<h2>CHAPTER XXVII<br/> COMING OF THE IRON HORSE<br/> 1869</h2>
<p>The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad continued in 1869
to be the local theme of most importance, although its
construction did not go on as rapidly as had been
promised. The site for a depot, it is true, had been selected;
but by June 14th, only six miles were finished. Farmers were
loud in complaints that they had been heavily taxed, and in
demanding that the road be rushed to completion, in order to
handle the prospectively-large grain crop. Additional gangs
were therefore employed, and by the twentieth of July, seven
more miles of track had been laid. In the meantime, the Sunday
School at Compton enjoyed the first excursion, the members
making themselves comfortable on benches and straw in
some freight cars.</p>
<p>As the work on the railroad progressed, stages, in addition
to those regularly running through from Los Angeles to Wilmington,
began connecting with the trains at the temporary
terminus of the railroad. People went down to Wilmington to
see the operations, not merely on the track, but in the machine
shops where the cars for freight, express, baggage, smoking
and passenger service (designed by A. A. Polhamus, the machinist)
were being built under the superintendence of Samuel
Atkinson, who had been brought West by the San Francisco
& San José Valley Railroad, because of a reputation
for railroad experience enjoyed by few, if by any other
persons on the Coast. The Company also had a planing
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_394" id="Page_394">394</SPAN></span>
mill and wheelwright shop under the charge of George W.
Oden.</p>
<p>By the first of August, both the railroad and connecting
stages were advertising Sunday excursions to the beach,
emphasizing the chance to travel part of the way by the new
means of transit. Curiously, however, visitors were allowed
to enjoy the sea-breezes but a short time: arriving at Wilmington
about ten or half-past, they were compelled to start back
for Los Angeles by four in the afternoon. Many resorters
still patronized the old service; and frequently the regular
stages, racing all the way up from the steamer, would actually
reach the city half an hour earlier than those transferring the
passengers from the railway terminus which was extended by
August 1st to a point within four miles of town.</p>
<p>When eighteen miles had been finished, it was reported
that General Stoneman and his post band would make an
excursion on the first train, accompanied by General Banning
and leading citizens of the town; but strong opposition to
the Company laying its tracks through the center of "The
Lane," now Alameda Street, having developed, the work was
stopped by injunction. The road had been constructed to a
point opposite the old Wolfskill home, then "far from town,"
and until the matter was settled, passengers and freight were
unloaded there.</p>
<p>Great excitement prevailed here shortly after sundown on
Wednesday evening, August 21st, when the mail-stage which
had left for Gilroy but a short time before came tearing back
to town, the seven or eight passengers excitedly shouting that
they had been robbed. The stage had proceeded but two
miles from Los Angeles when four masked highwaymen stepped
into the road and ordered, "Hands up!" Among the passengers
was the well-known and popular Ben Truman who, having
learned by previous experience just what to do in such a ticklish
emergency and "being persuaded that the two barrels of cold
steel had somewhat the proportions of a railway tunnel," sadly
but promptly unrolled one hundred and eighty dollars in bills,
and quite as sadly deposited, in addition, his favorite chronometer.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_395" id="Page_395">395</SPAN></span>
The highwayman picked up the watch, looked it
over, shook his head and, thanking Ben, returned it, expressing
the hope that, whatever adversity might overwhelm him, he
should never be discovered with such a timepiece! All in all,
the robbers secured nearly two thousand dollars; but, strange to
relate, they overlooked the treasure in the Wells Fargo chest,
as well as several hundred dollars in greenbacks belonging to
the Government. Sheriff J. F. Burns and Deputy H. C. Wiley
pursued and captured the robbers; and within about a week
they were sent to the Penitentiary.</p>
<p>On the same evening, at high tide, the little steamer
christened <i>Los Angeles</i> and constructed by P. Banning &
Company to run from the wharf to the outside anchorage,
was committed to the waters, bon-fires illuminating quite
distinctly both guests and the neighboring landscape, and
lending to the scene a weird and charming effect.</p>
<p>In a previous chapter I have given an account of Lady
Franklin's visit to San Pedro and Los Angeles, and of the
attention shown her. Her presence awakened new interest
in the search for her lamented husband, and paved the way
for the sympathetic reception of any intelligence likely to
clear up the mystery. No little excitement, therefore, was
occasioned eight years later by the finding of a document at
San Buenaventura that seemed "like a voice from the dead."
