History of Glendale and vicinity

Front matter

s

Book.

Q^SlSl

CHAPTER I Discoveries on the California Coast 7 CHAPTER H The Rancho San Rafael Appears 1-^

CHAPTER HI Don Jose Maria Verdugo and His Son Julio 20

CHAPTER IV The Period of Julio Verdugo and the Mexican War 30

CHAPTER V Julio Verdugo, His Family and Activities 40

CHAPTER VI The Passing of the Sage Brush Period 52

CHAPTER VII The Story of Tropico 77

CHAPTER VIII The Transportation Question *^3

CHAPTER IX The Water Question " -^

CHAPTER X The Municipality of Glendale 129

CHAPTER XI Newspapers of Glendale 183

CHAPTER XII Banking Institutions of Glendale 191 vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIII The Schools of Gi-endale 197

CHAPTER XIV Post Offices of Glendale 214

CHAPTER XV Improvement Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Etc 218

CHAPTER XVI Libraries 224

CHAPTER XVII The Telephone in Glendale 228

CHAPTER XVIII Sanitariums and HospiTAr.s 231

CHAPTER XIX Patriotic Organizations 237

CHAPTER XX Churches 240

CHAPTER XXI Fraternal Organizations 257

CHAPTER XXII Women's Clubs 266

CHAPTER XXIII Other Clubs, Associations. Etc 274

CHAPTER XXIV The Professions 278

CHAPTER XXV Interviews and Afterthoughts 286

Biographies 301-476

CHAPTER I

DISCOVERIES ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST

EARLY DISCOVERERS: BALBOA, CABRILLO, RODRIGUEZ, SIR FRANCIS DRAKE— PIRATE OR PATRIOT? VISCAINO AND THE BAY OF MONTEREY. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY YEARS OF NEGLECT. THE JESUITS EXPELLED; ENTER THE FRANCISCANS. THE COMING OF FRA. JUNIPERO SERRA. THE FOUNDING OF SAN GABRIEL AND LOS ANGELES.

The story of every community in California is so closely related to the history of California as a whole, that it seems quite proper here to take a brief glance at the salient points of early California history, particularly in reference to the work of early discmerers along the coast, and to the work of development and settlement which, in itself, forms a chapter of thrilling interest, and although many times told is not yet familiar to a very large proportion of our people.

After Columbus had made known to the world the existence of a great continent to the westward, it was the work principally of the adventure seeking Spaniards that rapidl)' extended that knowledge. To these adventurers, by land and sea, there was no danger too great to be bravely met and no obstacle the conquest of which they hesitated to attempt.

Twenty-one years after the great discovery by Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa (who is said to have voyaged from Spain as a stowaway) stood "upon a peak in Darien" and l^eheld the world's greatest ocean at his feet. The splendid harbor, the Bay of Panama, afforded a gathering place for the adventurers of that and another century or two, and an outfitting point for the galleons that soon were traveling the highways of the newly found ocean, making frequent trips to the Philippines, and up and down the coast of the covmtry that was presently to be known as California. A party of mutineers imder one Jiminez, sailed out from the mainland and discovered Lower California in 1533. It was for many years thought that this discovery was an island and early maps show it as such. Voyages of discovery in attempts to circumnavigate the "island" took the voyagers up the Gulf of California, and led later to the establishment of a chain of Missions for a stretch of 700 miles, along the eastern shore of the gulf on Mexico's mainland.

It was about the year 1535 that the name of California was applied to the supposed island. Fifty years after Columbus sighted San Salvador, and gave to Spain an opportunity to conquer a new world and open it up to civilization, a hardy Portuguese, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, sailing under the flag of Spain, fixed for three hundred years the title to California in the Spanish crown. In

September, 1542, he sailed out of the port of Navidad, on that memorable voyage which resulted in placing his name high among the navigators of his time, added California to the list of Spain's possessions with the group of islands off its coast and where on one of the latter (San Miguel), his earthly journeyings ended.

