by Paul R. Spitzzeri
A prior post here shared a remarkable letter from the brothers, George and William Chaffey, penned on 6 September 1882 to a Boston financier about their Etiwanda subdivision, established on the Rancho Cucamonga and which, in short order, was followed by another project, Ontario. The siblings employed such notable development elements as the 200-foot wide Euclid Avenue as the main thoroughfare, the early use of electric lights (only recently introduced in Los Angeles where Chaffey was head of the electric company that installed the tall mast lights that gave the city its first street illumination), concrete pipes to deliver water through an extensive delivery system, and more.
The success of Etiwanda, now part of the city of Rancho Cucamonga, and Ontario caught the attention of Australian minister and water supply commission chair Alfred Deakin, who enticed the Chaffeys to go to his country and duplicate their success at the colonies of Mildura and Renmark. Over the course of ten years, the brother labored on these projects, but difficulties with government figures, dishonesty among some sales persons and associates, and unhappy settlers plagued their efforts. In 1894, financial problems mounted and, despite an effort to secure more capital in England, amid a worldwide economic depression, George decided to cut his losses.
In summer 1897, he returned to Los Angeles and, with his characteristic energy and ambition, launched a wide variety of business ventures throughout the region over the next couple of decades. While he retained a strong connection to Ontario through ownership of a bank, the newspaper publishing company and his avid interest in education, the breadth of his efforts had few parallels in southern California during that period.
For example, in 1898, he worked with the Bear Valley Irrigation Company to impound water where Big Bear Lake is now and deliver the precious fluid to the booming citrus town of Redlands. The following year, Chaffey explored options for developing a water system in Oceanside in northern San Diego County tapping the San Luis Rey River.
Also in 1899, he and a pair of partners, including politician and real estate developer Reginaldo F. del Valle, acquired over 1,200 acres in Santa Ana Canyon in northeastern Orange County, where the Santa Ana River flowed, but where oil was also presumed to be waiting for extraction. Nearby, Chaffey purchased forty acres from Union Oil founder Wallace L. Hardison in an area near where Edward L. Doheny brought in Orange County’s first oil well two years before. Chaffey was previously president of Burdette Chandler’s oil company, which, in the 1880s, launched operations at Petrolia, where Carbon and Soquel canyons meet in modern Brea, though success proved fleeting.
A decade later, he and his son Andrew joined transportation and real estate tycoon (not to mention books and manuscripts and art collector) Henry E. Huntington, Huntington associate Epes Randolph, and Willits J. Hole (a Riverside citrus rancher and key figure in La Habra) in the establishment of an oil town named for Randolph. Shortly afterward, the syndicate rechristened the community as Brea and added members included Union Oil’s general manager William W. Orcutt and secretary Giles Kellogg. Another Chaffey son, John, was involved through his role in local water companies, with George also heading the La Habra Valley and East Whittier water firms.
Aside from his founding on Ontario, Chaffey was probably best known in his lifetime as the so-called “Father of the Imperial Valley” as he formed the California Development Company and subsidiaries and undertook the massive project of irrigating a huge amount of arid lands west of the Colorado River in the southeastern part of the Golden State and across the border in Baja California, México. There was some controversy associated with the work, including an issue arising between Randolph and Chaffey about the spending of fund, but in the mists of time, Chaffey was remembered as instrumental in helping to establish the farm lands of this section.
Lesser known was his ownership of property along Cottonwood Creek, west of Owens Lake, which he asserted was for the use of waste water and the reclamation of lands in the area; building an electric power plant for use in the area and for powering a railroad he planned to build to Los Angeles. When the City of Los Angeles, having acquired lands in the area for the nascent Los Angeles Aqueduct, controversy arose about purported conflicts between Chaffey’s intentions and those of the metropolis, though this was soon settled to the general satisfaction of the parties.
The early years of the 20th century included an aggressive move into banking by Chaffey and his son, including the American Savings Bank, of which George was president and Andrew a director initially; the Hibernian Savings Bank, with the two originally in the same roles; the First National Bank of Ontario, with the father heading the organization and the son as the vice-president; and others, such as in Monrovia.
Andrew was also the president of the Union Trust Company and rose to lead the California Bank, which was formed from the merger of Hibernian and the Home Savings Bank. One of the connections to the Workman and Temple family was that former mayor and city treasurer William H. Workman, nephew of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste, became president of American Savings and another was that Walter P. Temple, in his diminishing financial condition in the late 1920s, borrowed from the California Bank and lost the Homestead to the institution in a 1932 foreclosure.
The Hibernian bank was located in a building at the southeast corner of Spring and 4th streets that is still with us, while Chaffey, having acquired a former post office at Main and Winston, between 4th and 5th, erected, with a partner, the Canadian Building (named for an obvious reason) and which is also extant. Another example of a surviving Angel City structure associated with Chaffey is the exuberant Greek Revival East Los Angeles (soon renamed Lincoln Heights) branch of Hibernian that remains standing and now contains a Pollo Loco restaurant.