According to the story told, as James Daly (of the lumber firm
of Daly & Rodgers) was walking on the beach on August 30th,
he found a sheet of paper a foot square, much mutilated but
bearing, in five or six different languages, a still legible request
to forward the memoranda to the nearest British Consul or the
Admiralty at London. Every square inch of the paper was
covered with data relating to Sir John Franklin and his party,
concluding with the definite statement that Franklin had died
on June 11th, 1847. Having been found within a week of the time
that the remnant of Dr. Hall's party, which went in search of
the explorer, had arrived home in Connecticut with the announcement
that they had discovered seven skeletons of
Franklin's men, this document, washed up on the Pacific Coast,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_396" id="Page_396">396</SPAN></span>
excited much comment; but I am unable to say whether it
was ever accepted by competent judges as having been written
by Franklin's associates.</p>
<p>In 1869, the long-familiar adobe of José António Carrillo
was razed to make way for what, for many years, was the
leading hotel of Los Angeles. This was the Pico House, in its
decline known as the National Hotel, which, when erected on
Main Street opposite the Plaza at a cost of nearly fifty thousand
dollars, but emphasized in its contrasting showiness
the ugliness of the neglected square. Some thirty-five thousand
dollars were spent in furnishing the eighty-odd rooms,
and no little splurge was made that guests could there enjoy
the luxuries of both gas and baths! In its palmy days, the
Pico House welcomed from time to time travelers of wide distinction;
while many a pioneer, among them not a few newly-wedded
couples now permanently identified with Los Angeles
or the Southland, look back to the hostelry as the one surviving
building fondly associated with the olden days. Charles
Knowlton was an early manager; and he was succeeded by
Dunham & Schieffelin.</p>
<p>Competition in the blacking of boots enlivened the fall,
the Hotel Lafayette putting boldly in printer's ink the question,
"Do You Want to Have Your Boots Blacked in a Cool,
Private Place?" This challenge was answered with the
following proclamation:</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Champion Boot-Black! Boots Blacked Neater and
Cheaper than Anywhere Else in the City, at the <i>Blue Wing</i>
Shaving Saloon by D. Jefferson.</p>
</div>
<p>Brickmaking had become, by September, quite an important
industry. Joe Mullally, whose brickyard was near the
Jewish Cemetery, then had two kilns with a capacity of two
hundred and twenty-five thousand; and in the following month
he made over five hundred thousand brick.</p>
<p>In course of time, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
was completed to the Madigan lot, which remained for several
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_397" id="Page_397">397</SPAN></span>
years the Los Angeles terminus; and justly confident that
the difficulty with the authorities would be removed, the
Company pushed work on their depot and put in a turn-table
at the foot of New Commercial Street. There was but one
diminutive locomotive, though a larger one was on its way
around the Horn from the East and still another was coming
by the Continental Railway; and every few days the little
engine would go out of commission, so that traffic was constantly
interrupted. At such times, confidence in the enterprise
was somewhat shaken; but new rolling stock served to
reassure the public. A brightly-painted smoking-car, with
seats mounted on springs, was soon the "talk of the town."</p>
<p>I have spoken of J. J. Reynolds's early enterprise and the
competition that he evoked. Toward the end of July, he went
up to San Francisco and outdid Hewitt by purchasing a handsome
omnibus, suitable for hotel service and also adapted to
the needs of families or individuals clubbing together for picnics
and excursions. This gave the first impetus to the use of hotel
'buses, and by the first Sunday in September, when the cars
from Wilmington rolled in bringing passengers from the
steamer <i>Orizaba</i>, the travelers were met by omnibuses and
coaches from all three hotels, the Bella Union, the United States
and the Lafayette; the number of vehicles, public and private,
giving the streets around the railroad depot a very lively
appearance.</p>
<p>Judge W. G. Dryden, so long a unique figure here, died
on September 10th and A. J. King succeeded him as County
Judge.</p>
<p>A notable visit to Los Angeles was that of Secretary William
H. Seward who, in 1869, made a trip across the Continent,
going as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico,
and being everywhere enthusiastically received. When Seward
left San Francisco for San Diego, about the middle of September,
he was accompanied by Frederick Seward and wife (his son
and daughter-in-law), General W. S. Rosecrans, General Morton
C. Hunter, Colonel Thomas Sedgwick and Senator S. B. Axtell;
and the news of their departure having been telegraphed ahead,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_398" id="Page_398">398</SPAN></span>