It was on September 28, 1542, that Cabrillo entered a bay which he named San Miguel, and which he described as a "land locked and very good harbor" — a description of the Bay of San Diego which has been allowed to stand undisputed until the present. It was his successor, Viscaino, after a period of sixty years, who entered the same bay and rechristened it San Diego. On October third, Cabrillo sailed 18 leagues northward, discovering the islands of Santa Catalina and San Clemente. On October eighth, he crossed the channel between the islands and the mainland and anchored in a body of water that he called the "Bay of Smokes," which proved to be the present-day harbor of San Pedro. From there he sailed six leagues up the coast and arrived at Santa Monica Bay, and went from there to San Buena Ventura. It seems to be doubtful whether he went ashore at any of these places owing to the difficulty in making a landing. Sailing out to sea from Ventura he discovered the Santa Barbara islands, and then went northward and cast anchor in the Bay of Pines (Monterey), October 17, 1592.

He continued northward as far as latitude 40^ when he was turned back by the storms encountered, reaching his newly discovered island of San Miguel where he died three or four months later, as a result of injuries received in the course of his adventures. His successor. Juan Rodriguez, resuming the voyage after the passing of his chief, discovered Cape Mendocino and reached the coast of Oregon.

Then appeared upon the scene that picturesque Englishman, Sir Francis Drake, patriot or pirate, whichever you choose. He sailed from England on December 13, 1577, with a fleet of five ships to circumnavigate the globe, a feat which he accomplished after three years ; a voyage which was characterized by one perilous adventure aker another. For the truth of history it must be stated, however, that the greater peril in a great number of cases was that experienced by the unfortunate Spanish vessels that he encountered and the equally unfortunate cities along the Spanish-American coast which he looted and destroyed. It was his boast, when he sailed along the coast of California, that his vessel was ballasted with Spanish treasure of which he took enough back to England, to serve as unmistakable evidence of the success of his enterprise and to establish him in the good graces of his king.

He was unfortunate at the outset of his expedition, as it is recorded that when he had passed through the Straits of Magellan he had only one vessel left of the original five with which he sailed. This craft was originally known as the Pelican, but was re-christened the "Golden Hind" by Drake, who seems to have had the courage and the skill that guaranteed success even with the small crew that could be accommodated on a vessel of one hundred tons burden. It can be imagined that with a craft of this size he did not burden himself with prisoners from the numerous vessels that he plundered ; the hospitahty of the insatiable ocean was ever ready to be supplied.

Drake had not much to do with the discovery and settlement of California, and his voyage is principally notable for the narrow escape he had from making really important discoveries, notably that of the Bay of San Francis which he so narrowly missed. On June 17, 1579, having sailed a thousand leagues northward from Nicaragua, he entered Sir Francis Drake's Bay, a few miles above San Francisco, remaining there thirty-six days. He made some sort of a claim on this part of the coast in the name of England, but it was not backed up in any efifectual way and was barren of practical results.

In September, 1595, Viceroy Conde de Monte Rey contracted with one Sebastian Viscaino to engage in a pearl fishing expedition, but b}' some evolutionary process, this scheme was exchanged for one of more importance to the world and resulted in Viscaino getting fitted out for the discovery of harbors and bays of the coast of the South Sea as far as Mendocino. It was in November, 1602, however, when he set sail on his memorable voyage. He reached the Bay of San Miguel on November tenth of that year and re-christened it San Diego. On December fifteenth he arrived at the Bay of Pines, to which he applied the name of Monterey in honor of the Viceroy.

He seems to have tarried there long enough to get some knowledge of the country, its productions and of the natives who inhabited the country along the coast. Viscaino appears to have been not only a bold mariner but a man of vision, for he made a report on the country which would have done honor to a twentieth century Chamber of Commerce. He recommended its colonization, which recommendation was, after delay of a few years, ultimately adopted but not acted upon, owing partially to the death of Viscaino, who passed away with his life dream unrealized ; but due more likely to the inability of the Spanish authorities to push their brilliant initiatives to a successful conclusion. Had this recommendation of Viscaino been successfully followed up, it would have changed the entire history of our country and have given to the Pacific Coast the honor of being the site of the first settlement of Europeans in the territory now known as the United States. The fact is almost unbelievable that after Viscaino for a period of 160 years, Spanish galleons sailed up and down the highways of the Pacific, to and from the Philippines and never entered a harbor on the California coast. It seemed as if the knowledge of the existence of the land discovered b}' the venturesome sailors of Spain had entirely faded from the recollection of the generations that succeeded them.

