My Seventy Years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves MY SEVENTY YEARS IN CALIFORNIA J. A. GRAVES MY SEVENTY YEARS IN CALIFORNIA 1857-1927 By J. A. GRAVES President Farmers & Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles Los Angeles The TIMES-MIRROR Press 1927 COPYRIGHT, 1927 BY J. A. GRAVES My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.095 LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY WIFE ALICE H. GRAVES PREFACE Time flies so swiftly, that I can hardly realize so many years have elapsed since I, a child five years of age, passed through the Golden Gate, to become a resident of California. I have always enjoyed reading of the experiences of California pioneers, who came here either before or after I did. The thought came to me, that possibly other people would enjoy an account of the experiences of my seventy years in the State, during which I participated in the occurrences of a very interesting period of the State's development. As, during all of my life, to think has been to act, this is the only excuse or apology I can offer for this book. J. A. GRAVES. ix CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I FAMILY HISTORY. MARYSVILLE IN 1857. COL. JIM HOWARTH 3 II MARYSVILLE BAR IN 1857. JUDGE STEPHEN J. FIELD ITS LEADER. GEN. GEO. N. ROWE. PLACERVILLE BAR AN ABLE ONE 13 III FARMING IN EARLY DAYS IN CALIFORNIA. HOW WE LIVED. DEMOCRATIC CELEBRATION AT MARYSVILLE DURING THE LINCOLN-MCCLELLAN CAMPAIGN 25 IV SPORT WITH GREYHOUNDS. MY FIRST AND LAST POKER GAME 36 V MOVING FROM MARYSVILLE TO SAN MATEO COUNTY 39 VI HOW WE LIVED IN SAN MATEO COUNTY 43 VII BEGINNING OF MY EDUCATION 46 VIII REV. BROTHER JUSTIN, PRESIDENT OF ST. MARY's My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.095 COLLEGE 49 IX MY STORY: “SWEENEY—A CAMEL, A BUFFALO AND A COW” 55 X SPENT MY VACATIONS AT HARD WORK. GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE. BEGAN THE STUDY OF LAW IN SAN FRANCISCO 67 XI THE SAN FRANCISCO BAR BETWEEN 1870-1880 72 XII EXPERIENCES IN EASTMAN & NEUMANN's OFFICE. COLLECTION OF $5,000 FEE IN CHINATOWN AT NIGHT TIME. TRAPPING A PETTY THIEF. REMOVAL TO LOS ANGELES IN 1875 83 x XIII LOS ANGELES IN 1875. TEMPLE & WORKMAN BANK FAILURE. RAILROAD HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, INCLUDING ELECTRIC LINES. INTERVIEW BETWEEN HUNTINGTON AND HELLMAN 96 XIV PEN PICTURE OF LOS ANGELES IN 1875. BULLHEADS CAUGHT IN LAKE AT LAGUNA RANCH, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM IN COOKING. MY DOG, FLORA 105 XV PRICES OF LOS ANGELES REAL ESTATE IN 1875. RETURN OF C. E. THOM AFTER THE CIVIL WAR. BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS 121 XVI TURNVEREIN HALL. INGERSOLL's LECTURE AT THE CHILDs' OPERA HOUSE. LOS ANGELES CHURCHES. LOS ANGELES BAR ASSOCIATION 128 XVII THE PASSING OF THE DOMINANT RACE 133 XVIII SPANISH AND MEXICAN LAND GRANTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. SAN FERNANDO RANCH LITIGATION. WILL OF JOSE BARTOLOME TAPIA. GRANT LITIGATION 138 XIX STOCKGROWERs' CUSTOMS. CHANGE FROM A PASTORAL TO A FARMING COMMUNITY. FAMOUS PROPERTIES IN SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 167 XX MODES OF AMUSEMENT IN 1875. LUDOVICI's PUNCH, AND WHAT CAME OF IT 175 XXI THIS COUNTY A HUNTER's PARADISE. DUCK SHOOT IN 1877. GUN CLUBS. A DAY AT WESTMINSTER GUN CLUB 188 XXII HUNTING INCIDENTS 199 XXIII LARGE GAME. HUNTING EXPERIENCES 203 XXIV ANTELOPE HUNT IN 1876. HUNTING TRIP IN NEVADA 209 xi XXV PROFESSOR “LO” 214 XXVI NATIVE CALIFORNIA SADDLE AND BRIDLE HORSES. JACQUES FORGUES 224 XXVII TWO BUGGY HORSES I OWNED. “A ROMANCE OF THE WAR” 229 XXVIII IMPORTING SOUTHERN SADDLE HORSES. MY ONLY EXPERIENCE AS A RACE RIDER 238 XXIX DEBT OF GRATITUDE OWING PIONEERS. GEORGE CHAFFEY. GEN. My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.095 HARRISON GRAY OTIS 246 XXX POLITICAL BOSSES IN LOS ANGELES. EDITED A DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN SHEET 251 XXXI STEPHEN M. WHITE. WHITE AND J. S. CHAPMAN CONTRASTED 260 XXXII CALIFORNIA's ERRATIC POLITICAL RECORD 264 XXXIII MY ADMISSION TO THE BAR. FIRST PARTNERSHIP 269 XXXIV PEOPLE VS. WONG CHEW SHUT 275 XXXV DOWNFALL OF JAMES G. EASTMAN. PRACTICING ON MY OWN ACCOUNT. EARLY EXPERIENCES. REMINISCENCES OF J. S. CHAPMAN. ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST ABSTRACT COMPANY 282 XXXVI MY MARRIAGE. FIRST HOME, THIRD AND BROADWAY. REMOVAL TO SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 297 XXXVII PARTNERSHIP WITH H. W. o'MELVENY. FIRM OF GRAVES, o'MELVENY & SHANKLAND RECEIVER BEAR VALLEY IRRIGATION DISTRICT. DISSOLUTION OF FIRM JANUARY 1, 1904 301 XXXVIII AMUSING INCIDENTS OF LAW PRACTICE 307 XXXIX LEARNING FROM A CLIENT. SUNDRY EXPERIENCES 312 XL HOW MY ACQUAINTANCESHIP WITH I. W. HELLMAN BEGAN 316 xii XLI BRIEF BANKING HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES 320 XLII J. M. ELLIOTT, OUR LIVING PIONEER BANKER. MY ENTRANCE INTO THE BANKING BUSINESS 329 XLIII BILLY SANDS. RUNNING TO A FIRE 333 XLIV BUILT HOME AT TERMINAL ISLAND. “OUR SOUTHERN SEAS” 337 XLV VARIOUS FISHING EXCURSIONS. BIG TROUT, BUT GOT AWAY 351 XLVI MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE 361 XLVII HUNTING TRIP IN ANTELOPE VALLEY. CHASING A BEAR ON HORSEBACK AT LAKE TAHOE 364 XLVIII EXPERIENCES AS AN ORANGE-GROWER 367 XLIX “DRIVING TEN ELEPHANTS HITCHED TO BANDWAGON” 370 L FIRST OIL COMPANY IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. MY EXPERIENCE IN OIL 379 LI INJURY TO KNEE, AND LOSS OF LEG. DREAMS AFTER OPERATION. EXPERIENCES AS A CRIPPLE 387 LII THE LOS ANGELES BAR. LEGAL ANECDOTES 406 LIII LETTER TO MR. M. H. NEWMARK 425 LIV BANQUET TENDERED ME ON MY 60TH BIRTHDAY. RETURN BANQUET BY ME, AT MY HOME, ON 70TH BIRTHDAY 431 LV WARS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING MY LIFETIME 445 LVI My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.095 THE SORROWS OF MY LIFE 451 LVII GENERAL COMMENTS ON PROGRESS OF LOS ANGELES 467 INDEX 471 xiii INTRODUCTION One of the strongest impressions left upon me, after reading the following pages, is the realization that it is a most notable contribution to the history of California. History claims a place second to none in the roll of interesting subjects of study. The desire to know how we come to be what we are, and how the world comes to be what it is, is inborn in us all. Biography has ever furnished the best material for the historian. Between the lines of this story of the life of J. A. Graves, can be read every phase of the development of California, from the days of the decline of the mining industry to the present moment. After the waning of the mining era the people of California turned to the agricultural possibilities of the state. This included civic development, because as the agricultural resources were increased and widened, towns and cities grew. First, the grains and cereals were grown, and then deciduous fruits, and later on the grape, to be followed by the citrus fruits as a merchantable product. Incidental to this tillage of the land, and growth of cities, the titles to the land were directly involved. The base of civic, and particularly agricultural, development is the title to the land. No progress can be made except that ownership in the land is such that it insures to the owner unclouded ownership. All new countries, in their evolution to social stability, pass through this stage. Collateral to the ownership in the land, our state was peculiar in that ownership in the water that irrigated the land was of equal importance. Because of our climatic conditions, xiv with no rainfall during one-half of the year, artificial irrigation is the means by which plant life is sustained. Hence the vital necessity of ownership in the running streams and other sources of supply. There resulted, therefore, a vast amount of litigation over land titles and water rights. Mr. Graves participated to a large extent in this litigation and had a large part in bringing them to the point of stability they have now attained. My seventy years in California, 1857-1927, by J.A. Graves http://www.loc.gov/resource/calbk.095 Not only in the litigation against the squatters on the San Fernando Ranch, so graphically described in Chapter XVIII, not only as attorney in the Anaheim Union Water Company, but in hundreds of other instances in the current practice of the law, as attorney for abstract and title companies, his work as a lawyer was steadily directed to the settling and forever terminating doubts and questions about the titles to real property. Keeping in mind that the history of our state and city are based on the countless every-day, minor incidents as they occur, and keeping in mind that no professions exceed the influence of the lawyer and banker in the shaping, moulding and fashioning of these incidents, and that Mr. Graves was both lawyer and banker, it is deducible that his life had much to do with our local history, and that the account of his life furnishes an historical document of greatest value. As to the book itself, it is a perfect exemplification of the saying, “ Le Style c'est l'homme.” It is like the man himself, straightforward, and no mistaking his meaning. Whether in the lighter vein of anecdote or the deeper strains of the hours of suffering, there is ever present the note of genuineness and earnestness. His every sentence is vibrant with his energy, and every sentiment is expressed with that honesty which has pervaded his life. Biography can be, and many of them are, a kind of xv drum and trumpet affair, or they may be dry as dust, chronicles of uninteresting events; but this biography is studded through and through with apt, humorous and pungent anecdotes.