many people went down to greet them on the arrival of the
steamer <i>Orizaba</i>. After the little steamer <i>Los Angeles</i> had
been made fast to the wharf, it was announced, to everyone's
disappointment, that the Secretary was not coming ashore, as
he wished to continue on his way to San Diego.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Common Council had resolved to extend
the hospitality of the City to the distinguished party; and by
September 19th, posters proclaimed that Seward and his party
were coming and that citizens generally would be afforded an
opportunity to participate in a public reception at the Bella
Union on September 21st. A day in advance, therefore, the
Mayor and a Committee from the Council set out for Anaheim,
where they met the distinguished statesman on his way, whence
the party jogged along leisurely in a carriage and four
until they arrived at the bank of the Los Angeles River; and
there Seward and his friends were met by other officials and
a cavalcade of eighty citizens led by the military band of
Drum Barracks. The guests alighted at the Bella Union
and in a few minutes a rapidly-increasing crowd was calling
loudly for Mr. Seward.</p>
<p>The Secretary, being welcomed on the balcony by Mayor
Joel H. Turner, said that he had been laboring under mistakes
all his life: he had visited Rome to witness celebrated ruins, but
he found more interesting ruins in the Spanish Missions (great
cheers); he had journeyed to Switzerland to view its glaciers,
but upon the Pacific Coast he had seen rivers of ice two hundred
and fifty feet in breadth, five miles long and God knows
how high (more cheers); he had explored Labrador to examine
the fisheries, but in Alaska he found that the fisheries came to
him (Hear! hear! and renewed applause); he had gone to Burgundy
to view the most celebrated vineyards of the world,
but the vineyards of California far surpassed them all! (Vociferous
and deafening hurrahs, and tossing of bouquets.)</p>
<p>The next day the Washington guests and their friends
were shown about the neighborhood, and that evening Mr.
Seward made another and equally happy speech to the audience
drawn to the Bella Union by the playing of the band. There
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_399" id="Page_399">399</SPAN></span>
were also addresses by the Mayor, Senator Axtell, ex-Governor
Downey and others, after which, in good old American fashion,
citizens generally were introduced to the associate of the
martyred Lincoln. At nine o'clock, a number of invited guests
were ushered into the Bella Union's dining-room where, at a
bounteous repast, the company drank to the health of the
Secretary. This brought from the visitor an eloquent response
with interesting local allusions.</p>
<p>Secretary Seward remarked that he found people here
agitated upon the question of internal improvements—for
everywhere people wanted railroads. Californians, if they were
patient, would yet witness a railroad through the North,
another by the Southern route, still another by the Thirty-fifth
parallel, a fourth by the central route, and lastly, as the old
plantation song goes, one "down the middle!" California
needed more population, and railroads were the means by which
to get people.</p>
<p>Finally, Mr. Seward spoke of the future prospects of the
United States, saying much of peculiar interest in the light
of later developments. We were already great, he affirmed;
but a nation satisfied with its greatness is a nation without
a future. We should expand, and as mightily as we could;
until at length we had both the right and the power to move our
armies anywhere in North America. As to the island lying
almost within a stone's throw of our mainland, ought we not
to possess Cuba, too?</p>
<p>Other toasts, such as "The Mayor and Common Council,"
"The Pioneers," "The Ancient Hospitality of California,"
"The Press," "The Wine Press" and "Our Wives and Sweethearts,"
were proposed and responded to, much good feeling
prevailing notwithstanding the variance in political sentiments
represented by guests and hosts; and everyone went home,
in the small hours of the morning, pleased with the manner in
which Los Angeles had received her illustrious visitors. The
next day, Secretary Seward and party left for the North by
carriages, rolling away toward Santa Barbara and the mountains
so soon to be invaded by the puffing, screeching iron horse.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_400" id="Page_400">400</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Recollecting this banquet to Secretary Seward, I may add
an amusing fact of a personal nature. Eugene Meyer and I
arranged to go to the dinner together, agreeing that we were
to meet at the store of S. Lazard & Company, almost directly
opposite the Bella Union. When I left Los Angeles in 1867,
evening dress was uncommon; but in New York I had become
accustomed to its more frequent use. Rather naturally, therefore,
I donned my swallowtail; Meyer, however, I found in a