The Jesuits who had constructed the missions along the Mexican coast of the Gulf of California, finally got into such disfavor with the Spanish authorities, that a decree was issued for their banishment. It was not at once enforced, but the government finally succeeded in getting the most of them shipped out of the country, the decree being put into effect by Governor Caspar de Portola. who had been appointed for that purpose. The Jesuits were succeeded by the Franciscans and to this circumstance, California is indebted for the new era in its development w hich now began after such a long period of neglect.

At this point appears upon the scene Father Junipero Serra, whose story of sacrifice and achievement is familiar to all Californians, as the builder of the missions, and the principal figure in the tardy effort of the Spaniards to Christianize the natives and develop the resources of the country which Cabrillo, Viscaino and other discoverers had presented to the Spanish crown two centuries before.

Father Serra had arrived in Mexico in 1749. and had demonstrated his ability and enthusiasm in mission work. He was selected by Jose de Galvez as president of California Missions and arrived at Loreta, Lower California, in 1768, accompanied by fifteen associates who were distributed to the various missions which Father Kenu and the other Jesuits had founded around the Gulf of California. The decree banishing the Jesuits having been enforced and the Franciscans put in charge of the existing missions, Galvez turned his attention to the Christianizing of Alta California, no doubt urged on to it by the enthusiastic Serra. It was decided to send expeditions to Monterey and San Diego, two of them overland and another by sea. Father Serra accompanied one of the former under the command of Captain Rivera y Moncado and a start was made on March 24, 1569. Later, however, Father Serra attached himself to the company commanded by de Portola and was, therefore, in the last of all the expeditions to arrive at San Diego, when that party caught their first sight of that beautiful bay on July 1, 1769.

As if to make up as far as possible for the long delay in taking up the work of civilization, both the holy father and the military commander lost no time in starting the work that they left Mexico to accomplish. On the fourteenth of July, Portola started for Monterey with his company of 62 persons, and on July sixteenth the Mission of San Diego was founded, the first place of worship erected in the Pacific territory of Imperial Spain, to be followed by that wonderful string of missions which were nearly all completed during the life of Father Junipero Serra, and around which cluster so much of the glory and romance, and some of the shame of California's early history.

John Steven McGroarty in the wonderful Mission Play has set forth so many of the incidents in the life of this holy Franciscan priest, and particularly his first experiences at proselyting the natives, that only a few more lines are required here to complete the outline of this brief chapter covering that period. The record of the location left by Cabrillo of the Bay of Monterey (or Bay of Pines as he called it), proved to be inaccurate, and as a consequence the expedition of Portola failed to locate that harbor, and although it had in November, 1769, discovered the Bay of San Francisco, returned in a condition of great discouragement to San Diego, reaching there Januarv 24, 1770.

During the absence of this party. Father Serra had a very discouraging time at his new Mission. The Indians refused to be friendly and consequently were not converted. Provisions became scarce and when Portola returned, he decided to go back to Mexico at once. To this Father Serra strenuously objected and finally obtained from his commanding- officer an extension of one more day hefore sailing. He fell on his knees and wrestled with the Lord until at the end of his day of grace, his eyes fixed on the western horizon, were gladdened by sight of the sails of a relief ship which had been sent out from Mexico. From this time on. the work of the missions prospered and the neophytes were in a few years numbered by several thousand, with flocks and herds covering the hills and valleys of the "new world."

Having acqtiired additional details as to the location of Monterey, Portola, on the seventeenth of April, 1770, with a party of 20 soldiers under command of Lieut. Pages, started again for the lost harbor. On May twenty-fourth, they re-discovered the object of their search and on May thirty-lirst. the ship San Antonio, commanded by Capt. Juan Perez, the first sail that was ever spread over the waters of that bay, entered the harbor of Monterey. From that time forward for a half century or more, Monterey was the chief city of California.

