by Paul R. Spitzzeri
As has been oft-stated in this blog, the importance of substantial railroad connections between Los Angeles to the outside world cannot be overemphasized as it was an essential basic fact that no city of size and significance could survive without it. While there was a favorable finding in the federal government’s transcontinental railroad survey reports for a 35th parallel route that would have brought a line to San Pedro and the nascent harbor there going back to 1853, it was more than fifteen years before a railroad route was constructed in the area.
This was the Los Angeles and San Pedro, which in 1869, the same year that transcontinental line was completed to the Bay Area, connected the rudimentary port to the small city that was poised for its first boom, modest as this was compared to later ones. Built and operated by local capital, the Los Angeles and San Pedro was an important achievement to be sure, but agitation continued for outside routes.
When the powerful Southern Pacific (SP), which dominated California railroading, sought a federal charter to build a line from the northern part of the state to the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona, intense lobbying yielded a vital requirement—that line had to be constructed through Los Angeles and not to bypass it.
This led, in 1872, to intense and protracted negotiations between the SP and Angel City power brokers regarding what the terms and conditions would be for that inclusion and one of those deeply involved at the highest levels was F.P.F. Temple, who, along with such local luminaries as ex-Governor John G. Downey and merchant Harris Newmark, was on committees working on what led to a subsidy vote in the fall.
That 5 November election gave the SP control over the local railroad and more than $600,000 for lines that included a branch to Anaheim as well as the main one coming from the north and then heading east through Rancho La Puente, where Temple’s father-in-law and banking partner William Workman resided. The two lines mentioned here partially opened during 1874 and the 74-year old Workman, for the first time in his life, had ready access to train service for shipping his farm and ranch products as well for passenger trips to Los Angeles.
The priority, of course, was the northern route, which posed some major physical challenges with the rugged ranges of mountains between the Angel City and the Central Valley and, while the new town of San Fernando was established by former state senator Charles Maclay along the line laid out into the San Fernando Valley, there still needed, by fall 1874, to determine conclusively where the route was to go from there.
The highlighted object from the Museum’s holdings for this “Read All About It” post is the 16 October edition of the Los Angeles Herald, one of three English-language daily newspapers (the others being the Express, which appropriately featured a train on its masthead, and the Star) along with the Spanish-language sheet, La Crónica (later owned by Temple’s son, Thomas). Unlike its competitors, the Herald was owned by a stockholding firm, the cumbersomely-named The Los Angeles City and County Printing and Publishing Company, of which Temple was treasurer.
A major feature article was titled “Encouraging Prospects” and informed readers that three officials of the SP and its parent company, the Central Pacific, which built the western portion of the transcontinental, were in town. This included the latter’s vice-president, Charles Crocker, the SP’s vice-president David D. Colton (whose namesake town was a major point along the railroad east of Los Angeles near San Bernardino), and George E. Gray, the chief engineer of the Southern Pacific, all of whom were domiciled at the Pico House hotel.
Remarking that “the visit of these railroad powers is fraught with good for Southern California,” the Herald continued that “one of the purposes in hand is the final location of the road from Bakersfield to San Fernando” and “this matter has already been definitely settled for nearly the entire distance” including a recent order to work on twenty miles south of the Central Valley town and toward Tehachapi Pass, leaving just under 100 miles to go to reach Los Angeles.
In the meantime, it was noted the SP was arranging timetables so that travelers could leave San Francisco at 4 p.m. and reach the end of the line by 7 the following morning. Transferring to stages, passengers would then get to San Fernando by no later than 8 p.m. the same day and take the recently completed train route to the Angel City and arrive in an hour.
This meant that travel between the two metropolises would be completed within thirty hours, though “it is the purpose of the company to close up the gap and give us a continuous rail [route] from city to city as rapidly as money and men will do the work.” To that end, the trio of officials went to Wilmington that day to look at means for expanding the freight-handling operations at the port, including extending the wharf to deep-water—lighters ferried persons and cargo to and from steamers anchored—or excavating a channel to bring larger ships closer.
