“Served Well in Army, Field and at Bar”: Some History of Alfred Beck Chapman (1829-1915), Part Four

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

As the 1880s dawned, Alfred Beck Chapman, who settled in Los Angeles some two decades prior after the Southerner resigned from the United States Army with the outbreak of the Civil War and rose to be a prominent lawyer, specializing in real estate (including his founding of the City of Orange in that county of that name), sold his East Los Angeles (Lincoln Heights) estate and moved to his large domain in the San Gabriel Valley on the Rancho Santa Anita, where now is the Chapman Woods community in East Pasadena.

Chapman also retired from the legal fraternity to dedicate himself to his agricultural pursuits, especially orange growing. He was known for one of the largest such orchards in the region, having introduced the Jaffa, as well as planting other varieties, and evinced a strong interest in tapping Eastern markets.

The Los Angeles Express of 31 March 1881 reported that the grower “is very desirous of shipping a cargo of superior oranges which he has to the East, if fair rates could be had by the Southern overland roads,” meaning that of the Southern Pacific, which was a client. This was much like some winemakers, like Mathew Keller and neighbor Leonard J. Rose, were seeking to do with their vintages.

The paper added that Chapman’s view of irrigating citrus was that doing so by pipes, rather than open ditches, was the best, as being more cost-effective and efficient in employing small quantities rather than the waste from ditch delivery. Lastly, it noted,

He thinks he could send a cargo of oranges to New York that would open the people’s eyes there to the quality of our production.

The 4 May edition of the Los Angeles Commercial, in its “Local Intelligence” brevities, recorded that “A.B. Chapman of San Gabriel,” that place name accounting for a wide area around the old mission town, especially with respect to the orange growers, “yesterday shipped a full car load of oranges to Chicago,” indicative of how new these long-distance transports were when it came to local agriculture.

At the dawn of 1882, reported the Los Angeles Herald of 11 January, a gathering of fruit growers convened at Union Hall in the Angel City, with William H. Workman, nephew of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste and a future mayor, holding the chair. County and state agricultural commissioners were present to discuss such pressing matters as pest control and Chapman offered a motion “that a committee be appointed to investigate the condition of orchards with reference to fruit tree pests.” Chapman and 16 others from such places as Anaheim, Compton, El Monte, Duarte, Orange, Pomona, Santa Ana and Westminster were appointed.

The paper’s number of 8 May 1883 editorialized upon the importance of the reduction of rates charged by the SP, of some $250 per car, or 81 cents a box, for orange transport. Eugene Germain, owner of a Los Angeles fruit company, was credited for getting the movement started and, when a railroad freight agent suggested a certain rate, Germain replied that “there were one hundred and fifty thousand boxes of oranges in this county yet to be moved” and that still lower rates were needed to avoid the fruit rotting on trees, so that,

He suggests that if a rate of $250 per car-load to Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other Eastern points, were announced, the Los Angeles orchardists could dispose of all their fruit in the next two months.

After discussing correspondence concerning the viability of shipping regional fruit eastward if rates were reasonable, the Herald remarked that Chapman was also involved in calling for changes so that he had a chance at competing with oranges from other places, including the northern Mexican state of Sonora.

With the new rate established, the paper reminded readers that “the Railway Company has done its full share of the work” and “it only remains for us to do ours.” This especially meant picking, packing and sending only the best quality products from greater Los Angeles’ panoply of growers and the Herald asserted that,

It is the special good fortune of the Los Angeles fruit grower that the fruit will hang on the tree this year through, thus admitting of his commanding the Eastern market at a time when it is bare of the foreign and other competing orange. It also bears transportation capitally. All that is needed to ensure a profitable and enduring Eastern business in the orange, lemon and other specialties of this county is that we shall send only superior fruit to the new consumers.

An early organization of local farmers was the Sixth District Agricultural Association, formed at the end of the 1860s as the first regional economic boom was in its infant stages and which was instrumental in the development of Agricultural, now Exposition, Park, outside Los Angeles city limits. With the financial downturn after 1875, however, the Association, like much else locally, fell onto hard times, but, early in 1884, Chapman joined dozens of others in committing to keep stock and support the entity.

In September, a fruit growers organization for the San Gabriel Valley was established at the mission town, with a meeting called specifically “to devise ways and means to destroy the insect pests that threaten destruction to the fruit-trees and grapevines.” Chapman, James De Barth Shorb of what is now the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens site, and a third man were tasked to write articles of incorporation and to serve as directors with seven others. The Herald of the 16th applauded the move, commenting, “this is a move in the right direction” and hoped Los Angeles orchardists would help “in the work of [the] extermination of fruit pests.”

There was a countywide gathering of fruit growers on 21 March 1885 for a confab at the officers of the Los Angeles Board of Trade, precursor to the Chamber of Commerce, “for the purpose of adopting a plan by which to eradicate the White Cottony Cushion Scale . . . and to prevent it from spreading into orchards and vineyards throughout the county.” Representatives from a dozen locales, including Anaheim, Duarte, Los Angeles, Orange, Pasadena, Pomona, San Gabriel and Tustin, with Chapman one of seven from San Gabriel and Workman from Los Angeles, were present.