The Founding of S.xn Gabriel .and Los Angeles

There were at the opening of 1771 only two European settlements in California, San Diego and Monterey. Felipe de Neve, the progressive governor of Alta California, having been instructed by his superiors in 1776 to make observations of the country with regard to its agricultural and other possibilities, recommended that two pueblos be established, one on the Rio de Porciuncula (Los Angeles), and the other on the Rio de Guadalupe (near San Jose), and Don Fernando de Rivera y Moncado, was instructed to begin a campaign in Lower California for volunteer settlers in the cities to be founded.

The government offered what might be considered very alluring inducements to these settlers in the payment of money and grant of lands for homes, but the desire for the ownership of homes does not seem to have been developed as yet in the minds of the few Europeans who had come to America, probably because they had been drawn from their home countries in the first place by the love of adventure ; and the building up of homes, associated as it always has been more or less with the expenditure of laborious eiTort, did not appeal to their ideas of independent indolence. At any rate, after nine months' labor he only procured fourteen pobladores (settlers) to join his expedition. To these prospective settlers the government had agreed to pay $116.00 yearly for two years and to provide them with stock and tools and to buy from them their products.

Father Serra had gone out a little ways from Monterey in 1770, and founded his favorite mission at El Carmelo. From his headcjuarters there he had sent orders to Fathers Somera and Cambon at San Diego, to establish a mission in a certain location to the northward and call it San Gabriel. The two priests promptly obeyed orders and left San Diego with a guard of ten men. On August 17, 1771, they arrived at the site previously selected and planted the emblem of their faith. Three or four mission buildings on diiTerent sites are said to have been constructed until the present site was finally determined on for a permanency. The party which arrived at the site of the mission consisted of eleven famiHes and the miHtary escort; but from this small nucleus San Gabriel soon developed into one of the most populous and successful of the missions. It became a place of importance as a stop-over on the Kings Highway from Monterey to San Diego, Governor de Neve making it his headquarters very frequently when in the southern part of his territory.

It was from San Gabriel that, on September 4, 1781, the governor led out a small body of people marching westward eight miles to a point previously selected for the building of a pueblo to be known as Pueblo de Neustra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles. The city was founded with much ceremony, religious and military. The pioneer settlers on that memorable day were eleven families, none of the members of which could read or write. At this distance of time it may be unkind to do so, but there is a strong temptation to call them "a job lot" of first families. Certainly they were a cosmopolitan body and in that respect were typical of the great city that was to grow from that small beginning. It is as little as posterity can do for them to attempt to keep their names from disappearing from the records of memory, so here they are : Navarro, a Mestizo ; Villavicencio and De Lara, Spaniards ; Miranda, nationality unknown ; Rosas, Vanegas and Rodriguez, Indians; Quintero, negro; Camero and Moreno, mulattoes.

Father Crespi who passed through this section in 1769, with Portola on their way to Monterey, had described it as being "the best locality of all those we have seen for a Mission, besides having all the resources required for a great town," which indicates that he had in him the stuff that prophets are made of and however spiritual he may have been, was not without worldly wisdom and good judgment. It was this same Father Crespi also, who on the journey above alluded to and in the diary descriptive of the same which he wrote, describes the Arroyo Seco as a "dry" river and gave to the stream it opened into the name of Rio de Porciuncula after the name of a town in Italy. The names of the pueblo (city) and of the river, in the process of time became reduced to more acceptable every-day nomenclature.

A pueblo consisted of three square leagues of land to be distributed among settlers for house lots and "sowing land." The pueblo of Los Angeles centered around the square that is now known as the "Plaza," and was intended to extend a league outward from that center in the four directions, north, south, east and west. There was plenty of trouble in after years about the actual boundaries as surveys at that time were largely guesswork and natural objects, a hill, a mountain or a tree were considered the proper corner marks.

As a matter of fact, the Rancho San Rafael at the junction of the Arro3'0 Seco and the Los Angeles river ran down into the original pueblo with a sharp triangular projection, quite a distance. The grant to the Rancho San Rafael antedated the grant to the pueblo about two years, and being dated October, 1784, was the first of a long list of grants of land given by the Spanish governors beginning with Gov. Fajes.

