1877 (1876)(1878)(1879)(1870-1880)(1880-1890) Table of Contents
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1877 See Text
Documents
Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, 1877
A U.S,C. Special Collection Photo of a 1877 Drawing of Santa Monica and the Jones and Baker Wharf:
http://digarc.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m5758.html
Chapter I. Santa Monica Bay Region
During 1877 Santa Monica continued to hold its own in growth. A new bath house was erected by the L.A. & I. road on the beach front and fully equipped with hot steam baths, plunge and facilities for salt-water bathing in all its forms. A billiard room, bowling alley, skating rink and refreshment rooms were added to the pavilion. Altogether the finest accomodations on the coast were offered here. The Ocean House under the management of C.A. Summer was opened this season, and the number of visitors and campers increased over any previous season.
In May, William Spencer burned 4000 feet of clay pipe which was purchased by B.D. Wilson for use in the extensive irrigation system which he and Shorb were then constructing near San Gabriel. The Santa Monica pipe proved so satisfactory that large orders were placed for it and in the fall work [p. 152] was begun on a clay pipe manufactory, a two-story building, 40 by 60, with a large furnace. This was the first utilization of the Santa Monica clay beds.
The plaza between California and Nevada streets had been planted with Montgomery cypress, blue gum, live oak, pepper, weeping willow, and iron-bark trees. Jones and Baker had set out 4200 blue gum and pepper trees along the streets, and these had already begun to make a showing. The extraordinary fertility of the soil in Santa Monica and vicinity was a constant source of wonder. Blue gums planted in August, 1875, measured 12 to 15 feet high in November, 1877. The Outlook frequently referred to a tomato vine which became one of the sights of the town. It was trained by J.W. Scott against his house and reaached a height of twenty-five feet, while it bore profusely. Corn 14 feet tall is reported and the beautiful flower gardens which were the result of a little care and attention were the admiration of all visitors.
The question of the ownership of the beach front had already come up. Some parties claimed that the beach was government property and the question led to more or less friction. A very sad outcome of this dispute occurred in October, 1877. A carpenter, John V. Fonck, was working on a small bath house which was being put up on land in dispute. C.M. Waller, who was in charge of the bath house and beach property of the land company, ordered him to quit work. Upon his refusal to do so, Waller fired and wounded him fatally. He claimed he thought the gun was loaded with bird shot and that he was acting under the orders of E.S. Parker, the representiative of Jones and Baker. On trial, he was sentenced for one year. Parker was also tried, and although it did not appear that he had been given direct orders, he was sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary. He was then released to await a new trial; but as a result of the affair his young wife died and a week later Parker also died-of a broken heart, so his friends believed. This unfortunate affair gave rise to much feeling, as it had been believed by many that purchasers of lots were entitled to put up a bath house for private use on the beach. The question of beach ownership continued troublesome and there were constant difficulties over it until the courts decided in 1888, that the boundary of the San Vicente ranch extended to the water and therefore Jones and Baker had the ownership to that point.
The railroad question continued to be the most vital one to Santa Monica and, indeed, to Southern California. The influence and competition of the Southern Pacific was proving too strong to be overcome by the Los Angeles and Independence road, single-handed. Under the conditions it could not be made a paying proposition. The Panamint mines had not panned out as was expected, and the idea of continuing the road to Independence had been abandoned. Senator Jones had already sunk a million dollars in the enterprise; but he could not expect to go on indefinitely losing money. He offered to sell the road at cost to the people of Los Angeles county. Many were strongly favorable to the idea. The Outlook and its editor, L.T. Fisher, made a strong [p. 153] fight againt the "monopoly." In one of his editorials, he sets forth the following reasons why the L.A. & I road is a "good thing," and should be owned by the county:
Meetings were held to discuss plans for saving the road from the S.P. and other meetings were held which suggested all sorts of possible and impossible projects for saving the country from the complete domination of the Central Pacific. But all the talk and the many schemes proposed came to nothing. In March, 1877, Leland Stanford, president of the C.P., and General Colton, president of the S.P., with a corps of their assistants, visited Santa Monica to "look around -nothing doing," they assured the reporters. In May, another party of Central Pacific magnates came down and looked over Santa Monica and brought speculation to fever heat. On June 4th, 1877, it was definitely announced that the Los Angeles and Independence road had been sold to the Central Pacific. Santa Monica people could only accept the change and make the best of it. At first the Outlook hopefully announced that it wasn't so bad-the great company would undoubtedly improve the service and build up the trade. Its hopes were shortlived. In July the fare on the Pacific Coast steamers were increased from $12 to $15, and freight rates on steamers and by rail were soon increased. Then it was announced that [p. 155] hereafter only two small steamers, the Senator and Aneon, would ply along the coast, owing to the falling off in traffic.