The 21 May edition of the Los Angeles Times informed readers that production in the San Gabriel district included “Lucky” Baldwin, a neighbor of Chapman on the Rancho Santa Anita, but with several other ranches in the San Gabriel Valley beside, topping the list at 60,000 boxes. Chapman placed second at 50,000, with Rose packing 30,000 and Shorb sending out 7,000.

An interesting incident was recorded by the Los Angeles Mirror in its edition of 22 August concerning the use of sulfur for lemon raising, with the paper stating that the prior winter found a good many growers trying this, including Chapman who found “the recipe from a Florida book, tried it first and reported favorably upon it.”

The piece went on that “on his recommendation a number of growers at Riverside adopted the method—and lost all their fruit,” which happened to Chapman, as well, though it was not known what specifically caused the problem. The Riverside Press was quoted as editorializing that “a man who would suggest sulphuring lemons in Riverside would require some influence with the county to keep out of the insane asylum.”

At the end of 1885, another entity was established as the Herald of 1 December reported that the Southern California Orange Growers’ Protective Association opened its stock subscription list, with seventeen persons or businesses taking our shares including Workman, Shorb, Andrew H. Denker, the Germain Fruit Company, and Margaret Hereford Wilson (whose late husband was Benjamin D. Wilson), while Rose and Chapman were said to be certain to take at least 100 shares.

The “Oranges Represented” conclusion of the article stated that “the stock already subscribed represents a great many oranges.” The paper recorded that Rose had 20,000 boxes, the Germain Fruit Company some 10-15,000, Margaret Wilson and Chapman produced some 10,000 each, Shorb had 7,000 and William H. Workman’s Boyle Heights estate yielded 2,000. Baldwin, from San Francisco, telegraphed that he would take 100 shares “to put in about 20,000 boxes.” Lastly, Governor George Stoneman was said to be certain to invest, as well and, “in point of fact, by the end of this week fully two-thirds of the crop will be in the Association.”

It was also late in 1885 that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway made a direct transcontinental connection to the region at San Bernardino, ushering in competition with the previously dominant, if not monopolistic, Southern Pacific with respect to freight rates, while also being a prominent part of the subsequent Boom of the Eighties that significantly transformed greater Los Angeles.

The year 1886 started with a January meeting at Pasadena of the Los Angeles Pomological Society to plan a citrus fair for April and at which, despite his sulfuring snafu, Chapman was slated to speak about “Lemon Culture.” He offered his talk on the April Fools’ Day and asserted that the reason greater Los Angeles lemons were not as successful as they should be was because of improper curing.” One problem was a lack of official information on process, so he suggested the federal Department of Agriculture meet the need.

Chapman told the assemblage, while disclaiming any significant knowledge of the subject, that “I pick them green or just turning ripe, before they get yellow” and that this was because of “keeping qualities and abundance of juice” before the juice deteriorated or turned bitter. Also important was the cutting of the stem as was his admonition of “I handle them as carefully as possible; don’t allow them to get bruised,” while he packed them in Florida orange boxes but only half-full and stacked so to allow proper air circulation.

They were stored so that, in dry conditions, doors were kept open, but when the weather was damp, they were closed. For the former, the time was 10-14 days, but the latter from two to four weeks and, when packing was done, this was with “the best fruit paper” in boxes. He added that “many will yet be green, but in the course of six weeks or two months they will color up beautifully, when they can be sent to market.”

In mid-February, the Orange Growers’ Protective Union met and a telegram was read in which Chapman was reported to have sold a carload of oranges at $3 per box and, after deducting expenses (picking, packing, boxing and commissions), yielded a profit of $1.55. He was also part of a committee that reported that the Union should charge 2 1/2 cents a box rather than by other methods, but when Shorb complained about the idea and then resigned his position, Chapman was appointed in his stead.

That railroad tie from the Santa Fe meant that transactions were soon readily had with such major commercial centers as Chicago, where a Southern California Citrus Fair was held in spring 1886. The 5 June edition of the Herald reported, however, that a problem arose after Chapman sent a carload of oranges and tangerines (this fruit was shown at a Pasadena fair in March) and it was averred that it comprised “the finest carload of fruit ever sent from the Pacific coast.”

The shipment was to the commission merchants, the Porter Brothers, but when it came time to paying for the freighting charges, some mix-up occurred because “Porter Brothers were instructed” to release the fruit “at prices that were fully up to the highest Chicago prices on that day,” which apparently meant some kind of adjustment on the shipping fees. The result was that the fruit was released for sale, rather than for exhibition, this apparently agreed upon by all the parties involved.

Four days later, the Herald informed readers that,

Mr. A.B. Chapman is reaping a great benefit from his late oranges. At Chicago they are selling at $4.50 to $6.50 per box. He has five cars now due at New York, where he is building up a big trade in his fine citrus products.

Notably, the Times of the 5th observed that prices were higher than the past season because any loss from rotted fruit took place only at the end of the current season, though some growers secured an agent who was not skilled at the job. It was concluded that Chapman and one other local grower, John R. Dobbins, “are about the only growers that have fruit now.”