Chapter II The Rancho San Rafael Appears

ALSO ONE JOSE MARIA BERDUGO. THE FIRST OF THE LAND GRANTS. INDUCEMENTS OFFERED SETTLERS. LAND GOES BEG- GING. THE "FIRST FAMILIES" ARRIVE. AMERICANS BEGIN TO COME IN. THE PATENT TO THE RANCHO.

In 1784 the San Rafael Rancho appeared on the pages of history. Lieutenant Fajes. whose name is found previous to this time as being a lieutenant of Catalonia volunteers, had become governor. It is fair to assume that he had his favorites among the soldiers under his command. It is not quite clear whether among these was one Jose Maria Berdugo, but it is most probable that this was the case, and he must certainly have stood well with the governor to be the first one to secure a grant of land from him, for the San Rafael Rancho heads the list in point of time of the hundreds granted under the Mexican regime. The governor, having no established precedent to guide him, exercised his own judgment as to these grants and after giving them appealed to his superiors for confirmation which was not given until Governor Borica confirmed some of them in 1798, the San Rafael among others. It is probable, therefore, that the so-called grant of 1784 was merely a permit granted under certain conditions. The ranch was also known as "La Zanja," and under the latter name it was occupied by Berdugo under permit from Gov. Borica, which allowed him to settle there with his relatives and family and property.

A sort of general confirmation of the granting of lands was given in 1786 by Commanding General Ugarte, the conditions being that they should not exceed three leagues square in extent and must be beyond the four league limits of the pueblos. They were not to injure the missions in any way; a stone house was to be built and the occupant of the ranch was to raise and keep at least 2,000 head of stock. There was also some requirement as to producing a certain amount of grain yearly, "two fanegas of maize or wheat for a fondo de proprias," to be spent for the good of the community. It is quite possible that all of these requirements were not complied with, but they must have been in a great measure effective as the number of live stock on the ranches rapidly increased.

The country in the neighborhood of the settlements in a few years became well stocked with horses, cattle and sheep, but there was a scarcity of manufactured goods as intercourse with other parts of the world was only maintained by water and the sailing vessels of that period could not, even if their captains wished, conform to anything that even suggested regularity in schedules. It is related that upon one occasion a man who owned a thousand head of cattle and horses came into the Mission San Gabriel and begged cloth for a shirt, as there were none to be had at pueblo or presidio. This was in 1795.

In order to get a proper perspective of conditions at this period, it is advisable to compare this beginning of the development of civilization on the Pacific coast with the history that was being made elsewhere. The Revolutionary War had ended by the surrender of Cornwallis, in 1781. although the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the newly created United States was not signed until 1783, the year before the Rancho San Rafael was given over to Jose Maria Berdugo. By this treaty the complete independence of this country had been granted; Florida had been re-ceded to Spain and the remainder of the countr}' east of the Mississippi and south of the great lakes had been declared to belong to the United States. Washington had delivered his farewell to the army the previous year. Over in France the revolution was hatching and Napoleon Bonaparte had not yet been heard of outside of his native Corsica. Daniel Boone and other pioneers were blazing the way for civilization in Kentucky and elsewhere, and the great Louisiana Territory stretching from'the Gulf of Mexico to Oregon, was to the white man practically unknown.

Manuel Nieto was awarded a rancho about the time that the Rancho San Rafael was bestowed upon Berdugo, but he lost it. although he had been its recognized owner for a number of years, through a decision of the United States Land Commission which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Other land granted to Nieto also apl^ears to have been taken from him on the plea of the missions that it was needed by the Indians attached to the San Gabriel Mission. The mission authorities were practically supreme during this period and they were very jealous of the rights of the natives who had come within the mission fold. It is related that in 1797, the Rancho Encino belonging to Francisco Reyes, with its buildings which he had placed upon it, was appropriated for the use of the Mission San Fernando.

