The herald., 1897-08-26
AZUSA'S PROGRESS
DEVELOPMENTS OF THE ELECT
RIG POWER COMPANY
Miners Doing Well in the San Gabriel
Canon-The Stage to Pot
ter's Ranch


ence) Azusa is waking up. Her business
men exerting themselves to make the
town attractive. The streets have been
macadamized, the roads leading to Los
Angeles are in excellent order-in fact the
best in the county; free water troughs have
been constructed in town and along the
route. All the Improvements have been
made by voluntary contributions, so the
drive to the city is now pleasure.
The Bridges G. Powell block is to be reno
waited. The Allen & Co.'S packing house
having received a new coat of paint, now
vies in beauty with the Earl building and
other Improvements are contemplated.
Meantime, the three saloon men are
jublant over the fact that 100 men are en-
| ployed near the town on the electric power
plant. All who desire, however can get
free water elsewhere, so there is no neces
| sty for renewal of the water war be-
tween the Azusa Pomotropic and the
Monrovia Messenger, which grew out of
the mistaken kindness of an Azusan in
recommending a thirsty citizen of Mon
rova to go to a saloon for a drink. Re-
lieved of this serious controversy, the
editor of the Pomotropic has resumed his
agitation of town incorporation and pub
| lie ownership of the water. 1t seems never
to have occurred to him that the water and
the pipe lines already belong to the peo-
pie and that only the editor and one other
man questions that right.
Next to the town of Azusa, the liveliest
place in this vicinity is the San Gabriel
canyon. Scattered along the mountain
side fer miles are laborers-a hundred or
more-pre pairing the route for the pipe line
of the Electric Power company, better
known as the Kerckhoff company
! Further along and for over twenty miles
up the stream, miners are at work delvng
| for gold along the riverbed, the number at
present being about 200. Some of them are
making good wages, and all are getting
gold enough to meet expenses.
| stage runs UP the canyon daily from
| Azusa to Potter's ranch, a distance of fif-
teen miles-fare $1-a great improvement
over the slow and tedious travelling with
burros. formerly in vogue. Mr.. Potter who
is an old resident has beautiful mountain
home. which became so attractive to visit
ors that he was finally induced to turn 1t
into hostelry, where ample accommoda-
tion can be had ''for man and beast"
In the canyon, on the opposite side from
Potters, will be located the power house
of the Southern California Electric Com
pany, the same now operating on the Santa
Ana river. The company has a large corps
of surveyors at work, and is s'making rapid
progress. Some idea of the magnitude Of
this enterprise is given by the statement
that over thirty miles of pipe and tunnel
will be required to convey the water from
the different tributaries of the San Gabriel
to the reservoir which is to have a ca
pacity of five billions (5.000 900, ,C00) of gall
Ions, second in size only to the great Sweet
water reservoir. near San Diego. From the
reservoir the main pipe will be laid Q2OO
feeD to the power house, where sufficient
power can be generated to run all the car
lines of the city and county of Los An
geles, in addition to its use for manufac-
turing purposes
The Crystal Lake Electric company (en-
tirely distinct from the two other COM
panies referred to) are engaged in con-
structing a wagon road to the lake. and it
is said they intend to erect buildings for a
summer resort among the large pines at
the head of the lake. This is a Glendora
| enterprise.
From the forks of the San Gabriel to
the valley a good wagon road can be con-
structed over the mountain direct at a
cost of $1,000 whereby the necessity of re-
opening the road in the canyon every
spring can be obviated, and much annual
expense saved. The mountain road would
be much shorter. and during the winter
and spring months would be the only one
open for travel.
The distance from Glendora to the Potter
ranch is less than eight miles, and road
could be constructed on the ridge, from
which an extensive view could be had,
embracing, on the north, Old Baldys snow
clad summit and in the other direction the
orange orchards and verdant fields of San
Gabriel, with the ocean in the distance.
A road of such scenic beauty would of it.
self attract visitors. to say nothing of the
canyon, with its mines. its summer resorts |
and its secluded retreats for hunting and
fishing. 1t is on the San Gabriel that the
Bait club of Pasadena and the Kreel club
of Los Angeles have their cabins The |
kreel club Is composed of the leading law
yers, doctors. editors, politicians and busi- |
ness men of Los Angeles. Here they have
their summer outings, and the castaway
bottles left each season. bearing labels of |
fancy brands of wines and other liquors. |
tell tales of good times enjoyed in addi- |
tion to the lazy employment of angling and !
the more arduous labor of climbing the
mountain side in pursuit of deer or bear |
to replenish their larder. An old miner |
who passed the Kreel camp during one of |
the evening reunions says the noise he
heard reminded him of a Texas camp |
meeting. while an old sailor (turned miner), |
in whose company he was, thought the |
pandemonium equaled the uproar made by
the bowling monkeys of Central America. |
Those who like solitude and quiet can
find 1t here also 1t was in this mountain
retreat that Hon. H. H. Markham was
living and recruiting when he was called |
to accept the nomination for governor of ,
the state.
Taken altogether, the work now COM
menced on the San Gabriel will within the ,
coming two years put $1,000 900 in circula-
tion-rnost of it for labor
That town of some importance will in
time be located near the forks of the San
Gabriel, twelve miles from Azusa is now
quite eVldent-an opening for a ''city-toWn-
Site boomer to get in his work
HENRY C. ROBERTS.