business suit and surprised at my query as to whether he intended
going home to dress? Just as we were, we walked across the
street and, entering the hotel, whom should we meet but ex-Mayor
John G. Nichols, wearing a grayish linen duster, popular
in those days, that extended to his very ankles; while Pio
and Andrés Pico came attired in blue coats with big brass
buttons. Meyer, observing the Mayor's outfit, facetiously
asked me if I still wished him to go home and dress according
to Los Angeles fashion; whereupon I drew off my gloves, buttoned
up my overcoat and determined to sit out the banquet
with my claw-hammer thus concealed. Mr. Seward, it is
needless to say, was faultlessly attired.</p>
<p>The Spanish archives were long neglected, until M. Kremer
was authorized to overhaul and arrange the documents; and
even then it was not until September 16th that the Council
built a vault for the preservation of the official papers. Two
years later, Kremer discovered an original proclamation of peace
between the United States and Mexico.</p>
<p>Elsewhere I allude to the slow development of Fort Street.
For the first time, on the twenty-fourth of September street
lamps burned there, and that was from six to nine months after
darkness had been partially banished from Nigger Alley, Los
Angeles, Aliso and Alameda streets.</p>
<div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="i_470a" id="i_470a"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/i_470a.jpg" width-obs="270" height-obs="408" alt="" /> <p class="caption">Phineas Banning, about 1869</p> </div>
<div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="i_470b" id="i_470b"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/i_470b.jpg" width-obs="277" height-obs="432" alt="" /> <p class="caption">Henri Penelon, in his Studio</p> </div>
<div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="i_471a" id="i_471a"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/i_471a.jpg" width-obs="429" height-obs="318" alt="" /> <p class="caption">Carreta, Earliest Mode of Transportation</p> </div>
<div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="i_471b" id="i_471b"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/i_471b.jpg" width-obs="433" height-obs="308" alt="" /> <p class="caption">Alameda Street Depot and Train, Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad</p> </div>
<p>Supplementing what I have said of the Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad depot: it was built on a lot fronting three hundred
feet on Alameda Street and having a depth of one hundred
and twenty feet, its situation being such that, after the extension
of Commercial Street, the structure occupied the southwest
corner of the two highways. Really, it was more of a freight-shed
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_401" id="Page_401">401</SPAN></span>
than anything else, without adequate passenger facilities;
a small space at the North end contained a second story in
which some of the clerks slept; and in a cramped little cage
beneath, tickets were sold. By the way, the engineer of the
first train to run through to this depot was James Holmes,
although B. W. Colling ran the first train stopping inside the
city limits.</p>
<p>About this time the real estate excitement had become still
more intense. In anticipation of the erection of this depot,
Commercial Street property boomed and the first realty agents
of whom I have any recollection appeared on the scene, Judge
R. M. Widney being among them. I remember that two lots—one
eighty by one hundred and twenty feet in size at the northwest
corner of First and Spring streets, and the other having
a frontage of only twenty feet on New Commercial Street,
adjacent to the station—were offered simultaneously at twelve
hundred dollars each. Contrary, no doubt, to what he would
do to-day, the purchaser chose the Commercial Street lot, believing
that location to have the better future.</p>
<p>Telegraph rates were not very favorable, in 1869, to frequent
or verbose communication. Ten words sent from Los
Angeles to San Francisco cost one dollar and a half; and fifty
cents additional was asked for the next five words. After a
while, there was a reduction of twenty-five per cent, in the cost
of the first ten words, and fifty per cent, on the second five.</p>
<p>Twenty-four hundred voters registered in Los Angeles
this year.</p>
<p>In the fall, William H. Spurgeon founded Santa Ana some
five miles beyond Anaheim on a tract of about fifty acres,
where a number of the first settlers experimented in growing
flax.</p>
<p>It is not clear to me just when the rocky Arroyo Seco began
to be popular as a resort, but I remember going there on picnics
as early as 1857. By the late sixties, when Santa Monica
Cañon also appealed to the lovers of sylvan life, the Arroyo
had become known as Sycamore Grove—a name doubtless
suggested by the numerous sycamores there—and Clois F.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_402" id="Page_402">402</SPAN></span>
Henrickson had opened an establishment including a little
"hotel," a dancing-pavilion, a saloon and a shooting-alley.
