by Paul R. Spitzzeri
A prior post here looked at the founding and first couple of the years, from 1885 to 1887 of the town of Puente, developed by Abram E. Pomeroy and George W. Stimson on land, just a short distance northwest of the 75-acre Workman, or La Puente, Homestead occupied by Francis W. Temple, and on a portion of the massive Rancho La Puente, nearly 50,000 acres at its peak, owned by Albert Rowland, son of its grantee, John.
The project occurred just prior to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe’s completion of a transcontinental route to the region at San Bernardino and, with this rail connection a major factor in the resulting Boom of the Eighties, which peaked in 1887-1888 during the term of Temple’s cousin, William H. Workman, as mayor of Los Angeles, there was a notable description of Puente as “a flourishing town of the foothills.”
All booms, of course, must go bust and, when this one did, the results were quite drastic as land prices plummeted. Puente was far enough in the hinterlands, being 20 miles east of Los Angeles, that the drop in values was nowhere near as severe as in the Angel City, but there would certainly have been a decline there, as well.
Still, with the dawn of 1888 and the bust not there yet, the Los Angeles Times of New Year’s Day briefly observed that “La Puente,” the word being Spanish for bridge (the “la” came out of the Catalan dialect used by explorers 120 years earlier), “describes a locality about 17 miles east of Los Angeles on the Southern Pacific Railway. It has a large storage warehouse [for grain and other farm products], but not many other business facilities. The section is well suited to fruit and grain.”
A little more enthusiastic about the little hamlet was the Los Angeles Herald of 23 February, as a “tramp reporter” passed through on his way to the bigger burg of Pomona and another new town called Chino. In the account, the writer observed that,
At Puente there is every appearance of healthy growth, and it is of a substantial sort. The oil works at this point is an encouraging sign of the times. A boom built on such solid foundations as our industry is [is?] not a bubble to be burst by every little wind of adversity that may blow on it.
This remark clearly tied the fortunes of the town to the oil field discovered at the beginning of the decade in the upper levels of the Puente Hills to the southeast on a section of the ranch inherited by another Rowland scion, former sheriff William R., who, with partner William Lacy, a Los Angeles pipe manufacturer, came into a fortune thanks to the deposits that existed on his bequest, but not those of his siblings.
We’ve covered some of the Puente Oil history in other posts on this blog, so won’t go into great detail here, but the success of the Lacy and Rowland enterprise included a gusher on well #12 brought in about the first of June 1889 and following well #13, which was also a producer. The petroleum prospecting partners sent their crude to the Southern Pacific tracks at the Puente station for shipment into the city, while contemplating a refinery at the little town, though it was decided to build at Chino instead.
In any case, most of the press coverage about the Puente area during the years 1888 and 1889 that are the focus here concerned the Puente Oil Company’s operations. Notably, the Times of 9 February 1889 reported that there were rumors of a sale (there’d been several offers in recent months) of the wells by Lacy and Rowland to an English syndicate for $700,000, a princely sum for the period and “one of the largest [deals] recently made in Los Angeles.” It turned out that the transaction did not go through and Rowland retained ownership of Puente Oil for many years afterward.
Other than that small, but highly productive, oil field, the area around Puente remained agricultural, with some grazing of cattle and sheep in hills and farming, principally grain, in the more level sections. With regard to sheep, there were occasional mentions, without much detail, unfortunately, of a growing continent of Basques from France residing in the area. Such surnames as Rambaud, Faure and Amar would come up in press references as both sheep-raising and farming were practiced by these recent migrants.
By far the biggest landowner in the area was Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin, whose foreclosure of some $340,000 loaned to the stricken Temple and Workman bank as the region’s first boom went bust in 1875-1876 gave him ownership of many thousands of acres of land formerly held by Rowland’s Rancho La Puente co-owner, William Workman, and his son-in-law, F.P.F. Temple (Homestead owner Francis W. Temple was the latter’s son and the former’s grandson.)
As the Eighties boom turned into bust, Baldwin floated a scheme of sharecropping, in which he would take a third of all agricultural yields on leased land after he advanced feed for animals working the land and seed for the crops and then deducted those costs from the two-thirds realized by the sharecropper. The Herald of 19 January 1889 remarked that,
This property [including the San Francisquito and Santa Anita ranches to the east in the El Monte, Temple City and Arcadia areas] is what is known as “moist” land, and will produce heavy crops without any irrigation. However, the facilities for irrigation are ample if its use is thought expedient. The Puente lands will readily yield eighty bushels of corn to the acre without irrigation [San Francisquito had near double that] . . . In view of such facts we do not see any excuse for sending to Kansas and Iowa for potatoes, which flourish quite as well as corn on both [sic] the Santa Anita, Puente and San Francisquito ranchos. Five thousands acres are out there awaiting the industrious farmer . . .
