in putting up another to
equal it in architectural beauty and the substantial character of its con-
struction. This was agreed to and a very eligible location having been
secured on Fifth Street next to the First National Bank, the work of
construction was begun in September, and lately completed. This
building is one of the most beautiful, for its size, on the Pacific Coast.
It has a frontage of fifty feet on Fifth Street, with a depth of ninety-five
feet. It is four stories in height and the front of the roof is surmounted
by a pediment in the center, flanked on either side by a railing of terra
cotta. In the center of the pediment is the monogram of the proprie-
tors, and directly underneath the figures " 1887." The front of the
building is of the finest pressed brick, ornamented with granite, terra
cotta, marble and onyx. All of the capitols, keystones, ballisters, pan-
els, and sprendels are in terra cotta; the sills, skewbecks and corbels
are in granite; the cornices are in galvanized iron,' and at different
points blocks of white marble and black onyx set in, lend a tone of
richness and finish to the front that is admirable.

The lower floor is divided into two stores, extending the whole
depth of the building. The entrance to the upper floors is by means of
a wide doorway, which opens into a large vestibule paved with tiles.
The stairways are built in double flights, having a landing-place half
way in each story. They are semi-circular, and an arcade extends
from 'the ground floor to the roof The stairs are built of solid
oak. The halls, corridors and stairways have a dado of lincrusta wal-
ton and are amply lighted. The hinges of the doors are of bronze,
and all the door knobs are of ebony. The window glass in the entire
front of the building is the finest imported plate. The rooms on the
second floor are to be used for offices and are so arranged that all of
them are provided with an abundance of light and fresh air. The
third story is divided up into suites of rooms and will be let for lodging

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 211

purposes. These suites h;i\e e\ery convenience that experience can
suggest, and will, when furnished, make luxurious apartments for bache-
lors or small families. The fourth floor, which, in reality, consists of
two stories, having a height between the floor and roof of over twenty
feet, is finished up into two magnificent halls for secret societies. With
the great height of the ceilings and an abundance of light, these rooms
rank with the finest of the kind in the State. The building is lighted
throughout with the Edison incandescent light, and on the sidewalk in
front are four ornamental iron electric light lamp posts. The sidewalk
in front of the building is made of artificial stone. In addition to the
stairways provision is made in the center of the building for an elevator.
This will be built on the most approved plan and run by hydraulic
power. The completion of the Morse, Whaley & Dalton Block marks
an era in architectural progress in San Diego, and the energy and public
spirit of its projectors cannot be too highly commended. It is to the
efforts of such men that San Diego will be largely indebted for the
substantial appearance of its business edifices.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK.

[See illustration opposite page 40.]

This institution was organized in July, 1883, as the Bank of
Southern California, but on the ist of October following it was reor-
ganized as the First National Bank of San Diego. The original incor-
porators and stockholders were Jacob Gruendike, President; R. A.
Thomas, Vice-President; John Wolfskill, W. L. Parker, and John R.
Thomas. C. E. Thomas was cashier, but was not a stockholder. The
capital was then $50,000, but it has since been increased twice. In
October, 1885, it was increased to $100,000, and E. S. Babcock, Jr.,
and H. L. Story were added to the Board of Directors, and in June,
1887, it was again doubled, making the capital now $200,000, with a
surplus of $75,000. The present officers of the bank are: R. A.
Thomas, President; H. L. Story, Vice-President; O. S. Hubbell,
cashier; M. T. Gilmore, assistant cashier. These four, with E. S.
Babcock, Jr., Jacob Gruendike, and J. R. Thomas, constitute the Board
of Directors. The deposits of the bank are now something over
$2,100,000, and the amount of cash carried on hand about $1,000,000.
The total assets are $2,500,000, and they are increasing at the rate of
$200,000 a month. The bank has on its books over two thousand, five
hundred actual accounts, and does a business of from $400,000 to 600,-
000 a day. The business increased during the last year about two hun-
dred per cent. There are now twenty-five persons employed in the bank
in various capacities. The banking room occupied for the past two years

