Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-14
Marvellous Achievements in
Twenty Years.
Riverside, the Unrivaled, EN-
powered in Orange Groves.
Where the Farmer Lives in Luxury
and Reaps Princely Rewards.
A City of 5000 People of Wealth and
Culture Engaged in the Produc-
tion of Fruit.


driven through the center of the city,
spent day there this week, and made
a special investigation of its status and
resources. This reporter knew the
place where Riverside now stands more
than twenty years ago, and remembers
we'll how uninviting was the spot. He
met Judge j. q. North in Los Angeles
in 1868 or 1869, when that gentleman
first came to California in search of a
home and place to bring colony. He
can readily recall the comments gen.
orally passed upon the selection made
on the plains near the Santa Ana.
Droughts had been known in Southern
California in the past, and those years
in question were dry to such degree
that the stock perished on the plains.
These mesas where Judge North in
vested his money were regarded
as about the most unpromising part of
the country. The settlements were
all along the river bottoms, in the damp
lands at San Bernardino, Ell Monte, Los
Nietos, Downey, and along the coast
line. Riverside was regarded as pecu-
liarly unpromising because of the heat
that poured down on the plains, because
of the stiff winds that swept the mesas,
and because OF the clayey nature of the
soil. There were few people in this Sec
ton who did not think Judge North had
made a mistake which would surely
bankrupt him after score of years of
fruitless effort. The remoteness of the
spot from any center of population, or
any means of taking away the products
of the orchards.t to be started, was also
very discouraging features. San Bernar-
dino was then a very small place, and
there was no other settlement in that
part of the country. Los Angeles, sixty
miles away, was town of perhaps
5000 people, not much more than
half of whom were Americans. General
Banning was then engaged in building a
bit OF railroad from San Pedro to Los
Angeles, and there was not even any
talk of road to San Francisco, and TO
thought of one to the east. The Cen
trail and Union Pacific roads mad just
been united at Ogden, but no movement
had been begun to extend the line down
the San Joaquin valley to this end OF the
state. To build up a colony of fruit
growers at Riverside under these adverse
circumstances was an undertaking few
men would have had the nerve to enter
in. Judge North was a remarkable
man, and the results of his undertaking
are among the most remarkable in the
marvellous history of the American con-
tinent, where astonishing achievements
have been the order of the day for three
hundred years.
What They Did.
Here then on this wind-swept plain,
in spite of these difficulties, this cour-
ageous pioneer set to work, literally to
make the desert blossom. The phrase
is trite enough, but it receives point and
freshness from the status of Riverside as
she was then and as she is today. Judge
North surrounded himself with a party
of congenial spirits as courageous and
hopeful as himself. The party consisted
of: Judge John w. North, DR.. James
P. Greves, DIR. Sanford Eastman E. G..
Brown, DR.. X. D. Shugart, A. J Two
good, d. G, Twogood, John Broadhurst,
James A. Stewart and William j. Lin
vile. Nine Of these live to witness the
wonderful transformations that have
gone on around them in these twenty
years. To these others were added from
time to time, and there were traits COM
mon to them all, to which the success of
Riverside is largely due. They came
from the east in search of a home,
where summer heat and win
ter frosts, where billiards and
cyclones, where floods and droughts
would not be ever-present evils so severe
as to make life burden and the preser-
walton OF life continual struggle. They
were all men of some means, of more
than usual experience in affairs, and of
far more than average intelligence The
people of Riverside have at all times
largely possessed these same traits.
From the very beginning the plans OF
the colony were laid on a broad basis,
and its foundations were deeply sunk
and substantially built In such an arid
region water was the life-blood of the
colony. To supply its arteries with
this in abundance the Santa Ana river
was tapped ten Or more miles from the
colony, where stream of 5000 inches of
water was taken out for the use of the
colony. A canal was dug through the
solid rock, the stream was carried in i'm
mense fumes over deep ravines,
and in cement bitches along the plains
for many miles to where the fruit trees
were to be planted. So well was the
work done that after twenty years these
copious streams are still running in the
same bitches and fumes to the thou
sands of acres of orange trees in which
Riverside is embowered. The cost ot
this water system runs first and last uI
into the hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars. So thoroughly was the work done
that while the trees and vines have null
tiplied in all these twenty years, until
now the area in oranges alone is 6,00C
acres, yet there never has been day
when any orchardist has had to wait al
hour to get all the water he would take
for use on his trees. While the city has
grown to have population of 6,00(
people, and while the fruit interest has
been SO extended there is no limit or
the use of the water, there is nc
apportionment of it necessary
but each person takes what he
needs as he likes, and asks nc
ones permission.
Besides this irrigation system River
side has a domestic water system the
most complete. This supply is taker
from artesian wells, run into a broad
shallow reservoir, where it is thoroughly
aerated, and Immediately carried il
pipes to the residences of the city.
comes under high pressure, so that a
the city stream may be thrown owe