Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-06
UNIQUE COLONY
BUILDING PLAN
PROGRESS AT BEAUMONT Is
WITHOUT PARALLEL
SAN eoReoNIo REGION POINTS
EXAMPLE
Community Shows Beneficial Effects
of Modern Publicity by Rising in
Eighteen Months to CONNER
clai Importance

In the history of Riverside county
there is no parallel for the growth and
development of Beaumont, the new
metropolis of the San Gorgonio valley.
1t has passed precept and precedent,
and today stands unique in the annals
of colony building in Southern Cali
fornia.
Beaumont Is an excellent example
of the beneficial effects of scientifically
applied publicity to a proposition pos
sessing the inherent worth to stand the
test of legitimacy and merit. The old
regime at Beaumont which became
bankrupt in 1898, failed simply because
California was then in its swaddling
clothes and not possessed of the imam
cial vitality of today DR.. Sigler the
founder, planned his work on broad
gauge and Utopian scale which would
have required millions to consummate,
He laid out the townsite upon 1850
acres at the crown of the valley and
ribboned it with sixty miles of streets
and avenues so to 140 feet in width
he planted 10000 pepper, cypress ana
eucalyptus trees along thirty miles or
these avenues. In so doing he com
mitted an act for the benefit of his
successors, that is of inestimable value,
for today Beaumont, through the Co
operation of nature and Siglers tree
planting, has been transformed from
grain field into beautiful natural
park that equals in scenic qualities any
town in the state.
Twenty one years have elapsed since
DIR. Sigler began his work, which shows
how it requires a third of lifetime
to get tree-planted streets like Beau
mont has, which in itself is an illus
tration of the advantages Beaumont
presented when its new owners be-
gan their work about eighteen months
ago.
Following the act of tree planting
DR.. .Sigler erected the Beaumont hotel
at cost of $4,000. making it the fin
est hosiery in Riverside county at the
time; he furnished it luxuriantly, and
when he failed the fine furniture was
removed from the building and re-
turned to the mortgage holders. Dead, |
still quietude then took the place of the
scene of activity that characterized
the opening of the hotel and the old
building remained as a landmark of
the boom, vacant and idle for nearly
fifteen years. But in the grounds sur
rounding, nature cared for the trees, |
planted twenty years ago, and through
the heavy rainfall nourished them till
they stand today as an object lesson
in the advantages Of tree growth in
the Beaumont valley.
Following the hotel venture DR.. Sig
ler's energies were devoted to the
founding of a school and churches.
In the midst of the hustle and hurry !
of land selling that followed the open |
ing of his great project Sigler over |
looked the most vital of all considera- |
tions in the welfare of a town and |
community. namely, the development |
of irrigation water. He had only time |
and funds enough before the fore |
closure took place to build an inferior |
domestic system of limited scope and |
in so doing used only the water from !
Noble creek, the smaller of three !
streams that come down from the |
mountains to the north of the town. /
The total amount of water employed |
by him for this system was less than |
ten miners inches and at the same |
time the flow Of Edgar creek, ranging |
from 100 to 400 inches, was allowed to |
go undeveloped
slgIer's Vital Mistake
This was the vital mistake in DR. |
Sigler's project, for had he employed
the money used for planting trees, |
building hotels and grading streets in
the development of irrigation water
Beaumont would have taken on new
life such as characterized the develop
ment of all irrigated valleys and would
never have been thrown into the
yicisstudes that afterward character
lied its history. People can get along
without trees, without palatial hotels
and without graded streets, but they
cannot get along without water.
Handicapped by the failure of the
past and detracted from by those who
are prone to jealousy of all new
comers who do things, the present ad-
ministration Of Beaumont began active
work about eighteen months ago. With
the nerve that chara cterizes all busi-
ness organizations that meet great sue
cess in this world the new developers
began their campaign on a scale that
startled the average prosaic real estate
man. Special trains were brought into
service that carried thousands of per-
sons from Los Angeles TO Beaumont at
an expense TO the travellers of but 81
each, which was less than third OF
the cost to the company. Every man
that rode on the dollar, ticket partook
Of a privilegt that for railroad fare
alone cost 50. 10. for every man in the
state Of California is aware that the
Southern Pacific railroad does not vary