Imperial Valley press., 1915-06-22
W +. HOLT
Pioneer Promoter Of the
I'm per ial Valley-''The
Time, the Place and the
Man."

Man."
The halo of romance encompassing
the pioneer is as indestructiue as time
and its brilliancy should never be
; dimmed by and false standard The
history of California teens with chap
ters that, We're they written, would
crowd into obscurity the most lurid
chroniclings of deeds of daring on
the battlefields Of land or sea. l.
was her sturdy pioneers who began
the development of the illimitable re-
sources of this great state and blazed
the way for the extensive and sue
cessful launching of huge enterprises
in the agricultural, mining and oil
fields Men of courage, initiative and
great abilities these have been, and
they have given to the world holdings
of immense value.
Wielders of critical pens have en-
Geayored to convey the idea that the
wealth accumulated in California, and
especially under such circumstances as
arose in Imperial Valley, has been
due TO accident of circumstances; yet
cursory glance at the actual facts
will prove that it is merely history
repeating herself. When oil was first
discovered in this state there were
men who came, saw and then resought
the places from whence they came,
there to content themselves with gar
nering the frugal crumbs from the
industrial and commercial tables rath-
er than gird their loins for the fray
and aid in working out the great pres
ent and prospective prosperity of this
portion of the country. On the other
hand, there were others who, guided
by a natural instinct and capable of
analyZing conditions, hurled them
selves into the contest with undaunt-
ed spirit and answering hope, always
looking upward and onward toward
the ultimate goal Of such calibre as
the last-named was the subject OF
this sketch.
Few, indeed, of the pioneers of the
Imperial Valley have been identified
with its remarkable history for a lon
ger period than w. f. Holt, who has
shown himself prominently connected
with every movement for its advance
ment and development since 1902,
when he organized the Imperial q
Gulf railroad, taken over three months
later by the Southern Pacific road
At that time railways were non-eX-
istant hereabouts and Imperial was
just dinky little desert village of a
dozen shacks, presenting far from an
attractive appearance. Yet the time
was ripe for the man, and Mr.. Holt,
Ly his keen foresight, anticipated the
remarkable growth that has since
taken place, and he had the patience
and fortitude to endure the hardships
and surmount the obstacles of life
in a new country. Many have re-
marked of him that he was lucky but
his "luik' was the utilization of brain
power and physical energy. Oppor-
tunism had its influence in his ulti-
mate success, but opportunities might
lie dormant forever were it not for
such men as w. F. Holt, who have
the faculty for observing them and
the incentive TO develop them to their
highest measure of success.
Born and bred on a Missouri farm
back in the COS, soon after leaving
school young Holt cut connections
with the homestead and began working
gradually west, taking up with odd
jobs till reaching Arizona, by which
time he had accumulated capital suf-
ficient TO open up small country
hank, and here he settled down for a
time. until, receiving an offer of $20,-
600 for the business, he sold out and
migrated to Redlands in this state in
the year 1890. Attracted to the I'M
perial Valley as land of great fu-
ture possibilities, he moved in on the
ground and, as aforementioned, float
ed the tile road which was quickly
absorbed by the Southern Pacific man
agement. For some time he had been
gathering in all the holdings in land
hereabouts and he subsequently sold
the present townste of FL Centre,
then called Cabarker by the railroad
Company, to a Redlands syndicate,
who gave the town its present name
as being the geographical and COM
mercial center of the valley. He later
put the townsite of Holtville or the
market, first naming it Holton, which
was objected to by the postoffice Of
ficials as being likely to conflict with
two other similarly-named places in
the state. He next possessed him
self of small dynamo and started
in experimenting on the best means
Of harnessing waste water for light
-, x,oIio..