Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-05
A NINE OF WEALTH
IS LOS ANGELES
Prominent Men Who Have Become Rich From
Small Beginnings i'm Southern California
Written for The Herald by COL Joseph D. Lynch
During a Quarter of a Century

John Reynolds would land in Main
as though the fate of worlds were in
the issue, while some equally reliable
and husky John of the rival line would
hug .his fianks, now one ahead and
now the other, the excitement as
great as that shown in a race between,
eternally renewed on the arrival of
the Frisco boat. These perennial strug
giles were the great excitement of the
day in Los Angeles, outside of the
man for breakfast" which was such
a frequent incident here in those days,
or the exploits of some perfervid gam
bier or desperate who started in to
shoot up the town.
The last of these prehistoric charac-
ters, j. M. Griffith, is a millionaire,
has number of enterprising sons,
daughter who is the wife of j. A.
Graves, the noted lawyer and first vice
president of the Farmers & Merchants
bank, and perhaps some other children.
The children of Gen. Banning are
wealthy and his boys have a down.
right commercial genius, liable to push
fortune to the extreme standard of
greatness.
Growth of Great Fortunes
The growth of fortunes in Los An
geles county has something of the
MT fio nd of
of the incredible. Anyone desirous of
particularizing what has been done
here in the way of acquiring wealth
would undoubtedly pick out l.. w. He'll
man, the president. of the Farmers and
Merchants National bank of Los
tional bank and Wells, Fargo
& Co.'s National bank of San Fran
cisco and of many other banks in the
states of Oregon, Washington and else
where. Hellman is more than twenty
years younger than Cornelius Van
derbilt when that financial athlete
died. Should he live as long as Van
derbilt he will accomplish wonders.
lie has already done great things.
/ have often been asked how much
Isaias w. Helman is worth. OF course
don't know, but l know enough to
place the figure at a large sum. The
way people are estimated, without any
of the accuracy OF an assessor, I
should say that $20,O00,000 is not an ex-
treme figure. Without having verified
it, 1 should say that he and II. Il.
Huntington and e. j. Baldwin are the
three largest taxpayers in Los An
geles county, counting his corporation
wealth in with Huntington's roster.
Hellman came to Los Angeles prac-
tically without a dollar, and his career
CO acquisition has been marvellous. He
owns property everywhere, in city and
county.
Take one instance of his fortunate
real estate investments. |. w. He'll
man, John and Jotham Bixby bought
the Aamitos ranch, for which they
paid ,OOO They own an equal in
terest and have sold some portions of
it. What they retain is probably worth
$5,OOO,OOO. The Bixbys besides own the
Cerritos ranch, these two properties
alone making them among the wealth.
lest residents of Southern California.
Mr.. Hellman has not only made untold
millions in real estate, but he has fig
ured in colossal transactions In con-
| nection with II. e. Huntington and
through his Union Trust company of
San Francisco and other agencies. His
connections by marriage and business
in the city of New York and elsewhere
give him the premiership of the coast
IN all matters of finance His son.
IsaIas W., jr, is a chip Of the old