Free lunch and free beer were provided for the first day, and
each Sunday thereafter in the summer season an omnibus
ran every two hours from Los Angeles to the Sycamores.
After some years, John Rumph and wife succeeded to the
management, Frau Rumph being a popular <i>Wirtin</i>; and then
the Los Angeles Turnverein used the grove for its public performances,
including gymnastics, singing and the old-time
sack-racing and target-shooting.</p>
<p>James Miller Guinn, who had come to California in November,
1863 and had spent several years in various counties of the
State digging for gold and teaching school, drifted down to Los
Angeles in October and was soon engaged as Principal of the
public school at the new town of Anaheim, remaining there in
that capacity for twelve years, during part of which time he
also did good work on the County School Board.</p>
<p>Under the auspices of the French Benevolent Society and
toward the end of October, the corner-stone of the French
Hospital built on City donation lots, and for many years and
even now one of the most efficient institutions of our city, was
laid with the usual ceremonies.</p>
<p>On October 9th, the first of the new locomotives arrived at
Wilmington and a week later made the first trial trip, with a
baggage and passenger car. Just before departure a painter was
employed to label the engine and decorate it with a few scrolls;
when it was discovered, too late, that the artist had spelled
the name: LOS ANGEL<i>O</i>S. On October 23d, two lodges of
Odd Fellows used the railway to visit Bohen Lodge at Wilmington,
returning on the first train, up to that time, run into
Los Angeles at midnight.</p>
<p>October 26th was a memorable day, for on that date the
Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad Company opened the line
to the public and invited everybody to enjoy a free excursion to
the harbor. Two trains were dispatched each way, the second
consisting of ten cars; and not less than fifteen hundred persons
made the round trip. Unfortunately, it was very warm
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_403" id="Page_403">403</SPAN></span>
and dusty, but such discomforts were soon forgotten in the
novelty of the experience. On the last trip back came the
musicians; and the new Los Angeles depot having been cleared,
cleaned up and decorated for a dedicatory ball, there was a
stampede to the little structure, filling it in a jiffy.</p>
<p>Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny, who first crossed the Plains from
Illinois on horseback in 1849, came to Los Angeles with his
family in November, having already served four years as a
Circuit Judge, following his practice of law in Sacramento.
He was a brother-in-law of L. J. Rose, having married, in 1850,
Miss Annie Wilhelmina Rose. Upon his arrival, he purchased
the southwest corner of Second and Fort streets, a lot one hundred
and twenty by one hundred and sixty-five feet in size, and
there he subsequently constructed one of the fine houses of the
period; which was bought, some years later, by Jotham Bixby
for about forty-five hundred dollars, after it had passed through
various hands. Bixby lived in it for a number of years and
then resold it. In 1872, O'Melveny was elected Judge of Los
Angeles County; and in 1887, he was appointed Superior Judge.