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Schools
. . . [p. 266] In 1877 the district showed an enrollment of 157 children, Mr. A.C. Shafer was the principal and was assisted by Miss Yda Addis, whose name and brilliant though erratic career are known to all older residents of Southern California.
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[p. 269] School Trustees of Santa Monica
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[p. 270] Supervising Principals of Santa Monica Schools:
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[p. 281] Newspapers
. . . During 1877, H.A. Downer brought an interest in the paper, but soon retired and Mr. Fisher continued the paper until after the abandonment of the wharf by the S.P. . . .
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[p. 282] PostOffice
. . . He [W.H. Williams] was succeeded by J.M. Rogers. During September, 1877, the office was made a money-order office.
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[p. 292] Chapter VIII Churches and Societies: Catholic Church
July 28th, 1877, the Outlook states, saw the celebration of mass, for the first time in the new town of Santa Monica. The service was held in the house of Judge Morgan, Reverand Father Verdaguer, the beloved "Father Peter" of the Plaza church, Los Angeles, presiding. Services were probably held at irregular intervals thereafter until May 4th, 1884,
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Grant H. Smith The History of the Comstock Lode 1850-1920, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, University of Nevada Bulletin: Reno, Nevada, vol. XXXVII. 1 July 1943, no. 3, (revised 1966), Ninth printing, 1980. 305pp., 1877, 1860s
[p. 126] Chapter XV The Gloomy Year of 1870-The Crown Point Revival in 1871-The Boom of 1872-Sharon-Jones Contest for Senate
[Footnote: "A considerable number of Crown Point stockholders organized in May, 1877, and protested vigorously against the practice of the management in milling ore in their private mills instead of the company's mill." Mining and Scientific Press, May 19, 1877.]
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Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1877
"In 1877, the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, seeking to add attractions . . . completed a new bath house complete with steam baths and plunge [which was still operating in 1908 and had ceased by 1912] [The Crystal Plunge?]
" . . . In 1877 . . . Santa Monica . . . William Spencer used Santa Monica clay with which to make 4,000 feet of pipe for an irrigation system under construction in the San Gabriel area.
"The pipe proved to be of excellent quality, and orders poured in from other developers. Work on a permanent factory was begun in the fall of that year [1877]. It was the first of a large number of plants for the manufacture of clay products to be established in Santa Monica.
"By the early twentieth century, huge excavations pockmarked the land in the general area between Utah Avenue (Broadway) and Michigan Avenue, and from Twentieth Street to the present city limits. They were, as the years passed, to become a major civic problem. Forty or fifty feet deep, they covered a total area of many acres, acres which could be utilized for other purposes only with great difficulty.
"In rainy seasons, the pits accumulated large quantities of water, provided a breeding ground for mosquitos, and presented a hazard for children.
"The year 1877 also saw the beginning of disputes over the ownership of the beach. One school of though said that it belonged to "the government"; another view was that it was the property of the land company headed by Jones* and Baker*; a third held that purchasers of the upland lots also owned beach rights.
"Not until 1888 was the matter at least partially settled. At tht time the courts ruled that the company did in fact own the land all the way to the mean high tide line, but that line, in turn, was not established until 1921.
{Photo of Second and Arizona, Winter, 1900, show trees two and three story tall.}
" . . . in 1877 . . .
"A carpenter, one John V. Fonck, was hired by an upland propety owner to build a small bath house on the beach. C. M. Waller, employed by the land company, ordered him to quit work, and Fronck apparently refused. Waller shot him, and later pleaded that he thought his gun was loaded with bird shot. He also declared that he had acted upon orders of E. S. Parker, his superior.
"Both men were tried for the killing of Fonck, and Waller drew a sentence of one year. Parker, although there was nothing to support Waller's story that he ordered the killing of Fonck, was sentenced to 10 years in the penitentiary, but won an appeal for a new trial and was released pending that ordeal.
"While he was waiting fro his second trial, his young wife died, and a week later Parker himself died.
"The Los Angeles and Independence Railway, by 1877, . . . [had cost ]over a $1,000,000, and was in stiff competition with the Southern Pacific and the port of San Pedro. The Panamint mines had not proved to be as rich as anticipated . . .
"Jones* offered to sell the line at cost to the people of Los Angeles County, but the offer was not taken up.
"In March [1877], a group of railway men headed by Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, together with representatives of the Southern Pacific, came to look over the communty and its railroad.
"In June, Central Pacific had acquired the Los Angeles and Independence, and immediately increased both rail and steamship passenger and freight rates. By the following year [1878], the Southern Pacific had control and removed the depot from the wharf where it had been, and place it close to the present location of the city hall.
"The Southern Pacific engineers . . . pronounced the pier unsafe . . . and ordered its removal. The steamer Senator made its last call on September 9 and early in 1878 the pier was ordered removed. Efforts to pull the pilings failed, and they were chopped off at the water line.
"Not until 1893, when the Long Wharf was completed . . . did Santa Monica enjoy maritime trade . . ."