In 1883, Chaffey, after leaving Riverside to establish Etiwanda and Ontario, purchased the Hill Street house of attorney, judge and real estate developer Robert M. Widney, who then built a new dwelling behind it on Olive Street. After returning from Australia, he acquired a house in Boyle Heights, founded by his future banking partner William H. Workman (Chaffey was later a bondsman for the city treasurer.) After several years, Chaffey relocated to an exclusive area of Wilshire Boulevard, near where another associate, G. Allan Hancock, developed the Hancock Park subdivision.
When his wife, Annette McCord, experienced worsening health, it was decided to move to the suburban town of Whittier, where their son John resided and where, as noted above, Chaffey had extensive water interests. In 1918, after a half-dozen years, Ann, as she was known, died and one of the widow’s sister moved in with him for a short time. As he was gradually winding down his activity, Chaffey increasingly turned to his leisure interests as well as philanthropy.
During the First World War, for instance, Chaffey, who was naturalized an American citizen in 1884 and yet was honored by the British government for his work in Australia, supported efforts, through ads in the Whittier News by the Red Cross for its war fund to help military personnel and civilians and the National War Savings Committee for National War Savings Day in August 1918 promoting the purchase of War Savings Stamps.
Physically active well into his seventies and hearkening back to his days in the family’s boat-building business, Chaffey had a residence on Balboa Island at Newport Beach and then at Point Loma in San Diego. In 1926, he had a yacht built at the latter city that was called a “sea-going palace, equipped with all the conveniences of a modern hotel” and which was said to be “the only one of its kind in this country” with a deck stateroom and three masts. The 75-foot long craft was anticipated to cost $26,000, which may be compared to today’s mega-yachts, some of which are in the nine figures.
Advancing age also brought occasional recognition by the local press of Chaffey’s long career. The 16 March 1921 edition of the Los Angeles Express, for instance, lionized the work of Chaffey and Luther M. Holt, a friend and associate from Riverside who was instrumental in the Etiwanda/Ontario and Imperial Valley projects as well as a founder of Artesia and Pomona. Holt was praised for his efforts in organizing the California Development Corporation and choosing and naming towns that were created.
As for Chaffey, he was singled out for honors in irrigation colonies in Australia and the Golden State and for his “art sense” in the creation of Euclid Avenue, deemed “the most beautiful [thoroughfare] in California.” He was also credited with the founding of Chaffey Junior College and the high school of the same name, while his greatest work was determined to be the Imperial Valley work that, in his 14 months of administration, involved 700 miles of canal construction for water delivery to these “reclaimed” areas.
In 1928, Joseph A. Alexander’s biography of Chaffey was published an Macmillan and Company and featured a foreword by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce of Australia and an introduction by Elwood Mead, head of the United States Bureau of Reclamation with Hoover Dam being one of the major projects during his time there. Alexander’s work is not critical and can certainly be accused of fawning, but it contains a good deal of notable information and a future post may well cover the work.
Among Chaffey’s final years, it is amusing to note that, when students of Chaffey Junior College sought permission to hold a dance after carefully perusing the founder’s grant document and then making the trip to Point Loma to seek his blessing. The 81-year old told the group “personally I can see no reasonable objection” to the request, “provided the dances are conducted in the proper manner and spirit.” He added he encouraged dancing “as it is not only a pleasant diversion, but a good invigorating exercise.” The main condition from the trust is that alcohol, generally banned from Ontario, not be allowed under any circumstances.
Upon Chaffey’s death on 1 March 1932, the Los Angeles Times of the 10th included an encomium in its editorial pages, in which it he was called a benefactor of humankind imbued with vision, courage and labor “in the cause of civilization.” With his mix of ambition, “constructive ability” and talent, Chaffey “sensed the value of this raw material” he encountered on the Rancho Cucamonga and in the Imperial Valley, while his work in Whittier, La Habra and Brea and his efforts with early electric light were also hailed.
Likened to Thomas Edison in his regional role as a “wizard of the Southwest,” Chaffey was held as one of the “few men” who “even in the course of a life as long as his, achieved so much in so many different fields of activity.” As an inventor, mechanic, boat and bridge builder, colony creator, and proponent of education, he was held as a model, while “he was a cheerful friend and companion, modest as to his own achievements” and an unfailing optimist. The Times concluded that
His was indeed the true pioneer type with vision to plan, with courage to start and ability to complete.
Ontario, Upland [formerly North Ontario] and Etiwanda are monuments to his genius and all Southern California gives testimony to the handiwork of this great public servant.
It was a pleasure to be share just some of the history of Chaffey at the library in Ontario this evening and we’ll look to feature more about him in future posts.
This blog not only enriched my understanding of Mr. Chaffey but also triggered some of my memories about Rancho Cucamonga, where I first visited during a business trip to the U.S. over 40 years ago when R.C. was relatively unknown to many Californians.
There has been an inexplicable bond between R.C. and me since our initial encounter, which prompted me to acquire a property beneath now Freeway 210. Back then, Freeway 210 was merely a dotted line on the Thomas Guide. The ownership of a bit in R.C. provides me with a deep sense of belonging intertwined with the narratives and backdrop of this blog.