H. W. O'Melveny, his second son, came from the East with
his parents, graduating in time from the Los Angeles High
School and the State University. Now he is a distinguished
attorney and occupies a leading position as a public-spirited
citizen, and a patron of the arts and sciences.</p>
<p>In his very readable work, <i>From East Prussia to the Golden
Gate</i>, Frank Lecouvreur credits me with having served the
commonwealth as Supervisor. This is a slight mistake: I was
an unwilling candidate, but never assumed the responsibilities
of office. In 1869, various friends waited upon me and requested
me to stand as their candidate for the supervisorship; to which
I answered that I would be glad to serve my district, but that
I would not lift a finger toward securing my election. H.
Ábila was chosen with six hundred and thirty-one votes, E. M.
Sanford being a close second with six hundred and sixteen; while
five hundred and thirty-seven votes were cast in my favor.</p>
<p>Trains on the new railway began to run regularly on November
1st; and there still exists one of the first time-tables,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_404" id="Page_404">404</SPAN></span>
bearing at the head, "Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad"
and a little picture of a locomotive and train. At first, the
train scheduled for two stated round trips a day (except on
steamer days, when the time was conditioned by the arrival
and departure of vessels) left Wilmington at eight o'clock
in the morning and at one o'clock in the afternoon, returning at
ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The fare between
Los Angeles and Wilmington was one dollar and fifty cents,
with an additional charge of one dollar to the Anchorage; while
on freight from the Anchorage to Los Angeles, the tariff was:
dry goods, sixteen dollars per ton; groceries and other merchandise,
five dollars; and lumber, seven dollars per thousand
feet.</p>
<p>After the formal opening of the railroad, a permanent
staff of officers, crew and mechanicians was organized. The
first Superintendent was H. W. Hawthorne, who was succeeded
by E. E. Hewitt, editor of the <i>Wilmington Journal</i>. N. A.
McDonald, was the first conductor; Sam Butler was the first
and, for a while, the only brakeman, and the engineers were
James McBride and Bill Thomas. The first local agent was
John Milner; the first agent at Wilmington, John McCrea.
The former was succeeded by John E. Jackson, who from
1880 to 1882 served the community as City Surveyor. Worthy
of remark, perhaps, as a coincidence, is the fact that both
Milner and McCrea ultimately became connected in important
capacities with the Farmers & Merchants Bank.</p>
<p>The first advertised public excursion on the Los Angeles &
San Pedro Railroad after its opening was a trip to Wilmington
and around San Pedro Harbor, arranged for November 5th, 1869.
The cars, drawn by the locomotive <i>Los Angeles</i> and connecting
with the little steamer of the same name, left at ten and returned
at three o'clock in the afternoon. Two dollars was the
round-trip fare, while another dollar was exacted from those who
went out upon the harbor.</p>
<p>In the late seventies, a Portuguese named Fayal settled
near what is now the corner of Sixth and Front streets, San
Pedro; and one Lindskow took up his abode in another shack
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_405" id="Page_405">405</SPAN></span>
a block away. Around these rude huts sprang up the neighborhoods
of Fayal and Lindville, since absorbed by San Pedro.</p>
<p>Probably the first attempt to organize a fire company for
Los Angeles was made in 1869, when a meeting was called on
Saturday evening, November 6th, at Buffum's Saloon, to consider
the matter. A temporary organization was formed, with
Henry Wartenberg as President; W. A. Mix, Vice-President;
George M. Fall, Secretary; and John H. Gregory, Treasurer.
An initiation fee of two dollars and a half, and monthly dues
of twenty-five cents, were decided upon; and J. F. Burns, B.