2 1 2 CITY AND CO L 'XT )' OF SAX DIEG O.

had grown totally inadequate to accommodate the great increase in busi-
ness, and accordingly, several months since, it was decided to utilize
the store adjoining. The partition wall was torn down and the whole
lower floor of the building has been prepared for the use of the bank.
This now makes a commodious banking room, fifty by sixty feet in size,
and abundantly lighted. Three new vaults are being put in, one of
which will be burglar-proof, and the others will be used for the storage
of books, etc. The interior of the room is finished in mahogany, and
the walls and ceiling are elaborately frescoed. In arranging the in-
terior, the lobbv, or space allotted to customers, is in the center and
the desks and working room are on the outer edge, which afford the
clerical force the benefit of plenty of light. The cost of these improve-
ments has been about $30,000.

The bank has been conservative in its management, and not less
than fifty per cent of the deposits are carried in hand. It has attained
a very wide popularity and the great increase in its business is one of
the marked features of San Diego's rapid growth. If its present
enlightened management is continued there is no question that it will
retain the position it now occupies, that of one of the most prosper-
ous, as it is one of the most popular, banking institutions on tlie Pacific
Coast.

The following is the report of the condition of the First National
Bank of San Diego at the close of business December S, i.SSy.

RESOURCES.

Loans and discounts $1,400,888 17

United States bonds 71,000 00

Eeal estate and furniture 38,442 47

Expenses , f,308 52

Due from United States Treasurer 2,250 00

Cash on hand .$372,103 21

Cash with banks 623,009 93-995,113 14 ^

Total $2,517,092 30

LIABILITIE.S.

Capital * 200,000 00

Surplus and protits 106,603 77

Deposits 2,156,468 53

Circulation 54,020 00

Total $2,517,092 30

THE CONSOLIDATED NATIONAL BANK OF

SAN DIEGO.

[See illustration opposite page 46.]

This bank is the oldest bank in the county, being the successor of
the Bank of San Diego, which was estabhshed in 1870, with T. L. Nes-
mith as President, and Bryant Howard as cashier and manager. In 1879
this bank consolidated with the Commercial Bank, taking the name of
the "Consolidated Bank," with Judge O. S. Witherby as President, and
Bryant Howard as cashier and manager, and in 1883 was nationalized
with the same officers.

Its stockholders are among the oldest residents and wealthiest peo-
ple of the county, some of whom have been residents of the county
since the cession ol the State to the Union. Its Directors are men of
experience in the business of this coast, and its present President and
manager, Mr. Howard, is one of the best known bankers on the Pacific
slope.

Its management is very conservative, confining itself strictly to
legitimate banking business, and furnishing temporary aid, not capital,
to its customers. Its employes are prohibited, by its by-laws, from
dealing in stocks, or taking any part whatever in any speculative
schemes.

While this bank Has kept clear of any entangling alliances, it has
lent its hearty assistance to every legitimate commercial enterprise, and
has aided in the establishment of nearly every industry in this county.
It has been the leading factor in the commercial development of this
section of the State, and while prudent and cautious, has always been
liberal in its aid where safety was assured, and has never pushed a
deserving customer.

A bank so conservative, yet so liberal and just, cannot fail to com-
mand the confidence and respect of the business public, and this bank
and its officers possess it to the fullest extent. Its commercial success
is evidenced by its last statement at the close of business, December 7,
showing a cash reserve of nearly $900,000, deposits of over $2,000,000,
and capital surplus, and profits of $350,000.

A brief description of its office will be of interest to those of our
readers who have not been so fortunate as to have seen it. Tlte bank
is located in the massive two-story building at the corner of Fifth and
G Streets — one of the busiest corners in the city. Its office proper is
fifty by sixty feet, besides which there are a Directors' parlor and a
17 (213)

214 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

reading-room for its employes. It has four large vaults, and over one
hundred feet of massive walnut counters, over which eighteen clerks,
besides its officers, attend to the wants of its customers. The walls
and ceilings are beautifully frescoed in the style of the Italian renais-
sance, the same style being observed in all of the interior decoration of
the building. Taken all in all, it is the finest and best equipped bank-
ing room in the State, and has few peers in the country.