On the last day of August, Chapman penned a lengthy letter, published in the next day’s Herald, in which he lamented that, with several types of scale attacking his citrus trees, he needed several tons of fertilizer per acre. The problem, however, were railroad rates for shipping and the frustrated grower expounded on the matter with force, stating that, while he had a yield of some two boxes of fruit per tree, “they will in future bear fewer oranges and be more expensive to maintain, unless I can check the ravages of said insect pests.”

Chapman wrote that the railroad companies had a pecuniary interest in fertilizer shipment rates being lower because, the more productive his groves were with proper nutrition and less scale, the more he could afford to pay for large amounts of fertilizer. He advised that railroads hire an academic expert on agriculture to help the companies better understand the circumstances and conditions and to assist farmers in knowing how to more effectively manage their orchards. He remarked,

If there is anything to be admired in this State more than any other thing, it is that in traveling over it from cottage to cottage you find the most intelligent, healthy and happy men and women and children of any state in the Union. Their farms have not yet failed to produce for want of fertilization and a knowledge of agricultural chemistry . . . [with proper advice from the aforementioned experts] Then the land is there to support them and you in the future may be kept up to a standard of richness that will be to the permanent interest of the railroad, and of the State and its people.

On a general level, the success of the Chapman ranch was described at least twice in this first full year of the great Boom of the Eighties. The Times of 8 April reviewed the largest groves in the San Gabriel Valley, citing such examples as those of Dobbins, Shorb, Mrs. Wilson, Luther Titus, Abbot Kinney, William H. Winston, while also acknowledging “many large orchards in the Santa Ana valley,” such as in the area around Chapman’s town of Orange, as well as “the Wolfskill orchard [in Los Angeles, which] has some 8000 trees,” though that would very soon be razed for development.

The paper, however, remarked that “we selected the acreage of the San Gabriel valley especially, because one-half the entire orange crop of 1885 was shipped from that valley alone,” so, when it came to the most substantial of the orchards, the Times noted that,

The largest citrus orchard on the Pacific coast is owned by A.B. Chapman, of San Gabriel, Los Angeles county, who has 16,000 trees, covering probably 180 acres. The next is the orchard of E.J. Baldwin, of the famous Santa Anita ranch [Chapman, again, was also on part of that ranch], in the same valley, who has about 15,000 trees. The third is the orchard of L.J. Rose, at Sunny Slope, who has 8,000 trees. These are, so far as we have been able to learn, the largest in the State.

In the summer, Chapman and his brother Robert were visited by old friends from Alabama and an account published in that state’s Livingston Journal of 5 August. The writer noted that, after a stay at the St. Charles Hotel, owned by an Alabama native, in Los Angeles, Robert took the party to his domain at East Los Angeles, where “we plucked our first California orange,” while recording that Robert, who was forced to return to the law, “has a lucrative practice.”

Alfred then was discussed in some detail, including the report that, when he left the Army in spring 1861 after the Civil War was unleashed, he did so because “for good and sufficient reasons Gen. Albert Sydney [sic] Johnston refused to allow him to accompany him across the continent, and urged him to remain in [Los Angeles.” The purchase by Chapman of the East Los Angeles property of Johnston’s son is remarkable in this light.

After discussing how Chapman became a lawyer and partnered with fellow Alabamian, and childhood friend, Andrew Glassell, the writer observed that “about five years ago health considerations forced him to relinquish his practice and retire to his ranche [sic]” at Santa Anita,” where his unmarried sisters, Anna and Mary, also resided, as did their late sibling, William, Jr.

The account continued that the Chapman ranch included grapes, lemons, English walnuts and other crops, in addition to oranges on about half of a 750-acre domain. It added,

For five years he has devoted himself with laborious zeal and with skillful and artistic methods to the culture and care of his fruits, and is reaping the reward of his labors. His orange orchard is the finest I have seen, consisting of 140 acres of carefully preserved, vigorous, healthy trees, that have never suffered for care, culture or nourishment. His orange crop alone represents a handsome income. He has shipped this year about 45 cars to the various Eastern cities from Kansas City to New York, exclusive of what he has sold at home to dealers.

Moreover, it was reported that each rail car contained some 330 boxes, each with 150-200 pieces, and a tree yielding 10 boxes each year and each acre containing 40-70 trees. The marketing was done from March to June and shipping to the east after Florida’s oranges went to market, so there was little competition, except from Mediterranean countries. The profits at as high as $4 per box, with a net of $1.50, was impressive.

The account concluded that, after visiting with Alfred, “we went to the adjoining ranch, where his sisters live, in rural loveliness, in a vine-covered cottage where all the refined and cultured taste can do to beautify and adorn has been expended by its occupants.” Also of note was that, in November 1886, Chapman joined with four partners, including Los Angeles merchant Benjamin F. Coulter, in purchasing the Arrowhead Springs resort in San Bernardino at the base of the mountains beneath the famous natural feature and where a hotel built about two decades before was recently consumed by a fire.

We’ll halt there and return next with part five taking us through the remainder of the Eighties, so check back for that.