The 13 February edition of the paper added “there are a good many laboring men in Los Angeles who are now out of work” and it observed that the Baldwin lands were such that “an industrious farmer would soon wax comfortable, if not rich” and “the kind of workingmen needed in Los Angeles are people who know how to farm and take charge of truck gardens.” With it said that there were open positions for several thousand such laborers, it seemed clear that these could be put to work in Puente and surrounding areas because, for Los Angeles, a supposed 80,000 worker limit “has been reached in the case of the metropolis of Southern California.”
While it was well understood that the presence of railroads was vital to the survival of any area, there were occasional risks, such as fires generated from trains passing through. The Times of 26 June 1888 briefly reported a lawsuit filed by Baldwin against the Southern Pacific because, on nearly 1,700 acres on the Puente ranch, this being just north of the Homestead, ripe and unharvested wheat was lost. This was “through the negligence and carelessness” of SPRR train workers as “the sparks which flew from the smokestacks of the passing engines started a fire that entirely destroyed the crop.” There was some insurance payout, but Baldwin sought an additional $7,000 for his losses.
There were some other railroad issues during this time, as well, as in both 1888 and 1889 winter rains. The Herald of 9 March 1888 noted that “reports from Puente and other places along the line are that the downpour last night caused five washouts along the line in that vicinity,” while “near the town of Puente several feet of track were washed away.” The 17 March 1889 edition of the paper observed that “the most serious washout” after a rainstorm “happened at the Puente bridge [over the San Gabriel River] where one of the approaches was washed out, destroying the main line.”
A freak accident occurred toward the end of 1888, as the 5 December issue of the Herald reported that “as the engineer of freight train no. 21, east bound, was looking out of his cab window yesterday afternoon on the up grade, two miles this side [west] of Puente, he saw a flat car laden with rails coming unattended down the hill [really a grade] at top speed.” The engineer could do nothing to prevent a collision “wrecking the locomotive pretty badly and blocking up the track.” It was found the flat car broke loose from the Puente station yard, next to the town, “and could not be captured before it had got a good start down grade.”
While these were some of the major issues reported in the press during those two years, there were other notable items, as well. For example, there were long calls for dividing Los Angeles County, with most of the agitation stemming from those in the southeastern section, such as an Anaheim and Santa Ana, who long felt ignored by officials in the Angel City.
Though there was success achieved in 1889 with the establishment of Orange County, State Senator Joseph E. McComas of Pomona also called for a division so that the eastern portion of Los Angeles County and a small section of San Bernardino County (which split off from Los Angeles in 1853), and including some of the Puente area, would be Pomona County—obviously, this proposal failed.
Another political aspect concerned the fall 1888 elections, including for president, along with state and county offices. The Democratic Party, stumping for Grover Cleveland as the nation’s chief executive, held a series of rallies during the first part of September, including at La Puente, as it was termed, where two speakers were lined up to address the locals at 8 p.m. The Herald of the 10th provided much detail of the “rousing Democratic meeting at the beautiful and flourishing town of La Puente.”
William Rowland and his nephew, Samuel (who married Margarita A. Temple in 1889), were among the local organizers who summoned “a goodly and inspiriting crowd” from the “stalwart yeomanry of this part of the San Gabriel Valley” and who were joined by their wives and daughters “to honor the occasion and cheer on the good cause of honest and economic Democratic policy and purpose”—clearly we can see where the Herald stood!
The paper continued that,
It was an open-air meeting, a substantial stand, neatly carpeted and gracefully festooned with American flags, having been hastily prepared in the center of town for the speakers, while great bonfires made the scene as bright as day.
Two Angel City attorney addressed the Puente crowd, minutely detailing why the Democrats should be elected in national to local elections and exhorting supporters to assist the cause until the polls closed on 6 November. It was concluded that “these gentlemen were listened to with great attention and generously applauded throughout and at the close of their respective addresses.” After further calls for speeches, a third man gave a “genuine old-time rousing and inspiring Democratic speech,” after which “the orderly and well-pleased audience dispersed to their respective homes.”