To all who may visit San Diego we commend this bank as a safe
depository for their funds, and for the courtesy of its officers, who are
ever ready to give new-comers truthful and valuable information.

THE PIERCE-MORSE BLOCK.

[See illustration opposite page 60.]

One of the finest buildings in Southern California is the Pierce-
Morse Block, on the corner of Sixth and F Streets. It is 50x100
feet, five stories high, and is fitted up with every modern improve-
ment. It has a first-class passenger elevator that makes the rooms in
the upper stories as easy of access as those on the ground floor. It is
lighted by incandescent electric lights throughout, and four large orna-
mental iron lamp posts are erected on the street in front of the building,
which contain each a group of electric lamps; and these, when the fluid
is turned on at night, render the vicinity of the building as light as day.
In the cellar is a fine engine that runs the elevator, the electric lights,
etc. The ground flour is occupied by first-class stores, and the floors
above are all rented for offices. The building is a monument to the en-
terprise of its projectors, James M. Pierce, now deceased, and E. W.
Morse, and is a credit to San Diego.

VILLA MONTEZUMA.

A MAGNIFICENT AND ARTISTIC HOME, DEVOTED TO MUSIC, ART

AND LITERATURE.

Situated on a gently sloping hill-side on the corner of Twentieth
and K Streets, and commanding a magnificent view of San Diego and
its incomparably lovely surroundings, stands a private residence that the
citizens may look upon with pardonable pride. It is the Villa Monte-
zuma, the home of the world-famed pianist and vocalist, Jesse Shepard,
whose wonderful performances have thrilled the music-loving of two
continents. There is something so very peculiar, something so very
striking, about even the exterior of the building that the passer-by
cannot but stop and admire its extreme unostentatious eccentricity.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 215

The odd windows, in peculiar shapes and sizes, some of which are of
stained glass; the inscription printed in quaint old English: "A. D.
MDVVVLXXXVII ;' ' the harmonious blending of colors — at once com-
mand attention, and the observer longs to see what one who planned
the exterior of a mansion so unique would do for its interior embellish-
ment.

The moment the hall is entered one is made acquainted with the
artistic purpose, the effects of universal culture to be seen at every turn-
ing. At once it becomes apparent that nothing is copied here, nothing
imitated. The art student, while yet standing in the hall, recognizes at
a glance that here is a study which cannot be properly appreciated
and appropriated at a single visit, but that the masterly ensemble of light
and shade in positive and negative colors, must be studied with as much
serious consideration as would be required in the study of a picture by
Raphael or a portrait by Rubens.

THE DRAWING ROOM.

Under an arabesque art transom hang the portieres separating the
red room from the drawing-room. This far surpasses in elegance
anything yet seen in the mansion. Everything has the appearance of
riches, art, and love for the beautiful; the dark shades here modify and
subdue the light ones there — everything is strictly in keeping with the
artistic intention, the furniture being selected with a special view to the
arrangements and designs on floor and ceiling. Perhaps the great feat-
ure of this room is the splendid bay-window eighteen feet deep, of bent
glass, the upper sashes containing life-size heads, in art glass, of Shakes-
peare, GcEthe, and Corneille, these heads representing the poetry ot
England, Germany, and France. The ceiling is exquisitely silvered and
bronzed, relieved by deep panels of redwood. A large Persian rug of
rich pattern gives this room an oriental as well as a home-like and most
inviting air, appreciated at a glance by persons of broad culture and
experience. The bay-window is separated from the main room by a
beautiful arch in carved wood, from which hang three large lace cur-
tains, which show the jeweled and arabesque glass behind in the most
artistic manner possible.

THE MUSIC ROOM.