In 1795 the San Rafael Rancho was visited by a party seeking a site for another mission. In this same year the region between San Buena Ventura and San Gabriel was explored by a party composed of Father Santa Maria. Alfred Cota, Sergt. Ortega and four men. in accordance with orders issued by the Governor. They reported that the Encino Rancho then held by Reyes was well adapted for mission purposes but the natives thereabouts did not seem to be desirous of being civilized and had no use for missionaries. Among the places visited was "Tuyunga" where the "Pagans" were found to be cultivating land on their own account.

In 1795 there were about sixteen ranches held provisionally in the neighborhood of Monterey and Los Angeles by a like number of men and upon these ranches were several thousand head of live stock. At the end of the century there were eighteen missions and four presidios, the latter without settlers, who when obtained would enable the government to establish the presidios as pueblos giving to each of the .settlers house lots and land for grain. Of the three pueblos established up to this time, there were attached to all something over one hundred families, each of whom held four acres of land subject to certain conditions, among which was the stipulation that the property was not to be hj-pothecated. There were some twenty or thirt_v men raising cattle on lands to which they had no legal title but the use of which was allowed them by some form of permit. Some of these latter did, however, subsequently obtain titles. In 1800 the white population in the state did not exceed 600. exclusive of the soldiers. There being such a small number of whites to draw upon and the desire of the Spanish government being to do everything possible to develop this great territory, it may readily be imagined that it was not difficult for any white man to get hold of public land.

At this time and upon this scene enters Jose Maria Berdugo (the "B" in the evolution towards English presently giving way to "V"), Corporal or Captain of "the San Diego Company." alluded to by Bancroft as a "retired Corporal" of that company and yet again referred to elsewhere as "Captain of the Guard at San Gabriel." One may easily imagine this "Soldier of the King." as legend says he delighted to call himself, scouting on horseback over the country round about the Mission at which he was stationed and developing a very natural desire to be the possessor of some of its unused broad acres. Xo doubt he made himself familiar with the streams that water it. particularly the Arroyo Seco; originally referred to as Arroyo Hondo (deep arroyo), and the Los .\ngeles river, and when he made specific application for the grant which he received from Governor Fages on October 20, 1784, it is noticeable that the former was well within the scope of it while the latter formed its western boundary. Not much is known of Jose Maria Berdugo. Bancroft tells us that he was acting Captain of the Guards at San Gabriel until he retired in 1784. But there are of record several facts that lead us to logically infer that the family was rather numerous for that time. The record of his marriage as found in the archives at San Gabriel is as follows : November 7, 1779. Joseph (?) Maria Berdugo (son of Juan Diego Berdugo and Maria Ygnacia Carrillo. natives of the Royal Presidio of Loreto), and Maria de la Encarnacion, daughter of Ygnacio Lopez, native of Sinaloa.

Bancroft tells of one Juan Diego Verdugo and his wife Ygnacia Concepciun Carilla. at San Diego in 1776. These were evidently the parents of Jose Maria, and there appears on the records at San Gabriel the names of several other members of the Verdugo family who were contemporaries of the grantee of the San Rafael Rancho, who must have been related to him. One of these was Joaquin Verdugo whose marriage to Guadeloupe Buelna occurred September 23, 1798, and who died January 25, 1832, less than a year after the death of Jose Maria. The family appears to have been one of importance, numerically at least, at the close of the century. .

Another soldier bearing the same family name was Sergeant Mariano Berdugo who came north with Moncada on the e.xpedition of 1769. He seems to have acquired considerable military fame, having enlisted at Loreta in 1766, ser\ ing seven years each in the capacity of private, corporal and sergeant. He served in several Indian campaigns and his name appears on the Register at San Diego as having acted in the capacity of godfather at the first baptism celebrated there. He was Commander of the Guard at San Luis Obispo in 1773 and Sergeant at Monterey in 1787 when he was evidently discharged. His first wife was a Lugo and the second was a member of the Espinosa family. This is more than appears on record in regard to Jose Maria. But it is fair to assume that he stood well in the estimation of his superior, the governor, who having been a military man himself, probably knew Berdugo while both were in the army and thought well enough of him to confer upon him the first prize when he began to distribute his favors.