Katz, Emil Harris, George Pridham, E. B. Frink, C. D. Hathaway,
P. Thompson, O. W. Potter, C. M. Small and E. C.
Phelps were charter members. A committee appointed to
canvass for subscriptions made little progress, and the partial
destruction of Rowan's American Bakery, in December,
demonstrating the need of an engine and hose cart, brought
out sharp criticism of Los Angeles's penuriousness.</p>
<p>About the middle of November, Daniel Desmond, who had
come on October 14th of the preceding year, opened a hat
store on Los Angeles Street near New Commercial, widely
advertising the enterprise as a pioneer one and declaring,
perhaps unconscious of any pun, that he proposed to fill a want
that had "long been felt." The steamer <i>Orizaba</i>, which was to
bring down Desmond's goods, as ill luck would have it left
half of his stock lying on the San Francisco pier; and the
opening, so much heralded, had to be deferred several weeks.
As late as 1876, he was still the only exclusive hatter here.
Desmond died on January 23d, 1903, aged seventy years, and
was succeeded by his son, C. C. Desmond. Another son, D.
J. Desmond, is the well-known contractor.</p>
<p>Toward the close of November, Joseph Joly, a Frenchman,
opened the Chartres Coffee Factory on Main Street opposite
the Plaza, and was the pioneer in that line. He delivered to
both stores and families, and for a while seemed phenomenally
successful; but one fine morning in December it was discovered
that the "Jolly Joseph" had absconded, leaving behind numerous
unpaid bills.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_406" id="Page_406">406</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The first marble-cutter to open a workshop in Los Angeles
was named Miller. He came toward the end of 1869 and
established himself in the Downey Block. Prior to Miller's
coming, all marble work was brought from San Francisco or
some source still farther away, and the delay and expense
debarred many from using that stone even for the pious
purpose of identifying graves.</p>
<p>With the growth of Anaheim as the business center of the
country between the new San Gabriel and the Santa Ana
rivers, sentiment had been spreading in favor of the division
of Los Angeles County; and at the opening of the Legislature
of 1869-70, Anaheim had its official representative in Sacramento,
ready to present the claims of the little German settlement
and its thriving neighbors. The person selected for
this important embassy was Major Max von Stroble; and he
inaugurated his campaign with such sagacity and energy that
the bill passed the Assembly and everything pointed to an
early realization of the scheme. It was not, however, until
Los Angeles awoke to the fact that the proposed segregation
meant a decided loss, that opposition developed in the Senate
and the whole matter was held up.</p>
<p>Stroble thereupon sent posthaste to his supporters for
more cash, and efforts were made to get the stubborn Senate to
reconsider. Doubtless somebody else had a longer purse than
Stroble; for in the end he was defeated, and the German's
dream did not come true until long after he had migrated to
the realms that know no subdivisions. One of the arguments
used in favor of the separation was that it took two days's time,
and cost six dollars, for the round trip to the Los Angeles Courthouse;
while another contention then regarded as of great
importance was that the one coil of hose pipe owned by the
County was kept at Los Angeles! Stroble, by-the-way, desired
to call the new county Anaheim.</p>
<p>Major von Stroble was a very interesting character.
He was a German who had stood shoulder to shoulder with
Carl Schurz and Franz Sigel in the German Revolution of
1848, and who, after having taken part in the adventures of
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_407" id="Page_407">407</SPAN></span>
Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua, finally landed in
Anaheim, where he turned his attention to the making of wine.
He soon tired of that, and in 1867 was found boring for oil on
the Brea Ranch, again meeting with reverses where others
later were so successful. He then started the movement to
divide Los Angeles County and once more failed in what was
afterward accomplished. Journalism in Anaheim next absorbed
him and, having had the best of educational advantages,
Stroble brought to his newspaper both culture and the experience
of travel.</p>
<p>The last grand effort of this adventurous spirit was the
attempt to sell Santa Catalina Island. Backed by the owners,
Stroble sailed for Europe and opened headquarters near Threadneedle
Street in London. In a few weeks he had almost effected
the sale, the contract having been drawn and the time
actually set for the following day when the money—a cool two
hundred thousand pounds—was to be paid; but no Stroble
kept tryst to carry out his part of the transaction. Only the
evening before, alone and unattended, the old man had died
in his room at the very moment when Fortune, for the first
time, was to smile upon him! Eighteen or twenty years later,
Catalina was sold for much less than the price once agreed
upon.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_408" id="Page_408">408</SPAN></span></p>
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