In the music-room, which may be entered through heavy portieres
either from the pink room or the drawing-room, everything is so severe,
so simple, yet so grand, that one cannot but admire the most exquisite
taste that Mr. Shepard has displayed in its arrangement. The first
things that catch the eye are the art windows, through the many-hued
glasses by which the room is lighted. In the figures there delineated,
every feature represented, every expression, every tint is perfect. In-
deed, they seem to lack only the spark of life to make them flesh and

2i6 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO.

body. They are most wonderfully life-like, and one thinks that in them
art has accomplished a work almost divine. In the first moments of
day, the rays of the rising sun illumine a life-sized portrait of Sappho,
the Greek poet. Reclming upon a couch, and with a wrap thrown
loosely about her form, she sits idly picking a lyre. Beside her are
two Cupids, who accompany Sappho's playing, with flutes. The forms
of the figures are exquisitely moulded and the proportions are perfect.
Through an open portal a marine view, with rays of sunlight and great
rolling storm clouds, is pictured. Over the portrait is a heavy black
and white sgraffito border, beneath which and about the picture is a
crazy patch of Venetian, opalescent and cathedral glass of rich colors.
Throughout this and in the borders of all the figures in the room are
interspersed heavy sapphires, rubies, emeralds, garnets, opals, and other
jewels, all cut and highly polished. These gleam and sparkle like
dew on a bed of pansies in the morning sun. To the left of Sappho's
portrait is a life-size one of L'Allegra, representing Milton's poem.
Corresponding with this is a portrait of La Penserosa, another of Mil-
ton's creatures, who stands admiring some blossoms she holds in her
hands. Over these windows, which occupy the front of the bay-win-
dow in which they are situated, is an arch of carved black walnut, rest-
ing upon columns of similar material. In the north end of the room, in
circular windows, are life-sized bust portraits of Beethoven, and Mozart.
These are marvelous works of art; Beethoven, to the left, with hair dis-
heveled, his prominent forehead wrinkled, small, deep-set eyes, has a
dreamy look, as if his mind was in another sphere; Mozart's handsome
features, to the right, snow-white hair, prominent nose, features particu-
larly kind and benevolent, and eyes large and bright, that are lighted
up as if he is about to speak. At the other end of the room, portraits
of Raphael and Rubens correspond with those of Beethoven and Mo-
zart. These, like their companion pictures, are masterpieces, and as
the sunlight strikes them at different times of day, the faces are filled
with life-like expressions that no painter's brush could ever portray.
Beneath the portraits of Rubens and Raphael are allegorical represen-
tations of the Orient and the Occident, each consisting of a man dressed
in the costume of his respective clime.

Reluctantly the eye leaves the marvelous figures constituting the
windows, and looks about to observe the next surprise. Art, pure and
simple, is found in everything. No two chairs in the room — or in the
building, in fact — are alike in either shape or hue. There are no pict-
ures in the music-room, save those in the art-windows, but the hard-
finished redwood walls are relieved by ebony panels inlaid with bas-re-
lief, figures of ivory anti mother-of-pearl, that are hung at intervals.
The ceiling is of redwood panels and lincrusta walton in silver-gray
figures, and from its center depends an elaborate oriental candelabra

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 217

containing- on the outer circle six pale blue wax candles, and within is a
heavily jeweled metallic shade that contains a single wax candle. In ad-
dition to the six heavy Persian rugs that cover the highly waxed floor,
an immense Polar bear skin is in its center. Opposite Sappho's por-
trait is the mantel. It is of medieval design, and is built of imported
English tiles, heavily glazed, and porcelain bricks. The design of the
mantel is purely original. It represents the roof of a tower of one of the
old German castles, like those found along the Rhine, and extends over
halfway up to the ceiling. "Small black walnut shingles of odd shapes
cover it from top to bottom, save at one place, where a portico, also of wal-
nut, is placed. This bears a bronze bustof Diana, who seems to look down
from the height as if charmed with the beautiful surroundings. The
furniture in the room is all art furniture of the most recent designs, and
its varied hues and tints are all in perfect harmony with the windows,
rugs, walls and everything. Pushing aside the maroon portihcs a
cozy little retreat, probably eight feet m diameter, is found. The win-
dows are in art glass, representing the four seasons. A jeweled and
artistically ornamented window occupies the center, and over .each win-
dow is a transom, also of jeweled art glass. In the center of the mosaic
floor is an ebony stand, bearing a life-size figure of an Egyptian head
in gold bronze.

