WHAT I REMEMBER ABOUT LLANO DEL RIO COLONY
OF CALIFORNIA

By Mrs. Mellie Miller Calvert

Shortly after I graduated from high school, in February, 1914, I joined the office force of the Llano del Rio Colony, which was then operating under the name of the Mescal Water and Land Company. The offices were 919-24 Higgins Building in downtown Los Angeles.

The land which was to be used for the site of the colony was located in the Antelope Valley. Water rights to this land had been controlled through the Big Rock Creek Irrigation District, a company which was organized July 14, 1890. The directors of the Mescal Water and Land Company aimed to control this irrigation district and to thus obtain water rights to colony land. Much of the early work of one of the directors, Mr. W.A. Engle, was to look up records as to who had owned the land and to file on available parcels. Mr. Engle worked out of the main office, tracing titles and obtaining water rights and he became Secretary of the Big Rock Creek Water Irrigation District. Two streams from the nearby mountains gave the area some surface water, Big Rock Creek, and Little Rock Creek. Several parcels of land, supplied by these streams, were bought outright.

During the summer of 1914 a crew of young men, most of them recruited from the Los Angeles Young People's Socialist League, went into the colony area to ready some of the land for dwelling areas and to do some work at Jackson Lake Dam in the amounts to increase the supply of water. It was part of the colony dream to build a large dam near the mouth of Little Rock Creek to conserve all its water and to save, also, much of the water from Big Rock Creek for the colony.

The area chosen for the community of Llano was about 2500 feet in altitude and had an ideal climate. Beautiful mountains were visible and the air was dry and balmy. However, water was very scarce, the land was raw land for the most part, and it had too large a portion of desert sand in it. Pears grew in the area, garden produce and alfalfa thrived, and the land seemed fertile enough when plentifully watered.

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The idea for the colony originated in the mind of Mr. Job Harriman, a labor attorney and Socialist. It was his dream and he did everything possible to execute it, whatever the cost. He was the main motive force and directing head of all colony operations. In 1914 he was still practising some law and had his law office down the hall from the colony offices in the Higgins Building. Mr. Harriman was well known in Los Angeles as he had run for mayor of Los Angeles a few years previously on the Socialist ticket and had run up a large vote. During the early colony years he was a thorough-going materialist in philosophy, and he was familiar to Los Angeles audiences, not only as a Socialist and Marxist, but also as an ardent believer in the materialistic conception of history.

Mr. Frank E. Wolfe, a newspaper man who had previously been managing editor of the Los Angeles Herald ran the publicity part of the office and handled practically all of the correspondence. He was a loyal admirer of Mr. Harriman and was also an old time Socialist, having run on the nationalist ticket some years previously. Mr. Wolfe edited a magazine, called "The Western Comrade", which not only carried labor and Socialist articles, but which also acted as a prospectus for the colony in that it carried all information about the colony and progress being made at Llano. Old copies show it to be a well edited and illustrated monthly magazine.

Mr. F. P. MacMahon and Mr. D.J. Wilson worked in the office in the connection with the purchase of supplies, transportation of supplies, and of prospects and colonists to the colony, and public relations with the American Federation of Labor. Both had been outstanding in local trade union affairs.

Mr. Gentry P. McCorkle, who had been a banker in the Cucamonga area before joining the colony, was in charge of monies, stock certificate transfers and records, and accounting.

Two other men came into the office at times but were not actively working there. They were Mr. A. F. Snell, a Socialist rancher, and Mr. L.A. Cooke, an architect.

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These eight men made up the Board of Directors for the Mescal Water and Land Company and of the Llano Del Rio Company of California, when it was incorporated October 16, 1914, to carry on the affairs of the colony,

Memberships in the colony were sold at $500.00 each in 1914, but it soon became apparent that this was an insufficient sum for pioneering raw land without adequate water and without houses and other improvements needed for community life. After the first year, memberships were sold for $750.00. Even then, as hundreds of colonists arrived at Llano and had to be provided for, money was always short, even though the office force and the people already working at the colony took practically all of their nominal wages of four dollars daily in credits which earned stock in the corporation.