The Republican-supporting Times of 14 October received a report from Puente about a caucus for local office nominations and it does not appear that a G.O.P. rally was held, but it was added by the correspondent, subscribed as “Dox, “that “Rowland township was formed last winter, consequently this will be our first township election, and we are sure to give the Republican ticket a handsome majority.” Moreover, claimed the writer, there were several Democratic defections, “but I have failed to discover a Republican deserter.” When, however, the results were tallied and reported in the 7 November edition of the Times, Cleveland edged out incumbent Benjamin Harrison, 24-20.
An interesting item from the Los Angeles Tribune of 15 May 1889 concerned the decision of the county Board of Supervisors to have the surveyor lay out “a 60-foot [wide] right of way, commencing at a point near the Southern Pacific Railroad and near the Puente tank, thence in a southerly direction over the Puente hills and across the La Liebre [La Habra] Ranch to an intersection with the Anaheim and Spadra road [now Brea Boulevard].”
This would appear to be what became known as the Anaheim and Puente Road, now Harbor Boulevard coming north from Orange County and becoming Fullerton Road, though it turned sharply west, probably along modern Colima Road, and then north along today’s Azusa Avenue—there is, however, a short segment called the “Anaheim-Puente Road” in the City of Industry that used to terminate at Valley Boulevard after crossing the Southern Pacific track.
Speaking of the Puente Hills, thanks to the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority, there is a fine network of hiking trails that many people enjoy from near Fullerton Road to the west end of the range. The 23 December 1889 edition of the Times, however, covered “A Pretty Picture Obtained from the Heights Back of Whittier,” this being another recently established town. The hiker commented on a road, perhaps an early edition of Turnbull Canyon Road from the Quaker City side and then reported,
Except in the road there is hardly a spot of bare ground to be seen: the hills and valleys are one great meadow . . . Arriving at the top [Workman Hill?] I put on my coat and turned up the collar as a protection against the wind, and looked around upon the most beautiful panorama I ever saw. Far to the southwest, and just now reflecting the sun’s rays, is the Santa Ana River, and on the west is a blue line—the Pacific Ocean. On the north and east are the high mountains covered with snow, and as I look the tops, without noticing the intervening valleys, they do not seem to be more than a mile away. Looking nearer, Los Angeles and Pasadena appear like a map, spread out as they are, and the streets of Monrovia resemble the rows of a vineyard, because I am in line with them. The [Southern Pacific] train from Colton goes creeping along the valley, now stopping at a station [Puente, probably] and going on again. When it reaches the bridge at the San Gabriel River I listen to hear it cross, and after the last car is off at the other end I hear the train strike the bridge and rumble over. The sound has been 20 seconds in reaching me.
There were even a few sporting items in the paper related to the new town, as a baseball team was formed and took on opponents in nearby burgs. For example, the Tribune of 8 May 1888 noted that a contest at El Monte between the Puente players and those from Monrovia drew a large crowd. Puente’s pitcher, known only as Young, tossed a no-hitter with 21 strikeouts as his team stormed to an 18-1 shellacking of their vanquished foes, who committed a whopping 12 errors.
Bicycle riding, including contests, were a craze in greater Los Angeles and elsewhere at the time and its notable that a group of “wheelmen” from the Angel City, after a rain delay, took to the road, meaning Valley Boulevard for the most part, and cycled out to Puente at the end of October 1889. Once the riders reached Puente, they stopped at the Rowland Hotel, built when the town was founded (and owned in the 1920s by Walter P. Temple) and where “an excellent menu and jolly social time were the rule” before the return ride.
As for the Temple family, a couple of items of significance were located. One was that the Workman Mill, called the Puente Mills in this period and located near where the 60 and 605 freeways intersect, was under the ownership of Gaetano Castino, an Italian native whose daughter, Susana, later married Charles P. Temple. He offered the property for rent in spring 1888, though there are some sources that state a fire destroyed the mill the following year.
At the Homestead, Francis W. Temple, who was born in the Workman House in August 1888 and took possession of the 75-acre property after his grandfather, William Workman, took his life in May 1876 following the failure of the family bank, died of tuberculosis just a few days before his 40th birthday. He left a $60,000 estate, with $50,000 of it considered the value of the ranch, bequeathed to his brothers William and John. William was out of the area and sold his interest for $3,000 to John, who owned the property until he lost it, a decade later, to foreclosure.
We’ll look to share some further Puente area history from the 1890s in a future post, so keep an eye out for that!