ST. CECELIA.

One of the finest art glass windows in the villa is that of St. Cece-
lia, situated so as to catch the last rays of the setting sun. The quiet
dignity and sublime resignation which are portrayed in the face and form
of this martyr saint, strike one at once as being an admirable render-
ing of the subject as originally portrayed in the cinque-cento period by
Carlo Dolce. Indeed, one could almost imagine that this beautiful
window possesses the power of the " Vocal Memnon " at Thebes, which
is reputed to have awed the entranced spectator by its production of
sweet music.

MAGNIFICENT PRESENTS.

The interior decorations are greatly enhanced by the large num-
ber of valuable presents which Mr. Shepard has received from his fi lends
in all parts of the world. On the second floor is a superb room 25x22,
containing ten windows of irregular form overlooking the mountains to
the east, and Mexico to the south, while to the west are spread out the
ocean, with the Coronado Islands and Point Loma in the distance.
This is Mr. Shepard' s sanctum, where he converses with intimate
friends, reads, writes and lives. Perhaps there is not in the world
another room like this. A Spanish cedar stairway leads from it to the
observatory directly above, and it is one of the most strikingly original
features of this unique house.

2 1 8 CITY AND CO UNTY OF SAN DIEG O.

Every square foot ol the walls is covered with pictures, both large
and small, of some celebrit}^ living or dead, Mr. Shepard's friends, ac-
quaintances and favorites. And here the visitor to ' ' Villa Montezuma' '
is initiated into the intimate environments, tastes and inclinations of the
celebrated writer and musician who inhabit it.

In this room are displayed, in a prominent and positive manner,
Mr. Shehard's personal characteristics as an individuality in art and
literature. Over a beautiful organ is a large steel engraving of Meyer-
beer, with his five chief operas represented by figures in the background;
the picture, a master-work of itself, is set off to advantage in a deep
bronze frame. Below this, to one side of the organ, is a beautiful por-
trait of Mrs. Siddons, the greatest of England's tragic queens, and
Felicia Hemans; the Princess D'Ursini, on the other side, with Rich-
ard Wagner, George Eliot, and Rossini. A bust of Beethoven, in
bronze, occupies a niche near Wagner. In other portions of the room
are portraits, pictures and busts of men and women of genius, number-
ing nearly one hundred, and the room is a veritable gallery of celebrities.
Portraits photographs and prints from Russia, Germany, France, Italy,
England and Australia are remindful souvenirs of Mr. Shepard's friends
in those countries, with inscriptions of esteem and affection from com-
posers, singers, poets, painters and writers. Beauty and utility com-
bine to render this residence a model of the ideal and the real, and the
cultured visitor from foreign ports finds a solution for this extraordinary
display of taste in the fact that Jesse Shepard himself evolved the leading
ideas herein set forth. There is not a single detail, from the first draw-
ing of the plans to the hanging of the last picture on the walls, that has
not been closely scrutinized and criticized from an artistic standpoint,
and wherever there seemed to be the slightest error against good taste,
or in harmony of color and good effect, changes were made, in many
instances a dozen times over, until the arrangement seemed, in Mr.
Shepard's eyes, to be at last perfect. Throughout the entire house this
kind of work has been done, to the great strain of nerve and physical
endurance, until it seemed at times that part of this great work must be
given up.

Villa Montezuma is exclusively a private residence consecrated to
music, art and literature. Mr. Shepard gives no concerts or other en-
tertainments in his home, but he gives receptions and musicales from
time to time to his friends and those especially invited, for which no
charges are made.

MAR 16 1951

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Full text of "The city and county of San Diego : illustrated and containing biographical sketches of prominent men and pioneers"

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