The Board of Directors tried to overcome the first strain of mounting costs by hiring a sales agent in 1915, a Mr. Eggleston, who sold memberships to the colony on the installment basis, and earned a personal salary on a commission basis. He was part of the office staff for about a year, but this method of selling did not relieve the financial situation, and only piled up a number of people who would arrive at Llano after their membership fees had been already spent.

I left the office late in the fall of 1915 but kept in fairly close touch with colony affairs through correspondence.

In the summer of 1915 there were several hundred people located at Llano and by 1916 that number had jumped to about seven hundred. The colonists enjoyed each other's company very much and co-operative community life, but they were under various strains, such as continual inadequacy of supplies, uncertainty as to future provisions, doubts as to who was to do what, doubts as to how well their money was being spent, and doubts about proper practices of the directors.

The directors felt that they were pushed to secrecy about the precarious financial condition of the colony and what the colony actually owned because the Los Angeles Times and other "capitalist" papers would broadcast the plight of the colony if it became known that times were hard.

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Moreover, the directors were crowded for time and seemed to have neither the time nor the faith to handle all colony matters on a completely open and democratic basis.

Dissatisfactions on the part of the colonists began to appear even as early as 1915 and many people stayed awhile at Llano and then left (much to the relief of the directors, since each person who left lessened the financial strain and he could take nothing with him except stock.) It was ironic that the colony could thrive best if people continued to become dissatisfied and leave. The stock was worthless to the people leaving Llano, since it had no value unless it was accompanied by a working agreement signed by the directors which permitted an owner of stock to live and work at Llano.

Dissatisfactions with colony management grew until in the spring of 1916, a large group of colonists (78 in number), was organized. It was dubbed the "Brush Gang" because it held meetings in the brush. The leaders of the "Brush Gang" demanded of the Board of Directors more knowledge about ownership of colony properties, financial matters, and they demanded the right to inspect the colony books. In addition, they wanted more of a voice in colony work and routines. Many of these colonists left the colony in 1916 and some of the members of the "Brush Gang" had to leave because the directors cancelled their work agreements.

The California Corporation Commissioner became much interested in the Llano del Rio Company, not only because this corporation was entirely out of line with the usual procedures of "capitalist" corporations, but also because of the plight of the colonists leaving Llano.

In order to have a freer hand in operation, the directors organized the Llano del Rio Company of Nevada in the spring of 1916 and began recruiting from an office in Reno, Nevada. Stockholders of the Nevada Company were Mr. Eagle, 10 shares; Mr. Wolfe, 10 shares; Mrs. Wolfe 1.7 shares; Mr. McCorkle 10 shares; Mr. Flowers, 10 shares; Mr. Casson 10 shares, and Llano del Rio of California 113,533 shares, making a total of 116,633 shares of stock.

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Mr. Frank E. Wolfe edited "The Western Comrade" from Reno in April, 1916, and he recruited from there until September, 1916, when Mr. W. A. Engle replaced him.

It just happened that I worked in Nevada during 1916, but after that time I had no knowledge of colony affairs. This was partly due to the fact that my interest in Llano had been due to the fact that I hoped that colony life would include better human relations and also an opportunity to live a more creative and secure life than was available to a person on the outside. The factors controlling life at Llano, California, however, made the realization of this hope impossible.

215 Topaz Ave.,Redondo Beach,Cal.

April 4,1958.

Dear Mr.Millsap:

Enclosed is a short story of what I know
about Llano del Rio of California. I hope it will give
you the framework you need to go ahead with the eempany's colony.

As stated previously, the story of the
suit the colony had to bring against McCorkle, and which
he won, should be in the Hall of Records. I knew nothing
about it except that he claimed title to the best ranch.

In 1916 I did not work with Wolfe
at Reno but had a completely independent job and just
happened to see a good deal of him then.

All good wishes, You may use this
in any way you please as to credit. I am not interested
(credit), but
in that/would not want to be quoted unless I actually am,
ver batim. In other words, I am pretty sure all I have
said is factual and would not want any published change
if it were credited to me.