Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-17
Written for The. Herald by Col. Joseph
D. Lynch


D. Lynch
While Los Angeles is rounding up into
city of two hundred and fifty thou
sand inhabitants, and the country
round about is filling up with dazzling
young cities running up, as in the case
of Pasadena, to the twenty thousand
mark, it is well that there should be
an occasional chapter devoted to the
old days, and not so old at that. There
are in Los Angeles county today half
dozen cities larger than was the
Angelic City thirty years ago.
While u generation ago Southern
California could claim only a very
scant population as respects the genus
homo, this county alone contained hale
million sheep, innumerable herds of
cattle and bands of horses, and the
adjoining counties were scarcely less
richly endowed, and thereby hung the
rodeo. This section was then full of
a fun-loving race of cowboys. The ro-
deo was the yearly gathering of all
the young and spirited caballeros for
miles around for the branding of the
young cattle and at these annual re-
unions wonderful feats of horseman-
ship were sure to be witnessed. In
the old days the native Californian
was the finest horseman in the world
1t was a matter of course for these
accomplished cavaliers to swoop along
the flank of his horse when the latter
was In full gallop and pick a coin or
handkerchief from the ground. His
steed, the often decried bronco, was
an animal whose valuable qualities
were not generally understood His
ancestor was the famous Arabian
barb. Many of them possessed great
speed, and all of them an endurance
haf Iol1I 10 he
/ have known one of those underszed
animals to carry a 225-pound man one
hundred and twenty-five miles, between
sunup and sundown and kick up his
heels when turned into the corral at
the end of his arduous trip. 1t is to be
hoped that this really noble breed of
horseflesh will not be allowed to die
out.
Afforded Much Fun
The rodeos of which l speak, though
being called at different camps, af-
forded the robust youth of Southern
California a season of great excitement
spreading from the Mexican line to
Santa Barbara. Land in the southern
counties has become too valuable of
late years to be used for cattle ranges
and the lasso and the branding iron
are now seldom seen in this section
more's the pity, for the sport was an
exciting one.
The rodeo was the most romantic of
the gatherings which drew the youth
of Southern California together. There
was about them much of the chivalry
of Spain and of the middle ages. But
there were other gatherings at which
the people were wont to desport them
selves which possessed quite as much
or greater interest, especially to those
of a more mature age
one of these was the bull head
breakfast-a distinctive institution in a
cattle raising country. These are still
occasionally given in Los Angeles and
other southern counties. There is
nothing to prevent any disengaged
eastern millionaire who wishes to give
a surprise to his friends from hunt
ing up Joe Romero or Tommy OCampo
pre-empting some canyon for a day
and indulging in this old time Califor-
MIA speciality to his hearts desire.
The bull head breakfast used to be
indulged in, In the old days, i'm all its
splendor in San Juan Capistrano. on
the Las Flores ranch of Don Marco
Forster, on the one hundred and twen-
ty-five thousand acre rancho of old
Don Juan Forster, and wherever any
old California family was located. from
San Juan Capistrano to the Puente
hills and the San Fernando valley.
The Forster Family
The Forster family while their im-
mense landed possessions We're Just
over the line, in San Diego county,
We're looked upon and looked upon
themselves as Angelenos. Old Don
Juan was an Engllshman, who came to
California early in the last century.
He was a butcher by trade, and by
natural and benevolent assimilation
soon became identified with cattle rais-