In any case, it was commented that “to meet the demands of the present, the wharf now in use will be enlarged, the fleet of lighters increased, and one of the steamers decked over with canvas for the better protection of passengers while passing to and from the large steamers.” Crocker and Colton were said to “express an anxiety to afford the fullest accommodation to shippers and travelers.”
The Herald also observed that
The Anaheim branch will receive attention, and possible an order may be issued for a continuation of the road to the heart of the rich locality beyond Anaheim. The party will visit Spadra [now southwest Pomona], and perhaps travel over the line of the road from its present terminus to and from Gorgonia [San Gorgonio] Pass. It is not promised but we should not be surprised to hear that the company had decided to push the road on to the Pass during next Summer [as it worked its way east and then south to Yuma.]
As to Colton and Crocker, the paper buttered them up by asserting that “the task could not be entrusted to two more wide awake, thorough going men” as “both fully realize the advantages which will result to the public and the company from an early completion of railroad communications between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
The 200 miles built south of the latter “does not go anywhere,” though the folks in Bakersfield and other towns along the line would heartily disagree, as “its passenger traffic is next to nothing and its freight business might be done with a hand-car.” The conditions currently meant, it was added, that any income generated “does not pay interest on the cost of the spikes that hold down the rails.”
Consequently, offered the Herald,
A completion of the road to Los Angeles will change all this for the better. The passenger travel now going by sea will change over to the railroad and increase three and perhaps five fold. Thousands of tourists and visitors from the East who come to San Francisco would like to visit Los Angeles city and valley, but they will not travel by stage and they dread a sea voyage. All these will travel by rail when the rail is ready for them. A large quantity of way and through freight would pass over the road. The road will add thousands to the population of this part of the State every year and this will increase the business of the road.
The paper concluded that the visit of the rail officials and the decisions soon to be made meant that “the good time coming for which the people of this and San Bernardino counties have so long been looking, appears to be almost here” and the visit of Crocker and Colton “promises much, and we have no doubt but that a realization of our most anguine expectations is near at hand.”
Separately, it was stated that getting the route from Bakersfield to San Fernando completed “is also good for an early increase of telegraphic facilities” and that “the completion of the Atlantic and Pacific [telegraph] lines to this point is a consummation devoutly to be wished by our citizens.” The Pacific Atlantic company inaugurated service from San Francisco in 1860 and a competitor was ardently desired for the current Wells Fargo operation so that “the residents of Los Angeles [will have] an opportunity to do their telegraphing at reasonable rates.”
Another short piece wondered if the fire lit under the SP regarding the pace of its building the line to Arizona was because of “the great necessity for a Southern overland railroad” including the projected Texas Pacific, which aimed to reach San Diego. While this project was never realized, the Southern Pacific did reach New Orleans by 1885, while late that year, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe brought a direct transcontinental route to the outskirts of greater Los Angeles, ushering in the much larger Boom of the Eighties. Regardless of the reasons, the SP’s work “will be doing a great service for Souther[n] California.”
In the “Local Brevities” column, in contrast to what would have been found twenty years before in the press, the Herald observed that “the Justice Court was barren of items again yesterday” and that this meant “there is a temporary lull in the criminal market.” The family of Harris Newmark, mentioned above, suffered a terrible tragedy as his six-year-old daughter, Edith, succumbed to scarlet fever.
At the suburban property, located at the southern end of city limits, an artesian well dug at the estate of Charles A. Longstreet was such that “the water is increasing so much that the lifter, of 12,000 gallons per hour is insufficient” for further work, so another device with 40% more capacity was being introduced. Nearby, reported the city zanjero, who supervised the delivery of domestic water through open ditches as had been done since the formation of the pueblo in 1781, “the water was turned off from the zanja on Main street, south of Washington” due to culvert construction mandated by the Common (City) Council. Though there was a temporary inconvenience to residents, “the zanja now has its full supply of water again.”
