California Genealogy

Early in 1851 a party of Utes from Salt Lake made a raid into the southern country, and stole a number of horses, including 130 which were the property of one of the Lugos, owners of the San Bernardino Rancho. The Indians were pursued by some twenty Californians, and one of this party was killed during a volley of rifle-balls fired by the marauders from an ambuscade on the Mohave. The Californians, returning through the Cajon Pass to camp at its mouth, passed some men with a wagon, encamped on the farther side of the pass. The next morning, when … Read more

Ultimately the mission of San Bernardino was established at the place now called “Old San Bernardino,” or Cottonwood Row,” as a branch of the mission of San Gabriel. The place selected for the necessary buildings was in the southern portion of the valley, on the last of the slopes by which the foothills descend to the plains. The surrounding lands were unexcelled in fertility. Here was constructed, with the aid of the natives, who here as else-where lent their labor, an adobe building some 240 x 80 feet of ground space, with walls a yard thick, with floors of kiln-burnt … Read more

Water is taken from the San Antonio Creek, draining one of the largest mountain districts in Southern California. Ontario has half the surplus flow, owning exclusively a tunnel 2,000 feet long that taps the subterranean flow. The water is conveyed in iron pressure pipes to the town, and in cement pipes to the acreage property. Stock in the San Antonio Water Company is sold with the land, a share to an acre, ten shares being issued on an inch of water. Unimproved land here ranges from $200 to $300 an acre; improved, from $300 to $1,000, according to location and … Read more

In the Holcomb valley, some thirty miles from San Bernardino, are found gold and silver in considerable quantities, and also valuable lead mines. In Lytle creek canon, thirteen miles northwest of San Bernardino, gold in considerable quantities has been mined for some years past, and later workings, with improved facilities, give promise of good results. American miners are working twenty or thirty placers here at present. The Bear valley mines, four miles east of Holcomb valley, have gold-quartz free-milling ores in large quantities. At the Alvard Mine, 100 miles northeast of San Bernardino, gold is found in a quarry of … Read more

The following is a list of the Fraternal Organizations of Riverside: F. & A. M., Evergreen Lodge. No. 259 R. A. M. Riverside Chapter, No. 67 K. T. Riverside Commandery, No. 28 K. P. Sunnyside Lodge, No. 112. U. R. K. P. I. O. O. F., Riverside Lodge, No. 282. I. O. O. F., Star Encampment, No. 73. I. O. O. F., Canton Sherman, No. 25. P. M. G. A. R., Riverside Post, No. 118. W. R. C., Post No. 34. Riverside Rifles, Company C, Ninth Regiment, Captain J. N. Keith, organized 1890 W. C. T. U. Orange Growers’ Association. … Read more

In March 1864, Mr. Binkley and myself, with two packhorses, started for the Arizona gold mines, crossing the Colorado Desert and reaching the river, a distance of some 200 miles, in nine days. Hearing of the Indian outbreak in the territory, we decided it best to remain at Bradshaw’s Ferry, near La Paz, for a time, until we thought it safe to venture farther, to work the placer claim located by Bradshaw and Binkley in 1863, some forty miles east of Walnut Grove, and which was then considered, as it afterward proved to be, a very rich mine. While stopping … Read more

Few towns of its size have so many denominations represented, as has Riverside. There are thirteen different organizations, and ten church edifices. The first church here was the Congregational, which was organized in 1872. The first church built for its use, on the corner of Vine and Sixth streets, was sold to the Disciples of Christ, when the older organization in 1887 occupied its fine new building near the center-the largest church in the city, which, with its parsonage, is worth $25,000. It contains a fine pipe organ. There are some 200 members and a flourishing Sunday school. Rev. T. … Read more

At this period the cultivation of citrus fruits, which has since become the leading industry of the county, was practically unassayed. In all the county the only orange trees were a few-not to exceed two or three dozen-at Old San Bernardino, and three or four on Judge Boren’s place at San Bernardino proper. The general idea was that at no place in the county save at Old San Bernardino was the winter climate mild enough to spare these trees, and the sup-posed orange limit was therefore in that district; whereas present results show that the orange belt of San Bernardino … Read more

To realize the enterprising and confident character of the people who undertook this work and to estimate properly the great results which through their efforts have been achieved in an astonishingly brief period, it is necessary to review briefly the difficulties with which they contended. The lands they selected lay not along the low flats bordering the river, but upon the higher “mesas “or table-lands, to irrigate which (and irrigation only could give life to the enterprise) the water must be led out upon those mesas miles away from the channel of the river, and hundreds of feet above it. … Read more

Colton founded in 1874, is an incorporated city, the third in the county in point of population. It is at an elevation of some 900 feet, lying fifty-eight miles from Los Angeles, on the through line of the Southern Pacific Railway, by which line it was founded, being named after one of the deceased directors of this company. The climate is warm and dry, neither frost nor fog being known here. It is three miles from the county seat, with which it is connected by a motor line and by the Santa Fe line, which crosses the Southern Pacific at … Read more