On the hills west of downtown along Temple Street, which was slowly expanded in that direction, Prudent Beaudry and F.P.F. Temple recent built houses, while the former was working on more residences to the south on Charity Street (now Grand Avenue) and 3rd in the Bunker Hill section. This led the Herald (Beaudry was president of its publishing company and was elected mayor in the December municipal election) to remark,
If we had a few more such men as Messrs. Temple and Beaudry people would not be compelled to leave the city on account of not being able to find houses for their families.
A report on proceedings from the prior day’s meeting of the Common Council included discussion on tax collection for September; recommendations for public works improvements, such as sewers and grading of streets as well as grading for the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad, the city’s first mass transit system (albeit through a horse-drawn car) and of which Temple was treasurer; discussions with the private water company about its construction of a reservoir on Fort Moore Hill and the route of Fort Street (renamed Broadway in 1890) through the area; an approved motion by future mayor and city treasurer William H. Workman to allot sums for zanja cleaning; and rejection of resurrecting the position of a health officer.
Another private firm dealing with water delivery was the Canal and Reservoir Company, which was given a charter to build a dam along the Los Angeles River in today’s Griffith Park and construct reservoirs, including what is now the lake at Echo Park, to supply water for the Woolen Mill Tract, located at Pearl (Figueroa) and 6th streets. Eighteen persons associated with the firm, including Temple, asked the city to buy the company’s franchise with the offer to repurchase in a year if the city wished. The matter was referred to a committee, but was denied, though a purchase was made a few years later, taking effect in summer 1878.
Lastly, the Herald translated a report from La Crónica concerning a visit to Fair Oaks, the San Gabriel Valley estate of Benjamin S. Eaton, with the Spanish-language sheet remarking that “the wine made from the vineyard on this place is of the most excellent quality” and from grapes “competing with any in this country [region].” The unnamed journalist pronounced that the white wine was particularly “exquisite” and offered the opinion that “no doubt these wines will command a premium in market and will be preferred to many others.”
One of Eaton’s vineyards had 5,000 vines planted to Malaga grapes that, while just a year old, already yielded some five and six pounds of grapes per vine, these growing on sandy, unirrigated soil. The proprietor also grew orange and other fruit trees, but had to take what was considered “in a veritable state of sterility” and “through his constant labor and care managed to transform a desert into a model orchard.” The piece concluded that “Mr. Eaton sees his effeorts [sic] crowned with success, harvesting plentiful, rich and delicate fruits.”
As always, advertisements are interesting to note, including one for cigar seller Isaac Goldsmith, a Jewish native of Holland whose stand was on Main Street adjacent to the Wells Fargo express office and who ran unusually worded ads with this one titled “Women’s Rights Vindicated” in which he joked,
Ladies have a perfect right to be opposed to gentlemen smoking bad Cigars, but I think if everybody would smoke Goldsmith’s cigars they would have no further objection, as the flavor of good Havana tobacco is pleasant and not at all objectionable to the fair sex, and all quarrels on that account would at once stop.
Cohen and Davis, the proprietors of The Identical, a dry goods store on Main, had their own novel way of promotion using an acrostic with the name of the establishment:
The Identical place in the angelic city—
Have you found it, friend?—it not, ’tis a pity—
Every one praises it in prose and in ditty.
IDENTICAL as being both neat and complete,
Defying all others in prices to compete,
Every one knows that its stock can’t be beat.
Nothing like leading all others in trade—
Tobaccos, Cigars, Snuffs, Soaps and Pomade,
In every variety and in every grade,
Collars, Cuffs, Shirts, Ties, Gloves, et cetera,
At wholesale and retail, low prices, you bet, eh!
Look! Cohen & Davis don’t ever get fretty.
Not exactly scintillating poesy, but it likely caught the eye and maybe even attracted some new customers to boot. Meanwhile, The People’s Palace next door used its own style of repetition, expansive use of exclamation points and a racing horse-drawn conveyance to draw the attention of readers to get customers to its clothing and furnishings shop.
Check back with us for more installments of “Read All About It” featuring historic newspapers in the Homestead’s collection.